Scenes From A Tuesday

Twice a month, our fabulous senior citizens (and Steve and I) meet at our church for a potluck lunch. This month, however, we invited them all to come to our home instead for a special Thanksgiving event.  We ended up with twenty-two wonderful people who are not only great fun but also great cooks!

The event in pictures . . .

A table set up and ready for drinks.

 

Folding chairs from the church to take the place of the kitchen chairs moved into the dining room.

The kitchen counter was analyzed . . .

. . .  and cleared.

I set out a whole tray of serving spoons, dessert servers, knives, etc. in order to make it more convenient for the kitchen ladies to find things in a hurry.

Got the coffee pot pre-loaded and the sweeteners in place.

Pitcher of cream ready to go in the fridge.

We put out a table with name tags . . .

. . . and sent Snowy to the front porch to look around and make sure everything was in order.

A plastic table from outdoors was brought in and covered with a cloth. Voila!  Extra seating!

 

Steve took a “tea break” before everyone arrived. That little jolt of caffeine was just the ticket.

And then the guests arrived!

And kept arriving!

Fortunately, the guests were good company, good cooks and good cleaners.

When it was all over, no one wanted to leave. That front porch just sorta beckoned.

Snowy is already asking, “When can we do this again?”  

He LOVES him some church ladies!

How about you?  Many of you are getting ready to host a large crew of folks at your house for Thanksgiving. What do you do ahead of time to get ready for the crowds?  Got any helpful tips to share with the rest of us?

Swamped. Slightly.

I am going to be just slightly swamped for the next couple of days so I will sadly have to deprive you of yet another one of my infamous long and ramblin’ posts.

However.  So as not to drop a dollop of disappointment into the hearts of any of my faithful, daily stopper by-ers, I do have a couple  of assignments to keep you occupied.

Assignment One

1.  Go to googlemaps.com

2.  Select “get directions.”

3.  In  the “from” box, type Japan

4.  In the  “to ” box,  type China.

5.  Select “get directions” again.

5.  Scroll down to item #43.

6.  Decide whether or not that particular piece of instruction is a particularly good idea.

7.  Write a 3,000-word paper backing up your opinion. (just kidding)

Assignment Two

1. Look at the following pictures taken during Sarah’s ongoing, never ending room re-do.

2. Try to decide if the redecorating of her room will ever be finished and, if so, when might you get a peek at the final product.       (Answer:  very soon)

Assignment Three

Read--and ponder for a while--this piece written by a (believe it or not) 14-year old boy.

Present Tense

It was spring . . . but it was summer I wanted,

the warm days, and the great outdoors.

It was summer, but it was fall I wanted,

the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air.

It was fall, but it was winter I wanted,

the beautiful snow, and the holiday season.

It was winter, but it was spring I wanted,

the warmth and the blossoming of nature.

I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted,

the freedom, and the respect.

I was 20, but it was 30 I wanted,

to be mature and sophisticated.

I was middle-aged, but it was 20 I wanted,

the youth, and the free spirit.

I was retired, but it was middle age I wanted,

the presence of mind, without limitations.

My live was over.  But I never got what I wanted.

                                      —Jason Lehman

Assignment Four

Enjoy living today in the present tense!

Berobed

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably felt that one of the worst parts about going to the doctor is having to put on one of those dashing and delightsome gowns. You know the ones made with uninspired colors and patterns, with arm holes in odd places, and strings and snaps that are supposed to hold it all together but rarely do? Those gowns?

Well, on my Medical Sojourn to Greenville on Monday, I was reminded of something that I really, really like about my oncologist.

He provides his patients with robes. Real robes. With real belts. Robes that don’t feel like they’re going to fall off your person if you move too quickly. Or too slowly. Or even too medium-ly.

The robes are a dream to put on and a dream to wear. (Which is a good thing since I waited a month of Sundays for the doctor to finally appear in the exam room.)

It occurred to me while I waited that I could take a photo of my bedazzling robe so you could rejoice with me (with exceeding great joy) that at least one doctor on the planet is Robe Savvy. As I sat there in my robe-esque luxuriousness and read a magazine I thought, “Ahhh. This isn’t so bad.”

If they would offered me a choice of drinks and snacks, I would have been even happier but hey, one can’t have everything! Can one?

Anyway. Here is The Robe. Is it stupendous, or what?

After my robe and I had sat for quite a little while in the solemn silence of the exam room, my oncologist finally made his appearance and performed the anticipated exam. May I just say that since I’ve never before had a breast exam when the area under examination was comprised of only scars and silicone, the experience was just a tad disconcerting. I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually but it was just very, very different.

When he was finished with the silicone breast exam, the doctor then proceeded to give me a little mini-lecture about the sorts of symptoms I should look for concerning a relapse. He then made the pronouncement that I looked “really, really great,” patted me heartily on my berobed shoulder, told me he’d see me in six months and vamoosed from the room.

I was really sort of reluctant for the visit to end because it meant that I’d have to give up the robe. Eventually though, I tore myself away from that darling little number and and made my way to the check out area to pay. As I geared myself up to cough up the usual $50 co-pay (for the four-minute visit) the lady at the desk said, “Let’s see, here. It looks like you have a $240 credit on your account.”

A credit? At a doctor’s office? Whoever heard of such a thing?

So instead of me having to pay them something, she applied my credit toward the $50 co-pay and said they would send the balance to me in the mail.

A lovely robe? A non-co-payment-payment? A pending check?

Happy day.

_________________________

FROM THE COMMENT AREA . . .

Guerrina asked,
Wow! Different house! Quick question...are the shutters wood or vinyl? If vinyl/plastic stuff, what was the process to change them? I have a "berry" color and I want to go to the charcoal/black! Thank God I have no high ones to deal with!

Guerrina, our shutters are plastic. (And how funny is that we went from black to berry and you want to go from berry to black!) As far as I know, Steve just painted them with regular ol’ paint. I think he may have sanded a few rough areas first, but the paint went on just like he was painting a wall. Pretty quick and easy—all except for removing the ones from the second story! Glad you don’t have any of those!

A Parson on the the Perch

This door . ..

and these shutters . . .

 

are no longer a part of the Smith Family homescape.

And just why is that?

Well, as it turns out, we had this guy show up at the house--or more precisely, up on our rooftop.  And since it was a little early for Santa, and since he was lurking in the tall trees, I got a little suspicious and did a bit of investigating.

It seems as though the mysterious man of mysterious mystery-ness had come to do all manner of shutter removal, shutter painting and shutter re-applying at the Smith home.

  

It makes me shutter to even think of working up this high.  (Sorry. Bad joke.)

 

At one point in this strange man’s laborings, the young lady of the house peered out of the window to try and ascertain just what was going on.   All she saw was a man walking around on her roof.  No biggie.

Some buildings have bats in the belfry.  Others have rats in the rotunda.  Well, it appears as though we have a parson on the perch.

A parson who is going . . .

  going . . .

going . . .

 

 

Gone.

 

Thankfully, said perch parson left behind very cheery smatterings of berry-coloredness all across the front of the house.   

I love me some cheery smatterings of berry-coloredness.

Almost as much as I love me a parson on the perch.

 

________________________

And speaking of the parson, “Random” asked,  (concerning this post):

That last photograph of Steve in the car is excellent! Great capture. One the one hand, I know I shouldn't ask... but on the other hand, I would really like to know where the two of them went and how they were received!

Random, we were all headed to a fun Dress Up/Get Candy event at our church.

As to how he was received?

Well, frankly a couple small children were a bit frightened at first but they eventually came around. The adults started at him in wide-eyed, slack jawed amazement for a few seconds as they thought, “THIS is my pastor?  Oh, please don’t let it be true.”

But all in all,  Steve was big hit.  In fact, he even found a like-minded parishioner to pose with him! What a cute pair!

 

Okay--I’m off to Greenville for the day. I have a happy little visit with my oncologist and then another one with my plastic surgeon. 

Of course, it’s not so bad leaving for the day when I know I have such a handsome fella (see above photo) waiting for me when I get home.

sigh.