HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Hope all of you are having a better Fourth than I am.  It started out OK, but when I leaned over this morning to put Joe's breakfast plate on the table, my back went out.  Oh!  It is really painful.  I can hardly move.  I had planned to get so much done today, but ended up not doing much of anything due to not being able to move.  As a result I have spent much of the day laying on the loveseat watching TV.

Joe has experienced bad heartburn and now a sore throat and major headache.  What is going on with us?  We are falling apart.

It was a beautiful day, though.  I was able to get a couple loads of wash done and hang it outside in the sun.  I love the way clothes smell when they have been hung on the line.  Now the problem is getting them down and into the house since it is painful for me to carry anything.

I am going to make dinner soon.  We are having hot dogs.  I got some baked beans and will make a quick potato salad.  Joe has an ear of corn left over from dinner last night, so he will probably have that too.  My cooking skills have gone down lately, but it's just been too hot to cook.

I hope I get to see some fireworks tonight.  Sometimes the neighbors set them off and sometimes they don't.  It's illegal to have fireworks (except for the professionals) in Philadelphia, but it's not illegal to sell them.  Figure that one out.  But there is always someone who will set them off irregardless of the law.

I did take a short walk and took some pictures, so I'll end this post with that.

My front door

And my front window

One of the houses across the street

Uncle Sam.  He's not really being held captive, just in the parking lot at the Viet Nam Veterans.  It could be a political statement though.

 

 

At the Viet Nam Veterans' building.

And what's the Fourth of July without a Cherished Teddy?

Hope however you spent the day it was a good one.

AND IT'S DOWN!

Yes, I am at work.  No, I am not goofing off.  Well, technically I am.  But that is because our computer system is down (AGAIN!).  There isn't much we can do without our computers.  We can't check in.  We can't check out.  We can't look things up.  All we have been able to do is shelve.  And when that is done, we just sit around looking pretty.

Today is our children's librarian Sheila's birthday.  We got her red velvet and chocolate cupcakes and a card.  She is totally happy about that.  Jerry (the boss) is on vacation this week.  Things are running so smoothly without him.  Bob is off today, and Diane is taking off on Thursday.  If only our computers were working, things would be good.

Our Summer Reading Game continues.  The prizes this week are a cool keychain, a bag of chips, and a coupon for a free game of bowling.  Can I be a kid for the summer?  Please?

We just got an email that Information Technology is working on the problem with the computers.  Hopefully it will be fixed soon.  In the meantime I think I'll surf the net.  Or read.  After all, it is a library.

P.S.  We got the word at 4:30 p.m. that we were closing at 5:00 p.m.  instead of 8:00 p.m.  You should have seen us move to get everything done.  But we did it!  Nice.  Work 5 hours and get paid for 7 1/2.

LEMONADE

Life has certainly given me a bunch of lemons lately.  Joe's seizures, my heart problems, financial problems and the HEAT!  I was not feeling well this morning while sitting in church.  I have such a headache.  So life is not being good right now.

Our message this morning really helped me to put some things into perspective.  It was about how things come into our lives to grow us, stretch us, bring us closer to God.  And not necessarily good things.  It was the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac.  Everything looked bad, but God had a better plan.

But back to the lemonade.  Do you like lemonade?  I do.  As a child I never had lemonade.  We didn't have it in our house.  The very first time I tasted it was at my Sunday School teacher's house when I was 12 years old.  I really didn't like it all that much.

I really started drinking it when I was in my 30s.  Now I love it.  I found a recipe on simplyrecipes.com for the Perfect Lemonade.  It sounds good and easy and I am going to make it.  Here it is for you.
 

Perfect Lemonade Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)

Method

1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.
2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.
3 Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.
Serve with ice, sliced lemons.
Yield: Serves 6.

So friends, take your lemons and make lemonade.  Both in your life and in your menu!