Last Week

I can tell you about the flea market I stopped  I took a $20 to make a quick run down the isles to see if there was anything I liked, I needed, I couldn't live without, and that I just had to have. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, which was a good thing, because there was not much there that caught my eye. But these two items won the day. $5 each. I needed some high chairs. Yes, some high chairs. Meaning more than one. Cause you know I have two little ones. These were perfect. They are portable and can be put away when the littles are not here.  And, oh yeah, $5 each.



I could bore you with more pictures of the littles.  So here's just one still photo from a video from my week with them last week. Crawling races. Fun.

I would love to show pictures of my visits with family last week. I did visit, but took no pictures. Had a nice dinner with them and chatted on two different days. Fun.

There was a few daily strolls down the street to get the little one out of the house. We were both getting cabin fever. But, gosh, it was so hot. And, so many doorbell rings to answer. There was the Terminex man twice. Two different guys at two different times. The UPS guy. And the one guy who had the wrong address.  And I can't forget the ice cream truck. I heard him everyday at 5 pm. Yay for me for not going out to meet him, not even one time!

So it's back at the old grind.

gin

Oh What A Happy Day Party. Go here to see more.

I am actually on vacation this week. Drove to my destination late Sunday. Checked in a first class "hotel". And mapped out my agenda for the week. 

I am staying with one of my son/daughterinlaw's and providing baby sitting services. She stated a job this week after having graduated last year with her masters . Baby starts daycare next week.

 I get a whole week with just me and him. Nice.

St Jude Benefit

Baby Brooklyn was in a St Jude Benefit Pageant.

All proceeds from this pageant went to St. Jude's. So a little fun and pagentry for us and a way to care and help and give to other children. It's a win win for all.

St Jude's unique mission ...

… to find cures for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases through research and treatment. And no family ever pays St. Jude for anything.

Today was her second pageant in her short little age of 8 months.

You can see her first one here.

Today she got 2nd Runner Up and Prettiest Eyes.

There were 8 in her age division.

. 

She is clapping for her win.
Yayy Brooklyn

Enough pictures.
Let's go.

She is still a Princess in my eyes.

gin

Summertime, Summertime, Summertime

Summer rates right up there with the best of Christmas and Easter and 4th of July and birthdays. Actually, there probably isn't a day in the whole year that I don't like.

So the first day of summer included a short drive for sun and water and food at Middendorfs between Lake Maurepas and Lake Ponchartrain.

It's a popular spot for locals within a 30 mile radius and travelers to and from New Orleans from all over. We are frequent guests there. Sometimes by boat where you can dock there or by car. It's been around since 1934. That was the great depression. It is a landmark. And has seen its fair share of hurricane damages with flooding. 

Every time I go I have my eye on a trademark t-shirt. But have yet to get one. My next trip there entitles me to a t-shirt. 

Check out more Social Sundays.

gin

Day

One day is set aside to celebrate fathers for the year.  Our day was Saturday, not Sunday. With our celebration, we also added other milestones to the dads' day of celebration.

First we stopped at the cemetary to place flowers on my father's grave in remembrance and celebration of his life as a dad.

We met for lunch for the routine birthday lunch for Jennifer's birthday and included honoring the fathers in the celebratory lunch. So one birthday and 3 fathers get their recognition.

Of course there is cake. We split the cake up in several ways to honor other milestones for the day.
First, for the birthday girl.  And then the fathers, Larry, Brandon, and Chris  for father's day. Then for Julie as a congratulatory for her first job after her masters degree in counseling. She starts July 24. We included Cohen for recovery from a medical procedure for tubes in his ears that he had on Friday. Trent was included just for being there after 5 nights of 16 hour shifts that ended Saturday morning at 7 am.  Brooklyn was celebrated for just being herself at the moment which was her screaming as loud as she could for attention we guessed, because nothing was actually wrong with her.

The only picture I have of the day:

gin

Switched

I am a die-hard Coca-Cola drinker. The real Coca-Cola.  But when I couldn't get one out of the coke machine recently, I went with a ZERO.  At least it had Coca-Cola printed on the can. And I could possibly get by with it for the morning break. 

But, I actually like it. It taste good. And I'm going from 140 calories to 0 calories. How is that possible? 

And the cute little Dasani water bottles are also in the coke machine. It's like a summer explosion of liquids calling my name. 

Oh What A Happy Day Party here. 

How to Have a Happy House Guest

We've had a house guest with us for almost a week now.  It does make for extra work at times and can be a little exhausting at times. But, it also gives us a change in our daily hum-drum routine .Even if it is family, you still want to be the best hostess to your house guest. Our house guest this week is our grand-dog Molly. Your house guest can be a pet, you know. Pets are part of the family. So here are a few tips to get you and your house guest thru the week, whether pets or people. Because you definitely want them to want to come back.

1) Insist that your house guest "make themselves at home"  Go about your normal daily activities. They probably want a little privacy and personal time, too.

2) Provide them with all their basic needs like food, water, snacks, and bed. Make things easy for them  to find. Though, this is not our house guest's first stay-over visit with us so she knows her way around

3) Have some familiar things around, just in case they get homesick.

4) Include your house guest in family time.

5) Let your house guest keep to their regular schedule as close as possible with things such as meals, rest time and exercise.

Our house guest is such a diva. She requires a little extra TLC. Especially since she has to share the house with our Poochie.

                                       

Linked with No Rules Monday Blog Hop. 

           
gin

Vlogging Today

BFF's

The new Bloglovin' thing has really taken off. I like it. I constantly get updates on email or my blog and  my email daily feed from Bloglovin'. It's like "oh good, someone's at my door" and I can't wait to see what's new they have posted.

So if we are going to be BFF''s I thought you should know a few things about me.

I love doing the self-checkout.  It's so simple. Scan, bag, pay. Husband gets embarrassed of me everytime.

My favorite luxury food would be stuffed shrimp. I love that!

We are empty nesters so I am very lazy. I think I deserve down time, until the kids say they are coming and then I cook and clean like crazy.

I like big gigantic furry dogs. We've had several St. Bernards. But now we have a small little furry one.

I love cats, but don't have one. It's the husbands fault we don't have one.

Mr. Kitty, my sister's cat

My favorite holiday in the whole year is family birthdays. I consider birthdays as a holiday. That means almost every month we are celebrating someone with cake, food and gifts.

I will try almost every DIY out there. I actually think I can do anything. Yes, there are some "oops! that didn't work" projects.

What are some fun things about you?'

gin

Mawmaw to the rescue.. I kept Cohen all day long while his parents were at the lake and Brooklyn joined us for a few hours while her parents took in a movie date and dinner

Breakfast, lunch, and supper. Bottles, naps, and snacks. Playtime, squeals, and fussyness. Stroller rides, rocking chair, and lullabyes. Bath time and bed time.

A full day that was non-stop and I think I actually wore them out.

     

gin

Lights Out

Woke up to no electricity. Why do husbands always  automatically asks, "You did pay the electric bill, didn't you?" And, yikes, I begin to wonder.. It's always in the back of my mind that they turned our electricity off. So I have to call and report our outage. And I ask twice if they are sure other people in our area have outages, too.

With not much time to eat the day before and adding a late night bedtime, we were hungry for breakfast. So at 7am got dressed with the early morning sunlight shining in and headed to Cracker Barrel in the rain.

I went to pay and Larry went to the truck to pick me up at the door. I had to tell the cashier, "I LEFT MY WALLET AT HOME." Seriously.  I had taken my wallet out of my of purse the night before to pay bills, and left it on the counter. I began to tell the cashier I was serious and I would have to wait for husband to get back. And then asked her if she gets a lot of those excuses. She was nice. But I couldn't shut up. Embarrassed, unbelievable. Seemed like forever waiting on Larry to come back inside to pay.

               
Finished the morning grocery shopping. The "20 items or less line" cashier insisted we come to her check out. I insisted we had much more than 20 items. But she made me use her. Then people began to line up behind us with only several items. I explained to them that the cashier insisted we come into the line because at the time there was no one else in line. Then, she had to stop and get a price check. Embarrassed, unbelievable, again.

When I thought things couldn't get any worse I had this grand idea to go thru my closet and dresser. And you know what kind of chaos that creates all over the floor and bed that takes more time to clean it up than it did to make it.

I'm glad that day is over.

gin