Wed., 11/20/24, Bill went to Evan’s school for Special Friends Day, I swept and scrubbed the floors, then went grocery shopping and got a few more things for shoeboxes, Vikki, Peyton, Isaac and Regan came over, the girls packed shoeboxes

Bill and Evan at Best Friend’s Day at his school

The choir

New light Bill put up over the ping pong table.  No more pulling chains to turn on lights.  It’s hooked up to the switch.  Yay!

Regan and Peyton packing the shoeboxes.  They managed to fit everything in.  Great job girls!

 Bill got up early to go to Evan’s school for Friend’s Day.  It was his turn this year as I went last year.  It’s kind of sad that this is the last time for it.  We will have no more grandkids in that school after this year.  They sure grow up fast.  Bill sent me pictures he took of them.  

I got up at 7:20 and as soon as Bill left, I moved chairs and vacuumed and mopped the Kitchen, Foyer, Bathroom and Laundry room floors.  After I finished, I left and went to Meijer to get the solar calculators and a Rubik cube at Meijer, plus a few groceries.  They were all out of both items I needed for the shoeboxes, so I stopped at Walmart and got them there.  I went home after that.  Bill wasn’t home yet.  I put rugs back down and chairs back around the table.  

Bill got home and moved the old lights that were over the ping pong table, to the other side of the room.  He also picked up a different light for above the table and in the two back rooms and hung them.  He had me come down and see them.  They all look so nice!

Barb called me and wanted the recipe for my rolls that I brought with their meal.  Ron really liked them and wants her to make them.  We had a nice talk and she is doing good after her surgery. 

Vikki came and brought Peyton and Regan to pack the Operation Christmas Shoeboxes.  Isaac came too, but didn’t want to do a shoebox this year.  The girls did a wonderful job of getting all the stuff in the boxes really good.  They both closed nicely which sometimes takes many tries.  They liked the basement.  Peyton and Regan played some ping pong. 

I made eggs, potatoes, bacon and toast for dinner.  I accidentally knocked a small jar of blackberry jelly on the floor and it broke.  Go figure!  I was thinking before I mopped the floors that something always gets spilled after I mop floors.  I cleaned that up and then ate.  Then Bill asked me why the garbage disposal wasn’t working.  I told him it had been working earlier.  I got a flashlight and looked to see if it had a reset button.  When I did that, I spilled my watering can for plants.  It was only water!  I was happy about that at least.  It was right across from where I broke the jelly jar.  I was happy there was only a tiny bit of jelly left in it.  I guess the water spill was the final rinse for the jelly mess.

Bill left to go to the Marine Corp. League Meeting.  I didn’t have time to read my Bible earlier when he read his, so I read it after he left.  I’m halfway in the book of Daniel right now.  After I finished, I got a call from Gayla.  Wes will have his skin graft on Friday.  She is going to call me and let me know the details when she finds out.  I prayed for them over the phone.  We talked for a long time.  They are such great friends.  

I talked to Kimmy and she is coming tomorrow instead of Friday since I will have to be making lots of stuff for our Thanksgiving meal on Friday for our Saturday get together.  Adam texted me and said he will drive over after he gets out of school.  

  

Tues., 11/19/24, Took Carol to eye appt., cleaned part of house, put Thanksgiving decorations out, went to prayer, Bill hung 8 ft. light over ping pong table, picked up floorboard for basement

Strange looking clouds today.  Everything in the yard looked really bright but the clouds were dark

Beautiful sunset

 I got up at 6 so I could be to Sister C’s by 7:30 a.m. to take her to her eye check up for her cataract surgery.  She had a good checkup and then bought us each a coffee at Tim Horton’s.    It rained on the way to her house.  Then after I dropped her off it just misted out.  I stopped and got an Egg McMuffin on my way home.  When I got home, Bill was reading his Bible.  I sat down next to him and read my Bible.  I was tired from getting up so early, so I took a quick nap, then got up and cleaned the living room, dining room, foyer and brought up a few things from the basement that needed to be put in the garage.  I sure think of Adam when I got down there.  Bill had to go for an MRI.  I offered to go with him, but he said he didn’t need me too. It was nice to get lots of cleaning and some other needed things done while he was gone.  

When he got home, he took some wood floor boards down to the basement that he’s going to put around the room.  They really make it look nice down there.  We had more chicken noodle casserole for dinner.  It’s almost gone now.  I left for prayer at church.  Prayer was awesome and so was worship.  When I got home, Bill was putting up an 8 foot light over the ping pong table.  I helped him with it.  He hooked it up to the switch, so there’s no chains to pull.  It is so nice.  He’s going to ut the lights he took down over in the other half of the basement. I FaceTimed with the girls and Adam and Evan to show them how nice it looked with the light up and the floor boards down.  They aren’t attached yet, but Bill put them along the walls.   It is so nice down there now. 

 

Monday, 11/18/24, Went to Clare, Stopped at Cops and Doughnuts, went to a couple of Amish Stores, Jack came before Fencing class to help Papa put stuff back in basement room that was painted, I took Jack to fencing

Bill...looks like a jail bird

Me as a doughnut

Me in my new vehicle

Stopped at two Amish Stores

I love driving through Amish Country....such a nice day

Beautiful Horse we passed

Our tree is turning slowly this year

Evan looking in my car...kind of blurry, but cute anyhow

Jack came and helped Papa put all the furniture back...such a great help

We got up and ate breakfast and then read our Bibles.  I did some laundry.  Bill asked me if I wanted to go to the Amish Store.  Of course I said yes to that.  We got ready and headed to Clare.  Our first stop was Cops and Doughnuts.  We each had a delicious doughnut and a cup of coffee.  Bill went back for another small doughnut.  After we were done, we walked through lots of cute unique stores downtown.  Got some cute things for the Operation Christmas Shoe Boxes and a few other things. It was so fun going in all of these nice shops.  After that, we headed to the Amish Country Stores.  We went into the grocery store first.  It wasn’t quite finished last time we were there.  It was so nice now.  We picked up a couple of things and then headed down the road to the other store.  It has some of everything.  We picked up a few more things and I got stuff for the Operation Christmas Child boxes.  It was a big store and was so much fun walking down the aisles looking at everything.  We headed home after that.  When we got home, I warmed up my leftover smothered chicken, and also warmed up chicken noodle casserole.  I FaceTimed with Vikki for quite a while.  She found a neat car for Rehvyn on the side of the road that is super nice and he is going to love it.  I picked up Jack and he helped Billl move the furniture back into the room we painted.  He was a great help and was so happy to do it for us.  I forgot to take a picture while he was here, because we were hurrying so he could get to fencing 5 minutes early.  I took him and he made it in plenty of time.  

Relaxed when I got back home.  Going to bed early because I have to be at Carol’s to take her to get her eyes checked at 8:10 in the morning. 

 

Sunday, 11/17/24, Bill went to our church, I picked Melissa up and we went to visit Hailey and went to her church, my first time at her apartment, went to Texas Roadhouse

Selfies Hailey took before the church service started

At Hailey’s apartment

Hailey and Melissa decorating the rest of Hailey’s tree
.

Abi and Jacob

Adam and Hope

Got ready, made coffee for Bill and I, read my Bible, then left to go pick up Melissa to go visit Hailey.  Bill left before me to go to our church.   Left Melissa’s house at 10 and had a nice ride together and a good visit.  We got to Hailey’s apartment a half hour before church started, so visited there a while.  I’m so happy she has such a nice place and nice roommates.  We went to her church and she was looking for donuts for us, but there weren’t any.  The biggest service was just before the one we were at.  We went and sat down, then Hailey thought she saw someone with a donut, so we went and checked again.  No donuts.  We went back in and Hailey’s roommate sat next to her.  The worship started and was awesome!  They sang a few Elevation Worship songs and they were amazing.  Then they had 50 baptisms between all three campuses.  Lots of young people got baptized at the church we were at.  They wrote two words out that were showed on the screen.  One word represented before coming to know Jesus and the other one represented after.  Some were sin/forgiven, confused/connected, broken/whole, and many more that really were touching.  Jesus does so much in a person when they are Born Again!.  The message was amazing.  When the service ended, we went out to leave and Hailey checked one more time for donuts and there were lots there, so we each took one.  Yay!  We went to the Texas Roadhouse to eat after church.  We got in right away and sat down.  Hailey had a hamburger, Melissa had chicken strips (which she said were the best she’s ever had) and I had delicious smothered chicken.  We all loved all the rolls and were stuffed by the time we got done.  We had a very nice waitress.  We all took food home.  Melissa sent one chicken strip for Bill to try.

We went back to Hailey’s apartment and met Dude, Jenna’s lab puppy.  He was excited at first, but calmed down and was such a good dog after he was used to us.  Hailey showed us her room and the upstairs bathroom.  We went downstairs and visited with each other and Jenna.  We went to Walmart and Hailey got some groceries she needs to make a yummy dinner this week.  We only shopped the outside of the grocery department so Melissa and I were freezing.  Hailey got all heathy stuff.  We went back to Hailey’s apartment and Melissa and Hailey put the ornaments Melissa bought Hailey on the tree.  Melissa took 3 duplicate ornaments home that she liked.  We left for home around 4:30 before it got dark out.  We sure had a great time.  Hailey was cute and told us to let her know when we got home.  She gets that from us.  We got it from my mom.  

We had a nice drive back.  We stopped at McDonalds and got their new flavor Frappe’.  I couldn’t pronounce it, so I asked the kid taking my order how to pronounce it.  He said he didn’t know either.  It was Dulce de leche.  I’m sure Melissa and I were close in our pronunciation lol.  We sure had some laughs.

I dropped her off and I reminded Melissa to let Hailey know we were home.  I went to the door and Evan told me hi.  I watched a video of him doing some amazing flips at a new place he went to that teaches him the correct ways to do them.  They told him he had the one down perfectly.  

I stopped and picked up my prescription after I dropped Melissa off.  I went inside because the outside line was so long.  I came home after that and gave Bill a big kiss and gave him the chicken strip from Melissa.  I let Hailey know I was home and sent her and her mom the pictures I took.  I was glad to be home sweet home and in my recliner.  It was dark by the time I got home and it was only 6.

Kimmy sent me pictures of Adam and Jacob with their girlfriends from last night.  I sure was happy since I forgot to take any.  Thank you Kimmy.  

 

Saturday, 11/16/24, Bill and Adam did the edges of the basement floor, Adam finished painting the floor in the basement, later he gave it a 2nd coat, got him Culver’s for lunch, went and shopped for stuff for shoe boxes, took Adam home,

Making progress

So thankful for Adam being such a hard worker and a great help

Our big Maple is starting to turn yellow.  Lots of leaves to come down yet

Adam sent me before (top) and after (bottom) pictures

New guns for Eli and Jared....Great father/son team.   

A very happy grandson

 I slept in til 8:30 and Adam got up at 9:30.  I was just going up to wake him because Kimmy told me on the phone that he wouldn’t want to sleep in and get a late start on painting.  He and Jacob played Bedwars until 1 a.m.  He said he slept really good on the new mattress.  

We ate breakfast, then Bill and Adam started painting the edge of the floor in the basement.  Once that was done, Adam got right at painting the floor.  It took him about an hour and he had the first coat on.  We played a game of 3-13 which Adam won....I helped him by throwing him 2 wild cards.  What a nice Nana!   I came in second and Bill was the loser.  I picked up chicken strips, fries, and a concrete mixer for him for lunch.  Bill and I ate noodle casserole.  I met Vikki at Meijer so I could give her a $10 off coupon.  Bummer though because it doesn’t start until tomorrow.  Rody got a voucher for a turkey, so she picked one up for one of our 3 turkey dinners coming up.  She picked up a ham to have with it too.   Big blessing.  This turkey and one I picked up are only 19 lbs.  A lady in Meijer told Vikki she has looked all over and that’s the biggest she could find.  She even asked if they had bigger ones in back.

Kimmy called me and she got a turkey for me too.  She found a hefty 24 lb. turkey.  We will have that for the biggest party.  

After a few hours,  Adam went downstairs and gave the floor a second coat.  It really looks nice now.  What a diligent, responsible and joyful worker.  We are so proud of him and so thankful for all of his help.  They cleaned up all the paint brushes too.  While he was painting, I went to get gas at Sam’s Club.  I got cashews from Sam’s Club to take to Hailey tomorrow when we go visit her.  I also went to JoAnn’s and picked up some things for the Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.  

When I got home,  we took Adam home visited for a while.  It was nice to see Abi again.  Nice to see Hope too.  I’m so glad she is feeling better.  I invited both girls for Thanksgiving when we have it next Saturday.   Eli and Jared showed us their new guns.  They are so nice.   Jared sent us coupons so we could each pick up a box of amo for a good price.  We went to Dunham’s to get it after we left their house.  We walked through the mall, got some candy from St. Laurent’s and some more shoebox things at Hobby Lobby.  Bill went out to get the truck to come pick me up, but I didn’t see him so I walked outside.  He was just walking back.  We both got mixed up and thought out truck should be right there.  Well it wasn’t, so we went back in and had to go out the other door into the mall and then go out where we came in the mall.  We had seen the name Hobby Lobby and stopped at the entrance past that.  Therefore we figured the entrance was right next to where you walk out of Hobby Lobby.  Wrong!  The entrance we parked by just had a lit up sign saying Hobby Lobby, but it wasn’t the actual entrance.  We got some extra steps thought so that was ok.

When we got home, Bill touched up a couple of spots in the basement, that needed grey paint over them.  Then he poured the rest of the paint back into the big container and washed the paint brush.  We relaxed after that.

Fri., 11/15/24, Vikki came over, Kimmy came over, Adam came over after school, Jared, Eli and Adam came over after hunting, went to Sue’s, Adam put the base coat on the basement floor and painted poles in basement and some other needed areas

Two happy hunters going hunting today!  

Eli chilling waiting for the deer to come

Sue’s Kit Kat being naughty...she gave her the same name as my kitty

I didn’t have my phone so I had Jacob take Adam’s picture.  I sure am glad he took the second one!!!

Adam painting the boles and supports.  He does a great job and is so fast.  He takes after his parents....they trained him well!!!

I got up at 4 a.m. and put chicken in the crockpot so it would be done at 12:30. I went back to bed after that.  I got up again at 8.  I ate a piece of Carol’s banana bread for breakfast and had coffee with it.  Yum!  Vikki got here right after I got the coffee going.  Kimmy came a few minutes later.  We enjoyed hanging out until Vikki had to leave for work.  After she left, Kimmy, put the first layer of sprackling over the patch she used to patch a hole in the wall.  Then she and I went to Jacques Apple Orchard and picked up some Granny Smith Apples.  We met Melissa at Walmart after that and we got our over the counter stuff.  Melissa went home afterwards because she forgot to tell Max she was leaving.  We came back and Kimmy gave the patched spot another coat and also did a corner that needed filling in where lots of small gaps were.  She did a great job!  She talked to Jared and they had seen a deer in the far distance, then saw 4 running high speed.  They didn’t get a shot at one though.  Vikki stopped back over and we had chicken noodle casserole for lunch.   She stayed til she had to pick the kids up from school.  After she left, I talked to Sue and went over to see her and dropped off some chicken casserole to her.  I visited with her for a while, then came back home.  Jared, Jacob and Eli had come over after being home from hunting. When I got home, they were leaving to take the king size mattress from the upstairs bed and were trading it for Vikki and Rody’s king size mattress.  Vikki thinks she will sleep better on this one.  I sure am praying so.  She needs good rest. Her mattress is a really good one, it just isn’t comfy for her.   Everyone who wanted chicken casserole ate.  Adam was working on the basement and didn’t want to eat til later, so I made him a pizza when he was almost finished with the base coat for the floor.  He got a lot done again.  We played 3-13 and it was pretty close til the end.  I was in the lead until the last hand and then Adam got a pat hand winning hand and stuck me with 6 points.  I came in second and Bill came in last.  We had fun and snacked on M & M’s and cashews while we played.  Adam was tired after that and went to bed.  It was 11;15.  My bedtime too.  So I went to bed after doing my blog.  Bill is a night owl and has been staying up til midnight.  

 

Thurs., 11/14/24, Electrician got our power back on, Bill picked up hand warmer for Kimmy, took me to look at the house of the person who sold it,went to Menards, went to Kroger’s,

Basement after Bill and I moved all of the stuff except treadmill and paint stuff to other two rooms

My Christmas Cactus is getting lots of blossoms.  I love watching it.

I was waiting to hear from Vikki to find out if her car started.  Last night it wouldn’t start after she picked Peyton up from Youth Group.  Some people there helped her get it started and Rody came too.  She was going to call me this morning if it didn’t start so I could go give them rides to school.  I got a message from her saying it started.  I was so thankful that she has her car working.  

Around 9, the electrician Bill called came.  He found the electrical problem right away and we got our power back.  It was the box that our generator connects with.  Two switches were off.  We had no idea that could affect the power if it wasn’t plugged in.  Then the electrician walked through the house and tested everything and told us what we need to do to upgrade.  He was very nice.  Bill was getting a check written out to him and he told Bill there was no charge.  They do a free inspection for all of their customers.  Bill did make him take $40 though because he fixed our problem and we were so happy he found it fast and it was so easy.  We sure thanked God lots.  We had prayed right before the guy came that he would have wisdom from God and would find it fast and it would be east to take care of.  We sure got an amazing answer from God.  

Bill went to pick up a hand warmer and some lighter fluid Kimmy found on Facebook Market Place.  She just got one from the estate sale we went to and it works so well, she wanted both Eli and Jared to have one.  Bill talked to the guy selling it and he was selling his house and told Bill he was selling it for $280,000.  Bill wanted me to go look at it with him.  I did, but prayed for God to shut the door and make Bill not want it if it wasn’t His will.  We got there and it had a huge shed probably 8 times as big as ours or more.  Bill wanted me to like it so he said, see it’s a one story.  A car pulled in and Bill wanted me to walk with him and see if it was the guys wife or the realtor. It was the wife, so Bill asked if we could go through the house.  She said yes, but said it was a mess because they were packing up to move.  I only liked the sun porch, but didn’t like anything else about the house.  She said it is on 5 acres.  I don’t want more land, I want less.

Bill didn’t really like the house either.  The wife of the guy said they were selling it for 350,000.  I sure was thanking the Lord for closing the door.  

We went to Menards and got some sprackling and patches to fix a spot there a rocking chair leg went through the wall.  We also need to fix spots in one corner.  We went to Kroger next and got a Turkey and a ham.  Turkeys were 49 cents a lb there.  We got home and unloaded the groceries and put them away.  

Kimmy called and I met Jared at the Fencing place and gave him the hand warmer and lighter fluid.  He and Eli are going hunting tomorrow.  I am praying they are kept safe as well as all of the other hunters and that those two each get a big one.  

I did my therapy exercises, then my blog, then relaxed with Bill sitting next to me. I love and appreciate him so much.