Love

Last night I cooked cornbread, and some of it ran over the cast iron skillet and onto the bottom of the oven. I really didn't pay attention to it until later when I was heating up something and smelled something burning. I didn't want to burn myself trying to get the burned lump out, so I decided to wait until the oven cooled. And promptly forgot about it until Steve was making cookies and the lump cooked/burned some more.

This time I remembered and once the oven was cooled, I took out the racks and took out the burned lump. Imagine my surprise when I saw the lump had formed/cooked/burned into the shape of a heart.

This is one of those times that I feel like maybe God is trying to tell me/teach me something. Maybe it's something simple like "you need to clean more so you can find interesting things." Maybe it's just a reminder that I am loved. Maybe it's that when you have love and it runs over, you still have love left over. Maybe it's that love will always be love - you can't destroy it. Maybe it's that even though things may seem dark and gloomy, there's always love if you look for it. Maybe it's just to never forget that love is always there in everything.

But maybe it's all of these, and God just wanted me to remember that, but most of all that God loves me always. And for that, I am eternally thankful.

*****************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: Furniture shopping with Maribeth and Molly and then lunching at Shoneys; hauling seemingly impossible furniture in Molly's Prius; watching MSU Ladies Basketball Team beat UConn in semi-final game

Bedfellows

This morning, Metro made the announcement that there was potential for bad stormy weather this afternoon, so they cancelled school. Since I am no longer a teacher, this had little effect on me. Except for the fact that since the public schools were cancelled, so was the day care that the Es go to (Lindley's school stayed on schedule, a fact that did not sit well with her, once she found out later this evening). Mathieu had a doctor's appointment this morning, so I got to spend some Es time with them at their house (Maribeth was working).

Anyhow, still waiting for this supposedly bad weather, once the parents of the Es got home, I headed back to my house, supposedly to batten down the hatches. I am not making light of bad weather. I have seen on the tv the recent damage that storms have been doing. And when any kind of weather is predicted, I pay close attention to the radar. As I did today. Waiting for the weather. Which never really came through. Welcome to Nashville. But I digress.

This evening, Maribeth was staging one of her "Montana" meetings at the Doik. She and Mathieu and the Es and Sam and Lindley and Steve are going to Yellowstone/Montana/somewhere out there later this summer. No, I am not going. But they are, and they have meetings about once a month to get the details ironed out. Once the meeting was over, Maribeth and Mathieu left to go to dinner with other parents of children in Everley's class. They were going to be out late, so Everley and Emmatha were going to spend the night at my house (but don't tell Lindley, who was already unhappy that Everley had today off and would be livid if she knew Everley and Emmatha were spending the night).

Anyhow, after Everley and Lindley had a playtime/wreck the bathroom/bath, Sam and Lindley headed home. After some play time, I decided that perhaps it was time to see if Emmatha was ready for bed, my plan being to give her a bottle and put her to sleep in the porta crib. So, I gave her a bottle, we rocked a few minutes, and Emmatha decided that it was time to play some more. Yippee (LaLa was getting tired!). I knew Everley would need some time to settle down before she got sleepy, so I suggested she go watch tv in my room in my bed, which she did.

Meanwhile, Emmatha (aka Danger Baby) was spending her time, biting inflated balloons, climbing on chairs, standing on rocking chairs, and find microscopic who-knows-what to put in her mouth. Steve was on Emmatha duty, so after I cleaned the kitchen, I suggested he go watch tv with Everley and I would take over Emmatha duty.

By the way, we're still waiting for the weather to come through.

Anyhow, after some more play time, Emmatha starts rubbing her eyes, I take this as a positive sign that perhaps it was time for another go at going to sleep, so I fixed another bottle and we head into the dark living room for some more bottle time and rocking. This time, after a longer rocking time, Emmatha finally decided to go to sleep. However, she was not a fan of being put in the porta-crib. So we go back and rock some more. And she still rejected the porta-crib a second time. Now for a bit of explanation - the porta crib is in the bedroom we call "GDizzle's Room" because it's the room he sleeps in when he comes up. The bed is a full size bed, that gets smaller every time I sleep in it. I sleep in a king bed, and the bed in the Animal Kingdom Guest Room is also a king. My thought was that I would sleep with the girls there (it's upstairs), but the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to be trucking up and down the stairs in case Emmatha needed another bottle in the middle of the night.

Approaching weather

So, when Emmatha is asleep again, I put her down in the middle of the full size bed and she stays asleep. I do realize that she is possibly 30 seconds from crawling off the bed if she wakes up, so I know I am on a limited time span. I first go to the potty, because it felt like the Rockettes were dancing on my kidneys by this time, and who knows when I would have a chance to go potty in the next 12 hours and I didn't want a kidney explosion. I also got on my pjs and then headed to my bedroom to talk to Everley and PawPaw, who had been talking nonstop for the last 30 minutes about the weather (well, Everley was talking nonstop). I knew that if Everley stayed in the bed with PawPaw, they might be talking forever, not to mention the fact that sometimes Everley has night terrors and sometimes she likes to sleep diagonal. Steve is headed to Columbus tomorrow to spend the weekend with GDizzle and needs his sleep, so I ask Everley if she wants to come sleep with Emmatha and me, and she agrees.

So, we go and get in the bed with Everley on one side and me on the other and Emmatha in the middle. I put a suitcase holder with a pillow on Everley's side because I didn't want her falling off (usually if we sleep in here, there are only two of us in the bed - the third person makes things a bit more crowded). Eventually Everley goes to sleep. I am still awake because (a) I am waiting for the severe weather to hit and I want to make sure I can get everyone to the safe place in the house, and (b) I am sleeping on the very edge of the bed. And the Rockettes who have been taking a break have decided to start tap dancing on my kidneys again. Which means I have to decide if I should go ahead and go potty now or wait until later, which means one or both girls may be awake. I decide that since they are both asleep, I'll make a run for it and go potty again.

At some point, I hear rain and brace my self for the high winds, hail, and hard rain. Thirty seconds later, the light splatter of rain stops and the bad weather has passed. Since I am awake, I read the email from the day care director apologizing for following Metro's school closing.

Meanwhile, Emmatha has decided to start her nocturnal activities. She does not wake - which is a good thing, I guess. No, fully asleep, she decided to roll and wander about the bed, sometimes crawling on top of/beside Everley, and sometimes crawling on top of/beside me. When she enters Everley's space, I cringe thinking she will wake Everley up, but she doesn't. I also cringe thinking Everley's sporadic coughing will wake Emmatha up, but she doesn't. Unless you count rolling about in bed as waking up.


Meanwhile, back to the bed. Not only is it a full size bed (meaning small), it is also an old cast iron bed that used to reside in my grandmother's house. The headboard and footboard have rods in them with spaces in between the rods which are fully large enough for Emmatha to put her head in. As I said, the bed is cast iron, which will also be absolutely wonderful if Emmatha decides in her rolling about to bang her head on - which means waking up. So, I spend the next hour or so, pulling Emmatha off Everley and then down to the center of the bed, away from the dreaded headboard. Oh, and then there's the finding of the pacifier in the pitch black dark when Emmatha either decides to (a) let it fall away from her mouth, or (b) spit it out in defiance so I will have to fumble about trying to (a) find the pacifier and then (b) find the hole that is her mouth to jam the pacifier back in.

At some point, Maggie Cat decided to join the fun. She decided not to show her face mainly because to take a photo in the pitch black dark, the light comes on and she's not a fan. She stayed long enough to find a spot wedged up against my legs, while Emmatha was wedged up against my body. She did leave once the bad weather sprinkles started.

At some point, in her sleep, perhaps due to some dream she was having, Emmatha decided that she needed some skin to skin contact, and ended up on my face. which meant at least I could move away from the edge since there was more room available in the middle of the bed.

At some point, all the predicted bad weather passed us by and everyone was asleep and out of danger in the bed. At some point way early in the morning, I realized Steve and gotten up to fix his coffee, so Emmatha and I headed to my bed, where plenty of room was available for us both. And so we caught some zzzzzzs.

I'm very blessed to have the opportunity to have the girls sleep over. It's just an extra blessing when we we all have room to spread out!!

*******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: Morning babysitting the Es at their house; Maribeth bringing Whitts for lunch; spaghetti dinner with most of the family; Emmatha, Everley, and Lindley time; Maribeth's plan for my 48 state trip

Reality

'Nuf said ...

**********************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: two of the possibly slowest miles in the universe; baby steps in a few ongoing projects; new sandals and other orders delivered

Stuff

Today as I was cleaning out the pie safe in the dining room (one of the jobs I was supposed to do last week), I came across several things that I really don't know what to do with. These items are things that were given to me by family members, some a long time ago. Most of the items I have never used - just put them away and kept them simply because they were "gifted" to me.

I took photos of some of them and sent them to my kids. Who promptly assured me that they didn't want these items either. I called my sister because I knew she had similar items, and she assured me that she didn't want them. So now I have to decide exactly what to do with them. Marie Kondo says that if the items doesn't give you joy, you should let it go. And so I shall. But exactly how? Here are a few options ...

1. Have a yard sale. Ewwww. I hate yard sales, and I'm sure that all of these items together would probably only bring in $1.27. Not to mention the mental and emotional toil it would take on me, thinking about how I will be haunted by the spirits of those who gifted these treasures to me in the first place.

2. Gift them to Goodwill. That's probably an excellent option. All that requires is putting stuff in a box and dumping it at Goodwill. And wait for the inevitable newspaper article about how somebody found a valuable item (that was formerly mine) while browsing at the Goodwill, went on Antiques Roadshow, and made a gazillion dollars.

3. Gift them to deserving family members and friends. Because I like shifting the responsibility to others. And possibly gifting them a gazillion dollars, if they go on Antiques Roadshow.

4, Box the stuff up and go to some place that might purchase them. And end up making $2.37. Which isn't that much of a profit over the yard sale. And there's still that gazillion dollars in question.

5. Actually start using the stuff. Nah, that's not going to happen. I have enough stuff that I kinda use that's taking up space, so I don't need more stuff to use.

I'm not sure which course of action I shall take. While cleaning out her mom's house, my friend Karen took photos of things like this so she would always have the memory. Maybe I'll do that. And maybe by tomorrow, I'll still have the memories of things and those who gave them to me - and not the burden of the actual stuff.

******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: Two ridiculously slow miles in the 'hood; Wal-Marting; Steve grilling for dinner; phone chat with Marilyn

Road Trip!!

Sometime between now and August 2018 (I'm thinking more like Spring/Summer 2018) I'm going to do a massive road trip. Like through all 48 states. Some dude mapped it out online, and that's the plan I'm following. His idea is that you not only go through all contiguous 48 states, but you also visit a national landmark in all those states. Seems like a stellar idea to me - and is on my "Sixty Things" list.

Of course, there are a few glitches. For one, his estimate is that it would take you two to three months to complete. I don't want to spend that long on the road. If you just drove it straight through, it would take you approximately 10 days, a time period that I don't think allows you to stop and see the sites. Or eat. Or go to the bathroom. Or get gas. So I don't think that timeline will work either.

Today I decided to start planning this trip. Mainly, because it's going to take a lot of planning. And if I don't start planning it now, I will procrastinate until the day before departure and have a big mess (or cancel the whole thing, which is not part of the plan). So I pulled out my map (taken from the website) and started looking at it.

The good part is that the dude broke it down into sections. And one section just happens to begin in Memphis (at Graceland, where else?). So I decided to start with that section (I'm only going to plan one section at a time, taking my time, so I don't go absolutely cray-cray). This particular section goes through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. It's 3708 miles and straight-through driving time would be 58 hours. I devised a schedule with leaving time, looking time, eating time, and sleeping time, and estimated that this section would take around eight days. And there are six sections!! You do the math ...

Anyhow, it's a start. And no, I won't be driving my roller-skate Prius for the trip. I've had a few people who have expressed interest in doing parts of it with me (and no, you still won't be allowed to drive). I don't know what vehicle I will be driving or where I will be staying (except there will no tent involved).

The best news? At least I'll have something to blog about during that time!!

******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: stormy weather predicted that ended up not so bad; nice lawncare person; two slow miles in the 'hood; planning first leg of my 48-state road trip; finishing registration for a Dopey runner; clearing out a small bit of clutter

Sunday

Today I actually got a few things accomplished. Cleaning - not so much. but still, a few things accomplished.

I had to adjust a reservation for next February's Princess Weekend. I would try to explain, but it has to do with DVC points and booking windows and borrowing points - all pretty boring unless you are trying to do more than you are allowed, based on points and booking windows and borrowing points. At any rate, I did get what I wanted to do, done.

The next thing I decided to do was bite the bullet on my train trip. What train trip, you might ask. Well, it all has to do with my 60th Birthday Trip. There are many elements, but this one has to do with the train part. Yes, I am travelling on a train. And not the one that Lynnette and I and Lindley and Everley took last year that took a few hours from Seattle to Vancouver. No, this one goes from Toronto to Vancouver and takes five days and four nights. And yes, once I get to Vancouver, I will be eventually getting on a ship and going to Alaska - but we can discuss that later.

Anyhow, back to the train. I have been looking at this trip for quite some time. I have you-tubed it and read peoples' reviews on it, and of course, everyone has their own opinions - they liked it or hated it. And so therein lay my hesitation. A couple of weeks ago I made my flight to Toronto - step one. But I knew that eventually I was going to have to actually purchase the train ticket. And today just seemed like the day that it was going to happen.

So, I go to the Canada Rail website and try to log in. Of course, my password is wrong, so I have to have them email me a new one. I get that done, and then get all the reservation details and go to the payment page. And I get a pop-up message that says the credit card was denied. What?? I know that the card has $$, because I paid it off. Two seconds later, I get a text from my credit card asking if I had made the charge, and of course I said yes. Then it says for the "company" to resubmit the charge. And so I attempt payment again. And again it gets rejected. I decided that maybe the texting had not had time to take effect, so I waited a minute and tried again - rejected!!

By this time, I'm wonder if God is trying to tell me that I shouldn't be going. But I didn't get the feeling from Him. Instead, I felt like perhaps He was asking me to make sure that I really wanted to make this trip. And I decided that I did. So I called the credit card people and talked to a very nice lady who explained that they tag transactions like this that were out of the ordinary (thank you for that!). I told her that I had tried to charge the ticket three times, and I didn't want three tickets. So, she deleted all those and made sure that the next time I attempted the charge it would go through. And so it did. And now I have a train ticket across Canada. Uhhhh...

By this time, Molly was up and ready to go for breakfast at Holler and Dash. This time we had the Pork Rambler (fried pork tenderloin, blackberry butter, fried onion straws), the Tot Bowl (tater tots, cheese, bacon, green onion, and hollerback sauce), and Chicken Set Go (fried chicken, pimento cheese, jalapeno-on the side today, and sorghum. It was all very yummy. Once we were done there, we picked up a curtain rod at Target and headed to my house.

Yes, I'm sewing on a stool.
The least of what's wrong
with this photo ...

We picked up my sewing machine and a few other tools because Molly had a few tasks for us to complete. My main one was to hem her curtains. She started putting together a table, but realized that the pack of screws she needed was not with the table. A call to the store yielded the information that they had the pack of screws at the register, ready to be collected by whomever wanted to come get them. So Molly headed to the next project, which was putting together her patio chair (which also had been sent without the correct package of screws, but since this chair was ordered online, they mailed her the correct package). Once that was complete, Sam arrived and put up the new curtain rod, hung the guest room headboard, and put legs on the expedit in Molly's office. Meanwhile I was pinning and hemming curtains - while they hung on the curtain rods. My mother would have been mortified, perhaps even more by the finished product, but I got the job done.

By this time, Molly had left for a meeting with her school group so I headed back home. Lynnette and Lindley were there, on their way to pick up Everley for some park fun. Meanwhile, I headed out for milk for Steve and a broom and dustpan for Molly (hers disappeared during the remodel).The girls eventually returned for some playtime at the Doik and soon Steve pulled in from Columbus. By this time, it was time for everyone to return to their homes to get ready for Monday morning work and school.

It's been a pretty good weekend. A lot of tasks accomplished, new things purchased, and fun times with family. And on we go to Monday!!

******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: brunch with Molly; getting tasks completed at Molly's' texting with Pam and Laura; Steve's safe travel home from Columbus

Saturday Goings-On

This morning Molly and I decided to start by eating breakfast at Puffy Muffin. While we were finishing up, we were texting KB to try and convince her to do Dopey next January (in case you didn't know, that means doing four races over four days, from a 5K to a full marathon and two distances in between). She wasn't exactly responding to our texts, so we decided to track her (we can do that on our iphones - because one time she let us and has probably forgotten about it).

Anyhow, Molly said, "She's at the fairgrounds," and I knew exactly where she was - it's Flea Market Weekend!! Of course we decided to go find her, even though we are not really flea market people (although Steve and GDizzle are). We even paid the $5 for premium parking (even though the money collector lady said all the spaces were full and if we couldn't find a spot, if we came back out, she would refund our $5) and after a few turns around the parking lot, found a spot.

Now it was time to find KB. We were trying to track her, but iphone tracking doesn't exactly get that specific. By this time, she was answering our texts, and it wasn't a minute later that we literally ran into each other! We spent the rest of the morning walking around and looking at stuff. I bought a formica dining table and four chairs, mainly because it reminded me our my and Steve's first "dining table" and KB dickered with the lady to get the price down (although after her husband had to work and work to get the legs off so KB could cart the table and chairs home for me, he probably thought we owed him money). Anyhow, KB left with my purchase to run her errands, and Molly and I walked around a bit more. I bought two Disney glasses (shocked anyone?) and Molly tried to talk with a dude about his furniture, but he was more interested in his lunch than any potential customers.

It didn't take much more time for Molly and me to decide our flea market experience was over, and we headed out. We went to a couple of furniture and salvage stores (Molly is looking for things) and eventually decided to call it a day. KB came over to deposit my new dinette (didn't reassemble because I want to pait the legs) and we chatted a bit before she left.

By this time, it had been a super busy day, so I decided to pack it in. I did forget to get a pack of socks at the flea market, though ...

******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: brunch and shopping with Molly; flea market fun with KB and Molly; planning for Molly's Disney birthday trip

Everybody's Home Again!!

I don't think this is an acceptable
plane seat assignment ...

Just as all good things sometimes have to end, the ladies trip to NYC was over today. They all arrived home on time at the airport, and Mathieu went to pick them up. Since Lynnette's car was at my house, the first stop was here, and Everley and Lindley decided to hang around a bit and play. Eventually everyone went home and I decided to do what seemed like a good idea - watch some tv. Since the healthcare drama has been decided (no vote), everything else on tv seemed boring, so eventually I just fell asleep. Happy Friday!

********************************************

Blessings today include: safe travel for all the NYC ladies; Mathieu picking up the group; Steve's safe travel to Columbus; Everley and Lindley time

Thursday Fun

Today was the day I was going to clean all those rooms that were on my list. Guess what - I didn't quite make it. I did make it to Costco (since I now have a card) and purchased some things that Steve had requested, and a few other things that looked good as I passed by them (isn't that Costco's marketing policy?). I'm sure there are other things that I might have accomplished, but I was too glued to my soap - "As Washington D.C. Turns." It's almost like the days that Baby Jessica fell in the well, and we had to watch nonstop to see if/when she was going to get pulled out. How is the healthcare drama going to end??

Meanwhile in NYC, the little girls and their mothers had another great day. Today they had lunch at the American Girl Store. And maybe purchased a few things. Isn't that the American Girl Cafe's marketing plan? Anyhoo, on to some adorable photos ...

Lindley and the other girls didn't bring their AG dolls,
but apparently you can "borrow" one for lunch.

Emmatha thought "having lunch" at the AG cafe meant
actually gnawing on an American Girl ...

Perfectly sized lunch for a perfectly sized Everley!!

Meanwhile, back in Nashville, Molly and I decided to get our toes did. All in all, we all had a pretty good Thursday!!

*****************************************************************************************

Today's blessings include: Costco shopping; photos from NYC; pedis with Molly

Happy Hump Day!

I actually cleaned (theoretically) a room today. To be specific, I cleaned out/organized it. And which room was it? My bathroom! To be honest, the "cleaning" part still needs to be done, probably with a pressure washer and some heavy-duty cleaner and possible a sand blaster. But I emptied all the drawers and cabinets and got rid of stuff I didn't need/want and then organized it all into little organizer boxes. It's certainly a better system than the "just throw it (whatever it is) into a drawer and hope you can find it when you need it." For instance, the other day I could not find a fingernail clipper anywhere in the bathroom. As it turns out, I have four of them. Hooray!! Now I'm only two rooms behind ...

I also decided to clean off my desk and my desk drawers. In doing so, I found this little brush, so I decided to clean out my keyboard. Yuck!! Not that there was a lot of yuck in between/underneath the keys, but there was a lot of something between/underneath the keys. Giblets and hair (thanks Minnie and Maggie Cats) and microscopic other debris. Sort of scary as to what other kinds of stuff lurks in and about other parts of my house ...


Other than that, I think I did some other stuff, while keeping an eye on the goings-on in Washington. Sometimes I'm wonder if I'm watching a tv drama or the real thing. Unfortunately, it's the real thing. And with the news of the attack in London, it helps me realize the importance of prayer and hope and love in this world, and how to get that across.

The bright spots were when I'd get photos of the girls in NYC. They are having a great time, and Lindley even lost a loose tooth - at Lady Liberty, no less!! Anyhow, hope these photos brighten your day too!!

She doesn't eat sauce with her noodles.
And I'm not sure I would either - with this syringe!!

Does this really need a caption??

Does this count as a NYC/Statue of Liberty souvenir?

All the ladies!!

Love!!

****************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: cleaning the bathroom and keyboard/desk; photos from NYC; making air travel changes to save $$; dinner at GHG

My Spring List

So, how many rooms have I cleaned/decluttered?  That would be zero. I did catch up on my latest missing blogs, so that's a win. And today I returned to the lovely Masseuse Irina with no longer a cyst on my neck, which made us both quite happy. There has been no responsible meal planning nor eating. I think I will have to make a grocery run for that to happen. To be honest, last night I bought a can of whipped cream and ate most of it. I can now successfully say that my yearning for canned whipped cream is now over. Possibly forever. So far we're two days into Spring - and my list is rather anemic.

Other signs of spring are ...

• The sprinkler people came back and cranked up the sprinklers. Well, they tested them and put them on a two week delay. After all, it's Nashville, which means it could snow at any moment.
• The landscape people came and finally pruned the knockout roses. They pruned them pretty low (I would have cut them closer to the ground), so hopefully this year I can keep them under control.
• They also cut down the hydrangeas. You know, the ones that always give me fits about blooming and how I did not cut them at all last year and they bloomed. Well, now they are cut back again, so I am not holding out hope that they will bloom. This may be their last year.
• Today was actually a nice warm morning, which means Minnie Cat went outside to loll about in the sun. For at least five minutes before she started scratching the screen to come back in.

Meanwhile, in NYC, Lynnette, Maribeth, and the girls have running the city. They've been to a museum, to the Disney Store, on a bus tour, and out to eat. They are having a great time seeing all the sights - I'm not sure what's on their agenda tomorrow.

I do have to praise A1 Appliance in Columbus. A few years ago they came to the rescue when GDizzle needed a dryer and Blowes had some kind of cray-crayness going on and couldn't figure out how to sell/deliver a dryer to him. A1 got the dryer to him and hooked up in no time. This weekend, GDizzle's washer gave out, so today I called A1 again, never considering Blowes. They were more than happy to accommodate us, except that the man said they didn't take credit cards over the phone. But that proved to be no problem, because all I had to do was mail them a check. And this afternoon, GDizzle was happy with his new washing machine. Now that's a superb business!

So, tomorrow I shall attempt to attack a few rooms and consider food planning. And maybe get out of the house to wog a bit. Maybe the fresh air will inspire me. At least until the pollen kicks in ...

***************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: complete satisfaction and service from A1 Appliance; 60 minutes of relaxation with Irina; texting with friends; photos from NYC; Steve going out for dinner takeout

Happy Spring!!

Yes, today is the first day of spring. And yes, once again I have gotten behind. Welcome to my world!

But there's an advantage to Spring beginning on a Monday - it seems like a day to get things going and starting over and getting caught up. Again.

So, here's my plan. Because I'm good at making plans - not so great at following through. But a plan's a good place to start - right?

So here's my plan/hope/wish list for this first week of spring ...

1. Clean/declutter one room a day. I'm tired already ...

2. Catch up at least my most current backlog of blogging. Maybe even catch up from a long time ago backlog of blogging. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

3. Get my butt in gear and get out the door and do some sort of physical activity. Ewww.

4. Plan a weekly menu that involves actual decent healthy food. Okay, so now I be talking cray-cray.

Anyhoo, that's my list. Maybe the spring air has already gotten to me ...

*************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: seeing Lindley, Everley, Emmatha and their moms off to the airport for their NYC trip; getting caught up on blogs from March 4-19; making future ressies for Princess weekend

Emmatha's Birthday Party

With GDizzle reaching 100 and having his birthday in Columbus yesterday, and everybody travelling in various ways to get there to celebrate, we waited for today for Emmatha's official first birthday party. There was food and cake and gifts - and Emmatha, who was pretty nonplussed about it all. Happy Birthday Emmatha!!

******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: everyone back home after weekend travel; family birthday party; Emmatha turning 1

GDizzle Turns 100!!

On March 16, 1917, John Winfred Davidson, Jr., was born. Today we are celebrating his birthday. He actually already has had two parties on his actual birthday, but this is his big community party. Six of his eight children will be there, along with in-laws, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And of course, many of his friends - I'm not sure the church hall could hold all of them! So today, GDizzle, we say Happy Birthday - and thanks for all that your life has meant these 100 years!

GDizzle and his baby son

Blowing out his candles - I don't think 100 would fit on there!

****************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: meeting all GDizzles friends and enjoying family time at the birthday party; safe travels for those returning home after the party; GDizzle's 100 years of life and influence

Little Girls

Today is Emmatha's first birthday. We're headed to Columbus for GDizzle's birthday party tomorrow, so we won't celebrate with her official family birthday party until Sunday. It's hard to believe that a year ago, this one was trying to escape her mother's uterus - by tearing a hole in the back of it! A year later, she's just as adventurous - and very much loved!!

Meanwhile, I picked up these two after they got out of school to head to Birmingham. Sam is speaking there tonight, so we're going to spend the night at his hotel (it has an indoor pool) and head to Columbus tomorrow. After a stop at McDonald's in Nashville (for pre-trip snackages and a potty break) and a stop at the rocket (which you know if you have ever travelled on I-65 around Huntsville), we finally made it to Birmingham, just in time for an hour of swim time. Then it was time for bed so we can get up tomorrow, pick up PawPaw at the airport and head to Columbus. GDizzle is 100!!


*************************************************
Blessings today include: Emmatha turns 1; picking up Everley and Lindley at school; McDonalds and rocket stops; nice lady at hotel checkin and snack bags; swimming in the hotel pool; Sam bringing dinner

Masks

In light of the stellar conduct of many Americans today, I found this poem by Shel Silverstein particularly poignant. If only we could see the things we agree on, then maybe we could understand the things we don't agree on ...

******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: dinner at the Doik with some of the family; Everley, Emmatha, and Lindley time

Movies

So another one of my "Sixty Things" is to watch 60 movies. I've watched 18. At least those are how many I can remember watching so I can list them in my "Sixty Things" notebook. Are any of them current? Of course not! But if you're like me (a distinction that you might not be ready to embrace), you probably won't see them until they are on Redbox or HBO or any of the like. So maybe these stellar reviews won't be that out of date (I think I reviewed the others earlier) ...

"Dr. Strange." This is in the Marvel series of movies. Since Molly has gotten me hooked on them, this was the next one on the list. Frankly, the previews did not thrill me - they were weird - okay, strange. I figured I would never "get" it as far as the story line went, since some of the scenes had the landscape turning inside each other. Luckily, I was mistaken. Not about the scenes turning inside each other, but keeping up with the movie. here's my synopsis:  Dr. Strange is a conceited surgeon who thinks he's all that. He gets in a wreck and messes up his surgeon hands. He does all this rehab that doesn't get him back to perfect so he goes to Asia to seek this bald lady who he thinks can cure him. She's like some guru type lady who teaches mind stuff. One of her former students thought he was better than her, so he got some followers and is now a bad dude. Meanwhile Dr. Strange learns a lot and gets a magic cape and starts to fight with the bad dude who wants to control the world (enter the landscape turning). At the end, bald lady dies and Dr. Strange is responsible for protecting the world - kinda. And probably will end up helping some of the Avengers. I actually enjoyed it, so two thumbs up from me!

"Rogue One". Another series, this time Star Wars. This comes between the story-chronological first three movies and the oldies latter three movies (think Luke Skywalker, Leia, and Hans Solo). Basically Jyn (girl hero) grows up without her parents and then has to go rescue Dark Side plans for the Death Star. And that's the plot. Lots of space ships and shooting and running and stuff. And at the end, the plans to go Leia and she gives them to R2D2. And then the whole Star Wars saga gets going. I liked it and would give it two thumbs up, especially if you are a Star Wars movie person.

"The Accountant". Ben Affleck is an accountant. Like a super accountant. He's also somewhere on the autism spectrum because he doesn't do people very well. But he's very smart when it comes to accounting and can find money or hide money or whatever accountants do. He makes a lot of money, not all of it necessarily from fine, upright clients. He also kills people, which I guess makes him an accountant assassin. You see his childhood (not so great) and his adulthood (not always so great) and finally a person he connects with (Anna Kendrick). There's a surprise at the very end which makes you like Ben, even thought he's just killed a whole bunch of people. And then he goes off in his trailer (which is my kind of trailer). There's a lot of killing, but I liked it - not necessarily the killing part but the story part. Two thumbs up.

"Almost Christmas". I didn't have a lot of hope for this one. Some of the "group cast" movies I've seen in the last few years weren't that great. But I liked this one. It's about a family who comes back home for Christmas. Of course, every one has his/her own baggage and story, but even those I found interesting and compelling. And of course, there's Danny Glover, so who wouldn't like that? It's a nice story about Christmas and a family trying to connect and make their lives work. Who doesn't like that? Another two thumbs up.

"Jack Reacher - Never Go Back". I got this one because I liked the first Jack Reacher movie. I've never read any of the books, although I have friends/family who have and told me that the book Jack Reacher does not resemble Tom Cruise. Nevertheless, Tom Cruise does a decent job as a disgruntled ex-armed forces dude who beats up a bunch of people in his quest to right the wrong in the world. In this movie, he goes to rescue his friend (who I mainly know as the other girl in "How I Met Your Mother") who was wrongly accused of something. Okay, I admit it - I put this on because I knew I wouldn't have to pay a lot of attention and could do something else while it was on. Anyhow, there's a lot of killing and a girl who says she's Jack's daughter and a military dude who wants to arrest Jack and dishonest people who want to kill Jack. In the end, the wrongs are righted and HIMYM girl gets cleared and Jack goes off to the next thing. I'll give it one thumb up, mainly because when it comes on HBO, I'll probably watch it again (I Redboxed it).

"Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter". I watched this on my recent cruise. Frankly, it was goofy. Not funny goofy, but vampire goofy, when you think of President Lincoln hunting vampires. The movie starts with little boy Abe and him trying to rescue his friend, who might have been a slave (?). Okay, so I was on a cruise watching this, so I half-heartedly watched it, too (naps are important on a cruise). Anyhow, you see Abe as he grows and learns how to hunt vampires. And becomes President. And his friend is part of it. And there are a lot of vampires. It was interesting, and I might watch it again, so I have to give it a tentative thumbs up.

"Wolverine." Apparently this is part of a series also by Marvel. I haven't seen any of the other movies, and after this one, I could care less about seeing any of them. Basically, Wolverine has blades that come out of his knuckles. I guess I should know why, but if it was discussed in this movie, I have since forgotten it. Wait - it has something to do with the atomic bomb in Japan back in the day - I think. Anyhow, in this movie, Wolverine is talked into going to Japan to see some old dude, who is actually a Japanese prison guard from back in the day who was in the atomic bomb shelter with Wolverine. Anyhow, there's a granddaughter (adult) who's supposed to get control of the company when old dude dies, and there is a lot of fighting and slashing (Wolverine has blades, remember) and there's a mean doctor lady. By the end, I didn't care about anybody and was glad it was over. Two thumbs down for this one and probably the whole series.

"Miss Sloane". This is a movie about lobbyists. There's a lot of talking in it. A lot of talking. Which is what lobbyists do, I suppose. I would try to explain the plot to you, but I kinda got bored in the middle (I saw it at the movie theater with Sam and Molly, who both, I might add, liked it) and all the talking got to me after a while. Basically Miss Sloane is supposed to be lobbying for something, and there's a gun control issue, and there's people she works for, and she goes on trial, and so on. I give it two thumbs sideways, because I think it was supposed to be good - I just didn't quite "get it" - shocking, I know!

Anyhow, there may have been other movies I have seen - I shall just have to try to remember them. And their plots ...

*****************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: a nice quiet Wednesday to get the house picked up

Let's Talk Politics

On second (and third and forever) thought, let's not. My wee brain is already exploding with what I hear and what I believe and what I think. I read (and then probably hide) what my facebook friends wish to espouse. I watch tv (the channels whose news people I agree with) and even sometimes the opposing channels, just to see their spin.

Basically, right now, people are angry and confused. There are times that I am both. But in the end, we are all residents of the same country. And until we can get past the fact that we think we know it all, and instead work for a common goal, we're going to stay mad and confused.

***************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: taking the Es to school; picking up Lindley from school; Everley, Emmatha, and Lindley time

Sluggy Monday

Back in the day when I taught school, Mondays weren't all that bad. Sure, I had to go to my school and attempt to inspire children to learn, but it created a routine for me. I had a system. Now it seems like Mondays are just another day in a long cycle of days, all which are pretty much like the others.

Sure, I could get myself up and going, and create routine. But that seems like a lot of work. And on this Monday after the dreaded Daylight Savings Time, I am thankful for the day to just let my body laze around and figure out what time it is. Because this old body is mighty confused right now!!

So, just in case I (and/or you) needed a little inspiration for this Monday (or any to come), here a little ...

******************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: quiet day at home; setting all the clocks I forgot

Daylight Sucky Time

Have I ranted about this before? Like twice a year every year? Well, apparently not enough people have listened to me, so I will just rant some more. Let's just put it this way - here are my top ten reasons for hating Daylight Savings Time ...

1. The clock thing, obviously. It's not enough that I have to go around changing all the clocks in the house, invariably forgetting several of them, but I also have to remember the stupid clocks in the car. Which I can never remember how to set anyway, which means I am losing even more time. Sucky!!

2. It's daylight. Like forever. Which means if I wanted to go to sleep early, it won't happen, since it looks likes it's early, but it's not. It's late. Sucky!!

3. It's dark in the morning. Which it might have been dark anyway, but it's even darker. Possibly. I would know for sure if I got up on time, but I stayed up too late last night thinking it was early, but it wasn't. So I overslept. Sucky!!

4. A brief history of daylight savings time:

In the US, “Fast Time” as it was called then, was first introduced in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law to support the war effort during World War I. The initiative was sparked by Robert Garland, a Pittsburgh industrialist who had encountered the idea in the UK. Today he is often called the “Father of Daylight Saving”. Only seven months, later the seasonal time change was repealed. However, some cities, including Pittsburgh, Boston, and New York, continued to use it until President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted year-round DST in the United States in 1942.

 History smistory. Sucky!!

5. My internal body clock is not a fan. But my body seems to be a fan of ice cream and candy bars and not a fan of exercise, so maybe my body is all mixed up. Still seems kinda of sucky anyway!!

6. Supposedly DST is a way to save energy. I cannot attest to that, since I have no energy as a result of the time change. But I really didn't have any energy last week either. Still counts for sucky!!

7. Still confused about the savings of daylight. Exactly what am I saving it for? Once the weather gets warm and the mosquitos come out, I shan't be outside anyway. So all that outside light in the evening seems like a waste when I could be using (theoretically) in the morning. Sucky again!!

8. Explaining DST to Minnie and Maggie Cats. I will try, but it's just one more thing for them to be ticked off about. Which means they will be batting my face (while I am asleep) several times in their attempt to figure out what time it is, namely is it time to eat. Super sucky!!

9. The Reversal. Meaning getting off (or is it on) this insane idea sometime this fall. Because I still don't remember the spring/fall/back/forward concept. Although I do think I am more at peace in the fall than I am in the spring. Nevertheless, still sucky!!

10. Nobody asked me. As per usual. Which I don't understand, because I have such super amazing ideas. Oh well, sucky for them!!

*****************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: setting most of the clocks; quiet Sunday at home

Snow Time!!

Of course yesterday the kids were in shorts. And so naturally today, on March 11, it should snow! It was just enough for the kids to play in (and since it wasn't on a school day, no loss of a school day). Molly came over to play with Emmatha and Everley. The snow lasted long enough for some play (which means it was gone by lunch), and didn't affect the roads, so it was perfect!

******************************************************************************************

Today's blessings include: Surprise snow; Molly and Lynnette taking Lindley and Everley to see "Boss Baby"; Emmatha's long nap

And Now She's On A Horse ...

Thank goodness it's got a safety seat!!

*******************************************************************************************

Today's blessings include: Alaska cruise meet; Everley, Emmatha, and Lindley time; burritos at the doik

Not My Fault. Really.

Today I booked a cruise for September. Let's not discuss how many cruises I will be going on this year. Let's instead place the blame where it lies - with my sister Marilyn. She's celebrating her fifth year of being cancer free, and decided that a cruise would be a good way to celebrate. And as her sister, I agreed to tag along. I know, I deserve sister of the year. So anyhow, to celebrate our future cruise, I thought I would present a few photos of our cruises past (yes, we've gone on a few sister cruises in the past).

This was Lucy's pre-baby cruise.
Because life as she knew it was about to change.
I was there as photographer.
Because I'm that kind of person!

Palo. Need I say more?

Goofy. Our fave. 

And so in September, we shall do the cruise thing again. Aren't sisters great??

***************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: making new cruise ressies; Emmers and Evers time

She's Moving

Emmatha will soon be one year old. On her birthday a year ago, she was attempting to tear herself out of her mother's womb. Clearly she has decided to live life on the wild side - which means somebody has to keep tabs on her at all times. Here are a few examples ...

So, is LaLa ready for danger baby to start walking on her own?  Not until LaLa gets a baby leash for her!!

*****************************************************************************************

Today's blessings include: Emmatha and Everley time; Hiller dude fixing the sprinkler box

Grandma's Got it Going!!

Just saw this and had to share it. Because she's cool!!

*******************************************************************************************

Today's blessings include: just a quiet day to get a few things accomplished ...

Books

While my "Sixty Things" has hit a stoppage, things have been accomplished. They just haven't been recorded nor reported on. For instance, let's talk about books. Mainly that I'm supposed to read 60 of them. I've read two. Lucky for me I still have about 17 months left to read some (I'm stretching out this 60 things for two years - my actual 60th year of living, and my official year of being 60). Anyhow, on to the books ...

Life Is Short by Jennifer Arnold and Bill Klein. Yes, it's the "Little Couple" from TLC. I've become less enamored with TLC over the years, but I do like this family. And I do like this book. It's basically a book wherein they talk about difficulties they face in their lives, and how what they learned might help us along the way. It's positive and offers a bright outlook on things that happen in our lives. Every chapter is an easy quick read, and does cause some thinking along the way. I checked it out of the library, but have considered purchasing it for my own library, if for nothing else, to be able to reread it and mark it up with a highlighter and my own notes.

The Whistler by John Grisham. Back in the Dark Ages, John Grisham and I actually attended college at the same time. And we were in the same business fraternity/club/thing. I think I attended two meetings, one of which was the obligatory club photo for the yearbook.So you can see the close relationship I have with the author. That being said, I have read several of his books, and this one did not disappoint. Like many of his other books, Grisham bases this one on the legal profession, although this time in an office of judicial conduct. There are bad guys and good guys and characters to like and those to hate. Grisham does his usual great job of getting you through a chapter, wrapping it up enough to satisfy you, yet keep you wanting to read "just one more chapter." It was a fairly quick read, mainly because I just kept "reading just one more chapter" and the book didn't require me to think very hard (meaning I don't read Tom Clancy). Anyhow, it was a good read.

I have this dream of reading more, which was one of the reasons why I put "reading 60 books" on my 60 list. I've just got to remember to write them down in my 60 book!!

*****************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: finalizing travel plans; quiet day to do nothing

Yowza Irina!!

So today's kinda a health update. Kinda. First of all the staph infection is a done deal. I finished up the medicine and the "angry spot" has diminished considerably. While there is still a "spot" there, it is small and certainly no longer angry. However ...

On debarkation day, I woke up with a small cyst on the back of my head, right about along the hairline close to my left ear. Frankly (and this may be kinda gross for some of you) it felt like a hard pimple under your skin (if you've ever had then, you know what I mean. If you haven't, use your imagination - it's about the size of a pebble, does not have a "head" on it, and hurts like the dickens if you touch it). Anyhow, I awoke with this on the back of my head, and yes, it hurt.

Of course once we were at the airport in Tampa, I contacted my most trusted physician, Dr. Google, to see what course of treatment to follow. We (Dr. Google, my fellow sufferer-posters, and me) decided that it was indeed a cyst. Some suggested mashing on it to make it dissipate. Which I tried a few times and decided the resulting pain was totally not worth it. I could feel the area around it getting tight, so I decided to let it be. I knew I was scheduled for a massage today, so I decided to give the cyst a few days to calm down before I went to see my favorite PA Jasen.

And so today I headed to see Irina, my current fave masseuse. I told her about my cyst spot, so she would be aware when I jumped to the ceiling when she touched it (it wasn't so much better today). Anyhow, she got the message, and then got down to work. And did she get down to work. I know she worked on other parts of my body - it's just the cyst part that will forever be with me.

It was not like that time Masseuse Doofus decided he would "mash out" the globby cyst on my back. Which resulted in that cyst getting bigger before I had my dermatologist cut the dang thing out. No, this cyst had nothing that could get mashed out. Instead, she worked on the "inflammation" that was around my cyst, occasionally pressing on the cyst and remarking that she didn't know what that was. And that I should go to the doctor if it didn't get better. Which I managed to hear in spite of my letting her know that yes, it hurt when she pressed on it. Which was probably the most pain in a massage I ever had since Masseuse Nazi did a "deep tissue" massage while I was on a cruise - and kept telling me to breathe, which would have been easier if he wasn't ripping my muscles apart.

The good news is that she did indeed get the inflammation out. And maybe improved the cyst. While is wasn't gone, it did feel better. Hopefully it will be all gone soon - but especially the next time I see Irina!!

*****************************************************************************************

Today's blessings include: picking up Sam and Lindley at the airport; 90 minutes with Irinia

Girls Saturday

Last night Everley spent the night, and this morning Emmatha came over early to also spend the day. Her mom was working and her dad had a big hike planned. Once everyone was in place, we called Moo to see if she wanted to go for some breakfast. And guess what - she did!

Everley picked the place - The Broken Egg, of course. So we loaded up the car and off we went. Everyone ordered her favorite, along with a piece of toast for Emmatha to gnaw on. And Everley made sure our server knew that orange juice was not on Everley's order (darn that fresh squeezed stuff!). Once everyone was pretty well stuffed, we headed back to the Doik where Molly borrowed Sam's car (he and Lindley are in Orlando so his car is residing at the Doik) for some furniture shopping. Once that was done, she brought some Chicken-Fil for our lunch.

The rest of the day was spent playing and watching tv and napping - not saying exactly who did what. Once Maribeth was done with delivering the mail, she came over to pick the girls up and head home.

All in all, a fairly quiet Saturday!

*****************************************************************************************

Blessings today include: Sleepover with the Es; Broken Egg with the Es and M; Molly bringing lunch: playing the day away

Friday

So I had several things I thought I would accomplish today. And as usual, I really didn't accomplish many of them. My neck is still a bit sore, so I did get a hot shower. And I did manage to eat breakfast and lunch, although the Girl Scout Tagalongs that I inhaled shouldn't have been part of the deal. As should have been the candy bar that we got at Princess Weekend that I decided to eat since I had never had that kind before. In other words, I did not eat all that intelligently.

I did manage to catch up on the bills and such and get schooled on how much money I have spent recently. Maybe that's when the candy bar and Tagalongs came into play. Anyway, it's always good to know how much money one has to manage.

This afternoon the chair repair dude came over. I know - chair repair dude? When I purchased our Lazy-Boy den furniture last year (or whenever) I also purchased the warranty. Since it was our first power reclining sofa/sofa/chair set, I wanted to make sure I had back-up. A couple of weekends ago, the chair decided to go all wonky. That means that while it still reclined, about halfway into reclining, it would decide to jerk and bump. So after a week of calls and reciting contract numbers and taking and sending photos, the warranty people decided that my chair was indeed deserving of a service visit. So the chair fixer dude came by and took a look. First he told me that it was good that I accepted this appointment, because he was super busy all this month. Who knew? Apparently the chair-fixing business is in high demand. Anyhow, he puttered around and discovered a plastic thingy had slipped off. That fixed the biggest problem, and probably would have been fine by me. But he kept turning it to go back and forth, and was not happy with what he was hearing. So he kept investigating and discovered that a different plastic thingy was broken. He ordered whatever thingy it was, and said I would be getting a package either of the little plastic thingy or a whole big thingy that he would replace. No wonder he's so busy - he's good!

He left, and I had time to do nothing for awhile before Everley arrived. She's spending the night, so I'm sure we will be having a night filled with Elena and Sofia and whatever else is needed. Emmatha is coming over early in the morning, so tomorrow will be even more fun! Yay for the weekends!

**************************************************************************************

Blessings today include; beautiful day; getting bills paid; chair repair dude and his expertise; changing flights and looking at rooms for June trip

Home Again!

Alas, today we had to leave our room and the ship. We packed the few things we needed in our backpacks, headed to Cabanas for breakfast, and then headed off the ship. Once we had checked off the ship (via our key cards), we headed to the Donald section of baggage claim. There we found two of our bags - and kept searching for the third. After careful searching, and not finding it, we went in search of DCL workers for their assistance. After asking us if we had checked in the Donald section (well, yes we have), if we had airline checked our bags (nope, we didn't), and if we had put the Donald tags on it (yup, did that), they sent other workers about the room to search for the bag. Eventually it was found - with a temporary orange tag on it, I guess in the temporary orange tag section. It would seem that between our room and the luggage room, the tag disappeared. We were just glad that it was found in the room, and not in someone's home once they got home and realized they had pulled the wrong bag.

With all three bags in tow, we went through customs, assuring the customs lady that no, we did not purchase anything. We waited for the rental car shuttle with a few others and soon were on our way to the rental car place. We eavesdropped (one of our favorite activities) on one of the families as the lady we assumed was the wife/mother explained to the assumed husband/father that she had five weeks of vacation saved up.

Once at the rental car place, Molly went inside to retrieve the car while I sat with the bags. She came out and we went to our rental SUV (they were out of the little car category that Molly had reserved). She also said that the car had 2/8 of a tank of gas - apparently they don't gas up the returned cars. Nor do the really clean them, since the previous driver left a parking pass, a parking receipt, and a McDonald's toy in the car. Oh, and they also left a few annoying gnats. Anyhow, first we had to gas up the car, which took a few minutes since with was a flex fuel car and we needed to google if we could use regular gas or would need to find flex fuel.

Eventually we were ready to head to Tampa. We decided to fly out of Tampa because (a) renting a car was cheaper than two rides on the DCL bus to Orlando, (b) flights out of Tampa were cheaper than flights out of Orlando, (c) the ride to Tampa isn't that much of a longer drive, and (d) we could get an earlier flight out of Tampa that would get us home before we would even leave Orlando. And soon we were in Tampa, turning in the car. Which caused another kerfluffle because the car check-in lady charged Molly to refuel the car, while the car check-out lady clearly indicated on the receipt that we only had to leave the car 2/8 full. So Molly had to wait to talk to the car desk lady to get it all cleared up.

I left Molly at the desk and headed with two bags to check in. Once that was done, I headed to the gate to wait for her. Unfortunately I woke up today with a sore neck. When I get a massage, the part I don't like is when they push the trigger points on my neck. Today I woke up with a bump on one of those trigger points. Of course, my first concern was that the staph infection had migrated there, but after realizing where it was, I figured that was the problem. I have a massage scheduled for Sunday, so hopefully it will get worked out then and there.

Soon it was time to fly home. For the most part, it was smooth, until landing in Nashville, where it got a bit lumpy. But we landed, grabbed our bags which were already on the baggage belt by the time we got there, found the car Sam and Lindley had left, and were soon headed home. Molly had a test in her accounting class tonight, so she stayed at the Doik studying until her class. Maggie and Minnie Cats were glad to have some company, and pretty soon it was time to snuggle in bed.

Now when is that next trip ...

**********************************************************************************

Blessings today include: beautiful day for a drive to Tampa with Molly; nice rental car with just a few issues; Molly fixing the car/gas problem/ safe flight home; unpacking before bed