Of Shades of White and Singing Valentines

Yesterday Dee went to work and I took care of things at the house before going to my Rotary Club luncheon. The speakers were two professional baseball players. Both were from local high schools (Pine Richland and Mt Lebanon)and they were brothers-in-law. One played for Indianapolis Triple A team and the other played with the Tigers farm team, then the pirates for a season, and now has a shot at the Detroit Tigers third base spot. It was interesting to hear their stories of trying to make it in the big leagues.

From there I checked out Lowers and Home Dept's selection of energy savings light bulbs to replace burned out bulbs at our place. What I saw at Home Depot amazed me. They had a display of lighted bulbs in little boxes to show the difference between them. The lights were "soft white", "bright white", and "daylight white". You could see the difference. What amazed me though was that they were all in little boxes painted with the same color paint, but they each looked like they were different paints! Hummmm - must be a sermon illustration there somewhere.

Shortly after that I had to meet a fellow Bogmeister at his home to work on a "singing valentine" flier to advertise our willingness to sing love songs for people who'd like to send a "singing valentine" to loved ones. They'd also get a personalized valentine card with a photo of the event, and a mylar balloon. All for a mere $40. Quite a unique Valentine Gift. The guy lives in Saxonburg so I went to his house (which he has gutted and is refinishing) and we worked on it for a couple of hours. When I came out of the house, it was snowing quite hard and very windy. I took me time getting home with no problems. Dee had a delicious grilled fish dinner waiting for me. Gotta love that gal!

During the evening we stayed in and watched a little television and then I continued reading "Excel 2002 For Dummies". I don't know how to use Excel and have never had the time to learn it, so now I have the time and want to be able to make use of it's capabilities for organizing our household expenses as well as other kinds of things. After finishing the first two sections, I tried setting up a worksheet with our categories on it for the new year. We'll see how it goes.

Christmas Goes Back in the Boxes

While in Philly mom had her hair done. She looks years younger.

Yesterday we took down all the Christmas decorations, (except for the village on the fireplace) and put them in their boxes and into storage 'till next year. We worked together and it didn't take long at all.

Then we decided to go to Ross Park Mall to have lunch, get a smoothie at our favorie Mr. Smoothie place, and return my pedometer to Brookstone. It just wasn't keeping accurate readings of steps taken. (I decided to keep using one of the cheap ones we had on hand.)We had a nice lunch at the mall and Dee went in and out of a few stores window shopping. Then we stopped in at the new L.L. Bean store. I check to see if they had ankle pedometers because the Brookstone salesman said they had more accurate readings. Bean had wrist step counters that were high tech and considered 95% accurate. They cost a little more than I was ready to pay at the time so we just learned about them.

It rained most of the day with sleet from time to time, but the roads we took were fine. Later I chipped the ice off Dee's car and put it in our garage. COLD ! We stayed in for the evening and watched some television. I worked a couple of "brain" puzzles while Dee visited with her grand niece who stopped by for a few minutes. She's having a wedding shower for her sister this weekend and Dee won't be able to go because of our previously planned "gourmet getaway" at Seven Springs Ski Resort this weekend.

We felt it was a good day because of all we got done and the nice time we had together. I also had a chance to talk with each of my sisters (phone and online) for a few minutes. That's always nice to do. When I reflect on our lives today and having lived in our new home for a whole year now, and all that has happened to us and our family, I feel so blessed. Thanks.

A New Friend Comes to Practice

We bid fare-thee-well to Jan and Mark, and then Dee got ready to go to work. While she was there I walked the dog, and then picked up a couple of items we'd needed (like dog food). Later we began taking down some of the Christmas decorations and changing out the Christmas dishes for everyday dishes. I'd finished my FDR book a couple of days ago and loaned it to Marilyn Campbell to read.

We worked on one of the puzzles Kerri gave us. It turns out that all the pieces are the same shape - that ought to be fun.

I went to Bogmeister practice and the guy, Bob, I invited from church was there. He was a bit intimidated at first, but soon got into the swing of things. I think he had a good time as he asked me if there was "dues" or anything like that. I told him there was a yearly fee and that he ought to come a few times to see if he liked it enough to join. He likes to sing and knew the melody of one of the songs we sang. However, we did something different this time by starting out hearing about the choreography of one of the "contest songs" rather than doing warm up exercises. It was a bit off putting, but once we got around to singing, he got into the mood. Practice went well.

Later when I got home, we watched the last minute of the Fiesta Bowl and saw Ohio State's fate turn around and lose to Texas. Truly a game of inches and seconds. Afterward, we used the hot tub (23 degrees out) got all the crinkles soothed out of our muscles. Then, we watched a new episode of "The Unit" before bedtime.

More Visits with Friends and Family

Yesterday turned out to be a busy one. We went to worship at 11 AM and enjoyed sitting with out friends the Campbell's and chatting with other some of our new friends there. (Note: We'd bumped in to some of the people from church while shopping over the last couple of days... That's starting to happen more and more as we get settled in to our new place where we've just celebrated our FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY on Sunday. cool !) There were a couple of new people in church (who'd moved here from Monroeville) from Monroeville Baptist. The Campbells knew them and introduced us to them. I also spoke with another fellow who saw my "music note" lapel pin and asked about it. Turns out he likes to sing and can carry a tune, so I invited him to Bogmeister's on Monday night. He said he's Catholic, but his wife isn't and so they've been coming to this church some. Later he introduced Dee and me to his wife. Maybe he'll show up at Bogmeister's tonight, who knows. I spoke with our Pastor about the date he assigned for me to preach in February when he's away. We checked his notes and it's on February 1st (Super Bowl Sunday). That'll be fun.

After worship we went to the Nelson's in our old Blackridge neighborhood for luncheon in their home. (see photo) Andrew is now 18 and taller than me. Dee used to baby sit him for about 5 years. Nice visit talking with Kathy and getting caught up on life with Andrew. We had a very nice relaxing luncheon of homemade lasagna and fresh salad, with Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. The wine she served was pinot grigio. Good choice! ;)

Then, we headed home because Jan and Mark were due at our place later in the afternoon. The drive from the Nelson's to our place through the heart of Pittsburgh only took 35 minutes. Nice.

Jan and Mark arrived about 6 PM. Later we had dinner. Dinner began with a V-8 appetizer with celery (but I forgot the celery). We had a nice pot roast dinner for them with baked potatoes, green beans with almonds, and my special chopped salad with sweet and sour sauce. Dessert featured a chocolate chocolate brownie with white house ice cream. Yummm. For liquid refreshment we had peach crystal light, fresh ground coffee, tea, and spiked Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Nog. All of us roasting beside the low burning fireplace to the background music of the CD - "Music to Calm Your Dog While you are Away from Home." (It's actually a nice CD for people to enjoy too.)

Afterward, we played the Wii FIT game for a couple of hours in the basement on the wide screen television. Jan really got into the Hula Hoop game, and Mark seemed to excel at the balance beam. However, the personal trainer did ask him if he had trouble tripping when he walked. Mark blamed it on the egg nog. We laughed a lot.

Breakfast this morning was heart healthy - Rolled Oats (with various toppings such as walnuts, cinnamon, brown sugar, butter), and fresh bananas, as well as orange juice and of course fresh ground coffee made by the cup. Yummmm. Then, off they headed westward to home in the Windy City. Great Visit! God is good.

Walking the Treadmill

Yesterday we cleaned the house and did some shopping for items Dee needed for menu for a new "eating plan" Dee wants to try from SHAPE magazine. We printed out the shopping list for the three week plan, and then went and purchased some of the items for the first week. We also learned that my sister Jan and her husband Mark will be passing through en route to Chicago on Sunday. We look forward to giving them a place to rest as they make that long journey from Philadelphia to Chicago.

We also had a nice lunch at a new place that opened at the entrance to our housing plan. It's called Stone Pepper's Grill. They have a varied "sports bar" type of menu with lots of large screen televisions. The food was good. That makes 5 restaurants in the little strip mall about a mile away.

We finished off the evening by watching some of the programs we'd recorded, like episodes of "Monk" we'd missed. I've also been using the treadmill each day to walk about 2 miles. I've been watching the History Channel's 7 episode series of the "Seven Deadly Sins" while walking the treadmill. Interesting stuff. So far the topics have been on the history of "lust" and "envy".

A Quiet Day

New Years Day we had traditional pork and sauerkraut for dinner. Dee made it in the crock pot and it was delicious. During the day we just hung out and watched part of the Penn State game. Depressing as PSU got trounced by USC. Later I read some of my FDR book on his first 100 days in office, and then Dee and I played the FIT. We're having fun trying to beat each other and our own old scores. I like the hula hoop exercise. It gives you a good exercise for balance and endurance training. Whew! Dee seems to excel on the Ski Jump one.

We did talk with Kerri a little and with Dee's friend Kathy. But otherwise it was a quiet day. I did my 45 minutes on the treadmill too. Gotta get those steps up to 10,000. We hope your New Years Day went well and was safe.

Happy New Year !!

Happy New Year !!

2009 has arrived! The new year is filled with the promise of change and a fresh start. It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since we retired from active ministry. It's been a big change for both Dee and me. We're doing well and still feeling our way along regarding what it means to be "retired." From what I read about it, we're in the stage known as "early retirement." We're both still very active and aren't quite ready for senior centers and bingo just yet. Dee works three days a week and has found her work and friendships there as well as the affirmation she gets regarding her work ethic very satisfying.

Our New Years Eve consisted of nice conversations with my mom on the phone about my dad and about her stay at my sister's place for the holidays. (December 31,1999 is the anniversary of his passing into the next life with the Lord.) Dee and I both got to talk with Faye for a long while too. That was nice. Later Dee talked with her sisters Ruth and Donna and then Kathy N. about going to their place on Sunday for dinner. (It seems Dee spends a lot more time talking with friends and family now since we've moved back to Western Pennsylvania.)

We went out to the Longhorn Restaurant for dinner (We decided to go earlier rather than later, and it's good we did (even with call ahead seating) because the place got packed shortly after we arrived and were waiting for a table. We really like the food there and resolved while we were there to eat smaller portions in the new year. (I've started wearing my pedometer again and try to put some time in on the treadmill (if it's cold outside, which it is 16 degrees but feels like 8). I've done about 6600 steps the last two days. I want to get that back up to 10,000 soon. We also played the Wii FIT for our New Year's Eve activity. I learned that some of those activities (soccor ball head butt and slalom skiing exercises are a lot more difficult than they look from the side as a spectator.) When you're on the balance board it's fun, but not easy. But we'll stay with it and try to improve each day. Maybe we can work it into our daily routine.

There's about an inch of show on the sidewalks (added to the two inches we got yesterday). But the roads are clear and just wet and the sun is shining. Happy New Year everybody and thanks for taking the time to read my daily ramblings.