Happy Birthday Mama!

Last night while I was in the tub washing off the remnants of the bottle sorting, a huge storm whipped up.

When I got out mom was at the back door checking on things.

I was concerned that the gazebo we'd finally just gotten up would be blown away.

Mom was concerned about the bottles that we'd just finished sorting and wanted me to put them in the gazebo.

So I got my housecoat on and went out into the storm and moved them all.

My housecoat weighed about a hundred pounds when I was finished but I got them all moved.

I am happy to say that when I got up this morning, the gazebo was still standing.

There are all the bottles I moved in the pouring down rain.

I also tried to give my plants a little shelter last night and they seemed to fair out ok.

Boy - we are sure getting our fair share of thunderstorms this summer so far.

The bottle guy was supposed to be coming to pick up the bottles at 7 am this morning but by 9:30 I still hadn't heard anything so I called to check with the fellow that arranged it.

I found out he was running late and wouldn't be there until around 10:30.

I had planned to go to WCT to get some groceries - I remembered it was mom's birthday tomorrow so I invited everyone over today for supper to celebrate.

I did some laundry and things while I was waiting for him to show up and by 2:00 pm he still was not here.

I also finished watching the last two episodes of Big Little Lies and I guessed at the ending and I was right which made me happy because I really liked how it ended.

Think I will look for the book to read now - in my experience, the book is often better than the on screen version so it should be a good one.

I was getting so irritated because I felt like I was wasting my day just waiting.

It was after 2 when he finally did show up and my irritation just melted away, I was so happy to be getting the show on the road.

After the bottles were all picked up, mom & I made a quick trip to WCT.

We picked up stuff for supper then I stopped at Canadian Tire to get some plants for My Honey.

He wanted me to just pick up some stuff that was on sale so he could plant it in our front flower bed.

I had to really search through what they had to find ones that were still alive but I found some.

I also had my opportunity to do my good deed while I was there.

This young fellow who worked there was waiting in line to get a drink for his break I think.

I had got in line behind him but noticed a "lane closed" sign on the belt so I went to another line.

He'd been waiting there so I figured he would be ok but a couple minutes later he got in the line behind me and I had a huge cart full of plants.

So I told him to go ahead of me in the line up.

Only a small thing I know but it still counts.

We grabbed some Mickey D's before heading home.

As you can see, I'm still in a food funk.

I got fries mostly so I could dip them in this Hot Mustard sauce that I love.

We got home around 6 which is when I told everyone to show up, in fact my brother and the kiddos where already there.

Luckily we'd picked up already made salads, veggie trays and desserts so all I had to do was grill the chicken, steak and smokies.

+

It didn't take long to bbq and supper was ready.

Good thing too because everyone was hungry.

So now we are dining al fresco again and getting an opportunity to use and enjoy the gazebo already.

He calls this the garbage and loves to through things in there.

As you can see - he is a little wet.

I picked up a little pool for he and his sister to use and my brother filled it for him while I was bbqing.

He didn't hesitate and jumped right in.

Mom is looking good.

Miss M and Mr T made an appearance.

As did Miss A and my brother Mr R.

My supper, potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, steak, chicken and raw veggies.

It was pretty good.

Love catching a picture of him with a big grin.

My silly boy is always making faces - I love his goofiness so much.

Mr H stole dad's chair.

Not sure if any of the icing from the cupcake made it into his belly or if it all just landed on his face.

Icing mustache = the new milk mustache.

My Honey got home and Mr H was excited - he just loves him.

He also still loves balloons and was loving this one he got from his big sister as a belated birthday gift.

My mama & I.

After everyone left My Honey got busy weeding out the flower bed in the front and preparing it for planting.

It was hard, dirty work and he decided he would finish it up tomorrow, it's looking good though.

The backs of my thighs were just burning today.

Must be from the bottle sorting yesterday, I was doing a lot of bending.

It feels like I was doing squats all day, it's a good thing but also a reminder that I need to get working out again.

Earlier today when the bottle guy picked up the bottles, I had added them all up and just told him the totals when we were at my place.

Then we went out to the Golf Course to pick them up there as well and those I hadn't added up.

While he was adding them up I was too in my head and I came up with a different number than he did.

I mentioned it to him and so he put the numbers in his calculator again and he was right.

That got me thinking about the ones I had added up though so this evening I looked back at my numbers (thank goodness I still had the paper) and turns out that I had added them wrong at home too.

I told him we had 900 more bottles than we actually had which works out to $90.00.

I felt so bad that I called him even though it was 10 pm when I realized it.

I wanted to get the money back to him somehow (he isn't from here in town) but he said not to worry and he would catch me next time.

How great of him - I still feel bad about it but I really need to make sure I remember for next time which may not be for months.

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Now it's flashback time.

July 2015

On this day in 2015 we took a train trip from NYC to Philadelphia.

First thing we did when we got there was check out Reading Terminal Market.

My Honey saw this place - Dinic's - on an episode of Man vs. Food.

Like I've said before - he has an awesome memory for stuff like this.

We tried out a couple of sandwiches - perfect way to start the day.

We left there and found a Hop On Hop Off Tour as we find they are a good way to explore a city initially.

Our first "hop off" destination?  The Rocky statue and steps of course.

Me striking the pose - ha ha - I didn't quite get it right.

My Honey opted for his own pose.

My Honey actually ran up the steps.

He made it to the top!

I made it to the top too but I must disclose that I did not run them, I walked.

Next stop was the Liberty Bell.

We got there just in time because after we left the line up just quadrupled in size.

Again - it's amazing to see these iconic things in person.

Then because we were in Philadelphia we just had to try a Phili Cheesesteak.

This is a place My Honey had heard of that we were passing by so we gave it a try.

We tried a couple other places through out the day that day as well but this one was my favorite.

We had the deep fried beans too and they were so good.

We did a lot of walking looking for a pizza place My Honey had heard of and it was scorching hot out so we had to stop for a drink.

I felt like a rootbeer, it was ice cold and hit the spot.

It was great timing too because while we were sitting under this overhang, a little rain shower came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly as we were finishing up.

We found the place, it was called Slice.

It was worth the walking.

Later on we saw this pop up garden bar show thing and this fellows costume was startling at first but kudos to him for pulling it off.

Tried a cannoli while we were there.

I think of them more as a famous New York thing but this was the best one I have ever had.

They filled the shell with the cream while I watched and then drizzled it with caramel.

I always thought I would be a cannoli fan but have never really been blown away by them until this one.

Nearing the end of our day we were hanging out by this fountain.

This little girl was cooling off and loving it.

The whole family was enjoying the fountain and it was nice to see.

Even this little guy was having a great time.

It was a pretty part of town.

We had a great day here in the City of Love!

We finished it off with a man offering insisting to take our picture for us in front of this sign then informing us afterwards that we owed him $5.00 for doing it.

Oh well, we do not often have pictures of the two of us together on our travels unless they are selfies so it was worth it to us.

Until next time, be happy!