Hello Monday

  

The weather:::

Unbelieveable!  I checked on my two elderly neighbors this weekend, one has air conditioning and the other couple have a window unit in their bedroom so they and their dog are holed up in the there.  Monday will be the worst and then we are forecast to have almost a twenty degree drop.  There isn't a box fan or an air conditioning unit to be found in this area.

On my reading pile:::.

Still longing for Yorkshire as I lose myself in Gervase Phinn's tales.

On my TV:::

Since I've spent the whole weekend in the house at my project table, I've worked my way through a variety of movies in our Amazon library.  I started off with a few good ol' disaster movies and now I've moved on to one of my all-time favorites, 84 Charing Cross Road with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.

Checked off the list:::

The mobile notary/settlement agent came by on Friday evening and that's all complete.  He ran his own mortgage company for years, retired from that, and decided to take up the mobile business, thinking he'd handle 15-20 closings a month.  When the word got around about his new venture, many of the companies he'd dealt with reached out to him and he does about 150 closings a month for 17 different companies.  A very lucrative business.

Crafts Roundup:::

I'm into April in the 2010 Family Album.

And in other news:::

Back to my own office tomorrow after a week of filling in in the Executive Director's office. He's my old boss, love to work for him, but oh my goodness, is it ever busy there compared to my office!  I started as soon as I walked in the door and worked right through lunch every day.  I'll be glad to get back to my own office and a bit slower pace.

I actually cooked this weekend!  On Saturday night, I made Egg Roll in a Bowl which was delicious and tonight's dinner was Whole 30 Kung Pao Chicken.  It wasn't very PAO since I discovered I didn't have any chili flakes but it was still yummy.

Found this in Facebook memories yesterday:

It's been two years since Vic jetted off to Japan.  What we thought would be an inconvenient but bearable assignment - two years is a long time but broken up into four six month segments would be manageable - turned into one visit home in the two years due to COVID-19.  Oh well, never mind, he only has 26 days left until he leaves Okinawa for good.

If this is Tuesday, it must be England #140

 

Lovely photos of Her Majesty on Day Five of Royal Ascot; she was clearly delighted to be on the racecourse.

Jockey Frankie Detorri and Racing Manager John Warren with Her Majesty

Hello Monday

 

The weather:::

Shoot me now, look at those temperatures.  Hello air conditioning, my new best friend.

On my reading pile:::.

Still longing for Yorkshire as I lose myself in Gervase Phinn's tales.

On my TV:::

Took a break from Quantico to watch PBS Masterpiece's new program, Us.  It's interesting, not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

Checked off the list:::

Hoping to finish up with the house refinancing this week as I received the Power of Attorney and I'm good to go.

Crafts Roundup:::

Finished the addition to the 2008 Family Album and I'm onto 2010.  Tidied up the project table so it should be easy to whip out a couple of pages each evening.

And in other news:::

I haven't been paying too much attention to the news lately and the announcement that Juneteenth is now a Federal holiday came right out of the blue.  It started with someone asking me first thing on Thursday morning if we were off work on Friday and continued on to someone else wishing me a happy three-day weekend.  Once President Biden's signature was on the document, it was a mad dash to finish getting things in order since Thursday was now our Friday and it was also the end of the payroll period.  It was chaotic but it certainly was lovely to have Friday off.

Christmas crackers have been a festive staple in England since the late 1800s - when did the US start producing them for other holidays?  I was surprised to see these in my local market for the Independence Day holiday - perhaps it's a new table décor item?

Hello Monday

The weather:::

Loving the early part of the week, not so much the latter part, definitely not that little HUMID box there on Friday.

On my reading pile:::

Didn't make a list for the library so nothing new here.  I'm shopping my bookshelves and working my way through the Gervase Phinn Yorkshire school inspector series.  Makes me long for Yorkshire.

On my TV:::

Done with Madam Secretary, on to Quantico on Netfix.  I think I watched it when it premiered on one of the networks but I don't remember too much about it so I don't think I watched too many episodes.  It does flip back and forth but it's keeping my interest right now.

Checked off the list:::

Still working on the house refinancing.  Vic sent me a new Power of Attorney but it gave me the power to sell the house (at the high interest rate) but not the power to buy it back (at the new low interest rate).  LOL, a sell and buy back is one way of looking at a refinance.  Anyway, a new one is in the mail - last one took five business days and a weekend to get here - Okinawa to Tokyo to Seattle to our address.  The gardener came and mulched everywhere that was heading down a soon to be mulchless path so it all looks nice in the garden and I met with the contractors and have a date to start the closing up of the opening between the kitchen and the morning room and the total de-texturing of the morning room walls.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.  It does mean that we have two days to clear the room so I'll get started on emptying the cabinets (full of china and scrapbooks) so that all that is left when Vic gets home is the furniture. 

Crafts Roundup:::

I've been working on a section to add into the 2008 Family Album.  Sophia went off to a horse camp at Houghton College in western New York and since it was her first away from home overnight camping experience, Vic and I stayed close by in case the experience wasn't what she was expecting.  It was all she expected and we didn't see her for a week.  So, we went off on what came to be known as the First Annual Honeymoon (we didn't have a honeymoon, we got married on a tropical island so why bother?).  We took off in a different direction each day and had a wonderful time exploring little towns, Letchworth State Park, two of the five Great Lakes, and Niagara Falls.

Sophia on her way to camp

Letchworth State Park

Lake Erie in the background

Sophia on her way home from camp!

I spent yesterday down a rabbit hole of You Tube Creative Memories videos while I was working on my own project.  I decided to sign up again - I used to be a consultant years ago, now we're called advisors and there are no minimums, no quotas.  Yes!  I have a lot of albums still to work on so I may as well be making a little money while I work on them.

And in other news:::

We've passed another 10 point counting the days until Vic is home - I started tracking in my planner at 90 days, so we've passed 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, and we're in to the 30s!  Not really much other news although I'm going through a bit of a blogging funk again.  It's Monday evening when I'm finally getting to this and it may be the only post this week.  I just have so much on my mind and on my list, I just can't seem to make time to sit down and whip out a post.

Have a great week, everyone, I'll leave you with our happy family. loving this app!  Vic looks so mellow, I'm loving my complexion, and our girl, isn't she gorgeous?

Hello Monday

The weather:::

This is my kind of summer.  Much better than those few 80+ degree days we had last week.

On my reading pile:::

Finished a few books from the library since I last posted.  The Seafront Tearoom by Vanessa Greene was lovely - the sight of the tea cups on the spine as the book sat on the shelf at the library called me to it and I was not disappointed - but The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward was disappointing, I'm not much into books about dysfunctional families.  My current read is In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen which I'm really enjoying.  I need to request a few more titles from the library. 

On my TV:::

Still working my way through Madam Secretary on Netfix.

Checked off the list:::

When I last posted, we were hours away from the final closing on our house in Rhode Island.  It is complete, that chapter is closed, and I have to admit that both Vic and I felt a sadness about that.  It was our first "we're going to retire here" home but the Navy moved us to Washington where we discovered a new love and Sophia has no plans to leave here so Washington is the new Rhode Island, if you know what I mean.  A new round of paperwork began as we refinance this house, with the great rates out there we were able to get a deal to knock our mortgage down from 30 years to 15 years so considering we were two years into the 30, it's like knocking 13 off our mortgage.  Yay for being mortgage-free before we're 80, lol!

Crafts Roundup:::

2010 Family Album is all laid out and ready to go.  I do what's called a power layout where I just decide what photos will go on what page, insert any memorabilia, and then I can attack the stack.  I also assembled the 2020 Christmas Card Album, finishing the legend (the who's who of card senders) before I forget who some of them are.  I was sad to see, when I looked at some old albums, that I couldn't remember some of the senders so the legend is a good way to stop that from happening.  I also completed all the ornaments for my Christmas group's annual Christmas in July ornament swap and got them in the mail as well as making my ornament from last year because I had run out of the little houses, they were out of stock, and I've just recently sourced another one.

The group is called Magical Holiday Home hence the design and it's a sitter as it sits among the branches instead of being a hanging ornament.

And in other news:::

I got my second COVID shot, it's been over two weeks so I am fully immunized.  We're 3 for 3 in this family - one Moderna, one Pfizer, and one Johnson & Johnson.  I made it up to see Sophia for a flying visit - up Saturday, back home Sunday - but it was enough time for us to have lunch at one of our favorite restaurants and a browse around the historic area of town, a little shopping at Home Goods, and a takeaway Thai with one of our favorite movies in the evening.  I went out to the barn on my way out of town on Sunday to see the horses, Hickory on the left and Ginger on the right.  Sophia's business is doing really well, she has a full slate of students and a waiting list and is going to reduce her preschool teaching in the fall from five days a week to three days, hoping to branch into the homeschool community on the two days that she can offer lessons during the day.

In other news, my nephew, my sister's oldest boy, graduated from high school on Saturday in a social distanced, two tickets per family ceremony, so we wished him well from a distance.  He's off to the University of Oregon in the fall.  Vic has less than 50 days to go, he can't wait to be home.  Work for me has been crazy busy so the days just fly and I catch up on chores and errands on the weekend as well as getting in a little relaxing and crafting.

Watched one of my favorite movies, D-Day, the Sixth of June, with Robert Taylor, Richard Todd, and Dana Wynter.  It's more romance story than war movie but enjoyable all the same.  We're looking forward to visiting the beaches of Normandy.

Have a great week, everyone!

Prime Purchases - June 2021

 

It's the first Tuesday of the month and that means Prime Purchases hosted by Tanya over at The Other Side of the Road.

No Prime Purchases last month for me and just a few to share for the current month.

I am participating in an ornament swap for Christmas in July and I ran out of an essential supply.  Amazon to the rescue!

This jumbo pack of Scrabble tiles should keep me going for a while.

Sophia is busy putting together end of the year memory books for her students so I sent this 4-pack of dot roller adhesive to her.

And something for fun, the new DK Eyewitness Top 10 Paris travel guide is out, in plenty of time for us to plan our 30th anniversary trip.