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!

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!

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 😀

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. 😀

Another year, another 4th of July celebration in the books. This makes the 17th year that we’ve gone to Tim’s family get-together on the Fourth. Well, except for maybe 2 years, we were on vacation and didn’t make it those times. His mom’s siblings and their families and friends all get together, and it’s Tim’s favorite time to go visit his aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. We always have a great time going. It’s held at his Aunt Becky’s house, and she has a pool, so the kids love going. We’ve never stayed until late, but I’ve always wondered if they do fireworks 🙂

We left before lunch to drive down. I made my mom’s lemonade cake this year to take. I always take a dessert, it travels better, I think 🙂 There was tons of food. Tim’s uncles and even Terry get together early on the day to grill up a ton of chicken, and it’s always delicious. This year, there seemed to be even more veggies than usual. Everyone’s gardens must be doing well!

After we got home, I had expected Tim to head to the golf course, but he surprised me and stayed home. We watched a lot of tv and just hung out inside, in the air conditioning! We got a short rain shower in the early evening – the first rain we’ve had in at least 3 weeks. I’m hoping for more soon 🙂 Someone in our neighborhood started shooting off fireworks (don’t they know it’s banned in our city and has been for over 20 years?!), and of course, it upset Beau. He does NOT like fireworks, he starts barking furiously.

It’s always weird when a holiday falls in the middle of the week. It was back to work for Tim, and back to a normal routine for me, on this Thursday. Gosh, I hope Christmas is not in the middle of the week this year, I better go look that up! 🙂

We left the beach a day early, so we could head home, pick up Beau from his kennel (poor baby, he didn’t eat hardly at all while we were gone), and go shopping for food for our annual Labor Day Party.

When Tim and I got married, our families did not know each other. So, we started having Labor Day parties and also Super Bowl parties, to invite both sides of the family so that they could meet each other and get to know each other. Everyone is very comfortable now (14 years later), so we really look forward to our Labor Day party every year. We had just seen most of my family at the beach, but my Dad came back early also, so he drove up for our party. Most of Tim’s family came, except his younger brother and his family, whom we really missed. We don’t see them as much as we used to and we really miss them! But his other brother came, his family and Tim’s parents, so we had a really good time. I didn’t take a lot of photos, but wanted to remember that we had our party 🙂

It was another meat fest here! Tim grilled burgers, hot dogs, sausage and ribs. I fixed corn dip for an appetizer, crunchy slaw, my mother-in-law brought her awesome potato salad and Terry and Emi brought their delicious baked beans (both pretty famous in our family!). We bought a chocolate cake for Zack’s 15th birthday (we were a couple of days late, his actual birthday was Saturday), so we got to celebrate that too. We hung out, played the Wii and had a really great time!

Tim and I have been married for over 14 years, but we’ve never been on a vacation to the beach before. We’re not really “beach people”. We’ve been to the coast a couple of times, and walked briefly on the beach, and a few years ago we went to Tybee Island Georgia, so I got to stick my toes in the Atlantic. But those were brief visits, just as a side to whatever else we were doing. This time, it was all about the beach. Well – it was all about golf for Tim!

My sister Gail and her husband Don invited us to go to the beach with them and some of their family, and their friends Jerry and Susan, over the long Labor Day holiday. Jerry and Don both play golf, so Tim went every day to play golf with them. Gail, Susan and I shopped, walked on the beach, and hung out at the beach house. We went down on Thursday and most everyone else came on Friday. When Gail’s oldest daughter Kathryn arrived (my oldest niece) with her husband Jeremy and their kids Katelyn and Sam, it was really fun to go to the beach and the pool 🙂 Kids at that age (4 1/2 and nearly 3) are so much fun to play with in the sand, the waves and the water! Liz and Chris came too, and my dad also, so we had a lot of family and friends to hang out with.

I need to finish going through my photos, then I’ll post some at either Flickr or Facebook.

This has been a busy weekend! Lots of good stuff though 🙂

– Date night Friday night was an in-house date. We went and picked up some fast food and then watched a Harry Potter movie (#3, Prisoner of Azkaban)

– Saturday morning – Tim played in the church golf tournament. I went walking with Beau and my neighbor and we walked a longer route than normal (3.25 miles).

– Late Saturday morning – I went and picked up my mother-in-law Linda and our niece Brittany, and we had a girls day out. We went shopping at Hobby Lobby and Kohl’s. We picked out a ton of cute new clothes for Brittany for school and I even splurged and got 2 new sets of scrapbook stickers at Hobby Lobby. GOLF ones for Tim and birthday ones. I showed considerable restraint by not buying more, they were 50% off! We all went out to eat at one of my favorite places for lunch – Corner Bakery. I had the Chicken Pomodori panini and fruit, delicious 🙂

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Another Labor Day has come and gone, and another Labor Day party at our house is in the books! Tim and I have been having an annual Labor Day party since we first got married. We picked Labor Day because it was about the only holiday that wasn’t spoken for on either side of the family. We started having a party every year on this holiday, so we could invite our immediate family on both sides. When Tim and I first got married, our families didn’t know each other much at all, so we started this tradition to give everyone a chance to meet, and spend time together. It’s gone on through the years, as kids have grown older, others have had children, and new members of the family have been introduced.

I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the food on the grill, which I love to do! It’s always a meat fest around here, since Tim and his brothers (and the rest of us too!) LOVES them some meat! I always take a picture, so I can remember what we have from year to year 🙂 Last year, we had ribs and sausage, but this year, we had a few more little kids than normal, so we went back to hot dogs and hamburgers. We also grilled some chicken breasts and sausage, so we had four sets of meat, people! I made potato salad and my sister Gail brought her crunchy asian slaw (recipe here!). I made some dips, and we had cheese and crackers (again, no pictures!). I also made my brownies, which I love (recipe here). Just wanted to remember what we had, for future party planning 🙂 We also had our live draft for our family fantasy football league, after all of the eating was done. Tim really enjoys doing it with everyone here, but it’s hard for me to concentrate 😀 There was some Wii playing, as well as the kids playing outside in the dirt for a while. Hopefully, fun was had by all!

I did take a few photos, almost all people pictures. Click on the extended link to see a few cute ones! Hope everyone had a great Labor Day 🙂

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Our website, and therefore my blog, was down during Super Bowl weekend, but I wanted to go back and post a little about it. We had a really good time, as always, and a house full this year. All of Tim’s family and my dad came, which was great. My dad will turn 86 in April, so it’s really good that he’s still able to get out and about, and come visit us a bunch. We also had some friends and extended family here. All in all, I think we had about 20 people or so.

Tim and I went on Saturday to Sam’s Club and bought food for the party. Note to self – if you take Tim, expect to load up on meat. It was definitely a male-oriented, cholesterol laden, meat festival at our house on Sunday. 😀 We had hamburgers, hot dogs, smoked sausage, 3 flavors of wings (thanks Terry!), a sausage stuffed/bacon wrapped concoction (thanks Mark!) that I dubbed the Bacon-ator. We had Lil’ Smokies, a meat and cheese platter, a vegetable tray, several kinds of dips and chips, Chex Mix, potato salad, fruit, and a double decker cookie cake for dessert. I had three things that I had planned for later in the day (game time or half time), but everyone filled up at lunchtime on the food we had, then nibbled throughout the afternoon and early evening. So, I put those into the freezer and we’ll have to plan another party so we can eat that food up 🙂 As it is, Tim and I have been eating leftovers all week, which has been wonderful. I got out of cooking for many days! Since we purchased everything and Tim did the grilling, I was home free for this year’s party. I think that’s definitely the way to go, at least for me! Isn’t that terrible. You’d think I’d want to cook for 20 or more people, huh?! 😀

I took a few videos of the guys playing Madden 09 on the Wii, but I’m not going to post those. They’re funny though 🙂 Here’s a couple of still photos that I took. We had enough 3-D glasses for everyone, and big kids and little kids alike had a good time playing with them and waiting for the 3D commercial 🙂

Here’s the first round of meat on the grill…. 22 burgers, some of the sausage and hot dogs. Tim filled it up a second time!

Lots of Electronic toys here: Wii playing, iPod Touch, iPhones, Nintendo DS’s…

Having fun with 3D glasses:

I’ve lost count on what consecutive party this is that we’ve had. Tim and I have been married almost 13 years, so I’d say we have had a party at least 10 of those 12 years, and maybe 11 of those. We plan to have one next year. Unless the Saints go to the Super Bowl. If Tim’s beloved Saints ever make it, we have already told everyone we will not be having a party. We’ll lock every door in the house and tell people to go away, so we won’t miss a second of the game! As it is, I don’t get to watch a lot of the pregame or game (I did finally sit down and watch some of the second half this year though, it was a really good game). I didn’t get to see Faith Hill or Jennifer Hudson sing beforehand, and I missed the halftime show, which was fine because I’m not a Springsteen fan. I did watch the 3D commercial though. Gotta have your priorities straight. Anyway, we’re already missing football season around here. Training camp can’t come soon enough!