getting ready...

 The "quilting" group is meeting tomorrow HERE!!  We had to postpone things last week when my daughter and I were both ill.. and didn't want to pass it on to anyone else.  My daughter had brought it home from her grammar school ... nasty not covid and short lived..

Any way... I have been tidying up and making snacks. Bob vacuums and hopefully will put away all the tax papers he has spread out on the dining room table!!  

Our Missouri weather is still as unpredictable as usual... nice and warm then back down to cold. We are due for severe thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow night.. Trees are in bloom... daffodils are too! A local farmer posted on Facebook that he had planted his red potatoes and green onions... I am looking forward to buying his asparagus and strawberries !!

It WAS a busy one...

 Our weekend did turn out to be s busy one. We did the de-clutter on Saturday.... ending up with very full trash bins and three cars full of "stuff" needing to find new homes. Some things will go to the several thrift shops in town. Different thrifts are interested in different types of donations. Some things will go to my grand daughter for her apartment.... and the sewing machine goes to my home.

The sewing machine isn't staying... somehow it has gotten frozen and my husband is going to work on it and see if he can free it up.

Sunday was dinner for all... sort of a celebration for all we had done the day before. My daughter made meatloaf, roasted green beans, twice baked potatoes ... dessert was a frozen chocolate one, but good non the less.

When we returned home Bob looked up the sewing machine online and printed out "instructions" . We had the original manual but it didn't have any inside diagrams. So we took a lot  of the machine apart... nothing wrong in the bobbin area. Working at the belts we could move the needle up and down... but the clutch part would not be freed up. 

Got in touch with the retired father of a friend who works on older machines  and arranged to leave it at a local quilt store  for him to pick up...fingers crossed he can do something!!

My daughter has more tasks planned for Friday and the weekend....

Day Trip

 Yesterday... day trip to Omaha !

Bob  bought some vintage Heathkit computers and accessories online with the agreement that he would pick them up so the seller did not have to worry about shipping!

So off we went... to Omaha, which is about 3.5 hours North of us on the Interstate. The day was gorgeous... but the closer we got to Omaha, the colder it got and windy too.

We arrived about 12.30. I brought my Kindle and settled down to read while the two men talked and then carried all of Bob's "stuff" to the car.

By then the temp. was about 52 and VERY windy. Off we headed hoping to find somewhere for lunch... but southern Nebraska and northern Iowa only have small towns and the signs on the Interstate read no gas, no attractions, and no food.

Finally came across an exit which had several gas stations and a Wendy's... not my favorite but by then I was really hungry. I guess others were too.. it was quite busy! An elderly gentleman helped me with the drinks machine... even making sure I had napkins when I goofed! A young man with a great smile and a drilling company hoodie explained they drilled for water ... which he said was more valuable than oil or gas!!

By that time Wendy's had emptied out and our lunch was brought to the table...it was still cold and super windy when we left... BUT when we got to Kansas City about two hours later it was 81 and Bob turned on the car's air conditioning. 

Right now we are back to cold - 42 and it has been raining since early morning.

BTW... forgot to mention how dry everything looked on our trip... ponds way down too!!  And there were grass fires along the interstate heading north and then off to the Missouri River when returning - heading south

busier than usual week...?

 Monday's echo cardiogram went well and the results were good. Nothing has changed! 

 We felt sorry for  everyone working in the hospital...from reception/check in on up. There had just been a major switch up in software etc for the whole hospital and they are still figuring things out!! While we were in the check-in person's office... she could not get her printer to print our receipts. She ended up using someone else's printer and walking to that office for them.

BTW... everyone wore masks and was behind a shield !

Afterwards we walked around the hospital's walking track ( outside)... little cold and quite windy but good for us!

Thursday was are going to Omaha ... about a three hour drive north. The interstate follows the Missouri River... we cross over the river at Council Bluffs, Iowa and into Omaha, Nebraska  and head to the northern side of town. Bob bought a vintage Heathkit H89 and we are picking it up..  He worked for Heathkit when they were first developing a computer.  We loved living in St. Joseph, Michigan... home of Heathkit and right on Lake Michigan!!

I am hoping to find somewhere to stop on the way back... antique store perhaps??

Saturday is a family work day at my daughter's house... declutter time ... load the cars up for drop off at the thrift store/stores. Different stores like different donated items...

If I can squeeze it in... there is a neat craft show nearby on Saturday. Opens at 9...family work day is later in the day...

grocery shopping

 Every time I go grocery shopping ... the prices have risen. We are lucky... there are only two of us and Bob doesn't mind leftovers, sandwiches and soup and so on. But there are many others who are finding this upswing in prices to be  difficult. Even the checkout ladies complain!!

and then... there's the even bigger  upswing in gas prices...

Monday I will head off to our hospital for a echo cardiogram... my cardiologist says it is time to see if there are any changes from the last one.  If it is nice out I will take a walk around the hospital's walking track!!

The snow we had last week ( Thursday and Friday) is almost gone..hooray!! Last night the temperature didn't even go below freezing. It is March, after all,  and Spring should be around the corner.... Daylight Saving Time kicked in too. Lucky Bob had to change all the clocks this morning!

Bob called his sister in South Carolina this morning... just a check up call. She had tornado watches yesterday. They got to talking family history... their childhood memories etc. 

He has been "zooming" with his high school classmates back in Geneva, NY so that became part of the discussion. We are half a country away from most of them and so he found a school year book to match memories with current faces!! Especially difficult since the women have married and have different names now!! His Catholic high school closed back in the '90's due to lack of enrollement and has been remodeled into senior apartments.

More crazy up and down weather

 Last week we had glorious sunny days with weather in the 70's.... just right for walks in the park. Yesterday the temps dropped and a line ( on the radar maps) of storms came through. Thunderstorms... rain and hail the size of quarter.

Today... it was sunny and cooler this morning but not long ago it got gray and thundering... rain and more hail. Smaller this time... only the size of a large pea.

LATER...we just had a bunch of a mix of sleet and rain. The tv weather person just hinted that we could get up to two inches of snow overnight!

What is tomorrow going to look like??

 

Kay... the dinner for ten was great... lots of talking...lots of catching up and the "cherry on top" was great food!!