Currently...

... sitting in my recliner, playing on the laptop, while sort of watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory. There's much I could/should be doing, but if we're keeping it honest...I just don't want to tonight.

... comfortable as the outside temperature is 69 degrees this evening after a comfortable 80 degree day. We've had tons of rain in the past week, but it did finally bring the humidity and temperature down.

... still reflecting on and basking in the fun of yesterday when we celebrated our granddaughter's 4th birthday with a BIG party. The grandparents all kicked in to help hire a company that comes in with a foam cannon. They blow bubbles and blast dance music for two hours. Our daughter and her husband also rented a 35-foot shark slip'n'slide. It was such a fun time for everyone...even the adults!

... thinking about all I have to do to get ready to go to my biological dad's family reunion this weekend. Tim and I are going up to Erie on Friday and taking the grandkiddos with us. Our daughter and her husband were supposed to come up Saturday morning and stay until Sunday. They have decided to skip it. Too bad. I think it's going to be a great weekend and the kids will have a good time.

... still worried about my mom. She was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease last week and is on a 3-week course of heavy duty antibiotics because for her it has caused weakness, fluid in her chest, headaches, and I don't know what all else. Yesterday a party guest who is a nurse pointed out there is some moderate drooping on one side of her face. It's probably just Bell's Palsy, which they really don't do anything about, but it should probably be checked out to be sure she doesn't have any neurological damage. This news seemed to further demoralize her. The last few weeks have turned her into a frail little old woman. I sure hope she bounces back.

... still reading the same book. There hasn't been much time to read this past week.

... in the kitchen we enjoyed summer fare this evening. I roasted a pork tenderloin and we had my "crack zucchini" and corn-on-the-cob. Yum! That zucchini is called "crack" for a reason. I ate way too much of it.

... giggling at these:

Sunday Stealing

Stolen from SwapBot. If you enjoy the questions, you can play along here.

1. Does love come from the brain, the heart or elsewhere? Well, the heart is nothing but a big muscle. It has no feelings and doesn't think, so I think we'll have to go with the brain. I've also learned over the years that real love, the unconditional kind, is not the emotional, lovey-dovey, stuff we've been told in books, movies, and television is what we need to have. Real love is a decision. A decision that has to be recommitted to often, even daily. That's the love that sticks around through the hard stuff and lasts.

2. Have you ever given a shot?  Yes, to myself and also a few times to my dad during his battle with cancer.

3. Can you lick your elbow? (Come on, didja try?)  Not on the outside of the elbow, but it is possible (without having a Gene Simmons-like tongue) to like the inside of your elbow, the "elbow pit," if you will. And yes, I have tried in the past.

4. If I was going to be talking to you for 10 minutes, what would be something really interesting you know a little bit about but would like to know more??  Anything about history. I love history! I'm also always up for learning more about Scripture.

5. What do you think of the Sopranos?  I've never watched the show. I did, however, have a client who made me go see the prequel movie a couple of years ago. I wasn't a fan of that.

6. Have you ever had a crush on your teacher?  I had a crush on my homeroom teacher in high school. He was young and an Italian hottie. Half the girls in school had a crush on him. How about your boss? Nope.

7. Have you ever seen a movie in 3D?  Several. It's fun to do once in a while, but not something I want to see every movie in. We had a TV that could show 3D movies, but we couldn't ever get it to work right. We never did find out what we were doing wrong.

8. How difficult do you think it is for immigrants to come into your country?  Legally, there's some effort involved. Hoops to jump through and all that, but I'm sure it's physically a little easier. Illegally...I don't think that's terribly hard once you actually get here.

9. Do you have what it takes to go live in another country, maybe for years, where you don't speak the language as your first language?  I don't want to have to test the theory, but I think I could probably survive.

10. Have you ever died in your dreams?  No.

11. What book should our political leaders read and why?  The Holy Bible. A lot of people don't realize it, but all those rules God gave Moses contain a lot of wisdom about how to live together. God wanted His people to be different from everyone else and He gave guidelines. The later part of the book teaches us how to love and live in this world.

12. What is your favorite glass object?  I've wracked my brain....I don't think I have one.

13. Do you like to window shop?  Not really. If I'm going to shop, I want to go in, handle things, know I may buy if I like what I see.

14. Are you more likely to buy one really nice expensive outfit or a couple of cheap outfits?  Probably the cheaper outfits...unless I really, really love the expensive one.

15. If you could, would you wear everything once, throw it out and buy something new?  No. That's wasteful and I am not particularly wasteful.

Currently

I am...

...sitting and enjoying the AC after a long day followed by some time with a client doing some shopping (Dollar Tree's new $3 and $5 items are really CUTE!) and having dinner.

...reading Welcome to Serenity by Sherryl Woods (book #4 in the Sweet Magnolia series).

...watching Shark Week on Discovery. Hey, Jason Momoa is hosting, what did you expect?

...listening to more country music than usual.

...loving those above mentioned $3 and $5 dollar items at Dollar Tree. I bought Megan a really nice Autumn welcome sign for her porch, Mermaid wall decals for Leah, and a pretty Autumn patterned tablecloth that is 60" round rather than the 70" size Walmart and all the rest seem to carry. They had some really nice seasonal decor.

...thinking it's going to be miserable at work tomorrow because I'll be in the document destruction department, which is a factory setting and it's going to be close to 90 degrees tomorrow. The department is, in theory, air-conditioned, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

...feeling pretty good and happy with life.

...celebrating Megan's 31st birthday tomorrow and Leah's 4th birthday on Saturday with a big party.

...grateful my mom reports that she is feeling a little bit better today.

...enjoying The Meadow's frozen custard. It is soooooo much better than soft serve ice cream.

...the weather is hot, hot, HOT! Or it's quickly working it's way there. At 8:30 in the evening it is still 80 degrees and it's to get hotter every day this week with high humidity to go with it. It will finally cool down a bit with some showers Thursday and Friday, though when it's that hot and humid around here, we can pretty much count on some nasty thunderstorms.

...giggling at these.

Saturday 9: You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

Saturday 9: You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (1943)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 
1) In this song, Dinah Shore goes on about listening to the breeze. Is it windy, breezy, or still where you are today?  It's been still today (Friday), but it was sure windy last night when strong thunderstorms rolled through.

 

2) The August moon is bright in Dinah's musical fantasy. Let's look at your calendar. Is anything special coming up in August (birthdays, anniversaries, vacation getaways ...)?  August 4-6 I'm going to my biological father's family reunion. It's the first they've had since I met him in 2020. I'm excited and terribly nervous/anxious/sick all at the same time as it will be my first time meeting everyone except my father, my sister and her husband, and one of my brothers and his family. Then August 15 is my mom's and my birthday.

 

3) Dinah was one of TV's pioneers. Her first show was a 15-minute variety show that ran two nights/week in 1951. What's the most recent show you watched?  Ancient Aliens is currently on the television. I don't particularly buy into most of their theories, but I love seeing all the amazing archeological sites they visit...places I've never even heard of before. Tonight, though, it made me laugh when they were talking about the Kecksburg, PA UFO mystery. One of the experts gushed about having had the privilege of sitting down to speak face to face with one of the witnesses. The witness is the father of one of our daughter's high school friends and is well known locally (and more recently than the Kecksburg incident) for imbibing a "bit" too much and seeing Bigfoot on multiple occasions. I'm wondering if he told the expert about Bigfoot, too.

(By the way, the Kecksburg UFO Festival is going on this weekend.)

4) She followed that in 1956 with the Dinah Shore Chevy Show. It was an hour long and sponsored by the car company. At the end of every show Dinah encouraged her viewers to "see the USA in your Chevrolet ..." Today Chevrolets are still the most popular cars manufactured by General Motors. Tell us about your car.  It's an 8-year-old Toyota Camry. It's got less than 100K miles and has never had any serious issues so as long as it keeps on running well I'll hang on to it for now.

5) From 1970 to 1991, Dinah hosted daytime TV talk shows and found tremendous success, winning 6 Emmy Awards and repeatedly appearing in the Gallup Poll of America's most admired women. Do you remember her?  I think I sort of remember her being on and my parents watching her, but I don't remember anything more than that.

 

6) Dinah was such an avid golfer that, in 1972, she founded one of the LPGA's major tournaments. Though now officially titled The Chevron Championship, it's still often referred to as "The Dinah Shore" in her memory. Do you golf? If not, would you like to learn?  I know how to play and I have played in my younger days, but I haven't played in years except for mini golf.

7) In 1943, when "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" was popular, so were tablecloths. It was common to have cotton tablecloths for everyday use, fun and festive ones for 4th of July and Christmas, and linen for formal occasions. Do you use tablecloths in your home?  I do...and I have everyday ones and special occasion ones.

 

8) Beatle George Harrison was born in 1943. Which of the Fab Four is your favorite?  When I was a kid I really liked Ringo, but I can't say I have a favorite now.

9) Random question: Would you rather live on a houseboat or in a trailer?  I would need to see both before I decided. There are some pretty nice examples of both out there.

Four Questions About Reading & Currently...

From the Tuesday 4, these questions about reading and books.

1. Did any book, besides the Bible, have an impact on your life or beliefs?  I have read so many books over a lifetime that I'm sure have shaped my thinking, but I can't think of any one standout...other than the Bible. When I was young the books that probably shaped me were more liberal in content and as I've aged they've become more conservative.

2. What books influenced you as a young person?  I loved the Trixie Beldon, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys series. The young people in them were so sophisticated compared to anyone I knew in real life. I also adored all things horsey so I read all of The Black Stallion series and all of Marguerite Henry's horse books, Misty of Chincoteague being my most favorite and the one that inspired a lifelong love of Chincoteague and Assateague Islands and the wild ponies.

3. Do you continue educating yourself by reading books or listening to podcasts or lectures?  Yes, to all of them. I read books to learn (though not as often as for entertainment) and I listen to podcasts and lectures. One of my favorite streaming services is Wondrium which features full-length, multi-session, college level lectures on a wide variety of topics.

4. Have you ever sat in a coffee shop/restaurant/cafe reading a book? What is your preferred place to read?  I used to do that all the time when I went to Barnes and Nobel on a regular basis. They had a Starbucks in-house and you could take a stack of books to look at while you had coffee or tea. At home I usually read while sitting in my recliner or at the kitchen table.

Moving on.

Currently, I am...

...sitting in the above mentioned recliner with my feet up because my knee is hurting a good bit today.

...listening to The Five on FOX.

...waiting for Tim to come in because we are in the mood for grilled cheese sandwiches and I can't make those ahead of time.

...reading A Murder Like No Author by Amy Lillard. It's book 3 in the Main Street Book Club Mysteries.

...loving our new TV. We'd been having problems with ROKU staying connected for several weeks. We tried replacing it with a new box but same story. It finally got so bad that nothing would stay connected for more than a few seconds. I did some digging and found that if your TV is too old then ROKU might stop working and if you can't connect for long enough then your streaming services could possibly stop sending you a signal. I finally told Tim we needed to consider a new TV even though the picture quality and everything on the old one was still good. So, off to Walmart we went where we found a 70" for a very good price. It's HUGE in our little living room so it's like sitting right in the action!

...feeling happy.

...thinking about my mom getting older. She's had a couple of trips to the ER recently...they didn't find anything either time, just sent her home and told her to follow up with her doctor. She has always enjoyed good health and the idea of her getting older and frailer has never really been a concern before.

...grateful for all that we have been blessed with. So often in talking with my co-workers I realize how much I truly have.

...looking forward to going to Erie for the reunion with my biological father's family. If I didn't mention it, my boss gave me that Friday off so I have a 3-day weekend. It will give us time at the reunion and some time at the beach with Colton and Leah. Woot!

...the weather is sunny and a comfortable 81 degrees. A little more heat is coming tomorrow and the humidity will rise some, too. Lots of thunderstorms in this week's forecast.

...giggling at

 

I hope you're enjoying your week. Tomorrow is over the hump!

Sunday Stealing

1. What are the 3 most important things everyone should know about you?

1. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and my whole life is filtered through that.
2. I found my calling late in life, but it is working with and caring for those with intellectual disabilities...be it from birth, accident, or dementia.
3. I have been accused of viewing life through rose colored glasses, but the truth is I just prefer to focus on the positives in life.

2. What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?  After seeing JAWS, I was afraid for years to let my hands or feet hang over the edge of the bed because, yeah, a shark was going to swim out from under the bed and bite it off. I didn't like swimming in pools at night for the same reason.

3. Thinking of school classes, which were your favorite and least favorite?  All of the many English, literature, or writing classes I took were my favorites. Any and all math classes were my least favorites.

4. What is your favorite fast food?  I'm not crazy about fast food, but Taco Bell has a couple of things I like and Arby's makes a good BLT.

5. What song comes closest to how you feel about your life right now?

6. Have you ever taken martial arts classes?  No.

7. Does your life tend to get better or worse or does it just stay the same?  I think there's mostly an ebb and flow. Something that wasn't great gets better and something that was good may worsen. Life is like that.

8.What arts and crafts have you tried and decided you were bad at?  Knitting. I am the worst.

9. What is the truest thing that you know?  No matter how it may seem to us, God is in control and Jesus is coming back one day.

10. Are you more of a giver or a taker?  I try to be a giver, but I'm sure I take at times, too. I hope there's more giving, though.

11. Do you make your decisions with an open heart/mind?  I try to.

12. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you?  I've had kidney stones and gall stones. I battle arthritis pain daily. None of those are fun, but I think I'd take any of them over the pain of an abscessed tooth that ruptured.

13. What is the most emotionally painful thing that has ever happened to you?  Our son choosing to cut himself and his family off from, not only us, but every relative he has.

14. What is your favorite line from a movie?  

15. Can you eat with chopsticks?  Yes.

Thanks goes out to Bev for finding the questions. You can join in the fun here.

Saturday 9: Touch Me in the Morning

Saturday 9: Touch Me in the Morning (1973)

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Diana Ross sings that nothing good lasts forever. Do you agree?  I guess so, in that I believe NOTHING lasts forever in this life, good or bad.

2) She sings about a happy past with her lover, and the strength she'll need to face tomorrow alone. Do you find yourself more often remembering the past or anticipating the future?  I think it's probably an equal amount of each one. I'm a bit of a dreamer by nature and, also, as I get older I find that I do more and more remembering.

3) In the 1970s, Diana Ross had young daughters. To spend maximum time with her girls, she would sleep all day when they were in school. That way she could have dinner with them, bathe them and put them to bed before going to the studio and recording all night. Have you ever worked the night shift?  When Tim and I met I was working a factory job that required me to work a swing shift of a week on daylight followed by a week on afternoon shift. No midnight shift, however.

4) Diana has five children altogether. There's a 16-year age difference between her oldest daughter, Rhonda, and her youngest son, Evan. Studies have shown that when there's a big gap between siblings, parents consider the older kids "built-in babysitters." In your family, were the older kids ever in charge of the younger ones?  I'm an only child so that wasn't an issue. Tim grew up as the middle child of seven. He's never said, but from things his sisters and mother used to tell me...that's not how things were in his family, either.

5) She says her favorite sweet treat is Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies. Do you have a favorite cookie?  Nestle Toll House Cookies!

6) Around the time she recorded this song, Diana Ross considered making a movie called The Bodyguard. She was to play a singer who received death threats, and Steve McQueen would portray the man hired to protect her. Scheduling conflicts prevented the movie from being made. It wasn't filmed until 1992, and then with different stars. Without looking it up, can you name stars of The Bodyguard?  Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner?

7) In 1973, when this song was #1, Norman Mailer was atop the best-seller list with his controversial biography of Marilyn Monroe. Do you often read biographies and memoirs?  I read a few, but I definitley prefer a good mystery over everything else.

8) Also in 1973, another Motown singer, Stevie Wonder, was injured in an automobile crash and still has a scar on his nose to show for it. Have you ever been in a car accident?  I've been in a few, but none in which I was injured.

9) Random Question: What's the last thing you borrowed or lent?  I don't remember what it was, but I'm almost 100 percent sure it was something lent to our daughter. She tends to view everything we own as borrow-able.                        

That's all for this week kids.

Say thanks to Crazy Sam for the music and questions!

You can play along here.

Thankful Thursday

This week finds me thankful...

** I received my signed approval for the day I requested off to go to my biological father's family reunion and meet some more of my family.

** that while my knee still "twinges" now and then, but it's definitely on the road to getting better.

** the big storm that was headed our way earlier went around us.

** I found out that I can wear my Vionic flip-flops to work when I am not in the manufacturing/shredding department. They are literally the only shoes I've found that do it all...support my flat feet, correct over-pronation, and they don't squeeze (and therefore hurt) the spots with arthritis. I wish Vionic would make a clog type of shoe that has the same molded, hard, rubber sole so I could wear them all the time.

** the pool water has finally warmed up and stayed at a comfortable 84 degrees. The pool is getting lots of use now that summer has finally turned up the heat.

** a friend joined me this past Saturday for the monthly women's summer session. We enjoyed breakfast, a taped interview with Kay Arthur, and some great conversation and fellowship with the other ladies.

** I made it to work on time this morning even though I either slept through the alarm long enough that it shut off or it just never went off. I don't know which it was. I use my phone alarm and it is set to automatically go off at the same time Monday thru Friday. Everything looked okay, so here's hoping all goes well tomorrow morning.

** as usual, for my relationship with the Lord, my family and friends, and all of you (who are friends even though we haven't met face to face...yet).

Currently

I am...

...sitting in my recliner with my feet up. Tuesdays are long days for me and my aching feet. It feels good to sit here after rubbing a generous amount of Voltaren on them.

...waiting for Tim to get home. He's picking up something for supper so I don't have to heat up the oven on a hot, humid day or stand on my feet to do it.

...reading Buried in Bargains by Josie Belle. From the back cover, "Maggie Gerber and those discount divas, the Good Buy Girls, are gearing up for their first big holiday thrift shop sale. But one of the Girls--Joanne Claramotta, pregnant with her first child--is acting less than festive. It could be hormones. Or it could be Diane Jenkins, the young knockout her husband, Michael, hired as his new deli assistant.

Calming Joanne's nerves proves impossible when Maggie finds Michael unconscious on his deli floor--and Diane next to him, strangled to death with her apron strings. Then Maggie discovers something even more puzzling.

There's no record of Diane having been hired. In fact, she has no history at all. It's as if she never even existed. Now Maggie fears that unwrapping Michael's secrets could really kill her holiday spirit."

...watching nothing. Any suggestions?

...listening to the constant drone of the A/C.

...loving Blue Bunny's mini, chocolate-dipped ice cream cones. Just enough to satisfy a craving without doing too much damage.

...thinking about the upcoming family reunion with my biological father's family the first weekend in August. I spent a few hours messaging with one of my brothers over the weekend. I'm feeling less nervous about going and a lot more excited. There is to be an informal gathering of cousins in my generation on Friday and then the "official" reunion on Saturday. 

I've put in to have that Friday off, but I don't know if I will get it. We are very short handed at work right now. My boss said she'd be happy to give it to me even though I don't have PTO time until November. It just depends on if she has enough staff for that day. Please pray that there is.

We've reserved our hotel rooms (our daughter and her family are going, too...though the kids will go with us on Friday and our daughter and her husband will follow Saturday morning) since Erie is a booming summer city with Presque Isle State Park there. I've heard it's second in visitors only to Yellowstone!

...feeling content and happy.

...celebrating getting a new washing machine. Yeah, I'm officially so old that appliances excite me. Ha. We really didn't want to get a new machine. We just bought the old one in 2020. We'll consider it a(n) (expensive) lesson learned. 

Back in 2020 we HAD to have a new washer, but due to people going crazy buying stuff and the problems with supply, we had to take what was available. At the time, that was a higher end Samsung. I've been happy with it until recently when any load bigger than two socks and a t-shirt throw it off balance. I would have preferred to have it repaired, but here's why I didn't and why I won't buy another Samsung appliance ever again.

Samsung does not allow anyone but their certified technicians to repair their appliances. We, apparently, do not have any of those near us. Why can't someone else work on it? How would Samsung know? Well, it will not happen because Samsung won't release their parts to anyone but their technicians. 

So, I had a bit more choice this time (although stock seems to be down again) and I picked out a plain old Maytag. It's only "exotic" feature is that it's one of the new models with the removable agitator. 

...grateful to our daughter for mowing our grass today.

...enjoying my grandkids, of course.

...the weather is tolerable today at 85 degrees and sunny. We're looking at close to 90 tomorrow, then it's going to cool down a few degrees and bring in a few thunderstorms. 

...giggling at these.

100% Accurate

No more complaining about Walmart's self-service.

I hope you're all having a great week!

Saturday 9: Mercy

Saturday 9: Mercy (2013)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 
1) In this song, Shawn Mendes pleads with the girl he loves to be careful with his heart. Clearly he feels she's more important to him than he is to her. Do you believe that, in every relationship, someone always loves more?  I've never really thought about it before, but I don't think that's necessarily so. I think we will all love differently, but unless it's absolutely glaringly obvious...how do you quantify love to say one is less than another?

2) He says that he'd willingly drive through the night just to be near her. Do you enjoy your time behind the wheel? Or do you consider driving necessary but not necessarily pleasurable?  I don't hate it, but I don't love it like I used to. If the drive is long enough I usually end up stiff and sore these days and who enjoys that?!

 

3) He acknowledges that she has good intentions, but she hurt him anyway. Can you think of a time when you unintentionally hurt someone's feelings?  Sure, not that I'm going to get into it here. We are all human and less than perfect. I believe that means that sooner or later, no matter how much we don't want to or how hard we try not to, we will always eventually hurt or disappoint the people in our lives.

 

4) Shawn Mendes was a serious skateboarder during his high school years. Crazy Sam admits she's never even been, on a skateboard. How about you? Are you more like Shawn or Sam, or are you somewhere in between?  I've tried it a time or two back when I was a kid, but never enough to be good at it. Now just thinking about it makes me hurt in lots of places.

5) While in his teens, he taught himself to play guitar while watching YouTube videos. Do you spend a lot of time on YouTube? If yes, what type of videos do you watch most often?  We watch YouTube a lot in the coarse of my work. We use it for music and educational videos as well as movies.

6) When he's traveling or busy working, Shawn eats cold cereal for every meal -- breakfast, lunch and dinner. He says it's fast, tasty, and better than the fast food he'd grab otherwise. Will you be getting any meals "to go" this weekend?  We just had Chinese take-out tonight (Friday), but I doubt we will eat out otherwise this weekend.

 

7) In 2016, the year this song was popular, Game of Thrones was TV's hottest show. Were you a fan?  I never watched it. 

 

8) Also in 2016, a German shorthaired pointer won Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show. Tell us about a dog who holds a special place in your heart.  Our old hound dog, Elvis, was such a sweetheart. He would have made a great therapy dog, but as it was, he bore the burden of Megan's and my tears. He was such a big lug...soft, huggable, and he had wonderfully silky ears we liked to rub. To say we were heartbroken when he left us is an understatement. Our daughter, who had cried on him all through her turbulent teens and early twenties, was absolutely distraught.

9) Random question: What's in the subject line of the top email in your spam folder?  "You have won a $500 Southwest Airlines gift card!"

Thanks, as always, to Crazy Sam for the music and questions!

Join in the fun here.