Jehovah, Hallelujah, the Lord will provide . . .

That often ran through my mind years ago when I was treasurer of a small, poor church, I thought of it again Wednesday in a much different circumstance. (I hope no one thinks I'm being sacrilegious.)

I was planning to attend the Wednesday noon service at Grace Church and then go to the Downtown Coffee Bar to meet my knitting friends. I took a piece of the chocolate zucchini bread Carmen made last week out of the freezer and put it on a small tray. Then I put a new stick of butter on a butter dish, secured the top with pony-tail elastics and added it to the tray along with a few plastic knives. I wrapped all this up in a dishtowel and put it in my knitting bag.

I got to church a little early, and was looking at the yarn someone had donated recently, when my cell phone rang. It was Alyssa asking if I could pick up Lexi and Devon. They were bored and Lexi wanted to go to the shop where she and I had eaten hotdogs one day last year. It's around the corner from where the coffee shop was at the time. I told Alyssa she'd need to give me money, because I only had two dollars.

So I drove to Metropolis and picked up the kids; Alyssa gave me seven dollars. When we got to the shop, we discovered that it has new owners. I told the owner that the kids each wanted a hot dog. He started telling them to each get a bag of chips and one of cookies, and I told him that I only had seven dollars. He said that was OK, that he always takes care of the children. I had already eaten, so I only got a soda. That soda was all he would allow me to pay for! I will definitely need to go back there alone sometime for my lunch.

We spent a couple of hours at the coffee shop. The kids each had their DS (game device) with them, so they kept themselves entertained. My friends all said Carmen can bake for them any time she wants to. About 3:30, I packed up the rest of the bread and butter, and we headed back to Metropolis.

Alyssa was still working. She's doing customer service from home now for the company she's worked for for a year or so. She sits there with a headset and two computer screens and answers phone calls and emails. The kids know to be quiet while she's working. She was also peeling potatoes when we walked in. She had a stew of beef, carrots, onions and tomatoes in the crockpot, and was going to serve  mashed potatoes and biscuits with it. She commented that she didn't have any butter to put in the potatoes or on the biscuits. I said, "Here's butter." She looked over as I pulled the tray with the chocolate zucchini bread and the butter out of my knitting bag. She said, "Oh, that's too funny!" and I thought, "Jehovah, hallelujah, the Lord will provide." Is that too bad of me?

'til next year

Carmen's visit has ended. She's never spent two whole weeks out here before, but then she's never been unemployed when she came before. She left here shortly before noon to meet Sara in Mayfield for lunch. After that she headed to a friend's house in Tennessee. She'll spend a couple of days there, and then visit another friend in Virginia before she finally gets back to New Jersey. She did a lot of work while she was here, but also spent a lot of time with her daughters and granddaughters.

Medical:

Yesterday, I went to both the oral surgeon and the oncologist. Dr Heine said my mouth is healing well, but I should continue using the Peridex rinse and return in three months.

Dr Winkler was pleased with my last labwork. He ordered a couple of extra blood tests and another 24-hour urine collection. He also wants to see me in three months. I'll need to go back in six weeks to have my port flushed, as well.

Dance Recital

Here's our little terpsichorean and her mommy after the recital last night. Aren't they both lovely?

I had never been to a dance recital before. This one had 65 'acts' and lasted four hours, with a ten minute intermission in the middle. Rose was in three pieces, plus the finale. There was a different costume for each piece. Some of the older kids had solos or duets. It was mostly fun to watch, but the auditorium was too cold and the music was too loud.

She's into double digits!

Lexi turned ten yesterday!

Here's the cake Grammy/Carmen made. She's not quite satisfied with it, but I think it's fabulous! We couldn't see putting candles on it, so she made a little one for them.

 Isn't it cute?! Carmen and the kids took it next door afterwards for Rob (who mows my yard because he likes mowing) and Bonnie.

More pictures of the 'party.'

 The two cakes. The little one is on an eight-inch plate.

 Hello Kitty, Rose, Lexi and Michelle, who lives nearby. Devon didn't want in the picture with the girls.

You can see a bit of Devon here, along with the young adults, Alyssa, Stephen, Reggie and Sara. I got a little work out of both of the guys while there were here. I asked Reggie to start the mower for me, and I mowed until the thing conked out on me. There was one spot that I had to do because I knew how much of it I wanted mowed. A few minutes later, Reggie refilled the gas tank, finished the rest of the 'trim mowing' (close to the house where Rob doesn't get), and then mowed the fenced area. Much more than I had asked of him! I had Stephen spray weed-killer around the mailbox (the county guys can't mow close enough, and last year the mail carrier left a note in my box saying the weeds needed to be cut), and bring up the mail and the trash can. Alyssa, Sara and Carmen took care of the food prep and clean-up. I didn't need to do anything. I like that!

Grammy's visit

 So far we're all enjoying Carmen's visit. She has cleaned all the carpets at my house except in my bedroom. They look great! The cleaner is now at Sara's house. I told her to let Sara do the work there.


She has also baked the cakes for the birthday and the dance recital. Today Lexi helped her with some of the work on the decorating project. 


They made fondant.

 

 Lexi learned to knead.

 

She added color.

 

How about those red hands?!

 

Grammy has lots of tools for making flowers.

Sick Bay

Monday evening, Sara called and said she thought Rose had strep throat. She asked if I could take her to the doctor on Tuesday and then care for her until she was allowed back at day care. (If Sara missed work on Tuesday, she wouldn't get paid for the Monday holiday.) 

So Tuesday morning I met them outside Sara's workplace, and then took Rose to the doctor. We had a heck of a time getting Rose to open her mouth for Dr Paul to swab her throat to do a culture. Sara happened to call on my cell phone during that time and I held the phone to Rose's ear so they could talk. After she finally opened her mouth and the swabbing was done, she said, "That didn't hurt at all; it sort of tickled. You can do it again." I was well impressed with the patience of both the doctor and her nurse.

Sara was right - it was strep throat. They faxed a note to the day care center saying Rose could return on Friday, and also a prescription to the pharmacy across the hall. After picking up the medicine, we came home. I made a  peanut butter and jelly sandwich for us to share. and tried to get her to eat so there would be something in her stomach before I gave her the Augmentin. She wouldn't eat, so I gave her the medicine anyway. While I was putting the bottle in the refrigerator, she threw up on the dining room floor. After cleaning that up, I gave her another dose and she took four nibbles (not big enough to call bites) of the sandwich, and then lay down on the couch. Within five minutes, she was asleep. She ate very little and did very little for the next 24 hours. She vomited twice more - into the folded bath towel I put next to her when she went to bed. By late Wednesday afternoon, she was much better. She ate some Chef Boyardee ABC, 1 2 3, and I took her for a little visit with her mommy. On Thursday she seemed back to normal, but I still made her play quietly. I took her back to Sara's workplace when Sara got off work. She was going to spend the night at home, and go to day care on Friday.

During her stay, we watched Peter Pan half a dozen times and The Little Mermaid at least twice. She also did some drawing. And she wanted to weave on my little loom. I put a 2 yard warp of 26 threads on it and she wove a bit. After I showed her what to do, I heard her repeating, "Put it (the shuttle) through, push it (one of the levers that control the shafts) down, beat it in."

About quarter to nine Friday morning, I was surprised when Rose came in the door and said, "Grammy's here!" Sure enough, Carmen had arrived; I wasn't expecting her until today or tomorrow. She brought with her the things she needs to make special cakes for Lexi's birthday on Thursday and Rose's dance recital next Sunday. 

She also brought her carpet cleaner. This morning, she cleaned my dining room carpet; she'll probably do the living room tomorrow. She has now taken Rose home for Sara to get her ready for dance pictures to be taken this afternoon

Now I need to wash those sheets and towels Rose threw up on, and then I should mow.