Weekend in Review

We had a long weekend which began last Wednesday afternoon. After a lunch meeting at work, I slipped off and headed home. I threw enough clothes and toiletries in a bag for a 24 hour stay. Mark was already packed and he had loaded the furniture in the truck. We were on the road by about 2:30 headed south to our daughter's house. Laura and Scott purchased a house and had planned to totally remodel it and add on a master bedroom and bath BUT the numbers they were given before they purchased the house DID NOT match the REAL cost of redoing the house. They (and the rest of both families) did some of the work themselves and they hired a local contractor to do the rest. Then they put it on the market while they continued to live with the in-laws (8 months - too long on all sides). It didn't sell in a month and school is about to start, so they spent Monday and Tuesday packing and moving into the house. While we were all at dinner on Wednesday night, they received two offers and one was for full price. Why is life like that? If the offer had been two days earlier, life would have been easier for them. Now we are praying for the house to pass inspection.

Laura wanted two of her grandmother's chairs plus the long table that was in her entry hall so Mark had tagged them for her and he loaded and delivered.

The granddaughters all love their pops. He is THE BEST and MOST CREATIVE playmate.

They built castles and mermaid homes and all sorts of things on the kitchen table . . .so that the little one wouldn't destroy them.

They also played roller coaster . . .which was loud and hilarious and fun. They went on at least 30 roller coaster rides.

We were finally able to spend enough time with the little one for her to "know" us. She would come to us and raise her arms to be picked up -- hallelujah! We haven't been able to spend as much time with her as with the older two and it has hurt my heart.

We got home around dinner time on Thursday night. I had a quiz and a huge project for school. 

On Friday, our son texted and wanted to know if our daughter-in-law and oldest granddaughter and two friends could come play in the neighborhood pool. They had a blast. It started raining and they kept swimming!

After studying all day, I headed to the nail salon around 5:00 p.m. for a much needed pedicure. I have NO desire whatsoever to do my own toes, and I realize what a luxury it is to be able to get a pedicure every few weeks. In and around the other things, I washed our sheets, washed a load of my workclothes I wash my dresses, etc. in cold water on a gentle cycle and hang to dry and I keep those clothes in a separate pile so they don't get thrown in with towels and underwear.

Saturday morning - guess what I was doing? Still working on my project for school. My powerpoint presentation is on Maternal Mortality rates. I would get up every hour or so and dust something. I ran the roomba downstairs while I was studying.

I decided that I had to get out of the house for just a few minutes and even though I had ordered groceries earlier, there were a few things I needed to pick up at the Pig. Before going to the store, I stopped at the Shades Mountain Mercantile. I actually bought several things - 3 cups and saucers (antique Fiestaware) and a big red pitcher plus a wooden art piece with colorful fish for the screened porch. I took this photo because I love iron skillets and cookware.

Sunday morning found me at work at 7:00 and then I taught our adult Sunday School class a lesson on tragedy and loss and grief.

Mark and I dug around in the refrigerator for lunch. I didn't cook! He went to our brother-in-law's to make drawer fronts for the kitchen at the farm and I worked on the project plus made a quadruple recipe of one-pot spaghetti for Tuesday night and I baked brown sugar brownies for two neighbors - our next door neighbors celebrated their 50th anniversary yesterday and Lu, who lives across the park, will celebrate her birthday this week.

I've been trying to come visit everyone's blogs . . . I'm just a little slow lately.

What did you do this weekend?

Sunday Stealing

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week, while looking for a blog we hadn't hit yet, we discovered Living in the World, Not on It. This meme comes to you from "life in the slow lane of the unemployable, unworkable, disabled HR Manager/EMT." Too bad she quit posting because she sounds interesting.

Living in the World, Not on It

1) You're on a trip taking a tour through the jungle. You have a backpack with some food, first aid supplies, a pocket knife, a flashlight and a couple bottles of water. Somehow, you get separated from your group. By night fall you haven't found your group and haven't heard them looking for you. How long do you think you would be able to survive on your own?

hahaha! I would NOT survive more than a few hours. Mark, on the other hand, would survive indefinitely! 

2) Do you think it's okay to lie to spare someone's feelings? Why? 

I try not to lie . . . but sometimes I might answer in a round-a-bout way.

3) If a talking doll were made to resemble you, what 3 phrases would it say?

Well . . .Every Sunday I say "Welcome to Trinity" -- "Good morning!" - "Happy Sunday"!! I guess that is what she would say!  

4) If the super power to be able to read minds at will was possible, do you think it would be... cool and helpful, intrusive and wrong, manipulative or maddening?

 I don't think I would want to read minds. I think my feelings might be hurt haha!

5) Are drunk confessions things people can't bring themselves to say sober or just the crazy ramblings of an influenced and intoxicated mind? 

That is a really good question. I've always wondered and I don't have an answer. I can't wait to read the thoughts about this question!!

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Time for a Hodgepodge!

 

I am joining up with Joyce and friends for the Hodgepodge questions of the week. If you have commented on my blog, I promise to come back and visit you VERY soon. I'm running a tad behind this week, but I love comments.

1. When does time pass slowly for you? When does time past quickly for you? 

My sister and I were just talking about our daddy and how he used to tell us not to "wish our lives away." He would always say that the older you were, the faster time went. I know there are 24 hours in a day for all of us, but I think I understand his comment now that I'm 67!

Time passes slowly when I'm having to do something I don't enjoy - like sit in a hospital room with someone. Time flies when I'm having fun . . .or when I have a lot to do . . .or just . . .time flies.

2. Do you have a favorite beach? What's your favorite 'beach' activity? Tell us what we'd find in your beach bag.

We haven't been to the beach in a couple of years which is tragic :-). For almost my entire life, a beach trip was a part of the year. Our family would go to Laguna Beach (which is probably part of 30A at this point). When I was a teenager, we went to Destin or Fort Walton. After Mark and I were married and after our kids were born, we went to Gulf Shores or Orange Beach every year. We went for a week in June of 2021 and we went for several days in October of 2023.

sun was in our faces - creating too much
and too little light

our beach vacations always
include fishing

You can find sunscreen, a diet pepsi, a bottle of water, and something to read PLUS my phone in my beach bag - at home, I will have the pool swipe card and at the beach, the key card (or whatever is needed to get back in the condo).

3. Your favorite book or movie with a beach setting? 

Have you read The Noticer by Andy Andrews? I love that book and it is about Gulf Shores, AL.

I've also read some "fun" books about the beach over the years that I've enjoyed -- written by authors such as Mary Kay Andrews and Elin Hilderbrand.

4. What's a food you love, but find it's a pain to eat? Is it worth it? 

I don't eat things that are a pain to eat hahaha! Seriously - I don't like ribs (too much trouble). I can eat fried chicken on the bone, but it isn't my favorite. I can't wait to read everyone's answers for this question.

5.  Do you like roller coasters? What's the best (or worst) roller coaster you've been on? 

I do love roller coasters. I haven't ridden one in several years. I loved Space Mountain at Disneyworld. I have always loved wooden roller coasters - I remember riding the Great American Scream Machine a million times (slight exaggeration) at Six Flags over Georgia.

not my photo - borrowed from the internet

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Mark made our Trinity UMC social media page. I've mentioned how he volunteers at The Hub (our missions and outreach center) a couple of days every week. Here he is hard at work:

Weekend in Review

We are headed to Amsterdam in the fall and this popped up in my social media feed this week -- oh my goodness - how cute! I wonder if it is real or AI generated haha!

My ENT has prescribed a new medicine for me. This is a steroid nasal spray powered by your own breath! Seriously. Also, it cost well over $500 but my insurance pre-approved the expense.

I hope it is helpful!

On Friday, I met my monthly "lunch bunch" group at Ashely Mac's. We normally eat together on the first Friday, but that didn't work this month due to the holiday. The group agreed to meet at noon instead of 11:30 because I had a hair appointment that morning. By the time I arrived in Homewood at 11:55, there was not a parking place to be found. I had been in the car for 45 minutes and had consumed a ginormous bottle of water . . .after driving through the soho parking deck (nothing) and around the block (nothing), I turned in the opposite direction and headed to our church to go to the bathroom!! (TMI?) Then I headed back to the restaurant and my friend called and told me where she found a place. I usually order a salad but they had a summer tomato tart on the menu. I ordered and enjoyed. Then Mark wanted a tomato tart for dinner hahaha! Here is mine - Heirloom Tomato and Feta tart (it is a Weight Watchers recipe!) That is a 1/4 of the pan - 2 points.

Our daughter is a teacher and she will be teaching in a different school system this year and she will be teaching kindergarten rather than 3rd grade. She asked me to make curtains for her classroom. Sewing was on the agenda for the weekend.

When the designer came to visit a week or so ago, she suggested ordering a bookcase shaped like a canoe for our upstairs loft area. The loft is where we keep all of the toys for the grandkids (there are also barbies and accessories stuffed into all of the drawers in the loft). The bookcase came from Bass Pro Shop! The delivery guy (not bass pro) threw it up onto our porch - thank goodness it wasn't broken. Mark unpacked it downstairs and he and I lugged it up the steps. I will do more work on "decorating" it, but for now . . .it is fine. Just fine.

I did a lot of homework over the weekend. 

Saturday afternoon, I made a giant salad to take to supper club. It was delicious and I didn't even make a picture.

I took one photo of the appetizer made by the hostess . . .and somehow deleted said photo. Duh! So I borrowed this one from the wonderful world of the internet. The host and hostess also made chicken kebobs for dinner.

https://beyondthenoms.com/prosciutto-melon-skewers/

She also made some mini cheeseballs similar to these:

https://dangthatssweet.com/mini-cheese-ball-bites/

We love these friends so much and are so thankful to be loved by such wonderful people.

I had to be at work at 7:00 on Sunday morning and I taught our adult Sunday School class on Good vs. Evil (we are still in the movie series for the summer).

We ate leftovers for lunch and took a nap!

I finished sewing the curtains and did more homework.

We watched a couple of TV shows and were in bed by 10:00.

How was your weekend??

 

Sunday Stealing

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we stole from Follow That Dream. Bonnie, who posted it, admits she stole it from Stella. Now here it is, just waiting for you to steal it for your blog ...

Stolen from Follow That Dream

1. My bestie and I once ...I skipped this question and answered all of the others, but now I'm back and the question is still the same. I cannot come up with a response. Let's see . . .this is lame. We are die hard Auburn fans at our house, but one time my bestie and I went to see the girl's gymnastic meet at the University of Alabama because my bestie's sister-in-law was the head coach. My bestie and her husband had season tickets. I tried thinking back to childhood -- I'm sure my various besties and I did all sorts of things.

2. When I'm nervous ...I pick at the skin on the side of my thumbnails - I don't even realize I'm doing it. Sometimes I also talk too much when I'm nervous.

3. My hair ...is blonde . . .but it wasn't originally . . .but it should have been blonde all along - my eyes are green and my eyebrows are light.

4. When I turn to the left, I see ...a cute piece of furniture we bought last week.

5. My favorite aunt ...died of covid complications.

6. I have a hard time understanding ...why other people drive like they do.

7. You know I like you if ...I hug you.

8. When I was 5 years old ...I didn't go to kindergarten because they didn't have kindergarten in my school.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Calm, Cool, and Collected Hodgepodge

 

1. What's a characteristic you admire in others? Elaborate.

I wish I could stay even-tempered no matter what’s happening around me—calm, cool, and collected in any situation. I also wish I felt more self-assured, or maybe just had more confidence in myself.

2. Do you have a favorite mug? Let's see it. Why is this one your favorite? 

I do not have a favorite mug because I rarely drink from a mug. Mark has a couple of favorite mugs - he wants a big cup for his coffee because he uses a healthy large amount of half and half in his coffee.

3. July 15th is/was National Give Something Away Day...will you (or did you, depending on what day you answer these questions) give something away? If so what? Do you regularly give away or do you tend to  'accumulate'? 

Now I want to go clean out a closet! Mark and I try not to hold onto things. We try to clean out stuff once a year or so. I've got a 35mm camera and some amazing lenses . . .I should give them away. Maybe I'll do that. I did give a piece of furniture to the Community Furniture Bank this week!

4. You're planning a trip. Do you prefer exploring big cities or smaller, more off the grid towns? World Atlas lists these 12 'off the grid' towns to see in 2025. How many on the list have you seen? Of those listed which one would you most like to visit? Tell us why? 

Boothbay Harbor Maine, Middlebury Vermont, New Hope Pennsylvania, Rehoboth Beach Delaware, Brevard North Carolina, Saugatuck Michigan, Medora North Dakota, Ouray Colorado, Lamoille Nevada, Neah Bay Washington, Hood River Oregon, or Cambria California

*You can read more about each destination by clicking the link above. 

I love to travel, but I’ve never really thought about whether I prefer big cities or small ones—maybe I lean toward smaller? I’m not sure! I haven’t been to any of those places, but they all seem really cool. Rehoboth Beach and Ouray both look like fun spots to visit. I’ve also never been to the Pacific Northwest, so several of those destinations are definitely on my list.

5. Have you ever...ridden a motorcycle? yes been to a Disney park? yes met a celebrity? yes won a contest? yes Tell us something about whatever you answered yes to on this list. 

I went on a date with a guy who drove a motorcycle. It was fun riding behind him, but I don't think I would want to do it all of the time. 

I've been to Disney World twice. The first time we went was when our kids were about 10 years old. My sister and her husband (ex - he who remains nameless ha!) and son met us. We planned that vacation for months! We stayed at Port Orleans and had so much fun.

About a year and a half later, Mark had a meeting at the Contemporary and we pulled the kids out of school and we went with him. It was late October and we rode and rode and rode the rides while Mark was in his meetings. The kids rode Space Mountain about 10 or 12 times in a row one night. I made it through 3 times and then I said, "I'll be standing right here."

I've met Bob Goff. In case you don't know him, he is an author and has several book studies on DVD. One of his studies is why I'm back in college at the fine age of 67. The study is Dream Big . . .and I did Dream Big!

I also got an autograph from Jerry Clower one time for my father-in-law. 

I won a Pappy van Winkle contest and won a bottle of Pappy for Mark.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It’s so hot here in Alabama, I’m starting to understand why Southern porches were made for sitting still with sweet tea—any movement feels like a negotiation with the sun. Actually, I am so thankful for Willis Haviland Carrier who was an American engineer, best known for inventing modern air conditioning, inventing the first electrical air conditioning unit in 1902. Thank you Mr. Carrier! I appreciate you!

Weekend in Review - Monday! Monday!

 Our weekend started on Thursday night! We met Mark's sister and her husband and his twin brother and his wife for dinner. I wrote "sib dinner" in my calendar!! We met at Giuseppi's Cafe. You may remember that Mark doesn't like Italian food . . .but he ate a Muffaletta and was perfectly fine.

I ordered Chicken Piccata . . . I think it was linguini? I did not even make a dent in this bowl!

On Friday, I did homework for HOURS. I finally hopped into the shower around 4:00. I didn't dry my hair - just let it air dry. Mark worked in the yard and was still messing with the sprinkler system when our neighbors pulled up in front of the house and said they were going to grab dinner . . .and for us to come along. Mark ran in and hopped in the shower (in, out, and dressed in 10 minutes). I changed clothes and off we went. It is good for us to be spontaneous. It would have been so easy to say, "nope. we can't." For once, we didn't see anyone we know while out and about! 

We ate at La Paz in a neighborhood near us.

Saturday morning found us on I65 South headed to our daughter's house for our middle granddaughter's birthday. We walked through the door and she asked Pops to go play in her room.

We had not seen our youngest in a while. She is walking now and is so cute!!

She is climbing up on every chair and is so proud of herself.

The party was at the home of the other grandparents . . .and they have a pool!

Our two oldest granddaughters had lots of fun swimming. Other kids arrived shortly thereafter.

Our oldest is 9 and our middle is now 6. The 6 year old idolizes the 9 year old.

I've been in the fruit kebab making era. The wooden picks had tiny disco balls on the end.

The party was a combo "hello kitty" and "toy story" - our granddaughter couldn't decide. Our daughter saw these decorations on a "free" site - they were brand new and free!!

Aunt Alice and Uncle George sent her a new "fancy" coloring book.

You can see all three granddaughters in this photo!

She had asked for Jessie and was so excited that Uncle Glenn and Aunt Lauren and Emma bought it for her.

She also received a Woody doll.

. . .and a Barbie pony

Aunt Becky sent Bullseye - the horse!

A former lunchroom lady makes these birthday cakes from scratch. It was perfectly even all the way across until Mark cut his piece. Our daughter and daughter-in-law both sent this photo to me!!

I can't believe she is six years old!

Rather than drive back on I65 north, which is horrible during beach season, we took the scenic route and drove 231 to Sylacauga and then 280 to home. It took us less than 1 1/2 hours to drive to their house, but projected time for our return trip was well over 2 hours on I65 North. It would have been lots of stop and go traffic . . . and it irritates both of us. We decided 29 extra minutes would be worth it.

Sunday morning found me at work and Sunday afternoon, I did 4 hours of homework while Mark and his siblings and our son worked on cleaning out his mother's house. They are finally getting it ready to go on the market.

I hope you had a great weekend! I always enjoy reading about what other folks are doing!!

Sunday Chatting

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week is less a steal than a cheat. These are AI-generated responses to the request: "What should I ask to get a stranger to open up?"

Spill It!

1. If money wasn't an issue, would you move to a new home? 

We do love our home BUT I might move to a bigger house. Yes, ours is plenty big but I would love a Butler's pantry and a bigger laundry room and a bigger closet (or two) in our bedroom. We have a very small lot, which was one of the things we loved, but I think Mark would like a little more yard. I don't know why. He would like a bigger garage. Some of the houses in our neighborhood have a bonus one car garage at the side of their driveway. We don't have room for that, so a bigger one would be nice. Since money isn't an obstacle, I would hire someone to pack it all up, move us, and unpack us!

2. Do you listen to different music when you're happy than when you're sad?

I used to listen to music more often than I do now. Sometimes when I'm upset, I listen to music and it is definitely different from happy music.

3. What's your favorite way to unwind after a tough day? 

I love to change into comfy clothes and get in my recliner and read a book or watch something on TV. Sometimes I might add a fun beverage. I also love to get together with good friends and laugh and talk.

4. What's the first book you remember from childhood? 

When I was preparing our Sunday school lesson, I was thinking about the book "Heidi." I'm sure there were books before that one, but I definitely remember that one. We spent a lot of time at the library.

5. What made you smile today? 

I'm typing these answers on Friday night. I may have smiled a few times when I was doing my homework. This semester is Human Sexuality. It is a lot of anatomy and I just keep smiling and chuckling thinking about me . . .if I had taken this class back when I was the "normal" college age. I'm going to go ahead and project to Sunday, since that is when you will be reading this. I will work the welcome desk at church and I get to see lots of cute families and I will teach Sunday School and see lots of our friends . . .all of those encounter will include smiles.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Adulting 101 Hodgepodge

I'm joining up with Joyce and friends for this week's hodgepodge. You can visit her blog or you can answer in the comments below. I'd love to hear your thoughts!!

1. What's an adult problem nobody prepared you for? 

I had NO idea that I would still feel the need to parent our adult children . . .and that they would not want our advice. Seriously! I know good and well that Mark nor I took his parents advice, so I imagine his parents may have felt the same way. We try to bite our tongues and keep our mouths shut . . .but sometimes, we don't :-). 

2. How tuned in are you to all the recent food related health news? Have you gotten rid of your scratched cookware? Did you pay attention to food additives before they made the news? What's one healthy eating/cooking/food shopping habit you need to adopt?

I try to keep up with food safety news - recalls, etc. We try to eat a healthy diet - fruit, veggies, lean proteins. I don't pay nearly as much attention to food additives as I should. I do worry about red dye - weird one. One of my favorite things to do is meal prep, but I haven't had as much time lately. I need to work out a schedule where I make the time to do it. I still have some scratched cookware, but our cookware is relatively new All Clad. I've been reading up on the use of semaglutides. The uses of the drug interest me.

3. What's getting worse and worse as you get older? How about better and better? 

I'll start with the better and better -- I care less what others think of me. I still want to be nice and look nice and be kind and good and love all of my neighbors, but I don't have time to worry if you are talking about me. In the other direction . . .I guess my memory is getting worse and worse and some of my aches and pains are getting worse. Those things are annoying!!

4. Are you more of an indoor person or an outdoor person? Elaborate. 

I'm an indoor person because of my allergies. I would love to be an outdoor person. Mark would double over laughing about me being an outside person :-) because he knows I'm not.

5. If you had an expert personal assistant today, what would you have them do?

I would have them meal plan and prep for me. Could a personal assistant do that?? I could also use some help running errands -- Mark does a lot of them since he is now retired, but he has been really busy lately. I might also ask them to dry and style my hair every morning . . .and keep the house clean . . .and the laundry done. I need a wife! haha! I did all of those things when I was a stay at home mom. Mark does do a lot of our laundry. I put my work clothes in a special spot in our closet and I wash those each week, but he does a great job on towels and underwear and his clothes.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I'm very pleased with my grade in the Family Life Education class plus it was actually very interesting. By the time you are reading this, it will be Wednesday which is the beginning of the next minimester. I will be taking Human Sexuality for the next 5 weeks. Mark has made so many jokes about the course content. You can imagine. In the fall, there are two 8 week semesters. I think I remember my advisor telling me that the online schedule doesn't exactly line up with the on campus semester system. I qualify for two significant scholarships IF I take two classes in that first eight weeks and two classes in the second eight weeks. I think I'm going to try to do it though I am TERRIFIED of the work load. That means that by Christmas, I will have accrued 18 more hours. I transferred from community college with 60 hours and I have to have 60 more hours to get my B.A. at Samford . . .and if I can do it, by Christmas I'll only need 42. 

On a more fun note, our middle granddaughter will have a birthday this week so we will go to her house this weekend and get to see BOTH of our children (and their spouses) plus all three granddaughters!!

Fourth of July Weekend in Review

Happy Monday to you! We had a really low-key weekend. Mark went to the farm on Thursday and Friday and finished the flooring in the kitchen. I have got to find an old photo of how the kitchen used to look so y'all can see for comparison.

While he was at the farm, I was still riding high on steroids so I cleaned the house (somewhat). I read a little and rode the stationary bike. I ran to Publix for a few things.

We had plans for dinner on Friday, the 4th and Mark texted at 1:00 that he was headed home from the farm. The drive takes a couple of hours so he would be home in plenty of time to head to his sister's house for dinner. Mark didn't check Waze before he started home. Big mistake. There are two ways to drive to and from the farm - I-20 or Highway 280. He detests Hwy 280 because there are 23 traffic lights over a several mile stretch. He got to I-20 and traffic was stopped. He called and I looked it up and I-20 had been closed for SIX - yes, 6 hours, due to an 18 wheeler accident. They literally had a crane in the middle of the interstate trying to get the 18 wheeler out of the hole and everyone had to exit into a small lake town. There were two lanes merging into one exit lane, along with the dingbats who decided to make the shoulder a third lane. Right at the last moment, Mark saw the workmen picking up the big orange traffic cones. They were opening the interstate! A normal hour and 45 minute drive became at least a 3 1/2 hour trip, but he made it home in time. We were only a few minutes late. She made stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer using an old recipe of mine that she found in her mother's recipe drawer. I took a big green salad and I even made the homemade lemon dressing. Susie had smoked a couple of chickens and slabs of ribs and she had baked beans and corn on the cob. She made date bars for dessert - Mark loves them! The four of us were a small group, but we enjoyed each other's company.

Saturday morning found us staying in the bed until 7:30. I felt like we slept away the day. I usually get up at 5:00 and due to the steroids, I had slept very little the previous two days so I'm assuming I needed that rest. When we got up, we heard about the flash flooding and I was so sad. My mother's heart just grieves with these families. We have no true personal connection with any of the families, but one little girl was from here.

Mark worked in the yard - digging up around the sprinkler system in order to add two more sprinkler heads. Some of the new landscaping was not getting enough water. He also did some "park fishing" - he was testing out a rod, reel, and line.

We invited our good neighbors, Lu and Dave, over for dinner. They brought some produce fresh from their tiny garden. She brought some potatoes to roast and some of them were purple. They tasted almost like a cross between a sweet potato and a white potato! They brought some chicken from the day before and Mark grilled salmon, halibut, and Lingcod. We talked about travel and family and friends and had a nice quiet evening.

Sunday morning found me back at work. It was a very slow day at church. We are normally a hopping place on Sunday mornings but we have lots of members who have lake houses and beach houses plus a lot of our congregation has been traveling internationally this summer. My co-worker and her husband and two boys are out west doing a two week trek through some National Parks. I worked from 7-11 and then I headed home. It is so hot here that Mark had actually stayed home from church so that he could do as much sprinkler repair as possible before the heat index hit over 100. We ate leftovers for lunch and we took a nap and we ran over to his brother's empty house to check on it and get the mail. I'm ready for Mark and his siblings to sell their mother's house (they are working on it) and sell Bill's house so they can stop messing with them.

me at the Welcome Desk on Sunday morning
very little make-up!

We enjoyed Susie's mushrooms so much on Friday night, I drug out my original recipe and made stuffed mushrooms for us for dinner. We were laughing about how that was my "go-to" appetizer that I made everytime we had company as newlyweds. They are so easy - a little bacon; a little cheese; a little chopped mushroom stems; a tad of Grey Poupon and a tad of mayo. Mix, stuff, and broil.

We watched the last two episodes of Justified last night. I wsn't sure how they planned to end it, but I actually liked the ending.

Now it is Monday morning at 5:33 a.m. and I'll be headed back to work in a couple of hours.

Did you have any fun this weekend? Tell me about it - I would love to hear!!