I had a weird thing happen at Costco. It’s only weird because it hasn’t happened in a long time.

While checking out I noticed the checker’s name was Norma. All I thought at the time was, “Hmm, I haven’t seen that name in a long time.”

Then I went to the guy who checks the receipt on our way out to make sure we’re not stealing. (It’s so freaking annoying after just spending a big chunk on money). His name was Frank. Okay, well that’s a pretty common name.

I was freed from Costco, loaded my loot and jumped in the car. On the way home, two characters, Frank and Norma, popped into my head. I don’t know anything about them, except this is unlikely to be romance because those aren’t names I’d pick for a romance. I don’t even know what they’re doing except hanging around and making me ask a lot of questions.

So that was my unexpected, but welcome, company. I don’t expect anything to come of this pop in visit, but it sure was fun to let them keep me company as I drove home from Costco. We’ll see if they stick around nor not

How’s your Wednesday going?

Oh look, Monday arrived right on time So our weekend was good. Saturday I cleaned and prepped to have youngest and his wife over on Father’s Day. They are absolutely the easiest people to have over for dinner. So the cleaning and prep was most anxiety driven to keep myself busy while dealing with an insurance curveball in my treatment. Things will be fine, it’s just my inner control freak doesn’t like it, and I had to physically exhaust her to shut her up And yet she still wakes me up in the night to uselessly fret. She needs drugs, LOLOL! The same inner control freak drove me crazy when I was writing, along with the characters waking me up to chat in the middle of night. I’m used to voices in my head

Sunday (Father’s Day!), Wizard and I went out to breakfast to a place we haven’t been to since well before Covid, and really enjoyed it. I had a Mediterranean omelet with feta cheese. It was so good! That afternoon, youngest and his wife came over and we had a fun and relaxing time. We ate and laughed way too much Maggie was exhausted when they left.

How was your weekend, and if you celebrated Father’s Day — how was that?

TGIF! It’s been another fast week for me. Okay let’s jump into sharing five random things about our week.

1. I’m fighting with my voicemail. It tells me my password is not valid. Then I got it two work for two days. Then back to not working. So frustrating! I’ve been to Verizon once, and of course, it worked while in the store. I asked them to take the password off, but they said they can’t and tried to upsale me another feature (for an additional monthly fee). I left. But last night, in desperation, I tried to add the new feature last night. So far it’s not working, but maybe it needs time…I dunno. I’ll probably be back at Verizon today.
2. I got my hair cut, but am holding off on changing the color. I’m thinking about doing something that blends brown and gray, but I’m not committed yet. Plus other stuff is going on at the moment so we decided to just trim it up, and see how things go health wise first, then think about changing the color.
3. Huge Kudos to Wizard for finding us Homeowners Insurance! Ours went up thousands (and I mean multiple thousands!) and many insurance companies have left the state, while the very few that remain refuse to insure us. I’m fully aware that many states are going though this, but since I live in California, I feel justified in adding that the state has contributed to it as well. (I try to only comment on the state that I live in ) I will be sending the Insurance Commissioner some helpful information <insert as much sarcastic anger as possible into this comment>. I’m over it. While I love California for many reasons, it doesn’t make me blind to her faults.
4. So this is a long story short: It looks like I’ll be having another surgery to remove at least part of my thyroid. The hope is to keep my thyroid function. It sure has been a crazy ride, but overall, I’m feeling good and everything will be fine. We’re waiting for authorization then we’ll schedule it. I’ve seen a lot of doctors, had a lot of tests, and the one that sounds the worst — a needle in my throat — was the easiest, quickest and the most informative! That cracks me up. Again, I will be fine. This is just something that needs to be taken care of.
5. Sunday is Father’s Day and I want to wish all the dads out there a Happy Father’s Day! Oldest son is traveling, we just saw Middle last weekend, and I think Youngest and wife is coming over for dinner on Sunday — but that’s a loose and flexible plan. I’ll take Wizard to breakfast too. It’s a good day to celebrate dads and all they do!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend, and Happy Father’s Day to all the dads!

So, I don’t want to brag or anything, but I’ve kept a small tomato plant alive for like, two weeks now.  With real baby tomatoes on it! It’s snacking tomatoes type (I can’t remember the real name — but the grape-like tomatoes that grow well in a planter rather than that ground). I’m impressed. So far my basil, cilantro and thyme are doing well too — but to be fair, those are pretty easy.

I truly do not have a green thumb, so I’m always happy when I haven’t murdered plant life…at least not yet. Stay tuned though, LOL! This could turn into a Murder Mystery at any time. The mystery part being “How did she murder the innocent plants this time?”

What’s your Wednesday brag?

Crazy, LOL!! It was a very good weekend. But —

Friday, we did things I can’t remember during the day. Then that evening, Youngest, his wife and her mom came over. Maggie had the best time of her life getting everyone to talk to, and pet, her. However, I made Youngest mad when I said I think Maggie likes his mother-in-law better than him He insisted she liked him the best. The whole conversation was ridiculous, LOL. Also Maggie is very spoiled.

Saturday morning, Youngest came over so he and Wizard could go register the car in his and his wife’s name. But when Youngest came to the door, Wizard rushed him out and Maggie didn’t get to see him. She did a round of Serious Mad and Sad in her bed after that. In that time, I baked a cake for Middle son. Then Youngest came back and Maggie’s joy almost exploded her heart. Youngest hung out and we talked which is always nice. That evening, we went to Middle’s house to celebrate his birthday, and from there we went to dinner and had a great time! We also viewed the baby’s nursery in progress, it’s going to be so pretty. We all talked way too much. Middle liked his lemon pound cake. His favorite cake is the easiest to make which was a bonus for me this year. But also — Middle is an amazing son and both Wizard and I just wanted him to know that. We got home around 9pm.

Sunday morning Wizard left around 7 am to go racing, and I left at 8 to get to Oldest’s house then we went to brunch, followed by going to see Turbo do some amazing bike riding on U shaped dirt hills. This boy had training wheels just a month or two ago and now he’s riding right into BMX territory! I also had to watch his dad on the same hills and that made me laugh. He’s still my son, LOL. No matter how successful he gets, Oldest loves nothing more than riding bikes with his son. Then we went back to the house and visited and finally I went home.

My voice was shot after that, but I didn’t care. We got to hang out with all three kids and families at different times in one weekend, and it was totally worth the price of all the driving and a cranky throat.

Today Wizard gets to stay home, while I’m trotting off to the dentist for a 9AM appt. I’m not complaining though. I had to suddenly cancel on them last time due to a last minute bloodwork snafu before my surgery, and the dentist managed to slot this appt in before I may have to do anything else of a medical nature. I really appreciate that kind of kindness and customer service.

How was your weekend?

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

1. Maggie wants to show you all her new pink collar. So I told her she must let me take a picture…and yes, my dog is weird, LOL
2. Monday morning, we predicted a quiet week. Um, we were wrong and spent most of it busy running around, making arrangements, talking to medical types and just doing things that have to get done. I think I’m beginning to see a pattern in that Wizard and I keep ourselves busy And this week, I’m pushing just a bit now to build my energy and strength a bit more now that the last surgery is healed.
3. Oh, also, we bought a car! A RAV 4 in a shimmering white. We’re replacing out 13 year old Ford Edge that’s been a really good car.  We’ve been trying for quite a while (like over a year now) to find a car, so it’s nice to get that done. What I’m happy about is the seat raises up to make it easier for me to drive. That is super helpful for height challenged folks driving SUVs!
4. We are getting the front windshield in the Camry replaced today. While that’s being done, Wizard will work on getting the Edge ready to sell and I may bake some cookies for Youngest. I already have oatmeal cookies for us, but Youngest mentioned this cookie in passing when I was at his house last week. That got me to thinking that I could make a double batch, give him some and freeze the rest to have on hand. I found having cookies in the freezer is super convenient as long as someone name Wizard doesn’t realized they’re in there, LOLOL.
5. This weekend we are going to Middle Son’s to celebrate his birthday. I’m making his favorite lemon pound cake to take, and we’ll go out to dinner. The goal is to make sure my pregnant daughter-in-law who’s working full time and juggling a bunch of stuff doesn’t have to do anything. I’m may try to see Turbo and his parents Sunday while Wizard is racing — but these days they have a ton of weekend commitments so that’s pretty iffy. They are so good about accommodating us when they can, so I’m never upset when they’re busy. But Turbo sure is growing up fast!

That’s my week, how was yours? I hope everyone has a great weekend!

It’s been a week of news. Some bad to hear, but will be okay eventually (vague, I know but that’s all I feel like discussing right now). Which let to the the realization that I shouldn’t yet go back to walking dogs at the animal shelter. Then a tumble of things followed like concerns over how much hour homeowners insurance is going up. A rock that flew up and hit the car window, cracking it, and that’s not cheap these days. Just a series of things — I’m sure you all have had those weeks. Nothing tragic, just a series of annoying things.

But then, I also had a gift card to a store in town with a fair chunk of $$ on it. We got it for switching our pharmacy to this store pharmacy. So I went to buy practical things we needed or would need in the near future.

What did I end up buying? Some pears we both really like that we can’t get at our regular store… and a few bottles of wine

I showed Wizard the pears, and he was satisfied.

Then I showed him the wine and his face lit up. This is something we rarely buy anymore, partly due to inflation and partly because both of us just didn’t want it. But I told him that I’m tired of being practical, we weren’t going to buy it in our regular budget, so why not indulge when we had the gift card?

The retired accountant known for being practical and cheap, agreed! I was a hero for my executive decision making!

What have you done for yourself this week?