TODAY it’s 11 months until Christmas Day – as Bud would remind me. It’s also a month since Christmas. It seems so much longer ago than that.

It’s also Ruth Ann Hancher’s birthday (Kelly’s mother in law). Happy birthday, Ruth Ann – hope your day was amazing and wishing you many more!

I cleaned today – and finished up the Stufffed Pepper soup. It looks yummy!

The soup cook-off went very well! It was surprising that we had 19 entries. I know that Shelagh (chicken noodle) won 3rd prise, Jackie Leasure won 2nd prize (didn’t catch what soup she made), and Ryders won first place with white chili. I had the chicken noodle and it was very good. Max (from my Sunday School class) snuck up to me and announced that he was one of the judges! How cute!

It’s 5:30pm and it’s still daylight. One day at a time! A little pink in there, too!

Scripture about sunsets:

Fun thing to do in Washington State: Waterfalls

Quote about sunsets:

Peanuts Post:

Top song in 1967: TO SIR WITH LOVE – Lulu

TOMORROW January 26th is:

National Peanut Brittle Day; National Green Juice Day; Australia Day; International Customs Day; National Spouses Day.

Austraila is good – have a happy day! God bless…

It’s been a cold day, but no snow. Every now and then the sun peaked out and it felt good. I worked in Jeannette and Greensburg and then got gas in the car.

When I got home I started a pot of stuffed pepper soup. I’ve made four pots of cream of potato soup, one of chicken ‘acini de pepe’ soup, and two of stuffed pepper soup, in the last two weeks. I’m souped out! We are having a soup cook-off tomorrow at church so I decided to take the stuffed pepper soup. I’m not even sure my taste buds are up to the task!

I keep forgetting to turn off the little heater under my desk so I made a reminder note. When I turn the heater on I’ll stick the note where I can’t help but see it! That little thing really keeps me warm when I’m working.

The day will basically be a writing and reading and catch up on devotion workshops day so I’m posting early! If anything exciting happens I’ll post tomorrow!

Fun things to do in Washington State: Museums

Scripture about sunshine:

Quote – today sent by my friend Diane:

PEANUTS POST: Snoopy in the SUN-flowers!

Top songs in 1966 – ’66 was MY year – super summer, and I was sixteen!

TOMORROW January 25th is:

National Irish Coffee Day; Library Shelfie Day; National Florida Day (somewhere I have no desire to visit); Burns Supper (Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne); National Opposite Day.

I will probably focus on being opposite. I do that mostly anyway so it won’t be much different. Celebrate well and God bless!

I was up extra early for my dentist appoint. I had the two crowns put on the implants. First time in absolute YEARS that I haven’t had a space somewhere in my mouth from a missing tooth. They feel comfortable, and I can now chew on my right side!

There was a little work in Jeannette; I stopped at the bank to check out a double payment on my bank card, then worked in Greensburg. I offered to help Joe with filing and shredding, and will work on more tomorrow. I was even taking a few pictures of the snow on the trees.

Also had time to stop and get special light bulbs for my little electric candles, then came home and had soup for lunch.

I had a doctor’s appointment in Latrobe, which was quick and easy. Now I’m home and was hoping to stay in, but Autmn just called and may need a ride somewhere. So I’m waiting to hear for sure. Today was Chrissy’s first day of work at Shop n Save in Youngwood and she was excited. So was Ranger the dog!

Fun things to do in Washington state:

Scripture about hills:

Chinese proverb about light:
 “Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” — Chinese Proverb

Peanuts Post:

Top song of 1965: Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

TOMORROW January 24th is:

Beer Can Appreciation Day; Global Belly Laugh Day; National Compliment Day; International Day of Education; National Peanut Butter Day.

Beer Can? Really???? Laughing is good, and so are compliments. Education is important. I’ll pass on the peanut butter! Whatever you celebrate, enjoy! God bless…

We had Ben and Max in Sunday School, and they worked very hard to think of a time when they needed to forgive someone! You could just see their minds churning. We talked about The Lord’s Prayer but focused on Forgiveness.

Todd have a very focused message this morning about Dream Big Dreams. Tradition needs to be replaced by spiritual growth! The ‘good old days’ don’t work in the 21st century. That being said, you have to follow the dreams that GOD is a part of – don’t leave preaching the Bible behind! He quoted Mom’s favorite verse (Psalms 118:24) and my favorite verse (I Corinthians 2:9). Take a risk – dream big!

Autmn and Noah stopped over in the afternoon – she got her birthday card, deviled eggs, and candy cane cookies. She was excited that they were green and not pink! She and Noah both had cookies, and he sort of nibbled an egg while we were all talking!

After they left I mixed up Cinnamon Muffins (with chocolate chips). I needed a quick breakfast to grab and go. It was hard not to eat one when they were warm from the oven, but it was too close to dinner!

Fun things to do in Washington state:

Since today is Chinese New Year (Year of the Rabbit) this week will be focused on Chinese proverbs:

Peanuts Post about dreaming:

Top songs in 1964: I Want to Hold your Hand/She Loves You

TOMORROW January 23rd is:

National Pie Day; National Handwriting Day

My handwriting has always been a failure (literally: I got a ‘W’ in 5th grade!) but I could do pie. Apple or Cherry…. Have a happy day. God bless…

I did go down to Mary’s work for the flea market. I really didn’t find anything that caught my eye but it was fun to go down. I did get to see Mary’s new car! She’s very excited and it’s very nice!

After lunch I worked on the Sunday School lesson (we’re learning about forgiveness and The Lord’s Prayer), and then I made Cream of Potato soup AGAIN! I had potatoes I had to use up, and Kelly didn’t drink any of her milk! So – perfect combination. Even had a bonus HEART potato!

The CVS over the counter order came, too. So that was good.

TODAY my Autmn Rose turned 20! Can’t believe that she’s grown into a lovely young woman, with a job and a life of her own. We’ve tracked a lot of miles together, and they are every one special to me! Happy birthday, Miss Autmn. Love you!

Scripture is the Peanuts Post:

Fun thing to do in Maryland: Antietam National Battlefield

Quote from AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT:

Top song in 1963: Surfin’ USA – the Beach Boys

TOMORROW January 22nd is:

National Blonde Brownie Day; National Polka Dot Day; National Sanctity of Human Life Day; Celebration of Life Day.

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini — God bless!!!

For a change, cleaning day was today instead of Wednesday. I didn’t want to take time or attention away from my family on Wednesday so I took advantage of today’s cold, snowy, all-alone-in-the-house day and cleaned. I did a few loads of laundry and answered a few emails. I also packaged up Autmn’s Candy Cane cookies and made her the requested deviled eggs.

Tomorrow is the indoor flea market at my friend Mary’s workplace so I hope to go down there in the morning (Harrison City).

(Indoor Flea Market Saturday, January 21 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Connect 55+ Penn Township 4000 Village Drive Jeannette, PA 15644)

I got a lovely thank you note from Kath today – it was on stationary from The Governor’s Inn (Williamsburg VA). I know she’s had it a long time as we haven’t been there since 2015! But it was so fun to get, and start (or continue!) dreaming and planning for our April trip.

I tired to take a picture of my little lighted vase of flowers in the hall but you can’t see the lights very well. They look so cute sitting by the mirror! Next chore of the evening is to fold towels and then eat dinner.

Scripture about flowers:

Quote from AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT:

Peanuts Post:

Top song in 1962: I Can’t Stop Loving You – Ray Charles

Fun things to do in Maryland:

TOMORROW January 21 is:

National Fruitcake Toss Day; National Hyaluronic Acid Day; Squirrel Appreciation Day; World Kiwanis Week; National Use Your Gift card Day; National Hugging Day; National Granola Bar Day; International Sweatpants Day.

Tomorrow is also Autmn’s 20th birthday! We can combine that with Hugging! Not sure about the Squirrel thing. Have a happy Saturday. God bless…

We didn’t have too much to do this morning – just get the boys organized and make sure everyone had food. We did run a small errand at about 10:30am but that was it. The boys weren’t in any hurry to leave, but after they left I found Logan’s backpack. Thankfully they were just down the block so they turned around.

I went to work at about 1pm, and really had a lot to do in both stores. I didn’t get home until almost 5:30pm. BUT — when I walked in the door I saw a connector for Chase’s game sitting on the stereo speaker. I sent a picture to Kelly but don’t know if I’ll have to mail it or possibly meet them somewhere. I don’t even know what it’s for.

After that I put out the Snoopy Birthday Flag – Autmn and Kelly both have birthdays this month. I’ll just leave the flag up until after Kelly’s birthday.

I received an early morning wake-up txt from Barry (Pinnacle). Barry shared an article in the paper about a friend of mine’s daughter. Ralph had passed away last year, but we had often gone for lunch or even to an occasional movie. He had two kids (Mark and Michelle) who were both lawyers. Michelle was assistant DA in Bucks County for years – and apparently most recently had been first deputy general under Josh Shapiro. Now that he’s governor, Michelle has been appointed acting Attorney General for the State of Pennsylvania. I was so excited when I read that – Ralph was SO PROUD of his kids, but especially Michelle, who was a real go-getter. The article had interviewed retired Westmoreland County District Attorney John Driscoll, and his parting quote was: “I would not want to be prosecuted by Michelle Henry,” he said with a laugh. Reading that article made my day. I remember Michelle when she was in middle school – and now she’s 53 and famous! I’m happy for her and again, wish I could call and congratulate Ralph! He’d be thrilled!

(If you’re at all interested in the article, go to triblive.com and search for Michelle Henry or ‘The Real McCoy.’ There are two articles but I can only find one.)

Fun things to do in Maryland:

Quote from AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT:

[after asking Sydney to join him for the state dinner. Long pause]

President Andrew Shepherd: Sydney, Congress doesn’t take this long.

Peanuts Post:

Top song in 1961: I Fall to Pieces – Patsy Cline

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard Cathi Rhodes (local artist) do PATSY CLINE but she’s amazing.

TOMORROW January 20th is:

National Disc Jockey Day; National Cheese Lover’s Day; National Buttercrunch Day; International Day of Acceptance.

I wonder if the radio stations will mention Disc Jockey Day tomorrow. I LIKE cheese but no love there. I like buttercrunch candy if I don’t have to make it myself! Have a happy Friday and God bless…

I felt like I wanted to snuggle down in bed this morning and read until it was time to go to bed! It just felt comfy and quiet. But alas – I was hungry and my family was there (even though everyone was still asleep!) so I got up! Kelly and I had a scone and part of a donut for breakfast. We certainly didn’t choose ‘healthy’ this morning.

Also took time to place an order through the ‘Over the Counter’ option through my Medicare plan. I’m thankful I’m healthy – it’s hard to find something I need! Only so many uses for band-aids!

Last night we had such a lovely supper – we had toasted cheese sandwiches on homemade bread, stuffed pepper soup, chicken ‘acini de pepe’ soup, nachos and cheese, and cookies for dessert. We sat for four hours and just caught up on each other’s lives. There is only one person (beside Liz and April) that still work in the administrative support offices that I know. Life is very different. I am totally content to have stepped away from that frantic pace and settled in with my Pinnacle guys! Nothing lasts forever without change but I am thankful for each of them.

April’s family is doing well, and she has because addicted to ocean cruises! She has been on two in the last year and loves them! She adores her grandson and granddaughter and also spending time with all three of her grown kids. It’s delightful to see and hear that she is happy with her life and her job. Although she has had three major losses in the past few years (father, sister, grandson) she is enjoying many blessings with her family and friends. I’m thankful to call her ‘friend’.

After Kelly and the boys did their online ZOOM home school class, we had lunch then worked on the suitcase project. Kelly is usually very supportive of my wild and crazy ideas, but she LOVED this one. She actually has me keeping an eye out for another vintage suitcase so she can do one too. It turned out much better than I imagined.

Quote from An American President:
Michael J. Fox, as Rothschild, utters the line “No hopping, sir, no hopping!”

Fun things to do in Maryland: Annapolis

Peanuts Post:

Top song in 1960:

TOMORROW January 19th is:

National Popcorn Day; World Quark Day; Get to Know your Customers Day.

POPCORN! A staple in my life growing up! I’ll celebrate that! Have a great day popping corn. God bless…

Kelly & I had breakfast and then went to Aldi’s in Irwin. She needed baking supplies. That inspired us, and we came back and made Candy Cane cookies for Autmn’s birthday. We stopped and made lunch, did a load of laundry, then cleaned up the kitchen.

Next job was to start the stuffed pepper soup for supper (still needs the rice added) and then made chocolate chip cookies. These cookies turned out big and puffy and were very good. Great item to add to tonight’s dessert menu.

While the cookies were cooling, Kelly sat down with a huge shopping bag of used Christmas cards and sorted them out. One of their service projects is to make place mats for the local nursing homes out of the cards. That’s such a good way to make use of often beautiful and meaningful cards and sentiments.

I’ll post a little bit about dinner with April tomorrow. I didn’t even take any pictures!!!

Fun thing to do in Maryland:

Peanuts post:

Scripture about our land:

Top song of 1959: Mack the Knife

TOMORROW January 18th is:

National Peking Duck Day; National Winnie the Pooh Day; National Thesaurus Day; National Michigan Day.

Celebrate Winnie the Pooh – he’s such a fun little guy. Have a great day – God bless!

Martin Luther King Jr day. Hope you took a minute to reflect of why he HAS a day…

I started the day at Dr. Buckley’s office (dental surgeon) and they helped me fill out the reimbursement forms. I’ll finish them this evening and then mail them out.

After that I went to work at the Greensburg store – there were a few titles to do. Kath and I had plans to go to Chick Fil-A for lunch. We had originally hoped to have an outing somewhere but that didn’t work out. We sat for over two hours and enjoyed time together. Long over-due. I was only home a very short time – just enough to do my ironing! – and Kelly arrived with the boys. We were busy the rest of the day. She was hungry for soup so we put that together right away – then had it for supper with sliders.

I did print out and trim a few photos for the suitcase project. That may be tomorrow…

Now she is working on a shirt order and the boys are gaming. Tomorrow we plan on making cookies, more soup, and whatever projects we didn’t finish today! This is short because we DO have projects!

Quote from Willie Wonka …

• Please note: Error on yesterday’s quote – statement made by A. J. MacInerney not Robin McCall. (Thanks, Kath!)

Scripture:

Fun things to do in Maryland:

Peanuts Post:

Top song in 1958 – It’s only Make Believe – Conway Twitty

TOMORROW January 17th is:

National Classy Day (Betty White’s birthday); National Hot Buttered Rum Day; International Mentoring Day; National Bootleggers Day.

Betty White was a classy lady – but not the only one. Check out the website and see the list! Have a happy Tuesday and God Bless…