Maggie and I went for an afternoon walk behind our house. Here she is in front of the creek:

Every time I show Wizard pictures of Maggie, he comments on how gray she is with that tiny note of sadness. My response is: Who cares how gray she is? What matters is that she’s happy and active  (she did two walks for a total of 3.3 miles yesterday!).

And here’s a better pic of the creek.

It’ll dry up very quickly, but that’s all water running down from the hills. It flows down behind my house, through more forest land to Youngest’s house. There the creek gets feisty and likes to likes to wash out a convenient back road that we all like to use as a shortcut to Youngest’s house. Naturally I get blamed for this, because I’m his mom and obviously should prevent that from happening, LOLOL.

So that’s my Wednesday Happy, what’s yours?

I hope everyone had a nice Easter and a great weekend! We had rain. All weekend It’s supposed to be dry today, then more rain at the end of the week. Weird, but the weather does what it wishes without consulting me And I’m glad we’ve gotten a lot of rain this year as we need it.

So the weekend was quiet. I cleaned, watched a movie with Wizard and we had a nice Easter dinner of ribs. I also planned a simple cake for Wizard’s birthday and something to make youngest (he never asks me to make him a separate thing, I just do it if I have the time).  Oh and I finally picked up some gifts I had sent to Youngest’s because we were in the middle of painting. It’s pretty hard to hide gifts when every single place with a wall (closets included) had to be packed and moved. Which reminds me, I better get some wrapping paper.

I also finished Larissa Ione’s latest book ” Legacy of Temptation” She’s definitely one of my favorite writers, and that hasn’t changed. For me, though, this one was a bit of a struggled. She is introducing a new generation of characters and I was good with that. But also merging in the older characters and after a while, I grew a tad frustration with not moving on with the main story. I think I’m alone in that, and would bet that most of her fans loved seeing their favorite characters. I have truly developed a form of Reading ADD that causes me to get distracted very easily when there’s a lot of backstory or extras. I will still happily snatch up her next book!

I have no idea what I’m going to read next.

How was your Easter and weekend?

TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. It’s going to rain this weekend. It’s been very rainy this year, but we don’t generally get the same deluges in my area that other spots in California do.
2. My frustration was pretty high yesterday. I spent hours making phone calls and trying to do other people’s job. I really wish people in one medical group or organization would pick up the phone and call the other. I’m just the patient who doesn’t actually have all the various info (and that’s another rant, but we’ll save that for another day). In one case, it’s taken me two days worth of phone calls, but I finally got it resolved yesterday afternoon. On the other issue, I’m still waiting for a return call. The bright spot in all this is that I have spoken to a few really nice people who have genuinely been trying to help, so that’s a win, right?
3. Poor Maggie was so restless while I was trapped on the phone, that I finally ended the call, ate lunch and took Maggie for a long walk. I was proud of myself for just walking away and having fun with Maggie. We found huge fogs and lots of tadpoles in a storm runoff pond. Maggie “pointed” to a few birds. Maggie is not a pointer breed (she’s a mix) but she definitely points. I’ve had a German shorthair pointer and know what that looks like. It’s pretty funny. She actually has a pretty good pointer stance.
4. I’ve been sitting on some good (not professional) news in our family. But still waiting to mention it. It makes me smile every single day.
5. It’s going to be just me and Wizard for Easter, so I think I’ll make ribs. That’s been my plan, but i don’t buy the ribs until a day or two before. Neither one of us care for ham, so ribs it is! I really hope everyone who celebrates has a lovely Easter!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! Happy Easter and have a great weekend!

Tuesday was a long day. Wizard went with me to discuss test results with my ENT, where we learned I need more tests There’s nothing more to report, except right now I’m fine, and my ENT is very engaged and doing what needs to be done. So we can shake off that subject and move on to a subject that recently caught my attention.

In my defense, I was on hold for two hours last Friday (not kidding, it was that long!) to sort out the usual tangled bureaucratic issues so I can get my Humira.  I got it resolved! But while stuck on hold, I decided to go on the social media alternate universe formerly known as Twitter, where I fell down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories regarding Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales. I don’t know the correct formal address for her, but most of you know who I mean.

Whoa, there’s serious crazy brewing down that rabbit hole!

For context, I’m a U.S. resident and have no stake in the British Monarchy. I liked to read about Diana in the old days, and these days enjoy occasional pictures and articles about Kate and her kids. I don’t know her, have no idea who she truly is as a person, but like her public persona. That’s it, that’s my interest. Then I heard she had major surgery, disappeared for a few months, and now she revealed she has cancer.

And the world lost it’s mind, as well as it’s manners, and compassion, in response. I think the palace, or whoever is the PR for that group did a poor job, but even so…to make the terrible accusations has me shaking my head. I’ll even say, sure, some of the pictures had me raising my eyebrows, but I don’t leap to crimes having been committed, bodies hidden, and AI used to cover it up. I don’t think even soap opera writers can come up with some of the wild plot lines I read. What makes me the saddest is near as I can tell, Kate is the most relatable of the Monarchy, and yet, the people behind all these conspiracy theories can’t seem to remember she’s a human being with three children. Could we maybe use a little discretion? Especially after she told the world she has cancer? Or do we just automatically accuse her of lying to cover it up and make ourselves feel better for the things we said before that revelation?

I think that’s what bugs me the most. The blind cruelty in the name of getting some kind of attention or clicks.

At this point, I wish her well and hope she recovers as I would for anyone struggling with cancer or any serious health issues. I especially hope for the best for her kids.

What do you think?

If a “good weekend” consists of working our butts off, then we nailed it! We have the house about 90% restored. All we have left is to hang pictures, and sort through boxes of old books and pictures.  Overall we are super pleased to get the two projects that required so much moving stuff around behind us!

Sunday morning we went out to breakfast which was a nice break. Later in the day, we bought some new luggage. We bought our old luggage a couple decades ago, so it was the roller-type with two wheels. The two new pieces are lightweight, inexpensive spinner bags (the four wheel type that turns 360 degrees).  It’ll make travel to Hawaii in May easier for us.

So it was a productive weekend. Now I can focus on Wizard’s birthday in a couple weeks Both Wizard and Oldest have “big” birthdays in April, roughly two weeks apart.

How was your weekend?

TGIF!! And time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine.

1. The painting is done! It took four days, and dang, they worked hard. They also cleaned up and put furniture back which was awesome. Wizard and I are very happy with the whole experience. Wizard and I have painted houses, but these guys did a much better job then we ever did. We went from white walls to a color called Agreeable Gray. The paint the builder sprayed the house with is awful — it’s chalky and wipes off when I clean spots. This paint should hold up much better. And of course, the baseboards and took a beating from the floor installation (a normal amount). Now it looks fresh and clean! We still have to wash all the floors, then unpack. I really don’t mind though. It’s so nice to get the big projects that require so much physical work done!
2. Maggie has been so good through all this. I thought she’d be more stressed, but she’s pretty much just rolled with it. I think Wizard and I just fear another round of the stress colitis she had after boarding when Wizard had surgery, but I think that was a one off kind of thing. She’s been fine the last two times we took her there.
3. While all this was going on, Wizard talked me into going with him to our sister in law’s house where I learned how to caulk in three bathroom. Um…he lured me into coming with him by telling me I could play with the dog, Bailey, while he did some repairs. He lied When we got there, he handed me tape, glove and caulking and told me to get to work. Well played, Wizard, well played. But we got it all done to the best of our ability. I didn’t mind, I’d rather work than sit around and wait.
4. I’m impressed with my new ENT doctor. His staff called me this week to let me know they had my MRI results and offered me a phone or in person appointment. I chose in person, and they got me in next week. I so appreciate them being on this. And now it’s not bugging me since I know they have the results and we’ll go over them next week. As frustrated as I sometimes get with people who don’t do their jobs, it’s even more important to appreciate all those who do!
5. This weekend, we plan to stay home and work on the house.

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

Is today Wednesday? I’m not even sure, LOL! So here’s what living in chaos looks like in my world today:

It’s going to be two or three more days before the painting is finished, and then we get to move all the boxes back into the correct room and unpack them. Despite my griping, we’re really happy with it all so far. And we knew it’d be like this, and we signed up for it anyway.

I’m picking Maggie up from boarding at noon today. I considered having her stay another night, but we miss her

What’s chaotic in your world today?