A quiet day

No rain today on my walk but it was cool and cloudy. Stopped for a bit to talk to another walker - we were going in opposite directions so didn't walk together.

I spotted a geese family having breakfast down by the lake. :-)

Talking about geese - remember the geese from the parking lot where Ken works? They are now a family of five. The eggs must have hatched a while ago and she had been sitting on the babies protecting them because this morning they were all walking around and by the afternoon Mom and Dad and the 3 babies had all left.

I watched the workers building up the cinder block wall on the new townhouses for a while. They have quite a system going and it's fun to watch. I took this picture out of my bedroom window. Didn't feel like doing my exercise this afternoon but I made myself get up and do it and then felt good after I was done. :-) Spent some time up in the loft working on the cross stitch. I can't believe how fast the time goes when I'm doing that!! Read some more of Breaking Dawn and I'm going to go and finish it in just a bit. A pretty quiet day around the house. Hope you made some happy memories today. Happyone :-)

This and that

As you can see I've changed the look of this blog again which took up way too much of my time today. I'm keeping it like this for a long time! :-) Thought I would make it home this morning before the rain but I wasn't that lucky. Though it didn't rain hard, just a drizzle, I did get wet. Thought about heading home early but figured I was already wet so walked my usual 6 miles. I'm glad I did because walking always makes me happy! The rest of the day was just cloudy with a little rain toward evening. Big difference in the temperature. Yesterday 90 today 60!

While walking I snapped this shot of one lone tulip with raindrops on it.

I finished reading Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates.

Franky a 14 year girl, tells the story of the breakup of her family. It is a book for young adults but one I thought was very good for any age. It is a bit depressing which I find all of Oates books to be, but this one has some happy moments in it too and I liked the ending. I got started on my cross stitch project but did not do enough work on it to post a picture yet. Here's a list of all the projects I'm working on. 1. The new cross stitch 2. A lighthouse needlepoint 3. Knitting a white sampler afghan 4. Knitting a blue and white ripple afghan 5. Making a weave-it afghan It will take a while to get all these things done but eventually they will all get finished. I've been working on the light house and the white sampler afghan for years!! I'm adding this list to the side bar of my blog so I will see them listed there and maybe that will get me to finish them all. I ordered another Longaberger Basket from my cousin Linda today. I'm getting the Magazine Basket and I'm actually going to use it for magazines. I'm sure glad Linda is a Longaberger Consultant - I learn about all the sales. Thanks Linda! :-) Ken got home a bit late from work and then we headed out to Sazzio's for pizza. It was just a break for Ken because he dropped me off home and had to go back to work for a while and he is there now. I took some chocolate chip cookies that I baked a while back out of the freezer and had them for my snack. Now I'm going to go and read until Ken comes home. Hope you all had a good bit of happiness scattered throughout your day. Happyone :-)

Along the walking paths

I took these pictures on my walk this morning.

How pretty the paths look now with green all around.

The splash of purple stands out nicely in all the green.

Lots of deer out this morning and this one stayed to get her picture taken.

I spent a big part of the afternoon separating all the different colors of floss for my big cross stitch project. There are 46 different colors but they made it pretty easy to do by putting them in 4 separate bundles. The colors that were hard to tell apart were not in the same bundle. Each bundle was marked by putting in a different color of knitting yarn. I used a punch to cut holes in each color on the card and then put the corresponding color floss on through the hole on the card. I didn't have a round hole punch but the Christmas tree hole punch worked just as good. :-) After sorting out all the floss I didn't feel like cross stitching. I'll start it another day. The workers are putting up the cinder block on the townhouse row in front of ours. After working for two days in the hot sun they have done this much so far. It wasn't so long ago that I was watching my own townhouse being built! After supper we sat out on the deck for a while. Even though it was hot during the day the evening was nice and cool with a breeze. I certainly enjoyed my snack of ice cream tonight - it's been a good many days since I had any. Today I ate good old Chocolate Chip with a topper of Cookies and Cream Supreme. Did a bit of reading and knitting this evening too. I hope this Tuesday was a happy one for you. Happyone :-)

The Five Minute Patio Bench

Yesterday when I left for my walk, Ken left to meet up with a few friends and drove up to Carlisle, PA for the spring car show for the day. When I got back I made some French toast for breakfast and then at 9:30 left for the old house to get starting on painting the picket fence out in the front. My goal was to just do the front part and that is exactly what I did. I painted for 4 hours.

Here are a couple before pictures. I also cut the forsythia way down so I could paint behind it more easily. And here is the after.

I took this picture of the purple phlox too. It sure has spread quite a bit!

While I was painting people stopped to chat for a bit with me. My friend Lin, who lives in town stopped by two times. The second time she came by and told me it was time to take a break and brought a cup of fresh fruit for me to eat. That was so nice of her and it sure did hit the spot. Thanks Lin!!! The other day we bought a patio bench for the deck. When I do my container gardening I want to be able to do it right out on the deck and I can keep pots, dirt, tools and other small things in it and we can still use it as a seat. It is very easy to put together - no tools needed, just snap things in place - should only take 5 minutes. So today I thought I would take a couple of minutes and put it together. Well, as it happens I am not very good at snapping things together because after a half hour of reading the instructions and trying to put it together this is what I managed to do. I was getting frustrated that I couldn't do this simple thing, so I left it for Ken to put together when he got home.

For Ken it really did only take 5 minutes to put together. :-)

I added a cushion for a comfortable seat.

The clothes I hung out today dried in to time at all. I only have room to hang one load at a time on the deck so I did one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They dried faster than they would have in a dryer. We had a day of summer again today. Sunny and in the 90's. There was a gentle breeze blowing too. We finished up the last two pieces of the cheese cake I made last week. We savored each piece. :-) Hope all is well in your part of the world. Happyone :-)

Church Signs

Here are some more church sign sayings taken from my daily calendar.

Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future. 

 God wants full custody, not just weekend visits. 

 Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet. 

 If God had a refrigerator your picture would be on it. :-) 

 

Love is the only thing that can be divided without being diminished. 

 

Courage is fear that has said its prayers. 

 

There is no right way to do a wrong thing. 

 

Do your best and let Jesus do the rest. 

 

Too much complaining leaves little time for doing.

Enjoy your day. Have a blessed Sunday. 

Happyone :-)

A visit from Kathy and Dennis

We had a taste of summer today. Lots of sunshine and very warm temperatures.
Had my usual morning walk while Ken washed the FJ.
I made pancakes for breakfast and then we sat out on the deck waiting for Ken's sister Kathy and her husband Dennis to arrive. They drove down from Pennsylvania to spend the day with us. It was so nice to see them as it's been over a year since we last were together. We gave them the tour of the house and then we all walked up the street to LeeLynn's and had lunch. We talked and laughed and enjoyed some delicious food. Back to the house for more talking. The time passed much too quickly and then it was time for them to go back home.

Kathy and Dennis gave us this beautiful Bamboo plant for a house warming gift. I've been wanting a Bamboo plant and I love the planter it is in also. The plant is planted in stones and you just add water - no dirt at all. This should be good for me because I always forget to water my plants!!
Thanks Kathy and Dennis for the plant and making the trip down to see us. :-)

After they left we made a trip to the library to drop off the things that were due today and I picked up another book and a recorded book. From there we went to buy some paint. Tomorrow I will be spending the day at the old house painting the fence. My goal is to get the front done. I might start down the side if I don't get tired of painting. It's supposed to be another warm day like today.

I'm off to watch a couple Bramwell episodes, have some more cheese cake and do some knitting. I'll probably read a bit too.

Hope your Saturday was filled with sunshine.
Happyone :-)

A day of pictures

Another gorgeous morning for a walk around the lake.

I took many pictures on my walk today. There was another person taking lots of pictures too and we stopped and talked for a bit. (no he doesn't have a blog but maybe someday)

Can you spot the deer in the middle of this picture? They are standing right in the lake hiding behind the tall grass.

I zoomed in and took this one.

Ironing was on my agenda for today. While ironing I listened to George Guidall read me The Cat Who Could Read Backwards. I was ironing by the window and watched the cement trucks pour the footings for the row of townhouses in the front of us. We will be facing the side of the row.

I took these pictures out of my bedroom window. Made spinach bean soup early in the afternoon for tomorrow for supper. It always tastes better the next day. We went out to Five Guys this evening. Such a pretty sunny warm day and I sat out on the deck and read for a while. Came in for a bit and then went back out on the deck again to knit. An update on the geese who made her nest in the parking lot where Ken works.

Mama is still sitting on the eggs and papa is still protecting them.

This picture isn't very good but I wanted to show you where the nest is situated. You can see the cones they put out to keep cars away.

As we drove past to take the picture papa geese chased us.

We watched a couple episodes of Seinfeld and had a piece of yesterdays cheese cake for our snack. As usual I knitted while watching TV. BTW I really like knitting with the cotton yarn. I hope you had a day filled with sunshine. Happyone :-)

A new counted cross stitch kit

A beautiful morning for walking. Sunny and temperatures in the 40's. A picture along one of my paths this morning. I ordered a counted cross stitch kit of a picture done by the artist Viktor Shavaiko. The same artist of the picture we bought for the living room a little while ago called Spring Colors. It came in the mail yesterday and I'm anxious to get it started. This one is called European Bistro.I am so glad that instructions are in color - so much easier to follow than black and white. I'll be working it on a dove gray 16 count Aida cloth. The finished picture will be 16 x 11 inches. Cheryl and Kathy came by the house today for lunch and a visit. Cheryl made us a delicious tasty salad, just like the one we eat at Mimi's Cafe - balsamic pistachio salad. It was just as good if not better. Kathy brought over some thirst quenching iced green tea. I provided the bread to go with the salad and cheese cake that I baked yesterday. We had a most enjoyable time and must do this soon again. Bonnie couldn't make it because she is in Arizona visiting friends. I did a little reading in the afternoon and then we went out to eat with our friends Jackie and Kerry. They came over our house and we went up the road to LeeLynn's for dinner. No snack tonight - I ate a bit too much today. Hope your Thursday was a happy one. Happyone :-)

A tiny nest

Our weather today has been one of change - clouds, rain, sun, more rain and more clouds and sun. I found this tiny birds nest in the middle of the sidewalk where I was walking. It is only 3 inches across. It's the cutest little thing. I've put it on the window sill on the stairs with some plants. I took this picture of a white crane on the lake this morning. It was far away and I zoomed in with my camera. It was too far away to get a good picture but I liked how the picture came out. When you click on it to enlarge it, it looks like a water color painting!!I went to the commissary this morning. It was nice out when I left but then it poured while I was driving. The rain was nice enough to stop when I had to go inside and leaving the commissary and loading up the car it was nice too. Then on the way home it poured again. No lines at all today - I was in and out in no time at all. :-) Had some lunch when I got home and then baked some whole wheat bread in the bread machine and made a cheese cake for tomorrow when Cheryl, Kathy, and maybe Bonnie come over for a visit. Cleaned up the kitchen, I really make a mess when I bake, did a bit of housework and then sat down and read for while. After supper we went out and Ken finally found a couple pairs of shoes that he liked. I also got another new pair. :-) We watched another episode of McCleod's Daughter's to give it one more try and decided we aren't going to watch this series. Ice cream was our snack of choice this evening and I also got some knitting done. Hope all is well in your part of the world. Pleasant dreams all. Happyone :-)

One fine day

Not quite sunny this morning on my walk but it wasn't raining and the sun was trying to appear. It was so good to be outside again walking after yesterday's short walk in the mall. As I walked along I saw streams that are full with water, green grass and green plants along the banks and buds on the trees. Many birds were up in the trees and as I walk alone it's as though the birds are singing their morning songs just for me. :-) Now how can you even compare that to walking in the mall?!! I saw the fox again and stopped to get a picture - not a very good one but there he is. I was so happy to see a little house finch at the bird feeder out on the deck this afternoon. He was there the first time on Saturday. I haven't been able to get any pictures of him yet. I got some work done on the computer today instead of just playing around on it. Had to get those bills paid. Did a little cleaning, baked some more bread and read. I took this picture standing right outside my front door. They are about to start building the next couple of rows of townhouses. Right across the street there will be row of 4 and beyond that there will be a row of 6 - all are sold already. This evening we started to watch Carousel, a musical from the 50's but it was really corny and we turned it off and watched a couple episodes of Seinfeld. I had a few of the chocolate chip cookies that I made yesterday for my snack and did a little knitting again as well. During the day we had sunshine and then late evening it clouded up again and we got some more rain - even some thunder claps. Hope you can look back on this Tuesday as a day of happiness. Happyone :-)

A rainy Monday

A very rainy Monday for delivering Meals on Wheels. I got a bit wet!! All 7 of the people I delivered meals to are all fine on this wet day. All thanked me for coming out in such awful weather. After their thanks I didn't mind getting wet at all. :-) I woke up this morning and just didn't feel like walking in the rain again. So I decided I would walk the mall after I did Meals on Wheels. I went there to walk but only managed to walk 2 miles. It was just too boring to walk there any longer. I missed my outside walk and realized I would much rather walk outside in the rain than in the dry mall. I thought about walking outside once I got home, but had things to do so I didn't go. I'll walk a little extra tomorrow! I baked chocolate chip cookies. I usually use semi sweet chocolate chips but this time I made them with Hershey's Special dark chocolate chips. I can't decide which I like best - both are yummy to me. I ate one warm cookie right out of the oven!!

I've finished reading A week in Winter by Marcia Willett.

The main character is Maudie who has an old country house that she wants to sell. There a few people interested in buying it. This book has a few stories going on at the same time and moves back and forth between the past and the present. Great characters in this book and you get to know them all and care about them. I thought the book was very good and look forward to reading more books by Willett. I got another one from the library on Saturday - A Summer in the Country.

A blogger buddy Ruta, who lives in the area of England that the book is set in recommended this author to me. Thanks Ruta!! :-) Check out Ruta's Blog. It's one I read every day. :-) She posts beautiful photos of her countryside and writes about her days. I had ice cream for my snack tonight while watching Cactus Flower, an old Goldie Hawn movie. Also knitted on the blue ripple afghan. Started reading Breaking Dawn - the fourth and final book in the twilight series. This is a long book with over 700 pages in it. Here's hoping for some sunshine tomorrow. Hope you had a sunshine kind of day even if it was raining outside. Happyone :-)

He is always near

It's not the greatness of our troubles, but the littleness of our faith that makes us complain. A few verses from Psalm 34 1: I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of his glories and grace. 2: I will boast of all his kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. 3: Let us praise the Lord together, and exalt his name. 18: The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking, he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. 19: The good man does not escape all troubles, he has them too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one.

If you are going through a hard time don't forget you don't have to do it alone. Just ask and He will help you though it. :-) Happy Sunday to you. Happyone :-)

A busy day

When I left for my walk Ken left also and went into work for a little while. I was home before he was and when he got home I made us French toast for breakfast.

I took this picture of the little tree they planted on the side of our house.It will be fun to look back some day and see how small it once was.

Here is a close up. I don't know what kind it is.
I'll have to do a little research. Take notice of that beautiful bright blue sky!

After breakfast we went back to Savage again. Did a little repair to the fence in the front yard - now I have to paint it! Raked up some leaves along the side and looked through the stuff in the garage and started putting some things out for a yard sale. Came across some more stuff that I decided to keep after all!

Stopped in to return some things to the library and picked up a couple more books, CD's and a couple of DVD's. That should keep us set for this week. :-)

While we were out we stopped at Pot Belly's for a sandwich.

We were at home for a little while and then out we went again. This time to check out the best prices for some more lighting that Ken wants to put in the garage. We bought most of what he needed.

After running around all day it was nice to sit down this evening and have a snack of Welsh cookies, do a little knitting and watch a DVD we got from the library. We watched McLeod's Daughters - a new series for us but one that's been around a while. Another recommendation from someone who I can remember! It was okay. We also watched a movie - A Death at a Funeral. You have never been to a funeral like this one!! A British comedy! :-)

I hope your Saturday was a happy one!
Happyone :-)

Taryn the shampoo girl :-)

Another sunny morning as I walked around the lake. As I was walking my phone rang and it was Lin who I used to walk with around with in Savage. It was nice "walking with her" today. Right after breakfast I headed out to Savage and the old house again and this time I spent a few hours getting the front yard in shape. Mowed the lawn, weeded and picked up all the branches that were scattered all over. I was hoping that the lawn mower would start after sitting all winter, but I had nothing to worry about. I filled it with gas and on the first pull and it started right up. It's nice seeing all the flowers starting to come up. The purple phlox are all blooming now on the little hill in front and look so pretty. Once home again I took a shower, had lunch and then did a few things around the house. I picked up my granddaughter Taryn at 2:30 and drove her to work today. She started her first job last week as a shampoo girl at the salon where Cheryl works. :-) Taryn has folded LOTS of towels and yesterday she got to shampoo someone for the first time. She loves her job and I think it's so cool that she is working by Cheryl. Cheryl was at work today too and I stopped in to say a quick hello. Read a little and knitted a bit too. I enjoyed ice cream for my snack this evening after not having it for the past few days. Hope you all had a great Friday. Happyone :-)

A near miss

Nice to have a sunny morning to walk in after all those rainy mornings. I was surprised to find the wooden foot bridges icy!! This morning I was enjoying driving my car on a nice sunny day going to the bank driving in the right lane minding my own business when a blue van on the left side of me decides to come over in my lane. I can't move over because there is no where to go so I brake and lean on my horn and we narrowly miss crashing!!! I go around him and pass and he flips ME off. Nice Guy!! Oh and by the way he's got one of those stickers on his car that says Choose Civility!! The library gives the stickers away and LOTS of cars are wearing one - too bad most people don't practice it too. I eventually made it safely to the bank. Then I headed up to the old house do to a little painting. I gave the bathroom the third and final coat of paint. I was going to do some yard work too but it was way past lunch time and I was getting hungry, so I came back home. Once I got back home I realized that I left my cell phone at the old house. :-( I cleaned up a bird feeder that I brought back from the old house and filled it up with bird seed and hung it out on my deck. I kept looking out to see if any birds showed up for dinner but none did. I guess word hasn't gotten out yet that there's a new eatery in town. :-)I finished reading the third book in the Twilight series, Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. It was good and another page turner but not quite as good as the first two. Don't want to say anything about the book because I know a lot of people are reading it. I'll just say, Ah, poor Jacob! Out for pizza tonight for supper and we stopped at the old house again and there was my cell phone sitting on the counter right where I left it. If felt weird not having my phone with me all afternoon. I ate some more of those Welsh cookies for my snack tonight while watching Bramwell. A little knitting got done too. I hope your Thursday was a happy one and that all is well in your part of the world. Happpyone :-)

Lunch with Debbi and other stuff

Another rainy misty morning for my walk around the lake. All the usual wildlife were out but today I saw my first Bluebird. He was beautiful!! The blue really stood out against the pink blossoms of the tree he was perched in. No luck getting a photo of him though. I stopped a minute to chat with Barbara. She was the one who adopted a dog and then found out it was about to have puppies. The dog had 5 puppies (another walker had told me 7) and they were 2 weeks old yesterday. Mom and all puppies are fine. Mom was out getting some exercise walking around the lake. :-) Barbara has decided to keep TWO of the puppies!

I got the ingredients together for a Mexican Meatloaf and got it going in the slow cooker for supper tonight and then did a few chores around the house.
My daughter Debbi picked me up and we headed out to Mimi's Cafe to have lunch and spend a little time together. Today we splurged and got dessert too. We both got a petite size dessert of Apple Crisp with vanilla ice cream. It was just the perfect size and was delicious. Debbi works from home so once she dropped me back home off she went home to work. It's really nice living close so we can do this every once in a while.

On the way home we were talking about the Twilight books (she is reading the fourth one) and when I got back home the first thing I did was to sit down and read. I'm reading the third one and will be done with it late tonight or tomorrow.

I went around the house watering my plants today which I don't do on a regular basis. I water them only when I think of it and sometimes they go weeks without water and yet they thrive. I'm surprised they haven't all died by now!

Watched an episode of Bramwell - a sad one tonight. Had Welsh Cookies for my snack and did some knitting.

And so another day ends. Hope you had a good one.
Happyone :-)

Birds, baking and......

An umbrella kind of morning today. Quite a few people out walking around the lake in spite of the rain. A woman walking, wearing no raincoat and had no umbrella had her little white poodle walking along beside her dressed in a yellow raincoat. I couldn't help but smile. By the lake I saw a bird that looked like a robin only it was much smaller and had a stripe of white down each side on it's side feathers. I tried looking it up but couldn't find anything that looked like what I saw. It looked somewhat like an Orchard Oriole. Speaking of birds I was excited to see my first bird at the birdbath on my deck this morning. :-) It was a house finch. I was going to put a bird feeder in the front but I am going to put one out near the birdbath.

I baked some Welsh Cookies. Click on picture for recipe. Knitted on the blue and white afghan.

Here's how it is coming along.

I also did some reading. It was one of those dreary days when it can't make up its mind to rain or not. I would rather have a day of a good soaking rain than this misty stuff. Someone from blogland (sorry I can't remember who) thought I might like the series called The Darling Buds of May. It's a British comedy/drama series set during the 50's in the country. We got it on Netflix and watched the first episode this evening. We thought it was pretty good - it was light hearted, entertaining, and made us laugh. One dreary day down and one more to go before the sun comes out again. But maybe the weather will surprise us with a sunny tomorrow. :-) Hope your Tuesday was happy. Happyone :-)

A walk, a friend, and new shoes

Even though it was a chilly 29 degree walk this morning, the sun was out, there was no wind and by the time I got back home it was about 50!! I saw 14 deer - 8 of them in one group! It's so nice seeing all the green starting to show up along the paths. :-)Today while I did my ironing I started listening to the recorded CD book that I got out of the library on Saturday. It's called The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun. It's a mystery read by George Guidall. I am surprised to say I am enjoying it!! I think the reason why I didn't like the other books I've tried to listen to is because I didn't like the people's reading voices. The other books have been read by women. I think I prefer to listen to men reading the books. Cheryl came by today and we ate left over pizza for lunch. I was making a loaf of bread so we got to have a piece of fresh bread with butter too. :-) We had lots to talk about like we always do. :-) It's nice when you have a friend that is easy to talk to, when you don't feel like you have to think up things to say. Someone you feel comfortable with. I'm happy to say that Cheryl is my friend and one of my many blessings. I didn't feel like it but after Cheryl left I did my exercise tape. Then it was time to start supper. I made Baked Ziti and used four different kinds of cheeses (Fontina, Parmesan, Ricotta, & Mozzarella) and a salad to go with it. Both of us need a new pair of shoes and after supper we went to Kohls. Ken usually finds shoes there but no luck this time. I didn't see anything I liked either. We then went to Off Broadway to try our luck there. No luck for Ken there either but I found a pair I liked. It is just a simple slip on shoe but very comfortable. :-) No Netflix tonight - we watched a couple episodes of Seinfield. Elaine is my favorite character - I love her expressions. This Monday is ending with rain and it's supposed to be like this for the next two days. Well, it's better than snow!! :-) Hope you enjoyed your Monday. Happyone :-)

Happy Easter

Easter Eggs

A rainy start to this Saturday but I walked anyway. It was nice hearing the rain on my umbrella. Today's pancake breakfast had strawberries and whipped cream to go along with them. Ah, it's almost like eating strawberry shortcake for breakfast. How can your day go wrong when it starts out like that. :-) Had to go to the credit union and get a little problem straightened out - which we did with no problem. Next was a stop at the library - we seem to have gotten in a routine of going there every Saturday. I got a magazine out about Maryland and a book on CD. I'm going to give that another try. I've tried a couple of other times to listen to a book and didn't like it - I don't know what makes me think I'm going to like it this time. No books out today because I already have 4 of them out - three of which I am reading now. Back home in the afternoon to do some computer work and a few things around the house. After supper we went to Giant and got eggs and food coloring to color Easter Eggs. When the kids were little we would color eggs on Saturday evening. We would hide the eggs around the house and Easter morning have an egg hunt. The kids used to really look forward to it. Then one year when they were older neither one of them wanted to stay home and color the eggs so we didn't do it that year and that was the end of the Easter Egg Hunt at our house. :-( I think this is the first time we have colored eggs since then. Here's our handiwork. :-)We won't be hiding these eggs but I will be making egg salad tomorrow. Not my favorite food but Ken likes it. This day ended with the promised sunshine. I hope you had sunshine in your world too. Happyone :-)

A surprise visit from David

As usual I started my day with a walk. Today I went around the lake.

This is the first azalea bush I've seen blooming.

Our son David surprised me this morning with a visit. We had breakfast and a nice chat and then he left to spend time at his sister's house. I spent the rest of the morning doing some house cleaning, had some lunch, then did a little more house cleaning and then read a little bit. David came back here supper time and I made tuna casserole for supper. That has always been his favorite dinner! :-) When he was little he would say if he was ever on death row his last meal would be my mom's tuna casserole. :-) The three of us just sat around talking for hours after supper and and then he left to go back to NJ. It was so nice to see him and spend some time together. I hope you had a happy Friday. Happyone :-)

New Yarn and Shampoo

This morning was even colder with a temperature of 28 but it quickly warmed up and I had to take off a couple of layers by the time I got home from walking. Lots of sunshine and no wind - Spring must finally be here. :-) I went out this morning and made a stop at Walmart to get a couple more cones of yarn for the afghan I'm working on. The blue/off white they had - the off-white they didn't have which is the color I have the least of. I picked up this color called peppercorn ombre while I was there too. Don't know what I'll be making with it but liked the color. There is an unbelievable amount of yarn on one of these cones of 690 yards and all for $6.97! After supper Ken and I went out to another Walmart and they had the off white cone of yarn there, so now I'm all set with enough yarn. We also stopped at Weis and picked up some more ice cream. We got 4 because they were on sale - 2 for $5. I stopped in at the old house again and picked up the mail. I really should have stayed and finished painting the bathroom but I just didn't feel like it. One day next week I'm going to have to go over for the day and do yard work - mowing and weeding. I don't think it's going to be much fun anymore! We will probably be putting the house up for sale at the beginning of the summer. I had brought along Nola's afghan and stopped by her house to give it to her, but she wasn't home. I tried calling first but the number I had for her was wrong. I'll just have to stop by another day. I was going to leave it on her porch with a note but then thought maybe she went away for Easter. I'll just stop by another time. I tried a new kind of shampoo this evening by Pantene called Silver Impressions. I like it but was surprised by the color. The shampoo is a very dark purple and the conditioner is a lighter purple. I kept thinking my hair was going to turn purple. :-) I'm off in a few minutes to watch an episode of Touch of Frost, have some of that ice cream and knit. Later I'll be back to read some blogs and then read more of my book until it's time for bed. I hope your Thursday was sunny and happy. Happyone :-)

A typical day

Ken back to work today. It was a nice long weekend. I usually wake up around 6 or so but yesterday I woke up at 7:20!! That is late for me. I also skipped my walk!! I don't do that very often either.

In the morning we went over to Debbi's house again and repaired a small part the fence in her yard.
The paving of the road I am happy to say was completed yesterday. Now we can once again come and go easily. The workers will be back once again when they have to do the final paving of the streets in by all the townhouses.
By the way they are still building townhouses here. They have finished three more rows - a 4 unit, a 7 unit and a 8 unit and people have started moving in. They are on the other side and away from us. Soon they will be building a row of 4 units right across the street from my house.

Today I was back to my usual walk and walked my "connect the path" route. I saw LOTS of deer and cardinals, the fox, a ground hog, ducks and geese. It was a cold morning with a temperature of only 30 degrees but the sun was shining and it warmed up to the 50's later in the day.

Food supply getting low so I made a list and went the commissary. Bit of a line today and had to wait about 1/2 hour on the line.
Put everything away, had a late lunch, did my exercise tape, got a little house cleaning done, and then sat down to read for a little while.

Supper is over now and soon it will be time to watch a Bramwell episode and have a snack. Cookies and tea is my choice for tonight. I'll probably knit and then read again. I'm reading the third book in the Twilight series.

Hope all is well in your part of the world.
Happyone :-)

This and That

Ken dug up this picture of me playing with the Kubota that I mentioned the other day. :-)

I had a great walk around the lake yesterday morning. I was there a little earlier than usual and I only met a couple of people. I love the early morning when there aren't many people walking around yet. After breakfast we went to our daughter Debbi's house and took the old shingles and tar paper off her shed roof and put new tar paper and shingles on it. It is a small shed and really didn't take all that long. Went home for lunch and then headed out again. This weekend was the big train show at the Timonium Fairgrounds and we took a ride up there. In one of the other buildings there was a carnival going on and there were people all over the place. I was surprised to see a carnival going on inside a building!

Some of you have been wondering how the fence headboard turned out.

The before

This is the after but before the finishing touches.

The final after.

A close up of the birdhouse.

It is not your usual headboard which is the reason why we like it. I bought the garland of flowers from Michael's as well as the balsa wood birdhouse which I painted. I would still like to get something to hang on the wall between the posts towards the left side. Maybe a picture of bird houses or maybe I'll do a cross stitch. The other day I made a loaf of bread in my bread machine and when it was done baking I saw that it had not risen and realized I had forgotten to add the yeast. All was not lost though, it made great toast that tasted like English muffins and the slices were small and fit nicely in the toaster. :-) Another nice day for walking around the lake, but it quickly clouded up and rained once I got home. I've been seeing a lot of Red Winged Blackbirds around the lake and today I managed to get a picture of one.

The picture is not very good because I had to zoom in, but at least I got a picture of one.

Road work continues on the road along the side of my house today even though it was raining. Part of the road got paved.

Ken took a vacation day today and he drove me around for Meals on Wheels. I'm down to 7 people again on my route because one lady moved in with her daughter. I'm glad to report that all my people were well and happy today! :-) It's late afternoon now and I'm not sure what we will be doing for the rest of the day. We will probably go out to eat somewhere again. It is after all a vacation day for Ken. He is taking one tomorrow too. :-) Hope all is fine in your part of the world and your day is full of sunshine. Happyone :-)