Here's Lookin' at You!

Here's a couple of pictures of some animals who showed curiosity towards the cameras that were pointed at them!  When I was transferring pictures from my point-and-shoot camera I found out that somehow I had changed the size of the pictures to the lowest resolution.  I think that they will still look good here on the blog...just can't do a lot of cropping or making large prints from them.  I have no idea how I managed to change that setting...I've never done it before accidentally.  Oh, well...they are good enough quality to enjoy and bring back a memory of a fun barn excursion.

Woody worked outside quite a while today.  He raked, blew, and hand picked up leaves and debris that gets caught in the gardens and in the yard.  He also made his weekly trip to the public library.  He helped me do the one job that I couldn't do by myself in the bathroom...get the shower curtain rod back up.  We managed, but not easily!  

Putting up the shower curtain rod just about out the bathroom back to the way it was before my painting effort.  I haven't hung anything on the walls except for the mirror and I think that I may wait till after the new floor is done.  So for the moment I am saying that I am finished with that job!  I will say that I never generated enough energy to do anything in the other upstairs bathroom.  I took a Saturday afternoon nap instead!

Friday Finish

Here's the next installment of photos taken on our barn excursion yesterday.  We took the first photo of the herd of cows in a pasture...then one of us turned and realized that it looked like one of the cows was standing on the shed...and, we couldn't resist capturing that illusion!  We saw lots of cows on this journey...even a dead cow beside the road...not the most pleasant of sites seen on our trip! Wwe moved on down the road fairly quickly and left the interested buzzards sitting in the trees.  I did get a picture of a buzzard on this trip...but chose not to take the unfortunate cow.

Woody headed off fairly early to do our grocery shopping.  He delivered the groceries back here for me to put away and then headed off to take his friend to do errands.  He was gone for several hours.  I got an S.O.S. from the teacher who heads up our Facebook sewing club.  She needed a PDF that I had written changed a bit so she could use it in a class that she is going to teach next week.  So I made the changes and emailed it to her.  Then it was time to get busy and paint.  I am pleased to say that the painting job in the master bathroom is finished at least the part I planned to do before we get a new floor in there.  I will do the woodwork at another time.  I am waiting for it to dry and then I will put towel bars, light switch plates back on...I'm planning to do that tomorrow.  I'm not sure if I am ready to tackle the other upstairs bathroom or not.  I'll think about that job tomorrow! I'm ready to rest tonight.  The hardest part of today's painting (the walls) was the cramped quarters...it is a miracle that I didn't step in the paint tray or kick over the paint can.  There was no room to turn around once the step ladder was in there with me.  But I managed without any disasters!  And, I think that it looks pretty good!  

Woody cut up and steamed two cauliflower heads this afternoon.  He worked a little outside. It really has been a pretty day out...a bit warmer than it has been.  That warm air isn't probably good as a cold front is on its way and when that warm and cold air bump together, we could get some strong storms. Rain and storms are in the forecast for tomorrow and then colder temperatures once again.  

Many, Many, Many Barns Later!

We saw so many barns today and we took a totally different route than we had ever taken before...so...all new barns.  It was hard to choose one to post first, but I decided that I would post a red barn that is housing a boat!  I don't think that we have seen a boat in a barn on any of our trips in the past!  We had a very pretty day for our barn excursion...really delightful weather and pretty blue skies with just a few clouds every now and then.  We found a quaint restaurant/cafe to eat lunch.  I'm always on a quest to find a really good old-fashioned hamburger.  Today's fit that bill and their fries were nice and crispy...and HOT out of the frier!  For locals, we were mainly in Bedford County...we have blog readers who live there...in fact, we passed by their road on our way to the country roads that we traversed today.  I have managed to download all my photos from the three cameras that I took with me today, but haven't had a chance to go through them all yet...but what I have seen, I'm pleased with.  We saw a variety of animals also.  I'll be posting some of their portraits along with the barns over the days to come.  Once again, I have quite a bit of new fodder to choose from for blog photos!  I guess tomorrow I will get back to painting!

Woody held down the fort at home.  I know that he has done a little yard work and has been working on cleaning off our porch for "spring porch sitting," though I think that storms are coming again and going to cool things down once again.  Typical back-and-forth temperatures for the start of Spring in Middle Tennessee.

Next Step: Paint

I should have new barn photos tomorrow.  A couple of friends and I are going to head off in the morning in search of more/different barns in surrounding counties.

I did find good information on the internet about caulking which made the job rather easy...and the end result looks okay to my eyes!  I needed blue painters tape to create the boundaries of the channel for the caulk.  Only one problem...I didn't have enough on hand to make it around the tub/shower insert.  Which meant a trip to get some more.  I had the tape placed before going to work in the church library.  And, after I got home I got brave and got underway with the job.  It didn't take all that long.  There was even time for me to make a pot of chicken noodle soup for our supper.  I rested for a while after we ate and then attacked the kitchen.  After I blog I will get my camera bag ready for the barn photo trip.  I will put off the painting till I have a long stretch of time...probably not till Friday.  At least the part of the painting that I was dreading, the caulking, is behind me!  For a while I wasn't sure that I was going to get the caulk off my hands...but finally...

Woody has stayed in most  of the day.  He did go outside and plant a little grass seed...trying to get some bare spots (we have many) in the yard to grow some grass.  He has done his usual reading, crossword puzzling, and TV watching today.

Well, I guess I'm going to go pack cameras, batteries, etc.  I'm hoping to get some good shots of some new places tomorrow.  If I do, I'll be sharing them here on the blog over the coming days/weeks.  You can decide if that is a promise or a threat!!!

More Preparation

I continue to get ready to paint our master bathroom.  I vacuumed and then washed the walls.  Later in the afternoon, I went to the paint store to get paint and supplies.  I looked at paint colors for the kitchen while I was there and brought home some more possible paint color to look at.  After supper I chipped away at the old caulk around the shower/tub insert.  Caulking isn't my favorite job...and only have done it once...at the house we lived in before coming here...long time ago.  I'm hoping that the formula has been improved and will go on smoother than that time!  We'll see!  I will probably gladly go back to sewing (or anything else but painting) once I get this painting job done!  I'm glad that we have such a small bathroom!

Woody made his Apple/Zucchini bread today.  He has done more reading, crossword puzzling, and tv watching today.  His leg is bothering him a bit more today.  He sat with an ice pack on it for a while this afternoon. Just before supper, he went to the prayer room at church.

I guess I will go finish cleaning up the kitchen from our supper and then see if I can do a little more towards getting ready to paint.  I think that I will at least spackle a few little holes and dents so the spackle compound can dry overnight.  Then I can sand those places tomorrow.  I'm not sure that I have enough energy to tackle the caulking tonight...plus don't think that I want to smell it all night.  I may watch something on the internet about caulking to see if I can find some helpful hints.

Stormy Afternoon

It was a bit stormy this afternoon...several loud booms of thunder...and, look who came to sit in my lap!  It's hard to take a selfie when you have a lap full of cats!!  They begged me to come in because it was raining and thundering...and, I gave in!  This is the first time that they have both gotten in my lap at the same time.  Sweet kitties!  They were purry happy to be safe and dry from the storms.  I think that we had at least three storms roll through this afternoon.

Woody left shortly after eight this morning to get a tire fixed.  We had a new warning given by our car as we were driving to church yesterday morning: "tire pressure is low." So he checked to see which tire it might be after we got home and he discovered a screw in one of the tires.  So this morning he took the car in to get the tire fixed.

I spent the morning cleaning.  I am getting ready to paint the master bathroom before we get new flooring in it.  It's on my list of "to-dos" before the kitchen remodel gets underway...the floors in all three bathrooms and the sun porch and laundry room are also getting new floors along with the kitchen.  I also hunted down where I had put some dishes that I'm going to need when we have guests for lunch next week!  I think that perhaps there is a saying: "IF you pack it away you WILL need it!" I'm really glad that I have labeled boxes very well!  After lunch, I had a couple of appointments and luckily managed to get in and out without getting wet.  It was sunshiny when I left the house...about half-way there it started to rain, but by the time I got there it had stopped and it wasn't raining when I came out.  I decided to run to WalMart and noticed after I got into the parking lot that there was a pretty dark heavy cloud hanging overhead...a wall cloud...that was how I described it Woody when I got home and then when the weather came on TV the weatherman talked about the wall cloud...so maybe that is what I saw.  I decided to go on into WalMart and just wait out the downpour, that I figured was coming, inside Walmart.  It was just starting to sprinkle as I went in.  Not long after I got in I heard thunder and then hard rain on the roof.  I got what I needed and then just poked around until the worst had passed.  It was still raining some when I left, but not really hard.  And, most important point: I didn't melt!!

After supper, Woody headed off to church for the Monday night Furnace Room Prayer meeting.  He hasn't returned yet, but will probably be home shortly.

First Spring Saturday

And, a pretty first Saturday in Spring it has been!  I guess I am getting ready for our next barn photo excursion that we have planned for this coming week.  This is a photo from last year's Spring barn photo trip...we took it about a month from now...so this next trip's photos probably won't have this much green in them, but we will see!  Things are starting to green up around here.

Woody spent a little time outside today...me not so much!  He made his weekly trip to the library and has spent a good part of the day reading, doing his crossword puzzles, watching TV which includes some March Madness.  I spent a good part of the morning and some of the afternoon getting my Sunday School lesson in order.  I have worked on it throughout the week, but needed to get it in a seemly order and the notes printed out.

I guess that tonight's photo is getting me in the mood to take some new barn photos this coming week.  We have plans to take another barn photo trip.  I'm thinking that the above photo was taken in late April last year, so probably things won't be quite as green, but things are starting to green up around here. We like to go out when the leaves are still missing from the trees and vines so they don't get in the way of the barns!  The barns can get quite hidden when the trees and vines are all leaved
out.

Seems "Almost" Like Yesterday!

Nathan, Kathy, and family presented these shirts, that Nathan designed, to us in honor of our 50th anniversary.  My how is it possible that that many years have slipped by?!?  I do know where we were 50 years ago today...in Arizona.

We have had a pretty routine day.  Woody did his usual Friday errands...got our groceries and took his friend to run errands. I washed, cleaned, and cooked...had to cook our anniversary dinner since Woody can't eat at a restaurant!  This afternoon, Woody continued to get seeds started in anticipation of the approaching growing season.  He also read, did his daily crossword puzzles, and watched some March madness.  I did a little more packing of kitchen things...am finding that I need some of the things that I have packed up!  The pile for a yard sale grows larger...but those aren't the things that I have reached for and don't find...the things that I'm missing are things that are in boxes.  I do have the boxes marked, but haven't needed them enough to dig through and get them.  Most of the things that I have packed can stay in boxes till after the remodel.  There's something coming up that I realize that I will have to "get to" a few items.  I'm just trying to not bury those boxes under others and I'll be able to get to them when necessity arises in a couple of weeks!  

Spring Break!!!

Can you hear my excitement?!?  When school ended this morning, my spring break began!!!  So now to really get down to business to get ready for the kitchen remodel!  I moved some more things today.  The yardsale items pile is growing...as kitchen drawers have less items in them.  Nathan and Kathy and family will probably have a yard sale a bit later in the spring or early summer so I'm gathering items for that.

Woody has started some seeds in anticipation of the growing season.  He has also continued reading the books that he got from the library yesterday.  He's finished several of them already.  He has watched a bit of March Madness, also.

A little while ago, Graham came over with his tech tools and opened up the back and cleaned the sensor on one of my point and shoot cameras.  I wanted him to clean it so they could take it with them to Africa. He was successful at getting the dirt specks off that were showing up on the background of my pictures.  This will be this camera's second trip to Africa! I think that Abigail will be using it to snap shots in and around Africa.  Esther and Elijah are going to use my original digital camera to try their hand at getting some interesting photos.  Things are really hopping next door as they prepare for their big trip to Kenya.

Welcome, Spring!

Spring has sprung!  And, today was a beautiful spring day!  We enjoyed another day of sunshine.

Woody left before school got underway.  He took his friend who has no transportation to an appointment in McMinnville.  He also managed to get back almost in time for his appointment to get his anemia shot.  I had a regular day of school.  Elijah had his long time and he let Isaac come and do experiments with him.  One of his challenges today that he continued from last week was to make a standing circle of Pringles potato chips.  Again, he almost made the circle.  While he was making it, his daddy happened to come over and I could see that he wanted to try!  When Elijah's circle fell before it was completed, he set it aside to try again after he did a different experiment.  Before he got back to doing it, Nathan came back over and couldn't resist the fallen pile of chips and he did manage to make a complete circle!  They took the chips home to have with their lunch.

After lunch, I decided that I would go work in the library this afternoon.  I knew that I was going to be working alone and decided that I would go on and work today rather than tomorrow.  I did maintenance and then looked around for a book to use in preparation for this week's Sunday school lesson that I'll be teaching.

Woody also stopped at the library and the pharmacy before he came home from all his "running here and there" this morning.  He got a call yesterday from the library that they had some books for him that he had requested.  He spent a good part of the rest of the afternoon reading and watching TV.

Bidding Farewell to Winter!

Doesn't it sound good to say that we are bidding farewell to Winter!?!  Well, I guess if you live in Arizona that perhaps you aren't as excited to say good bye to the cool months.  But here in Tennessee and many other parts of the country, I think that most are ready for the warmer days that are ahead for us.

We have had a stay-at-home day.  I had school with the children.  Esther had her long time today and she water colored.  She painted a picture with an elephant in it and then one with lions in it.  Do you see a theme in her paintings?  I think that perhaps she has their upcoming African mission trip on her mind!

Isaac helped me out after he finished his school work for the day.  He helped get the K'nex pieces all back in their proper boxes, etc.  What a help!  He did a great job and seemed to enjoy organizing them.  I hardly had to do anything.  Thank you, Isaac!  Later this afternoon, Isaac helped Goosey find
a shovel.  Shovels seem to be joint property between our two houses and most of the no one knows where they are! So it was Isaac's day to be a good helper since he located one or more on their "back 40" (their lot behind our house).

Kathy and Joseph just returned from South Carolina.  Only Joseph got the yellow fever vaccine.  The new rule is if you have ever had it, you don't have to have it again.  It had been that you had to have another one after ten years.

I continued to pack up things in the kitchen.  I added several boxes to the growing stacks in the upstairs hall!  Woody helped me with supper.  He cut all the peppers and onions for our Philly-type steak sandwiches.  A big help...since I didn't have to cry with the onions!

Just Around the Corner!

I guess I can now say that Spring is just around the corner since it will officially be Spring in just a few days!  Tonight's blog shows my Spring bunny that and also the flowers that Melany, Wade, Erin, and Alex gave me for my birthday.  We'll plant these when they quit blooming.  For the time being we will let them add some spots of color in the house.

I had school this morning...our usual Monday schedule.  Joy finished out the morning with her long time.  She again painted.  She finished a picture of a blue bird sitting on a sunflower and then started sketching Peaches, one of Esther's cats, so she can paint her on another day.  Georgia and Peaches came in when Esther came over to read and Georgia napped downstairs in the family room and Peaches came up to the school room and took a little snooze till Joy headed home for lunch.  The cats are really enjoying the sun on our front porch and have picked out places to rest on the rocking chairs where the sun can warm them.  The one thing about them being on the porch, they can easily slip in when someone is coming or going!  Every so often we are surprised by their presence!

I have found out some interesting things as Nathan, Kathy and family get ready for their trip to Kenya.  Just last week Kathy got a call from Vanderbilt cancelling her and Joseph's Yellow Fever vaccine because there is a low supply (at least in the South) and that they would have to come in at a later time.  They were given a date for another appointment on down the road and that wouldn't work as they would be in Africa...a bit far to come for a vaccine!  So Kathy got busy and started calling around all over the area...meaning several southern states!  And, most of the large hospitals that give that vaccine did not have any either.  She finally found some in South Carolina. She and Joseph hopped in the car this afternoon and are on their way for their appointment tomorrow.  They are going to stop and stay with one of her sisters this evening.  She lives about two hours away from the appointment.  Until this trip, I guess I hadn't thought a lot about the vaccines that are necessary for trips such as theirs and the fact that they would be in short supply!  The rest of their family got the vaccine their last trip to Africa, but Joseph wasn't born yet and Kathy was pregnant so didn't get one that time.  That's the reason that they are the only ones heading off on this adventure!  Nathan and the rest of the children are holding down the fort till Kathy and Joseph return tomorrow.

Woody and I have stayed close to home today.  I have moved a few more items out of the cabinets.  Woody has done his usual crossword puzzles, read, and watched TV.  At the moment he is at the Furnace Room Prayer meeting at church.  After he left, I cleaned up the kitchen and started the dishwasher.  So now I am settled in for the rest of the evening and Woody will be shortly once he returns.

Still Celebrating!

Melany and Wade invited us for lunch to celebrate my birthday.  I took the first picture and then Melany took the one with me in it...we could skip that one...but guess since I was the guest of honor..!  We had a very nice visit.  It was the first time that we had been back to their new house since the day they began moving in.  They are definitely getting all settled in!  Erin had a new haircut.  Erin is still walking around in a boot.  She will go back to her orthopedist soon to see how well her bones are knitting back together.  I should have snapped one more picture as Alex came home from work just as we were finishing our dessert...but I didn't think of it.  The meal was yummy and Woody really appreciated that they cooked a lot of things that he can eat.

This morning before we left Woody made his weekly trip to the library.  He ran one other errand and then we got underway to head Murfreesboro way.  Our internet directions weren't the best and we immediately took a wrong road when we got off the interstate. But we called Melany and she directed us down the right paths.  Not sure that I will ever learn the correct path to their new home...lots of turns!  

Shortly after we got home we headed over to a friend's house and delivered the banana bread that I made yesterday and one of Woody's Prayers From God books.  Now we are all settled in back at home after our adventures of the day.  The trip home was interesting...we took the back road because we noted on the way there that the interstate was very slow due to construction going the way we would take it going home.  So we decided that we would take the back way that we like to take at times.  Well, all went well on that road...until...the train stopped on the tracks that we needed to cross in the little town of Wartrace.  We waited and waited...and...what happened was that a train came from the other direction.  Once that train cleared, we thought that the other one would get underway...but after sitting ther probably 20 min. (Maybe more), Woody decided to venture down a road that we werent sure where it would come out...but it ended up being a well travelled road and we ended up over in the Shelbyville area and then picked up the road back to Tullahoma from there.n for a while we wondered if we would ever get home.  But we did!  It took almost two hours when on a good day it should only take 45 minutes to an hour.  We're glad to be settling in for a quiet evening at this point in our active day!

Beware...

Beware of the Ides of March!  But also be aware of the fact that half of March is already behind us!  Where does the time go?

Woody headed off fairly early this morning to do our weekly shopping.  He stopped by his friend's but didn't run errands with him as his wasn't feeling well.  He still spent a good portion of the morning running from one store to another!

Abigail came over for her home ec time this morning.  I think that she managed to get the top of her throw pieced.  Now to press it and decide what else we will do with the top before we get ready to make a quilt sandwich out of it.  It's color variations are beautiful.  I think that she will love curling up under it when it is finished.  After her sewing time, I continued to empty cabinets.  I now have our Christmas dishes sitting here next to me on my dresser.  I took a few other things out of cabinets and relocated them for the time being.  I also cleared off the dresser in the guest room so I can place some items on it.  I think that things are sort of going to look stacked up around here for a while!  I had plans to do some machine embroidery today, but so far that hasn't happened.  I did make a loaf of banana bread to take to a friend.  That came out of the oven just a few minutes ago...and does smell good.  It was made from a recipe that I have used for 50 years as it came from a cookbook that we got for a wedding present.  We are closing in on our 50th anniversary next week.  Again...where has the time gone...if I think that this month has flown by, then what happened to those 50 years?!?  They also flew by!

I talked to Cheryl, my sister, this afternoon for the first time since we moved an hour farther away from each other on the 10th. This is the time change that I don't care for because Arizona doesn't change time...so at this time change we are two hours apart...and that time difference makes a difference when it comes to finding the right times to call each other.  

Woody has done his crossword puzzles, read, and watched TV.  He has been trying to be good and spend some part of the day lying down with his knee above his heart, like he was told to do...trying to get all the swelling from the surgery to go down.  I think that he feels like it is helping...at least he is faithfully spending time lying on the couch with his legs propped on quite a few pillows.

Thunder on Thursday

It looks like the brunt of today's storms are through our area.  We may still get a little rain and then we should be completely out of the rain...for tonight.  We definitely got some more rain and I did hear a little thunder.  Though, I will admit to drifting off to sleep for a nap after I ate supper...so might not have heard some of it!  So to me it seemed to pass us by quickly!

I had school this morning.  Isaac had his long time.  He and Joseph used the Osmo app some and then Isaac decided that he wanted to paint.  He really likes to paint with water colors.  This is the horse that he painted yesterday after Esther pointed out that his horse had a "people face."  He added the ears today after he looked at a photo of a real brown horse that I showed him.  Not bad for a child who has never shown a lot of interest in doing art work.  Today he had fun putting a big drop of paint on his paper and then tipping the paper or blowing on the drop and seeing what path the paint would take.

After lunch, I headed off to the church to work in the library for a while. Donna and I got books checked in and out and then finished processing several new books and got them on the new book shelf.  We scooted out of the library a bit earlier than sometimes as we hoped to get home prior to the rain/storm getting here.  A lot of schools in the area, including Melany's, let out early because of the prediction of the storm arriving around the time schools would let out.

After I got home, Isaac and Joseph came over and invited us over for "a puppet show."  So we went over a saw a puppet show starring a pink pig puppet.  The pig puppet was flying to Africa!  I guess they have their upcoming mission trip to Africa on their minds!  We also helped Esther and Elijah with a crossword puzzle that they were doing for school...it had to do with lots of dinosaurs that I had never heard of!  I got their text book and helped out a little!

Woody has challenged the computer to several games of Scrabble today.  He has also read and watched TV.  He spent a little time outside picking up sticks and made one trip out to the road in back of us with an armload of sticks...and, that is a bit of a trek...through our back yard and through the lot behind our house.  So he got some fresh air and a bit of exercise.

Windy Wednesday

I guess today's the start of the wind that is blowing in the next front that is going to bring us MORE rain and perhaps some storms.  This is typical for this time of year in Tennessee...warmer air (which we have now) running into cooler air (which is coming).  Then it will reverse and we will have rain because cooler air is running into warmer air. And it will go back and forth like that for a good part of pre spring on into actual spring.

I had school with the children this morning.  Today was Elijah's long time and he did a STEM activity...tried to make a complete circle out of Pringles potato chips.  He did a good job of building  up the curve on the bottom, but never got the circle completed.  He is going to try another day...actually didn't eat the Pringles so he can have a go at it again.  We also did an experiment about the earth's tectonic plates and how mountains are formed, etc.  That one was done with graham crackers and cool whip...he likes the experiments that involve food!

This afternoon I did some research online about some of the items that we will be buying for the kitchen...trying to make choices and price checking, and seeing where they are available, etc.  Pretty soon I will need to use my legs for my searching so I can see the actual items. I also did some more boxing up of items in the kitchen. All these are baby steps for getting ready for kitchen renovation.

Woody did his usual crossword puzzles and reading throughout the day.  He even took advantage of the nice weather and picked up a few sticks in the yard and also swept the front sidewalk.

And, now, once again we are settled in for another quiet evening.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

Days like today definitely let it be known that Spring is on its way!  We even had the sounds of Spring today = the sounds of children's voices at play outside!  Isaac had the best time riding his bicycle around his yard.  Joseph was tossing a ball around.  I think that I saw Joy practice serving the volley ball.  I even heard big children's voices and had to go out to check out what Nathan and Kathy were up to.

I had school on a regular Tuesday schedule.  It was Esther's long time with me.  She water colored using both her water color pencils and her water color paints.  Isaac came over and Esther offered to let him paint with her special "water paint brushes."  He liked that.  He worked hard at painting a horse...Esther pointed out that the first horse that he painted had a "people face" which he thought about and ended up painting another that had a more horse-like shape to its head.  They both enjoyed the hour.  I sorted gift bags while they painted and got them put away in the Christmas closet...a job that I had been putting off.  This freed up more space in the upstairs hall to stack boxes of kitchen items. Woody and Graham worked on a lesson about prayer that Graham is going to be doing while in Africa.  I made Woody some chicken noodle soup later this afternoon.  While I was still cooking, Woody went to the prayer room at church.

Woody is home, supper is finished and we are settled in for another quiet evening.

Moved Clock Ahead an Hour and Gained a Year!

This time change really made a difference for me.  I woke up an hour ahead of the day before and another year older!  What you see pictured is a piece of one of Abigail's cheesecake creations...my birthday piece!  This was a new flavor.  Our pastor loves cheesecake and he challenged Abigail to come up with a Banana/Nutella Cheesecake.  This was her first attempt at that flavor!  Pretty good...but I like some of her others even more!  

Today was the calm after the storm of activities yesterday.  Yesterday stacked something like this: church service/Sunday School/Set up for luncheon/luncheon at church for a friend who is moving/funeral for a friend's father.  It was a day of "good-byes."

Today the children and I had school.  Joy had her long time.  She painted flowers and a bird and some curly lettering.  I sat in the school room while she painted and boxed up glassware...another shelf empty in the kitchen...this time in the upper cabinets. This afternoon I fixed our annual New England Corned Beef dinner.  Woody is eating the boiled veggies and I am eating the meat and some of the boiled veggies.  Woody's favorite with this meal is the boiled cabbage.  I love the meat and the potatoes.  It is one of those meals that takes a while to prepare...mainly just the cooking time...the rest is quite easy...and, then we have food for several meals on into the week.  

This evening Woody went to the Furnace Room Prayer Meeting at church.  He just returned a little while ago.  I am heading down to finish cleaning up the kitchen as I needed a rest after getting and eating the meal!  

Time Springs Forward!

Time springs forward tonight...now to remember to change clocks after I blog!  We have had a busy day.  Woody made his weekly trip to the library.  And, also made a hospital visit. I pretty much stuck around the house.  Several people brought the item/s they signed up to take for the meal by the house.  I gathered up what I already had here and put all the nonperishable items in our laundry basket so that could be transferred to our car in one trip.  At the appropriate time I got the ham in the oven for the meal...wanted it cooked, but also wanted it cool enough to transfer easily.  At 4:30 Woody and I headed to our church as we arranged for the rest of the food to be brought to us by 5pm.  And, boy were the ladies all prompt.  We had all the food on the list checked off and were pulling away a little after 5pm.  All this was happening in a break in the weather...thank goodness.  It did rain on us a bit as we were heading to the house, but it let up when we got there.  We delivered all the food and then headed off to the funeral home.  We are home now and ready to put our feet up!

Melany (our daughter) just texted me that she and the rest of her family are in the safe places in their new house as they are under a tornado warning.  For those not from around here...a tornado watch means that conditions are right for a tornado...a tornado warning means that a tornado has been reported on the ground.  Now...these warnings are for an entire county so the tornado on the ground may be near to them or in another part of the county.  I guess rougher weather is approaching us...so will close this for tonight.  I am starting to get drop downs on my iPad from news stations in Huntsville that we have storms approaching...maybe I will go downstairs!  Thunder is getting louder...and rain harder...hope I remember to move the clocks forward!

Back to March Showers

These flowers just looked so spring-like that I decided to post them.  These are flowers that friends gave me for my birthday eight years ago.  They happened to be close to the picture of the chicken that I used last night so decided to use another oldie photo for tonight's blog.

I have been busy just about from the moment that I got up.  Lots of things are going on this weekend for our Sunday School class.  One Sunday school member's father died recently and the visitation and funeral are this weekend.  Our class takes a meal to class members when there is a death in their family.  I went this evening and purchased some items that we need for the meal and then tomorrow I will cook my part (a ham, the class is providing the ham and I am cooking it.) Our class is also giving a luncheon for a member of our class who is moving away.  We are having a soup and salad luncheon after church on Sunday.  I made a large pot of  Italian Sausage Soup today for one of the soups that we are going to offer.  Lots of cooking and coming and going this weekend for all of us in my ladies' Sunday School class.  And, there will be lots of good eating coming up, too!  We are good cooks!

Woody did the rest of our grocery shopping this morning and also took his friend to do errands.  Woody was gone till after noon.  Before it got dark, Woody drove me to Walmart.  He dropped me off near the door and then parked while I ran in and got a couple of things.  It was raining at the time and his curbside service helped.  I guess it rained hard while I was in Walmart, but had pretty much stopped when I came out so I didn't get wet going in or coming out.  It has rained off and on all day.  And, tomorrow it is supposed to rain hard again and there is a chance of some severe weather.

Abigail continues to bake cheesecakes.  She is baking them now to raise money for the family's upcoming mission trip to Africa.  Today she needed another oven and baked one over here...a strawberry-swirl cheesecake.  Looked and smelled very good!  She has baked and sold enough to just about pay for her plane ticket to Kenya!  Way to go, Abigail!

Just Us Chickens

Today it was just us Dorrell chickens who went in and out our door.  It's Thursday and that has meant PT for about two months...and...today...no knocks on the door from them.  It was nice!

We had school this morning.  It was Isaac's long time and we ended up playing Uno and War.  He does a good job with card games and was able to refresh my memory on the rules for both!  The Uno cards have changed since we played when the kids were younger.  I had to have the instructions to interpret they symbols on the cards.  I know that Isaac could have told me what they meant...but that would have set aside any strategy that I might have had!

After lunch, I headed off to church to work in the library for a couple of hours.  Donna and I got a lot done...more new books on the shelves both for children and big folk alike.  I have managed to take a few more things out of kitchen cabinets and relocate them up in the upstairs hallway.

After I got home, Woody decided to get a haircut and run a couple of his Friday errands to get a jump start on them and have less running around to do for us tomorrow. He went to the Credit Union and Aldis.  So I had a few groceries to put away today.

We are settling in for the evening.  I talked to Melany this evening.  Both she and Erin have a foot problem.  Melany's is a nerve problem that the doctor gave her a shot for and said that it should be better soon.  And, Erin has a broken foot. She fell down the stairs at their new house a few weeks back.  Her foot was X-rayed at that time, but no break showed.  Since it was still bothering her, Melany took her to a foot doctor and this time the X-ray showed that it is broken.  She has a boot of which she isn't too fond!  Hopefully foot problems will soon be better for both of them!

On Our Own Once Again!

This morning we got a call from Woody's home health nurse.  She was on her way to complete the last paperwork towards Woody's freedom from home health care!  While she was here she said that PT had asked if Woody needed another visit or if he was finished.  Woody said finished and she clicked that information into her device and that ended this almost two-month time with nurses and PT folk coming to the house.  No more comings and goings of health personnel to our home...just family and friends once again knocking on our door!

This cute bunny hopped into our house today with the help of the mailman.  It's a "Happy Spring" present from my sister!  I think it will hop out to the front porch when it warms up a bit. Thanks, Cheryl!

I had school as usual for a Wednesday morning. Elijah had his long time.  We planned some science experiments that we will do...had to plan as we need to buy a few things.  Isaac continued his interest in building with K'nex.  This afternoon he used one of the battery powered motors for the first time and made a bat with moving wings.  We only got stuck once where neither he nor I could figure out what was supposed to be done.  He took the few pieces and the bat and the instructions next door to consult the main K'nexpert = Graham.  It was all together except for one step and Graham got the problem worked out quickly and Isaac rushed back to show me what was wrong...one connector piece had been put on backwards...then all was well and the last step we complete.  After he showed me, he showed Goosey (Woody) and then he headed home happily with his latest build.

Earlier I got up enough energy to actually empty the base cabinets on the other side of the dishwasher...the shortest expanse of base cabinets.  It mainly contained serving pieces and other things that are only used when we are entertaining (not doing a lot of that lately) so figured that I could do without those items for a while!  Everything is out of that part of the base cabinets except for the Food processor accessories, which we use often, and kitchen veggie choppers, and our electric George Forman-type grill.  The food processor and choppers will most likely be used and the grill "might" be used so left it.  I have two boxes filled, labeled and lined up in the upstairs hallway along with some items that were already in boxes, which I stacked up.  Maybe if I do a little each day for a while I will get the job done before they are ready to remove the cabinets.

Woody's major achievement of the day is getting dismissed from home health.  He also made the trek out to the mail box.  It is still quite cold.  It got down into the teens again last night.  I think that it is supposed to "just" get down to the low 20's tonight!  Then start climbing back up to more normal temperatures for this time of the year.  BUT I guess more rain and storms are heading our way as the weekend approaches.  It has been nice to go without rain for several days in a row...even with cold temperatures...it was wonderful to have the sun shine in our windows.

We've Made "The List!"

 

Today we were told by our kitchen remodel contractor that our kitchen was on the list (meaning on the list to have out cabinets made).  And, we were told that there were three vanity sets and an entertainment center in front of us.  They will get in touch with us when it gets closer to our turn.  I "think" that I am going to get more serious about taking things out of our cabinets that we don't use all that often!  Sounds like the remodel is getting close...and that not too far in the future the above views of our kitchen will be totally different!

I had school this morning per usual.  Esther came a bit late for her long time, but she still got some painting in.  Isaac spent a lot of time over her once his school was over building with K'nex.  Elijah and Esther joined him later in the afternoon.  It will soon be time to undo all these creations that they have made lately...they must be starting to run out of certain parts!  Isaac made the cutest alligator that he can make the mouth open and shut.  He is really into K'nex these days...not quite as much as Graham once was, but still really enjoying them. This is one "toy investment" that has really been used over the years, by just about all the grandchildren...Joseph still to come to use them...he does a little with them, but still not all that interested in them. When they really get "into" K'nex, I call them K'nexperts!  

Woody's PT person came a little after lunch today.  She checked and this is her last time scheduled to come and that Thursday the main PT person that Woody started out with will come and evaluate and end Woody's PT visits.  We didn't see the nurse today.  I thought that she was going to come to sign him off.  So I think we still have her visit...we will see!

We ate supper late this evening as Woody went to the prayer room before supper this evening.  I started cleaning up the kitchen before I came upstairs to blog so will head down as soon as I hit "publish" and finish up the job.  

First March Monday

Today was a day off from school for me as the children and their parents were away for several juggling programs over a long weekend in TN and North Carolina. They got home a little after lunch today and we have had a parade of children in and out most of the afternoon...mainly building with K'nex.

This morning I took advantage of my time off and did some much needed cleaning...vacuuming, mopping, etc., and got finished catching up with our wash...well, sort of I realized that I didn't get several things of Woody's into one of the loads over the weekend or today so will do that load tomorrow when there are a few more things to add in with them.  I rested for a while after I did all that and read for a while this afternoon.

Woody had no home health care today.  Hopefully it winds down tomorrow.  He got in the mail a survey from the home health group that has taken care of him that asked questions about the last two months.  That got filled out and is in the mail.  Tomorrow is the end date for him to have home health...so hope that both nurse and PT come and then we can thank them and wave good-bye!

No rain today and by the end of the day it clears up and the sun came out for a few hours...nice to see the sun!  It has been chilly all day and supposed to get quite cold tonight.  I heard a weather forecaster say that he thought that this cold snap this week would be our last "really" cold weather we would have this season.  Time will tell!  I know we will have more cold over the next weeks before Spring actually arrives and will have cold even after it arrives...but hopefully...NO teens or low 20's!  It is already 25 and wind chill makes it feel like 15...according to Weatherbug.  And, it is supposed to get into the teens before morning.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Woody has just returned from the Furnace Room Prayer meeting at church.  So I guess we can lock up and settle in for another quiet evening!

2nd of March

Tonight's photo is still a visit to one of our last "barn photo trips."  The photo software opened up in the barn trip group so I decided that I would go with barns once again, I think that the cow bookends are interesting...all are turned away from me eating except for  the two that are facing me on each side...sort of like cow bookends!

Woody has had another day of coming and going.  He went to the library for his weekly visit.  Then he paid a visit to two of his Deacon families to deliver church literature and visit.  He also ran an errand with his friend who has no transportation.  Me—well, I just stayed home and did a little of this and a little of that.  My accomplishments:  I packed up a few things in the kitchen...another box of things that we don't use often and managed to get three loads of wash done...two loads are out away and one is still in the drier and I finished a book...that's about it!

It has been a cloudy, dreary, chilly day.  A good day to stay inside!  From what I understand more rain/storms are on the way tomorrow which will drop our temperatures drastically again.  We are in that mode of swinging back and forth between a little warmer and then back to cold...typical approach of Spring here in Tennessee.

I did talk to my sister on the phone today!  It is Cheryl's birthday.  Today I am only six-years older
than she, but give it a little more than a week and we will be back to being seven years apart.  I will end the blog with a picture of my sister and me on the train heading to or from Massachusetts in 1957.  My sister was 2...you can do the math if you want to figure out how old she is today!  Note that once again we are in dresses...how dress for travel has changed over the years!  Happy Birthday, Cheryl!

The Weather Didn't Cooperate!

Friends and I were supposed to go on a "barn photo trip" today, but it was still a drizzly, dreary day so we decided to postpone it till a prettier day.  I decided that I would go find a picture that I took on a previous "barn photo trip" that I hadn't posted before and post it tonight as a "coulda, woulda, shoulda" picture!  This is a farm that we "came upon" as we rounded this curve.  That's one of the fun things about "barn photo trips"...that barns and farms seem to be around just about every curve and bend out in the country in our area of  Middle Tennessee.  Even though there are so many barns, we all get pretty excited when we spot them on our road trips!

Woody did all the running around for us today.  He ran errands for us and took his friend to run his errands.  He had a busy morning that lasted into the afternoon.  I stayed home and did some of the things that I needed to do.  I mainly cooked as we were out of several things.  I made "liquid gold" aka chicken stock.  That meant stewing a chicken and then taking the meat  off the bones and then putting the bones back in the broth that the chicken had cooked in along with veggies and some Herb's and letting it simmer for a long period of time.  I got that done and then I needed to come up with a main dish for tonight.  I made a meatloaf...well, divided into two meatloafs...one for tonight and one to freeze.  Dividing them like that meant that they didn't take as long to cook.  We have eaten and the dishwasher is going.  I still have the worst of the dishes to wash (the pot that the chicken and
then the stock cooked in), but it has soaked and I have done an initial scrub on it, so it won't be so bad
when I go back to wash it.

We are both settling in for our usual quiet Friday evening...Woody with a book and the TV and me with an e-book that I am reading on my iPad.  Both of us in "our" recliners...one upstairs and one downstairs...I am up and he is down...so very quiet...