Tired

Mondays... nobody really likes them.  But after working both Sat & Sun and being incredibly busy will all manner of annoying situations, I am exhausted today and do NOT feel like working.

My next day off is Thurs, which means I will have worked 6 days in a row.  Not that this is 'incredible', but being the time of year that it is (summer) and the location (beach resort), I will have been super busy for 6 straight days.

And I'm already exhausted.

Thought for the day

Beardy boy

Dancing queen

Just because

Birthday, part 2

On his birthday I told Spouse that the 2nd part of his gift was a surprise and would take place on Sat and that we'd be away for the day.  He asked if we needed someone to let the dogs out and feed them, but I told him we'd be back in time.

So Sat morning we got into the car and drove north with him still unable to figure out where we were going or what we were doing.  About 2 hours later we arrived at QVC studios in West Chester PA and I told him we were going on a studio tour.  I'm sure I've written before about how much Spouse loves to watch home shopping on TV.  He watches all of them too:  QVC, HSN, HSN2, and evine Live.  He was excited about the tour.

Unfortunately I left my phone at home so I couldn't take any photos, but we did get to watch as the live broadcast was going on with David Venable.  Although known for his "In the Kitchen with David" segment, he was actually selling a collapsable rolling cart while we were there.  It was neat to see all the sets, lighting, cameras, and control booth used for the 100% live broadcasts.  I was surprised that most of the camera work is done by robots being maneuvered by the director with a joy stick in the control room.  We learned about how the volume of calls is tracked and matched with what the hosts and guests are saying in order to improve future selling.  We also learned that QVC has live broadcasts in China, Japan, Germany, UK, France, and Australia too.

After the tour we drove into the little historic town of West Chester and walked down the main street until we found a good looking place to eat lunch.  We had a delicious meal at Landmark Americana.  On our way south we stopped at Trader Joe's.  I'd managed to sneak a cooler with freezer blocks into the back of the car without Spouse knowing, so we were able to buy frozen food on this trip.  Typically we stock up at Trader Joe's near Spouse's family's house but can't get frozen foods because we never have a cooler.

Once back home we made plans to have dinner with Steven & Thad, which is typical for a Sat night.  But then 7 more of our friends walked in and we had a surprise birthday dinner for 11 at El Azteca Mexican restaurant.

Rick & Nick.  Spouse trains with Rick twice a week.

Joe & Glenn

Thad & Steven

Joe P and Harvey

Jim and me

Unfortunately I don't have a pic of Spouse!  I took one but he protested because he was chewing and thought the pic would look bad, so I deleted it.  I was going to take another pic later but, um... well, there were margaritas.  Delicious margaritas, and I got distracted.  But we had a great time and he was totally surprised.

Friday

Double birthday!

Today is a double birthday in our household.  Its Spouse's birthday and Walter's birthday!!

These flowers arrived at Spouse's office today

Everyone with whom Spouse works always comment how nice it is that he receives flowers at work on his birthday, Valentines Day, and our anniversary.  I think its important that they see that gay couples are perhaps more apt to publicly celebrate their relationships/marriages because we've had to fight for their recognition.

When Spouse got home from work I gave him a gift I knew he'd like:  12 pairs of colorful socks.

I realize this might seem like an odd gift, but he LOVES colorful socks.  I knew he'd love these.  Besides, he already bought himself an Amazon Fire tablet and an Amazon Fire Stick a few days ago so he really left me very few options.

I also got him 5 of his favorite candies:

On Sat I have more plans to celebrate his birthday!

Unfortunately for Walter, his 2nd birthday was overshadowed by Spouse's birthday.  But I did give him extra head scratches and playtime.

Beardy boy

Just because

Weight

I'm back on my healthy eating plan and yet again attempting to lose weight. 

Pray for me.

Friday

Beardy boy

Boy, Interrupted

I was raised not to interrupt when people were talking.  I thought everyone was raised this way, but apparently they weren't.  Or maybe they've just abandoned good manners.

It seems more and more (especially at work) I've been surprised at how inconsiderate people can be.  As a real estate agent I get calls from potential buyers with questions about properties they've seen online or while out driving.  They'll ask me a question and before I can finish an answer they will interrupt with another question or statement.  Real estate can have complicated components and contingencies requiring more than a 1 or 2 word answer. 

Recently Spouse & I were out to dinner with friends and the well-meaning waitress kept walking up to the table and interrupting our conversation to ask if we needed anything.  I understand that it may require 2 extra seconds, but can't servers approach the table and allow the person speaking to pause before saying something like "Excuse me, but may I get anything else for you?"  Honestly, I find it rude.

Where is the consideration?  

Where is the politeness?  

Where are the manners we learned as kids?

Just because

Roses

A little while back I posted photos and wrote about how well our 'comical roses' were doing.

Now that more time has passed, our other roses are doing very well too!  While Spouse is the real rose lover, probably MY favorite of our roses are the orange ones.  The color is so amazing they almost look artificial!

I mean, aren't these incredible?!?!

Fortunately these are shrub roses so we don't have to deadhead them.  

The yellow roses are not doing very well at all.  I'm not sure if its because we've only had them a year or if the soil is too sandy, but both of the bushes have only bloomed once so far.

Friday

Beardy boy

I find the combination of a beard and a fade haircut to be particularly sexy.

Add a handsome face and chest hair?  I'm done!

Fact

That's all for today.

Independence Day

Ever since moving to our fair little hamlet I have enjoyed Independence Day/July 4th, mostly because of the Doo Dah Parade.  Click on the Doo Dah Parade tag below this post for more info and posts.  Last year's July 4th was disappointing as the weather threatened rain all day.  I made the executive decision not to drive Big Ella in the parade due to the weather, and sure enough it began to rain as the parade started.  

This year the weather was nearly the same. Steven & Thad had invited a bunch of friends to their house for a cookout which overlapped the timing of the Doo Dah parade so I decided not to drive Big Ella again and we forewent the parade to be at our friends' cookout.  Within minutes of everyone's arrival at the cookout it began to rain so we all went inside.  Poor Steven stood outside with an umbrella to finish cooking the hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken.  But despite having to move the party inside, we all had a good time and the food was delicious.  Spouse made his signature potato salad which everyone loves.

Side note:  for the 2 weeks or so leading up to the cookout I kept referring to it as a "good old fashioned 4th of July BBQ".  In conversation, in texts, in emails, I kept repeating the same exact phrase "good old fashioned 4th of July BBQ".  I felt like a Republican, repeating something over and over again until it becomes recognized! 

Just because