After time at the beach and a week+ having Son1 and Pip here, our lives are now back to just the two of us. My days are all mixed up and I operated all day today assuming it was Monday. It wasn't. We really did love being with them and now things will settle to a dull roar for a bit, and we will just do the things we normally do together.
Meals planned for the week:
None. I knew the week was going to be unusual and there would be no reason to plan, so I didn't.
Monday: When Pip is in town, TheHub and I act like Disneyland grandparents. On a good year we see her three times, but usually twice is the norm. Though, there was that 2 year period during Covid when we did not see her live and in person at all.
Instead of being able to take her to grab a burger or something similar every week, like all of my friends who have grands living close by, our spending on her is done in a concentrated amount of time during visits. It might seem excessive to some, but our options for spoiling our only grandchild are limited and we plan for and take full advantage of it when she is in town.
Since she was a little older and wiser, this year instead of grabbing the credit card and swiping every time we were out and about, we gave her cash the first day she was here, with the promise I would take her shopping wherever/whenever she wanted to go, but once the money ran out, that was the end of what we would buy. (There was a codicil that if we were out and about, food purchases were excluded and would be on us.)
Our first stop was to her favorite place, Sephora. And trust me, she flat out knows what she wants there. We shopped and shopped and shopped some more, until she had found the things she wanted, ever mindful of her budget. We would still be there today if I was not about to wet my pants. Sephora at the Summit has no rest rooms and it required going to Trader Joe's for a little relief. While we were in the store I did pick up a few necessities.
We had not eaten lunch by about 2:30 and were hungry. When I asked her what she was thinking might be good, she suggested sushi. Not my favorite, but I gave her the option and she chose, so I went along with it.
We came home in time to find the pool guy here. The rains are still messing with the water balance, but he assured us it would be good to go by Tuesday.
Monday dinner: We scraped together leftovers from the Sunday birthday party
Hamburger patties, salad
Tuesday: The first thing Pip wanted to do was go to Crumbl cookies. We went and came home with a 4 pack. Of course she got to pick out all the flavors.
Swim day, all day with jumping out of the pool only to eat or get out of the sun. Fortunately it was overcast part of the day so no one was sunburned.
Tuesday dinner: A quick and simple dinner was called for
Conecuh sausage, coleslaw or salad, rice, mango cubes
There may or may not have been a Bruster's ice cream run!
Wednesday: I had arranged for one of our neighbors who has a daughter Pip's age to come over. They had a good time swimming, laughing, talking, eating until it was time for L to head home.
Pip had to make a choice between seeing the play Frozen or visiting Son2, DIL2 and their 4 dogs. (Know what you call the condition of having too many dogs? A Roverdose!) She chose to see Jack, Reesie, Cocopuff and Trixie.
Wednesday dinner: We took dinner to their house
BBQ pork, coleslaw, baked beans, cornbread
Thursday: Another swim day. MBS came over to swim with Pip and me. After swimming we got dressed and headed to Barnes and Noble. Pip has developed a keen interest in CD's and Vinyl albums and wanted to go browse and see if she could find anything she wanted. After looking through every single cd and album available, she bought what she said she wanted before we ever left for B and N. So the band, Brat, can count on Pip for another CD sale.
(As an aside: I subscribe to Sirius radio for my car and until the past week it had never been tuned to a pop 40's station. This past week that is all I listened to. I am unsure if it was my ears or brain bleeding!)
Thursday dinner:
Thursday dinner: We met Son2 and DIL2 for dinner at Waldos
Chicken, collards, coleslaw, toast, fried pickles, other stuff that I don't remember.
Friday: Swimming happened in the morning, then Son1 took Pip to the Galleria then to Son2's house. She wanted to spend the night with them and have lots of time with the dogs.
Friday dinner: Son1 met two of his former fraternity brothers and their wives for dinner, so it was just TheHub and me for dinner here.
Hot dogs, french fries
Saturday: We met Son2 at a restaurant halfway between our houses for a quick lunch and Pip exchange. Once we were home she decided some shop[ping was in order. We left with the intention of going to Ross then Ulta. However she found a haul at Ross then nixed Ulta altogether. If the truth is being told, she still had one large bill left from the money we gave her for shopping and did not want to break it, so it could go back to Portland with her. I am sure she had plans to use it there, probably for entertainment with her friends. Fine with me! I don't like to shop and only go with her because I love her.
Saturday dinner: We were running out of days to use our minimum from the club so we had to use it.
Fish sandwich, shrimp bowl, or pizza
Sunday: This was the last full day for Son1 and Pip to be at our house. It was a swim, pack get things together kind of day.
Sunday dinner: Son1 wanted bbq one last time. It is not that you can't find bbq in Portland, you can. You just can't find that slow hickory smoked jukcy delicious type you can find all over the south.
We were happy to oblidge and invited Son2 and DIL2 to join us. They love bbq too!
Pulled pork, baked beans, collard greens, cheese biscuits, mac and cheese
And with the exception of a flight the next day, our time with them was over. Did I mention how tired I was, since Pip did not go to bed before 2 every night and I stayed up with her watching Young Sheldon. I had never seen it before and it was a cute show, and I shoud know because we watched episode after episode, season after season
What might be on the menu this week?
Grilled tripletail, baked potato, coleslaw
leftover conecuh sausage, leftover cheese biscuits, coleslaw
Veggie dinner TBD
BLT salad
Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad, garlic toast
Something*
Something*
Books read in June
We Could Be Rats (This book has a hard subject matter)
My Italian Bulldozer
The Dutch House
The Friday Afternoon Club
The Year I Turned Pretty**
This is a Love Story***
Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan or with no plan at all.
May all your weeds be wildflowers.
Anne
* I need to clean the fridge and see what needs to be eaten, but I am not in the mood to do it today.
** Read in tandem with Pip. Now I wonder why I am not churning out "Hallmark books" for tweens.
*** Supposed to be good but I found it just tedious
