Observations?

If I thought last week was busy for me, the week ahead here looks like it's going to being really full, with lots of things to do and a whole lot of running around involved in it too! Hope my budget holds out and I can afford to buy more gas for my little jeep buddy and still have enough left over then to get the vehicle fixed a bit so it will pass inspection before the 31st of this month. Phew, that doesn't leave me much time to get that stuff done with all the rest of the things on the agenda.

This past weekend seemed to fly by but it was filled with some really fun, interesting things to do. As I mentioned in my earlier post, older daughter and her son and I enjoyed seeing the presentation of the play, "Peter Pan" by one of the youth theatre groups in our area on Friday evening. Saturday, I was lucky enough to be able to take a bit of a break from outside stuff so I spent a good deal of my time entering recipes for the cookbook. I now have 454 recipes entered and about 60 or so still waiting for me to tackle them. Yesterday though, I learned via an e-mail from a cousin of mine in Maryland -who just so happens to be a terrific gourmet-type cook -that she has a few more recipes that she will be mailing to me today and which I can also include in this cookbook project too! That's fantastic news to my way of thinking as the more recipes we can pack in there, the better! So send 'em on through to me, Rita!

Yesterday, I think I probably surprised -maybe shocked is a better word -a lot of folks who attend the same church I do when I managed to show up for services and on time, to boot! That makes three weeks in a row I have been able to rise and shine, drive to church, get there on time too, which is made a bit difficult for many of us who belong to that church because the bridge over the interstate, which is only about a tenth of a mile away from our church, is closed and in the process of being rebuilt or repaired -not quite sure which. But anyway, that necessitates a detour, which is only about 1 extra mile in all but driving on these little back roads doesn't always lend itself to punctuality, ya know. Now if all goes well and I can make it to church NEXT Sunday -for 4 Sundays in a row -I will have broken some kind of personal record then for my attendance! (Something I haven't done in a long, long time, you see!)

I barely had time enough yesterday after church to pick up the Sunday Pittsburgh Post Gazette -which I purchase weekly mainly for the great crossword puzzles and also, for their TV guide section too -which gives me a more complete listing for the channels available on our cable system -to get myself out the door in time to get to Philipsburg to see the other theatrical production this weekend by another Youth Theatre Group. But I'm happy to say that I did that and really enjoyed seeing "Les Miz" too!

This production was really fantastic! I'm not saying that just because one of the young men in the play is my cousin either because the kids involved in this play really did a terrific job with the play -very convincing acting and the music, the singing, was well, it was spectacular for sure!

Although I had gone to see this play by myself, and got there just in time to buy my ticket and head to the aisle to look for a place to sit, when I went into the auditorium, there was a lady standing in front of me, looking for a place to sit and as I looked at her from behind -kind of looking down at her hair because she was a rather short lady -I suddenly realized it was my cousin, Margaret Anne -whose grandson had one of the lead roles in this play -and as a result of that meeting her there, I got to sit with her and her husband through the entire play! Can't beat that with a stick now, can you? And after the play, I even got to see her oldest son who lives in Chicago but was here to watch his nephew do an excellent job as Marius in this play. Jeff looks the same as ever and unless you know how old he really is, he could easily pass for only being about 30! He's quite the active fellow -a bit of a party animal at times and I was teasing him that he and my son both could use one of the main songs from the Peter Pan play I saw Friday night as their own theme songs - "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" ya know! So anyway, it was a great time for me to be able to sit with Margaret Anne and Jack and also, to get a nice big hug from their son, Jeff, who I hadn't seen in many a year!

After that, I got home, checked my phone for any calls I probably needed to return and saw that my son had phoned so I called him back. I was surprised when he said he had been calling me to see if I'd like to go with him and get a bite to eat. For him to offer something like that is quite unusual but I took him up on the offer. (Never kick a gift horse in the mouth is an old adage I do like to use there.) Anyway, I zipped up to his house and got him and as we drove off to get some food, I then found out what was behind his offer yesterday. He was going to buy my supper, even put a few gallons of gas in my jeep too, if I would drive him up to where he picks up his big truck to begin his weekly work week -a distance of roughly 40 miles from here, one-way!

So we grabbed a bite at the Long John Silver's in Clearfield and then headed off from there on some backroads to where the trucking company he drives for is located. The roads we had to take to get there took us around and about some areas of the county where I'd never been to before and although it wasn't a difficult route to follow -and shouldn't have been difficult to remember how to back-track and get home, wouldn't you just know it but I managed to miss a turn and ended up taking another scenic tour of a few more back woods villages I'd never seen before! Good thing I do have a fairly decent sense of direction though or I could have been roaming around up in those hills for a long time, driving a sort of circular route indicative of being lost, ya know, and in the dark, too boot! But I made it, eventually found my way back to Curwensville -where I knew the roads quite well from there back to my home!

Once home, I was told by Mandy what to expect for the week ahead!

The kids both area supposed to have Vacation Bible School all this week at our church from 9 a.m. until noon and Mandy is supposed to take them there, of course, and also, she is slated to stay there too with them and help out where needed, most likely in the kitchen as our Women's Group is also providing nice little lunches for the kids, the teachers and such every day. Well, here's where things are going to get tricky though because Maya -who is scheduled to perform this coming Friday and Saturday night with the younger kids theatrical group in Philipsburg (they will be presenting Disney's "The Jungle Book Kids") - had to miss Bible School this morning because she had to be in town for practice from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. today so Mandy had made arrangements with the mother of another little girl in the play to meet her in Morrisdale and the other parent will take Maya to play practice and then Mandy and Kurtis can turn around and rush a bit to get to our church -probably be a couple minutes late though -for Kurt to be in his Bible School group. On Thursday of this week, they will have to repeat this meet-up too as Maya has play practice that day from 9 a.m. till 11 a.m. too!

Luckily, Maya's TSS is schedule to pick her up after play practice and they will then be going up to Bigler to take part in the Bigler Playground Center's Summer program so Brittany will have Maya then on those days from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. -but the drawback, of course, is that Maya will miss two days of Bible School too though.

This morning, as the kids were getting dressed, ready to leave for their various destinations, and as Mandy was hunting for Kurt's shoes, I noticed something about his feet though. At first glance, I though he'd not had his feet very well washed but then I realized the striping effect I was seeing -which really is pretty well marked out on his feet and to his ankles -is sun tan! Honestly, it is so predominant there that I betcha if one could use something like a cordless barcode scanner on him, it would definitely register! Trust me when I tell you this but those markings on his feet and up to his ankles from the straps on his sandals are really showing that boldly on his little feet!

So now, I'm here for the moment with older grandson -who Mandy picked up yesterday and brought him up here for a couple nights stay -and have to finally dig in and wash up the dishes I have now put to soak again -twice -that were left for me to do yesterday! That's how busy I was all day yesterday that I hadn't had time enough to get them washed up before I ran out of steam and went to bed! Once that's completed, then I have to hurry and get dressed and run out to church to be there at noon when the Bible School program is done for today and bring him home as Mandy has to leave there a little early since she has a doctor's appointment scheduled today over in State College.

And I was thinking -before I learned about her appointment and that I'd have to pick Kurtis up -that I was going to get ready and go in town to visit some more business places and try to sell some more advertising for our cookbook. Guess I won't be doing that today because I can't see trying to talk over Kurtis and do a presentation, can you?

Right now, it's been raining here a bit -thank goodness for that small favor for those (like me) who have vegetable and/or flower gardens because it's been really dry here for the past month so with this little bit of rain, perhaps it will help with that aspect. Only problem I have with the rain is that it is also doing a bit of rumbling and thundering so I'm hoping the rain doesn't come with a lot of electrical fireworks too cause then, since I'll have to be home, I might not be able to use the good old trusty computer to work on entering more of the recipes I have on hand here to do!

I'm still not sure if I'm on a list with our Women's Group to do any food preparations for the lunches they will be serving this week to the Bible School group -will have to check on that when I run out to pick Kurtis up, I suppose. If I am scheduled to fix something well, I'll just have to work that in to my schedule of things to do this week before Thursday night when Maya has the dress rehearsal for her play, then Friday and Saturday evenings will be taken up with attending the play so by next Sunday, if I'm really lucky, maybe somewhere along the way I will have been able to get a few trips in to try to get some more advertising sold, still be home in time to cook supper (and wash dishes then afterwards too, of course) and have a little extra reserve energy to get myself up and out of the house on Sunday to return to church!

Just a few observations of mine about my week ahead -all of which is also subject to change at a moment's notice too!

But you know what, the only other thing I have to take care of this week is getting my jeep worked on and inspected and that's the only part of the week ahead I'm NOT looking forward to doing!