2026 Project 365 – Week Twenty-seven

I had been looking forward to this three day weekend for quite some time. I thought I would probably still work on one of the days, but that I would have at least one day to not leave my house at all. Bliss! But not bliss because it’s been in the high 90s and our house at midday is not very comfortable, so I left my house every day anyway. But on one of those days I didn’t wear makeup! So there!
Sunday, June 28^th                   
I went into the office & then to visit Sue in the hospital. I got a cute photo of my dad, but since I have an even better one of him later in the week, I’ll give you flowers instead. I’m bookending the week with photos of the zinnia pot – and on Saturday I have an extra special surprise involving that pot!

Monday, June 29^th                
This was a TRAGIC day. I had the cutest toppers all laid out to wear with this dress and then I was discombobulated getting ready for work and FORGOT THEM. My glasses were nekkid! I don’t know man. What is the world coming to. One thing that happened is that Sue checked herself out of the hospital! I had been visiting with her & then went to dad’s to make sure he was behaving (he mostly was), and while I was there she called & asked him to pick her up RIGHT NOW. So we went back up there & brought her home.
 

Tuesday, June 30^th  
Got some more Stanley Cup bling, which I promptly wore every evening & then on Friday AND Saturday.
 

Wednesday, July 1^st                 
There was oatmeal somewhere underneath those blueberries.
 

Thursday, July 2^nd     
We have a little rudbeckia (they always look so puny when they first start blooming) and more double-orange daylilies.
 

Friday, July 3^rd  
We had a gathering at Dad and Sue’s house to celebrate the 14^th anniversary of my nephew enlisting in the army. And to help him feel really celebrated, he got to spend a lot of time out in the 90-something degree heat helping my brother grill our hotdogs & hamburgers. Thanks Brandon! (For your service in general, and for that service in particular). We had a great time – and as you can tell, Sue was feeling much better.
 

Saturday, July 4^th   
I went into the office for a few hours (to beat the heat, and get some things done), and then I went by Dad & Sue’s house & serendipitously got to see my other nephew & his main squeeze.  I took no photos of any of that. Instead, I took this photo of my July calendar page & posted it on the socials with this caption: Mood. I love my country too much not to argue with her (& everyone else, apparently). Calendar by Mary Engelbreit. Spice by Penzey Spices.
 

Meanwhile, Dr. M took this lovely photo of his childhood home with this caption: Happy 250th birthday, Declaration of Independence! May your loftiest ideals continue to inspire action on behalf of those suffering abuses and usurpations at the behest of tyrants. This is the house in which I grew up, beautifully restored and flying the flags of the United States and the state of North Carolina.

Finally, here are the kinds of firecrackers that we enjoy these days.

And look! A surprise visitor!
 

Today was church and lunch with the folks, and then a very exciting baseball game (hush – baseball can be exciting!), and now I am writing this post before dinner. This week employees will get their first checks of the new fiscal year with all of their open enrollment changes on them and let us all offer up a silent (or loud!) plea that everything is all right. Amen!

2026 Project 365 – Week Twenty-six

Man, what a week. I was already exhausted from intense data entry all week & then Dad’s wife Sue fell down the basement stairs on Friday. Fortunately, she “only” has a cracked rib, a knot on her head, and a bunch of bruises. Unfortunately, she now has extreme vertigo, so they’re keeping her in the hospital until they sort that out.
Sunday, June 21^st                  
Look Ma – I ate a vegetable! It was pretty darned tasty.

Monday, June 22^nd               
I was trying to get a good photo of this “cage” I used to wear in my hair sometimes, and while this isn’t fabulous (also, I can’t really “do” my hair right now), I thought the photo in photo effect was pretty cool.
 

Tuesday, June 23^rd
There were bees ALL OVER the bee balm (I mean, what are the odds?). Also, there were chickens. Happy sigh.
 

Wednesday, June 24^th                
Stanley Cup souvenir. I’d never held a hockey puck before. Interesting!
 

Thursday, June 25^th    
Summer staples right now – cucumber tomato salad and blueberries! Not eaten together. Although maybe I should try. Hmmm…
 

Friday, June 26^th
I’ve reached the point in my life where I’ve decided that I don’t care about how my arms look in public. However, I actually didn’t spend very much time sleeveless – it was cold in the office! I was especially glad that I had a blouse with sleeves to throw on while I was at the hospital waiting while Sue was in the ER.
 

Double-orange Daylilies & Zinnias! (This is just a zinnia fan account now.)
 

Saturday, June 27^th   
I wore one of my sermon shirts to the office (I got 5 hours of good work done!) and to the hospital, where I had to get a photo of my terribly cute father.

Today was a repeat of yesterday, but I spent less time at each place. I got home around 3:30 today and have had a lovely afternoon at home. However, I just now realized that I still have clothes in the dryer. Oops – better go take care of that! Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.

2026 Project 365 – Week Twenty-five

I didn’t go into the office again this weekend! The next two weeks will be very busy again (our new fiscal year starts July 1^st & I need to get all of the benefit changes entered), but after that my super busy season will be over. Then I need to turn my attention to making sure all my processes are documented for when I have my shoulder surgery in September.
Sunday, June 14^th                  
My father was SO PROUD of his innovative solution to keeping his knee brace up. He’s the king of outside the box problem solving.

MY CAROLINA HURRICANES WON THE STANLEY CUP!!!  I still can’t believe it. What in the world! Sometimes dreams really do come true.

Monday, June 15^th              
Just a very happy (and deliriously tired) Canes fan.
 

Tuesday, June 16^th
I ate breakfast, truly I did, but I still found myself with this little snacky snack at 9:30 a.m. on a Tuesday. (Those are MEGA stuffed Oreos.)
 

Wednesday, June 17^th                
Dr. M’s post from Facebook: Ignore the green one that snuck in, these are fabulous blueberries! Meanwhile, thoughts and prayers for Pop and me. His diabetes is out of control, he has severe edema in his feet and calves, and if I can’t get his diet under control, he’s going to need insulin injections. We are at a crossroads I have been dreading since Covid came to town and threw his diabetic friendly supply chain into total chaos. I hate taking things he loves away from him. I have done it already for his own good, but now I need to convince others that they must do the same. I know that they don’t want to see the horrible consequences of runaway diabetes for a 94 year old, but do they understand what is necessary? Only time will tell.
 

Thursday, June 18^th    
Ms. Pinky is living her best life right now.
 

Friday, June 19^th
It’s zinnia summer! Also, the bee balm is out of control in the best way.
 

Saturday, June 20^th   
For today’s BeReal, I did an “unboxing” photo of my latest Happy Givers haul, but I wanted to showcase my ridiculous hair. I look like a banshee or some such. Made me cackle.
 

I am closing today’s post by stealing a post from my niece-in-law – the mom of the two most adorable great-nephews ever. Enjoy!

If you spend enough time with Grayson, you will quickly come to learn, he is not your typical 5 year old. As his teacher has reminded us consistently, “Grayson is not smart, he is gifted”. Grayson also has ADHD like a mad man. Tie this all together and you can see his brain is like a Ferrari engine, with bicycle brakes He has all these profound thoughts, and adult understandings, that his 5 year old brain just can’t keep up with. We are so proud of him in so many ways, and cannot wait to see where he goes in life. Just be warned, he likes to play “dumb” sometimes just to mess with you. While trying to show off his massive brain, his Uncle B asked him “what’s your favorite cloud” to which Gray responded “a raincloud.” And walked away. The second we left, he looked at me and said “Mama, I didn’t tell Uncle Brad my favorite clouds are Cumulonimbus Stratus!” Send help to his Kindergarten teacher  Cause she is in for a wild ride!

2026 Project 365 – Week Twenty-two

What a week! Worked all the hours in all the land, visited Dad & Sue extra because he has injured his knee and can’t get around right now, watched hockey until the wee hours…
Sunday, May 24^th                 
It was the church’s birthday (Pentecost) and we had cake!

Here is evidence of me taping my hearing aids to my head. Ha!

Monday, May 25^th              
No photo.
 
Tuesday, May 26^th    
No photo.
                                                                     
Wednesday, May 27^th               
I thought I’d be cute & do a video BeReal walking out to my car.
 

Thursday, May 28^th    
Day lilies!
 

Friday, May 29^th     
I worked late every day this week, and today didn’t head to my dad’s until almost 6:15. I visited with them a while and then headed home so I could watch the CAROLINA HURRICANES WIN THE GAME THAT PUTS THEM IN THE STANLEY CUP FINAL SERIES! I could hardly believe it. What a season they have had! Here’s what I said when I posted the photos below to the socials: The Carolina Hurricanes are headed to the Stanley Cup finals! So I guess I won’t be washing this shirt anytime soon. And maybe I shouldn’t shave? Or is that just the players?

 

Saturday, May 30^th   
It was after 1 a.m. before I could calm down enough to go to sleep and THEN I woke up at 6:30 with work on the brain. What the heck. So I went to work & stayed for 6 hours, then went to Dad & Sue’s & visited for a bit (my brother was there!). I don’t have a photo of any of that. Instead, here is a screenshot of a conversation on Threads that made me laugh.
 

Today I went to church, had lunch with Dad & Sue (crab cake sandwich – it was DELICIOUS), then went back to the office for another 3 hours. I am DETERMINED to leave work on time tomorrow. DETERMINED. I’ll let you know how I do. So, three out of my four regular commenters are retired. How jealous do you think I am, on a scale of 1-10?

2026 Project 365 – Week Seven

We warmed up, we cooled back down, we had sun, we had rain. Isn’t March supposed to be the changeable weather month? Or has all that fallen by the wayside with climate change & Mother Nature is doing whatever the heck she wants? Don’t people know how dangerous a woman with hot flashes can be?
Sunday, February 8^th             
I watched the Superbowl for the express purpose of watching the Bad Bunny halftime show. It was amazing – when it opened with the sugar cane I knew he was about to make a statement. Whew! (Also I enjoyed all the other music – Brandi Carlilse singing America the Beautiful, Coco Jones singing Lift Every Voice and Sing, and that white guy singing the Star Spangled Banner.)

Monday, February 9^th         
Today’s mall sermon, plus the stickers that came with the shirt.
 

Tuesday, February 10^th         
There is this new cat that has started showing up at Dr. M’s dad’s house. It’s the doppelganger of his dad’s old beloved cat – and even gets under Dr. M’s feet like Smokey used to. So its name is Smokey 2.0 (even though we’re pretty sure it belongs to someone else & just comes by for food and a nap).
       

Wednesday, February 11^th           
Second mall sermon of the week! This basically says humanity has no future without local agriculture.

Thursday, February 12^th   
Our neighbor has a new dog – Poe! She’s mainly keeping him for a friend who can’t. Dr. M is thrilled to have a new friend to give scritches to. Oh, and there are still chickens roaming around.
 

Friday, February 13^th
Dr. M found the PERFECT shirt!
 

Saturday, February 14^th     
Valentine’s Day: when Dr. M gets tulips for me so that I can watch them open up & then shrivel up. Because I am a weirdo.
 

We have spent a lot of time watching curling and hockey this week. It’s been so much fun! Dr. M gets VERY INTO IT, which pulls me (willingly) along. Do you watch any of the Olympics? I can’t watch ice skating because it makes me too nervous!