I was told in a recent comment to “update already!”  And so here I am.    It’s just been CRAZY around here, people!  I’ll try to give you the quick rundown, since it’s almost 11:30 p.m.   But we’ll see how quick it is, considering how long it’s been since I posted!

Okay, now, how sad is that.  I started to say, “Well, last week . . . ” and I was so brain dead I had to go get my calendar to refresh my memory on what’s been going on.  Sheesh!  Well, we’ll start with Saturday, June 24 and go from there —

6/24 — My sister had her little boy’s 7th birthday at Minute Maid Park in Houston — too cool!  Now she rarely splurges like this.  It’s usually cake and ice cream at the house, thank you for the gifts, goodbye.  But this year she paid the fee to have his birthday at the ball field.  He got to have his birthday cake and open his gifts in one of the boxes above the ball field and then a wonderful fellow gave him and his buddies (and us, too!) a tour of the ballpark.  We got to walk on the gravel (after being told very seriously that “only coaches and players get to touch the grass . . . “) and then sit in the Astros’ dugout for pictures!  Granted, the ‘Stros have had a tough time of it, but it’s still kind of cool to think — hey, World Series sweat has been on these benches . . . and Roger Clements is playing here tomorrow night!  Hopefully things will turn around for them.  The last couple of wins are encouraging!  Junction Jack, the mascot, came in and gave the kids autographs . . . it was cool.

6/26 — We finally got the piano tuned.  Yeah!  We found a used piano back in February — the seller wanted $350, but accepted $275 because it needed work.  Well, the loveliest old gentleman came out and tuned her up — he was not optimistic when he first looked her over, but miracles of miracles, he was able to get her up to speed (perfect pitch) and only charged $90!  I gave him $100 because he was so nice.  I also was able to find out that our little piano was made between 1931 and 1940.  Pre-WWII!  I wish, oh how I wish that little piano could tell me who all has tickled her ivories!

6/27 — Went to the beach with some of our home school crowd.  It was so nice.  We got there about 6:00 in the evening and stayed for a couple of hours.  It stays light for so long that we had a great time without the worry of sunburn, etc.  Looking forward to doing that again!

6/29 — Lost my mind and bought a set of Cutco knives.  Spent way more than I should have, but my knives are crap and these are incredible.  Lifetime warranty, too, so if anything ever happens to one of them they will either sharpen it or replace it.  How cool is that?  There is something so lovely in using a decent knife, you know?  Plus the gal selling them is one of our home school grads and a lovely girl.  It’s her summer job until she goes back to Pensacola Christian College in Florida.

6/30 and 7/1 — Had a garage sale.  Have discovered we live just way too far off the beaten path to expend that much effort.  Made about $100 overall — took the rest to the Salvation Army.  It was nice stuff, so hopefully it will be beneficial to someone in need.  From now on, I suppose I’ll just donate it, or maybe try the eBay thing out.

7/3 and 7/4 — First day prepping for our annual Independence Day cookout (nodding in Miss O’Hara’s direction regarding the “Independence Day”/”Fourth of July” designation . . . )  It was touch-and-go in that we’ve had some major rain the last week and wondered if we’d even be able to have our little party.  Tuesday morning the water was shooting off our roof in sheets (the gutters shuddered in feeble resignation as they overflowed with the torrents) and we moved furniture around to accommodate the roughly 25 people we were expecting.  Fortunately, about an hour before they showed up the skies cleared, my guy was able to fire up the grill off the side of the carport (so if it started raining again, he could finish up the venison burgers and hot dogs without drowning . . . )  There was tons of food, 24 people, and lots of fun had by all.  It didn’t start raining again until the next morning.  Yeah!

7/6 — Measured and quoted two jobs and then spent $600 on new tires for my truck.  Hated spending that money, since I had almost enough to pay off my guy’s motorcycle note.  Oh, well.  When you’re on the road as much as we are, you’ve gotta’ have decent tires, and mine were just about shot.  Went ahead and got that lifetime alignment thing, so that’s good.  Since I spent so much on the tires, they gave me an additional discount — so I got 4 tires, an oil change, and the alignment thing for $599 and change.  Play rehearsals followed my afternoon camp out at Firestone.

7/7 — My girl got her braces.  I am so proud of her.  She hasn’t complained one bit and she is being incredibly diligent about brushing her teeth and avoiding problem foods.  I have to say, I think she looks cute with braces!  She just has them on the top for now.  The bottom will come later.  When we finished up with that, we went up to Huntsville to see some friends and put temporary shades in the windows of the new house they are finishing up.  And if you ever happen to wander through Willis, Texas — I HIGHLY recommend the Pizza Shack for dinner.  Sounds like a dump (based on the name), but it’s actually a very nice restaurant with AWESOME food.

And all this brings us to today — we spent the majority of it installing blinds and taking care of service calls.  After we grabbed some dinner at Johnny Carino’s, we went to the teacher supply and I bought a planner and a handwriting curriculum, because we’ve got to start getting ready for the coming year.  Handwriting has been a chore for my girl, and so we’re going to try the Handwriting Without Tears program to see if it is more enjoyable for her.  I’ve heard great things about it, so we’ll see!

Well, I’m gonna’ say goodnight for now —