October 28-November 3, 2017 - Oswego, Kansas

Saturday, October 28, 2017

It was COLD this morning and I had plans so we did not walk today.  I realized a few days ago that with the weather changing I needed to get some more jeans.  I only have two pairs and with these cooler temperatures I thought it was time to do something about it.  So, this morning my sister Cindy and I headed to Joplin, MO to do a little shopping.  After visiting three re-sale shops and trying on LOTS of jeans and finding nothing that suited me, I finally just purchased some at Wal-Mart, along with a few grocery items, before we headed home.

As I drove through downtown Oswego to take Cindy home, I noticed a lot of people at our local hardware store.  That's when I remembered the owners were having an appreciation lunch for their customers.  Steve and Nancy are retiring and have sold their store to a young man that has worked for them for a number of years.  When I got home I reminded Dean of the appreciation dinner. We've done a lot of business with Steve and Nancy over the years and wanted to wish them well, so we headed uptown.  They were serving hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, cookies and water or pop.  We had an opportunity to visit with both Steve and Nancy, and I made the remark to Steve I love the smile on your face.  It was a different smile - one that was relaxed, like so many other people I know who are retiring have when that day finally arrives.  I remember how that smile feels!  I'm so happy for them and wish them the very best in their retirement.

Shortly after we arrived we saw our good friends Donnie and Janie, originally from Oswego, who now live in the Kansas City area.  I've mentioned them in previous blog posts when we visited them.  We had planned to be in Branson this week.  Our plans changed but they did not know we had decided to stay home.  We set at one of the picnic tables to visit with them while we ate, and invited them to stop by the house before they left town.

When we got home I went in and packed three boxes worth of pots and pans, plastic items and dishes.  I still have enough stuff to pack that will fill another two or three boxes.  Maybe tomorrow.  I went out to Bentley to do a few things, when I heard a knock on the door.  Janie came in to visit while Donnie headed to the garage to visit with Dean.  We always have a good time with these two - lots of laughs!  What a great visit and we hated to see them go.  

I was going to make vegetable/beef stew, but Dean told me eating the rest of the soup I made last night would be fine, so the stew will wait for tomorrow evening.

Tonight begins the Hallmark Christmas movies and we are now starting the 3rd one of the evening.  We love their movies and look forward to the season every year.





Sunday, October 29, 2017

I woke up around 3:00 am and after laying in bed awhile I begin to think it was awful cold in Bentley.  I heard Dean stirring so I asked him if he thought it seemed cold too.  He got up and checked the furnace and sure enough it would not come on - so we must have run out of propane in the bottle we were using.  Bless his heart, he pulled on some clothes and jacket an went outside to switch the tank over.  While they will switch over on their own, he prefers they not to do this so he knows when a tank runs and he can get it refilled right away rather than find us with two empty bottles and no where to get one in the wee hours of the morning!  In no time it had warmed up nicely and I guess I fell asleep because it was around 4:45 when I next looked at my phone to check the time.

It was really cold again this morning so we did not walk.  It looks like the temperatures are going to improve tomorrow so we'll get back to it then.

I spent some time on my phone this morning deleting text messages (after jotting down information I wanted to keep - such as addresses, phone numbers, recipes, etc.) and also deleting them from Facebook messenger.  I'm not sure how much space I cleared up but I would imagine it was quite a bit.  Earlier in the week I listened to a You Tube video of "Geeks on Tour" (I have an annual membership for detailed information they provide their customers on all sorts of computer issues - such as how to get the most out of your cellphone focusing on Samsung and I-Phones, Blogging, Google photos, etc.)  On this video they talked about freeing up space on your phone.  Just from the tips they gave that I followed, I managed to free up almost  9gb on my cell phone.  It was well worth the time spent to do this.  If you have any interest in checking out their website you can find it here.  

Last year I also purchased the book, "Mrs. Geek's Guide:  Google Photos, Your Lifetime of Memories Effortless and Free".  I have learned so many things about Google Photos that I wish I would have known when I first started this blog.  Adding pictures now is so easy in comparison to what I was doing before.  

While I was pretty busy working on this for a couple of hours, I was determined not to get so tied up that I would lose track of time and miss church again like last week.  I left Bentley about 10 am and decided since the roads are no longer muddy I would take the same route to church that I tried last week.  You might remember that failed to work out due to water being over the roads.  This time I had no problem getting to the church and in plenty of time I was able to visit for several minutes after I arrived.  

Since this is the 5th Sunday my sisters and I are not getting together.  Once I returned home, we were getting ready to make a sandwich for lunch when Misti and Haleigh showed up.  Dean is making Misti a pallet headboard for her bed.  They had already discussed how to stain them and he finished doing that yesterday.  Now he wants her to lay out the boards the way she would like them to be placed on the frame, so Dean and Misti headed to the garage while Haleigh and I hung out in Bentley.  

While I should probably be working on packing things up, I decided to finish the blog for this past week and get the pictures added in, and then get this week's blog caught up.  Hopefully I can now stay on top of it and write every evening.

I made the vegetable beef stew I mentioned yesterday in the Instapot for dinner tonight.  I read a few recipes and kind of made it up as I went.  I bought a package of stew meat yesterday.  I cut each of the larger pieces in half or thirds, depending on the size.  I sauted those in 3 T of vegetable oil.  Once they were nicely browned I turned off the saute feature, and then I added the following:  1 can each of sliced carrots, green beans, corn, mixed vegetables, petite diced tomatoes, rotel, tomato paste, and black eyed peas, along with 1/2 bag of shredded cabbage, and 2 cups of beef broth.  I also added onion and garlic powder, as well as salt and pepper.  I set the Instapot on manual for 20 minutes.  About 10 minutes in I realized I forgot to put the seal in the lid, so I shut it off, and added the seal.  Then I reset it for another 20 minutes and when the timer went off I went ahead and released the pressure.  It was perfect.  When I make it again, hopefully I'll remember the seal.  With the seal in I will set it for 20 minutes and let it release the pressure on it's own - just to be sure the meat is tender.  We were very happy with the outcome.  You could adapt this to include other vegetables if you wanted.  

Dean called me on my cellphone and wanted me to come to the garage and look at the headboard he had finished for Misti.  Here is the final product.  I think it will look great once he gets it attached to her bed frame.  I'll try to remember to get a picture of it when that happens.  

We are settling in to watch another Hallmark Christmas movie again tonight - it's not a new one for 2017 like last night.  The next new show will debut next weekend.


Monday, October 30, 2017


Today is my granddaughter Haleigh's 16th birthday!  I love this girl and we will celebrate with her this evening - more about that later.

Oh how I love her red hair - one thing my daddy passed on to some of his grandchildren and great grandchildren!

We left for our morning walk shortly after 7.  It's still fairly dark but it lightens up quick once we begin our walk.  Here are a few pictures of the sun coming up on our way to the park and once we arrived.

This pasture is adjacent to the main park road we enter each morning we walk.

We make a loop around the park and then we walk into the Fairgrounds and Kamp Siesta RV Park which is adjacent to the park.  I wanted to show our new entrance sign to Riverside Park the city recently erected.  

The sunrise continued to show off by painting these clouds such beautiful colors.  We were just leaving Kamp Siesta and walking back towards the park here.  Our community center is to the right, along with the Fairgrounds.

The sun hitting the tops of these trees on the west side of the park looks like gold.  The overlook provides a beautiful view of the Neosho River Valley - the Neosho River runs just below the bluff.

Once we returned from our walk we had our breakfast and showers.  We are going to Parsons this morning to watch our grandson Jaxson in a program at his preschool.  

We left a little early as I wanted to stop at the Hallmark Store in Parsons.  I'm looking for a couple of really nice cards for a couple of people.  Unfortunately for the first time I could not find anything I liked but I did finally receive a call from my lung doctor's office while I was there.  Both of my tests showed good results which I was sure they would - as I've mentioned I feel really great but most importantly I truly believe God told me all would be okay and I believe that.  The main reason for the tests was to determine if the doctor wanted to begin reducing the steroids I'm on.  I am very anxious for this to happen due to all of the side effects.  Unfortunately, the doctor is out this week and the nurse told me she will have to wait until next week to speak with him about that.

From Hallmark we stopped at Walgreen's where I found cards I was satisfied with along with a couple of gift cards I wanted to give someone special who has helped us out as we prepared to sale our house.

Jaxson is Spiderman - he's right in front of the scarecrow sign!

Caught him with a smile!

It was fun to watch him and the other kids.  They were having a good time.  We will be back to see him again later this evening as we celebrate Haleigh's birthday.

My son Marc, his Mimi (Daughter-in-law Jen's mom) and his Uncle Mark joined us to watch the program.  Jen is out of town for training with a new job she recently accepted so Marc was busy videoing much of the program for her.

Before leaving town we had to make what seems to be a mandatory stop at Wal-Mart for just a couple of things before heading back home.

After having some leftover stew for lunch once we returned, I decided to try and finish some paperwork I've been working on.

We left for Parsons about 4:45 to pick up Jaxson and his sister Kamron at their Mimi's, and then we made a stop at Wal-Mart (AGAIN!!) to pick up a cookie cake for Haleigh's birthday.  I had called to order one earlier in the day and they told me they would set it aside for me after adding writing to the cake.  We had to wait for someone to show up to get the cake out of the cooler, and then she couldn't get the price sticker to print.  She had to call a manager - which seemed to take an awful long time - and then she couldn't get it to work either.  She finally told me to just go up and pay and tell them the price of the cake and the price sticker would not print.  I was a little concerned they would accept that - but sure enough they did and finally about 15 minutes after we arrived, we finally left with the cake.

Our next and final stop in Parsons was at Chinese Chef - Haleigh's choice for her birthday dinner.  They were waiting on us and had been there awhile.  We no more than set down and Haleigh and her good friend Emory were headed to the buffet.  They both love Chinese.  I filled Jaxson's plate and then returned to fill my own.  This is the first time we've eaten Chinese since I've been on my low carb diet.  I don't have a lot of willpower when it comes to eating but considering all I could have ate I didn't do too bad.  Unfortunately it had to be the day before I weigh (every Tuesday morning) so I hope it doesn't throw me off too much.  We'll see!

Here's the birthday girl - Sweet Sixteen!

Aunt Misti telling Jaxson a funny story - and his reaction as cousin Logan looks on.

Once everyone was full, Dean and I took Kamron and Jaxson home while Misti and the girls stopped at Wal-mart before heading back to Oswego.  I thought Logan was coming to Oswego too, so I didn't tell him goodbye.  Once we arrived at Misti's I found out he was not coming so I felt bad about not giving/getting a hug and "I love you" from him before we left.

Misti purchased a time capsule for Haleigh when she was born with the idea of opening it on her 16th birthday - so we enjoyed her going through it and sharing what was in it.  There were a few items of clothing, cards received when she was born, newspapers with her birth announcement and one on the day she was born, along with a video tape - not sure what is on it yet but most likely pictures of her when she was born, and 3 letters, one from me (Nana Peine), her dad's mom (Grandma Bates) and her Uncle Marc (my son/Misti's brother).  It was fun to hear her read them.  I could not remember anything I wrote but it was very neat hearing it all of these years later and we were very impressed with the letter that Uncle Marc wrote - as he was just 20 years old and single.  He included a picture of his class at their Senior Prom. 

Opening birthday cards prior to going through the time capsule in the forefront of the picture.

We finally had a piece of that cookie cake before we headed home.  Haleigh babysits after school for my cousin Scott's grandson Isaiah.  His mom works an evening shift so he stays with them overnight as well.  Isaiah is a cool kid.

Isaiah

A fun filled day spent with grandkids!  Precious moments for sure.

Once we returned home, we watched Dancing With the Stars (love DVR's) and I made it almost to the very end - but missed the ending and who was eliminated.  Again I love DVR's and backed it up real quick to find out it was two couples (OH NO) and then headed to bed.  Goodnight!


Tuesday, October 31, 2017

I slept in a little this morning and it was almost 5:30 when I got up.  I sure enjoy my morning coffee and I was glad when the first cup was ready.  I read several devotionals I get via email each morning and then a few rv blogs.

After Dean was up and had his coffee we talked about walking but it was really cold this morning so we decided we'd hold off until tomorrow morning.  It is supposed to warm up this week.  

Once we had breakfast and got around I went in the house to start the laundry and then spent the rest of the day washing and folding clothes.  In between loads I was packing up more things in the house.  I managed to get all of the kitchen items packed and a few other things.  I still have two boxes that are empty so tomorrow I will work on emptying our master bedroom closet and the back bedroom closet.  I'm sure I'll need more than two boxes but we'll figure it out as I go.

Dean made a lot of progress today in the garage as well.  I think we'll have everything packed up by the end of next week if not before.  We are moving quite a few things to my daughter's, my sister's and my aunt's on Saturday.  The following weekend we'll move some other furniture to one of our son's house and anything else remaining will go to the storage shed.  

We worked right up until a little after 5.  I sure was glad we had leftover vegetable beef stew so I didn't have to stop and fix dinner tonight.  Tomorrow night I'll need to make something but not sure yet what it will be.

Our new collapsible popcorn popper came by UPS.  We were anxious to try it out tonight.  After popping enough to fill the popper the first time we determined rather than using the popcorn button it was better to just turn the oven on for 4 minutes and let it pop.  The button only goes 2 minutes and we only got 2 or 3 kernels popped by the end of the first 2 minutes.  It was much better using 4 minutes.  We melted butter to put over the popcorn and salted it but even though it was okay, it sure isn't the same as at the movie theater.  I'm going to do a little research on what product we should try for a better "movie popcorn" experience.

Not a whole lot to talk about today but it was a good day and I felt like we both accomplished quite a bit.

We did not have any Trick or Treater's but enjoyed seeing all of the kiddos in their costumes on Facebook.  There are not any young kids that live near us and since all of our grandkids (except those who live away from us) and nieces and nephews are grown we do not get anyone stopping by our house anymore.  I miss that.  

Happy Halloween!


Wednesday, November 1, 2017

It's hard to believe it's only 23 days until Thanksgiving!  That means it's only 55 days until Christmas!  Wow - where has this year gone.  My grandparents were right - the older you get the faster the days fly by!

We checked the temperatures before leaving to walk at Riverside Park and we were expecting it to be really cold.  Even though the wind was blowing we got warmed up pretty quick and had to drop our outer coat at the car and finish with just our sweatshirts.  All that walking warms a person up, I guess.  

Since I am heading to my women's group this morning I did not eat breakfast, and it's probably just as well.  I was rushing to get around on time this morning the way it was.  When I returned home Dean was already in Bentley waiting on me so we could have lunch.  He finished up the last of the vegetable beef stew and I had a sandwich.  

Afterwards I headed into the house to begin working on packing things up again.  I had to take several file folders out of the 2 drawer file I moved into Bentley a couple of days ago, so I carried them into the large 4 drawer file we have but it was full.  I had 3 huge folders full of cards - two were full of cards we have received and the third one was a combination of cards we have received and new cards.  I took the time to look through all of the cards and I am so glad I did.  I found a number of cards Misti and Marc had given me for different holidays and my birthday - several from when they were small and they could barely write their names; some my mom had sent me and some I had sent my mom; cards from many dear friends as well as my co-workers for birthdays and Boss' Day.  Of course there were numerous ones from Dean for the past 23 years.  I did not keep them all but I picked out a few from all that I had saved, including some from my sisters, my step-dad, my step-brother and my step-mom as well as other friends and family members.  It was fun looking through them again.

I did manage to get one room completely emptied today.  We have a couple of appointments in Joplin tomorrow so we will probably not get a chance to work on packing anything else until Friday.  As I mentioned earlier, Saturday we are moving a number of furniture pieces to my daughter Misti's house and I need to be sure all of the dressers, end tables, night stands, etc. are emptied.  That will be my focus on Friday, and then working on the closet in our bedroom - it won't take long to finish it.

I received a text from the buyer of our house and they have the formal contract ready to be signed, and will bring it by this evening.  After looking it over Dean and I both signed it and we expect the closing to occur before November 30.  We hope to have everything we need to finish completed and all of our items in storage by the weekend after Thanksgiving.  

Tonight for dinner I sauted some salmon steaks in butter in our cast iron skillet, and topped it with dill weed/butter, warmed up some herb rice and steamed some cauliflower.  It was a pretty good dinner!  Dean was a sweetheart and helped me with the dishes, which I really appreciated. 


Thursday, November 2, 2017

We have to be in Joplin by 8:30 this morning to have our car looked at.  While we were in Joplin a couple of weeks ago it made some pretty noisy clunking sounds when Dean braked at least three different times, and it has a vibration once you get up to a higher speed.  I haven't noticed the brake noise recently but we felt like we should have it checked out.  I already had my annual well woman's checkup scheduled for that morning so it worked out well for us to drive both vehicles over and leave my car to have it checked out.  Between my appointment with my doctor, having a mammogram and then having lunch it will give them at least three hours to check it out.  If they find a problem they can call Dean to discuss it with him.  Hopefully we can bring it home with us and we can always find something to do while we are in Joplin if more time is needed.  

Since we are leaving at 7:30 am we did not walk this morning.  We are expecting some really nice weather this weekend so it will be great for walking the next few days.  

I've been thinking about 2018 some and our travel plans.  Of course while we have discussed them somewhat loosely we haven't made any definite plans yet. What we do know is we will be going to Mission, TX for 3 months (Jan-Mar).  We will return to Oswego in April.  There are several rallies scheduled in Branson, MO (Missouri Heartland Rally), Eufala, OK (Oklahoma Heartland Rally) and Carthage, MO (SKP Chapter 17 rally) during that month.  We have our regular SKP casual campout in May and around May 24 we will be traveling to Sedalia, MO to the 59th annual Escapade (last year it was in Tucson, AZ).  Our SKP Chapter has been invited to join SKP Chapter 2 from Colorado at their rally in Eureka Springs, AR, following the Escapade but we haven't made any decisions on that yet. We definitely want to spend a good part of June/July in Kansas to see our kids splitting our time between the Oswego area and Wichita, as well as spending time with my sisters and their families.  We do plan to head to New York toward the end of July or first of August to spend a couple of weeks with our son Matt and his family.  Since we will be so close to New England we want to spend some extensive time in the area.  I'd like to spend at least 30 days in this area, maybe a little more.  We would like to be back in Oklahoma in time for the last casual camp-out in October.  We will spend November/December in Southeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri before we head south again.  However, at this point we are not sure if it will be back in Texas or if we might look at Florida, Alabama or Arizona.  I've always wanted to go to Quartzsite and then stay over for the Lake Havasu Winter Blast Fireworks Show, so we might give it a try.  We'll see!

The sun coming up as we left Columbus, Kansas.  Dean is in front of me.

We left a little earlier since it is pretty foggy this morning but it had pretty much lifted by the time we were past Columbus, KS and we made it to Roper Honda in Joplin well before 8:30.  After talking to the technician, we left the car and realized we have more than an hour until my doctor appointment, so we took our time driving over to the Freeman Hospital Complex, and once we arrived we headed north and drove the countryside in the area which is really quite beautiful.  Shoal Creek runs through this area and I took several pictures of the old bridge here, the falls and a few views of the country side.

Open sided bridge over Shoal Creek near Joplin, MO 

From the parking lot adjacent to the bridge

Geese are enjoying the water.

Love the gold colors as the sun hits this area along Shoal Creek.

Not the best picture but this is the new Mercy hospital that was rebuilt after the tornado hit Joplin on May 22, 2011.  

Upstream shot from the bridge.

As we drove some back roads we came across this beautiful view.

The Falls on Shoal Creek

These beautiful maple trees sure stand out!

By now it was nearing time for my appointment, so we turned back north towards the Freeman Women's Center where I will see my doctor and have my annual mammogram.

Freeman's Women's Center

My appointment with my doctor was at 9:20 and I was called back not too long after we arrived.  Of course we had to go through the weight, temperature, blood pressure check, etc. before being moved to a room.  Then she reviewed my medications and I learned something.  With computers more information is available to your doctors and if your doctors happen to be in the same system (such as Freeman in my case) they have information from any other doctor you see associated within the Freeman system as well.  When I gave them the list of my medications the nurse asked if I was still taking a certain prescription and I didn't even recognize what it was.  She told me it was an antibiotic that I was to be taking as long as I took the prednisone.  I asked her how she knew that since I haven't been here since my diagnosis of sarcoidosis in April.  That's when I learned all Freeman doctor's have access to your medical history.  If anyone told me I needed to be taking both together as long as needed I do not remember it - but the antibiotic did not have a refill after the original 85 pills and the prednisone had several so it never occurred to me to call about having it renewed.  You know what they say about assuming!

After my appointment we went downstairs to the suite where mammograms and other diagnostic procedures are provided.  My appointment wasn't until 10:20.  I had some paperwork to fill out and then I ran to the bathroom, by the time I returned they were waiting for me - and it was only about 10:00 a.m.  The technician this morning is someone I know - we used to attend the same church as her parents and I've known her family for years before that, so we had a nice visit catching up on family members.  

For those of you who do not know my mother had breast cancer and she passed away February 7, 1993 after her second diagnosis in late 1992.  She almost made it five years after completing her first treatment.  She was 54 when she died and was probably 47-49 when she was first diagnosed.  Because of this and other family members that have also had breast cancer it is possible me and my sisters may have a higher risk for a similar diagnosis.  Each year at this time they ask me about having the BRCA test that could determine if I might have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.  So far I've not taken the test.  Originally the price was just too high and insurance didn't cover it but the price has dropped considerably, so it's something I have considered.  Have any of you had this test?  I'm still on the fence but would be interested in others who might have faced this and what you did, and why?  

We were finished with everything at the Women's Center by 10:30 so I asked Dean to drive over to my lung specialist's office which was just a few blocks away so I could inquire if I in fact still needed to be on the antibiotic while taking the prednisone.  He was out of the office for the week, so they will call me on Monday to let me know if I need to begin taking it again or not.  I did think it was interesting that when the receptionist brought up my chart on her computer, she looked at me and back at the screen and said you look a lot different, we need to get a new picture of you.  I guess they do this to monitor the changes when you are on various medications?  Anyway, the picture she had was taken on August 22, the last appointment I had with the doctor.  Interestingly enough I had also taken a  selfie at home the same day.  Once we returned home from my doctor appointment that day I was talking to my step-brother and I had taken this picture and sent it to him so he could see what a difference taking it had made.  

Here it is:

Taken August 22, 2017

Taken November 3, 2017

You might remember I asked the Doctor if the swelling in my face would eventually go away after they begin reducing the amount of prednisone I am taking and he told me probably not.  Now maybe they tell you that so you are not surprised if it doesn't diminish but I am still taking the same dosage as I was at that time and look how much it has reduced since then.  I remember thinking that he was wrong because it was going to go away.  I just prefer to remain positive and not dwell on it.  I anticipate that in time the swelling will disappear all together - and since I'm working hard to lose weight it may even better than it was at the start of all of this as I'm sure a significant weight loss would be a plus for my face as well as my body.  A pre-diabetes diagnosis was a big wake up call to me.  Watching my Grandpa Stapleton and my dad struggle with diabetes, I have no desire to go there myself; and it really hasn't been that hard to leave the carbs alone.  Sure there are times I want to eat some things I can't but I believe moderation is the key.  I hope once I lose weight to the level I want to stay that if I do eat carbs they are minimal and even then for a special occasion/holiday event and no longer part of my regular diet.  There are so many things you can do in your daily diet to eliminate carbs and not feel cheated.  One thing I'm thankful for is I like so many foods that are good for me on this diet that I hated as a kid.  It sure makes it easier!

Okay, so after all of the medical stuff, we started driving towards Honda to check on the car and I called Michael, the technician overseeing our repair.  He said they were unable to find or create the clinking sound we had heard when applying the brakes, however the tires were out of balance and they could balance them if we wanted.  We told him to go ahead as the vibration when driving had become pretty bad.  He said it would be done around noon.  Since it was almost 11:00 we decided to have lunch at Ruby Tuesday's.  We really like their salad bar and we haven't been here in quite awhile.  I chose their garden salad bar - as many trips as you want for $8.99 and Dean ordered a bacon cheeseburger with the garden salad bar as his side.  I had a BIG salad - with all of the good no/or very low carbs added.  I chose bleu cheese dressing since it too fits with the diet.  It was delicious.  By the time Dean finished his salad he wasn't sure he could eat all of his burger so he gave me about 1/3 of it.  I removed the burger from the bread and it was perfect for filling me up.  

We had a few errands to run.  Our first stop was at Khol's.  I wanted to see if they had any of their cheap long sleeve t-shirts available.  Short of several sweat shirts I only have 3 long sleeve tops and they are a little heavier than I care to have for everyday wear.  Unfortunately, they did not have the ones I was looking for.  I did look at a few other things but didn't see anything else I really liked.  I can make do with a couple of nicer tops in case we want to "dress up" a bit - but mostly I just want simple everyday tops to wear.  

From there we moved over to Best Buy.  We have two printers - one is a very simple Canon that we have carried in Bentley for almost 4 years.  It works well but it does not scan, there is no auto-feeder, does not print on both sides and is not wireless.  The one we have had for the house for several years does have these features but it is a little bigger than what we have room for with the current set-up.  Unfortunately we did not see anything that we felt would suit us any better at this time so we'll just sell or give away the smaller Canon and continue to use the larger Epson printer we have for now.  We have already moved it to Bentley.  Once Dean gets the desk built it will probably work just fine, so we'll just work around it until he can work on that project.

Our final stop was Wal-mart.  We just needed a few things - more tubs for storage of items, a small plastic container (found in the fishing box area) that I am going to use for storing various size batteries, and just a couple of food items that we can't get at home.  

I wanted to stop at McDonald's and get something to drink before heading home and Dean did not want anything so he went on home and I stopped in Webb City.  Wow, it was busy and I had to wait quite awhile before I had my drink and was on the way again.  I have a tendency to get sleepy after eating so I wanted something that would prevent that and with my tea I had no problem making it home just fine.  

While at Wal-Mart I found some bread Cindy had been wanting to try so I called to see if she wanted me to pick her up a loaf of it and she did, so once I returned to Oswego I took it by her house.  She and her husband Elmer were outside talking to my neighbor John.  Cindy had her purse on her arm and a letter in her hand.  She was getting ready to go uptown but John had her blocked in.  I got out and visited with all of them for awhile - John and his wife recently remodeled a house across the street from them - and just south of us.  They put it up for sale and had it sold within a very short time.  Both his house and ours is purchased by young couples in their 20's.  We really have a very nice little neighborhood here and I think they will both like it.  I was headed to the grocery store when I left Cindy's because I needed to get some lunch meat for the week so Cindy just rode with me since she planned to make a stop at the Dollar General, in the same location as our grocery store.  Afterwards we took a drive through the park and around town looking at the trees and just visiting.

Once I got home and Dean helped me get the car unloaded I was pretty well done for the day.  It was close to 4 and I didn't have much drive to do anything else.  I did go outside and take some pictures of this tree we planted 7-8 years ago.  At the time we didn't expect to have Bentley parked where he is so it's a little close and we had to trim a few of the branches back, but now he will be able to spread his branches better with us moving on.

I had a hard time keeping my eyes open the rest of the evening - both before making a sandwich for dinner - and afterwards even through the Hallmark movie that mostly Dean watched while I snoozed off and on.  I woke up earlier than normal this morning and I guess it's catching up with me.

Even so, it was another beautiful day with temperatures in the upper 70's.  We left the windows open in Bentley until nearly 8 pm - hard to believe in November and the weather is supposed to be great through the weekend.  


Friday, November 3, 2017

After beautiful weather yesterday I was disappointed to wake up to much cooler weather and the wind blowing, so we did not walk.  We are missing our walks and need to get back to a routine.  After breakfast, I headed into the house to start sorting and going through more "stuff", and making sure some furniture pieces were entirely emptied before tomorrow as we will be taking a number of things to my daughter on Saturday morning.

I emptied the chest of drawers where Dean keeps his folded clothing-- underclothes, t-shirts, jeans, sweats, etc.; a night stand, two end tables, a cedar chest and another dresser in the back bedroom.  I also am taking our desk to my Aunt Lil so that needed to be emptied as well.  I managed to move almost everything out of the master bedroom closet except just a few boxes that I still need to sort through.  I have one closet left to empty but I need to sort through some of the things I removed from the furniture today and decide what I will keep and what will be donated or given away to my sisters or my daughter.  

My sister's husband is having knee surgery today and they are watching their grandson who will be 3 later this month, while his parents are out of town; so I am going to watch him while my sister Crystal is with her husband at the hospital.  Dempsey has only been around me a few times so I was surprised when he warmed right up to me and didn't even question when Crystal left.  He was really good and we had a lot of fun playing with the Lincoln Logs, his monster truck which would go by itself when you pushed the back part of the truck down and let it go, and watching his Paw Patrol DVD that he brought. 

Look at that monster truck go!

Uncle Dean & Dempsey putting some puzzles together.

Uncle Dean helped him put puzzles together and I read him a few books.  He didn't really want to eat lunch but I told him he could have some ice cream if he ate his lunch so he downed quite a few SpaghettiOs and so of course he was able to enjoy the ice cream.  Crystal called me about 1:45 and said she was just driving into town and I informed her Dempsey had just fallen asleep - like 2 or 3 minutes before she called, so she is going to run some errands for her husband Lonie, then take him home so he can rest and then she will be down later.  I worked on emptying a few more things taking advantage of Dempsey's nap time.  When Crystal arrived Dean and I visited with her for about 45 minutes or so until Dempsey woke up.  He was surprised to see his Nana and went right to her for some hugs.

After they left I got Dean to go through some clothes he had left in the master bedroom closet and we weeded out what he thought he should keep and what needed to go.  I headed to Bentley about 4pm to start dinner.  Tonight we are having lasagna without noodles.  Instead of the noodles you use provolone cheese - not sure how it will be but it can't be too bad - after all who doesn't like cheese - and more cheese - right?  It's low carb and that is the main thing right now.  

While it was in the oven cooking, Bill and Renee Cochran stopped by to deliver an order I placed with her during a recent Pampered Chef party.  We invited them in to see Bentley and to visit a bit.  Renee worked for me when I was City Clerk for Oswego, and prior to that we were close friends when we went to school together in Chetopa, Kansas.  The four of us had a really nice visit.  The thing I miss most about my job is my former staff: Carol, Renee and Tracy.  Surprisingly, I really don't miss the job, which I thought I would!  These ladies are doing a super job of keeping things going!

After they left Dean and I tried the lasagna and it was pretty good.  A little cheesier than normal but otherwise we liked it and even had seconds.  

After doing the dishes I tried to read some emails and check Facebook but I couldn't keep my eyes open and slept in my chair until it was time to go to bed.  Once I laid down I rolled over and was out like a light.