Coming and Going, My Head is Spinning

Seriously, all this coming and going has my head spinning. I got up the other night to go to the bathroom about midnite and almost fell on the floor, dizzy! It seems to be okay, coming and going. That's the story of my life lately! Of course when you have this greeting as you get off the airplane.......

Kyle & Ande's wedding was fabulous! Such a cute couple and you can tell they have what I call "old love". That love that you see in happy couples that have been together forever. They are so comforting together, taking care of each other and knowing what the other needs.

I hadn't met Ande, even tho her & Kyle have dated over 3 years. She was always away at school when I was home. But she's a keeper! So much fun to be around, yet gets down to business when it needs getting down to. I'm glad she's in our family!
Her family is very nice too. Mom & Dad are both retired State Troopers. Her mom is funny and her dad is so nice! I'm sure he wasn't when he was a trooper tho. He has that voice and that presence. I love her brother, Jeremy, who is a handsome young man and a professional drummer.
It was also good to see the nieces and nephews, friends and family on all sides. I just love weddings for that. I got to meet several of my brother, Jason's friends who are girls. HOW FUN they are! All the guys I know already, but it was good to see them again too. I was the designated driver for my brother, so he had a great time. I did have a few beers. Tried a new beer, well new for me, Blue Moon. They serve it with an orange slice and it was pretty good.
The wedding wasn't the only fun we had. Susie and I took a day trip to Galena. Galena is an old mining town that was once busier and bigger than Chicago. Now it's full of lots of old buildings and shops.

We went to check out a cute little shop, Sue's Ink & Stamp, and a bead store that Susie heard was there. We were not disappointed. Lots of interesting stuff there, all stored in antique store fixtures and furniture. I so want to have something like that!
We had lunch at a lovely Italian Restaurant that sat on the hill, Vinny Vinnachi's

They had a gorgeous patio that overlooked the streets. I could have sat there all day! We just had soup and salad, with some of the most delicious garlic bread I've ever had. Soon it was time to go, the clouds were looming, rain threatening.
We'd promised Jason we'd be back home about 3 to go to the rehearsal dinner at 5:30. We pulled back into town right at three after a scenic drive home along the bluffs and river.

I didn't make it to the park, or some of the other places I wanted to visit. I did make to the world famous biker bar, Poopy's. But that's a tale for another day.....

Mommy & Me Time

Okay, I know he's 22 years old. But lately, we've been having a great time together, and I'm loving it. We don't always get along this well, so I'm milking it for all I can.
Usually I don't get his "dark side". The movies, music and ideas that I think are demented. His humor is sometimes hurtful and mean to others. But the past couple of weeks it's been very, very nice having him around.
Friday night, since his dad was off at camp, he and I did a "date night". I told him to pick where we ate, and he could pick the movie. We debated what to eat, even drove around the mall looking at places. Just when it looked like it would be another night at Chili's, we settled on Famous Dave's BBQ.
Famous Dave's was the best choice! It was sooo yummy. We both ate way too much and brought home a doggie box. We decided to order different sides since we'd never been there before and we could try more stuff that way. I ordered the spicy (not) green beans and cole slaw, he had garlic mashed taters and baked beans. All of them were really good, but the green beans were not spicy as advertised. The ribs we both had were scrumptious! Plus we got a yummy corn muffin, corn on the cob and a small serving of fries to split between us. They came with the meal.
I will say he did draw the line at me taking pictures of the food, or of us. So if you are wondering why I didn't post a picture of the yumminess and us, that's why! One step at a time, maybe next time! LOL!
After dinner, we decided on a movie, Public Enemy. Great Flick with lots of the old timey shoot em up scenes. You know, the kind where you didn't see the guy really get shot, but he did, it wasn't gory, but you knew he was dead. Okay a few gory scenes when they got their guts blown out, but that was when they were lying on the ground dying. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I have always had a fascination with Dillinger anyway. That bad boy appeal I guess.
Afterwards, on the way home he remarked how he'd enjoyed it and we needed to do that more. So I will make a point to do that.
The last couple nights we've been cooking together, Chicken Spaghetti and Burrito pie. It's been a great time for me and has really lifted me out of the dumps I was in last week. Will it continue? I have no idea. But I'm enjoying it while I can!

I LOVE 3 Day Weekends!

Have I mentioned before that I'm working four 10 hour days this summer? Do you know that gives me 3 day weekends? I love 3 day weekends. It's like having a mini vacation every week.
Since I mostly put in at least 9 hours a day at work anyway, 10 hour days are a breeze. I'm at work anyway, once I'm there, what's another few hours? My family commitments are now minimal. No children to rush here and there, so I've grown to love 10 hour days at work.
But what I love more, more than my quiet, new office. More than summer reruns and mosquito filled nights? My three day weekends. Heaven on earth! I get more done on Friday while all my friends and family are still at work. Then I have Saturday & Sunday to play. Or I can travel without having to take a day off. If I want to take an extended weekend, like next weekend, I take Thursday and Monday off! It's a vacation!
Of course there are downsides to this 3 day weekend thing. ummm, my butt gets sore from sitting. LOL! No seriously, I can't think of a downside. I'm hoping there's a way we can continue 4 day work weeks into the school year. We're looking into that, seriously. I could really become accustomed to 3 day weekends the rest of my working life.

Yeah, It's Me Again

It's been an up and down week. I had the most fabulous time with the girls in NC. Every girl should get to do that at least once in her lifetime with her friends. Yet my heart is torn over the recent murders in our community. We knew the couple and our middle son is a close friend of their daughter. All who knew them are grieving the loss.
I am glad to see they have caught most of the people involved. Tomorrow my son comes home to help his friend bury her parents. My heart breaks for her, as I know how close she was to her parents, especially her mom. You rarely saw one without the other.
It is a senseless tragedy.

I Bet You've Been Wondering..........

if I was ever going to blog again. The one thing I miss about having leisurely mornings and not having to be to work til 8 or 9 is blogging. I liked blogging in the morning. My brain was fresh and rested, the world is a new, and everything seems more positive in the mornings!
Nighttime blogging seems weighed down with all the "stuff" of the day. The people from work who weren't exactly agreeable, still there. The guy who cut you off in traffic? Still there. That $300 electric bill that was waiting when you got home? Yep, still there! So mornings seem so possible, accomplishable, so refreshing! At least to me they are!
So, catching up, it was a quiet 4th. Well as quiet as it can be when you live in the city and every neighbor around you is lighting fireworks. We had burgers & tater salad, corn on the cob, cantalope. Just kinda vegged out. When you live in a tourist trap, you tend to avoid the fun things, that's where the tourists are.
I did get in some pool time on Sunday. It was relaxing on the float with my book, the sun and the breeze. Evened out my tan a little while I was at it. I'd love a good long day at the beach.......
I haven't done any domino pendants, but I did get a new drill bit. So now I can finish some I've started. Soon, very soon. Signed up for a card class at the local scrap store. Looking forward to that.
Anddddddd, looking forward to the weekend. Meeting up with the girls at Jill's in North Carolina. Not sure how much scrappin' we'll get in, but you know we'll have fun! Have the bail money ready, we may have to call!
Work has been work. You'd think with it being summer, no students or teachers that it would be easy and quiet. Not so! It's my busy time, setting the master schedule, getting ready for registration in less than a month!
Last but not least, keep my friend Andrew in your prayers as he battles tonsil cancer. He's 4 weeks into treatment and it's starting to get rough. The good news is it's shrinking. But the treatments are rough on his throat, making it hard to eat and drink. So send him good thoughts.

Let's See, What Day is It??

It must be Friday because I worked yesterday. I had planned to sleep in this morning, but Rick couldn't. So by the time the alarm went off enough times for him to wake up, I was awake too. So I was up at 6:30.
I lazed around all morning really, surfing the net, drinking coffee. I had a burst of energy around noon and unpacked my scrap stuff. I organized the things I need for the wedding/travel journal album I'm making for a friend. I'll get started on that later tonite.
I took two naps today, and have vegged out watching Comedy Central all afternoon. Watched a guy named Gabriel Igelsias, who was hilarious. We had pizza for supper and continued vegging out. I feel like such a slug.
I need to feed the flowers, they are water starved in this heat. Laundry to finish, and get motivated on something before bed. After all, it is 7:00 p.m.!

What a Weekend!

Hilltop crops are always well worth any distance you have to travel to get to one. Great friends, great food, much laughter and a few shenanigans are always to be had. I thoroughly enjoy myself at each an every one I've ever attended.
This weekend was no exception. Linda was there with her smiling face to greet us as we arrived. It took a good 20 minutes to hug everyone's neck before we could even think about where we were sitting, who we were near or what to unload first. I was excited to see all the girls! Thrilled to be sitting near Mar, as she's usually clear across the room from us. As always I love watching Kip create, and she didn't infringe on my table space, not once. I don't know why she has a reputation for doing that. LOL! The Ft. Meyers girls were there, and a treat to sit across from Sonia/Sophia, as I never get to sit by her either. I love those girls, Barb, GA and Sonia. Kelly worked her magic on our backs, gosh I'd love to bring her home with me! Her chair massages are phenomenal!
I brought a kit to get the creative juices flowing, and made 5 baby cards and 5 get well cards. One of the cards was a pop up card, which I loved doing! So I made two more of my own, a 4th of July card and

 

a wake up sleepyhead card. The sleepy head card was good for those mornings after we stayed up til 2 a.m.!

 

Friday, Teri took a break from studying and her and her daughter, Sara, joined us for a trip to Violettes with lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. First of all, I loved Sweet Tomatoes, but there's something wrong with a salad bar place that serves chocolate/chocolate chip muffins for dessert! YUMMY!
Sara was a doll! If I had a daughter, I'd hope she was like Sara! You can tell she loves life and is out to live it to the max. I just loved spending the day with her!
Violettes was the bomb as usual, with lots of neat things I just had to have. I wish I would have picked up the Flower Soft they had for sale. After we got to the Crop, Kathy & Teresa had some they were playing with and it was as fun as it looked. Well, another reason to go back.
A fantastic weekend, well worth the long drive that seems to get longer each time I make it. I wish I could go to the next one, but I don't see that happening with it being the week school starts. I'll get to see the girls soon at Jill's in North Carolina. Can't wait to go up there!!!! It's going to be a bash! Then a weekend home, then a weekend in IL for the nephew's wedding (while all the girls are at Tim Holtz's class :(). Then it's back to Tampa for Teresa Collin's class! I can't wait!!!
It's going to be one of the funnest summers in a long time.

I Know! I Need to Blog!

I need to blog! It's not that I've been sitting around totally depressed. I do still think about Kota dog, and miss him. But I've been busy. You know I stay busy!
We've moved offices at work. The HS data person and I flipflopped offices. I love where I'm at, it's out of the line of traffic, peaceful & quiet. But it is right next door to the Big P's office now. Not sure what I think about that! Now our people are all together, instead of mixed up all over the place.
My friend, Julie, came to visit. We grew up together, and hadn't seen each other since High School, 30 years ago. She's married now with two boys and one grandson, living in Virginia. We had a great time! I rented a convertible for her first visit to Florida. What better way to see Florida? I can't believe she's never been here!
Here we are! See we haven't aged a bit in 30 years!

 

Her only request was to eat seafood, breakfast lunch and dinner. So we headed to Crab's for dinner as soon as she got off the plane. We listened to the band, and drank bushwackers,while eating crab claws and crab dip!

 

The next day we headed out to do some scrapshopping and touristy things. But not before breakfast at the Reef, where we ate a delicious breakfast of a seafood Eggs Benedict and crab claws. We hit the beach for an hour and decided the waves were too flat and it was too hot to stay. Off to Gigi's in Foley for scrapshopping. We each dropped a pretty penny there.

Lunch was at Lulu's, where we watched the gulls, the boats and a few fish jump on the ICW. We had LA Caviar as pictured here and fish tacos. Were we ever lucky! Usually there is a good long wait for a table but we got right in, but when we came out to leave, there were hundreds of people waiting to get in.

 

I guess we started to show our age, because after that we were too pooped to party and went back to the house. We played in the scraproom. (who would have guessed she'd be a scrapper too!) It was early to bed and early to rise. Sunday was just too hot to do anything but hang in the scraproom. But it was great fun!
Now I'm off on another adventure, the Hilltop Memories Birthday Crop in Tampa. More on that later, as always,keep the bail money ready

So I Don't Ever Forget

I remember the first time I saw him. I wasn't looking for a dog. I'd gone over to a friend's house for a meeting, when I saw him. He was the last of the litter, the runt no one wanted. I picked him up and he snuggled on my chest and it was all she wrote. From the very beginning he as the best damn dog, quick to learn, easy to train and spoiled rotten.
I would put him on my lap while I sat on the sofa and my husband would say. "you know he's gonna weigh 75 pounds one day and he'll want to do that." and he did. His favorite place was in the recliner with Rick or Patrick.
He would never beg at the table, but lay patiently at the edge of the dining room while we ate. Let that first chair scrape back and he'd be on his feet, ready for his share. The boys loved to trick him by scraping their chairs on the floor.
He loved potato peelings. Whenever I boiled potatoes, he'd be by my side while I peeled them. Waiting for his treat.
I could open any package in the kitchen. But he knew what the grated cheese package looked like without me even opening it. He knew I'd put a pinch of cheese in his food everytime I made my salad for lunch, his treat for being a good dog all day while I worked.
Speaking of treats, every night, at 8 p.m., he go to Rick and sit patiently at his knees, eyeing the treat jar that sat on his end table. He'd look at Rick, then the jar, then Rick and then the jar. Once Rick opened the jar, Kota would wait patiently while Rick would lay a treat on one knee and then one on the other. He'd patiently do a trick and then get his treat. While he ate one, I'd sometimes reach over and grab the other. He'd always look up like "where'd it go, I know it was there, Where is it?" and then come sniffing to find it. or he'd do still another trick and earn his treat.
Patrick taught him to shake hands, and switch by saying, "no the other one". Patrick also taught him to "high five" which was actually paw to hand high five.
In the morning before I went to work I'd let him out the back door and tell him to be a good dog. He'd run to the front and bark at me while I walked to the car, telling me to have a good day too. At night, he'd usually be waiting in that same spot. When he'd see me pull up, he'd run the length of the fence and back. Almost to make sure the coast was clear for me to come home.
He was such a protector. He'd put himself between me and the world. I never realized this til Rick pointed it out to me. He'd stay between me and the door in the house, between me and the fence when I was out in the yard. He always let people walking by that this was his place, don't come near. Even tho I don't think he'd hurt anyone, unless of course he thought they were actually threatening me. Just ask Patrick, he could never raise his voice to me when Kota was around. Kota would bark and bark, telling him that Momma was boss.
On Saturdays, he knew the alarm hadn't gone off and that meant he could jump on the bed and snuggle with us. He knew on weekdays we didn't have time for that, but he knew once dad was up he could get up on the bed with me. Unless of course we were going to bed, if I got in bed first he knew he'd be in trouble if Daddy came out of the bathroom and he was on the bed, he was in trouble. I'd try to coax him up there, but he'd never come up, just on Saturday mornings.
We evacuated from hurricanes together, him and I. In 2005 when we evacuated alot, he knew what momma packing the car meant. For the longest time he thought every time I packed the suitcase, he should go too. But that was not always the case. I traveled alot and left him at home to protect the guys.
Our list of memories goes on and on, and I want to keep writing them to never forget. I won't forget. He was such a damn good dog.

He Was The Best Dog

We lost Dakota tonite. He waited til we were all home, gathered together, to say good bye. To say our hearts are broken is an understatement. He was the best damn dog.

Monday? It's Monday??

Wow! Where did the weekend go? I can tell you! First an update on my baby, Dakota.

We're still not sure what has happened with him, but he's picked up something, possibly a tick bite. We've never found the tick or any marks, but that is what symptoms he's showing. It's been a week since he's eaten anything solid. He's been eating Nutracal off of our fingers and drinking his water. He's been feverish, lathargic, and pretty unresponsive. We've had him to the vet several times and given him several antibiotics that he kept throwing up.(TMI, I know). Finally we seem to have found the right combination of antibiotics, steriods, thyroid, and something to calm his tummy. Today he ate his first solid food, boiled potato peelings (he loves them) and about a cup of dogfood out of Rick's hand. He also took two treats from Patrick so fast that Pat thought he was losing a finger! LOL! A great sign!
I think having a sick dog is worse than a sick kid. He hasn't whined, complained or whimpered. He just looks at us with those big brown eyes that say, Help me!
Keep him in your prayers.
Speaking of prayers, keep my friend, Julie and her family, in your prayers and good thoughts. She just found out her mom has bone cancer in her hip. Julie was supposed to come visit me Friday for the first time in 30 years, but this may have precedence.
So with all that going on, all the other stuff from this weekend seems trivial. Rick tried to play repairman in my shower, doesn't know his own strength and broke a pipe in half.
My Pampered Chef party was a blast. If you didn't get there, we missed you. If you need something, let me know! We learned how to tell the sex of several vegetables. Yeah, I bet you didn't know there were males and females.....I laughed so hard I thought I was going to need a depends..
Life goes on, and it's hot again. Hot and muggy!

Friday, Friday, oh so fun Friday

Today was my first official Friday off. Three day weekends, woohoooo! but to get here I had to work 4 ten hour days. Which was alright, I mean I was there already, and usually work about 9, so what's a bit longer? It's all worth it to have a 3 day weekend.
I spent today cleaning house, as tomorrow, Saturday, I'm having a few friends over for a Pampered Chef party. Plus I'm doing an extra good job to be a half step ahead for my friend, Julie's visit next weekend. Since we haven't seen each other in choke, cough, 30 cough, cough, years and she's never been to my house, I need to clean the rat trap up a bit. I even got out the pledge.
So the scraproom is clean, because you know everyone will want to check it out, plus Julie? she's a scrapper! After the Pampered Chef party, a few friends are staying to work on some domino necklaces. So the most important room is clean. As is the living room, dining room and most of the kitchen. I'll clean the rest of the kitchen tomorrow, after I make a mess making garlic, smoky shrimp for the party.
So if you're not doing anything, but, I'm betting you are, come on over. And if you are too busy, and just need something PC, let me know, we'll get it ordered for you and sent straight to your house. How cool is that?
I leave you with my last set of dominoes, the closest thing I'll ever do to those freaky face things. My children set.

Here They Are!

I know I promised days ago that I'd post some of the Domino's from my classes. Here they are. Some I still need to finish, and I will, Saturday! But til then, here's my NEW Publix! I love it. It is just like the ones in South Florida I've been to, which the other two here in town aren't. It's so clean! I just love a clean store! No more Winn Dixie stops for me. I'm shopping Publix from now on. (Still doing the big shopping at the commissary)

 

Okay, on to the dominoes. Here is the Patriotic collection. I just love this one! It will be hard to part with them as the lady is already sold.

 

Then the ladies...Graphic 45 Fashionista Paper. I colored the peachy/green one with the copics. What fun that was and I can't wait to try it again!

 

Then the animals. I loved the colors in Mr. Rooster.

 

Today I recieved two sets of mini dominos in the mail from a great friend. Thanks Georgia!!! I can't wait to create with them!

It's Here!

 

And I'm heading there! I'm so excited we're getting our Publix!
Life has been crazy, I have a very sick puppy. They think he has either a tick or spider bite. Can't find evidence of either, the bloodwork results today will tell us more. Keep Kota dog in your prayers for us.

She Comes Out (of Hiding)!

The past week has been a flurry of activity around our house. Mostly my activity, packing stuff, making sure I have everything I might possibly need while I'm 13 miles away from my house for the weekend. Like I couldn't run home to get it, if I really needed it!
The crop was lots of fun and I'm totally worn out. I had a class on Friday afternoon. I did Diana's Domino pendant class. The ladies loved it! They were so excited about their pendants and did such a beautiful job. Three of them attend the same church and said they were wearing theirs today to show everyone. I loved it because we laughed as hard as we worked.
My other class was a girlfriend book using the Bobunny "Friend" book and My Mind's Eye's Bloom and Grow line. It was a fun, summery book, filled with a few different techniques and quotes about girlfriends. We had a great time and I'm sure those ladies think I am certifiably nuts!
I know, I hear several of you saying "Where are the Pictures!?!" I promise, tomorrow, tomorrow. I was too busy to take pictures and really I need to slow down, be patient and take more pictures of the classes. I do have pictures of the dominoes and of the book.
I did take a couple of classes myself. A card class and two acrylic album classes. I loved them all! I'm stocked up on a few cards now, although I'd like to make some more and get well stocked. The acrylic album is a cute, summer album using Cosmo Cricket's Snorkel line. I think I'm sending mine to my niece to record her son Ben's last summer as a single child. He's 9 and soon he'll have a new baby sibling big brother!
My friend, and Stampin' Up enabler, Sharon taught a wonderful Card holder acrylic album that I'm going to fill with cards and give to my MIL, for a great just because present. Sharon is super talented when it comes to stamping, she comes up with the neatest stuff in the world. I know, I know, post a picture! I will, I will!
Other than class, I worked on some cards, socialized and got a few massages. Not as many as I would have liked tho.
Okay off to check out what you've been up to lately!

Such a Bad Blogger

It's the end of the school year and I have a big scrap event this weekend. I come home exhausted and stay that way. I'm here, I'm alive and I'll post more later. But right now, I'm just tooo busy!

I Get Busy Sometimes

Such as last weekend. I busted my hiner cleaning, purging, and making a nest. Sometimes I think, "For What?" Other than the layer of dust is thinner, can I really tell I worked all weekend? So in protest, I was pretty much lazy at home this past week.
So today I hit it again. First I have errands to run. Right after hubby gets home from the vet with Kota Dog. Kota Dog hasn't been feeling himself this past week, so a trip to see what's wrong is in order. Can't really pinpoint anything, but he's just not acting himself, but acting like a lazy old man. So off they went. It's driving me crazy sitting here waiting.
Lsst night was graduation for our school. When I say our school, I mean the HS youngest son graduated from, hubby coaches football at, and the school that my school shares a campus with. 283 grads. Awesome kids. They earned 1.8 million in scholarships. A third of them earned the Florida Bright Futures Scholarships, 3 earned football scholarships, several baseball scholarships, a first ever, girls soccer scholarship and our very first in the history of the school, National Merit Scholar! Impressive group!
Here's a pic of me with one of the grads and his brother. Jason is on the left, and Michael on the right.

 

I've known these boys since they were way small. I remember buckling Jason in his car seat. He's one of hubby's linemen and is headed to Millsaps College to play football on scholarship. Can you guess their school colors? All the boy ever wears now is that purple! Michael on the other hand, is older and still growing. He's 6'7" now! They have a younger brother, Matt, who is 6 ft and he's only going to be a freshman. Their mom, Johanna, and I worked together in PreK years ago. Since then we've done scouts together, school projects together and football together! Jo is the sweetest soul and we get each other because we both have 3 boys! And all six of them are so handsome!
That was the highlight of my week, standing between two such handsome young men. Of course, now that they are grown, I passed on my two bits of advice and asked Micheal to marry me. Micheal drives a very, very nice Lexus! LOL! He said we couldn't get married since it went against the advice I'd just given him. (why please one? when you can please sooo many!) Bad I know!
Okay, I'm off to see what trouble I can get into.

3 Days in the Life

I tried so hard not to leave the house this weekend. I was thinking about maybe going to the beach on Monday. Of course, that was our yuckiest day, so the day I wanted to leave the house I didn't.
Saturday was an off and on rainy day. I stayed in my jammies til after noon, but I cleaned house in them. Cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, inside and out. I pitched and I repurposed. All my cookbooks are in one place now, on a bookcase. I'd take pictures, but yard sale junk is piled in front of it. I think I have 70 cookbooks if you count those little ones you pick up at the checkout. I still don't have the one I really want. My brother still has it, it was my mom's. But I did google it and I can buy it on the web. The United States Regional Cookbook (C) 1947. It has all the good dishes in it that my mom cooked.
When I finished cleaning the kitchen, I decided to wash all the curtains in the house. So I did. Except the living room curtains, I had to leave something for this weekend. All that was done by 2 p.m., so Rick and I went to Foley to pick up an order at the Scrapbook store for a friend. She's on vacation, and the order was Owires for a class she's teaching in a few weeks. The big local crop is the first weekend in June. She's teaching, I'm teaching. Wanna come? I think there are still openings.
Sunday, was a lazy day. No major cleaning really, unless you count all the ceiling fans in the house, and the windowsills. I planted a few flowers I'd bought. Rick and Patrick were reading so I grabbed my book and finished it, Blue Dahlia and started another, Red Lily. Both by Nora Roberts. Family reading time, how sweet.
We also did grocery shopping. That's always fun.
Monday, I played in the scraproom and did laundry. Rick fixed my laptop, and worked in the yard. We are so exciting, aren't we? We grilled steaks, twice baked potatoes and asparagus. I am tired of cooking. I cooked all weekend, breakfast and supper, all three days. Some people who know me have passed out reading that. and for those who haven't, I actually cooked Thurs, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I made Patrick make wings tonite for dinner.
That's it. Now I have to go thank the hubby for fixing my laptop and drilling holes in all the dominoes for the class. Is that TMI?

P.S. The lilacs on the blog header are from my hometown in IL. My friend, Julie, was home this past weekend and took the picture. I snagged it from her facebook page. Thanks Julie!

Memorial Day

This solemn day honors not the men and women who fought for our freedoms, but the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Please remember them, and their families, as you enjoy the freedoms they have so unselfishly given you.

It's Raining!

The rain started last night, around time I got off of work, of course! It didn't stop me from a little retail therapy and then dinner out with two of my favorite guys.
I checked out the new Anna's Linen's here. Well, it's been open about six months, but I've not been in. I'm thinking about changing the curtains in my living room. Right now I've got country ruffle curtains up, ages old. It's time for change, they don't match the walls or the furniture. I can move them to the scraproom. Or my bedroom. They'd be fine in either of those rooms.

I went through Hobby Lobby too. I thought it would be a brief trip, but I ended up spending over an hour. They've changed out alot of the home decor stuff, with 4 rows of 66% off old decor. But I didn't bite on any of that. Just picked up some stuff for class I'm teaching in a few weeks.

Dinner was just Sonny's BBQ, guys choice. Not fancy but ran into a few old friends. Patrick likes going there as he used to work there and knows most everyone. A couple of Rick's football players work there too, so it's like old home week.

Today is rain, rain, sun, rain, rain..So I'm getting alot of cleaning done. I'm working on the kitchen. Cleaning cupboards in and out. I have two shelves filled with old tins and milk bottles for decoration. It's time for their yearly dusting. Rick is off working on a car. When he gets home we are going to try to run a few errands. Well it's time for me to get back to cleaning..