We have a winner!

Throughout this years BIA parade of homes at Olentangy Falls, we had a drawing set up where those going through the homes could enter to win the eight foot farm table we had on display along with the matching bench. Over the course of the parade, we got many compliments on the table and had over 800 entries.

Yesterday I drew the name of our winner, Linda Harrah of Westerville, Ohio. She was very excited about winning. Tonight we met her at the house and she took possession of her prize. Linda is now the proud owner of the beautiful farm table and matching bench that was on display at the parade.

Congratulations Linda!

Starliner Diner

Tonight Nick and I decided to try out Starliner Diner. He's from New Jersey; there are diners everywhere there. It's a lot different in Ohio. You can find one here and there, but they are rare. Starliner Diner is only about a 20 minute drive from our house, but after almost a decade, we'd never made the trip to have dinner there.

We'd both heard a lot about the place. Everyone raved about the food. Apparently they have won awards for their breakfast. What we were surprised about was the menu. Instead of 'normal' diner far, there was a Mexican/Cuban/Cajun flare to all the selections.

Nick and I are not overly fond of spicy foods, so it took us a while to decided on what to eat. He settled on a BBQ chicken sandwich, I went with a chicken burrito. Both ended up being very good, however, the salsa that was served with Nick's tortillas chips, and the chili sauce that came with my burrito, were a little too spicy for us. Thankfully, our server suggested I get the chili sauce on the side.

All in all, it was a decent dinner, although I'm not sure we will be going there for dinner again any time soon.

The Starliner Diner is located at 5240 Cemetery Road in Hilliard, Ohio. You can check out their menu on their website http://www.starlinerdiner.com/.

Purple Road

We've been having a lot of rain here lately. Honestly, I can't remember a day when we haven't had some rain. But a couple of nights ago, I looked out the window of my study and the road  outside of our house had a purple glow to it.

This was taken about eight o'clock at night, just before the sun was completely set. It didn't stick around long, but it was beautiful while it lasted.

Mud Hole or Parking Lot

If you've never been to on of the past parades, you may not know that they park the cars in fields. The only thing between you and the mud is the grass that naturally grows there.

It has rained almost every day since the BIA Parade of Homes started on June 11th, and this is what the workers parking lot looks like.

The space that is now mud is supposed to be used for parking as well, but fearing getting stuck, we are all trying to park on the perimeter and a strip that is slightly elevated and therefore drier than the rest. So far I've been lucky and not gotten stuck every time I've worked. I'm crossing my fingers that continues to be the case.

The BIA Parade of Homes runs until this Sunday, June 26th.

Daddy's Hands

Today is Father's Day. As kids, we give dad t-shirts saying 'world greatest dad', coffee mugs with '#1 dad' written on the side. By the time we are adults, it's usually a card.

Coming home today, I was listening to the song 'Daddy's Hands' on the radio. It's a country song that's been around for years. It's one of those songs that makes you think, remember, your childhood.

I remember Daddy´s hands, folded silently in prayer.
And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare.
You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines.
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind.
I remember Daddy´s hands, how they held my Mama tight,
And patted my back, for something done right.
There are things that I´ve forgotten, that I loved about the man,
But I´ll always remember the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

I remember Daddy´s hands, working 'til they bled.
Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed.
If I could do things over, I´d live my life again.
And never take for granted the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love .....
In Daddy´s hands.

This is the first Father's Day without my dad. I'm not really sure how I was supposed to feel today, but it has been emotional is a weird way. There were many 'father' songs played to day in honor of Father's Days. I guess this song stood out to me because it is talking about her father in the past tense, like he is no longer there, which I could relate to.

Social Security?

At the age of 34, I, thankfully, do not normally deal with the social security administration often. Recently, however, that has changed.

My father died in March, and I've been trying to help my mother navigate the many obstacles that come with the death of a spouse. Let me tell you, if you've never had to deal with it, be grateful. It is a maze that seems to have no end.

Social security has been one of those apparently never ending mazes. Today was just another in a long line of hoops that we have had to jump through.

They encourage people to use their website. That's not uncommon now a days and I've proficient in using most websites, so I did not foresee a problem.

A letter was sent about a month ago giving her a user name and temporary password to use. We went to the site listed, followed the instructions, and set up a new password for her. Easy, right? That's what I thought. However, today, was the first time we'd tried to go back into the system with the new password. First there was nowhere to actually 'log in'. You'd think that would be front and center, but after scanning the entire page, I couldn't find anywhere that said 'log in' or 'sign in'.

After about fifteen minutes of clicking on various things that looked promising, I was directed to a place to enter her user id and password. Wouldn't you know...it didn't work.

In the end, we decided to just call the local office and take care of the change by phone. So much for easy updates and changes via their website.

Old Friends and No Apples

Today I spent a few hours at the parade of homes. All went well, but it started to sprinkle so I decided to leave a little earlier than planned. As I neared my car in the parking lot, I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a while. She was there to man a booth for her new job. We spent a few minutes catching up before she had to get going.

After that I decided to head over to Yutzy's farm market for some apples.

I love this place. They have homemade items like jelly's and jams along with fruit, breads, and candies. You could go hog wild in this place.

One of my favorite things is the lunch meat and cheese counter.

Every week they run a meat and cheese special. When you go to the grocery store here you normally pay anywhere from $4.99-$8.99 for meat. Their meat specials usually run about $2.99-$3.99, cheese $1.99-$2.99. And to sweeten the deal, it tends to last in the refrigerator two to three times as long. I love it!

The downside to this trip,however, was that they were out of apples. Hopefully, I will have better luck next time.