Warmest Wednesday - It does get hot

When you don't have air conditioning in your home, you would understand how hot it might be when summer arrives.  For those of you who have stayed with us right around this time, you would have experienced that our home is actually pretty cool.  Jeff does keep the cool air locked in and the hot air out.  It takes a bit of timing and a lot of opening and closing doors and windows, but it is amazing how he keeps the house cool during the warmer temperatures.  Although we are only on our first month of summer, we have had some hot days and I have taken photos as proof.  These temperatures were taken for the month of May, July and July.  Maybe we won't have too many of these 100 F weather as the extended forecast are averaging mid 80s.  When you are outdoors three to four times a week, these mid 80s temperature are perfect for golf.  Sometimes I think that I should when the weather is perfect and then I realize that I am not spending summers in Canada.  We are definitely very spoiled here when it comes to weather and I am very thankful and appreciative of it.

 

Tentative Tuesday - Lost a bit of my bounce

When I flip the page on my quote calendar a few days ago, it said "The only thing we can count on in life is that it will change".  It certain applies on how I fell when I wake up in the morning.  Most mornings I am just pumped and ready to go but lately it seems like once a month there's a few days that I lose my bounce.  I truly cannot pin point what it is, I just don't feel 100 percent.  When those days happens, I know that it's time to take it easy.  The body is telling me that it needs a bit of recharging so I give it a boost.  It usually takes a two or three days of doing just the minimum chores.  It will also mean that I will take a couple of naps, eating lightly and just chilling.  Does all of the above works?  Yes, for me it definitely does.  It's not for everyone but at least I know that after a few days and I still don't have the bounce, then I might send my doctor and email and maybe get an appointment.  Tomorrow is my third day and I should start feeling better.  Sometimes this is one of the reason why you won't see any new posts, specially my daily followers.  But here's some photos to make you hungry.

Jeff made this cake for our Sunday dinner with MIL

Then he grilled these marinated veggies - harvested from his garden.

Although I do the marinating, Jeff does all the grilling of the smokey BBQ ribs.

 

Minions Monday - I couldn't wait

July 10th was the first day of the Minions movie in the theaters.  A few weeks ago I told Jeff that I would wait at least a couple of weeks before we would go and see it.  Last Saturday afternoon shortly after our nap, we decided to check out the show times.  Since Jeff knows that I hate watching it in the theater when I know there are going to be some kids involved, we both had an idea of watching the movie at the nearest Drive in theater.  You are wondering why I don't like watching when I know there's going to be kids.  It's pure luck or just because, it doesn't matter which seat we would pick, there would be some kid behind me that would constantly kick the back of my chair.  Sometimes it's not just kids, even adults and it is so annoying.  You can tell them but most of the time they ignore you and maybe sometimes even do it more once you tell them.  This is one of the reason why we just wait for whatever movie we would like to see to be available ON Demand.  There is only one drive in that's close to our home so we checked out the times, cost and was happy to see the results.  We left an hour early to make sure we weren't rushed and when we arrive there, we were completely so so wrong.  The line up was very slow and very long that we thought we will miss the beginning of the movie.  When we finally got the ticket, there was not much parking left and we had to take the one which was not a great location but it was good enough.  Since the Minions was the first movie showing, we were able to leave the place right after the movie.  The next movie was Jurassic Park which I was not interested in seeing.  Anyway, after that experience, Jeff and I decided that we love watching movies in the comfort of our living room, with free food and drinks, no annoying kids/adult kicking my chair and most of all we don't have to worry about parking, etc.  Oh, almost forgot, I can't do a review of the movie because my daughter will be watching it with her friends in a couple of weeks.  PS. I am never going to that drive in theater again.

 

Surplus Sunday - more tomatoes

Every other day I would go out of our backyard to check out what is happening with Jeff's vegetable garden.  If you recall he has pulled all the carrots and the green onions.  Now I wait for the tomatoes to get the nicest red before picking them.  I also get very excited when the yellow squash starts to get the shape.  Sometimes when the weather is very hot, it seems like the grow twice as big in a day.  There are more cherry tomatoes that I can handle.  They are so good on salads,  my vegetable breakfast frittata (tomatoes, sweet basil, cheese), and a new recipe I tried (stir fry yellow squash, tomatoes, sweet basil, green onions and carrots).

This is the fifth one.  It's just nice to cook something that comes from our garden.

We may never get to eat these but it's just nice to watch them grow.

Every other day I get about this much in my little basket.

Surprising Saturday - I am gettting light green thumb

A couple of days ago I sent my sister a photo of the spider plant that I started growing after snipping from the ends.  Then I planted them in a bigger pot and have been keeping an eye on it.  Although Jeff does all the watering outside, I have some plants that I sort of can call my own.  I pull the weeds, move them around, talk to them sometimes and basically try to keep them alive.  Well, when my sister saw the photo of the plant, she told me that my thumb are starting to look light green.  Apparently my sister's thumb is really green because she can truly care for her indoor and outdoor plants without killing them.  Now I would like to show off some of my plants.  Maybe there is hope for me, but for now I am just happy that I haven't killed any.  The orchid plant that I got for my birthday is still alive with seven flowers in bloom.

 

 

Family Friday - With or without drama

As we get older, it feels like we don't have as much patience or we get so set in our ways.  For years everyone was taking care of children, then taking care of parents.  Then one day you realize that you are now free of those responsibilities.  You are now really enjoying life but it took all of 60 years to get there.  I feel very lucky to have a great relationship with Jeff .  There are no drama, no stress, no complaints, no whining nor mind games.  We both are very caring in our own way as well as very respectful of each others family issues.  Being in a blended family is a bit difficult and at times very trying.  The other half of my family is in Canada so it's only blended on Jeff's side.  The rest of my family (sister, brother, cousins) are also in Canada.  So technically, I don't have that family, but Jeff is my family now and of course my wonderful MIL.  When you hear all the issues of family life from friends, sometimes it is good that your family issues are not as bad.  Some have too much drama and others are just difficult to deal with so you just avoid them.  But then you hear other stories of family who get along so well that we have monthly or yearly reunions, etc.  They even have their own website or newsletter or some other social media connections.  My brother said one day that I have changed.  Maybe so, but don't we all.  It might be a little selfish that I prefer not to get too involved in other family issues.  After retiring, I have taken this new attitude of truly enjoying each day in whatever I choose to do.  At the end of the day, I know that I spent every minute of every hour doing what I love the most and have no regrets.  

 

Threading Thursday - Automatic

Something is wrong with my automatic needle threader and I can't figure it out.  When Jeff fixed it the last time when it got stuck, it was working great.  My old sewing machine did not have that so it was frustrating at times when you try to get the thread to go into the tinniest hole.  Although there's a little tool I could use, the automatic threader is much more convenient and fast.  I have started sewing some items for my purse which I am making sets of different patterns and colors. Here are the completed ones, the one waiting to be sewn and the two waiting to be cut.

Blue set on the left and black and grey set on the right.

Purple set and brown set to match my purses.

The red set which will include fabric wallet, cell phone cover, cards, earbuds, glasses holders.