Nola's Afghan is finished!

After dropping our daughter off at the airport (BWI - which is only about 20 minutes from our house) late yesterday afternoon we went up the the road and parked and watched the airplanes land for a little while.

Here is one I managed to get a picture of.

It's harder than you might think to get a picture of one. When they get that close they are really moving fast!!

Ken put the camera on zoom and this is what he got of one - the tail!

Today while walking around the lake I came across two women taking pictures of the crab apple blossoms and stopped to ask if they had blogs. Why else would people be taking pictures!? :-) No, they don't but I tried talking them into starting one though as we walked around part of the lake together.

Just down the street from my house I take this path which leads to the lake.

And this is the start of the path at the park where the lake is.I've walked about a mile when I get here.

I finished knitting Nola's afghan.

She is in Florida right now, but I think she is coming back some time this week. She has no idea that I've knitted this for her. It will be fun to surprise her with it. :-)

I got another lamp for up in my loft and spent part of the day changing things around up there. I have an Ott light which is great for doing close work which I need for needlepoint or cross stitching. The white light really makes the different shades of color so much easier to distinguish between. Anyway the Ott light was the only light I had up there and even though there is a window on the stairs and two dormer windows I still needed more light. Now with my new light it is just perfect.

I stayed up in my loft for a while and made a few Weave-it squares. These go toward the 303 squares that it takes to make an afghan out of them.

Now once again it's just about time for my chocolate chip ice cream snack and a Netflix episode of The House of Eliott. Hope this Monday was a good one for you. Happyone :-)

God's Gift

Another morning of walking in the rain. Surprisingly I saw quite a lot of other people out walking and running. For this Sunday I chose a few Bible verses from the book of Matthew.

And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" And looking upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:23-26

It is impossible for man to buy an entrance into heaven because our salvation cannot be bought or earned. It is a GIFT from God and all we have to do is believe.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

I have received the GIFT of salvation from God and I hope that you have too. :-) Have a wonderful Sunday! Happyone :-)

Out doing errands, home for stir fry.

Rained all night and woke up to a misty morning. No rain while I walked though. There was a feast of worms out for the Robins and other worm eating birds. Hundreds of worms all over the place!!

We spent another Saturday running around doing errands.
Post Office
Credit Union
Library
Hardware Store
Hair dresser
Subway for lunch
And our last stop was the grocery store to pick up the makings for dinner.

We made a stir fry in the wok this evening. Thin strips of beef, mushrooms, broccoli, and cashew nuts in a brown sauce and rice to go along with it. It was delicious!! I was going to post a picture of it but some food just doesn't photograph well and this was one of those times!

Spent some time on the computer doing some work for a change in Quicken. I always enjoy doing that though. I think in a former life I must have been a bookkeeper.

Remember those top two refrigerator shelves that were too small and would keep falling down? The GE guy was here almost three weeks ago. Well, we got them today - delivered by Fedex. We just needed the two top shelves but we got ALL new shelves plus two basket drawers as well and they all fit!! Oh happy day! :-) Now I can get my freezer organized better.

Got a little reading done and now I'm off to have some of that delicious Chocolate Supreme ice cream. :-) Ain't life grand!?

Hope your Saturday was a fine and dandy one!
Happyone :-)

Waldwick, no shoes and a bonus

I walked in fog this morning, but the sun eventually broke through the clouds and chased the fog away. I saw lots deer, the usual noisy geese all waking up, a couple of rabbits, a woodpecker and lots of cardinals and robins as I walked around the lake. I paid a visit to Vee's blog as I do every morning and she had a link there for Penny Postcards. I went to check it out and looked up Waldwick, NJ, which is where I grew up. There was one post card there of the Waldwick train station. I spent a lot of time sitting in that train station. All through high school my friend Bernice and I would be there on a lot of Saturdays waiting for the train which would take us to Ridgewood. We would walk around town, mostly window shopping and looking at the boys, have lunch while we were there and then walk back home to Waldwick. The price of the train ticket? - only 25 cents!! Here is the picture. This picture looks very old. I wonder what year it is? We used to ride the train in the late 60's. I finally wore out a pair my favorite shoes (not walking shoes) and had to throw them away. Today I went to DSW to replace them with some new shoes. I didn't want any type of sneakers, but just a nice comfortable shoe to wear with jeans. This store is a huge with aisles and aisles of shoes all sitting out. I went up and down all the aisles and I can't believe that I couldn't find one pair of shoes that I liked. I used to love that store and never had any trouble finding shoes. While there I did run into a friend Carol, from Meals on Wheels - she drives on Wednesdays. We talked quite a while amongst all the shoes. BTW - she couldn't find any shoes she liked either!! I finished reading Angels All Over Town by Luanne Rice.This is the first book I've read by this author and I will probably be reading more of them. The book is about Una (a soap star) and her three sisters. I enjoyed reading the book. Here is a quote from the book that me laugh. :-) "This is monkey piss. You should drink Guinness," Joe advised. I've started another book which is due at the library next Saturday. Once I finish this one I can get back to the twilight series. Congratulations to Ken on a job well done. He got an nice little bonus from work! :-) We had supper at Five Guys, stopped by the old house to pick up the mail and then came home. No Netflix tonight - we are going to watch a couple episodes of Seinfeld, I'll have some cookies and knit. It's Friday so I'm sure you all had a fine day. Happyone :-)

A rainy day

Not much to write about today but just thought I'd check in and say hi. Warmer this morning on my walk with a temperature of 40 but is was raining. I didn't mind though, I just brought along my umbrella and went walking in the rain. I walked my usual 6 miles. It's nice to walk in the rain once in a while. :-) It rained all day and I spent the whole day at home. I like cleaning on rainy days so I got the rest of my cleaning done today. Other than cleaning I read a little and knitted a little. Earlier this evening we watched A Touch of Frost from Netflix and had ice cream. Happyone :-)

Display Case for my Miniture Rowe Pottery

Another cold morning with 22 degrees but at least the sun was out. I noticed the Canada Geese that were sitting on the grass had frost on their backs! The sod is all in now on the side of the townhouse. They were done by lunch time. A water truck came next and went up and down the street spraying water over all the sod. I took a couple of pictures but I'm going to save them and post them on my photo blog for WateryWednesday next week. In the morning I drove up to the old house. I picked up branches from the trees that had fallen and just walked around the yard looking at things. All my flowers are starting to poke up through the earth. I'm going to have to plan on going over there for a day soon and get the gardens cleaned out and raked. Before long I'll be mowing the lawn too. I looked around in the garage and came home with a few more things that I decided not to sell. One of which is this little display case that Ken made for my miniature Rowe pottery. What was I thinking - why would I want to sell that!? I got some more housework done - though you never get done with it. There is always something to do and once it's done you just have to start all over again. Housework is something that no one notices unless you don't do it. :-) After supper we made another trip to Weis for ice cream. I'm having Chocolate Supreme later for my snack. Will watch another episode of Bramwell and knit on the ripple afghan. I'm on the last color now and should have it finished within the week. A fine day this Wednesday was and I hope a happy one for you as well. Happyone :-)

Waiting for Fedex, bread and a book

Another sunny day but on the cold side again. After yesterdays leveling and smoothing the dirt on the side of the house, today they started putting down the sod and got more than half done. I took this picture from my deck. It doesn't look like they are planning on planting any more trees or flowers. After my walk and eating breakfast and before I did anything else I sat down and finished reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.It is the second book in the series and another page turner. I am not going to start the third book because I know I won't be able to do anything else. I made a start on my housework but Fedex was coming today with a package from the realtor in PA with papers for selling our land for us to sign and to get them notarized. So I kept looking out the window for him. I hate waiting for something all day. I never can really get anything done. The plan was when the package arrived I would call Ken at work and we would meet up at the credit union. The package was supposed to come yesterday but they couldn't find our address because it is new and not on the map yet. Ken gave them directions and he gives very detailed directions - even I don't get lost with his directions. Fedex showed up at 4:00 and by then it was too late to get to the credit union because it closes at 4:30. Ken called me a little later at 4:15 and said he found another branch that closes at 5:30 up past our house. So he left work and picked me up and away we went to find this other branch. No problem finding it, got there in plenty of time and got our papers notarized. Next stop, J & P Pizza for supper. While waiting for our pizza we filled out some papers. Stopped by Fedex afterwards and mailed it all back to the realtor. Now we just wait for our money. :-) I made some more bread in my bread machine. It's been quite a while now since I've had to buy bread. I like my bread machine a lot but I wish it would make a smaller loaf. The slices are so tall. When I make toast I have to toast one side and then the other which leaves the middle well done. Does any one know of a bread machine that makes a more normal size loaf of bread? Now I'm off to watch a Netflix (Bramwell), have some chocolate chip cookies and do a little knitting. I might start another book. Not the next one of the twilight series though. I have another book that is due on Saturday so I should read that one first. I hope that your Tuesday was a happy one!! :-)

NewPottery

A nice sunny day yesterday and today even though it is a bit on the cool side for spring. Today down along the side of the townhouses we are getting some landscaping done. By mid afternoon the dirt was all raked and things were looking nice and neat. I wonder if they are just going to put grass there or flowers and more trees.

I took this picture off my deck.

This one a from the sidewalk a little while later.

I can't believe they planted the trees exactly underneath the power lines. Someday we are going to have some strange looking trees with the tops cut off. You think they would have planted them on the other side of the sidewalk. Yesterday I got some more of the Polish Pottery that a got a few weeks ago.

I got 2 bowls, another mug and utensil holder.

There is a lot of different Polish Pottery around and the kind I have started collecting is on this website. The twins have booths in different antique malls in Maryland and their main warehouse is in Mt Airy, not very far from where I live. I'll be checking out that warehouse one day soon.

A meals on wheels day and once again I took the FJ because of all the road work being done on Mrs W's street. I had all my eight people on the route today and all were doing good. One of my ladies has her trailer up for sale so she will be off the route one day soon. She is moving in with her daughter and her family. I'm reading the second book of the twilight series and I haven't been doing very much around the house. One day soon I'm going to have to spend the day cleaning, but it's not gonna happen today. :-) Off I go to read some more. Hope the rest of your Monday is a good one. :-)

More church signs

A few more quotes taken from the Church Signs calendar that I have. Enjoy the day! Compliments of God. Give your troubles to God - He's up all night anyway. To be almost saved is to be totally lost. Religion is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. Been taken for granted? Imagine how God feels. Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we can hear twice as much as we say. Life is a measure to be filled, not a cup to be drained.

May your Sunday be filled with love and happiness. :-)

Framed and hanging, books, a walk and Gertie

Last night we picked up the picture Spring Colors we bought a couple of weeks ago by the artist Viktor Shvaiko that we had framed. It was ready right on time and we are very pleased with the result. There is something nice about a family run business. They were good, friendly, helpful, and on time.

Here is Spring Colors hanging in the living room. After yesterdays trip to the three libraries, here is the pile of books I get to read now. :-)

A cold start to the morning as I headed out on my walk. Only 22 degrees, but there was no wind, the sun came up to shine brightly in a bright blue sky.

Here you can see the frost on the grass and the puddle turned to ice.

It was such a pretty morning for walking and by the time I got home it had warmed up to 40 degrees. I walked a little farther than usual at 7.4 miles. I walked along some of the path and then walked along a road. I wanted to see where the road came out - that's why the extra mile or so.

I liked this house that I passed so took I picture of it.

Remember me mentioning Gertie a while back? She is the 86 year old woman who still walks every day. I ran into her again this morning and asked if I could take her picture. I knew she would say yes!

Here she is. Gertie - she is amazing and what a great role model. She is also a super friendly person. Someone I'm glad to know. :-)

I had some potatoes that were sitting around for a while and before they went bad I peeled, cooked them, and then made mashed potatoes some of which I ate for my lunch along with green beans. I love mashed potatoes - all kinds of potatoes really. I have just gotten caught up reading blogs, and now I'm going to go and read. Enjoy your Saturday! :-)

Happy Spring

Happy Spring! Daffodils on a hillside along the path I walk on to the lake.

A close up.

A little farther up the path on a footbridge I ran into a little bit of ice!!! I saw the usual geese, ducks and deer this morning, but I also saw a woodpecker, a heron in flight, and two red winged blackbirds. A great first day of spring walk!! :-) A nice sunny day, so late morning I got in my shiny clean car and went for a ride. I stopped in at the library to turn in a few books. Even though I'm number 8 on the hold list for the next twilight book, New Moon I looked on the shelf anyway. Number 3 and 4 books where there so I got them and checked them out. Then just for fun I drove around to some other libraries and found New Moon on the shelf. I checked that one out too. I then took my name off the hold list. I thought it odd to find the book on the shelf when there is a hold list. Anyway I'm happy to have all the rest of the series and can't wait to start to read them. It's after 1:00 now and I'm really hungry so off I go to eat something. Maybe I'll be back later. Enjoy this beautiful first day of spring.

Lunch out and a good book

How nice that the rain held off for me so I could walk without getting wet. :-) Had a nice walk around the lake again. I met my friend Cheryl for lunch at a really nice place called Mimi's Cafe. We both had salads and muffins (which Mimi's is known for). We each took our muffin home, but I ate mine as soon as I got home. It was a banana chocolate chip one and extremely good. I didn't have breakfast though so I didn't feel about about eating the muffin. :-) Since it was raining and I had just washed my car yesterday afternoon I went in the FJ. I sat down to read my book for a while and ended up doing nothing else except reading it until I was finished with it.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

It's the first in the series and I can't wait to start the second one. It's about vampires and it's very good. A real page turner. It came out in 2005 and the first I heard about these books was on Elizabeth's blog. Now I see things about the series all over the place. I don't know how I missed knowing about these books. I already went to the library web site and put the next book, New Moon on hold. I'm number 9 on the list. This is book number 13 in my 75 books a year goal. Tonight for our viewing pleasure we watched an episode of A Touch of Frost, ate chocolate chip cookies and I knitted. Not quite time for bed so I'll start another book and read until bedtime. I hope you had a day that brought you sunshine and happiness. :-)

Fog, buds, and a clean car

Very foggy this morning as I headed out on my walk. This is what the beginning of the path by the lake looked like.There are quite a few, I think, crab apple trees on one side of the lake along the path and I noticed today that they are starting to get buds and bloom now.I can just imagine how pretty they will look once they are all blooming. Now that I've been walking around the lake for a while I am starting to see some of the same people and getting to know a few of their names. We say a sentence or two as we pass going in opposite directions. Barbara has a dog she rescued from the dog shelter and didn't realize it was going to have puppies. Now the puppies are due any time. Next time we pass I'll have to ask her what kind of dog it is and what she plans on doing with the puppies. Another man I see most mornings if I walk by the lake walks his dog and reads the newspaper as he walks along. That doesn't look like an easy thing to do. :-) By the time I got home the fog was starting to burn off and later on in the day the sun came with temperatures in the 60's and it actually felt like spring in the air. I did the usual house chores and then I had fun doing some shredding. I have a basket sitting by the shredder and when that gets full I shred. After lunch it was finally warm and sunny enough for me to wash my car. This was one of the few times that it was really really dirty. I usually keep it very clean and this time the water was black. I am happy to have a nice clean car again. Here she is in her new driveway all spic and span. :-) Watched another Bramwell episode and had ice cream for our snack. I did some more knitting on the ripple afghan. I should be done pretty soon now. And so ends this Wednesday. Hope yours was a happyone.

A quiet day

A short post today - a pretty quiet do nothing kind of day. It was another misty morning so I waited a little bit and walked at 8:00 - at least it was light out. I did my exercise tape before my walk. I was feeling a little down and then two people stopped at the cross walk to let me cross the street - both directions at the same time! :-) That doesn't happen very often. It was enough to put a smile on my face and brighten my mood. Funny how such a little thing can make a difference like that. Stayed home and did a few things around the house. We lost power for a couple of hours in the afternoon. No idea why - no storms and no wind. I spent quite a lot of time reading. No ice cream or chocolate chip cookies for our snacks tonight. I made chocolate pudding. Just a picture I took on my walk this morning. I saw the last of these geese getting out of the water and by the time I got my camera they all were out.Hope all is well in your part of the world and you had a Happy Day!

Pizza Again!?

Yesterday morning while I was walking Ken went over to the old house and put my new tires on my car. I was going to take a picture but my car is dirty. When the weather warms up and the sun comes out I'll wash her and then post a picture. :-) This morning Ken dropped me off at the old house on his way to work and I gave the bathroom a second coat of paint. It still needs one more, but I didn't feel like hanging around waiting for the paint to dry so I'll go back again for the third and final coat. Then I drove my car home and put her in the garage here again. I missed driving her and it was good to be behind the wheel once again. I took some back roads and highway to get home and she handles great with the new tires. Guess what we had for supper again last night? If you guessed PIZZA your right!! This one we ate at home though. I had the easy part of making the dough in the bread machine and Kenny made the pizza. It tastes as good as it looks!!Three days in a row for pizza is enough though and tonight I'm making Chicken Enchiladas. I've already cooked the chicken and cut up the red peppers so it won't take long to finish making them later on for supper. Since I was painting this morning I went for my walk at 9:30 when I got back home. I went around the lake today and got this picture of the goose having a bite to eat. It wasn't afraid and just let me get right up close and take a picture. I've done a some chores around the house and when I get done here, I'm going to sit and read. I've started another book and it's very good so far - hard to put down and I'm anxious to get back to reading it. I hope you're having a great Monday!!

He Lives

I've chosen an old hymn called He Lives for this Sunday. One of my favorites.

I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today; I know that He is living, Whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, And just the time I need Him He's always near. In all the world around me I see His loving care, And tho' my heart grows weary I never will despair; I know that He is leading, Thro' all the stormy blast, The day of His appearing will come at last. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King! The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find, None other is so loving. so good and kind. Chorus He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and he talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

May you all have a blessed Sunday. God lives and he loves you!

More Pizza and a good book

I cut my morning walk short (3.6 miles) today because I walked again in the late afternoon with Ken. I mapped out a nice 3 mile walk along some of the paths for Ken and I to walk. It started to drizzle during the afternoon walk but it was so light that we didn't even get wet. We spent the day out and about doing all kinds of errands. One of which was to go to the library. Had to drop some books, magazines, and CD's off and pick up some more. I finished reading My Husbands' Sweethearts by Bridget Asher.Lucy's finds her husband's little black book when he is dying and finds out that he has been cheating and lying to her for years. She calls up some of the women and invites them over for one last visit with Artie. Lots of surprises are in store for Lucy - good and bad. The book as some funny, sad and tender moments in it and I loved the book. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time. I think it would be a great book for a book club to read too. We liked that pizza from Sazzio so much yesterday that we went back there again tonight and had a plain cheese pizza for supper. It was a super good pizza. I wonder how many days in a row we could eat pizza and not get sick of it. :-) We stopped in at Mars and finally got some more ice cream. You can just go so many days without ice cream. I got chocolate chip mint and Ken got chocolate. I'm still knitting the ripple afghan for Nola but I only have two more colors to do so I should be finished real soon. I guess that's about it for tonight. I'm going to go and start one of the books I got out of the library today. Hope your Saturday was a Happyone!!

Sold and Sazzio

Another walk in the dark for the first part of my walk, but it gets light pretty quickly. I saw the usual deer, rabbits and the fox this morning. Then I heard an owl and looked up and saw two of them. That was so cool to see them sitting in the trees. I took a couple of pictures but it was just too dark for picture taking and they didn't come out. I could just their eyes in the picture. I put the three recipes in HappyonesCookbook that Ken and I made the other day. Just click on the names of the recipe below if you are interested in the recipes. 20 Minute Marinara Sauce with Fresh Basil Eggplant and Country Bread Lasagna Green Bean, Cherry Tomato, and Mozzarella Salad We have some land in Pennsylvania near State College and have had it for sale for a while and we got an offer on it today and have accepted it. YAY for us - so we went out to celebrate and went out for pizza. Though we probably would have went out for pizza anyway. :-) We tried a new place called Sazzio. We got a white pizza with lots of roasted veggies on it and was delicious. There are so many good pizza places around here I don't think I could name one favorite one. We are still watching the series The House of Eliott and are on series 1 disc 4. I really like this show. We are also watching A Touch of Frost and Bramwell and mix them up so as not to watch one show all the time. I've been skipping the ice cream snack for a few days and having chocolate chip cookies instead and will have them again tonight. Until then snack and television time I will read.

Girly Comments & Graphics

Lunch with Debbi

My daughter Debbi came over at lunch time and we walked up the road to LeeLynn's and had lunch. We had a nice time as we always do when we get together. It is so nice to have a grown up daughter. Like most mothers and daughters we have had times when she was growing up that we didn't always get along so well. Now that she is an adult I really feel like I have a good friend who will always be there for me. Even if she wasn't my daughter she would still be my friend.
Thanks Debbi for being you.
I love you! :-)

The rest of my day was just spent at home doing stuff around the house. When Ken came home from work we went over the old house to pick up the mail and drop the wheels off. He will put my new tires on the car this weekend.
Yesterday my car was 7 years old. Ken tells me it's time to trade her in on a new one. I say not yet!! Maybe when the new generation of C7's come out I'll think about it.

Hope your Thursday was a HappyOne! :-)

This and that

I've been enjoying my morning walks as usual though I never know what the weather will be like each morning. It goes from warm to cold and back to warm again.

I saw my first blooming flowers yesterday morning in some ones yard.

It looks like an iris to me but I don't think it's time for them to be blooming. Anyway whatever it is it sure is nice to see it blooming. :-) I stayed away from the computer all day yesterday. Ken took a vacation day and we spent the day together. We had a nice pancake breakfast with bananas and whipped cream which was a nice start. We took a trip up to Ikea again to buy a couple of night stands. I didn't want them to match so we got

this black one for my side of the bed and

this red one for Ken's side.

The lamp is new also. The lamp on mine is one that Ken made years ago from an old big spool. This past weekend Ken built the platform for our bed. This may sound odd but we ordered a piece of fence and two fence posts that we are going to use for the headboard. It should be here the end of the month. Of course I'll post a picture.

A stop at the HomeGoods store and we came out with this big sun and hung it on the high wall in our bedroom almost up to the loft.

The other day I was talking about Lidia's Italy and how good the food looked that she was cooking on her television show. I went to the library and got her book with those recipes in it that I wanted to make. Yesterday we went shopping and got all the ingredients and came home and had a fun time making the recipes together and then eating them. Delicious!!

We made Eggplant and Country Bread Lasagna with Twenty-Minute Marinara Sauce with Fresh Basil, and Green Bean, Cherry Tomato, and Mozzarella Salad.

I made French bread in the bread machine which went into the lasagna as well as eating it with dinner. I'm going to put all three recipes in my on line cookbook in the next couple of days. I'll post a link to them once I do it. My new tires came in yesterday and we took my old tires on the wheels to Mr Tire and then exchanged the old tires for the new. While they were doing that we went up the road a bit to spend our waiting time in the book store.

I was looking through the bargain books section and came across this baking book.

Lots of delicious things in here to bake.

We didn't go back to the old house to put the wheels back on my car because it was getting late so they are riding around in the back of the FJ. Hopefully we'll get them on the car again real soon. I miss my car! We have had a small problem with our new GE refrigerator that came with the house. The top two shelves in the freezer don't fit right and keep falling down. A man Larry from Ryan Homes came over yesterday to look at it and said yes they don't fit. I guess they didn't believe us. This afternoon Mark from GE came out to take a look at it and he says yes, the shelves don't fit. So they will be mailing us new shelves. No cost for us and as long as these new ones fit I will be happy. Well, I'm off to get a few things done around the house and then hopefully I'll have a little time to read or needlepoint. Hope your Wednesday is sunny and happy.

No tires

Ken took all four wheels off my car and here she sits on blocks waiting for her new tires.Mr Tire is supposed to get the tires tomorrow and then we will bring the wheels in to them. They will take the old tires off the wheels and then put the new one's on. Then Ken will pick them up and put the wheels with the new tires back on the car himself. You may ask why we just don't bring the car in to Mr Tire. We'd rather not leave the car there for the whole day. The car is in the garage at the old house. Yesterday while Ken was taking the wheels off my car I was in the bathroom upstairs painting it white. I got the first coat done before running out of paint. I also cleaned one of the bedrooms and that one room now looks ready for selling the house. We are leaving a few pieces of furniture and a picture or two around just so the house isn't completely empty. It is a very nice warm sunny day but we are having lots of wind with strong gusts at times. I didn't realize just how windy it was until I went out on the deck this morning to hang up a load of whites. I got one line with Ken's white work shirts and tee-shirts hung up when a gust came along and whipped most of the clothes right off the line. I managed to get all but two back in the basket but two tee-shirts escaped off the deck. Since the deck is off the kitchen which is on the second floor and there are no stairs I had to go through the house and out the garage to collect the wayward tee-shirts out on the road. I then just hung the clothes (except for the two dirty ones) up on the lines inside. Meals on wheels day. I had all 8 of my people who were all fine and everything went smoothly in the normal routine - nothing out of the ordinary. It's been great walking the last few mornings. Nice and warm but it is dark again in the morning when I start out but that won't last long as the days get longer. I'm off to do my exercise tape and then catch up on some blog reading. Not sure yet what I'll do after that. Hope this Monday is a bright and sunny day for you. :-)

The Pharisee and the Publican

I chose one of the parables from Luke this Sunday to share with you.

Luke 18:9-14

And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer.

The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, "God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer.

I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get."

But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying , "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!"

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted."

Have a blessed Sunday and remember to smile - God loves you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This morning on my walk I saw the first Robin of spring.
Now I know spring is on the way. :-)

Three more books

A few of you wanted to know how I liked watching Night Gallery last night. We watched the pilot which was a story about three different portraits and it was very corny. We didn't make it through to the end. I guess television wasn't any better then than it is now. :-) I've finished reading Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz. Ryan is young, rich, and he thinks healthy but a heart problem leaves him needing a heart transplant. Some strange things happen to him along the way and it isn't until the end of the book that he learns an important lesson. I thought it was good and was a page turner for me. I've also read two children books. One from my Bobbsey Twin book collection - The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat by Laura Lee Hope. Every once in a while I read one and will eventually read all of them. This book is number 6 in the series. Of course they are corny but I read them from the library when I was a little girl and loved them all. The other children book I read was The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K. Rowling. This book is a collection of five tales told to wizards and witches when they were kids with a commentary by Albus Dumbledorf after each tale. A cute little book for Harry Potter fans that was entertaining. These three books make 9, 10, & 11 for me on my 75 book goal for the year. Now that we have a television (only off the air, no cable) I have found the Create channel and have been enjoying some of the cooking shows on it. There is one called Lydia's Italy which I just love. All of the things she makes has me drooling. I just have to get one of her cookbooks. I usually like baking better than cooking but her recipes would make me love cooking too. We are now in the market for a new bed and went to a couple furniture stores looking for one. No luck yet. We will probably go back to our original idea of making one. Hope your Friday was a good one and you found many reasons to smile today. Happyone :-)

Spring Colors

Last night we went to the Weis nearest our house to get in a new supply of ice cream. As we were walking to the store I spotted an Art and Frame store a couple of stores away and we stopped in to look around. We have been looking for a print of some kind to hang in the living room and found one in this store. We picked a print called Spring Colors by the artist Viktor Shaviako. I have seen his work before but didn't know his name. I love everything he does. Lots a great colors in his work. The owner of the little shop was great and helped us pick out two different color mattes and a frame that is just perfect for the picture. Our picture should be ready for us to pick up on March 20.

Here is a picture of the print.I'll post our picture hanging up on the wall once we have it.

A cold start to the morning (15 degrees) but warmed nicely and was in the 50's. I made up my shopping list and headed out to the commissary. Nice getting the car out and driving on a nice sunny day. A good trip to the commissary - no lines. I had a nice little ego booster while shopping. A woman stopped me and said "I hope you don't mind me saying, but your hair is beautiful. Your gray hair looks so good on you." How nice is that to hear!!? After shopping I stopped in at the exchange to look around and see if they had any of the Polish Pottery that I started collecting. They had some pottery that said made in Poland but it wasn't the same. The colors weren't quite right. On the way home I stopped at the old house and picked up the mail. While there I ran into one of my neighbors and stayed and talked with her for a while. Then home to unload the groceries and had a late lunch of cottage cheese with raisins and strawberries. In the evening we stopped in at Mr Tire to see about getting some new tires for my car. The two guys there had trouble finding the tires we wanted and will call back tomorrow. Well off I go to have some ice cream and watch a little TV. Remember Night Gallery? I got that on Netflix to watch tonight. I remember liking it but it will probably be really corny and I won't want to watch it after all. Hope your Thursday was a HappyOne. :-)

Walking outside once again!!

Yesterday it was very cold and windy with ice and snow around so I didn't go out to walk again. This has been a bad year for walking - I don't remember when I've missed so many walking outside days. Nothing much happening - just at home doing usual stuff yesterday and today. The temperature was 8 degrees when I got up this morning, but the sun came out and there was no wind and in a few hours it warmed up to 30 degrees so I went for my walk then. It was kind of a haphazard walk because some of the sidewalks and paths were shoveled and some weren't. I would walk and when I came to ice and snow I'd turn around and go another way. It made for a crazy walking route. Here are some pictures of the paths.

Walked down this shoveled path.

Then turned around when I got here.

A few tries here before they actually found the path!

Then turned around once again when I got here.

Came across a group (herd?) of 8 deer and got a couple more pictures of deer.

Here is a young one.

And here is one trying to hide!

It was great getting outside and to walk again. It was so nice I ended up walking 7.4 miles. :-) I think with the weather warming up we have seen the last of this cold winter. By the weekend we are supposed to have temperature back in the 60's. I hope it stays warmer for good now. I was thinking that we turned the clocks ahead at the end of the month but we do it this weekend. I was just getting used to it being light in the morning - now it will go back to being dark once again. I'm just going to be lazy the rest of the day - reading and needlepoint. I hope you all are having a Happy Day. :-)

Start of a new collection!

Yesterday we went to Frederick to an antique mall and walked around. I didn't get anything old but bought some Polish pottery which is new. I love the blue colors and think I've have just started ANOTHER collection.

Here are my first three pieces.

The mark on the bottom.

I should have taken a picture of the booth with all the different pieces - next time I will. Though I didn't walk yesterday morning, later in the afternoon when we got back I went on a shortened walk and Ken came along with me. We walked 4.3 miles. I didn't walk this morning because of this.

Out my front window.Out the back window.

I really hate winter and want it to be spring!!! For my exercise today I did my exercise tape and then I walked 2 miles in the house walking up and down all three flights of stairs! That was so boring but at least I got a little walking in. I thought it was a good day to do a little baking. So I made some chocolate chip cookies.

I also read and finished Cross Country by James Patterson.

This was an another Alex Cross book which had him chasing a criminal to Nigeria. Though I usually like James Patterson I thought this book was just soso.

This was book number 9 for my LibraryThing Challenge.

I just got back inside from shoveling snow off the front steps, sidewalk, and the driveway. For the rest of the afternoon I'm going up in my loft to do needlepoint. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I saw this on Vee's blog and thought it was a silly fun thing to do. If you want to play go ahead and have some fun. What's in a name? 1. YOUR REAL NAME: Karen 2. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother and fathers middle names): Marie Robert - I used my kids middle names because my mom and dad both don't have middle names. 3. YOUR NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad): Rein John 4. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name): Sprka 5. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Red Giraffe 6. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, town where you were born): Paterson - no middle name for me either. 7. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning):The Blue Coke It's really diet coke but that didn't sound so good. :-) 8. YOUR FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name): Kasp 9. YOUR STREET NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie): Chocolate Chip Chocolate Chip 10. ROCK STAR NAME (pet's name and street where you live): Sammy Arsenal 11. YOUR EXOTIC NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on): Cookie Hopper 12. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus-izzle): Karizzle 13. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets): Black Star