This weekend the original plan was for Taylor to host a murder-mystery party, something she has been hoping for for years. However, she was asked to be a mentor to someone going through confirmation, and had to go on a weekend beach retreat.
What would you do all by yourself?
Well that’s an easy question. Ever since last year when the girls watched Jaws, they have been itching to watch another scary movie.
So we went to the elementary school’s ice cream social, then grabbed Whataburger from the newest location here in town, and set up camp for a movie night. It was great, but I forgot how scary the movie was since seeing it in theaters. The crew of skeletons was too scary for Mercy, but Rosie and I had a good time- in the room with the loud subwoofer to really experience the whole thing.
Volunteer, obviously
Above is a picture of Rosie at a volunteer day in 2016- she has been doing them almost her whole life. Today was no exception- Rosie volunteered to help paint the building for kids, and I was asked to help lead a team in restoring the bee hives we will be using for bees over the coming weeks. Mice had taken up residence, so we had to scrape all the old stuff out, burn it with a torch to sterilize it, reassemble them, cut bottoms and tops for them, and this team of teens did an excellent job. And rosie eded up being quite the mess after painting- something I didnt think through before immediately dropping her off at Zippy’s house afterwards.
Obviously there was more to do. The girls spent the night at Grandmas house, and with the day alone, there were a million different options. If you had to take a guess about what came next, and you guessed “cleaning out the garage”, then you are exactly right!
In a perfect world, this would happen twice a year: moving summer stuff to the front, and winter stuff to the back and vice-versa, in spring and fall. That doesnt always happen, and Taylor, who appreciates order, is about to jump out of her skin because of the chaos. Anyways, here is a before and after:
In the midst of it, I put hands on the charcoal grill that has been sitting idle for a while, and got the itch to put it to work again- and since this weekend I answer to no one, this was the weekend to use it again.
The motion-activated flood light that went bust last year also needed some fixing, so that was replaced too. Climbing on a ladder to fix some electrical items when no one is home isnt THAT dumb of an idea, is it? Anyways, fixed it.
The cast iron skillets, some of which we got as wedding gifts, and others we acquired over the years also needed some seasoning, so took care of that too. In our 15 years of marriage, I must have used one of these pans each day we have been in town- but they say not to use it with tomato sauce. I do anyways, and this rust is the result.
Later buddy Leo came over with his kid, and we grilled some steaks, watched some games, and had a grand old time eating like kings: twice baked potatoes, ribeyes, and some grilled peppers.
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