Four months till Christmas day. I’m not at all ready to deal with that (although I do love Christmas!). Today is my cousin Anita’s birthday. Happy birthday Anita — where are you and Perry traveling to NEXT???

It’s pitch black outside (9pm) and Scott is mowing Dottie’s yard. The FOR SALE sign went up this morning, so the house is officially on the market. If you know anyone who is looking for a house, it’s a very nice 3 bedroom/3 full bathroom/3 car garage. The down side is you’d be living next to me! 🙂

It was cool enough to go for a short walk tonight – probably about a mile and a third. Here are some photos from my walk:

I’m sitting here typing and I hear crickets. I know they are outside – except one sounds like it’s in the laundry room. If it jumps at me I’ll probably faint!

Jen and I were talking about RSVP’s for the shower. No one does that anymore! She said next time she was going to add this post script to the invitation:

I was outside a few times this evening and I could hear the Hempfield Band practicing, then again later when the football game started. Also could hear the announcers but not clear enough to know what was going on. Hopefully the Spartans win!

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TOMORROW August 26th is:

National Women’s Equality Day; National Cherry Popsicle Day; National Webmistress Day; National Dog Day.

Tomorrow is Hempfield Class of 1968 reunion – 55 years. CAN’T be that long! But it IS worth celebrating! God bless…

I worked both stores this morning then ran some errands. You would think I would have tons to write about. Hmmmm.

I stayed in Jeannette a little extra and watched the phones so Sir Regis could run out to grab food. It’s hard when the guys are there by themselves all day so it wasn’t a problem! I sent a ‘happy day’ txt to Chrissy as it was her last first day of school! Senior year!

Joe and I were looking for a form retention sheet and neither of us could find it in our files. So I brought my reference manual home and am going to update it and clean it out. I also rearranged some files that were overflowing.

My friend Kathy from Craftique Corner had called me about flicker bulbs that I was looking for – they got them in! So I stopped there after I left Pinnacle/Greensburg and picked up a few.

From there I went to Barnes & Noble. I wanted to get Cameron A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES by Robert Lewis Stevenson for his library. Can you believe that neither of the clerks had ever heard of the book? The one girl asked me if it was like Bible stories (because of VERSES)! We looked where it was supposed to be but it wasn’t there so apparently they don’t carry it! Just because it was published in like 1885 doesn’t mean it should be out of print! I came home and ordered it on Amazon and it will be here on Saturday.

My next stop was the mall – I needed a cake of scented soap, which I always buy at Barbara Ann’s. I bought Sunflower scented. I had coupons for Bath and Body Works, where I purchased a fall foam hand soap, and a cake of soap called Into the Night. I had a coupon for a free body product so I bought Into the Night shower gel. It ended up to be a pretty good bargain.

Last stop was the Dollar Tree, where I purchased a few cards and some hand soap for Pinnacle’s restrooms. They keep running out! So that took me up to about 2pm, at which point I came home and ate the leftover grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Now I have lots of time to get in trouble for the rest of the day!

I took a walk around the yard. Flower pictures!

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TOMORROW August 25th is:

National Whiskey Sour Day; National Kiss And Make Up Day; National Second Hand Wardrobe Day; National Park Service Founders Day; National Banana Split Day.

For me tomorrow is stay home and clean day! That’s a good plan! Have a happy weekend and God bless…

TODAY would have been my Dad’s birthday. He would have been 95. I cannot picture my father at that age. He was so full of life and fun and ideas and friends! Happy birthday Dad – I know you’re still wheelin’ and dealin’!

I woke up to a txt message at 7:02am from Ron. He was going to stick around Georgia for a while, stretch his legs after 14 hours of driving on Tuesday, and start out again tomorrow. He didn’t have to be in a hurry.

Chase slept in, but Kelly and I were up and got a shower and had scones for breakfast. She was working on a few projects, and I took time to sew Chase’s shirt, a pair of my pants, and washed a load of clothes. I looked at the weather forecast, and even though it was not supposed to rain, it was supposed to rain! I cut the grass, pulled some weeds, trimmed some branches, and dug out a weird plant that my phone app identified as Stinkwort. Not sure that’s what it was.

All of a sudden, within a very short span, the Azealia by the deck just up and died. The branches turned BLACK and all the leaves shriveled up and fell off. I didn’t have the best saw to cut the whole thing down without some stress on my part so I just cut all the branches off. Really, I could break them off they were so brittle. Not sure what happened.

Kelly and Chase left about 3pm and headed to Pittsburgh. She needed to pick something up for work. She’ll be back up Saturday evening for the shower on Sunday!

I also cleaned out everything in my car and put it in a clothes basket or in the garage. The only thing left to do tonight except supper is a small amount of ironing. Tomorrow I have a few things to do after work for the shower. Friday I will do Wednesday’s cleaning chores.

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TOMORROW August 24th is:

National Waffle Day; National Peach Pie Day; National Maryland Day.

Maryland is a nice state. I won’t be going there tomorrow – but it’s a nice state. Have a great day and God bless…

TODAY is Dave Bath’s birthday – that is Nate’s life-long friend and business partner in B&B Window Cleaning. He calls me his second Mom! Happy birthday, Dave!

I started the day with sending Ron off at 7:15am, heading back to Florida. He spent the time here mostly with his brother Paul and Paul’s wife Cheryl. It was a nice visit for him, and I was glad to steal a few minutes of his time during his stay. Seems like he had a good visit.

But first I’ll recap yesterday. I left the house at 7:15am and headed to get gas for the car in town, then picked up Ron where he parked his car for the day. We got to the farm a little before 9am and immediately started husking corn – Uncle Clifford had already been out to the garden and filled this tractor cart with dozens of ears.

Nate got there a few minutes later, and we kept busy the rest of the day. We husked, cleaned, boiled, cooled, scraped, froze, bagged, and stacked corn all day.

There was a little break for lunch, at which we had sandwiches, macaroni salad, chips and corn on the cob. Aunt Joan and I cleaned up while the guys headed back out to the rows of corn to get another batch. We set aside a few for those who wanted to take some corn still on the cob home. Then we set to work again. I think we each (Nate and Kathy) ended up with 64 one cup bags of corn to freeze.

We stopped at Donna’s store on the way home and I picked up a cute little SMICKSBURG sign to put with my picture of the farm that I took last week. Ron got some granola and trail/snack mix for his brother and sister-in-law. We dropped that off on the way home, then grabbed a grilled cheese and were done for the day. It was a long but fun and productive day. Mazie agrees!

Today I started at the dentist at about 7:45am, then worked both stores. By the time I got home Kelly and Chase were already here. We grabbed our supplies to work on party favors for Autmn’s shower, then got Chick-Fil-A for lunch (Chase request). Kelly and I spent the afternoon on that project and cleaning up. I also did a load of laundry.

I think I have to turn my car in on Thursday so I spent an hour or more sweeping, wiping, washing, drying, doing windows, and generally cleaning the car. Tomorrow I will put everything from the car into a big basket so it’s easy to transfer over. And that – other than supper – was the last two days!

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TOMORROW August 23rd is:

National Sponge Cake Day; National Ride the Wind Day; National Cuban Sandwich Day; Black Ribbon Day.

Tomorrow would have been my Dad’s birthday. Happy birthday, Dad! It will also be cut the grass day. God bless!

I wanted to jump on here to say that I’m not going to post the Word Garden this evening! I will post tomorrow later in the day. It’s been a long but very fun day and I have an early start for tomorrow. Happy Tuesday and God Bless…. 🙂

I had a good nights sleep. Several reasons but I was very glad to feel rested and awake this morning!

Church started at Twin Lakes at 10:30am. I was out there a little early and got settled before worship. It was great singing and worshiping in the sunny morning air.

Todd had a message about meals – how they bring us together as a community. How we feel comfortable and encouraged and motivated by breaking bread together.

Then, after the message and communion, we did exactly that – ate lunch together!

The kids were playing games, hide and seek, and catching softballs. Mostly the adults ate and chatted. Betsy brought her new puppy Wilson. It was a nice time to be together.

Once the picnic broke up, I drove over to the other parking lot and met Ron – his church was having their picnic at a pavilion across the lake. We took a walk around the upper lake, and a friend of his from Maplewood church walked with us. Turns out she’s a friend of someone from HCC! We parted ways with Penny at her car then Ron & I said our goodbyes and each headed out. It was a really nice day.

I came home and made macaroni salad for tomorrow’s ‘corn’ trip to the farm, and got the supplies organized. Kathy stopped over and brought me a cute AUTUMN sign and some chili and applesauce. The horses were on the hill. Now I am finishing up typing and will be done for the evening.

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TOMORROW August 21st is:

National Spumoni Day; National Senior Citizens Day

So tomorrow is Corn at the Farm day! Autmn and Nate, Ron and I. It’s a small crew but we’ll do our best! So I must get moving and sleep quickly! 🙂 God bless…

I had the car packed last night by 11pm, except that I forgot the bunting! But there was so much stuff we didn’t need it. Then this morning I realized at 8am that I hadn’t iced the cinnamon rolls! I mixed up the icing, spread the rolls out on 3 trays, and went to work. I moved fast and got it all done and the kitchen cleaned up before Ron got here. We left about 9:17am and headed to West Alexander.

There were so many people helping set up! Aunt Kimmie and Uncle Greg, Mark and Drew Hancher, Kelly and her friend Jamie, Ma, Matt, Peyton, Logan, Ron and I. Carrie and Leighann came later and by about 1:30 everything was ready. Jamie and Ron basically set up the photo backdrop – I held the balloons! Red White and Blue theme.

Most of us (family) got a picture taken. I was frustrated when I realized that with my WHOLE FAMILY there I should have had a family picture taken! What a perfect opportunity!

There was so much food! And the centerpieces and backdrops and decorations looked wonderful.

We walked down to see the steers. I don’t know which one belonged to Japheth and which to Peyton. They were entirely indifferent to our presence. Most of the kids were either in the pool or the creek. It was a great day for playing in the water. They had outdoor games, too, and there were a lot of young people. It was so good to see so many there! Chrissy found a snail in the creek bed and there were daisies in the fields.

I hadn’t seen Chrissy for about a week – found out she passed her permit test – and Nate said she drove the whole way home down Route I-70! She also got a job at Subway in New Stanton so she’s all set! We headed back to Greensburg about 5:45 after helping clean up. Peyton’s older friends were having an after party down in the field with a bonfire and ‘real’ food. I’m sure they had a great time. It was a lot of work but Kelly did a wonderful job and everything was perfect!

Ron & I enjoyed spending time together in the country and being with family. Thursday night we were with his family; today, with mine. It’s been a great visit.

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TOMORROW August 20th is:

National Accessible Air Travel Day; World Mosquito Day; National Radio Day; National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day.

Tomorrow is our church picnic at Twin Lakes. It’s been a while since we’ve done that. I hope to enjoy a walk around the lake afterwards! God bless…

I could not fall asleep last night. Several dozen things kept racing through my mind. I’m sure Kelly’s thoughts were racing too. Hoping she got some sleep. But first thing this morning I took pictures of everything I had stored away that was red/white/blue and sent them to Kelly. She hasn’t told me yet if she wants me to bring anything – although I’m pretty sure she wants some of the serving bowls.

After breakfast I started on my errands. First was Shop and Save for Pepsi and Mt. Dew, then to Aldi for water. Mike P needed me URGENTLY for something so I swung in there on my way to the bank and to Walmart.

I had toast for lunch (??) then started on the household chores. Laundry, paying bills, list-making; mixed a pitcher of iced tea… I had a box of green beans that I snapped and cleaned and cooked, and also a big zucchini that I grated and froze in two-cup baggies for future zucchini bread.

I weed whacked by the driveway and the fence, then cut the grass. I won’t have time to get to it before next Tuesday so at least it’s under control.

Took a second to snap a photo of my Betsy Ross flag…

I will organize everything tonight but the cookies (last minute) and hopefully get the ironing done. Tomorrow is a busy day!

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TOMORROW August 19th is:

National Aviation Day (you may be able to guess whose birthday it is); World Humanitarian Day; International Bow Day (like, hair bow); National Soft Ice Cream Day; International Orangutan Day; National Potato Day; World Photography Day.

Chrissy loved photography and is good at it. I’m not a fan of soft ice cream but I do like potatoes. That’s enough for now! Tomorrow is also Peyton’s party! God bless…

First of all, today is my Skunk Hollow cousin Karen’s birthday – Happy birthday Karen! Sending you blessings and joy. It’s also Lindsey Smail Schneider’s birthday – she was one of my ‘bosses’ at Smails. Have a great day, Linz!

I worked both stores this morning – Then stopped and set up an appointment for a haircut for afternoon. The sky on the drive down Route 30 was beautiful! God is painting pictures again!

Greg sent me a picture of a Snoopy motorcycle. I think I need one…

After lunch I worked on a new story for the Skunk Hollow bonfire — I was inspired by Beth! Uncle Clifford called and said the corn would be ready on Monday. So now to find workers to assist. Ron txt and invited me to dinner with his family at Bob Evans. So I got the haircut at 3pm, picked up some items from Diane and dropped them at home, and met Ron’s group at the restaurant. It was a nice time and we just sat and lingered and chatted!

Kathy was working on applesauce so I took her extra apples and helped peel and cut. By the time I left it was already cooked down so things were moving along. So tomorrow and Saturday I have my lists of chores and I’ll be ready for a wild weekend!

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TOMORROW August 18th is:

National Ice Cream Pie Day; National Fajita Day; National Mail Order Catalog Day.

I ordered something on Tuesday that should come tomorrow – so a reason to celebrate! It’s a busy weekend to look ahead to! God bless…

Wednesday – cleaning and laundry, emails and reading. That’s my day! I heated up some of my Cream of Potato soup for lunch. In between chores I finished The School House and started The Christmas House – both by Elizabeth Bromke. They are some of her earlier books.

When I finished cleaning I went in to start the laundry. I noticed that the ‘start’ knob was missing in my dryer. How could that happen? I don’t take the dryer anywhere. I don’t move it at all. I looked behind the washer and dryer and under the wash tub and all around the floor. Where could it have gone? It doesn’t make any sense. But the good thing is that it still works, and I can start it by pushing the little nub that is still there. I’ll keep my eyes open as to where is could have gone.

I wish I had something a little more interesting to share – but since I had such a busy, exciting week I can’t complain about having a quiet day! That’s about it for now.

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TOMORROW August 17th is:

National Massachusetts Day; Black Cat Appreciation Day; National Nonprofit Day; National Thrift Shop Day; National I Love My Feet Day.

Hats off to Jen’s nonprofit NINTH LIFE RESCUE – made #1 in Westmoreland County for Non-profit again! Great job Jen and company! God bless…