Five on Friday (on Thursday)

1.  I finished school and working at school, and it's nice to be free. I did end up taking the final, mostly because I wanted to remember what I had learned and I knew I would never go back and review my notes if I didn't have to.  I was really nervous; I hadn't taken a test in over twenty ears, but I got a 99.  I was relieved because I didn't want to embarrass myself.

2.  We had a scare with Joe this week.  Tuesday evening we let him out and when he came in he was panting really hard and couldn't seem to lay down.  He paced around for about six hours; he went out around two in the morning, and was outside for about three hours.  We thought he had died.  It is so dark in the back of our yard so we couldn't see him and kept calling him but he didn't come in.  Finally, at about 5:30, Wayne saw him at the bottom of the steps and got him in.  He slept most of the day, but we noticed he seemed to be favoring his neck and yelping if we touched it.  By this morning he wasn't any better, so we took him to the vet.  We were worried that we'd be coming home without him, because he'll be 13 in Oct. and none of our Greys have made it to 13.  But, the vet said he thought it was a slipped disc and gave us three prescriptions to ease the pain.  Here he is before we went to the doctor's.

3.  We are usually in Gulf Shores the week before Memorial Day, but this year we are going in June so the kids won't have to take the grand kids out of school.  We usually go this week because the rental houses group a couple thousand after Memorial Day.  I'm anxious to be at the beach, but I'm really enjoying my peonies this week.  Usually they are just starting to bloom when we leave and drooping on the ground by the time we get back.  Here are a couple of pictures:

I also got some new cushions for my loveseat on the deck.  I got them at T J Maxx and liked them so well I went back this week to get more and they were gone.  I should know better; they sell out of stuff really quickly.

4.  We are going to Cincinnati next weekend for Julia's second birthday.  Her birthday is Monday, but they are waiting until the next weekend because they are having her party at their friends Polly and Bill's house, and they will be in Chicago this weekend for their grandson's birthday.  It's good for us so we can go to our niece Peggy's graduation party.  We usually miss graduation parties in May.

5.  I've been doing some sewing, mostly burp cloths.  I am going to make a costume for a friend from Meramec's daughter; she is a senior and doing a solo dance and can't find a costume she likes.  I got the material from them a couple of weeks ago but have not started because I'm a bit nervous.  I am working on Julia's birthday outfit--I'll post pictures next week when we go there.  Here are some of my latest burp cloths: