Travel Tuesday

As you are reading this, we are on a cruise in the Caribbean. I'll probably do a couple posts from here. But, for now, I prepared this one before I left. It's about perspective.

I think it's important to get a different perspective once in awhile. Otherwise, you don't know what you are missing. 

Case in point:

Last Tuesday, I had invited my friends over for our first pool party of the season. As the day drew nearer, the weather wasn't looking good. So instead, I told the gang that we'd just have lunch. Connie was the first to arrive. She was sitting in this chair.

We were just chatting away. She mentioned that everything looked so pretty. Well, as you can see, she was looking out. I was facing her so couldn't really see what she was seeing. Later, I decided to sit in that chair.

It is a pretty nice view. I've been sitting in this chair ever since we moved in to the house 27 years ago. So I've only had one view.

I've had this same perspective all that time. Not bad, but different.

Looking out that side, the Kousa Dogwoods are in bloom. I took the close-up of the blooms because--although you can see them from the sunroom, they don't show up all that well in the picture.

Then I decided to keep going. This is the view from the loveseat.

This is the straight ahead view. Pretty nice views all the way around. Now I need to do this in every room of the house---or at least the ones I sit in. We each have our own spots--and sit in the same one every time. Such creatures of habit we are!

In my quest to pay more attention to the joy around me, I'm glad Connie made that simple comment. It prompted me to get a different perspective. I'm so glad I did!

Give it a try at your place and let me know what you think!!

Monday Mystery

So, I was in the guest bathroom upstairs the other day. I notice a brown "C" sticker on the floor. I couldn't immediately figure that out since I hadn't been working with alphabet stickers lately. On the other hand, the bathroom is also connected to my scrapbook room. So, it made sense that I could have inadvertantly "carried" a sticker stuck to me somewhere and then dropped it in the bathroom. 

I bent over to pick it up. That's when I realized---it was a worm!! OMGosh! A worm! I shrieked! Where the heck did that come from? There are no windows in the bathroom. That could only mean one thing. Someone "carried" that thing up here on their shoes--which means "someone" wore their shoes on the carpet. It wasn't me, so who does that leave? 

I guess it will remain a mystery.

It's Been 50 Years!

Yep, it's been a very long time....since I've had to use the laundromat! Somehow, I thought a laundromat would be updated by now. Not really. Here's the story.

A couple weeks ago, when we were at the beach, I decided that I wanted to see if I could get some stains out of a king comforter. My cleaner had told me she tried, but I was skeptical that she did. I thought I could do better. She thought it was red wine stains. It sort of looked like wine, but I think it's Hawaiian Tropic--you know, that brown oil?

 I discovered that there was a laundromat nearby. Off I went.

It was a pretty nice place, newer and clean. But things really hadn't changed at all. It just got more expensive in 50 years. Back in the day, it cost 35 cents to wash and 10 cents for each 10 minutes to dry. One thing hasn't changed--which really surprised me. You still have to have actual coins! Had I known, I would have brought my poker money!

Not only do you have to have coins, you actually have to have cash to put in the change machine. Surely they should be able to accept credit or debit cards by now. But no. Luckily, I always carry cash. 

That's a lot of quarters. And then I had to buy some detergent--$3.00--basically a dollar a pod. The gal told me that the big machines took 3 pods. I can't believe I forgot to bring that! But I remembered the spray and wash! I just never gave it a thought. 

I went to the large machines in the front of the store. Do you know how long it takes to feed 42 quarters in to the machine?--$10.50 to wash.

As it turned out, I could have used the regular machine. They are all bigger than regular, home machines.

It was $3.50 for 25 minutes to dry. It wasn't completely dry, but I had already been there an hour and was ready to go. When I got home, I laid it over the dining room table for a day to let it air dry.

No, the stains did not come out. Was it worth spending $17.00 to wash it? Absolutely! Now I know for sure that it was actually cleaned!

And, you will be happy to know that I resisted the urge to run a yardstick under the machine looking for errant quarters! As kids, we were able to buy a lot of candy that way. Also, we always checked the coin return on the pay phone there too! 

Truth be told, I didn't really resist. I just didn't have a yardstick! Another thing I forgot! 

Nashville Named Top Destination IN THE WORLD By National Geographic

 IN. THE. WORLD.

No wonder our streets are crowded, you can't walk in to ANY restaurant or bar and get a seat, scooters are abandoned everywhere, every place you turn there's a pedal tavern, party buses, trailers, hot tubs on wheels, hay rides, horse and carriages, huge police presence, traffic is crazy and then there's this:

Justin took this picture from his car. He and Mindy live downtown, so they've seen it all. I can't quite make out the license plate, but it's not local! Apparentley they think they are on a one-way street. What the????

Still, downtown is exciting. Live music everywhere. The sidewalks are bustling. I knew we were the "bachelorette capital" of the world. And now the "Top Destination in the World." Since it's coming from National Geographic, you know it's legit!! 

I'm okay with it. So, if you've never been, come on down!! I'll show you a good time! And then we might go downtown!

Friday Funnies

Five Things Thursday

1. I think this is a genius idea.

Unfortunately, I don't really have any place I can do it.

2. I'm very excited about my trip to England in 2023--dates tbd!

This amazing tree is in a park in Kent. Something else to add to my list!

3. Since when does jewelry need to be disinfected?

Oh, yeah, I guess since Covid.

4. While I was at the beach I saw this on my walk:

A little girl jogging with her dad. How cute is that? I hope there are donuts involved at the end!

5. I thought this was another genius idea!

I think Butch has something similar planned to house our hose. There's nothing I hate more than a piled up mess of a hose. Or this:

Our patio and flowers look quite nice--until the messy hose junks it up. I hate that. You might be thinking, "well, Barb, why don't you wind it up?" My response to that is, "When I use the hose I DO wind it up!" I just don't do it that often. Seems to me whoever uses it should wind it. Are you with me on that?

We had one of those holders attached to the house hidden behind the bushes, but no one bothered to wind it up--except me. For that reason, I have a feeling this new idea won't work. We'll see...

Travel Tuesday

So, you've already heard about my trip to the beach--with my friends. The day they left, Butch came in  and we had a few more days. This time, he caught fish for the first time. Pompano--5 of them--although he only landed 3.

He's a "catch and release" fisherman. I'm on board with that. You can get fresh fish so easily, I'm happy not to have the hassle of cleaning and cooking.

This travel Tuesday post is about our trip back home. As it turns out, it was due to rain on Saturday, so we decided to come home one day early. We got on the road about 5:30 a.m. Then I realized that Sandy and family were in Nashville this weekend for the Kid Rock concert. We remembered that they were having a pool party at our house. So I decided to have a little fun. 

The closer we got to home, the more excited I was getting. About 15 minutes away, I texted a beach picture to Sandy, Stephanie and Mindy with the caption, "It's a beautiful day at the beach!" I was chuckling at how surprised they were going to be. I think I'm so funny that I entertain myself! And yes, I laugh at my own jokes.

I told Butch that when we got home, we were going to hurry and put our suits on and just casually walk out to the pool! That plan was foiled by Justin--he came inside for something. I told him not to blow the surprise. We walked out and the girls were so surprised! Sandy asked if I had gotten their text!

Their caption was: "A beautiful day at the pool!" Now you might notice that Stephanie is not in this picture. She was up in Bloomington, IL helping Morgan with her move. 

Stephanie repsonded with this picture and caption: "A beautiful day in Bloomington!"

Well, if you know this family, we couldn't stop there. This was our next move!

Mindy sent this picture captioned: "A beautiful day with our mom!...

...and squad!" Stephanie just gave it a thumbs up--no response.

Now, I was supposed to be at the beach, remember? We were all laughing so hard because we know Stephanie! She hates being left out! We knew that she would be "fomo--ing" up there in Illinois. We laughed as we recalled a few stories of her getting, inadvertantly left behind--like the time she was napping on the balcony of the hotel room in Disney and we left her!! She's still mad about that!

Anyway, somebody got the idea that we needed to put Jordan--who lives in California--in the picture too. So, Elizabeth did it in about 2 seconds! I can't believe how easily she did it. This was the next picture we sent...

...which I captioned, "Even Jordan surprised us!" Steph reacted with an "LOL!" This time we added Jordan to the text. She thought it was hilarious! 

As you can tell, we have fun all the time with the goofiest things! A big part of that is teasing each other! Side note: we made Nicky be the "selfie" taker. In this one, his head blocked out Greg and Victoria who were in the pool. Oh well, sometimes that happens!

By the time we finished messing with all of this the pool day was just about over. Not really. I went in and pulled together some assorted cheeses and spreads for a snack. It was a lot of fun and we're so happy we came home for it!

Oh and then there's this:

Mindy started the whole pool thing with this picture and caption: "Even on his birthday, Justin can't resist being the pool boy!" Happy Birthday Justin!! I can't think of a better way to celebrate that with family! Even if it's just us!

Well, I wish Justin was here today. The pool's a mess from the storm yesterday and full of leaves. And, I'm having my first, friends pool party of the season! We'll see how that goes!

Monday Mystery

I've got a good one for you today.

While at the beach last week, I came across this. It was in a line of palm trees:

It was just the one tree. I can't for the life of me figure out what that tube could be for. I thought, "water? lights?" Neither of those ideas seemed correct. 

Anybody? I guess it's going to remain a mystery.

What's not a mystery is how I'm going to react to the finale of the This is Us series. This show has brought me to tears just about every episode. But the last 5 or 6 has me bawling like a baby! This second last episode was so good! I am loving how they are dealing with alzheimer's and the impending death. Still, it's so sad--or maybe so touching. I cannot imagine how I'll handle the finale on Tuesday. I expect I'll be in mourning for sure.  

About that table...

...the week before my friends and I arrived at the beach, my sisters, Jeanne, Joyce and their husbands were here. On the last day, it rained. Jeanne went to "dump" the water that was on top of the table and tilted it. She didn't realize that the top was not attached. It fell out and broke. 

She tried to convince me that she was totally sober when it happened. I'm believing that because she's not a liar!! Plus the thought that she wasn't never occured to me! Of course, she felt bad and offered to do whatever to fix or replace it. I told her not to worry about it as "stuff" happens. Then I turned it over to Butch---well, not without telling him what I thought he sould do--namely, have a piece of plexiglass cut. That sounded like the best solution to me.

He had other ideas. After he arrived on Wednesday, he measured:

And off we went. Our first stop was at the granite place where we got our countertops. He thought we could get a scrap for little or nothing. I liked that idea. Apparently you can't. When Butch explained what we were after, the woman said that the minimum cost for anything is $300. What??? No way would be pay that. 

Next up was his plan B (I guess if my plan even rated, it would have been plan C). We stopped at Walmart so he could get some JB Weld--it was $6.00. I had never heard of that. He told me about some things he has repaired at home with it. It's some sort of liquid product that acts as a weld. Duh, it's in the name. I guess JB is the person who invented it. Anyway...

he fashioned another little angle bracket and...voila'! 

The guy can fix anything!! Considering his entire career was about using his brain rather than his hands, it surprises me that he knows so much about home stuff! 

I think of all the money we could have saved over 51 years by having him do everything. On the other hand, due to his travel schedule, having his undivided attention was priceless! 

Friday Funnies

Five Things Thursday--The Beach Version

My "girls" as in "posse"--left yesterday. We had a great time, but the week went by way too fast. 

1. Pam was the one in "no man's land" this year. That's the person who has to live in the hallway. She made the best of it.

She brought 8 pairs of shoes. I teased her that she had a store set up!

Same goes for her clothes. When you have this spot, there's really no place to go with your stuff.  She made the best of it. She'll be back to sharing my bed next year!

2. This was our only group picture this trip.

From left: Pam, me, Nancy, Connie and Karolyn. The Perfect Pig is one of our favorite places. This is the second time we've gone for brunch. Pam and I shared the avocado toast and French toast--so delicious! Those are about the two best "toasts" there are! We tried to get another picture when we went to Louis Louis for dinner, but it didn't turn out. At our age, we have to take every opportunity to get pictures together!

3.  This is the busiest we've ever seen the beach. It's always been a nice, quiet place. 

Still, we loved it. The weather was so perfect, that I can honestly say that I spent more time on the beach this trip than ALL the other times put together! I went and stayed ALL day, every day except the last day when I went to the pool after lunch. It was just awesome! It helped that we rented the chairs and didn't have to lug a bunch of stuff to the beach. The only reason I went to the pool on the last day was because I wanted to nap while floating in the pool. I used a pool noodle--so relaxing! 

4. I found this tiny crab on the beach.

It's about the size of a quarter. I put it on Pam's chair. But then I went to the pool after lunch and forgot to ask if she noticed! I have no idea how crabs are born--eggs or live. It was so cute.

5. I saved this for last. You are not going to believe it. One morning we were under attack by this guy. We were minding our own business, trying to eat our breakfast on the porch. He literally stalked us. There were lots of jumps and shrieks as he jumped at us and ran under our feet. 

When Connie got up, he ran behind the cushion next to the chair back. I sort of smushed him--not enough to kill him, but to scare/hurt him so he'd leave. He left, so I thought the problem was solved.  Later when I was sitting out, he came back. I got this out:

I swatted at him with the fly swatter. That seemed to do the trick. Then, I just left the fly swatter sitting there. Voila'! No more squirrel. I guess I found the thing he's afraid of!! Several of the other owners have been complaining about the squirrels. This is the first time we've had a problem. People are feeding them---which is NOT a good idea! That makes them fearless which then makes them more annoying!

Oh, and that broken table??? Now that's another story!!

What I Buy Wednesday

Well, I've spent a relaxing week at the beach with my "homies." We did nothing but sit on the beach--even me, who hates the beach! Actually, I hate the beach when it's hot! We rented the chairs, so there was no hauling involved. The weather was absolutly perfect. It's busier than I've ever seen it down here--Santa Rosa Beach, FL. Really, pretty mind-boggling considering it's always been a sleepy little, private community. Now, it seems, everyone knows about the place. Even the squirrels!! We were literally attacked one morning--over and over as we were eating our breakfast! 

We ate, we talked and talked and talked, we laughed, had happy hours at the pool, read, did our Wordle, watched many shows and walked a lot. We walked to all the restaurants close by. We only actually went out once (aside from a couple trips to the grocery store). Basically, we did NOTHING! Somehow with all that nothing  we did, I did NOT have time for blogging!

On Tuesday night--or I should say, late afternoon--we were at Louis Louis (one of our favorite restaurants) by 4:45. Yeah, I know, we're old! But it wasn't that at all. We found out that the outlet mall was open until 8 p.m. and decided to go after dinner. We did.

That leads me to what I bought.

I could not resist these darling shoes from J. Crew. Considering I have--probably--a hundred pairs of earrings (hmmm, another thing worth counting), I knew I did not have this exact color--sort of a royal blue. And because one thing leads to another, I knew I needed either a matching or coordinating top/blouse or a pair of slacks to go with them. I stopped at a few places but didn't find anything that met my requirements: pants in a petite length with skinny ankels. Straight legged pants just make me look shorter. Tops and/or blouses are a little trickier. Due to age, gravity, weight loss, or whatever you want to call it, I have to have 3/4 length or long sleeves. Finding nothing at J. Crew or Loft, I was headed to Talbots. I was certain I'd find something there. Once I got there, I ran in to my friends. Wouldn't you know it---the only store that closed at 5 p.m.! Darn! 

Luckily for me, I'll be able to go back sometime this week. The girls left this morning to head home to Nashville, but I'm staying. Butch will arrive around noon-ish and we'll be here for the rest of the week. Surely I'll have time for blogging now!

Stay tuned....