Mid week.

Today I am a super hero. Mop day. And I am finished = super hero status. 

I have scratched two things off my list already. The hummingbirds are just sucking up all that fresh syrup in our feeders. I even put out an extra feeder. I know it is a long way to Mexico. They need it.

Mild temps have encouraged porch sitting this week. 

Mickey and Minnie hats. Easy project. 

Sushi-esque supper last night. Rice, smoked salmon, avacado, eggs, broccoli, wasabi, ponzu sauce. We didn't eat it with the chop sticks, after all. Too messy. We resorted to forks and spoons. 

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Watching the tropics. Hoping Isaac will stay away. 

And Monday.

Why, oh why, are the weekends so short?! We did nothing extraordinary. It just flew by in a flash. Sweet Pea and her dad came over for a visit and some lunch on Saturday. In the afternoon we worked in the yard. Regardless of the double coating of "Off" - I still procured a half dozen bug bites. Mr. Macho rolled out more hay on the yard to keep our topsoil from washing away. He planted the rest of the variegated lariope (monkey grass). I must say the yard is recouping much faster than I had anticipated. Thanks to the unusually regular rain we have received.
This morning the temperature is 64 degrees. I almost needed a sweater sitting on the screened porch. In the east a few clouds were brushed in gold by the approaching sun. A crow called from the distance. A mockingbird entertained me while I sat and welcomed the morning.
Hummingbirds have started their feeding frenzy. It is what they do. They will be driving to Mexico in a month or so. They were already buzzing the feeders this morning.
I hope to start a new crochet project today. I need a project to distract me from my granny square afghan project. I was hoping I was finished a week and a half ago. But. When I laid out my squares the coverage was too small. So. I am working to make more that twice what I had originally planned. Thus the needed distraction. It is not out of the ordinary. I usually get very tired of making the afghan before I am finished. It happens.
Much to do today. Better get started.

Middle.

And here we are in the middle of the week. In the middle of the month. Good things happened today. The nicest couple of floor men came and fixed my floor boo boos. Jairo and Frank. Both Hispanic. I finally feel better about my floors. Only took 2+ months.

So far this week...

Took the bandages off Mr. Macho on Sunday. Daughter says to tell people he got it in a bar fight. We're going with that one. More fun than skin cancer. 

Monday I baked delish lemon cupcakes to share with our dance class. For our anniversary. Enjoyed by all. 

Finished my repurposing an old print project. It proudly hangs in the laundry room now. 

Cone flowers purchased at Lowe's yesterday. Have already planted one but the ground was too hard in the other spot. Will have to have assistance to plant the second one. 

More little plants to adorn the exterior of the new space. Variegated lariope (monkey grass) and some purple grass that makes plumes. Don't remember the correct name. Also planted some cherry lantana around the shop side of the house. 

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And bunko reconvenes tonight. I have my tuna casserole in the oven. I am not expecting to be lucky at bunko. Mostly because I am trying to morph all my luck into securing a lottery ticket and win! Sister, Lynn, in Texas has already agreed to purchase said ticket. Sister, Amanda, in Virginia is buying tickets,too. Here's hoping!

A rare Sunday post.

We are getting the fall tease this weekend. Temps have been moderate and humidity is low. It could almost throw me into a football tailspin. If I let it. Love Friday nights. Love the games. Love the band. Love the National Anthem played in the stands with fans standing. Hand over heart. The smell of hamburgers and hot dogs being cooked in concession stand. Standing up the entire 4th quarter because the team is doing good and you are afraid you will jinx it if you sit down. Touchdowns. Steam rising off players as parents and girlfriends flood the field after a win. College game day on ESPN. Lee Corso's predictions. Crazy love. I love old peewee football stories. Sons coached by husband. Oh my. The old equipment they used to wear. It smelled like decades of sweat. Gross. And funny.

Some years I wish I were going to college again when fall rolls around. I wish I was the one lugging suitcases and boxes up flights of stairs into the tiny dorm room. College years were not terrific for me. Except for the fact that I met Mr. Macho in college I would almost call for a "do over". The scene: my hand would be on that time machine button to go back to 1974. I would look over my shoulder and see Mr. Mahco and I would take my hand down. I couldn't risk not meeting him. Cue the sappy love song music. Close the curtain.

Again I am going to try my hand at some mini courses at the college here in town. They are six week courses. This fall I have signed up for beginning Spanish. (Yes, again.) There is a different teacher. This is a conversational class. I have also signed up for drawing and tai chi. I know. Interesting, right? I hope so.

Mr. Macho had some skin cancer sliced from his cheek on Friday. He has been taking it easy this weekend. No sweating. We are going to take the bandages off later today. Friday we visited several antique stores in town. I satisfied the itch that I wanted to buy old furniture for some of our new space. I don't. We didn't. Old furniture is too risky. We did buy some furniture from a store yesterday that will be delivered in a couple of weeks.

Last night we enjoyed a delightful meal at J. Broussard's.  I should have brought my camera and taken pictures. I love the food pictures. Mr. Macho had a gorgeously huge pork chop. I had an organic chicken breast over angel hair pasta with parmesan, heirloom tomatoes and alfredo sauce. It was delish. We each order a dessert, ate half, then traded. Chocolate creme brulee and molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. The creme brulee was good. The molten cake and ice cream was better.

Before we went to bed last night we went outside to see if the meteor shower had started. It had. I saw one or two. I woke up around 1:30 and 3:30 and stepped outside both times to see meteors. I saw 3 or 4 each time I went out. It was pretty amazing. They look like shooting stars. It was magical, really. I am hoping that tonight we can drive somewhere that has no street lights and has a wider view of the sky. Bring a blanket and lay in the truck bed and watch the show. I think it is a pretty romanic thing to do on the eve of our 35th wedding anniversary.

The early bird catches the worm.

Mr. Macho needed to be at work early this morning so the alarm clock sounded at 5:00 instead of 5:30. Oh. I am going to miss those 30 minutes. All. Day. Long. 

Have not fully recovered from the weekend. We so enjoyed our trek to Out of Town Son's house. He and his smart, sweet, clever wife are creating a very nice atmosphere in their new home. Mandy and Chad joined us Saturday night for some good grilled burgers and we all had a good visit. Nothing wild or crazy. And. We went to bed at a decent hour. Only thing is - I had the "first night in a different bed" syndrome. I was falling asleep on the sofa but when I went to bed my eyes popped open and I couldn't fall asleep for what seemed like hours. 

Sunday morning OT Son cooked us a wonderful breakfast and we all got ready for church leisurely. We went to different churches together and then met back up for a quick dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Daughter-in-law's cousins and significant others joined us. Then it was on the road again. Sweet Pea and her dad were waiting for us on our front porch when we got home. Her Mom was out of town and her Dad had a coaches' meeting. So she stayed with us for a few hours. She wanted to "read" books just about the entire time she was here. 

Weekend snaps...

Out of Town Son and Chad built this table. He still has to sand and seal it. It is ever so sturdy. Daughter-in-law located theses chairs at an antique store and refinished them herownself. See the painting above Mr. Macho's head? OT Son painted that. Pretty darn cool. 

Who me? Biased? 

Looking into the living room from the dining room at OT Son's house. 

OT Son cooked bacon, eggs, and biscuits for us. 

The creative couple. 

Us. In the early morning. 

Sweet Pea loved some raisins. She is a good eater. That book under her leg is one of her favorites. It is a counting book. She especially loves the number 7 because there are yoyos on that page. And she loves to say yoyo. She will not be 2 until December but can already count. There is video proof that she can count to 8. But I think she can go all the way to 10. And. I have heard her count by 2s. Chip off the old block. 

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Yesterday, Monday, was a pretty full day. Exercise first thing. Later I helped serve at a local soup kitchen. Two churches join to serve every Monday and Friday of the month. Our church pairs with another on the first Monday. It is a good thing. Then I had a list of small errands I had to take care of while I was out and about - fill a prescription, pick up the bed spread at the dry cleaner. 

By the time I got home I was pretty pooped.

Uncle Jay dropped by for a quick visit late in the day. After two months of trying to get the floor guys to fix my booboos - it just took one call from Uncle Jay and they have made a firm appointment for a week from tomorrow to fix the floor. Uncle Jay, you're the best.

No new work on the shop since the roof was put on. Windows are sitting out there waiting to be installed. The garage door should be installed pretty soon. 

 I got an email at almost the 11th hour that our dance class was resuming last night after a break for the summer. After I slightly twisted Mr. Macho's arm he agreed to go. It was mostly because the dances for the month were ones we are familiar with. We had our substitute teacher, Daniel, last night and he did a very good job. This month we are learning the beginning Hustle and intermediate Fox Trot. An hour for each with an hour in between for practice. Three hours of dance. 

Needless to say, I had no trouble falling asleep last night. 

That brings us to Tuesday. Today. Lauren and Tucker start school today. Third grade and first grade. I know it is exciting at their house. Can you just smell pencil shavings and glue? New books bags. 

I have signed up for some mini-courses myownself for this fall. Will talk about that another day. 

See ya.

Crazy days and Thursdays...

Have I been negligent this week, or what? Life has a way of sending me on detours. Let's see....
Last weekend was a whirlwind. I finished with the tomatoes Saturday morning. That afternoon I attended a wedding. We babysat for Sweat Pea Saturday night. On Sunday we went to church, ate lunch at In Town Son's church, attended a cute little theatre performance, dropped a present off at a wedding shower, and then enjoyed a quick visit from our Sweat Pea, her Mom, and her other grandparents.
We now have a roof on Mr. Macho's "little shop of horrors". (Not really horrors. It just sounded funny.) Thank you to all the lovely hispanic men who braved the humid heat to hammer on the shingles.

This week in pics...

More salsa. 

Project. Am painting the frame and will paint over the glass with chalkboard paint. Plan to hang it in the laundry room. 

My friend, Karen O., and I put out a pretty spread for the teachers and staff of our little school - ACS. It took us all of 15 minutes to decorate on Wednesday afternoon. She is a whirling dervish. She had pretty items and I just brought old things, some of which were cute. 

I realized when I downloaded this picture that Karen's coffee cup was front and center. 

More snaps of the breakfast...

Menu included bagels, sausage balls, chili cheese squares, fruit, coffee and juice. Everyone enjoyed and expressed appreciation for the breakfast treats. 

My Thursday morning Bible study met today. Often we lunch together after our study... names will be omitted to protect the innocent. I do not have permission to publish these photos. I am that kind of risk taker. 

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Last night was a bad night. Dad's artificial hip popped out of socket. He hasn't done that in 6 years. Since he was staying with us after The Storm. Poor Dad. It took brain surgeons to finally think to locate the on call orthopedist. After they sedated him and put the hip to rights, the hospital procedure was to admit him into a room, get a nurse, then release him. Of course they also had to wait on the transport. He got home well after 3:00. A.M. 

It was hard trying to fall asleep last night thinking of Dad in such extreme pain.