Great Weekend!

What a great but busy weekend we had! It started Friday when we arrived in Muskegon to spend a couple days with Andy's family. Amber, Andy and Quinn had arrived a few hours before us, his sister Katie was there with her 3 children, his other sister Kerry and her husband arrived shortly after we did and his younger sister Molly arrived after we all went to bed! We spent the afternoon in or around the pool. The water was a little cool but Quinn loved it! It was her first pool experience.


Here she is taking a little break.


The little family.


Chillin' with Granddaddy H on the porch.

She wasn't napping much but I managed to get her to sleep for 15 or 20 minutes.

Amber's friend Nicole and her boyfriend and his son arrived a little bit later.

We were all treated to ribs and salads for dinner.
Saturday was another day spent around the pool. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! It was so nice visiting with Andy's family. They were so sweet to invite us to spend a little more time with Amber, Andy and Quinn.

We headed home around 4:00 to get things ready for Sunday when Amber, Andy and Quinn were coming to visit us!

They arrived Sunday around 11:30 and soon after Amber and I headed off to the grocery store to grab a few things to take to our friends house where there was another pool for Quinn to enjoy! It was another gorgeous day and we all (except Quinn) got a little sunburned I think!

Quinn seemed to enjoy spending time with Scott. He thought she had grown so much since he'd seen her in January.






I was so proud of Zoe and Charlie. They were so good with Quinn. For two dogs who haven't been around kids they did great. They wanted to sniff her toes and fingers and Charlie really wanted to lick her face but he moved off when we asked him to. His barking (which we kept to a minimum) didn't seem to scare her either. They both came running if she cried or seemed in any kind of distress. The hardest thing for them was staying off Scott's bed which was where Amber & Andy were sleeping. Every chance they got Charlie was up on the bed. Zoe stayed down when asked to. They had their heads up there though trying to see what she was doing.




Our time together ended all too quickly. The weekend just flew by and they had to leave around 4:30 today to catch their flight back home. We so enjoyed Quinn's visit (Amber & Andy too) to Michigan. They said she was great on the flight over (another first: first plane ride) and I just hope she was good on the way home too. The only thing worse than listening to someone's crying baby on a plane is being the baby's parents trying to get her quiet!

Back to the grind tomorrow. I will be in serious countdown mode! We only have 4 days this week which will include the 4th and 5th grade picnics so there won't be much work those days, a full day next Monday which includes the 5th grade award ceremony and then Tuesday and Wednesday are half days! Then I am officially unemployed. Let the closet cleaning begin!!!

Have a great week!

I Wish I Could Say...

That the whole weekend was beautiful, including the Friday I took off as another mental health day. But no, can't really say that, however today is absolutely gorgeous! A perfect Michigan pre-summer/feels like summer day!

I did take Friday as another mental health day, probably the next to last I will take. It rained almost all day, hard at times, drizzle at other times, but most of the things I had to accomplish were inside things anyway. The day started with a trip to the groomer for the pups. They were so excited, until we actually got there!

From there I went to the eye Dr. and almost two hours later I was more than $300 poorer and had my new glasses ordered. And I have insurance, and so does H, two insurances, working together and I still have to pay more than $300 for new glasses. And this was a discounted amount! The first price she gave me was almost $500! I was all, I'm sorry, I can't pay $500 for glasses and just what the heck is my insurance paying, may I ask? She had just arbitrarily added on a few things for me, assuming I wanted them like anti-glare, the best lenses, etc. No, I want the minimum, just some glasses that I can see out of and don't make me look like an old hag! Can we just try that?? I find the problem with trying to pick new glasses is that when I'm trying them on and trying to check myself out, I can't really see all that well. Kinda makes it hard to see if the glasses really look good or not. And then you are pretty much just trusting this person who doesn't even know you to tell you that yes, those glasses look great on you! Of course she's going to say that. She's trying to sell me some freakin' glasses!

My next stop was at the Secretary of State's office because I wasn't able to just reapply for my driver's license through the mail this year. I had to go in person, show my social security card and have a new picture taken. That took all of 10 minutes and I was thrilled and out the door! My new license will arrive in the mail in about 10 days, perfect!

From the SoS I headed home for a quick lunch and just about the time I finished that the groomer called to tell me my beauties were ready to pick up. And beauties they were! Just look at them!! She really took a lot off of Charlie and he desperately needed it. He was lookin' pretty shaggy!

But look how pretty they turned out! So much better.


Here they are, concentrating really hard on what I'm saying. I think it was something about a cookie or walk or somethin'.


Here's where Charlie heard the refrigerator door open. Notice Zoe still focusing on her Mama. What's that Mama? Did you say something about getting me a cookie?


Oh yea, I heard that, a cookie. Good job Zoe, never even blinked!


Saturday was another rainy day. I wasn't actually too sad about the rain because when I went out to the garden on Wednesday to water my newly planted veggies, I was met with the news that the pump was broken. That rain was just what saved me from having to lug water out there and carry it out to my plots by hand. So, I couldn't complain on this day about the rain. Besides, it gave me a chance to do some laundry, make pasta salad, catch up on my blog reading and other fun stuff. Oh, but I almost forgot. We did see this little cutie!

It's a little gosling. It ran out from behind the house across the street, got caught by the dogs across the street, we thought it was dead but it was only playing possum, then ran like heck to the front of our house. This is where he was when the picture above was snapped.

Then I herded him to the back yard in hopes that he would catch up to his parents again. Never a dull moment her in suburbia!



Today is another story! It is absolutely the perfect day. Sunny, light breeze, low humidity, warm, probably in the low 80's. Although this is how the day started out.

It was quickly gone though and the rest of the day was perfect. We started with a ride out to the plant nursery in the mustang. It was a good day to have the top down. From there I took the pups up to the field.


They really wanted to run but didn't last long as it was really HOT out in the sun. They were both draggin' by the time we walked back to the car.



We started to take a short cut through the woods but just a little way in the trail turned to nothin' but mud so we decided to turn around and head back out.



Then as a treat, since they were both panting like crazy and seriously hot, I decided to dig the old pool out from under the deck so they could cool down. Plus Zoe had decided a mud puddle was a good place to cool off while we were up at the school and she was a mess.

Even Charlie went in this time without any hesitation. He won't lay down like Zoe does but he was having him some good old fashioned fun!




After that H and I went out to the garden to see how things had faired this week and if they had enough to drink with all that rain!

Things were lookin' good.

The radishes are growing really well. I'll have to thin them out soon. I hate that job! I want them all!


My potatoes have made a recovery. They were nipped pretty badly by the frost we had a couple weeks ago but they are growing back really well.


This is one of the first broccoli I planted. It's doing much better than the others so far.

This is the view of plot 1. Things are doing well. I transplanted the pumpkin vine I'd been nursing along in the basement. It will have lots of sunshine and warm temps this week so we will see how it does. While we were out there we checked on the pump situation and it looks like they've managed to fix it which was good news. No hauling water in our future!

In other news, Tyler had a three day weekend so he and a couple friends took a bus/train trip to Seoul for the weekend. He said he had a good time walking around and even visited a Palace. Can't wait to see those pictures! He's also excited because his first real pay day is this coming week! Just in time too as his loans are already starting to become due!

Scott started his new job last night. Well, the training part anyway. He works two days this coming week and he can really use the money. I sure hope he's gonna like it.

We are all really looking forward to Memorial Day weekend next week! Amber, Andy and Quinn will be flying to the West side of the state on Friday to visit Andy's side of the family and they have graciously invited us to come also. They are going to have quite a houseful by Saturday morning as 4 of their 6 children will be there with spouses and children. Quinn will finally get to meet her last Aunt and cousins! She's already met the rest of her Aunts and her Uncle. Then AA&Q will come back to our place and wind up the weekend on the East side of the state, including visiting some friends here. Should be a great time and the weather is supposed to cooperate which will add to the fun. We are hoping to give Quinn her first ride on the Mustang.

But first I have to go watch the finale of Lost! I hope I can figure out what the heck is going on.

Have a good week!

Happy Birthday Amber!

And it's one of the "big ones"! Or so it seems to her. They always seem like the "big one" when you're in the middle of them.

She's seen lots of things in her 30 years, gone lots of places,


made lots of friends,

had lots of experiences

and lived in a few interesting places.

She got to spend the day with one of her favorite people. How fun!

Happy Birthday Baby!! xoxo

Finally, some decent weather...

Yes, it's been gorgeous this weekend! I took Thursday off for another mental health day and it poured all day long. On Friday the sun came out and it was beautiful, though a little cool. Saturday was sunny and a bit warmer and so was today! Finally!! This is the first dry, sunny weekend we've had in almost a month!

Friday night was our last bowling and the "Fun Night". On Fun Night we play 9-Pin, No Tap which means that if you bowl a 9 on your first ball it counts as a strike. I couldn't throw many of those and my score ended up being below average for all 3 games. I guess I was just finished. Our team ended up in 4th place though only 2 points out of second. I guess that wasn't bad since most of the season we bowled with only 3 people instead of the usual 4. Our team won just a little over $100 and after we split that it was just about enough to cover dinner afterwards.

Saturday morning we headed out to the farmer's market to try to score some more plants for the garden. Howard wanted to take the Mustang but it was a little cool on the ride there so we kept the top up.

I was disappointed that the lady I had been to a couple weeks ago, that I was hoping to come back to and buy plants from, wasn't there so we only ended up with a few veggies. I did score some Black Cherry tomatoes though. Can't wait to see what they look like. On the way home we put the top down but it was still a little cool but at least it was sunny. When we got home we decided to head out to a nursery that's a ways from home. I had only been there once on a Kindergarten field trip a few years ago but I had heard good things about it. It was a nice drive out there and we weren't disappointed once we got there! We got all kinds of good veggies. I will definitely be going back there again.

Zoe thinks I need to add a few more flowers to this pot.

I spent the rest of the afternoon planting things in pots, window boxes and even a few things in the ground.





Then we sat out on the deck and enjoyed it!


They had this beautiful Martha Washington geranium too that H really wanted for this beautiful Isabel Bloom pot that's been gathering dust in the garage.


I used to have it in the house but since I only keep a few house plants now I don't keep anything in this pot. The fact that it doesn't have drainage figures in too. That's why I'm keepin' it on the porch.

I was able to take the pups to the high school field both days and boy, were they happy!! They ran and ran and jumped and jumped until they couldn't go anymore. They are looking very shaggy though so I'm hoping to get them into the groomers this week.








This afternoon H and I went out to the garden to plant what we bought yesterday. Things were looking ok out there except it looks like my potato plants got zapped by that last frost. They are starting to come back a little but I don't know what will happen from here. I'm hoping they make a comeback. The onions were doing well and so were the radishes and the carrots are finally starting to come up.

So, today we planted 7 different kinds of tomatoes, banana peppers, green peppers, green beans, some white onions, some more broccoli, zucchini, some marigolds along the front edge, and a little herb garden of parsley, chives, thyme and rosemary.

Now I'll be praying there is no frost in the next two weeks. This next week the temps should be fine. The lowest I saw was in the mid 40's and that should be ok. We are supposed to have rain tomorrow and Tuesday and then temps are supposed to be really warm, in the 70's. That will be good news for the garden.

I really hope things will do well out there. When I was digging holes for the tomatoes I ran across many worms so that is a really good sign.

The lettuce on our porch is doing great! We had some of this for dinner tonight!


In other news, Amber, Andy and Quinn spent the weekend in NYC. Amber really wanted to go there as an early Birthday trip and to visit some friends she hasn't seen in a while, most of whom haven't met Quinn yet. She was having a picnic lunch in Central Park on Saturday and I'm sure many of her friends were able to come by to say hi. I can't wait to hear how Quinn liked NY. I'm hoping they got some really good pictures of her.

No news from Tyler this weekend. I'm hoping that means he was off having some fun. A friend from Hawaii was supposed to be there visiting another friend so he was planning to spend some time with them. It sounds like his school is going well and he has a little free time every day to prepare and finish his online orientation. (Update: I finally did hear from Tyler. It's Monday morning there and he's at school but he had a nice weekend, including seeing Robin Hood in a Korean theater. He said it was a nice theater and had Korean subtitles.)

Scott also had an exciting weekend. He got a new job. He hasn't been making much money at his current job as business has been off and he's been sent home early many nights. This is another bar-back job but it's a new restaurant/bar and two of the bartenders are former waitresses at Mr. B's and they say they are making much more now at this new place and they recommended Scott for the job. It's more hours (and days) and a bigger cut of the tips so hopefully he can make some money this summer. He hasn't heard from SCAMP so it doesn't look like he will get that job. There is a new Director this year who doesn't know him so who knows how they will pick people for this year.

So, that's it for the weekend. I crossed a lot of things off my to-do list but I still have to clean my aquarium tonight. I got some new fish a couple weeks ago and I don't want to poison them by not changing their water often enough.

Have a great week!