Happy Birthday HTP!

Word of the Day

Ima - I am going to.

Woodtick Count - 8

Canning has started. I've canned five quarts of tomatoes so far. Three quarts, yesterday, two quarts, today. I've got more tomatoes ripening in a box on the top of my kitchen table...which...I'll have to move before Willie gets here on Monday. I'm hosting the Welcome to The Lake dinner on Monday night. Steaks on the grill, Caprese salad, fresh sliced tomatoes, home-grown potatoes (yes, my purple potatoes will be on the menu), and...I'm thinking about making a lemon meringue pie. However, it's been so humid that...NOT the best weather to make a meringue pie. Heck, I haven't even been able to pick my raspberries. I'm still hoping to pick enough so I can at least make one batch of raspberry jam. *sigh* So far?...not happening.

I've been exercising like crazy but....I've also been giving into my popcorn craving. I weighed myself after my aerobic exercise this morning (OK...given that it was a LOT later than I normally weigh myself, so that may figure into it) but....I'm NOT losing weight. My fault. I really have been CRAVING popcorn...with BUTTER! ACK!

I won't be exercising tomorrow...well...if the weather allows and if JC's doctor appointment that he went to today ends up encouraging....I'll be taking BW Babe to the Rutabaga Festival tomorrow which would mean a LOT of walking...exercise.

The weather has been "Soft". Icky! However, the table that my Mr. Fix-It helped me install out on the deck is LOCKED into the deck right now...versus...wobbly. Apparently, all we needed was a LOT of rain to help swell the wood. Happy. I went out on the deck tonight to sit on my rocking chair with my nightly glass of wine and...aside from the fact that I need to sweep (hail storm), and aside from the fact that I had to put my homemade "sit upon" cushions on the rocking chair so I wouldn't end up with a wet butt...it was nice. Yes,....the weather is definitely "soft". Hazy. HUMID.

It was HTP's birthday yesterday. I feel horrible that I wasn't back in Arizona to help him celebrate. However, I felt really happy that Sarge sent a special present to HTP at his work. Of course, if I'd done that, HTP would have been majorly unhappy. Last year, I sent him a canister of caramel corn. He thanked me but...told me never to do that again. I sent him a card. But...*sigh* I wish HTP was here. I wish I was there. I wish we were together. I HATE that he can only be here for a couple of weeks during the summer. I HATE the fact that health insurance costs are the cause of this. I WISH that HTP loved it up here a The Lake like I do. More guilt? I didn't call him yesterday. I emailed him but....the time difference makes phone calls a bit miserable.

I bottled and labeled my red wine. 27 bottles of Eclipse Cabernet Sauvignon. I also re-bottled a couple bottles of the Coastal White that I'd bottled earlier in the month. It really helped clear it out. I'll have to do that if I plan to gift it to someone who doesn't understand "decanting". I'd planned to gift a couple bottles of each of my wines to HTP's cousin. However, despite the fact that he told me that his son would contact me....it hasn't happened. No matter, I'll gift the bottles to my brother. I'd rather gift them to my brother anyway.

Did I tell you that I burned the heck our of my little toe? I dripped some molten hot fudge sauce on it which only goes to show you that...I shouldn't have been treating myself to a hot fudge sundae. No wonder that I'm not losing any weight. Anyway, on Day 3...my toe has a HUGE blister on it...not yet popped. Yucko!

Random Quote of the Day

The squeaking wheel doesn't always get the grease. Sometimes it gets replaced.

- Vic Gold