Joe to the Vet and Screen-free til 8:03

Today was the day we dropped Joe off at the vet for his 'comprehensive' exam. He has epilepsy, thyroid problems and his terribly overweight. Bless his heart, he takes more pills than we do. But he's such a sweetheart and we love him, so we think it's worth it.

And actually he enjoys this day as he is kind of the baby of the office. He spends the day there since they do a bunch of blood work and all the people there enjoying talking to him and petting him. I'm thinking he's got a pretty good life. :)

Screen-free til 8:03 : Usually when I come up with my hare-brained ideas for self-improvement Keith just kind of nods and goes on. He really is supportive, but bless his heart he has to listen to me all the time deciding that something else will work better!

Today on The Southern Housewife's blog she talked about how so many people are so tuned in to 'screens' that even relationships are starting to suffer. She of course said it very eloquently and her phrase was 'screen affairs'. :) I've thought about her post all day and while I've cut down on my computer time in the evenings dramatically, she also mentioned tv and her blackberry. I'm not a tv person, but I do stay connected to my cell phone at all times.

So while we're having dinner we talked about how all the 'screens' in our house were starting to become way too important in our lives. Our focus going forward is to have no screens on in the evenings until about 8:00. No tv, no computer, no cell phone. And that would actually be a challenge when I consider just how much I enjoy reading blogs!

But let me tell you about our evening tonight. When we got home from getting Joe at the vet we went in the backyard and started doing yard work...together. Side by side in that awful humidity tonight, with sweat pouring down our faces, we worked together. When we came inside we looked at the clock and it was only 7:10.

We brought out the Pente game that we used to play together all the time when we first were married. We played and laughed and had the best time. In fact, it reminded of why we fell in love in the first place.

I can't say with certainty how long we'll keep this up. But while we're doing it we're having fun together and getting things done that have been neglected for too long, so how can it be a bad thing?

Biggest Loser: Again this week I was not happy with who was sent home. Felipe seems like such a nice young man and really I'm not fond of the players that are left. Except for Tara, she's the one I'm hoping will win.

But I won't be able to watch any more because I'm starting a new Bible study next Tuesday night. And we're the couple that doesn't have HDTV or DVR. ;)

You Say Tomato and I Say Tomato

When we got home from church today I had just a little time before I had something to do with my daughter. And so I got my 3 new tomato plants planted.

After I finished I looked at my line of "pots" and here's what came to mind: "If the container for your tomato plant is an empty cat litter bucket....you might be a redneck." I thought for a bit about spray painting them - and still might - but what I finally decided is that this is such a great example of repurposing. We have a lot of these buckets and now they will get a 2nd life.

I drilled 4 holes in the bottom of each bucket and put a layer of rocks in the bottom, then filled the buckets with soil and a tomato plant. Each of the three plants are a different variety, so this is the year of tomato plant experimentation.

While I was taking pictures of the 3 new plants the original tomato plant starting whining that it wanted a picture as well. So I show you the Topsy Turvy tomato plant, now 5 weeks old. It is truly amazing to watch how fast this plant is growing.

Maurice Durufle's Requiem: One of Lynne's closest friends, and her mom, are in the Musical Feast Choral Society here in town. They had a performance late this afternoon and Lynne' and I went to see it. Truly it was unbelievable and reminded me of an old world European style of singing. And I say that with full realization that I have no knowledge whatsoever of musical styles. But the songs were done in Latin and one of the songs, Alleluia, honestly reminded me of angels. I even went so far as to close my eyes during part of the song and the voices were so phenomenal - what a blessing. The performance was held in a local church that has an amazing organ to accompany them. So glad I was able to go.

A Sock In The Sky

Sometimes you have to put yourself in a position that might be a bit embarrassing, but really it's worth it to get the photo. And that's what happened here.

I'm so close to getting my craft room organized to the point of sharing pictures. And part of that organization was identifying which WIP's (works in progress) I wanted to finish and which I wanted to take apart and store as just yarn.

I've got a lot of single socks and rather than take them out, introduce them to each other and hope that they might find true love I've decided to go ahead and knit the second socks. This is the pair that were finished early this morning.

The green and yellow colors just called out to be pictured against the brilliant blue of the vast Texas sky today. So that's what I did - went outside, lay down on our picnic table and stuck my legs in the air for the photo. I'm sure I was a site to see and I can only hope that none of my neighbors saw me.

And then I looked at the yarn a little more closely and decided that they really needed to be against the green backdrop of our weed-filled backyard (don't judge - we're working on it!).

Such an immense sense of satisfaction to finish this pair and really I should get started on the next one quickly.

The only thing about these that didn't completely thrill me was the DK weight. It's the first pair of socks I've knit with DK weight and I think I prefer socks made with fingering weight yarn. We're all different and now I know!

Specs:

International Sock of Doom pattern, Knit Clinic Sock Yarn, DK Weight, Fading Sunflower colorway, Size 7 needles

Skip To My Lou

A funny thing happened when we went for a walk on our break at work today....

Why we decided to start walking again the day it turned to mid-90's for the high I don't know. The weathermen this morning said that today would be the warmest (hottest?) it had been since last October.

So the four of us - me, S, P and K - donned our tennies and headed to the covered parking area to walk laps. We walked at a pretty good clip, then S mentioned that he'd just read that skipping was really good exercise. Never one to back down to a challenge, I started skipping, and S and P joined right in.

It was so much FUN!!! We skipped and we laughed and I was about out of breath. And then we heard a jingling sound.

I turned around and one of the building security guards was skipping towards us with a big grin on his face! Truly I've not laughed that hard in a long time. Nor have I had that red of a face I'm sure.

Good times............

Dinner at the Daughter's

Dinner: It's an interesting feeling when your children get to the age that they invite you over for dinner. Lynne' has had us over to her apartment a couple of times for a dinner she's cooked and every time it's not only delicious, but we have a nice time as well. This time she cooked Southwestern Turkey Chili and Cornbread from a Sandra Lee cookbook and I think it's going to into our dinner rotation now since we really liked it. It's fun to get new recipes from your daughter. :)

Games: After dinner we like to play games, but she didn't have a lot to choose from and I completely forgot to bring any of ours. As luck would have it Lynne' remembered she had a pack of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cards. We had to put our thinking caps on for a game that three people could play with only one deck and came up with the game 31. Keith remembers back when he was young and their entire family would play together at their aunt's house, so it was fun to continue the tradition. And you can see by the penny pile that we are big gamblers....especially when Lynne' put up the $$ for us all!

The Biggest Loser: I was so sad tonight that Kristin got voted off. She's been one of my favorites since the beginning and she always works so hard. But in the end she should be so proud of herself for all that she's accomplished. I know I always end up being silly and saying something like "I was almost motivated enough to stop eating a donut" but honestly this show does motivate me. Between watching this show, Linda's 30x5 challenge and Gilad in the mornings, I sure hope that scale starts to move!

Crafting Update: I've been computer-less and running a lot in the evenings, so I haven't had a minute to take pictures. I'm hoping in the next couple of days to get the pictures taken so I can update the blog. I have some knitting finishes, quilt block finishes (and a start!), cards and actually a layout to share.

Good times...

We went to the "big box" hardware store to get a new screen door
closer thingy (and let me tell you that when it goes out the door
slams LOUD!) and took a stroll through the garden center. I was
entranced by all the spring color and took out my cell phone to take a
picture. When Keith saw what I planned he walked over to another
section. It amazes me that after all these years I'm still able to
embarrass him by doing this!

But aren't these plants gorgeous?