Exceedingly Mundane

Last Monday (Oct 22), it was time for Beau’s yearly visit to the vet. He’s so cute, I tell him we’re going to see the doctor and he hides his head in his bed and doesn’t want to get up. I finally coaxed him into going with me, and he had a good trip. He’s happy, and healthy, and hopefully will be with us a while longer. We’ve had him six years now, and I worry about him aging. I see a lot of grey, but he still has a lot of energy and gets a lot of exercise. He’s gained a pound or two every year, so he’s doing great. He was skin and bones when we adopted him, and I’ve always aimed to make him a healthy weight.

Hambones was down for a few days this week, so Tim was busy working on that. The week ambled on by until Thursday. I got my hair cut Thursday morning and then ran errands until mid afternoon. It was Elizabeth’s birthday and she came over late afternoon and hung out with us for a while, until we went to Biaggi’s for her birthday dinner. Her parents came down, and Kathryn and the kids came out to meet us (Jeremy was out of town). We had a great dinner (most everyone had pasta, but I had the tilapia with steamed green beans and it was delicious!), and then came back here for cake. Gail made another homemade cake, this time Elizabeth’s favorite which is strawberry. We all sang, including Beau who did a fine job! Kathryn and the kids didn’t get to visit long, since it was a school night. Elizabeth stayed a while and of course, Gail and Don spent the night. The guys got up early Friday morning to go play golf, and Gail and I took Beau for a walk. After that, we cleaned out and went shopping at Target. The guys had lunch at the golf course, so Gail and I came home and ate leftovers. Don and Gail stayed a while to visit, then left to pick David up at the airport and take him home to Indianola. Tim and I went to run errands. I’d been wanting to go to Steinmart and look for some church clothes. I found a couple of tops and some new shoes. If you know me at all, you know that is a HUGE statement. I detest buying shoes. Shopping for shoes ranks right up there with underwear and bathing suits for me. So for me to find two new pair of shoes was nothing short of amazing. Those should last me 3-5 years, or so I hope! LOL!

Saturday, Mark and Amanda and the kids came. The weather had gotten cold and it was pretty chilly all day. We visited a while inside, the kids had a snack, then we went out back to hit golf balls and play with Beau. We came inside to warm up and played the Wii for a while. Before dark, we headed to the park for the kids to play in Liberty Village. They’re nearly too old for that now, although Abby had fun. Tim brought the football, so he, Mark and Ethan tossed the ball till it was nearly dark. We all went to Majestic Burger for supper. I had my regular there, a seared tilapia sandwich (on homemade sourdough, I was bad and got that huge bun!). Soooo good. After dinner, we came home and visited a while longer, till they had to head back. We were so glad they came, it had been ages since we’d seen them and really had a chance to hang out!

Sunday was busy with church and Tim once again graciously agreed to go grocery shopping after church with me at Kroger. He had lunch, then headed to the golf course to play. I caught up on some stuff on the DVR, some laundry and picked up around the house. The Saints played the Sunday night game and I had such high hopes, only to have them dashed and they lost. Again. Our teams are just not doing well this year, and it’s hard. I love football season so much and it’s awful to have both teams not winning.

Monday was busy with cleaning house after all the company. Then, David texted and called and wanted to come stay a few days. So he headed down and now we have more company, although he’s gone most of the time. We’ll have a crowd here tomorrow for Halloween. I’ll probably try to post again later, after trick or treating! I should be posting pictures with my blog, but I’ve gotten bad about just putting them on Twitter or Facebook, it’s just easier. To put them here, I have to transfer them from my camera, size them down, FTP them to the server, blah blah blah. I’m so lazy these days!

Well, I haven’t posted in two weeks. Our server was down for a few days. I’m not exactly sure what was wrong, but Tim did a lot of work on it, and things are mostly back to normal. I think he swapped out the power supply, and also had to rebuild stuff on one of the hard drives.

I never blogged about my birthday, now nearly 2 weeks ago. It was a quiet day. I understand fully now what my mom always said when I was young and growing up. I always got so excited about my birthday, and others too, and my mom would always chant “it’s just another day”. I thought she was so silly. And now, I totally understand! They don’t hold the same appeal as they did in years past! This year was very low-key. I stayed home and watched some tv, played on the computer and read a little. Tim gave me two things from a list I had given him, some perfume and a Wusthof santoku chef’s knife. I had kidded him for a while that he had run out of electronics to give me. I’ve got the Mac, I got a Kindle and then last year an iPad, so he was out of tech toys to give me, LOL!

Gail came late in the day and brought a birthday cake! No one ever makes me a cake, so that was a nice surprise 🙂 It was delicious too! Chocolate with a chocolate glaze, that’s just perfect in my book. We grilled out, some ribeyes and some salmon strips, and had sweet potatoes, homemade bread and a big salad. I couldn’t have had a better meal out in a nice restaurant, it was delicious.

Friday after my birthday, Tim was off again, but his golf course was closed because they were hosting the PGA Q-school there all week. Gail stayed and left around noon, then Tim and I headed out to run some errands. I had wanted to do our Operation Christmas Child boxes, so we went to the dollar store and had fun shopping for one box for a boy and one for a girl. Maybe next year we’ll do more, they were fun! We stopped at Party City to get some Halloween stuff, then went to Newk’s for a late lunch. Gail was still in town running errands, so she came and met us. I had lobster bisque and a salad (I love going on Friday when they have that soup!). After Newk’s, we went to Walmart to get a bunch of items and headed home. Our neighbor had left us a note that she got a new TV, so we headed over to setup her new tv and DVR. Always good to be able to help people out 🙂

Saturday, we were supposed to hang out all day with Mark and Amanda and the kids, but Mark had a problem at work and they couldn’t make it. So, we slept in and then headed to the Ridgeland Multi-Purpose trail for a walk. The weather was beautiful and we walked a long way – nearly 7 miles by the time we got back to the truck. Beau loved it though, he was so happy! Afterwards, we were headed to get the truck washed, and on the way, we saw signs for a fundraiser from the Lions Club. We stopped and got two bbq chicken dinners (which Tim ate, one on Sat and the other after church on Sunday) and then came home and rested! Sunday was church, then we stopped at Fresh Market afterwards so I could get sushi. I also splurged and got some late season figs, they were so good 🙂

To be continued in the next post!

Another busy weekend around here. Last week was fairly busy, with David and his friends coming to stay for a night, and cleaning up before and after they were here. Tim had another Friday off (he’s off every Friday in October, using up that vacation he hasn’t taken all year!), and he went to play golf. We all slept in a bit, and Beau and I left for a walk and Tim went to play. He brought us in a late lunch of Chick-Fil-A. Don and Gail came in time for supper, and we all went to eat dinner at Signa’s Grille. Gail and I had the “Godmotha”, a vegetarian sandwich (grilled eggplant, grilled squash and onions on foccacia), Tim had the Swamp Burger (burger bathed in chili and cheese) and Don had the 2 AM Patty Melt. Good food! The portions seemed a little bigger this time 🙂

Don and Gail spent the night, then the guys went to play golf Saturday morning. They finished up around lunch time, then pulled through Chick-Fil-A again to get me another grilled chicken sandwich. Gail had already left going out to Kathryn’s to help set up. We went out at 2 PM for Sam’s birthday party and got to visit with everyone. Daddy came up, just for the party, from Hattiesburg. Tim and I headed home late afternoon, and I made my big shopping run at Kroger around 6 PM, and got back in time for the USM game on TV. They are now 0-5, horrible start to what looks to be a bad season.

Sunday was busy too. The Saints had their bye week, so we thought that was a great time to go visit Tim’s parents. We left after church and visited all afternoon. Beau had a great time playing with the other two dogs, Teddy and Snoopy. Roscoe is gone, and so is sweet Rosie. I miss the other dogs 🙁 Anyway, we left before dark and got home and watched some TV. I was fairly tired!

Monday was busy with cleaning house, and making supper. I tried out my new baking stone that Tim and I got for me on Friday afternoon. It’s a rectangular black Emile Henry stone. I preheated it in the oven, and used it to make a pizza. My regular pizza dough I make in the machine was too much, so I cut some off and made breadsticks with the extra dough. The crust was crispier, which is what I was hoping, but the pizza is a lot smaller than what I make on my normal large round pan. I’m going to try the pan for other things, like freeform bread rounds, chicken strips, oven roasted potatoes, etc. It scares me a little, how hot it gets in the oven! I need new oven mitts. I feel like mine are going to get me burned!

Another busy week ahead. I’m turning another year older and we have another busy weekend on tap. Another post on that next week 🙂

Let’s see… last week Gail came to visit some, and Don came in Thursday night. Gail and Don went to the homecoming game at Hinds, out in Raymond, for Katelyn to be a part of the homecoming court. We didn’t go (we went out to eat at Krilakis and then watched some tv), but we were glad they were able to come for their granddaughter! Friday morning, I got up early and went walking with Beau, nearly 5 miles. Tim and Don left early for the golf course, and Gail left to go pick up Kathryn, Elizabeth and the kids to go to Hattiesburg. Katelyn was also in the homecoming court at Presbyterian Christian, and they went to visit Dad and pick him up for the parade. Don and Tim finished golf around lunchtime, so they swung by to get me and we all went to eat at Chili’s. Don left after lunch, having more work to do, but Tim had taken a day of vacation, so we went to run errands. We had some returns to make at Marshall’s and TJ Maxx, and we also went by Toys R Us to get Sam a birthday present (party next weekend!) and to make another big trip to Sam’s.

Saturday, we watched USM lose another game on TV, this one to Boise State. They are now 0-5 and it’s just heartbreaking. They’ve had winning seasons for the last 17 or 18 years, so it’s hard to watch. After the game, Tim went to play golf, and Beau and I stayed home. I caught up on some shows on the DVR and did some stuff around the house.

Sunday, we had church (current series: Give Yourself Away) and then we went to Corner Bakery afterwards. Tim had breakfast (breakfast panini and oatmeal) and I had lunch (cup of potato soup and a small harvest salad), and it was delicious as always. After that, we ran by Kroger to get gas (3.41 a gallon, but we had a discount from buying groceries), and to pick up food for the week. The Saints played the night game, and I made a big pot of taco soup before the game. Finally, the Saints won a game, beating the Chargers at home, so their record is now 1-4. Let’s hope this breaks their losing streak and they can turn the season around.

It was great weather over the weekend, and today (Monday). Low’s in the upper 40’s and low 50’s and high’s in the upper 60’s and low 70’s. Feels like fall! We got up at 6:15 to go walking, it’s dark and it was chilly, about 50 degrees. I love it!

Got more company coming this week (David and some friends are staying with us a night) and then a busy weekend ahead, with Sam’s birthday party.

Life is good!

Wow, August drug its slow self and it seemed like September would never come. Now, I’ve blinked, and September is over 🙂

October, November and December are my favorite months. Holidays, birthdays, fall and the change of seasons and food. I’m ready!

Ok, a quick update. The toilet saga was obviously sooopo newsworthy! Otherwise, the weekend was fairly quiet. Lots of rain on Saturday and Sunday. We only ate out once (Friday night, at Mr Chen’s), and I’m working hard on a menu for the week. Today is still dreary, misting outside, and the high is only supposed to be 64 degrees. Highly unusual for us (it will be back near 90 before the week is over). So, I’m making potato soup and homemade bread for supper tonight! I’ll love it, and Tim, well, he’ll tolerate it. He’d much rather have a steak or meatloaf 🙂

Our sports teams were so disappointing again this weekend. Tim has been in a bad mood for two days, since the Eagles lost (0-4 now), the Saints lost to the Packers yesterday (0-4 now, boo), and even the Ryder Cup team lost on the last day. They started Sunday with a lead and blew it. Tim is not happy, very grumpy for Tim.

I’ve walked twice today – a little over 7 miles. I’m beat! Beau is sound asleep, and I wish I had time for a nap! I think tonight will be an early one for me.

Finished a good cozy mystery last night, Murder Most Maine (3rd in the Gray Whale Inn series) and started another good one, Mary Magdalene by Diana Wallis Taylor. Looking forward to all the new shows that are waiting for us on the DVR and the fact that I’ll have Dancing with the Stars: AllStars to watch tomorrow! 🙂

Was happy to find milk on sale this week at Kroger for 2.99! It’s the little things that make me happy 🙂

Unhappy to not see very many free books for my Kindle today. A while back, I seemed to find a ton of new, free books for my Kindle on the first day of the month. Now, it seems like most of the ones they are offering I already have. Now, mind you, I definitely do NOT need more books. I have a couple hundred I have still not read, I buy a few from time to time, and I can get them from the library. I just love to get good free Christian books for my Kindle. 😀

Hope everyone is having a great day!