Day Two Hundred Thirty One 2013

Enjoying a Thai food lunch at Ocha ~ hubby Neil, niece Sarah, daughter Holly, grandson Knox, and daughter Kelly

Knox hijacked Granny’s strawberries and cream drink at Starbucks. He likes the whipped cream.

We had fun hanging out with Sarah at Starbucks this afternoon. She’s loving some freedom after high school and before her college classes begin next week.

The kids love playing on the trampoline ~ even daughter Holly, who might be the biggest kid of all.

Knox thought this was the best fun ever.

Beautiful afternoon

Happy face

Monkeys on a trampoline, having fun and being eaten alive by skeeters

Granddaughter Shelby making bubbles which makes a Monday even more fun ~ hope yours was, too.

Day Two Hundred Thirty 2013

ELIJAH’S 7TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Grandson Elijah turned 7 years old on August 17 (Saturday). He celebrated today with his family and friends at his house.

His mom and dad help make his day really special each year with a giant water slide ~ one of the joys of having a summertime birthday.

Granddaughter Shelby, grandson Knox, grandson Elijah and daughter Holly had a blast on the slide.

A close family friend, Tammy, made Elijah’s awesome camo cake. Elijah and his dad love to hunt, so the cake was decorated with deer, turkeys and a hunter with a cross bow.

The happy birthday boy

Blowing out the candles

Elijah enjoyed his ‘Tammy cake’ and yummy ice cream and homemade punch.

We all enjoyed it! There were 20 people at Elijah’s party today.

Of course, the best part is opening all those great presents.

He received lots of cards, too, and read them all.

Elijah had a monstrously good time at his party. Happy Birthday, Little Man, who is quickly getting to be not-so-little any more. Granny loves you!!

Day Two Hundred Twenty Nine 2013

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY, ELIJAH!

Grandson Elijah turned 7 years old today. He and his dad went to a special event for children that just happened to fall on his birthday this year, so he will celebrate his birthday with a party Sunday afternoon. His grandpa and I gave him his gift yesterday~an iPad mini. As you can probably tell from this picture, he was surprised and totally thrilled with his present. He’s been wanting one for a long time. He says now he won’t have to ask to borrow his sister’s [or mine~all the games on mine are for him to play which is OK with me], and now he can Face Time his good buddy Anthony who moved to Boston several weeks ago. Happy Birthday, Elijah Man!! You are so special to me and your grandpa. You’re a blessing to us, and we are very proud that you are our grandson. We love you very much!!

August 17, 2007~first birthday~you’re growing up way too fast, Little Man.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Eight 2013

T G I F

Grandson Elijah, grandson Knox, and granddaughter Shelby at the depot this afternoon

On our way to Cream City for some yummy frozen treats

My frozen yummy treat was a scoop of Tennessee Fudge ice cream

Elijah chose orange sherbet. He got to choose where to go for ice cream this afternoon because tomorrow is his seventh birthday, and we were doing a bit of early celebrating because he won’t get to have his party until Sunday.

Granddaughter Shelby and daughter Holly [who rarely gets to join us for yummy frozen treats in the afternoon after school] strike a mommy/daughter pose.

Caught hubby Neil with a smile on his face. How did that happen? Must be the ice cream. And the fact that he didn’t know I was taking his picture.

Knox enjoyed his cotton candy flavored ice cream.

We played on the trains for a while before heading back home.

Pee wee baseball in the back yard ~ Knox gets a little help from his cousin Elijah ~ looks like a hit. Good time Friday with peeps!

We’ve had so much rain this summer that I’m surprised I haven’t seen crops of mushrooms all over the place. I noticed a couple growing along our front sidewalk. I love mushrooms. They’re so cute. So I had to take a picture. This one is lopsided but still cute. Happy TGIF, y’all!

Day Two Hundred Twenty Seven 2013

Together again. My peeps sharing a yummy Thai food supper at Ocha this evening ~ from left: daughter Kelly, grandson Knox, granddaughter Shelby, grandson Elijah, daughter Holly and hubby Neil. Good times! Happy Thursday, y’all.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Six 2013

Whenever we have the opportunity, Neil and I enjoy lunch in Dogwood Park these summer days, weather permitting. Today’s weather was perfection. With a 68 degree temperature, a cool breeze blowing and blue sky overhead at noon, it felt like fall. We ate our meal in the gazebo which is surrounded by a variety of beautiful rose bushes in full bloom. This was our dessert ~ fresh juicy red strawberries and of course some Cool Whip for dipping. Yum! Hope your day was delicious!

Day Two Hundred Twenty Five 2013

Randomness

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go. To Wal-Mart, that is. Which is always an adventure in shopping. I don’t go there unless I absolutely must. Wal-Mart gets its share of bashing, but I’m thankful for it all the same. It’s a love/hate kind of thing. The check-out guy was really nice.

Grandson Elijah put in a request yesterday to have some delish frozen yogurt at Mae Pearl’s after school. But he had a doc appointment, so I promised him we’d go today.

His sister Shelby had a haircut appointment today and couldn’t go with us. I pointed out that we could go tomorrow, but nope, his heart was set on having some today. So he and his grandpa and I enjoyed an afternoon treat. Shelby did get to go with her mom after her haircut ~ just so you know she didn’t miss out.

Sweet tea with lemon instead of the usual soft drinks, plus meat loaf, asparagus, and baked potatoes [nuked, actually, it’s faster] made for a pretty tasty supper. [I guess we had our dessert first, but there’s nothing wrong with that.] Hope you had a terrific Tuesday.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Four 2013

Granddaughter Shelby is in 7th grade this year. School started a couple of weeks ago. She usually gets her homework done at school. She didn’t get to finish it today, so her backpack was full of heavy textbooks, plus her notebook folder and other stuff. Her load was so heavy that she decided to weigh it on the bathroom scales. The grand total was 16 and a half pounds. That is heavy, even for me, and I’m much bigger than she is. It’s no wonder that these heavy loads are starting to effect her spine. The doc noticed at her latest physical exam last week that she’s become a bit crooked. Of course, she’s been urged to wear her backpack centered on her back and not try to carry it on one shoulder. And maybe one day the school system here can afford to issue each child some kind of tablet such as an iPad so their textbooks can be downloaded onto that one lightweight device instead of onto those kid-sized spines. Keep calm and carry on, Shelby. Just be careful while you carry on.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Three 2013

Hubby Neil spent his afternoon building a frame for grandson Knox’s swing. He was forced to work off the back of his truck because what was formerly his woodshop became his RC airplane hangar many years ago. I miss his wood crafting days and hope that one day he’ll reclaim that space. In the meantime, the swing frame is slowly coming together and hopefully will be transported to Knox’s house in the very near future.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Two 2013

This and That

Neil mowed the grass for the first time in I don’t know when today. He had to mow it high, then mowed it a second time to get it as short as possible before the next monsoon. It was slow going and took him forever. We have a mulching mower, but he gave up on that and finally just let it fly. Looks like a hay field right now. That robin probably thinks so, too.

We enjoyed another clear day. Hot and humid. Feels like August.

The blooms on my hydrangea bushes go from full color to faded, depending on how much sun we’ve had. These beautiful blooms are on one stalk~the only full color flowers on one of my bushes. So I cut it and brought it inside to enjoy.

It’s amazing what a dramatic effect lighting has in a photograph. Same flowers, different lighting.

Daughter Holly brought these to me a couple of weeks ago from her yard, and I’ve enjoyed them so much. But they’ve seen better days. I think they’re still kind of pretty even dried up. Neil wants to plant the seeds and see if we can grow some in our yard. I wouldn’t mind that at all.

Day Two Hundred Twenty One 2013

I almost burned holes in my retinas taking this picture. Thank God for glorious sunshine! A sight for sore [and waterlogged] eyes. Happy TGIF, y’all!

Day Two Hundred Twenty 2013

W E T

So I just did me some talkin' to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleepin' on the job
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling
~from the song ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head' by Burt Bacharach, Hal David

I was officially tired of rain about a month ago. Sometimes it seems like it’s never going to stop ~ like the sun is never going to shine again, especially on days like today. This picture looks kind of like something I ran through Photoshop, but it’s just a snapshot of the water rushing around in my yard today. The raindrops made some bubbles which was kind of cool. Otherwise, it can stop now. Please. Stop.

Day Two Hundred Nineteen 2013

Lesson for the day: Never park your car beside a road that floods in a heavy downpour. That little red car is mine. I went to climb in after Neil and I had finished our subs and had waited out the heavy rain, never thinking that the car coming toward me on that street was going to drive through that flood and send a giant wave of water into me. If I hadn’t had my umbrella over me, I would have been drenched from head to toe.  I still got soaked from chest to Crocs. And was about to get soaked again, but the next car in line took pity on me and slowed down enough so that the wave wasn’t a tsunami. It's funny because we were sitting in a window booth, watching this road start to flood when I took this random picture, and I was thinking that anybody standing out there on the sidewalk would get drowned by the wave from a passing car. Well, duh! [Where's a surf board when you need one?]

Day Two Hundred Eighteen 2013

Randomness

Lunch with the lions in Dogwood Park today. [This cool bench would look great in my yard.]

On this date in 1945, the U.S.  B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This is not the Enola Gay as you may well have suspected. Neil flew his plane this afternoon. It started to rain on his way home, so he had to dump it on the front porch to get it quickly out of the wet.

Obesity continues to be one of the nation's leading public health problems - health officials call it a longstanding epidemic. A third of U.S. children and teens and more than two-thirds of adults are obese or overweight. But a recent study shows that in 18 states, there were at least slight drops in obesity for low-income preschoolers, health officials said Tuesday.  Three states - Colorado, Pennsylvania and Tennessee - increased. Really? I can’t imagine why. [BTW, Neil and I enjoyed our supreme personal pans at Pizza Hut/Taco Bell for supper this evening. Maybe I’ll do some extra sit-ups. No. Wait. I haven’t done sit-ups since I quit my exercise class three years ago.] Stick a fork in me; I’m done.

Day Two Hundred Seventeen 2013

What’s For Supper?





Sweet and sour chicken with broccoli over rice. It is crazy easy. For just the two of us, I cut two thawed chicken breasts into bite sized chunks and put it in the slow cooker. Salt and pepper it. Stir in two 10 oz.  jars of  La Choy Sweet and Sour Duck Sauce. Add several handfuls of frozen broccoli florets. Stir it all up until well coated with the sauce. Cook on Low heat setting for 5 to 5 1/2 hours, or, if you’re in a hurry, cook on High heat setting for 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours. Serve it over cooked rice [I use one big bag of Success Rice for the two of us]. You can also use the La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce which is red and has a bit of a different flavor than the yellow duck sauce, but Neil and I like the duck sauce better. You can also use a bag of loose pack frozen broccoli, carrots and water chestnuts. I can’t seem to find these anymore. We enjoy it with only broccoli. I found this recipe a long time ago in the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes and tweaked it to suit myself. That’s what’s for supper. And it sure was good! Happy Monday, y’all!