It was a good weekend.

On Friday, Wizard had a low key birthday. Youngest’s wife was under the weather, so we didn’t go to dinner. I was going to take Wizard out anyway, but he wanted to stay home. He did enjoy the lemon cream cheese cookies

Saturday, Baby Girl and her parents came over. For now, I’ll call her CeeGee. So they came over, and Maggie wanted to see CeeGee before she even got out of her car seat.  I sat her up on the couch, and to our surprised Maggie jumped up there twice. That’s just weird since she only goes up there when her blanket’s out. CeeGee found this all hilarious. She was bouncing and screaming (boys laugh, girls scream, LOL).

However, I made Maggie get down and give her space. I saw possessiveness in Maggie — I think for CeeGee because she was focused on her and loves kids. But I couldn’t be 100% sure it wasn’t about me, and that can be dangerous. I mean I have never seen any kind of aggression in Maggie, but she’s getting older and I never want to be the owner who says, “My dog would never…”  because kids and dogs will almost always prove us wrong. Either way, we established some ground rules. Then Maggie was very good and had so much fun with her. And later in the evening I let her up on the couch with her, and she was well behaved with no problems.  CeeGee also loves Grandpa and helped make his birthday special. We all had a great time, enjoying good wine, a decent dinner and both the lemon cookies and some of the fudge filled chocolate chips ones I took out of the freezer.

At one point, I gave CeeGee a small silicone whisk and my son came in the kitchen, saw her and was so confused. He asked her “Where did you get that?” Did he think almost his seven month old daughter rummaged through my kitchen drawers and found it herself? I finally assured him that I gave it to her and she was perfectly safe. She played with that little whisk through dinner. It doesn’t take much to entertain little ones. Then her mom fed her some homemade baby food. If I had to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing with my kids

While we couldn’t go to Turbo’s game, we got some videos of a two of him at bat, and he got tow hits! He is doing well and having fun!

Sunday was our first quiet day, and we had a discussion about starting to fill in a small patio off the sun room. Two trips to home depot later we have found big pots that were a two-for-the-price-of-one deal, and two pygmy palms that I love! They are so tropical looking and I hope they can survive in the part sun part shade of that area! I was surprised that Wizard likes them too — I always thought he didn’t. More than four decades together and I learn something new about him! The  moral of this story is we can turn any day into a busy day by inventing projects our of thin air, LOL. That section of small patio is a work in progress but that’s part of the fun. And for the record, Maggie supervised but she doesn’t do much actual work.

How was your weekend?

TGIF!!! Why am I always surprised by Friday? Seriously, it shows up every week, so after many decades, I should be used to it! Anyhow, it’s now time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Today is Wizard’s birthday! It’s a bit of a lowkey birthday but still hopefully he’ll be happy. He doesn’t want a cake this year because he says he’ll just keep eating it, LOL.  But we’ll probably go to dinner.
2. I found my packaged seasoning for stew! I’m making it for Thursday night, and to celebrate, I’m making breadsticks to go with it. But I need to learn to build the flavors in stew myself without the aide of my packaged seasoning that has stuff in there I don’t really think is ideal
3. On Wednesday, I went to my granddaughter’s house to take her and her mom for a mini girls lunch for my DILs birthday. Baby Girl was so good! Here she is dressed up like a Little Lady with her sweater and necklace (and no socks because she takes them off, LOL)
4. Yesterday was a marathon and today looks busy too, but it’s all good. But I was pretty impressed that yesterday I walked a couple miles, lifted weights, went to Trader Joes and Costco, washed floors, made stew and breadsticks. Now we’ll see if I can get out of bed today
5. Saturday, Middle Son, his wife and Baby Girl are coming over. I’m planning to make Balsamic Flank Steak for an early dinner. It’ll be really nice to see my son. Wizard saw him when I had the cold, but I haven’t seen him in a while. We will miss Turbo’s baseball game, but we’ll get to the next one!

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

I’ve nearly finished the memoir by a former FB employee. I don’t have much to say about that book– mainly because I never really feel that I’m getting to know her outside of her role in FB, I can’t quite connect with her as a whole person. That’s just me. I believe others really got a lot out of this book.

I also began an audio nonfiction book on Gulags of all things. I heard about the book, and thought, “Now there’s a word I’ve heard all my life, but I don’t really know a lot about gulags.” Sometimes, I worry about my curiosity, LOL! It takes me some strange places. I’ve been listening to that book on my extra walks with Maggie.

Now I think I’ll look for a lighter book for enjoyment — I need it!

On a separate note, I’ve been listening to some podcasts that have very good debaters, and people who can package facts in very interesting ways. I find this talent both enviable and frustrating But dang, I wish I the ability to absorb that much material, parse it that rapidly and spit it back out in such a compelling, articulate way!

What are you reading and/or listening to?

We made it to Turbo’s game. We took Maggie too, but that meant we couldn’t go to Turbo’s house afterward and he was sad about that But he was happy we showed up at his game! He got two single hits, one RBI and two runs scored. He did well, especially since he’s one of the younger players on this team. This, to me, looks like the year that will determine his interest for various reasons. We will see.

So the reason Turbo really wanted us to come over is Uncle Youngest got him a Radio Controlled Truck called a Rustler for his birthday, and he really wanted to show Grandpa and me how good he was getting at driving it. That squeezed my heart hard! We’ll get over there as soon as possible, and we told him that. He accepted it pretty graciously. I was touched that even with a thriving social life at 7, he still wants to see us!

Sunday, I got busy running errands and Wizard wanted the fudge filled chocolate chip cookies, which are a two day process to make, so I’m working on that. My brother in law is home and doing better, and it looks like my sister has it under control. So to no one’s surprise I turned a relaxing day into an exhausting one just doing stuff and forcing in a workout session on top of a two mile walk. Why?  I really don’t have a good answer. On the other hand, we got home Saturday around 3ish and I did nothing except cook and clean up dinner after that so maybe it’s how I achieve balance

But when I’m sore today, it’ll be my own fault!

How was your weekend?

TGIF!! We blinked and it’s Friday again! You know what that means, time to share five random things about our week:

1. My brother in law has been unwell this week (Biker Witch’s Hubby). He’s getting the care he needs and so far, is feeling better. But these days, I like to worry about everyone. And Wizard has his hands full doing what he can for his mom who is dealing with the issues of aging.
2. Wizard got his TSA Pre-check clearance! He was starting to get a complex about that, LOL. He’s thinking about taking a trip to his brother’s house (he lives in Oregon). I’m nudging him to do it. And, I’ve been looking at vacations for us, but that was mostly window shopping at this point
3. Okay, guys, I did it! I got the weave done on my hair, so now silver is threaded through the brown, and it should blend as the gray grows out. So far, I really like it! And I won’t have to get it colored every four weeks now. I will probably want to add low lights over time as more gray comes in, but right now, I’m happy to try something lower maintenance and see how I like it.  Here’s a front and back picture from the back to get an idea (Ignore how I look — these were quick pics Wizard took for me outside in the wind):
4. I made sourdough bread this week. I only mention that because today I tried a new stew recipe that’s still simmering in the crockpot now as I write this. It’s a long recipe and I mixed up measurements on two ingredients and now I’m worried it won’t be good. So see? If if I fail with this recipe, at least we have fresh sourdough so it’s not a total loss! And I don’t have to feel like a total loser, LOL. But okay, even if this version doesn’t come out, I should be able to figure out how to make it better next time. I always had a standby packaged stew mix that I used for years because it was relatively fast and easy and Wizard liked it — then the company changed the packaged formula and it’s not good. So I’m experimenting.
5. Today I have a quick tele-appointment with my endocrinologist in the morning. I expect that to go pretty well. This weekend, I don’t have any big plans as of yet (I’ve kind of held off making them to see how my brother in law is just in case my sister needs something). Next week though I’ve planned to take my daughter in law to lunch (with Baby Girl!) on Wednesday for her birthday, and then they are all coming out that weekend for a visit so we can see our son too. We may go to Turbo’s baseball games on Saturday, but we’ll see.

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

I just finished an audio book titled DON’T BELIEVE HER. The story question was good, but the heroine was annoyingly stupid in the crap she did. It was almost painful to listen to. However the mystery of “Is the woman who shows up claiming to be the missing daughter/sister really her?” kept me listening. In the end the twists were very twisty and I ended up not believing much of the book. All that said, I didn’t hate it, I just found it annoying on a few levels, while the story question kept me intrigued.

On my Kindle I’m reading CARELESS PEOPLE by Sarah Wynn-Williams. It’s a memoir of sorts, but at about half way through the book, and this is my opinion so far: I’m seeing a bit of an authenticity problem. Let’s say I believe there’s truth in here, along with some creative arrangement of facts to come out the one and only heroine at FB, while everyone else in the company is careless (and sometime downright uncaring of who they were hurting). Also, the policy debates are boring, and repetitive to the point that I forget her original objection to the policy or action. But I do know that her objection, or in some cases, her push to take some action or other, is always based on her (her word) “idealism.” I know that because she talks about her idealism constantly. Sigh…idealism is a philosophical view and frankly, a vague word. I get that she’s idealist…in something. But what?

I mean I’m idealistic in the sense that I believe society should help make sure children are fed, safe and educated because children don’t ask to be born into crappy or impoverished families. And then I could give you several concrete examples of what actions, laws and/or programs I think are are helpful to my view of an idealistic society. So, for one basic example, I believe that if there’s provable physical abuse in a family, there should be lawful intervention to protect, feed and educate the child. And there should be consequences when parents cause intentional harm to their child (not discipline, but harm).  Society needs to have some safeguards to protect children when parents can’t or won’t do it. Another example, mandatory car seats are good, while I don’t feel that strongly about seatbelts for adults, even if I always wear mine. So now if I worked at Facebook and had an influence in policy,  you’d have a general idea what I’d be willing to fight for and against when it comes to kids and Facebook. I believe in protecting kids. But her idealism seems to be less defined, and a more generalized version of “I’m the good guy” in all things. I want to understand exactly what this author’s idealist views are in concrete terms so I understand what’s shaping her choices.

But again, I’m only half way through and maybe I will have a clearer picture once I read more. I don’t regret reading the book, just….hoped for something a bit more honest and authentic, and a little less…idealistic.

That’s my reading at the moment, what are you reading?

The weekend was just what I needed!

Friday, our TSA appointments were so easy! I was expecting some kind of beurocratic interigation. But Wizard and I got classified as uninteresting and we were there maybe 15 minutes total. We’d already filled out the paperwork, gave them our passports, then got fingerprinted and photographed. Paid the fees and we were done. Easy.

I had my approval on Saturday and Wizard’s still waiting for his I’m teasing him about that. I am guessing I had a faster approval because I’ve never traveled out of the US while has gone to Europe for business. Not a lot, but probably enough to slow the system. I guess…or it’s just random luck. Who knows. I expect his will come through this week. But there’s no hurry, we really don’t have plans at the moment.

The rest of Friday, Wizard went to hang out with some friends and that gave me a chance to do some stuff in the house.

So on Saturday, we decided to go to Turbo’s game and I finally got around to texting his parents about a half hour before we left. We packed up what we needed, including lunch, gathered up Maggie and hopped in the car to go. We got to the end of the street when Oldest called to say Special K and Turbo were a little sick and not going to the game. Dang…but we circled the block and went home.

Maggie was confused, LOL.

On the upside, I had a lunch packed and ate that at noon. So easy! Then because Maggie got gypped on going to Turbo’s baseball game, I took her to Home Depot to look at plants and walk around the store. She loves that. Then I took her to Petco, where I picked out a collar for her, and Maggie picked out treats. She first chose rawhide bones and I said no (because she will throw up and they aren’t good for her) so she then chose some baked chicken sticks. Then she made friends with an employee and got lots of pets. Then we went home and I gave her a chicken stick. She loved her day out and her treat! It may sound dumb, but after this busy week, she seemed to really appreciate just spending some time with me like that. Or maybe it was me that liked it!

Saturday afternoon, I read and rested. I’ve been tired and a tad achy from changing my meds (under a doctor’s orders) this week. Saturday night I finally slept well, suggesting that some intentional rest during the day really helped.

Sunday I felt great. Wizard went racing, and I was able to organize some stuff, clean bathrooms and wash floors. Now I feel more on top of things again. I had just finished that when Youngest and his wife stopped by. Then Wizard got home in time to visit with them too.

How was your weekend?