The weekend was all the things; good, tiring and sad. I went to the memorial service for my friend’s husband. He lived such a full life and was loved by so many people. I’m happy to see how much his loved ones valued him. My friend is hanging in there. It’s hard to comfort someone when their losses have been so deep and vast. But it was great to see all that showed up to try.

And in fun news, Turbo had his first baseball game and was awarded the game ball! He did great, but Wizard and I were able to be there (due to memorial service) to see it. But we’re still proud grandparents! Here’s a couple pics:

The rest of the weekend was a lot of arranging stuff, cleaning stuff, and doing life things while chronic tiredness tries to slow me down :-). Some days I win and some days fatigue wins :-). But in the end, most things get done and Monday showed up as scheduled.

Oh and Maggie wanted me to tell you all that Wizard let her go to the car wash with him again. She loves going there with him. Maggie is a very cheap date, LOL!

How was your weekend?

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?

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?

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?

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

1. One morning this week, I read an article that a mountain lion had been spotted in our area, and saw the ring camera video. Then I went out for an early morning walk, and was stopped by another walker with a big dog who’d seen the mountain lion the night before right outside his back yard. He lives about a block from me. And that was when I cancelled our walk and took Maggie home   It was full daylight and I was probably safe, but I’m pretty confident that if I have to wrestle a mountain lion for Maggie, I will lose. Mountain lions don’t normally come down from the hills/forest to our area, but it can happen. I’m as careful as I reasonably can be.
2. I finally unpacked and put away our books in the bookshelves. I’ll probably be packing them again soon to paint, but then who knows when that will happen since we have other things going on (just life stuff). I don’t want to look at stacks of boxes anymore, and it’s only takes an hour to pack them up anyway.
3. Wizard and I went to dinner for Valentines Day, and had a fabulous meal! We both got the steak and lobster special and I was surprised how good it was. I had to bring half my steak home, and that was my lunch the next day so it’s a double win for me!
4. I made sourdough bread yesterday and will probably bake it today. I’ve never had it fail, but I’m wondering if one day I will??? Sourdough starter is a living thing, and it could just decided it didn’t want to work one day, or have a premature death
5. Today is Youngest’s birthday! He and his wife are coming to dinner on Sunday — they’ll be the first to see our floors. But the important thing is Youngest and I brainstormed what kind of cake he’d like. It all has to be dairy and gluten free so it’s tricky, but we decided on a Cinnamon Roll Cake. We’ll see if it comes out — youngest doesn’t mind being my taste tester I’m also making enchiladas, Spanish rice and maybe a salad.

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