Friday, July 20, 2007

It's Been Awhile

I haven't posted for awhile since nothing much was going on other than what I had written about previously. Monday and Tuesday were quiet - just getting work done around the house. Dan started painting the west side of the house. When they put the french doors in (before we moved in), they had done a very poor/nonexistent patch of the spraycrete finish. We patched it shortly after we moved in, but hadn't painted it to match the rest of the house. So now that's done - one more thing off the "to do" list. Dan is also in the process of removing the trunk from the laurel oak tree that we took out last year. He's been waiting for the wood to dry out and we're finding out that laurel oak doesn't dry out. We are still working on finishing the patio. We can't do a whole lot at any one time because of the heat and humidity. But we aren't complaining - you just learn not to try and do too much at any one time.

Wednesday, Aunti Vi just wanted to go visit Uncle Len (he's now in the rehab center) so we picked up her groceries and then went down to take her over to visit her brother. He was asleep when we got there and we tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't even acknowledge that we were there. She didn't want to leave, she said maybe he'll wake up so we went over to the assisted living facility and picked up his mail. We then went back and picked up Aunti Vi (Uncle Len was still asleep). Uncle Len just wants to die - he has no will to live whatsoever. He also is refusing to put any weight on the left leg. He hasn't walked since he broke that hip. They have him in PT but he is not cooperating with the therapists at all. Overall, the situation is a real downer.

Thursday, we had Bible study. We finish next week. I was thrilled to see Linda back - she had been in the Bible study this winter and was intending on taking the Daniel study again, but the Lord had other plans for her. She had had uterine cancer 5 years ago and had gone in for her 5 year checkup expecting to "receive a gold star" her way of saying a clean bill of health. The report she got was anything but. The cancer had reoccurred with a vengeance. So instead of taking the Bible study, she wound up going through chemo and radiation. We had been praying for her and our prayers have been answered - she is through with the treatments and so far so good. She'll know more next month. But it was SO wonderful to see her again!!
The people in the Bible study are so precious and they are looking forward to the next one.

Tonight Connie and Jesse came over. We spent about an hour in the pool and then had hamburgers and salad for dinner. After dinner we (Connie and I) scrapped and Jesse worked on his Sunday School lesson for Sunday. He's teaching the senior adults.

Tomorrow is our monthly Sunday School class breakfast. We're meeting at a restaurant near McKechnie Field (spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates). I don't know how many will be there, but it's always a fun time.

After breakfast, we're going to go up to St. Pete to a scrapbook store to pick up some odds and ends. I am really enjoying scrapbooking - it's relaxing and definitely provides an outlet for creativity.

Sunday of course is church and then another week begins.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Busy Days

Yesterday was a busy day. We spent the day outside working on the yard - weeding, getting the new patio set up and other miscellaneous yard chores. It was very warm, but when we got too warm, we headed for the pool and cooled down. There is still much to do. One thing about living in Florida, there is no "down season" for yard work. The lawn needs to be mown 12 months a year and the weeding needs to be done 12 months a year. But the benefit is we don't have to shovel snow!!!

Friday night Uncle Len fell and broke his hip. He had surgery Sunday morning - they put 2 pins in his hip. Leonard flew down yesterday to be with his dad. He'll be here until Wednesday morning. He came over tonight for dinner. We had a good visit.

Eric and Sarah were over last night for a visit and to scrapbook. They're leaving Thursday morning for Estonia on a short term mission trip for 2 weeks. On the way home, they're going to stop in France to visit with Eric's sister and brother-in-law who are missionaries in the Muslim community in Grenoble. We'll be picking them up at the airport when they get home.

Tomorrow is our weekly visit with Aunti Vi. We'll take her grocery shopping. Leonard said she's also planning on us taking her to the hospital to visit Uncle Len.

Thursday night is Bible study. We have three more weeks and then we'll take a break until September. The Thursday after Labor Day we'll be starting Beth Moore's "Jesus the One and Only" - a great study on the life of Christ.

Friday Connie and Jesse are coming over for dinner and scrapbooking. They haven't been over for about three weeks, so it will be a good visit. I'm still working on the pages from our Discovery Cove trip last October, but I am getting close to finishing. Yesterday I also got a call from the senior center confirming the date and time I will be there to "teach" scrapbooking. The first Friday of the month will be busy as I'll be going to the senior center in the afternoon for scrapbooking "class" and then going to Bethel in the evening for the crop.

It's getting late, so I'm going to sign off.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Time Flies

Time flies by - it doesn't seem possible that it's been 5 days since I last posted. Friday night Sarah and Eric came over for an evening of fellowship. We had grilled Italian sausage sandwiches for dinner. They were really good! We then settled in for an evening of scrapbooking. Sarah was working on laying out her Discovery Cove pictures and I worked on cropping mine. They left about midnight.

Saturday Rick, Csilla and the girls got here about 1:00. The girls wanted to go in the pool right away, so lunch was on hold. They swam and played until about 2:00 and then declared "we're hungry!" We grilled hot dogs and ate outside on the patio. After lunch, we came in the house and the girls played until about 4:30 when they decided they wanted to go back in the pool again where they played until about 7:00. We grilled Italian sausages again for dinner and enjoyed them just as much as we had Friday night. We had cake and ice cream for dessert. We were celebrating Rick and Csilla's anniversary, Csilla's birthday, Ashley's birthday and our anniversary.

Sunday we got up about 8:30 and since Rick and Csilla planned on leaving about 10:00, we skipped church and Sunday school. Rick, Csilla and the girls spent about an hour in the pool and then came in to a breakfast of Swedish pancakes. They left about 10:30. I cleaned the kitchen up, washed the sheets and towels from the weekend and then collapsed for a Sunday afternoon nap.

Monday, we went up to Palm Harbor to an awesome scrapbook store which is having a sale - 40% off everything! They also added the incentive of 50% off the most expensive item that you buy.

Today was a busy, but rewarding day. It started this morning with the scrapbook demonstration at the senior center. Sarah joined me there and it was wonderful to have her there. Because of her being there, we were able to answer twice as many questions. We had lots of good questions and wonderful reactions to my heritage album as well as our other albums we had brought along. Almost everyone who was there (over 60 people)said they had boxes of unidentified pictures. I stressed to them the importance of writing on the back of the pictures (in pencil) who, what, where, why and when of the pictures. I told them of the difficulty we had in identifying the pictures of Dan's family since everyone who could identify people in the pictures was gone. The activities director of the senior center said she had put the announcement about the crop night at church Friday night in their bulletin. If there is enough interest, we'll hold a crop the same day as the crop at church (the first Friday of the month). I can do the senior center in the afternoon and church at night. The senior center is indirectly affiliated with Bethel and is only 1/4 mile away.

After our time with the seniors, we headed out for haircuts and then headed to St. Pete to another scrapbook store. Quickutz had released their newest product today and I wanted to see it demonstrated. I picked up a few items and then we headed home.

Tomorrow is the 4th. We have nothing special planned - just a quiet day for a change - we had our celebration on the weekend. Thursday, we'll take Aunti Vi shopping. We don't have Bible study this week since so many are going to be gone. I was willing to have Bible study, but the group wanted to postpone and end a week later (July 26th).

Friday night is the monthly crop night at church. Since we don't have a sign-up sheet, I don't know how many will be there. But I will enjoy the evening no matter what!

Saturday is our anniversary - if the weather is okay, we're going to rent a boat and spend the day boating on the Manatee River. If the weather is dicey, we have several back-up ideas (going to the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs, going snorkeling at Egmont Key).

It's almost midnight, so I will close for now.