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Lazy day

Hi,

Let me give you an update on Ritha, and I will give her the message you sent Jennifer. She has been getting lots of prayers.

She called today and sounded the best I have heard her since the accident. Her and Larry were going out for dinner. Until today she hasn't even felt like getting out. It was nice to hear her voice back to normal. 

I have been looking on Craiglist for some patio furniture. I am trying to put together our back porch. I found a beautiful table and chairs or at least it was in the picture. We headed out to look at it in Fayetteville and they called me to say it sold. Then we found a wicker rocker in Raleigh. Beautiful and looks great on the porch. I am now trying to find a seetee, couple more chairs and table. It is driving me crazy. I am not very good a decorating but I will do the best I can. Gary wasn't crazy about wicker until we bought the chair now that is all he wants.

Today we just hung around the house. Gary mowed the lawn and met some folks at the building to  get a price on sealing the parking lot. I did laundry and keep checking for wicker furniture.

Yesterday I went to work. Only stayed 2 and ahalf hours. Tomorrow I am going to a meeting in Raleigh. The Post Master General will speak. How exciting! yea right. 

I am working on a project and think that will be the end when I finish. This will take a while probably some time next year.

So off to bed so I will be ready for tomorrow.

good night.

Not over yet

Things didn't go as planned. I wanted to get a picture of the kids and my sister before I ended the blog. I managed to get one of my sister but not the kids.

A couple days after we returned Ritha (sister) got her hand caught in a machine at work. She hurt it pretty bad. The took her by ambulance to the local hospital then moved her to Duke in Durham about an hour and a half away. She lost the top of her left hand, and yes she is left handed. They have worked on it and have her in a cast. During this time we spent a lot of time at the hospital with her. I fixed her dinner one night and she spent a few hours with us here yesterday. There has been talk that she will be out of work for 3 months but I don't think we will know for sure for another 3 weeks after they take off the cast. Then they should be able to do a skin graph. 

As for my healthy cooking. I pulled a cookbook out I had ordered. Discovered I need a beginner's class. That book is over my head. Has ingredients I have never heard of before. I did make a killer vegetarian lasagna yesterday! My own recipe using basic ingredients. 

As for my pictures, I have one of Ritha in her cast. Last Sunday we went to Timmy's and Kim's for dinner. Glenn, Lisa and the kids were there. I was prepared and took my camera. Left it in the car and planned to get it out sometime after we ate. Just so happened that we had a package there, my fountain we bought on the trip and had shipped to Timmy's place.It was in a large box weighting about 85 lbs. Gary took the car home to get the truck and the camera was in the car so didn't get the picture.

 While we were there I gave the kids the mirrors Nancy and Jr had made them, they were surprised and loved them. Yes I made them wait a week after we got home before I gave it to them.

Our home is still work in progress. I had been looking for an antique makeup vanity for the bedroom. On our trip we hit several antique stores. After we got home we went to Cameron NC a antique town and found just what I was looking for. The man said he believed it was build in the 40's. I think 50's, but it doesn't matter I really like it.

We have hung a few pictures and scones on the wall. Gary hung some shelves in the laundry room and a  casing  around the bathroom door.

I am looking for some outdoor furniture. I want good, strong, stylish, like new furniture at a low price. Haven't been able to find that yet. We went today to the Raleigh Fairground. They have a huge flee market. No luck. 

So I will keep this thing going for a while. I have heard that some are still checking and enjoy reading. They feel that this is a great communication tool. So we will see how it goes.

Oh! I forgot to mention that I am going back to work part time of course on Monday. There is a project I can work on. I haven't decided how many hours per week or how long I will keep doing this. We will see how it goes. 

See you in a couple of days

We are home!

Wow, this is hard to believe. We have completed our trip and are sitting in our own home. I will say it was a great sight to see when we walked in the house. I told Gary I forgot how nice our home looked. We were able to get a good night sleep on our new mattress that arrived the day before we left.  My last post was in DC and the next morning on Sunday we headed back home. We arrived early afternoon then  Kim and Tim came by to visit. Glenn and Lisa were on their back from Alabama. We then went over to Kim and Tim's to pick up our boxer from them. I expected her to go crazy when she saw us. Jumping around running back in forth between me and Gary. What we got was "oh look who is home". She was happy to see us but not what we expected.

I haven't talked with Ethan and Payton yet. I don't think they were expecting us back so soon. They have become very close with Bailey.

So now what? 

Friday we plan to have everyone over and take a photo to add to the blog. Then I will try to save it and if possible make a book. Some of the pictures I will try to enlarge and hang in the house. 

We have been asked what was our favorite place and what we liked the most. We can say Colorado was our favorite state. It is very beautiful. Visiting our family took the top of the list of what we enjoyed the most. We drove 15300 miles and never saw an accident. Never felt unsafe and never ran in to bad people. We talked with many a stranger. We discovered  we live in a beautiful, friendly country. We felt at home everywhere we went. 

Will this be the end of my blog? After Friday it will be the end of the trip blog but I am going to take up healthy cooking and we are working on completing our home so I may blog about that. Not sure yet. So thanks for going along with us on our trip, and for the comments and e-mails.

Karen and Gary.