Our cold Mother's Day weekend

Gotta do a quick post here before we leave this afternoon!  I'm a little bit excited about heading south after the cool (COLD!) weekend we've had here.

Friday was a really fun day.  Pastor Lynn, Vicky Free, and I went on a shopping trip to Boscov's in Altoona to celebrate the end of Pastor Lynn's chemo.  I LOVE Boscov's and have missed it so much since moving away from Lancaster County.  Altoona is just 45 minutes from here, but I have never gone shopping there before.  They also have a JCPenney's and a Macy's.  We have none of those here in State College anymore.  I finally found a new swimsuit top that I really like - just in time!  Also a pair of comfortable Clarks sandals.  You can't go wrong when they were originally $85, reduced to $35 and then 15% off that at the register!!

We ate lunch at Subway, where Vicky's sister joined us.  Lots of fun and laughter during lunch, but not one picture.  Then we went back to Boscov's again.  This time we had fun in the hat department.

We took our masks off for the picture, but Vicky thought it looked like she had a beard in this picture, so we had to take another, of course.  I think we looked pretty cute, don't you???  I think you can even hear us laughing, right?

Of all things, I had put my purse down to take this picture. When we were finished, Lynn and Vicky got in line to pay for their hats, and I wandered across the aisle to look at some other things.  After a while I felt like my hands were just too empty.  I walked over to Lynn and Vicky and asked, "Did I really come into the store this time with just my phone??"  They assured me I had not.  I hurried over to our picture-taking mirror, and there sat my purse - right where I had set it down.  Good lord!!!!  

It was a GOOD day!!  

On Saturday morning we had the Florida State track and field meet up on our computer, and got to see the three events that Sophie ran.  She came in second in the 100-meter dash!!  The competition is strong at that level, and she's been dealing with a tibial stress fracture.  We are so proud of her!!!  To be the state runner-up as a sophomore is an amazing accomplishment!!

Hunter loves to send text messages.  He knows how to do things I don't.  Like this adorable 3-second message he sent me Saturday morning.  Melt my heart!!

Lori wanted Dick to show her how to put up our pop-up camper on Saturday.  She has ideas for refurbishing it!  So in spite of the very cold temperatures, we went over there and had a great time.  This fire felt really good!!  He was burning up the wooden patio benches that have been falling apart a little more each year.  We felt nostalgic about it, because they had gotten those benches for the party they had after Austin's baby dedication, and that was such a wonderful day.

Go, Lori!!

And there it is!  First time it was up since August 2019!  No evidence of any critters having been inside, thank God!!!  The funniest thing was when we opened the door to go inside, Hunter said, "Are Sammy and Bianca in there?"  I'm still laughing!  They WERE in there the last time we had it up, but we didn't keep them in there for almost two years, hahahahaha!!

We had fun hanging out inside for a while, but it was SO COLD!  Ugh!  It was warmer in March!

The Spring view from the window was nice.

When I got home I made one of our favorite dinners - roasted brats, veggies, and yams.

Mother's Day was very cold and it rained all day.  We spent the day at home getting things ready for our week away.  I did hear from each of our children by one means or another.  Ray called me from work while I was getting ready for church.  Anthony and Austin brought me a flower to plant.  I had a long video call with Jeremy and the family.  Their weather in Portland was amazingly beautiful and warm.  Lisa and I had conversations about our upcoming visit.  Sam and I had a fun text conversation.  Frank and Anthony gave me Facebook tributes,  Miki sent me a newsy message via FB Messenger.  And I think that's the crew!  Here they are hanging on my wall above the piano!

And here are the grandchildren hanging in the hallway.  I LOVE having these pictures there.  I pass them and think of them many times each day.

Destiny was actually the first one to wish me a happy Mother's Day.  I woke up to her text message Sunday morning.  Later in the day I made this funny video on JibJab for her.  We were cracking up over it. 

And now I'm caught up.  I have no idea if I will try to blog from my phone while we're away or not.  I despise doing it that way.  But I'll never catch up if I don't.  So we shall see!  

We are driving to the Harrisburg airport this afternoon and getting a direct flight on Allegiant Airlines to the St. Petersburg/Clearwater airport.  We like flying from State College since it's five minutes from here, but the cost of tickets from here were outrageously high this time.  We'd rather spend money on a rental car, which we are doing.  

I'm getting excited!!!  

PS.  I should have added that the pain in my fingers (that resulted from the cortisone shot) was gone when I woke up Friday morning.  However, the feeling of pins and needles is still ever present in my left hand, especially my finger tips.  Wearing the braces at night has been keeping me from waking up with extreme pain, so that's really good. 

Nothing more has been done about the water damage here.  Service Master will do most of their work while we're gone and then spray a microbial solution into each AC vent when we return.  Only after that will the HVAC company do their work, and it could be weeks after we return.  No AC during those weeks, ugh!!  Thankfully we had a window unit in the shed that we'll use to keep us from dying, haha!

But enough of unpleasant words now!  We're going on vacation in Florida, woooohoooo!!