Exceedingly Mundane

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Archive for August, 2012

Aug
31
Posted by Stace

Football Season is Almost Here!

The Saints played their last preseason game last night. Our USM Golden Eagles open the season tomorrow at Nebraska. Our family fantasy football league has the draft on Monday. Yes, finally, football season is upon us!

I’m so glad, it’s definitely my favorite time of the year!

Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaac has come and gone. My dad wanted to come and stay, but Tim and I both felt that he was better off staying put, and not getting out on the roads, in the wet, rainy, windy conditions. He was mad at me for a couple of days, he thought he wasn’t welcome, and never thought that Tim and I just had his best interests at heart. Well, and I was being a bit selfish. Tim works from home and he’s been incredibly busy at work lately. The last couple of weeks, he’s been working 10, 11 and 12 hour days. He’s got a big project he’s working on and it’s just better for him for it to be quiet in the house (something it’s definitely NOT when my dad is here, he can’t hear and he talks loud and blares the tv at about 90% volume). Anyway, alls well that ends well. We had some rain, about 3 or 4 inches, a little wind, no damage, no tornadoes, no loss of electricity. Dad had more rain, 7-8 inches or so, but no damage, no power outages, etc. The sun is back out now and I was even able to take Beau for a walk this morning! We only missed one day due to the weather, so that was good.

Got a busy 3-day weekend ahead. Tim is planning on playing a lot of golf, we have a birthday party for Zack, football games, the draft, etc. Looking forward to it! I’ll get to be lazy some and read and watch movies while Tim is out playing golf. I’m grateful for some quiet time 🙂

Hope everyone is having a great day and will have a great Labor Day weekend!

Aug
27
Posted by Stace

Monday Recap

Another busy weekend! Saturday morning, Tim played golf. I refused to get up at 6:05 AM like he did, so I tossed and turned till I finally went back to sleep. Victory! He played till nearly lunch, then came home and cleaned up and we went to eat at his choice, Krilakis. He does love that place right now! Good thing I love Greek food 🙂 Their food is always delicious and we always enjoy it. We went to Marshalls, TJ Maxx (still hunting cookware, found 2 more pieces!), and then a trip to Sam’s. Saturday night we watched the Saints third preseason game. At least they won this one 🙂

Sunday, we met most of the family in Magee (Mark and Amanda were sick so none of them got to come), and celebrated a belated birthday for Linda. My dad came too. We visited a while and then headed home. I thought Tim would play golf, but he decided to stay home and rest, as he had to work Sunday night, for several hours. Sunday afternoon he watched golf, and then Sunday night we watched a movie I had recorded off a pay channel, Battle Los Angeles. Nothing like Marines fighting aliens 🙂

Monday brings new issues… tropical storm Isaac is in the gulf and headed our way. I made a trip to get gas (and wait in line, it was 3.53 on the pumps, but I had a 10cent discount from Kroger, so I paid 3.43), and then some groceries at Kroger. The store was as crowded on a Monday mid-morning as it normally is on the weekends, crazy. I don’t think we’ll get more than rain, but you never know. Right now, it’s supposed to hit around New Orleans on Wednesday, which is 7 years to the DAY that Hurricane Katrina struck. My dad is mulling over whether he will drive up and ride out the hurricane here, and I think he will. He’s 89 and just doesn’t want to get stuck down there with no power. I know the trip will be hard on him, just going out to eat in a restaurant wears him out.

More later as the storm takes shape. I hope we just get some rain and light wind and nothing more.

P.S. I don’t know if it’s weather related, but good golly, my tinnitus is horrible today. So loud and so very high pitched, it’s bugging the stew out of me. I’ve noticed before that I think it gets worse when the weather changes, maybe barometric pressure or something. Good grief. It’s going to be a long week if the storm doesn’t pass for days and my ears are like this the whole time 🙁

Aug
24
Posted by Stace

A Little of This…

and a little of that!

Today is Friday, and here’s a few bulleted things going on:

* Yesterday I went to the dentist. Glad to get that checkup over with for another 6 months! Up next is the *other* doctor, in the late fall. That’s the one I really dread!

* Yesterday was my mother-in-law’s birthday. We had to call several times to catch her, she’s a very popular and busy lady on her birthday 🙂 Beau did his singing/barking rendition to Happy Birthday on the phone, always a hit. We will get to see her Sunday after church, for a belated birthday lunch.

* Today I took Beau for a walk. Not back to daily, but better, that’s three times this week. Tim’s foot is better, since he played golf yesterday. Better enough for golf, not for walking in the subdivision with me and Beau, LOL!

* This morning, I let Beau out back and he saw a squirrel, I heard his bark. Yes, he has different barks for different things, and yes, I can tell them apart. Then I heard what sounded like the snake bark. Sure enough, he’s got a snake coiled up next to the fence, and I finally got him to back away, so the snake proceeded to slither into some shrubs nearby. I screamed (bloody murder, at the top of my lungs scream) for Tim, who came with a hoe. For a change, he actually killed this snake. Thank goodness! Usually, he says they are “good snakes” and leaves them alone.

* I’m knocking another item off my to-try list this morning. I’m going to try to make homemade flour tortillas. I hope they turn out!

Got a semi busy weekend ahead. Tim is back to playing golf, we have a Saints preseason game on TV, and then the family birthday lunch for Linda on Sunday. Then Tim has to work all Sunday night on a big project. Busy bee!

Aug
20
Posted by Stace

Monday. Again.

Mondays are apparently the only time that I think to blog! Well, that’s not true, but since I am back to blogging to mostly remember what is going on with us, and we mostly just stick close to home during the week and do “fun things” on the weekend, Monday is logically the time for me to do a catch-up type blog post. 🙂 There. That’s why!

Last week was another busy one for Tim. I went to get my hair cut on Wednesday, and then to run errands and grocery shop. That was it for me leaving the house during the week! Tim never set foot in the car until Saturday. He worked all day, every day, and several nights. He’s got a big project at work, and they’ve suddenly decided to hit him with a lot of other issues, so he’s stayed really busy. He works from home, but I’ve gone almost all day, every day and not seen him at all. He only ate lunch one day last week. He did eat supper, albeit late a few nights. I even planned burgers for him to grill out one night, but he was busy, so I bit the bullet and cooked them inside in a cast iron skillet. Owie, the mess from the grease! They were good burgers though (turkey ones!).

Anyway, that is good news, him being so busy, since his foot is still bothering him and he’s not playing golf. It’s about to kill him mentally, but he realizes his foot is not 100%, so he’s not going to play. So, I know it bothers him. Not enough to go to the doctor, but enough to keep him off the golf course 🙂

Friday night, we didn’t go out for date night, since the Saints were playing a preseason game and we could get it on TV. Tim finished work a few minutes before it started (poor thing), and we watched the Saints struggle and lose to the Jaguars. Sigh. I hope preseason is not a sign of things to come. 🙁

Saturday morning, we slept in a bit and then decided last minute to drive down and visit my dad for the day. We got there around lunch and visited a bit, then took him out to eat at the new-ish Cheddars there in Hattiesburg. We had tried to take him on our last visit (Father’s Day weekend), but the wait was over an hour, so we went to Logan’s instead. This time, the wait at Cheddars was about 25 minutes, so we stuck it out. Good food (I had salmon, broccoli and carrots, Dad had salmon, broccoli casserole and loaded potatoes and Tim had a sirlion/rib combo with a loaded potato). Some of us were obviously trying to eat healthier than others! LOL! We had planned to visit more after we took him home (I’d asked if he wanted to go anywhere else, but he didn’t… I think just going to a restaurant wears him out), but on the drive home, it was cloudy, dark and lightning. We had left Beau on a stake outside, so I was worried he was soaking wet. Thankfully, that smart puppy had the presence of mind to stay up under his deck, so he was mostly dry when we pulled up. Dad had asked for Tim to help with something on his truck, so after we did that, we headed out. It was pouring rain, and there was apparently a wreck on Hwy 49, for traffic came to a dead stop. Tim does NOT like to sit still, so we made a U-turn as soon as we could, ventured off and took back roads a while till we could get back on the highway. The back roads were slower, it was pouring rain, and we ran through two big places of standing water on the road, a good ole flash flood! Anyway, it took about 45-50 minutes longer to get home, and we were glad to make it home safely!

We had that big lunch at Cheddars, a bit late, so we weren’t overly hungry. Tim was good with eating leftovers, and I had a big bowl of cereal, and we settled in to watch the last Harry Potter movie. I am still missing the books and am now ready to watch the movies again. Tim, however, says that is not going to happen, that I’ll burn him out, and he doesn’t want any more of Harry, Ron and Hermione for a while. Sniff sniff. 🙁

Sunday was church, and then we came home and changed and headed over to my pick, Mr Chen’s for lunch. We ordered a bunch of good stuff, all dishes we have had before, and enjoyed every last bite. We got steamed buns, I ordered a veggie combo to share, Tim got sesame chicken and I got fish in black bean sauce. Deee-licious! Enough left for lunches for a couple of days too! I asked Tim if he wanted to go anywhere else (I had a couple of returns I could have made), but he didn’t want to walk much more on his foot. So we came home and had a mini movie-marathon. We watched some I’ve recorded on the DVR… The Core, then Hancock (both of which we’d seen), and then finally Real Steel.

All in all, another good weekend!

Aug
13
Posted by Stace

Catching Up

Last week was a fairly quiet one in our house. Tim is pretty busy with work, and his foot is still bothering him, so he is not playing any golf. The course was closed for a while last week, anyway, for “course beautification”, so he wasn’t able to play anyway. Hopefully, if he rests his foot a bit longer, it will feel better and he’ll be able to get back to walking, both with me and Beau in the mornings and on the golf course.

The Olympics ended yesterday. By the end of last week, I was pretty Olympics’d out! Luckily, we have plenty of other things to watch. Lots of sports, plus some shows we have stockpiled on the DVR. We went to see the new Bourne movie over the weekend, The Bourne Legacy (after a late lunch at Krilakis). Tim loved it, and I thought it was just ok. I don’t like Jeremy Renner a lot, and still think of Matt Damon as a requirement for a Bourne movie 🙂 Sunday was busy with church, a late breakfast at Corner Bakery (breakfast paninis for both of us, a deviation from my usual steel cut oats). We also ran to the auto parts store, so Tim could get oil and a filter to change the oil in the Explorer soon. We stopped by Bed, Bath and Beyond (with a coupon!) so I could get more steam mop covers for my Shark steam mop. And finally, we made a big trip to Sam’s. Avocados, Bisquick, chocolate chips, cocoa, bread, hamburger buns, butter, Chobani yogurt, Scrubbing Bubbles and other items on the list. I should have picked up more coffee for Tim, but forgot, so we’ll have to go back in a week or two.

Tim and I were sound asleep last night when his phone rang around 3:30 AM. Work calling. They had a problem and had broken something and so they had to call and wake Tim up to fix it. I do not know how he comes out of a deep sleep, answers the phone, jumps up and starts working on their problems for them in the middle of the night. I can hear them shooting rapid fire stuff at him, this doesn’t work, we did this, tried this, blah blah blah. Me, I can’t even get my eyes open and pronounce my own name, and Tim is jumping up and running to his computer, and then proceeds to spend nearly 2 hours fixing the problem they made. I’m so glad it’s him and not me! 🙂

Aug
09
Posted by Stace

Sports Stuff

We’re watching the second Saints preseason game tonight (in lieu of the Olympics, Tim tired of that quickly!). Wow, August 9 and we’ve already played 2 games. So weird to be so early. But, then again, the kids around here have already gone back to school at the first of this week. Seems like when I was in school, we didn’t go back until around Labor Day.

Anyway, today is a sporty kind of day. Tim recorded the first day of the PGA Championship (he is missing golf, he hasn’t been able to play this week, between his plantar fascitis and the fact that his club is closed for course beautification this week). I watched the USA women’s soccer team all afternoon, they played Japan for the gold medal and won! Go USA! The Saints game is on tonight. So lots of sports around here 🙂

Looking forward to another weekend! Gotta figure out food though 🙂

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Aug
06
Posted by Stace

The Weekend that Flew By

It seems like most of them do, but this weekend really flew by in the blink of an eye! My weekends are always a lot more fun and a lot more filled when Tim does not play golf. His plantar fascitis in his foot is still bothering him some, but mostly, I think my darling husband is just making a concerted effort to spend more time with me lately. Either way, I can’t complain, I love to be with him and do things together.

Friday night, we had date night at home. I made crockpot Chicken Santa Fe, which I normally make a lot during football season, but decided to start early this year. Tim thinks of them as nachos, since he eats his over chips with a lot of cheddar cheese on top. We watched a Harry Potter movie (Deathly Hallows part 1) and some of the Olympics. Team USA is still doing well!

Saturday, we ran a bunch of errands. We went downtown to pick up some motors for Terry and the new store (a fan in one of the coolers needs to be replaced), and we went to the Farmers Market. We also made stops at Marshalls and Academy Sports, before heading over to Tacqueria La Guadalupe for lunch. This time, we decided to eat in (they only have 4 booths and they were all filled, but we stood around and waited for one to open). We also decided to try their tortas for the first time. Delicious. Huge, homemade buns, sort of a Mexican burger. Tim got carne asada and all the toppings, including jalapeno. I got pollo (chicken), but without tomato and cilantro. They were delicious and so big that we each only eat half and brought the other half home to eat for supper. We stopped at the house for a bit and checked on Beau, then decided to go to a late afternoon showing of “Total Recall” at Malco. Better than I expected, and we both really enjoyed it!

Sunday was busy, we went over to Tim’s parents house for Emi’s birthday. We all ate and hung out, then went to the store for several hours to help out. They had a lot of stock to unload and put out, and Tim and Mark helped move a few heavy things. Terry replaced the motor we had brought, in one of his coolers, and we did what we could to help with arranging stock on the shelves and stuff. It had rained as soon as we got to his parents, hard, and rained for a while. Poor Beau was soaked to his bones but dried out some while we were at the store working, so he didn’t stink too bad (wet dog smell is the worst!) on the way home. We got home late, but had set the DVR for the first Saints preseason game. They played the Cardinals last night in the Hall of Fame game from Canton, and won!

Tim had to work late last night, and said he was going to stay up afterwards to watch the Mars Rover “Curiosity” land on Mars. I told him to wake me, and he came in to wake me up, but I was so sleepy that I passed on that opportunity! He watched it all on NASA tv and then told me all about it today, I was good with that 🙂

Back to the grind on a Monday, cleaning, laundry and trying to figure out what to cook all week! Just another day in paradise 😀

Aug
02
Posted by Stace

Olympics, Movies and Things

Another quick update…

Still enjoying the Olympics! Tim is watching some with me, and I’m watching a bit more during the day. I’m playing along on Viggle (on my iPad) and earning lots of points. Should be able to cash in a couple of $10 iTunes gift cards soon. We use iTunes money to rent movies through our Apple TV. We discontinued Netflix a while back, and have just been mostly watching tv shows and also recording movies on the DVR from the premium channels we get with our UVerse package. With the “free” iTunes movie from the Viggle points, we get free money for movie rentals. 🙂

Speaking of movies, we always go to a few movies at the theater in the summer. This year, so far we’ve seen The Avengers, The Amazing Spiderman and Dark Knight Rises (sensing a superhero theme?!). It’s still hard for me to go with my tinnitus (I look LOVELY in my yellow ear plugs), but it is a bit better than it has been the last two summers. I’ve also learned to sit as far away from the speakers as I can, in the middle, between the rows where the speakers line up! LOL! Anyway, Tim is also really looking forward to going to see the Total Recall remake and the new Bourne movie (Legacy, I think), soon. Hopefully this month.

The Saints play in the first preseason game this Sunday, the Hall of Fame game against the Cardinals! Football season cannot get here soon enough for me! Who Dat!

Terry got the Pineville store this past weekend. They opened on Saturday, and he’s been on vacation all week, at the store. Tim took a day of vacation today for us to go over and help out and see the store. On the way there, the warning system on the Explorer went off, saying “Check Charging System”. We stopped in Pearl at a gas station and Tim checked a few things, and decided it was probably the alternator. He decided to turn back and come home and go get parts (alternator and serpentine belt) and get it fixed. By the time he got it done, he decided it was too late to head over, so we stayed here. He’s gone to play golf and I’m catching up on stuff on the DVR.

And lastly, I finished the last Harry Potter book yesterday. Sniff sniff. I have been reading them pretty quickly the last couple of months, and I am quite sad to have them end. I’d gotten quite attached to Harry, Ron and Hermione. I will admit that the epilogue was wonderful, showing us what happened to the characters (although I knew from the movie). Very satisfying. All was well. 😀