HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. If you are out and about on New Year's Eve, please be careful. We are expecting bad storms, so I have decided to stay in.

Happy New Year!!!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did. Our family has always had our family Christmas dinner and party on Christmas Eve. I think it always had to do with my father owning a business that was open on Christmas Day. He gave his employees the day off and we worked. He really didn't want to be open on Christmas, but the amount of business was too foolish to waste. Now that we have sold the business, we don't have to work on Christmas Day, but we still like our Christmas Eve celebration. A few years ago for Christmas Eve, my mother served ham, potato salad, deviled eggs, chips, pickles, brownies and cookies. My sister and brother-in-law voted to make that our traditional Christmas Eve menu. It seems like everywhere we go from Thanksgiving to Christmas we eat the same thing. The ham and potato salad is a break from that. And, we use china and crystal. Christmas Day, we always eat the leftovers.

This year, we were snowed in, so my mother and I just sat around, watched TV, read and napped. Sunday, we took down the Christmas tree and decorations. Then we sat around and was lazy.

Monday, I took a vacation day. I was so mad that the roads between here and Huntsville were icy. After we heard that the roads were clear, we hopped in the car and went to Huntsville. We went to Lawren's to get Caspari Christmas cards. While there, we looked around. We had not been in there in years. They had some really beautiful things. Then we ran some more errands and headed home. We wanted to get home before dark, in case the roads got icy again.

Today, my mother had to take my cousin to Huntsville for eye surgery. I am just sitting around and watching TV. After lunch, I need to pack my car and head back home.

Only three days to work this week. It's a shame that we don't get off early on New Year's Eve. We have to work until 5:00. I would like to get home before all of the crazies get out on the road.

As I do every year at this time, I am back on my healthy eating program (aka DIET). BFF MAB always refers to it as a lifestyle adjustment. It doesn't sound as harsh. Today for lunch, I am having a fruit and nut salad from Publix. They are so good. If you live near Publix, you need to grab one. They are in the produce section. It is spring mix topped with Fuji apples, raisins, blueberries, and walnuts. I mix it with a small amount of light blue cheese dressing. YUM! I need to lose a few pounds so that I can get back into my clothes.

I hope everyone has a good Tuesday. If you live in an area that has been hit with this horrible weather, please be safe.

I'M DREAMING OF A......

No Dream! We had a White Christmas...in Alabama! The first since 1969 in our area. It was a first for Birmingham.

I had to share.

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!
SEASONS GREETINGS!
AND THE BEST OF TIDINGS TO YOU ALL.

Tonight BFF MAB and I went to eat at Highland's Bar and Grill. It was sooooo good. I had the baked grits, the New York strip and the chocolate mousse cake. For a before dinner cocktail, I had the Christmas Cava (sp?). It is sparkling wine with pomegranate juice. We always treat ourselves to a good meal at Christmastime. I had some of my steak left over. I put it in the freezer. I'm going to take it to work to eat for lunch on Friday. That and a couple of slices of Italian bread will make a nice light lunch.

Tomorrow, my boss is treating all of us to lunch. He is having it brought in. I think we are having pizza, pasta and salad. I think I am about ready for the eat-a-thon to be over.

I hope everyone has a nice Wednesday.

I thought this was going to be a relaxing weekend, but I was wrong.

Saturday, I helped my mother clean house. After that, it was off to the grocery store to get what we needed for next weekend. On the way back, we stopped at the drugstore and a gift shop. When we got home, I made two pans of shortbread and she made fudge. My mother makes the old timey fudge with cocoa, sugar and milk. It is so good.

Saturday night, my mother went to a party. I was able to relax a little bit while she was gone.

Today, we went to church. I couldn't decide what I wanted to wear, so I was able to incorporate several items into my outfit. I wore a black Austin Reed skirt and a white turtle neck. I wanted to wear something red, so I wore a red Pendleton cardigan. I have a long black Geiger jacket, so I wore it as a coat. I wanted to wear something tartan, so I wore a muffler in the Keith tartan, our family tartan. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to wear my gold tone Scottie dog pin or my gold tone foxhunters' horn pin, so I wore the Scottie dog pin on my cardigan and the horn pin on my jacket. This is a picture of my Geiger jacket, except mine is black. I like that I can wear it as either a jacket or a light coat.



















After church, we went to eat at a local barbecue place. I wasn't in the mood for barbecue, so I ate a cheeseburger and onion rings. YUM! After we got home, we changed clothes and went to put Christmas flowers on my father's grave. We left there and went to the car wash so that I could get the top layer of dirt off of my car. Then it was home to wash Bo. He hates taking a bath. When he saw that I had on the t-shirt that I wear when I bath him, he went and hid under the bed. We finally were able to coax him out.

I have a few last minutes errands to run before the holidays. I hope that I don't stress myself out trying to get everything done. Tuesday night, I am going to eat dinner with BFF MAB. We always treat ourselves to a nice dinner for the holidays.

I hope everyone has a nice Monday.

This week has been fairly uneventful. It has been very cold here and all I have done is gone to work and then home. Tomorrow is going to be a lot warmer.

Tonight, I went to Barnes & Noble to get a CD for my brother-in-law. Now, my Christmas shopping is complete. It feels so good. I mailed my Christmas cards today. Now all I have to do is sit back and enjoy the holidays.

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

I'll tell you right away that this is not a post about Auburn Football. I probably won't post again about my Auburn Tigers until January 10, when they play for the national championship.

I have tried to relax some this weekend. Yesterday, I got up early and went to Edgar's Bakery and got four slices of sausage mushroom quiche and some fruit. Strange, the slice of quiche that I ate for breakfast yesterday had squash and ham. I rechecked the label and it clearly said sausage mushroom. Oh well, it was really good anyway. I didn't feel well, but I tried to get my housecleaning taken care of. I laid down for a few minutes, but realized that if I didn't want to fight huge crowds, I needed to get to Belk's. I was out of foundation makeup. When I got to the Summit, I was shocked to get a really good parking place. I went to the Clinique counter and they were out of what I wanted. I didn't want to go to another Belk store, but I had no choice. On the way out of Belk's, I got a couple of things that I was low on from Kiehl's. I then went to the post office and stood in line for 35 minutes to get a book of Christmas forever stamps. They were out. I ended up with the snowman stamps. That was my only choice. I went back home and watched Christmas Vacation. I always enjoy that movie.

Last night, I went to a party over at BFF MAB's house. On the way over there, I stopped at Belk's at Riverchase Galleria to get my Clinique. The traffic was a nightmare. It would not have been so bad, if the police were not there directing traffic. It was a good crowd of people at the part, and I think everyone had a great time. I got to see and visit with people that I had not seen in a couple of years. I also met some new people. While I was there, it poured down rain outside. It had slacked some by the time I left.

This morning, I did laundry and relaxed. This afternoon, BFF MAB and I went to the Alabama Theatre to see Holiday Inn. That is one of my favorite movies. I think it may be showing on AMC this month. I may record it to have. We were going to go eat afterwards, but neither one of us was hungry. I came home and finished laundry and fixed a cup of peppermint hot cocoa. YUM! I had some Stonewall Kitchen peppermint hot cocoa mix in the freezer.

For the remainder of the evening, I'm going to catch up on reading magazines and maybe watch some TV.

I hope everyone has a good Monday. It's snowing here right now, but I very seriously doubt that tomorrow is going to be a snow day.


PS: I figured out the problem with my computer. My computer had updated to Internet Explorer 9. I uninstalled it and am back to normal.

CONGRATULATIONS CAM!!!

WAR EAGLE!!!!! (or WDE!!!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONNIE!

If you are of my generation, you will need to know that today is Donnie Osmond's birthday. I can't believe that he is that old......and still looks great!

Have a good day!

Assistance Please

For some reason, I am not able to publish my post by hitting PUBLISH POST at the bottom of where I do a new post. I have to hit enter. Also, it does not separate my paragraphs. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how do I correct it?

Thanks for your assistance.

This morning I read Maxminimus' post. It made my day. You need to pop over there and read it. Queenie was having a bad day. I copied and pasted it and emailed it to her. It lifted her spirits.

I had my annual review today. It was fantastic. I always thought that my supervisor could take me or leave me. She was very complementary. She kept going on and on about what a great job that I am doing. She implied that my position was beneath my capabilities. She is going to allow me to take on more responsibilities so that I don't get rusty and bored. Maybe one day, I will make it back to being an Executive Assistant.

I was saddened to hear about the death of Elizabeth Edwards. She fought a long hard battle.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

WDE!!!!

WAR EAGLE!!! My Auburn Tigers have won the SEC Championship. They beat South Carolina 56-17. They will advance to the BSC Championship game. Of course, Cam Newton was voted the MVP. The icing on the cake will be next weekend when they announce that Cam Newton is this year's Heisman Trophy winner. It was such an exciting and emotional game. It is always exciting to see Bo Jackson on the sidelines. Former Coach Pat Dye was also there.

Yesterday, my mother and I went to Huntsville shopping. I got all of my shopping done, except for one gift. I'll stop and get it on Monday. It is something that I want to get for my mother.

This morning I woke up with a really bad cold. I went to Wal-Mart and got some Nyquil and Dayquil. I have been taking Dayquil all day. I feel so much better now.

This afternoon, I made a Queen's Cake like the one that they sell at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery in Williamsburg. That is probably one of my favorite non-chocolate cakes. While it was cooling, I went the the Christmas parade in a small town that is about 5 miles from here. My sister teaches at the little school there. Some of her students were in the parade. It was a big parade for such a small town.

Now, I am attempting to watch Sherlock Holmes on HBO.

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of the weekend.

I'm glad that it is finally Thursday. I left work at noon today and don't have to go back until Monday.

Tomorrow, it's back to Huntsville to do some Christmas shopping. I have my ducks in a row this time. I hope to get a majority of my shopping taken care of.

Have any of you ever bought anything from Sierra Trading Post? A few weeks ago, I purchased an Austin Reed skirt for less than half price. Tonight, I purchased a Barbour quilted jacket for less than $50. BFF MAB is going to reimburse me for it and let it be my Christmas present. What a great present! I can't wait until it gets here. I think it will go great with my Barbour muffler that I've had for years.

I have used Crane stationary for years. Yesterday, I read on The Preppy Princess that Crane & Co. is prostituting itself out and will begin selling stationary at Wal-Mart. I realize that it is not the same line that I have always purchased at the Crane store, but I feel like the brand has been cheapened. Now I need to find another stationer. Has anyone ever purchased Smythson of Bond Street? I figure if it's good enough for Grace Kelly, it is good enough for me. I noticed that the prices were not much different than Crane. Now to find a place to purchase it. I may call their store in New York and inquire. This is worse than the manufacturing of Waterford being moved to Poland.

I hope everyone has a good Friday.

I was busy most of the Thanksgiving weekend.

After the game, I gave Bo a bath. That is a challenge. Even though he only weighs 8 pounds, he is strong. He wiggles and tries to get away.

Saturday, my mother and I went to Huntsville to do some Christmas shopping. Apparently, we didn't have our ducks in a row. We could not decide on anything. We bought stuff that we needed instead of presents.

Sunday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my mother's nieces and nephews. We had a great time. I am so glad that the eat-a-thon is over.

Yesterday, about noon, my throat started hurting. It was really sore when I left work. I could barely swallow. I came home and nursed it with warm salt water and hot tea. It is better this morning, but still sore. I hope I'm not getting sick. I don't have time for this.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

WAR EAGLE!!!

WAR EAGLE!!!!

AUBURN 28 - ALABAMA 27

I guess everyone has figured out who won the Iron Bowl. It was only one point, but a win is a win. Next week Auburn plays South Carolina for the SEC Championship. If they win that game, hopefully the next game will be for the National Championship.

I planned on staying in this morning, but I had to go to the jewelry store to get a new battery in my watch. I can't go without my watch. After that, it was to the bank to put my father's medals back in the safe deposit box. My sister used them in a Veteran's Day observation at her school. Everywhere we went people were either wearing orange and blue or crimson and white.

I hope everyone has a good Saturday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I hope each of you have a wonderful day. I am so thankful for many things including my family, my friends, my health, my faith and other things to numerous to mention.

I've already eaten one big meal, and in an hour, I'm off to eat another.

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of the day.

This week has been a little bit busy. I have been running errands after work. Tonight, I was able to get my errands done, pack for the holiday trip home, and do some laundry before 6:45. Now I'm sitting here watching reruns of Frasier.

I'm going to my mother's house for Thanksgiving. After much going back and forth, we have finally decided to eat Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. Since this is the South, dinner will be served at 1:00 pm. My mother has been voluntold to make dressing, not stuffing, but dressing. She is also making deviled eggs. I am making a cranberry congealed salad, green bean casserole, a chocolate pecan pie and a fudge pie. I bought a pumpkin pie at Publix for the two of us that like pumpkin pie. My green bean casserole is not the one that is made of green beans, cream of mushroom soup and french fried onions. Mine has green beans (of course), cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, shredded mild cheddar cheese and cracker crumbs. It is always a hit.

Friday will be spent watching the IRON BOWL. For those of you not from this part of the country, the IRON BOWL is another name for the Alabama-Auburn football game. It is always played Thanksgiving weekend. I graduated from Auburn and I am a big Auburn fan. This year Auburn is undefeated and will play for the SEC Championship. WAR EAGLE!!

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday. If I don't post tomorrow.....HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

This has been a fairly good weekend.

First of all, I left work early on Friday so that I could meet with a former coworker at her new job. We had to take care of some business for a mutual customer. It was good to visit with her. She seems so happy where she's working now. I also saw some other former coworkers that work there. We had a wonderful visit.

Saturday, I cleaned house and then relaxed for a few hours. About 4:30, I decided to go to Target and The Fresh Market. At Target, I ran into another former coworker. It was nice to get to visit with him for a few minutes.

Today, I went with BFF MAB to a performance of Handel's Messiah at a local church. It was performed by a local community chorus that is made up of volunteers. The choir was accompanied by members of the Alabama Symphony. They did an outstanding job. I enjoyed every second of it. Afterwards, we went to eat. After an early dinner, I came home to three loads of laundry.

There's nothing on television tonight, so I think I will watch an episode of Poirot. I have season one on DVD. Next time that I am at Sam's, I'm going to purchase season two.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.

I can't believe that I haven't posted since Saturday. Time flies.

Sunday afternoon was spent at the movies. I went to see Morning Glory. I loved it. Afterwards, I went to dinner with my mother, my cousin and her brother that was visiting from Tennessee.

Monday, I went to the dentist on the way to work. Fun, fun.

Yesterday I had to stay late at work to attend a celebration for another area of the bank. It was fun. We were served barbecue and the fixings for dinner. Today, we enjoyed leftovers.

I know that we are all enjoying hearing about the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate. I can't wait to watch the wedding. I think his mother would be proud.

I always wait until the day after Thanksgiving to crank up the Christmas music. Tonight on the way home from work, I decided to listen to Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas. I only listened to four songs: What Child is This, The Lord's Prayer, Adeste Fideles and God Bless Us Everyone. I couldn't help it, I was having withdrawals.

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

Today has been a busy day.

First of all, I got up late, which was not my intention. I guess I needed the sleep. My mother and I got out and ran some errands. After our errands, we went and got one of my sister's foster children and took him to see the fire trucks at the fire station. He had a blast. The fireman let him sit in the seat and pretend to drive.

This afternoon, we went to Walmart and bought a few things for Thanksgiving. We will fill in with other things from Publix and The Fresh Market.

After we got home, we settled in and watched the Auburn-Georgia game. I was nervous for awhile, but then Auburn went ahead enough that I was comfortable that they would win. And win they did. In two weeks, Auburn will play Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Hopefully, Auburn will win. After the Iron Bowl, they will play either Florida or South Carolina for the SEC championship. If the controversy around Cam Newton subsides, maybe he will win the Heisman Trophy. If he wins, he will be the third Heisman winner from Auburn. The other two were Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson. War Eagle!!

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of the weekend.

I hope everyone is enjoying their day off today. But, it's not just a day off, but a day to remember all of the veterans who have fought to preserve our freedom.

This morning, I went into the kitchen to make some tea. I noticed that the carafe to my Sunbeam Tea Drop was cracked. OH NO! I went online and could not find a replacement. I did find another Tea Drop at amazon.com, but the price is a lot higher than what I originally paid for mine. I may have to break down and buy it. I emailed Sunbeam. I don't think they can help, but it's work a try.

I got up early and did some housework. That leaves the remainder of the day for relaxing, reading magazines and watching TV. I may run to The Fresh Market this afternoon. I want to check out their holiday food items and baking ingredients. I may pick up a muffin or scone while I'm there.

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of their Veterans Day (or as my grandparents called it, Armistice Day).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILLY!

Happy Birthday to the one, the only, Lilly Pulitzer. Today is Lilly's birthday, so head over to your favorite Lilly Pulitzer store. Many are having special events in her honor.

Have a good pink and green day.

I'm back. I went to upper East Tennessee for the weekend. I had to go to a conference in Johnson City. My mother road up there with me. We had a great time.

We left early Thursday morning. We stopped in Sevierville/Pigeon Forge to do a little outlet shopping. I didn't buy that much...at the outlets. At Pendleton, I bought a red merino wool cardigan. At Polo/Ralph Lauren, I bought a navy cable crew neck. At Totes, I bought a pair of camel isotoner gloves. My mother wanted to go to the Apple Barn to get some apple butter. While there, we bought some fried apple pies to eat for lunch. YUM!

Friday, we had a morning meeting. After lunch, we piled into cars and went to Abingdon, VA. We hit a few shops and then had dinner at The Peppermill. After dinner, we enjoyed a play at the Barter Theatre, which is next to the Martha Washington Inn. The play was titled, "While Trouble Sleeps". It was excellent.

Saturday, we had another meeting. While we were in our meeting, we looked out the windows and it was snowing huge flakes. It snowed hard for about 2 hours, but it barely stuck to the warm ground. After the meeting, we went downtown to a nice dress shop. I bought a black Geiger boiled wool jacket and a navy Austin Reed blazer. I have looked everywhere for either a navy or black Austin Reed blazer, but have not been able to find one in my size. The one I bought Saturday was on sale for 50% off. After lunch, we drove to Jonesborough and hit all of the shops. That night, we had a closing banquet.

We left early Sunday morning and drove straight home. We stopped for a sausage biscuit at McDonald's and then stopped later for lunch at a Cracker Barrel. We were so glad to be back home.

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

I hope everyone is having a good week. There hasn't been much going on this week. I'm taking vacation days Thursday and Friday. I can't wait. It will be so good to have a nice long weekend.

As many other Americans, I voted this afternoon. Alabama will have a new governor. I wish him well. I hope our state does well under his guidance.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

WAR EAGLE!!!

WAR EAGLE!!

If you told me six weeks ago that my Auburn Tigers would be undefeated and the No. 1 team in the BSC poll, I would have laughed in your face. I'm enjoying their glory. I hope Auburn keeps it up. Beating Alabama will be the icing on the cake.

I didn't feel very well this morning, but went to work anyway. I had a headache all morning. I figured that it was from the horrible weather that we are having. It went away after lunchtime. About 3:30, I decided that it was time to go, but I waited until 4:30. I stopped by Target and bought chicken noodle soup, bananas, diet 7up, and Tropa-Rocka Diet Snapple. After I got home, I started feeling better. I'm going to live on chicken noodle soup and bananas until Friday. If I feel like I can eat normal, I will start back eating normal.

I have to go to a wine & cheese party tomorrow night. I have been asked to serve wine. That will be good. That way I won't have to mix and mingle. I'm not a mingler.

I hope everyone has a great Thursday.

Yesterday morning, while I was getting ready for work, I was knocked down by a stomach virus. I'm still weak today. I've been laying around yesterday and today. I hope to return to work and my life tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

I've had a very busy weekend. I went to my mother's house for the weekend.

Friday night, we went out to eat and then back home.

Saturday, we had planned on taking a short trip to do something fun or go somewhere fun for lunch, but my brother-in-law called us early to see if we would be able to babysit until my sister finished her shift selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts for a fundraiser. We gladly said yes. We kept the 2 1/2 year old and my sister's oldest son kept the one year old. He was so good. We had fun. We walked to the local elementary school and let him play on the playground. Then we went to run an errand. On the way back home, we took him by the fire station so that he could see the fire trucks. Then we rode around a neighborhood to let him look at people's fall decorations. After he was picked up, we went to deliver doughnuts that my mother's friends purchased. Later, my sister and brother-in-law invited us to eat.

This afternoon after church, we went to lunch and then to the grocery store. Then it was home, to give Bo a bath. After bathtime, we cooked a banana pudding and baked cookies to take to family night at church. I went and stayed an hour. While there, I manned the basketball toss. All of the little children had fun, but my sister's children had a blast. It was such a huge success that they are going to try to do it every month. I think I'm going to take a day of vacation the day after next month's family night so that I can stay and enjoy it.

It is raining here right now. It is supposed to rain here for a few day. It has not rained here in so long. Everything is so dry that small fires ignite. Maybe the rain will help.

I hope everyone has a good Monday.

I am having a good week this week.

First of all, our department has a team competing in our company's Back to Basics Challenge. We are ranked 145th out of 3,851 teams. Each day each team member is required to eat 5-7 servings of fruit and vegetables, drink at least four 8 oz. glasses of water, eat a serving from each of the food groups. and exercise at least 20 minutes. We started the challenge on October 4. So far, I have kept up with the challenge. It's amazing what a competition will do to keep one healthy. If only we could move up into the top 100.

Secondly, I have been dressing in professional attire and wearing regular work shoes all week. It has been a challenge, but I am keeping it up. I have gotten so used to wearing LL Bean twill pants, Lilly shifts and Tretorns for several months. I figure it is time to get back to normal.

One year ago today, I broke my foot. I try to be very careful so that it doesn't happen again. My foot seems to have improved a lot in the past couple of weeks. I never thought that it would take a year to recover, but it has. At least I am almost back to normal.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

I hope everyone is having a great day. Auburn won their game today. WAR EAGLE!!

Today was a beautiful day. Comfortable temperatures and not a cloud in the sky. But...we need rain in the worst way.

I did a little bit of house cleaning this morning. Later, I took BFF MAB to the Bright Star for lunch for her birthday. I had the Greek chicken and rice, squash and shredded cabbage with slaw dressing. Shredded cabbage with and orange slaw dressing is popular at a lot of restaurants in the area. The original John's slaw dressing is the most popular.

After lunch, we went to a place called United Textiles. MAB bought a lamp and a rug. I bought some fancy pillow cases for the pillows that I use on the sofa.

Later, we went to Sears to look at Lands End blankets. I saw one in the catalogue that I was interested in. The price was $69.50 and MAB had a $10 coupon. Sears did not have the blanket, but I did find a blanket that I liked that was marked down 60%. I bought three. Two green ones for the bedroom and a burgundy one to use as a throw for watching TV. All three were around $50. What a great price!

Tomorrow, I think I am going to relax and read. I bought season 1 of Poirot last week at Sam's. I may watch a few episodes of that.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday.

All 33 of the miners are finally out. I am so excited for them. It is amazing that they have survived underground for 69 days. It is so nice to see good news for a change. I applaud everyone that contributed to the safe rescue of these men. They are all heroes.

Just a quick post to say that I am so excited for the Chilean miners. As of now, nine have been rescued. Let's all say a prayer of thanksgiving for their rescue.

Have a great day!

It was so nice to have a long weekend. I took a vacation day on Friday and today was a holiday. Friday was for relaxing. My mother and I ran some errands. That evening we went to dinner with my sister and her one year old. My brother-in-law took the 2 1/2 year old to the football game. They always have a good time at the games.

Saturday, I cleaned rugs. It only took me about 2 1/2 hours to clean a carpeted room and four area rugs. Saturday night, we went to Sam's and then to dinner at Ol Heidelberg. It was delicious. I had the Chicken Berlin, salad and German potato salad. I brought half of the chicken and most of the potato salad home for lunch on Sunday.

After church on Sunday, my mother and I went to visit my cousin. She had loaned me a family history maker and I returned it to her.

Today, was spent relaxing and babysitting.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Have a great Tuesday.

I have worn my regular shoes all week. It is working out well. I took the day off today, so I'm wearing my Tretorns.

Yesterday was a hectic day. We had a performance celebration during lunch. The bank provided our lunch. We ordered grilled chicken, chicken wraps, roasted potatoes, and salad from Taziki's. We also had cake from Publix. Publix has the best butter cream frosting on their cakes. I was in charge of getting the food, and Queenie was in charge of the audio visual. We had a great time. The bank provided us with noisemakers and whistles, and we used them. The meetings were going on in several cities simultaneously by conference call. There were probably about 200 people involved. There were twelve people at our location. Two of the guys in our location won awards. One of the guys won the bronze medal (Olympic theme) and another guy won the silver medal. I work for the guy that won the silver medal. I wish that I could say that I had some input in it, but he is pretty self sufficient. I am proud of the two guys. They are much deserving. We didn't know the people that won the gold medal or the platinum medal. The guy that won the platinum medal is recovering from cancer. He rarely missed work during his treatments. He was able to work all of his accounts and keep everything in fantastic shape. He absolutely deserved his medal. It's nice to have fun time occasionally at work.

This has been a relaxing morning. Bo and I had a nice walk earlier. I need to walk some more. As soon as my mother gets back from the beauty parlor, we are going to run errands and then on to Wal-Mart. Tomorrow morning will be spent cleaning rugs. YUCK! But, it has to be done.

I hope everyone has a great Friday.

I did it! I wore regular shoes all day. Tomorrow I plan to wear my 25+ year old Bass Weejuns. While cleaning them, I noticed that they had something that most shoes don't....an arch support. They may be the shoes that I wear most days until I get used to regular shoes. I would like to have a new pair of Revas, but I want to wait until I know that my foot has reached it permanent size.


Fall has arrived in Alabama. Last night when I went to bed the temperature in my home was very comfortable. I woke up at 3:30 am and was freezing. I got up and changed from my summer pj's to a flannal nightgown. A couple of hours later, I got up and decided that I might need to turn on a little bit of heat. I put the thermostat on 66 and the auxiliary heat come on. It must have been 63 or lower. BRRR! When I left for work, my car was cold. I realized that I had left the sunroof open the last time that I drove it. It was 44 when I left for work. But, not to worry, the high Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be 81. I guess that will be Indian Summer.


Tomorrow I'm wearing navy chinos, a green turtleneck sweater, navy/green argyle socks and my weejuns...and a boiled wool jacket.


I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

I don't know where this weekend went. I have gotten a lot done, but I haven't been that busy.

Saturday, I did a lot of house cleaning. After I relaxed for a couple of hours, I showered and went to Ulta and Sephora. I watched my Britcoms last night and read.

Today, I organized some clothes so that I could find some things that were missing. I found everything and gave them a quick wash. Now I am sitting her with my feet propped up, playing on the computer.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to wear normal shoes. I have a pair of black penny loafers that I bought at Talbots years ago. They fit my right foot just fine. I'm going to take my Tretorns with me, just in case the loafers don't work out. If I master the loafer, I'll move on to my Ferragamos. I never thought it would take this long to get over a broken foot and foot surgery.

I hope everyone has a good Monday.

I'm sorry I haven't posted this week. Nothing much has been going on.

We finally have some decent weather. 50's and 70's. Maybe Fall is just around the corner. I wish we could get some rain. It is so dry here and no rain for at least the next seven days.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I bought two Austin Reed skirts at Scotland House, Ltd. in Williamsburg. I got to thinking that I might need a blazer. I called and they only had two left, but neither were in my size. I found some Austin Reed at Sierra Trading Post, but no blazers in my size. I did find a camel skirt in my size. I ordered it and it was about 60% off. Now I have three new nice skirts for work. Now, I just need to try and wear regular shoes. I try on my regular shoes. Sometimes they fit and sometimes they don't. Maybe in a few weeks, I will be professional in my Austin Reed skirts, Brooks Brothers twin sets and my Ferragamo loafers.

I have a good bit of cleaning to do this weekend. I'm going to get up early on Saturday and take care of it. I'm going to spend the remainder of the day reading my new magazines and watching TV. I might go over to BFF MAB's house...if she invites me. She has a new house and she likes to show it off. I don't blame her.

I hope everyone has a great Friday.

Hey Y'all.

Miss Janice is having an awesome Paula Deen giveaway on her blog. Hop on over there and enter to win this awesome Paula Deen package. Everyone loves Paula Deen so you know this is great.

Don't forget to enter.

It is finally Friday.

I am sitting here with my feet propped up reading blogs. I'm waiting on my mother and sister to get back from Huntsville. They are bringing me a vegetable plate from the Piccadilly. Do you have a Piccadilly Cafeteria in your area? I remember when the first Piccadilly opened in Huntsville at The Mall. It has nice carpets, draperies and upholstered chairs. I thought it was so elegant. Fine dining. When I was in high school, the sororities would make the pledges go to the Piccadilly. That was considered hazing. As I got older, I began to enjoy it. It is a decent place to go get a vegetable plate and a piece of pie or cake. I always liked the egg custard, but haven't seen it there in a long time. The women that worked behind the line always said in a redneck accent, "Serve you please." What's so amazing is that some of the same ladies are working behind the line that were working there 30 years ago. And they weren't young 3o years ago. I guess that's all they know and they probably assume that "The Pic" will always be there. And, hopefully it will.

According to the weather, the high Monday will be 78. YES! I am so tired of this hot weather. I don't remember what 78 feels like. I'm not sure I know how to dress for it. I will be so glad when fall weather is here to stay. I bought a good bit of fall basics last year, but did not get much wear out of them. I broke my foot October 20 and was off of my feet for nine weeks. I lived in turtlenecks, long sleeved tees and sweatpants. But, I always had on my pearls and earrings. They made me feel dressed for the day. Yesterday, I searched through my clothes for a few good fall deals that I got last year at the Talbot's outlet in New Hampshire. I found a sweater and a tee. Now to find the remainder of my sweaters and tees. I know that they are in my closet somewhere.

I hope everyone has a good Saturday.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

The party that I went to Saturday night was a lot of fun. It was so great to see each other. Our class has a facebook page. Maybe we can keep up there.

My mother got home about 11:00 Saturday night. Bo was so happy to see her. Sunday morning I let her sleep late. I had to close her door to keep Bo out. He kept going in there and sitting beside her on the bed. He wanted her to wake up and talk to him.

Sunday, we went to Guntersville to get my sister a birthday present. We had good luck. After shopping, we went home, gave Bo a bath, and then went to the visitation for one of my father's cousins who had passed away. It seems like I am always going to a visitation or a funeral.

When I got to work on Monday, Queenie was not there. I got an email that she would not be in. She had to put her cat to sleep on Saturday and she was still trying to get through it. She was back today, but was very sad.

I can't believe that it is September 21. It was 98 degrees outside when I left work at 5:00. It's not supposed to be that hot this time of year. When will fall get here?

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

As I said the other day, my class reunion was yesterday. Class reunions are always held the weekend of homecoming on the anniversary of our last homecoming in high school. The festivities started out with a parade. The classes from each 5 years beginning with 1961 have a float. All four classes at the high school have a float. I saw floats with pee wee football players (future Wildcats) along with their cheerleaders. The parade started at 2:45. I did not get into town until 1:45. I had to run by my mother's house real quick. It took me forever to get there. The traffic was horrible for this small town. School let out at 1:30, so I got in school traffic. I got to the parade line up about 2:00. We sat on bails of hay lined up on a flat bed pulled by a truck. There were people lined up and down the streets. Everybody brings candy to throw to the kids. After the parade, our class all headed to a local restaurant for a party. They had a buffet of appetizers, wine, beer, iced tea and water. The food was good. My college roommate, her husband and I stayed and had dinner. It was so nice to visit with everyone. Tonight, two of our classmates that now live in Chicago are having a party. They have rented a cabin at a local recreational resort and have invited everyone there. A couple of classmates are taking care of the food, one is taking care of paper products and I am in charge of soft drinks. If anyone wants anything else, they are on their own. When the food runs out, we can call for a pizza.

My mother has been out of town on a New England/St. John/Halifax cruise. She is supposed to be back tonight. My sister has been baby sitting Bo this week. I went and got him this morning. He is so glad to be home where it is nice and quiet. He needs a bath in the worst way. I guess it will have to wait. He hates getting a bath and I can't do it by myself. He tries to escape.

I hope everyone has a good Saturday.

This week has been very slow at work. One of the reasons is my boss is on vacation. Good for him. He works very hard.

Friday is my high school class reunion. I can't wait. My roommate from sophomore year of college is going to be there. I have not seen her in over 20 years. There will also be a lot of people there that I have not seen in a while. It will be a good time to catch up. There is also a party Saturday night. It sounds like it will be fun also. Our class is a fun class, but we are not close. There are a few people that have remained friends over the years, but not many. The entire reunion was planned over Facebook. I think it has done a good job of reconnecting a lot of the classmates. Most class reunions are held the weekend of homecoming. Before the reunion, we will ride on a float in the parade. After the parade, we will all meet at a local restaurant for food, beer, wine and soft drinks. Those who want to stay for a while can, and those that want to go to the football game can. Saturday morning, several members of my class are getting together for a golf outing. Saturday night, two classmates have rented a cabin and are having a big party. I'm in charge of soft drinks. I think everyone is really excited about it.

I'm still reading True Prep. I haven't decided how I feel about the book. I'll let you know.

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

Yesterday morning, I had to get up at 2:45 to take my mother and three of her friends to the airport. They left at 6:00 am to go to NYC to board a cruise ship. They will spend a week enjoying New England, St. John, and Halifax. When we got to the airport, there were many soldiers there. At first we thought it was for security since it was September 11. Then we realized that they were there to welcome the last of the WWII veterans that were going to take the Honor Flight to Washington DC to see the WWII Memorial plus other sites. There were also bikers there with American Flags. These heroes got a great sendoff and a great welcome back.

On the way home, I stopped at Wal-Mart and got a few things. There were only two other shoppers besides me. When I got home, I took Bo for a walk and went back to bed. He let me sleep for another hour and a half. I spent a few hours just relaxing. About 4:00, I went over to my sister's house for hot dogs, cake and ice cream. It was one of her "children's" first birthday. He was so cute. For some reason, my sister did not make it home with his small birthday cake. They ran to Piggly Wiggly to get another. All they could find was a Hummingbird Cake. He loved it. He ate and ate. He had cake all over him. Everyone had a great time. After the party, several of us stayed around to watch the Alabama-Penn State game. I'm not really into Alabama football, but I watched a little bit of the game.

About 6:30, I came home to take Bo out. When we got to the yard that is three houses down, he wanted to stay and play in the yard. I could not get him to leave. Finally, I imitated a big dog barking. It scared him enough to get him to go home. When I turned around there was my mother's other neighbor outside. I hope he didn't hear me. He's a social work for a mental health facility. He may think he is going to get a new case. After Bo's walk, I went back over to my sister's house and stayed until bedtime.

I'm going to leave early to go back to Birmingham. I want to get home in time to make some vegetable soup to eat for lunch this week. I love vegetable soup, plus it is a good way to get in all of my vegetables.

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of your Sunday.

9/11

I did some shopping while I was on vacation.

In the historic area, I bought a Windsor chair for my living room. It was on sale for 50% off. I also bought some pillow shams to match the coverlets that I already have from there. I bought a needlepoint pillow, a tavern check chair cushion for my new chair, tavern highball glasses, a couple of place settings of Reed & Barton stainless that was on sale. I bought several books that are related to Williamsburg. For the folks back home, I bought Virginia peanuts, ginger-ale and root beer.

At the outlets, I hit the kate spade outlet where I bought a black leather Nada wallet. I bought a merino wool sweater set and some merino wool shells at Brooks Brothers. Also at Brooks Brothers, I got a quilted jacket.

At the Scottish store in Merchant's Square, I bought 2 Austin Reed skirts and a cream cable knit cotton turtleneck sweater. At the Cheese Shop, I stocked up on Harney's Tea.

BFF MAB bought a coffee table and end table. It was cash and carry. She also did a good bit of shopping. My Volvo was packed when we left there. We might could have gotten a few more things in there but not much.

This week at work has not been too bad. I was afraid that it would be hectic after vacation.

I hope everyone has a great Friday.

I'm sure that everyone is as busy as I am reading True Prep. I'm curious about everyone's opinion. So far, I like it.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

I'M BACK!

I'm back from Williamsburg. I had a great time. The weather was hot, but I enjoyed it anyway. BFF MAB and I take a trip every year. This year we chose Williamsburg.

We attended several evening programs. We saw "Fashion Before Ease..A Play with Clothes", "Tavern Ghost Walk", "Courage or Cowardice", "Cry Witch", "Jumpin' the Broom", and "Pirates Amongst Us". All of them were great. One day, we went to Yorktown. We visited shops, ate lunch at the Carrot Tree and took a sailing trip on a schooner. Another day, we drove to the Lynchburg area to visit Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's retreat. We also ate at the Taverns and shopped. We shopped at the outlets, in the historic area, and in Market Square. I was able to snag two Austin Reed skirts at the Scottish store. They were on sale, since the brand is no longer available. For those of you that like Austin Reed, they have a few pieces left. I bought a black skirt and a navy skirt. I would have loved a red skirt, but they were all gone. If any of you see any Austin Reed, let me know. Also, if you are in the market for it, you may want to contact the Scottish store in Market Square in Williamsburg. The selection was limited. They had black, navy, and winter white. All they had in red was jackets.

Since tomorrow is a holiday and I don't have to work, I am going to be lazy. I'm going to go to Publix first thing. Then I am going to come home, make a pot of vegetable soup and lay around and watch television. I am looking forward to it.

I had a great time on my trip, but it is great to be home.

I hope everyone has a nice restful Labor Day.

In less than 20 hours, I hit the road for Williamsburg. This is not the most exciting trip that I've ever made, but for some reason I am more excited over this trip than any vacation in the past. Maybe I just need to get out of town and have some fun. I'm going to soak up some history and do a little shopping. It's always interesting to learn how our ancestors lived back in the colonial times. I'm descended from the Randolph's. They were all over the place back in the colonial period. One of my ancestors helped with the founding of the College of William and Mary. I think a few ancestors were educated there. I'm going to visit one of cousin Thomas Jefferson's home, Poplar Forest. Every time I'm in Virginia, it is closed for renovations. I finally caught it open.

It will probably be a few days before my next post. I'll keep you posted during my trip.

I hope everyone has a great Friday. Happy Weekend!

I finally got everything washed, ironed and folded. I was able to get 3 pairs of LL Bean chino capris, 1 Lands End shift, 17 polos and tees, lingerie and socks in a Vera Bradley duffel. And...I have room to spare. I use my trusty Flip N Fold. It folds everything like it is in a store. I know 17 tops is a lot for 9 days, but I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to pack. I decided to pack until I ran out of room. I always take extra tops. I never know when I might spill spaghetti or something on my clothes. Now to keep my eye on the weather. I have a fear that Williamsburg will feel the effects of a hurricane or tropical storm. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Back in October, I was packing to move to my mother's house to recuperate from my broken foot and surgery. I remember seeing my navy silk knot earrings on the dresser. I decided not to pack them. That's the last that I saw them...until today. I have searched everywhere for them. This morning, I saw one on the floor. I search in the same area for the other with no luck. When I got home from work, I searched some more. Something told me to look in a tote bag that was beside the dresser. There it was. I feel like I found a treasure. I have no clue how they got where they were. I immediately packed them to take with me on my trip.

I hope everyone has a great Thursday.

I had a busy weekend.

Friday, I went to my former coworker's mother's funeral. It was a nice service. There were several former coworker's there. After work, I drove to my mother's house. After dinner, we had a nice relaxing evening.

Saturday, we got an early start for shopping in Huntsville. We went to Belk's, Dillard's, Christopher & Banks, The Fresh Market, Target and Lowe's. We had lunch at the Cracker Barrel. At Belk's, I bought a set of Ralph Lauren sheets that were on sale. At Dillard's I stocked up on some Kiehl's products.

Sunday, I got up early and took my car to the car wash to vacuum and wash it. I wanted to get that done before it got too hot. After that, I helped my mother take wallpaper off of the kitchen walls. She is having it painted this week. My sister and nephew came over and helped. Since it was rather crowded, my brother-in-law babysat and cooked dinner for us. He is an amazing cook, and he did not disappoint.

I have been busy for the past week ironing and getting together my things for my trip to Williamsburg. I always pack like I'm going on Cleopatra's Barge. I'm trying to pack light, but it is just not working.

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

I went by Edgar's on the way home. Just as I was giving up what did I see? The last loaf of cranberry walnut bread. Yay!

When I got home, I did a lot of ironing and then settled down to watch TV and eat a sandwich of chicken salad on cranberry walnut bread. YUM! The search was worth it.

Do you remember me telling about a former coworker who was miserable at her new job? Well, I got an email from her this morning. Her mother passed away yesterday. I really felt bad for her. I know that she will probably have a hard time with this. Her mother had been fine up until 3 weeks ago. She went down fast. Queenie and I are going to the funeral on Friday. I think I will wear a Brooks Brothers navy sleeveless dress and a Lands End light blue cardigan. I'm not sure what kind of shoes. I haven't worn regular shoes since October. I may try and wear a pair of Ferragamo loafers. If they don't work, I'll wear my Tretorns. Everyone knows that I am still recovering from a broken foot.

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

We had a bit of rain here during the night, but not like at my mother's house. About 10:45 this morning, I pulled up al.com. The headline was about a lot of rain that was in my mother's town. I read the article and it said that the police and firemen were busy helping rescue people from their homes because of the floods. It name about five streets, one of which was my mother's street. I tried to call her. No answer. I called her cell. No answer. Then I called my cousin. No answer. I then called her friend. She answered. She said that it had not been long since she had talked with my mother. She said that they had 4 1/2 to 5 inches of rain this morning. Wow! That's a lot. I waited 15 minutes and then called my mother again. She finally answered. She did not know about the flood. Where had she been? Walking Bo between a break in the rain. She said that earlier he would not go outside, but she was able to get him to go under the eaves. I called my mother back later. She said that she heard that some parts of town got over 7 inches of rain. I guess there goes that drought.

On my way home from work, I stopped by Edgar's Bakery to get some cranberry walnut bread. They were out. They were out last night. I may try again tomorrow night, then I'm going to give up. I would call and order, but there is only one number for all of their stores, and no one ever answers the phone. I also want to get some sausage mushroom quiche to put in the freezer for a later date. Wish me luck.

After I eat dinner, I'm going to watch Masterpiece Mystery on pbs.com. Our local PBS station has been having their quarterly fundraiser and they have not been showing Masterpiece Mystery or the Britcoms.

I hope everyone has a nice Wednesday.

I can't believe that I haven't posted since Wednesday. Time flies.

This weekend was really busy. Saturday was spent doing chores. Saturday night, my mother and I attended the 60th reunion of my late father's National Guard unit. They were mobilized and sent to Korea. They left August 14, 1950. They have a reunion every year. They always act like their feelings will be hurt if my mother and I don't attend. Some years it is really boring. This year they had a good speaker. A female general from here in Alabama spoke. Her speech was short and to the point. Everything about it was appropriate to the occasion.

I told you about my former coworker. Her former boss finally called her and gave her some encouraging words. She feels better about her situation right now. I hope everything works out for her. I hated to see her so upset. She didn't deserve to be spoken down to.

I hope everyone has a good Tuesday.

It's been really busy at work this week. First of all, my coworker is on vacation this week and I have been covering her desk. Today, my boss had a big meeting with some very important people. I had to arrange meeting space and order food. The meeting was a success. Tomorrow there are more meetings, but they don't require any work from me. I may use the quiet time to catch up.

Today, a former coworker emailed me just to chat. Then she admitted that she had just had words with her boss and she was shaking and close to tears. She said that she was close to the breaking point and wanted to quit her job. She was hoping to be able to contact her former boss and ask him if there was a place for her on his team. It brought tears to my eyes. I cried for her. I know she is miserable, but I can't do anything about it. I feel so helpless. Hopefully, she can make contact with her former boss. I thought about contacting my former boss, but felt like it may make matters worse.

I hope everyone has a great Thursday.

Yesterday, after I finished my chores, I got ready and went over to BFF MAB's house. We visited for a few minutes and then jumped in the car and headed to The Bright Star. Not only did we have a delicious lunch of fresh vegetables, but we also got a plate and pie to go for dinner. On the way home, we stopped by a few shops. When we got back to MAB's house, we sat around, visited, and watched TV.

Today, I got up and cleaned for a couple of hours on my closet. I threw away 7 boxes and 4 large bags of junk and garbage. I drank 2 litres of Smart Water while I took the boxes and bags to the garbage. After I finished, I just laid around and watched TV. I've enjoyed watching The Nanny. I haven't watched that show in a long time.

Tomorrow will be a busy day at work. I'm going to rest up for tomorrow.

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of their Sunday and have a good Monday.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted much this week. It's been a boring week.

If you live in the Alabama area, this weekend is the tax free weekend. Even though I don't go to school or have kids in school, I still have to go and stock up on "supplies". This year, I really don't need anything. I have a good stock of notebooks, pencils, pens, etc. I don't have to get out in the crowd. Note to self: Stay away from Target this weekend.

I have a decorating question. I am a fanatic about Johnson Brothers Blue Willow. I have just about everything. Sitting about in my small kitchen are a few pieces of Blue Willow such as canisters, trivets, utensil crocks, etc. My linens are from the pink and green collection at Williams Sonoma, plus I have pink and green utensils in my crock. My question is: Does this clash? It doesn't cost very much to change things. I've thought about eliminating the green and just keeping the Blue Willow and pink. What do you think?

BFF MAB is taking me to lunch for my birthday. I need to start getting ready. I think I'm going to wear one of my new Lilly shifts. I think I'm going to wear the one in the Creme Fraiche pattern. That will be cool and comfortable.

I hope everyone enjoys what's left of their Saturday.

Thanks to all who sent birthday wishes. I had a nice quiet day.

Tonight after work, I stopped by Belk's to see what Lilly that they had on sale. I bought two shifts, the Multi Gator Patch pattern shift and the Cream Fraiche pattern shift. I also bought a white polo with the light pink palm tree. I thought it would go great with my pink chino capris. I've had a hard time finding a top to go with them.

After I left Belk's, I headed to Target. When I was about a mile from Target, the temperature on my car read 102. When I got there, it was raining and the temperature was 81. What a difference. After I paid for my purchases, I noticed that the checker had put my cheese in the same bag with my Lysol toilet bowl cleaner and my Noxzema. What was she thinking? I asked for another bag. I don't think she got it.

In my mail today, was a card that I can use to get 15% off any one day at Talbot's for the month of August. Last week, I got a card to use to get a discount at Brooks Brothers. I think I may use the Talbot's discount card to buy my mother her birthday present. She wants some tops to wear when she goes on a New England cruise in a few weeks. I told her that we will go shopping in a couple of weeks and we will get her some tops.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

It was sooooo hot outside today. It was over 100 when I left Publix this afternoon.

I went to my mother's house this weekend and had a nice, relaxing weekend. Yesterday, we got up early, took some rugs to the laundry mat, went to the you-do-it car wash, had breakfast at McDonald's and then home. After that we did a few household chores and then relaxed for a few hours. Last night we went with our supper club to Huntsville to eat. We were home by 7:30. We read until bedtime.

Today, we went with my sister and brother-in-law and their children to Huntsville to celebrate my mother's and my birthday. Mine is tomorrow and my mother's is Tuesday. After we ate, I went to Publix and then home.

Since I am starting back on my diet tomorrow, I decided to get two M & M cookies at Publix for my last treat before diet day. They are also a substitute for my birthday cake. YUM! They are so good.

I hope everyone has a good Monday.

I haven't posted since Sunday. Not much has happened.

The ice cream social following church was nice. I got to sit and visit with some old friends that I haven't had time to chat with. It was so hot, that I stayed in for the remainder of the afternoon.

Miss Janice is having a giveaway. She is giving away two of Deborah Ford's GRITS books, a GRITS apron, and of course some grits. Since I own all of her books, I am not entering. I encourage everyone to enter. The books are great, and I love grits.

I hope everyone has a great Thursday. Stay cool!

We are still trying to beat the heat around here. I thought it was going to cool down into the upper 80's this week, but now the weather man says that it will still be in the 90's. I don't look forward to the electric bill next month.

Yesterday was my brother-in-law's birthday. My sister and his sister gave him a party, and it was outside. It was so hot. Everyone seemed to have a good time, especially the children. My sister lets children run and play and have a good time...within reason. It was supposed to be just hot dogs and cake, but there was a feast.

Today, I think I'm going to stay in under the air conditioning after church. It is just too hot to do anything.

I hope everyone has a good Sunday. Stay cool!

This week has flown by. You would think it would have been slow, since Queenie and I were there by ourselves all day Monday and Tuesday.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to stop taking my Meloxicam. The orthopedic surgeon prescribed it to help with the pain and inflammation that I had when I started walking again. I decided that I probably don't need it anymore. I've been taking it since December 23rd. I normally took one a day. Then I started taking it every other day. Now, I take it every three days. I think that Sunday will be the last one that I take. If I ever have pain again, I will take an Ibuprofen. I'm not sure if I ever had any side effects. I haven't noticed any.

It is so hot here. I imagine it is very hot where you live. I noticed on weather.com that next week the highs will be in the upper 80's. What a relief. I hope I don't jinx it by talking about it.

I hope everyone has a good Friday. Try to stay cool.

I know that all of you were shocked to hear that Lindsey Lohan went to jail today (snark, snark). I don't understand why she thinks that she shouldn't have to go. I guess that is the "I'm entitled" attitude of some of the celebrities. Jail may be the best place for her. After jail, I prescribe a long time in rehab.

The bosses were out of the office yesterday and today. Queenie and I had two very relaxing days. Tomorrow, everyone will be playing catch up.

I finished reading Agatha Christie's Secret of Chimneys this afternoon. It was very good. I was surprised with the ending. I highly recommend it. After I read the book that I'm starting tomorrow, I'm going to read Murder on the Orient Express. Secret of Chimneys is the first Agatha Christie mystery that I have read. I'm hooked. I'm also enjoying the Agatha Christie mysteries on "Masterpiece Mysteries" on PBS.

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

Yesterday, we went to the wedding. It was lovely. Everything was perfect with the exception of a flower girl that would not participate. I felt so sorry for her and her mother. She was scared and nothing was getting her to go down that aisle. Bless her heart. The groom is a baseball coach, so the minister used a baseball theme for his sermon. He compared life and marriage to a baseball game. It was cute and meaningful. I think he planned it himself, because the bride and groom seemed pleasantly surprised with it.

After the wedding, we changed clothes and went to Huntsville. We had a successful trip.

For all of you who are fans of Stephen Bonanno Sandals, please read this post by Vivian.

I hope everyone has a good Sunday.

The work week is finally over. I had to drive in the rain to get to my mother's house. When I got 20 miles away, she called and told me to be very careful that there were trees down. I didn't see any trees down until I turned onto her street. When we went to eat, we say police and power company trucks on the next street. We found out that a huge tree had fallen. My sister and brother-in-law had taken the kids to Noccalula Falls for the afternoon. Their oldest texted them and said the town was destroyed. Apparently, he's at that age where he likes some drama. She was worried about my mother and me and tried to contact us. She thought we had floated away. Teenagers and their drama!

Today, we have to go to a wedding. A close friend's daughter is getting married. After that, we are heading to Huntsville. We are out of everything that we normally buy at Sam's. That will be our first stop.

I am trying to wean myself off of the medication that the orthopedic surgeon prescribed for my foot. He prescribed meloxicam, an arthritis medication. I feel like it is not necessary for me to take it any longer. It has been 9 months since I broke my foot, and I am ready to be back to normal. I never thought it would take so long. I thought that after 3 months, I would be normal. Boy, was I wrong.

I hope everyone has a good Saturday. Try to stay cool.

Today, I had to go to the post office to get the mail. I was not a happy camper. The mail guy was out, his back up was out, so that left me. We have three boxes at the post office. After I check the boxes, I have to drive around to the loading dock and walk up the ramp and into a big room and get more mail. Then, I have to get into the car and drive about 3 miles to another location and get the street mail. I have to walk up a long ramp to get in and then walk back down while pushing a big cart. Walking up and down the ramps is still very uncomfortable for my foot. After I get back, I have to sort the mail and notify everyone that the mail is here. By the end of the day, two departments still had not retrieved their mail. Not my problem. I hope everyone is at work tomorrow.

I have several items that I purchased from Burberry years ago that I just love. I really haven't bought any Burberry since it became a little bit trendy. I think I want a Burberry quilted jacket for fall. I thought about looking at the outlet while I'm in Williamsburg. I consider my older Burberry items classics, but some of the stuff in the outlets looks a little trendy, plus it looks like it was manufactured just for the outlets. What is your opinion of the brand and what is in the outlet?

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

Today, for the first time since October 19, I wore a shoe other than a sneaker. I wore a pair of Jack Rogers sandals to Church this morning. At first, they were a little bit uncomfortable, but they got better. I was so proud of myself. I'm still going to wear my sneakers to work and for casual wear, but I may try to wear normal shoes to Church, weddings, etc. I have set a goal of October 1 to start wearing normal shoes. Now when October 1 gets here, I will already be accustomed to wearing normal shoes.

My mother and I encountered so many rude people this weekend. Yesterday, we went to a local restaurant for lunch. The woman at the next table stood right behind my mother and talked very loudly to everyone that she saw that she knew. My mother said that she could barely hear herself think. Then, I turned my head to the left, and there was some woman's rear end right in my face. Then today, we went to another restaurant for lunch after Church. There was a large party of young adults and children sitting on the bench waiting to be seated. Not one of them got up to let any older adults sit down while they wait. I can't believe people's manners nowadays. There are so many people out there that think they are the center of the universe. You would have thought that their parents would have taught them a few manners.

I hope everyone has a good Monday.

It is finally Saturday. Even though I only worked four days this past week, it seemed like a long week.

Last night, we got some much needed rain. It seemed to make everything smell cleaner. But, I'm sure as soon as it warms up, it will be humid. As the insurance company nurse in Rear Window says, "It just makes the heat wet".

I hope today is a nice, relaxing day. As I sit here, it is very quiet in the neighborhood. Everybody must be staying in this morning.

For breakfast this morning, I'm having a blueberry scone from Publix. I love the scones from Publix and The Fresh Market. They are so good with a cup (in my case, small pot) of tea. This morning, I'm enjoying mine with a can of TaB, my usual morning beverage.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

I'm not going to complain about the heat, because I'm sure it is hot where you are also. What makes it so bad is, our office building is so cold. When I walk outside, it seems hotter than it actually is. It's days like this when Lilly is the perfect attire.

Yesterday, I had my quarterly review. My supervisor was very complimentary. It made me feel good for the remainder of the day. I'll have to make sure that next quarter's review is just as good.

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

I hope everyone had a great 4th. I did.

Saturday night, we went to Huntsville for dinner and then stopped by a friends house, unannounced. We had a great visit.

Yesterday, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I decided to venture out and try the fruit and yogurt breakfast. It was wonderful. It had vanilla yogurt with granola, blueberries, strawberries and a big blueberry muffin. I ate every bite, plus my mother's eggs. We then went to Trees and Trends, but did not find what we went after. Then it was to the grocery store and back home. We had an early dinner of a homemade hamburger, chips and apple pie. After that, we went to the lake for the fireworks.

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it, but our family owns a 45 ft. houseboat that we keep at the local marina. My brother-in-law drove the boat to the middle of the lake where we tied up with some friends. We visited for a couple of hours and then everyone, but me, went up on the top to watch the fireworks. Right now, I still can't climb up and down the ladder that goes up to the top. I went inside the cabin and sat in the living room and watched them from the back window. I still enjoyed them. My sister's two year old foster son and I slept on the way back to the dock. It was a nice ending to the holiday.

Today, I am going to relax and get ready to return to work tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe July 4th.

This morning, I decided that today was going to be a good day. When I got to work, I found out that all of the exceptions for the loans in our group were cleared. I got nice emails from two of my former bosses. Queenie got a nice call from her former boss. It was so nice to hear from them. I have a feeling that we will be hearing from them in the months to come. All in all, it did end up being a good day.

I am so glad that this week is over. It has not been that busy, but I'm ready for a long holiday weekend.

Sunday, we are going to go out for breakfast. Later in the day, we are going to have hamburgers and the fixings. The least we have to cook, the better. Hopefully, it will be a relaxing day.

Monday, our office is closed. I'm going to relax and enjoy my day.

I hope everyone has a good Friday.

Tonight, when I got home, it was pouring down rain. I got soaked walking from the car to the front door...and I had an umbrella. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be in the mid 80's. Get out the sweaters!

After I did my evening chores, I sat down and watched a recording of a Miss Marple mystery. It was on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS Sunday night. Next week is Poirot. I am so glad that PBS is showing these shows. It reminds me of the old A&E. Tomorrow night, I am going to watch last week's Miss Marple on my computer. I tried to watch it last week, but could not understand what was going on. I'm going to try again.

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

My vacation is coming to an end. I could get used to this. As a matter of fact, I almost did back at the end of last year when I couldn't walk for nine weeks. I have always enjoyed reading and watching television.

Yesterday, we went to Huntsville. Belk's had a lot of their Lilly Pulitzer on sale, but I resisted. I did get two RL tees that were on sale. I got a pink tee and a kelly green tee. At Target, I got storage boxes and TaB. Can't run out of TaB! I also got Bo some cute bowls and a placemat for his eating area. I'm not sure he likes them. When we got back, we went over to my sister and brother-in-law's house to eat dinner. My brother-in-law loves to cook, and he's a fantastic cook.

Today, after church and lunch, we are going to a golden wedding anniversary party. The couple are family friends. The woman's mother was my grandmother's best friend. It will be good to get to see the couple and their family members.

After the party, I will head back to Birmingham so that I can get ready to go to work tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday. If it's hot where you are, stay hydrated and stay cool.

Yesterday was spent cleaning out closets. Not my idea of a vacation, but at least we got it done. My mother, sister and I had an appointment with our accountant. We are still trying to file the taxes on the sale of the store. We are close to getting that taken care of. I will be glad to get it out of the way.

After the meeting with the accountant, we all headed to Huntsville. My sister had to measure two houses for appraisals. After that, we went to Steinmart, Chick-fil-A and then home. At Steinmart, my sister bought a purse and wallet to replace the one that was stolen out of her car earlier in the week. Several cars in the neighborhood were burglarized.

Today was a lazy day. My mother and I went to a new restaurant in town. It is located in an old Victorian house. Several of the rooms have toile wall paper. The food was delicious. I hope to go back soon. We left there and went to a local gift shop to purchase a gift for a golden anniversary. We settled on a picture frame. We got home just in time to get some clothes off of the line right as it was starting to storm. It rained hard for a long time. We really needed the rain. Tonight we went to eat dinner with my cousin that was visiting from Nashville. We went to an old standby that normally has good food. Tonight, we were disappointed. The food was not as good as it normally is.

Tomorrow, we plan on going to Huntsville shopping. I hope we have good luck. We plan on hitting Belk's, Target and Publix.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

I spent today resting up from yesterday's shopping trip to Atlanta. We left the house at 5:58 am and did not get back until about 7:30 pm.

Our first stop was at AmericasMart. The first store that I stopped in was Morgan & Company. I just love that place. I bought 2 small canvas purses, one black and the other one lime green. Each one came with about 6 or 8 different ribbons that can be changed out to match my outfits. I also bought a set of faux chocolate pearl jewelry: necklace, bracelet and stud earrings. I don't think I would wear them enough to invest in the real thing. I also bought a 16" wide silver necklace. I have several monogrammed pendants that I can wear on it. At another store, I found some silver earrings that had a lime green/turquoise swirl inlay. They match one of my Lilly dresses perfectly. My mother and her friends bought necklaces and earrings at another store. Even though we don't own a business anymore, we still like to to there for the inexpensive silver jewelry.

We left downtown and headed straight for Mint Julep. There, I purchased a Lilly Pulitzer Worth Shift in Frisky Business and a coral polo. Then it was lunch a couple of doors down at Cafe at Pharr. We got the walnut chicken salad. IT WAS DELICIOUS! Everything is homemade, even the croissants.

At Lenox Square, I went to Kiehl's and stocked up on products. I was out of everything. I bet they loved me. While in the mall, we wandered around. I couldn't leave without cruising Kate Spade.

As if most of you don't already know, today is National Wear Your Lilly Day. I wore mine. The only place that I had to go to today besides the car wash was to eat lunch and to the drugstore. I wore some LL Bean khaki chino capris and a light blue Lilly polo. I was the only person that I saw with their Lilly, but at least I had it on. I couldn't see the pharmacist from the shoulders down, but I bet he had on something Lilly. If not, he had on madras pants. Close second.

Bo is doing so much better. He gets around great, but does not jump on the furniture. He may still be sore. He stays where it is cool. Smart dog.

Saturday, I took my car to get the oil changed. I was going to take it to the car wash so I could wash and vacuum it, but it started to storm. After lunch, my mother and I took flowers to my father's grave. We were going to clean the headstone, but...it started to rain. By the time we got out of the cemetery, it stopped.

Yesterday, after church and lunch, we went to the cemetery where my mother's parents are buried. Some of my cousins were there. We visited with them for a while and then went to the cemetery where my mother's grandfather is buried. We didn't stay long. WE SAW A SNAKE! I was out of there. After I calmed down from the snake siting, I decided that I might venture out of the car. Then I saw bees. I'm allergic to bees. I decided to stay in the car. My mother didn't tarry too long there. The last time we were there, we saw a snake. We won't go back until late fall.

Tomorrow, my mother and two of her best friends are going to Atlanta shopping. We are going to AmericasMart, Mint Julep and Lenox Square. I hope to get some cute silver jewelry at Morgan & Company and some cute things at Mint Julep.

Today is my day. I am sitting in the chair with my feet propped up on the ottoman. I'm going to read the July issues of Vogue and Allure. Then I'm going to watch a recording of Miss Marple that was on PBS last night. I wanted to watch it, but was not in the mood, so I recorded it.

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of your Monday.

Today, I was going to do a lot when I got home from work, but it was raining, or rather pouring. I was going to stop by the pet store and get Bo a treat, but it was raining entirely too hard. Then I had a box of magazines that I was going to take out of the car. No can do in the pouring rain. When I got in, my clothes and my Tretorns were soaking wet. The rain was too much for my umbrella. The rain has stopped now. Maybe I can do a few things before I go to bed.

I can't believe that tomorrow is finally Friday. This has been a long week. I'm taking next week off just to hang out and relax. I haven't done that in a long time, if you don't count when I was laid up with a broken foot.

I hope everyone has a great Friday.