It's been a really time constrained (there you go) week at work. We just submitted a really large grant and it took loads of work on top of the typical. I am coasting today ;) tying up loose ends and such. Tomorrow, I am sleeping in and then gardening. I might do something else, but it's my choice. Finally! Not taking my son on any trips or doing anything for my mom (like taking her to/from facilities or cleaning up her condo). ME TIME! Woohoo!!!!!

I'm heading to work in a few minutes to prep for inservice on Monday, This mostly includes a trip to Sam's.

What I am doing and what I should be doing are two different things. I am leaving for a week at the beach tomorrow and I need to do some cleaning today. I have someone coming each day to feed/medicate my cat and my house needs a good cleaning. I am all packed, bills paid etc but boy I hate cleaning. Tonight I am helping at a community monthly get together.

Im doing the admissions and 50/50 so have to be there a bit early. They have "finger foods" so that will be my dinner. Better get off this darn computer and get started. Have a good day everyone.

I took 1/2 day vacation today so I can be home this afternoon when the Dish network tech comes out to fix my satellite service that went out when lightning struck a tree about 30 yards from the dish.

I plan to do a lot of canning/preserving this weekend. A batch of Annie's Salsa Saturday, a batch of dill pickles on Sunday, freeze 4 or 5 dozen ears of corn off the cob, and if time permits make a batch of Chipotle ketchup.

I have a client appointment tomorrow so today I will be busy getting ready for that, finalizing an initial design presentation.

There are a few small chores I need to do first but not much. I cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom yesterday, vacuumed the entire house and did laundry. And I did a bunch of cooking so have ready to go food available! My sister did drop off a bunch of fresh blueberries yesterday so I might make muffins this morning.

It poured with rain last night - so heavy it woke me up - so at least I do not need to do any watering. But the hummingbird feeders need a refill.

I'm going to walk my niece's dog as I do on a regular basis, then go to the gym. Tonight we have a 70th birthday party to go and it's just two house down the street so easy to get to :) and it will be a lot of fun. Looking forward to my day.

Running a few errands in town and then having lunch with daughter and DGD. DGD is headed back to college tomorrow to help her sorority get ready for rush. She is assistant rush director this year. We are helping her pack her car and do a few last minute things this afternoon.

I’m so proud of her. She had a 4.0 both freshman semesters and had an internship this summer in Kansas City, so we didn’t get to see much of her this summer.

Aqua zumba this morning. So so of a class.

Not too much rest of the day, this and that.

I'm sitting at the dealership waiting while they put on a plastic part on the back by the bumper. I had just got out of the car at a market to get strawberries 2 weeks ago and was just at the back of my car when a girl pulled in beside me and I heard a " crunch." I looked and was surprised it wasn't worse from the sound it made. She gave me her information and after getting my berries I headed straight for the dealership to have it looked at by the body shop. The car is leased but either way I wanted it fixed.

cleaning and moping & organizing all-day

Played golf, had lunch with golfing buddies, then went grocery shopping. Will goof off most of the rest of the day. I do have a load of wash to do.

Both of us have haircuts today. Picking up some items from the store. Probably either early dinner out or pick up dinner.

We are making yet another trip to Apple Springs, the place we are moving to. One of our trucks is in the shop there and we will pick it up and use this truck and that one to bring 2 trailers, so we can take 2 loads tomorrow. We have one trailer in the aisle of the barn that needs to be finished unloaded. We got caught in a bad thunderstorm, hauling it last weekend, and the boxes got wet...so have to be careful picking them up. Have done a lot...lots more to do. Have had lots of delays and aggravation.

Took a close friend out for her birthday lunch (yesterday was her birthday). We went to a place she loves and I've enjoyed in the past...sometimes. Often it disappoints. Today, even she was disappointed! Food was lousy, service even worst and totally indifferent. The waiter, who has been there for years and should at least know my friend who eats there often, was beyond indifferent. My friend ended up eating her creme brûlée dessert with a fork - we never could get his attention to bring her a spoon. I left a 10% tip to show our displeasure. We won't go there gain. Lunch for the two of us was $53 before tip - no beverages, just water. I'm going to taste that oily fish for days...

I had a wonderful day. AM dr's apptmt followed by a 5 mi hike with a hiking buddy up to a tower and beyond, then ice cream and a visit with another bud I haven't seen in awhile. And not much traffic on the way home. All in all, a great day, and I'm ready for a rum on the rocks!

Plan was, go to the movies with a friend.... but my mail was supposed to be delivered today (re started since my trip) but it hadn't showed up 30 minutes prior. We re-scheduled.

I drove to the post office and got my mail. Opened, sorted... then I got online, and am procrastinating now.

Instead of paying my bills, I have updated the first few days of my blog.

https://meanderdotlife.wordpress.com/

Slept all day ,then i had to hit the ground running.

Went to 2 banks. Luckily they are side by side.

Then to the post office to pick up the package DawninCal sent me because my mail carrier SUCKS.

Then to walmart to get some very specific fishing lures for SO.

Then to hobby lobby because I haven't been in an age and I wanted to be lost in a sea of fall and Christmas stuff. Found an adorable pink reindeer so SCORE!

Then next door to publix. SO is going on a fishing trip tommorow. It remains to be seen whether i go or not. I got stuff for him to take with him. Im going to make him some chicken salad and got the stuff for that. Got some crackers to go with it, a tub of grapes ,some wet ones for his hands and some small bags of chips to pack with it . I hope that's enough. He eats like a bird normally so it should be.

Now I am at a small place on my way home waiting for our dinner. Cheeseburgers and fries.

I'm out of town at a horse show in the mountains of North Carolina, in the town of Blowing Rock. We've been here a couple of days already and will be here through the weekend. My wife showed in her first class of the show today, and it didn't really go well, because her horse was so wound up. After that we went on a hike (for me)/trail ride (for my wife and her horse) which was a good hike and a little longer than I bargained for, maybe 5 to 5 1/2 miles with no steep spots but quite a bit of change in elevation over the course of the hike.

We've been cutting sections of this tree down every weekend. Paid 2 guys, professional tree climbers, to take the scary sections down, straight up and over houses. We'll cut it up and haul it off ourselves. We are sweaty, tired, hungry....

We are on the first day of our vacation and went out for breakfast this morning. After that, it was time to buy groceries and head back to our rental house. I put away the groceries, unpacked the suitcases and got the house in order. While unpacking, I realized that I somehow forgot to bring my exercise clothes which means I will have to run down to Target or Walmart to buy some yoga pants and a tank top. Grrrrrr.

Tonight, there is a Street Market with various vendors, food, a band and local craft beers. There is a woman there who makes the BEST English toffee I have ever had so I am looking forward to buying a bag. When we are done there, we will come back to the house to make dinner (grilled halibut, fresh green beans, and melted brie and warmed sour dough bread). I'm not sure if we're going to go out again after dinner or stay in for the evening.

I just got home from a week away: a family reunion, (for me meeting this side of the family for the first time ever!) and a conference, I got the house clean before I left so all I needed to do was unpack, toss the laundry in, and go out to water -- it hasn't rained here in some 2 weeks (if it did while I was gone it didn't show), and my potted trees were obviously thirsty.

I didn't want to coat myself in repellent so I put on long pants, a hoodie, knee socks and gloves - got bitten twice through the gloves anyway. Time to spray the yard, I guess. I am careful to avoid the plants that the bees love, and I hate to do it, but when I walked toward the section with the all the tall plants I was swarmed by mosquitoes. I will try the concentrated garlic spray first, and hope that really works.

Took a long walk with a friend and had coffee at 7 am. Cleaning house.

We went out for breakfast this morning and then to the farmers market where we bought peaches,plums, strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, a head of cabbage and corn on the cob. We also picked up a beautiful loaf of sour dough bread from one of the vendors. I told hubby that I felt like a starving person who has been offered a meal and wants to eat everything in sight. Had to keep reminding myself that the farmers market will be there next weekend as well as another nearby that is held on Wednesday and that I don't have to buy everything I see nor do I want to buy so much it spoils before we have a chance to eat it.

We walked back to my car only to find that it had a flat tire - grrrrrrr. Hubby put the spare on and is now at the tire shop getting it fixed. When he gets back, I'm going to go buy the workout clothes I mentioned earlier in the thread.

I do so enjoy these threads. It's very interesting (to me) to read about what all of you are doing. I think all of us going about our days doing our different activities and then meeting up back here to compare notes. Thanks for the glimpses into your lives!

raee_gw, my DH and I were just outside planning for another plant-stand for summering my orchids. He got bit at least 8 times, I got bit once. Our daughter is like DH, a magnet for those bloodsuckers. You have my sympathy!

Earlier today I made chocolate-sour cream frosting for a yellow cake for a family lunch. It turned out well if you love chocolate, which we do. (Yesterday was a disaster baking day. I tried a new recipe and method for yellow cake and failed so badly, I had to try it again. Ended up with two usable layers, but it was not pretty. That frosting covered a multitude of sins.)

Didn't do much today except the usual bare-bones housekeeping and reading a little more Bill Bryson; we're heading to England and France later this year--my first time.

Went to a wedding reception (wedding was in India,) this evening and it was nice to see old friends with whom we don't visit with anymore, in general.

Well that didn't turn out like I thought it would! It was way better and way worse. I found three black widow spiders, eek!!!, saw two frogs (I've never had frogs, but this is only year number four almost, of living on the lake, and it's taken that long for the garden to be ready for them), saw a hummingbird and was kept company by the sweetest gold finch who twittered happily while eating the sunflower seeds I grow for them. My me time was just what I needed. Felt good enough to pop over and bring Mom a dozen long stem roses for fun. Not a necessary doctor visit or taking her necessities. Refreshed even.

:)

Rob, at one of the remote ponds I fish, there is a patch of thistle, populated by hundreds of finches dining on thistle seeds. I truly enjoy watching them.

I've been at a Hearing Loss convention since Wednesday evening. Most of it wasn't very relevant to my lifestyle. I was hoping for a lot more focus on technological advances today. Not stuff that is already old hat to me. Not people trying to sell their procduct There was on speaker that was great though. The only one who didn't bore me to wanting to do a face plant into my water.

I had a two hour trail ride booked for Sat. I got a good horse. But the wrangler was an idiot (IMO). No horsemanship. A wanna be cowboy without the ethics. Gave advice contrary to the the thing I do know. Since I was at the back I rode my way. My horse appreciated it. I told them ahead of time I rode with mostly English tack. Guess who was giving the reining horse? LOL

At the end I tipped him as is the norm and casually mentioned that telling people to do a certain action was bad for a horse's back. I gave him an alternative to consider. He said that his way was the way the real cowboys did it and I should watch some old westerns and I would see. ROTFLOMAO I just smiled and thanked him for the ride. I didn't care much for the way he slapped his horse around to move it on the ground also. It wasn't outright abuse but it was super crappy horsemanship. Won't go back there.

I had the banquet that night and was exhausted. Of all the places to hold this thing they chose an area that goes into triple digits this time of year. Plus it a tourist area that has only about a day or at most 2 days of things to see. Parking is outrageous. Their hotel charged 35 dollars a day. I stayed elsewhere and parked in the same lot for 10 dollars. Friday and yesterday the lot was full so I had to park at the other end of this tourist hellhole and walk the length back and forth.

I'm glad to be home. Sleep in my own bed and ride tomorrow.

Last Friday I went out to lunch with a friend and went window shopping at some reclaimed furniture type stores. Picked up Chinese later for game night with my kids. My son is home on leave! Worked all weekend. Just got home a little while ago.

Watchme....I hate westerns and how the horses are jerked around. I know they are good horses for the pretend cowboys to ride....I can't watch it.

Ended up with two usable layers, but it was not pretty

Many years ago I decided to make a lemon raspberry cake that I had seen in the newspaper (from scratch) for my daughter's birthday. I used a white cake recipe from my old Fanny Farmer cookbook, made lemon curd from scratch, froze fresh raspberries, and put it all together -- and the top layer promptly slid off the bottom. I decided to call it "Avalanche Cake" and served it anyway. It was delicious!