Winning Wed.

[Lady Maverick]

The pepper harvest is prolific this year. We are eating one or two peppers a day but can't keep up with them. I have started chopping peppers and putting them into Ziploc to freeze. I suspect this will be a daily task for the next couple of months. My future self will love having peppers ready to use.

I harvest strawberries every other day and put most of them into the freezer. DD13 prefers to eat frozen sliced strawberries rather than fresh. She snacks on strawberries dipped into chocolate syrup several times a week.

DS15 is home from work. Today he worked on removing a fence which includes pulling T post out of the ground and stacking them. I asked how many post did he remove and his best guess is that he removed about 100 Tpost. Yesterday he spent hours driving a compaction roller on the new asphalt driveway. He absolutely loves this job, the boss, and the people he works with.

I will make the 20 mile drive so DS15 can attend church with his girlfriend. Then a couple hours later make the drive again to bring him home.
Countdown - 54 days until DS15 can drive himself.

[Nancy]

I napped after unloading branches out of the trailer and cutting em up to fit in the cans.
I need to cut some others that are 2-3 inches in diam. with hand saw to fit.
Arm workout maybe tomorrow.
Moved a foot stool and side table by my lawn chair & filled up the bird bath.

Did need it as I was up so early.
I need a few more steps in.

[lucylee]

I know I've been AWOL lately -- but I have been productive!
Monday, I got some of my WHB vacuuming done, and dgs helped me straighten out the large rug in the den. It has been creeping off the pad for a while, sorta crooked, with a corner of the pad showing on one end. It's been driving me crazy for a while, and I finally just got him to help me roll up the rug and straighten it out. Also did some laundry.
Tuesday, I "helped" at local job fair. As I told the coordinator when he thanked me for coming, I mostly provided a warm body and smiling face, LOL... but I'm glad I went. Besides the coordinator and his wife, I did not see anyone else from our church! Now, there could have been others there the first two hours; I don't know. But after I got there, no one else came. I just kinda helped direct people to the room where they filled out resumes. I was going to help in the hospitality room, but another church seemed to have that well under control and they were almost in each other's way when I arrived!
Today, I've done another load of laundry and most important, took dmom to the surgeon for another check up. He wants her to have a CAT scan on her abdomen, to make sure there is no more fluid there. He suspects there IS, and in that case, he may have to open her up again to let this drain... I hope this is not a huge procedure. She is also talking very seriously about needing to have the foot surgery, and I just told her, if you do, you can go into a rehab facility for 6-8 weeks to get through the recovery time; I want to help you, but I just can't commit to 6-8 weeks of being with you 24/7. She agreed, that for some of that time, actual nursing care would be preferable. Of course, we're still dealing with the back pain and who knows what will come of that... shaking my head... AS IF this woman thinks she has time to go to the beach???

LadyM -- may I ask when you s2s? Do you do that after your walk each morning? Morning walks would be preferable here, in some ways -- cooler, easier to get it out of the way first thing, etc -- but then I'm even later getting my shower and getting my day started. I'd kinda like to take night time showers, but I'd need another one after going out and walking, even in the morning.

I wish you lived closer to me, LadyM. I could really use a neighbor like your DS! I'd love to have my fence removed. It is barbed wire on two sides of my yard, and chain link (set in concrete) on the back. The other side is hog-wire (?) (I think) (big squares of wire) and I don't mind if it stays up, but the barbed wire in front and the chain link (which is sagging and looks awful) is really an eyesore. We used to have dfil's cows, and dxsisil's horses here, but there has been no livestock at all for over ten years. The pasture is only used for hay.

Also -- stuffies. DGD LOVES them. She had two over here last night. DDIL bought a sort of beanbag chair type thing to store some of them. The beanbag is filled with the stuffies, and dgd can sit/lie on it. She says it's comfortable. I admit it sounds lumpy, but she seems to like it.

(((Harriet))) As a former SB, I'm watching the news closely also.

I have LOTS of stuff that needs doing, but I'm kinda sleepy right now, after eating supper, and I'm going to probably take a nap before I do anything else. First night I'm child-free since Thursday. Dgrands and their parents leave tomorrow for a couple nights in KY. They are going to the Ark and the Creating Museum.
LOL -- DGS asked me why I wasn't going and I said, "well, I haven't been invited. But that's okay; y'all need to do some stuff on your own with just your mommy and daddy."
I'd love to see the Creation Museum, but I do understand that they need some time away, even away from me, of course. We all went to the Ark when DGS was little, and dgd was just a tiny infant, so I think they will get a lot out of it this time around. Also, it was COLD when we were up there before, and that won't be the case this time. (In fact, we are having our first "heat wave" of the year. I saw one report that temps might hit 99 Sunday. Of course, dgrands will be back home by then.)

Waving to EVERYONE!!!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harriet: I thought of you when I hear the SB news.

I just finished editing a welcome letter to for our congregation. Our office administrator did a great first draft and was immediately slapped down by the chair of Worship for going overboard and doing too much. The chair then produced a second draft. The administrator took a sick day today so missed our meeting. I had watched but didn't participate in the flurry of emails over this document but then told the chair hers needed heavy editing and so did that tonight, reintroducing some of the softer wording of the administrator and clearly marking where I hope she'll reinput the graphics she had.

Her argument for the pretty document was that when the visitor sees it on their counter on Sunday evening or Monday (or if a SHE, a week or two later) they will want to look over the document again because their eyes are drawn to it, rather than just scooping it into the recycle bin. That's a pretty great argument for lots of style, now to get the right balance of substance.

Our minister has resigned so today's meeting was annoying since there was a lot of relitigating and once again we were the focus for 'education' when it was other groups that didn't cooperate with him. With us there was a lot of him refusing to listen, let alone take guidance, and that led to a lot of tension all through the church. It was very hard to be 'on his side' which I was for many of the things that happened, just because he was so 'in the wrong' for other things.

I'm very close to leaving the church but am waiting for a bit to see if anything will change. Not likely.

The meeting ran 2 hours and then I had groceries to pick up on the way home so I had my breakfast at 2 p.m. (You read that correctly.) Then at 3 was exercise class but I managed to grab a 15 minute lie-down before that. I got home an hour late from that (it is downstairs, not like I was caught up in traffic) because of 'pastoral care' with a couple of seniors and concerns over a third one. Dh sat with me on the balcony as I relaxed a bit after standing for an hour talking and then we had dinner. I cleaned up and was just starting the document editing when I got a follow-up phone call that lasted 40 minutes. At least I got all the mail opened and sorted while on the phone.

Now I'm off to bed and quite tired.

Tomorrow is an errand in the other building at 8:30, my doctor's appointment (40+ minutes away) in the late afternoon, and dh's MRI at midnight. So another tiring day.

[Harriet]

I would rather pick up a welcome letter that had a friendly line drawing. Not sure I would even know to reach for a paper in a new place if it had no visual clue of encouragement except typing - I might not read that far. Did not realize Kathryn's minister had resigned.

Best wishes to Ken in Canada for MRI, inconveniently scheduled. Hope it's informative, yet boring.

lucylee, that sounds right up your alley to help with hospitality and info/direction for community. Good job.

My Round Robin settled into mud room more than any other, which really shouldn't take me as long as it always does - should have been finished yesterday. My dmother always said it is easier to clean a spacious room than a small, tight one.

Outdoors, I have watered both by hand and by irrigation hoses. Mixed, timed and sprayed the foliar spray.

[lucylee]

Oh -- I forgot to tell y'all how successful the Job Fair was! I left about 30 minutes before it was supposed to close, and there were still people coming in. They had at least 200 sign in with 30 minutes remaining, and we were told that at least 50 jobs had been offered to applicants on the spot. There were 48 businesses present. Like I've told y'all, we live in a really small town, the whole county probably has about a population of less than 35,000 people. But we know some people came from surrounding counties, and there were people waiting when they opened the doors.
The whole reason for this was that the man at our church heard about a similar event in the next county. He is also responsible for meeting with people who come to our church wanting help with bills, food, etc. He learned from that experience that a lot of people say they can't find jobs. Sooo... he started asking when we had had a job fair in our community, and found out apparently, never. So he really jumped in with both feet to make this happen.
Anyway, I just enjoyed visiting with the people from my old church (which hosted the event) and I saw several people I knew who were either working the employee booths or applying for jobs. I planned to stay a couple hours, but I ended up staying about five hours.

Anyway -- another ta-da for today, and y'all may be shocked at something --
I have vacuumed and dusted the master bedroom and bath, AND
I PUT AWAY THE IRONING BOARD. I know y'all know this is kinda symbolic, isn't it? I also am putting away the humidifier, which dh always wanted running in the bedroom, but which really made no difference to me. I had already put away the balance-exercise thing that dh wanted but never actually used. It just took up space in the bedroom.

Now before y'all think I'm really making great strides or something...
Last night, dgd asked me why dh's water was still sitting on the nightstand... and was his pill still there beside it... (yes)... and all his stuff -- inhaler, back scratcher, etc. are all right there on the nightstand too... His personal stuff is on the dresser (except his wallet, which is in my purse) and his toiletries are still in his bathroom just like always... and the last shirt he wore is still hanging on the rack beside the bathroom door. I don't know when I'll be ready to do anything about any of that stuff.
I did discard all his prescription medicines (took them to the drug store to dispose) but some of this other stuff... I just can't touch it yet.
It has been two months today.
I may go to Next Town tomorrow and check on monument prices and styles. Everyone around here drives across the state line to a place that is supposed to be sooo much cheaper -- but I called them on the phone, and their prices for what I described were not much different than what I was quoted here nearby. I've got to do that... I don't want to do it, but it's one more thing that has to be done. I wanted to do it today, but dmom was tired when she got finished at the doctor's office and we just came on home.
Hope you all have a good night and a great day tomorrow.