Where did the time go?

Time is getting away from me. They say that time flies when you are having fun. Time certainly has been flying past me but I have not been having enough fun.

It is feeling more like autumn now than summer. The temperature has dropped. It has been windy, at times, extremely windy. We have been having clouds and it has threatened to rain. We have been getting the gardens ready for winter.

In the evening, I feel so tired I cannot keep my eyes open.

At last, I have a couple minutes to write an entry. It has been a very busy day. As usual, we went to the health club for a little exercise and then stopped at the grocery store on the way home. We had only a few short minutes at home after unloading the groceries and repacking the car with food and cooking utensils that I know we do not have at church. We went to church to prepare and serve a lunch to an unknown number of people who were doing outside autumn clean-up and inside painting.

My family tradition says that you figure how much food you need and increase it a little and then double it. All the time you wonder if you will have enough and just know that you do not. I would be absolutely mortified if I ran out of food. As I said yesterday, I prepared the meat sauce and brought it over to church to have it ready to assemble my casserole. I think that in Minnesota, I am supposed to call it hot dish.

Last night, one of our sons made a recipe of very delicious ginger squares with a thin lemon frosting. This morning he made two recipes of the most sinfully delicious chocolate cake/brownies. Another family brought the remainder of the lunch items and snacks and refreshments.

I am extremely honored to have had the opportunity to feed these wonderful people.

When we got home, Roger and I packed the extra hot dish and popped the bags in the freezer. We left out enough for dinner tonight. Then I washed the two roasters we used to bake the casserole.

When we were done with that, we popped over to Jo-Ann's to use their 40% off coupons to buy two zippers. Because the grocery store is right next to Jo-Ann's, we all of a sudden needed a couple more things.

I think I need to go into the kitchen right now and eat a piece of the sinfully rich chocolate mud cake.

This morning we finished preparing our passport renewal applications. I am just back from the post office to mail them. I think that is the last thing hanging over our heads on the to-do list. At least for now :-)

On the way to the post office, it was raining. I hope this is a sign of more to come. I know that some places are way too wet but we are way too dry.

This morning I went swimming. You would hardly know that my eye had been repaired yesterday. One of my swimming friends said that she also had laser eye surgery yesterday. It turned out to have been done by the same ophthalmologist. Hers was done in another office. If I had known, I could have just as easily gone to that office and then he would not have had to drive between them.

I do need to do some prep work for the casserole I plan to prepare for tomorrow. The remainder of the laundry is moving right along. It looks like a fairly nice day.

Oh and BTW, have you ever heard of Caramel Bits? Wednesday I thought I bought two bags of regular caramels, little cubes wrapped in cellophane. Was I ever surprised when I opened the package. It was full of little unwrapped pellets of caramel candy just a little bigger than early spring peas. I put a small handful down in front of the computer to nibble as I worked but they rolled all over.

Just a Quickie - - -

Thank-you very much for every positive thought. The procedure was successful. It was extremely quick. I am very impressed by medical technology.

Later in the morning, I could have driven myself but my son drove and we both went out for some shopping. I got materials for some sewing projects. He got some desperately needed new clothes. We bought the ingredients to make casserole for people who are working at church on Saturday.

Tomorrow I probably will not be posting. If you can, please send me good thoughts and positive vibes. Sunday a small tear developed in the retina of one of my eyes. The eye doctor checked it this afternoon and scheduled a laser repair tomorrow morning early. It seems like a very simple, straightforward procedure. I think it prevents the tear from becoming larger but does not quite "stitch" it together. I am supposed to be good to go when I leave the office and do what I want to do. I wonder if I will be able to swim Friday morning. I hope this resolves the disturbances in my vision.

Today, the little chipmunk with the short tail was out in the backyard garden. It was a little day brightener.

I feel so overburdened with much to do and not enough time in which to do it. It seems to be contagious. I might have picked it up from the hospital yesterday when I went in for Tuesday morning volunteers. I generally assemble generic record packs that then become personalized for each new patient as they are registered. Somehow, someone got into the blank forms and mixed them all together. It took a while to sort everything out and I felt like I was behind all morning.

I think I brought that feeling home with me because I felt behind all afternoon and still do this morning. I think I need to look for and watch those little chipmunks outside. They are very entertaining.

Whine, whine, whine, complain, complain

Yesterday I went out into the garden to make places for the irises I still had not put back into the garden. I moved a Siberian iris to make a little space and planted the tall bearded iris close together because I just need to see them bloom to be certain that I am not throwing out something I do not have anywhere else in the garden.

The soil is so dry, I had a hard time digging out the Siberian iris. There were extreme fire danger warnings during the weekend. This morning we have the sprinkler out on the backyard gardens. I probably cannot air the pillows today. I have a load of bed sheets in the washer because I know that I can hang them out to dry later. We can only water the lawns and gardens until 11:00 a.m. or maybe as late as noon. We can turn the water on again about 5:00 p.m. That should give me more than enough time for the sheets to dry. I will probably air the pillows tomorrow.

On the to-do list for today is to dust and vacuum the bedroom. I only work in the one bedroom. Our sons are responsible for their bedrooms. I probably ought to give their rooms a little attention because heaven knows they give their rooms precious little attention. After that I need to begin to finish the banners for the two baptisms next Sunday. I did stitch in the names and dates yesterday. Sewing is always fun for me.