Spring is trying to arrive early!

I know, it won't be spring for another 5 weeks, but today we drove over to the cabin to look at some storm damage (thanks Pam for alerting us to the problems) and the daffodils were beginning to bloom! 
A storm blew through a week or so ago.  A small community north of here actually had a tornado.  Handyman had to replace a few shingles on our house yesterday but I hadn't even thought about there being any damage at the cabin.  A neighbor called after she and her son had taken a walk over to the cabin and found that a tree had landed across the steps that handyman built last summer.  It broke the handrails but that is just minor damage.  We also have some shingles missing on the cabin roof.  The back screen door had the screen blown out of it and it's bent.  A year or so ago the same thing happened to the front screen door.  Handyman got it fixed..it's not as pretty but it functions just fine.  The screen on the porch is loose in a few places, but we've been having that issue each year.  We'd like to find a better way to attach the screens and possibly have it glassed in for part of the year.  Maybe another project is looming in the future!! 
I'm looking forward to spending more time at the cabin this spring and summer.  Hurry and get here!!!!

Life Is Good!

This week has been the beginning of the second month as a retiree.  I must admit that I'm not working too hard these days.  January was a bit hectic trying to close out the 2012 financial year at church.  I found myself working at least 3 days a week there.  After getting those pesky W2s and 1099's out in the mail things returned to less hours needed at church.  I've only gone in to work one day this week.  I do check my mailbox whenever I'm at church for other things, but so far, nothing pressing has shown up in my mailbox this week. 
On Wednesday morning I got an early start by heading to Kroger before 8:00 to get my 10% off on Senior Day.  It wasn't too bad that early.  I ended up saving $18.00 by shopping on that special day.  It's not a huge amount, but as long as I can beat the big crowds by going early it's worth it.  After my grocery shopping I went the United Methodist Women's group at church.  They had a nice program on finances.  Lunch was provided after the meeting.  They had a nice fruit salad, chicken casserole, crescent rolls and a decadent dessert.  (It was similar to Hello Dolly Cookies, but they had used white chips, craisins and I'm not sure what else). 
I've also done more quilting this week. I have 6 of the 12 squares in my quilt top finished.  It's quite an accomplishment to get those 6 done in about 4 weeks, when it's been sitting for for well over 10 years with nothing being done on it.  Hopefully I'll get it finished before summer. 
Today was an absolutely beautiful day.  I spent a little time quilting this morning, then went over to the elementary school and had lunch with my little friend there.  Then I went out and worked in the back yard cutting back some of the dead foliage from last summer and bagging it up for the trash.  After a bit of time on the computer and reading I cooked country fried steak and gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans for supper.   I cheated and pulled some biscuits out of the freezer.  I knew they wouldn't be as good as fresh, but since we had frozen them I thought we should go ahead and eat them.  One of my goals now that I'm retired is to actually use all of the food that we put in our freezer!  We try hard not to waste food that we've cooked and eat left overs quite often.  But we have been lacking in keeping track of what is in the freezer and letting some of that food go to waste.
Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment at 8 am. Actually, it's not a dentist appointment as I'm going to the hygientist for a cleaning.  I'm not sure what possessed me to make that appointment so early.  I may need to rethink that time when I schedule my next appointment.
All in all, this has been a great week.  But I do feel a little guilty every now and then when I'm not being very productive.

FAMILY HISTORY

I've spent the past few days trying to make some sense out of all the papers that I've inherited from my mother along with diplomas, birth certificates, etc. that we have managed to accumulate.  I found this beautiful scrapbook with "Family" monogrammed on it and thought it would be a perfect place for all of those keepsakes.  I found that it was difficult to arrange the pages where they made sense.  I ended up trying to place "like" documents of couples together.  My parents had sent each other invitations to their graduation - even though they were both in the same class.  I thought that was rather cute!  My mother had saved them, so I did also.  I wish that I had more copies of the documents from other relatives but am thankful for what I do have. 

The next task is to take some of the not so important keepsakes and put them in an album.  I have some of the first greeting cards that our daughter made when we first got a computer with a printer, letters from camp, newspaper clippings, etc.  Then I have a few pictures to go thru.  Some of these were ones that had been sent to my Grandmother Jackson which are duplicates to ones I already have.  I noticed that on our girl's birth announcements, she had numbered them.  She wanted to make sure she remember who came first  I know it's hard to keep track when you live far away and seldom see people.  I also have a lot of 5" X 7" photos that have been framed at one time or another that I need to get into albums.  Hopefully I'll get this project completed by spring!