Big fun weekend

Last week I get a new welcome rug for our front door. I LOVE it!!  It pretty much has the same colors as my rocker pillows.  And the porch planter is turquoise too.  

Here's a walk around to see some of our flowers from this past week. 

 

I think I'm managing to stay ahead of the bugs on our rose bushes.  If you remember, last summer the leaves on our rose bushes were destroyed.  I got a powder to dust them this year.

But oh my, the leaves on so many of my other flowers are being so destroyed - the zinnias, begonias, hosta....   I have never had this problem before.  

Now, on to our weekend!  On Friday evening we drove to the Harrisburg area to meet Alex and his dad.  We were getting Elizer for the weekend!!   My heart was so happy!  I took this picture for Destiny.

We were so fascinated with the cloud formations on the way home!

Elizer wanted to do puzzles when we got here.  

On Saturday morning Dick put together the foam airplane that the Sunday School had given to the kids.  They had so much fun with it.

There's a song that he really likes.  Here he is dancing with it.  More like break dancing, I guess.

We went to Get Air in the afternoon.  As we waited in the car for Hunter to get there, Elizer "sang" with his favorite song.  I gotta work on matching pitch with him, haha!

He and Hunter had a lot of fun at Get Air, as they always do.

We expected rain that afternoon, which is the reason we went to Get Air.  But it was nice and sunny!  So after we left Get Air we went to nearby Burger King's drive-thru, then we went to airport park.  

Then we came here for a while.  The boys were having fun playing a game together on their devices. 

We finished their time together with ice cream sundaes.  Then we took Hunter home and got gas in our car.  

Bubble bath before bed!

When we left the house on Sunday morning we were leaving for the whole day and had to remember all the things we would need.  

We went to church first, of course.  Elizer had to be Grandpa's boy because there was no children's church that morning and our friend Emily, who usually takes care of him, was not there this week.  He had fun drawing on this board.  I never noticed before that he sticks his tongue between his lips when he's concentrating!

We left right from church for Reading, a little less than three hours away.  We had lunch packed for us to eat on the way. 

Frank was getting baptized!  He has become close friends with Manny Mercado, a realtor who buys houses to flip.  Frank and his crew do the remodelling to get the houses ready for sale.  Manny is Latino and married to a girl from a Mennonite family.  Now Manny is one of the pastors at this Mennonite church in Reading!  He has been a wonderful influence in Frank's life, and the church has been like family to Frank and the girls.   God moves in mysterious ways! 

The baptism took place at a park along the river, within walking distance of the church.   Each person getting baptized wore a white gown and shared a bit about what led them to the decision to be baptized.  Frank was the only adult. 

In the picture above are Lisa (RaeLynn's mommy) and Dick.  Behind them are Frank's bio sister and mom.  Frank's son J'von and his girlfriend Leslie are standing with Jada and Elizer.  As you can see, it was starting to rain. 

Here's the video I took of Frank's baptism. 

After we went back to our cars I was feeling wet and chilly and very ready for my jacket.  It was NOWHERE in the car!!!!  I could not believe it!  I never go on a day trip without a jacket because I am always colder than other people.  But I guess there were just too many things to remember when we left the house before church.  UGH!!!  

We were planning to go out to eat.  Dick and I went to buy the birthday cake.  I forgot to say that in addition to this being Frank's baptism day, it was also his birthday!!   I got wet going into the store, which was very air conditioned, then I got wet again coming out of the store.  UGH again!!

We went to Outback Steakhouse and got a nice big table.  Amazingly, I was not cold there.  Elizer was so happy that Mariah was there.  He had never met her before.  She's Frank's bio sister's daughter.  Elizer didn't know her name at first, but he kept calling her "cousin."  

Jada, Elizer, Mariah, and RaeLynn were on the bench on the back side of the table.  Well, RaeLynn was there sometimes, haha!  

This was our crew.  Left to right - Frank, me (taking the picture), Dick, Leslie and J'von, Jada, Mariah, Elizer, RaeLynn, and Lisa.  We had a really good time.  So much fun!

I forgot to say that the reason Alaya and V'anni were not there is because Alaya's cheerleading team was at a competition - guess where??  State College!!!!  What in the world?  We would have loved to see that!  Isn't it crazy how there are so often more than one important thing in a day.  

The server had taken the birthday cake to the back, then brought it out when we were ready.  

Later we discovered the candles I had bought for it - a 4 and a 6.  I had completely forgotten to give the candles to the server, so I guess she improvised with those three candles.  None of us even noticed that his cake had just three candles on it.  Oh how we laughed when we realized it!

By the end of the meal RaeLynn had completely warmed up to us - first time ever.  She decided she really likes Elizer!

I couldn't believe it when we walked out the door and she put her hand in mine and walked to the car with me.  Lisa was behind us and took these pictures.  

She gave us all goodbye hugs!  And please notice that it was not raining for a few minutes!!

From there we drove to Lancaster to return Elizer to his daddy.  He was very happy about that.  They are thick as thieves!

THEN I decided I had been cold long enough.  I knew Dick would need to have the car much cooler than I would like it, which is why I always travel with a jacket or a blanket.  We knew the Park City Mall was probably closed, so we stopped at a Weis Markets not too far from Alex and his dad's house.  I told Dick, "Our Weis Markets sells lots of Penn State sweat shirts.  Maybe they sell something like that here."  The store was SO COLD!!  But whoohoo!!  I found a display of hoodies that said "Lancaster, Pennsylvania"  and I bought me one.  More money than I would have liked to spend, but I really needed it.  Oh how wonderful it felt as we drove the two hours home in the rain.  I was a very happy camper.  And so was Dick as he turned the AC up to his comfort level!

And that's all for this time!

Finally sunshine and roses!!

 

Lots of pictures of flowers this time.  And probably every time for a few months!  It's JUNE!!!!  I am so happy, especially because we are now having our second warm, sunny day in a row.

Last Wednesday we were finally allowed to drive on Anthony and Lori's newly blacktopped private road.  I picked the boys up after school and took them and the food I had made for them to their place. 

I had made sweet and sour chicken and fried rice.  It's so delicious, but a very labor-intensive, time consuming meal to prepare.  I don't make it regularly.   

It was raining, but I decided the rhododendrons looked beautiful in the rain and I took pictures. 

Then as I drove down their road I put my phone backwards in my car's phone holder and took a video, mostly to show to our other kids, but I'll share it here too. 

Dick and I worked at hanging pictures on our newly painted walls that evening.  

On Thursday we finally had sunshine!  I went out to check my flowers.  I have a few nice zinnia blooms, but the plants are not looking healthy.  The leaves are all eaten up and they really are not growing at all.  This weekend I got Neem oil to spray on them.  I hope it gets rid of whatever is destroying the leaves.  One of our red rosebushes started blooming last week.  

We had choir practice that evening. 

On Saturday morning I enjoyed sitting on our side porch for a while. It was actually quite cool, but sunny and beautiful. 

Anthony had given us a bigger TV for our living room, one he no longer needed in his studio.  Dick decided to hang it on the wall, so that was one of his Saturday projects.  

My Saturday project was badly needed organizing a few places.  I got rid of years-old papers in some of our files in the filing cabinet.  Some things I shredded, others I just threw into a big garbage bag.   Then I tackled our horrendous junk drawer in the kitchen.  I took everything out.  Some of it went into the trash, others onto organized piles.  Here are some lovely pictures from my labors, lol!

Anyone remember "Labels for Education"?  Campbells apparently ended that program in 2018, but I still had one in my junk drawer!

On Sunday afternoon Anthony came and helped Dick to lift the TV onto the wall bracket.  Then they moved the media console from it's temporary location in the kitchen to its spot under the TV.  I was SO happy to finally have it out of my kitchen!!!

I took this picture today.  Things are pretty much back in place except for the "Welcome Friends" motto that I would like Dick to hang above the archway.  

I think the TV is terribly big.  But it does have better sound and a sharper picture.  

Yesterday I took these pictures of the rhododendrons in the sunshine!  They are definitely nearing their end.  Always so sad to see that happen.  

There was an event at Hunter's school last evening.  I went to that while Dick went to a trustee meeting at church.  

Kids had written lyrics for rap songs.  Rhythm and music had been added to them and they were recorded.  There were 11 songs altogether.  So at this event we got to hear them.  It was fun to hear Hunter's voice in the one he and his friend had created.  It was a fun event in the gym with lots of food and games.  

While we were listening to the songs Hunter was writing furiously in his notebook that he takes with him everywhere.  Turns out he was writing a story, and he read it to us.  He's a really good writer!

Today a few of my yellow roses bloomed!  I'm so happy with those leaves!!  Last summer the foliage of our roses was eaten by bugs.   This spring Dick has been spraying the leaves with Sevin, but one of the rose bushes has very sad looking leaves anyway.  So we got dust to put on them.  I really hope it protects them.  I never had this problem until last summer. 

 

Yesterday I got a video from our daughter Miki in Sweden.  She is in a Gospel choir and they had a concert on Sunday.  She sent me a little snippet, a medley of songs in which she was a solo.  That girls hams things up!!  I have listened to it so many times.  She's the one in yellow. 

Destiny and Ozzy finally have their own place!  This is a duplex, theirs is on the left.  It's really cute inside.  She called yesterday and took me on a video tour.  

Getting her career as a licensed esthetician up and running is not easy, especially living in an area where she has not had lots of friends.  And she's not happy with the management of the salon.  They do not charge for no-shows, and apparently that is a fairly frequent occurrence.  She would be a good manager actually.  

I haven't heard from Elizer for almost a week.  Hopefully that means he's happy and not bored.  

That's all for this time.  I gotta get outside while its still daylight and the sun is shining!

 

 

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!