Food, picnic, shopping

Another weekend is about over. I got some much-needed organizing done on my desk yesterday. What a relief!

Last evening I made an oatmeal cake to take to the church picnic today. We almost never eat desserts, but making that cake just put me in the mood. And I didn't feel like waiting until the picnic. So I went to the store and got the stuff I needed to make some of my yummy peanut butter rice krispie treats. I am convinced they are my very favorite sweet.

This morning we went to church (except for Dick - he had to work, of course.) The praise and worship, as well as the message, were so powerful and just what I needed.

After church we went to a nearby park for the church's annual Memorial Day picnic. There were lots and lots of people (I think everybody's entire families and all their friends came!) But there was lots and lots of food too. The deacons were grilling all kinds of meat, and there were tons of salads and desserts. I took a plateful of food, including some ribs, to Dick at work. I just hate when he has to miss out on things like this.

Part way through the afternoon Austin had had enough of it. He napped under a tree for a while. Doesn't he look so big on this picture?

This evening I did some shopping. I went to The Shoe Department at the mall. When I paid I suddenly remembered that I still do not have my new bank card. I wasn't sure I had enough cash, and I momentarily forgot that I could probably write a check. (Who does that anymore?) So I pulled out my brand new Capital One card, which just arrived in the mail to replace the stolen one. I had read one time that you shouldn't sign the back of a credit card, but instead write, "Ask for ID" on the strip on the back. So I had done that to this new card. The cashier handed me a thing on which to swipe my card. I had my driver's license all ready to show, but she never took my card, never even looked at it. She just handed me a receipt on which to sign my name. I asked her if she doesn't look at the signature. She said that she is not allowed to. 

At some point The Shoe Department had an incident where a cashier did not bother to look at a customer's card. However, for the next customer the cashier asked to see the card and also asked for ID. The second person sued The Shoe Department. Since then they are not supposed to handle or look at the back of credit cards, nor ask for ID. Can you believe that???? Thank goodness I knew my card was stolen last week and canceled it within an hour. How easy it would have been for someone to use it!

Speaking of that incident, the thief did use my bank card three times last Friday evening, and the charges all went through, a total of $154. Apparently my card could not really be canceled until midnight even though I called around 5 PM. My bank claims that those charges will be reversed, but I'm still waiting.

Have a fun Memorial Day!

Starting him young!

Today I taught Austin to sort his laundry, hahahaha!

This video is a bit long.  There's nothing that special at the end of it, unless you would like to see Dick's feet up close and personal.

my not-so-dramatic week

This week is just moving right along, isn't it?  After my dramatic story from the weekend, it feels like nothing since is interesting, hahahaha!  But I like it that way a whole lot better.

Monday was Anthony and Lori's 7th anniversary.  They went out for the day and evening.  Austin and I had a wonderful day together. 

On Tuesday I got a new iPhone.  Anthony, Lori, Dick, and I are on one big family plan.  On Sunday Lori put her phone on the roof of their car (can you believe it?????  I would never do something like that!!)  And you already guessed what happened.  Not only did it fall off, it got run over.  So because Anthony and Lori are not yet eligible for upgrades, we ended up getting me a new phone, at a very amazing price at Walmart, and I gave mine, which used to be Lori's, back to her.  So now I can take videos.  Here's my first one.  Austin has discovered that the box his water table came in makes a good sliding board.  He crawls up and slides down over and over again.  But of course, as soon as I got my phone out for a video, he was soon finished.  This grandma is just too slow for him sometimes.

We're having HOT weather and I love it.  I spent the evening working in the flower beds.  What a difference from last week.  It had rained the previous two days, thus the weeks pulled out so easily.  Not this time.  The heat and the lack of rain is making the soil dry and hard. 

I'm falling asleep here.  Good night.

CRAZY weekend

Well, I'm finally back to a computer, after being confined to internet use via my iPhone the past three days.  This was quite an eventful three days, and I feel like I've told the main story so many times, I'm not even in the mood for writing it here. Plus, I have so few pictures to add, that most of you will take one look at this post and decide there's too much to read.  But here goes.

On Thursday evening Dick and I drove from our State College home to our house in Lititz.  Friday afternoon we went to Manheim Christian Day School for the first showing of their Spring program.  It was just great to be back and to see so many of my coworkers and former students. 

From there we went to Reading to pick up Destiny for the weekend.  She wanted to buy chips at the corner store, so I handed her a dollar and told her to run into the store and get some chips.  When she came out of the store  I  had to help her get into the back seat of our pick up truck, so apparently I absent mindedly lay my wallet on the roof of our truck.  We drove away and turned left at the next street.  To our surprise it seemed like somethings fell down past my window.  We looked in the rearview mirrors and saw something lying in the street.  Dick said,  "You didn't have something on the roof, did you?"  "No," I answered with the tone of voice that implied,  "Why would I ever do that??"  

So we kept going!!!!  We slowly meandered our way out of the city, stopping after about 15 minutes at a McDonalds to buy Destiny some orange juice, since her chips had made her thirsty.  That is when we discovered that my wallet was missing, and it suddenly dawned on us what had apparently  happened.  Talk about your heart dropping to your toes!  

We immediately drove back into the city to the street where we knew the wallet had fallen.  We talked to people on porches, looked under parked cars, but no wallet.  I could not believe I could have been so stupid!!!  

I called 911 and they told us to come to  City Hall to fill out a missing property report.  As we drove through the city rush-hour traffic to get there, I called our bank to cancel my bank card.  As I filled out the police report  Dick called Capital One to cancel our credit card.  I cried while I filled out the report.  I couldn't even remember what all I had in my wallet.  I knew there was about three weeks' worth of church offering cash in it that I was planning to give at church Sunday morning and various department store credit cards.

As we drove back to Lititz, slowly through rush hour and construction traffic, I called Boscovs and Penneys to cancel those cards.  I also remembered the most disturbing thing of all.  I knew that somewhere in a remote fold of my wallet was an old, tattered piece of paper that I'd been carrying around for years (probably from our family's college days) with the social security number of each person in our family.  

I called Anthony to break the bad news to him. He wondered why I had those numbers in my wallet, and I really did not know.  There are no words to describe how stupid and horrible I felt over this whole mess.  

We got to our Lititz house, freshened up, grabbed a bite to eat (I had no appetite at all), and  hurried to the second showing of the Manheim Christian program.  We were about 15 minutes late, and I was not at all in the mood for being there.  My mind was consumed with the wallet drama.  

But by the time they got to the musical, Sermon on the Mound, which I had directed five years ago, I was enjoying myself.  Destiny and I sat right at the front.  Here are a few pictures I got.

After we finally got home from the program I typed out a long email to all our children on the only thing I had - my phone.  And then I cried and cried.  Lisa immediately assured me that she was protected by Life Lock, or some such thing and would be okay.  Jeremy said that if anyone wants to try and open a credit card with his number, more power to them.  They were welcome to his student debt, hahaha!  

Saturday morning Dick left early to help my sister Mary Ellen to move.  I made a list of the phone calls I would need to make - insurance companies, Blockbuster, the credit score places to put a fraud alert on our SS numbers.  And I had a little fit with the Lord too.  I reminded Him that during that 20-minute drive to McDonalds the day before I had been listening to Destiny's Bible memory verses.  I memorize them too, and we were saying them to each other.  These were the verses we were saying:

Psalm 91: 14 & 15 (my personalized translation)

14:  "Because you love me," says the Lord, "I will rescue you; I will protect you, for you acknowledge My name.

15: You will call upon Me, and I will answer you.  I will be with you in trouble, I will deliver you and honor you." 

I asked the Lord why, if we were at that very moment claiming these promises, He couldn't have let my wallet get into the hands of an honest person.

At 9:00 AM as I sat there at the table, still in my night shirt, my thick glasses on my tearful, messed up face, the door bell rang.  There stood a tall, pathetic-looking man, possibly my age or older.  As I carefully opened the inside door, he said,  "I think I have your wallet," as he held it up.  I could not believe my eyes.  I said,  "Where did you find it?" and he told me the approximate block and street, which was a few blocks from where I knew I had lost it.  He said,  "There's no money in it, but everything else is there."  I asked him for his name, and he said he had it written on a paper in my wallet.  I thanked him profusely and told him that if there were any cash in it, I would give it all to him.  He said,  "If I lost my wallet, I would want someone to bring it to me.  It's a lot of work to cancel all those things.  You have your social security number in there.  You need to take care of that!"  I told him through tears that I had no idea how to tell him how thankful I was.  

I realized that because I have still never bothered to change the address on my drivers license, he was able to find me at our Lititz house!  I did not even have my phone number in may wallet!  Why?    I DO NOT KNOW!!  But that dear man drove nearly an hour to bring that wallet to me!

After he left, I discovered that my bank card and Capital One card were missing, but they were already cancelled.  That tattered paper with the SS numbers was still there though!  Whew!  Upon checking my online banking, I noticed several $1.00 charges, which made me suspicious.  I called my bank and discovered that someone was indeed trying to use my bank card, in fact they had purchased $70 worth of something at a gas station shortly after my wallet went missing!  

I am thankful to have my wallet back.  I will send a nice gift to that dear man who returned it to me.  But I am still reeling a bit at how quickly a stupid mistake can mushroom into such a mess.  I have much more to do to get things back in order.  All the automatic payments that come out of my account must be notified that they won't work until I have a new card.  In fact, I must go to the bank to order the new card and fill out some kind of paper so I'm not responsible for that $70 purchase.  I keep wondering if there's anything else missing that I just haven't yet noticed.  

And now a very quick list of the rest of my weekend.  Saturday afternoon I had a hair appointment while Dick mowed and mulched.  In the evening I went to my sister Mary Ellen's new  house while Dick and Destiny went to visit his parents. 

This morning at church the worship team from Manheim Christian was there to lead worship - the first time I was not their leader.  I really do miss that part of my job more than any other.  

After church we ate at Subway with Destiny's dad Frank.  When we got home I gathered up all her stuff and she went with him to an event with his biological family, and then he was taking her home to her mom's house.

Dick and I packed up and cleaned up and left around 4:30 to return to State College.  Tomorrow is Anthony and Lori's 7th wedding anniversary.  Each year they eat out with their best man and matron of honor, whose wedding anniversary is the day before theirs. So that's what they were doing this evening, and we needed to be here with Austin. What a sweet ending to such a crazy weekend.

Big weekend ahead

We are leaving for Lancaster County a day early this time.  Tomorrow is the Spring program at Manheim Christian where I used to teach.  Once again I'm looking forward to seeing former students, their parents, and co-workers who were such a major part of my life.  

On Saturday my sister Mary Ellen will be moving to a house she recently bought, plus I have a hair appointment, and there will be weeding and mulching to do at our Lititz house, so that day will certainly fill right up.  

Speaking of weeding, I've been working on that here the past two days.  You know you've been doing a lot of weeding when, upon closing your eyes, all  you see is weeds, hahahahaha!!

Lori and Austin returned home last evening.  He was sooooo precious today.  I'm going to miss him this weekend. 

Gotta run!

Quiet and clueless

We've had a very quiet house since yesterday morning. Lori and Austin left for a visit with her parents in NYC after finding out that her dad is facing some health challenges. The timing was amazing, considering that her semester just ended. Here's a beautiful picture of Austin with Lori's dad taken the last time they were there in January. Lori said that Austin did better yesterday than on any previous road trip. His car seat now faces forward instead of backward, so I'm sure that made things a lot more interesting for him and a lot easier for her to communicate with him, hand him things, etc.

When Anthony was Austin's age we took a road trip to visit our friends, John and Elaine Nissley, in northwestern Ontario. That was back in the days before seat belt and restraint seat laws. We had a big Ford van and we basically turned it into a motor home for that trip. We took the middle seat out, put carpet down, curtains at the windows, pillows, blankets, and toys on the floor. For most of that trip Dick and I took turns sitting on the floor playing with Lisa and Anthony. They took naps on the floor, and so did we. It was great. But I guess it wasn't safe. We were so clueless.

Did I say clueless?? That's what I was yesterday at Walmart. After Lori left for New York I went shopping. After I had strolled all over Walmart, through many different departments, I discovered that while I had been browsing in the Intimates department, my cart had snagged a pair of gold, lacy panties that were on a hanger. They were waving like a flag on the side of my cart. (They look huge, don't they? But they really weren't that big.)

I couldn't believe it and quickly unsnagged them and put them into my cart. Then I thought, "I gotta get a picture of that." So I walked down a lonely aisle and hooked them onto the side of my cart again. Then I discovered that people were coming into my lonely aisle. I wasn't about to be caught taking a picture of panties. So I went the other direction in search of another lonely aisle. Just as I snapped this picture I heard people coming behind me, so I tried to slip my phone into my pocket and the panties into my cart as quickly and unnoticeably as possible. And again I went the other direction. I didn't feel like looking at anyone the rest of the time I was in the store just in case they had seen me and thought I was some kind of a pervert. Of course, there was the little issue of needing to take them back to where they came from, hoping that no one who had seen me showing them off on the side of my cart or taking a picture of them was watching me.

Today I spent a good bit of time working on plans for a project I'm hoping to someday accomplish. Time will tell. Like I said, it's a lot quieter around here without Austin. I'm starting to really, really miss him. But I know his other grandma Jean must be enjoying him so much, and I'm happy that she is getting to enjoy him.

Interesting Sunday

This was an unusual day. I decided this morning to visit a small community church nearby. In my lifetime, I have regularly had music responsibilities at church and have, therefore, had very little chance to ever visit other churches, unless I was there to sing or lead worship. So this was a day I just felt like doing that. It turned out to be the shortest Sunday morning worship service I was ever at - less than 45 minutes from start to finish!  Quite a difference from the two-and-one-half-hour services at Anthony and Lori's church!

Our little boy has been struggling with a chest and head cold this week. I think it's the first one he's had since last fall when he had four in a row. So he's getting daily Nebulizer treatments again. It's so cute the way he just sits and lets that steam blow all over his face. It almost puts him to sleep.

I gotta show you the shoes I wore today. Why? Because I got these last Saturday at Salvation Army for $12.99. They are brand new St. John's Bay shoes and they are comfortable and I like them. Especially because I just like me a good deal!

Late this afternoon I drove to a Pizza Hut half an hour away to meet my friend Tuwana from Harrisonburg, VA. She had spent the weekend with a college roommate who now lives in Belleville. We had some delicious pizza (her half was meat lover's and mine was pineapple and green pepper). And we always enjoy talking about the things we have in common. She is also a teacher and worship leader.

So I took a picture of our pizza and forgot to take a picture of her. How sad is that? But here's a good one of her that I stole from her Facebook profile.

Actually, I was looking back over my blogs to find a picture of her. In the process I found something that made me really laugh out loud. It was something I wrote during one of my visits in Florida last summer. Here it is:


When I woke up Sunday morning Sophie was already awake and ready to play with Memaw! She totally CRACKED ME UP when I went to the laundry to set up the ironing board to iron my clothes for church. Lisa keeps the ironing board folded and standing between the washer and the laundry tub. George's work shirts are done by a dry-cleaning service, so Lisa has little reason to ever use her ironing board. When I set it up, Sophie said in amazement, "I always thought that was a surfboard! I didn't know it was an ironing board!" Oh my word. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Things have come a long way from the days when her Memaw lived in a family of Mennonite girls who had to iron BASKETS of 100% cotton dresses and slips!!!

Professor Mommy

Lori had to attend several Penn State graduation events the past couple of days. When she came home this afternoon she had this faculty gown on a hanger, but I asked her to please put it back on so I could get a picture. Doesn't she look beautiful and very important? Hahaha!

Austin came running over. He wanted "upmmm," as he says it.

Turns out, it was the hat he was interested in!

Actually, he was more than delighted to see mommy. He has spent more time than usual with Grandma the past few days. We get along just fine, but I'm not Mommy. And that's the way it should be.

A trip down the May memory lane

There's nothing extremely interesting going on up here during this cold, cloudy week, so I'm going to do another "trip down memory lane" post.  Here are seven pictures, one from each of the past seven Mays.

May 2009 - holding and kissing baby Austin on the day Dick was offered a job at the State College Pep Boys, and the idea that I would become Austin's nanny became a real possibility for the first time.

May 2008 - mending and altering costumes late one night for my Spring program. 

May 2007 - watching with tears as Ray takes his oath upon entering the U.S. Navy.

May 2006 - one of many gorgeous shots taken in Lancaster City as Jeremy and I took a "field trip" for one of his design classes.

May 2005 - former foster daughter Nicole's wedding.  Nicole (the bride) and her brother Joe and sister Krista (on the left) were our little children for eighteen months in 1991 and 1992 before going to their forever family.  Now they are our Facebook friends!

May 2004 - I was the speaker at the graduation of one of my favorite eighth grades ever.

May 2003 - our family (minus the Swedes) at Anthony and Lori's wedding.  Back row; Sam, Frank, Jeremy, Ray.  Front row:  Dick, me, Lori, Destiny, Anthony, Lisa, George.  

Mother's Day weekend

Before I write about our weekend, I have two cute pictures I took on here on Friday.  Here's a precious father-son moment I found Friday morning.  Actually, Austin was watching a Baby Einstein video, but becoming very drowsy.  He looked cute enough to eat right up!

When Lori came home from work on Friday she brought a new toy for Austin - a "caterpillar" to crawl through.  

Dick and I left around 6 PM on Friday for our weekend in Lancaster County, picking Destiny up from her other grandma's house in Lancaster City.  

Saturday was a fairly warm, but VERY windy day.  But there was no way we could avoid the yard and garden work that needed desperately to be done.  The grass was high, and the weeds were higher.  I was mortified to realize that the people interested in buying our house had been there for a second showing just two days prior.  So we worked like maniacs, even Destiny sometimes, beating all that wildness into submission!  Five hours later it looked much, much better.  We were sorry that we couldn't have mulched everything right away.  But it was getting colder and windier, we hadn't ordered any mulch, and we were EXHAUSTED.  And hungry.  

When I got into the house, I got a phone call from Ray and Thyda.  They had driven up from Norfolk, VA that morning to celebrate her birthday and Mother's Day, and were going to already be returning Sunday afternoon.  Thyda's mother had a lot of things planned, so they said that they would be coming to see us in about 15 minutes!  What to do, what to do?  I felt famished, but I also looked and felt horrible and dirty!  So I quickly made and ate a grilled cheese sandwich, and just as I jumped into the shower I heard Destiny yell, "They're here!"  We hadn't seen them since Christmas.   

We had a fun, but way-too-short visit with them.  Here's a picture of them before they left.  Ray will be leaving for a one-month deployment tomorrow.

Later Dick, Destiny, and I went to Salvation Army to look for summer clothes for Destiny and then to Walmart for a Mother's Day gift for Destiny's mom.  I found some really cute things for her for summer, but alas, it was far too cold on Sunday to wear any of them. 

After we finished shopping, the wonderful smell of garlic was wafting from a pizza shop nearby, and we succumbed to its temptation. 

On Sunday I led worship at our church, then we met Frank, Destiny's dad, at Hoss's Steak House for our Mother's Day dinner. 

After a good, long nap we loaded up Destiny's mattress and box spring into the pickup truck.  Her mom recently bought her a beautiful, new bedroom set, but she still needed a mattress.  Since we're trying to downsize even further, we decided we might as well give her the one from her bed at our house. 

They live in a third floor apartment, but we got the things up those steps!  It's good I'm getting into better shape with all the walking I do!   We spent a long time there as Dick put up curtain rods, hung pictures, clothes hooks, and a "tent" over the head end of her bed.  It is now a beautiful, princess bedroom, every little girl's dream room.  Here are the pictures.

And here's the princess.

We said our goodbyes, came back to our Lititz house to clean it up, mindful that people may be coming to see it while we're gone, and finally went to bed, once more exhausted.  We felt like we needed another weekend to recover from our weekend!

This morning we left at 7:30 to drive back home to State College.  These beautiful roses, sent for Mother's Day from Ray and Thyda, greeted me upon our arrival.  

Days off for Grandpa

Dick had two days off in the middle of the week. He got some projects done around here, but even better, he had time to play with Austin. So many days he sees him briefly in the morning, and that's it for the day.

Don't you just love perennials? Look at this flower bed that just sprang up this spring with no touch from human hands.

Of course, the perennial weeds spring up with no touch from humans hands as well! We'll be going to Lancaster County this weekend, and I'm hoping to attack the weeds that have gotten totally out of hand at our Lititz house.

Finally saw The Blind Side

There is a theater right near us that shows movies for just $1.00 per person.  This evening Dick and I went there to see The Blind Side.  I know this movie has been out for quite a while (otherwise it would not be showing at this particular theater).  I know that everyone who has seen it has said how much they liked it.  I knew that Sandra Bullock played the lead role.  But that is all I knew.  I did not know what the story line was until we were watching it.  And I did not know it was a true story until the very end.  

I can hardly find words to say how deeply I identified with Sandra Bullock's role in this movie.  I was not rich or beautiful  like she was, but I had a very deep "mother bear" love for the boys in our family who did not look like us or most of the people in our high school, just as she had for Michael.  I totally understood her.  Dick and I laughed a lot, I cried sometimes (I bet he had some tears too).  I absolutely recommend it to you if you have not seen it yet.    

Nice weekend

I had a nice weekend here in State College.   It's always more relaxing when we're up here for the weekend, probably because we don't have any friends yet (!!) and the only family members we have are right here in the house.  Neither do I have any church music responsibilities.  

On Saturday  morning I ran a bunch of errands.  I had an outfit on that Lori had never seen before, so she wanted to take a picture of me before I left.

I wouldn't have been caught dead in a top like that when I was younger.  It would have been a sure sign I was pregnant.  Unfortunately I do look pregnant at age 58, but at least I'm quite sure there aren't any rumors about it, hahahaha!

Saturday afternoon I spent weeding flower beds.  It will be a never-ending job around here this summer.  I decided I'm going to start going out there in the mornings before my shower and do a little bit each morning.  

Austin had a new outfit on for church on Sunday.  He looked good enough to eat!!  Lori got out the camera after we came home.  One thing he tries to do is to quietly walk back the hall when no one is watching, open a door to a bedroom or bathroom, and have fun exploring.  He never gets far, but he surely tries!

His new "cheese" face when he sees the camera.

Of course Dick had to work this weekend, but last evening we had a date and went to see a movie.  It's been a long time since we've done that, and it was fun.  We shared the theater with one other couple, old just like us!  I felt sorry for them, because I'm sure I'm a very obnoxious person to share a nearly empty theater with.  When something strikes me funny, I just have to laugh out loud.  A lot.  It's just completely beyond me how anyone can be amused without laughing out loud.  It just comes bursting out of me, and I can't help it. 

We had heavy rain this morning, but then the sun came out just in time for my walk with Austin.  It was a beautiful day.