IN Carmel

 An all day at home day. I think there will be a few more.   And the day proved to be a fun one with the sewing machine of course.  My two-sheet purchase yesterday has kept me busy.  And there will be a little left to do for tomorrow.  The day included sewing cover-ups for nursing mothers.  They are so easy to do.  Being able to tear the fabric instead of cutting makes it even simple.  It's all straight-line stuff.   I added to yesterday's number and the total is 17 cover-ups for nursing mothers with 4 more ready for the sewing machine tomorrow.  My headache tells me it's time to stop for the day.  Way too much stress for the eyes.  Dah! We went to church online.  Better to be in the space.  One can multi-task while online which is not such a good thing.  Better to be in the space.  It's been football Sunday in America.  The Colts won and the Bengals are trying to lose.  Let's hope that changes.   I've been texting all day.  The Michigan Kids are staying well an

 I forgot to post!!!!   So here goes my Sunday morning memory of Saturday.  Older folks are up and about...Younger sleeping till who knows when!  Andrew and Noah arrived and once again it was card game time with Kimmy and Jared and Grandma and Grandpa.  We decided to hit the road with Goodwill in mind resulting in two sheets for more coverups.  Yes!!!  It's a good deal at 3.99 each making 12 cover-ups for nursing mothers. You have to love those Goodwill sheets! Then it was off to Wild Birds for our annual visit.  Jared/Kimmy got some neat add-ons to their pole of Wild Bird pole collection.  Their summer flocks of Orioles will be happy. I got more black sunflower seeds for the Carmel birds.   Then it was on to get doughnuts for the always Saturday event of doughnuts.   Arriving back home most of the Michigan kids were up ready to eat doughnuts.                  Four of the big five.  Eli is missing.  Impossible to play pardoners with five players and SkipBo.                         

 Another great day of family doing a lot of things together.   Jared brought 4 doz eggs from his grass-fed flock.  This morning I used a doz. of those eggs for egg salad.  This picture shows a comparison of Aldi's best and grass-fed free-range egg salad.                                                                              Isn't it amazing to see what grass does for the lowly egg.  The Carmel grandsons arrived for the day bringing a lot of fun to the group.  We spent some time at the Reef looking at fish.  The ever-present parrot was very entertaining.  The Michigan Russells have several aquariums at their house and are always interested in looking at other possibilities.  The Reef once again came through with a high score.    It would seem that the Reef has had a whole shop update with new tanks that look wonderful.  Many unusual fish were seen during our visit.   The day included many card games with Noah being the all-time winner creaming the rest of us more than once

 The morning started really early with cookies in the over by 7 am.  Well, they were in the refrigerator all night.  So it was time to bake.  I cleaned up the kitchen and then went on to mess it up again with Chocolate Chip Cookies. It was just a last-minute thing I thought we needed.  I made a dash to Aldi's for eggs since the cookies used all that I had and I wanted to make egg salad.  So that made me feel that I really was ready for play day.                                                   Something new.  A batch of Crackle Cookies.   A surprise for Jared. There was time for a nap or two.  The Michigan kids arrived around 3 which also included of course, Wyatt,.the family dog.  We had a great time catching up on everything.  And almost immediately there was a game of 3/13,   The Eric family arrived for supper and the house was loud with talk in the dining room where the boys ate but not as loud in the kitchen where the adults ate.   After we were finished with supper Kat and E

 A long time ago it was wash on Monday, iron on Tues. something on Wednesday and Thursday and I think bake on Friday at our house and clean on Saturday.  Monday at this house this week was play on the sewing machine...Oh, yes, and Christmas Day.  Tues was bake and cook and today was clean and put together a cookie recipe.  The house is clean.  Well, some of it.  Doug doesn't like me messing in his two rooms on the lower level.  So I really try not to.  It's not very clean according to my rules.  He's happy.                                                     It looks like Adam might have been on the naughty list.   Washed and waxed the kitchen floor.  Swept the dining room polished the furniture and swept and dusted in the living room. I did a great job on the upstairs bathroom. I even blew off the patio which is one of the more important things that keeps the house clean. The outside really gets tracked inside from that wind-blown outside spot.  We have an extra resident i

 The work week has begun.  No more sitting around playing on the sewing machine.. It's up and att'em.  I slept till 7 this morning.  Woo.  I did most of the morning stuff and then off to Aldi's to help open the store.  After an hour I left for a quick trip to Kroger and then home.  That was a very long shopping morning.  The house is stuffed with food which took another hour to find a place on the shelf.  That hour also included cleaning out the refrigerator and finding old stuff that had to go.  Eric/family and Jared/family and Christmas will be here on Thurs, Fri, and Saturday.  Jared is known to clean out the refrigerator giving me an evil eye. I think I beat him to it. It was a very big morning.                                                                                   Chex Mix for all.                      The afternoon was given to cooking for the end of the week.  I would rather play when the company is here instead of work.  So today it was work.  There is Ch

 Woo.  slept till 7:30.  Must have something to do with 1 A M bedtime.  Breakfast/Crossword from the computer.  No Monday paper.  It's a day off.  Won't belly ache about that.  Doug just prints out the one from the newspaper.  TV time and phone time happened.                                                       Andrew's dog Thor.  A real sweet dog.   I got on the sewing machine and did the fabric thing.  I ask Kat to order some d rings for me.  She's good about doing that.  I worked on inserting boneing using both kinds I purchased yesterday.  Ordering on line is a little difficult with the pictures just not good about what is what.  I'll see Kat's mother tonight and she has had experience with boning.  So some thing remain in the question mark box.  More coverups are in the pipline but need things that have been ordered for completion.                                                               A pretty Christmas center pice on the table.  Football happened

 And just like any other Sunday, we were off to church.  The 8:30 service was cancled.  The 11:00 worship hour stayed the same. The morning service looked spiffy for sure.                               We added white poinsettias on the altar for the three Christmas Eve services.  After morning church, it was time to get ready for the 5 o'clock family service given by the children of the church.  So changes were made to fit that service.  The small candles for the congregation were put in place.  How many? Who knows.  It's a guess that has been made harder since Covid.  I hope we're ready.                            After the 5 o'clock family service, it was time for picture-taking for many folks.                                             Many families hung around visiting for a while.  Kids were back from college                and two  families had their children home from Denmark!  A time for great church reunions.  We got home from the morning service a bit later t

 Up as usual at 6 with breakfast and then an early run to Bread and Bowl.  The second and fourth Saturdays are the two weekends that North's Saturday crew fills the kitchen with good smells.  Today Second Helpings sent us mashed potatoes, pork barbeque, and green beans.  It certainly smelled yummy and the report from the guests said it was delicious.  We served about 45 people and sent home about the same amount of carry-out lunches.  The food was gone by 11:30.  The neighborhood folks know that early arrival usually assures them of a dinner.  We turned no one away. There were five of us working and sharing the load made it all possible.                                      Memories of a few years ago.  I sure to miss these beautiful gifts.  Heidi and I made a tour of the sanctuary and Gathering Center making sure the Poinsettias were as good as they could be for tomorrow.  We have felt like church sitters this month making sure that all is well, all is well.                       

 At first, I thought not much happened today but then when using some thinking time there were a few things to mention.  Wordel went well.  Connections went very well and the Star Crossword was a plus.  The Star delivery guy skipped us so Doug printed off a crossword copy.  Oops, I didn't quite get it finished like I thought I did.  5 across.  Louts?  What the heck is that!   Then I decided to do a little Christmas shopping. Just a very little. One thing little!.  Since we celebrate at the end of next week I don't get real excited about the rush before Christmas.  This trip took me to Barnes and Noble for a book purchase.  I'll be back later for more gift cards.  That's a grandson gift that they know is coming and have received for years. They are all readers.  Grown up Jacob gets a Starbucks card.  Then it was on to Goodwill for a look at sheets for another Goodwill project that's coming.  I was looking for some interesting fabric to turn into nursing coverups for

 Another sewing morning.  I love them.  The music was the Messiah along with background noise from the machine.  A great combination that gives me a whole lot of energy to stick with the project.  There now are a total of 55 new baby things for Goodwill.  I feel good about repurposing fabric that now has a new life.   More spaces to fill in the container.  The next 50 will add up to 400 burps for babies.  B and B I could call the project.   Mid afternoon we hit the road again ending up at the Y. adding 15 minutes to the 45 minutes yesterday.  I wanted a mile walk and made it with a few other things added.  The afternoon time is perfect with not so many people to cope with.  I call it the old people's hour or so. Moms are home getting their kids off the bus.  Guys who worked out before work are still at work.The group that comes in after work and later are still not in attendance. It's perfect for us. Today we hit some North Central High School traffic so a little earlier should

 Another no-picture day so I'm posting some old ones. A great day to stay home with the sewing I machine.  I took Eric to catch the bus.  And we did go to the Y.  I still will say I spent the day at home.  No seven-mile trips to the south.                                  Steve, my favorite Michigan cat can meow a long story every time I see him.  Connections, Wordel, and Star Crossword all meshed well with the brain I have on top of my shoulders.  Woo, woo.  Some days everything works.  And today I figured out how I could get great music on my iPhone.  Where has my brain been? I've had the phone for 3 years now and I'm still in the learning mode.  I probably would learn more if my thinker was in gear more often.                                                   Steve's buddy Basil seems to think the coffee is the best.  The sewing machine was busy with burps today and the headphones brought Beethoven's 7th to my head while the sewing machine did its thing.  I was l

 It started out with the usual morning entertainment but Connections was impossible or next to impossible.  I got the first 4 correct this morning at some point.  The second four at six tonight with the next two fours ?????? still to be determined.  Andrew and Kat got all four with Jared getting two.  Crazy day with Connections. Kat had an early morning PT session so Andrew went to school in my car.  It's the end of the term and Noah had all of his work completed early so he has two extra days of Christmas break.   I made a decision to do a little more burp cutting and the sewing will start tomorrow.  The plan is to stay home and sew all day tomorrow.  We'll see about that!                                                                    There are about 50 ready to get stitched together.   And then another decision to clear the dining room table of all the Poinsettia was made.  So another trip to church to finish off the job.  It's great to have that one checked off with

 Today was another day with hours spent at church.  The children rehearsed Sunday after the second service for the five o'clock service on Christmas Eve and the sanctuary needed to be reset for the coming Sunday morning worship time.  I met Heidi at 10 and we left the church at 1:30.  Another good chunk of the day was spent getting ready for the weekend.   We tried many things and some worked and some didn't and we kept trying until we were satisfied with everything.  I say there is always a way.  We just need to be patient with ourselves in finding it. The plan needed to eliminate as many things we could that would cause extra work for us on Christmas Eve services.  Doing that for three services that are vastly different was the puzzle to solve.  Some things we could fix, some things we couldn't fix.   This will be in place for the 11:00 am service as well as the family worship service at 5 pm. This is the northern part of the chancel area.  The donkey will be moved with s