My mother invited a friend to go with us to the open house. We were extremely disappointed. They did not have very many clothes. They had some monogrammed gift items, but nothing different than anywhere else. The tea room was closed. You would think that they would do a good business on Saturday. I guess they take Saturday off since they are open for Sunday dinner. For the recipe for the Strawberry Pretzel Salad, click here. After we left there, we drove to Guntersville. We ate lunch at Wentzell's Oyster House. I had the chicken jerk chili and a garden salad. The chili was real tasty. After lunch, we went to downtown Guntersville and visited a few shops. I bought a Lilly-looking hot pink bangle bracelet at All About Her. All About Her carries Lilly Pulitzer, Lacoste, Vineyard Vines, Tervis Tumblers, Vera Bradley and a few other brands.

Saturday night, we went over to my sister and brother-in law's house for dinner. My brother-in-law cooked shrimp, steaks, pork chops and chicken. Guests brought sides. My mother bought a peach cobbler at the meat market and cooked it. Everyone enjoyed it. Other sides were mac & cheese, cheese grits, salad, potatoes, corn, brownies and ice cream.

Sunday, after church and lunch, we went to Movie Gallery. I bought Julie & Julia and Four Christmases for $14.99 each. I got Legally Blonde and Christmas Vacation for free. I have Legally Blonde on VHS and it is almost worn out. It is the movie that I watch when nothing good is on TV.

Right now, I am watching the 5 Browns on PBS. It is a good show.

I hope everyone has a good Tuesday.

Since the party on Wednesday, Queenie and I have been living on fruit and grape tomatoes with a few cubes of cheese thrown in. Now it is all gone, except for the cheese.

Last night, I drove up to the my mother's house. We went to eat at Zaxby's. We don't have that many choices except fast food and Mexican restaurants. There is one nice restaurant, but my mother ate there Wednesday night and we will eat there after Church tomorrow.

Later this morning, my mother and I are going to a grand opening for a new store in the next town south of here. My mother was a good customer of a ladies shop there, and now the owner is very ill. The store has been sold to a lady that owned a cutesy gift shop. She has combined the two businesses into one. My mother is going for the clothes and I am going for the gift items. We plan on eating lunch at a local tea room, if it is opened. If it is open, I'm going off of my diet so that I can have some of their delicious Strawberry Pretzel Salad. I can eat an entire pan of that stuff. YUM!! I'm not sure if Strawberry Pretzel Salad is a southern thing, an Alabama thing or a North Alabama thing, but if you haven't tried it, you will definitely enjoy it. I always eat it as my dessert.

I'll be back later with news of our purchases.

I hope everyone enjoys their Saturday.

I read that between midnight and noon today, the county that I live in had 5 inches of rain. That's a lot of rain. And there's more on the way. When I turned into my neighborhood, I noticed that the street was yucky. I imagine that earlier in the day it was flooded, and when the flood waters receded, it left the debris.

Today, Queenie and I hosted a 30th anniversary party for our maintenance man at work. Close to a hundred people responded to say that they would be there. We had sandwich trays, fruit, veggies and cookies. We also had potato chips and chex mix as filler food. I think he really appreciated it. We had an entire tray of sandwiches left, a lot of veggies and a lot of fruit. That means lunch tomorrow.

Not only did I have that event, but there were some superiors in from out of town. I had to order lunch and beverages for them and the others in my department. By the time the party was over, I was exhausted. My foot was really hurting when I left work.

I came home from work and did some light cleaning and laundry. Now I have my foot propped up where it will stay until bedtime.

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

Today for the first time since October 19, I wore a dress to work. I normally wear dresses four out of five days a week, but since my accident I haven't had one on. Today, I wore a brown Pendleton sleeveless dress with a Brooks Brothers camel merino wool cardigan, goldtone Brooks Brothers "346" hoop earrings and pearls of course. Even though I had on a dress, I still had to wear my big silver and yellow Nike's. I felt really good about myself in that outfit. I think I will start wearing dresses and skirts more often.

I hope everyone has a nice Tuesday.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I was fairly busy this weekend.

Friday night, I drove to my mother's house. She almost had dinner on the table when I got there. Isn't that a nice Mama?

Saturday morning I took all of my tax stuff to the accountant. After that, my mother and I drove to Huntsville to do some shopping. We really didn't need anything, but it was such a nice day that we wanted to get out and go somewhere. We went to Belk's and Dillard's to look for dresses. We didn't have any luck at all. I bought makeup, a bath mat, Blue Willow pagoda salt and pepper shakers and a Blue Willow night light. I walked from one end of the mall and back. It was tiring, but very beneficial. When I got back home, I just sat around and read.

Sunday, we played hooky from Church and went with a friend to the Cracker Barrel to eat breakfast. Then we drove the long way home and looked at the scenery. When we got home, we walked to my sister's house and got her 2 year old foster son and took him to the playground to play for about 30 minutes. He had a blast. He ran, played and then my mother pushed him on the swings. He almost started crying when it was time to go home. It was good for all of us to get out and walk in the fresh air.

I was home bound for 9 weeks and then when I could get out, the weather turned bad. This was the first pretty weekend since I have been able to walk. It was nice to go shopping and then go for a walk. I just wish next weekend would be just as nice.

I hope everyone has a good Monday.

This has been a fairly slow week at work. Queenie and I have been busy planning a service anniversary party for the maintenance man. Our maintenance man is a great guy. He has been with the bank for 30 years. The woman that he reports to was going to do the party, but decided against it, because (1) it was not in the budget and (2) he had a party for his 25th anniversary (we don't remember it). We decided that we would plan it. We are taking a collection to cover food and whatever is left over, we will give to him as a monetary gift. This man deserves it. He will do anything for anybody and never complains.

I'm sitting here right now watching Sixteen Candles. It is such a fun movie. Anthony Michael Hall plays the perfect geek. And all of his geeky friends. How scary! Jake Ryan, what a hunk! Does anybody use the work "hunk" anymore? I never have been able to figure out the girl with the brace.

I have Sirius radio in my car. I've had it for years and I listen to the same 3 or 4 stations all of the time. Last week I decided that I would listen to a different station every day. Today, I listened to the 90's station. I don't know where I was in the 90's, but I didn't recognize any of the songs. This afternoon, they played a few that I recognized. I guess, I've been stuck in the 80's. I normally listen to the 80's, Pops, or the Sinatra stations. Tomorrow, I'm going to listen to the 40's station. I've listen to it before. To me it's a happy station. I feel like I'm in a Fred and Ginger movie. What does everyone else listen to?

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

I intended for Sunday to be a lazy day. It was for the most part. I laid around and watched movies and read. I also did three loads of laundry. I also did a lot of food prep for the week.

I tried on some of the dresses that I bought on vacation. They just did fit when I bought them. Now they are a little loose. I haven't been able to wear them because I can't wear the appropriate shoes. I think I'm going to start wearing them with my Nike's. No use them hanging in the closet. Most people at work know that I am recovering from a broken foot and have to wear the Nike's. I think Wednesday will be the first day for a dress. I haven't worn a dress since October 19. Before my accident, I wore dresses about 80% of the time. I'm more comfortable in a dress than I am in pants.

I hope everyone has a good Tuesday.