Grocery shopping

I finally had to break down and go to the grocery store, but was quite pleased with the outcome. I found some great bargains and did pretty well. For a total of $30.15 I got: 4 cans of cat food, a box of Milk Bone Dog Biscuits (.35 off coupon), Chicken Jerky Dog Treats, a Bag of Dole Classic Romaine Salad ($1.00 off coupon), a tub of watermelon chunks, 1 red onion, a large baking potato, 1 lime, 2 packages of chicken thighs (buy one get one free), 3 flatiron steaks ($3.00 off in-store coupon), a bag/block of coffee and a 12-pack of 1/2 liter bottles of water! Then I went to the farmers market and for $1.86 I got: a pretty tomato, a head of cabbage, an eggplant and a large head of garlic! Not bad for a total of $32.01! Unfortunately I went from work and didn't have my list with me and I did forget a few things, but I figure that tomorrow I'll spend less than $5.00 and get the items I missed, so I'm breathing a little easier about money this month, even though I still have the car insurance and car tag along with the electric and cable bills to pay, I may just make it after all.

My next door neighbor (88 years old) tripped over her cat in her garage and fell. Thank goodness she didn't break anything, but she did have a concussion and badly bruised her lower back...you just never know! Watch out for those animals! They cost you money and just might trip you up!

I talked to the boss today about the big project I finished last week and he agreed that I should add the time I spent at home on my computer doing research to my time card this week. Whew! That'll help a little even though it's only 7 hours I added (I probably spent a little more, but I was enjoying it!).

Over the weekend I pruned my loropetelums and some of my Knock Out Roses. Well, it seems I got a rose thorn stuck in my arm. I thought I had gotten it all out, but now it's festering. I don't see anything in it, nor do I feel anything, but it's swollen and gooey. Ick!

Friends

Thursday Ann, Robert and I met at Sage for lunch. It's almost impossible to catch up on 46 years, but we darn sure tried! The weather was nice and we ate on the covered porch and since we waited until 1 to meet we pretty much had the porch to ourselves. Good, good meeting!

Early last week (or maybe the week before) a gigantic limb fell from one of the humongous trees in the back yard. It landed between the tree and the hedge of azaleas, dogwoods and redbuds...leaning on the hedge. I couldn't budge it and, of course, the fellow who cuts my yard mowed around it. I was stewing about what to do about it to one of the girls at work. Saturday she, her husband and their two daughters came and cut it up and hauled off the largest pieces. There is a pile of little stuff that I may either haul out to the road or cut up to use in my little fireplace on the patio. Now, wasn't that nice?

The yard needs so much work. I did some Saturday and some again yesterday, but it seems that while I'm working one section the others go berserk!

Looked at my last post...it may have been misleading. Mercy it just fine...it was a rare good picture.

Must prepare for work.

It's over for now...

Mercy the cat.

Our wonderful streak of record-smashing cool weather has come to an end. Our week of early mornings in the low 60s sure spoiled me and now I'm anticipating Fall more than ever! We even held to the mid 80s for daytime temps.!

I'm having lunch today with two friends from high school, Ann & Robert. Even though Ann moved back home (from Asheville, NC) shortly after I did, we don't see each other often. Every time we get together we swear to do it more often, but lives have a way of creating their own circles and ours only overlap on occasion. Robert is back in town visiting his mother and enjoying the escape of the major heat wave that Texas is having. Sure am looking forward to lunch!

I finished a project at work yesterday that I've been working on for 3-4 weeks. It was such a relief to finish, but also a let down. I've been researching the Shenandoah Valley area, topography, weather, soil composition, population, etc. I've enjoyed the search so much, learned quite a bit and can't help but wonder what my next assignment may be. I hope it's as interesting as this one was!

Something odd

I have no phone...no dial tone...no phone. Well, I do have my pre-paid cell and it has a little over 500 hours loaded on it, thank goodness, but I have no home phone. Odd thing is, I still have internet service and I get it from Embarq, too. I don't understand how I can have one and not the other...oh well...I used the cell and called Embarq yesterday. They say I should have phone service back tomorrow.

It's down right chilly outside this morning! Love it! Went out to bring in the newspaper and only had on crops and a tee, almost froze to death! It sure would be nice if this stuck around for a while!

It sure seems that everything hits at once. Car insurance and tag are due next month (pay ins. twice a year) and combined that's over $400.00! Which leaves me $319.00 from my SS check. Sure hope I can figure out how to pay the monthly bills and gas the car and feed the animals and eat on that! Bet I'll make it work somehow, it's just all iffy at the moment.

Wondering if the cell phone should be turned on or off when charging...or does it matter?

The picture is what I've done with some of the area that the puppies dug up. I'm enjoying it and, thought I'd never let them know, I really think they may have done me a favor! The ol' lemonade thing!

A photo attempt

Okay, here goes...once more I'm going to attempt to post some snapshots...sometimes I can and sometimes I can't. Well, that worked out pretty well, I just can't seem to put them where I want them.

The second photo is the horrid, makes me vibrate wallpaper in the dining room. The first photo is trying to take the wallpaper down, but if you look in the corner you'll see that under the wallpaper is wood paneling...now what do I do?

The third and fourth potos are Jazzy after her makeover. She looks great! Wanted to post before photo too, but even though I loaded them into the computer today, I can't find them. So, you'll just have to use your imagination!

And life goes on...

It seems that we are going from feast to famine and back again weather-wise here. For 8 or 9 days in a row we had temps in the 100s and no rain, now we've had 7-8 days in a row of rain and temps in the 80s. I, of course, much prefer the rain and cooler weather and luckily we have a few more days of this sort of weather in the forecast, but then it's back into the 90+ stuff. It is, after all, summer!

Tuesday I had the migraine from hell. Here it is Friday and I can still feel the residuals.

Last night my cable tv went out around 11pm. I waited for about 20 minutes and when it didn't automaticly come back on I called Comcast. They said they'll fit me in sometime today...couldn't say when, just that they'd fit me in. So this morning when it got light enough I walked around the house to where all of the utilities feed into the house and nothing looked unusual, but when I walked out to get the neighbor's old dog out of the road I saw that the tall green round box thing out by the power pole was opened. In fact the entire top is off and sitting to the side. I'm wondering if someone hit it or something, though there are no skid marks in the grass or anything. Leah Jane said she bets someone cut the cable (hers didn't go off). Now why would someone do something like that? I hope it's fixed today, "What Not To Wear" is on tonight! I did get to see the season premiere of "Big Brother" last night, thank goodness!

Last Thursday I took Jazzy to a groomer for a "make-over"! She looks wonderful! Sue gave her a Schnauzer (is that right?) clip and she looks like a new dog! As soon as my ss check comes in I'll get some film and try to post a picture. She's just adorable!

I've been searching the internet for goat meat recipes. I found one that reads yummily for Caribbean curried goat stew and I'm thinking that I'll take the goat stew meat out of the freezer and start the stew tomorrow.

I'm meeting my sister tomorrow morning for breakfast and then we'll go see mother. We both have a 20 percent off coupon for our breakfasts!

Catching up

Ruth's funeral was yesterday. It was a 10am graveside service and it seemed the entire town was there! The service was lovely, and one of the local veterinarians (he tended all of Ruth's dogs) played guitar and sang "How Great Thou Art". Even though it was awfully hot and muggy, everyone stayed for the entire hour and a half. There was a luncheon reception at the First Baptist Church and Leah Jane and I went, but didn't stay to eat. They seemed to have a good turn out.

Last night Norma had Leah Jane, Gloria and me over for hamburgers. It was a rather sad little group and the main topic of conversation, of course, was Ruth. I'm afraid I got a bit into my cups and fussed at Leah Jane about her Vicodin use (along with alcohol), I know I shouldn't have done that, but she's shrinking up and seeming to die before my very eyes. I don't know what to do, I care very much about her and hate to see this happening. She may never speak to me again...I don't know what to do.

Happy 5th of July.