Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Wordless Wednesday


Ten on Tuesday (on Wednesday)

1.  I never did write about Mother's Day.  I had a nice one, kind of quiet.  Amy and Dave took us to brunch at C. J. Muggs.  Amy and Kate gave me a generous gift certificate to the Botanical Garden gift shop.  I heard from all of my children.  I kind of think Mother's Day is a Hallmark Day, created to make money.

2.  Garage sales have been good this year.  Last Sat. I got three Madame Alexander dolls, a pedestal stand I've been wanting to put a birdhouse on the porch, a white ceiling fan for the porch and some toys.

3.  We had Book Club here last Thurs. night, and we discussed The Light Between the Oceans.  I liked it okay, but I think I heard so much about how good it was that I was a bit let down.  My sister Julie was in town for her daughter's graduation, so she and Clare came which was fun for a change For next month we are reading Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

4.  We leave for vacation on Saturday.  We'll drive to Birmingham Sat. and then on to Gulf Shores on Sun.  We are renting the same house as last year, with ten bedrooms and bathrooms, so there should be plenty of room for everyone.  The house is two floors, with five bedrooms on each one and a full kitchen on each floor; they could be rented separately.  The house has an elevator, its own pool and a small basketball court in back, and it is right across the street from the beach.  I can hardly wait.

5.  We're having lots of graduations in our family this year.  My niece Clare graduated from Wash U. Law School on Friday, and nephew Joey from their MBA program the same day.  On Saturday my nephew Andrew graduated from Mizzou's medical school, and nephew Bobby graduated from Kirkwood High on Sat.

6.  Our flowers are beautiful this year.  Our irises are in full bloom as well as our peonies.  I planted day lilies in front of the porch, and Wayne planted some hydrangeas, so there will be some color after the tulips.

7.  Patrick is moving home the end of this month.  He's been in New York for the past eight years, and he's tired of trying to support himself being a roving piano teacher.  He plays at some churches and some gigs on weekends, but he's always on the hustle.  He's already found an apartment in the Central West End and has some gigs lined up here.  He's moving his piano back to St. Louis and I think his bed.  We are giving him a kitchen table and chairs, a couch and a microwave from our house.  He'll need to get a car, but he's right by the Metro Link Station so that will help with transportation until he gets one.

8.  I have finally started texting on my I-Phone.  I didn't get texting when I bought the phone a couple of years ago, but all of the kids text so I figured I should start doing it.  I stopped by the AT&T store the other day and had it put on my plan.

9.  I am starting to really enjoy retirement.  I went out to Meramec this week to have lunch with some friends and visit a little, and I realized how much I don't miss working.  It is so nice to have my time to myself.

10.  We got a call at 6:30 this morning from my mother-in-law's retirement home that she was incoherent and they were taking her to the hospital.  It ended up that she was dehydrated and they ran lots of tests, but could not find anything else.  She went back home.  It was a relief for us; Wayne's brother Jeff and his wife are leaving for Europe for two weeks tomorrow, and we are leaving this weekend, so it's good that she is okay.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Ordinary Days

I haven't posted since I went to Boston for Jack's First Communion.  It was very nice, but I must admit it's more exciting with little girls.  All of the boys wore white suits--that's the tradition in South Boston.  It seemed very odd to me three years ago when Corinne made hers, but this time I was kind of used to it.  Kate and her next door neighbor rented the same place as they did three years ago, since they both have kids three years apart.  It was kind of funny, though, because towards the end of the Mass Kate's neighbor, Katie, came and told Kate that the party place had been double booked.  She had gotten a call from the caterers telling her that there were two caterers there arguing over the hall.  As it ended up, the other party was one of Jack's best friend's family, so they combined the two.  Jack was thrilled because he's usually surrounded by girls.  He kept thanking Kate for having the party with his friend Michael.  John came from Cincinnati with his baby, Julia, and my sister, Susie, came for the party.  It was so nice having some family there, especially for Kate.  I came home with UTI and have been on medication since then.

I think I've mentioned it before, but our yard is exploding with flowers.  I love it.  Our tulips in front of the new porch turned out really nice, and they have just started dying.  I planted lots of day lilies where they were this past weekend.  Our azaleas bloomed and the peonies have started blooming.  I love the peonies the best.  This week has been quiet.  I'm having book club here Thursday night and looking forward to that.  We read The Light Between the Oceans.  I'm anxious to see what everyone thought of it.

We go on vacation a week from Saturday.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I tried not to go crazy this year buying stuff for the grand kids.  I know I mentioned that the oldest, Katie, refuses to wear the things I buy.  I think the main reason is she doesn't want to look like her little sister, Sara.  We're staying in the same house as last year, so since Patrick is not coming we'll have more room than we need.  It has ten bedrooms and last year John and Chellie did not come but this year we thought everyone would be there.  With Patrick moving back to St. Louis that week he cannot manage it.