What's Happenin'?

Outside my window: The turkeys continue to come through. Every morning, afternoon and evening. There's 5 big ones and the two little ones---but they have really grown up.

I am thinking: That there is a lot going on this weekend. I think I say that every week.

I am thankful for: More than one tv. Did you know that football has started up again? At least he can go upstairs and watch it. It's non-stop sports around here. There's only two sports I like to watch---Cardinals baseball when they make it to the World Series and Titan's football if I can watch it at home and stitch at the same time. Other than that, I don't like to watch sports.

From the kitchen: So earlier in the week, I let the kids know that I would be serving Imo's pizza for dinner. This is how it started:

 Apparently, it wasn't laid flat on the way home from St. Louis. As a result, we didn't know it had "scrunched up" before we froze it! We had to pry the pizzas apart. One actually broke. What a mess!

We could hardly get all the plastic off. In the end, it was delicious. I also had toasted ravioli and a salad to go with it. 

I am reading: The Butterfly Ball by Hal Manogue. I'll finish it tomorrow. Hal is the husband of one of our book club members. It's pretty good. We'll have a good discussion for sure. Last week I read Silver Star by Jeannette Walls. She is the author of The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses. All of her books have been excellent. Silver Star  is her first work of fiction. It was really, really good. But I thought the ending was weak.

I am busy creating: Not only have I not been creating, I'm not even unpacked from the scrapbook retreat last week. I've played "catch-up" all week in order to get out-of-town again on Tuesday.

 I'm bummed: That I might not get to see Jordan again before she goes back to school

I did get a kick out of seeing her. Somehow when she's around, there is always an animal involved.

 Look close. Closer.....

She's wearing the cutest alligator bracelet. She called Steph this morning and said she was nervous about the 3 1/2 hour drive home---all highway. We don't get on the highway much around here, so you have a relative new driver who has not had much highway driving experience. She started off by asking Steph where she should get gas. She said the gas pumps are different in Knoxville. I guess she figured it out. But after getting back on the highway, she ended up heading away from Nashville. We don't know how far out of her way she went before she realized she was going in the wrong direction. It took her several months to figure out how to get to the mall. We think college is going to be good for her!

I am hearing: TV in the background.

Around the house and garden: I haven't spent any time in the garden. Now that I'm the rental agent for our beach condo, I've been spending a lot of time with that. It's really fun---and I'm sure it won't be so time consuming once I have done it all a few times. Right now, I'm just so worried about messing up someone's rental, or giving them the wrong door code. I'm sure I'll relax soon.

In other news: We're leaving for Italy on Tuesday. It's going to be a fun trip. I'll start packing on Tuesday morning. I keep my packing list on my computer, so it doesn't take me more than 30 minutes to pull it all together.

One of my favorite things right now: I love the scented candles I got from Bath and Body Works. They have 3 wicks, but I only light one at a time. The candle will last longer and the aroma isn't quite as strong.

I appreciate: My friend and travel agent, Mary. She comes up with the best itineraries for our trips. She knows all kinds of little things that are not to be missed. I'm really excited about a concert she's scheduled for us on our last night in Ravello. The backdrop is the sea!

I regret: that Mindy left her lunchbox in the work refrigerator. She rarely goes in the office. She didn't even know she had forgotten it LAST week. Stephanie saw it and brought it to her. 

 If it weren't monogrammed, she might not have realized it. Then she did this as she wrinkled up her nose:

I said, "Oh no! You clean those out!" She turned and whined, "Daaadddd?" He tried to protest, but we all knew he'd take care of it. He just can't refuse his girls---or grandkids. Me, not a problem!!

This is Mindy's latest pile. Most likely, she'll "forget" half of it. She has stuff everywhere!

How the weekend is shaping up: Tomorrow I'm meeting Stephanie and Mindy at the mall. Steph is starting a new job on the 9th. We're shopping for new work clothes. Plus, I'm going to pick up a few things for my trip. We'll have lunch and make a day of it. After the shopping, Mindy and I are going to see the new 3D One Direction movie.

On Sunday, Connie, Nancy and I have theater tickets for the Franklin theater. I don't even know what we're seeing. We have season tickets---Nancy's in charge of them. Connie handle Rep Theater tickets and I take care of the Broadway series. We're having brunch at the Bonefish Grill---one of my favorite places. 

Monday, Stephanie and I (Mindy has to go out-of-town for work) are going to see The Butler. After that, I'll make sure to have every thing done in order to get out-of-town myself---pay bills, laundry, arrange for mail pick-up and fish feeding, etc. You know, getting all the ducks in a row.

Lastly I want to share a few pictures from Elizabeth's parent night at her school. 

 Outside the classroom, they have the children's work on the wall. We thought it's pretty cute how she spelled "gramparents" the same all the way through!

 On this paper, she was to use magazine images to tell the story of her family. She says that her mom vacuums and uses Swiffers. She cut out Advil---saying that Mitchell has allergies---of course, that's not an allergy medicine. Then, she cut out a Coke can and said that her whole family drinks Coca Cola---when the fact is---no one drinks Coke!!! They drink Sprite. I guess she figured Coke was close enough since Sprite is part of the Coke family!

This is the picture her teacher took of her giving her Frecklejuice book report. She's soon to be 8---growing up way too fast. She's our last little one!

One last question---is anyone else having trouble with Bloglovin'? I emailed them about the problem of having to keep going back to the site rather than being able to forward through my blogs. I did get a response about 5 days ago that they are working on it. Just wondering if everyone is having trouble or just me.

And that just about covers it. Next report could be from Italy.