Thursday, June 20

[karlinann]

Hey, Good morning Rounders! Tomorrow will be the first day of summer. Hear that Maxie?

Yes, I'm up and I'll be up for awhile. After shopping at Aldi's yesterday I made lunch and then decided to go out and put the yard waste at the curb. I ended up having 2 large trash cans full of debris. Then I finished mowing the lawn out front. Remember I did it first with the weedeater and it was spotty. Got that done and had just gotten in when it started raining. Yes, it poured down and lasted for a good while and the wind was ferocious and it blew one of the yard waste cans across the road and into my neighbor's yard and all the palm fronds and stuff blew out into his yard and the road. When it stopped raining I went out to pick it up, but my neighbor did all the picking up. He is so nice.

While I was out there mowing the lawn I saw all the Vinca that are coming up. Whoa! There are hundreds and they are everywhere. When they bloom it will be beautiful outside. They last until frost.

Paula, didn't you say that you had just installed an irrigation system and it's not performing to your satisfaction? I may have misread that, but if it is a fact you had better get the company to fix it. That is expensive and if their work is not satisfactory you should not let it slide. That irrigation system will add thousands of dollars to your home value when and if you ever decide to retire and move from there.

We bought one of the large pizza's at Aldi's and had it for lunch yesterday. Boy that was good and I had a coke. I had not had a coke or pizza for a long time. I made Taco Salads for dinner.

Hi Aunt Maye. JoGee, I'm so glad your daughter and attorney are helping you. Jostoy, where are you? Cookielady your biz is growing. Maxie, hold on, summer is almost there! Beth, you are having fun and sharing with family. What else is there? Punkin, where you at? Paula, I don't know how in the world you care for all those kids. Girl, you get a gold star! If I forgot anyone please forgive me. Peace & Plenty.

[bethina]

Good morning...a quiet day.

[Paula A]

Good Thursday (interview day) to you all! My DIL in Maryland was just apologizing for texting without thinking of the time difference. I told her I got up at 4:15 to swim and Becky gets up at 4:00 to do yoga and Pilates so no problem here. the water is warm enough that the morning is the best time to swim and feel refreshed. the moon is beautiful right now, too.

I made a To do List for things I saw around the daycare trying to see it through someone else's eyes. This mom had mentioned on the phone that she wasn't really happy at the last daycare (which was shut down by the state!) with their cleanliness...so of course, I went into Worry mode and started a list. The things that I get used to because it makes for an easier daycare day: just a little more organization and pick up time needed and the inevitable wet Swiffer/dusting undr everything. I sat on the patio with the baby yesterday and made a list of everything I saw that needed some attention. So one of the things I did after swimming this morning was to wash off the roof of the playhouse, and wipe the fingerprints off the outside refrigerator and clean around the bottom of the bouncy horse where dirty wet feet and drippy popsicles had collected in the tiny groove marks. Nothing bad but so much better when cleaned up. And I had the kids park all the bikes and the driving toys in the shade so they will be cool and also look put away...
The struggle is real, folks, but totally doable...I erase things off my list but really need to make a permanent To Do List for each daycare area as a checklist to cleaning and chores the kids can do. they Love cleaning the playhouse because I let them use soapy water and big sponges.

I need to go get the lunch meatballs in the slowcooker. The temps are so hot by lunch time that it is hard to make myself heat up the oven.
I bought a flat of peaches last weekend and the kids are loving those. Frozen blueberries are the next favorite fruit.

Going to do my living room floor now and get ready for the day. 10:00 is when the parent and her child will be here and then we will go out and let the kids have more water play. I filled the sandbox with enough water to build sandcastles yesterday and it was fun for them but messy clean up for me.

I am reading the book the President is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton. did I mention that?

Hope you all have a good day!

[maxie]

I read that book! I cannot imagine swimming at 4AM...we'd be spitting ice cubes!

[JoGee]

☀️Good morning.
yesterday we drove out to the Senior Living place.....I took the contract papers with me. I pulled out the pages about arbitration, and told them what my lawyer said. They said that’s okay, it wasn’t necessary to sign those pages. (I wasn’t told that previously.) but they were nice about it. DD wanted to see my apartment, so one of the gals took us up there. DD liked it.
One of the gals in charge invited us for a free lunch, so we accepted. Their food is really good.
Then we drove to a furniture store nearby. I picked out a new bed, dresser, and night stand. That will be delivered to the apartment and set up for me on June 30. So I can go there on July 1st, and deal with the rest of the stuff that the kids are delivering for me, and start unpacking it.
When we got back to Tucson it was after 4 p.m., so we stopped at a restaurant and had a small supper....and it was Free Pie Day so we had dessert.
At home, DD checked the dashboard and was impressed, we put 400 miles on the car on this trip, and still had 1/4 tank of gas when we got home.

meanwhile, I got a check from the bank, and it looked like my home and auto insurance has a balance of $0. Cancelled??? I didn’t order that yet. The realtor is coming tomorrow and we are going to discuss selling the house vs. having them rent it out and I’ll have a supplemental income.

So things are moving along. Yes, I’m losing some sleep over it, just doing the work in my dreams. But DD bought me some CBD capsules, and I take one at bedtime. They are safer than my taking sleeping tablets (which my doctor doesn’t want me to take, due to my recent A-fib problem). They help me stretch my sleep time to 6 hours, despite all my night wake-up times. I had been averaging 3-4 hours of sleep time before.

Today we have 101° again, but the next few days afterwards will drop into the 90’s. A bit of relief.
I have to admit that Phoenix is generally a few degrees hotter, so I will enjoy what little respite while I can.
i can enjoy cool mornings there, but otherwise will check out other available activities. There’s a variety of things to do there. Yesterday the directors divided themselves into 2 teams for Penny Wars. I didn’t see how they collected pennies (silver also accepted), but the team that collected the most wins, of course....but a member of the losing team is chosen, and the winning members decorate that person with ice cream, chocolate syrup, cherries, and whipped cream, like a human sundae. It was pretty funny.
the funds won all goes to some worthy cause.

Okay, I’ve written a book. I will go ahead and get on with my day.
I wish you all a very happy day! ☀️

Hi Paula. I read that book, too. Patterson has long been one of my favorite authors.

[maxie]

Good morning! A gloomy morning but I think going to warm into the high 80s for the rest of the week. Rain is always in the forecast but I do think I will need to water the potted plants. The heaviest rain yesterday stayed south. The potted geraniums are not looking good. They are full of flowers and buds but the leaves seem to be drying up and are not very pretty. Maybe to much rain or maybe I should feed them. They are such a beautiful red...very dark red.

Sierra texted yesterday that she gave her notice at McDs. I think no matter how crappy the job she will miss the money right now but it is also a relief since she was running from one job to another 3 nights a week. She sent a 4 way text to me, her mom, dad, and uncle Scott and we must have all been sitting around doing nothing at the same time because we had a very long group chat for about 30 minutes. It was funny to catch up with that many people at one time. Sierra called on her way home and said she sure never expected the hear from everyone at the same time....told her to remember we all talk and she hit us at the right time. Most of our conversation was not about quitting her second job! Then she texted early this morning about shopping some evening next week for tops. I thought wearing the same 5 tops would get old! I almost reminded her her mom would be home this weekend...like let her buy a top...but I was nice.

Karlinann I told you you sounded full of energy yesterday. Look at all you did and your neighbor must appreciate the effort you put into it by cleaning his yard of your debris. Some people are just nice guys. Glad you are getting the rain you need and want.

Yesterday I drove home and did my errands. Spent a fortune at the Dollar Store and not on flour and sugar like Cookie...on cleaning supplies. I know that is funny since I seldom clean and you are laughing but I do do laundry. For now...I may give it up like I did cooking. Can I buy a supply of paper clothes? Wear them once and burn them? Might be embarrassing if you get caught in the rain.

Beth you sound kinda out of sorts or are you resting up for when the sun finally comes out and summer begins? I have always thought anyone who watches others children is a saint and Paula you are still sweet after a day of monsters. Even your rants are kind and gentle.

Since my sister has been camped out in the old house she has been calling everyday with her rants. Believe me when I say they are not sweet! She called again yesterday to say the prospective buyers came by while the pool was being inspected and she had to be nice...then she calls me with all this nastiness pouring out. My sister may look sweet but looks is as far as that goes! I do enjoy our little talks.

So looks like I should get moving. Have nothing to do and no place to go but should act like I do anyway by dressing. I could take myself out to lunch. Have a wonderful day...

[cookielady]

**XXX!!!###@#!@@!!!!! I HATE spoofed phone calls. It looks like a local person calling & it's a sales call by a robot. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Good Afternoon! See...I can look sweet & kind too, but that sort of thing (along with someone going 40 in a 55mph zone) gets me rankled. The sun just popped out....for 2 minutes. There are flash flood warnings out until tonight. I have to go down & let out some of the water in the pool again.

Yesterday was good. Theresa came again for a few hours. We made & rolled a bunch of pie dough. She told me she knew how to decorate cakes, so I showed her how I make my carrots & then the "greens". I didn't watch over her. Hate to say it, but some of her carrots looked like penises. None of them had points on the end. LOL! I'm going to have to watch her the next time. She worked in large commercial kitchens and they are completely different from small based bakeries. I have a lot of teaching to do, but I had to do the same with Sue. Once she's trained, she'll be fine....I hope. We also mixed up 4 kinds of cookie dough. By mid afternoon, I petered out. Picked up Blaise & came home & took a power nap.

This morning my feet hit the floor running. Baked off 2 kinds of cookies...choc chip & PB. I sat down here to post, and I heard a "Hello....are you open?" A customer that purchased my pies down at the farm stand come to see if I had any pies made. Nope. But I told them I'd make whatever they wanted in a couple hours. Well...a little more like 2 1/2. I had the fillings made for 2 of them and the third was a choc meringue pie. The meringue is toasting now. Cork always gets a kick out of calling and asking if I got any orders. There was none at 10am, but when he called at noon, I got to report about the 3 pies. Aunt J stopped by to get her jacket she left last time...like I haven't been to her place 2 times since & forgot to leave it. She got some cookies and a container of fresh made potato salad I made this morning. She was having hamburgers for lunch, so that would go perfect with them. I was just hungry for PS. I made it the regular way instead of the horseradish PS.

After I get these pies done & out, I'm going to bake off the Snickerdoodles next. Then I've got to figure out the pies I'm going to send to the Mars Farmers Market. They have to be ready tomorrow afternoon. The cookies are for orders/events next week. I'm trying to get ahead. I always say God gives me what I need, so there must be something coming up that I'm going to need that's going to cost a bit more than we normally have. Never get ahead. Just stay afloat. I'm not complaining though, because I'm grateful I can pay my bills & not lose sleep over it. Now I do moan a tiny bit at first because it'd be nice to get ahead. LOL! Remember Betty? She always said to count your blessings.

No karate tonight, so I probably should cook a real meal. I made spaghetti last night. I made Blaise & I a large veggie plate to munch on all evening. Maybe I'll do the same for tonight. This is his last day of camp at the community college. He'll get to sleep in tomorrow. He's really enjoyed the morning session, but not so much the afternoon. He ended up with the older boys in the morning session, and really enjoys them. Then in the afternoon session he's back with his age group and more girls. He doesn't enjoy it so much. He feels like they are talking down to him. LOL! We couldn't find him yesterday at pick up time. 3 of us were searching for him. Trying not to panic. I finally found him on the other side of the entrance hall with the older boys. Whew! He didn't know he was lost.

Back to work! Have a good one all!!!!!!!