From good to worse this week )-:

This week started out a whole lot better than it is ending.  By Monday evening I didn't feel like I had any trace of the cold that had been threatening on Saturday.  Dick has been gradually feeling a little bit better every day.

I took this picture of the sunset, I think on Monday evening.  I admit, I enhanced it a bit.  I have a "sunset" setting on my camera that really brings out the orange hues, probably more than they really are.

Dick had received gift cards from Sam and Ray for Christmas, and on Monday evening he got online and found just what he's been wanting ever since we were down at Lisa's.  In just two days it was already delivered!  Now that's enough to make a guy feel better!  I need to work on my "honey do" list now!

We have not take down our Christmas decorations yet, since we were not home last Saturday.  Maybe we will tomorrow.  This morning we had new snowfall (we've had light snow several times this week), and I remembered that I had not yet taken my annual front porch snow pic.  I was glad the decorations are still up!  It has been SO COLD the last few days.

Yesterday at the office I started to feel really tired, had a headache, and my nose was running.  Thankfully, we are taking off choir for the month of January, so I could stay home in the evening.

This morning I felt horrible.   As I was doing my weekly bookwork in prep for a trip to the bank, I was thinking, "Wow, it's been a long time since I felt like this.  It would be so nice to stay home and sleep."  I usually do food prep at Anthony and Lori's on Fridays.

And then I got a text message from Lori that they still have plenty of food, and I didn't need to come. I know this sounds crazy, but I think I instantly felt worse, hahahaha!!  I work so hard at not letting myself get sick, but at that point, I was ready to admit that I was sick.  I have a fever and something going on with my sinuses, so I slept a lot today and am still in my pjs.  Of course, I'm trying to drink plenty of water and tea and am using my trusty  remedies.   Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling much better.

This morning I saw on FB that Andrae Crouch has died.  When we got married in 1971, I joined the Word Record Club.  My first order included an Andrae Crouch album.  I had never heard of him and wasn't sure we would like the album, but I think Dick wanted it.  We LOVED it.  At that point we had no idea what a legend he would become.  Some of his early songs, Through It All and My Tribute are classics.  I did not realize that he also arranged the music for Lion King!   I went online and found his album Keep On Singin', that first one we had bought.  I was able to listen to snippets of each song and they brought back such good memories.

This is a big day for Jeremy - his last day with Regency Furniture.  Once again he has gotten "snatched" by a company that he did business with while at Regency.  He will work from a home office and do a good bit of traveling, but NOT the crazy every day driving all over the Baltimore DC area as he's been doing the past almost four years.  He is doing quite well for himself, and we are proud and happy for him.

His little doggies are happy too about having a bed in his home office instead of a crate all day!

Last evening when Dick was helping to sort donations at the Mommy Shoppe, they came across some hooded onesies that just looked odd.  After trying to figure them out, they finally decided they are for little dogs!  Just perfect for Watson and Molly, hahahah!

Well, my eyes are ready to get away from this screen now.   If you happen to read this tonight, I'll welcome your prayers.   

Worst driving day ever

Yesterday will surely be chalked up as one of the worst driving days we've ever had.  By the time we left shortly after 12:30, we had had a lot of sleet and a little bit of snow.  Of course the roads had been treated with salt, but the slush was deep.  There is no way I would have dared to drive in it.  As we headed down 322 I would glance over at Dick, and way too often I would see his eyelids looking far too relaxed.  Poor guy.  He was not feeling well, but had gone to work anyway in the morning.  

Our time frame did not allow for a lot of time for stopping, but I didn't care.  We would rather be late than sorry.  So we pulled into a rest stop at the Mifflintown exit, Dick reclined his seat and was snoring within a couple of minutes.  

About half an hour later, we hit the road again, and we noticed a difference.  There wasn't slush anymore.  But as we proceeded south we got into torrential rain.  All the trucks would splash water on our windows.  Just miserable.  It should take 3 hours maximum to get to  Reading where Destiny lives, often it takes less than that.  But it was after 4:00 when we finally arrived, helping her in the rain to carry all her things in.  

We had gotten Destiny a chest of drawers off Craigslist a few weeks ago and took it to her place last weekend when we picked her up.  But there were a few loose pulls that Dick had brought the tools along to fix.  So we stayed long enough for him to do that.   I got her brother to take a picture of us before we left.  Then we said our goodbyes and hit the road.

I drove from there to our Stauffer gathering in Manheim so Dick could sleep.  It is a trip I have done countless times, usually 45 minutes.   But it was just horrible.  I do not like driving in the dark.  I do not like driving in rain.  But I was driving in the dark in heavy rain.  Add to that - all day long I was feeling an increasing tickle in my throat that I was "watering" frequently, also taking things that are usually successful in my fight against germs.  But I felt like I was losing the battle.

What a relief to arrive at Manheim BIC where the family gathering was held.  We were probably half an hour late, and the meal began right after we got there.

Even with not feeling great, it was still a wonderful time together.  Always.  I could not get the "long table" picture I always post at this gathering since we were not meeting in Grandpa's basement.  In fact, I didn't get any picture while we ate.  Here are some I took afterward.

It was very spacious and comfortable, especially since we also had use of the gym.  But if I ever were wealthy enough to have a facility to rent out for family gatherings, I would definitely put rectangular, not round, tables in it so you could push them together.  And I would also have sofas.   And maybe a bed, haha!!

Judi, on the left in the picture below, is a sister to Japheth, whose family I showed in my last post.  Their dad Bob (in Minnesota) is Dick's brother.  Judi and her husband, who live in Wisconsin, adopted a little girl a few years ago.  Last August, on the same weekend Bianca was born,  they had come to PA to adopt a baby boy.  However, when he was born his birth mother changed her mind.  Judi and Reuben were heartbroken and headed home to Wisconsin, to a house that was all ready for a new baby.  

The day after Christmas that birth mother called them to ask if they would still consider adopting him!  They were on the road to PA within 12 hours, and there he is in Judi's arms!!   

Grandpa enjoyed watching the activity.  He didn't have a very good week, so we were glad he could be there.

We left around 8 pm for the drive home.  I had taken off from my church responsibilities last Sunday for our family fondue, so I really did not want to take two Sundays off in a row.  

It was still raining hard most of the time.  After we were beyond Harrisburg and on 322 with little traffic, I took the wheel for the rest of the trip.  It actually wasn't raining much at all anymore.  I was fine until we got to Seven Mountains, about half an hour from home.  That mountain was in a thick cloud and I could hardly see a thing.  I just kept my eyes on the white line at the side, looking ahead from time to time to be sure I wasn't running into anybody.   As we neared home we noticed that there was still slush and snow.  We finally arrived at 11:00.  Whew!!!!!!!!  My shoulders and between my shoulder blades are still feeling how tense I must have been driving in that fog.  

Sorry for all the details, but they are for me to remember some day, haha!!   When we're on trips and Dick is driving, sometimes I read my old blog posts to him.  It's amazing how many things I would never have remembered if I had not written them down.

Dick is feeling better, although he has a very rough-sounding chest cough.  I was actually able to sing this morning, which totally surprised me.  My throat doesn't feel great, nor my head, but I did take a good nap this afternoon and am still trying to fight this thing away before it gets any further.  

And now I return to the mundane and probably won't have anything interesting to write about for a while.

New Years Week 2015

What a fun New Year's week this has been!  For some of us, anyway.  I need to post my pictures before I have even more from our activities later today.  I really need to post more often.  I don't blame anybody if they never read my posts, because they're just so dreadfully long.  

As I mentioned in my last post, Destiny came home with us after our fondue meal at Sam and Jenn's on Sunday.  On Monday she went with me to Anthony and Lori's to do food prep.  Of course, Austin was off school too, so they had some fun together that day.  Lori also took them on a brisk walk to the nearby school playground. 

That evening we had Sewing Class!  I taught Destiny how to cut out pattern pieces.

Then how to thread the sewing machine.

And finally, how to sew seams.  Oh, how she LOVED using the sewing machine!

We did eventually end up with a skirt, but I wimped out a bit and decided to make an elastic waistband instead of the regular waistband and zipper, which ended up making a short skirt even shorter.  So I'm not sure if she'll ever wear it, but she had fun anyway.  

When Dick had come home from work that evening he said his knee was really painful, and he spent the evening with ice on it.  On Tuesday morning he could hardly walk and decided he needed to see a doctor.  Unfortunately our doctor's office could not fit him in until Wednesday, so he instead went to a walk-in urgent care facility.  They told him it was just a bad inflammation and he should continue to do what he already was doing - apply ice, keep it elevated, and take anti-inflammatory meds.  And wait for it to feel better.  Ugh.  He does not get paid sick days at his job, and we had already used up all his vacation days in November.   So missing work days was not exactly in our budget for this time of year, but his knee did not care!

I went to work at the church office that day.  I brought home everything I did not have to absolutely do at the office, and we watched The Sound of Music in the afternoon.  In the evening Destiny wanted to make snickerdoodles.  I don't know where she got that idea, since that is not a cookie I have ever made.  But she looked up a recipe on her phone, and she made those snickerdoodles.  She wanted to do it all by herself, including the mixer.  Again, I do not have a picture of her finished product, but trust me, they were absolutely delicious!

On Wednesday Dick stayed home from work again because of his knee.  Destiny and I made a trip to Joanne Fabrics.  We were planning to get some material for Destiny to make a curtain since she loved using the sewing machine so much.   But she fell in love with fleece when she saw and felt it.  So instead we bought two yards of plush fleece that was on sale.  We saw a knotted fringe fleece blanket in their showcase, so when we came home I cut the edges and she knotted them.  We didn't have two layers, but it was such thick fleece, she didn't care.  

She tied the white selvedge edge around her head.

In the evening Anthony kept Dick company at home, and Destiny, Lori, Austin, and I did our traditional New Year's Eve activities.  Destiny and I went to the Pagula Ice Rink first so she could get her annual chance to ice skate.  

Then we met up with Lori and Austin to eat dinner at The Corner Room.  From there we looked at all the ice sculptures.

We always enjoy watching the Penn State Thespians acting as mannequins in the windows.  They are incredibly convincing. 

Then we headed to the park for some of that yummy kettle corn and hot cider.  

And the wonderful fires to warm by.

And, of course, the ice slide.  

When we left we still had plenty of time before the ball would drop in NYC, so Destiny and I went for gas and groceries.  I'm going to copy and paste here our grocery shopping story from my Facebook post. 

"Last night Destiny and I left the downtown celebrations in plenty of time to do a little grocery shopping before midnight. (We always like to watch the ball drop in NYC.) But alas, both Weis and Giant were closed for New Year's Eve.

So Walmart it was. High on the list of necessary things was pork and sauerkraut. I have not been home on New Years Day for years, because we always drive Destiny home on that day. But this year she does not have school on Jan. 2nd, so I definitely wanted to make my favorite, traditional New Years meal today and invited Anthony, Lori, and Austin to join us.

The pork was easy to find, but the bags of sauerkraut that are usually right alongside the pork, were missing. We looked other places and finally asked a guy in produce if he knows where we would find the bagged sauerkraut. He said, "Over there," and pointed in the direction of the meat. He headed that direction and we followed. He was surprised to find none there and said he would look in the back, saying, "I sold a lot of sauerkraut the past couple of days." As we waited, I noticed a man waiting nearby. I asked, "Are you looking for sauerkraut too?" He said, "Yes, I couldn't even find any cans of it. They would be with the canned vegetables, right?" I agreed. The Walmart guy came back saying there was NO sauerkraut in the back.

Then he remembered that there had been jars of sauerkraut at another location, and he headed toward the cheese case. We and the man followed him. A lady standing along the way looked at us with a question on her face, and I said, "Are you joining the sauerkraut line too?" Sure enough, she got in line, and we all followed our Walmart man. Then another man joined our ranks. Four of us looking for sauerkraut at 11 pm on December 31. And there was ONE jar. I said, "You are kidding. This is like Black Friday." The others agreed that that one remaining jar should go to me since I was the first one asking. I felt so bad for the others, but I WAS first. I thanked them profusely and slinked through the store, half hiding that jar of sauerkraut in my cart.

For some of you reading this and wondering, "What ever in the world is the big deal?" I just have to say, "You haven't tasted my pork and sauerkraut and mashed potatoes."

And now to those of you still feeling sorry for those other people, the produce guy saw me later, as Destiny and I looked for avocados. He informed me that they had found a display of canned sauerkraut. So we're all good. (But I'm sure the jarred variety probably tastes better.}"

When I posted this story on Facebook, I got all kinds of responses, including the ones that say they hate sauerkraut.  But let me say that on New Years Day I turned my Jamaican daughter-in-law and my Puerto Rican granddaughter into lovers of pork and sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, hahah!

Destiny and I had also discovered at Walmart that they had fleece blanket kits for knotting, cheaper than the two yards of fleece we had gotten at Joanne's.  So we got a kit, and that was her New Years Day activity.

Unfortunately, as Dick's knee began to feel better his head and throat began to feel worse and worse.  He developed a really bad cough as the day progressed.  I felt so sorry for him.  As we sat around after dinner that evening, I asked him which feels worse, his knee or his head and throat?  He said,  "My spirit."  Bless his heart.  He who has soldiered through cancer and chemo over and over again, rarely ever needing to take unplanned days off work.

Here are my pics from our very lazy New Years evening.  We considered actually getting the Scrabble board out, but that would have required getting up and going to the table and looking words up in the dictionary and keeping score.  It was so much easier to play Scrabble in our comfortable chairs on our devices, which is just what Lori and Anthony were doing, hahahaha!!  Oh, how technology has spoiled us!!

Austin has become a Star Wars fan, so he let his imagination roll for a while.  

Then I lured him into a few games.  We did checkers and Jr. Scrabble.  I didn't bother reading the rules for Jr. Scrabble and I let him make them up.  He also kept score, haha!  Of course he beat the pants off me, according to his methods.  It really is fun to see him sound out letters and put words together.

On Friday I kept giggling to myself as I remembered something cute he had said the evening before.  Here again I'll just cut and paste my Facebook post.

"I'm still giggling over an affirmation I received from Austin last evening - he who is not prone to warm fuzzies. I had told Destiny to put napkins on the table, and Austin immediately went for the paper towels. He pulled one off and asked, "Grandma, why are your paper towels so big?" (Lori and I prefer the Bounty Select-a-Size.). I said, "I KNOW! I just could not find the regular kind. I don't like these at all." He proceeded to put one by a plate on the table and said, "You don't need to feel bad, Grandma. These paper towels look pretty good." Haha! Melt my heart."

Dick did go to work on Friday, which surprised me.  I was quite sure he had a fever when we went to bed Thursday night.  I asked him Friday morning if he has a fever.  He answered,  "I'm going to work."  I said, "In other words, you do have a fever."  Ugh.  His knee was so much better, but his head hurt all day.  

Lori took Destiny and Austin swimming at the YMCA on Friday.  In the evening Destiny and I continued our Anne of Green Gables Movie-thon that we had started on Thursday.  Unfortunately, our week is ending too soon, and we have not had time to watch them all.  

This afternoon we will be taking her home.  It makes me feel like crying.  We have so much fun together, more the older she gets.  As Anne of Green Gables would say, we are kindred spirits.  

After we take her home we will be going to our annual Stauffer Christmas dinner.  This time, instead of sitting at that LONG table in Grandpa's basement, we will be at Manheim BIC, a much roomier location, including the use of the gym.  We decided last year that the family was just becoming too big and too noisy for Grandpa's house.

We are just hoping and praying the temperatures will rise today.  There is sleet and freezing rain in the forecast.  We've been having a mixture of sleet and snow so far here. 

Christmas 2014

At last I'm taking time to share our Christmas pictures here.   On Christmas day we had dinner here at our house with Anthony, Lori, and Austin and Jeremy and Mike.  We had a turkey that Anthony had smoked, mashed ginger sweet potatoes, broccoli cauliflower casserole, cranberry apple stuffing, almond crusted tilapia, cranberry applesauce, and apple crisp made by Lori.  I was too busy eating to remember to take any pictures.  Afterward we were in the typical food coma.  (-:

All except Watson (the younger of Jeremy's dogs) and Austin.  There was lots of chasing and playing fetch.

Watson and Molly love to cuddle under the blankets.

Austin wanted to stay at our house overnight for the "sleepover."  He and the dogs were going full tilt all of Friday morning!  Around noon we took him home.

Dick and I went shopping with Jeremy and Mike, first of all at the mall.  Oh my goodness!  Macy's had the most unbelievable discounts!  They got Dick a really good coat and me a watch and two beautiful tops.  Bath and Body Works and Penneys had great specials too.  After all that shopping we were hungry and went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a wonderfully delicious meal.  The place was so beautiful too.  But once again, I was enjoying myself too much to think about my camera. )-:

From the mall we went to Giant to shop for Sunday's fondue foods.

Anthony, Lori, and Austin came to our place for the evening again.  We had a light meal of "bougie" foods, as Jeremy and Lori called them - fancy cheeses, crackers, chips, avocado and kamato slices seasoned with real lime juice, fancy chocolate covered cherries, nuts, and some of their favorite wines.  

Austin was literally climbing the walls, haha!

We had the GREATEST time singing Christmas songs at the piano - Lori, Jeremy, Dick, and I in four part harmony.  I did not get any video of us, but I did get this one of Jeremy singing by himself earlier.  It was so good to hear his voice.

On Saturday morning we packed up for the weekend.  We were sad to find out that Lori woke up with a sore throat and fever, so they stayed home.  Our first activity was a memorial service for my niece Lori Peifer at the Messiah Village chapel near Mechanicsburg, PA.  Many people from PA were unable to go to Michigan when she passed away in August, so her dad Elvin and stepmother Pauline hosted this event.  All of the Peifer family were there.  

On the picture below Elvin and Pauline are seated in front with Scott and Sheri's twins, Jonah and Reid.  In back is Lori's brother Scott with his wife Sheri and their son Corbin (they live in California), Lori's son Jared, her husband Jim with his son Bradley in front of him, and her daughter Sydney.

All of Pauline's family were there as well, some of them also from California.  Here the two families are together.

It was a lovely, intimate setting.  The service was once again filled with love, laughter, and many tears.  I just love this family so much.  Because Sheri had laryngitis, they had asked me to sing Fernando Ortega's Give Me Jesus, which was the last song Lori sang in church, I think in February.  I was glad to do it.

A delicious meal was served afterward, which gave a wonderful opportunity to chat with everyone.  Pictured here is my sister Mary Ellen chatting with Jared and Sydney.

Jeremy and Mike chatted with Jim.  It was good to see him laugh.  He misses Lori so very much.

Grandma Mary and Mary Ellen.

Scott and Jeremy catching up a bit.

Two of Scott and Sheri's boys hiding out when it was time for pictures.

We drove the 45 minutes to Sam and Jenn's house afterward.  Ray and Thyda were already there.  We hung out for a couple of hours.  Dick and Sam went to Reading to pick up Destiny.

Bianca was not a very happy girl that evening, but she eyed me from her mommy's arms.

Dick, Destiny, and I went to Grandma Mary's (just a few miles away) for the night.  She was already in bed by the time we got there, but in the morning we had a sweet time with her over a delicious breakfast casserole and blueberry baked oatmeal.

Then it was time to head back to Sam and Jenn's to get ready for our annual Christmas fondue.   Ray chopped the beef.

 Sammy showing off the stockings at the basement fireplace.

Bianca was a MUCH happier girl and charmed everyone to pieces all day long.

Sam and Jenn's spacious basement was the PERFECT place to hold this event.

These side table, already built in, were perfect for our buffet line.

We had all kinds of meats, potatoes, cheese sticks, etc to fry in the oil.   Then lots of different things to dip in the cheese and chocolate.  A very big hit this year was frying the soft pretzels in the oil, then dipping them in the cheese sauce.

Smiley little Bianca had no idea what she was missing up at the table!

I was glad that Lauren and Jada joined us too.   Please pray for Frank.  He has some very real needs that I do not want to go into on a public blog.   Just pray when he comes to mind.

Of course, after our big meal Ray was stuffed and feeling pregnant!

I gave Sammy a dancing Olaf.

He dances to his own song from Frozen and also to any music he hears.  He's absolutely hilarious to watch!

I was planning to wash up all the greasy pots and pans, but Jenn put Bianca in my arms and she and Sam took care of the dishes.  Bless their hearts.

Sammy LOVES puzzles and had a great time with Grandpa putting together the puzzles we gave him.

Destiny enjoyed playing with their new Spirograph set.  She had never done it before!

Thyda took a good nap, and it looks like Ray did too.  They had had air mattress issues the night before and didn't get much sleep.

One of my favorite things to do.

One of my other favorite things to do.

Jeremy and Mike had headed back to DC by 2:30.  We stayed until around 5:30.  It was hard to leave.

We stopped in at Dick's parents for a short time.  Dick's nephew Japheth from Minnesota had just arrived there with his wife and nine children, and we really wanted to see them in person.  Their children have been some of my Music@Home students.  I did not take a picture of them, but here's a beautiful one they took recently.

When we left there we took the time to go through the Manheim Square so we could see the beautiful Christmas light display.  It is the best one anywhere, in my opinion, for as long as I can remember. 

Destiny came home with us for the week.  We're doing lots of fun things, but that will be another post.  I will say here that I ask you to pray for Dick also.  He missed work today due to a very painful inflamation in his knee.  He went to an urgent care place today where they told him to use ice and anti-inflammatory meds and wait for it to feel better.  Sigh.  He does not get paid sick days, and we've been out of paid vacation days ever since our trip to Florida.  So we are hoping and praying it feels better soon.  This evening the pain was still pretty bad.