HAVE A HEART

I am trying (yes TRYING) to get the house un-Christmasized and un-winterized and putting some Valentines around.  I have not gotten very far.  I am always so tired after working all day.  (And my arthritis hurts way bad -- but that's another story.)

The other day I did get some things done, so here is what I've done so far.

Isn't this cute?  My friend, Debbie, gave it to me.  I put it on the windowsill where it gets some sunlight for the solar cell.

 And here's a short video of it.

I have had this heart wreath for years.  I got it from Avon.  It used to have a cupid in it, but somehow he got broken.  It's still pretty even without him.

My cute little Cupid.  He's on one side of the TV.

My Cherished Teddy is on the other side of the TV.  She's so cute.

 I have more stuff to show you, but I don't have pictures of them yet....  And the table is messed up....  And I don't take pictures of my dirty house because I would be embarrassed....  And you are all nice people so you wouldn't want to embarrass me....  But hopefully soon (as in the next few days) you will see more.

How is your decorating coming?  Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

Kathy

SNOW DAYS

We have had quite a time the last two days with the "Storm of the Century".  I began my day yesterday taking Joe for his doctor's appointment at the VA Hospital.  It was lightly snowing and some of the streets were a little slippery.  I was NOT going fast even on the highway and let people pass me by.  I can drive in snow and ice but it's not my favorite thing.

I hadn't had time to eat because we left really early not knowing how the driving would be.  So we had time for breakfast.  There's a Starbucks inside the hospital so Joe bought me a cranberry muffin and an iced tea.  That muffin was so good!

We had to go to three different departments so it took longer than expected to get out.  I thought I would be back to work by noon, but when we got out at 11:00 I knew I wouldn't make it.  I called work and told them I would be there around 1:00.

On the way home we stopped at Lowe's to get some salt for the pavement.  There were only a few bags left.  People were walking out with 20 - 30 bags in their carts.  We wanted just one.  Then we went across the parking lot to Chick-Fil-A and got some lunch.  It was a treat for Joe since he seldom gets out of the house.  And I have fallen in love with their grilled chicken.  I tried it once and will never go back.

I dropped Joe off at home.  He was light headed so I got him upstairs to go to bed.  I started to go to the bathroom and then heard a thump.  Joe had fallen again.  So I helped him get up and in to bed.  He promised to stay there until I got home at 6:30.

It was snowing pretty hard as I started to work.  I turned on the radio and was almost to the library when I heard that all city offices were shutting down at 2:00.  OK.  I debated about turning around and going home, but I was almost there, so I went in.

I worked a whole hour, then went home for the day.  I was sort of glad to do that because by now it was starting to lay and I wasn't looking forward to that drive home in the dark.

The back yard looked nice though.

My pine tree is hanging in there.

I had some energy so I started cleaning the living room, taking down the wintery things and putting out some Valentine's things.  Joe had given me one of my Valentine's gifts early.  He was too excited to wait.  Isn't this a beautiful candle holder?  I have never seen anything like this.  I put it on top of the stove heater.

The snow started laying last night.  I was sure it was going to be bad and was glad I had gotten a parking spot in front of the house.

Today I woke up to the news that the City was closed for today.  I didn't have to go to work.  I love snow days.  I'm just like a kid.

But... we didn't get all that much snow.  All the schools were closed, the city was closed, and we got 1 1/2 inches of snow.  I was about to go out to clean off the sidewalk when I heard a noise and saw one of my neighbors walk past the window.  I went to the door and my sidewalk was done.  Even though it wasn't warm out, by this afternoon the walkway was completely dry and clear.  That was so nice.

You can see how overcast it was this morning and the snow was still coming down. 

By this afternoon, however, the sun was trying to peek through the clouds.

I lit my candle, cleaned some, made meatloaf for dinner and watched TV.  Back to work and Bible Study tomorrow.  It's been a good day.

Kathy
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Tuesday's weather
Light snow
High:  34 degrees
Low:  22 degrees
Sunrise:  7:14 a.m.
Sunset:  5:14 p.m.
10 hours of daylight.  Yes!!!
Now my SADD will ease up and I'm going to start feeling better.    

IT'S A SUNDAY

It was my week to bring the treat for Sunday Fellowship.  I was so tired yesterday after work that I thought I would just wait until this morning to bake.  I should have done it last night.  I was really running today (and running late) to get the cake baked and get to church on time.  I was 10 minutes late, but that didn't seem to matter.  I had one slice of cake to take home to Joe.  It was an almond pound cake.  I had bought the mix at the New Jersey State Fair last year because my sister, Elaine, said it was so good.  She was right.  The hardest part of it was that it had to bake for an hour.

Only part of the Hope Praise Band was there today.  Caity was working and Joe just had surgery on his knee so wasn't able to play the drums.

The big news is that as of today we have officially changed our church's name.  We are now Hope Philadelphia Church.  This is our new logo:

 And our new website is www.hopephilly.org.  It's a really cool site.  You can see a picture of Joe with his mustache even though he has since shaved it off.

I finally put up the white and red lights in the living room window and a heart shaped wreath on the front door.  I can't find my heart light to put in the window.  I'm looking.  But if I can't find it in a few days I will just put up some heart shaped clings.  I'm going to continue working on decorating this week and hope to give you pictures for your next Friday View.

I had such a good dinner tonight.  I had gotten some thick pork chops so I cut a pocket in them, made some stuffing out of three slices of bread and stuffed them, then put them in the oven.  They were so good.  I haven't made stuffing in so long.  It's good to know I haven't lost my touch.

Joe is feeling better although not well enough to go to church.  He says the anti-biotics are really helping him.  On Friday he was running a fever, had a sore throat, a sinus headache and a cough.  All that's left now is the cough and that not very much.  I insisted he get some medicine right away so I didn't get it.  The wife always knows best.  Even the husband admits it.

 

I have to take Joe to the VA Hospital tomorrow morning.  He has to be there by 8:30 a.m.  I will be going into work late.  The weather report is for snow tomorrow morning, tomorrow night and into Tuesday.  It's supposed to be up to 5 inches, but you never know.

So I have to run for now and get ready for bed.  It's going to be a long day tomorrow.  Until later...

Kathy

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Sunday's weather

Cloudy

High:  36 degrees

Low:  27 degrees

Sunrise:  7:15 a.m.

Sunset:  5:11 p.m.

 9 hours and 56 minutes of daylight
Woo hoo!  The day is almost 10 hours long. 

FRIDAY VIEW

This has been quite a week.  I've been working every other day.  That has made it very confusing for me.

Monday -- Holiday for Martin Luther King Day.
Tuesday -- worked 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday -- took a personal day to take Joe to an appointment
Thursday -- worked 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday -- day off this week
Saturday -- working 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

You would think with all the time off I would have done a lot around the house.  Instead, all I did was sleep.  I am so tired all the time.

Today I went to the doctor's to get my 3 month blood test.  Each time I am tested for different things.  While I was there I asked the doctor to look at my hand.  I have had a lump growing on my index finger on my right hand.  It hurts something awful.  It is starting to shrink, but the pain is still bad.  I thought it might be a cyst, but she thinks it is a torn tendon.  It just has to heal.

Because I couldn't eat before the blood test, I was really hungry when I left the office.  It was almost 11:30.  So I went to the Chinese buffet and got take away.  I didn't know they had it, but I asked and they did.  So for under $5 I got a big lunch.  It was so good.

We were supposed to have a lot of snow on Tuesday and it turned out to be a dusting.  More rain than anything else.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a major snow storm.  I am hoping for more rain.  If it is bad, I will take the bus instead of driving.  I am glad I work so close to home.

It's getting late so I will get right to your Friday View.  I took this the other day when I parked my car.  These houses are on the next street over from me.  It's the last vestiage of Christmas.  Two days after I took this, all the lights were gone.

I've started decorating for Valentine's Day so hopefully I will show that to you this week.

Kathy

MY HOUSEPLANTS NEED HELP!

I love plants.  And flowers.  You can tell by the way I keep my tiny garden in back of the house.  I do well outside.  Then what is wrong with me in the house?

I try.  I really do.  But I can forget to water them for a couple of weeks.  What is wrong with me?  

I used to have a lot of plants, but now I am down to four.  And they are not in good shape except for one.  I have plans to clean them up this weekend.  They all need to be cleaned, re-potted and, in the case of the African violet, the pot cleaned.  I also have an amaryllis that my sister gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago that I never planted.  I am going to try planting that also and see what happens.  At this point maybe nothing.  BUT...  I might actually see a flower in time for Spring!

So here are my poor little plants.  Hopefully I will be able to show them to you in a few weeks looking much better.

I don't know what kind of plant this is.  I do know it is very old.  It is a slip off of a plant I had in my old house 35 years ago.  The one I had died and my sister gave me this off of hers which was a slip off of the original plant.

My poor Easter cactus.  It needs a good cleaning.  It is like a Christmas cactus, but blooms at Easter time.  It's pretty healthy, though, so I know I can save it.

My African violet has seen better days.  Before I took the picture I pulled off all the dead leaves.  But it needs clean soil and a clean pot desperately.

Another one that I don't know the name of.  It is related to the snake plant but has much smaller leaves.  I have two babies growing off of the larger part.  I think by putting it in clean soil it will do much better.  Needs a good cleaning too.

 Well, folks, you know what I will be doing on my day off on Friday.  Do you have houseplants?  What kind does well for you?  I'd love to get a couple more this summer.

Kathy

Here's a couple more 8:30 a.m. pictures for you.

Monday, January 19

Tuesday, January 20

  

SUNDAY PRAISE -- CANNONS

Psalm 139:17-18

¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

 Cannons by Phil Wickham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GNVWAo1pY

CELEBRATING LARRY'S BIRTHDAY -- FINALLY!

After a week of bad weather (on Larry's actual birthday of January 3rd), and a weekend I had to work, we finally made it to Lancaster County to celebrate my youngest brother Larry's birthday.  We met up at Miller's Smorgasbord for lunch.  We tried to decide between a la carte or the buffet and all four of us went for the buffet.  The food was good (as usual!).

Here is Joe.  No, he is not drinking a beer.  Well, sort of.  It's a Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer.

This is my brother Larry, the birthday boy.  The glare you see on these pictures is from the sun pouring in the big picture windows behind our table.

And here is my sister-in-love, Kim.  She's just as sweet as she is pretty.

We were there about 2 hours or a little bit more.  We ate and talked and ate and talked and ATE.  I was glad I did not overeat though.  I had a cup of wonderful potato soup.  I just can't pass that up.  Then I had a fried chicken leg, mixed vegetables and potato stuffing.  I gave in and got a second plate with two chicken wings, a tablespoon of dill potato salad and a serving of sliced melons.  Oh my were those melons good!  Kim and I agreed though that I make a better potato salad.  That's why mine is "world famous"!  Ha, ha.  At least in my world.

Here's the view outside one of the windows in the restaurant.  Isn't that a beautiful sight to eat by?  We could see a road and were watching the Amish buggies go by.

After we ate we stopped in the gift shop.  I got a little Amish cookbook with some really great recipes in that I have to try.  I also got a new tote bag, some popcorn to take to work, and some sticky buns for Joe and me.

Then we went outside and while Joe sat in the car, Larry and I went to take pictures.  We were taking the same shots so it will be interesting to see how we were alike and how we were different.  Be sure to check out his view of things at his blog:  Exploration Photography.  In the meantime, this is my view of the farms around the restaurant.

I love how you can see where the crops were and how they lead to the farmhouse in the background.

This is probably my favorite picture of what I took today.

I love this tree also.  Without leaves you can really see how the branches all interact with each other.

I was watching these horses through the windows the whole time I was eating.

Another great tree.

These rows of harvested crops just fascinated me.  Knowing they were plowed by hand with horses dragging the plow made them all the more special.

When we were finished taking the pictures, we went our ways.  Larry and Kim were heading home and Joe and I were heading for Rockvale Mall.  We went to Hagar and I bought Joe a couple pair of dress pants.  I had been wracking my brain what to get him for Valentine's Day and he said he wanted me to get him these.  So it's an early gift.  He can use them too because he is still losing weight and his others are getting too big on him.

Then we headed over to Christmas Tree Hill to get some advent wreath candles.  We had used ours for two years and they were pretty well burned down.  I will pack them away with the wreath so I can find them next year.

We were getting into the car to come home when I looked up at the sky and saw this X.  How strange!  I had to get a picture of it.

Our last stop was to get gas.  If I wanted to get home, that was a must!  We always go to this same station.  I love how they have a statue of a horse and buggy right there next to the gas pumps.  In the summer you will see kids over there petting the horse.

We then headed on home.  I was glad to get where it was a little bit warmer.  It was 22*F. in Lancaster and 35*F. in Philly.  You wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it did!  It was FREEZING out there!!!!

I have not been very diligent getting my 8:30 a.m. photo.  I have missed several days.  But I did get it this morning.

As an added bonus, I also got the crescent moon!

So until later....

Kathy

RESOLUTIONS

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?  Some people do, while others don't bother.  I usually don't.  I find I disappoint myself because I can never keep them.  But this year I am going to try again.  I am really serious about this.  I've been feeling lately as if my life is out of control.  Maybe by writing this down I will be making a promise to myself to at least try.

1.  Stop eating junk food.  Oh how I love my junk.  But I know it isn't doing my body any good.  I am trying.  Last night I had a caesar salad for dinner.  I didn't finish it all, so that's my lunch for work today.

2.  Be more organized.  I used to be so organized and now my life seems to be chaos.  I have to get myself back on track.  How could I be so organized at 12 years of age and so out of control now?

3.  Keep my house clean.  I am so tired when I get home from work that I sleep rather than clean.  But now the house is totally out of control.  I don't want to come home and see clutter all over the place.  So that is a biggie to me.  I'm trying a new plan this year so let's see how that goes.  I can take only baby steps with this because of my health issues.  My body won't let me clean for hours on end.  But doing something is better than doing nothing.


4.  Getting to places on time.  It is the one thing that drives Joe nuts.  I am always late.  Late to work, late to church, late to doctor appointments.  I am going to try hard to be on time.

So there you have it.  Are these things doable?  I think so.  I hope so.  I keep saying that when I retire in a few years and have more time that I can do these things.  But then I think of my dad who died of cancer two months before he was going to retire.  We aren't guaranteed anything or any amount of time here on earth.  So I need to start now.

That's my rant for today.  Thanks for reading.

Kathy

THROWBACK THURSDAY

And so life goes on in my household.  Nothing really happening.  Just day to day life -- get up, work, make dinner, bed.  I'm looking forward to a three day weekend, though.  So in order for you not to be too bored with this blog, I am doing a Throwback Thursday for you.

Here is a picture that I found on Old Images of Philadelphia.  The year is 1923 and the beginning of a new bridge spanning the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey is just starting to be built.

It was originally called the Delaware River Bridge, but is known now as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.  I see it all the time driving on I-95 (which runs along the river's edge) and use it when I am coming back from the New Jersey shore.

It must have been a marvel in its day.  Thanks for taking a look back with me.  Hopefully I'll find something to write about soon!

Kathy

MISS A'S FIRST BIRTHDAY

I'm taking a break from my Christmas decluttering to celebrate little Miss A.  She is my very favorite little person and brings such joy to my life.  Can you believe it's been one year already?  Where does the time go?  She has changed so much in one year.  This is what she looked like last January 11:

And here she is today:

 Isn't she a beauty?  I know the next year will bring even more changes into her life.  It's so exciting to imagine how she will grow and come into her own personhood.

So Happy Birthday, Miss A!  And many more to come.  You are very loved by many people.

Kathy