The Old Typical Morning

Honestly, I have been laughing at my last post of a typical morning.  When we finally get them on the bus on weekdays, we feel such a sense of accomplishment around here, lol. We are old and a pair of sissies. 

In the old days Mr Merry would be up and out of here by 5:30 a.m.  

5:30 a.m.  I would get up, shower and get dressed. I would plug in my electric rollers. 

5:45 a.m.  Wake the oldest daughter to shower

6:00 a.m. Wake two boys who showered the night before so they could get dressed for school and put in hair curlers. 

6:15 a.m.  I would pack lunches for school and put together a casserole or crock pot meal for supper.  If I had time I would try to run a load of wash when the shower stopped. 

6:30 a.m.  I would wake the last two kids (we called them second shift) and get them started on dressing, bathroom, breakfast and brushing.  

7:00 a.m.  The first three left on the bus. 

7:15 a.m.  I would move the washer load to the dryer, take the curlers out of my hair, slap on some make up, gather the youngest, book bags and lunches and we would wait in the car in the driveway. 

7:30 a.m.  The elementary bus would arrive and I could leave for work. 

By 8 a.m. I would be at work, have coffee made, flick the switch on the phones and start working. 

3:00 pm.  Mr Merry would leave work and hopefully follow instructions on baking the casserole if necessary. 

These days we are a bunch of slackers. I am putting only 3 kids (who arrive dressed for school) on a bus while wearing my bathrobe and I think I'm Super Woman! 

Meanwhile - today I was dressed and left the house at 7:15 am to be a guest at Main Street School's Fourth Grade Family Breakfast! We enjoyed "Apple Toast" which was actually delicious. Mr. Merry put the boys on the bus. 

Typical Morning

This morning I got up at 6:30. The first two grandchildren arrive at 6:45.  

I started breakfast orders, two pancakes on the griddle, one bowl of cereal, 1 regular scrambled egg and 3 scrambled eggs and toast for grampa. 

7:05 third grandchild arrives, orders eggs whites and toast.  First grandchild sneaks a snack cake to go with his scrambled eggs, I pour juices and milks. 

7:15 breakfast diner is complete. I start to scramble 2 yolks and an egg for Mimi's breakfast.   

7:30 we start to convince the younger generation to visit the potty before the bus comes. 

7:45 is when we head to the bus stop across the street from our house.  Grampa waits on the porch watching them while Mimi picks up the breakfast dishes. 

7:50 the kindergartener decides to jump over a block of air, trips and lands on his knee. His sister's watch thing calls Mimi and says he fell and there is blood everywhere. I grab a towel and slip on my slippers and run.  Grampa is carrying him across the street. 

7:52 the bus arrives and two get on the bus. 

7:53 I mop up the knee, it isn't too bad. Luckily I have a fancy large bandaid. I comb my hair and put on real shoes. I also grab my insulated bags and egg cartons. 

We drive to the elementary school on the other side of town and get in a long line of parents dropping off children.  Eventually it is our turn. The kindergartener enters school walking like he has a wooden leg. I am sure he will be the hit of the class room. 

8 am we head back to our side of town, turn south and take a long detour to the egg farm. 

8:30  we are packing up five dozen eggs, deciding if we want a peck of green beans (we didn't) and I bid on the silent auction for a JFK and Jackie Kennedy commemorative plate. The egg lady's granddaughter is raising money for her school.  

9:15 arrive home and wash dishes, then eggs. 

9:30 pour my first cup of coffee. 

9:35 find five minutes to write on my blog. 

I do try to visit everyone during the day, evening and night LOL.  HAPPY FALL 

Vaccinated.

We were able to get the flu 65+and Covid vaccines last week with no problem. My daughter (the nursing professor) said she had seen a delivery at the CVS in her city that Monday. I got online at the Walgreens in my town and snagged the first two appointments on Thursday, the day vaccines were released in my state.  

We normally do not do both vaccines together, but with the uncertainty of even getting a vaccine, or the possible requirement of a prescription or the uncertainty of whether Medicare or our insurance covering the cost spurred us on. Side note, you know you are old and have too many prescriptions when you walk to the pharmacy counter and the employees look past the long line and say "Hi Mr & Mrs Merry, you can sit right over there".  Yes, we are known by sight. 

It was a double whammy. Body aches, site pain, headaches, chills and sweats. But the side effects only lasted a day and we are good. Or rather, we were good. We have both come down with a fall cold and had a grandchild home sick yesterday with a high fever. And this assured us that we were smart to get vaccinated early with all the school germs that will be shared in my house. 

Meanwhile I had a long list at my church charity yesterday.  I will just mention one woman, almost 70. She received a letter from Social Security that they miscalculated the amount of her Medicare payment since her original application and that to pay what she owes her September Social Security check will be $1 and her October Social Security check will be $12. In November will return to the correct amount of $1246.  

This is not the first (or twentieth) time I have seen these letters over the years. And I mean years as decades, not just this administration.  Our clients are people that live paycheck to paycheck, or social security check to social security check, and receiving $1 to live on for a month is reprehensible. There is no system to have a payment plan. The letter is the law.  Maybe our lawmakers could focus on this, but then again it only affects low-income people so why bother. And don't get me started on the donut hole. 

Our organization is pairing with some others to help cover rent. She was current on utility bills so she will not be shut off if she misses one month. Hopefully in October we can help her negotiate payment plans with the utility companies. 

Thank you for the accolades for the charity work, but I don't really deserve them. I am part of a volunteer group of great people who all bring something to the table. I am the secretary only because I have the most readable handwriting and I do work one of the four days we are open. I am lucky that I have the time (due to Mr Merry at the grandchild care center) that I can cover other days when necessary. We also have some retired businessmen whose skills lie in fundraising which is what keeps us in business. We have a retired bookkeeper who keeps track of the money and payments, we have a newly retired investment counselor who "invests" when we have the money and also has a niece who is a tax lawyer and files our tax forms.  We have a former government aid worker who keeps us updated on available programs and implausible applications. We all attend the weekly board meeting and I can honestly say we have never disagreed on evaluating applications.  We sometimes have to vote on disagreements about amounts of help. We find the women's votes are a little more sympathetic (lol) and we do have a special spot for grandparents raising grandchildren. But I have never been a part of an organization that is so cohesive.  We all play a part and mine is a small one.

We attended a soccer game out of town last night, tonight I am attending a football game two hours away. Tomorrow morning is the retired library lunch and Sunday we are attending a Celebration of Life for one of my husband's former co-workers. Monday is my Murder Mystery Crime Podcast Club at the library and Tuesday I am going out to lunch (for the day) at a place a couple counties away. I had never heard of it, but I guess it is a collection of barns; one is a restaurant, one is a bakery, one has "stalls" which are independent operators with cute things for me to spend money to buy. And across the road is a factory that makes a well known brand of candles.  This is my monthly lunch with high school friends. And I won't be driving. 

I had posted this on Facebook and had a large collection of comments from friends, family and former co-workers and 4H advisors who verified the facts in the case. 

Shopping Trip

 We went to Walmart today to replace my husband's sneakers. He had bought a pair in June and likes them and wanted the same pair. 

They had the same shoes. They did not have them in his size. I looked on my phone and I could order them. But I am having phone issues and we went home to order them. 

When I got online Walmart said they had two pairs in the store and I could order them for curbside pick up.  We did not believe them but placed the order. Thirty minutes later I received a message that they only had one pair and it was ready for curbside pickup. We still didn't think it would be the right size, but when we picked them up - the pair is his size! 

I got back online when we got home and ordered two more pairs to be shipped to my home so that he will be stocked until Spring. 

Meanwhile - I think they are selling burlap bags as dresses. 

I also noticed a lot of clothing with prairie ruffles, cowboy boots, denim ruffled jumpers. Are we repeating Urban Cowboy again? 

What I am reading, Vaccines and a Tree

I don't remember who suggested this book (and I think it was more than one person) but it is great! I am almost finished and I think that I will start over when I get to the end.  Thank you. 

We went and got our influenza 65+ and 2025/26 covid vaccinations yesterday.  I usually schedule them two weeks apart but this year I wanted to get 'em done since I am not sure what the rules are day to day.  I don't know if it was a specific ingredient or the double whammy but they hit us like a brick. We went home with chills and sweats, aches and pains all night and, after I got the kids on the bus and went to the egg farm this morning, I fell asleep for four hours.  We both feel much better now.  I tell myself that the bigger the reaction, the better the immunity but I am pretty sure I just made that up. 

In other news the weather has been so wonderful with cooler temperatures and a nice breeze that we sit on the front porch in the afternoon for an hour or two before the bus comes. We were looking at one of our flowering trees and I wondered about it's shape because it is more cone-like instead of round like a child's drawing of a tree.  This is our stimulating conversation on the porch. This is a tree we planted as a baby maybe 10 years ago. We bought it at a nursery.

This was an Easter Dinner porch delivery in 2020 during Covid. My daughter-in-law made meals for us and her parents and delivered them to porches. We are safely in the window.  The tree in question is in bloom between her and the police cruiser. It is 10 times bigger right now.  And the reason the police are supervising is that the officer is my son, her husband. 

Because we are grandparents highly skilled in technology, Mr Merry went over and took a picture of a leaf with that funny box on the search bar to identify the tree.  What a surprise! It is a Callery Pear tree which is now banned in my state.  It is imported from Asia and is invasive.  And as of January 1, 2023 you cannot sell, GROW or plant a Callery Pear tree in my state!!  

Say what?  So now I am unhappy. There I was in peaceful ignorance looking at a tree. Now I am committing an illegal act.  AND it is full of pretty white flowers in the spring!  It is just at the point where we can still cut it down ourselves and we are also experienced with the apple tree last week. And I think fall is a good time to plant a tree so I guess I will be looking at legal alternatives.  

Just call us the tree assassins. 

Meanwhile - going through photos to find a picture of the tree - this was the crew building the porch and addition in 2002, which does not seem that long ago. The skinny tree in the center is not the pear tree, but another flowering tree we planted that did not survive.

And here is the porch more recently. I am so glad we built that porch! 

Charity begins at home.

 Just a catch up (all my posts right now are catch ups) on what is going on with my charity work. 

The woman I mentioned who has been in this country for over 15 years and has an abusive husband is still waiting on paperwork for her expired green card. He had let her card expire as she did not have funds to renew it.  He is starting to get mildly physical as well as verbally abusive but she is refusing to leave as she cannot take the children with her. She cannot go to law enforcement or the courts because she does not have a valid green card and would be taken into custody.  

She has a volunteer lawyer who has given her a burn phone so she can contact her once a day. Another church who does online banking (we don't) has paid the fees to renew her green card and the fine for missing the deadline, so now it is a waiting game for six to eighteen months. Because that is how long it takes to renew a green card.  A private individual has stepped up to cover the costs of citizenship (which she would qualify for at this time if her green card is renewed). I can't remember costs anymore, but one of these steps will cost $1500.  The country she left in 2005 is at war. She has nothing to be returned to.  

We are waiting to see what happens. We can assist her with moving into her own housing, etc when and if the situation will get that far. She is constantly on my mind. 

We have a few situations with older women - 65 plus. At the most, they received social security of around $1200 a month and live in apartments. And apartments in my area start at $1000 a month.  There are senior apartments available with huge waiting lists which would have reduced rent and there are metro approved apartments where the government would cover $500 or all the rent depending on income. These women are always running behind on bills and a rent reduction would change their lives.  They are all on the metro waiting list which is approximately 12-15 months long.  We spoke to the metro people yesterday and for the first time in the history of their office, they received zero funding this quarter.  So everyone stays on the list for 4 more months but they don't know if they will even get funding after that.  This is not making America great. 

Our garden keeps over producing things like egg plants and green peppers.  I have been begging friends, family and neighbors to take some produce off our hands. When he brought in a giant box he picked last Monday evening - I remembered our local food pantry is open on Tuesdays.  I had him drive me over with the box. 

As I was walking in, an elderly lady (older than me, so at least late 70's-early 80's) got out of her car. She had her hair fixed and was dressed in an Alfred Dunner style pants outfit. She was gaga about the green peppers. When I went in the door where a friend was manning the desk, the line for check in and shopping was about 5 people long. And every person was an elderly woman.  I think maybe we just get up earlier? Anyway, they were so excited about the green peppers and eggplant and couldn't wait to grab some once they got their baskets. 

When I got back to the car my husband asked about the woman I walked in with since he didn't think she was up to filling shelves or lifting. I said no, she is a client. He was gobsmacked. I told him (I say this alot) You really don't listen to anything I talk about, do you? Most of these women recieve maybe $23 in SNAP benefits a month. They need free groceries at the food pantry in order to eat. A green pepper, a single green pepper is $1-$2 dollars at grocery stores and farm markets in my area. If you have $23 dollars for the month to spend on groceries, you are not buying a green pepper. 

He was so angry. He was defending these women who worked hard their whole lives, raised families, held jobs - they contributed to society and now society was not stepping up for them.  I said, well, yeah. You really don't listen to anything I say do you?  

Now in his defense, I did shame him into purchasing a new computer for the charity office a few weeks ago so he is contributing. And we also have a monthly donation to my charity which is all spend locally for housing and utilities for the needy.  

Anyway.  I am working my second day this week in the office.  

Here are recent cases:

Man and DIL - she just got out of jail, son stole rent money

79 yr old woman short on rent (she is on metro list)

Couple 30's -3 children. He has long covid and can only work part-time, her job just lost a big contract and her hours were cut to 18-20 a week. By the way, long covid is not considered a disability by the government. 

Man with mental health issues is short on utility bills, social working assisting him. 

Woman 30's short on rent due to car repairs

Mentally ill chronically homeless man in his 40's (which shows how long I have done this, I remember him in his 20's) was looking for assistance with no plan.  

Woman with five children, husband left, water leak left her with huge bills

Couple 20's with chronic evictions have another eviction

Couple 30's, 3 kids, electric shut off

Single mom 40's, 4 kids natural gas shut off

Woman 50's, short on rent (she barely makes it on salary)

Woman 50's, lets family move in and out and supports them, rent

Woman late teens, electric

Couple 50's behind on water and electric

Single mom with teenager, car repairs needs rent, electric, gas

Couple 40's late again on water and electric

Woman moving to area with disabled child needs security deposit

Single mom with 3 kids moving to metro apartment, needs security 

Young woman left relationship looking for security and 1st month rent

Mom who is a nurse has 2 teen boys and pregnant daughter and boyfriend just moved in and her hours were cut

Couple with 5 kids, car totaled so both taking taxi to work - rent

Single mom, 3 kids, husband just left with all bills owing

Man with mental disabilities couldn't leave house to fill out application, social worker helping, lent money to people to get them to like him, short on bills.  

Of course donations are down this time of year, but we did get a check from a trust and also a substantial donation from a retired business owner.  The phrase "God Provides" has been working out whether you believe in God or not.  

And, no, we do not help everyone. We interview and use what I used to say to my eighth grade confirmation class "right judgement". We need to be prudent with what people give to us. And we cannot help with the whole amount needed 99% of the time. We work with federal, state and local agencies, we work with other service organizations, non-profits and churches.  We help put a plan together and it is up to the client to follow through. Often we pledge if you can get the rest and if we call you in a week and you have not visited anyone else on the list, we keep you on file. . . 

So. Hopefully a slow day. 

*Update.  It was not a slow day.  I had a steady stream of clients from 10am-1:30 pm.   If we could help with all requests it would require over $5000.  While waiting on some bequests, we don't have close to that much in the checkbook.  

Clients included another family affected by the company that lost the big contract and cut hours, single mothers using rent money for car repairs, a family who had relatives placed with them through child services, the husband with diabetes who had toes removed and no sick pay, . . . I can't remember the rest.  

Apple Tree

 

We bought our house, the house we still live in, in December of 1978.  That's a long story but I will jump to spring. We used to have a farm market on the edge of town. It was a new (in the 1970') red building with siding and a big front porch with white pillars. They sold plants in the spring and produce all summer and small gardening and farm tools and all kinds of stuff.  My favorite shopping time was spring when they would have bundles of asparagus on the counter - freshly picked.  

I stopped out there for something and an apple tree caught my eye. It was small and I could afford it. I did not know enough to keep the tag.  I pictured a big shady tree for future children to play under and large red apples to eat in the fall. 

It was an heirloom apple tree. Not sure if it was labeled dwarf, but it never got very tall.  The apples were early apples, green and a very thin skin. They were a little too tart for me, but not my husband who would pick them for him and the kids, then the grandkids, wash them and cut into wedges. 

It was delicate. If it snowed when the tree was thinking about blossoming, we would have no blossoms. And if it would snow sometime around the blossoming, maybe we would get apples and maybe we wouldn't. 

People in the know - my parents age or older than me, would stop and ask if they could buy apples. They would say what great applesauce and pie filling they made and tell me what their family called that variety. There were a few different names. 

One lady stopped early this summer. I told her, as I tell anyone who stops, come by anytime and pick from the tree. My husband composts the ground falls.  She took 2-3 and came back a few days later for 2 or 3 more. Finally they were ripe, according to her. 

Then my husband decided to trim a branch. When he cut it, you could see rot inside. He came and got me because more trimming would dramatically alter the tree. Well, he had to keep cutting and we discovered the rot went all the way into the trunk. 

He took the whole tree down and we looked up the lifespan.  The internet says it is about 20 years so we figure our 45 years was a bonus. (Wait while I gasp that I bought that tree 45 years ago). 

This corner of the yard looks very empty. I am glad I did not let any children climb that tree this year. I don't think we will plant another apple tree, the bees were not fun in the play yard.  

I will miss the shade, too. 

Tea Party Preparations (Part 2 )

I approached the tea party like I was planning a military coup. Lists, lots of lists. Shopping, cooking, packing.

The packing station:

The Recipes: 

Thawing peas while thinly slicing English cucumbers. I place them on parchment paper, sprinkle with salt and layer over night. In the morning - dry on paper towels, top and bottom and put on crustless bread and butter.

I have not made Pea Salad in such a long time that I had to look up a recipe. This is not my mom's recipe because she added water chestnuts, but this was fabulous! I plan to make it often! 

Peas, bacon, red onion, cheese, butter and sugar. So good. And so cute in a tiny bowl. I made a sample. 

To prove my OCD craziness, here are the heart shaped cookies cooling while I check the bottoms for two dozen with perfect browning. 

The Carrot Cake Sandwiches. This is a recipe from Tea Time magazine that I have been making for years. Cream cheese, powdered sugar, grated carrots and raisin bread. 

I make them a day ahead and wrap in plastic wrap to put in the frig. Before serving I cut them into strips with my electric carving knife (that I use to take crusts off the cucumber sandwiches, too). 

Adding a thick layer of grated carrots. 

Ready to be wrapped. These are always a crowd favorite.

How is the list coming?

Baked, frosted and sugared cupcakes. I added the fruit right before serving. 

I used a new recipe for mini cheesecakes and they were a total failure. Luckily we had way too many other desserts. 

Closeup of the substitute iced tea glasses. 

Now a set of eleven. 

Perfect temperature for an outdoor tea party! This was on my way home. 

And that concludes the Summer Tea Party Series.