Thump!

It was back to reality with a "thump" today as my alarm went off at 3:15 am. Time to rejoin the real world after two days off. I ended up gaining three pounds over the holiday weekend (WAAAAY too much food) but I'll be in the pool in a little more than an hour, beginning to work that back off. We had mini steaks and burgers on Sunday and brats and cheese-stuffed hot dogs on Monday, not counting bunches of side dishes and desserts. It's no wonder I gained, but it could have been much worse.

The mini sirloin steaks DH bought were grilled perfectly! 

I leave for Bead & Button Show in a week so I supposed I'd better get my suitcases out of storage tomorrow and actually take a very careful look at what items I need to have along with me. I've had some years where I packed weeks early, and a few where it was packing on Sunday to leave on Monday. I'm a pretty accomplished packer, so it's not traumatic, but I still have to actually think about things. Silly me.

Rolls of sod are a quick and easy way to get grass going, but placing it so
that it doesn't have annoying seams can get tricky. We ended up using six
rolls of sod at the top of our stairs to help keep soil erosion during rainstorms
to a minimum. 

DH worked on the castle all weekend. On Sunday we started the day by stuffing Minion full of dead branches to take to the landfill, then we went to Home Depot for landscaping rocks and gardening stuff. We ended up with six rolls of sod too and he spent most of the rest of the afternoon getting the sod placed and planting the various plants he had purchased along the curves in the wall.

Saturday's swim in the outdoor pool resulted in this nice bruise
on my knuckle from hitting the lane rope. It seems totally healed
now, though, so even though it looked awful for a day or so, it
wasn't all that bad. 

On Saturday I had my first session in the 50-meter outdoor pool. I was very pleased that I managed to swim pretty well, but I'm much slower than most of the other swimmers. Fortunately the two people I was circling with were at a similar pace, but I guess that speed is one thing I will have to try and work on over the coming year. I'm a bit torn today about swimming indoors or out. Out is a lot of fun, and certainly does test my stamina, but the lanes are slightly less wide and I hit myself on the lane ropes more often. I'll play it by ear and go where it's less crowded.

Hope you have a great Tuesday. I'm going to enjoy the water one way or another today.