Day 278 ~ More Sara

Yay! About to Graduate

 Sara went back to Georgia today and we won't see her for a while  : (  
Here are some pics of her graduation....

the serious scholar

just showing off

Where it happened

We miss her already!

See you tomorrow.

Day 277 ~ A Picture from Sara's Graduation

class of 2013!!!

This is Sara and one of her professors (Chris Schweizer - see some of his excellent work here) the day before she graduated. It was the professor's idea to form the year with their fingers....GRADUATION CLASS OF 2013!! Yay, graduates!

Tomorrow, Sara goes back to Atlanta after an all too short visit here. We are very proud of Sara who is going full steam ahead with living her life the way she was born to do! We love her!

See you tomorrow.

Day 276 ~ The Festival I didn't attend

The Church lot Saturday night, set up for the festival

So the Orthodox Church I attend on Saturday night (for Vesper's Worship), had an ethnic fair on Sunday which I wanted to attend but I had too much going on. My daughter is still home for a short visit, plus I had to get ready for a missionary bar-b-que that I had written a skit for and the teens were performing.

The advertisement

Maybe next year...It should be fun!

See you tomorrow.

Day 275 ~ Laughing it up in the sound booth

trying to laugh quietly during the service

So this morning, I am manning the video screen at church and James was going to check out the sound. He reached for the headphones and, somehow, knocked his head really hard with it. We all started to laugh but it was hard to keep quiet since service was going on. Later on, James told me that the headphones has a lot of soft, cushion-y parts but he managed to hit himself with the hard part. He said it hurt.

I am glad we could all laugh about it!

See you tomorrow.

Day 274 ~bruised for a good cause.

black and blue for a good cause

So yesterday, I went to the red cross blood drive at the VFW and, after donating, I had these bruises on my arm. Is that normal? I've given before and never had that. Plus, my arm was sore all day (and still hurts a little bit.) I wonder if it has anything to do with me giving "double reds" which basically means they take my blood out, remove the red blood cells and replace it with saline, I think. The process takes 45 minutes.  

I'm not complaining, it's just that its never happened before and I was wondering.

See you tomorrow.

Day 273 ~ Plates at the VFW

 Today I went to the VFW in town in order to give blood.  I had the privilege of talking to some Vietnam vets. Before I left I saw a display of plates that I decided to take pictures of.

I have always been in awe of Vietnam vets. They have gone through a lot and command our respect. God bless them!

See you tomorrow.

Day 272 ~ Cupcakes in Red Bank

The Front door

Is it worth it to drive 40 minutes in order to buy delicious, overpriced cupcakes? As they used to say on the old show Laugh-in, You bet your sweet bippy, it is! In honor of Sara visiting home, we decided to get some cupcakes at Sugarush, a cup cake bar in Red Bank, NJ

some cupcakes

 Here were some of our choices. We got to build our own cupcakes and put whatever toppings we wanted.

before the frosing

 some plain cupcakes before they got icing. I ended up with an oreo topping  a lemon/raspberry icing, topped with fruity pebbles.

a card we could have taken but didn't

 Here is the phone number and web address for more info.

12 delicious Cupcakes 

This is what we ended up getting. One dozen donuts. Two for each member of our family.

See you tomorrow.

Day 271 ~ A Funny Church Sign

A church sign

In stark contrast to the "You think it's hot now? Just wait" sign, here is a sign that will make you laugh. Or at least, I laughed.

See you tomorrow.

Day 270 ~ A Bowl

a Bowl

Karen and I went shopping sometime back and came across this bowl. We liked it but didn't buy it.

See you tomorrow.

Day 269 ~ Five Guys with Friends!

Friends hanging out at Five Guys!

After church yesterday, we went to Five Guys and spent time hanging out with friends. Our children had fun too, as you can see.

See you tomorrow.

Day 268 ~ BANG BANG SHRIMP at the BONEFISH GRILL

the famous bang bang shrimp

Yesterday was our anniversary and karen and I went out with her parents to the BONEFISH GRILL...Excellent food! My friend from Hostess and Karen's friend from work both told us to try the bang bang shrimp. We did and it was great!

the happy couple

 my pop-in-law took this pic of us....it's a little shakey

my in-laws

 They sat right across from us. After dinner, we had some ice cream at the cold stone creamery but I forgot to take pictures.

the sign.

We went early because it gets crowded at 6pm.  It was a great evening! 

See you tomorrow.

Day 267 ~ it's Africa Hot!

Yes, it's that hot!

I don't want to be one of those guys who complain about the weather but it shouldn't be one hundred degrees at four in the afternoon.....man!

See You Tomorrow.

Day 266 ~ Offensive Church Sign.

don't think it's talking about GLOBAL WARMING...

Okay, I have nothing against clever, church signs although most of the "clever" ones are just too cutesy....well, this sign ain't that cute.....It says, "Think it's Hot now...just wait...." Now I am not a universalist  and I do believe God respects the free will of those who don't want to be with Him and let's them go to the place where He is not but I don't think it's a good idea to put a sign like this up for the general public to see. You might as well just put a sign that says, "Go to hell." After all, that is what the sign is saying.

See you tomorrow. 

Day 265 ~ Tires!

tires at Sear's

A month ago Karen ran over something sharp in the parking lot at work and we had to have the tire changed. We called Triple A for convenience and speed. Today, that same tire had a slow leak so I had to take it to Sear's to get it fixed. Turns out, if you use "Fix-a-flat" it voids the warranty. So I had to buy a new tire. They did give me 50% off... That was nice of them.

See you tomorrow.

Day 264 ~ Sara is home...and shopping!

Behold, the happy shopper

Yay, Sara is home but as you can see she isn't too thrilled about shopping with her parents at J.C. Penny....Oh, well, life is hard sometimes! Glad you are home for a while, Sara!

See you tomorrow.

Day 263 ~ a new candle shade

Candle with new shade

Karen bought a new candle shade at the Candle Factory and I must admit it classes up the place! Plus the wonderful aroma of Lemon Creme from the candle is nice, too.

Three cheers for nice smelling homes!

 

See you tomorrow.

Day 262 ~ They're Back!

I used to sell these!

....but they are not being sold by me!

See you tomorrow.

Day 261 ~ MESSY GAME AMMO

The Stuff

Today was the MESSY GAME CHALLENGE.  Above is all the stuff that people from the church donated to help make it happen! Thanks, guys!

Pastor Matt and a girl from his church

Pastor Matt from the Pennington Church of the  Nazarene came by to help out! The kids love him. 

See you tomorrow.

Day 260 ~ That's a lot of Chocolate!

Wow, that's a lot of chocolate!

I asked people from church to bring some chocolate syrup so I can use it at the MESSY GAME CHALLENGE. Well, Stacy went above and beyond!

taking a drink

Of course, it is just an empty bottle but it sure is fun! Jonathan is going to use it as a bank!

Yes, she did get normal sized chocolate for the MESSY GAMES. 

See you tomorrow.

Day 259 ~ Grooming a Wheaten...not ours...

dog grooming in a van

Back in May I blogged about Jackson, the dog across the street. You can read about that here and see pictures of him. Anyway, Since he is a Soft-coated wheaten terrier he is just like our Margaret in that he needs constant grooming.  Karen is brave enough,with my help to groom Margaret herself. Our neighbors across the street have a groomer come to their house and the Jackson is groomed in the Van.

There's nothing better than a well-groomed Soft coated Wheaten terrier.

See you tomorrow.

Day 258 ~ An Old Pic...Pizza boxes

Dinner, one night

You gotta love Pizza! I took this picture months ago. We picked up some pizza to bring with us to our in-laws and we all ate together. Pizza is our go-to meal!

See you tomorrow.

Day 257 ~Walking the Dog

Margaret leading the way!

 I am a bad doggie owner. As the Alpha Dog, I am supposed to have Margaret heel when we walk and not let her lead the way. But, that is not what happens when we walk. She gets so excited to get out and she has tons of energy she is constantly pulling on the leash.  I'll never be able to host my own reality show about dog obedience but that's okay. 

looking at me!

I got her to turn around so I could take a pic of her looking at me.

Here is a video of her walking with me!

See you tomorrow.

Day 256 ~ The Family Crest

It's a coaster!

My wife's family crest!

See you tomorrow.

Day 255 ~ Graduates Honoured!

the cake

Sunday night our church had a barbecue in honor of all the recent graduates. Even though Sara couldn't be there, she was remembered amount them.

baby pics of the grads

recent pics of the grads!

homemade sign

a fun balloon! 

See you tomorrow.

Day 254 ~ Our Youth Leaders!

Scott

 Our church has good youth leaders....here is one of them!

Stacy

...and here is Madame President, Leader of the NYI!

See you tomorrow.

Day 253 ~ Minions!

New friends in the house

minions....need I say more?

See you tomorrow.

BONUS VIDEO: