BAILEY'S POINT

We went camping at the lake over the weekend. There were 3 other couples from our Sunday School class camping also. They were lucky enough to be able to go over on Thursday and come home on Monday, but since I'm still employed and was traveling for work on Thursday and Monday we didn't have that option this time. It was nice to have friends to spend a little time with. We shared dinner both nights and lunch on Sunday before we came home. We also had "church" for an hour on Sunday morning. Three of them played their dulcimers and one played guitar. We shared our favorite parts of the Bible and sang a few hymns. It's amazing how hard it is to come up with words of hymns you've sung all your life when you don't have the hymnal in front of you. The weather was absolutely perfect. It cooled off enough that the campfire wasn't too hot, but it wasn't cool enough for us to need jackets either. This was the first time I'd ever made apple dumplin's out camping, but they turned out great. I found out that I can drive over to the campground in 30 minutes from work, so we may be making more trips over there this summer.

FLOORPLAN FOR NEW LAUNDRY ROOM/PANTRY & POWDER ROOM

Above is the floor plan for my new laundry room/pantry and expanded breakfast nook. The new room is approximately 8' X 7'. It's not extremely large, but hopefully it'll give me quite a bit more storage. The washer/dryer/laundry sorter will be on one wall. There will be a countertop over the laundry sorter so I'll have a place to fold clothes and a rod above it to hang the clean laundry. The opposite wall will be floor to ceiling adjustable shelves, 18" wide on the lower shelves and 11 (+)" on the top shelves. (Thanks should go to The Pioneer Woman for the inspiration for my new pantry!) The door by the table in the breakfast nook will be a center hinge patio door. One panel is stationary, the other one swings from the side. It will open onto a small deck with a couple of steps down. This will make loading the camper so much easier. No more going out thru the garage or thru the dining room, sunroom, back yard, gate and across the side yard to the camper. The breakfast nook will be extended out about 4 feet giving us easier access to the garage door and stairs going up to the bonus room. The existing laundry room and coat closet will be turned into a walk-thru powder room with a door into the kitchen and also one into the entry way. I'm trying to be patient. With handyman husband doing everything from the footer and foundation to the electric, plumbing, carpentry, and roof, I know that it'll take a while. Once the addition is complete, he'll start on the powder room. It's great to have such a talented handyman around!!

CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN

After having the gas company move our meter, moving the air conditioner, and digging out for the foundation, handyman husband had the footer poured today. We were without air conditioning for a few days while he waited for it to warm up enough to recharge the freon. It wasn't really a problem until we came home from the lake yesterday. It was really warm in the house. Handyman husband put an old window unit in our bedroom to make it a little more comfortable, but evidently the freon had leaked out because it didn't cool it down very much.

We're supposed to have rain for the next few days so he won't be laying the blocks until the weekend or next week.

TRAVELING THE STATE

For my job I am required to audit student organization records in 26 of our Area Technology Centers. So far I have completed 7 schools. This week I've been on the road two days and still have tomorrow to go. By the time I finish visiting all my schools I will have traveled over 3,000 miles. It's nice to get out of the office occassionally and see the state. Kentucky is a beautiful state, but so far this year I've seen a lot of damage from the January ice storm. There are trees down all over the central part of Kentucky. There are a lot of crews working to clear the damaged trees. Tomorrow I head northeast to the counties of Marion and Green. I will eventually go north to the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi River. I will be traveling for 3 more weeks.

RAINBOWS

Tonight I had to go to church for a finance committee meeting. When I left home at about 6:40 I noticed that everything was wet. We must have had a small shower, I say small because we hadn't even heard it. When I got to the stop sign at the end of our street I saw the most magnificient rainbow that I can ever remember seeing. It was the widest and brightest rainbow. Then I saw a second one -- still wide and just a little dimmer. I've always been in awe whenever I've seen a rainbow. I couldn't tell you how many times I've gone out in the rain to look for them. But this time they took me by surprise because it had already stopped raining here. I turned my head see if it was clear for me to pull out and there were 2 MORE rainbows in that direction. I could see 4 rainbows at the same time!! I wish I could have gotten a picture of it but I didn't have my camera with me. This is the closest I could find, but it's still not as bright as the ones I saw tonight.

Then God said, "I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatues, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth." Genesis 9:12-16

HANDYMAN HUSBAND'S NEW TRUCK

I was sitting at work yesterday and all of a sudden it just popped into my mind that we should get handyman husband a new truck. Now, I don't know where this thought came from and I usually stew over large purchases for quite sometime before I suggest we go ahead with it. But for some strange reason I told my husband about it that day. As background, handyman husband retired last year and I still have about 5 years to work before my retirement. His truck was 10 years old and getting close to the 100,000 mile mark. He doesn't put that many miles on it now and I could just see in 5 years him really needing a new truck. With the economy being what it is, interest rates are down and prices aren't too bad either. I thought it would take a while for us to find what we were looking for -- low mileage, still under factory warranty, but used (let someone else take the "drive it off the lot and it depreciates"). Well, it didn't take him long. He found a 2007 Chevrolet with ONLY 7,300 miles on it! And the price with trade-in wasn't bad at all. It was at a dealership in Franklin, about 20 miles away. So, when I got off work today, we headed down so I could see it. One of the problems we were looking at was that we had a topper on our truck to protect our cargo. These babies go for about $1,000. Handyman husband called the business where you buy these and they said ours wouldn't fit the new truck. He measured and thought it would, so the fellas down at the dealership helped him to moved it over to the other truck to try it out and although not a perfect fit, it works just fine. We drove it home. On the downside, I can't get up in it by myself - it's gigantic. Handyman is online looking for me a "step."

MY GARDEN

I went out this evening and spent some time weeding in my garden. It's great to see all of my perennials start blooming in the spring. My daffodils are done for the year, but my tulips are blooming. My bleeding heart has a few little hearts on it. But my favorites are the ones that came from my Grandmother Jackson's garden in Ohio. I have her creeping phlox, lily of the valley and dianthus. The creeping phlox is in its glory right now and the others won't be far behind.

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Baking Bread and sharing it others.

The smell after a spring shower

Making gifts for family & friends

Reading the Reader’s Digest

Floating on a raft in the lake or pool

Pulling weeds from my flower garden

Clean sheets

Spending time with our granddaughters

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of another grandchild.

Thanksgiving Dinner

French Vanilla Cappuccinos

Getting into a sparkling clean shower

EASTER

I’ve been decorating for Easter and had to get out my bunnies and chicks. Handyman husband & I made these little wooden animals quite a few years back. The eggs around them are an assortment. There are several that our Danish exchange student brought us. The beaded one was made by her grandmother and there are some that she purchased. The marble ones belonged to my mother.

WHAT'S MY NAME?

When Kristy found out that she was expecting our first grandhild in 2005 we were trying to figure out what we wanted our grandchildren to call us. Kristy didn't want grandma or grandpa because she thought it was just too confusing. I had two grandmas, she had a grandma, Justin had a grandma. She thought it would just be easier if we came up with something different. After much back and forth, looking up names on the internet, I was to be Grams and Randy was to be Paw Paw. Justin's parent's got Pop & Nan.

When Katie began talking Paw Paw came out rather quickly. I was jealous because she should have said my name first. I was, after all, her proudest grandparent. ;-) Month after month I hoped to hear "Grams" come from her lips --- but alas, it never did. Finally Kristy started calling me "Gam" since we figured the "gr" sound was too difficult for her. It didn't take long until I had my name. I love it because it's different and because she loves me.

While we were in Kansas last month, Katie and I were having a conversation and she said, "You're my grandma, right?" Yes, Kate. "I'm gonna start you calling you grandma." I was wondering what Kristy would think of this, but I said sure. Then I asked her about Nan, since she's her grandma too. "I'll call her grandma, too," said Kate. Oh dear, just what her mama didn't want. Oh, well. I always said that I didn't care what she called me, just as long as she called me. A few minutes later, she yelled at me --- "GAM." Guess I won't be Grandma for a while.