Late July This and That.....

 Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Today's post is going to be a bit of this and that.....

But first, Thanks to Create With Joy for choosing my post, The "Beach" Underneath my "Under the Sea' Tree, as one of her features from last week's Inspire Me Monday Link Party!!

 Thanks so much!!

Please stop by and link up to this wonderful party!!

This July has been our hottest July on record here in NEPA!!!!

 Yesterday, it hit 90 again breaking the record of 15 days of 90 degree temps. in July!!

The other day we broke yet another record heat record!!!!

 I know a lot of you who live in the south are used to having much higher temps., even into the 100's....

But we live in NEPA and are considered to be in the Northeast and are not supposed to have temps. this high nor are we supposed to have dew points in the 70's which is considered Tropical!!!!

Needless to say, since I am NO lover of heat and humidity, I have spent the majority of July stuck in the house with the air conditioners blaring.....

During this whole health crisis, I have NEVER felt as if I was STUCK in the house until this month!!!

And that is because it is simply too hot for me to go outside without feeling ill.....

It has NOTHING to do with the health crisis......

I am SO READY for Fall , that it isn't even funny!!!!

 Fall is my favorite Season of the year and Winter is my favorite Time of the year because of the different Holidays......

I do so much better physically in colder weather.....

And I truly HATE to sweat.....

You can always get warm but not always get cool...

When Joe delivered the Mail everyone asked him what season did he prefer and hands down , he said Winter simply for the fact that one can always get warm but in the Summer, it is almost impossible to cool down....

Just when I think I am done buying Fall and Halloween things, I stumble upon these items in Big Lot's online!!!!

They are not in our Big Lot's store yet as Joe checked for me but I will be buying them as soon as they are!!

 I also received my Fall issue of Country Sampler that I am enjoying looking through it!!!

I pray that August is not as hot as July was so I could enjoy my front porch and back patio a bit more since I did not get to sit out there hardly at all in July......

I have been trying to keep my flowers from withering up and dying in this heat by watering them in the evening when the Sun goes down when it is a bit cooler.....

So far, they are not doing too badly.....

In the back yard.....

 In the front yard.....

We have not gotten much rain this Summer, unlike recent Summers when it seemed like it would never stop raining.......

We did get a few showers that moved through last evening and I took these pictures from our back yard....

 And then the Sun poked through the clouds.....

 And this is how it looked from our front porch.....

 And later in the eveing when the Sun set before the showers moved in......

 We are expected to get some rain this weekend which we greatly need because for the first time in many years, our rainfall is below average....

Yesterday was the day that my nursing license officially expired!!

  Never did I think that when I started working for a little over $5.00 an hour that by the time I retired, I would be making 10 times that hourly rate!!! 

 Even though it was not the profession I chose for myself as my Mother made me go into Nursing since my sister had gone to nursing school,.....

It afforded me the ability to continue to work full time and not rely on anyone for child care in the early years of my sons lives when I would stay up after working all night and sleep 2-3 hours when my sons took their naps and then go to bed for another 2-3 hours after dinner once Joe was home as I worked night shift......

As they got older, I was able to send them to day care for 3 days a week, but only in the mornings so I could sleep 2-3 hours, since my Mother was still working and I would never impose on her.... 

My Dad offered to come 2 mornings a week to spend with my sons so I could sleep....

It was only after my Dad passed away and my mother finally stopped working that she came the 2 mornings a week in my dad's place....

It also allowed me to provide a certain lifestyle for my family and afforded us the ability to go on several yearly vacations, weekend getaways ( that was before Joe started working at the post office and only got every 6th full weekend off), go to concerts and shows when our sons were young and most importantly, allowed both Joe and I to retire early at the age of 62 years old... 

 BUT I AM SO GLAD THAT IT IS FINALLY OVER and that I can NEVER EVER work as a nurse again!!!!!

Joe is feeling much better after he experienced a drug reaction from his new cholesterol medication and is enjoying his retirement now that he is no longer working part time at Wegman's.....

And to think I bought a love seat, and not a sofa, specifically to stop Joe from laying down because it annoys the heck out of me.....

My Mother always regarded people who laid down and even worse, took a nap during the day, as lazy......

You can see that Joe definitely made that loveseat work for him!!!

Joe is one happy camper now that the NHL Hockey Season has resumed , starting with Exhibition Games this week!!!

He was so excited that he found a Pittsburgh Penguins flag to hang outside on our front porch.....

Here he is watching his beloved Pittsburgh Penguins play Hockey, in an exhibition game, for the first time since March 10th!!!

Look at that smile on his face!!!

He has been watching hockey pretty much non stop now no matter what team is playing!!!!!

Fine with me because it keeps him out of my way and keeps us from killing each other!!

Last Saturday, our local Library, which usually holds a larger book sale under tents over a 2 week period, came up with a different way to raise money during this new "normal" that we all are experiencing......

It was a drive thru book sale where you were able to buy prepackaged Book Bundles......

They had 5 hard cover books for $10 in a Mystery Book Bundle....

0r 5 hard cover books for $10 in a Fiction Book Bundle..

I sent Joe and had him buy me 2 Paperback Book Bundles, which contained 10 Brand New paperback books for $10 each Book Bundle.....

It was exciting to open up each bag to see what books were inside.....

I was thrilled with the books that I got!!!!

A great mixture of different genre's......

I was excited to find out that this sale was a success and they sold ALL the Book Bundles that they packaged, raising $3200......

They are going to be holding another Drive Thru Book Sale with more Categories on August 8th!!!

 I am interested in the Biography, Science Fiction and History categories!!

You know I will be sending Joe back for more.....

Now I will need to find the time to read.....

Since it has been way too hot to go outside and enjoy my garden , porch and patio, I decided to do some "Deep" cleaning......

The inside of my house has been a bit neglected because I was so busy "Playing" outside....

So since I was confined to the inside of the house because of the extreme heat, I decided to do some deep cleaning......

I had already gave the Living Room a good cleaning when I switched over to my "Under the Sea" Theme for the Late Summer ......

 So I decided to clean and polish the Hutch in the entryway......

I took everything out, wiped it down with what my Mother always used.......

A rag and a bucket of water and a bit of ammonia......

I then polished the Hutch and cleaned the glass and mirrors.....

I have some of my Angel Collection and depression glass here in the Hutch.....

From there, I moved on to the Curio in the corner.....

Again, took everything out, cleaned, and polished and did the glass and mirrors......

More angels.......

My Bird crystal Collection.....

And my neighbor Elly's Fostoria glasses.......

I then moved into the Dining Room and gave it a deep cleaning!!!!!!

And I also decided to clean and polish the 2 curios ........

 In this curio, ae what I call George Washington dishes......

That was Joe's maternal grandmother's set of dishes that she had on display in her Dining Room Hutch which is now mine  along with the rest of her Dining Room furniture.....

Victorian Ladies and a Gentleman in this Curio......

And Leno Butterfly Meadow dishes that Joe bought using his comp points from the casino by our house....

And the Hutch.......

 The Hutch is filled with Moss Rose china which I collected for years and bought at yard sale, flea markets and estate sales......

Ironically, I have it displayed in Joe's maternal grandmother's Hutch.......

And her name was ROSE!!!

From the Dining Room, I moved into the Kitchen.......

I took everything down from shelves........

And the walls........

Cleaned the cabinets......

Both inside......

And out......

Cleaned the sink and countertops.......

And the stove.......

And changed a few things for the remainder of the Summer.......

I will be sharing the counter bar area in my 3rd post about how the Kitchen is decorated for the Summer, Summer Kitchen, Part 3.......

I also cleaned this area......

And changed the display on the desk area of the Hutch.......

And found this cute vintage dish towel and hung it here.......

I will also be doing on a post on these changes.......

So even though I was "Stuck" in the house for most of the month of July because of the heat......

I still stayed busy and enjoyed making my home SHINE instead of feeling "Stuck!!!"

You may remember that I did a post about choosing to SHINE at Home during these times.......

 Click HERE if you missed it....

And  I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

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