The Weekend & Currently

What a glorious morning it is here in western Pennsylvania! I am so happy to be off work today to enjoy it. The sun is shining and the temperature is in the 40s and expected to reach the 50s today. Even though cold temperatures and snow are coming later this week, it's a little taste of Spring and a reminder that it isn't far off now.

It was a pretty good weekend here. Saturday morning found me hitting the thrift stores. I enjoy the hunt and it's so much fun when I actually find a "treasure." Even though I only went to 2 local shops I did pretty well. These are some of my finds...

Aren't these pretty? I think I'm going to use them on my desk

to hold paper clips, rubber bands, and things like that.

I usually only collect figural dog planters, but you

know me and Poodles. I couldn't leave this cutie behind.

I picked these DVDs up for the dementia unit.

The residents will enjoy them.

I found these sweet, absolutely perfect Fire King

cups for only 99 cents each. Love them!

It was a good day for books!

I also found some books for the grandkids and a handful of CDs for the car. I could have gone nuts on the CDs because someone had donated a DJs entire collection...but I restrained myself.

I also stopped by the garden center and bought some house plants for all the pretty pots I've been collecting. Well, for a few of them. 

The afternoon found me doing some chores around the house until Megan called and asked me to come sit with Leah while she did some work outside. It was beautiful and sunny, but too cold for the baby to be outside. Colton, on the other hand, had a great time riding his Little Tikes roller coaster and driving his John Deere Power Wheels tractor.

Tim worked all day and stayed later so he wouldn't have to go back in on Sunday, so I ordered dinner from Racer's (fish for him and a big salad for me) and he picked it up on his way home. He went to bed as soon as he was done eating and I spent the evening with Columbo.

Sunday was another beautiful day but it never felt quite as warm as it was due to the wind. At 53 degrees it was nice, but man, when the wind blew (which was every few seconds) it cut like a knife. At least it was another sunny day...can't get nearly enough of them after all the gray winter days.

Tim was going to work on the bathroom redo, but he finally admitted he is just not motivated to work on the tile and said he will see about finding someone to finish that part. Once that's done all that's left is setting the sink and toilet and the hardware, which he says he's fine with. (I deserve an award for patience and biting my tongue because this bathroom has been out of commission and a work in progress for over 3 years! And for not pointing out that doing the entire room in tile was HIS idea.)

With the bathroom off the table for the day, Tim worked on putting together the coffee table I ordered from Amazon. I love it and he was actually impressed with how well made it was.

Pretty isn't it?

Then it does this! Colton thought this was the

greatest thing ever. He kept saying over and over,

"Me like this table."

While Tim was assembling the table, I finally went through all my clothes and organized them (or donated them) and potted my new plants. I grew up in a family that always has plants in the house and I love the look. I was down to only 2 and the house was feeling incomplete to me. It's much better now, though I am still nowhere near close to my grandmother, who had over 100 plants in the house!

Aren't they pretty? The one in the back on the right is called Dragonbreath.

I couldn't get a picture that captures the colors, but the very center stripe 

of the leaves is a bluish color. It is really different and beautiful.

We did run out to get a couple of things at Lowe's and ended up having Sunday Brunch at a restaurant right down the road from home. It was...okay. Not really worth the price unless you're more interested in quantity than quality. They did, however, have absolutely amazing halupki (stuffed cabbage rolls)...the best I've had since the old Polish/Hungarian/Slav ladies in my neighborhood passed away.

Colton was here for the latter part of the afternoon and a bit of the evening. We always enjoy our time with him (and Leah, too) and want them to know this is their home, too.

After Colt left we just relaxed and watched TV. It was a good weekend.




CURRENTLY

I am...

Reading...Head Over Heels. Sometimes you just need some "junk food" for your mind.

Watching...the sun play off the pretties in my kitchen window to throw rainbows (or woody woos as my aunt called them) on the wall.

Loving...this sunshine!

Thinking...about all I want to do today. Laundry, dusting/vacuuming, groceries, clean out the frig, and spend some time writing.

Feeling...10 feet tall and bulletproof. Don't you love those days?

Celebrating...Tim wanting to hire someone to finish the tile in the bathroom.

Grateful...to God for his love, forgiveness, and faithfulness.

Weather...sunny and in the 50s!

Enjoying...the heck out of all this sunshine!

A thought to share...

The Weekend and Currently

Good morning! We had a pretty good weekend. It was my weekend off and my first off since my part-time schedule kicked in. I have to say I am loving the extra time to get things done and be with the family. I feel more relaxed than I have in ages. People are telling me it shows.

Tim didn't go to work on Saturday, either, because the rain made it too muddy to do whatever it was he was going to do. I had plans with my mom so he was on his own.

Mom and I checked out the Habitat for Humanity store and hit several thrift shops. We also had lunch at Primanti Brothers. Mom made quite a big deal out of how nice it was to spend the day together and shared how her friend (who lost her daughter to cancer) told her to enjoy our time together.

Mom invited Tim and I to share supper with her and John. It was simple barbecue pork sliders and chips, but it was nice to spend the time with them. After that Megan and Cody dropped the grandkids off so they could go out with friends for a couple of hours. We had a good time playing with them and watching Minion movies. Again.

Sunday was supposed to be a day of running errands and getting work done around here. We got the errands done, but we made a stop at Dunham Sports and ended up buying a big gun safe. We had to move stuff in the house to make room for it and rearrange stuff and well...it ended up taking all afternoon. And today I have to put the house back together.

Currently

I am...

Reading...Finding Home by Jackie Weger.

Watching...The Ranch on Netflix.

Loving...being part-time and having time and energy to do things I want to do.

Thinking...about a friend who is ending her marriage today. It's one of those cases where it's the best thing, the only thing, really...but still so sad. Also praying for her safety as the movers were coming this morning after her husband left for work and her daughter left for school. The situation is such that she needs to do it this way without them knowing until it's over. (The daughter is 14 and sides with her father because he buys her whatever she wants.)

Feeling...pretty darn good!

Celebrating...life and family. The death of Kobe Bryant and his young daughter is another powerful reminder that every day is a gift and we are not promised tomorrow so, we'd better make the most of the day we are living.

Grateful...as I see people around me getting sick for the second or third time this winter that I am still continuing to miss all the "fun."

Weather...it's snowing a bit this morning, but it's to turn to a mix of snow and rain as the day goes on with a high temp of 37.

Enjoying...my new Body Groove dvd. It looks silly but it's a lot of fun.

A thought to share...

My Weekend

Good morning! I'm loving sitting here in my pj's at 7:00 to post this morning. It's not my day off, but I don't have to go in to work until noon. Tomorrow is my day off and I can't wait.

The weekend was a working one for me, but it wasn't too bad. It actually got started with me being off on Friday. I spent the day packing up the Christmas decorations and in the afternoon I had some "help" from these two.

Tim came home from work a little earlier than normal and decided to use his Red Lobster gift card to take us out to dinner. We both had "create your own" combinations...heavy on the shrimp for me and a little bit of everything for him. Throw in those yummy cheesy-garlic biscuits and it was delicious!

We stopped by Walmart on our way home as I needed another storage box for Christmas decorations and onion powder to make ham and bean soup. Tim need some toiletries so it was all good. All the Valentines' Day stuff was out and as I was walking by I saw a matching Mickey and Minnie and snagged them for Colton and Leah.

Tim and I both worked on Saturday, so I tossed all the ingredients for ham and bean soup into the crockpot and turned it on low before heading to work. It had rained all day Friday, all night, and part of the day on Saturday and the temperature started to drop on Saturday so Tim was wet, cold, and working in mud. He decided to quit early. By the time I got home he'd already taken a hot shower, was in his shorts, and stretched out on the sofa.

I had worried all day about the soup in the crockpot, wondering if the beans would truly be soft enough. They were! The soup was perfect and it was so easy to do. I will be making it this way from now on! Since Tim was on the sofa, my plans to invite Mom and John to share supper went out the window. Instead, I took them a big container for their supper. John declared it delicious. 

From the website linked above.

The Christmas boxes didn't get put away on Saturday because of Tim being tuckered out and because of the rain. We store the boxes in the shed out back and since it was still raining and had been raining for over 24 hours the yard was a mess, anyway.

Oh, I also got another letter from my biological father on Saturday. That kind of surprised me since I hadn't gotten around to writing back after his last note. I was even more surprised, stunned actually, to find another check in his letter. It seems he feels obligated to catch me up to the same level of gifts he's given his other children. Wow. He likes to share his philosophies with me, which I don't entirely agree with, but I have to say I am getting more anxious to meet this man who so easily gives away large sums of money to a virtual stranger. I want to thank him for blessing me in person...and who knows, maybe he will see through me that there is a God and he's not the enemy. I hope so.

I worked on Sunday. Tim got all the Christmas boxes out to the shed and took down the twin beds in the spare bedroom so our son-in-law can assemble the new bed and trundle bed for me. After that, Tim went out to pick up a few things and get himself a haircut. I came home to an empty house. I didn't know where he was or when he'd be back...he never leaves notes and he forgot his phone...so I just ordered pizza and wings for supper.

It sure was good to get home yesterday. It had been a rough day in the dementia unit. One of the residents refused to take their meds and they were nasty, screaming, and had to have someone with them every moment of the day. That really wears on you and it also gets everyone else in the unit worked up so we had some other behaviors going on. I'm not back in there until Thursday so I hope it will have calmed down, but with the full moon coming up this weekend that might be wishful thinking.

This morning I'm going to finish putting the house back to rights now that the boxes are all gone. Looking forward to that!

Set your minds that this will be a good day and then build on it, my friends. Make this first full week of 2020 an amazing one!

Work, "Fame" & Trains

Good morning and a happy Thanksgiving week to you! Last night was another night of little sleep and I finally gave up a while ago and got up to begin the day. Today is the final day in a 5-day stretch and the rest of the week will have a fairly relaxed pace, but I wanted to do a catch-up post today.

Last week found me working in the dementia unit every day but one as the regular afternoon girl took a couple of days off. It was actually nice to be in once place every day rather than bouncing back and forth between dementia and the rest of the nursing home. Sundowners (when the residents become highly agitated in the late afternoon and evening) was pretty bad Thursday and Friday and the staff was feeling stressed, but everyone calmed down over the weekend and did a lot of sleeping.

I heard lots over the weekend about being a "celebrity" after this picture appeared on the home's Facebook page (it will appear in a local paper this week...Hali, Jim's family, and I have all signed releases that's why I can share the photo).

As part of the ‘Give Back Project,’ the residents of the memory care wing at Bethlen Home recently donated 8 blankets to Angel Arms in Latrobe. The residents discussed babies and how to care for them as they knotted the borders of the fleece blankets. This activity provides sensory stimulation as they work with their hands. The sharing their memories and advice about taking care of babies enhances their moods. In the photo, Jim Shoup is proudly displaying two of the blankets he helped to make. (Also pictured are staff members Stacy Artis and Hali Livingston.) Bethlen Communities is a faith-based non-profit continuing care retirement community, and it is Bethlen’s mission to serve those in our care and in our community. Angel Arms is a charity to provide comfort and care to babies born in drug addiction. The organization is part of Faith Forward, a faith-based organization that provides people in the community with resources, counseling, and encouragement to overcome life’s obstacles.

Hali is currently an LPN, but she began volunteering at the home when she was just 13 or 14 and was working as a paid activities aide before she was out of school. She has worked almost exclusively in the memory care wing all those years. That's quite a commitment for someone who is only 26, but she loves the dementia residents and they love her right back. I really enjoy working with her. 

I stopped at the grocery store after work on Friday. I wanted to get a turkey before they got too picked over. There was a big promotion so I was able to get a big 22 pounder for just 38 cents per pound by spending $25...not hard to do at all! I had planned to try dry-brining it, but then yesterday I found a recipe where you inject herbed butter and slather the skin with herbed butter and pour champagne into the roaster. It sounds divine so I just might try it, instead.

Saturday evening we just hunkered down as it got very windy and rainy and the temperature dropped about 30 degrees. We woke to the rain changing into snow on Sunday morning. The front was just about through by then so we only got a bit more than a dusting and it melted as soon as it stopped.

Last night I came home to find that Tim had brought in the fall and Christmas boxes so I can get the fall decorations put away for another year and get started on the Christmas ones. I had planned to get the fall stuff put away last night, but Megan called right after I got home to ask if we'd keep the kids for a couple of hours while they did their grocery shopping. Of course we said yes!

We sure enjoy having Colton and Leah around. Colton is such a sweet, funny, little guy and he has an amazing imagination. Leah is beginning to have some personality, too. She is going to give us all a run for our money, I think. She watches EVERYTHING very closely.

Tim had gotten it into his head that he wanted to get Colton a train set for his birthday next month. The boy has a couple of toy trains, but Pappy wants him to have a REAL train. An ELECTRIC train. Not just any electric train would do, either. It had to be a Lionel train. So, last night I started looking online. Ugh. Do you know how expensive Lionel trains are? Battery operated ones can be had fairly inexpensively, but we HAVE to have an electric train. I searched and searched and comparison shopped for price, features, one scale vs. another...and finally hit pay dirt. I was about to settle for something else when I found a Lionel Disney Christmas train in O-scale (a nice larger size) at an unbelievable price. It's ordered and I like that it has a lot of accessories so we can add to it for him every year.

It's finally time for me to "get up" and get ready for work. HA! I am off tomorrow and will be doing the shopping for Thanksgiving, decorating, and in the afternoon going for that major change in hair color and style. It will be back to work for Wednesday and Thursday, then I am off Friday - Sunday. Our family Thanksgiving will be on Saturday. I will pop in a few times this week, but can't promise big posts. You'll get to see the hair, though, I promise that!

Have a blessed and beautiful day and week!

Currently On Monday

Good morning and happy Monday! I'm lucky to have a later start this morning, so I can sit here watching the news and catching up online. Enjoying a cup of this cinnamon spice tea sweetened with french vanilla stevia extract makes it a pretty perfect start to the day. (I'm choosing to ignore the fact that my beloved Steelers lost AGAIN yesterday. Sigh.)

We began Saturday with my husband having to work due to a problem at the job site. I was a little disappointed since I'd hoped we could go to a huge used book sale before we got the grandkids, but instead, I used the time to do several loads of laundry, a lot of cleaning, and start decorating for fall. 

Our son-in-law's parents had kept the kids on Friday and overnight. They brought them over to me at noon. We had a pretty quiet afternoon with the baby napping and Colton playing with cars while watching all his favorite Disney Jr. shows. 

I fried up chicken strips and french fries for supper (Colton's favorite meal) and Pappy moved the furniture and set up the air mattress for him and Colton to have their sleepover. We watched the new live action Aladdin with Will Smith. I thought it was good...beautiful sets and costumes and lots of music. Pappy and Colton were both asleep before it was over. Baby Leah was the nightowl of the bunch and we were up until 11:30, but then she slept all night...

...until her big brother got us all up at 6:30 on Sunday! We had breakfast and then took the kids to Living Treasures, a local animal park that allows you to see the animals up close and feed the ones it's safe to get that close to. Leah was unimpressed and slept the whole way through. Pappy's favorites were the huge brown bear and the wolves (the black one was gorgeous). I loved it all, but the Watusi (a very large breed of African cattle) and the kangaroos were probably my favorites. 

Colton was having a great time and loving the animals until his well-meaning Nanny took him in the Parakeet Encounter. The Parakeet Encounter being akin to a scene from The Birds. You walk into an enclosure with a cup of food in your hand and 167 parakeets immediately land on you. Colton was terrified and the whole rule of not picking up your feet (so you don't step on any birds) went right out the window and the guy working had to come and help me get the birds off of him and get him out of there. He looked at animals after that, but refused to feed any.

We stopped at a little diner near the animal park for lunch and then came home because we'd heard from Mommy and Daddy that they would be home soon. 

It was a good weekend and we sure loved the time with the kiddos.

Currently

I am...

Reading...still working on The Oracle by Jonathan Cahn

Listening to...I've been on a Motown kick lately.

Loving...that rain is on the way this morning to bring the temperature back to something more normal for this time of year. Yesterday was close to 90 and very humid. Ick.

Thinking...about making some serious lifestyle/diet changes because I shouldn't feel this bad physically.

Feeling...content.

Celebrating...that the sore throat I woke up with seems to be just from allergies and being dry...not the nasty cold going around at work.

Grateful for...being born in America and having the life I have.

Weather...scattered rain and 75 degrees.

Enjoying...my cup of tea (I don't drink hot drinks during hot weather).

Something I want to share...

Family Ties, Farmers Markets & Friends...A Great Weekend

Hey, all! Sorry I am getting to a post kind of late today. After a great weekend off, it was kind of hard to get back into the swing of things today and I just didn't get around to it this morning before I left. 

The not being up to par this morning turned out to not be a good thing. I worked on the not-dementia-side of the building under the critically watchful eye of my not-so-nice boss. It would have been an okay day, maybe, but the maintenance guys brought all the fall decorations out of storage and plopped them in the main gathering room at the home. They can't stay there so we had to do all our regular stuff plus get as much of the fall decorating done as possible. 

We ran our butts off going back and forth across the entire facility today. I've been feeling kind of stiff the last couple of days and today really kicked my behind. I am done in tonight. And of course, my boss found a couple of things to criticize me about. Sigh. I'm not over there every day. I don't know how she expects me to be up on the constant changes in how things are done over there...when the regulars aren't even always on top of things. (I won't mention that my boss is extremely unorganized and runs around telling us to do things one way and often comes back a short time later to tell us to do it differently. It is impossible to keep up with it all if you aren't there every day.)

But, enough about work! Who wants to talk about work anyway? Not me! Let's talk about the weekend instead.

I came home from work Friday night (I worked until 8:00) to find Tim already asleep on the couch, but didn't mind since he was going to be home all weekend. He hadn't gotten the mail, which is unusual, so I walked the dog and got it. Total awesomeness! There was a long letter from my newly discovered half-sister!! Gosh, did reading it make my day. I smiled and laughed and was amazed the whole way through it. It seems like we are a LOT alike in the way we think, things we like to do, even the way we do things, and some of the life experiences we've had. For the first time, I didn't have any doubts that it's going to be pretty cool having a sister.

On Saturday I had been planning to get a lot of things done around the house. I did go on a grocery run first thing, but when I got back Tim said "Let's go to the farm market" and off we went. He took one wrong turn and we ended up taking a really long, drive through the countryside to get there. Once there we stocked up on wonderful fresh veggies and picked up a bottle of blueberry wine and a small block of Amish gourmet smoked cheddar cheese.

We were hungry after that and it was 12:30 or so when we finished shopping so we did another drive on back roads to have lunch at Panera Bread. I had the Fuji apple salad and the turkey, apple, and cheddar sandwich. YUM!

Once we finally got home, Colton and Leah came over to stay with us (me, because Tim was napping) while our daughter and her husband finished cutting out the shrubs and ivy surrounding their house. Colton and I made Pillsbury Halloween cookies and watched The Secret Lives of Pets 2. It was really cute and really funny!

After supper we went to visit a friend who had just gotten home from the hospital. He'd had to go to Pittsburgh to have his gallbladder removed because he had a lot of scar tissue and his insides are not exactly where God put them since he had a ruptured hernia that nearly killed him, colon cancer that was very advanced and resulted in a colostomy, and a hernia that wrapped around what was left of his bowel and killed it making it necessary to rework all the connections from the colostomy. Yeah, he is pretty much a walking miracle! We told him no more surgeries cause he's out of spare parts. Ha!

Sunday was finally the day at home. We spent it puttering around, me inside and Tim outside, but we also spent a lot of time just relaxing and watching movies and the History Channel.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. Now I'm going to hit "publish" and head off to check email and blogs and then call it a night.

See you tomorrow!

Currently Wrapping Up the Weekend

I had a nice weekend. I was very much in need of the down time and enjoyed every minute of it. We are 10 days from vacation and I only have one day off before then. Poor Tim doesn't have any days off until the one before we leave and he only has that because it's one of his scheduled vacation days. His work project is in it's final days and the weather and less than great sub-contractors have it running behind. Now he's working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day trying to get it done before he leaves. All that means he won't be any help with getting things done and packing bags. If I go AWOL before we leave you know why.

Anyway....

I took things slow on Saturday morning, playing around on the laptop (reading Saturday 9 posts), reading, and dozing since I had a rough night and little sleep.  Around 11:00 I did make a run to Wally World. I was only going to get a few things, but ended up filling a cart.

Our SIL, Cody, came over after I got home from the store and spent a couple of hours putting a 12-cube storage unit together for me. Megan wanted her dad's dresser for the baby so it needed to get done. I got the unit in the "rustic gray" color and found really cute bins with bluish-black and gray stripes to put in half of the cubes. I freakin' LOVE it! It gives Tim so much more storage space for clothes and the top of it provides a great space for a lamp, books, photos, and my glasses at night.

(I am probably any designer's nightmare, but I am currently totally in love with cube storage. I use 3-cube units for a coffee table....the bins provide storage for kids' books and toys....and a filing cabinet, cute wire baskets with cloth liners hold everything. An 8-hole unit is our "entertainment center." I found X inserts for the bottom 4 cubes that provide storage for all of our wine and bins on top hold all our movies. Now there's the big unit in the bedroom. I'd like to add one in the kitchen to hold all my cookbooks and provide much needed storage.)

Saturday night's dinner was delicious, if I do say so myself. I made stuffed zucchini using a recipe from Pinterest and fresh zucchini from our garden. It was sooooo good and I saved one that I'm taking to work for lunch today.

Tim worked about 8 hours on Sunday, but made it home in time for us to go shopping one more time for his cruise wardrobe. At Kohl's we found a lot of shirts, another pair of cargo shorts, and the army-green cargo pants he wanted (his size was sold out when we shopped last weekend). We also stopped at Dick's Sporting Goods and he was able to find a pair of Brooks sneakers that make him happy. They are like the ones I have for work, but in a more manly blue and gray. I think he's done now except for a new belt and undershirts that I'll pick up at Walmart.

Tim's been craving the barbecue chicken halves that used to be such a summertime staple around here at roadside stands, but no one seems to be doing that this year. On the way home from shopping yesterday, he noticed that a summer barbecue restaurant that we had never really liked was open again with a new name. We decided to try it and it wasn't bad. Tim got his chicken and I had a very good burger. It was kind of pricey for BBQ, though, and it must not have been as good as the chicken from those roadside stands because Tim said we didn't have to go back.

We spent the evening relaxing and watching TV and visiting with Cody and Megan and Mom, who all stopped by at some point.

Currently

I am...

Reading:  Murder Past Due by Miranda James. It's another cozy mystery.

Listening to:  the morning news.

Loving:  this morning's cool temperatures and low humidity.

Thinking:  about all I have to do in the next 9 days!

Feeling:  rested and ready to get the day started.

Celebrating:  that Tim's shopping is done! He hates to go shopping and is usually rather grumpy about it or flat out refuses to go. This time he not only went willingly, but stayed in a good mood.

Grateful for:  my mom, who is going to take care of Daisy and the garden while we are gone....and also stand in for me when Megan has baby Leah (the only thing I regret about our cruise is missing that).

Weather:  It's supposed to warm up to the mid-upper 80's and be very humid.

Enjoying:  my boss's good mood at work.

A website I want to share: Just for fun, here's a link to a site ranking the 100 best movies of all time. Do you agree with their list? Is there any movie you can't believe they included? Or one you can't believe they didn't include? Do you agree with their #1?

Currently....the Weekend

Currently

I am...

Reading:  still working on Basket Case by Nancy Haddock.

Listening to:  the morning news.

Loving:  fresh fruits and veggies that are locally grown and still have flavor, unlike the produce at the stores that comes from who-knows-where, however long ago...and usually picked long before ripeness to keep it firm longer.

Thinking:  about our upcoming cruise. What else? With 16 days to go until we leave there is a lot to do and I don't want to forget anything.

Feeling:  pretty good.

Celebrating:  a good night's sleep. I didn't even hear Tim get up and leave for work this morning.

Grateful for:  our platinum AAA membership. Tim's truck blew a brake on Saturday when he was all the way to work. To have it towed home would have cost a fortune if we had had to pay. Also grateful it was something Tim could fix easily on Sunday.

Weather:  humid with a high of 79 degrees and possibly some pop-up showers/storms this afternoon.

Enjoying:  the cool morning. It's been so hot and humid lately.

A quote I want to share:  it's kind of sad how often I think this at work. Ha!

Good Monday morning to you! Let's all plan to have a great week, okay? It's a fresh start and we can make it what we want (at least for the most part).

The weekend, even though I worked, was pretty good.

Tim was already home by the time I got here on Saturday since he'd had AAA tow his truck home. We relaxed a little bit and then headed off to the mall to get started on buying Tim some clothes for the cruise (the man virtually wears nothing but work clothes...jeans and t-shirts). We made a good start and he wasn't as miserable about it has I had expected. We came home with 2 pairs of casual khaki's, several pairs of shorts, a couple of shirts, casual shoes, and a navy blazer. We'll go out again next weekend and finish up.

On Sunday, Tim drove me to work so he could use the car to go get the parts to fix the brake on his truck. He picked me up afterward and we went to Walmart to get a few things for the week's lunches and we stopped at a roadside stand for some fresh corn on the cob. 

For supper we grilled some lovely porkchops we'd bought at the meat market last week and the corn. Oh my goodness, was the corn ever good! So fresh and sweet and flavorful! Not at all like the stuff from the store.

Megan and Colton were here for a bit. Megan had been at the ER again. She hadn't felt the baby move all day and got worried. All was fine and they sent her home. I told her she might not make it to that scheduled C-section on the 29th, because when I hadn't felt her brother move for a while and went to the doctor, I was told he was probably just resting...getting ready for the big event. I was at the hospital the next day! It is only about 3 weeks early at this point so it's not impossible.

I checked out my garden last night. Wow. The rain the last couple of days really jumpstarted things. I picked 5 cucumbers and 9 zucchini! I gave Mom a couple of the zucchini and a couple cukes. Megan took a zucchini. There are lots of blossoms out there so I hope we'll see quite a few more. The tomato plants and peppers are loaded with little green babies, so it shouldn't be too long.

And now I really have to wrap this up and get ready for work. Oh, and by the way....the drama at work seems to be clearing up. Still, I've pretty much decided that once the cruise is over I'm going to at least keep my eyes open for another job (that doesn't require working every holiday or weekends) and I'm wondering if working part-time would work out for us. I would love to be home more to help Megan with Colton and Leah since she needs to find a job after the baby gets here.

Have a blessed and wonder-filled day!