August 9-12

August 9

We did a ton of shopping today.  We were looking for some small picture frames that would fit wallet size photos.  We want to be able to hang pictures of all of our grandkids and great grandkids (13 at this point).

We checked:

WalMart … nope

Kmart … nope

Target … nope

Dollar General … nope

Dollar Tree … well … yes but they were butt ugly shiny silvery things

Family Dollar … nope … I’m hoping we won’t have to settle for those butt ugly shiny silver things!

Bit Lots … Yep!  We bought 13 black metal frames for a $1/each

And of course we couldn’t visit all those stores without buying other stuff.  So, we ended up spending about $50 by visiting all the dollar stores.

We stopped in the early afternoon at Ryan’s for lunch.  I really tried to be good and I only had two chicken legs, a small amount of mashed potatoes and gravy and a salad with unsweetened tea to drink.  That’s hard to do at a buffet!

When we got home, I worked on the sermon for this Sunday.  I also recorded it and another sermon and posted them on my other blog, www.ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com

August 10

I woke up this morning to 54 degrees!  In August.  In Iowa.  During the Iowa State Fair!  Don’t read this as a complaint … but where are the 100 degree days that we expect this time of year?   Oh that’s right, we’ve already had them!  Weeks of them!  I think I’ll wear a sweatshirt to work today.

August 11

Ella worked in the evening.  I went to our home church’s Saturday Praise Service and stayed for the potluck following.  I took a lettuce salad with paper-thin slices of cucumber and carrot and a diced orange.  I also made a dressing of vinegar and oil with salt, pepper, garlic and strawberry puree.  It was really good.

You know how potlucks go?  You end up with everyone bringing dessert or everyone bringing salads or casseroles?  Well this time it was very balanced between entrees, salads, fruits, pastas, and desserts.

August 12 Sunday

The day started with a community breakfast of pancakes, French toast, and sausage.  I had three pancakes with no syrup and a sausage.  I really am trying to keep the calorie intake down.

I preached my sermon and then we came home for a little bit before Ella had to be at work at one.

I had the day off so I did some more research on Ancestory.com.  I’ve traced the two main lines of the family tree (Williams and Coons) back as far as I can at this point.

1500 in Germany for the Coons line and 1400 Wales for the Williams line.  I had worked on tracing other branches for a couple of hours and had just decided to take a nap when I got a call from Wally.  “Are you coming in to work?”  “No,” I replied.  “Why not?” he asked.  “Because I’m not scheduled to work today,” I said.  “According to the schedule at the fee booth you are.”  So I grabbed my copy of the schedule as I was right, I was not scheduled to work the afternoon shift … in fact NOBODY was scheduled to work the afternoon shift.  So I changed clothes and went to work.