I did a lot of little things throughout the day, but nothing really worthy of pictures. After changing and washing the sheets – and having breakfast – I headed over to the bank to grab extra check registers. I’m convinced that they are about half the size they were 10 years ago.

Next I stopped at Gabe’s to get a package of AA batteries – they are about half the price there than anywhere else. I decided it was a nice day so I drove down to Irwin to Miller’s Crossing (fleatique). I’m never really looking for anything specific, but I like to wander around and check things out.

I was looking at the Golden Books in one booth, and the lady that owns the booth asked what I was looking for. I explained about my favorite book as a young child: Hi ho! Three in a Row. It was (of course) out of print and I couldn’t find a copy. She gave me a few web sites to check online and gave me her business card. I looked it up and did find a few that were reasonably priced. I’ll check them out next week.

My plan was to stop at Burger King and have a frozen Coke, but when I drove around to pay for my order they explained that the machine was on defrost… Bummer. No frozen Coke.

I had toast and tomato for lunch, then caught up on emails and ironing and working a little more on programming my tablet. I’m having trouble with my facebook app. I don’t think anyone would be surprised at that…

Gen sent me a postcard from The Mount, Edith Wharton’s House in MA – she and her sister Johanna were there last week. The picture is of the library – and yes, Gen, Kathy and I would love that!

Kathy shared a picture of Hattie’s college in Florida. Looks like a lovely place to get an education!

Watching my last viewing of Biltmore Christmas for this round….

My blessing today was the postcard from my dear friend Gen!!!

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 28th is:

Buffalo Soldiers Day; National Milk Chocolate Day; National Carpet Day; National Parents’ Day; National Soccer Day; National Tree Day; National Water Park Day.

Yesterday’s fake day was National Plaid Day. Tomorrow we can celebrate chocolate! And parents – because we ALL had (or have) parents. Trees are nice… God bless…

Today was a full day – lots to do, some of which I didn’t expect. After breakfast I decided to run errands first, then get busy on home chores afterward. I started by stopping at Pinnacle Jeannette and picking up the background report that Ken ran for me. I took several copies – for me and for the church (working with kids) and for Mike P.

From there I stopped at Dollar Tree to pick up a few items for Christina, then deposited a check at the bank. I dropped the documents off to Mike that he needed, then ended up at Walmart. I was just inside the door there with my very short (4 items) list when Ruth called (Loyalhanna Review editor) and said she was ready for the supply bin if I wanted to drop it off.

I buzzed through Walmart, then home to get the tub and drop it off for Ruth. She knows I volunteer at Hanna’s Town so she asked me to drop off a stack of the new Loyalhanna Reviews out there. This weekend is their big WW II event and they expect a nice amount of visitors so it’s a perfect place to put them.

After I got home, put groceries away, and ate lunch I changed clothes. I had two ears of corn and tomato slices.

Then I went outside to finish cutting back the hostas. All done! I’ll wait and see what projects call my name the loudest for my next adventure outside. I went out to drop garbage in the outdoor can and STEPPED ON A LANTERN FLY. OH, YUCK!!!

I had a lot of typing and business chores to work on this afternoon and just finished those. Still have a list, though, so I’ll save some of that for tomorrow!

My blessing today was that I didn’t have a melt down when I stepped on that stupid lantern fly!!! (I thought about it…)

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 27th is:

Bagpipe Appreciation Day; Barbie in a Blender Day (just…no.); Cross Atlantic Communication Day; National Plaid Day; National Chicken Fingers Day; National Crème Brule Day; National Love is Kind Day; National Day of the Cowboy; National Sleepy Head Day; Take your Houseplant For a Walk Day; Walk on Stilts Day.

Yesterday’s fake day was National Rooster Day. Tomorrow let’s be kind, sleep in, and take your plant for a walk. God bless!!!

It was a very busy work day. Jeannette did not have too much, but I had a customer that was selling his car and there were a few tangles with that. All good in the end.

From there I helped Mike P with some notary issues and was there quite a while. It was almost noon by the time I got to Greensburg and my desk was totally piled full of deals! Joe and I helped each other and both got done what we needed to.

I mentioned that I wanted to go to Palmer’s Farm stand to get tomatoes, so Joe called his wife since she was there this morning. And yes they did have tomatoes. But when I got there, they had sold out of corn! I did get several nice tomatoes and had a toast and tomato sandwich for lunch.

By the time I finished lunch and doing a few inside chores it was 4:30pm. I changed clothes and spent an hour on the hill. All I wanted to do was cut back the crumbly and brown hostas, which I did. Took me about an hour. I’m amazed that with the crazy June and July that I had I was able to keep up with this. I still have four in the front yard to do, but I’ll work on those over the weekend.

Right now Bramble House Christmas is on in the background as I type. It’s an older movie and I enjoy watching it.

Autmn called me just a bit ago and was just leaving Med Express. She had taken a home COVID test and it was positive and wanted me to know, since she spent all day Monday here. Then Cameron started coughing and she wanted to get him tested so that’s when they went to M.E. Turns out neither one has COVID, but Autmn has an ear infection and Cameron has an infection, too. They both got prescriptions and were headed home to nap. Noah is off tomorrow and they plan to have a stay-at-home, low-key, recoup day. She sounded upbeat and pleasant and I think was totally relieved to have had both of them thoroughly checked out and on the right track.

Oh, and Cameron learned to do Peek-A-Boo last night. He loves it and laughs and laughs!

My blessing today was hearing Autmn so relieved about getting good care and having Noah home tomorrow!

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 26th is:

Auntie’s Day; National All or Nothing Day; National Bagelfest Day; National Coffee Milkshake Day; National Dog Photography Day; National Talk in an Elevator Day; National Get Gnarly Day; National Rooster Day.

Yesterday’s fake day was National Tickle Me Day. Tomorrow I may have a bagel — but that’s about it. Have a lovely Friday. God bless…

Biltmore Christmas is on! I’m so addicted! I sincerely hope I can eventually purchase it… And having been to Biltmore made it even more magical.

Autmn sent me a few pictures of Cameron from last week to brighten my day. And it did!

After I cleaned the house – took my lazy time! – I used up most of the rest of the milk to make potato soup. That will be supper…

White I was letting the soup simmer, I turned on my new iPad and started to set it up. Still a few things to add, but at least I figured out how to turn it on!

Took a quick walk outside after the rain, and found that I had a bright yellow Stella d’oro lily blooming, and the Pinky Winky finally has some PINK blooming!

Since today is National Cousin Day – here is a photo of my sweet cousins!

Today is also ‘old joke’ day so here’s an old joke: When is a door not a door? When it’s a jar… (har har har…)

My blessing for today is watching Biltmore after a long day of housecleaning and laundry.

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 25th is:

Carousel Day; Culinarians Day; International Red Shoe Day; National Chili Dog Day; National Hire a Veteran Day; National Tickle Me Day; National Hot Fudge Sundae Day; National Intern Day; National Merry Go Round Day; National Thread the Needle Day; National Wine and Cheese day.

Yesterday’s fake day was National Iris Day. Tomorrow how about hot fudge sundaes and merry go round rides! God bless…

Today was our outing to the Clayton House (Henry Clay Frick’s mansion) in Pittsburgh. After breakfast I did the ironing, then waiting for Kathy to pick me up. She was the driver and I was the co-pilot that helped keep us on the right roads. We got there 45 minutes early with no wrong turns!

Since we were early, we looked in the gift shop and walked to the Car and Carriage Museum. There were several dozen vehicles on display! Kath was busy snapping photos for the car guys in her family. The museum hostess took our picture in the ‘photo op’ car. The dash was so basic I think Cameron could have learned to drive it!

We had a very good tour guide, Barney, and he was a wealth of facts, stories, and details. It was so interesting to hear about the lives of Henry Frick, his wife, his children, extended family, and business associates. We also learned about local Pittsburg history (at that time, there was no ‘h’ at the end of Pittsburgh!). The house was stunning and well preserved – and thanks to the ‘numbers’ skills of Henry’s daughter Helen – remained in its current state far longer than the homes of Frick’s friends and associates.

After the tour, we walked through the greenhouse and gardens, rested on a bench under shade trees, and took pictures of the playhouse. That playhouse is bigger than the house I LIVE in!

For some reason Cordelia (Kathy’s GPS) took us home a quicker more direct way than the trip there. After I changed and had a short break, I was able to get the grass cut. Another successful day!

My blessing today was spending the day with my sister.

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 24th is:

Amelia Earhart Day; International Self Care Day; National Cousins Day; National Day of Motoring; National Drive Thru Day; Pioneer Day; Tell An Old Joke Day.

No fake day yesterday – I forgot! Tomorrow I’ll OF COURSE celebrate cousins. Love those Skunk Hollow girls! God bless…

The day started at 7:10am when Autmn txt to see if she could spend the day here with Cameron. Of course I said yes, so I got my work done at Pinnacle and got home about 10 minutes after she got here. Cameron was happy and laughing and clapped when he saw me!

Autmn needed to catch up on her rest, so she got a shower then grabbed a nap upstairs. Cameron and I played with toys and read stories and built towers with foam blocks. We also spent the afternoon watching Sesame Street! He dances to all the songs. He also liked watching the rain through the storm door while it splashed off the deck boards.

So this is basically a Cameron photo dump. And he was such a fun baby and so good, and entertaining!

Kelly and I both bought Tic-Tac-Toe games, and I got creative and spray-painted my X’s purple and my O’s yellow! The other side is still white and black so it can go either way – but that’s fun!

Since Cameron took up my whole day, he is certainly my blessing today!

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 23rd is:

Hot Enough For Ya Day; National Gorgeous Grandma Day; National Sprinkle Day; National Vanilla Ice Cream Day; Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day; National Lemon Day.

There was no fake day yesterday. Tomorrow – Ice cream will do, will sprinkles. God bless!!!

So yesterday was a busy day – but every step went well and I had lots of help and encouragement.

I got up early to handle my Saturday morning routine, when picked up the cantankerous balloons that did not want to stay in the trunk. I wrangled them in and all was well. Next I picked up the slider trays at Walmart and picked up two boxes of snack crackers in case we needed them with the charcuterie boards — I had no idea what all Joe and Susan were including with those.

Since the tables were set up and arranged, I was able to organize the supplies and decorations while I waited for Tamara and her husband. They are both good workers and creative so we had the tables done, the decorations handled, and the food tables ready in a little over an hour. When we left there, it was all ready except for the food and the guests.

I had time when I got home to catch up a few things around the house, then got changed and ready to go. I stopped at Kathy’s and watered the plants for the last time — their flight was delayed because of the Microsoft issue so they drove home – and the poor little flowers were thirsty. Thankfully I could stop at the Dollar General a block or two from their house and pick up the ice on my way to the party.

I grabbed a hammer and nails, and stopped at the bottom of the church road and tacked the directional sign to a pole. Being bright pink it draws enough attention – although I’m not sure there were any new attendees this year.

There was so much food! People were very generous and brought more than I anticipated. We did have a lot of leftovers, but everyone was willing to take things home. The only food I brought home was the box of snack chips – and since I purchased them I’ll save them and donate them to Chrissy’s grad party in two weeks! We had some drinks left, too, but we’ll have no trouble using those up.

Ruth – the editor – was the M.C. for the evening. About six people read all or part of their story or poem. Ruth also went over all the art and photo submissions. They were all amazing! And the stories that were read were all very good – I did read the first part of mine and it seemed to be well received!

Judith and Linda handled the registration table and served as the welcome committee. Tamara left two Aloe Vera plants and a beautiful sunflower photo to be door prizes. The sunflower photo would have looked wonderful in my Crooks room! But alas, I did not win it.

Unbeknown to Ruth, her committee created a new award to honor Ruth’s 21 years as editor — and to the amazing improvements and beautiful quality of the Loyalhanna Review. It’s called the Ruth McDonald Fan Favorite Award, and we can pick our favorite entry and email our choice to one of the co-editors. The author or artist with the most votes wins an honorarium. Such a great idea – a way to honor both Ruth and those whose creativity brought such success to the magazine.

The crew from HCC’s Helping Hands ministry got there about 9pm and we all started helping to pack things up and let the guys get the room back to rights for Sunday morning. Everyone worked together – even helping carry boxes and totes out to the cars – and we were done in good time. It was a lovely night with lots of food, fun decorations, creative authors and artists, entertaining readers, and great company. Another one in the books!

My blessing – both yesterday and today – was the success of wonderful people working together to honor and uplift each other.

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 22nd is:

National Mango Day; National Hammock Day; World Brain Day; National Penuche Fudge Day. TODAY was Take a Monkey to Lunch Day; National Ice Cream Day.

Friday’s fake day was National Door Mat Day. Since we missed today’s ice cream celebration I’ll do that – but not with a monkey! And not in a hammock. God bless…

(PS – when the group photos get posted online I will grab a few and share them!!!)

Happy birthday to Mom!

That is all the posting I am going to do tonight. It’s late and I’m exhausted. I’ll recap the delightful party tomorrow! Sweet dreams!

After breakfast I did a quick clean of the house, since I was busy all week. Brown’s came at 11am and Kevin checked my air conditioner for its yearly service. It’s OK for this year but it’s nearing the end of it’s life. It is 32 years old!

I had the rest of the potato soup for lunch, then loaded the car as full as I could and took it all out to the church. They had the tables all set up and it looked very nice. Tomorrow morning we will decorate and get organized, then I’ll go early and set out the food and get the registration table ready.

Matt sent me a link to what he suggested as the best tablet for me since mine warped and quit working. I will probably order it on line next week.

I spent about an hour outside, walking through the yard and pulling some weeds and dead stalks. I still haven’t had to cut the grass and that is a small relief.

I also did a quick spray paint on the clapper of the wind chime. It was drying out and cracking so I hope this preserves it longer.

My blessing today was enjoying some comfortable time outside!

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 20th is:

International Chess Day; National Moon day; National Fortune Cookie Day; National Lollipop Day; National Door Mat Day; National Pennsylvania Day; Space Exploration Day; Woodie Wagon Day; World Jump Day.

Yesterday’s fake day was National Yard Sign Day. Tomorrow would have been my mom’s 94th birthday. As for the Woodie Wagon – listen to The Beach Boys song ‘In My Room’…. God bless…(Oh, and I like the moon.)

Although my stomach was unhappy for a few hours this morning, the day started out good! Got an early email that CVR was up and running! That was such a relief! One day short of an entire month of inconvenience and altered processing. All good now!

Kelly and I worked on little things in the morning after breakfast. One of the games she came up with for the Stahlstown festival was ring toss – and look what she did to the cones! Candy corn! How fun is THAT!

She left a little after 11:30am and I went to work. I had to verify a license plate for her and Matt – I think it’s all worked out now. I did what work was in Jeannette, then stopped to help Renee at Mike P’s place, then finished up in Greensburg. Stopped at the bank on the way home and by then it was almost 3pm.

After lunch I changed into outside work clothes, and for the first time all week worked in the yard. The grass is still acceptable so I didn’t mow; but I did work on the stones between the fences. I trimmed the shrubs that were sticking through the fence, then dug up the weeds buried in the rocks. So that’s good! Now all the beds have been cleaned up fully three times since spring. Now I guess we start over! But they look pretty good…

I’m just going to chill out for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow and Saturday will have to be focused on the LR party!

My blessing today was for sure CVR being up and running!

PEANUTS Thought for the Day:

TOMORROW July 19th is:

National Football Day; National Words With Friends Day; National Yard Sign Day; International Retainers Day; National Play Day.

Yesterday’s fake day was National VCR Day. Tomorrow – let’s play! God bless…