Friday, February 27, 2015

March is on it's way, yeah!

Not much going on here in cold PA. We continue to get little snows and freezing temps....32 would feel amazing!! It's 18 right now. The sun is shining and that alone is a mood lifter for me.


I'm even more excited to see March come than I was to see January end. It has been a very cold February! 

Last week I noticed this beautiful sight. I'm usually busy with meal prep and miss the sunset. It's not in perfect view of any window in this house. And, not at all in view when leaves are on the trees. 


Here's Zoe on her birthday this week. I surprised her with a little cake. She thought we weren't having cake because we had cupcakes at her party on Sunday. 

I stopped at Darrenkamp's for a few groceries and wandered by the bakery :)  This little cake with purple icing had Zoe written all over it. The bakery staff had  gone home for the day so I couldn't get her name actually written on it :)  She didn't mind. Love this sweet pea!

Blessings for your day. Stay warm! I'm trying to as well (it's a struggle at best....)!


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Let's Celebrate Zoe!

Sunday -
We celebrated a special little girl who will be  5 this week - Zoe!

Fun times ahead!



First, we eat pizza and salad and chips =)
The kitchen truly is the heart of the home!


The kids gather around Zoe as she opens her gifts.








Zoe loves clothes =)




Whew, this is hard work!!


Time for cake!!
5 Candles.
Singing, Happy Birthday to You, Dear Zoe!
Dig In!!


Brinley says, It's mm-mm good ♥


What a fun day! A BIG thank you to all who came to celebrate sweet Zoe!!

Friday, February 20, 2015

The Lost is Found and several back stories

This morning I was getting my contacts ready to place on my eyeballs and I glanced up. Why, I don't know. Wait....what's that I see??


No way!! The glasses that I thought fell out of my car onto a snowy parking lot [2 days ago] were staring back at me!! I  guess they were there all this time....why  didn't I see them before this?!! I never put them there, never. Surely I looked there yesterday. 

Maybe not. 
guess I didn't =/ 

(before I took this pic, I had picked them up and placed them down again. I think they were closer to the stack of wash clothes but I'm not certain. Anyway, I didn't see them before this morning!!)


I always use the lower shelf for the pair I'm not needing. The two have different purposes. 

I had a dream this morning. In that dream, my glasses were found by someone I had just recently seen and talked to.... Someone I hadn't seen in years!! Anyway,  this person called me and said they would mail them to me. I was thrilled! But then, in my dream, I got to thinking how long it would take for me to get them. I must sing on Sunday at church (really need my glasses) and if they were put in the mail on Friday, I wouldn't get them till Monday even though they were sent locally....this thought process was all part of the dream!!

Back story.....last week I mailed my little local Grands and my Great-Grand in Baltimore, a Valentine card. I didn't want them to come early so I mailed them on Friday. I knew that Kaden wouldn't get his on Saturday and was sad I didn't think of that earlier. Of course two of the cards were coming right back to the same mailbox they left in because we live with 2 of our Grands. How sad that the cards were not the mailbox the next day, Valentine's day!! A FB friend had the same happen to her and we realized next day service for local mail is a thing of the past. What?? Monday was a holiday so the cards came 3 days late :(. To my surprise, Kaden got his the very same day as our local Grands. Crazy, isn't it? 

So all that was on my mind even in my dreams! 

I was SO surprised and thrilled to find those glasses this morning. I will have them to help me see the words I need to sing on Sunday :) 

So why two pairs of glasses? 

Another back story....
My vision for distance is very impaired. I've been wearing glasses since first grade. Somewhere along the years I started wearing contacts. As I got older, I needed reading glasses, too, to read. Taking glasses on and off gets old!! So, as a Christmas gift one year, our kids told me to pick out two pairs of frames...they were giving me glasses!! The one I was looking for yesterday is what I wear with my contacts. They contain a progressive lense...no correction on the top, correction on bottom so I can see and read! It really works for me! The other one has my full prescription/ progressive lense. I wear them when not wearing the contacts. Again, it really works for me. Except, when I can't find them....or lose them. I'm not telling you about the other pair I lost and never found. Nope, not telling! It's too embarrassing. 

So there you have it and probably more than you cared to know! Humor me , it's cold outside and brain cells are sluggish :) 

11:47a.....was below 0 earlier this morning. 

 Take care, stay warm!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

This and That


So far this week we've had a little bit of snow several times, extreme cold and wind. There's been sunshine too. Today it's sunny, windy and SO cold. Eight degrees and windy is cold !

 Christy, Zoe and I decided to shop at a 'new to us' grocery store in Ephrata. For those who are local, have you heard of Ebenezer Groceries? We found many great buys. Organic and gluten free items are abundant. Look what I found for me....

These are really good! There are four individually wrapped whoopie pies in the box. They were frozen and I'll keep them in the freezer. Oh, the price.....2 for $3.00!!

 Had one with my coffee this afternoon. I'm a happy girl! 

If you can stand another snow pic....this was taken one morning this week....or maybe last week. 


We had a snow squall last evening around 8.....it snowed like crazy for about 5 min. where it was impossible to see.  It started to snow as I was waiting for Ellen to get back from work to take her home. The heavy snow happen just as we were leaving for home. I pulled into Applebee's parking lot to wait it out. Oh my, I do not like snow. Driving in snow is even worse. I was SO glad to get home. 

So this morning I couldn't find my glasses. I thought maybe they were in the car....I didn't see them anywhere in the house. Oh no, they were not in the car!! I looked again in my purse, and again around the house but they were not anywhere. I take them off to drive and was thinking I didn't get out anywhere. But, yes I did!! Ellen needed a bathroom and we went into Applebee's! I have a sinking feeling they may have fallen out of the car....I called and was told no one turned in a pair of glasses. I can't believe I could have been so careless, even though I was stressing about the snow.....

Buying glasses is in the really near future, I suppose. 


This sweetie has a birthday next week. We celebrate with family on Sunday. She is so excited!!
How can she soon be 5 already??? 
Sweet Zoe. 

Please stay warm! And, please pray for an early Spring!!




Monday, February 16, 2015

Cold, Frozen, Lazy Days

Cold......

At 7:30 this morning.

By 10 the temp rose to 0.

At least it's not windy at the moment.

All night long, Saturday to Sunday morning, it was very windy and very cold. I did not sleep good at all. The wind blew against the back of the house and frozen water pipes in the upstairs bathroom was discovered in the morning. 

The guys went to work.

First they thawed the pipes.
Then Hubby cut some holes to investigate the inside of the walls
to see where the problem was.
Corey used his phone to take pictures inside the walls.

(they still aren't sure where the air is getting in)

Hubby found some insulation to stuff around the pipes.
He used a yardstick to push it where it needed to be.

Hubby tried to keep the holes to a minimum.
I was expecting something much worse!


It's fun to discover a piece of how the room once looked....
wall color and trim behind the crown molding.

I prefer what we  have now ☺

Carpenter Hubby will fix the holes again. Hopefully we will find paint to match!

Today is a Holiday.

Aidan and Zoe are taking it easy.
It just might be a PJ day =)


Outside our windows.....







Had to check to see if it's still there....
Yes, my chair is waiting for me for whenever it's nice enough to enjoy again.
Can't wait ♥

But not yet. More snow is on the way tonight into tomorrow morning. 

Spring will come! I know it will. 

Blessings to you this very cold Monday. Bundle up!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day!



Happy Hearts Day.....

From our Bunch to Yours!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Two Grands

Precious. That's what this is....



Oh how I love these boys!!
Grandsons Andrew and Carson =)


Extreme cold is heading our way today....I'll be buried under a pile of covers. See you in Spring, haha!



Thursday, February 5, 2015

What's Happening at our House

Wow, it's Thursday. Already! This week has flown by.

Not much new around here......it's still cold. And windy. Except for yesterday. One day, yesterday, it was near 40 and sunny and delightful! I felt like ditching my coat and bringing out the flip flops☺ Well, maybe not the flip flops.

Here's a few great things happening....


  • Look at my new hand mixer.....
It's green ♥

I love the color green. I've not had a hand mixer in ages. Sometimes I just don't feel like pulling out the big Kitchen aide when a small mixer will do the job. My daughter, Kim, got me this one for Christmas. There was a mistake in the delivery so it came after Christmas. She wrapped a box with the picture of it for me to open. Cute!! I have put it to good use several times.

  • We were hungry for cake on Sunday. So Zoe and I got to work and we mixed up a chocolate cake. It was Super Bowl Sunday so we tried to decorate to celebrate the game. 
We tried ☺

I was told it was very good. I had a tiny sliver. 
(because this cake is not gluten free!)

  • My family pulled together a wonderful party even though we didn't do a stitch of planning ahead. 
These two bring lots of fun to our bunch....
Scott (married to our Marcy)
Lynn (married to our Greta).

Love the expressions!!

Lynn is frying wings.
Scott is working on several sauces.

The wings were out of this world good!!

Scott's parents joined us for the evening. It was so good to have them here, They have hosted our family for many a Super Bowl over the years. 

  • The kids had such a good time dancing at half time. Actually, Brinley and Zoe started before half time!
They were so much fun to watch!


Paityn and Aidan do their share of dancing too!

What a wonderful family time, once again. Most of our family are Eagles fans, but were rooting for  Seattle on Sunday. Everyone but Ellen and Aidan. They were happy campers at the end of the game!


  • I keep working at putting away Winter and getting out the hearts. Yesterday I was able to get out and purchase a few cheap inexpensive things to add to the few items I already have. I decorated the wreath.....
None of the pictures got very good.
I think it looks better than this.
(pardon the battery box hanging there....I didn't see that before the picture was taken!)

I'm working on the mantle.
I enjoy decorating!

  • I did a lot of laundry today. The last load is in the dryer. It's soon time to get Aidan at the bus stop. Then I must make dinner for the family. Not for me, though, because the 'Basement Girls' are going out for dinner tonight. Can't wait! Who are the Basement Girls? 5 ladies who had offices in the basement....only one of us is still there. The rest of us have moved on but we love getting together several times a year. We all feel blessed by our continued  friendship. 
Blessings to you on this cold and blustery Thursday! Bundle up, stay warm!