Two Projects Completed

January 25th - Friday - 15 degrees and snowing

Using steel wool on light

Today was the day to finish projects, as we both have a couple of new things we want to start.  Lou had to get more paint to finish the light for the bedroom, and he picked that up yesterday afternoon.  This morning he used steel wool on what he painted yesterday and gave it another coat of paint and then late this afternoon we put it back in place. Now my new Billy Jacobs picture shows up much better.

I use this spot above our bed to display my favorite Billy Jacob pictures.  I found this new print of his this winter and it is called "Winter Coat".  He is one of my very favorite artists and we have many of his painting throughout our house.  Previously I had a favorite of Lou's of a brick house that goes nicely in our bedroom and soon it will be time to have spring pictures.  Have you noticed that our days are getting much longer.

This afternoon Lou took the car to Sheetz to fill it with gas, along with the gas cans, as it was the last day to use out points and we were able to get $1.70  per gallon off and certainly didn't want to lose out on that.  While he was gone I worked on my antique lady doll and I finished her up.  Don't know that I would make another one.  Something about sandpapering nice fabric that goes against my grain.  She certainly is primitive and the deal making her look dirty, that was different also.  Oh, well now I can go on to something different.

A Day to Finish Projects

January 24th - Thursday - 4 degrees this morning and very windy.

As I hung my sheets outside this morning, my mind went back to some 50 years ago and to my dearly loved and departed father.  We had just moved our 35 foot trailer to the country in the same location as our home is today.  We did not have a washer or a dryer, but we did have a four month old baby.  Daddy would stop every morning, with his Ford tractor, in the winter and pick up the baby laundry, take it next door to his house and wash the baby clothes and hang them on the line.  How his hand must have frozen as he hung out those tiny baby socks and such.  At 3:00 while Susie was sleeping I would go next door and take them off the line and bring them home and finish drying them on the clothes bars inside the trailer.  To this day, I still miss my father as does the rest of our family.  The picture above was taken of Daddy and Krista in the 80's  underneath my clothes lines.

Yesterday was my 70th birthday, and it was time for me to have my driver's license picture taken, and I needed to see Dr. Joe and I wanted to visit The Farmer's Daughter Shop, so I took my birthday money and Lou and I set off, oh it was a great day.  I hadn't made a day of shopping in some time and I did shop.  I needed to add some touches to the laundry room that I had just redone, and our bedroom needed some sprucing up and you now the shops have spring things out, so.........  We still had time before The Steak House opened for dinner, we elected to go to the Dollar Store for decorations for Coffee Hour at church in February, had to get Lou out of there, he was worse than I am, as I have to find a place to store the stuff he buys!!

We had a nice dinner at the Steak House.  Both of us decided to have steak which they cut themselves and everything there is home made, you are guaranteed a good meal when dining there.    They even served me a birthday cake at the end of our meal, which was a surprise to me.

Today I have tackled the job of putting all of my goodies away and that is the fun part, but the first thing I tackled brought a problem for Lou, the light about the picture in our bedroom was flaking paint, so he decided he would strip the paint and repaint it, well, more of a problem than he thought, guess he will finish it tomorrow.  He did get our alarm clock fixed.  It goes off whenever it likes and the bad part is Lou doesn't hear it, so today I unplugged it and handed it to him and by golly it got fixed.

I did get all of the  pip berry vines up and lights in them and they look good and match their surroundings, want to get all of these extra things done this week, so I can do baking next week and start special cleaning just before my surgery.  Those are my plans, now what God has in mind may be different.

Happenings in the Last Few Days

Sunday - January 20th - Very Windy and getting colder

Will give everyone an update on what has been happening since our last post.

Friday we made a trip to Carlisle to pick up our three month supply of drugs. We were surprised to awake to two inches of snow and the sound of the cinder truck going by.  It made travel a little difficult until we got to Williamsport and the further south we went the better the roads were.  We talked to our son-in-law, Brion and he told us all was good in Harrisburg, so we decided to go the the PX and Commissary to stock up while we were in the area.  In fact, Lou found himself a wonderful wool suit that was marked $475.00 on sale for $90.00 and that just had to come home with us.

As it turned out it was a wonderful day to travel home and we enjoyed our trip.  We stopped in Williamsport on our way home and picked up an item at Sam's club and on over to Michael's for some Valentine's decorations for home and church.  We arrived home safely at 7:00 to find that most of the snow had melted off of our driveway.

Saturday after sleeping in a bit, we took advantage of the breezy weather and the warmer temperatures, got all of the bird feeders filled up, did all of the bedding and hung all of the laundry outside to dry.  I decorated the front deck for Valentine's Day and put the snowmen away.  I found that most of my Valentine decorations are in the RV as we are usually on the road at this time of the year.  Need to hit the Dollar Store.

This morning we met Janet and Brion at the Homestead before church and went to breakfast together.  We always enjoy the time we spend together catching up on what is going on in their lives.  Even though we talk on the phone weekly, it isn't the same as chatting face to face.  Brion's mother lives in Wellsboro also, so they divide their time while in town.  Both are very busy people and lead interesting lives with careers that are fascinating to me.

After we came home from church, Lou and I made home made lasagna.  I made one dish to freeze to have after I have my surgery.  I have been trying to freeze some things ahead to help Lou with the cooking, although, he is a very good cook and very capable.

I hope to get back to some of my crafts this week while the weather is cold.  

Working on an Old Project

Wednesday - January 16th  - 3 inches of new fallen snow

I usually love to awaken to new fallen snow, especially after retiring; however, this morning I had an early appointment with my orthopedic doctor, so it was back to the old habits.  Lou and I both grabbed a shovel and cleaned off the driveway and sidewalks and headed for my appointment in Wellsboro.  After Dr. Golobeck examined my MRI he decided he could take care of both of my problems with my right shoulder with surgery, and he has me scheduled for Valentine's  Day.  What better present to be pain free for the summer.

After my appointment we took advantage of being in town and ran some errands and were able to pick up our Buick from the repair shop and got that back into the garage for the winter, had lunch out and back home to enjoy being inside for the afternoon.  Lou tackled our CD player as it has not been working properly and I pulled out a project that I had started years ago and hadn't gotten very far on.  It is to be an "antique" old lady doll when complete.  The next step is to use antique wax to make it look old and I think this may be a little tricky, this is done with a very hot iron and wax and spray starch.  Think I will  wait for morning to tackle this.

I had called Matthew to get him to come and build a snow man with me, but he sleeps through the best part of the afternoon.  The snow today would have been perfect for a snow man, maybe another time.  I know I sure am enjoying winter in PA and now it looks like we sure will be staying here.  Next step will be Lou's cataracts.