Happy Birthday Dad!

 Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Today is my Dad's birthday.

(Soni and I always laugh - we ALWAYS

say MY Mom, MY Dad...

even though they are OUR's.)

Still.

He's MY Dad.

(grin)

I wish I could be there to celebrate his day.

He will want to keep it low key.

But MY Mom will make sure to make

the day special for him.

(With the help of Nancy, Rozann and family)

He got a nifty new picture frame

that rotates through pictures from his life,

his family,

his loves,

his experiences,

his joys.

It's called Skylight.

We all put some photos on it and we can

update it and send NEW photos whenever we want!

So watch for new pictures!

(But considering how inconsistent I have been

with my blog lately, don't watch too hard..... lol.)

Just because I haven't been blogging daily,

doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of my parents

daily. They are in our thoughts and prayers

ALL. THE. TIME.

My Dad is so important to my life.

To who I am today.

And who I will hopefully be some day.

(If I ever FINALLY grow up...)

I look to him as my example.

I look to him to see what I can become.

To watch his joy.

His passions.

His testimony.

LOVE YOU DAD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Productive Morning

 It was a busy and productive morning!

Yesterday I bought 5 rotisserie chickens

from Sam's. They are $4.98 each which

is cheaper than I could buy and cook them myself!

Anyhow, they were piping hot.

So once they cooled down,

I set up my little table and sat in the living

room in front of the TV and

picked all the meat off all 5.

The white meat went on a separate tray

from the dark meat.

We ended up with 3 white and 2 dark.

And into the freezer they went.

Then half the carcass and all the skin etc 

went into the pressure cooker for a 100 minute

pressure cook and an overnight "keep warm".

This morning I put the trays into the freeze dryer.

I've been using some of the dark meat I did

last month and it is SO yummy and SO convenient!

Because of the higher fat content, it won't last

for years and years, so I will likely be using it up

within the next year or so.

And then I bottled up the amazing bone broth!

Then the bones etc all went back into the pressure cooker

for a second round.

I'll pull off another couple of quarts of broth and

then the bones will be soft enough to squish 

with my fingers.

I will put the bones and a little broth into the food processor

and grind it up into a paste and add that to the

dog's food every day.

(Beau LOVES it!)

And THEN, I made 7 pretty little bottles of vanilla extract!

Aren't they darling?

And then, of course, I have MORE stuff lining up

to go into the freeze dryer next.

Bananas and mangos.

Two of our favorite things to eat.

Those don't last long.

Because we keep EATING them!

And then, I headed off to the Town to spend the day.

And now I have to hit a zoom call with the

company president.

Fun, fun, fun.

Bi-Polar Skies

 Kyle met me at the Town on Friday afternoon.

I stopped in for an hour or so after teaching.

They needed a little help.

He stopped by, kidnapped me and we headed

down to sit on the beach.

It has been a LOOOOOONG week for

the both of us and we needed it.

We were just sitting.

Enjoying the waves.

And the fact there was NOBODY on the beach.

The tide was coming in,

and its that time of year when there is

quite a bit of seaweed.

But it is still relaxing and beautiful.

And then Kyle suggested I turn around.

This picture does not do it justice.

It was BLACK.

Oh!

Maybe that's why there's nobody on the beach.

And maybe we shouldn't be either?

So.... we reluctantly headed home.

But BOY it was nice while it lasted.

I'm BAAAAAACK

 It was fun to get back in the saddle.

So to speak.

I had a good sized class of 25 students.

They were LONG days.

But the students are what makes this fun.

And it was kind of fun to stretch my brain

and teach stuff I haven't had to think about

for over 2 years now!!

But I am glad to be back home.

I left Ft. Lauderdale yesterday at 6am, drove north a bit

to Delray Beach where I met the real instructor

and gave her back her keys and stuff

and then headed home.

Got here about 8:30, in time to say Hello

to Rod before he headed off to work.

Change my clothes and I headed to the town.

We had a LOT of stuff to do, including a

webinar on the updates for our software.

I fell asleep.

YIKES!

(grin)

I stayed at work until 3:45.

When I got home I logged back in and watched

the 2nd edition of the same webinar from 4-5

and its a good thing I did! 

There are some cool new features that I "missed"

in the first run-through.

(grin again)

Anyhow.

Then it was time to take care of all the

admin stuff that goes along with teaching.

And by then Kyle got home.

So we headed to Walmart for some groceries.

And then it was 8:45 and Rod was home.

We started making dinner.

I sat down in my recliner for a minute.................

And then I got up and went to bed.

About 9:45.

I slept until 7 when I heard Kyle making his smoothie.

WHEW!

I was glad to be home.

They were glad to have me back.

And Beau hasn't left my side.

I taught the morning class this morning

and he wouldn't even get in his chair.

He had to lay right by my feet.

In case I snuck out and left FOREVER AGAIN!!!!!

Poor puppy.

Not Gone, Just Out of Town

 Wednesday I got a text asking me to

bounce down to Ft. Lauderdale

and teach a 4-day class!

I haven't taught a LIVE class since

July 2021 when I covered at the

same location.

I spent the rest of the afternoon

making all the necessary arrangements

and then taught my evening zoom.

Thursday I got packed, headed to the Town

for a couple of hours and then borrowed

Rod's fancy new truck and headed south.

It was a good drive.

Stopped in Delray Beach to meet the other

instructor, get the keys and some encouragement.

And then on to Margate.

I'm staying in a nice Hampton Inn.

There aren't a lot of restaurants right close by.

And I don't really want to be surrounded

by MORE people and noise...

so the first night I stopped at Publix

and bought some deli mac & cheese.

Last night I stopped at a chinese food place

in the same shopping complex and got some

orange chicken and fried rice,

(half is still in my fridge for Sunday night...).

Tonight I stopped at the SAME plaza and got

a subway sandwich.

I bought a couple of salads to take for

lunches and a box of frozen

ham, egg, cheese biscuits to heat up for

breakfast in my room.

Not going fancy this time around.

It's coming back. I noticed a couple of things

I forgot... but they aren't huge and the students

don't know ANYTHING, so they don't know

that I missed a couple of things.

They seem to be happy and enjoying the

class as much as you can enjoy

4 straight days of 10 hours each

on the subject of life insurance.

I have two more days.

And then Tuesday morning I'll get up and

head back north and straight into the Town.

And then, I might just go to bed for a week.

(Except I have to teach the morning class

on Wednesday.....)

I do kind of miss live class.

But there ARE advantages to zoom.

But this is fun.

BIRDS!!!

 Yesterday after work I went outside

to let the chickens out of their coop,

gather eggs and just putter.

When I looked up,

I felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie!

The sky was FILLED with black birds!

I couldn't get my phone out fast enough to catch them

in flight, but they are all perched in this tree.

If you look closely there are a BUNCH of them!

Like, a BUNCH.

Not JUST that tree, but this tree too!

And about 3 more trees just like it!

I went in the house.

***********************************************************

In other news..........

I just got tapped to teach a 4-day school in Ft Lauderdale.

YIKES!

The last time I taught a LIVE class was July '21.

Same location, so there's that...

Not much has changed.

Except. YEA no masks!

And no more social distancing.

So there will be THREE students at EACH of those tables.

Last class they had 30 students.

I'll be borrowing Rod's fancy new truck and heading down

tomorrow afternoon - want to be safely in my hotel

BEFORE 5:00 traffic!

And then it's full steam ahead.

Wish me luck!

I teach every week, but only about 2/3 of the material.

It has been awhile, but I'm sure it will come back to me.

But yes, I'm nervous.

Catching Up

 Over the weekend,

my darling husband had a birthday!

I have pictures of him,

but most of them are while he is doing something.

Like working on the Cat with Kyle.

Or working on the fence.

Or napping on the couch.

It was a quiet birthday.

We had to go to church early so I could go to

Ward Council.

I announced it was his birthday...

and our Bishop (who is HILARIOUS)

said he was going to change the closing hymn.

Somehow I doubt

"You've had a birthday, shout HURRAY!" 

would cut it as a closing hymn.

But we had a good giggle.

Then we had church, and EVERYONE wished

him a happy birthday.

News travels fast in our ward.

Then it was Relief Society.

(It was a REALLY good lesson!)

And then we came home, I made us all

a sandwich and then I baked a german

chocolate cake (his favorite).

And then we napped.

It was AWESOME.

I made us all T-bone steaks, asparagus,

salad and croissants for dinner

and cake for desert.

We aren't very fancy when it comes to birthdays.

We had a nice day,

and we are so blessed to have him.

Everybody loves him.

But nobody as much as me.

And then today he started the day with a 

skin doctor visit. Ugh.

And now, another day has gone by.

August is nearly over already.

Where did this year go????

(It's doubly fast since 20 and 21 were 

SOOOO   S L O W!)

Happy Belated Birthday my darling!

I love you!!!!!