Day 246 of 365 Days of Being Thankful

         Today I am thankful for the workers I hired to weed my gardens.  Due to my sciatica, the weeds have gotten out of control.  My friend Joni had hired two men who do maintenance at her office to help her move to her new house.  She asked one of them if  he wanted to do my weeding.  He said yes, at $20/hour. I was  happy to pay that.  He came today with his wife and I paid them each $20/hr.  They really are hard workers and got so much done for me! I gave them a cooler full of soda and water bottles and ice.  Every once in awhile I saw the wife walking up to their car parked right out front. I had already showed them where the bathroom was in my house and had told them to feel free to walk in and use it at any time.  I asked the man if his wife was OK and he said she was just checking on their little boy in the car.  I said......."let him out to play and run around!"  He was the cutest little 7 year old with the cutest little puppy on a  leash.  He said to me."thank you for letting me out of the car!" I never knew he was in there.  He ran around in the yard and seemed to have fun with his adorable puppy. I gave him a can of soda and a cup of ice and he was as happy as can be! They are coming back next Sunday so when we were at CVS today I got him a few small things like a YoYo and a beach ball so he has things to play with.  My friend Joni said that the three of them live in one room.  I am glad that we are hiring them and helping them.
         Dan and I went to the cemetery yesterday.  Then we stopped at the drive through car wash,  When Olivia first came to the U.S., Dan took her to a car wash..Apparently she had never seen one before and was thrilled with it! She only knew a small handful of English words at that time.  When she got home, she was all smiley telling me....."Mom, Machina( Russian for car) shower!"  Olivia always  got her message across  using a few simple words and gestures! She learned English so quickly!  She NEVER wanted to be left out of a conversation even when she could barely speak English.  We would read every store sign, traffic sign and highway signs to her when we were out and about!  One day she told me that she thought we were the smartest family in the world because we were always reading signs.  She learned a great deal of English reading signs and listening to music!
         Dan and I went to see Joni and Lee's new house and have dinner there.  We took a house warming gift to them!

It was a Mikasa serving plate.  Joni loves purple and the plate has purple grapes on it.  I loved their new house. They bought it from a house flipper so everything is brand new! Dinner was delicious.  Joni marinated the chicken in Greek salad dressing!They grilled it outside, it was so good!
         Today is Labor Day and we are going to drive to Olya's university and spend the day with her.  Olivia and Frankie went to visit her yesterday and they stayed overnight at Olya's apartment. We packed picnic supplies and we will visit Olya, have a picnic, and do some train watching for Dan!  We are leaving early so that we have time to drive through some Amish countryside!