Sunday, July 5th
My forever mother-in-law shared photos of her Independence Day decorations. She is one of the most patriotic women I know! She loves showing her support of our troops and her love for America! And she wears it very well!
Monday, July 6th
Ilene and I went early to pick green beans from her cousin's house. It is a good thing we started early because it was getting pretty hot by the time we finished the row! It had rained and we had mud caked on our shoes! And then the fun of snapping all of them, woohoo!! We couldn't get it all done in one day, so I took a bucket of beans home with me and finished snapping.
Tuesday, July 7th
I finished snapping the beans I had and took them to Ilene's. Her pressure canner messed up, so we had to borrow our good friend, Carolyn's, canner.
All of the pieces are black and white scene's from Abraham Lincoln's era. I thought if we separated the pieces by shape and direction and worked the puzzle row by row that there might be a "pattern" to how the puzzle pieces fit. But, it was taking forever and I just didn't want to put that much time into it! And I needed the use of my dining room table back!
Wednesday, July 8th
No riding the bike to church due to the chance of rain. It did rain during church.
Thursday, July 9th
Ilene shared the green beans with me since I helped her pick them. They are delicious! We ate lunch at Randy's. We licked our plates clean, too!
Friday, July 10th
Mark is still not working at his job on Fridays. But, he definitely works on Fridays! Today we went to Lowe's for tin for roof work on our property and some pipe for the PP Pit in the woods. We took a late lunch break and rode the bike to Cracker Barrel. And then rode to Mark's Aunt Martha's house in Reidsville. His Aunt Libby met us there as I had some face masks to take to her. She couldn't find them so I got some at the Walmart in High Point for her. We got caught in the rain on the way home later that evening as we stayed longer with them than intended because we ended up going out to supper. But we had an enjoyable visit! Mark stopped at a church so I could put on his leather jacket to keep from getting wetter. Thank you, sweetie!
Saturday, July 11th
Just a pretty cloud picture.
Noah spent the weekend with us. He helped Mark on Saturday with some of the roof work.
The first picture I took on the way to church to show Jessica the earrings I was wearing that she made for me.
The second picture is Noah finally smiling for me. He tried not to, but I made him laugh!
Monday, July 13th
The PP Pit toilet arrived!! It is an RV toilet. Mark is going to somehow hook up a tank of pressurized water for it! We will have the fanciest outhouse on the planet! Or at least in our family! :D
Off and on I've been walking at the park near where Mark works. I walk at least one mile, which is 3 times around. I listen to Christian fiction audio books while walking! Sure helps pass the time away!
Wednesday, July 15th
I took the first picture while Mark was parking his bike that he rode to work.
While he worked in the woods, I played a bit in my craft shed, working on a journal I'm making.
And here's a look at our "garden." Pretty soon we will be eating some of it's fruit!
Thursday, July 16th
Morning devotions. I ran across the selfie stick I bought while Tim and I were on vacation in Florida, probably 5 years ago. Since Mark and I are getting ready to go on vacation, I decided to try it out.
Today I had a meeting with my Medicare guy. Then, while Mark worked in the woods, I went to Ilene's to help her with the beets she had picked in the morning. That was an all-day affair! Scrubbing the dirt off of them, boiling them until tender, cutting the tops off and removing the outer skin, cutting them up and then cooking them again in the pickling mixture. But, boy oh boy, are they good! Once again, she shared them with me for helping her!
Saturday, July 18th
The neighbors brought us 3 dozen eggs and zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers from their garden! I hard boiled some eggs for Mark to take to work. Besides cooking the veggies for our dinners, I made zucchini pie and squash casserole and Mark ate the cucumbers!
Instead of Ilene throwing away the leftover beet juice, I brought it home to use to dye some papers for future journals. The papers turned out a pretty pink. After they dried, I ironed them flat. I used the end of a celery stalk with an ink pad to print some "roses" on some of the papers.
We ate the first cherry tomatoes from the vine today! They were yummy!
Sunday, July 19th
Mark had to talk little Ellie out of his usual spot by her papaw in church this morning.
Lunch was Chicken Fajitas on a bed of lettuce with a homemade Cilantro Lime sauce. It was YUMMY!
It was REALLY hot today! Later in the afternoon, we met Joy and Bobby at Ruby Tuesday in Thomasville and then enjoyed a ride on the back roads home. What a lovely sunset there was! Thank You, LORD!
Tuesday, July 21st
We rode with Bobby to revival at Damascus in Statesville. After we got back home I did some paper dyeing using Kool Ade. I didn't care for the results.
Wednesday, July 22nd
We rode the bike to church tonight.
I went to Jared Jewelers to have my 6-month cleaning and this is what I found.....I'm ready for this COVID pandemic to be over.....how about you?
We went back to Damascus tonight (the clouds were wicked looking) to hear Bro. Ron Crisp. He remembered me from the days my family attended the fellowship of churches in Kentucky back in the 70's and 80's.
Friday, July 24th
I harvested the first pepper from the garden today! It is supposed to be yellow. I didn't want to leave it on the plant any longer because it was starting to be eaten by ants and bugs. It is a good size, so I'm not sure when it was supposed to turn yellow. Anyone know?
Saturday, July 25th
Busy day. Met Jenifer and the kids at Three Amigos for lunch in celebration of Kayden's 14th birthday. Later on we met Bobby and Joy for supper at Cracker Barrel and then rode our bikes to the Welcome Door Baptist church in Kernersville for The Whisnants concert.
When we came out of Cracker Barrel, we found the bike's kick stand had sunk into the blacktop!
After we got home, I did some paper dyeing with food coloring and coffee. I prefer this method!
The clean eating continues. Mark has done very well! He only weighs about 15 more pounds than me at this point! Way to go, sweetie!
Today I used a salad shooter to slice a couple of sweet potatoes very thinly. Coated them with avocado oil lightly. Sprinkled with sea salt and pepper. Baked in a 250 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours, which was a little too long. But, the chips are very good! And you don't have to feel guilty about eating them!
These pictures are of the first batch I did. The sweet potato was bigger and I baked both pans at the same time. The second batch I did with a smaller sweet potato and only one pan turned out prettier!
We leave for our bike-ride vacation tomorrow, so Mark worked on getting the mount for the GPS fixed on the bike. So we took it out for a GPS test ride. (Any excuse to ride!) :D
Well, that's it for this side of vacation! Of course, tomorrow is a 60% chance of rain here and where we are heading up in WV! Better keep that rain gear close by!
Lord, please give us safety on the roads as we travel the next 5 days! Give us enjoyable weather to enjoy Your beauty in nature. May we honor and glorify Your name wherever we go! Thank You for Your love and mercy and most of all for Your salvation! Thy will be done in our lives, I pray in Jesus' name!
