It's still raining, and our air-conditioning won't go below 80 degrees, so when we keep the windows open at night, we wake up to a very heavily-humid home. I'd love to get home today and it be alllll better!
This weekend was fantab-u-lous, after a rotten beginning on Friday. On Saturday, we worked all day on getting the house visitor-friendly since some of Neil's work-friends were coming over that night for the UFC fight on this big TV of ours. Neil kept saying "They're guys--they won't care if we don't have napkins. We can use paper towels!" But, as always, I tend to over-do. The house needed it, though--I vacuumed, changed the bedding, cleaned the bathroom/kitchen, and Neil worked on the animal cages , the new futon cover, and installing all new decor. We'd gone on a very successful Hobby Lobby run and wanted to get up all the new stuff we got that day. Saturday night, the men arrived, and I squirreled myself away in our bedroom with the old-TV-setup, Hidden Object games on the laptop, pita & hummus, the Sunday NYTX, and my cell phone to call Emz. I was in there for almost 4 hours, and I felt like I was on vacation!
Sunday was lazy and sort of uneventful, during the day. I had decided I wanted to start on a more effective diet plan, so I asked Neil if instead of getting me the Dansko shoes I'd wanted for my birthday, if I could instead spend the money on some new dietary needs. I know, it's a weird trade-off, but I'm excited--I'm shopping this afternoon at Sam's/Wal-Mart, and will officially begin tomorrow. I know it's going to be really hard, but I want to do this. The first week is always the roughest, and that'll be over with in 8 days! Sunday evening we stopped by Michael's, then Target, and I bought some on-clearance new Dove GoFresh body wash I'd been wanting to try (I used it last night, and I will tell you, that was in-VIG-orating! There were parts of my body tingling I didn't even know I had!) and Oreos for my darling Emily, who I was seeing later that evening. I also got a spray bottle, because I always get overheated on the treadmill at the ARC what with the ONLY ONE ceiling fan they have in the middle of a very long room, nowhere near the treadmills, and it was the aforementioned Emily who told me that in her un-air-conditioned car, she used to keep a spray bottle of water nearby to mist her skin when she got really hot.
Sunday evening I drove, under heavily-clouded skies, to Em's family house, where scores of Lambsons/Southerlands were visiting. It was just one of the most pleasant evenings I'd had in such a long time, chatting with Mr. & Mrs. Lambson, Tamara, Elise, Juli, Joe, and of course, my Emily. We were all bone-tired by 11:30, but it was still hard to leave. :) I don't know why I tend to shy away from other family-homes (Millers, Dubinskis back in the day, even my to-be in-laws!) when I know they'll be crowded--it's always been intimidating to me. Even though I've never been made to feel this way, I get the sense that I'd be intruding upon some family bonding time, or some people will secretly think "Why is she here? This is family only." I know, it's ridiculous! Whenever we all gather at the Dawsons, it's the more the merrier, and that's been the case for every gathering I can think of, from holiday dinners to informal spur-of-the-moment game nights. Maybe I just need to remind myself of that the next time I descend upon a family gathering.
Anyway--Sunday night was so, so wonderful, and I'm blessed to be so welcomed into the Lambson home. I missed Noah, but I'll be in St. Louis before too long.
Monday, we had a plan. First, Taco Bell was in order (because there will be no Taco Bell for me anymore!), and then we drove to Arrow Rock. I'd recently had the idea to show Neil around that
sleepy little town, and Monday seemed the perfect day for it. He brought his camera and binoculars (and I should have brought my book list of what Thornton Burgess books I need, because by GOLLY did the Country Store have a full stock of them, at only a buck. Dang it!), and we stopped at that little fishing area right after you get on the rural highway leading to Arrow Rock. Neil found one basking turtle, but as the day was cloudy, wasn't surprised at the lack of reptilian presence.We arrived to town shortly thereafter, parked the car, and got out to walk. We crossed the most gorgeous wooden plank bridge to the visitor's center (my mind is so focused on weddings these days I couldn't help but think how awesome it would be to take photos there), and Neil stocked up on state park brochures and a camping one for his parents. We went back to the downtown area, and walked along the boardwalk to the aforementioned Country Store (I got a delightfully bright orange Crush, in a glass bottle, and Green Apple Mentos--yum, but I'll have to eat them TODAY!), then sat on a couple of Adirondack chairs facing the street. It was so still and calm, and cool underneath the roof--it felt like we were in another era. Any craziness in life just melted away.
Soon, Quin drove up, got out of his car, and deposited something very familiar on the other side of the road, in the expanse of green grass there. We figured it was a turtle, and waited a few minutes. Sure enough, it came booking it to the road again within minutes, and Neil went over to check it out. To his delight, it was an ornate box turtle--something he'd only ever seen once in person (er...in...turtle?). He brought it over, and set it down on the boardwalk to take some photos. It was so cutely hilarious watching it clump along the boards with its old-man legs, its round shell bobbing side to side. Neil took it back to the woods after a few minutes, and got some great pictures of the little guy in the grass.
I texted Steve: "We're in Arrow Rock, and Quin just put a turtle in the grass that was gonna get run over. Go Quin!"
His response: "Ha ha, that's great. Good ole Quin."
After our drinks were done, we took a walk around the rest of the main part of town, past the theatre and down the hill by the one-man jail. We went to look at this landmark I hadn't ever seen, which turned out to be the most beautiful bluff I had ever seen in the Midwest. It was seriously breathtaking. And would be, of course, another grand wedding photo!
We stepped in the old Saline County schoolhouse, a little more authentic-seeming than the MFA Gardens one because it wasn't immaculate, and included a little bedroom in the back for the schoolteacher.
Though the temps weren't terribly high, after 45 minutes or so of walking, we were pretty sweaty from all the humidity (95%!). We trekked back to the car, and Neil drove us home.
Shortly after we got back, we went to Dad's for a Memorial Day dinner, with homemade italian sausage lasagna, sweet mini bread, and his delectable salad, and made-from-scratch chocolate mousse in the new dessert cups I got him. We had a nice front-porch sit, as always, and it felt so nice and summery--a terrific, terrific ending to a holiday weekend. (And I made PB cookies when we got home, because those aren't on a low-carb menu either!!)
(Dang this blogger spacing! I had many more paragraph spaces in this, but after I added the photo, it screwed everything all to heck. Hey--maybe it worked. In which case, ignore me...no, seriously, I can take it. Don't worry about me. These aren't tears, I swear....*sniff*)
1 comment:
thanks, baby, for giving my family a go and enjoying it. It was so good to see you!!
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