Family, Babies and Painting

I had a busy weekend.  Correction, Sunday and Monday were busy.  Saturday was busy in the catch up on laundry kind of way.  Nothing exciting there, although I did get to meet some of the new neighbors as I gave them a ride into town.  Not having a vehicle is a pain, and it is something I remember well so I'm more than willing to help people out.

An older pic of Oneida Lake, NY.  At sunrise no less.

Sunday I joined my mother and my youngest brother for a road trip to Syracuse, New York.  I'm not sure why we say that, because we actually go above that city to a little country area just outside the village of West Monroe.  I used to really enjoy driving or riding through that city, this country girl who secretly loves cities was always so impressed.  Now, after seeing New York City, Syracuse kind of pales in comparison.  My brother and I had good conversation on the way up, including a run down on the Hunger Games as he knows nothing about them and hasn't seen the movies.

Because of the side trip into Cicero for the church service we were attending, I missed my favorite bit of scenery anyway and that was going across the bridge over Oneida Lake.  It scared me as a child, but that changed the older I became and the vast body of water fascinates me.  I had been planning on video taping it this time as we crossed it, but I failed to let the driver know and by the time I realized we were taking a different route there was no point in speaking up.

This was the first time I've attended a church service in I don't know how many years.  Well, there was my sister's baptism last summer but that wasn't a "normal" service so I don't know that it counts.  There was music that time, but no sermon as they had people give testimonies instead.  It was ok. This past Sunday was ok as well, although it was different.  I'm not precisely sure how the Vineyard churches operate, but instead of having a different pastor for each church and a different message each Sunday, they stream the head pastor in from where ever he's at.  I'd never experienced something like that and I'm still undecided as to how I feel about it.  Not that it matters, it's not my church.

We were there to support my cousin Lawrence as he dedicated his youngest two children to the Lord.  An act that maybe took two minutes.  I wasn't timing it, honest, as I was too busy fighting with my iPhone so that I could snap a picture!  It kept telling me that I didn't have enough room in memory!  What?  I just deleted pictures not that long ago!  I've had problems with my phone ever since I upgraded to IOS 7; I really need a new phone to go along with the software upgrade!

From left to right: Tim holding his son Gabriel; 
Serena and her nephew Alex; Leland;
Rebecca holding niece Paige - being dedicated; 
Lawrence holding daughter Hailey - also being dedicated .

Standing up with my cousin Lawrence as godparents for the little girls his wife left behind was his twin brother and sister-in-law, Leland and Becky and their oldest sister Serena and her husband Tim.  I have to be honest, the entire custody issue with Lawrence and the little girls confuse me somewhat, but I'll save that until my joint post with my cohort next week.  CP has it started already, and I'm supposed to provide the logical perspective since I don't have children of my own.  Trust me, I heard all about how I need to catch the baby germ while visiting my family!  That post should be up some time mid-week of next week.

We spent the day with my New York relatives, eating up popcorn and looking at the Tim and Serena's pictures from their mission trip to Haiti.  They went in January while their home state of Indiana was getting a blizzard.  Of course, they had stories to go with most of the pictures.  Even pictures that had been lost were mentioned - like the little boy who wouldn't let them take his picture until he had bathed and put on his good clothes, even though bathing meant he had to draw the water from the village well and heat it as well.  The things we take for granted here in the US!

It was late when I arrived back home, after 11pm and I was ever so glad that Monday was another "dark day" and I didn't have to be up at 4:15 the next morning.  As tired as I was, I stayed up until midnight watching WatchMojo.com videos on YouTube while waiting for Mr. Janney to come to bed.

Painting black on black...

Since I didn't have to work on Monday, I decided to help Mr. Janney with his latest project with the welder.  Painting a twenty foot trailer.  Black.  On black.  He had already done the undercoat and was ready for the first layer of regular paint.  There was no way to tell where we left off painting when we renewed the paint on our rollers except to remember where we had stopped.  It was a fun challenge, to be sure.

I enjoy working with my husband.  It's something I miss from when we used to work at the Daily Review together (where we met).  Part of me regrets that we changed employers, but we have to do what pays the bills the best.  And where I'm at now does pay better, even working four days a week.  They're hoping the market is changing so that we'll start working five days again.  As long as our daily hours go down so that we're not working 9 or 9 and half hours I'll be okay with that; we've worked 9 and a half so far this week and my body is telling me all about!  That extra half hour may not seem like much, but it does have an affect.

I'm going to eave you with a short short video of my cousin Serena blowing bubbles for her son Gabriel and her niece Hailey.

What about you readers?  Do you like to travel?  What's the farthest you've ever traveled to spend time with family?