Summer Cold - YUCK!

I guess you can tell, from the title of this entry, that I have

a summer cold.  Came down with it last weekend and

it's about to kick my rear.  I just can't seem to kick it.

I think I feel worse this weekend than I did last week.

Oh well, I'm sure that it will get better.  I just have to

keep working on getting better by resting when I can and

trying to get as much sleep as possible.

Last Saturday, before I got sick, I went to the movies for

the first time since February (so much for going once a month).

Anyway, I saw The Jersey Boys, which is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  It was a really good movie that I enjoyed.  Had planned on 

going this weekend and seeing Maleficent but that didn't happen

with my cold.  Oh well, maybe next week.

I still have been keeping the little ones and, as far as I can tell,

they have NOT caught this cold from me.

They are continuing to grow so darn fast!

It's hard to believe that Adalyn is already six months

old - has cut two bottom teeth, about to cut another one on the

top, and is just about ready to crawl.

Give her another week or so and she will be.  Right

now she can get just about anywhere she wants to go by

doing the belly flop crawl.  She knows how to get up on all fours and

how to move the back legs - she just hasn't figured out moving the

arms yet.  It won't take her long and then - well, Lorelai better

watch out.  Ada wants to be where ever her big sissy is - so far, Lorelai doesn't mind - and I'm hoping that will last.

The weather here has been so terribly hot!  The temperatures have reached

100 degrees (or higher) four of the last five days.  It has been so

hot that I won't let the girls go out and play too much outside.  Then the bad thunderstorms move in around four o'clock or later.

Thursday night we had a terrific thunderstorm - with lightening flashing everywhere - Dan checked the rain gauge on Friday morning and we got four and a half inches of rain in one night.  It was pretty bad, but I guess we shouldn't complain - at least we don't have any flooding as so much of the country has had.

We did let the girls go out and play for a little while on Monday.

 Lorelai loves her slide almost as much as her little pool.

What she doesn't love so much is 

her bathing suit.

I don't know if the one I bought her is too little, but

she would much rather just run around in her

swimming pants and a t-shirt.

That's okay with me.

This was the first day that I took Ada outside in the

sand.  She loved watching her big sister play in

the pool and slide.

She also liked to dig her little toes

into the sand.

Looks like we are going to have another little one that loves

to be outside.

Dan had cataract surgery on Thursday - the doctors did his left eye first.

We will go back in two weeks and have the right eye done.

He was really nervous going into this - not really knowing what

to expect - but he has not had any issues and now says that it was a piece of cake.  They are telling him that he probably won't need glasses at all after it is all done - or, if he does, it will only be for reading.  He thinks he can already tell the difference in the brightness of everything.  He says it's like you have been looking through a dirty glass and didn't know that it was dirty.  He can still tell when he closes his left eye and just looks with his right.

This whole thing has made me a little nervous - I have an appointment to have my eyes checked in July - don't know what to expect.  When you reach a certain age things like this seem to creep up on you fast.  Well, there is no use worrying about it.  What will be, will be.

We really haven't done much else outside - between the weather being so hot, the rainstorms, and Dan's surgery - things have sorta come to a halt.  We still have to put down the landscaping cloth and the mulch - but it will get done.  Sooner or later.  We did pick up a couple of plants to go on the porch - an English Ivy and a Spider Plant - but that's about all that we've done outside.

These are some of the plants we have hanging on the pergola.

We even added a bird feeder.  Dan and I enjoy sitting on 

the porch in the morning (on weekends) and in the

evening (after the babies go home and dinner is done)

watching the birds and just relaxing.

Today I did make myself get up and go into town for just a little while.

I had made an appointment with a consignment shop to take some

of my clothes that I will never wear again - things I used to wear to work or things that are too small for me now.  Anyway,  I didn't want to cancel the appointment - so Dan went with me - and we got it all taken in - 20 different pieces.

I certainly won't make a fortune on the clothes - the shop takes a 50% cut AND they set the price - but a little is better than nothing.  I usually donate everything - but I had some nice suits (Jones of New York, Kasper, and Brooks Brothers) and I thought that I would try the consignment thing.

Dan also went by the nursery and picked up the bleeding heart vine that he wants to plant by his grill.

Hopefully, we will get all this finished at some point!  

Well, I think that just about does it - 

I hope everyone is having a 

good weekend.

Talk at ya later!

Hot, HOt, HOT!

The weather here has been almost unbearable!

We have a thermometer on the dock (under cover) and a receiving station in the house - last week it was over 100 degrees!  Plus, the humidity has been stifling!  The local weatherman has put the heat index in the 110-120.  That is just too hot to do anything outside!

Next week it is suppose to rain everyday - it has been raining off and on all day today and the percent for rain tomorrow and Tuesday is around 90%.  At least the outside temp is more bearable - it is 82 right now and raining.  

Oh the joys of living in South Florida!

We are trying to change Little Miss from baby food to people food.

She does not like for you to feed her anymore - she wants to do it herself.  The problem with that is - finding foods that she can feed herself that she will eat.  Much more challenging than you would think.

This was lunch one day last week -

grilled chicken, black eyed peas, banana's, and

the ole standby - cheerios.

She has water in her sippy cup.

"How big is Lorelai?"

"So BIG!"

She is doing fairly well - I just don't know if she is getting enough food.

When she was eating baby food, I knew how much she was getting.

She is so picky about what she eats now - 

plus it takes her FOR -EV - ER to eat.

Oh well, this stage will pass in it's own time.

Enjoy it while it is here.

We went to the storage unit and got the furniture for the patio last week.

We are getting another estimate on the roof over and screen room tomorrow.  We do have a couple of other aluminum contractors to call to get estimates - but we really want to get, at least, the roof over done.  We think that it will help keep the family room cooler - and help protect the furniture.

We shall see what the estimates come in at.

I haven't shown you pictures of the beach area Dan made for Little Miss.

Before I show you, let me tell you that it has changed again already.

We had put the bigger pool in for us - which we did use a couple of times with Little Miss.  But, we decided that we really were not using the big pool - and it took up a lot of room.  So, Dan packed it up Friday and now we are looking for a slide for the little one to play on.

The biggest problem we are having right now -

keeping her from crawling on the concrete.

It is really rough and I don't want to scrap her knees.

I don't think it will a problem for much longer, as she is walking more and more.  It won't be too much longer and walking will be her main mode of transportation.

(i know, I know - then comes running!)

We continue to do little "Tweaking" around the house.

Nothing major - but little things.

We still haven't gotten the pedestals mounted under the washer and dryer - nor have we emptied the second storage unit.

It is just too hot to be moving stuff.

We will get it done - 

someday.

We thought we had found a place for us to go on vacation this year - in Maine!  It was a perfect little cottage on a lake - close to Arcadia National Park - and we could take the pups.

However, we couldn't work out the dates.

Maybe next year.

So, instead, we are looking at doing some weekend get a ways.  Not going too far away from home - taking the pups with us - and not spending a ton of money.  We will see how this works out.

For those that are wondering - 

the Outback is on a consignment lot.

Dan decided that a trailer is just getting to be too much of an undertaking to hook up.  It is not so much hooking the trailer up - it is doing the sway bars. Every time he went out to hook everything up he would just be drenched in sweat - it just took too much out of him.  So, after much discussion, we have decided to sell the camper.  IF the camper sells, Dan has decided to buy another pontoon boat.  He thinks that we will use a pontoon much more than we would use the camper especially since we are keeping Little Miss now (and will have the new little one after the first of the year).

This is just another one of those "wait and see" things that seem to be part of our every day existence now.

Last night Dan and I went into Sebring to eat.  We went to Outback (Dan's favorite place to eat) and didn't really spend any money.  We have two $25 gift cards - one from the car dealer Dan bought his truck from and one from my daughter for my birthday.  We used one of the gift cards last night - still have another AND I have a coupon for $8 off a dinner - so, I see another trip in my not too distant future.

Since we got my car - I have been doing all the driving.

That is a little different, since I have been the passenger for the past number of years.  However, since my car gets better mileage, it will be our main mode of transportation.

That is pretty much how our week has gone - today I still need to do the menu plan for the month, and set up the payments for this month's bills.  All this while fighting a migraine - thanks to this weather front.

Oh well!

I guess I'll leave you with one more picture.

I found a deal on books this week on a local garage sale like page.

Two grocery bags full of books for $8. (Paper bags - not those little plastic bags!)  A lot of Dr. Seuss and other early reader books - some that I put away until little Miss is older and some that I will donate - but I don't think it was a bad purchase - the Dr. Seuss books were worth the eight bucks.

Anyway, this is what Little Miss thinks of her books.

Oh to be able to sit like that again!

Have a great week!

Hugs -

Carol