Friday Night Leftovers- the Saturday Edition

Isn't that just the face of happiness? What a terrific week I've had taking a "stay-cation" with my little guy. So keeping with FNL tradition...

• Will the projects/needs around this house EVER end? Still overwhelmed.



• I had a nice week off with C- local farm and history museum, a labyrinth and old time drive in for lunch, visiting a friend in the country, beach, theme park and fireworks, swimming, sleepover, and time with friends.



• Thankful for my employment, but it's always hard to go back on Monday after a week off.



• Aruba is about a month away!



• I gave up all sugar and white flour products...I am feeling great, I am losing weight, but as you can guess, this has not been easy. So far, I am about 2 weeks no sugar and one week no white flour.



• Looking for a good beach read? Any of Celia Rivenbark's snarky books will do.



• I need suggestions for good beach reads while on vacation next month.



• New deck is finished and we need to stain/seal. New windows go in this week!



• I am crazy enough to be hosting a Pampered Chef party this week...along with everything else on my busy schedule.



• Don't forget to visit all of the other Friday Night Leftovers with our wonderful Danifred!

Alternate Plans

When I decided to take this week off to have some more adventures with C, I asked the hubs to take one day off so we could all go to the beach together. So we picked today, M was finally able to get the time off, and we were preparing for a day at the beach. The kind of day at the beach where you leave early in the morning, stake out a good spot, and enjoying frolicking in the ocean all day. Great plan, except it does not account for your child waking up with an upset stomach...and being ill past noon. With each of C's runs to the bathroom, my dreams of our beach day slowly faded. I felt terrible for C, I felt terrible for M wasting a day off work, and I was frustrated that a beautiful day was going down the tubes. Seriously, it's the most gorgeous day we've had all summer- lower temps, lower humidity, and a steady, balmy breeze.

Sometime after noon, C decided he was ready to venture out, but he did not want to go all the way to the beach. At least we were getting out of the house, and I could live with that. Once we got past the whining of "why can't I bring a friend?" and "because Mama does not want to be responsible for another kid's life in a large body of water," we packed up and got on the road. Sometimes we lay out the best plans, only to have them changed unexpectedly and given something even greater in return. God is so cool like that.

We arrived at the river beach we had decided to visit, to find that the spot we located was completely uninhabited...except for another family who arrived at the same time as us...who were hiking to the same secluded spot as us...who had one little boy with them. C has never met a stranger and walked up to the boy to say, "Hi, I'm C. Want to be friends?" And the rest was history. We spent all afternoon/evening here, the boys playing, swimming, fishing and crabbing- completely wore C out, which is hard to do!

C and his new friend fishing- caught some catfish and one croaker.

C has no fear- just jumped in and kept on going.

I found a shark's tooth!

One happy boy

We made it!

More fishing

And more fishing

And yet more fishing!

View from the cliff- we hiked down to this beach, then over to the left (out of picture) to a secluded beach.

Ferry ride

Age is Just a Number

Meet "Mimi"- we've had the privilege of knowing this wonderful lady for over 25 years now and while we are "stay-cationing" this week, C and I took a drive out to the country to visit with this amazing woman. And while I would never list her age, seriously, does she even look like she'd be an age that may rhyme with "matey" and "nix"? She still gets out and walks miles each day and keeps active; we were lucky to score some time on her busy calendar!

We had a lovely lunch together and spent the next few hours just catching up. It was humbling to hear about this woman's life, especially as she walked me through her photo albums. She has seen and experienced so much in her lifetime and she continues to have an utter and complete zest for life. Below are some highlights from our visit...

C and Mimi in front of the old corn crib

C trying to get Buddy to play in front of one of the outbuildings- the dog was too hot and old to be bothered.

A fresh picked apple!

Mimi and her peach tree

Hot!

Mimi playing soccer with C!

We saw ALOT of this!

C and the John Deere

Not quite as tall as the tractor's tire!

Wiped out- slept all the way home.

While C did sleep all of the way home, he was wide awake for the ride out there. This gave us plenty of time to talk about the crops we saw (corn, peanut, cotton, soybeans, and tobacco) as we wound through back country roads. We even saw something new for me- tobacco prior to the top flowers being cut! This visit reminded me how critical it is to make time for those important to us- fabulous day!

Sweet Surprises

Don't you just love when your child does something completely self-less and sweet? C emptied his piggy bank (all over his bed) this morning, brought all of the change downstairs and proceeded to count coins and divided them into four piles. When I asked what he was doing, C responded, "I want to take M to lunch today at [his favorite place]" He continued to count coins into the four piles and explained one pile was for limeades, one for cheeseburgers, one for french fries, and one for desserts. Then he dumped all of the coins into a zippy bag, asked me to call M's mom for a lunch playdate, and toted his coins out to the car, for our big adventure.

Just when I think he's being selfish, or not listening, or greedy, this shines through and I am so very thankful for the tender heart of my sweet boy. Something else just as sweet? These two have been friends since they started preschool together at age 2 1/2 and their little friendship continues to thrive. And it's interesting to note that her mom and I went to school together and grew up four doors down from each other, so sometimes it's surreal to see these two playing together! A few photos below from our big adventure...

Lunch at their favorite drive-in

Checking out the harbor

Solved the maze and found Posideon

Maze conquerors

We all scream for ice cream! Ok, really, it's frozen yogurt.

Starting the Summer Reading program at the library

Making a map

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh!

C is just shy of 6 1/2 years old, and we are a tired bunch because, despite his age, C STILL does not sleep through the night. Business trips are when I get uninterrupted sleep, which usually still ends up interrupted with catch-up for work. Anyway, true to form, we heard C get up last night. The hubs and I were downstairs watching something on History International (hot Saturday night, I know) since I just wasn't sleepy (rare). And we heard C get up, but it sounded more like a thump, so we both ran for the stairs, afraid he fell out of bed.

No, the dear boy had not fallen. He had stumbled into the bathroom and there he stood in full glory PEEING IN THE LAUNDRY BASKET...FULL OF CLOTHES! I thought, "am I really seeing this?" And it was one of those long, did-you-swallow-the-ocean-today? type of pees. To top it off, he was still asleep. The boy SLEEPWALKED into his bathroom and let loose on the basket.

There are many ways to react to situation such as this, but really, what are you going to do? The hubs and I were so stunned, and so wiped out, that all we could do was laugh...belly-busting laughter...which woke C up...which means he turned to the sound of the laughter, and in doing so, continued to stream all over the bathroom floor. He opened his eyes and shouted "STOP LAUGHING AT ME!" all the while, still urinating all over the floor. He proceeded to pull his pants up, marched back to bed, and had absolutely no recollection of the event this morning. I may have been up until 2am doing laundry and scrubbing the floor, but I can say it was completely worth it for the laughter.

Surviving Craigslist

I've been looking for an elliptical that wouldn't cost me a fortune, so I decided to foray into the world of Craigslist. Now that our hot and humid summers are in full effect, I wanted a low-effort way to burn calories while keeping some creature comforts, namely AC and some TV/Netflix to distract me from workout torture. To Craigslist I went and found an elliptical listed for $50- just listed, while all of the others were $150-$300.

So, I emailed the owner, got my questions answered, and we decided to meet at the owner's house early this morning. The home was a few cities over from where I live, so naturally, I told the hubs he had to come with me, and we'd drive by first...to make sure it looked relatively safe. The whole drive to the home I'm wondering where this is, how safe is the neighborhood, etc. I felt even better when we saw one of the neighbors out doing yardwork and wearing a t-shirt from our church. Of course, I left the address with my parents, just in case I was headed to the home of Craigslist killers that were going to take us hostage. Natural fear, right?

We pull up to a home in an older, but well-kept neighborhood, and think "so far, so good" and ring the bell. And who answers the door? Not some hostage-taking, meth-making crazy, but a sweet older woman who is downsizing from a home to a condo and no longer needs the elliptical taking up space in a spare room. I think she was relieved we were fairly "normal" looking buyers too. She chuckled and told us she'd meet us in the garage, since she had "no idea who would show up" and asked her husband to lug the machine to the garage so they didn't have random people, from Craigslist, in the house.

$50 later, I am the new owner of an elliptical, the lady has one more thing cleared out of her home, I've already started burning calories and C is burning off extra energy. A win for all!

Friday Night Leftovers- The-No-Cute-Title Edition

I seriously could not even think of a title for this edition- my brain is spent!

Last week I was in Charlotte (business) but had a fantastic time catching up with friends, especially staying with a dear friend on Thursday that I had not seen in WAY too long. What is such a blessing is that we were able to pick up like we'd never left off...and we will not let this much time pass between visits. Stop by and give her some love at http://littlepapiandpunkin.blogspot.com

I hope this is one of my last posts without photos...fingers crossed we are laptop shopping this weekend.

C had a good time at camp this week and a fabulous time at VBS last week. I took next week off- not thrilled with the staycation idea for the week, but I do have Aruba to look forward to in August. We have some fun planned next week too, including a trip to the country to visit a family friend.

Trying to wrap up work prior to vacation is never a small event, nor is it enjoyable. I really need to get back to that.

Hubs and I have a date night tonight- actually headed to the movies! Any suggestions?

Want to be part of the FNL fun? Post a comment with a link to your blog, and don't forget to join the orginal FNL party at http://sippycupsarenotforstarbucks.blogspot.com