Just Random Stuff

Chuck, Beth and I went to see Dr. Dolittle the other day. It was pretty good, there were some funny parts. The best part for me was just getting out of the house for a while. Being able to do something different.

Honestly I'm writing this at 1:30 in the afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas. I worked from 8:30am to 11pm yesterday and will do it again tomorrow. Supervisor by day and Custodian at night. I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel though because I hired one person yesterday and I'm meeting with someone else tomorrow. Plus one of my night crew comes back from his missions trip the end of this week... this has been a very difficult start to the new year. But the miracle is my attitude. God is doing such a work in me, changing me to think differently and my 'self talk' is more positive.

God is good.

We've got rain today. And tomorrow. And the next day. Hey, this is Seattle after all! 😊

I haven't taken too many pictures lately. Well, except at work of course. Room set ups, broken chairs, etc. Okay, enough about work. Moving right along...

I'm in the middle of a couple of books. One is Home by Julie Andrews. It's the autobiography of her growing up years. (I've already read Homework of her Hollywood years.) I love reading about people in the spotlight from their own point of view. In the end they're just regular people like you and me, with the same doubts, fears and concerns. The other book hasn't been published yet. My high school biology teacher began writing books when he retired from teaching and he asked a few of us to read it and write a review. (The power of Facebook!) It's a law enforcement mystery novel and it's been really good. I get into it and can't put it down.

Our extended family has a reunion back in Iowa every summer and we're hoping - planning - to go this year. It's my grandma's family, (my dad's mom) her siblings and their kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren. My dad went a few times, he didn't realize they had it until he was older and now that he's gone, we want to make it a priority to go. When we visited a couple years ago they showed me the Family Book that they have spent decades putting together of each sibling and their families. How my grandma and her brothers and sisters lived in a children's home, there are pictures of them and of the house. Their story is incredible! Then as we were leaving Aunt Betty's she gave me my own copy of the book! I've been working on pages of our family and I hope to take them back to help fill in some gaps in my grandma's life. (She moved to CA when everyone else stayed in Iowa.) I'm excited to meet more of our family members!

Well I guess that's all from around here. It's been a pretty slow day, which is exactly what I've needed!

Does your family have a reunion every year? 

Thanksgiving, Double Digits and Julie Andrews

Thanksgiving kicked my butt this year. 

These are pictures from last year (I didn't have time to take many this year) to give you an idea of what the Thanksgiving Outreach at our church looks like.

This is our gym, we call it The Commons, ready for our guests

 The first seating. 
When they're done we clean and re-set the tables and do it again. And then again.

In years past I've lead the Buser and Server teams, overseeing the Commons. Or the Condiment team, putting the rolls, black olives and pickles on all the tables then bringing out the pumpkin pie after dinner. But now that I'm the Custodial Supervisor at church, I lead the Custodial team this year.

I went into it thinking, "So we empty trash for a few hours. How hard can this be?" Oh my word, I had no idea just how MUCH trash we'd need to empty. And if we didn't get to it soon enough how heavy it would be to lift out of the can. And how much heavier it would get as we carried it out of the building and out to the parking lot. And how it would be even heavier as we tried to toss it up and into the dumpster! (I eventually got smart and went downstairs to grab our big rolling trash bin so we could fill it and didn't have to carry them out of the building.)

And the trash in the Commons would fill up within seconds. Not exaggerating!! Plus there were trash cans in the Reception area at the other end of the building. And in the childcare area downstairs. Plus cleaning and restocking the bathrooms. I'd clean one sink, move to another and someone would come in and immediately use the sink I just cleaned. I can't tell you how many times I'd be in the middle of cleaning and 15 people would walk in.

I had a few volunteers help in the morning but for the most part it was just me and Beth. She would go into our Women's Cry Room whenever there would be a break and it didn't take her long to fall asleep! It was a very long and exhausting day!

  

 

And when we got home... no wonder my feet hurt!

Last month I ended up buying Julie Andrews new book and I'm loving it! It's funny and surprising... I'm only about a third of the way through it but I highly recommend it!

Today we celebrated Allie's 10th birthday! Sharaya always does a phenomenal job on decorating and themes... she's really gifted in this area! It was a Winter Wonderland theme and there were so many fun elements to it. All the kids got to make gingerbread houses, there were snowflakes and snow and nutcrackers, it was amazing!

And look at this cake! Her friend Jen from Tasty Spoons Bakery made it and all of her cakes are stunning!

Happy Birthday Allie!

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? 

Suddenly Obsessed

A few months ago Beth began cleaning out her room. She took down a huge poster that had all the Disney Princesses on it. Allie was more than happy to take it off her hands!

Then Beth decided to get rid of all of her big Disney books. The whole time she was growing up, she collected these books. We'd buy them while on vacation; family members would get them for her on her birthday or Christmas. She must have more than 30 of them!

She wants all of them gone.

 

(I just can't bring myself to get rid of them yet, plus I did put a few aside for Allie.) 

I still think Beth loves everything Disney but she's going to be 31 in a couple months and she's kind of outgrowing the whole princess thing. Kind of.

See, she has a friend at bowling who loves the Frozen movie. I guess she has a lot of merchandise from Frozen and her enthusiasm is rubbing off on Beth. Since school is starting and every store is filled with back-to-school stuff, Beth has been anxious to go shopping. I teased her recently and told her that she's been out of school for a long time! "What do you want with back-to-school stuff?" 

"I don't know. I jus wan it."

Diana, Beth and I were at Target the other day and Beth literally ran to the back-to-school section. She held up a backpack. "This the one I want!" "To hol my stuff." So this is the backpack she bought.

 

She has also recently purchased a Frozen tote bag, a bedroom rug, the CD... She has decided she wants a Frozen themed birthday party this year. And she wants to invite the friend from bowling who loves Frozen. She's also now regularly reminding me that "her birthday comeen up!" (It's in October.)  

So, Disney is out. Well, some Disney. Okay, just a few Disney items are out. Very few.

Except Frozen. Frozen is in. Waaay in. :)

Happiness Is....

Happiness is having an Aunt Bethy.

Or Bessies as Allie calls her. :)