Happy Birthday, Mr. Bird!

My sweet Mr. is having a birthday today.
I won't tell you which number he's turning, but he is really enjoying being 29 again.
He is away in CA on travel at some conference.
It's kind of a bummer to not be with him today, but he's having a great time and learning a lot.
So, since he's not available to blow out the candles, I won't light them. I'll just sing to him over the phone and then I'll eat his cake.

Lobster...

We LOVE lobster.
We don't get it very often around here because the price is astronomical. We are from New England where we could get lobster at every grocery store and they would even steam it for you...
On July 3rd we were at our favorite not-so-local grocery store and they had lobster on sale for a relatively reasonable price. We purchased them and brought them home for an early Independence Day dinner.
Our lobsters were about 1 - 1.25 pounds each.

Some people we know will not purchase lobster because they don't want to drop them into the boiling water. Please - Call me! I'll do it. I only charge one lobster and a bowl of melted butter.

Needless to say, they were delicious! I may have to go back to see if they have them on sale again before the kids come home.

Last night, Gram and I were at Red Lobster. (I had a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket.) While we were there a couple at a table a few rows down ordered two 4 pound lobsters!
Now, I'm a lobstah lovah, but I am not sure that I could finish a 4 pounder. They were HUGE! (Picture a lobster 4 times the size of the one up there!)
I watched that table with fascination - okay, so I stared...
As I watched, I noticed that the waitress was just standing there staring at this couple as they dismembered their meal. I said to Gram, "The waitress is just standing there staring at them. I think this is what you call Blog Fodder".
Gram turned around to see and sure enough the waitress was standing there watching with her mouth hanging open.
"Yup, she giggled, we'll be reading about this in the morning."

Look what we got!!

We went to my new favorite grocery store yesterday... Yes, I know... we are SO boring.
Anyway, when we got there I noticed some patio furniture out front.
Patio furniture is VERY expensive and although we would love to have all kinds of it out on our deck, is just isn't something that we are willing to purchase - especially when we need 27 new windows and our carpeting is circa 1986.

We parked and sauntered up to the store. We were there for raspberry lambic and 2 cases of seltzer. We noticed that the patio furniture was on sale - I mean VERY on sale... like affordable to the point that we couldn't leave it there. We are bargain hunters and we know a good deal when we see one...

We ended up with this:

And a total of 8 of these (Gram and Grandpa purchased 4):

And the best part - we didn't break the bank. We spent less than the original cost of 1 chair for all of it.

A Story...

A woman in a hot-air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be an Obama Democrat."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going.. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."

It's time!

#1 is off to camp today. Yesterday - once he decided to get his rear out of bed and grace me with his presence - we went through his trunk to check that he has everything he needs for 12 days of singing, acting, hiking, and having fun. I had to make sure he packed the essentials - like a toothbrush, socks, silly string and glitter hair spray.

He has been chatting with his camp friends on line and the last 3 days have been pure torture! They all want to be up there chatting and having fun rather than having to make do via computer. He was up and moving bright and early today - 6:15am. He'll have that car packed and be ready to go hours before it's time to shove off...

I'm sure that when we arrive at camp, I'll get the quick hug, the cursory kiss on the cheek, and be told that "you can leave now". THAT is what his summer is all about - friends and fun without the 'rents.

We'll see him again at a performance on the 19th. By then he might be ready to give me a real hug...

A New Opening

Yesterday we got a new garage door.

Why? Well, our old garage door was a solid door with issues. It was not tight. It leaked air - both hot and cold. It was cracked up the middle. It was dented. (We think the bear tried to get in.) Basically, it was a hunk of junk.

Our new door is gorgeous. It matches Gram and Grandpa's garage doors. It has windows - we can see if someone is in the driveway now. It is not dented. It does not leak air. It is energy efficient. It has a new opener as well. And the opener - it is quiet AND it has keyless entry!! I know, the rest of the world has had keyless entry for eons.... But for us this is new fangled.
We live large.

Getting My Act Together

Well, we got LLB off to camp yesterday. She's at a music camp and will be playing her trumpet every day for hours on end. Let's hope they challenge her and that she gets a lot out of it (because it was very expensive and had better be worth Mr.'s hard earned cash.)

She is at a college in a dorm room. It is really quite lovely.
The room she shares with her piano student roomie is huge as far as dorms go. The bathroom is right next door and she has a sink in her room. Life is good! The food in the cafeteria is yummy - we had lunch there yesterday to make sure the poor child wasn't going to starve... Her favorite part of lunch - the Jello. It's the little things... (I guess I don't make Jello enough... I probably haven't made jello in 5 years.)

Anyway, her friend, B is with her - they couldn't be roommates because B is a boy and boys and girls cannot room together. They spent some time hanging out yesterday - I learned this from B's dad who got a phone call yesterday... unlike myself who got nothing. At least we'll have information from someone. :-)

I send #1 off to camp on Thursday. He is currently enjoying his status as "only child". He is packed - for the most part. His trunk is in the middle of my craft room with the top open to receive anything we might toss in. I'm sure he's going to want snacks and goodies - We'll shop for those tomorrow.

Yesterday evening after we dropped LLB, I spent an hour shoveling out her room while her brother took charge of the TV remote. I ended up with three bags of trash for the dump and three bags of clothes and shoes for DP. (LLB and I had tossed everything that didn't fit into a basket while we were packing her trunk - see, I'm getting smarter! We had also organized her drawers during the packing process... It has only taken me 4 years to get to this point, but... better late than never, right?) I have some shelf cleaning and organizing that has to be done before I can dust, vacuum, and be finished in there. Part of the shelf cleaning involves putting her American Girl dolls away. That's going to take me a while because I need to dress them in their original outfits and put them back in their boxes - yes, I've kept it all. As much as I don't want to see these beautiful dolls be put away, it's time... The big question - do I ebay them or hang on to them? I have a couple that aren't made anymore... I could probably get some serious cash for them... But, I really don't want to part with them. What would you do?

Today I'm spending the day with a friend. She wants to learn how to scrapbook. She wants to make albums of her children's lives for them for Christmas gifts. I'm so pleased that she asked me to help her with this very special project. I'm digging out all of my scrapbooking tools and papers for her to play with - we are going to have a really fun day!

Once we get #1 to camp on Thursday, I'll shovel out his room. It shouldn't take long because he tends to be a little neater. He needs a new bookcase, so I think an IKEA trip is in order. I've got a piece in mind, so all I have to do is make sure it will fit and go get it.

So, I'm getting my act together one day at a time... By the time I get it all together, they'll be home from camp and I'll have to start over!