Gilligan my little buddy

Look who was still in my office this morning?  I'm calling him Gilligan.  I was so surprised that he was still here (remember that I have not been in my office since Friday).  So glad he was okay all that time.

I think he is back in the garage now as I left my office door open for a while and it was at the threshold at one point.  Spent the day getting back into the work groove.  It was a decent day except we got MORE rain. It wasn't a ton but it really has been raining just about every day this month!

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day.  It was a day of remembrance but also a day off work.  I came back from visiting the youngest about 1:00 this afternoon. It felt so much like a Sunday today.  I did some laundry and just relaxed and watched a Harry Potter movie. I haven't seen any of those movies for a while now.

It will of course seem like Monday tomorrow when I'm back to work.  At least it will be a short work week.   :-)

Caught this cute shot of Tika resting on a toy.  She doesn't even play with it very much but she wanted to nap with it today after I got home.  She could finally rest from her vigilance for my returning home.  She really hates when I go away.

Popping In

Just popping in to say that I'm visiting the youngest so that is why I did not blog yesterday.  I drove down here yesterday on I-35 versus the toll road and it wasn't that bad at all.  It was stop and go some through Austin but there was no stand stills for too long at a time nor any accident so that was nice.  Had a nice lunch at Panara Bread and a so-so dinner at Johnny Carino's.  The shrimp dish I had included Applewood bacon but it was not fully cooked, and I really hate fatty bacon, so that put a bit of a damper on it.  But great company and is is nice visiting the youngest and her doggy again. Bailey has mellowed out these last few years.  She is not nearly as jumpy as she was.  

Later...

Is something watching me?

I had the feeling all afternoon that something was watching me...

Too funny!!!   I'm not sure where it is now but it was exploring my office most of the afternoon.

Friday Fun Dress

Here is what I am wearing today. No full head shot because I didn't wear any makeup today since I went to the dermatologist.  Oops I also forgot to put some bling on.  Oh well. Think maybe today my dress is blingy enough. :)  It is easier for her to examine me if I'm not wearing any jewelry either.  She treated a small wart I have that I notice on my foot near my heal (but on the flat part that walk on).  I have to see if it works, and if not can do the home treatment with a product that removes them.  Anyway she did see a tiny 'black' mole on my back so she removed it and it is being biopsied. I'm hopeful that she got it all and that it was nothing more than the other things she have removed that have been abnormal at best.   Well got to get back to work.  :)   I was easily able to wear a dress or skirt all week (may give myself a pass tomorrow as visiting the youngest and don't really want to wear a dress or skirt there).  We'll see.  In case I don't write later, hope everyone who celebrates has a great Memorial Day weekend!

Thurs Eve

One more day and then it is the long holiday weekend. We may be getting hit with some storms tonight and tomorrow and tomorrow night. Who knows.  Every time I watch the news the weather forecast changes.  Looking forward to visiting with the youngest this weekend.  At least we got the lawn mowed today so that is done while it isn't raining.  There is some chance of rain for the next 7 days!

Got my dermatologist appointment tomorrow. It is just a check up.  I'm hoping that she doesn't find anything this time around. That would be nice.

Thursday's Threads

I will blog later also but sharing what I wore today.  Posted in two photos because when I am trying to take my own picture I know it is not real evident that I really AM wearing a dress or a skirt. But this is a set I've had for a while. The skirt is actually reversible too to be the same brown as the top. 

Wednesday Wear

Taking my lunch break and showing off my outfit for today.  I think it has a bit of a Far East flair to it. 

Here is a photo of a little fellow who won't stop trying to sell me auto insurance. LOL :)

We are suppose to be getting some rain today and tomorrow.  Although looks like at this point only about 20% chance today.  It is overcast though like it could rain at any time.  Now that I am done book #1 of my challenge this year I am waiting for my oldest to pick out my #2 book to read. Please no non-fiction! :)

Tuesday dress

Today I wore a light let's call it a sundress.  Even though I was not out in the sun today.

Thankfully this morning hubby bought some cement (in a tube) and filled up every hole in the back porch cement (wall) that he could find.  We're trying to close up any holes that critters may be entering to try and stop them from coming in. I noticed a few holes at the back porch door but he said he actually filled about 10 holes he found.  Good!

It was nice not having to drive anywhere today for anything. :-)  My car actually turned to 21,000 while driving around with my sister on Friday.  I bought gas yesterday for I think the second time this year.  Yes it is great to work at home.  Not much else new.  Later..

What the..

So today we had appointments to get both our vehicles passenger air bags replaced (Toyota Recall).  My appointment was for 8:20AM, hubby's was 1:00PM.  I had him get me up at 6:00AM so that I could get my walk in at least before needing to head out early to get my car to the dealership service center and get back so I could clock in at 8:00AM.

The last time I had anything repaired there it was all in the one spot where the show room was.  So we make it to the showroom. The sign had Closed until 9:00AM, go around the building to the other side. Still showroom entrance (and locked). Hubby starts pounding on the doors while I got back in my car driving around to look for the friggin service area.  I happened to look up when I was behind the Honda dealership next door and down the next street I see Toyota Service Center. UGH!  So I drive back to where hubby was (with his truck) and someone had told him where it was too. So I went out down the road, to the light, etc., went to yet another wrong entrance until finally the 3rd time got the right place.  This was about 15 minutes AFTER we had first arrived at the initial dealership location. I uploaded the map below to show the difference in locations.  The gentleman asked me how I was and I said that I was stressed and I was now going to be late for work!  They took my car pretty quickly but still didn't make me any less frustrated!  Why don't they have a SIGN on their door at their showroom saying their service center is now at such and such behind them down the street or something!  What a fiasco!  I clocked in 10 minutes later than I am supposed to. Not a big deal but so much for leaving plenty of time for drop off!  We went back at my lunch time to get my car and hubby just waited for his truck (thankfully)!

So anyway, hubby was cleaning today and found yes another blind snake. Someone in the snake facebook group I belong to said to watch out for termites as they apparently eat them and their eggs, but I don't think we have that problem.  We have no basement and the entire perimeter is poured cement foundation so we'll see if the issue continues.  I still think it is all the rain, plus we had 3 small trees in the back removed so they may have been living near them (if the trees had termites). Who knows. They are tiny things so not really scary. This one lifted its head a little. And yes hubby set it free outside.

Today I wore a new LulaRoe dress for my day 2 of dress/skirt wearing week.  Here is a picture below. This is with no bling as I didn't put any jewelry on until later.

 

Here is me later on with my Paparazzi bling on.  

Finally done!

I am finally done Book #1 of my two books read this year challenge. :-)  I'm just glad I didn't give up.  Actually the last 40 pages or so were the most interesting.

I forgot to post a picture of some breakfast I made the other day.  In the center was Greek yogurt with local honey drizzled on top.  It turned out to be actually a little too much fruit so I had the rest of it at lunch.

 I decided this week was going to be dress or skirt week so I will wear one or the other every day.  Here is what I wore today (skipped the makeup today so no facial shot sorry). 

No snake sightings so far this evening :)

Bigger in Texas

This afternoon on the back porch step was this HUGE bug.  I was worried the dogs would mess with it so I got it off the step.  Hubby wanted to take pictures.  The first one is actually on its back because when i got it of the step it fell backwards into the garden area (that hubby had cleared).  There are no flowers or anything in there yet. But anyway so, yes it was big! This is actually called a Giant Red Headed Centipede.

I didn't hurt it and when I went to check on it later it was no longer there.  I forgot just now to think about taking a picture but I just spotted a baby snake (about 10 inches long and thinner than a worm) right on our living room rug. It caught my eye the way it was moving and I realized what it was.  Hubby caught it in a cup and let it outside to the left side over the fence.  This is actually the second one we've found in the house in the last few weeks.  It is probably from all the rain. I haven't seen any snakes outside (that I could spot), so I am trying not to think about a snake that had babies right near the house. 

So I'm going to try not to have a hard time getting to sleep with all these critters around!  We did just have the pest control place out last week who treated the outside.  We don't have them coming in any more because they just spray all over and we don't want the dogs getting poisoned (even though they say it won't harm them).  The spray is not for snakes though either.  Well I'm going to be on the look out now.,  Oye!

Nice day

Today started off nicely with NO rain to put a damper on my walk.  Then I was able to walk Merlin without any dogs to contend with.  I even walked a little way with one of the neighbors that lives down the street.  It was nice to chat for a few minutes.  I love the days I take off so I don't have to rush through the morning.

Then I had a nice leisurely breakfast and then got ready to pick up my sister at my other sister's house to visit for the day. I remembered why I don't like to drive down there this morning as I was getting into more and more traffic the closer I got to the exit.  Anyway we had a nice time shopping at a few thrift stores, eating lunch and I let her pick out some nice earrings from my paparazzi inventory.  I like to call it inventory instead of 'stash'.  :0)

When I dropped her back off for the evening, we got our traditional sister picture taken. We all somewhat match don't we? :)  I'm the one in the middle.  Hopefully my sister will continue to make it an annual visit to come out here.  It was great seeing her again!

Thursday done

Well another Thursday work day is done. Tomorrow I have the day off and get to see my sister finally!  Looking forward to it and having off.  I'm keeping this short so I can go relax for what's the rest of the evening.  :)

Wet

Ya think?

Court

Today I had to appear in court for my dad's probate hearing.  I had to park way down the street and walked very fast to the court house as I didn't allow that much extra time for parking 5 miles away.  Okay it wasn't 5 miles but it felt like it.

I forgot that the courthouses have the metal detector things you have to walk through snd the conveyor belt for purses. So that added a little bit more time.  Then I was trying to find the room to go to. There was a LED listing that scrolled down (think airline flight schedules), and I found his name and determined I needed to be on the 2nd floor but didn't know which court room on that floor. So more fumbling until I asked someone. Anyway I finally got there at 9:00AM exactly. My attorney had just gotten there himself as there was an accident on the road that he takes to come up to town.

Anyway we got this step done and out of the way. There are more steps to it but this is the only time I have to appear in court.  All in all it took an hour and a half which I made up for at work but also worked late and just got done.  It has felt like a long day, probably because it was, starting with my 6:15AM wake up call to walk.  It was wet this morning but not raining so I walked and also walked Molly as it was her turn. The lady that runs with the large black lab actually was running early as she passed me on my first (solo) walk. Her dog didn't seem phased by me so I was happy about that and equally happy I didn't need to worry about her passing by the time I was walking Molly. Had I known I'd be walking to and from the court house I could have walked that much less this morning! ;-)

Snail up close and personal

This morning there was a caterpillar climbing down the screen. Got a close up picture from the inside first (and then from the outside). Too funny.

There are lots of them in the back since we've gotten so much rain lately.

I got to talk with my sis for a little bit today. Not sure when I'll see her, possibly tomorrow evening? I may just call her and talk.  I took Friday off to have some time with her so hopefully can spend most of Friday together.  We'll see.  I keep yawning and have been this evening. I didn't get as much sleep as I usually do. And it was tough getting back to sleep. So tonight hopefully will sleep a lot better.

Bread

I made some homemade bread today and it turned out pretty well.   I baked it in one of my number 5 cast iron skillets of course. 

I didn't get done reading my book. But I did read some. I thought I might have to get my sister and her son at the airport but I didn't need to as my other sister was able to after all.  That was how I was able to bake the bread so I'm happy about that. I'm looking forward to getting to see her some this week while she is visiting.  I'm glad she comes out to visit as I'm sure mom appreciates it. 

Okay so I cleaned some

I hadn't gotten to the balconies yet and they weren't cleaned last year at all, so I did the back balcony this morning. At least as far as I'm going to go.  I left the far end of the balcony alone because the squirrels are still living there. Per hubby they actually have taken up residence in BOTH the watering cans.  So I decided not to go over to that area of the porch. It is plenty big for all of us.  I didn't clean the furniture yet but I got the deck pretty well cleaned up.  It was so great having a spigot out there for the hose.  We had the guys who did our bathroom remodel put one in at that time, wow now over a year and a half ago (time flies).

Here's some pictures. You can tell by the clean/dirty line where I stopped.

Part of the filthy floor

The part that is DONE :)

Proof how ICKY It was

The line where I stopped

Worked up an APPETITE.  Egg easy over (done in my cast iron of course) English muffin, apples and blueberries

Rain again

So there was a chance of rain today but we got at least an inch if not more by the time it was over.  Yet I know there will be sprinklers running tomorrow again.

I prepped some dough for baking bread  this afternoon from a recipe that was in our local town magazine.  I hope it will turn out all right. It didn't rise very much so fingers crossed. It is supposed to make 4 loaves. I'll try baking the first one tomorrow. Sure hope it turns out okay.

I got some more of my book read too. I am up to page 359 and the last page is 429.  I'm going to try my best to finish it tomorrow and be able to tell the youngest I've finished book #1 for this year.  LOL!

Green Grass

I am sharing a photo of the side of our front yard to show how the grass is green. Yes I know usually grass is green ,but this grass has not been watered by a sprinkler system YET this year!   My point is that the sprinklers have not been needed yet this year since we've had enough rain. Yet there are tons of folks around here using their sprinklers just because. They already have them on a time schedule or whatever which is such an incredible waste of water. What a shame!  This area is just lucky that we are not in a drought right now. It just angers me that I see so many needless watering.

I thought I was working this weekend but turns out I don't have to after all. So not sure what I'll do. Laundry for sure and reading for sure.  I'm not in any mood to clean so we'll see.  May get some movies in too.  I'm sure we have many I haven't seen yet. No Blue Bloods on tonight so going to surf until we see something else to watch.

Shear madness

Didn't blog yesterday as it was a late work night.  I'll blog later on also but wanted to share pictures of hubby's hair.  He has been letting it grow for over a year and it grew very fast!  He decided it was time to go short this summer.

Here's before and after pictures.  I'm so jealous as my hair would never grow that long. It got to a certain length and then would just start splitting.

Can't believe everything you read

Today I went into the powder room where I keep a spare toothbrush/paste in a holder which I also place my Invisalign on (the edge) when I am going to go eat something.  I couldn't help but think about an article I read the other day about things you should not keep in the bathroom.  One of the things that should not be kept in the bathroom was your toothbrush.  The main reason stated as to why?  Because tests have been done on toothbrushes left in bathrooms that tested positive for fecal matter.  Seriously?  The more people that shared the bathroom the higher the chances.  So what happens? A roommate gets a bug up their ass (pun intended) and decides to use someone's toothbrush to clean the toilet?  Honestly I don't see it otherwise.  I wash my hands after going #1 and #2 and so there is no reason anything like that ever gets on my toothbrush. So no I am not moving it somewhere else.  Sometimes I wonder who writes these articles?  It might make an appropriate article for a college newspaper or for an audience of readers with small kids but otherwise, not. 

A/C

We broke down and turned the air conditioner on yesterday.  It got upwards of 90 degrees which of itself was not terrible but the humidity was thick like pea soup.  It was really humid today too so this afternoon the air conditioner got turned on again.

There is a chance of severe thunderstorms tonight until 10PM.  So far, so good but unfortunately I heard that the weather in May around here is usually the worst (for storms/winds/tornadoes). I didn't remember that! Ugh!  ;-)

Keeping this short tonight.

Almost forgot

I almost forgot to blog. :-)

I took today off and had a very nice day.  First I went for my walk in the morning and actually spent some time talking to a few people who were out and about. One lady is someone I see walking all the time.  It was nice to be able to just stand there and chat for a little while. Normally I have to say hi and get on my way since I'm on a time line. 

When I got back I got my coffee and put in my Yoga CD.  That was nice and relaxing to do after my walk.  Hubby and I went to lunch today and checked out a new Mexican restaurant that took over where there used to be another one that relocated.  Steve really liked what he got but I asked for veggie fajitas which was not on the menu (they had chicken or beef fajitas listed).  I asked her for all veggies and said I love onions and green peppers. Well there were hardly any onions and I think maybe two green pepper partial pieces. It still tasted good but it had diced tomatoes and black olive slices throughout.  Ugh.  I spent some time trying to pick those out.  Unfortunately they made up the bulk of that dish.  I think when we go back I'll just get something easy like a cheese enchilada. 

I did some singing on sing snap, did my nails and also, yes read some of my book.

 Got about 100 pages to go.  Well I'm ending this now. Gotta hit the sack!

Mother's Day

I had a nice Mother's Day.  The youngest made me waffles with my cash iron waffle maker. I had not used it yet but she has used hers many times.  She showed me how to make them so now I know what to do. They turned out yummy!

Later on, we went shoe shopping at DSW and I got some much needed sandals.  This evening was my mom's turn to be treated. I had gotten her a fresh deck of cards and a card shuffler for Mother's Day. I'm not sure how much she will use the shuffler. It works great but it noisy and she also can't see very well where the cards need to go (in order to be shuffled).  Who knows. I tried.  It is very hard to get her anything she'd appreciate.

Back home, I enjoyed some of the chocolate covered strawberries that the oldest gave me. None for the fur kids though!

Fun day

Today the youngest came for a visit. We went to the movies and saw Captain America - Civil War which had some pretty awesome special effects. I would give it an 8 out of 10.  It definitely kept moving and was interesting enough.

Then we went over to mom's so that she could visit with her granddaughter for about an hour.  We played cards as always and my kid whopped everyone.  She just got luckly.

We decided to celebrate Mother's Day early as tomorrow Stac is headed back around 4:00PM. So we went to Longhorn steakhouse. It was a good meal but the waitress was lacking. She didn't bring our drinks and we had to ask the guy who brought our salads for our drinks. I had to ask her for plates for our appetizers. She didn't ask us if we wanted more water, and didn't offer a 2nd drink.  She also didn't offer us dessert.  That is a shame because I would have had some coffee with Kahlua in it. And also would have taken a piece of key lime pie to go.  Too bad some waiters and waitresses are not properly trained. They are only huring their income (tips) and revenue for the restaurant.

Going to see if I can stay awake for some of SNL tonight which is suppose to be a new one.

Finally Friday

This was one of those weeks when by Wednesday I was saying to myself 'Isn't it Friday yet?"
So it is finally Friday. :-)   Last night was a late work night so I didn't blog.

It has been beautiful that last few days, sunny and warm.  Just the way I like it. This morning it was Molly's turn to walk with me. There is a gal with a very large black lab (perhaps lab mix) that runs in the morning sometimes and unfortunately today was one of those days.  Molly's is a barker - plain and simple that is the fact.  But I can hold her back no problem.  Her dog, she not only has to stop running and hold it back, but she has to really try holding it back from lunging toward Molly.  We are on opposite sides of the street and I stopped and walked up behind a mailbox (made with bricks) to try to not be close but that didn't matter. I was afraid she was not going to be able hold her dog back.  It didn't bark or snarl but I've already had a bad experience with a lab attacking our Shelby back in PA and wounded her pretty badly (while it was throwing her around like a rag doll).  I did not want to have something like that happen ever again!

This gal managed to keep her dog in her questionable control but then I was watching for her the whole way back to our house because she isn't thoughtful enough to go a different way!  I got to down at the corner (our house was only 4 houses away) when there I spotted her coming up the other way. Ugh!  So I walked up that person's driveway and stood behind her car with Molly so that she luckily couldn't see this gal's dog.  I'm glad the lady who owns the house didn't come out and ask me why I was standing there.

Needless to say I felt hardly relaxed or refreshed after that walk! :-(

The oldest and her hubby sent me some chocolate covered strawberries for Mother's Day.  Here's a picture. Yum! 

Late night

I just got done work for the evening.  Yesterday hubby and I took my mom to sign the Trust documents at the attorney's office.  So now we just have to wait for our actual copies/original.  It actually took effect yesterday so that is good.  Once I get my copy I will start with the rest of the stuff needed to have it all set up.  No word yet on my father's probate court date.  Hopefully that will be within the next week or two.

I've been getting some funky clothes as of late and put together a fun outfit today with some new leggings, and other clothes I already had and of course some of my Paparrazi bling too.  Here's a photo hubby took this morning.  Even Tika and Ditzy approve! 

Snail wall

I took a couple pictures today of out the back porch wall. Hubby has been pulling weeds in the flower bed.  There are some snails living on the side of the wall.  Too funny!  The little bumps are all snails (there are several near the weed line. I took a close up of a few to show you.

Cold

It  was a cold day today. In fact it was probably about the warmest when I took my walk this morning. It never got above the low 60's and it is only 56 degrees right now. Normally it would be no big deal. But it is already May! And this is Texas!  We had a little bit of rain too but the cold was very unexpected.

 Yesterday we put out about 5 slices of old bread that my mom didn't want out in the side of the yard. Less than 30 minutes later I went to check and it was all gone!  Hubby thinks it was birds.  I think it was probably those plus squirrels. I didn't see any deer around so I don't think they got any.  I offered to toss it out in her back yard but she didn't want any uninvited critters. I hate to waste food that some animals could use. At least we made some critters happy. :-)

Funny

It is a little after 4:00PM and I turned the TV on and am just about at the spot I had to turn it off yesterday while watching the Hunger Games.  That's pretty cool!  I should be able to watch the rest of it today too since it will be over before have to go to my moms.

I got the bathrooms cleaned today and the kitchen floor and most of the dining room floor (thanks to the accident that Merlin had that needed to be cleaned) and or course did some dishes.  Got a little work done too and just got my shower taken.  Yes I know it is late for that but hey, I was busy doing stuff and better to clean bathrooms before I am nice and clean right? :) 

I usually blog at night but sometimes I just don't feel like it so that is why I'm writing now. It is hard to believe that it is May already. I am looking forward to seeing my sister from Ohio in a few weeks.  This will make it 2 years in a row (she came last year to our dad's funeral).  Luckily this year it is just for a visit and to celebrate her birthday. 

Now that it is May the April showers (and severe thunderstorms) are all over right?  ;-)