A QUICK UPDATE

 Hello, friends!  Thanks so much to all of you who have gotten in touch with me and reached out.  I feel so loved!  It means a lot that so many people read and want to read my blog.

I discovered the other day that what I was writing was being twisted and used against me.  So I had to make my blog private.  Hopefully this will end all of that.

I am feeling better each day from my dental surgery.  It was VERY painful the first day.  I am still swollen and having trouble eating, but since I see (and feel) so much improvement every day I am hopeful that I will be OK very soon.  Here's hoping that's the last tooth I ever have to have pulled.

This is going to be short.  I am heading out to make dinner.  I got some salmon and I am going to poach it because I think that will be easy to eat.  Probably some mashed potatoes too.  I have been trying to stay away from carbs but when you can't eat much, you do what you can.  The diet will come back in a week or two.

Take care, everyone.  If you can read this post, please let me know.  Even if you don't usually comment, just say "I saw it" so I know this invitation thing is working.  See you all soon.

Kathy

SEE YOU SOON

 I had a tooth extracted today.  (Not many of them left!)  I am hurting and very swollen, but not as much as I expected.  Still, pain is pain.

Joe made me mashed potatoes tonight for dinner and I was able to get them down.  Had some ice cream earlier, but was hard to swallow.  I actually had a soft pumpkin spice cookie that melted in my mouth and so I was able to eat it.  But only one because even that was difficult.  Even WATER is difficult.

At least it has stopped bleeding.  Our friend Carole took Joe to the pharmacy and he got my antibiotics.  I hope that will help.  I've had only one dose and will take another at 10:00 p.m. so I can't expect much relief just yet.

In any case, this week and next are very busy and here I am sort of laid up.  I even cancelled my eye doctor on Wednesday.  I really need to see him though.  Please pray I heal quickly.  I am going to take the rest of this week off from blogging unless I feel a lot better.  Just wanted to let you all know.

If you really miss me, I filmed a short (very short) vlog post for YouTube last night when I could still talk.  It is going up on my usual day of Wednesday, so if you want you can hop on over there in a couple of days.  It's at "Kathy's Happy Home."

See you all soon.  But probably not until the weekend.

Kathy

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON

 

Hello, friends!  We've been home from our anniversary trip for five days now.  We love Lancaster so much.  

Yesterday Joe had a doctor's appointment at the VA Hospital.  When he got out, we got on I-76 but instead of turning to go home, I kept right on going and went back out to Lancaster.  We had lunch at the Bird-in-Hand Restaurant and then came back home.  Ah...  It was so nice.  Joe had roast turkey and stuffing for lunch, and I had meatloaf.  We both had mashed potatoes and green beans.  Joe had pumpkin pie for dessert, but I was too full.  I did take a bite of his, though, and it was so good!  

I am so glad we can go out there anytime we want.  We are still looking at houses and Lancaster is definitely a possibility.  The houses out there are so expensive though.  We did find a condo community that is reasonable, so we probably will be looking at that. 

There are also a couple of houses here that are interesting.  We are still looking.  We need to get away from the neighbors next to us as soon as we can.  (The worst part of moving is downsizing and packing up.)

I went to the dental surgeon the other day.  I am having my bad tooth extracted on Monday.  Not looking forward to that but will be glad when it is all over.  We have a big trip coming up in a couple of weeks and I want to have this over with before that happens.

Joe is at Bible Study right now.  As soon as that is over, we are having dinner.  I am making two fillet mignons that my sister gave me with mushrooms, mashed potatoes and whatever veggie I can find in the freezer.  I've been wanting to have this meal for several days to celebrate our anniversary, but it just hasn't worked out until now.  My friend, Marion, gave us a bottle of sparkling cider to go with it.  I will drink just a little bit because I am not supposed to drink carbonated beverages with my esophageal problems.

Today I finally got my car into the garage for inspection and an oil change.  So expensive but I need my car.  And now I am confident to take it on another long ride.  Well, several.

So that is what has been going on.  Sorry I don't have any pictures for you this time.  You will have to use your imaginations.  😊

Enjoy your fall, everyone.  I'm already missing summer.  It's getting dark earlier and earlier these days.

I will be talking to you soon.

Kathy

OUR FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY

 

Hello, friends!  This is what Joe and I looked like 15 years ago.  And this:

And this:

How can 15 years pass so quickly?

We went to Lancaster County to celebrate our anniversary this week.  We actually went there on our honeymoon.  We did a lot less this time.  We headed out on Wednesday afternoon and got there in time for an early dinner.  We stopped at Dienner's to eat.  And we got there at just the right time.  We were able to be seated immediately.  But by the time we left there was a crowd waiting and they were handing out pagers.  Joe got the buffet and I got the chicken dinner with stuffing and broccoli.  Everything was good.  Then we headed on to the hotel.

The only place we could find to stay was the Wyndham Conference Center and Resort.  We had never been there before and I didn't know exactly where it was.  So I ended up going in the wrong driveway, coming back out on Route 30, going in another wrong driveway, coming back out and finally finding where it was.

We were impressed when we drove up.  But when we walked to the door I saw a spotted lanternfly.  I tried to step on it, but it flew off.  Then another.  And another.  There must have been about 50 of them. Not a nice welcome.

We went inside and there were lots of steps to walk up to the enormous lobby.  And I mean enormous.  We walked over to the front desk and had to wait for someone to even notice us.  Finally we were able to check in and were given our room keys.  I thought they were really cute.

We were beat so we just settled in for the night.  The bed was very comfy.  Wish it were my bed for every night.  I took some pictures of the room to show you.  This was the view from the bed.  Our problem was that the remote did not work for the TV.  Joe had to turn it off and on by hand (just like the old days).  We had it off while Joe sat at the desk and joined in the online Bible Study he goes to every Wednesday night.  I was beat so I just laid on the bed and actually fell asleep for awhile.  When he was finished, we turned on the TV and found a Pittsburgh - Cincinnati baseball game.  In fact, we watched two.  One in the afternoon and one in the evening.  We both love baseball so we really enjoyed that.  Especially when Pittsburgh won the first game!  

I had called down to the front desk and asked for another remote but no one ever showed up.  So after the game Joe went down to the desk and they changed the batteries.  I had already told them that was not the problem.  Needless to say, it didn't work.

This was the picture on the wall.  I really liked it.

And the really comfy king sized bed.  We do not have a bed this large and it was great having room to spread out.

We had asked for a handicapped accessible room and they gave it to us.  I loved the walk-in shower.  It had a bar for me to hold onto and a shower chair so I could sit down as I do at home.

Thursday was our actual anniversary.  It was a beautiful day.  As you can see, the view out our window was the roof.

We slept in, but still got up in time to go to breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Joe got scrambled eggs, bacon and pancakes.  I got scrambled eggs and turkey sausage.  He had coffee and I had tea.  It was crowded and we had to wait to get seated.  We ate fast because we had tickets to the 11:00 show at Sight and Sound.

The show was Queen Esther and like all the shows there it was fantastic.  Especially the costumes and sets.  We had great seats.  I don't think I've ever been that close to the side stage where I could actually see the actors up close and personal.

We were still full from breakfast when the show was over so we skipped lunch and went back to the room.  Joe read the news online and I slept for about 2 hours.  We were disappointed that they did not make up the room while we were gone.

When I woke up we decided we had better go to dinner since it was getting late.  There was a rule in the hotel that no food could be taken into your room, so the microwave and coffee machine had been removed.  There wasn't even a cup for us to use to rinse our mouth out when we brushed our teeth.

We thought we would eat at Katie's Kitchen and headed there.  It was around 6:30 p.m. and I thought it closed at 8:00 p.m.  But I was wrong and they closed at 7:00 p.m.  Too late to get dinner.

I had read online about a new place called Agape Grill further on down the road, and I knew they said they were open 8-8.  We headed there.  I almost drove past it, but saw a sign and headed in.  It was crowded.  Mostly with Amish and Mennonite people.  I always say if the locals eat there, it must be good.  And it was.  

They gave us a pager and we wandered around outside for a bit.  The farm next to the restaurant had a field of goats.  Lots and lots of goats.  They were so cute.

It took us awhile to get seated and it took quite awhile to get our food.  We both had burgers, fries and onion rings.  I got water and Joe had a mango spritzer.  I tried a sip of his and it was really good.  There was so much food we couldn't finish it.  But we couldn't take it with us because we couldn't bring food into the building.  *sigh*

We were talking to the owner when we were leaving.  The grill has been open for 10 months and business is booming.  She goes to Philly a lot and asked for a recommendation of a place to eat.  Joe and I told her about King George II Inn and she said she will check it out.

When we got back to the hotel, we got ready for bed.  They had finally replaced the remote and we watched a Phillies - Chicago game.  A great game.  It was wonderful.  And the Phillies won!  It was a fantastic anniversary gift.

Friday was a little rainy but not enough to ruin the day.  It sort of drizzled off and on.  We slept in again and finally got up, got ourselves together and checked out.  We went to Bird-in-Hand Restaurant for breakfast.  It was great.  Joe had a western omelet and rye toast.  I had scrambled eggs, home fries and sourdough bread toast.  I don't usually like toast, but this was so good!

After breakfast we met up with fellow bloggers Beatrice and Grenville from The Frog and PenguINN.  They are just the best people and Joe and I had so much fun sitting outside and talking to them.  I love meeting people who also blog.  It was like we had known each other for years.  And in a way we have.  If you haven't read their blog, head on over there and visit with them.  I know they would love that.

I really liked the fall display outside of the restaurant and had to get a picture of that before we left.

But we did have to leave.  And so we did.  It took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get home.  About a half hour longer than usual.  Traffic was bad even though we left early enough to miss rush hour.  I guess there is never a good time on I-76.

We got home in time to have dinner and then head out to Bible Study.  (We are studying Revelation.)  Joe had bought some mini whoopee pies at Bird-in-Hand (chocolate, pumpkin and red velvet) and took them with us.  They were a big hit.

And so it is now back to normal.  Only not so normal because we are still cleaning out the house.  And I have so many doctor appointments coming up.  And I have to take the car in for inspection and oil change.  And in two weeks we have a conference and a wedding to go to which will take us away for an entire week. And sometime in there I have a tooth extraction.  And...  well, that's enough isn't it?  If you don't hear from me for awhile you will know it's because I am overwhelmed.

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.  I will see you soon.

Kathy

TWENTY YEARS LATER

 

Hello, friends.  What a solemn and sad day this is.  Twenty years ago our country was attacked.  Thousands of people died.  And thousands more were scarred forever.  My sister and I are two of them.  I have written about this before but I really need to repeat myself today.  Some of my readers are new and have not heard my story.  Mostly, it is for me.

Twenty years ago Elaine and I were vacationing in Mystic, CT.  We had been there for several days and were going to head home that day.  The day was beautiful.  We both remarked on how clear the sky was.  And it was the perfect temperature.  A perfect day.

Mystic is a beautiful little town that was once a major seaport in colonial New England.  As you can see from this sign it was settled in 1654.

Across the street from where we were staying was Olde Mystik Village.  It is a little park with lots of stores and several restaurants.  We had been there earlier in the week taking pictures of all the beautiful plants and even the ducks swimming in the stream.  We decided to eat breakfast at one of them and so got ready and went over there to eat.

As we were eating we kept hearing the wait staff talking about an accident, but we couldn't figure out what they were talking about.

After we were finished eating, we wandered around the village a bit and then went back to the hotel and started packing to go home.  Elaine was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and I sat on one of the beds and turned on "Good Morning America" while I waited for my turn in the bathroom.  They were showing a picture of a burning building and said it was one of the Twin Towers.  I called to Elaine and asked if that wasn't where she and her friend had eaten once.  She said yes.  I told her it was on fire.  She came into the room, holding her toothbrush and together we watched in horror as the second plane flew into the other tower.

Then we saw the Pentagon burning.  We didn't know what to do.  Here we were in Connecticut and to get back to Elaine's home in New Jersey we had to drive through New York City.  Obviously we couldn't do that.  We were both in shock by this time and so confused.  Should we see if we could stay where we were for another day and hope things would be better the next day?  Should we try to get home or at least part of the way home?  Finally we decided to try to get as close to home as possible.  We had some money if we had to get a hotel room for the night.  And if no hotels were available, we thought we could sleep in the car.

We went back to Mystik Village and bought lots of water and snacks because we didn't know if we would be able to find someplace to eat or drink.  We also went to the bathroom because we didn't know when we would find another restroom.  Then we started out on I-95.

We had to drive the entire width of the state.  All along the highway there were signs saying "NYC closed.  Please use another route."  I thought this was a historic day and took pictures of them.  We had the radio on, changing stations as they faded out so that we knew what was going on.

We got as far as we could and stopped at a rest stop that happened to be open.  (A lot of them weren't.)  All the people there were so nice.  I was talking to Elaine today and that's one of the things she mentioned.  EVERYONE was NICE.  We were all in this together.  We bought a map and tried to decide what route to take.  One of the rest stop employees came over to us and helped us determine which way to go.  He said he would pray for us.  The other travelers we saw looked as shell shocked as we were.

We ended up traveling north into Massachusetts, west into northern New York state, then south (west of NYC) into northern New Jersey and from there to Elaine's house.  It took us all day to do what was a 2 1/2 hour trip there.

I will never forget this day as long as I live.  It was the worst day of my life.  And every year on this day Elaine and I call each other if we can't be together and share with each other.  I'm so glad we were together and didn't have to go through this alone.  I was going to go home the next day, but stayed a couple of days longer with her.  We needed to be together.  And tears still come when we think about this day.

Please love each other.  There should be no room for hate in this world.  Pray for each other.  Love God and trust Him to work out this old world.

I love each of you and pray for you.  Thank you for reading my story.

Kathy

LABOR DAY

 

Hello, friends!  Hope you all had a good day today.  It is heading for midnight and I need to go to bed soon so I can get up for Bible Study in the morning.

Even though it is a holiday, it didn't seem that way to me.  I didn't put out any flags and we didn't do anything special.  I have so much cleaning to do and didn't even get that done.  So much to do and no energy at all.

I'm really trying to get caught up on things.  We are planning on moving soon.  If we can find a house, that is.  And the house I am living in is a mess.  So much to do!  We are looking at a house on Wednesday.  I saw it as I was driving down the street on Sunday and then looked it up online.  It looks really good except for some updating.  But you can make anything look good online.  So seeing it for myself in person is really important.

So many things are coming up in the next few weeks.  I will, of course, be taking you along.  Wait until you see.  I am so excited.

For dinner I made fried pork chops and we had left over green beans and broccoli.  I almost never fry my chops anymore.  But the air fryer was dirty and the dishwasher was full so I just grabbed a pan.

Speaking of the dishwasher, it seems a seal has disintegrated and now there is water leaking from the door when the machine is running.  Joe says that he can fix it, we just have to go get the part.  So that is on our "to do" list for this week.

I also have to get to a dentist soon!  My teeth are very much bothering me.  I think it will come to just getting them pulled.  I don't have hundreds of dollars to work on them.  *sigh*

And now I MUST get going and get to bed.  Morning comes early and I have been oversleeping the last two days.  Take care and I will be back soon.

Kathy

WELCOME SEPTEMBER

 And here it is -- September has arrived.  September is my favorite month of the year.  Half summer, half fall.  My two favorite seasons.  September always seems like a new beginning.  So September 1 is special.

One thing I did today was get my hair trimmed.  It's really not that different because it was just getting an inch taken off.  But doing that keeps it looking nice and not getting stringy.

After I was finished, I went and picked up my friend Donna and we went food shopping.  I had just gotten my pension money so this is when I do my monthly order.  Then during the rest of the month I just pick up the few things we run out of like bread, milk, eggs, etc.

As we were leaving the store it began raining.  And it has been raining ever since.  Lots of rain.  And reports of a tornado.  It's the end of Hurricane Ida.  Lots of flooding.  Here is a short video my brother took of his street.

https://www.facebook.com/1005378955/videos/385346482957607/

In spite of all of this, we still had our annual dinner of spare ribs, potato salad and sliced tomatoes.  Each year it is a little different, but it's always spare ribs.  They were wonderful.

I think Joe liked his dinner.

I just used paper plates so I didn't have to wash the very sticky plates.

And now September is here and I will start doing all kinds of autumn things.  I think you will enjoy it.

Have a great evening everyone.  I will see you soon.

Kathy