I’ve apparently decided to teach myself to dance this week.  I was hurrying to get some
cookies out of the oven yesterday afternoon.  I must have gotten a thin layer of flour or
something on the floor because my sandal just slid forward when I stepped on the kitchen floor.  I didn’t fall, but I invented a new twisting motion in keeping my balance. (I’m 
pretty surprised I’m not sore today!).  I did the same thing on
Wednesday, except it was because of the rain (wet flip-flops) and it
was in my garage.  Again, I didn’t fall, but I did a funny twisty
maneuver to stay standing which I’m sure looked like a modern dance…okay, apparently I am a clutz, and I should start wearing only treaded
shoes.  Seriously…I’m sure there are easier (and less painful) ways to learn to dance!

Other than almost breaking my neck, the day was productive. I made lots
of cookies. Then I cleaned all 3 bathrooms, mopped all the
non-carpeted floors in my house, and dusted and vacuumed the
downstairs . Eric’s aunt, Patti, was coming, and she had never been to
our house, so I figured there would be at least one tour.  I tidied
the rest of the house, but didn’t stress too much about her seeing a
little bit of clutter!

The party went very well.  It was actually pretty fun, and those who came seemed to have a good time. (Karen ditched us in the end …so everyone decided that she should now host a party to make up for it and to show off her new house! )  Also, being the hostess, I got free stuff and discounts, so that was also great!  Most people left about 9, but I wasn’t done with my order and then we stood around chatting with the designers.  They didn’t leave until after 11:00, so it was almost midnight before I was asleep. They are very funny people, but I’m too old to be up that late!

Today the agenda is really about finding a birthday gift for my brother.  Don’t know what to get him really, but since there is a chance he’ll read this entry, I won’t include any of my ideas or specific plans.  Suffice it to say that I’ll be doing some shopping today. 

How funny…yesterday I got more comments than I’ve gotten in a while, but I had the shortest entry I’ve written in a while.  Are you guys trying to tell me something? 

Things that annoy me:  Back-to-School sales and displays in JULY!  It’s barely past the fourth of July and the stores have already filled their aisles with glue sticks, notebooks and writing utensils.  There should be a law that back to school stuff should wait until August! 

Okay, on to other things. 

• Yesterday we had a fun adventure with two dogs who were running lose in our neighborhood: one black, one gold.  A neighbor tied the dogs into my next-door neighbor’s fenced yard (the gate was open so she figured the dogs had escaped).  The black dog came to meet me when I came out.  I wasn’t sure what to do, so I went back inside and kept watch.  But when I went out again…the black dog was INSIDE the fence.  I was totally confused!   Turns out..she could actually jump the fence, but the gold dog couldn’t, so the black dog refused to leave.  She just jumped in and out all afternoon to be with her friend.  I think the neighbors eventually let them out.  I met their owner this morning hanging up missing signs (they were wearing collars with invisible fencing transmitters but no tags), but the dogs weren’t next door anymore.  Hopefully, she gets them back…they were really sweet dogs.  And the moral of the story:  PUT TAGS ON YOUR DOGS!
• Tonight I am hosting a Home & Garden Party thingy.  It should be fun (I think there are about 10 people coming), but I have to clean and get ready.  So that’s my agenda for today!

Again…not much to blog about today.  Yesterday, I did some cleaning and ironing.  Went to WalMart.  Read a book for a while.  Nothing exciting, really.   Today’s not shaping up to be much different.  I’m hosting a party thing on Thursday, so I should do some cleaning for that, though it could wait until tomorrow.  I need to think of and buy my brother’s birthday present, so I may end up running around for that.  We’ll see…

I did realize this morning that having Karen get a house is going to be VERY happy for my storage situation.  Our house does have good storage room, but I’ve been holding some of her stuff in closets (like her wedding gown and slip) that take up a lot of room.  How fun it will be to put that stuff in HER new closets!

Still no rain…good thing I decided to water even some this morning!

Not much to say today…I think it’s supposed to rain up here.  Now I’m trying to decide whether to water my plants this morning or just let them get rained on.  Of course, if I wait, it won’t rain for hours.  If I do, it’ll start raining before lunch. 

Yesterday wasn’t terribly thrilling.  I did some cleaning.  I played on the web.  I went to a bible study in the evening.  Today doesn’t promise much better.  Some more cleaning.  Maybe a quick trip to WalMart.  Maybe a load of laundry (then the ironing which will be necessary as a result).  Don’t know what else…especially if it rains.  Oh well…I’m sure I’ll come up with something creative!

So I was reading in out Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader (a gift for Eric from his brother…go figure), and I found this list of bad headlines.  I think I’ll have to use some of these in class when I talk about misplaced modifiers.  And mostly…they’re just funny!

• Infertility Unlikely to be Passed On
• Summer Schools Boost Scrores
• Study Finds Sex, Pregnancy Link
• State Says Cost of Saving Money Too High
• Elizabeth Dole Had No Choice but to Run as a Woman
• Montezuma Mourns Banker Slain in Attack with Flowers
• New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Tests Group
• Deer and Turkey Hunt for Disabled People

Of course there were others, but these were my favorites!  Anyway, it wasn’t too terribly busy of a weekend.  Went shopping with Mom & Karen on Friday.  Mom bought shoes; I found some new clothes!  My brother-in-law came over on Friday night, and we watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie (Ryan hadn’t seen it).  Saturday was just a filler day.  I worked around the house, didn’t go anywhere, washed the new clothes I got on Friday so I could wear my new dress to church on Sunday.  Sunday was church.  We had Communion in the evening, and the orchestra played, so we were there at 5:30.  Then after the service we went out with 2 couples from our small group.  Very fun evening!  We sat outside at Chipotle until 10:30…good times.

Let’s see…yesterday…I cleaned up the kitchen and wrote in the morning.  Then I had lunch, went and picked up Karen and we went shopping for a baby gift for a couple in our small group from church.   Everyone pitched in some money and we got to spend it!  It was fun, too!  We bought a hamper from their registry and then filled it with little things and diapers and such.  Their baby was born in May, but we’ve not really seen much of them, so we’re just now getting to this.  Oh well!  It turned out cute anyway!

After I dropped Karen off, I ran to Walmart and then went home.  I put the gift together and took pictures to send to the girls who contributed.  Then Eric came home and wanted to go biking.  So we did.  We went to a trail we’d never been to before, and it was gravel (it eventually leads to the trail that starts in London at the Senior Center).  It’s about 6 miles long, but we only did three before we turned around.  I’d already walked in the morning, and gravel is MUCH harder to ride on than pavement…so we wore out pretty quickly.  We picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner and ate when we got back.  Then we just hung out for the evening.  It was kind of a bummer of an evening though.  There was nothing good on tv, and what we watched was just bad news after bad story after bad news.  It was kind of depressing.

Anyway, I think my mom may come up here for a while today, but I’m not sure.  I think that’s all!

Gee…I’m behind this morning.  Everyone had long posts to catch up on.  Don’t worry, though, mine will be short!

Yesterday, I made a “movie” to see if I could using the pictures we took at Holly’s first birthday party.  It turned out really cute, and I even added a soundtrack (Girls Just Want to Have Fun, of course!).  Then I cleaned up the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher.  Then lunch and then Eric came home (at 12:45!).  He was bored at work and figured he could waste time much better at home!  So he played on the computers and I ironed, talked to my mom, and worked on my writing for the afternoon. After dinner, he had orchestra rehearsal (which they had to stay late for…grrr!), so I worked on some skits for drama since we didn’t have rehearsal last night.  Then I watched America’s Got Talent (a default choice…not my normal viewing) and we went to bed. 

Today, I’m probably going to run some errands.  I don’t have much cleaning to do since I had to clean for my in-laws on Friday and then we were gone most of the time until yesterday.  The house stays clean when you aren’t there!

It’s been a long time since I’ve written!  Oh well…with holidays and traveling and such, there probably haven’t been too many people to read an entry. 

Last Friday, I went shopping for the foodstuffs I would need for dinners that night.  I had to make a dinner for a couple because they’d had a baby, but I also had to have a dinner planned because my in-laws were coming that night.  So I ran errands in the morning and cleaned in the afternoon.  Then I made and dropped off the first meal, chatted and played with the baby for a few minutes, came home and worked on our meal, then ate when my in-laws arrived.  It was fun to sit and chat with them. Saturday wasn’t too exciting…laundry and real grocery shopping.  Eric worked a bit, then had to go to the church for the first of the 3 patriotic services of the weekend.  We just vegged out when he got home. 

Sunday we had church, and I had a ministry meeting.  Then we had dinner, relaxed for a bit and then packed to leave for the farm.  We stayed there until yesterday afternoon.  It rained most of the time we were there. We pretty much had the house to ourselves on Sunday because the farm folks were busy for a while, so just tried to keep the rain from pouring in the open windows (they don’t have air conditioning).  Monday, my mother-in-law had to work, so we went with Alan over to hang some ceiling fans for Grandma Powell.  Then we got back and Ryan (the other brother-in-law) had arrived to spend the holiday as well.  We went out for pizza and bowling that night (but the bowling alley was closed), then came home.  Tuesday we woke up to a steady downpour, so the cookout got moved inside (at least the eating part).  Both sets of grandparents came for dinner, and then we all sat around and chatted for a while.  Then we loaded up and came home and relaxed for the evening here. 

It’s good to be home again.  I don’t really have much planned for the day.  I’m out of the habit of thinking of things to do right now.  So hopefully…I’ll think of something!