Saturday, July 19, 2014

Saturday Again

Bob and I went to breakfast this morning. The first time in three weeks. The first weekend his daughter was here. The second I was at camp.

When I got home I cleaned my apartment thoroughly. I still need to dust but I can do that quickly in just four rooms.I don't know if I have posted photos of this apartment inside but I might do that. It's not bad at all.

Strangely, I couldn't get the USB ports to work on the new laptop so I am back here in the den using my 2007 Dell laptop to try to show you the apartment inside.

Here is the kitchen

This is the living room. Notice the afghan on the recliner for Missy.

This is my bedroom. At least it is from one angle.

This is the den where I have a daybed and trundle and two of my computers.

This is the bathroom both Missy and I use.  Notice her litter box. :) I guess I should have turned on the light too.

This is the laundry area. It's in the hall right outside the bathroom.
I almost forgot the dining room. And I use it a lot. I had to go back in and take the photo of it.

Anyhow, this is my small apartment but it is adequate for me.

More later....

I made Judy's cake this evening but it is very moist. I will take it to church in the morning and share it with the early arrivals.
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Friday, July 18, 2014

Busy Friday

This will be a busy day. At 9:00 I have my interview for the job with Aime. Then soon after that at 10:30 I will attend Jack's services. Bob and I will just go to Sirloin Stockade for lunch. He has to use his birthday certificate before Saturday when it expires.

I don't know when Aime will start me at my new position but I hope it's at the beginning of the new pay period. I have already paid for the Smokey Joe concert in Kansas City on Wednesday. That is a dinner theater at the New Theater there.

I am doing laundry this morning. I needed to do my towels and underwear. I also need to vacuum and dust. Maybe I can get that done either this afternoon or Saturday morning.

I went out on the carport with Missy this morning. She wasn't happy about coming back in but it's chilly out there. It's the 18th of July and actually chilly. Strange!

I slept well last night. I went to bed at 9:00 and at 9:30 my text went off on my cell. It was my grandson,  Jerod, contacting his dad. They evidently have me in a "group" and I was  getting their text's. I told them I was trying to sleep and at 10:30 they finally either took me out of the group or quit texting. By then, Missy, who sleeps on the end of my bed was really disgusted. She came up and either nipped me on the hand or scratched me on the hand.  Anyhow, I finally got back to sleep.

More later...

I had my interview with Aime this morning and although she is interested in getting me back into the SER program, she cannot guarantee Texas will accept me back even though I exited the program over a health issue. She just said "don't kill the messenger"  if that happens. So, we'll see what happens.

After the interview I went to Jack's memorial service. There must have been over 500 people there.  It was a good service and some of the family spoke. Then the Air Force provided a service at the Veteran's Pavilion at the cemetery. It was impressive...complete with taps and a flag ceremony. After that, Bob and I went to Sirloin Stockade for lunch.

More still later.....


Thursday, July 17, 2014

Busy Thursday

I broke down yesterday and went to the doctor (or rather the nurse practitioner) about my swollen ankles. She sent me to the lab this morning and had me move up my semi-annual appointment with the doctor to this next Monday.  In other words, she didn't have a clue. I doubt the doctor will either.  The ankles, especially the left one, have been badly swollen for two weeks. Last week at camp didn't help any. I climbed up and down that hill a dozen times a day for four days. This morning I awoke with the swelling gone. It's almost 10:00 now and the swelling is coming back up.

Afterward I went to pay for my auto/renters insurance. The Shelter agent, Travis, wasn't in yet. So I went to check on a quote from another agent who is with State Farm. His premium was over $200 higher then the $419 premium I am trying to beat and almost $400 higher then the one other new quote I have from Shelter.  Between my age and the two towing job claims I have had in the past two years, I am being priced right out of the market.  The Shelter agent checked and they don't raise rates for tows. He is my best quote so far. Insurance is a racket for sure.

Travis is in right now so when I finish this blog, I will go pay my premium. 

We are having spaghetti for lunch. Bob is bringing coleslaw again and we will have green beans with it. I already have garlic bread.  I will have to come up with dessert.

This afternoon I will elevate my feet and read my three magazines that came while I was at camp.  Maybe the swelling will go down.

More later....

I got my insurances paid and the other ones cancelled. Then I came home and fixed lunch.

We had a good lunch and after Bob went home I lay down with my foot elevated and read my magazines until I fell asleep. Missy was on my lap and she took a nap too. 

When I awoke I emptied the dishwasher and did some more reading. Bob came over and we went to the funeral home to sign the book for Jack's services tomorrow.

I have my interview with Aime in the morning at 9:00 at the library. After that, as soon as possible, I will get over to the Presbyterian Church for Jack's services.

I raised my feet again this evening to give the swollen ankle a chance to go down. Bob came over at 6:00 and stayed until 7:30 and after he left I took my bath and put my PJs on.

I'll try to stay up until 9:00 so I will sleep better tonight. I hope that nap doesn't ruin my sleep.

Leslie e-mailed me the survey results from camp and almost all of the surveys were very complimentary. After all my work, I feel gratified.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

A Quiet Wednesday

I am so glad camp is over. Now I won't have to worry about staff anymore or the weather. Today I want to write all the staff thank you notes. I will take them to church on Sunday and have Leslie sign them too. I am charging the battery on the camera now after all the photos I took at camp.

I got up around 5:00 this morning and it's 55 degrees out there...in the middle of July! That's unbelievable.

Last night I washed my hair in the shower. It looked terrible after four days of all that heat. My bangs were just like sausages. Luckily I had had a haircut before I left and I can manage it myself.  I will try to get an appointment for early Friday. My job interview for SER with Aime is at 9:00 on Friday.  Then Jack's memorial service is later that morning at 10:30.  I will try to make it too. Friday will be busy.

Today I am thawing the other two pork chops that I had frozen when we had the first two. We will have those with mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies and a salad.  I will thaw some fruit for dessert.

Tomorrow we will have spaghetti, green beans, salad and garlic toast.  

Missy wanted to go out this morning so we went out for awhile while I drank my coffee. She ate some grass and enjoyed being out for awhile. Her mellow good humor from yesterday was short lived. She has been spitting and growling at me again this morning when I wanted her to come back in the house.

We have exercise class this morning. I had plenty of exercise at camp walking up and down that hill a dozen times a day. 

More later....

I knew I took a photo of that tabernacle at camp. And I finally found it. Here it is:

There is seating for a couple of hundred in it and two restrooms and an office where all the sound and projection equipment is kept. Behind the pulpit area there are also two classrooms.




Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Tuesday at Home

Today was the last morning of camp. We had cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast and then retired to the pool for baptisms. There were four. I am sorry I had packed away the camera and didn't get any photos.  Anyhow, I do have photos of the camp this week and I will post some of them.

This is the dining hall on the grounds:

This is the scenery next to the tabernacle. It's really pretty country in western Missouri. You can barely see the tabernacle on the right behind that Birch clump..
These are some of the cabins behind the dining hall. There are a lot more up on "Rattlesnake Ridge". Don't worry no one has ever seen a rattlesnake up there.

This is James, our guest minister, a member of our church's presiding bishopric. He was preaching his first sermon of the week here. His wife is playing the piano there.

This is a group of members just milling around in the dining hall.

Here some of them are eating dinner. There were 100 registered for the camp but some others came in from time to time during the week.

This is Founder's Hall, the dormitory with rooms to sleep four, bathrooms and showers. This is the upstairs part....handicapped assessable. 

This is the porch of Founder's Hall. It faces what I consider to be the west.

This is the back of Founder's Hall. There is a nursery, a fenced playground and two classrooms. There are also bathrooms with showers back here too.

You may remember I mentioned the duck race on Monday. These are the owners of the winners of the duck race....number 25.

This was the duck race in progress. Have you ever seen so many people so interested in the outcome of a race with rubber duckies?

This is the teen center. They can play ping pong here and also have their classes here. It is one of the newer buildings on the grounds.

This is a group of teens and a couple of older people visiting and playing games in the dining hall in the afternoon.

This kind of interesting, although kind of blurry, it is a beetle that landed on this man's leg one afternoon and he showed it off to the children. On the front of it, it had large pincers.  After a while it
got uncomfortable with the crowd and flew off.

I have some more but I think this gives you a cross section of the activities. I am sorry I neglected to get a photo of the tabernacle somehow. It is very nice and nicely landscaped too.

I got home shortly before noon and unpacked and got my laundry started.

More later...

Bob came over for awhile and we watched some TV. I tried to stay up to watch History Detectives but just couldn't do it. After four nights of very poor sleep, I finally just died. I awoke twice to go to the bathroom but got right back to sleep.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Last Full Day of Camp

This is the last full day of camp.  It breaks up tomorrow at 10:30.  I will be glad to get home.  It has been a great camp and people have really responded to our need of last minute staff.  But I am very tired. I have not slept well all week!

This morning Aime called from the SER program and I have an appointment at the library for a job interview on Friday at 9:00.  Jack's funeral service is Friday too at 10:30. I hope to be able to make both. If not, I will have to miss Jack's services.  That would be a tragedy.

We had a class this morning after the fellowship service. Then we had lunch. I had KP at lunch time today. I cleaned the steam table and wiped down the counter in the clipper room and the tables in the lunchroom. I have bathrooms in Founder's Hall to clean tomorrow morning before we leave.

Tonight we have the last preaching service.  It will be good to get home.

More later....

Before dinner we had the famous duck race. Helen, a  constant at reunion (church camp) always holds a duck race every year. She's a retired teacher and very talented. She and her husband do a puppet show every morning of camp before the fellowship service. There's always a saga of some sort associated with this duck race.  Last year they were all 34 supposedly kidnapped until the last minute when they were finally freed.  After the race begins, everyone runs along the creek cheering their duck on to win. Now these are plastic ducks, like the ones you put in the tub with your baby for his/her bath. They have numbers painted on their backs and they are all turned loose in the creek at the same time. They float down the creek to the bridge where the end of the race occurs. This year number 25 won. There were 34 ducks and mine was number 33.  It's hilarious that a hundred people take this duck race so seriously. I have photos and will post them when I get home.

Now the group is eating dinner. Since I don't eat dinner, I am taking this time to catch up this blog.

Later at 7:00 we will have the last preaching service of the camp. Then it's on to bed.

In the morning we have a baptismal service, clean up the camp and head home. 

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Huge Sunday

We will have an extra 100 people in for the 11:00 worship service this morning and they will stay for lunch too. My daughter and I set up some extra tables for lunch. We will get a count later in the  morning for the cooks.

I didn't sleep well again last night. It's just the nature of camp and the mileage I have on me.  It's tragic!

I am taking some photos and will post them later after I get home. 

More later....

We had a good worship service this morning and  a lot of people came in as guests from other congregations in the area.  We also had a fine lunch...thanks to Tom, our head cook.

Then this afternoon we had a campground board meeting and an association meeting in the lodge.

This evening we will have dinner and then after that we will have another worship service.  Then it's shower time and to bed.  Hopefully, I will sleep better.

I will take some photos of the campgrounds and the facilities and post them when I get home.