Audio Books - Who Knew?

My sweet, lovely, loyal blog reading friend, Sandy (Hey, Sandy!) was texting with me the other day and we got on the subject of books on tape or audio books.  Whatever you call them, it is when someone reads a book out loud to you!  She is a big fan and I told her I had never listened to a book on tape.  She hooked me right up with an introduction to "Audible" an app for audio books.  She also sent me Gone With the Wind as a free sample.

Once, I downloaded the app I couldn't quite figure out how to marry up the free trial she sent me, but that did not stop me from digging around in Audible.  Apparently, the app is smart enough to know the books I have purchased recently on Amazon and made some pretty good recommendations of things I probably would like to read.  It costs a few dollars to get most books, but in my digging around I found several books that are free to Amazon Prime users.  I love me some Amazon Prime, so this was just another awesome bonus.  Pride and Prejudice is a free book and it is a classic, so I decided to listen to it yesterday on my afternoon walk.  IT WAS AWESOME!  The narrator is outstanding.  I could have walked for hours just listening to this story unfold in my mind.   How exciting is that?  Walking and reading without holding a book!  This is going to be so good for me!  I am already on Chapter 18 and can't wait to find more time to listen!

In other news:

• I cooked breakfast at 7:00 a.m. yesterday.  When I got home from dropping Chip off at school around 9:00 a.m., I realized the burner was still on under the pan on the stove.  Holy crap!  I left it on for two hours.  So thankful it was on low and the house didn't burn down.  Now, I will be spastic about checking.  
• Me and Chip went to watch some friends play middle school football last night and got caught in a downpour!  We were soaked!  
• Tonight is the first home game for the Freshman Dragons!  I can't wait!  
• I think there were twelve ladies at Bible Study on Monday night, with a couple more planning to come next week.  That is a full house, but it was all so great!  Love, love, love!  

Hope Hump Day is great for you!  Expect football pictures tomorrow!

Top Ten Tidbits

I haven't done this in a while, let's see how it goes:

1.  Went for a walk with Hubby on Friday evening at a cool walking trail up the road a bit. We were a little late getting started, but it was definitely still light when we left, however when we turned around to head back it was getting dark quickly.  AND, there were bugs.  Lots of them.  We finally made it back to the car and we have gone 2.92 miles.  He wants to walk .08 further to get to an even 3 miles.  It was dark.  There were bugs.  Dammit.

2.  I love the sound of the high school band practicing in the morning.  So cool.

3.  Me and Chip are part of a Mom/Son Service Group and Saturday we helped build a playground.  We built three wooden benches that were being used around an outdoor play stage.  The wood was precut and we just had to assemble it with giant screws.  We were a great team.  At one point, Chip is holding a board and I am bent over using the drill and our heads are literally touching.  He says "Mom, you were right, this is a great bonding experience?  We couldn't be closer.  What kind of shampoo are you using?"  We just cracked up.  We also were on clean up crew and spent some time organizing of all the tools being rounded up and returned.  Fun afternoon.

4.  FOOTBALL!  Watched the Tide on Saturday.  That defense!  Wow!  I am however a little lot concerned about that offense.  Don't tell Chip, but I honestly am ready for them to lose.  It is too much pressure being #1.  Let's lose now and try to claw our way back to the top.  That is how I like to roll!

5.  Harry needs his wisdom teeth out ASAP!  One of them has started moving, breaking through the gum all crooked and mess and crashing into his other molar.  He is in pain.  Boo!  He will be coming home for his fall break for that surgery.   Kind of a bummer way to spend your break, but I will be happy to have him home.

6. I fixed another sprinkler head!  This one was broken off at the PVC connection.  I watched a couple of YouTube videos, cut the broken PVC, cut new PVC, primed, glued and put on a new sprinkler head….and it worked.  Feeling like a sprinkler head BOSS!

7.  Astro has fallen a couple of times this weekend.  More of a trip with a slip, than a fall.  Doesn't seem to phase him.  He gets up and keeps on trucking.  Ugh, I wish he could talk and tell me how he really feels.

8.  Bible study starts tonight!  YAY!!  Can't wait to learn something new about God!  Be challenged!  Do some homework!  I really love my little Bible Study group.  Never know who is coming - could be five - could be 12 - could be a regular - could be someone brand new -  but whoever walks through the door is perfect!

9.  The weather is cooling off a bit.  Feels lovely.  Come on, brisk fall mornings!   Cannot wait to wear a coat for my morning walk!

10.  I watched a replay of the Today show on the morning of 9/11/01.  It was terrifying, even though I knew exactly what was coming.  I will never forget that day or the days that followed.  In the face of all that hate, fear, hurt and tragedy, emotions ran high and at the core of it all….I never loved my country more or felt more like an American.

I hope Monday is super sweet to you and you have an awesome week ahead!

Chip Football Update

The Dragons had their third game last night against Smithson HS.  They lost 22-14, but had two or three unfortunate fumble turnovers that really left them no possessions on offense to close the gap on the score.  It was played on a practice field of a middle school which was kind of weird, but it worked! Next week, the Freshman Football team finally plays a home game at Dragon Stadium!  Yay!  

Here are some pictures of Chip for Mer and Grandpa! 

In other news:

• Astro seems sluggish this morning.  He might be closing in on the end, or maybe he just didn't sleep well.  I will be keeping a close eye on him today.
• My knee feels much better!  Whew! 
• I think the caulking job worked on the shower leak upstairs.  Hallelujah!  
• However, there are two more sprinkler heads that are completely jacked.  Dammit. 
• Working part time is a huge blessing.  I am grateful. 
• Me and Chip are volunteering to help on a playground build service project this weekend.  I think it should be fun!  Hope he does too! 
• I am going to try Nutella stuffed strawberries for one of my Bible Study snacks.  I will take pictures. 
• I listened to "There Will Come a Day" by Faith Hill on repeat 642 times yesterday.  That girl can belt a tune. 

Hope you have an outstanding weekend!  

What's Up?

How are things?

Do you really want to know?

Well, my first thought is….my right knee hurts.  Kinda bad.  But not constantly.  Mostly when I stand up from sitting down.  And when I push on it just below my kneecap on the inside left side.   And for the first few steps after standing up.  However, I walked three plus miles this morning so it isn't debilitating.  But I did take some Motrin and I am going to ice it today.  I think it is from crawling around caulking bathrooms this weekend.  Let's hope it stops hurting soon or I will be furious at that caulk!

Harry is having a mouth problem in Phoenix.  He has a nagging pain in the back of his mouth.  Thinks his wisdom tooth on that side might be trying to come in.  We were planning to get his wisdom teeth out next summer, but may need to do that a little more timely.  Now, I need to find him a dentist in Phoenix to get checked out and make sure that is what it is and not something else that can be easily treated.  It is always something.

I went to the High School Open House last night and met all of Chip's teachers.  He has the nicest bunch of teachers ever!  They all were terrific and I really think he is going to have an awesome Freshman year!   They seem so human and easily approachable when you are fifty.  I hope Chip sees them the same way.  They really do want these kids to succeed!

Bible Study starts back next week. Can't wait!  We are doing Beth Moore's new study.  If it is anything like her others, it will be great!  I found my One Year Chronological Bible and started reading it again today.  I only made it to April 11th.  Going to try to read a little every morning until I have read every word.

Other than that, it is business as usual around here.

How are things with you?

Shoot me a comment!

I hope Hump Day is good to you!  We have Freshman football to look forward to tomorrow!  Go Dragons!

Weekend Update

I love college football so much!  Week one was awesome!  Great, great football games.  Hubby took Chip and his buddy up to Dallas for a Rangers game Saturday at 3:00 in the afternoon and then they walked across the parking lot for the Bama game at 7:00 in the evening.  Pretty sweet weekend!

And the Tide rolled, so that was just a bonus!  Seemed like the start was a little sketchy, but boy did those young men finish strong!  

Harry was in Phoenix watching his Sun Devils win their first game of the season!  They also had a bit of a rough start but finished strong.  Seemed to be the theme of the football weekend.  And what about that Longhorn game?  What a great game!  And who didn't cry when Nebraska honored their punter, Foltz who died in a car accident a few weeks ago.  Talk about a moving tribute. And, even more moving….Fresno declined the penalty.  Just so much sports awesomeness.  

Between catching lots of great football, I got some chores done around the house - which I really love.  The main one was re-caulking the bathrooms upstairs.  What a process! I had caulk from one end of this house to the other!  It is so sticky and messy!  Went through a roll of paper towels.  I have caulked before, but this time I did it correctly.  Scraped every last bit of old caulk out, cleaned excessively with bleach, scraped a little more, cleaned up the whole area, dried with alcohol and only then applied my caulk and tried to smooth it out and make it pretty.  So many steps, but worth it in the long run.  It took forever, but perfect time to do it while the boys were gone and the caulk could dry thoroughly.  Felt like a major accomplishment when I was done!  

And…we still have today to enjoy.  Three day weekends are the best! 

I hope you did something productive this weekend and that your team won!  

Thursday Night Football

Dragons Win!  Dragons Win!  

Exciting night for Freshman Football at Wildcat Stadium in Temple! 

It was a great game to watch!  

Number 54 getting it done. 

Would you take a look at the giant he lined up against most of the night? 

Holy Wow. 

At the half, we were down 8-6.

But the Dragons put some really nice plays together, played tough defense and ended up with a W!  Beating the Wildcats 20-14.  The last play of the game, Temple had a busted play and the kid was streaking down the sideline.  One RRHS player was left to try and stop him from reaching the end zone.  He pushed him out of bounds just as time ran out!  What a game!  

They fought hard.  

The joy of victory. 

My boy.  Big smile!  Way to go, Chip!  Great game DRAGONS!

Household Items

I have been working on my 60 things list…and it is hard.  What do I want to do for the next ten years?  Is crocheting for really old people or would that be fun to do on a cold winter evening?  Do I really want to ride a horse on the beach?  Or would it be better just to see a horse walking on the beach?  Do I want to make a t-shirt quilt for my boys?  They don't want one and would that be sad to give it to them and they use it to cover their patio furniture in the winter?  Do I go realistic (Visit the Deep Eddy Vodka plant) or do I shoot for the moon (Float in the Dead Sea - Where is the Dead Sea?  Is it safe to float? Would that even be a challenge for me since I am a human buoy and can float in the bathtub?)

The struggle is real.

I will keep working on it, but in the meantime let's discuss some household items in this…drumroll please…..my 800th post.  If you have read them all, bless you.  Now, back to the house business. Here are a few things that have been happening at our humble home.

Garage Door - As Harry and Hubby were pulling away from the house to head back to Phoenix something went terribly wrong with the garage door.  I was not home at the time, but word is…it hit a bike and then got possessed by demons and started jumping up and down and ripped itself off the track and bent the metal in the top half of the door.  That's right.  That is their story and they are sticking to it.  I was at a football meeting at the high school when I received a text from Harry that said "As my parting gift, I have destroyed the garage door.  Dad called Sears.  Sorry."

The Sears guy didn't get to our house until about 8:00 p.m. and he was able to get it closed after much wrestling and juggling and pulling and pushing.  Then he sold me a new door because this one really was destroyed.

Shower leaking from all orifices - Over the summer, Harry was upstairs taking a shower when I noticed some water in the downstairs hallway.  It would have been terribly unusual, but for a moment I  thought old Astro had maybe had an accident.  As I am contemplating the small puddle on the floor, a drop of water hits me in the head. I looked up and the water was dripping out of the light fixture…water had filled up the globe and was running out.  Holy crap!  That can't be good!  I went tearing upstairs to stop the showering and hopefully stop the bathtub from falling through the ceiling.  (I have seen too many movies, I think)  Called a plumber.  He came out and thought it really was just a case of the shower head pointing too much against the back wall and the shower not being completely caulked. Didn't seem possible for that much water, but he couldn't find anything else.  So, I re-caulked the tub.  The leak stopped.  A few weeks later Chip is getting in the shower and yells "Mom, you better come see this!"  Now water is leaking out of the front of the tub.  Dammit.  Another plumber call.  The button you push to start the shower was shot so he replaced it.  Hopefully, we can keep the water in the actual shower for a while.

Sod - In the spring, I was hot and heavy into working in the yard.  We had a patch in the back yard where all the grass had died and it was a mud pit every time it rained.  I got about 20 squares of sod and  we covered that bad patch up.  It grew great for a while.  Now, I think it is dying again.  WHY?

Before

After

Now.  

Crap. Too much water, not enough water, too much shade? 

Crop Circles - In other lawn phenomenon's, I think aliens have dug a crop circle in our front yard.  What do you think?

Dead spot that is damn near a perfect circle.  What is this and how do you fix it?  

Sprinkler Heads - We had two sprinkler heads that turned into geysers…no, they are not the ones close to these two lawn problem areas.  So, I went to Home Depot to get replacement heads.  This super nice guy helped me when I couldn't figure out why they didn't have the size I needed.  Turns out, they have these adjustable extenders you can buy and cut to fit the length you need.  Perfect.  I asked him if I could cut them with a box cutter.  He looked at me and said "What is Rule #1?  Use the right tool for the job. No, you can't use a box cutter you need one of these PVC cutters or a hacksaw."  I said "But, I will never use those again."  He said "Rule #2, you can never have enough tools."  I thought that was awesome.  Reminded me of Joe.  Anyway, the guy was so right.  Tool worked great.  Precision cuts.  Repairs complete.

Scissors - Let's get out of the yard and back in the house.  The other day, I was destroying the kitchen looking for a pair of scissors.  Could not find any to save my life.  I cleaned out the two junk drawers in the kitchen island and found ten pair of scissors!

I don't know which is worse…having ten pair of scissors or not being able to find even one of them inside of two drawers!  Blind as a bat.  We have them corralled, at least for a while.  And I also have a place for all our reading glasses!  Maybe I will put one of those on before I start looking for anything else! 

Hope your house is holding up better than ours! 

Have a wonderful day! 

Happy September! 

P.S.  Bama football is coming!  WOO HOO!  Can't wait!  ROLL TIDE!