Day #7: Sunday, June 30, 2013. Can't believe that today is the last day of June! Where has the time flown to?

We went to church in Providence today...the Providence Second Ward. It was such a spiritual sacrament meeting, and Primary was wonderful. I love it there. They are meeting in a former department store. Starting next week, sacrament meeting will take place on the second floor, but the auxiliaries already are meeting upstairs.

This is the poster that someone made, which is the theme for the year. She did such a good job. It's all cut-out paper. I love it.

Afterwards, I asked one of the missionaries to take a picture of Jay and me out front, and here it is:

Jay had to go out when we got home; and Peter and I took a walk (about 3 miles, maybe a bit more) before Crystal, Nate, and Ethan came over for dinner and family home evening. It was a nice time (and I didn't burn up the grill :). I got Nate to cook the burgers and hot dogs :).

Then the sister missionaries stopped over for a little visit. It was good to see them. They are always out and so busy.

So all in all, it's been a very nice day. No rain, which is a surprise because it was supposed to rain. It's not so stifling hot either...it's actually nice and breezy now.

Now I'm going to relax with a book before I drop off to sleep. Tomorrow is my busy Monday...you'll see why in tomorrow's post!

Day 6: Saturday, June 29, 2013. If you think there is time to rest on a Saturday, think again. Jay and Peter went to work at the temple, and I stayed home to clean house and go to the Recycling Center (which I call the dump...just using the old terminology), do food shopping, and also other errands. I also did the never-ending wash.

For some strange reason, my thigh and butt hurt. It started last Saturday. Jay said it was probably sciatica. I did nothing to hurt my back, but you never know. At first it hurt standing and changing positions, but as the week wore it, it mostly bothered me the most when I when I went to bed at night. I just couldn't get comfortable. It wasn't like excruciating pain, but it was really uncomfortable. So, I decided to call Dr.McNamara, my chiropractor. Fortunately, he fit me in at 9:30. Since my rib was broken and healing (that's another story), he had to be careful when he did the adjustments to my back. I'm feeling a little better now, but I have to go back again on Tuesday.

I did some grocery shopping on the way home because we were having company for dinner, Robbie's mother and step father.

This is sad: we keep the cardboard from boxes broken down and behind the trash cans. I have a system for loading the truck. I put the cardboard on the bottom of everything else. Well, I was pulling the cardboard boxes out (and we had lots because the sister missionaries had recently moved into the apartment). Anyway, I pulled out one broken-down box and something was wiggling out of one side. I thought to myself, "Is this a giant worm?" On closer inspection, I discovered it was a snake (about 12" long). It must have been crawling behind everything and got stuck to the packing tape that was still on the box. I felt awful. I put the box on the grass in the hopes that the snake could somehow manage unstick itself.  That didn't work out, so I got a stick to try to help it un-pry itself from the tape. But the snake was too far gone. It had no energy left. In other words, it was almost dead. I felt so sad. I put the box in the back of the truck, took it to the dump, and tossed it in the paper recycling bin. :( If I had peeled it off the tape, its skin would have stuck to the tape. It would have been like skinning it alive, and I could never do that.

When I got home from the dump, I got into full-speed ahead cooking. Our guests were going to arrive at 4:30, and 1:30. I made a strawberry torte (yummy), potato salad, macaroni salad, and cole slaw. Everything came out really good (yay) and we had an awesome time. Donna is so much fun and her husband, Irv, is great too.

Jonathan and his friend came over in the later evening to hang out with Sofia and Robbie, Jay and I watched a show and went to bed. We were both tired after a long and busy day.

This is Jay and me sitting on the sofa, and I'm trying to steal some kisses :):), which is always fun to do!

I love that smile of Jay's!

Mission accomplished!

Day #5. It was a short but good day at work.  I had to deliver things to all the counselors, and that gave me the opportunity to say good bye to all them for the summer. This is me heading out the door of Allis House.

I left work at 9:45 because I had to go to Golfo's funeral. I had never been to the church in Ellington, so I used the Garmin. It took me on the back roads....lovely but slower than the highway. The funeral was really nice. As I drove home, it started to downpour, and all the traffic on 84 was going very slowly because of all the flooding (had to be careful not to hydroplane) and plus it was so hard to see--everything was all grey.

Sofia got a gift certificate for the Ashford Garden Center and gave it to Jay. He had it for six months and had not used it, so he gave it to me. As I passed through Ashford this afternoon (the rain had stopped by then), I stopped at the garden center and bought plants for the planters around the house. The guy there told me that one of his customers told him that when you plant in planters, you have to think of three things: thrill, spill, and fill. You need taller plants that draw your attention (that's the thrill), plants to fill in around those tall plants (that's the fill), and plants to spill over the edge of the planter (of course, that's the spill). Now I have everything planted, and they should look nice this summer.

As I drove home on 44, there is a special rock called Frog Rock. A man bought it and is making it into an antique shop and is also selling food. He called it Frog Rock Rest Stop, and he's got it on Facebook (I will check that out). Anyway, another man pulled it at the same time that I did, so I asked him to take my picture as I kissed the frog (I've done this before, but he never turns into a prince :).

The guy in the antique shop had a license plate from Memphis, Tennessee labeled "1-Elvis." I wanted to buy it (it was only $15) but I didn't have enough cash (he doesn't accept debit cards). Oh well, that's okay.

When I got home, I planted the plants, ate leftovers for dinner, watched the news and a little TV and then to bed. A good day.

Day #4: A nice day with a lovely rain storm this morning. My boss is taking a few days off, and I'm holding down the fort, getting stuff for ECSU and UConn done and OUT! Yay! Progress. There I am making copies of all the UConn ECE registration forms. I made a nifty little box to send them all out in. The day just flew by.

I  made up my mind this morning that I would scrub and wax the kitchen and bathroom floors when I got home, and I did it...didn't talk myself out of it or anything, and I feel like a million bucks for having accomplished the task. Thank goodness for my grandmother's old General Electric floor scrubber. I love it. It's from the 1950s and does a great job. I should take a photo of it and the floor for you...I'll do that right now.

Took Jay and Peter to Burger King for dinner because there was no way that I was going to cook after all that work...if you new how big my kitchen is, you'd understand.

Well, this is my first blog ever. I wonder how it will evolve. I thought of creating this blog to record the wonderful things I see as I walk here, there, and everywhere. But maybe it will be more. We shall see. For now it will chronicle my last year of work before retirement...with a picture for every day just for fun.

Day #3...another hot one, although not as hot as yesterday. A good day at the office working with UConn Early College Experience papers and getting them ready to send out tomorrow. I asked Melody to be in the picture with me, and she accepted. So, here we are together. By the way, this dress is a little big in the top for me, and Sofia figured out how to remedy that, so I'll have to get on that before I wear it again :).

Lunch today was fun because Peter came over between classes and Sofia walked over with Henry the kitty. She brought a blanket and we all sat on the grass and ate food from Dairy Queen. I love my children.

Matt sent me a text reminding me to meet at the firehouse to go over bills and see where we stood at the end of the fiscal year. So, I went home and changed because I didn't want to wear my white dress to the fire house. Matt and I took a photo to represent Attawaugan Fire District. Maybe I should include the fire truck next time. :)

You know, I can't imagine who would want to read this blog because it's just so ordinary...an ordinary life of an ordinary person. It simply chronicles my last year of work before retirement. I want to look back and see the people I work with and the spaces I work in.

Today is day #2, and I spent a nice day at work. I opened my window to let in the fresh air...all that mold and mildew that seem to thrive in my office can be overwhelming when you first open the door after being away for several days. Got lots done, and Jennifer took this picture this morning. It was fun to climb up onto my file cabinet for this photo.

Day #1. Well, I will be retiring one year from now. Normally I wear pants to work and am kind of casual, but I decided that all this year I will wear dresses and skirts. When I first started working in 1966 (while I was still in high school) we always wore dresses and skirts, so I thought it would be neat to wear nothing but dresses and skirts for my last year. On dress-down days, I'll wear a jean skirt. And I'm going to take pictures of me in my dresses each day.

I told Cyndee (our head of finance and human resources) about my idea last week, and she asked, "Do you have enough dresses?"

I answered, "I go to church every Sunday," as though that explained it all, not thinking that many people wear jeans and pants to their churches. Not me!

Today is Monday, June 24, 2013. I do not have to work because it is a head of school holiday. Sofia and I went to Hartford to deliver my application for a visa to Brazil (I'll be going there with Peter on July 30). So I'm not wearing a dress, but since I'm photographing each day, here's the picture of me lying on the grass in the park in Hartford.