It Was A Relaxing Weekend - Not A Whole Lot Got Done

We had a lazy Sunday. DH worked on his computer for several hours in the morning, then worked in the yard for a couple of hours more. It was a cool day, so although I sat on the patio for a while, I made sure I sat in the sunshine, and we didn't even bother putting up the patio umbrella. 

It was a bit of a lazy Sunday for both of us - something 
that I sorely needed, I'm not sure about DH. Now I 
feel a bit more refreshed and ready to tackle the week 
ahead. 

My neighbor to the South has been building himself a new deck. He was working on that for the afternoon and it's looking quite nice. He's a roofer by profession, so knows his way around construction. The sound of his hammer was unexpectedly soothing. LOL

It's the first of my next-door-neighbor's kids to graduate 
from High School, and he's very proud of her. She has 
two younger brothers still at school, but she's going off 
to a small Christian college in Michigan - quite a long 
way from home. It'll be a lot of new experiences for her 
and I wish her the best. 

On the West side, my neighbor's house has been returned to normal, except for a CONGRATULATIONS sign draped across his garage door. His eldest child, a young woman, had her High School graduation party on Friday night - it was scheduled from 6-9 pm, and probably went closer to 10, but it was a nice crowd of people. They had various shades erected, a bouncy castle for the younger crowd, and a dessert bar for everyone to partake in. I dropped over quickly after getting home from the shop. I wanted to give them my card for Anneka, and then go back home and relax. Although I was offered a treat, I thanked Chris but went home instead. 

The Tavern Grill is quite near our house, between our house 
and my YMCA. I've always had good food there, but this 
is the second time DH has had a meal he wasn't happy with 
here, so I doubt we'll be returning anytime in the future. 

I made up for those calories yesterday when DH and I went to the Tavern restaurant for our dinner. I have always had pretty good food there, but DH is usually disappointed and so it turned out to be again. I had a "Build Your Own Burger" with their gluten-free bun option and some excellent adders. I treated myself to onion rings for my side, and actually used standard ketchup. I'm paying the price in added pounds today, but those pounds will be off in a day or two. No problem. 

DH had their "Breakfast Burger" and it was overcooked, the cheese had melted almost completely off, and there were a couple of other things he wasn't happy about. He brought half of it home, doctored it with more ketchup here, and finished it, but I suspect he won't want to go back again. I totally understand, but it's a shame. I have always had very nice meals there. I'll just have to do a rare lunch there instead. 

So, that was my weekend. We relaxed, watched some TV, did a bit of work in the garden finally putting out the various statues, etc that we keep there, and now it's time for the beginning of a new week. I hope your weekend was also a good one. I'll be back tomorrow - Slava Ukraini. 

Sunday Was a Lot of Hurry Up and Wait

Sunday was a glorious day - it bordered on too hot by the end of the day, but there was a breeze and periodic fluffy clouds, so all was just about perfect. DH got started on the shed right after breakfast and we worked through until 4:30 in the afternoon, after which we cleaned up and actually went to a restaurant for the first time since April. He was in the mood for a burger and I ended up with a lovely order of fish & chips. Everyone was masked except while eating, and social distancing was practiced. All in all, I think it was a successful first foray into public dining once more. 

This is how things looked at the beginning of the day,
before we got started. The two side pieces of the roof
support are up and bolted into the uprights, but not much
else is done on the section. 

We didn't get as much done on the shed as we wanted. Around 11:00 or so, he started fiddling with measurements and a piece of paper, growling that he needed another massive wood supply purchase. So, off to Home Depot he went, while I settled down at the patio in my chair, enjoying the lovely day under my patio umbrella. 

Here's a straight-on view of the woodshed at the beginning
of the day. I don't think you've seen the center section yet.
That center section is higher than the end bays, and it's going
to hold the smaller branches, etc. He's got a vision going here,
and I'm just enjoying the ride. You can see my cross-fence
neighbor, Bob, in the background mowing his lawn. 

He came back with a LOT of wood, and of course, to put it all away, (some pieces were 12 foot high, so almost to the top of the rafters of the garage) we had to move a lot of wood that already was there and do some rearranging. That was time consuming, but eventually we got all of it done, the new wood stashed, the composite boards next to the plywood, and the extension ladder put back into place. Then it was back to work on the shed, but it was already almost 1:00 pm and time was slipping away. 

By the end of the day, we had finished the roof support
on the second unit, and cut and placed the rafters. We didn't
get the front panel screwed in, and didn't put up the braces for
the rafters that will hold everything together. Right now,
it's holding together with "spit and a prayer" as the old saying goes. 

By the end of the day, we had managed to cut the rafters and finish the framework for the roof support, but it was fiddly work and took far longer than it should have. Even with all of the right tools, etc., things just didn't go smoothly. By the end of the day, when we put everything away and decided to go out to dinner, we had most of the roof done. I still feel we should have put the four screws into the front plate before we quit for the day, but DH was done, so we're relying on the clamps to keep everything secure. 

One thing that I am very happy about is this - I can now wear shoes
properly on my left foot - the first time since the end of April. The
swelling in my broken food has finally reduced enough that I can
fit a shoe back onto my foot without great difficulty. It's an
achievement - LOL. 

So now it's 5:30 am and we have a small storm rushing through. I wanted to put tarps out over the new grass at the base of the woodshed, but it's pitch black and my back door/patio light doesn't extend to that part of the yard, If I can't see to put the tarp down, it's rather a wasted effort, so I'm just hoping the rain won't ruin anything that we needed dry, or cause erosion on the bank where we're trying to grow the grass. The rains will be finished by 8:00 am and we're on the extreme southern edge, but it's still worrying me a bit. 

Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Remember - be kind, stay well and please, wear a mask. 

To The Doctor I Go

I'm running a quick post today, on a tight schedule to get to the shop, then to the doctor, and then back to work. It's ridiculous to feel rushed at 5:45 am, but that's my life.

I love my local Perkins and would hate to see it close. I know it had
a hard time during the shut-down, even though they were still
doing take-out. I have no idea who on the staff has returned, but
some of my favorite servers have worked for the company for
more than 25 years. 

On the COVID front, restaurants are now allowed to reopen with interior seating and no more than 50% capacity. My usual breakfast spot is open again, but they are no longer 24 hours, rather the hours are 6:00 am until 10:00 pm. I'll probably drop by there tomorrow, or no later than next week, to see who has returned from their old staff. I've missed them and I haven't had coffee since Stay-at-Home went into effect. It would be nice to have a pot of coffee instead of several cups of tea for a change. But I've been enjoying my breakfasts at home too, and it saves me some serious money, so I'll have to work out a compromise.

St Louis ribs are quite different than baby back ribs. They should
be slow cooked over indirect heat, but rolling them into the
crock pot at low for eight hours works great too (in a time
crunch? Cook on high for four hours instead),. 

DH has decided he wants the other rack of the St Louis Ribs for dinner on Sunday, so I pulled them out of the freezer yesterday to defrost. I'll get them into the crockpot either late Saturday night or very early Sunday morning. They were pretty good when I made them that way - meat falling off the bone, and it's an easy cook, so I'm looking forward to them.

I broke five bones in my foot and ankle, but it was the ankle
that was concerning everyone the most. A break there could
end up crippling me, and I wasn't in favor of that at all! We'll see
how well I've been healing today. 

So, I'm looking forward to what the doctor tells me about when I can ditch the walking boot. I would love to get rid of it for sleeping - just wrap up in an ace bandage instead. I was also thinking that some lace-up boots would be a good idea - ankle support and all that - but they're really expensive and I'm thinking the Ace Ankle Stabilizer I purchased several weeks ago might do the job just as well without the $150-$300 expense of a good pair of boots.

I bought an ACE Ankle Stabilizer several weeks
ago. I'll ask my doctor about using it. I hope it
will take the place of a lace-up boot. I should
probably find a waterproof one also for the
pool. 

So that's it for today. I'll let you know what the doctor said in tomorrow's post. Have an excellent Friday and, as always, stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow.

Brunch - Baldamar v Tavern Grill - We Wanted To Know

According to Dreamwidth, they brought new servers onto their network to handle increased demand and a larger membership, but since those servers hadn't previously been recognized by Live Journal, they were bounced as a security measure. The cross-posting problem that many of us have experienced is being worked on. What's going to happen on my end is I'll try cross-posting every day, but when it fails, I'll hand-post to LJ. I realize that's formatting hell, but hopefully this will be resolved quickly and things will work smoothly once again. 

This is not my photo, yesterday was foggy and grey. However, the
entrance to Baldamar is quite impressive and the interior is
lovely. 

DH and I had a holiday/birthday brunch at Baldamar Steakhouse. It was very nice with excellent service and there were a few standouts for me. I loved my endless Mimosa drinks (champagne and orange juice - light and airy), and the prime rib was excellent. I think my favorite was the shrimp, which was accompanied by a spicy cocktail sauce that I loved. The coffee was decent - fresh ground and strong, and I totally fell in love with their cheesy potatoes. 

The Baldamar Prime Rib and Eggs Benedict station featured
a very nice prime rib. I passed on the eggs Benedict. 

DH and I walked out of there stuffed. Although we snacked a little bit for the rest of the day, we really didn't actually eat anything much more. Since our reservation had been for 9:00 am, I was impressed. Would I go back? Yes. Is it my favorite brunch? Probably not. I think we both agreed that the Tavern, also relatively close to us, had better food because there we could order an omelette of our choice to start the meal. Cost was probably a bit less too, at the Tavern, but cost isn't really the point of a special Sunday brunch. 

Tavern Grill is also close to us. Again, it's a single large room broken
up into seating areas and tables, but it tends to be noisier. Still, we
enjoyed our brunch here a bit more than at Baldamar, even though we
would go to either one without hesitation. 

We relaxed, digested, and watch football games for the rest of the day, while I handled some emails from the shop and got some stuff ready to go for our final two day of our Four-Day Sale and our end-of-year reports, etc. I'm already looking forward to my Wednesday and Thursday off. So, let's see if the cross-posting issue is resolved. I'm not holding my breath - LOL. I'll be back tomorrow. Enjoy your day! 

Acting On A Reward - Food and An Alert

Every once in a while the stars align and I get a treat. Yesterday was one of those rare days when time and circumstances merged and possibilities existed. You may remember when Sharon visited at the end of August/beginning of September to attend the State Fair with me. As always, we kicked our vacation time off with a lovely dinner at Red Lobster - a favorite place to eat. I am a member of their purchase club, even though I only eat there a few times a year. So, I scanned my receipt at the time and received a reward. Huzzah! It's always wonderful to receive an award - LOL. 

I joined the rewards program in the spring, but
since I don't eat there often, hadn't cashed
in my reward until yesterday. It was a
lovely lunch and I enjoyed it a great deal. 

My reward consisted of a choice of three things, but of the three I was only interested in one: a free "Choose Your Own Lunch Combination" meal. There was a deadline by which it had to be redeemed, of course, but that date was in November, so I had plenty of time. Yesterday, the stars and the laundry and the errands all aligned and I decided to indulge. 

I do love their biscuits, and indulged by eating
two of them! I'll have to work extra hard in the
swimming pool today to get the two pounds
back off, and it was worth it! 

It was delightful. I chose grilled shrimp and grilled scallops, I indulged in lobster and cheese mashed potatoes for my veggie, and it also included a side salad and their cheddar-baked biscuits. I added in a glass of iced tea. Total for the meal ... $4.28! Ridiculously inexpensive and oh, so good! I added a nice tip to make the total $10 and considered it well worth it. I even got points for the lunch added to my rewards account for my next reward. Total SCORE! 

The signal for the Presidential Alert was loud and somewhat
obnoxious, but I think it's quieter than that used for Amber
Alerts or tornado warnings. 

While at lunch my phone went off with the Presidential Nationwide Emergency Alert. I had been expecting it, so it was a simple matter of one-two seconds to push my phone screen and silence the tone, but I did find it amusing to hear it from many other phones throughout the restaurant. Did you get your phone emergency noise yesterday? Although it was supposed to have reached all electronic phones, etc., there apparently were some people whose phones did not buzz the alarm. It's an annoying sound, but I have to admit that the Amber and Silver Alert sounds are worse. 

So, with memories of a lovely day behind me, errands and laundry accomplished, plus a wonderful hour-long chat with Aearwen, I called my Wednesday complete. I'm ready to return to the work world now, so Thursday be warned! Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Vacation Indulgence

The first 10 laps when I returned to the pool after a week off were killer, but after that, the pool and I seemed to come to an understanding. I'm hoping today's swim will be a bit easier. Not having a pool available for my daily swim is the major disadvantage of my annual attendance at the Bead & Button Show. There is a fitness center in each of the two hotels I have stayed in, but no. I have tried that in the past, and I'm really not fond of treadmills, stationary bicycles and resistance weight machines. So I didn't get to truly exercise at all while I was out in Milwaukee, and I felt like a total slug despite the walking, (which I did a lot). I was so very happy to get back to the swimming pool yesterday.

My first dinner in Milwaukee was Volcano Chicken at "The King and I"
Thai restaurant. The meal was wonderful. Although I wanted three star
spicy, the waiter recommended two stars. He did bring extra spice for me
just in case, and I sprinkled that on to make it beautifully hot and spicy.
I got enough to have a to-go container for an equally lovely second meal
the next night. 

It was also a pleasure to come home and eat properly once again. A reasonable breakfast and a sensible dinner were so welcome last night. I think food is one of the most difficult things on any trip. I actually had some great food while in Milwaukee, but everything seems higher in calories, and I was sitting all day in workshops so I wasn't working it off.

I ended up with several of these over the six days. This is the Turkey
Havarti sandwich at the Bistro 333 in my hotel. It's always a
winner - light turkey, just the right amount of cheese, and a
slice of pear to bring a touch of sweet to the sandwich. 

But easy come and easy go. I gained six pounds on my trip and as of this morning, I've already lost three of them. Now to focus for the rest of the week and get rid of the rest of the pounds gained. It's not easy, but I consider it essential. I'm hoping that by the time Saturday and the 50-meter pool roll around, I'll be able to keep up in the water once again and my weight will be back to pre-Bead & Button Show levels.

My lunch spot is usually the Miller Time Pub across the street from the
Convention Center in the Hilton Hotel. It's very close to the classrooms,
so very convenient, and I can sit at the bar, get served quickly, and get back
to the classroom with time to spare. It's bar food - neither good nor
bad - but the service is good and the kitchen is usually efficient and fast. 

When you go on a trip do you give yourself permission to indulge a bit more? Do you eat new things or explore new places? What do you do when you return? I unpack, immediately toss my clothing into the laundry and start the load, and often will go out with DH for a nice meal and a report about my trip before settling back into my more placid life. It's going to take "forever" to catch up on posts and emails, though. If you posted something that you don't want me to miss, please make a comment or email me directly. Otherwise, enjoy your Tuesday while I continue to try and catch up on the past week. Happy day to all!

The Tavern - I'd Go Again

Yesterday was my "day off" and with Aearwen unavailable for our weekly chat, I focused on B2MeM instead, and also tried out a new local eatery with possibilities for a nice meal with Matt and Liz, good friends who I don't get to see very often. I posted the "Limited Palette" pen and ink drawing I made for "Nerdanel at Mandos" late yesterday on the B2MeM boards. That leaves me with a post on Fandom Recommendations and and Original Essay to finish out my month. It was fun to pull out my easel and do some artwork, although I'm out of practice so everything took a bit longer. My automatic eraser had died, so I had to go quickly and get a new one. Fortunately they're not expensive, and I now have a new one that I'll store a bit better.

Lunch - A grilled chicken fillet with Swiss cheese and a slice of
grilled pineapple on a croissant bun with waffle fries and Bourbon
Red bar-b-que sauce. The ketchup for the fries is on the right, the
bar-b-que sauce is on the left and they're in clever holders to
allow for hands-free dipping. 

Onward to lunch, which was really nice. The Tavern Grill - Restaurant + Bar opens at 11:00 am, and I didn't want to carve a huge chunk of time out of my day, so I was there by 11:05 am or so. I was glad I was early, I had a chance to really look over the menu and the place was already pretty busy by the time I left an hour or so later. I ended up using their Build-A-Meal menu choices to build a chicken sandwich.

I asked for two of my options to be on the side - the coleslaw 
and the sliced black olives. They were wonderful
add-ons as I was eating my chicken burger, but I wanted
that slaw separately and I was really happy I made that
choice. The bar-b-que sauce was light, very pour-able. 

As you can tell, I loved my lunch. My plates are totally
cleaned up. It was really good food and the cost wasn't bad
at all. Their beer list isn't great, but they do have Guinness,
so I'll be happy when I come back if I decide to indulge. 

I have to tell you - it was fantastic. I mean REALLY good. The fries were perfectly seasoned and properly crisp, the chicken wasn't soggy, the Bourbon Red bar-b-que sauce was a light sauce with just a touch of sweet, and getting some of the toppings on the side meant I had a nice side of coleslaw and could sprinkle my black olive slices as I wanted.

I used their Build-A-Burger menu - lots of options
so you can get exactly what you want. Normally I
would have opted for Onion Rings instead of fries,
but I wanted to check the fries out and I was really
happy that I did. 

The Build-A-Pizza menu looks really good too. Some
excellent choices on there, including a gluten-free
crust for a small additional charge. 

To drink, I had a raspberry iced tea, and it wasn't too sweet. It came with a free refill, but one glass was just perfect for me. The best part? The whole meal was less than $12.50! I thought it was a really good deal for a really nice lunch. I'd definitely go back again. I'd like to try one of their "Build Your Own Salad" options, and they have a Sunday Brunch from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm every Sunday before switching over to the regular dinner menu. I'd like to try that too.

I want to try their Build-A-Salad, maybe the
next time I go back, because there WILL be a
next time. There are so many choices! I'll have
to study the listings and really figure out what
I want before I go there again. 

I mentioned that they have Brunch on Sundays. They
have a Build-A-Bloody Mary choice menu too, with
munchies, vegetables, flavorings and specific vodka
choices listed. Yummy! 

I peppered this with photos, partially to show what I had, and also making up for yesterday's short and lackluster post. I hope you have a totally terrific Thursday in all respects and I'll be back tomorrow.

Eat, Dream and Celebrate

It's the weekend, and I'm really pleased about that because I need a day off. I probably should vacuum the house and wash the kitchen floor, but that's not major time, just a couple of hours. There are three new eating places that have opened in our general area over the past few months. Maybe we'll try one of them for tomorrow night's dinner - or maybe not. Although I'm doing well with my weight, keeping stable, DH is fighting a gain and he probably won't be losing again until he continues his outdoor work on the castle this summer. Even though the castle walls are almost complete, there is a lot of landscaping to do, we need to get the shed installed, and the patio needs to be stripped, re-leveled and repaved.

The Tavern Grill opened a month ago and I pass by it every day on my
way home from the YMCA. They even have a Sunday brunch and a
lot of gluten-free offerings. I'm going to see if I can get DH there and if
he likes it, it may be a perfect place to have our friends Matt and Liz
join us for a meal. 

Of course, to build more onto the castle, he'll need the days off which he can have if our sales are up at a level where we can continue to afford to pay Chickie. If our sales are too low, we'll probably have to lay her off for a month or two and that would mess everything up for everyone. I'm hoping for creative people to come through our doors and buy lovely components to make colorful items for Spring. A girl can hope, right?

Daydreams is still being worked on, but I found this lovely photo when
looking for an image and couldn't help but share. I hope you like
it as much as I do. 

B2MeM 2017 will be entering its final week next week. I'm working on story #26 now and it's almost ready to release, so I'm still on track for my full 31 plus Wild Cards and Acts of Kindness. I posted  "Marketplace Rumors" yesterday, another story where I had written a lot of words that I threw out, compressed, and streamlined into bare bones. The story was running away from me and not in a good way, so a firm hand was necessary. I'm currently working on "Daydreams". It should be ready to post later today, just a bit more work and some polishing.

Monday's blog post will be number 2500! I'm
celebrating one post early because it'll be a
short post on Monday. Whee!!! 

So, have a wonderful weekend. Monday will be my 2500th blog post, and I'll be celebrating, although it will be a short post because time will be limited. Still, it's a major milestone, so I'm popping the bubbly a post early.

It Was A Relaxed Sunday

We had a "no plans" day yesterday, which meant DH was working on figuring out the next item he needs to build to help us get organized, while I cleaned and vacuumed. What a wonderful thing! The house needed a good vacuuming, and I was really happy to get going on it. We took a quick trip to one of the lumber supply stores, but only as a scouting mission. DH then went down and redesigned what he wanted to make. Hopefully it will be even better now. I, in the meantime, went ahead and 'Swiffered' and mopped the kitchen floor. Heaven for a clean house!

Vacuuming finished, now to clean the kitchen floor. 

Around 3:30 pm DH came and asked if I would rather celebrate our anniversary with dinner out instead of waiting until next Sunday as we had originally planned. Next week has turned into a problem because I have a colonoscopy exam scheduled for Wednesday and my food restrictions begin on Sunday. We had originally planned on a nice day at our favorite small rock show, followed by a meal out to celebrate, but if I was going to have food restrictions, it made ... well, it kind of ruined that idea. So he thought having dinner a week earlier might be better. He was right.

The Garlic Shrimp Scampi is always one of our favorites. Because we only
had shrimp, no lobster or crab, the meal was very affordable too. 

So I changed clothing and we went to Red Lobster for their "Endless Shrimp" promotion. It was quite yummy, and we both ate too much. The weight I gained will be off by mid-week, and it was very worth it. It was a wonderful and relaxed meal and we both enjoyed the many flavors of shrimps that we ate. We both think that their garlic shrimp scampi is still their best variety, but others that we tried were quite tasty too.

So today it's back to the pool and a quick trip to the Chiropractor for my every two weeks adjustment. We'll enter the final week of the Beads Shops Hop today, and it's been a great experience. I think the number of "Hoppers" will ramp up this week, and that Saturday, the final day of the Hop, will be quite busy. Have a wonderful Monday!

Busy Bees - My Weekend Construction Catchup

It was a busy weekend in road construction, so I wanted to catch up before the next phase starts. On Friday they were working across the street, so nothing much happened by me. I went out to explore in the early morning.

The new concrete at the corner is complete. They did a really nice
job and it slopes down in wide pathways for strollers and wheelchairs. 

I saw the finished street curb at my next door neighbor's. It now extends much farther into the intersection, eliminating a turn lane that had been there, replacing it with a broader pedestrian crosswalk. Out intersection is quite busy between the college bookstore and pharmacy across the street, and the coffee shop and my own store. Passage back and forth is frequent. One goal of this project had been to increase pedestrian safety when they were crossing.

I'm more and more impressed with the skill of the various
construction workers that I see on this project. It's hard
to form the sidewalk perfectly and even it out, but this guy
made it look easy. 

On the side of my neighbor's shop, they had poured a last bit of concrete and one guy was shaping and smoothing it out. The upper curves of the curb are shaped by hand without a mold or form. There's some real skill being demonstrated by the various construction workers on this project.

The dinos are lurking. Beginning with the blue Velociraptor directly in
front of my store, there are two yellow T-Rex machines patiently
waiting a bit farther down the block. 

Looking down the street on Saturday, Directly in front of my door was the blue Velociraptor followed by two of the big yellow T-Rex machines standing in wait for this week's work. It's a bit intimidating.

Look at that new white concrete, and then look
at the new dark black just behind it. That's the
new bituminous roadway they put in on Saturday.
It's almost a foot thick! 

Saturday's work, however, turned out to be a different company laying and compressing almost a foot of bituminous roadway to connect the new sidewalk to the roadway. It's quite beautiful now.

This was what we wanted to order - crab linguine, split king crab and a snow
crab claw. They were sold out of the king crab and told us we could substitute
anything we wanted, so we substituted Maine lobster tails. Yummy! I also
indulged with mashed potatoes and lobster for my side. So yummy! AND, I lost
a pound. Call me happy - LOL. 

I hope you had a great weekend. DH and I finished the pantry (well - at least 95% worth of finished) and went out to Red Lobster to celebrate. It's crab fest time, and we indulged in snow crab, a Maine lobster tail and Crab linguine. I took my linguine home in a box. It'll be a great dinner for tonight. Have a wonderful Monday - I'm off to swim.