Checking In

Hello everyone and Happy Thursday to you, or as we used to say at my workplace, "Friday's Eve."  ;)  I hope you're enjoying some sunshine wherever you are this week.  What a relief to see the sun again.

This is one of those posts that's a mishmash of what's going on around here at the moment.  Not much rhyme or reason to the post, mostly just checking in for the week.  First of all, Mr. Forest Manor isn't feeling well, so he turned around this morning after he got halfway to work and came back home.  He's sleeping as I type this.  Master Duncan thought it was some kind of holiday since Pop came right back home, so he's been beside himself with excitement.

   Hal was trying to rest on the sofa, and Nurse Duncan kept climbing all over him to check on him.  When Hal finally stretched out on the sofa to sleep, Duncan climbed onto the back of the sofa to keep a better watch on Pop; that's when Mom had to put him in his porter.  After Pops woke up, I was able to get some pics of the puppy; he's been so funny today.  :-D

Nurse Duncan  :) 

There are a few reasons why my posting and visiting have been so sporadic over the last few several months.  First of all, I've been driving out to my parents' house once a week, because my dad hasn't been doing so well for a while now.  I want to see them, plus it gives them a break to have someone else to talk to, as they've only been getting out for doctor's appointments and the occasional errand.  It's about a 45-minute drive one way from our house to theirs; I usually eat lunch there and stay for a few hours, so by the time I get home, a big chunk is gone from my day.

A really big reason I've been absent from blogging is that parts of our house have looked like this for too long --

Isn't this awful!?  I should be ashamed to show you, and believe me, I'm not proud of it.  But, my point is that over the past few years, we've been going through our belongings in order to get the house better organized and get rid of clutter.  Over the course of 28 1/2 years of marriage, you tend to accumulate a lot of "stuff."  While I work on one room, a lot of stuff gets moved to another room until the room I'm working on is finished.  It's slow going, but I am making progress.  We're setting up a new work/storage/hobby area in our basement room, and that's already been a tremendous help.  We've also added more shelving to our existing closets (this house wasn't built with walk-in closets).

It's hardly recognizable from past pictures, but this is our living room.  We still have to re-hang the mirror that fell off the wall some months ago.  This is the room I'll be tackling later today and this weekend.  Tomorrow is dog-grooming day and I'll be visiting my parents, as well.

The other reason I've been busier is that I've started volunteering at our community food pantry.  It's a humbling experience, to say the least.  The pantry has been very busy this time of year and probably will be until Christmas.  The food pantry was started by a Sunday school class in one of our local churches, and now the other churches help out as well.  It requires a large group of volunteers to operate, and there are no paid staff members.  Right now, we're giving out turkey vouchers for Thanksgiving, which can be redeemed at our community Food Lion.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this service organization.

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Sorry for the long post; I just wanted you to know why I haven't been visiting as much this year.  I'm hoping next year will be different in that regard.  I'd love to hear what you've been up to lately; thanks so much for stopping by.  You're the best!!

Hugs,

Denise