Wow Wee!-kend

Wow folks. I'm tired. When last I left you, it was shaping up to be a steady paced weekend. It ended up being pretty busy.

Friday took us out visiting to my sister's house. They are mourning the death of Merlin, her 18 year old loyal companion. Bless his heart, he has been her faithful companion through 2 failed marriages (I have to say that they weren't her fault, she suffered from a bad pick of men), moving multiple times including to Maryland, two separate homes in Pennsylvania and several places in NE Ohio. For years, he was probably the only constant thing in her life. He saw her through the ugly times and onward to times of celebration.

Here's her man. Rest in peace, ole boy.

When visiting at my sister's house, she mentioned that she was scheduling a family garage sale. Now last time a family sale was scheduled, I had done it and they decided to move it when I was in Wisconsin on vacation. Folks, it never happened. This sale has been confirmed. Many people are involved and we all need to unload of things and having extra pocket change isn't going to hurt. Our garage sale money is going into the kitchen spiff project. But, as a result of the pending garage sale, I threw myself into purging the linen closet. It's something that I've wanted to do for a while (as opposed to just straightening it), so I dove right in. Of course, I forgot the before pictures, but just enjoy the afters, 'kay? We'll start with my slumbering child. Friday was chilly and a bit rainy. She decided to snuggle in for a nap as I was doing my Virgoian organization. Hey? Could you ever guess our flu medication of choice? Since there are three of us, K- goes to school, I work retail and Hubs teaches nature programs to a variety of ages, it makes sense to stock up for flu season. (We've found Oscillococinum cheapest at the Vitamin Shoppe. The last time we purchased it, we paid $4.40/box. It can range from $9.00 - $15.00 per box.)

Saturday morning started with Hubs announcing that he had a volunteer picnic, but "You don't have to go." I told him I wasn't a volunteer, that I was a wife and that was just a part of the deal. "Nah, you don't have to go." As he repeated that a few times, it kicked in that what he was really saying was, "For the love that is all good and right in the world, come help me please!" I announced that K- and I would be happy to come and Hubs' response was, "Well, it is kind of far out." (25 miles one way.) I told him it wasn't a big deal. "Nah, you don't have to come." Geeze, man! Two minutes later, he handed me directions. When we arrived, Hubs had just arrived. The man didn't know where to start. Regardless to the fact that the pavilion was posted for a program, someone had used the pavilion previously and filled the garbage cans to overflowing. I emptied those last. We got the tables dressed with some lovely picnic table cloths. We set up a beverage station, dessert station and a place for main meal food. We got the frozen food down towards the grill, the ice cream shuttled over to the dessert area and just in time. Hubs' boss, co-hosting the event with Hubs, arrived just as we got the finishing touches handled. Folks started to arrive and we were really hoping that there would be a child to play with K-. As luck would have it, one of Hubs' volunteers had her granddaughter for the evening. K- and S- were just months apart in age and played well together. S-'s grandmother wanted to just farm the kids off to the playground and have them be on their own. The playground, on the other side of a big set of trees and I couldn't see them. Besides, I told her that I wanted to go up and scope out the playground. (As a disguise for me not just wanting to send my child up unattended.) She said, "Oh yes, well we don't want to send S- home broken. I guess I should check and make sure it is safe." I told her that I didn't question the safety of the equipment, but what came to my mind was stranger danger. "Oh yeah." So, the balance of my evening involved watching and providing for 2 girls, as the grandmother had decided that she was out. She didn't know me from Adam, yet didn't even check on S-. Oh well. I kept both kids safe. It was all good.

Sunday came with a pingy-poke in my side. I admit that I pretty much knew what the pain was, but was used to a mid-cycle pain to be in my right (if it was to occur) as opposed to the left. I decided to take some Advil for it, and to go just the regular church service (skip Sunday School) to get the pingy-poke to go away. Hubs came out and suggested that we go to the Cleveland Zoo after church and I didn't want pingy-poke to be in the way. As it turns out, it subsided by early afternoon so it was what I thought it was and we had a really great time. I admit that I was concerned about the potential of all that walking with a pain in my side, but I'm glad that I didn't have to worry about it.

We had a really nice time and K- was picked to be a program helper. She was one of 6 kids picked to hold a really giant boa constrictor. She had such a great time doing it. (Can we say, Naturalist's kid?) She was able to pet a hedgehog, get an up close and personal look at a giraffe that found a child's bubbles to be interesting. (The giraffe was within 2 1/2 - 3 feet away from us.) K-'s favorite thing? There was a flamingo that was sitting on her nest. She seriously loved it so much, that we visited it three times!

They gave us a free kids meal coupon for Bob Evans, so Hubs decided that we would do a rare meal out. K- opted for the grilled cheese sandwich with fruit, Hubs got chicken and noodles and I had the barbecued chicken knife and fork sandwich. Folks, my sandwich wasn't all that. It was okay, but definitely not a repeat. Still, it was a nice time to spend together.

We got home, had a bit of decompression time then set off to weeding and lawn maintenance. K- and I weeded the driveway (with me doing the front beds before she came out) as Hubs was mowing. Folks, I'm embarrassed to admit that the one corner of our driveway was a mat of weeds. (We had some weeds here and there, but that corner was horrible!) Seriously, it looked bad. K- and I pulled at those for over an hour. Hubs came up and told us, "Oh, I'll help you get that done in a few minutes." The man brought out a spade. Oh, it worked like a charm. Seriously, I need to remember that, but let's hope that we don't get the carpeted corner of grass and weeds again. Unfortunately, our grass was a bit longer than what we prefer, but Hubs pulled two 12 hour days this week and worked until 9 or better for 4 of the 5 days that he did work. Mowing just wasn't in the cards until today. I would have provided an after picture, but we were working with the outside lights because the sun set on us.

Officially, I'm tuckered. As is the norm, my side of the bed has laundry for me to put away before settling into bed. And now that I'm thinking about it, I may take a few Advil to offset some weeding soreness.

Smiles in my weekend:
- K- being chosen for the zoo program.
- Spending the day with my people.
- Having my side pain be nothing more than a blip on Mother Nature's radar.
- Tomatoes and peppers are getting big!*
- My pink surprise flower is a surprise all right! It is peach.*
- That I have a home, a wonderful family, a husband who is a great provider and a bed that looks so inviting. So many folks don't have that.

Have a great Monday, my friends!
* I have photos, but I'm too tired to transfer them over! Another day, I promise.