Ciao Summer

(8/1) Happy birthday to me! I worked today and my sweet coworker brought me Starbucks and a cake pop. My work peeps also happy houred with me at the end of the day. Dad brought home a cheesecake sampler which we demolished after dinner. It was a good day.

(8/2) I had the day off and went to lunch with Nanan. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed burgers and some amazing tots. We stopped by a beautiful nursery and wandered but didn't purchase. I'm running out of plant room!

(8/3) Sarah and I met for a walk before I settled in to work from home. On the docket today were a bunch of errands and a car maintenance appointment for Dad and the boys had another summer day of sloth. J bought a new game tonight so decided on no movie tonight. We sure have been having fun watching shows with him!

(8/4) TGIF! I worked from home today. I'm trying to get all my tutorials done to hand off to marketing before I go on vacation next week. And of course today would be the day of freak problems that ran past quittin' time. But hey, thankfully the commute downstairs is super short! J chose Spaceballs for tonight's movie. One of our faves!

(8/5) We met a friend for brunch at Purple. I had the ham bene and a mimosa flight. I had a serious food coma after we got home and decided on a quiet afternoon in reading my book while Dad ran errands. We watched a couple of classics tonight: Clue and Men in Black.

(8/6) What a day! First our little Chihuahua friend had an adoption meeting. This family seems ready to take on all his quirks and we wish him well! When I got home, I had a text from Nanan about her cat needing to get to the vet urgently. She wasn't able to find him, so I ran up and helped wrangle him into a carrier and off to the ER we went. It was a good thing we got there when we did as the poor buddy had an urinary obstruction. He'll be spending a few days there recuperating.

(8/7) I worked from home today and intended to do my tutorial videos but things were broken, so I'll have to see what I can squeeze in over the next day or so. J has been on a cooking kick lately and tonight we made breakfast for dinner. He did waffles and scrambled eggs and everything turned out great! He is just like me though. I told him we would be cooking in a few minutes and he headed out for a walk. Dad laughs at me because I immediately start a project or wander away when there are two minutes left til dinner. He got a chuckle out of me receiving some of my own medicine.

(8/8) I worked a half day in the office today. I came home early to pack and then headed up to Nanan's to help her with her kitty's care. He got to come home from the hospital this morning. Poor guy was not happy about being kept in the bathroom nor with the meds he was given. But it's temporary! We stayed up late since his meds were on a 12 hour schedule and we wanted to make sure he got the next dose on time.

(8/9) I went to an doctor's appointment with Nanan this morning. We think it's the 18th or 19th visit since January ~ this aging business is not for the feint of heart. We still have more to do, but are making progress on our list. We hopped on the freeway to make a Target run afterward and as I was getting off the ramp, I got rear-ended. No visible damage, but we just bought the car! I was supposed to go down and catch a Mariners game with my biological siblings this evening but was feeling so fried that I rescheduled our meet-up to tomorrow.

(8/10) Sarah and I went for a walk and I got to debrief after a couple of heavy days. Then Dad, C and I piled in the car to have lunch at the Elephant and Castle with my brothers. It's been five years almost to the day that we met up for the first time. It's so cool how we're so much alike with all of us growing up in different families and situations. The genetics in this crazy are strong!

(8/11) Sarah and I went for a walk this morning and I came home to do a little work to get everything set for next week. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. J made cookies tonight and I think we missed some flour plus we over compensated with sugar?? They came out looking terrible and were a straight shot of sugar. Looks appetizing, no?

(8/12) It's heating up in our corner again and I went out and did some yardwork before it got too hot and then finished when the hottest part of the yard was in the shade. We watched Free Guy with J tonight. He liked most of it, but it was slow for him in parts.

(8/13) We had such a fun day! We went up to my brother's huge pool to swim and hang out. I once again totally forgot to get many pictures, but the kiddos had a blast!

(8/14) Dad headed back to work today. Vacation is never long enough. Sarah and I went for a walk before it got stupid hot. We spent the peak hours in with the a/c. Today was Noodle's sixth birthday, and we celebrated with the traditional birthday bone shared between all the pups.

(8/15) It's hoooooot. Send fall in stat! C got a job and went for his orientation today. He was gone for most of the day and officially starts on Friday. Sure hope it cools down as promised since he'll mainly be outside.

(8/16) I had a dentist appointment this morning and then we Wednesdayed. The boys lobbied hard for sushi today to change things up. We got egg rolls and gyozas to go with our rolls too. It was still really hot today so we didn't do a whole lot other than try not to melt.

(8/17) Back to work for me today. Luckily it was from home so the commute was short. I got caught up on almost everything and finished recording my tutorials. I'm glad my project was delayed by a week so I didn't have to record during my staycation.

(8/18) I worked from home again today. I edited videos for a good chunk of my morning -- man do I hate listening to myself talk! They're all posted and scheduled now. C worked a very long and very hot shift and came home ready to get off his feet and cool down. I'm glad it was cooler today for him at least! J & I made apple crisp from the apples from my brother's tree. It was super tart, but the ice cream helped. 

(8/19) I am taking care of a friend's farm next week so went over this morning to get the rundown. Dad instructed J in the art of making French toast while I was gone. The dogs all approved when they yoinked D's breakfast. Naughty brats! We went to an event at Skookum this afternoon benefiting the rescue we work with. We petted lots of pooches and bought some new swag. Traffic was pretty atrocious on the way home so we decided on dinner out. Once C got back, we piled in the car and went to Nick Jr's. Dinner was delicious!

(8/20) We had a pretty quiet Sunday. I attended a very small book club but still came away with a bunch of book recs. I've been feeling kind of meh about what I've been reading lately, so hopefully this helps! Our one mission today was to take the twins shopping for new shoes. The boys whined about having to go out because one didn't want to get dressed and the other didn't realize going today meant actually going today. My youngest child is now wearing a half size smaller than me! Oof!

(8/21) I worked from home this morning, ran out for a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, came back and worked some more, then drove out the other direction to take care of the farm. Gonna be a busy week!

(8/22) I'm working from home all this week since I'll be running out to Snohomish twice a day to feed the animals. It's been pretty smoky here lately but I sure am getting treated to some beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

(8/23) D, who has slept in almost every day this summer, was up by 6:40am this morning because it was Wednesday, our day to go to WinCo. LOL! C requested some healthier fare for this evening, so I picked up some veggies to do up gnocchi tonight. The twins picked out their dinners too since they're not big on gnocchi, and of course some candy.

(8/24) We did a lot of running around today. Twice out to feed the animals and once for J's orthodontist appointment. They were able to get a separator in that they weren't last time and replaced the one that promptly fell out after his last visit. He gets his expander on next week. Poor bubs.

(8/25) I worked from home today. Dad & J made up an awesome breakfast including peach-filled honey cornbread coffee cake. Nanan had a doctor's appointment this morning that I took a quick break to run her to. I had to log back in for work so wasn't able to do anything more after her appointment than stop for coffee. J was cooking lunch when we got back so she joined in on that before heading home.

(8/26) We drove out to Camano for a garage sale benefitting Save-A-Mutt. Dad scored a bunch of new bottles to add to his collection and I found a couple of cute signs. We went out for lunch (shh, don't tell the kids!) and then headed home. J chose The Goonies as tonight's movie. Such a good one!

(8/27) The kids have been looking forward to having Chinese food for dinner for days now. They were wishing the day away and we ended up cooking dinner at 3pm. It was delicious! We had fried rice, wonton soup, orange chicken, and egg rolls.

(8/28) I ran out and fed the animals for the last time this morning before work and then logged in to work from home.  Dad took the twins to tour the middle school (hold me) and get their schedules. They seemed to be feeling pretty confident once they got home. When I got done with work tonight, I came down to all the ingredients to make brownies all laid out. D even helped with the baking!

(8/29) I worked in the building today and we celebrated a coworker's 25th anniversary with a happy hour that ran through the end of the day.

(8/30) We had planned a day up at Nanan's beach but the weather didn't cooperate so we postponed to another day. Dad had taken the day off, so we still took the boys to Jersey Mike's as promised. We also picked up a new foster dog, Dottie. She seems lovely so far!

(8/31) Yay, my walking buddy has returned! We had a lot to catch up on. J had an orthodontist appointment this morning and then I came home to work. Dad stocked us up for the return to school next week. The kids are still making faces at me when I ask them what they want in their lunches or make any comments about school. They're still not ready. 

(9/1) Sarah and I met to walk this morning and then I came home to work. My office closed early ahead of the holiday, which was convenient because I had an appointment up north to get my shoulder looked at. I injured it a while ago and now have a referral to PT(orture). Yay. I also met Nanan at the clinic since she needed lab work for next week and we went for coffee afterward.  

(9/2) We didn't have any plans for the day, but Dad decided we needed pie and ran off to get the strawberries & cream pie from the Snohomish Pie Co. He also picked up dinner while he was at it. Yummo!

(9/3) I went up to Nanan's to do a dump run and tame her lawn. The rain fortunately held off and I was able to get most of her lawn down to a mowable height. It needs another go, but I am satisfied with today's progress! 

(9/4) Happy Labor Day! I should've saved my laboring for today, but instead it was a stay-home kind of day for me and the boys. 

(9/5) I met Sarah for a walk today at our early-squirrelly time in the dark. The boys start school tomorrow. Dad, C & I all have to work today and it is the twins' last day of summer vacay. It's feeling very fallish out there. I'm ready for it!