Busy, busy, weekend... again...

This past weekend was pretty busy for me. It started Friday night when I went to karate with Brandy and the kids. Benton absolutely loves karate and I absolutely love watching him. He probably listens to Instructor Parks better than any of the other kids, and I am not saying that because he is my flesh and blood (well, maybe because he is my flesh and blood). After karate they wanted to go to Pizza Inn (which does not sell adult beverages) and we vetoed that since it was now 6:30 on Friday night, Pizza Inn was across town and all restaurants were starting to fill up. Benton then decided he wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant (which does sell adult beverages), although he wouldn't touch Mexican food with a ten foot pole. However, he does love their chicken strips and fries, and chips. Bailey will eat anything.. seriously.. After we finished dinner, I dropped them off at their house so we could all start packing for our trip to Louisiana the next morning.

My niece Taylor was celebrating her 5th birthday, and Brandy still needed to find an outfit for out trip to California, so we headed out early. We arrived in Louisiana about 9:30 and started our shopping venture at Target, where we purchased one birthday present, two toys for well behaved children, and a few items of clothing for well behaved children, and a couple of things for G. We then headed to some boutiques, and unfortunately Brandy found nothing, at any of them.. Me, on the other hand, found an awesome suede and fur vest that will look snazzy with a pair of boots I purchased recently.

We then headed to lunch with my niece, sister-in-law and my mom and then on to the party. The kids had a blast, but they were ready to go before the party was over because THEY WERE TIRED OF GOING PLACES, and just wanted to go mammaws and play. We headed to mammaws where they played, the adults rested, and then I proceeded to get dressed for GIRLS NIGHT OUT with three friends from high school. Two of the friends I had not seen in over 15 years, and the other one I see often. Two of the friends came to get me and we headed to Monroe to Portico's where the other friend met us and we talked, laughed, revisited our pasts, laughed some more, etc. We all made a pact to NOT let so much time go by before we connected again, and plan to meet again in December, and I CANNOT WAIT!!! We used to have lots of fun when we were in high school, and in the first few years after high school before we all got married and went in different directions, and now know we can still have fun with each other after all these years.. So, the plan is to meet again in early December. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

After eating my mom's "biskits" and gravy, Brandy and I loaded up the kids early Sunday and headed home since we had not yet been to the fair and it was definitely on our list of things to do Sunday because it was the last day. Hubby and I headed out with the kids about 1:00, and although it was hot, we had much fun. Bailey loves to ride, but unfortunately she is a tad short to ride some of the rides, but Benton would prefer trying to win cheap plastic toys at $5.00 a pop. After spending 20.00 on games where they won 4 cheap plastic toys, I said no more. We are going to ride rides or leave. They were fine with that, and loved every minute of it. We purchased 12.00 worth of cotton candy on our way out and declared it a great day. They were not quite ready to go home and requested we head to G's house, and this was fine with me because I LOVE BEING WITH THEM. We played outside, I squirted them with the water hose, they filled up a bucket with water and created a "brew" that they stirred and stirred and stirred... Whatever makes them happy is my motto..

Busy weekend....

My weekend started with a birthday celebration for my niece who turned 25 this past Saturday. We celebrated Friday since I knew she would want to be with her friends on her actual birthday.

Benton had his first sleepover Friday night. I think it went pretty well. His mom said she would definitely do it again.

Saturday morning I cleaned like a wild woman. Having the housed listed for sale is a royal pain in my rear. I don't mind cleaning, but it seems like that is ALL I do these days. But, when I was done, we headed to A.J.'s on the Lake for the first crawfish of the season and although they were a little small, they were GOOD!!! We sat outside by the lake and thoroughly enjoyed them. Bailey even joined in the fun and peeled and ate a few. She did point out they had eyes and wondered if they were watching her.

Saturday night, we just hung out at my house..

Sunday hubby had some stuff to do at his office, so I had the morning to myself to get a few things done, and then I watched the grandest kids of all while Daughter ran to the gym. After that hubby called and wanted my help doing some things at his office. I then treated myself to a hydration therapy treatment, which was quite nice, even though it got a little warmer than I expected. My skin felt better when it was done.

For dinner, I grilled chicken, baked potatoes and made a salad. It was some good stuff.

I was not ready for Monday. But I am ready for Friday.

Weekend... and still Shredding it!

Daughter and I are helping plan an engagement shower for one of her long time friends who is getting married in July. We worked on decorations for that Friday night and then went home to watch a movie with one of her friends. I fell asleep and they left. I am fun, fun, fun.... Truthfully, hot flashes are eating my lunch again. They wake me up about 2:30 AM and then I can't go back to sleep, which is why if I get still during the day or late evening, I promptly fall asleep. Yep, I am fun, fun, fun...

Saturday, we made our weekly trek to eat crawfish. It is unreal how much bigger the crawfish are now when compared to the first batch we had this spring. They were huge and good... There were about 10 of us partaking in this feast, and everyone left full.

Saturday night I went to eat with mother-in-law. More good food. Usually crawfish don't fill me up, and I can easily eat something later in the day, but that was not the case this time around. I barely touched my food and it was really delicious. Mother-in-law ended up taking my dinner, and some of her own home to enjoy again later. On the bright side, I was able to eat half of the piece of cheesecake we ordered.. DELICIOUS!!!! It was topped with fresh strawberries and caramel sauce.

Late Sunday, my niece surprised us by coming to spend some time with us. She and Daughter did their own thing Sunday night, but I got to spend some time with just her Monday morning and we had fun.. Did a little shopping for some things for her new apartment, and then we all spent the afternoon sitting on my deck, while I grilled ribs and tenderloins. I am becoming quite the "Bobby Flay" of the grill, if I do say so myself.. yep, I am. We then watched Bride Wars, which I had attempted to watch Friday night. It was a good movie.

Now I am back at work, and I can think of at least 10 things I could/should have done around the house this weekend, but didn't. I did do the Shred over the weekend and I can actually tell a difference in the places I had hoped to see a difference. That is a good thing because if I couldn't actually see improvement, I would stop doing it. And, I saw results very quickly. It is working!!!!

I am hoping...

this week goes by MUCH faster than last week. I am the only lady here this week, which means I can't leave for lunch unless one of the attorneys is here to answer the phone. I love working in an office with very few people. Believe me, it has WAY more advantages than disadvantages, but the disadvantage I like the least is not being able to leave when I want/need too. The other lady I work with comes to work every morning and rarely leaves again before leaving at the end of the day. I can't do that. I start feeling claustrophobic. I need to be able to walk outside, get in my vehicle, and go somewhere, even if it is to run home and let the puppies out.

Man and I had a great weekend. We met friends for lunch Saturday, to eat CRAWFISH again!! They were better, and bigger this time than last time we had them. They had two more weeks to grow and the growing did them good. I think we will go back this weekend and eat some more. Even Man eats them and he does NOT like to work for his food, and eating crawfish is work. But he ate almost as many as I did, which was pretty impressive for him. We sat on the patio of the restaurant while eating, and it was a tad warm. Man does NOT like to be hot, but he was a champ about sitting out there because he knows I love to be outside.

And, since everyone knows crawfish just do not fill you up, we went to a local pizza place for dinner and I had nothing other than... CRAWFISH BREAD, which was awesome... And, they serve draft beer in mason jars. Couldn't ask for a better end to the day.

Yesterday WE worked around the house. I am always working around the house, but Man decided he would participate as well. Before we got started, we made a trip to Lowe's and to Fresh Market. He had never been to Fresh Market before and since I love that place so much, I felt like he needed to go, at least once. He is unaccustomed to shopping for his own food. He likes the system we have had set up for the past 25 years, wherein I do all the shopping, chopping, cooking, and the cleaning up afterwards. This system works for him, and it actually works for me too. This way, he has very little say-so in what I cook. There are some things he can't eat, and I respect that, but other than that, he eats what I cook, or he will suffer through a few bites and tell me I don't need to cook that again. Anyway, he said he didn't need to go back to Fresh Market. It was just unnecessary.

I cooked our dinner on the grill, added a couple of sides and he was good to go. He said I did good. I cleaned up the mess and FINALLY sat down to rest. It was a busy, but fruitful day.. If I could just skip Monday...