What's Up?

Cooking: I tried another new recipe last week. It was really good and easy.

Shrimp Spaghetti

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 t. dried parsley

1 t. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1/4 t. basil

1/4 t. thyme (I didn't have this so left it out)

1/8 t. garlic powder

1 1/2 lbs. medium fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used frozen)

8 oz. cooked spaghetti

4 oz. Velveeta cut in to 1/2" chunks

Cook onion in butter until tender. Stir in next 7 ingredients. Add shrimp and cook a few minutes until pink. Add spaghetti and Velveeta. Heat until cheese is melted, stirring to combine. 

Taking: time to catch up on blogs and video clips I've been wanting to watch. I had a little Covid scare this week, so I put myself back in to quarantine. I had some extra time to catch up on things.

Planning: Our beach condo renovations. I'm very excited about this. I've already bought some new art, lamp and rug. Now I just hope that the "guy" we're meeting with to do the work can actually do what I want! We're starting with the bathrooms.

Working: I'd say my daily walking is work. I go out in the dark each morning. I stay fairly close to home in case I need to get home quickly--like Thursday morning when it started raining on me. I took off running--pretty slow because I didn't want to slip. But it really got my heart pumping--especially uphill! 

We'll finish our family Route 66 challenge this week at the beach. Everyone but me will be biking. I'll do my normal walking. Not on the beach--maybe, but doubtful. The sand usually is too hot for me. I won't go out in the dark there. That means it's going to be hot and really humid. I did it in June. We'll see about August!

Reading: I have finished two fabulous books in a row. People ask me for book recommendations all the time. So, I've been keeping a list for a few years now. I even use the star rating--5 is the highest. Hidden Valley Road--true story about a Catholic family of 12 with 10 boys and 2 girls. 6 of the boys are schizophrenic. Very interesting and sad at the same time.  Unspeakable Acts--the title pretty much says it all. But what I really liked about this book is that they did not have to spell everything out for you. You totally understood what was going on. It's sort of a mystery. I rated both of these books 5 stars. You'll zip right through them in no time.

Loving/hating: That my siblings are fighting about politics. I don't want to have anything to do with it. Everyone has such passionate opinions. I just think we're better off steering clear of that topic--especially now! There are 6 of us left--divided right down the middle. We all know each other's views--why fight about it! We have always been a close-knit bunch--something, being the oldest, I'm pretty proud of. But, currently, it's not going well!

Watching: I watched A League of Their Own this past week. I had never seen it and Mindy said I would like it. I did, but I didn't know it was a tear-jerker. Well, most things can be tear-jerkers for me! It was on Amazon Prime. 

Butch and I started another series (recommended by Mindy) called Eco Challenge--also on Amazon. OMGosh y'all! It's an extreme race! It doesn't look like there's anything fun about it! It's crazy and amazing at the same time. I can't believe people would risk their lives for this type of thing.

There's just not much on tv right now. We're watching a bunch of reality shows. Some we don't love, but since there's not much else, we're still watching.  Below Deck Mediterranean is really good. It's new to me, but Butch has been watching it for a few years. 

Creating: I finished my layout for AYM---My Favorite Job. I'll be sharing that soon. It was a lot of fun reminiscing about all of my jobs. But as it turned out, my favorite job of all was being a "stay-at-home-mom"! I wouldn't have traded that for anything in the world! Time went by so fast--and then my children were grown. I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to stay home with them. I realize that not everyone can. Makes me doubly grateful.

Bumming: That one of the arborvitae behind the pool is leaning dangerously. Another good storm with high winds will most certainly bring it down! They are about 20 ft. tall.

They have been in the ground about 23 years now. They are shallow rooted trees. When we first put them in, they were about 8ft. tall and kept falling down. You can see the one on the right that is leaning. I suggested that Butch tie it to the wrought iron fence behind it. He thinks the tree will take the fence down! If it goes, we'll replace them all with something else that would be a good screen--probably hemlocks. They grow fast and look good. There isn't a house behind us, but you just never know. We didn't expect the one that was built on the left side of our property. It's a terrible location, but they still built it anyway. Since we lost the magnolia earlier this summer, we can see that house a little more. At least it's not too bad.

Hearing: My ears ring. Well, they don't actually ring. It's more like a constant buzzing--like cicadas. I think it's an inherited type thing. My mother actually took medication for it. It's pretty loud at times and I'm not sure what affects the volume. But, I can usually ignore it. It's really only pronounced when there's silence--like trying to go to sleep at night. It really doesn't affect my ability to go to or stay asleep. I'm just really aware of it then.

Thinking: This song came on my Sirius/XM radio today.

It got me to thinking. 60 years ago, on my 8th birthday, my dad brought this record home (a 45--to my older readers who know what that is). He danced with me. I don't remember if it was real dancing or if I was standing on his shoes. He said that when I turned 16, he was going to take me out dancing! I always loved to dance. Anyway, by the time I turned 16, he had already passed away. Still, every time I hear this song, I think of him and our first dance!

Thankful: that a friend tested negative for Covid. Now follow along here. I was with her the day that she was with someone who called the next day to say she tested positive! Actually I was pretty mad about that. This means that the person who tested positive KNEW she could be infected. She didn't tell my friend and neither of them wore a mask. I was definitely worked up about that. How irresponsible could that girl be? Trying to do the right thing myself, I canceled everything for the week. Luckily, it all turned out okay. 

Weekending: By the time you are reading this, we are already on our way to the beach for a week! Stephanie and Mindy will be there when we arrive. We haven't been down there since June. This will feel like a vacation. We are having groceries delivered (Steph has that "insta cart" thing), so we will be cooking at home some. We will be eating out a few times, but we've picked places with outdoor seating. Of course we'll be wearing our masks.

I have done a couple posts for next week and might even do a couple more when I'm at the beach. We'll see. 

I hope y'all have a great Labor Day weekend!