It rained on and off all day today – no storms, no downpours. But we really needed the ran. So now I have to wait for the drying period to cut the grass. That’s ok – worth the wait!

Also got word that Mom’s estate is finally settled. It’s a relief for everyone (especially, I’m sure, for Jim Graves who was the executor!) to have that behind us. A big thanks to Steadman Law Offices in Girard for their assistance and expertise.

Worked both stores this morning, but Greensburg was busier. Left there and came straight home, completely by-passing several things I had planned on doing. I had a quick lunch, cleaned up the kitchen, and then talked to my friend Diane on the phone for over an hour! We absolutely NEVER talk on the phone so we had a lot to chat about. While we were talking, I sat and watched the neighbor’s horses prancing back and forth across the pasture on the hill across the street.

In the meantime I did laundry, and I have quite a pile of ironing to do.

I also framed my new print of Harrold School.

Since I totally blew off my chores after work, I went back out and did them all this afternoon. I stopped at the bank to cash a small check – I owe two people money! On the way back out of the parking lot I noticed that Shop and Save was having a mural painted on the side of their building. That’s something Erin from HOME TOWN (HGTV) would do (and has done) in the towns they renovate!

Then I dropped off a bag of items at Goodwill before stopping at Craftique for candle bulbs. I thought I would wait for flicker bulbs but I had one burn out over the weekend so I replaced it and bought an extra. Last of all I stopped at Hanna’s Town and dropped off a few thick catalogs for tin-punch and picked up two signs for court days this weekend. Last year they generated interest so I thought it was a good idea.

While I was driving through town I noticed that Pershing’s antiques was open. I haven’t been in that little store front since Dad was alive! So I pulled over and popped in and talked to Dave Pershing – explaining I just needed to walk through as a remembrance to my dad. I remembered the name Frank Pershing, who Dave explained could have been his uncle or his grandfather. The place was never organized but they DO have lots of old stuff — and lots of wooden furniture and bicycles. I was happy to have stopped.

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TOMORROW June 13th is:

National Sewing Machine Day; National Weed Your Garden Day; World Pet Memorial Day; National Random Acts of Light Day; National Call your Doctor Day; International Axe Throwing day; National Kitchen Klutzes of American Day; World Softball Day; National Forklift Safety Day.

I use my sewing machine pretty regularly – for random projects and for mending. I am ALWAYS weeding my garden so that won’t be a hard one. I just posted a photo of my tribute to honor Tazz last week. No axe-throwing for me, and although I don’t do kitchens very much I am not a klutz. NO softball for me, or forklifts. Let’s go with the garden! God bless….

We’ve been waiting half of forever for some rain, and just when I get suited up to do yard work it starts to sprinkle. I did get the weed whacking done, but didn’t attempt mowing. It’s really not raining hard but I feel like mowing isn’t smart. But I am NOT watering the plants! Does it even need cut?? But – here’s back to the beginning.

Two of our regular Sunday school students were out of town today, but we did have three visitors and Ben. It went well, but then the lesson was Esther which is a favorite of mine! Todd’s message was about – basically – trying to be good enough on our own. That doesn’t work. We need to pursue maturity – God’s grace saves us, not our own actions. No one accidently slips into Godliness or salvation. We often pit sin against sin, which of course sin wins either way. It’s not by our effort but by the blood of Christ. As we look to Jesus, God cheers us on; He takes our picture! You can’t just chop off the bad branches – you have to go for the roots. Focus on God and say NO to sin.

There were free sweet potatoes for the taking on one of the tables in the Welcome Center, and roasted veggies sounded good. I brought one home, but also stopped and bought broccoli and carrots. I’ll clean and cut them and make them tomorrow for supper. After a quick piece of leftover pizza I walked up to the Baltzer Meyer Historical Society for a Civil War program. It was really nice, and the two men who presented the program did a good job.

This gentleman was telling us about a three gun salute given for one of their reenactment members. The man’s wife gave them his ashes, and they put them in the bullet and shot it out of the cannon. What a fitting honor. Then during a reenactment, all the ‘soldiers’ were supposed to fall down ‘dead’. They noticed it was a field of poison ivy, so they surrendered instead! Mr. Boone said he met a President Lincoln impersonator one time, and asked him, “Mr. President, what is something you can tell me now that you couldn’t when you were president?” The man said, ‘Don’t buy theater tickets!’ – very clever!

Knap’s Independent Battery ‘E’ will be at Hanna’s Town for their Civil War weekend July 28th through the 30th. Check out their website at www.knapsbattery.com – and plan on stopping at Hanna’s Town that weekend.

Afterwards we could go upstairs into the old church sanctuary (which is storage for the archives and artifacts). I had never been up there and have lived within a few miles of the building all my life! It was super cool up there, with lots of interesting articles, including (my favorites) a church pew from the original church (late 1800’s) and a diorama of the Harrold Farm under glass. I understand that in October there will be a display at the Mall of some of the artifacts to help promote the site. Great idea – and great opportunity!

So last night I took Chrissy to Dick’s to get a few pair of shorts for camp. She tried on about 8 pair and settled for two that she liked (one gray; one red). Afterwards we stopped at McDonalds and grabbed burgers. The service was very slow – and she ended up ‘complaining’ at the counter that after 20 minutes we still hadn’t got our drinks! But it was all good in the end and she was excited about her clothes.

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TOMORROW June 12th is:

International Cachaca Day; National Loving Day; World Day Against Child Labor; National Peanut Butter Cookie Day; National Red Rose Day; International Falafel Day; National Jerky Day.

Sounds like a good day to share the love – even if it’s for M&M’s! God bless…

Autmn had a wedding to go to today – and I was giving her a ride there. Noah had to be at work early, so she came here a little after 6am! Yikes! She will be worn out by evening. She was helping with makeup for the bride and attendants. They all look stunning!

After dropping her off at the church earlier, I picked Kathy up at 9:30am and we headed to Dilltown for the Dillweed Bed and breakfast Pick-A-Dilly Herb Fair. It was super crowded and there were a lot of people there! I don’t remember there being so many flower vendors or that the flowers were so pretty. Kathy bought more honey, some Legacy greeting cards, and two coasters. I purchased a few coasters. I was SO tempted to purchase a few flowers but since the rabbits keep eating mine it seemed like a futile effort.

Next we drove over to Smicksburg and I got some slab chocolate since we used a big chunk of mine yesterday. Since Autmn and Noah needed more cheese we stopped at Donna’s Store (Smicksburg Country Store) and bought them some, and Kathy and I got hot dogs for lunch. At least we got a whole one this time!

As we headed home we stopped in Blairsville’s Dollar Tree. Kathy got prayer cards and I got a little holder for mine. Works perfectly!

Last stop was Mary Lou’s candy shop, where I bought 3 pounds of yellow chocolate for Autmn’s baby shower favors. I won’t disclose why I needed yellow chocolate…

I passed some type of gaming shop on the way home – looks pretty exciting to me! I am now waiting for Chrissy to call me as I promised to take her shopping for shorts for camp — and she goes tomorrow! I’ll add that post for tomorrow. That will be it for me!

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TOMORROW June 11th is:

National Corn on the Cob Day (sounds SO good!); Children’s Day; National Making Life Beautiful Day; National German Chocolate Cake Day.

Tomorrow there is a program at Baltzer Meyer Historical Society. My plan is to go if I can. Make life beautiful however you can. God bless…

Kelly came up this morning and spent the day. Matt & Peyton were doing a landscaping job for Lawn Boys, and Logan and Chase were at home. It was nice to have a mother-daughter day!

She ended up with a few extra plain gray hoodies and brought me one. It’ll be nice for just keeping warm on a day like today and in the fall & winter months. Maybe later she will imprint it if I can think of something clever!

She also emailed me the link to Peyton’s senior pictures. There were so many! I couldn’t pick. I took a photo with my phone (not the same) but I will take time to look at them and choose a few that I like so she can order them for me. I’ll share more later.

We had a quick cup of tea, then went to Gabe’s. She needed a new purse and she had a coupon, so those two things went together perfectly! Next we went to Walmart and she got a grocery order for next week (except for perishable items) as she is house sitting for a friend. We came back and made pasta, then went down to the funeral home to pay respects to my friend Debbie’s mom. There were a lot of people I knew there.

Since we successfully accomplish her tasks in the morning, we did mine in the afternoon — which was chocolate covered pretzels. Yum. They are all tucked in the fridge, except for the two I ate and the four she took with her for the trip home.

She took a picture of the lilies that she liked (can’t believe the rabbits haven’t eaten them! There are a lot more Stella D’oro blooms, and the Cat Mint is growing tall.

She txt me a picture of Logan and his cat, Leaf. It was a stray that Logan adopted — the cat made friends with Peyton’s dog, Camo, and they eat and sleep together. Logan is the only one who can get close to the cat. Except for Camo…

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TOMORROW June 10th is:

National Iced Tea Day; National Rosé  Day; National Dragonfly Day; National Outlet Shopping Day; National Frosted Cookie Day; National Herbs & Spices day; National Black Cow Day; National Ballpoint Pen Day; National Egg Roll Day.

Kelly bought frosted animal cookies for the boys, and tomorrow is the Dillweed’s Pick-A-Dilly Herb Fair! So fitting! We will be there, at least for a little while. Have a lovely weekend and God bless…

This has been such a crazy day with so many changes of plans that I have to stop and think if it’s still really Thursday! But it’s all straightened out now – for the time being! I worked both stores this morning, then came home and had pretzels and cheese for lunch, since Lara said she was having snacks at the meeting. She did – but they were orange popsicles and I’m not a fan. So when I post this I’ll make supper.

I did some more reading and research on my writing project. Slow going. Autmn and Noah came over to get their recliner, and I had a few other things for them – like a little end table and some blankets and towels. Starting out from nothing they are excited about everything!

Then I made arrangements to take Christina shopping for shorts for camp. That was fine, but I would have had to make two trips to West Newton and back – plus Kelly and the boys are coming up for the day. So THOSE plans got changed to Saturday evening, which will be perfect (I hope!).

My meeting at Hanna’s Town was for Summer Camp, but I’m not sure I’ll be much help. I will have Chase that week and don’t want to leave him on his own when he’s at my house for vacation! But I can help with the prep work.

The plants needed watered, but the sky looked ominous. I waited a bit but when I didn’t rain I lugged the hoses out and got them all done, giving myself several accidental sprays in the process. And now — it’s raining! Not a hard rain, just a dribble on the decks. But enough.

Please keep my friend Debbie from church in your prayers. Her mother passed away on Wednesday night. Deb has been caring for her mother for several years so this will be quite an adjustment. Her kids are out of state.

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TOMORROW June 9th is:

National Movie Night; National Donald Duck Day; Coral Triangle Day; National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day; National Earl Day.

SO — Watch a movie with Earl about Donald Duck and eat a piece of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie! And enjoy! At the very least, watch a movie… God bless…

I’m just sort of going to skip over today’s post, for the most part. I did absolutely nothing exciting. Normal housework – cleaning, laundry, watering the outside flowers. No unusual emails or messages, no mail that mattered. So, thus my life! But I’m very thankful that I have so much abundance of good things, every day, and can enjoy what God gives me from morning until bedtime. Lots to be thankful for – except maybe Brussel sprouts??

I was talking to my neighbors across the street, and telling them about my quiet day with nothing noteworthy to post. He told me to make stuff up! So I asked him to verify the spelling of his name. Haha. I know him very well – he’s my investment person! But there – Bill and Denise and I were bonding over trash pickup!

For the 4th time in as many days I zipped down to Irwin. I wanted to get a few things from the store, and when I mentioned that Miller’s Crossing had local honey Kath said to pick some up if I was down there. So – I managed to handle that, as well.

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TOMORROW June 8th is:

World Brain Tumor Day; World Oceans Day; National Upsy Daisy Day; National Name Your Poison day; National Best Friends Day; World Pet Memorial Day.

The above scripture and quote emphasize Best Friends Day. You know who you are – I made a list last week. You keep me sane and safe and smiling. And remember your sweet past pets. God bless!

I follow a facebook fan page for Colonial Williamsburg and there have been such amazing photos posted! I love just looking at the pictures that others have taken, especially of favorite places. Here are two of my favorites. Makes me time-long to go back — and I was just there!

I had a lot of non-Pinnacle obligations at work today, doing paperwork and notary for other people. I’m always glad to help. And everyone was cheerful and in a pleasant mood, which always makes it better.

When I got home I grabbed a salad for lunch, then started on my list. I had mending to do, and emails to answer – one from my author friend Liz. I hadn’t heard from her in a bit and was delighted to see her name in my inbox! Her son has two pet bunnies (Mickey and Minnie!) and he’s having a great time with them. I believe he even reads them bedtime stories.

On Saturday I had seen an electric candle that was very inexpensive but I needed to mull it over. So I mulled completely and popped over and got it this afternoon. I took the small one that was on the sewing machine and put it inside my lantern and I love the effect of both!

Diane sent me a picture of a horseshoe crab that they caught in Cape May – She’s preserving it. Her name is Henrietta.

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TOMORROW June 7th is:

National Oklahoma Day; National VCR Day; National Boone (as in Daniel) Day; National Chocolate Ice Cream Day; World Food Safety Day; National Running Day; World Caring Day.

I still have – and use – my VCR. I LOVE Chocolate Ice Cream — easy one to celebrate. And I care about so many things and people that I cannot list them all. Have a wonderful Wednesday, and know that I care about you! God bless…

Last night’s remnant of the full moon was orange. So maybe it went from strawberry to pumpkin! It was pretty, nonetheless, peeking through the branches of the trees on the neighboring hill.

I noticed in the parking lot at Pinnacle that there was a cluster of daisies growing up through a crack in the pavement. It amazes me that they do that…

One of the little craft places in the neighborhood moved from East Pittsburgh Street to the far side of Greensburg on Route 30. Today was their opening day so I stopped after work just to check it out. It’s a very nice space and I think they’ll get some traffic there, too. If I hadn’t just purchased 3 pair of work shorts (like, yard work-type shorts) over the weekend there were several things I may have purchased. I liked the place – Craftique Corner. Check it out on facebook.

After a salad for lunch I started a load of laundry. If I don’t get the ironing done soon I won’t have anything left to wear! Next I got my fridge manual out and looked up how to turn the dispenser light on and off. I accidently turned it on and couldn’t figure out how to turn it back off! It was totally easy, actually, once I just read the instructions!

I spent the rest of the day outside, checking out new blooms, pulling some weeds, trimming some dead stalks, and cutting back the lilac branches that always grow through the fence in the spring. Punctured myself several times (I always do) but that task is done now for probably 6 or 8 weeks. I will have to do it again this summer for sure.

The two white shells in the middle are from our trip to Williamsburg. And speaking of that, my cousin Deb and her husband are on their way there right now – probably already arrived! I’m pea green with envy. She called me on the drive down for some hints as to what to see, what not to miss. We talked for almost half an hour! Have fun, you guys!

Fence project:

The rabbits are eating my petunias. Kath told me what to put on them to keep the rabbits away – so I sprinkled onion salt around them. We’ll see if it works or if perhaps the local rabbits like onions!

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TOMORROW June 6th is:

National Yo Yo Day; National Day of Sweden; National Gardening Exercise Day; National Drive in Movie Day; World Pest Day; Russian Language Day; National Higher Education Day; National Eyewear Day; D-Day; National Applesauce Cake Day.

Gardening! I’m all in! And it would be lovely if my new glasses came in on National eyewear day – how cool would THAT be? And before I forget, last week we celebrated National Donut Day — look up the origin of donuts. You might be surprised, and it’s totally worth celebrating. God bless…

It was 88* in my house yesterday, so I finally turned on the A/C. It’s cooler today so I have the A/C off and the windows open. Today was a comfortable temperature all day, and a nice day to be outside. I’ll tackle that first. Hempfield Church had a ‘block party’ – set up tents, a bouncy house, games for the kids, corn hole boards, lots of food. It was nice just sitting around talking to everyone on a casual basis. Invitations were sent out to all the houses in the neighborhood on the hill (our church is at the top). Everyone appeared to have a great time. Here are some photos:

It was a very nice day and I can safely say everyone had a good time!

Todd’s message this morning was about setting our minds on things above – Know Christ! There is no reason to get bored because there is always something new to learn. We are small; God is big! Our routine should be to study scripture, pray, and take time to rest. Don’t get busy. The dangers of this world aren’t always evil; they are the neutral things that steal your focus and attention. Find things that focus you toward worship and study, like pictures, music, quotes. For me it’s mostly music – like this morning, our worship songs. Here are three lines from three different songs. 1) You called my name and I ran out of that grave! 2) The Lord of creation knows me by name. 3) His love is sure, and He knows my name. The God of a 1000 hills knows my name and who I am. I’m important to Him!

Last week was National Black Bear Day – Skunk Hollow Cousin Beth was in the Smokey Mountains and sent me these pictures. They saw eight black bear in Cades Cove!

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TOMORROW June 5th is:

National Gingerbread Day; National Moonshine Day (Hope they mean the moon in the SKY!!!); National Veggie Burger Day; World Environment Day; National Start Over Day.

Not sure what I would want to start over. It sounds pretty daunting to me. I’ll celebrate gingerbread and be done! Have a great week! God bless…

The moon was bright and beautiful last night – I think it’s the Strawberry moon? It’s the last spring full moon. The sky was glowing when I went to bed, with the moon shining through the clouds.

It doesn’t seem to matter how many things are on my to-do list. My day is always full and I keep busy all day. I started with changing and washing bed sheets, making breakfast, catching up with emails and online research. Also filled the M&M bowl in the fridge downstairs. I love them cold!

I had been wanting to visit Miller’s Crossing Fleatique in Irwin so I did that in the morning. I enjoy looking more than I like spending, but I did purchase a very inexpensive small earthware bowl with stars on it.

Nate was meeting me at the house to put my chair together and help switch the old and the new, so I was home before he and Chrissy got there. The old chair came apart, too, so we made quick work of taking it apart and getting it to the garage. Nate and Chrissy brought the new one inside and put it together. I’m so excited with it! The description did not say that it was a rocker but it is! I will really like that, as well.

I had a few items of clothing that needed seams stitched so I opened the sewing machine and did that, then went outside. I took up all the inserts on the steps going down to the bottom yard (they were HEAVY!), propped them up, and added sand to the base. Now they are all level and even with the wood and are not a tripping hazard. A big job done.

The Dutch iris are done blooming so I dead-headed them and cleaned up the other dead stalks. The Red Hot Poker is fully up and blooming. It’s so unique! I also moved some sedum from an overgrown spot and filled in between some empty stones on the back patio. Then I watered all the new plants and sprayed the dirt and sand off of the work areas (steps and stones).

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TOMORROW June 4th is:

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression; National Cancer Survivors Day; National Cheese Day; National Hug Your Cat Day; National Old Maids Day; National Safe Day; National Cognac Day; National Clean Beauty Day.

Tomorrow is the Block Party at HCC – if you live in the area stop up at the church between 4pm and 6pm. games and fun for the kids, Corn Hole Tournament, food – Hope to see you there!