And He Has Stairs!

 This morning we got up early and went

to the Bishop's Storehouse for our weekly

Wednesday volunteer session.

Last week we were SUPER busy.

Today... not so much.

We took care of the bins they put the

food in for deliveries, then we

did ONE food order,

then we bought a package of low fat milk

and a package of potato flakes,

then we visited with the other volunteers,

then we washed the bins they used last week,

and then we went home.

By way of Subway.

And once home (and after a short nap)

Kyle finished up his stairs!

Beau LOVES the stairs.

He RUNS up them.

Gets on the roof (2nd floor)

and then sometimes he can't remember how he got up there.

It makes me nervous.

He's just goofy enough to jump.

So I make him come back down.

It will be better when there are walls up there and then

I won't have to worry about him.

But for now... he runs up and down and up

and down and up and down.

And then he's hot and jumps in the horse trough.

Meanwhile, we have had some really nice

sunsets lately!

This was a fun one from the WalMart parking lot.

More House

 Construction on the first floor went 

much quicker than Kyle anticipated.

When I left you last he had 2 and a half walls up.

And it was raining.

And now there are four walls!

It's starting to look like a house!

This is standing in the living room and looking toward the front

door and kitchen.

(The inspector is on the job...)

And this is standing in the opposite corner and looking 

back at where I was standing.

That corner (where the broom is) will be the

stairwell to the 2nd floor.

(The builder is taking a quick break,

sitting on his windowsill...)

Coming along!

Kyle's House

 Whew!

This has been a CRAZY week!

I taught until Monday.

Tuesday morning I woke up at 3:15 and jumped in

my rental and drove back over the swamp.

Got home in time to visit with Kyle for a minute

and then go return the rental.

Then grab a bite of breakfast and head to the

Town to work for the day.

Then home to change my clothes and head

over to the church to chop veggies for the

3-ward Reunion Social that evening.

(It's been 1 year since the split so I thought it might

be nice to have an evening where old friends 

could reconnect and eat...)

I stayed and visited with lots of sisters and then

finally left (after helping with all the cleanup in

the kitchen) about 9:30. 

Straight to bed.

Wednesday we got up at 5:30 and headed 

over to Orlando to the Bishop's Storehouse

to work for a half day. We really do enjoy

doing that and they were really grateful we

came since the 2 sister missionaries who 

usually come both went home this week and

the new sisters don't know the drill yet?

Anyhow. They were shorthanded so they 

were happy to have us.

On the way home we stopped and grabbed a

Subway sandwich and then went to Sam's

since it's on the way.

Then home to put everything away and get

stuff prepped to go into the freeze dryer.

(Mango and banana)

Then... it seems like I did something else,

but I don't remember what it might have been.

Thursday I had a nice chat with Soni and

then to the Town for the day, then after

work I headed to the local pharmacy to pick

up some meds for a sister and then to the

church to get her power bill paid.

Then to her house to drop off the meds and

the check - and of course, I had to stay and

visit and visit and visit - finally got out

of there about 8.

Whew!

Friday Jim came over to help Kyle with the house

and I went to WalMart to get groceries and then

home to do laundry and around the house stuff.

Oh yeah, and Kyle and I went and sat on the

beach for an hour in the evening.

Whew!

The seaweed has miraculously disappeared!

And today I cleaned all the floors and put a new

shower curtain and rugs in the bathroom since

the old set was getting REALLY old and nasty looking.

And these are nice and fresh and light.

Won't last long.

But it looks good today.

Hahahahahahahaha.

And then I came into my office to FINALLY get 

to all the paperwork I have neglected all week.

Got my time card, my expense report, and

my budget report for the social all uploaded.

And now, if Kyle ever gets out of the shower,

we will head off to WalMart since all the dogs are

out of food and I didn't know that when I went

yesterday. (I'm not in charge of feeding dogs. Grin)

Tomorrow is RS Sunday, so we will start

the day with Ward Council, then it will

go from there.

First he needed to put Thompson Water Seal on

the floor.

Since it has been raining every afternoon.

(Welcome to summer in Florida)

Kyle (and his supervisor) is building the walls laying flat

on the floor and when they are done and skinned,

he will stand them up and brace them.

Like that.

The last long section is laying flat on the floor.

He didn't get to raise it up because another

gully washer came through.

It's still raining in this picture, but the sun

is setting and I wanted to get one.

Sunflowers

 Sunflowers are so bright and happy!

Last month my students bought a vase

and they all signed it and filled it with

flowers.

This month I stopped at Walmart on my way

into town to buy some bottled water and a

little bunch of sunflowers.

They have been on my desk all weekend

and I have really enjoyed them.

This morning before the students show up I am sitting

quietly (well, with The Piano Guys playing loudly

on the YouTube...) enjoying the sun

streaming in through the windows and

my pretty little sunflowers on my desk.

Have a beautiful Monday!

Happy Fathers Day and other stuff

 Happy Fathers Day Dad!!!!!

I hope you are enjoying your day.

Our Ward is doing "Pies for Ties"

during 2nd hour.

The RS sisters took over all their classes

since this is a Sunday School week.

And the guys are meeting in the cultural hall

for pie and ice cream and some good old fashioned

male bonding time.

(The women did similar for Mothers Day and

the guys thought it was a great idea and 

wanted to do the same...)

Meanwhile.

I'm sitting here in my classroom in Tampa.

Waiting while my students do a 50 question

"mid-term" test.

This is a good sized class - 20 students,

but these people are QUIET!

Almost NO questions, which is unusual.

I'm having to pull out all my old time killer

skills and think of things to fill the hours.

Friday we ended over 3 hours early!

That was fun...

Meanwhile.

Rod is getting his "new" F250 he bought while

I was in Tucson, up and running, slowly.

There was a LOT more work that it needed.

He has practically rebuilt the entire front end.

And all new brakes.

Etc, etc etc. (I don't understand half of it,

so I nod encouragingly.... and Kyle laughs at me.)

Meanwhile.

Kyle is preparing to move to Kansas this fall.

He is building his house in our backyard.

Then he will take it apart and we strap the 

sections to his big trailer and drive it out there

and then put it back together.

He and Jim worked on the first section of the floor on Friday.

Got it all finished in a few hours.

With the help of the job foreman... (Beau)

They were rewarded with a glorious sunset.

Meanwhile I was having major thunder storms 

over here on the other coast.

All-in-all it has been a busy and productive week.

Kyle and I went to the Bishop's Storehouse on Wednesday.

On the way home a guy rear-ended us at a stop light,

but fortunately there was very little damage

and nobody was hurt, so we all went on our way.

And then a young girl was WRITING on a little pad

of paper while DRIVING and nearly swerved on top of us!

But she noticed before impact and swerved back.

Sheesh.

I'm looking forward to moving to the great WIDE OPEN Kansas.

Hope today is a lovely day for ALL the Dads in our family.

Love you all!

32 Trips Around the Sun

 Friday was Kyle's birthday.

We don't really "do" birthdays around here.

No big splashy parties,

lots of gifts,

and in Kyle's case, NO CAKE.

(He's not a big cake fan...)

So...

We went shopping.

Super exciting shopping.

WalMart.

For some stuff to re-do my bulletin board in

the Relief Society room.

And some groceries.

Hahahahahaha.

But we DID stand around and sniff

a zillion different candles.

And we both enjoy doing that.

Then, after coming home and putting stuff away,

we headed to our favorite burrito place

called Big Island Burrito in the same parking

lot where we park to walk to the beach.

We shared an Extreme Burrito (SO yum).

We get it to go and then walk over to the

beach to sit in our beach chairs and eat.

It was very enjoyable!

We watched the sun, the surf, the ghost crabs,

and a weird man who was harassing a crab,

kicking sand at it and trying to herd it into the ocean.

Kyle finally went over and had a word with him.

(grin)

Anyhow.

It was a lovely day.

A nice FLAT ocean.

And he even allowed me to take a 

ONCE A YEAR photo of him.

Thanks bud.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Bishop's Storehouse

 TODAY, since it's a new month and Lorna's

chemo / radiation is finished

(at least the part I'm driving her for...)

I had a Wednesday OFF!

So Kyle and I got up at 5:30 and drove over

to the Bishop's Storehouse.

We needed to be there at 8:00 and its a 

2 hour drive - through rush hour traffic.

FUN. (not)

Anyhow.

We got to pick orders (which means we got to

grocery shop for other people... SO FUN!!!)

We are pretty good at it, so they wandered

off to do other tasks and left us to it.

We LOVE doing this!

There were lots of orders.

Some of them were actually mine.

(well, not MINE, but orders I put in the system...)

It was good experience for me to see how

other Relief Society Presidents handled the

orders and what I would consider 

EXCESSIVE amounts of food for a 2 week period.

(SEVEN packages of tortillas????? and NOTHING

to put in them? No beans, cheese, etc???)

That just seemed odd.

Anyhow.

It was interesting. And I got to visit with the

missionaries who are in charge over there and get

some guidance and information that will help me

going forward to know what to order and when

to maybe cut it back a little.

(One sister wanted THREE bottles of laundry detergent.

For 2 weeks????? You couldn't even use that if you

ran your machine every day all day... I modified it.)

Anyhow.

We both really love going over there.

The people are awesome and it is just FUN!

Then we headed home for a quick minute

and then back over to the chiropractor.

It seems to be helping...

and then to the dentist to get a copy of my

receipt for the insurance company,

and then to Tractor Supply to get horse feed,

and then to the house for a quick nap (40 minutes)

before I had to fire up the zoom.

So....

I'm done.

I didn't take a single picture!

Sheesh.

Here's a picture of Rod's guard frog.

He makes me laugh.

And who doesn't need a good laugh now and again.

Wedding Rings & Fat Fingers

 My hands have been swelling.

I don't know if its related to my

pinched nerve or summer or... 

well, I'm fat.

But, my beautiful wedding rings that

I LOVE are getting too small and I was

getting a little uncomfortable about how

tight they were on my finger.

So...

I hopped on the ever faithful Amazon and

found myself a pretty ring to wear while

I am waiting for my fingers to shrink

back to their normal size.

It's a little weird to be wearing silver...

but I like it.

It's a little tall, but so far I haven't knocked

it on anything.

Anyhow.

I think its pretty.

Not nearly as pretty as my REAL wedding rings,

but it will do for now.

And bonus..... it was $36.77.

HA!

By the way... this is post number 1,650!!!!!

Wow. I'm chatty.

You wouldn't know it lately though...

Sorry!

"The Blob"

 Kyle and I have been going to the beach

quite often lately.

Last week I didn't have to teach at all.

It was AWESOME!

I still had lots to do, but it felt

like I was on vacation...

However, the blob of seaweed is making

it's presence felt.

They say it is strung out all along the

east coast and doesn't look to be

going away anytime soon.

Estimated to be 5000 miles long and

13,000,000 tonnes of seaweed!

Look at all that seaweed!

The ocean is FULL of nasty seaweed.

And so is the beach!

This is north of where we usually sit,

but we went for a walk and had to stop

when it just got ridiculous.

That is a LOT of seaweed!

But.... Kyle just came running into my office to announce

there is a rocket launching in an hour.

So.... we are going to the beach!

Hahahahahaha.

(Just got home from the chiropractor... I have a 

pinched nerve or something going on and my

left arm has been tingling and going numb

for a couple of weeks so I thought I'd give this

a try and see if it helps... I'll keep you posted.)