A PLEASANT DAY

 

I borrowed this picture off of facebook.  Isn't it cute?  Some people love their coffee, but I love my morning cup of tea.  Yes!  And I'm going to get my cup as soon as I am off of here.

I was so surprised that yesterday was such a pleasant day at work.  There are so few of them that having one is so nice.  The people coming in were so appreciative of everything we did to help them, even the ones with major problems.  The kids were loud, but not over the top, even the staff had smiles on their faces and a good mood.  I can only hope today is as good.  It should be since the weekend is almost here.

I am having a mini meeting this morning to catch my staff up on the changes going on in the library system.   This will be the first time in 5 months that we will all be together at the same time.  I can only hope that this will be the norm soon.  Oh please let it be soon.

Our friend, Jim, from church came over yesterday to visit with Joe.  Joe said they had such a good time.  After Jim left, Joe went next door and visited with our neighbor, Bea.  Bea has diabetes and has had to have both of her legs amputated.  She doesn't get out a lot and I'm sure gets lonely.  That was so nice of him to think of her and give her a visit.

I got a lot done yesterday before I left for work because it was my late day.  Not so much today when I have to be in early.  I think I'll have only the time to put the trash out before I leave.

Last night I stopped at ShopRite on the way home from work.  I was just going to pick up a chicken and potato salad for dinner, but saw they were having a 99 cent frozen vegetable sale and filled up.  My freezer is now full of corn on the cob, rice with veggies, sweet potatoes, peas, chopped onions, and more.  I am one happy girl.  I saw some other great sales (like a loaf of rye bread for 94 cents) and came home a half hour later with six bags of groceries for $35.  Yay for me!

I found out through an email yesterday at I have 26 followers on a place called feedspot.com.  They are all men and I am wondering why a bunch of men from all different countries are following me and reading about my life.  This seems very strange to me and I am not real comfortable about it.  Has anyone else heard of this place?  And if you are one of my feedspot readers would you please comment and tell me why you are following me?  (I like cooking, decorating, find your life interesting, etc.)  I always said when blogging stops being fun, the blog goes.  Hmm...

I'd better get off of here, put out the trash, get breakfast, feed Joe, and get ready to leave for work.  I have an hour and a half to do this.  Will I make it?  We'll see.

This weekend will be very busy, but I hope to do some posts with some great pictures of the fun stuff.  In spite of all the work ahead of me, I am looking forward to the next few days.

Got to run.  Until later...

Thursday -- mostly sunny

High:  74 degrees

Low:  52 degrees

Sunrise:  6:52 a.m.

Sunset:  6:50 p.m.

I'M SO TIRED

I haven't been ignoring you, folks, but I'm just so tired.  I have been working, running home at lunch time to feed Joe, going back to work, and then trying to make my house perfect for the visiting nurse, physical therapist, and social worker.  I have never claimed to be a housekeeper and the house shows it.  It is lived in.  It has things around.  It is not perfect.  The people coming in want it perfect.  Like out of Better Homes and Gardens.  Nothing laying on any tabletop.  Walls freshly painted.  Perfectly decorated.  I am not that type of person and a "war" has begun which, unfortunately, puts Joe is in the middle.

The result of all of this is that I come home, make dinner, and fall asleep on the sofa.  Sometimes I just sleep there all night.  And then the next day I get up around 6:00 start all over again cleaning before I go to work.

Joe is slowly healing.  His knees are looking good, but his arm, shoulder, back and hip are still bruised and very painful. He is getting impatient to be rid of the sling and I don't blame him one bit.

Can you believe that Christmas is three months from today?  OK, where did the year go?  August seemed to move so slowly and deliciously with wonderful summer days.  September has moved like a speeding bullet train.  Whoosh and it's gone.

It's going to be a busy weekend.  Debbie is coming over on Saturday to help me again.  What a good friend she is to give up her weekends for me.  It's also the Fall Festival at Greensgrow Farm and Harvest Day at church.  I have to go food shopping too and get to either Walmart or Target to get a new SD card for my camera.  Oh boy!  I'm going to need October to come just to relax some.

I am so tired that I am just going to end on that note.  Really nothing much to report, but I wanted to let you know that I'm still around.  Have a good night, friends.

Partly cloudy
High:  73 degrees
Low:  54 degrees
Sunrise:  6:51 a.m.
Sunset:  6:52 p.m.
An equal amount of daylight and night.

BACK TO LANCASTER

As I mentioned last time, Lisa at Haggar Clothing found Joe's  lost ring at Rockvale Mall so it was back to Lancaster.  I wanted to get an early start, but as usual on "Kathy time" that didn't happen.  We both overslept.

First we went to RiteAid and got a thank you card for Lisa.  She really went above and beyond tracking down the ring and holding it for Joe.  It was so sweet of her.  When Joe gave her the card (and $20 in it) she didn't even want to take it and ended up giving him a hug.

After RiteAid we went over to Wawa and bought breakfast.  We came home, ate and then headed out.  It was a much faster trip than on Monday.
 

And we knew we were there when we saw the farms.  Going to Lancaster County always feels like we are going home.  We would love to live there if only we could afford it.

After getting the ring we drove around to see what other stores were in Rockvale.  We ended up at Lenox.  I wasn't going to go in, but Joe encouraged me, so we did.

 

I ended up spending more money than I had planned.  But they had a rack of huge shopping bags.  Any home items you could fit into the bag was 25% off.  Since it's an outlet, the items are already discounted, so I got a real bargain.  I collect the "Midnight Cats".  When my sister and I were there in July I got one of the cats that I didn't have, but couldn't afford the second one.  It was $25.  Today I got it for $17 plus the 25% off.  Yay for me!  I also got a gift for my neighbor that watched my Jenny cat while we were away and a couple of gifts for my sister for Christmas.  So even though I spent a lot, I got gifts and that is always good.

We went back to Hershey Farm because I wanted to get some bread to bring home and some of their great peppermint puffs that I can't find anywhere else.  I also got some apple butter for my neighbor.

We were going to eat dinner there but there was a 35-45 minute wait.  It had started to rain by this time and we didn't want to wait that long to start back home.  So we ended up going to the restaurant that I had wanted to go to on Tuesday, but we never got there. 

What a good choice that was.  It is a little diner run by an Amish family.  Everyone in there is Amish.  There were even Amish people coming in to eat.  And a lot of repeat customers because they were saying hello to the waitresses and there was a chorus through the room of "Good to see you again.  How are you?"   Both Joe and I got the meatloaf.  Oh my, so good.  It came with mashed potatoes and gravy and another vegetable.  Joe had carrots and I had applesauce.  The food was wonderful and the prices were so good.  We are definitely going back again.

So then it was back home.  It was pouring rain and the traffic was very slow.  A lot of stop and go.  It took 30 minutes to go 10 miles.  But then it opened up and I made up some of the time.  Once again Joe slept the whole way home.  I'm getting used to this.  I just listened to the news station on the way home.

Just one more picture to show you.  I bought this pumpkin candle holder at Rite Aid this morning (50% off) and got this little fall pumpkin figure at Lenox.  They look so cute together.  Just a little more cleaning and decorating to do tomorrow and the living room will be all finished.

And now to bed so that I can get up for church tomorrow.  It never ends in my life.

Saturday -- cloudy in the morning, rain in the afternoon and evening
High: 81 degrees
Low:  54 degrees
Sunrise:  6:47 a.m.
Sunset:  6:59 p.m.

IT'S BEEN A ROUGH FEW DAYS

 

I am going to stop taking vacation in September.  Everything always seems to go wrong each year.  I won't go into details, but let me say that if it could go wrong, it did.

Thursday morning I went to church to lead a Pre-school story time and no one showed up.  That's OK.  It was the first one.  I'm sure it will go better next time.  I planned four of them and will evaluate things after the fourth one to see if I will continue or give it up as a bad idea.

I left church and ran over to Deb's house.  We were going to have lunch together and she was going to help me straighten things up a bit before the visiting nurse came.

But first a plumber came to give us an estimate on a new heater.  I was upstairs getting Joe ready so Deb had to let him in.  Then I was running up and down the stairs trying to get Joe dressed on the second floor and trying to talk to the plumber in the basement.

The plumber left, I made lunch and then a second plumber came.  I was down in the basement with him when the visiting nurse showed up.  She looked at Deb and said, "Mrs. S....?"  She said no, pointed at me and said, "She is."  So then she started talking to Joe.  I got an estimate from the second plumber and he left.

The nurse was going to be awhile so I took Deb home and came back.  A half-hour later as the nurse was leaving there was a knock on the door.  A guy was outside trying to sell us on a new electrical service.  I told him I wasn't interested.  He said, "You're not interested in saving money?"  I said, "No, I'm really not.  I have more money than I know what to do with and I'm looking for a way to spend it.  But thanks for asking."  You should have seen the look on the guy's face!

It was a crazy day.

But on a happy note, the mall we were at in Lancaster found Joe's ring.  Lisa, the sales person that waited on us in Hagar, is holding it for Joe.  So it's back to Lancaster tomorrow to get it.  I really don't feel like taking that long drive again, but I understand Joe wanting his ring back.  I also found Joe's keys for the front door and the car which he has been missing for two months now.  So maybe things are turning around?

Friday I went to a Library Assistant supervisor's meeting for work.  It was nice seeing some of my friends that I hardly ever see anymore and meeting some of the supervisors for the first time.  There was a lot of controversy over the changes coming to the library.  People are not happy.  I'm glad my time there is limited.

I took the rest of the day off to finish up my vacation.  I stopped into the library and talked to my staff about the meeting.  I also went through the things on my desk so I'm all prepared to go back to work on Monday.  I hate to leave Joe alone while he is still injured, but he is doing so much better and will be having the nurse visit each day so I feel he will be OK with me just coming home at lunch or dinner time.

For some reason I wake up around 4:30 a.m. everyday, I am up for awhile, and then go back to sleep.  So now it's around 5:00 a.m. and I am going to try to get some more sleep before my long drive.  Hopefully I will have some more pictures for you next time.



Thursday -- sunny
High:  77 degrees
Low:  48 degrees
Sunrise:  6:45 a.m.
Sunset:  7:02 p.m.


Friday -- sunny
High:  80 degrees
Low:  54 degrees
Sunrise:  6:46 a.m.
Sunset:  7:00 p.m.

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Yes, you read that correctly.  Our second day in Lancaster started out good and went downhill from there.  Joe was up at 5:00 a.m. but I hadn't fallen asleep until 2:00 a.m. so I was not ready to get up and go.  So he waited until I got up at 8:00 a.m.  We got ready and went to the last seating at breakfast.  The breakfast buffet comes with the room.  We were a little apprehensive about how Joe was going to do, but it wasn't bad at all.  I guess because it wasn't crowded and there weren't people crowding up against his bad side.

After we ate he sat on a bench while I ran through the gift shops buying a few things (even got a Christmas gift).  There was so much I would have liked to buy, but I kept it around $20.  Yay for me!  I didn't even look in my favorite store -- the boutique.

By this time it was almost time to check out so we hurried back to the room, finished packing and went to the office to return the keys.  The people there are so nice and it's always a pleasure to stay there.  The manager invited us back for Christmas and told me about their package where we could see the Christmas show at Sight and Sound for half price with the price of our room.  We can even request the same room since that is the best one for disabled people because it has the large renovated bathroom.  Maybe...  We'll have to see how finances are.

I then parked the car under a tree in the shade.  Joe stayed in the car while I took a last few pictures.

A daytime picture of our room

Outside of the restaurant and shops.

I loved these fall wreathes.

One of the chickens escaped!  It must have been a hard time because she was sound asleep.

This little goat was so cute peeking around the side of the barn.

And two baby white goats.

I love the pond and the little bridge over it.

It's so serene.

Heading back to the car I looked at the chickens again and there was this duck.  Where did he come from?

People have their picture taken in this Amish buggy all the time.

There was every color mum imaginable.

More mums.

And Famous Amos overlooking everything.  He really is HUGE!

 We went and got gas.  It was 20 cents/gallon cheaper out there so I filled the tank.  Then went to the outlet stores.  Joe got a new sports coat and pants.  I got a cake holder and some more kitchen cleaning supplies (that I can find only out there).

By this time it was getting late, so we headed for the show.  We went to Sight and Sound to see Noah.

I had seen Noah about 20 years ago when it first came out.  It has been off of the stage for years now, but is brought back for one year.  Joe had never seen it.  It was changed some, so I call it the "new and improved" Noah.  It was really good.  Of course I can never go to Sight and Sound without crying.  My sister either.  Just ask her.  We always make sure we have tissues with us when we go.  This was no exception.  When at the end an actor portraying Jesus comes onto the stage who gives an invitation to accept Him as Savior it is so touching.  (And people do accept Christ.  It's great!)

So that's the good.  Now for the bad.  Joe was in intense pain from sitting in the theater.  We got into the car and instead of going to dinner decided to go straight home.  I knew I would hit rush hour, but I didn't know how bad it would be.  The 90 minute drive turned into over 3 hours.  What is worse, about 1/4 of the way home the light went on that I was starting to get a flat tire.  There was no where to go, no where to pull over on the highway, so I just had to keep going.

Then to top it off, I took the wrong exit and had NO IDEA where I was.  Joe was beside himself with pain in his back and shoulder and begged me to pull onto the shoulder of the road and put the seat back.  I was afraid to, but found a place where the traffic wasn't too bad and did it.  I laid him back and he said the pain eased up almost right away.  I guess we really shouldn't have gone away because it was too much for him.  I checked the tire and it was low, but OK to continue.  I got back into the car, took out the GPS and plugged it in and got back on the highway.

I must have gone about 30 miles out of my way.  There must have been an Eagles game going on too, because it was all backed up by the sports stadiums, but after I passed that it moved along faster.  So we left Lancaster at 4:30 p.m. and got home around 7:45 p.m.  It was a long drive.  But God was good to us and got us home safely.  Once I laid Joe back, he went to sleep and slept the whole way home.  He said he had never done that before.  But at least he wasn't in pain while he was sleeping.

As Joe was getting ready for bed, he noticed that his silver and emerald pinky ring was missing.  I had bought it for his birthday and he wore it only on special occasions.  It was a little loose on him, but he wanted to wear it.  We searched everywhere but it is nowhere to be found.  He is very upset about it.

It was very cold in the house, so Joe asked me to turn up the heat.  Unfortunately, our heater is not working.  So it is still very cold in the house, although it is getting warmer now that the sun is rising.  I did put on the stove last night to warm up the house a little.

Last night Joe said that we are never going away for our anniversary again because so many bad things happened.  We'll see.  I know he is in a great amount of pain, so when he feels better he might feel differently.

Well, that's my story.  I hope today is better.

Tuesday -- sunny
High:  67 degrees at 3:45 p.m.
Low:  48 degrees at 6:45 a.m.
Sunrise:  6:43 a.m.
Sunset:  7:05 p.m.

SEVEN YEARS AND COUNTING

Today is my seventh wedding anniversary.  How did we spend it?  We began by going to the doctor's together.  How romantic!  (ha, ha)  Joe wanted to have the doctor update his records regarding his hospitalization and I am still having trouble with my left knee.  I now have a referral to an orthopedist.

My friend Debbie and her husband Rusty gave Joe and I two dozen beautiful roses.  They are red and white symbolizing unity.  The perfect bouquet for an anniversary.  Thanks to both of you!

We got a late start out to Lancaster County.  I wanted to leave in the early afternoon to avoid rush hour, but that didn't happen.  We left at 5:00 p.m.  I had made reservations at Miller's Smorgasbord for 7:00 p.m.  It usually takes about an hour and a half, but with the traffic it took two hours.  We actually pulled into the parking lot at 6:56 p.m.

 

 

 We had been going back and forth on where to eat and finally Joe told me to pick anywhere I wanted.  I went on the internet and looked for places close to the hotel we were staying at.  We both love Miller's and haven't been there in a long time.  I saw that now they also have a la carte dishes along with the buffet.  Let's face it, neither of us was up to doing a buffet.  I called the restaurant to see if they were handicapped accessible and they were.  So I made the reservations.  I was so glad I did.

I had fried chicken with potato stuffing, grilled vegetables and applesauce.  Joe had roasted turkey breast with potato stuffing, grilled vegetables and a beautiful salad.  Everything was delicious!

Joe's salad

These grilled vegetables were out of this world!

I was too full for dessert, but Joe made up for me.  He got the dessert bar and had three (yes three!) desserts:  peach crumb pie, pumpkin pie, and chocolate cake.

Joe really enjoyed his peach pie

Pumpkin pie and chocolate cake

Yes, there are three plates here and Joe ate them all.

How cute is this hostess stand?  It's the front of an old car and where the front seat would be is a desk where the hostess stands and greets the guests.  Lots of people were having their picture taken beside it, so I had Joe stand there and took his picture too.

 The place was completely renovated from the last time I was here.  Now there's one whole wing with a gift shop and book store.  There were a lot of nice things in there and not very expensive.  I got myself a silver keyring with my name on it for $2.65.

It was freezing when we came out of the restaurant.  It had dropped into the 50s!  I was so glad I had brought a jacket with me.  Joe had only a sweater, but he said it was warm enough.  I even turned on the heat in the car.

We finally made it to the hotel about 8:30 p.m.  The woman at the desk is so nice and friendly.  She is the one I made my reservation with in July and she remembered me.  She told us the room we are in (which is handicapped accessible) is newly renovated and we would love it.  She was right.  The room is beautiful!  What a nice place to spend our anniversary night.

This is the outside of our room in the "Carriage House".  It's so cute.  I will take a picture of it in the daylight so you can see it better.  But I like the nighttime shot too.

Joe sitting in the slipper chair.  It's the only chair in the room.  He said he looked like FDR in this shot.

It has a king sized (and very comfy) bed that is beautifully made up.

There is a little kitchen area with a microwave, Keurig coffee maker, and refrigerator.

There are double sinks and granite countertops in the bathroom.

And marble tiles and a soaker tub in the bathroom.  I am thinking of taking a bath instead of a shower in the morning.

The little refrigerator is cute and even has a place to hold water bottles or soda cans.

I didn't think I would like dark gray, but I love the color of these walls!

There is a huge TV mounted on the wall across from the bed and we were able to watch the Phillies beat the Marlins 12-2.  Go Phillies!  That is Cliff Lee on the screen.  He won MVP of the game.  (Please ignore the pile of clothing.  I was unpacking the suitcase looking for something.)

Joe is now snoring and I'm about to go to sleep also.  We are going to a show tomorrow afternoon, so I will tell you about that then.

Light rain in the morning, sunny in the afternoon
High:  73 degrees at 3:45 p.m.
Low:  59 degrees at 11:25 p.m.
Sunrise:  6:42 a.m. (in Philadelphia); 6:47 a.m. (in Lancaster)
Sunset:  7:07 p.m. (in Philadelphia); 7:12 p.m. (in Lancaster)

Isn't it strange how the sun rises and sets with a 5 minute difference between Philadelphia and Lancaster?