"You Do You!"

Both Mark and Cass said that to me on the same day last week; first time I'd heard it.  I don't recall why Mark said it.  But I do remember why Cass was encouraging me.

The guest half bath here is absurdly tiny.  It's 4 by 3.  That's right: 12 square feet.  And it's always looked marginal, at best.  So we bought fixtures last October to renovate that half bath, but I refused to move forward, because the heat would have to be shut off for however long it took, and I wasn't fine with that in November.  Call me crazy, but I want heat when the nights are below 40 degrees.

So a guy finally came in to start this project 2 weeks ago.  He isn't a slacker, it's just that hard to get anything done in this house.  Start with jackhammering the floor to change the water lines and drainage, and you get the idea of the scope of this stupid 12 square foot project.  42 other little things went wrong, too, and before you knew it, it took 3 weeks.  Then my dearly beloved was telling him to paint the whole room white.  I told him not to paint at all; I'd take care of it.  Then I painted the outside wall....emerald green.  Dearly Beloved was not best pleased when I started down this road, in the semi-dark, at 7PM, while the light fixtures were still off the wall.  But Cass said, "You do you, Momma Bear!"  And the next day, in broad daylight, with cream walls and white trim, I got unanimous votes of confidence.  Even Mark told me, "Ignore Dad, because it looks really good."

And I was so pleased by that endeavor, I had the same guy take out 27 cracked tiles in my kitchen floor; he started today, and will be replacing them tomorrow.  Sounds like a good excuse for takeout to me.

Happy Wednesday, everyone, and when in doubt, take the advice of Cass and Mark: "You do you!"

Blue Monday

On Friday, we took Mark to Philadelphia; he moved into his dorm a day early, with the understanding that he would help others on Saturday, the official move-in day.

This hit me really hard.  Yes, I know I've sent 8 other kids off to college, but this is my baby.  There are no more children behind him.  This is a really bittersweet time for us.

Cass lives less than 4 miles down the road from Mark's college, so she came to help settle him in and cheer him on (and she took him to Target on Sunday to get a couple of things he had forgotten....what a girl!).

There is a huge oak tree right outside his window, which makes his room really pleasant; you can see it behind us.   Cass talked him into moving the beds around (he needs the extra long bed, which is a special request) so he had the "better" side of the room; we set up his bed, put his mug on his shelf, and set off for lunch.

Mark's not much of a talker; still, it's awfully quiet around here.  And I really don't know how to cook for only 2 or 3 people.  My dearly beloved might find himself eating leftovers until I get this worked out.  Meanwhile, it's a blue Monday here in our little corner of the world, as our baby starts on the rest of his life.

Hope you're all enjoying this last Monday in August!

It's Eclipse Day!

So, we are nowhere near the total eclipse, but I didn't care.  I ordered the package of genuine eclipse glasses months ago, and we all wandered in and out to watch it.  I even took a couple of great blob pictures with my new, spiffy cell phone (yes, it's sad, but I can no longer say that my phone doesn't take pictures...I still claim it does nothing else).  Of course, the phone wore the eclipse glasses when it took a turn looking at the sky.

It was a little cloudy here, but that's OK. I'm just happy that I got to enjoy it with people I love.  And I'm going to make an eclipse cake tonight to celebrate!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Watermelon Day

I heard from a friend yesterday that August 3 is National Watermelon Day, and, of course, I couldn't let the day go by without celebrating.  Now, as far as I'm concerned, every day can be watermelon day. So Mark brought one back from the supermarket.  This is 1/4 of it; the color was washed out, but it tasted better than it looked.  And I plan to finish it off today, with or without help from my menfolk.

I am really disappointed that we can't get giant watermelons here any more; Dan brought 4 up in his car trunk the first week of July, and I'm not ashamed to say that we consumed them all.  It was a darn good time.

So....does everyone else find only the dinky little watermelons in their stores?  Or can you still find the giant wonderfully juicy and flavorful ones?

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Garden Tuesday

There haven't been many Garden Tuesdays this year.  Oh, sure, we had Blizzard Garden Tuesday, but other than that, I've been pretty slack.

So, when I went down to West Chester for my daughter's baby shower, her husband had two 2' high pillars for me; a couple of guys loaded them into my car to take home.  Let me be clear: only one would fit in the trunk.  They had to drive the front passenger's seat all the way forward to stuff the second one in behind it.  And that's in a Lincoln Town Car.  Good thing I insist on driving those big ol' gas guzzlers, or these suckers would still be sitting around 130 miles south of here.

Anyway, after I figured out that I wanted them on my back porch, and bought bowls to set atop them, Shannon went out and bought flowers to plant in said bowls.  9 weeks later, they're still blooming, and have filled in a lot.

Good thing we have a real gardener in our midst, or my pillars would just look silly!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  And Happy August.  I hope you're enjoying your summer weather!