Friday, May 30, 2014

Nifty Tool

We have this BIG new washer...

Yes, it's Big
and it's 
Deep!



It's rather hard for this short Nana
to reach the last few things at the bottom.

I placed a little stool beside the washer to help me out.
I often would say as I reached for stuff....
"I'm going in"....!
Just in case I needed rescued from the depths =)

On Monday
Christy and Kim went to some yard sales.

They found this nifty contraption for me...

No kidding!
And we had plenty of laughs about it.

☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

Well, lookie here...


It works for me.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Money well spent.
Yes indeed!

Happy Friday to you!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Beauty All Around ♥

We live in a pretty partially wooded area. One of our neighbors told me it's a pretty time of the year to move into this neighborhood. I couldn't agree more.

The azaleas are now finished and last week the rhododendrons started to bloom. Oh my, how beautiful!!

These are in front of the living room windows.


At the side of the house


Another view from the front porch.



These are hydrangeas.
I was told they usually bloom from the stalk
but with our harsh winter, the stalks died.
Thank goodness they are hardy enough to not be totally gone.
But, they won't bloom this year.
Really, I'm just so thankful to have them.

Yesterday I worked at the old house. We are having a yard sale there on Saturday. My first yard sale ever! So much to do to get ready.........would have been easier to give it all away.

The rest of the family worked here at the new house. Dale worked at putting up ceiling tile in our area in the basement. Corey hung some pictures. Christy and I tried to make decisions about where to hang more pictures after I got back home. We tried moving some furniture in different spots in the living room to see where we liked the placement best. We have another old piece that we want to refinish which will go in that room...actually there are two old pieces that we'd like to refinish, not sure both will go in that room though. Anyway, we just can't seem to figure it out, ugh. We need a designer...wait, I have a very talented nephew who is a designer =). Too bad he is very busy in DC....and sometimes around the world!

Our challenging room - 


Looking from the foyer.


Looking from the dining room.


That couch is very heavy so we need to place it where it will stay. It won't be staying in that spot. We tried, we don't like. I'm sure we will figure it out someday!

Besides the yard sale, I'm working on a baby shower for our daughter, Greta, in June. And our grand, Aidan, has a birthday June 7 and there will be parties for that. Our real estate agent is planning a housewarming for us also in June. We hope to settle on our old property the end of June...that means the house must be empty and clean by then. Whew, June will be a crazy month!!

Time to make dinner again.....my days go so very fast. Bless you today!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Sister Time

As promised, here are more pictures from time spent with two of the six sisters  =)

After spending a long time shopping at an awesome consignment store,
we walked through the conservatory again this year.
Much cooler weather than last year
but still a wonderful place to be!

I loved this planter.
Took a pic so I can remember to 
do something like it in my 
big blue pots next Spring!


Tulips were still beautiful
although they are at the end of the growing season.


Mary Ellen captures them with her camera.


Loved these!!
Want some!



We had clouds, sun, drizzle...
How nice of the sun to come out as we approached this reflecting pool.


Love the chairs!


Walking the path to the 'boardwalk' 
where we sat on the benches and
talked and talked and talked.
The sun warmed us while we stayed.
Lovely!!

Blue skies!

After that we headed to the Creamery.
It's a very famous Penn State stop.
My first time there.


Oh, the servings were 
SO big....
and SO delicious!!

From there we headed to a mall where we shopped at Macy's. 
We don't have a local Macy's
so this is a treat for Mary Ellen and me.
Yes, I found some clothes that I love =)

Back to Jeanie's house again.
She made us a delicious soup.

We relaxed...

Jeanie read some funny stories from her humor file....

and we watched a movie.
We didn't mind Jeanie's hubby joining us =)


Sunday morning came fast.
We were up late, of course!


Coffee on the sunny little patio
just like we did last year.

We enjoyed a wonderful church service
where Jeanie is the worship leader.

We have more coffee before the service begins!


After church Jeanie and I soak up some rays 
before going for lunch.


Jeanie's adorable Grandson, Austin, and

...his adorable parents
joined us for lunch.

Their pastor and her mother also joined us.
How nice!

The meal was delicious.

All too soon it was time to head back home to Lancaster again.
Another wonderful Sister Time in my memory forever ♥








Monday, May 19, 2014

Sister Time ♥

Sisters are the BEST! I have a bunch of them. This past Saturday and Sunday was spent in State College with my sister Jean and my sister Mary Ellen. Jean lives in State College,  little more than a 2 hour drive from here. Our other sisters live too far away.....we will see them in July, yeah!

It's been a busy day for me, too busy to write a post. So this will have to do....

Here we are, having a wonderful time
enjoying our time together.
Aren't the chairs neat?!!

I'll post more tomorrow.

Bless you this lovely but cool Monday! 


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Getting used to the new

Moving to a new home means getting used to new things. Oh, that fact has been so true for me the past 12 days!


Gas cook top - 

I have always cooked with electric.
Always.
This is gas and I'm learning to
love it!
Awesome cook top, yes??

Everything in one two - 

This is one set of fancy ovens.
It's a microwave.
Its a convection oven.
It bakes.
Figuring our how to get the lower oven on has caused me some sighs!
Figuring out how to use the microwave, the same.
I think I almost have it figured out. 
Most of it, anyway =)

Dish...

Will I ever have this thing in the know??
We had a simple control.
I knew the numbers for the stations I wanted to watch.
We didn't have DVR.
(it's nice to have but I haven't figured it all out yet)
We didn't even have HD.
Wow.
It's really nice...
I'm sure I'll get it all down pat someday!

Light switches - 

There are so many of them!!


This, my friends, I will never have to figure out - 

I LOVE this spot!!

And a parting shot - 

Sweet Zoe ♥

Blessings to you today!

Monday, May 12, 2014

Catch up Post

Catching up....

Last Sunday (day after moving day) Ellen had her first Challenger Baseball game. (it was actually the second game...she missed the first one) It was a very chilly day. Felt like the kids should have been playing football instead!

There she is....
her White Sox t-shirt is under that 
Challenger Cheering sweatshirt =)


Zoe and I made our first cake at the new house on Wednesday. Aidan was very tired from a field trip to Lake Tobias that day, so he chose to chill on the sofa and watch some TV.

Zoe is a good little baker ♥

Dale has been bringing me lilacs from our old house. The bushes are not full again this year and they look like they took a beating from the harsh winter. I'm thrilled to have one small bush at the new house, too.


They are my favorite!!

Christy and I have been blessed with Mother's Day flowers!


Snapdragon's from Ellen ♥


A mini rose plant from Gina ♥


Cards and flowers from Aidan and Zoe to their Mommy
and one from church.
We also have another purple flower from church ♥

Yesterday after church we ate at our favorite hometown eating place, Manheim Twin Kiss, for lunch. Most of our kids ate there too. After lunch we visited our precious Grandma Mary before heading home.We were expecting our kids, at least some of them, to show up for the evening. They did....all except Greta and Lynn who had a busy day.

We ate dinner on the deck....such a beautiful evening!!

Aidan, with his parents.
Zoe had fallen asleep on the sofa.
She woke up and joined us later.


Fairy Paityn =)


Precious Brinley...
wow, she stayed still long enough to snap a picture!


Marcy decided to sit with Paityn for dinner,
leaving Scott to take care of the busy Brinley =)


That was a nice gift to Mommy =)



Kim and Andrew came after work.

What does the Fahnestock bunch do in the warm weather months?? Make S'mores, of course!!

Preparations underway =)


The lack of a fire pit will not stop this tradition!
Scott tries a new fangled contraption he found.


 Christy roasted the marshmallows the traditional way.


Andrew agreed to try the first one =)
It was filled with gooey marshmallows!


I can see the sun set through the trees....

Call me happy =)

The week end went way too fast...but a new week is always a blessing! 
Blessings to you today!