Wishy-Washy Weather

We had a lovely couple days yesterday and today. No jackets necessary to go outside. I've taken Mom outside for a few minutes five days in a row now.

Apparently the weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse the next few days, with temperatures returning to the 50s and probably some rain, too.

That's the thing about weather. It can be good. It can be bad.... Wishy-washy weather!

I Am the Champion!

I beat Mom six out of eleven games today, so I now am the reigning Bubble Game Champion! This is a title I don't claim very often, so I like to celebrate when I do hold it.

Mom doesn't seem to mind losing, especially because I celebrate BIG whenever I win a single game. I throw my arms up in the air and exclaim, "I win!" (I usually drag out the word "w-i-i-i-n.") She enjoys watching me celebrate and usually smiles... sometimes even giggles.

I love my Mom. But I don't mind beating her in the bubble game.  😁

The Movies!

Last night I went to see Downton Abbey: A New Era with my friends Ellen and Anne-Marie. 

During the Covid shutdowns, I wondered if movie theaters would ever be viable businesses again. So it was nice to be able to go to the theater. 

We all enjoyed the movie!

Dad 621: Our Only Hope

(Dad writes today about the recent tragedy. ~ Tracy)

Derf Here. Weather in the Northeast is still great. Could be a little warmer. But it is clear and sunny.

Another school shooting in Texas yesterday. We need to closely keep track of people who have behaved in ways that say, "I am a shooter." It seems that all of these murderers exhibit small traits that say, "I am a killer." Families and friends must say what they see.

This country has to get back to God! This is our only hope.

We must change our ways as a country. Perhaps we need more institutions/hospitals that provide real help to those with mental illness. Just a thought.

Let us pray for the grieving!

I have no more for today.

Until next time....

Toodle Pip.... 

Derf.

God Loves Us

Romans 8:38-39  (New International Version) ~

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

A Walk Outside

The weather was beautiful earlier this afternoon, so I got Mom outside for a brief walk. Well, she was in her wheelchair, and I pushed her.

We were outside for only a few minutes, but it was good for Mom since she hadn't been out of her room for a few days. I think she enjoyed the change of scenery!

The residents have been restricted to their own wings recently due to a few Covid cases. Everyone will be happy when things get back to "normal" and the regular activities (e.g., Bingo) start up again. Hopefully this happens soon.

The Half-Century Club

Brother-in-law Glen turned 50 years old today!

My sister Debbie did not let Glen forget this milestone birthday. She had signs up all over their house that said "50!" and "You are Old!" and "Over the Hill!"

Lew, Joe, my sisters, and I were already members of the Half-Century Club. So Glen was the last of the six of us to join. It was enjoyable to welcome this new member. 😁

Happy Birthday, Glen!

A Puzzling Mystery

I just finished my latest jigsaw puzzle. It was a fun one, but — unlike other puzzles I have completed — I am not including a photo of the completed puzzle.  Reason: There was an underlying mystery to solve and I don't want to reveal the answer!

The puzzle box (pictured below) doesn't show how the puzzle is supposed to look, so it was interesting to figure out how the "big chunks" of the puzzle connected. But I did figure it out, and I also figured out the correct answer to the mystery. Like I said, it was very fun!

Printer Repair

Lately our printer hasn't been aligning the ink cartridges properly. Because of this, anything we've been printing is of poor quality.

By default, I am the tech support for our household. Thus it fell upon me to figure out the printer dilemma. The two options: 1) fix the current printer (my preference), or 2) buy a new printer.

I did an internet search on our problem. The most likely solution involved using my moistened fingertip to remove some dried up ink inside of the printer.

After opening the printer, I did see some dried up ink. I did the fingertip thing and then ran the alignment process on the printer. It aligned correctly! So, although I now had inky fingers, I did have a functioning printer.

Tracy's Printer Repair Shop is hopefully closed for a while!

Dad 620: A Tribute to Lew

(I usually title Dad's posts. Today I am using words that came straight from him! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! I believe today is the last day of some summer-like weather. Tomorrow is not supposed to be a nice day. However, the following couple days should be good. Should get the lawn mowed during those two days.

 

Lew has had a busy week and has accomplished some great cleanups. Over the course of our 50 years in this house, we have gathered several paint cans to discard. In fact, the amount was around 90 cans! Well, on Saturday the town was offering a hazardous materials drop-off for free. Using his new door to the cellar, Lew took out all the paint cans and loaded them into the bed of his truck on Friday. Early Saturday morning he went to the collection place and in a matter of minutes got rid of all of it. The cellar is neat after his very successful cleaning project. Good job, Lew! (Like your birdbath outback, too!)

 

The nursing home now has several Covid cases, but I still visit Lou daily. We stay in her room and do not travel throughout the halls. We'll see what the future gives us, and hopefully we will be able to continue visiting every day! Keep your prayers coming!

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

A Major Project Done!

Please see yesterday's post for additional context.  😁

This morning I just had to finish up organizing my desk area, which was lighter work than I'd been doing. (A good thing, too, since I was feeling a bit under the weather today.)

Now I can start to get caught up on my mail!

A Major Project Almost Done

My days are starting to blend together with all of the cleaning/organizing I have been doing.

But the end is in sight! Tomorrow... hopefully... I'll be done with the "big picture" organizing!

There will still be several smaller things to clean/organize, but they are all contained so as not to be in the way.  These are projects for a rainy day.

I just heard thunder, so I am ending this post and turning off my computer. (By the way, today is not the "rainy day" referred to above, ha ha!)

G'night!

A Day of Summer

​Beautiful day today... like summer.

Lew said it's supposed to cool off and maybe rain tomorrow.

We joked that summer lasted only one day! 😂

Mom's Bingo Domination

Mom likes to play Bingo at the nursing home. They usually play on Thursday afternoons, and yesterday was no exception.

While I was watching Mom play yesterday, there were nine opportunities to win. She won five of them! There are about a dozen residents who play, so it was pretty amazing that she won so often.

Mom! Let somebody else win once in a while! Ha ha!

Dad 619: Soapbox Speech

(Dad writes today. Maybe he should run for office! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! Boy, we are in a stretch of beautiful weather. I guess this stretch is going to last a few days more according to the professionals. Great outside for all projects. Now I must get the energy necessary to mow the lawn again. Maybe tomorrow.

 

Our country seems to be involved in a shortage of baby formula. Can't imagine why the greatest country on Earth can have a shortage of baby formula. Great job from our incompetent leaders.

 

Sometime I'm going to make a list of what I see as incompetence by the current leaders of this great nation. It seems like the leaders are working at destroying our country, which appears to be sinking in standing in the world order. Leaders are quick to speak of activities that they are against, but within days they are found to be wrong in what they said. Never do they apologize for being incorrect in their original statements. Even our own senator has received death threats. Idiots are running this country. Do away with them by voting them out of office.

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

My "Buy Nothing" Hobby

A few months ago Lew and I both joined the "Buy Nothing" Facebook group for our town. I've been the fortunate recipient of a few items from the page, but lately I've been posting things to give away.  (I mentioned this in Saturday's post.)

Yesterday we got a new room-size area rug for our living room. As a result, we had four rugs to get rid of, so I put them on "Buy Nothing" (of course)! One person expressed interest right away, and we were so happy to gift the rugs to this particular person. Two other people expressed interest in case the first option fell through. (This sometimes happens because not everyone is timely about picking up their items.) But the first person came last night to pick up the rugs, and everyone was happy... especially us!

Another gal that picked up some items on Sunday is an "old" friend. (Not "old" age-wise, just number of years known.)  She left me a sprig of flowers on the porch where I had left her items. So sweet of her! The flowers were from our own tree, but still... such a nice thought!  😁

Mother's Day

I had a nice visit with Mom today. Rather than buy a Mother's Day card, I colored a small picture for her and put it on the bulletin board in her room. I also brought her two hermit cookies, which she enjoyed eating very much. Unaware of my lack of domestic skills, one of the CNAs asked if I had made the cookies! (Lew bought them at the grocery store.)

Mom and I played the bubble game, and I won four games out of five! I told her I should have let her win on Mother's Day, but she said, "No!" She enjoys seeing me celebrate when I win. And I do celebrate! 😁

We also had a video chat with Kim. Dad arrived during that time, so he was able to get in on the chat, too. (Being able to video chat is one of the best things about modern technology.) Mom didn't say a lot during the chat, but she loved seeing Kim. Mom mostly waves and blows kisses!

Happy Mother's Day!

Friday/Saturday Rundown

Yesterday (Friday)

Morning: Continued cleaning and organizing the house.

Afternoon: Visited Mom.

Evening: Attended Portland Sea Dogs baseball game with Lew, Debbie, Glen, Josh, and Zack. (Sea Dogs lost, but we had fun.)

Today (Saturday)

Morning: Attended the women's ministry Renew Spring Mingle at church.

Afternoon: Visited Mom.

Late afternoon/evening: Posted several items on my town's "Buy Nothing" Facebook page and then corresponded (a lot) with people that actually wanted some of the stuff I posted!

Now:  Zzzzzzzzz....

Eli's Baseball Game

Grandson Eli is playing Little League. He made the majors!

His team had a game tonight, and Lew and I went to it. 

Eli played 2nd base for the first two innings, then right field for the 3rd inning.

As for hitting, he walked the first two times he was up. The third time he got a base hit and an RBI!  Did you hear me cheering?!

Eli's team won 18-2 in three innings. (There is a 15-run mercy rule after the third inning. It's 10 runs after four innings. The normal game length is six innings for Little League.)

Congratulations to Eli and his teammates!

⚾⚾⚾

Dad 618: To Win or Not to Win

(Dad writes today! We all wish a very Happy Birthday to my cousin Wendy! ~ Tracy)

Derf Here! A cloudy, rainy day in the Northeast. However, the prediction for the next week or so is very favorable. Weather to be dry, but temps are not predicted at warmer than usual. Should be quite nice. We will enjoy it!

Month of May is rolling right along. We are visiting Lou each afternoon. She seems to be getting back to her regular physical condition since receiving a concussion (my conclusion) from her fall last week.

Lou and I are still playing the car game and the bubble game. I'm still finding no way of winning the bubble game. One of these days I will win... or not.

Kind of a sleepy day. So I'll stop now.

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!

I Vacuum

Lew does the vacuuming in our household. It's been YEARS since I have used a vacuum cleaner myself.

We have two Dysons — one for upstairs and one for downstairs. I had never even touched either one until last week.  Lew had to show me how to use them.  (Yes, it's really simple, but I am domestically challenged.)

In case you're wondering, I finally used the vacuum cleaners because of our massive spring cleaning project. It was necessary... and it was time!

😏😉

Happy Birthday . . .

. . . to me!

Today I celebrated my last birthday in my 50s. Doesn't seem possible.

Lew made breakfast and then late afternoon he and I went for pie & fry. The day was topped off with Dad treating us to ice cream. It was a yummy day!

I visited Mom early afternoon. She and I talked about what she was doing 59 years ago today!  Kim and Kaelen called to video chat with Mom and me, and they started the chat by singing "Happy Birthday."  They did a lovely job.

Debbie dropped off a birthday gift for me yesterday.  The gift consisted of LEGO-themed birthday napkins, a jigsaw puzzle of LEGO mini-figures (combining two hobbies!), and some chocolate shaped like a jigsaw puzzle.  I asked her where she got the chocolate, and she said that she made it!  I then asked her if she was sure we are related.  She replied that the chocolate's easy to make with a mold.... Well.... I say maybe easy for her!  LOL!