Busy Week

Whew! I need to catch my breath. While the washer and dryer are doing their Monday morning thing(s), I’m enjoying a few minutes of relaxation…cup of coffee in hand, here in front of our fireplace. Thought I’d share my view with you, too. Ahhhhh….

Last week was a super busy one for us, starting with our first-ever Carolina Panthers game on Sunday. I had fried some chicken the night before, so we packed up a cooler and the picnic hamper for some tasty tail-gating, then headed off to join the crowd at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. As #34 DeAngelo Williams (formerly of the University of Memphis) is now a Panther, our interest in the team is more than just sharing the same state with them. (Update: DeAngelo scored the winning touchdown in yesterday's game vs. Tampa Bay!) Our seats are in the nose-bleed section AKA Section 520, and we had some interesting (shall we say?) Redskins fans as seat-mates (one of whom caused quite a “stir” near the end of the first quarter)…but they’d left by the half, the stadium staff cleaned up his mess, it did NOT rain as predicted, and we won the game…so, hooray!

Monday was a little more hectic than usual, with a follow-up doctor visit for N/M/E. Her foot problem is getting better (and certainly not keeping her from bridge…:), so we’re encouraged. Still, if you have the choice, you really don’t want to have had an allergic reaction to the generic medication and have to use the newer, more costly Brand-name version. Trust me on this.

Tuesday, I headed back to ATL for a couple of days. Work. Rain. Dentist. Rain. Back home. About covers it. Oh yeah…I’d downloaded the unabridged edition of Dan Brown’s newest book, The Lost Symbol, from Audible.com before I left…all 17.5 hours of it! So, I popped in my iPod connection, and Lillie Pearl PTC and I had a most enjoyable ride. Meanwhile, I’d put my name on the reserve list at the High Point Library for this book; they called on Monday to say they were holding the book for me, so I swung by the DRIVE THROUGH window (oh boy, howdy...do I ever love a library with online reserving and drive through windows!) on the way out of town…needless to say, I think I’ve found The Lost Symbol!

While in GA, I discovered a new (at least to me) yarn shop in Duluth, called Rare Purls (right). It’s located inside the Knox House, one of the oldest houses in town…one that’s been restored and also houses a restaurant/tea room. Nice break in the work day. No yarn came home with me this time, but I sure was interested in that one that includes camel…! I petted it several times.

Returned home late Thursday to catch up on laundry and email…and have a little time with Mr. T, who had rearranged his work/travel schedule to be able to be close-to-home with N/M/E while I was out-of-town. Bless him and his loving heart!

On Friday, a friend and I enjoyed the French Horn Spectacular program in the Friday Favorites Series with the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh. Lovely music…lovely day. JS then treated me to a tasty luncheon at the Posta Tuscan Grille on Fayetteville Street near the Meymandi Concert Hall…such a pleasant, relaxing, unhurried meal…a great way to renew a NC friendship. I had the Insalata di Pollo, following some tempting bruschetta appetizers. Yummy! We even worked in a stop at a yarn shop on the way out of town called Great Yarns. No yarn came home with either of us…we are both extremely mindful of just how much yarn we already own (me, because I’m still trying to find a place for all of it in all of these moving boxes; she, because she just organized her stash into neat containers at home). Good little girls were we.

And this past weekend? Well, I had wanted to attend the Harvest Days at Old Salem (in Winston-Salem), but the cloudy, rain-threatening weather continued to hang around…so, we decided to devote some time to the projects on our list.

Did I tell you that my pantry shelving was beginning to pull away from the wall…just like the master closet shelving did not too long ago? As we have future-plans (2010-11) to re-do the kitchen, including reworking and enlarging the pantry, our solution to the present pantry problem needed to be quick, relatively easy, and relatively inexpensive. Enter J. C. Penney! I ordered free-standing pantry shelving from their Cooks.com website…and after a couple of days of emptying the pantry, removing the old wire shelves, and patching and painting the holes/wall, we (mostly Mr. T) got the new shelves up and operational. Yeah!

Mr. T also got to check a few more projects off his list. He (and Gus...always the Supervisor on all projects...see the photo, left...:) installed 3 pull-out stainless steel trays in the false cabinet fronts of the kitchen sink and the two bathroom sinks in the master, and 2 valet rods in the master closet…all ordered online from Rev-a-Shelf of Jeffersontown, KY. Sweet!

Finally, since the recent rains had ushered in cooler weather, and frost was predicted for last night, I harvested the ripe peppers, tomatoes, and beans in the garden, and he moved the tender potted plants inside from their Summer homes on the porches. [Check out the photo (left) to see the amount of growth on our largest corn plant…wow!] I’m not sure that we got frost, but we were pretty close. It's only 48 now.

Football and frost? Yes, Fall has arrived! And, we have earned our nap-time, haven't we, Mr. G (right)?