“Color,” Ginny said, “I want to see some color.” Well, it is there now. We’ve had mostly favorable responses to the kitchen color and no psych evaluation mutterings yet.  A cup of coffee and a long stare at the walls will jolt anyone awake, we decided.

Looking from the dining area into the living room last Saturday:

 

The same view yesterday:

 

It’s hard to capture the true color in a photo. Even the different lighting throughout the day gives it a different look. It’s mostly a shade of orange and the living room is green. You have to see it to really appreciate it! Or not.

All the walls have a top coat and will get a final coat later. Now it’s trim and doors to work on.

We had good help over the past couple of days and we were quite tired by evening.

 

The family that was able to be here for Thanksgiving.

 

The beautiful decor Lois did for us:

Hope you all had a good day! May the counting of blessings continue……

 

What feelings do you hear when you see that?  (okay, that didn’t at all make sense but I thought it was funny so I decided to leave it in. So much for trying to do 2 things at once.) What I was trying to ask is: what picture does “community choir” bring to your mind? Think smaller version of Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. Well, maybe not. Maybe country version of BTC. Certainly closer to that than the Antrim choir. Anyway you picture it, it was a new experience for us.

Joe, Lois and I sang with a Community Choir last night at a Thanksgiving service at a local Baptist church. Let me give you a little more information on southerners: they tend to be quite expressive and even a bit dramatic. This carried over into the singing as well. All 3 of us thought we had loud voices but we had a hard time hearing ourselves even at full volume.

Most of the songs were new for me, so I had a crash course in learning them, as the first time I saw the music was at choir practise Monday night (not having thought to check earlier if there was music we could pick up ahead of time). Having learned to sing with shaped notes, it takes me twice as long to learn a song in round notes. I still mentally translate them into shaped notes as I go. I am in some things a perfectionist and hitting the right note is a big deal to me. But the music was loud enough to cover up any goofs, and lip syncing on the few praise songs I didn’t know was relatively easy to pull off.

Well, one goof wasn’t covered up by music. We had a dramatic pause at the end of the song. Music and voices were supposed to come to a complete halt. One dear gentleman sitting behind me missed the directors cue to watch him and we hit the pause and the bass man just kind of Ahhhhhhed his way down a couple of notes ’til we came in. I had to stifle a nervous giggle for I at times have anholy urge to laugh when things are tense. I’m sure the look on my face was perplexing to say the least!

The preacher really got Joe’s attention when he was talking how nice it was to have a community service with people participating from many different denominations. He said, “We are not in competition with each other. Competition is when the Michigan Wolverines play Ohio State Buckeyes…… and win!” Joe said, “I need to talk to him afterwards!”

He was the same preacher who had forgotten his notes and had to rush back home to get the key to go back to his church for the notes and rush back to the church where the service was held. He said, “I met Jesup’s finest tonight, but I explained to him where I was headed and he had mercy on me. My wife’s car will go really fast!”

It was fun and I’d do it again! This is their 9th year for this type of service so I’m sure I’ll have a chance to participate. I would, in the meantime, be in the mood for some excellent 4-part acappella as well. Where I didn’t have to feel like I was nearly yelling.

 

You know how the advertisement at the top of the site (for those of who haven’t gone premium even after 747 – that’s a big number – days of xanga) has something to do with the content of your posts? Well, mine is talking about my crushes. I have 2 crushes and someone has a crush on me. What is up with that? Since when have I been talking about crushes???

Ahhhh….maybe they think my house is kind of like a Budget ad that we keep joking about. Seeking single  Mennonite lady. Must have horse house. Please send picture of house.

Speaking of the house, we manage to slap 5+ gallons paint inside today. Much more to get slapped up next week. Here is the outside:

‘something else bizarre pops up on your radar screen. Every once-in-occasionally
I do a search for amish and mennonite on ebay, just to see what’s for sale. Where
once was lots of “amish-made” furniture there are now also quite a few auctions
for cape dresses and prayer caps. Not to mention cookbooks and quilts. The other
day I found an auction for prayer caps and included was a picture of 3 mennonite
girls. It looked like a tourist snapshot and I was going to put a link here for
you to see it. I wonder if they had any idea they were on ebay? Ach my, the auction
is ended and I forgot save the link.

Several years ago my SIL did a search for mennonites and found an auction for a
log cabin to be built at Lake Grace, described as “in a mennonite farming community”
and had my co-worker’s place pictured. Hello. Only a few of the mennonites here
have farmed, and it’s been quite a number of years since those few have been farming.

We were in getting the paint for the house mixed and noticed packets of concentrated
air freshener to add to the paint. It boasted of giving off scent for up to 6 months.
If a person gets tired of the scent before the 6 months are up, does that mean they
would have to paint over it? No thanks!

We are getting ready to make one last move home. We’ve been house-sitting for the
last 6 weeks and it’s been great, but we’re really, really ready for our own house.
We are currently taking care of a dog that has to be the oddest attention-seeking
dog I have ever seen. She is a golden retriever and does she ever retrieve things!
I’ve never before seen a dog empty a water bucket and move it halfway across the
yard. Well, I didn’t actually see it happen, just witnessed the evidence. If there
are any shoes within reach in the garage she will take them out and set them just
a few yards outside. The other day I was packing for the campout, and had near my
car an ice chest with 3 large cans of cream soups and a 1 lb. box of butter. I left
to get some more things and when I came back to finish packing the ice chest, I
couldn’t find the butter. I checked the refrigerators again and couldn’t find it.
I then had the brilliant idea to check the yard and sure enough, there was my box
of butter with a few teeth marks and lots of sand on it. Is there any doubt to why
I am a cat lover instead?!?

Now if only they could invent a machine to wash, dry and iron the clothes, I’d buy
that.

Yours ’til spaghetti doesn’t double in volume.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Some pics from the archives:

 

And Christy, some pics taken with my new cheap thrifty lens. Just like you, anything within sight is a possible subject.  Low lighting room but no flash, no editing except for border.