April 21-27, 2019 Easter,Giz and Grampy Visit Concludes, Prom, Chainsawing and Strings Performance

April 21-27, 2019 
April 21-27, 2019 Easter, Giz and Grampy Visit Concludes, Prom, Chainsawing and Strings Performance

  

Hello Friends!



Spring:

Sunday began with our church hosting an Easter Breakfast meal at 8 am.  Jim actually made GF pancakes for Teresa and me!  He added cinnamon applesauce to the mix and they tasted so good!  Plus, it was just SO nice for someone to think of me and go to the trouble!  

After breakfast, we headed over to our church auditorium for our Strings Group warm-up's before church started.  I helped teach Sunday School, for the Ladies Group, after the service.  Because so many people were having special lunches with their family our normal leader couldn't stay.  Then there were only two girls in the Teen class, so Dd and Rebekah joined our class.  We are still doing: Entrusted (study on 2nd Timothy) by Beth Moore.

After church we five went out to eat at China Buffet; G&G wanted to treat us to one meal while they were here.  After lunch, I took my normal nap, and Dh chatted with his parents.

Sunday night we finally broke out the UNO, PIT, and Skip-Bo cards and laughed up a storm!  Wow, did we laugh a lot.

Monday:  Plans with Grampy

Dh took off Monday and Tuesday to be home with his visiting parents.  Giz and Grampy, Dh's parents, drove up from Indiana to spend a few days with us and help us get a few chores done.  We've lived here 4 1/2 years now and still have barely touched the surface of getting this house fixed up.  When Dh talked with Grampy about what they could work on while here Dh said Grampy kept coming back to cutting wood---his favorite hobby! 

 Giz:

Giz's health has really taken a major blow the past two years, so much so that I don't encourage her to do any chores when she visits anymore.  She usually finds a few things to do, that she wants to do, that hopefully don't push her too much.  After two years of recovering from knee surgery, heart surgery, and then liver duct repair surgery she has really been through the wringer.  Now her eyes are really fading fast as her Macular Degeneration has taken off and her vision isn't doing well.  All the issues have also affected her personality, she has changed a lot.  It is hard for all of us, her most of all I'd think, to see this as her new normal and accept she isn't going to go back to her old self.  Life is a lot darker and harder for her now--figuratively and literally.  

Before

Monday: Dh and Grampy: Molding

Last April when G&G visited they planned and bought all the molding to put up around the door we had replaced the year before.  The new door wasn't as big as the first door so we needed a very expansive molding to make up for the difference.  



They got it all figured and the visit ended and that was that.  During the fall, last year, I stained and sealed all that molding but Dh never had time to put it up.  So, when Dh asked me what chores I wished they could work on I quickly suggested they finish the job they have been unable to finish for almost 2 years now!  

After

And guess what...they did!  They didn't put up one of the molding layers, but it looks SO much better!  Yay!!!!  Yay!!!!

Monday: Giz, Dd, and me:

Giz kept herself occupied for most of the day.  She decided to weed around the pool.  She sat on one bucket and used another bucket to hold the dead leaves and weeds.  Meanwhile, Dd did her homework somewhat during the day.  Then in the evening, she had Dh help her with her Algebra while G, G, and I sat there watching.  I planted some more seedlings in tubs, planted some greens, beets, spinach in the outside garden.  Last July, when G&G visited they brought up a section of Dh's favorite flower, a peony, and I planted in a shady safe spot.  Since it has just popped out of the dirt and doing well I replanted it to our front garden, it's a permanent home.  It took right to its new place and continued to shoot up.

Monday: Mooville

Since we all (except Dd) had physically worked really hard all day we figured this would be a good evening to go to Mooville.  Mooville is a special ice cream place, their ice cream is so good you don't mind driving the thirty minutes to get there!  I'm glad it is that far away or I might be tempted to go there more often!  

Tuesday: Giz, Dd, and I to thrift store:

Giz had asked for us to take her to our local thrift store; she needed some specific white/cream colored shirt for church.  I'm not sure if she found what she was hoping for, but we all found a few things.  I found a pair of cotton khaki pants that will be great for gardening. 

Grampy/ Dd Swing Chair:

Grampy took Dd to Ace Hardware to buy hardware to hang the hammock chair they had bought her for Christmas two years ago.  She decided she wanted to have it installed by our deck table where she could sit in it and do her reading. 



 It didn't take too long before they got it all up and ready.  Giz sat in it and found she liked it so well she is insisting Grampy find another for her and hang one for her too---maybe even inside her house!

Tuesday: Chili:

While Grampy and Dd were working on the chair Dh was put to work making his chili!  



He puts it in a crock pot and leaves the lid on only until it boils, then he takes the lid off and lets it evaporate to make a thick chili.  



Apparently, Giz likes a wet chili because I spent the day walking past the crock pot and taking the lid off and she would walk by and put the lid back on!!!! 



 It turned out good even if it was in the middle of a tug-of-war!  



We had it for dinner, and I made GF cornbread to go with it.

Tuesday: Grampy and Dh: Huge Tree

Grampy brought his super big chainsaw to work on a tree that had fallen during the winter.  It is such a massive tree that his biggest chainsaw was perfect to help get this tree reduced. 



 Giz sat on a stump for hours watching the guys work.  I had to laugh because when I'd go to check on the progress I'd see Grampy working the hardest---and he will be 84 years old next month!!!

Chainsawing beside the front road:

Since the fella's were using Grampy's chainsaw I took ours to the front woods and worked there by myself.  I cut for hours!  I really cleaned up that area!  



I was really surprised at how much I accomplished and how sore I was by the end of the day!!  



My night's sleep was pretty awful, I was so stiff.   I also hurt my left hand-- I don't know if a bee stung me or if a poisonous thorny plant pricked me, but, wowzers, did my hand hurt and swell. It continued to get worse for days and I had to take off my wedding ring.

Tuesday: Giz and Dd to Thrift Store:

Dd has been invited to go with her girlfriends to KCTC's Prom.  She had seen, and tried on, a blue prom dress at our thrift store on Monday.  She decided that was the dress she wanted and Giz offered to go with her back to the store to see if it was still there.  I thought she might wear one of the two dresses she found last year, but she wanted this blue one.

Tuesday: Evening:

Dd had her days portion of Algebra to do with Dh in the evening.  After her math homework was finally completed we all went to the dining room table and brought out the Skip-Bo and UNO cards.  We laughed and laughed and laughed!  It was a great end to the day and to Giz and Grampy's visit.  I could tell Giz especially was really tired and ready to go home.  She is always ready to leave before Grampy and had been bringing up her stuff to their truck for two days.  It didn't help that this visit Dd wasn't on Spring Break and had to spend so many day hours on her lessons leaving Giz with nothing to do and kind of hanging.

Wednesday: G&G head home:

We all woke up early on Wednesday.  Dh had to go back to his work and the real world and G&G had an 8-hour drive back home.  After we all had eaten our breakfast Dd came downstairs to say goodbye to her grandparents.  

Wed: Dd and I:

Dd got on her homework and I started adjusting to the transition again.  It is always a whirlwind of emotions having G & G visit, made even harder having to see Giz struggle and change.  Dh's day was really hard with the machine he helps maintain wasn't working.  He came home and split wood for most of the night and admitted he did too much.

Olympians:

Dd and I went to Olympians.  We just have two more regular nights and then the party on May 15th.  It has been a really good year and I feel like we've done a fairly good job sharing Jesus with two girls especially.

Thursday: Migraine

Migraine.  After doing my morning chores my migraine continued to build.  I finally took a Maxalt and that ended up taking me down.  I went to bed and felt like a deflated balloon.  By the afternoon was able to mentally focus enough to get into my Bible study---Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer.  I'm glad I had all that time to really focus on my study and dig right in.  I felt super guilty that I wasn't able to work and get lots of chores done.  Migraines really stink and make me look lazy on those awful days; such a bummer.  

Friday:

Dh had the specialist come in yesterday to work on the broken machine, and still, on Friday the parts aren't in and the machine is in pieces.  He had a rough week.  Dd's alarm clock didn't go off and she over-slept a bit.  Luckily she still left the house at her normal time, she just didn't have a lot of getting her hair fixed like she normally does--no biggie.  



Chickens:
The chickens are doing very well and enjoying being outside.  I've been picking many clumps of grass and greens.  The chickens slurp them up like spaghetti noodles!  They love greens so much!  I'm glad I can pick greens for the girls.  I've decided to not buy any chicks this year; the coop is plenty full even if the older ones seem to have stopped laying.

Lots of seeds have sprouted and are growing fast!

PROM:
Saturday was Dd's prom!  She went to a different prom this year and with a different group of girls.  She thought the church, where the prom was held at, was much bigger (better for dancing) and had a much better sound system for the music.  



Prom was an all-day event this year.  They all met up at J&J's house--J&J are twin sisters and they invited Dd to attend with them this year.  They met at 12:30 and got dressed---hair, make-up, and prom dresses.  Then they were chauffeured to the park to have their pictures taken.  After pictures, they went to eat dinner at Culvers before heading over to the dance that started at 6:30.  After all the fun and dancing they went to McDonald's before heading home, IN THE SNOW!  Can you believe it?!!  She said it was really coming down in Grand Rapids, luckily in our town, it must have been a little bit warmer because we only received rain.




Dd isn't the over-sharing type, so all I was told was: "It was a lot of fun." I did manage to get a list of the bullet points from her later.  She was really tired and that is always a sure sign she had a good time. 

Dd's Academic Progress For the Week:

Bible:

Church, Sunday School, Olympians, and Independent Bible Study with Word of Life and Awaken: 90 Days with a God that Waits

Volunteering:

1 1/2 at the library--Story Hour

1 1/2 at church-- Olympians (games)

Grace Co-op Classes:

Cultural Geography (BJU)

Spanish I (BJU and DuoLingo)

Algebra I (Saxon)

Introductory Logic

Exploring Economics (Ray Notgrass)



Next Week:



Back to Normal--no Giz and Grampy, no prom, no birthday gifts (Giz and Grampy had brought her gifts up and let her open them with them).  Hoping for a nice, boring week!!!

.............

April 14-20, 2019 Giz and Grampy Visit, Snow, Downtown Library, Strings Group

April 14-20, 2019 
Giz and Grampy Visit, Snow, Downtown Library, and Strings Group

Hello Friends,

We had picked up some of our church's youth group to spend the night on Saturday for Dd's birthday.  Saturday was the fun day; we all played two games of bowling followed by more fun at our house.  By Sunday morning the snow started with a vengeance; accumulating 4-5 inches in the end.  The girls had a good breakfast---croissants with Nutella and chocolate cupcakes before church.  We had four girls spend the night and had to take the van to church to accommodate all of us, instead of the trusty Subaru that is the easiest to drive in the snow.  

Dd and Hailee at the downtown library on Wednesday

 Dh seems to have a knack for getting the van to do better in the snow than I do, so he drove!  The boiler (heat source) at church broke and we all sat in the cold during our Sunday morning services.  Due to the snowy and icy roads, evening services were canceled; mind you it was April 14th!!  Michigan's springs don't really warm up until May.

Spring Break:

Dd is on spring break this week.  Sunday and Monday she was still pretty tired from all the excitement of her church girls spending Saturday night with us and coming to church with us.  Luckily Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was able to give her (and me some too) some valuable sofa recuperate time.  

Grand Rapids Downtown Library:

Wednesday, Hailee came over so we could all go down to the library together; she had never been!  They have a little section for their used book sale that we enjoyed shopping.  Dd found two audio's and a book on card games to share with the "L" family and I found a non-fiction book about Theodore Roosevelt that Dh should like.  

Afterward, we drove around downtown trying to find the place where the GR Symphony plays and that was quite tricky!  First of all, we didn't know which building housed them and had to look it up on phones and GPS's, which gave us two different answers!  We did eventually figure out it is the DeVos Place and drove in front of it and due to the congestion on the roads I was driving so slow, I saved it on my GPS for the future when I want to take the girls (or myself).

Spring Signs:

What a week of endless new things---

 Cute little black and yellow rolly bumblebees

Flies

DragonFly

(Last week I saw butterflies twice!)

Grasses popping up

Green bulb greens growing taller

Close up of the mosaic tiling at the downtown Grand Rapids library

 New At our Feeder:

Yellow Goldfinch

Baltimore Oriole
and the usuals: Black-capped Chickadee's, Cardinal's, Tufted Titmouse, squirrels, and chipmunks.  The Mourning Dove's that had stayed for a while have moved on already.

Woods:

I found an old empty box turtle shell.

I've been spending time pulling thorny weeds out; it seems like spring is always the easiest time to pull on these.  In the summer they are really rooted in, but in the early spring, they can sometimes be surprisingly easy to pull.  By the end of the week, I found an old brown bottle with a tiny mouth.  I don't know if it was a beer bottle, but I suspect that is probably the case.

See all the branches and sticks I've piled up on the side of the walk?  I've done that all over the woods on all my paths, it is quite extensive.

Working on my Trails!!!  I've added three new paths the past month.  Right now is the best time to be pulling up old trees and branches---before the mosquitoes and poison ivy take over!

Easter/Strings Group:

Giz came with Dd and me to our Strings Group practice.  We plan on playing three songs on Easter.

Barred Owl above our pool in the evergreens

Thursday Giz and Grampy Arrived!
We really only have Dh's parents as "family" that interact with us outside of the Christmas party.  It is always a treat when they come to visit us.  Dh's parents arrived around 3pm on Thursday.  I had to really hustle to get the house tidy enough for a mother-in-law visit!  I always especially want to have the spare bedroom perfect for them and that took me all morning to achieve!  They are planning on arriving on Thursday and leaving next Wednesday at 7 am.

Giz has macular degeneration and her eyesight is slowly fading away.  She brought her new gizmo that she uses to read the paper and her Bible with.  It is really hard on her to be positive when her health and eyesight take turns getting more difficult.  

Lunch Meat:
Giz has become a super fan of lunch meat over the years.  They brought enough lunch meat for us to eat for a week!  I actually don't eat lunch meat, due to the nitrates increasing the likelihood of migraines, but they sure do enjoy their sandwiches!  She also brought three bags of chips...she knows I don't usually buy that kind of food and enjoys 'treating' Dd with the chips.  Unfortunately, I have a weak spot for chips and ended up eating too much of it.  Giz made me some chocolate cupcakes that were GF and very tasty.  She made Lemon Cake for Dd and Dh.





Thursday:
Giz came with Dd and I to shop at our thrift store, she was looking for a specific type of shirt for church.  She found a few things, as did Dd and I!  Dh had to work a little late, but was so glad to see his parents when he got home.  





Friday:
Chainsawing Grampy:
Dh had to work on Friday, but Grampy found lots of things to work on without him.  He decided to cut down the scrub trees behind our garden, an area that really needed a lot of work.  He cut and cut and I happily cleared up all the branches and wood.  




Garbage Disposal:
Grampy tried to fix the garbage disposal---but it was broken again in a few days.  He did try to help, but it is dead.  Perhaps we will eventually get a replacement, but I get the feeling it isn't a priority.




Timer:
Grampy tried to fix the automatic timer in the chicken coop, but it didn't work.  I don't mind walking out to turn off and on the lights, but it would have been nice to have the lights hooked up to a timer system that would turn on and off the lights without effort.

I've been planting lots of seeds and continuing to add more to my selection.  The mass of green is Roma Tomatoes!  We also had some heirloom Marzano and Black Prince Tomatoes---all of the tomato seeds were from last year that I harvested.  I also planted a few different squashes, kales, Morning Glory flowers, Basil (my favorite!), Thyme...etc..

Dinner:
Giz and Dd worked together to make dinner, they are both 'foodie' people that make cooking look so easy and effortless.  They made mashed potatoes, yummy Brussel Sprouts (Dd's recipe), and cooked the frozen meatloaf Giz had brought with her.

Hawk above our pool area--busy week!

Blackberry Bushes:
I cleared a hill of thorns and then dug up the Blackberry bushes from the garden and transplanted them to the hill.  I hope they survive the move!  I brought them from Indiana and enjoy eating them each summer!  It took hours pulling out all the thorns!  It took me most of the day for this 'simple' job!



Dd had to do lessons on Thursday--but she still had lots of G&G time too.  Dh had to work late, so he didn't get to do much with his parents.  While Grampy worked trying to fix things I sat with Giz and listened to all the updates on how the people in her circle are doing.  It is always very discouraging to hear how poorly every one is doing.  It also really makes me wonder what she says about us when she shares with others about her visits to see us.  It was a lot to take in and I was honestly a little overwhelmed by it all---mostly about the upcoming changes to the family farm that she told us about, that we get no vote in.  






Saturday:
I woke up not feeling well, still reeling from updates Giz had shared the day before but headed out first thing to get my turn on the chainsaw.



 I cleared out more of the area (behind the garden) that Grampy had started on Friday.  After a few hours,  I ended up in bed after taking my Maxalt to help my migraine.  It was kind of embarrassing to spend most of the afternoon in bed while we had Giz and Grampy out working hard!
  



We had a huge tree fall during the winter and Grampy brought up his super-big chainsaw to start taking it apart.  We couldn't figure out what kind of tree it was, it had 3 trunks that were together, each trunk huge on its own.  Dh had such a wonderful day with his dad!  He really, really loves spending time chainsawing together.  When they had talked on the phone, before the visit, discussing what they could work on, Grampy kept bringing up chainsawing!  I think chainsawing is Grampy's favorite hobby.  So glad they had the day together, outside, and cutting wood!  



Giz and Dd spent time together working on clearing up raised beds in preparation for future planting; specifically getting the bed she plants her corn in ready for planting!  They pulled out all the old sunflower stalks; which was quite a hard job.

Dd's Academic Progress for the Week:

Bible:

Church and Sunday School

Independent Bible Study: Word of Life and Awaken: 90 Days with the God Who Waits.

Grace Classes:

SPRING BREAK FINALLY!

Although Dd didn't have any classes this week she still had lessons to complete.






Art:
Watercoloring: 4 hours




Physical Exercise:
Gardening/Yard Work with Giz: 4 hours for 3 days= 12 hours

Volunteering:

Dd volunteered in Nursery this week (1 hour).  Sarah had to stay home with sick grandkids so Hailee helped her.  I did Sarah's Sunday School for her in our Ladies class.

Dd volunteered at the library for Story Hour: 1 1/2 hours








Next Week:
Giz and Grampy will be here Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday---Dh has taken M&T off from work to be with them.  Dd has to return back to her Grace classes on Friday.

Soon there will be leaves on these trees!
...........