Monday Morning and Life Lately

Mark went to the farm on Thursday morning, while I went to work. I left the office right at 4:00 so that I could get home and get to homework. Our online textbook is giving everyone fits. That is the correct answer that is marked incorrect below . . .but you have to get the word and / and - just right or it counts it as incorrect. Anyway, I stayed up until midnight doing homework on Thursday night and I got up on Friday morning and started again. 

After I completed my homework, I ran a couple of errands and headed back home to shower. Our neighbors had invited us to go to the Hoover Country Club for dinner. Tommy and Laura Lea belong to the country club because Laura Lea is a big tennis player - like really good! They invited us and one other neighbor couple. When we walked into the restaurant portion, they didn't have her reservation. Thank goodness for trusty phones! She had the confirmation. They didn't have room for us so they set us up in the "teen room" so we had a private room for dinner. The food was delicious and Friday night is a very popular night!

It rained while we were eating and there was an amazing rainbow when we got home.

Someone posted this drone shot of our portion of the neighborhood and I snatched it. 

                                                        ☝We are the second house - starting at the tree in the middle bottom of the photo, count one two to your left -- the front of the house faces a lovely park. On this screen, it looks like the pointy finger is pointing at our driveway, but when I do "preview" . . .I think it is pointing to our neighbor's driveway. Our mailboxes are on the alley and we just have to put our trashcans at the edge of the driveway twice a week.

On Saturday morning, I weighed in at WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) and sat by a sweet lady. She told me that her son died six weeks ago. My heart is still hurting for her.

I headed back home to help unload the groceries that had been delivered and then I went to the nail salon for a pedicure. Oh! I needed it!

Our friends, Lu and Dave, who live across the park from us invited us to dinner on Saturday night at El Royale. She had a $250 gift certificate and they wanted to treat us to dinner.

She ordered the flaming margarita - the server literally had a candle lighter and he light it at the table and the flames shot out of the top - so cool! (Yes, I know that alcohol burns easily, etc.) It felt like a touch of magic haha!

I ordered a frozen margarita -- strawberry/pinapple swirl. It was yummy.

For dinner, I ordered a shrimp appetizer. Mark order the plate with three Burria tacos. Dave ordered a quesadilla . . . and I can't remember what Lu ordered. I was driving so I drank about 2/3 of my drink and passed the rest to Mark and I started chugging water!

I worked on Sunday morning and taught our adult Sunday School class. If you are reading this and are a praying person, please pray for Cindy and Scott. Cindy was scheduled to have her final reconstruction surgery this past Friday - scans were clear at the first of the year. She started having some abdominal pain early last week, so her oncologist saw her on Thursday. This is her third round of cancer and this time they see a mass in the pancreas, spots on the liver, and I think a spot on one lung. Her sweet husband lost his first wife to cancer. They have young adult children and they are all rocked to the core. She is about 6 years younger than me. They will schedule a liver biopsy this week and will see what treatment options they have. Our whole big class circled up around them and we layed hands on them while I prayed. I couldn't get through the prayer without crying. Oh goodness. Please pray.

Two different friends brought some fresh produce to me while I was working the welcome desk. I brought it home and we had it for lunch. I used the air fryer to fry our okra. I fried the smalleset pods whole - several restaurants in town serve it that way.

I cut the rest up into pieces and fried that in the second batch. Mark had a bacon and heirloom tomato (purple Cherokee, I think) sandwich. I had a chicken bacon and regular tomato with a couple of slices of turkey sandwich. We used Lewis Keto bread. It is good. I know that is an unconvential Sunday lunch, but it tasted great.

We both rode our stationary bikes. I had a moment to type this blog! I commented on other Sunday Stealing blogs. I made some WW banana bread and mixed up the hashbrown casserole for Tuesday night Young Adults.

When ELM rebuilt our house after the fire, we used their designer, Liz, to pick out colors, etc. She has helped me pick out a few other things for the house since then. She recommended using something "fabric" or "tactile" above this bed in one of our guest rooms, and I finally found a 41 inch square quilt that I love. Mark and I hung it. I stood on the bed and after we marked the holes, I drilled with the power drill - yay me! One side didn't need an anchor, but the other side did. Mark supervised. 

Please tell me about your weekend!

Sunday Stealing ABCs

 

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!

Princess Ladybug tells us, "Don't mind the crown. I'm really the jester around here." She's the one who turned to her ABCs to give us this meme.

The Alphabet Meme

Answer these questions with anything from a single word to a paragraph or two. It's up to you.

A is for Age. I’m old enough to know better haha! I’m five years younger than my husband.

B is for your Booze of choice. Grey Goose Vodka

C is for Career. I am the executive assistant to the Senior Pastor of a large UMC. I am back in college and my major is Human Development and Family Science.

D is for your Dog's name. We don’t have a dog. Our son’s dog is Riley. Mark’s family always had dogs. I met two of them – Rip and Sport.

E is for Everyday Essentials. Diet Pepsi, water, protein bars, a hug or two, words of affirmation

F is for your Favorite Food. French fries are my favorite food haha!

G is for your favorite Game. We’ve played a lot of UNO recently.

H is for your Hometown. Tarrant, Alabama

I is for an Instrument you play. Sadly, I do not play an instrument.

J is for your favorite Jam or Jelly flavor. Right now, I have Polaner added fiber, no sugar strawberry . . . BUT . . . I do love homemade fig preserves.

K is for Kids. We have two – boy/girl twins.

L is for the last show or movie you watched. On Wednesday night, we watched an episode of rizzoli and isles and an episode of Young Sheldon.

M is for your Most prized possession. My laptop is pretty important. Do you know that when our house was on fire, I did not run around collecting things. I grabbed my phone and my purse and our cat and walked out the door. I would be sad to lose photos or my diamond earrings and necklace, but people are the most important to me.

N is for the Name of your first crush. I guess it was Billy – trying to think back that many years!

O is for what you observe from your window. I’m sitting in my recliner and I can see through the window in our front door and through the window that opens onto the screen porch. I see lots of green!

P is for Phobias. This isn’t really a phobia, but I hate seeing hair – like on the shower floor. It grosses me out. More of a real phobia . . .I freak out when anyone throws up. There were times it was hard to be a mommy!

Q is for your favorite Quote. Love God. Love your neighbor – all your neighbors!

R is for Regret. I used to regret not having a college degree, but that goal is coming to fruition – May 2027! I regret that I yelled at our kids and that I was not always the best wife.

S is for Sweets. I don’t eat sugary snacks anymore, but I love Alyssa’s no sugar added cookies.

T is for the Time you wake up. I wake up at 5:02 a.m. almost every day.

U is for Underwear. What in the world do you want to know about my underwear?? I wear it. Enough said!

V is for your favorite Vegetable. I enjoy eating lots of vegetables – fresh squash and zucchini, green beans, green peas, a good salad, roasted asparagus.

W is for your Worst habit. I hate that sometimes I don’t fully listen and I am already formulating my response in my head. I’m working on it. Also, when I’m excited or having fun, I talk too loudly!

X is for X-rays. I had an x-ray on my hand about 6 weeks ago.

Y is for your Yummiest recipe. Everyone loves my brown sugar brownies and they love Mark’s homemade ice cream (cooked custard). I make great cheese grits, too.

Z is for your Zodiac sign. I am a Gemini.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

The Farm

Over the last several months, I have made mention of the work that Mark has been doing on the farm. This family farm is in a trust and it is located not quite two hours from home. There are places to hunt, a lake to fish in, a front porch to sit on, a couple of window unit air conditioners . . .but it has never been a place where most of the wives wanted to spend much time. Over the 42 years we've been together, I have stayed a few nights with Mark at the farm . . .but not many!

Since Mark has retired, in addition to volunteering two days a week at The Hub, he usually spends two days and one night at the farm and he has been busy!

I have searched through my scrapbooks because I know I have a picture of the farm kitchen pre-reno, but I cannot find it!

Below is his renovated kitchen.

Here is the tiny dining room. This space was so dark. It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint and new floors will do for a house!

As they cleaned out their mother's house of 60 years and their brother and sister-in-law's home of many years, Mark was able to grab a few pieces of furniture. Their brother would be so happy!

Most of the living room furniture came from our house. We bought those Audubon prints in Washington, DC - at the museum (?) and had them rolled into tubes which we carried onto our flight -- 40 years ago!! The sofa and chairs are from Pottery Barn. The little corner shelf is from a local antique store. The table is made with skis from their mom's basement - Mark loved to water ski when he (and we) were younger!

The fireplace mantle is made from wood from our house after the fire, along with wood from several other family members. I told y'all about the painting - his sister painted it for him. That is the lake located on the farm property.

In the photo below, the chair on the right . . .there used to be this giant built-in storage closet that took up so much room and it was dank and dark. They tore it down and re-sheetrocked the wall. It wasn't easy. He told me that multiple times.

Here is his room. There are things from our house, his mom's house, and Bill's house in this room.

In the photo below, you can see one of those window units!!

 There are two other bedrooms - one is his twin brother's room and the other is their cousin, Roger's, room. From what Mark has told me, they don't look great haha! They are on their own if they want to redo those rooms.

The house is a shot-gun house - wide hall that runs from the front door to the back. Mark painted those walls and ceiling this week.

I really need to get down there to see his work! I think I have two weeks without classes between finals in the first week of August and fall semester. Maybe I can go see it then!

I'm really proud of him. He has learned how to lay floors and how to do many other jobs!

A Day Late Hodgepodge

 

This week has been so crazy that I haven't had a single moment to think of the answers to this week's Hodgepodge questions provided by our lovely host, Joyce! I'm jumping in on the fun . . .a day late!

1. "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." Sam Keen

Do you feel less guilty relaxing in July than you do in January? Elaborate. I'm not sure! To be honest, I don't do a whole lot of relaxing in any month. In July or August in Alabama, when it is 9,000 degrees outside, I do think it is ok to sit down a moment to rest haha!

2. What's a telltale sign you're upset? I have two extremes. I either get really quiet or I raise my voice and get louder. I'm not a crier . . .so if I'm crying . . .I'm really upset.

3. July 16th is National AI Day. What are your general thoughts and/or experiences with AI? Have you purposely used it? Does it excite you, scare you, or worry you? What do you see as a benefit? How about something relating to AI you see as a negative? 

I use AI almost every day. At work, we use it to rewrite emails especially if I feel like something I've written needs a kinder tone or if I've typed up instructions on how to do something and I realize that they need to be streamlined. We've used AI to help us write adult Sunday School curriculum. At Samford University, one of my professors told us to plug our entire final study guide into AI and THEN go back and check every answer. It was an effective way to study! My professor last semester said that after we wrote our paper (that step is very important!), we could plug our paper into AI, along with her grading rubric, to see if we missed anything!

I can see how AI could be misused which worries me a little. AI is going to know a lot about all of us which could be a tad scary. Mostly, I'm excited about a new tool.

4. You're invited to a summer pot luck and are asked to bring an appetizer, salad/side, or dessert. Which category do you go for and what are you bringing? I sign up for different things. I love signing up to take a salad/side because I love taking Asian Slaw. Yummy! I made dessert  for something this week and took Brown Sugar Brownies.

5. It wouldn't be summer without long sunny days . . .and afternoon rain showers. It wouldn't be summer without at least a few trips to the neighborhood pool.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I've been working on a presentation for work. In August, we are having an "after church lunch" for our ushers, greeters, representatives from all adult Sunday School classes, and staff which includes a "hospitality workshop" and I am using the best cartoon. This actually happened in our church a long time ago. A new couple sat in an older lady's regular seat and she told them to move! Telling someone they are in your seat is not hospitable -- just saying! 

She is Seven . . .and a little weekend in review

Most of you know that Mark and I are parents to fraternal twins - girl/boy - who are grown-ups now! Our oldest granddaughter is 10 (daughter of our son) and the other two (7 and 2) belong to our daughter. We celebrated that big SEVEN birthday this weekend.

Mark and I packed an overnight bag and headed south on Friday morning. We were pleasantly surprised that the traffic was not HORRIBLE. It usually is. We arrived at our daughter's house around 11:00. She went to run a couple of errands which included picking up McDonald's for her two girls. While she was gone, we tried to play outside. It was a million degrees. Seriously.

After lunch, the little went down for her nap and we let the big SEVEN year old open her gift from us.

The main gift was a new backpack for school. This Gran had to include some fun, so there were two new toys for Milo (birthday kitty) and a sewing project.

We needed a "quiet" activity to do while the little was asleep. She did a great job making the kitty cat.

Look at that cutie pie!

Above she is holding the kitty we sewed . . .

and below she is holding the real Milo!

Laura and I hopped in the car that afternoon to run a couple of quick errands. We stopped by her school so that I could see her room.

Her reading area is so cute! She will be teaching 3rd grade again this year and is excited. She took a one year break by teaching kindergarten, but is ready to be back with 3rd graders!

On Friday night, we headed to a local restaurant - Coach's Corner - and the other set of grandparents met us there.

The restaurant is located on the Coosa River in downtown Wetumpka.

It was still so hot outside.

After dinner, we walked down along the river. I love these sculptures.

Just FYI - there is a really nice park in downtown Wetumpka right along the river.

Mark and I ended up bumming a ride with the other grandparents because our rock star seven year old had gotten a little car sick on the way to the restaurant. They live less than a mile from Laura's house.

Look at this sweet kitty. He is so tiny!

Things didn't work out as originally planned. So our daughter and son-in-law do not have an extra bedroom for us. Last time, I slept with Laura. Mark slept on the bottom bunk bed and Scott slept on the sofa . . .but remember how someone felt carsick . . .she still didn't feel well. She needed to sleep in mommy and daddy's beds and so our sleeping arrangements went south quickly. I called the other grandparents and asked if we could sleep at their house. Let me just say . . we had our own bedroom and bathroom and they live less than a mile away. We headed to their house at bedtime and they were gracious hosts. We may do that again!

The big Pawty (get the kitty reference?) started at 11:00 and at 10:55 . . .the company showed up to deliver the ginormous water bouncy.

Thank goodness that everyone felt fine on Saturday morning!

It was a gorgeous day . . .but hot as you know where!

The birthday girl is third from the left on the back row - surrounded by neighbors and friends. Our sweet 10 year old granddaughter was a real trooper. She was the oldest one there.

We sang happy birthday (oh - we ate Papa John's pizza first!) and she blew out her candles. Laura bought a seven paw print candle but it was nowhere to be found when needed.

She opened her presents.

She thanked everyone and was excited about every gift.

Around 1:15 or so we headed back to Birmingham. We plugged home into Waze and the drive time was ridiculous on I65 North . . .so we wound through the countryside and headed to Highway 280. It is a longer route BUT it would be a rare day for I65 to not become a parking lot. I'm so glad we did the scenic route.

We were tired when we got home. We both rode our stationary bikes. I made waffles and turkey sausage for dinner.

I headed to work on Sunday morning and we only had one car (one in the shop). I was leading the Affirmation of Faith, saying the pastor prayer, and leading the Lord's Prayer at the 11:00 worship service so Mark came just in time for Sunday School and then stayed for the 11:00 service. We saw one of our young adults at the service and invited her to go out to lunch with us. We headed to ZoZo's and enjoyed eating and chatting with her.

After lunch we headed home. I ordered groceries, rode my bike, wrote a paper for my class, and Mark helped me make the Firecracker casseroles for Tuesday night. We both read for a little while and watched one episode of Patience and went to bed.

It was a good weekend! How was your weekend?