Mitchell on Monday

Early last week, while we were on our trip, we got a text from Mitchell asking when we were coming home. We knew what he was really asking was, "when do I have to start cleaning up?" 

We got home Friday night. The kitchen was passable. There was definitely work to be done to bring it  up to my standards, but after nearly 24 hours of travel, I was not ready to tackle it. 

First thing Saturday morning, I went to work. I started with cleaning out the refrigerator. There were still a few leftovers from before we left two weeks prior. There was a package of chicken that had the "use by" date of October 20th. I picked it up to discard it and it was a drippy mess. It actually dripped in to the vegetable drawer. Basically I ended up having to wipe out the whole refrigerator. 

Then I noticed this:

It made me smile! I think this is his way of making sure we don't forget he's here. Actually, his kitchen cleaning assures we won't!! (Just in case you don't know what it is---it's a Clemson Tiger paw.)

Oh, and a little later, he said he planned to make dinner for us. I said, "Were you planning to use that chicken in the refrigerator?" He answered, "yes." 

"Well," I said, "I threw it out because it expired over a week ago." Then he told me that after we left, he had gone grocery shopping. He bought the chicken and put it in the freezer. He had taken it out the day before to thaw! I can't believe I threw away $10 worth of perfectly good chicken!!

I also noticed that he bought the biggest bag of rice I'd ever seen. For us it would probably last 10 years!! 

When he was ready to start dinner, I told him there were a couple tips I could give him to make the cooking process a little easier:

1. Start by cleaning up the kitchen so you have plenty of room and counter space.

2. Fill the sink with hot sudsy water so you can clean up as you go and rinse your hands.

3. Wash your hands.

He just smiled. After that, I told him I would leave him alone. I went back in the family room and put my feet up!

Anyway, he made dinner and it was really good. He marinated the chicken and grilled it. He served it with rice and grilled asparagus that he'd seasoned and added parmesan cheese. 

I told him that his dinner was good, but the best part was that I didn't have to make it!! With that, he put away the leftovers and I cleaned the kitchen---to my standards! If someone wants to cook for me, I'll gladly do the clean up!!

Back Home

We got home last night. Of course, I have a lot to report, but that will have to wait. Butch is sick and was all day yesterday. I was sick on the last day of our vacation and half of yesterday, so luckily, it's fast. Actually, I felt like it was my hives starting again---extreme weakness and fatigue.  Anyway, it wasn't that, so I'm grateful.

I just wanted to report about all the junk calls I get. While on this trip---I'm not sure how it happened, but I got calls from:
Athens, Greece (3)
Katerina, Greece (2)
Oosterhout, Netherlands (2)
Akrata, Greece
Cyprus
Spain
Nashville (3)
Kingston Springs

I didn't answer any of them. I can't figure out how I somehow got on robo-lists of foreign countries. These calls bug the hell out of me. I guess enough people answer the phone to make this worthwhile. Still, I wish I could get off ALL the lists. I've already signed up to be removed here and still I get junk calls.

Actually, the number of calls I get do not compare to the number of travel catalogs we get. It's ridiculous! We got 17 of them over the course of 13 days! Many are from the same company. They could reduce the cost of their cruises if they cut back on the print brochures!!

Okay, more later...

Friday Funnies

Throwback Thursday

I suppose it began at a young age!

A Few Things

 

Remember this sweater I bought from Talbot's a while back? Well, the very first time I wore it last week, I had to change the ink cartridge on the printer. I have NEVER had an ink cartridge spurt out at me.

Well, thank goodness I was wearing this dot sweater. I have several additional black dots. I did not rub the spots for fear of smearing and because I had ink all over my hands. I surely would have made a bigger mess. I'll definitely take care the next time. (Pardon the crappy picture---I'm not good at selfie's!)

One day when Butch and I stopped at Captain D's for lunch, we came across these. You can't beat Captain D's prices and the free tools in the parking lot. (Look close---there's an allen wrench in the front).

I sent Victoria a little Halloween surprise before we left on our trip. I always include a letter. I type everything these days---it's just way faster and easier to correct mistakes. I used the computer font that is my own handwriting! I can't believe it's been 15 years since I had that made! It's available here for free! She's not so good about checking her mail. I just hope she gets it before Halloween.

That's it for now.

Friday Funnies

Fall is Arriving

It's that time of year. It's been a long time coming with our record breaking 90 degree days in September. In fact, I'm really loving that I can say we swam in October. Okay, floated. We never actually swim.

So, fall is here. I've run across a few unusual things to share.

 I have no idea what type of tree this is.

 Here are the leaves. It sure is beautiful. Such bright yellow.

I hate stink bugs. I think this must be a "queen" or something. This one was on Nancy's porch. What I hate the most is that they are coming inside now. I don't know anything about stink bugs or their habits. All I know is that for 20 years, we didn't have them. For the past 4 or 5 years, they have been disgusting. They come in the house and fly at me every night. I'm fanatical about getting and flushing them! I always scream when they dive-bomb me. I can't tell you how many times I've been reading in bed and they fly at me because of the light. I scream, jump out of bed, turn on the light, capture and flush. I go back to bed and repeat. Butch can usually sleep through it all!

I found this beautiful, dead moth in the living room. Now these are the kinds of insects I can tolerate. Dead ones!

 I discovered this flower on our Route 66 trip. I have never seen it before. I used my "plant identifier app" to find out what it is. I had never heard of it. which tells me that it cannot take our hot weather.

Speaking of our hot weather, I always love little happy surprises like this. A little petunia growing by itself on the front porch. Now the miracle of this is that it's growing without soil---maybe its little roots have found some between the mortar (or my porch is so dirty)---and it's growing without water!! On the other hand, the huge basket of petunias on the wall above is half dead---even though we DO water it. It's just too hot around here and by September, we're tired of watering every day!

And then there's this. Look really close. Do you see it?

Do you think that's a termite? I found it on the hearth in the family room. I'm not too worried as we have termite protection with our exterminator. Still, I hate it. Don't get me wrong. I love nature. I just don't want it inside my house!!