Thought for the Day....

I just got home from getting groceries.  As I was standing in line waiting to check out, I saw what needs to be the thought for the day...

IF YOU DON'T GIVE THEM THE KEYS, 

THEY CAN'T DRIVE YOU CRAZY!

Stay safe!

Spring and "Post-Mess" Cleaning

Hey, all!

Some of you know I am a list maker.  Right now I am working my way through a lengthy to-do list.  Any time you have anything done in or around your home, you will have a mess.  I don't care how careful the guys are.  And the ones we use are pretty careful and clean up after themselves.  But like I said, there is always a mess. 

So I am working my way through the list.  I am about done with the window cleaning.  I couldn't start on that until the power washing was done.  As I've been doing the windows, I have been cleaning/refreshing the window treatments.  And there have been lots of other cleaning projects going on, too.  And yard work.  The furry kids are leery of the vacuum and look like they are thinking "where is she going next?"

I finally got the grill cleaned yesterday and Golfer used it to cook supper last night.  I will shop with that in mind on the next grocery trip!

NurseJ and all are doing well.  Bikini says they are fine, too.

Here are a couple pictures of the deck and back yard.

Stay safe and have a great weekend!

Hey, All!

I hope everyone is doing well!

We are doing fine here.  Still busy; I've been working my way through a major to-do list, part of which is just Spring cleaning and part is clean-up after all the work that was done around here last week.

Things are going okay at NurseJ's house.  It's very busy there, too, with lots of adjustments being made and some lost sleep with the new baby.  But when CutieGirl looks like this it is all soooo worth it!  She has gained some of the weight back that she lost right after birth.  BeyB is enjoying being a big sister.  I think all is well!

Stay safe!

Benefits of Being a Grandma

Getting to be the one who cuts the tiny baby's fingernails so she won't scratch her cute little face.  Emphasis on tiny, as in baby, fingers, nails.  Stressful, but accomplished!  I did not want to be the one to give her a boo-boo!  Then we got to cuddle!  Sweet!

Welcome, CutieGirl!

It has been an extremely busy week around here!  The most important activity is the arrival of CutieGirl, NurseJ's and CableGuy's new baby!  She was born Thursday afternoon and all are doing well.  BeyB is going to be a great big sister!

In other news, the deck has been finished.  It looks great.  The house is being power washed as I am writing this.  Sometime in the next couple days we'll get the deck furniture all washed off and put back.  We also have some yard clean-up to do from the two trees that were removed. 

Jeff, our painter, is the one doing the power washing while the caulking and primer dry inside for some repair work we're having done.  When this is all finished there is going to be some major Spring cleaning going on around here for a while.  But I plan to take some breaks for baby cuddles!

I hope all is well with everyone.

Stay safe!

Busy, Busy Day Two

Hey, all!

We have another flurry of activity around here.  Golfer and I were "up and at 'em" early.  He left for golf.  I got my Starbucks and was back home by 7:15 waiting for the guys to show up.  In case you're wondering about a splurge, that is our routine.  He gets his Starbucks on the way to the golf course.  And you know, if he's having  Starbucks, I'm going to, too!

It turned out that the 7:30 a.m. arrival was a bit off.  Steve was the first to show up at 8:30 to check on things and immediately asked me where his guys were.  I told him I had not heard from or seen anyone yet.  Boy! He was fast to get on the phone and within minutes they all started showing up.  Right now, there are men working on the deck and men working up in the trees, and some more hauling deck debris and tree limbs to the trucks out front.  There's a shredder set up at the curb and things are being ground up.  I hope none of our neighbors are trying to sleep!

This is a picture of Finnigan in his supervisory position.  He is very suspicious about all the strange

men on his property!

I hate losing the trees.  But I also hate the idea of the diseased tree falling on something or someone and causing damage.  And I really don't like the idea of the other tree causing foundation and house or deck damage.  On the plus side though, there will be a gazillion fewer ginkgo balls to be picked up!  If you've never had ginkgo trees around you, they are lovely trees, but the seed balls are  miserable little spiky things to clean up.  Mom always used to tell about wrapping them in the little foil gum wrappers and making Christmas decorations.  Nice thought, but I never tried that.

This deck picture is from yesterday.  I will post more later.  The guys told me to stay inside so I wouldn't get covered in sawdust but I've been sneaking pictures of the work in progress.

Stay safe!

Busy Day Around Here

Hey, all!

It's a hustling hub of activity here today!

The sun is out, the temperature should be in low 70's soon.  Right now the guys are here starting to work on our deck "refreshing".  The truck with the new deck boards has been here and gone.  He had already started to unload them and carry to the back yard when Steve got here.  They were the wrong boards so they were loaded back onto the truck and hauled away.  The driver has gone to get the correct ones.

The sprinkler system guys just arrived and they are out there in the yard, too.  They're getting it turned on and checking out all the sprinkler heads and making adjustments and repairs if needed.  

Golfer plans to get out and mow the grass later.  He was gone last week on the golf trip to Augusta and the nice weather we had made the grass really shoot up!  And then it rained when he got home.  So we have some tall grass blowing in the breeze.

I have a few things to do inside today.  After Golfer mows I'll clean walks and such.  For the most part I plan to try to stay out of everyone's way!

Stay safe!

Happy Anniversary, Nurse J and Cable Guy!

We love you! Have a good day!

Just Sharing....

Hey, all!

I hope all is well out there with everyone!

After several days of temps in the high 80's and even 90 one day, today is cooler and it is raining.  I still have windows open and it is wonderful in the house.  The furry kids have exhausted themselves running back and forth to the windows and they are napping right now.  Here is a picture of one of  Angus' favorite spots, especially if I am trying to do anything on the computer that involves looking at a sheet of paper!

I am planning a quiet day just doing things around the house.  I need to be here for the Geek Squad to come and fix our entertainment system.  Our cable box died a couple nights ago and one thing led to another and I decided I wasn't going to mess around with it so I called them.

Golfer will be home from a golf trip tomorrow.  He and two buddies went to a practice round at the Masters in Augusta.  They had a great time, and have played a couple rounds of golf themselves on the way back to Myrtle Beach where one of the men lives.

My time has been used doing put-off projects and mainly just potting around the house.  There is no end to the number of things that need to be done for keeping things going smoothly.  And there is always some cleaning up to be done somewhere, as seen in this picture.  No one "fessed up"!  Notice the box of tissues in the sink that landed in the kitties' small water bowl.  That was a soggy mess!  Not visible is the shredded roll of potty paper on the other side of the divider.

We're hoping some repair/remodel work on our deck will begin next week.  And then the following weekend we have our painter lined up to come and do some touch-up work.  All the issues with the new windows are declared fixed now, so we can fix the paint!  And after the siding is power washed, we can start cleaning windows.


I hope you all have a nice weekend.  Stay safe!

On to Happier Topics!

It has been absolutely lovely here in Virginia the last few days.  Just a week ago we were still wearing turtlenecks, coats and gloves.  It was 90 here yesterday!  And remarkably, it is not terribly humid.  I have had the windows open and the furry kids are worn out from running back and forth watching the birds and squirrels outside.

I have been using my "extra" time catching up on some things and doing some put-off projects.  There is a sense of accomplishment when something gets finished that's been on your mind for a while.  I have a rocking chair that needs a new seat cover, and another chair that needs some repair.  I'm going to work on some outdoor Christmas decorations.  I have the paint and the plans.  Golfer will be involved with a bit of wood cutting.   The windows need to be washed and window treatments need to be freshened as soon as the siding is power washed.  There will be more yard work coming along also.

Bikini's family is doing well.  She's getting Boxer and Bloomer signed up for some Summer activities.  We will see them all in Myrtle Beach before long.

Things are busy at NurseJ's.  She is doing well and it won't be long before the baby arrives!  CableGuy is almost finished with school.  BeyB is doing well and looking forward to being a big sister.

Geek Squad will be visiting our home tomorrow.  Our Cable box died last evening.  I managed to get it disconnected and took it to the cable office and swapped for a new one.  All was going well until I realized the third of three cables/cords didn't fit.  Since the Geek Squad configured and set up our system, I called them.  Hopefully it will be an easy fix.  Sadly, all our recorded shows on the old DVR are goners!

Stay safe!  I'm off to sit with a good book!

I've Put This Off Long Enough

Hey, all,

I haven't posted much lately.  And I've been putting off writing this post because I was hesitant to start venting on something regarding work.  But now that I have "retired" and am no longer working, and have had a while to think about this, I am ready to do some venting.  As long as I was actually in the office as the church secretary I wanted to honor my responsibilities and commitments.

Golfer and I joined a lovely UCC church in 1999 and became very active in all areas of church life.  I eventually became the secretary.  Progress happens, things change and life goes on.  Somewhere along the way, the national UCC headquarters pushed for O&A (open and affirming).  They played ads on TV, radio and in print.  After a while it was all you heard about.

Our church had always been a welcoming place with the motto "all are welcome".  I absolutely believe everyone should be allowed to worship wherever they want.  I believe that "all are welcome" pretty much covers all possibilities.  But the O&A movement did more harm than good as far as I can see.

God made all people. He made them the way they are.   I believe in "live and let live".  I do not believe homosexuality is a "choice".  Having said that,  I really don't think that the focus of worship services needs to be focused on LGBT conditions and slanted towards them.  The LGBT community's issues are not the first thing I want to know about someone when I meet them.

People left the church after the O&A vote which was pushed through by the assistant pastor while the pastor was out of state conducting his father's funeral.  More people left when there was a vote on sacred unions.  Church officers got concerned and decided to not renew the pastor's contract, so he left.  The assistant pastor was already gone.  This was several years ago.

The leaders grew concerned because there were no children in the Sunday School and worship service.  They didn't know why; could not figure it out.  Families would come once or twice, then never be seen again.  I could have told them, but no one wanted to hear me.  Most parents aren't comfortable bringing their small children to church when there are men kissing in the parking lot and women hugging on each other in the pews. 

I want a worship service that sounds and acts like a church service.  I want the scripture readings to sound like they are coming from the Bible.  I want standard hymns.  Please (!!) do not change the words to the old favorites.  Worship should not be a social action meeting or a political rally.

Hence our withdrawal.  It just got to be too much.  We miss the church.  We have not found another yet.  We can, and do, speak with God just fine on our own though.  There are still some good people there trying to hang on and keep things going.  I fear they are being out-numbered though.

There still is no full-time pastor.  What there is is a "consultant".  He is immature, irresponsible, unprofessional, and places very little importance on the planning or delivery of a worship service.  He also lies.  And somehow he has some of the church leaders completely brainwashed into believing he is the answer to all the woes of the church.  He never fooled me for a moment. 

Since I was one of the people he lied about and he sent an email out saying he wanted to eliminate contact with me, I am not working as secretary any longer.  I stuck it out for over ten months hoping things would get better.  They didn't.  They got progressively worse.  I gave my letter of resignation after thirteen years of doing the church's work.

I don't know where things are headed there.  I do know that I feel better and am sleeping much more soundly now.  I wish the church well.

Peace and Joy, folks.  Stay safe.