My weekend was fine.

Friday, Biker Witch wasn’t up to going out, so we rescheduled for this week. I went to the Home Store, because it’s time to start adding the small touches to our house. Well except for wall art because Wizard really really wants to paint. Anyhow, in the space of ninety minutes I’d filled my cart with artificial plants and decor…but only ended up buying two small items. I’m cheap and a danger to myself I’ll also needed to think about the spaces and measure a bit. Now I think I might go back this week and pick up a few of the items I’d put back.

Saturday it rained as predicted. The hills are getting really green and probably the poppies will bloom soon. I doubt we’ll have the same hysteria we had a few years ago. Pretty sure people have moved on to whatever the trend of the moment is.

Sunday, we had a few rain showers mixed with moments of stunning beauty when the sun broke through. Maggie and I walked a couple miles, then we (and Wizard) took the pressure washer back to middle son’s house. It’s always fun to see him and hang out with his dogs (my daughter in law was running errands). Maggie was thrilled to see middle son and made sure he pet her before doing anything silly like hugging his mom. I noticed it’s a little harder for Maggie to jump from the ground into the seat of the SUV. This has been happening for a couple months, and she’s had two misses. I kept letting her try it, and fortunately, this time she stopped and thought about it. She figured out to hop up to the floor board first then onto the seat. While I really don’t want her to get hurt, I believe it’s best for her to learn her limitations and how to work around them as she ages. The other option would be me constantly hovering over her rather than her making good choices herself. But dang, it’s hard to stand there and let her fail to figure it out.

I’m still reading Larissa Ione’s latest book. I love her books, so it’s just me. My reading moods fluctuate daily, LOL.

That was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF! Let’s dive right into sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Well start with Monday. My friend’s husband passed away. I didn’t even know he was sick, which makes me even sadder. Even worse, her daughter passed away just a few months ago. My heart just breaks for her. On top of that, I’m worried about Silver, but trying not to bug her for an update. I just want her to get well, and I’ll wait as long as it takes to find out how she’s doing. The rest of the week was much better.
2. I accidently had a package delivered to our old house. Sigh…anyway, I went over to pick it up and discovered the new owners have a 2 week old baby! I am thrilled for them. They had mentioned to us they could envision themselves having and raising a family in that house, and now they are living their dream. I seriously smiled the rest of the day. Also the baby was so cute!
3. I ran to Target for one thing, and if you know anything about Target Math, you probably know that I went into buy a tub of Greek yogurt for roughly $5.00 and came out spending more than $80.00, LOLOL. But what I remember was the little girl sitting in the front part of the shopping cart swearing. And the mother’s seemingly slow and uninspired reaction. I’m NOT blaming the mom — I didn’t have long enough exposure to her and her child to really know the situation. Heck the “mom” could actually have been the big sister and a babysitter for all I know. Little kids swear, but what I was thinking about is how much more small children are exposed to the things we once tried to shield them from until they were a bit older and could begin to understand things like how and when it’s acceptable to use certain words, general politeness and the consequences of breaking rules (and embarrassing mom in the store :-). Cell phones and social media have changed the parenting game in a way that just makes me tired. I don’t have answers.
4. Today, I’m meeting Biker Witch for coffee. I’m really looking forward to that.
5. This weekend, I have a vague idea of seeing Turbo, but I haven’t talked to my son or daughter-in-law yet to see if they’ll be home. They are super busy as Turbo is starting his baseball season now, plus his martial arts, and there’s always kids playdates and birthday parties. He keeps his parents busy, so we’ll see!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

This week started off with some shocking sadness. I suspect the rest of the week will hopefully be better, but I’ll talk about that on Friday. Right now, let’s ignore the sad stuff, and talk about Maggie instead

Here’s Maggie when I try to make her pose for a picture:

She’s looks old and dejected. She is old, but she’s still her cheerful, sweet self and that usually shows through. Unless I pull out my phone and open the camera, LOL.

Here’s Maggie in her natural happy state of lizard hunting. If I remember right, she was stalking something in his shot:

To me, it’s a huge difference. She looks more fit and engaged. Her age shows, but who cares, she’s doing what she loves!

Which means we should be doing something we love! What do you think?

Happy Wednesday!

It was a pretty good weekend.

Friday, we went to my brother in law’s to power wash the outside of the house. Wizard always underestimates how much time it will take. He assured me it’d be no more than two hours…Bwhahahaha!! I think it took five hours. We were exhausted when we got home, but happy to get it done. My brother-in-law had been sick for a while, and some of his house is north-facing, so there was a buildup that needed to be cleaned up. Middle Son’s powerwasher was up to the job! He’d told Wizard and I exactly how to do it, and he was right! But nothing Wizard and I do can compare to all the work my sister-in-law has done in the house, and that’s while enduring harsh grief. Her strength and resilience are amazing.

Saturday we did some cleaning, then I made these mini chocolate chip Bundt cakes filled with chocolate frosting:

I have some things on my mind, and baking keeps me occupied. If I can’t pawn these off on Youngest, I’ll free most of them.

Sunday, I took Maggie to Petco to pick out a surprise. She hasn’t been anywhere in a while, and I wanted her to have a little fun. While waiting in line to pay for her surprise, three people commented on what a happy dog she is because she was doing her happy-silly-girl-dance. I just shook my head at her ridiculous antics. I should have made her sit and stay but I just let it go. Even though I’ve been walking her two miles daily, she needed to get out and socialize a bit. A little attention was good for her. Then she came home and chewed her stick. Now I just hope it agrees with her. I don’t let her have things like that often.

That was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF!! The weeks seem to be flying by. Now it’s time to share five random things about our week, here’s mine:

1. I got a call from my medical group that my Humira medication has been authorized. I’m really surprised it happened that fast. I’ll call the specialty pharmacy today to see if the authorization has shown up in their system. If all goes well, I’ll get it next week and only be roughly a week late, which usually doesn’t cause me problems.
2. I found a way I like sweet potatoes. I don’t hate them, I just don’t really like them and will usually choose something else if I can. Anyway, I roasted them in some olive oil and taco seasoning, then I use them to build a taco salad. I loved it. I still prefer russet or most of the other potatoes over sweet ones. And don’t even make me look at those yams covered in marshmallows I don’t even know what that goop is supposed to be — a starch or dessert!
3. With this house, our great room (kitchen, dining and living area) is in the back. Maggie has window to the world in the front of the house, and has taken to alerting us if she sees someone coming to the door, often to drop off packages or leave flyers. She just barks a time or two and comes to get us, wanting us to check it out. I’m not sure if it’s age, access to a front window or just the layout of the house making her feel she needs to alert us to people walking to the front door. Dogs are interesting! We always check and tell her she’s a good girl. She doesn’t harass people walking by, so it’s a behavior I like.
4. I’m listening to Kristin Hannah’s THE WOMEN, a fiction about an army nurse serving in Vietnam and her life after that. I like it. I just started reading Larissa Ione’s THE LEGACY: A Demonica Birthright Novel. I’m not far into it, but really like it so far.
5. Today the plan for Wizard and I is to go to his brother’s house (his widow’s house now), and do some power washing on the outside. We borrowed Middle Son’s power washer and then the rain keeps delaying getting this done. I don’t think Middle needs it back soon, but Wizard and I want to get this done and return it soon anyway. Otherwise, the rest of the weekend is up in the air. We have some ideas but no solid plans yet

That’s my five, now I’d really love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

It’s been rainy but nothing huge here in our area. Some places have been hit hard, so I’m not minimizing this. But dang, in our neck of the woods, it’s just wet, muddy and dreary. Maggie and I are used to more activity. However I did get my MRI for my throat approved and scheduled, so that’s good news. The scan is in March, and by then it’ll be 8 months since I started trying to get help. It’s getting worse, but still more annoying than causing any real problems that we know of so far. I can eat and swallow, and that’s kind of important At least, we’re making progress and I’m happy enough about that.

The sigh-and-wait thing is my Humira medication. This is a once a year challenge to get this — we seriously play the same game every single year. Just imagine me rolling my eyes as I’m making endless calls between the specialty pharmacy, the doctors office, and my insurance, and begging them all to contract the right people with the right information to get the proper authorization. It’s bureaucracy at it’s finest. I guess it keeps my busy? And I’m always grateful when the rest of the year goes smoothly too.

Back to the rain, I’m amusing myself by thinking of absurd or fun plots Still not writing, no real plans to write, but making up plots is fun! Although,  a quick aside, Youngest suggested I write a cookbook or cooking/baking website — but I think that’s because he wants all my recipes

How’s your week going?

Eh, it was a weekend. I spent time prepping food for having Youngest and his wife over, but they weren’t able to come over (through no fault of their own). Since I had so much food, I dropped some enchiladas, Spanish rice and cake for them. Life happens and we’ll reschedule.

I made the gluten and diary free cinnamon cake — I think it needs a bit of work. I have some ideas

Otherwise, I read “VERITY” by Colleen Hoover. That book was a surprise! It turned out to be a bit of a psychological suspense with a dark twist, and I inhaled that book. I don’t read many of Colleen’s books (though I know who she is and I’m happy for her amazing success!) but this was NOT what I was expecting. So that was fun and slightly disturbing, LOL.

We have more rain on the way, although I’m not sure when it’ll start as I write this late Sunday afternoon. The clouds have moved in, and the air is getting heavier so sometime in the next 12 hours maybe? We’ll see.

So my weekend was uninspiring weekend, how was yours?