I missed posting on Friday! Sorry! The 4th of July threw off my schedule. Feel free to include anything that would have been in your Friday Five in a comment on this post if you like. For me, let’s recap a few things in a Friday Five fashion:

1. We had a mostly good Fourth of July. Wizard and I went to an early dinner, then made sure we were home way before the fireworks started. We did our best to help manage her fear, and she did pretty well. She didn’t shake, pant or pace, and mostly just stayed close to me or Wizard. Still I hate that Maggie gets scared because she can’t understand the booming firecrakers. But overall, I’m proud of her, and us for helping her manage her fear better this year.
2. I made a gluten and dairy free version of thin mint cookies. They are a softer, bigger version, but they work for most chocolate and mint lovers I’m going my best to stay busy while dealing with fatigue and other symptoms (like sudden, dramatic and gross, one-sided nose bleeds as I wait for surgery).
3. Sunday, we went to a little pool party at youngest’s and had a blast. Turbo was there, and so was Daughter in law’s nephew who is a few years older than Turbo. Those two, plus Oldest and Youngest son, had more fun than should be legal splashing all of us, and other assorted pool antics.  Food was great. As a bonus: I made a bruschetta I was happy with, and used basil and tomatoes from my mini garden
4. Maggie had a bath last week and I tried to take pictures of her. The first two attempts she refused to look at me or the camera phone. Then I went over and sat on the wall to contemplate my life choices in getting a dog. Maggie saw me, came over and reluctantly agreed to one picture. Then she made the third pic look like a scared hostage photo. Yet two minutes before that, she was running all over the backyard terrorizing lizards and looking half her age.
5. This week is working on Daughter in law’s baby shower (that’s fun stuff), a hair appointment, pre-op appointment, seeing Biker Witch and trying to stay out of the worst of the heat. Also…I’m thinking lemon shortbread cookies. We’ll see.

Now it’s your turn to share about your weekend and last week if you like! Happy Monday!

You know that sick feeling when you realized you screwed up? I had that moment this week.

So we are moving along, planning my daughter-in-law’s baby shower, and I was thinking I’m on top of things? Then…

I suddenly realized I left someone important off the guest list! The invitations already went out, and she would be aware of that.

Yeah…I did that. I literally felt sick when I realized it! I called the friend and apologized, and she was super gracious and wouldn’t even let me grovel. Even better, she immediately accepted both my apology and the invitation to join us.

She’s awesome and I’m…still a work in progress??? LOLOL!!

It’s all good. I think she really did understand I didn’t intend that exclude her! That’s the important thing.

But I’m clearly not on top of things in case anyone was wondering

Anyone else every get that sick realization? And were you lucky enough to have someone gracious and understanding like I did?

Happy Wednesday!

We had a nice weekend. Some key points:

I bought the second book in a paranormal series that I said I wasn’t going to buy. I bought it before we went to Hawaii so I’d be sure to have enough books to read. Anyone else worry when they’re traveling that they might run out of things to read Anyhow, I wish I’d listened to my instincts and NOT bought it. I canNOT get into this second one after days of trying. The reason I knew buying the second book would be a mistake is because at the end of Book One, the heroine ended up back in her bedroom where the first book began. The beginning to book two is reading about a bunch of brooding in both main characters and we’re waiting for heroine to, once again, “snap out of it” and start fighting. I feel like I’ve already read this storyline in book one. But I deserve it for not listening to myself! I hate when I do that.

Sunday we went to Turbo’s house and visited. It was lowkey and fun. The effort to get there was a total pain for a few reasons, however once we got there, Turbo was happy and full of hugs and chatter. That made all the hassle of the morning worth it! Turbo and family will be going on an amazing trip to Rome and then a cruise to a few spots. I’m excited for them. I would love to go to Italy some day, but right now, this is their moment to go and enjoy!

I’ll back up to Saturday for this story. While eating lunch on Saturday, I told Wizard I was going to go to a candy store. He planned to stay home and do something or other. Seconds before I left, he decided he wanted to go with me. While I looked for the perfect candy for Turbo (Candy shaped like Lego blocks that you can build and eat fit the bill!), Wizard found himself two containers of candy. I was highly amused by this. Wizard has really developed a sweet tooth since he retired. And Turbo liked his candy-gift. Hilariously, his dad (my son) tried to get it from me before I gave it to Turbo for some silly reason, but I easily bypassed Dad’s sad attempts to get between me and my grandson! Also — this is only funny because I told Turbo he couldn’t open it until his dad said it was okay, and he agreed. I wouldn’t actually break the rules, just bend them more to my liking

And lastly, tomatoes!! Here’s a quick pic of my first crop of bing tomatoes from my little plant!

How was your weekend?

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

1. I like cookies. This feels important.
2. Maggie can still catch a lizard! And I can still sort of jump up and down while screaming, “Drop it!” Maggie dropped it–minus one tail–and the little guy scurried under a fence. Maggie was very proud of her stellar lizard catching abilities. I’m not as proud of my reaction, LOLOL! She’s confused by me acting hysterical because I normally don’t act that way. I reassured her I wasn’t mad at her.
3. Monday I had an appointment with a general surgeon who told me this surgery requires an ENT. By the time we got out of that office, I had a blazing headache and a furious husband. So that was fun. It’s a long story why this happened, but it absolutely will get resolved, in fact I talked to a person in my group that assured me it’s already approved. But if not, I’ll could just do the surgery myself, I mean I have a brand new set of knives and I can follow YouTube directions….  (Do I really have to tell everyone I’m just kidding???? But I do really like my new knives for cooking!)
4. I bought a new Bluetooth thingie (it’s the technical word, LOL). I have Bluetooth earbuds that are great for listening to podcasts, books etc. But they suck for anyone on a phone call with me. It’s super staticky and they have trouble hearing me. So I’m trying the single ear device thing. BLB sent a link to one, but I chose a different one. If I was wrong, BLB will make fun of me forever! But also, if I’m wrong, I’ll never tell him, so there’s that!
5. This weekend Wizard and I plan to see Turbo (our grandson). Otherwise I’ll work on some projects and clean. Can you believe next week if Fourth of July????

That’s my five, I’d really love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

Grr, I got sucked into a book before I read the blurb. See I saw a list of books recommended by readers on FB, and I downloaded some samples. Then I random began reading samples, and found this one entertaining. I bought it — then read what I bought.

This category is generally not for me.

But I’m sucked in!

What do I do??? (That’s a rhetorical question — I’ll keep reading because the author is talented enough to suck me in enough to click buy without checking out what I was buying.)

Does this ever happen to you?

P.S. I’m not naming the book because I don’t want to

It’s HOT!! Summer in here in So Cal! Wizard went racing yesterday out in the heat, but he was prepared and came home fine. I appreciate so much that he uses common sense. This kind of heat is dangerous.

My weekend was good. I finally had a couple days that moved at my pace, and I love that. I still did a lot, but I did it on my own timeline without feeling pressured. Plus I made cookies Sunday I went to lunch with a friend I value so much. She’s still working, so we have to meet around schedules, but certain friendships are worth the effort. The only frustrating thing is…well let me back up a bit. I haven’t been feeling great, but I was determined to bring my A game to this lunch. Okay, it was more of a C+ game, but still.

Full makeup, did my hair, choose a cute outfit — black and white striped shirt, white pants, black sandals, and jewelry. I was set. I felt good. I met her at the restaurant. We sat down, ordered some sparkling water and dove into talking. And that’s when I had a sudden nosebleed. In a packed full restaurant. It was my one of my Big Dreads with my nosebleeds come true. I had tissue and eventually it stopped — after getting on my pants. It was, um, a prolific one. Sigh, I tried hard to get the blood out of the pants. It’s faded but still there. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Thankfully, my friend isn’t squeamish and was very helpful. But me and embarrassment got real close in those moments And hopefully no one else saw it. Once that drama was over, we had lunch and a great time. In the scheme of things, it’s wasn’t a big deal.

So overall my weekend was a win – minus a pair of white pants

How was your weekend?

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

1. I finally bought some knives! They were on sale which always makes me happy. I think they’ll be fine for me.
2. The receptionist at Maggie’s vet is my hero! I spent days with Chewy trying to sort out a prescription snafu with Maggie’s food. Basically we just needed a one bag of food and treats before she sees her vet for her annual exam and shots in August. But Chewy was doing things like approving the treats, but saying there was no prescription for the food. Then they sent me an email that the food was approved, but not the treats. Does that sound logical to you? I tried to explain this but customer service could not figure out anything and suggested I get a new prescription. I went in circles for days, and finally I took Maggie to her normal bi-monthly vet-tech appointment, and told the receptionist what was happening. I told her I’d happy cancel the chewy order, and order the food from them instead. But she wasn’t having it, and called Chewy. Within a couple hours, the problem was fixed, the food shipped and now I have it! Maggie won’t starve! In the receptionist’s words were: “They had 85 reasons why this snafu happened, and not one of them made any sense.”  I laughed in relief. It’s not me! I’m not the problem! I also thanked her profusely. (Maggie has prescription food to help prevent bladder stones).
3. I also spent this week trying and failing repeatedly to get test results for my surgeon appointment next week. This would be hilarious if it were a skit on Saturday Night Live. At this point, I’m just going to trust the surgeon’s office has the report. They said they did, so all should be fine. Let’s hope so because I think my patience is running on empty
4. My Cilantro Plant is moody and probably looking to unalive himself. Well, actually, he’s actively trying to unalive himself. My other plants are all happy and well adjusted. But my favorite herb to use just has to be a delicate, moody, unpredictable creature. I may have to decide to NOT like cilantro in my food because I can’t take this heartbreak anymore Or I suppose I could just buy it at the store as needed.
5. This weekend, I’m seeing a friend for lunch! She just got back from Hawaii, so I can’t wait to hear about her trip with her family. It’s a total coincidence that she and I both went with our families about a month apart. We’d both booked the trips before we found out the other was going. Life is so weird sometimes!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours. I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!