Here we are, at the end of the second week of July. I can recall, oh so clearly, on New Years when I was freezing and had a couple of feet of snow in our back yard.
Anyway, I was sitting here thinking about things and decided to number them up and viola! They become my Friday Five!
Today I take Lili to the Vet for all of her shots. Most normal dogs will be quiet and sleepy afterward. I sure hope that is the case with Lili. Both Hubby and I can use the time off.
Thursday found me being incredibly productive. I got the house vacuumed, (not easy with the ever shedding LIli around), shelves washed and cleared, and my plastic container storage area, cleaned and organized, finding two tops to two containers as I did!
This weekend is going to be a quiet one. I would like to get the air conditioner into the office. Currently that room is just plain stuffy.
I was in said office for a while today, backing up documents on our desktop computer. It was hot, but I got a lot done backing up our files and income tax records. I’m sure if we were asked to provide documentation from previous Income Taxes, that would be the very moment that computer would chose to die.
I’m playing Words With Friends with several different people. I love it! Best of all, as I play I think I am getting better at it. What a great workout for the brain!
This weeks TBT is all about my Uncle George. Uncle George was my Mom’s first cousin, and they were so close. Just like brother and sister.
I was raised calling him Uncle George, until I made a stupid joke one day, and called Aunt Betty, Uncle Betty, and after that everyone called him Aunt George.
He loved Betty so much he allowed this nickname to be used for years and years. It wasn’t until after her death that he asked me to call him Uncle George again. Which I did, until the day he died.
Growing up, Uncle George was the one who taught us all to swim, dive, bowl, ride a bike, play badmitton, or give us the keys to his car, so we could listen to America’s Top 40, on the car radio.
When I was at the beach one day, I stepped on glass, and Uncle George walked, carrying me the entire way home, and then helped Mom get me to the doctor, where my dangling toe was stitched up.
Over the course of my life, he was always there for me. Which is why, when I married for the second time, he walked me down the isle, while my father played the organ.
I was really happy about this, as it somehow just seemed right to do it this way. Me with the wonderful man, who meant so much to me, all of my life.
Getting his bouteneer.
Walking me down the isle.
He has been gone a while now, but I still miss this wonderful and important man. He truly was one in a million!
1. When did you last ‘swim against the tide’? Explain.
I am more of a go with the flow, kind of girl. However, I am going against the flow in one very important area in my life. My involement with food. My goal is to lose this extra weight, but it is so hard. Food advertisments are everywhere. Restaurants do not really cater to people on diets. It is definately a challenge. One I work on every day.
2. What’s the last self-help or self-improvement book you read?
I read my Weight Watchers books almost every day. I check foods for points values and I am journaling everything I eat.
3. “Tolerance is a tremendous virtue, but the immediate neighbors of tolerance are apathy and weakness.” (Sir James Goldsmith)
Agree or disagree? Discuss. With civility please, because I think we have a good thing going in our very diverse (in geography, age, religion, political persuasion, ethnicity, marital status, upbringing, and cooking abilities) neighborhood here on This Side of the Pond.
OK. I will keep this short and sweet. I think there is very little tolerance in the world. American’s (not all, but a good many) lack any form of tolerance. In fact, if you do not agree with those out standing on soap boxes you are considered a bigot. I believe that people should be left alone to make up there own minds on religion, political persuasion, ethnicity, marital status, upbringing, etc. I want to be left alone. Unfortunately there are always people who tell me I am wrong.
4. What is one of your most vivid memories of the kitchen from your childhood?
Standing on a kitchen chair in front of the sink, which looked out into our back yard, washing and drying dishes with my sister, Melodie. We sang songs and she told me stories to pass the time. I would tell her to tell me a story, but not to start it “Once upon a time…” and then she would say just those words when she started her story!
5. How did/do your own children’s summers compare with your summers as a child? If you’re not a parent, answer as it relates to what you’ve observed about the current generation of children vs. your own childhood.
As a child I spent my summers at the beach, on my bike, or swimming in the ocean. Looking back, my childhood was pretty magical, as to location. Cape Cod! What better place?
6. Tell us what body of water you would most like to be on or near today, and why?
Vineyard Sound! The water just off of my childhood home of Falmouth, Massachusetts. As I said, Cape Cod is just the best!
7. Share a favorite song about water, or a favorite song with the word water in it’s title, or a favorite song to listen to as you sit beside the water.
I love this You Tube video, made back in 2012, by the Town of Falmouth’s Beach Personnel. It shows the beaches I love and grew up with.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
Once again it is Weight Watcher Day and I am nervous about the weigh in. Yeah, menopause is great, but it slows the metabolism down to a snails pace!
Monday was kind of a crazy day. Not that I was really busy, but that I got bogged down doing things like laundry, changing sheets and general household stuff. Mundane crap, but it must be done.
I watched quite a bit of the Wimbledon Tennis and I have really been enjoying that. Direct TV has a sports package that we subscribe to and so we get all the matches. I love this!
The sunsets here have been amazing the last few nights. Bright pinks, red, and oranges!
Sunday was such a nice day. At least once we got to Mandy and Matt’s house. The way it started, at our home, left me wondering if the day was, in fact, jinxed! Let me start at the beginning.
Saturday night was the 4th of July here in America. That means LOTS of fireworks. And this year it seemed every one had them, and the noise started at about 7 PM and went well into the night.
All I can say about that is…poor Lili. The sweetie is terrified of the noises and I feared she would have a complete breakdown!
By this morning I had hoped she would be feeling better, but she was not. She was following me, right under my feet. I was attempting to get ready to go to the party when she got under my feet, between my knees and I fell both forward and back, hitting the floor very hard.
I was furious! And upset, and everything hurt!
But poor Lili was just terrified, and came to me for comfort. The end result was not what she expected, or me for that matter!
Then we packed the car, got Lili settled in her room, with fresh water, her favorite toy and a brand new bone.
We had the air conditioning set, and curtains drawn, as our weather forecast was for very hot weather.
After a short drive down, we arrived just in time to watch Mandy and Savi swimming, and Matt finishing up mowing the lawn.
We quickly changed into our suits and I went right in. I love to play in the pool with Savi!
Hubby!
Matt’s parent’s arrived, then our cousins, Janet and Dave. The party members were complete!
We drank wine, ate nuts and pop corn and suddenly it seemed lunch was ready. Hot dogs, hamburgers, stuffed eggs, potato salad, fruit salad and a wonderful mango/bean/quinoa salsa. Mandy also made cupcakes and cake
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Cheeseburgers
Mango,bean and quinoa salsa
Everything was great. The company even better, and even though the afternoon raced by, it was a relaxed and wonderful one.
Fruit salad
Janet floating and sipping and Dave living the good life!
We started home a little earlier than normal, because we were worried about LIli. And I am glad we did. I think every man, woman, and child in New Hampshire is shooting off fireworks once again tonight. Poor Lili has found a dark tight space in the hallway and is hiding.
But it was a wonderful day, and I managed to stay off the floor and out of trouble for the rest of the day. I even sceduled in a hot bath to soak my slightly aching body.
I went out to the store early and decided to splurge and get Lobster for Hubby and I for our celebration for the 4th of July.
I didn’t tell Hubby, and I waited until he went out to work on the fruit trees before getting it all ready.
Lobster, boiled Calfornia New Potatoes and Corn on the Cob! A perfect holiday meal. I even went one step further and bought champagne to toast to our country’s Independence!
Aside from all that, the day was quiet, and I worked on getting the eggs ready for tomorrow. Mandy is having a cookout, and I am bringing deviled eggs. Those and some fancy nuts, and my own bread and butter pickles!
I love it when holidays get stretched over a few days!
Last night was something very special. I was babysitting my granddaughter, Savannah, and when the time came to go to bed, she was reluctant to go to bed in her room.
“Can I sleep with you, Oma?” she asked.
Sure. After getting our nightgowns on, we went up to the guest room, and I read three stories. One was very funny, because it was about Mr. & Mrs. Birdie who find an egg in their nest and feel they must adopt it. After weeks of keeping it warm, their baby birdie is born, and it is an allagator! It’s a sweet story, and fortunately the allagator is a friendly one!
Soon it was time for lights out, and all we had was the glimmer of light from the hallway. Savi played silouettes against the wall with her hands, and then she finally settled in, and slowly, but surely, her breathing became light and regular, as she drifted off to sleep.
I lay on my side, watching her sweet face. Her long eye lashes gently brushed her cheeks. Her lips were puckered like a cupie doll. Her hands lay on her chest and I noticed the little dimples across her hands.
I think I must be the luckiest Oma on the face of the earth!
So Thursday was a great day. The weather was perfect for a lovely drive to my daughter’s house. I stopped at a grocery store and picked up a few things, and got to their place at lunch time. We girls had Lobster and Matt had a steak. Then we all put on our swimsuits and went into the pool.
Savannah had on her life jacket swimsuit and today she worked with Daddy and Mommy and she learned to kick her feet and move through the water! She was in the pool for two hours and she was working so hard.
Mandy and Matt left for some time out and Savi and I played dolls, ate dinner and then it got very quiet. Seems Miss Savannah climbed up on the sofa and fell asleep. She is such a sweetheart.
I head home after breakfast and will stop for a few things along the way.
Here they are, my babies, Arnie in the front and Anneliese in the back. Just 3 months old. They’re Greta’s babies, so we have had them since the moment they took their first breaths. I cannot tell you how special that is.
All was going very well, with my learning about my Smart Phone, when I thought I would add a program to my laptop to go between the two devices.
That’s when the problems began.
I suddenly had windows popping up and downloading things and I tried to X out these boxes but nothing was working. Even Norton Antivirus couldn’t deal with it.
In my terror, I shut down the computer, and called my computer guru, Brad. I got his answering machine and tried to explain. I am certain I was incoherent with the worry!
He called me back a while later (the longest few hours of my life!) and is going to pick up the machine and work on it at home. Hopefully he can start it in safe mode and get rid of the viruses and get my little baby (laptop) up and running.
Meanwhile, I am using our really old desktop computer in our very hot office. But it’s something, right?
