🎈Happy 21st Birthday, Joy!🎈

Today is Joy's 21st birthday…how can that be possible!?! We celebrated yesterday at Nathan's and Kathy's with presents and cake and ice cream.  It was a fun family time…nice to gather together.  Rarely these days do all Joy's siblings gather at the same time…seems like someone is always out of pocket now that they are older.  Out of the seven of them two are married and there are now only two that aren't old enough to drive. While there we made plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas texting with Melany to get her family in on the plans, too.  Plans are for me to have Thanksgiving at my house.  And, we will have Christmas at Abigail's and Payton's.  

This morning I headed out to buy paint.  Jacob was planning to come prep for painting tomorrow, but he texted while I was at the paint store, so I didn't see it till just a little before he was supposed to be here, that he wasn't feeling well.  He hopes to be here tomorrow.  I’ve done my part…paint is here for when he needs it!  

I spent some time getting underway with this coming Sunday's Sunday School lesson.  I will be subbing again this week. I also read some more in one of the books that I have been reading.  One of my friends is also reading it and she's anxious to discuss things that happen in it.  I decided that I had better get reading on it as I don't want her to tell me too much!  She finished the book yesterday…so she knows all the twists and turns.  She told me that I will be surprised by the ending! 

I guess I will read some and stitch some tonight.

And, again, I wish my sweet Joy a very joyous birthday!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday Favorite Alaskan Photo

Rainy Saturday

Do you see the Orca/Killer Whale in the lower right hand corner?  It isn't the best photo, as I cropped it quite a bit.  It is still fun to look through my Alaska photos!  I have been looking through photos today…older than my Alaska ones…looking back to photos that I have to look at on the laptop.  I have been looking for the perfect picture of Joy when she was little…need to make a birthday card!  Tomorrow we will celebrate her.

I have had a productive day…staying in due to it being rainy.  I spent the morning getting the Sunday School lesson ready for tomorrow.  Then this afternoon I spent time in the kitchen cooking.  I made Cashew Chicken…this is the second time that I have made it and I managed to get it less salty and better for me! It is quite tasty.  

I have the lesson printed out.  Next I will create a birthday card for Joy.  For the kids' birthdays this year I have been making a card with a photo of the birthday child way back when.  They have seemed to enjoy them.  After I do that, I plan to do a little stitching and reading before I sleep.  

I published this and realized that I didn't report on the Hurricane impact on us…mainly just much needed rain.  Last I looked we had gotten over an inch.  We never got the wind that had been predicted.  It is lightly raining as I type this.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Friday

I look back on the day and wonder what I have done!  When I first woke up I did a little stitching…finishing up an area on a sampler that I worked on last night.  I got a list ready to go to Kroger.  I needed a couple of things for a recipe and shopped some of this week's sales.  I came home and got the groceries put away.  Then I finished the reading I needed to do for the Sunday School lesson.  After lunch, I got a text from my handyman telling me that he would be later than he had planned, but that he would come.  And, he did.  He got the front porch rails pressure washed…he really pressure washed the whole porch…so it should look really good when it the rails and the new front door get painted.  He plans to come Monday to do the preparation work for painting. Then if all goes as planned, he will do the painting on Tuesday.  I have started filling in my Sunday School lesson outline. At the moment I am taking a break as I was getting very sleepy so moved away from it for a while.  I’m not sure how much more I will get done tonight…my brain seems to be shutting down!

I guess we are going to get some rain and wind from the hurricane that is brewing in the Gulf.  Rain is supposed to start in Tullahoma sometime in the early hours overnight. It's supposed to be a rainy day tomorrow.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

🎶Chim Chiminey, Chim Chim Chiree🎶

Meet Nettle the Rabbit and see her dressed up for Halloween in her black cat mask!  Our slumber party was a success and Melany and I figured out how to make her.  Melany did all the sewing…I just helped her know how to run the sewing machine!  We had a good time and even stitched a little last night before we went to bed.  

Around noon, Nathan called to say that the chimney person was supposed to come sometime in the next two hours.  Nathan came by in the middle of that time to check on things, but had some errands to run and projects to work on so he went on after he visited a while and it was almost through the two hour span.  Melany and I took in all the decorations in the front of the house because my handyman is supposed to come either today or tomorrow to power wash the rails around the front porch.  So our part is finished to be ready t job to happen.  We then went in to fix a late lunch…we had eaten a late breakfast!  And, the chimney person arrived.  First…the chimney person that Nathan had talked to had not seen the correct chimney on Zillow…he had looked at Nathan and Kathy's former home next door.  He was none too happy to see the height of our chimney.  He told me afterwards that chimneys that high always scare him even if he is used to doing the job.  But he got to work…found out that the cap on our chimney was just fine, that it just needed to have the screening replaced and then sealed and he suggested having the chimney swept/cleaned (reason for the Mary Poppins' chimney sweep song reference for the tonight's title).  He said since animals had been down in the chimney, it would be a good idea to have it swept…to which I agreed.  He got another surprise, other than the height of our chimney, there was a wasp nest.  I don’t think that any of them got him, but he did get them taken care of!  So hopefully several problems have been taken care of…stop squirrels descents, eliminate a wasp nest, and make it safe for me to have a fire in my fireplace, if the need should arise.  All that and I got by for less than quoted since he didn't have to put a new cap on the chimney. So hopefully a win-win all around! Glad to have that over and done with!

Now to get the new front door painted and the porch railings…

I’m getting ready to settle in for the evening…going to make a hot cup of tea and pick up my stitching and looking forward to Elsbeth being back on the air tonight!  I’ll get back to Sunday's Sunday School lesson tomorrow! 

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

She's Sewing!

We've been busy…haven't gotten real far…we've been doing preparation steps so now the sewing can commence!  This photo shows her practicing on my machine so she can sew on the real project soon.  She is making a cross stitched rabbit, who is dressing up for Halloween as a cat.  Melany got the cat mask finished a little while ago…so one part done…that was done by hand…no machine sewing.  So she is going in the right direction with her cross stitch pieces.  So far I think she is pleased with the progress she has made at this point in our slumber party! Wonder how long till we slumber!  (I did take a little snooze this afternoon while she hand stitched the mask.)

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

A Bookish Day

Today centered around an invitation to The Friends of the Shelbyville Library Author Luncheon.  Linda H. invited Donna and I to go to this luncheon.  So Donna and I set aside First Baptist Church Library workday for a library event of another kind.  We got fed better than we get when we go to the church library!  We sat at a table with Linda's son and daughter-in-law and her sister.  We met at a designated spot and parked our car and Linda's son was our uber driver to the event.  The guest author, J.C. White, gave a very interesting talk about himself and his book, Dandelion Wine.  We enjoyed our lunch while listening to him talk.  A good time, I believe, was had by all.  Always nice to get together with friends!  

I will admit to giving in to a nap after my return home.  Once refreshed I got back to preparing for my next "event," the slumber party with Melany.  She and I have talked making final plans for our sewing/stitching time together tomorrow and Thursday.

Update on my chimney cap: I did get quote via text which I signed and accepted…so hopefully it is ordered and will be installed before too much longer!  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!