Less Hustle More Coffee

Having family in town this week has been great. We also got to eat out a lot. It was the first week with the new dog too. And there were some other things going on behind the scenes that our attention was drawn to. So a pretty fast and sometimes overwhelming week, but God gave us strength to do everything that needed to be done, on top of our full time, out of town jobs.

Here’s some scenes from our surprisingly nice patio breakfast under the umbrella at First Watch. This is the Farmhouse breakfast skillet.

And pics of the family. I catch people in motion doing their normal things. We were laughing at how big Aunt Martha’s pancakes were.

I think this one below is the moment Mom figured out she needed ketchup and coffee.

And Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken. Uncle Ken was driving home and didn’t want a big breakfast.

It was a nice morning with birds chirping. A nice time. Our waitress had a big table and Mom stopped another waitress to ask for coffee. The other waitress was nice to help out. I told Mom I always hated to stop other waitresses because they don’t get the tip.

Here in the US, most of the restaurant servers depend on their tips as the restaurants don’t pay them much at all. It’s always been something I’ve not understood as picky and progressive as our laws can be about pay and work regulations. The 1) pay/tipping and then 2) overworking/expectation of salary individuals seem to be the two biggest pay issues I think in our work force, as I see it. Anyway, I felt bad another waitress was bothered but was grateful the waitress wasn’t ugly. Mom said she didn’t care she just wanted her coffee. I told her we already knew she didn’t care. No surprise there. Bottom line she got her coffee. That is all that mattered to her.

Anyway, the rest of the morning was enjoyable and we had a great time. They took Mom home so they could pack up and leave and then George and I went yard sailing. They had taken Mom for her groceries for the week, for which I’m thankful and they took her to get a new dishwasher. The dishwasher gets hooked up/installed on Tuesday though of this week.

I got a lot of things while yard sailing and I did a video on it which will be two to three weeks from now.

This was on the patio at the restaurant. This was just beautiful. Let me know if you know what it is. Is it Phlox?

I Had Help Packing for our Trip

So Maddie got a bath yesterday. Actually she took a shower with George, lol. He suds her up using a gentle kitchen dishwashing soap that I ordered from Thrive that has natural ingredients. After I drew her off some, she got excited and ran around and Dexter chased her and then she chased Dexter. It was funny. I love the energy dogs get after their shower. Why don’t people do that? lol

I trimmed Maddie afterwards. She is going to be easy to trim. She was good and stayed still, for the most part. I got it done anyway. I am thinking we can do grooming periodically on a professional standpoint and maybe every other time I can do it.Kinda like I do my own hair, lol.

I love packing for trips. I pick out the favorite shirts that are applicable to climate and weather, comfortable shoes, and I always pack too many tops. But sometimes the evening temp and atmosphere is different than the one for day. Florida can be cool at night sometimes with the ocean breeze after a rain. The a/c in restaurants can be chilly too. So I throw extra in there.

Surprise Time at Home

So it was also nice to get some time at home yesterday. It eased my soul and gave me some oomph to my spirit. I was able to get our laundry done. I only have towels and the things to iron today.

Maddie is over whatever she ate that made her have explosive D all over the bathroom. She ate bites of yogurt and cheese. Now she is back to eating again. Thank goodness. I prayed for her and the Lord whispered “no worries, she will be better before sundown”. I whispered back “ok Lord”. She was better before noon.

I was able to take down the Memorial Day table and since we’re going to the beach, I set up our beach themed table.

Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken gave us a big shell bowl. I picture an ice filled bowl with shrimp and sushi for the next party!

George fixed Parmesan chicken for us last night. It was really good.

Life Group

Well our life group was to meet today. Originally was to meet May 21st but then it didn’t come together. Someone said let’s do it on June 4. So most of us said yes. There was no further messages until late yesterday in which most people said they had other plans. Now they are just doing a meeting up during the Sunday night service. However, once we get back to Mount Juliet, we won’t be going back to Lebanon. So we won’t be going. We had planned on lunch all this time.

George and I are big planners and we can flex some, but I felt bad for the lady having it at her house and probably had already bought and cooked some of the food and then it changed at the last minute. I would be so upset if that happened to us. We spend a lot of time in preparation for these things. Anyway I was really disappointed the life group things seems to be more of an after thought. I really love our group, but I guess bottom line – it seems like everyone is just too busy to make it work.

We have a lot going on anyway right now so more free time got dumped in my lap and I’m not mad about it. But I was looking forward to life group. Just not driving back over at the end of the day for it. I have never been one that thought it was necessary to do church at both ends of the day. I just prefer to do everything in one trip. Everyone us so busy. That is why the life group after church on Sunday worked so much better for us.

Everyone have a great week!