Double Nickels 2018

June 2018

My double-nickel birthday year!  I started this jar of nickels on January 1st and besides several from the change bucket, not many more have been added from our pockets.

Before my birthday….

after my birthday!

Phil added 8 rolls of nickels for on my birthday!  He finds the funding of my own personal charity quite odd & funny!  I just thought it would be something fun.  I also got 2 (double nickels!) in Miss K’s birthday card.  🙂  No one that has visited has added to this but one has asked about it.

Supper out at my favorite – The Stone Eagle

New Orleans pizza – shrimp and hot sausage, plus onions & peppers. Yum!!

 

 

A free 5-piece serving of fresh beignets because she thought we waited a long time for my pizza. I didn’t think so but these were so yummy!!

 

But I had already want to stop at Portillo’s after supper to try their oh-so-famous chocolate cake. I brought over half of this home!! And I can make a better chocolate cake than that!  I won’t need to try that again.

 

The next night, I tried out my new microwave popcorn bowl from Miss K!  It is fantastic!! You need one of these!

It was hot & sunny which I love.
I got several cards.
A fun day!!

Have you earned your double-nickel birthday?

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My Mom’s birthday

I wasn’t able to go to see my mom the weekend closest to her birthday so you already saw the post about my visit with her.  The following weekend was closer to her birthday and both my sisters were there to give her a special luncheon with a few special friends and the grandkids that were able to come.

Yes, she turned 90 this year!  Lovely & happy!

 

Our Miss K decided in the last days to make a quick run to see Grandma and the cousins.  So after work on Saturday night, she drove to Ohio and landed hard in her bed at the hotel nearby, sometime in the middle of the night.  But the Sunday events started at church with Grandma and she was there at 9-0-0 on the dot, she said!  K’s note to me after church was that *I* looked MUCH younger.  During greeting time, the pastor made a special announcement about Grandma’s birthday and so much family was there. This is the church where I grew up, so many could recognize K as being mine but don’t know her well.  She said she oft repeated she was mine as an introduction.

 

After church, 3 great-grands came to see her at the organ —

My cousin did a lot of special flowers for church and then they were used at the luncheon.  She has her mother’s touch!  So lovely!!

“Mr. E”, Mrs. E (my niece), and Miss K at lunch —

Special ones and my cousin that were there as well as the family —

Family —

 

Beautiful desserts by Mrs. E!

That evening at my brother’s — my 2 sisters —

and the rest of the gang~ 
From the reports, my mom had a wonderful day!  She’ll note how many cards she got and I’ll update this…. but not quite one per year!

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Hello Mom!

All the planets aligned and we took a short trip to visit my mom in Ohio.  (JP could be home, live-in, love on the dog best, know chores w/o training, catch the in-laws if needed, know how to deal with any power outage (did), and snow plowing.  So thankful!!  Adult kids just rock these things!!)

I took this embroidery project for mom & me to share.  Before we left, I traced all the embroidery onto the background and basted it to another layer of fabric to help with show-through.  I took a small tote to keep it all contained and she can take it with her if needed.  Hoops, needles, all the floss, instructions, the paper pattern if needed, and choices of scissors.  She has good eyes and good dexterity to handle all this.  🙂   And she enjoys hand work!  

She can do the embroidery at her own pace and her own rules. I hope I stressed that enough.  NO deadline, NO police overseeing her work or mine!  Later, I’ll piece the blocks and finish it.  The center embroidery is about 8″ x 30″.  Now, if I was smart, I’d piece those blocks now.  *sigh*

I also made a half-size notebook for her to follow along with the 365/30 lists; yes, really this year it is 366 days and I remembered to add that!  Each day is a prompt for a list.  Top 5 flavors of ice cream.  Friends you went to school with.  Plans for the month.  etc.  I roughly have done this for a bit over 2 yrs.  I’m hit & miss so usually do a few days at a time.  And I took her a selection of pens so she could have a new one and have a feel of the pen that she likes.

We spent over an hour “in the cedar chest”, though contrary to my SIL’s wonderment, we were not literally IN the chest.  It was fun to look and peruse the important things to her she keeps there.  She had things to give me but others she just asked and put that on my list but she wasn’t ready to send it home with me yet.  Later, I took Phil there and he fixed the safety chain so the open lid doesn’t fall on anyone’s head.

I had my new Doxie Go scanner with me for such a case as this.  A first anniversary letter to my parents from her mom.  Super sweet!

I wanted to stop and see the chapel where we were married.  It wasn’t a great day for photos and I promised P no pix so he willingly drove us there.  But then I DID want photos so P took some with mom & me.  But obviously we didn’t dress for photos.

The chapel was locked but I suppose one benefit to the cloudy day was that we (and my camera) could see in and the inside doors were open for a good view.

A lot has changed in 32 years on the seminary campus!  I’d not seen this set of stones for the Wall of Remembrance.  Behind this memory area, I saw our childhood swimming pool has since been removed.  Mom received a family membership with her work at the university.

We are so thankful that my brother & sister-in-law have mom living with them.   The days can be long & quiet for her but the meals are delicious from that kitchen and their activity and meals home with her are good.  They are perfect care-givers.  Two of their sons and their families came for supper one night.  The great-grands are growing like weeds and are taking on the double-digits with ease and lots of food.

Special thanks to my dear brother & SIL for packing and sending MY bag that was accidentally left behind in the garage while P packed the car.  #criedfor4days   It arrived safe and sound a few days later!  (brand-new doxieGo, brand-new tablet, my 2 filofaxes that hold 3 journals, book, new & old pages for journals…. A framed print is still there waiting for TLC traveling conditions)

P was glad that dSIL asked if he could “fix this”.  Oh yes!  He was so glad they asked. P had already mentioned while we were packing that he hoped they had jobs for him.  With that willingness, my dB had a job for the next day as well.  It is hard for us to plan ahead, with leaving in winter weather and the health of his parents, but my brother needs a running list for next time.

We headed home on Sunday as they headed to church.  Me in my ‘no hairstyle, no make-up, sweatpants’ for travel.  Mom looking lovely and nearly ready for church!

 

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My Birthday Weekend

Oh the joys of having my birthday land on a Sunday…. I declare that the celebrating (laziness, spoiling) then encompasses the whole weekend!   🙂    Such as it was this year.

Phil took off most of the day on Friday and took me shopping.  I love having him keep me company.  I sent him off to wander the mall and/or warm a bench while I spent time and a bit of money in the Loft store.  Super, duper deals that day with 50% off most of the store ( 🙂  !!!) and then I gave in and got their store card (which I’ve never done before but I love Ann Taylor) which gave me another 15% off and then said I’d miss the birthday bonus as my birthday was in 2 days (transaction time, etc) so the manager overrode the rule and gave me my $15 off for my birthday as well.

Much nicer clothes and for less than the prices at Target.    🙂

Lunch at my favorite local restaurant was yummy (New Orleans style pizza: shrimp & spicy sausage) albeit slow when one needed to get back to work.  We made a few more stops and headed home for a few hours of work for P.

Saturday was quiet here… for my schedule… but the son had friends out for target play.  Quiet was not their word for the day but the details are only shared in person and privately.  😉

Sunday called the men to P’ville for the North American HAM radio field day weekend (who knew???).  They had a great day out together, fun with the radios (JP has his level 3 license and is in the P’ville club as well as campus club), and then toured the damage the university sustained in the June tornadoes.  (Sad but thankful for the safety of those that lived through it.)

So…. in light of their plans… Miss K met me part way and we had lunch and shopping together.  Just us girls — that hasn’t happened in a quite awhile and it was delightful!!!

We talked fabric, of course, over lunch.  These are K’s 3/8″ hexies.  “Now what?”  (All from one piece of fabric.  Once cut, she sorted out by color.  Very cool!!)

 

And we shopped a few places… tried on shoes, I bought, she advised, I added to her rewards card.  🙂

I ordered a 2nd Filofax A5 size for myself and it came a few days later.  Love!  My other Filofax (fuschia) holds my Five-Year Journal and 2014 farm diary.  It is over-flowing and we aren’t done with the year yet!  (Other years the farm diary won’t be in that one.)   This new one will mainly hold my 365/30 lists that I want to get back to.  (No room in the other “inn” so I haven’t kept that up.)

I enjoyed my weekend of birthday!

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Winter Birthday

We made a trip to the city to celebrate the joy that Miss K adds to our lives.  Good golly, the mother never forgets THAT day, now 28 years past, and remembers it like it was yesterday.  She came so quickly, so pretty, so alert, so quiet.  She swooned the nurses from the get-go.  Delightful!

Dinner at a favorite smokehouse.

We tried shopping but the first snow of the season for the city was hitting very cold roads and making skating rinks out of every piece of black pavement.  Too many were sliding through intersections and we really didn’t like that sort of activity even after we tried it too!

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Numbers

I just found these were taken on my old camera last Monday, JP ‘s bday, while I was at guild.

L-R: JP, Phil, Phil’s dad

JP’s grandmother likes crafts….  so here is her funny number photo!

Everyone had big birthdays this year.   Isn’t this funny?

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My Birthday

For my birthday last month, Phil & I went out to eat on the actual day.  Then on Sunday, K met Phil & me halfway between here & there for lunch and the afternoon.

We ate at what Phil refers to as The Clay Pigeon.  It is yummy, nice atmosphere, and NOT expensive!  I found my new favorite there: Buffalo Shrimp Wrap.  Yummy!!

K brought me a gorgeous necklace from Swarovski Crystal; genuine:  in a blue bag, in blue paper, in a blue box, inside another blue box.  🙂

Each time I’ve worn it, someone asks about it.  In the daylight, the crystals show their colors.  Some are pink, some white, and some yellow.

After lunch, they helped me continue shopping for a new camera.  I wanted better than the 3 megapixel one that I have had for 7 years.  I knew anything would be better but I also didn’t want a teeny one that fits in my pocket anymore.   I had looked online until the camera hub of my brain was numb.  I had notes from what I liked and looked at those in the stores.  They were not what I wanted afterall.

Phil & K found a few and I chose from them.  K checked the camera on amazon and in the store was a better deal this time so we got it!

I haven’t learned all there is to learn yet but I can take photos, upload them to the computer, and clear them off the camera.  The basics that I need.  I’m busy and haven’t taken the extra brain power to do more.  Maybe someone at the family reunion can explain some features in my language to help.  😉

I have this one…

Hopefully better photos are soon to come!

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More Birthday Fun

As part of Phil’s big birthday month, we spent a weekend near Chicago with Miss K.  She drove out about 1/2 hr after work and we had driven in to meet her.

In an effort to post a quick catch-up, here are some photos and short (LOL!!) commentary!

Phil’s FANTASTIC birthday dinner out (Chicago Prime Steakhouse – ohmyword!!) was topped off with desserts to-go (back to the hotel) for Phil & K.  She chose cheesecake with a teeny bit of raspberry drizzle.  (She would have preferred more drizzle!)

Phil had Apple Purse!  I think this was 8″ across!!!  Pound cake, apple pie slices, walnuts, wrapped in phyllo dough and baked.  Not wanting to have ala mode on the hot apples to-go, we stopped across the parking lot for a cup of Culver’s ice cream to go as well.  He was delighted!!

We shopped on Sunday…. IKEA (love having K’s help there!!), Nordstrom’s outlet, Ulta, Whole Foods, and finished with a salad buffet late lunch.  Getting photos in a sunny & windy parking lot was an interesting endeavor!  Of course, the practice one of Phil & Keturah (the camera was perched on the front of the car near the wipers for me to test the timer) got me good smiles but folded hands!  🙂

On Phil’s actual day he had a few friends over (and their wonderful wives!!).  I was busy with baking pizzas and visiting and giving studio tours 🙂  so we didn’t get photos OF the party.  I splurged and channeled my inner Miss K and actually decorated the table a bit!

Hot pizzas lined the left side a bit after this and I had spinach artichoke dip with the chips.

Phil was SO thrilled that his whole list of guys was able to come.  It was HOT that day, one of our first 80’F days (unheard of in March!!) and I wasn’t prepared!  I felt bad it was stuffy in the house but midst all the cooking & cleaning only washed one screen from storage.  We had the front & back doors open but that wasn’t enough.     Who would have thought!!  His mom delights in telling the winter storm story on the day he was born.

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Phil Is Fifty!

Today I’m baking cookies, making snacks, and getting out a black tablecloth for Phil’s birthday!  His sister’s box came the other day and is FULL of “over the hill” confetti so I am sprinkling that around too.

Someone left a sign like this on each side of the lane today!   HILARIOUS!!  Phil had left for Dan & Brian’s and called back to say, “Nice signs”.   Not me… I had to take the drive to go see them.    I’ve not heard any extra noise tho.

I’m working (slowly) on an album of old (& new) farm photos for him.  His mom supplied a lot of photos that I scanned.   Last week, I finally knew I wouldn’t have them all fixed by today so just ordered the prints of the ones I had done.  That is his present for today.  The rest of the assembled album will have to come later.  I know his favorites will be photos of his grandpa & grandma at a Threshing Show in Iowa… late 1930’s I think.

Here are some classics!

This is 1974 with some fair ribbons!

His mom’s notes on this photo: Philip, 1970, after 3rd grade, Debby made this horse for his school play.  This makes me giggle!!

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Happy Birthday, Phil!

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Happy 26th!

Today Miss K celebrates her 26th birthday!  She already has her gifts from us, gifts have been arriving from the family, and she has plans for the weekend.

You are beautiful, a joy to be around, and we are so proud of you!

Happy Birthday!!  We love you!

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