Busy, busy days

I haven't quit! I promise!! I have just been unbelievably insanely busy for the past few days. To make a long story short, after two long years of paperwork, inspections, and more inspections, it looks like we will finally be able to actually repair/rebuild the cottage Mike lived in "pre Katrina"!!! I am super super SUPER duper excited about getting this project going! I've been gathering paint, cabinet/counter top, flooring samples, and picking out the stuff for the bathroom and kitchen. But I must say, I am enjoying every minute of it.

I've also been getting things ready and sort of cleaned up for this weekend. We have my brother and his wife and daughter coming down for the weekend, Mike's aunt coming in to spend the week, and his kids coming in for the rest of their summer. I'm really stressing that one, because by the end of August my nerves are always shot and every one's attitude is soured. But that is a story all in itself, and I'm sure many of you will see it unfold!

But anyhow, I just wanted to jump on here and let y'all know what's been going on and I promise I haven't quit! I will start posting again just as soon as I remember where I put my camera. Yep, that's right. I have no clue where the last place I had it is!!

Day 156

It's been another scorching hot day today. And no sign of any rain to help cool things off either. I went out to spray everything down and thought this would be a good pic for today. I just love love LOVE drops of water on flowers and plants!

Day 155

This, for me, is one of the best parts of summer. A good ol homegrown tomato sandwich. They bring back so many good memories of my childhood. Of the summers spent at my mamaw and papaw's house with cousins. These are what we practically lived off of. All the time I spent there I rarely ever remember trips to the grocery store. My grandparents always had a huge garden and practically everything we ate came out of it. I remember going through entire loaves of bread at one meal eating tomato sandwiches! For a plain tomato sandwich, you would need a really fresh loaf of "good" white bread. A loaf so fresh that it wants to stick to the top of your mouth. No store brand would do because they usually weren't soft enough. And it would just be bread (untoasted), mayonnaise (Blue Plate only), tomato, and salt&pepper. Simple as that. We would only have BLTs for supper though. And they were always made with toasted wheat bread. Mamaw would have fried squash or okra and usually butter beans to go with it. And sweet tea. Now, I know I sorta started rambling there, but for me, that was just a little piece of heaven!!

Day 154

On our trip up to North Carolina we went out to Kings Mountain and walked the trail with the monuments and grave. These are a few of the pictures from our afternoon there.

Day 153

It's freakin HOT!!

Inside and out! It is 5:12 pm and it's 95 outside (I really think it's hotter than that) and about 81 here in the computer room. With the air running. And a box fan blowing in here too.

Day 152

Another flower...

...because I didn't think y'all would want to see the only other thing I've been looking at today. Laundry, laundry and more laundry!

Also, maybe it's just me but it seems like the more I look at the word laundry, the more it looks like it isn't spelled correctly.

Day 151

My sister and her husband decided to come down here for a little mini family vacation instead of doing the whole honeymoon thing. Mike and I drove over to where they are staying last night and we all went out on the beach so the kids could chase crabs.
They were so excited about catching crabs and the baby fish.

WARNING!!

The following two pictures are just a tad bit disgusting. The first is some dead fish that none of us knew what it was and the second is a sting ray that looked like it had been attacked by some crabs.

All those missed days...

It has been one crazy hectic week! We got home only a few hours ago and I am dog tired. Of course the first thing I had to do was get on here!!! LOL This is only a few of the pics and I think I might wait until later this week to post a few others.

this is Mike's oldest daugter (you can see the middle daughter's elbow in the back. she doesn't like being photographed although she is an absolutely gorgeous girl!)

Mike and his son

my cute little nieces

wedding cake topper (i thought it was just too cute)

my parents and all their young'uns

this is our entire family

and finally Mike and me!

Day 142

More pink flowers

I've been getting things ready to go to North Carolina for Mike's oldest daughter's high school graduation. Then we will be going back to my parent's house for my sister's wedding next weekend. That means lots and lots of driving. Ughh. And since we don't have a laptop and my parents still have that awful, horrible dial-up I won't be able to get online to do any posts for at least a week. But at least I should have something besides flowers to take pictures of all week!!

Please keep us in y'alls thoughts and prayers while we're doing all this traveling.

Day 141

What a spoiled dog we have!

This is about the only time I'm able to get a picture of Kimbo. (or when she's sitting for a treat) Her bed is in the same room we have the computer. It's an actual twin bed with covers and a pillow! And she is very, VERY picky about it. Like last night, she kept wandering in and out of our bedroom. Then I remembered I left a basket of clothes sitting on it earlier in the day. She doesn't like anything on it that isn't supposed to be when she goes to sleep. The stinker wanted it OFF of her bed so she could snuggle in her covers!

Day 140

I just love this picture! I think it's probably one of the top ten favorites of the pics I have taken. This is the same type of flower from yesterday's post. I'm not exactly sure what it is but they are lovely. We got a packet of mixed flower seeds in the mail and decided to do a little row of them out by our mini vegetable garden. Now they are all starting to get flowers on them so it should be interesting to see what all they look like.

Also, I found this little bit of funniness. It's Jeanne Robertson's Left Brain's grocery list bit and let me just tell y'all, it had me about to wet myself!!

Day 139

I just love when I have a day to myself and can do whatever I want to!

(like play around on the computer editing pics!!)

Day 138

Made a butter cake today. With BUTTER. Not margarine. And TWO tubs of chocolate icing. Oh yeah...it's been one of those days!!

Day 137

Suntan Season

"Suntan lotion is good for me. You protect me, hee hee hee."

-Adam Sandler as Billy Madison

After work this afternoon, I went out and worked on my tan. I should have remembered to take my camera because I could have got some better pics there on the beach. There was an adorable little boy who kept yelling "Biscuit!!" for no apparent reason and wandered over my way to tell me I had a strange suit. Then there was the flock of seagulls that I was almost devoured by when I got out of my car. But it was a beautiful day!!