What a grand time we had at our friend’s, D & L’s, yesterday. Fabulous time! Table decor very pretty. We ended up having a German-themed meal complete with Grilled Lamb and Brats, German potato salad, orzo veggie salad, and German beer and wine.
The lamb had been marinated. It was similar to Sauerbraten – I think.
Yes that would include bacon there in that German salad and fresh parsley from George’s herb garden! 😉
Don knows I love Kolsch and had warned me ahead of time that it was waiting for me! Love the taste of my “go to” choice of beer when not drinking the light version. It was Don that recommended this type of beer as I said one day I was looking for a medium bodied taste. Spot on! Not too dark and stout, not too Pilsner-ish!
Yay, I cooked some brownies. They didn’t actually cut very good but they were great. I think we have one left! lol
BROWNIES with Choc Chips So I forgot to add the vanilla but they were still good. I also used Dark Choc Cocoa. Recipe is there above in the link. I saved the website to Pinterest so I can go back there. Jack and Jeanne have the website and they have some other really neat recipes. You can follow them by email too at their “Love and Lemons” website.
We got to spend some time with fur babies! And after dinner we hung out in the pool, floating on noodles and having conversations. Good times, good friends.
IT DID OUR SOULS WONDERS! THESE FOLKS ARE FAMILY!
GUS is the little grey poodle and Reese is the Standard brown and beige poodle. So sweet. Love seeing the fur babes.
Reasons to Love Monday and the Start to a New Week
So it’s Monday again. And as blogger friend Heather G used to say “There are many reasons to love Monday if you just look for them”.
I feel refreshed after both a productive and relaxing weekend.
I no longer feel rushed.
It’s George’s birthday week.
I get my nails done after work today.
Going to have fun at the store on Tuesday. (I enjoy the store run when I’m not harried.)
I went through some recipes and have new ones I had saved a while back and will fix for the fam to contribute to the cooking scene.
Mom and I get our pedis together Wednesday night and its rumored we may take home fajitas from the next door Mexican restaurant.
Did I mention it’s George’s birthday week? Lots of meals out this week. Some with friends/family.
I started the next video so I have glee in my soul and have something started to edit in my spare minutes this week.
See you guys back on Wednesday morning! Tomorrow’s my early day so not post tomorrow. Everyone take care.
Saturday morning we went to look at flooring. This is what I’ve picked out. It did NOT take but 10 – 12 minutes – if that. The person who helped us was very helpful. He knew what we needed when we said we had pets. And he took us to the section and I immediately picked the color. He gave us samples to bring home. How exciting. George is working from home Tuesday and they are coming to do estimates.
Since we were close to Paul and Judy’s we stopped by and George settled up with Paul for some things he wanted to buy from him, music related. It was another opportunity for me to say hello to Ozzie again. This time Ozzie seemed more interested in George. Those males bond together.
I tried to get him to look up for the camera.
He wants to bite and chew, still in his puppy stage.
He calmed for a few seconds for a tummy rub.
He has a grey seat! lol lol. And some grey in his tail. He has the shape of Maisy but just different colors.
To Stay or Go
Back to the flooring. There is a difference of opinion in the household as to whether to keep this marble or have the floor extended with the wood laminate flooring and no longer have the tile. The marble means nothing to me. It’s hard to keep clean. The copper tones in the mortar are what jumps out to me instead of the marble. It looks dated. I don’t really want to keep it. My family asks like I’m absurd to even entertain replacing it. A quick Facebook “ask” was met with about 2/3 get rid of it with new and 1/3 keep. I’m one for clean lines and no designs on floors – and pants, lol (tried on polka dotted pants yesterday and felt like a clown).
I’m curious as to what you think. If it stays I’ll be disappointed and kicking myself. It’s just not special to me. Just because it’s marble does not mean it needs to stay. It would be different for me if it didn’t have copper/brown/dark grey mortar in b/w in strange designs/shapes. I say it goes! Plus, all my life I’ve had to “settle” for outdated things. I’m tired of settling. lol.
It’s Puzzling What We Do Around Here…..LOL
The Ravensburger is coming along. I love these puzzles and now I am spoiled and don’t want to work another kind! It’s almost time to work another one. I think the puzzle table is good for us. It gives me something to do in 15 or 20 minutes when there is no time to get into a book or video editing. It gives my mind some time focus on something different. And it is quite fun and relaxing.
Mom has enjoyed it too. We mostly are at the table at different times as our schedules allow.
I finally got all the food “boxes” from Mom’s house all in one long stretch on the living room sofa and out of our way and off the floor. Mom said to use a lot of it. We teased her said “eating her food was her paying rent”. It’s really more about convenience than anything though. If she has it, we use it before going to the store to buy it again. There was some thought about eating it so we don’t have to move it, but really we’ll just be going to the store to buy it again, lol. But who knows it might be different stuff. Some things are dated and should be used I suppose.
I wasn’t sure I took a pic and shared the 4th of July touches to the mantle, or even my “Home Sweet Home” sign. I cannot remember. I added a flag, plane, ad Cracker Barrel game. It seemed to make it more of an “American Homelike 4th of July” touch! I’m leaving it for the summer til we have Labor Day I guess. Then it’ll be time to decorate for fall. It makes me tired to think about it and I hope I can get to my fall decor downstairs. I think I can. I guess we will find out.
We went to church yesterday morning and then out to eat with Richard and Kathy. Had a grand time eating Mexican. I had fajitas. Then we had a meal of corned beef and veggies at home for a late evening meal and watched a couple of my YouTube RVing/Sailing shows.
Update on Mom’s Build Site
Will you look at this? Mom said “My roof is leaking!” lol lol. But look what they have done! They are framing it. The wood came in and it’s being built! It’s going up!
That part to the right, is her garage. Here is the side view. Only one window for the side view. That middle room is like a sitting room or an office. The little slit of a window at the top is the bathroom. The left part is where her kitchen cabinets will be. She will have a window in the front and the back has big windows!
See the back.
It’s going to be so nice. It’s fun to watch it being built.
And that being said, I’m going to have to end the blog and get to work. I need to do make up and hair and pack lunch. It’s going to be a busy and full week this week. Filled with a few fun things, filled with appointments, and a few “to do’s”.
We will have Taco Tuesday, and Mom’s Doc Appt Friday afternoon, Fancy’s Trim on Saturday which should be interesting. I have to make an appointment for Mom to get her hair cut and also have to try and figure out lighting for Mom in the kitchen. We have ordered some lights but I’m not sure it’s going to work. There is already a lot of lighting in our kitchen but she wants under the counter lighting. It’s a little concerning that if she can’t see in our kitchen, how has she been able to drive, and I’m seeing just how little she can see without just sunlight bright lights and upcloseness. So we ordered these lights from Amazon but just not sure they are going to be strong enough. This kind of thing is not my strong suit. What is really needed are the professional ones and we are not buying those just for a temporary solution right now, as we have carpet and flooring to buy. But I was hoping we could do a temporary cheap solution, of which Mom paid for. But I don’t know that what we have is really going to work. Again, this is not my strong suit – lol. I’ll let her pick next time if we send these back. They are rechargeable lights and I’m not sure how we are supposed to hang them and be able to stick them up if we have to continually recharge them. I guess I was hoping we could just lay the bar down and let her use them as needed – as kind of a moveable solution and not fixed under the counter. Again for the 3rd time – this is not something I know much about.
I think there is always the problem of the day to solve. I thought we had most things worked out for her to be able to temporarily live here. She’s also ordered a skillet. We have tons of skillets – both lightweight and heavy but she did not like them and said ours was too heavy so has ordered one.
About the time we get totally settled I guess her house will be ready. I think they will have us do the dry wall meeting in August.
It is a rainy Monday and it looks like we will get to row to work! Ugh! Anyway, I need to get going. Ya’ll have a great Monday. I’ll be back Wednesday.
OHHHHH! And guess what, I’ve really worked hard on the next Video which was our Winter in Tennessee. I think I can have it up and going next Sunday. We shall see! I’m doing the final touches. Trying to edit a few more minutes out of it but I think it’s about as short as I can make it w/o cutting out story line or funny things.
So, ya’ll have a happy week and I’ll see ya Wednesday morning, Lord Willing.
Happy Mother’s Day out there! What a fun weekend always. Yesterday we went to Needham’s Nursery to get plants for the porch and mail box planter. Also George got a pepper plant and a couple of other herbs.
I love the old dogs that laze around the place. Last year we didn’t visit Needham’s and I think it was the first year in many that we hadn’t. You can thank this past year’s situation for that one.
Such a friendly but sleepy little fella! His tail wagged just a little when I petted him.
We also went to Lowe’s to get some picture hanger hooks for a brick wall and a couple of planters for the front porch. While there we got to meet this cutie pie below, Sadie I think was her name. Anyway she is a “party yorkie” because of all her colors. Sweet doggie! Love, love, love the furry face!
We also went to a yard sale and I got some good cookbooks.
And we went to three grocery stores: Kroger, Aldi, and then Houston’s our butcher shop.
Once home, we were a little hungry and had a snack of smoked salmon on cream cheese with horseradish on toasted rye. George added capers to his.
That was a slice of heaven on toast!
We then set about to plant. George was so helpful. He drilled drainage holes in the planters I bought. I didn’t buy expensive ones. I bought plastic that look like terra cotta ones. He also put the dirt in there for me with a shovel so I didn’t have to haul the big bag up there. That was sweet of him to do for me.
So I could see Little Bit, the cat, eyeing this and thinking to himself, “hmmmm Momma’s making me a new bed”. So I put skewers in there to keep the cat out. I think once they get full I can pull them out. lol. I just wanted Mom to have some nice little hearty zincas to look at while on the porch.
George also used the brick holder and hung the “welcome to our HOME” sign. However, this morning it was banging in the wind against the brick so I had to bring it in so it wouldn’t blow down the street in today’s storms. LOL. So he is going to have to screw it into the brick the hard way. Oh well. It looks really good, but the third time is a charm I hope. The first time I leaned it against the wall and it doesn’t look good that way. Go figure. Everyone else bought the more expensive one and that is why theirs works. I bought the cheap one and we have to go to the worlds end to get it to work. I should have paid $25 dollars more and just bought the heavy one that leans against the wall and was easy. But in the end, honestly, I like the looks of this much better than the ones that lean! Once it’s hung permanently.
I also added the stool there for Mom to put her drink. Or me my wine! lol. George said he reserved the right to come borrow that stool as he uses it a lot. I was just trying to keep from buying a little table.
George also cut some rosemary for drying. There is so much of it.
The rhododendrons are blooming and so pretty. I rested for a few minutes after we got back and put groceries up and after planting the zinca. It was nice to sit there for a few minutes and rest and enjoy their beauty.
Somehow I managed a couple of loads of laundry. But the neighbor that just moved in next to us let us know he was finished with the boxes and was letting us have them to move Mom. He had bought some of them so we asked if we could pay him for it but he would not allow it. That was really kind. He also let us borrow two big tubs that he said they used to move cookware as it was sturdy. And we will give those back to them when we are finished.
Then Katy faced timed us and we got to talk to Little Roo. They were smoking some chicken wings outside and hanging out and had Little Roo at the edge of the garage to avoid the heat and wind. He’s a cutie pie.
George fixed us a great dinner last night. Steak, salad, and rice, and mushrooms. I don’t like mushrooms but I like the juice he cooks it in and I ate one!
And that’s A1 on the side. I either like A1 or Heinz 57.
And that’s it for yesterday’s activities. I’ve managed to get some laundry done but I still need to do some ironing. I have some more things to order on Amazon for some upcoming things but I did get my Vit B ordered and a swim suit. Life is just a little crazy right now. Just trying to keep my head above the water.
We have some Mother’s Day activities today. My gift from Katy arrives on Tuesday she said. So we’ll call it Mother’s Day week. 😉 The week ahead will be busy for sure: Mom’s offer deadline and decisions, a hair cut, my 2nd Covid shot, George visits with his friends Jack and Ron, and then probably a big weekend of packing/moving as long as there is a contract on the house because at that point we can start packing the things that are visible as the house will no longer be showing.
And now for rant time:
I have some pain aching above my right breast, almost to the side near my underarm- but I think it’s more like muscle pain, likely from all the lifting yesterday of the groceries. When I flex my arm as if I’m lifting it hurts, like a muscle does. So I don’t think it is heart issue. But I couldn’t find my acetaminophen. I keep buying it and it keeps disappearing! I know I have some at work but I’m at home. I thought we had two bottles of it and now neither are here. Things like this drive me bananas! Nothing stays put ever except what you want something to be moved – then there it sits for a lifetime decaying. :-O I took aspirin, it was the only thing I could find. I put Acetaminophen on the list for the 3rd time in about as many months. I rarely take it so I don’t know where it goes. I have one bottle at work. I thought I had one in my work bag – not there. For someone that is so organized when things go missing it drives me bananas. Also this morning we had to find a cook book I wanted and neither of us could find it. Finally George checked a shelf for the 5th time between us and there it was.
Anyway, off to get going with today and our plans. It’s supposed to storm today – yeee ha. I’m so blue in the face tired of the storms this season. We have had so many. I think we have paid our dues for all the good weather we have had already. I’ve asked God to please weaken them. Let us please enjoy Mother’s Day without being tossed about by the wind and rain! And Lord please help the pain go away! I don’t need this right now. Ok Rant over.
Less Hustle More Coffee 