Getting some improvements done!

What a happening week we've had!! First of all, here are some pictures Dick took at Anthony and Lori's.  I'm missing the rhododendrons this year.  They got their private road blacktopped and have not been allowed to drive on it for a week.  So they have been parking in a Rotary Club parking lot at the bottom of their road and walking up and down!!  Many times in the rain.  Thankfully they had a three-day weekend in which they didn't need to get the boys to and from school.  Finally tomorrow they will be driving their cars up that nice road!!  After ten years of ruts and stones and puddles and broken, old black top that was never done right whenever it had been done years ago.  There are four other homes on this road (Anthony and Lori are at the top of it,) so they all are pitching in to pay for this improvement.  Dick did the much-needed mowing over there yesterday and took these pictures for me.  

Now back to last week here at our house.  As I said in my last post we moved everything out of our living room and dining room except the couches in preparation for the carpet stretching and cleaning on Wednesday.

Here are some pictures of the ripples  our carpet has gotten over the years.

Our office/music room, spare bedroom, and kitchen became the temporary homes for all the stuff! 

Dick took a vacation day on Wednesday.  I told him that it would make so much sense to get the walls painted while we had everything moved out.  Hmmm.  I put a quick message on Facebook, and guess who commented first??  My sister Doris, telling me that her husband Dale could do it.  He has spend his whole adult life as a carpenter/painter.  So we decided that Doris and Dale and their daughter Ellen would come up from Lancaster on Friday.  

The carpet guy arrived Wednesday around 10:00 and got started.  I was feeling very tired and had a touch of diarrhea, but Dick and I went to Lowes to buy paint.  It was a cool, rainy day and I was beginning to feel worse and worse.  I just couldn't get warm and I felt like I had no energy at all.  When we got home from Lowes our house was so cold!  The carpet guy had gotten hot and turned on our AC.  

I didn't know where to go to get warm while he was still here.  I ended up going to my bathroom and turning up the electric heat really high, and I stayed there until he was finished.  

Then I went to bed with my coat on and a lot of blankets, and I still couldn't get warm!  I obviously had a fever.  I think I slept for a little while, and of course when I woke up I was hot and flushed.  I took this lovely picture of myself to see what I looked like, lol!

We were very happy with the carpet when it was finished.

I don't even remember what I did the rest of the day after he left.  There was no TV to watch, and I didn't feel well.  I didn't say a word to Doris about not feeling well.  I was so sure I would be all better by Friday.  I am so rarely sick. 

On Thursday I felt better, but still no appetite.  I did our laundry and in the afternoon I went up to the church to update the choir notebooks.  While there I felt my first hunger pangs and came home and ate something before Dick and I went to choir practice.  I felt great that evening.  

After choir practice we took more things out of the rooms in preparation for the painting - pictures, drapes and curtains, electrical and light switch plates. 

Doris, Dale, and Ellen arrived around 9 am on Friday, and Dale got started.

Doris and I supervised as well as we could - from the couches, lol!  Ellen was watching funny things on her phone and giggling all day, lol!

For lunch we girls went to Sowers Harvest Cafe in downtown State College.  I forgot to take any pictures.  On the way home we stopped at Burger King to get Dale a big burger and fries.

All day the weather kept dramatically changing from sunshine to crazy rain and wind, back to sunshine and then more rain and wind.  One time we thought it looked nice and sunny, so we girls decided to go for a walk.  But guess what?  We were only a few houses down the street when it suddenly started raining.  So back to the house we went - to do some more supervising from the couches!

Dale got finished right around 5 pm.  Dick stopped to pick up our pizza order on his way home from work.  We set up a folding table on top of the blue tarp.  Doris had brought fresh, recently picked strawberries along, and we enjoyed them on top of ice cream for our dessert. 

I think it was around 7 pm when they were ready to leave.  I did remember to get a picture of them.  We had such a fun day!  Maybe we'll do it another time when I have another room ready for Dale to paint.  

Then we got the drapes and curtains back up, the couches placed properly with the rug and coffee table, Dick's recliner back together and put in place.  And the TV!!  We had made it through three days with no TV!!  Considering that we never had a TV until our kids were teens, I guess it wasn't such a crisis, haha! 

On Saturday morning we got more things in place, including the dining room table and chairs.  But I could not find my dining room tablecloth anywhere!!  

Hours later I sat down at the computer and noticed the table cloth down beside the filing cabinet.  I guess I had run out of places to put things, haha!

We haven't put any pictures back on the walls yet.  Dick hated taking them all down, knowing he would need to put them back up again.  So I won't push him about it.  

Also, our TV is still on the floor because Anthony has a newer one for us that will be hung on the wall above our media console.  So we're not going to get that huge media console out of my kitchen until after the TV is hung.  

Our Memorial Day weekend was super uneventful, which was okay I guess.  I felt a little sad though, especially when looking at picture in my Facebook memories.  

As I said, Dick was mowing over at Anthony and Lori's on Monday.  I watched several episodes of Call the Midwife and went for a walk. 

I took these pictures.  It was an absolutely beautiful day!

I took this picture at a neighbor's place while I was walking.  I don't know what it is.  It really didn't have any fragrance, but so beautiful!

Elizer is enjoying being at his daddy and his grandpa's house and seeing cousins on that side of his family.  I hear from him sometimes, often little video selfies or text messages that look like this!

Then I often reply with a picture or video or audible text message.  On Sunday morning I got this video from him before church and I could have cried.  Not sure if I'll be able to post it successfully here.  I'll try - I really wish you could see it. 

That's it till next time!

So many events!!

 This has been a really PACKED week of special events. And we're only at Wednesday!

On Saturday evening we went to State Theater in downtown State College for the annual barbershop quartet show.  As I have probably mentioned, Jim Decker, who comes to our church and is now in our choir, is in the Nittany Knights, a barbershop choir in our area.   Jim gave tickets to everyone in our choir who wanted to go!  They were not cheap tickets either!  Our seats were right up front!  I wish I had taken some pictures of our group.  There were probably 25 of us.  

Here is the Nittany Knights barbershop chorus. Jim is on the far right.  They are really good!

Following them were barbershop choruses from two local junior high schools.  I LOVED them the most because I used to be very involved with middle school music as a teacher at Manheim Christian 

The headliners of the show were a quartet from Orlando, FL called Three and a Half Men.  They were really good and SO funny!

At the end of the show the groups joined together for one last song.

When we got home much later we had visitors!  Destiny had driven to PA on Thursday to spend some time with her mom and also to attend her nephew's birthday party.  They came here for Saturday night.   They were so cute together as she read Amelia Bedelia to him.  One of her favorite books from her childhood.  

On Sunday morning we said our goodbyes to Destiny as she was leaving for Indianapolis.  Then we took Elizer with us to church.  

After church I got some pictures of him.

He didn't want anything to get on his shirt that I had bought at TJMaxx for him, so he wore the red bib from his toddlerhood years.  

What a HAM!!!

After lunch we hit some more parks, starting with nearby "airport" park.  Of course he had to get time on his motorcycle too!

We went over to Anthony and Lori's place then.  I had not yet seen this year's rhododendrons.  They did not disappoint!

We took the boys to Orchard Park for a while.

Back home in the evening we built castles with the blocks.  

On Monday I cooked for Lori and found things for him to do to entertain himself.  

Then we went to the two playgrounds that are closest to our house.  Balance beam, running the bases!

He surprised us both by going across the monkey bars for the first time!!  Here's the video to prove it!  Google is giving me fits today.  I got a new phone recently and everything I want to log into acts like I'm a hacker.  I can't get the video to post correctly here. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/TJkXsvYGwbY?feature=shared

I had to fill up the car with gas, and he fell asleep.

When Dick got off work we met Lori to give her the food I had made.  Then we drove toward Harrisburg where we met Alex and his dad.  Elizer was SO excited to see his daddy! 

On Tuesday evening at 5 pm there was an award ceremony at Austin's high school.  He had been told he would be getting an award, but he didn't know for what.  But he knew he wanted a suit for the event, so Anthony had taken him shopping.  

It was held in the gym.  There were a LOT of kids and a lot of awards.  It took a while till his name was announced as the recipient of the biology award.  When he stood up I thought I would burst!!  For so many reasons.  For one, he looked SO handsome!  And also because getting through school to this point has been a REAL struggle, some years more so than others, for him and for his parents and teachers.   

Afterward we of course had to get pictures. 

Lori and I were walking behind him to our cars.  She said, "I don't think he has any idea what a big deal this is!"  She said that when she had teacher conferences they all said what a delight he is to have in class.  We wish the teachers who had him in the difficult years would be able to hear that!

His choice was Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  It was nice that the ceremony had started at 5 pm, so it wasn't so terribly late afterward. 

Yesterday I had moved everything from the living room/dining room except the heavy furniture.  When we came home from dinner we moved more of the heavy stuff, all except our couch and love seat.  Our guest bedroom, office, and kitchen were PACKED with all the stuff.  Why were we doing this?  Because our carpet had developed increasingly noticeable creases and we were getting it stretched and vacuumed today.  

Now it's all done, but we have not put things back in place because I got the idea that while these rooms were so empty we should get them painted.   My sister Doris's husband is a carpenter/painter and no longer working.  So guess what?  On Friday Doris and Dale will be coming up here and he's going to paint my living room and dining room!  

Dick and I went to Lowes for paint while the carpet guy was working. We got the same color we had painted our bathroom a few years ago, except Satin instead of semi-gloss.  Here's a picture of the bathroom in case you forgot the color.

Two more pictures!  Today Sammy was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society!  Jenn shared these pictures.

What a TALL 7th grader he is!!  And so smart too!

OK, that's it for this time!