Hi, my name is Anne and I'm bored

It is now the midpoint of the hot weather here and I am getting bored with summer. There is still a lot to do, but I am just not in the mood to get it done. 

What I was stupid enough to think we might eat

Big salad meal

Veggie meal

Pork chops, mashed potatoes or baked potato, sautéed vegetables

Out to eat (Have a club minimum we need to use by the 31st)

Possibly out to eat again (Son2's birthday celebration)

Crack chicken, coleslaw, rice

Burgers and all the fixings

Joys and what we ate for dinner:

Monday: I went to sleep Sunday night feeling cruddy. Advil cold and sinus and a really good nights sleep changed all of that and I woke ready to take on the day. 

My beloved sister called as I was finishing up a cup of coffee to see if she could swim. I don't know why she calls because she knows she can use the pool anytime she wants to. Since she was coming, I went ahead and suited up too. 

We had a couple of hard but quick rains Sunday and it cooled the pool temp substantially. Laps were refreshing instead of overly warm. 

I was just finishing up when my neighbor came over with her two nieces. I am so glad she was using it like I told her to. I don't have the pool open to the entire neighborhood, but I do have a few neighbors who are welcome any time.

Monday dinner: TheHub and I were on different schedules and I did not even think about cooking until about 6:30. I am not a fan of thawing in the microwave, but sometimes it is essential.

Cajun pork chops, sautéed vegetable medley, mashed or baked potato, 

Tuesday: This was just an average ordinary day with laundry, sheet changing, and just normal chores. It was not an exciting day at all. My neighbors came with their nieces to swim  and beat the heat. At least someone used the pool, because I just did not feel like doing laps.

Tuesday dinner: We had to use the club minimum before the 31, and figured Tuesday night was as good as any night.

Mediterranean chicken bowl or Shrimp and oyster bowl

Wednesday: Wonderful swim! The sun was shining and it was hot as a firecracker, but the water felt great. After the extra long time in the pool and a ton of laps, I was tired and did little the rest of the day, just a few routine chores and some reading.

Wednesday dinner: TheHu did not feel like eating much and I had at l had at least half of Tuesday night's dinner leftover.

Baked potato, cherry tomatoes, or leftover chicken bowl

Thursday: I woke and was ready to go to the produce stand as soon as it opened, but TheHub wanted to go too, so I had to wait around for him to finish up some business. If he would just tell me how long it would be I could begin a job, rather than waiting around  and reading. Instead he kept telling me he would be ready in about 15 minutes.  Two and a half hours later he was ready to go. I could have gone and come back a dozen or more times!

Because he took so long and he still has a high noon lunch mentality, he mentioned that we still had about 20 bucks left on the club dining minimum. While we were out, we called in a to go order of a club sandwich and a chicken salad plate. The portions were huge! We knew we were going out to dinner that night so we decided to share the club sandwich. 

Each half of the sandwich was on skewers with about 10 inches of bread, meats, cheeses, and tomatoes and the rest of the container was filled to the brim with homemade potato chips, more than enough for both of us.

I planned on swimming after lunch but the pool guy came and put shock in the water. I would have to wait an additional 3 hours before I could swim and by then it would be time to get ready to go out for dinner. Drats!

Thursday dinner: It was Son2's birthday and we met them at Season's 52 for dinner.

Scallops, watermelon salad, asparagus and whatever everyone else had.

Friday: Swimming was the name of the game for the day and I started early. The weather report predicted thunderstorms in the afternoon (they lied) so I got the laps crossed off early. If I weren't waiting for the thunderstorms (which finally appeared well after dark) I would have done more laps in the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent running a few errands and avoiding going upstairs to work in the room of horrors.

Friday dinner: We had the chicken salad plate we had ordered the day before. I padded it with a few things from the kitchen and we shared it.

Chicken salad, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, olives, pita quarters.

Saturday: We woke, got dressed and headed to Gee's Bend. A local internal medicine doctor and her clergyman husband dedicate one Saturday each month to provide medical care to underserved communities in the Black Belt* region of Alabama. 

TheHub is heavily involved in the Alabama Parkinson's Association, and in the recent past, one of the board members has started setting up a booth wherever the doctor sets up her temporary clinic, with information on the resources available to Parkinson's patients. . We went to see how The Parkinson's Association can broaden getting the info out into those communities, and to see how they can better service them.

After spending a little time talking with Dr. Ford and Mr. Ford, we are also interested in helping them in some capacity with their charity.

We were there a bit longer than we intended to be, and headed back thinking we would stop for a late lunch in Marion**. That didn't work as planned and we headed north to Brent to eat at The Sawmill. It was a surprisingly large restaurant for a relatively small town, with very slow service. Instead of a late lunch we called it lunner.

Saturday late late dinner: We ate a combo lunch dinner at about 4 and were both a little hungry at 8:30.

Watermelon

Sunday: TheHub has been fighting a sinus infection and I stayed up entirely too late Saturday night reading. As a result we slept until a little after 8 and missed both the early communion service and our regular early church service. We could have gone to either the  9:45 or 11:00 service but we didn't. Instead I made and canned pear ginger lime jam. TheHub did a lot of resting trying to feel better. 

We had a party to attend at 4 for a friend's birthday. It was a gigantic party and we saw people we have not seen in years. 

The best thing was the break in the weather. People milled both in the house and outside and it felt like an early fall day, complete with a breeze and virtually no humidity. It was perfect.

Sunday dinner: We did not realize a meal was planned for the party, but they had an assortment of delicious foods.

Party fare

What we might have this week (possible but not probable)

1. Crack chicken, coleslaw, rice

2. Steak, baked potato, tossed salad

3. Burgers and all the fixings

4. Veggie meal

5. Out to eat

6. Big salad meal

7. Something I have not thought of yet

Books read in August

Fly Away

The Noticer

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

* The Black Belt is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama. The term originally referred to the region's rich, black soil, Much of it in the soil order Vertisols. The term took on an additional meaning in the 19th century, when the region was developed for cotton plantation agriculture, in which the workers were enslaved African Americans. After the American Civil War, many freedmen stayed in the area as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, continuing to comprise a majority of the population in many of these counties.

**Lottie's was not open and we never could find The Shack, but thank you Cindy in the south for the recommendations anyway.