Pine Needles, Cozy, and Laughter

I hope you're all having a good weekend. We've got a break in the rain today so we've been cleaning pine needles - millions of pine needles! - off the roof, the storm drains, the driveway...

Almost done!

 

We went over to Diana and Peter's last night and played Chronology. We laughed so hard! Just over the most random things! Laughter really is a good medicine!

I'm home today. The first Saturday in many weeks that I'm not at work. It feels good to just be at home. The rain is supposed to begin again this evening and I plan to be on the couch with the fireplace going and eggnog in my Christmas mug. My house is still decorated for fall but come on, it's not too early for Christmas mugs is it?  😊

Relaxing, QR Codes, and It Was Inevitable

Not too much going on around here lately. I worked all weekend and had Monday off. Chuck and I did some yard work in the morning and then relaxed the rest of the day.

At work our Facility Director is on vacation plus 3 of the custodians were out of town this weekend. And wouldn't you know it, the elevator quit working. I went in on Saturday to call the tech, thankfully he got there pretty fast. The 1st floor coffee machine has been leaking so they decided to take it out to be repaired. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. These machines are pretty old and it's hard to find parts.

The pastors did a panel-type meeting so I set up all the stools for them, there were 14! And they wanted to be on the lower platform. I got them all on there but they sure were cozy! Next time I may try our big chairs and put them on the main platform.

I learned you can return your Amazon packages at Kohls so I gathered up my 4 or 5 items and walked up to the clerk. She asked me for the QR code, "I'm sorry, the what?" Yep, I'm that person! So she took the time to explain that I had to go on-line to get the code and then bring it back and show the code on my phone... ahh, okay. I turned around - with all my packages still in my arms - to see a long line of people waiting. Sigh. It sucks to get old.

After Prayer Meeting tonight I fixed myself some tea and sat out in the backyard until it got dark. There were so many different types of birds, I couldn't count all the different bird calls I heard! It was like being in an estuary!

 We live in a suburb, a beautiful location with forest areas all around. I love having a yard where we can sit and enjoy nature.

Where's your favorite place to relax?

Have you ever returned Amazon packages at Kohls?

What did you do over the Memorial Day weekend? 

"It Blew Out"

Chuck went to work at 11:00 this morning and I got home from work around 3:00. I went for a walk, brought the trashcans in from the curb and then I went downstairs to tell Beth what I was fixing for dinner.

She very calmly points to the wall and says, "My thing blew out." I turned around to see this...

 

What?!? "Oh my gosh Beth, what happened?!?"

Silence. She came over to the wall and just stood there. I'm sort of beginning to panic as she just stares at it. "Beth did you see a little fire or something??

"I dunno." "Well, when did you first see this? When did you notice it looked like this?" 

Silence. In moments like this she doesn't have the skills to think of the step by step process of what happened and explain it. We've learned over the years that she will agree to whatever explanation you give so we try to be patient until she does answer.

But I was well on my way to panic mode and I anxiously asked, "Did you see that your alarm clock wasn't working and so you came over to check and that's when you saw this?" 

With a tone of, 'I like that answer!' she said, "Yeah!"

So honestly, I don't know if we'll ever know what actually happened. What I DO know is that a power strip was plugged into the socket. And it's fried as well.

 

I've checked the wall around the plug and it's cold. The other electric sockets are cool to the touch and seem fine. I've told her not to plug anything else into those two sockets until we get it fixed.

Her cpap machine and alarm clock were plugged into the power strip and I plugged them into a few other sockets before they finally worked. I'm a little nervous about leaving them plugged in because I don't know if they've been damaged. Can they be damaged if they were plugged into something that does that??

I feel horrible now because all this time I thought she was using a surge protector but after looking at it today, it's not. It's just a power strip. But I'm so, so grateful she was protected here today!

Every time I pull out of my driveway I pray for protection around our home, the property it's on and the neighborhood we're in. And I believe with all my heart, today the Lord answered that prayer!!

Ready

 I think we're ready for Christmas! Diana and Peter arrive tomorrow night, let the games begin!

Our kitchen floor had gotten so bad. Now we're saving up enough to do the entire upstairs.

Before

The elf is probably close to 60 years old. The arms and legs have wire in them and my mom used to hang him on something different every year!

 

 

This is one of my favorites, Santa kneeling at the baby Jesus.

I pray you have peace as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

This And That

We hosted a large graduation at work last month. I worked a 12 hour day and walked over 18,000 steps. But everything went well and the graduates had a great time!

 We saw Toy Story 4. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say I didn't like it. Well, I didn't like the way it ended. Honestly. Toy Story 3 will always be the final movie for me.

 

I had a meeting for all the custodians. 

 The laundry piled up.

We're doing more construction at work.

And one night I came home, lit a fire and sat outside until after 10pm. It was quiet and peaceful and just what I needed!

Have you seen Toy Story 3?

What did you think of it?

Blacktop

 

Linking up with Rebecca Jo

So many things to be thankful for:

 

I had a good meeting today with my boss and a co-worker

The sunshine is coming back after days of rain

We finally got our driveway paved!

I'm looking forward to lunch out with long time friends

Beth did well at the Variety Show last night

We finally got our driveway paved!

My crazy work schedule is slowing down a little

We're going on vacation in 7 weeks!

We finally got our driveway paved! 😁

I hope you're having a week filled with good things!

Our Weekend

We didn't go anywhere or do anything special this Labor Day weekend. Chuck worked. We all went to church on Sunday then Beth and I stopped and got lunch on the way home.

We ended up watching The Greatest Showman while we ate. The music is SO good! When we finished eating it became a sing-along. 😁 

Today I'm re-arranging my bedroom. We recently got a new-to-us dresser that's bigger than our old one and there's so little space between it and the bed. So I'm taking out a bookcase and moving the dresser. Chuck helped for a while before he headed off to work. Now I'm dusting and sorting through books. I do love my books! 

Beth's been hangin' out and now she's doing her chores. She's emptied the dishwasher, put rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom... now I think she's downstairs making her bed and cleaning her apartment.

What did you do this weekend? Anything out of the ordinary? 

Last Day

It's just been a busy week.

Tuesday was Chuck's last day at Centurylink. After 19 years. I picked him up around noon and we went to lunch to mark the occasion. I asked him how he was doing and he said, "I'm really doing okay. Now on to the next thing." I wish I handled change as easily as he does.

Wednesday I filled in for a friend at work. It's a different position from my own and it was really fun to sit in her chair for the day! While I was there, Diana drove Chuck down to Starline and he left for Oregon with 20 other drivers. (He's driven part time for them for a couple years now.) They dead-headed down to Eugene, spent the night, then spent Thursday shuttling fans back and forth to the Ducks football game. They spent the night in Salem last night, then drove home today. The Ducks lost to Arizona. :(

Allie helped me a little at work today - I just had a few things to finish from the week - then we went to the park. The weather this week has been surprisingly good! Sunny skies and warm temps. We saw H at the park and her daughter L is in Allie's class in preschool. The two of them played while H and I caught up, we hadn't seen each other in a while. About the time we got home, Chuck texted me to say he was almost back to the yard. Allie and I hopped back in the car and - after spending more than an hour in traffic, oh happy day! - we arrived at Starline. It was SO good to see him again! He was only gone for three days but I sure missed him.

Now for the next 7 days we have our Special Connections class, Special Olympics bowling practice, two birthdays and I'm hoping to attend a forum on aging for people with Ds. I'll write when I can!

Biscuits!

I just re-read some of my posts and they've been a little sad lately. Sorry about that.

We've had a really good weekend. For the first time in months, Chuck didn't have to work. We had 4 days together and it was awesome! We didn't really do much, but even while we just watched TV, we'd hold hands and talk. It was exactly what I needed. On Sunday we drove down to Federal Way (about 30 minutes from here) to the Black Bear Diner for lunch. We love that place! We usually only go there when we're on vacation but when we found out they opened one near us we knew we were in trouble! Our favorite thing on the menu? Their biscuits! Diana took this picture, these biscuits are huge. At least 5" tall by 4" across. I'm not kidding! SO yummy!

 

Diana went to a friends cabin over the weekend. When she got home she told us about how they went out on the row boat but no one knew how to row so they kind of got stranded. She talked about how gorgeous the cabin was, how the owner just kept feeding them. Sounds like she really had a good time!

 

Sharaya, Ryan and Allie went camping with their small group. I think this might have been the first time Allie slept in a tent! They borrowed our blow up mattress but I haven't heard how it went. (I stole these pictures from their facebook pages.) :)

 

 

 

Except for when we went out to lunch on Sunday, Chuck, Beth and I stayed close to home this weekend. Just the way we like it.

Guess Who's Coming to Visit?!

Next weekend, Steve, Becca and Samantha from The Bates Motel are coming for a visit! I'm so excited, I've been thinking about them almost every day. I can't wait to meet Sammi. And I can't wait for Beth to meet Sammi!

We haven't heard anything yet about Beth's job interview at Marshalls. It sounded like it went well, but since we haven't heard anything.....

Beth called me at work yesterday. She over slept and missed her bus to job class. She was crying and quite upset. I told her it would be okay. She called WVS (Washington Vocational Services) and told them she wouldn't be in. She hates to stay home. She'd rather be out shopping or doing anything. Mondays are her 'days off' and Sunday nights she'll always ask me, "What am I gonna do?" Usually when she's home she'll do chores for me, empty the dishwasher, vacuum or clean the bathroom. She also loves to do 'paperwork' as she calls it. Math papers, spelling, writing. She loves to be doing something.

On a little different subject, Diana is doing well. Right now she's in London. Started in Florida, then spent a few days in Dublin, Ireland and now London. She absolutely loves London. I think it's her favorite city in the world. This Wednesday is the premiere of The Hunger Games and she really wants to be one of the 200 that get to see the movie that night! I guess they go in with the stars of the movie and they all watch it together. She is beyond excited!