More Club Wed

And Erin and Nick make three.  Doug's eldest was the first to marry- in Hawaii.  Then my daughter married in the district.  Erin and Nick were local.  Right here in the hometown.  We flew around cleaning and getting ready.  Doug hosted the rehearsal dinner.  They married last Saturday at noon, straight up.  It was a little warm.

Here comes the bride!

 I  shot a lot of photos.  I always do. 

For some reason I love this shot...the sky, the angle.

 After the wedding we were all instructed to blow bubbles!

Who said bubbles are the new bird seed?

 Doug wore a long-sleeve oxford.  He was drenched, afterward.

Doug, soaking wet.

 Then we headed indoors for lunch.

Pour Moi?

 We chose between chicken and vegetable lasagna.

I picked the vegetarian lasagna.

 Doug's mother stayed at the farm with us.  When I came out ready to go, Doug's mother and I had on the same celery green. 
Something has been going on as of late.  On Mother's day my sister and mother and I wore the same green. 
Then I visited my grand baby, Natalie, and we wore the same outfit.  I asked my friend what was going on. 

Doug's mama, me, Doug.

Here is what my friend had to say... I thought it was kind of beautiful.
It's called synchronicity ... and it's because all minds (and hearts) are joined ... it is only the non-recognition of this that continues to cause confusion and alarm. But I don't think you really have a problem with accepting the rhythm of Life, my dear ♥


The maid of honor and best man (son number two) made the toast.

Son two making the toast.

 Son number two and son number three that were married and the new bride lived together for three years.  Son number two was telling everyone how he knew this relationship and then he fumbled and said "now that he (the groom) has his life on track."  Everyone laughed.  His life does seem to be on track and we are all glad. 

There was a d.j. and the did the chicken dance and the hokey pokey and all of the traditional wedding reception dances.

"You do the hokey pokey"

 Here is the fam...Doug's sister was there, too...but she works nights and had to slip away to sleep.

Doug's fam

Doug, me.

 The rest of the fam stayed in a hotel.  After the reception we went swimming and had a great time.  Then we all went out for Chinese food.  Then Doug's mother and I sat up until midnight and talked.  We were having seventeen for breakfast.  Seventeen. 
I do this thing...where I wake up and I can't sleep and I get up and "prowl."  I lay in bed and think and I have to get up.  I have to get up and do the stuff that thrusts me out of bed.  So I got up and plumped pillows and peeked into the fridge to see if we have enough food to feed seventeen people.  Eventually, I throw the towel in and go back to sleep. 
At nine a.m., seventeen proceed to show up.  Brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews.  Sister-in-laws.  Sons and daughter-in-laws.

Breakfast crew



more breakfast crew

Sisters who work nights.
Daughter-in-laws from Phoenix who have trouble adjusting to Eastern time.

adjusting

It was a really wonderful weekend.  More members of Club Wed.

Crazy days

It is crazy around here.  Doug's son is getting married on Saturday.  The rehearsal and dinner are on Friday.  Most of the family will be here on Friday.  Doug has been mowing.  I've been cleaning.  We've been running around like...well...chickens with their head off.  There I said it.  (Don't tell anyone in the pen in the back yard that I said that!)
I made one last effort to find something new to wear to the wedding.  I wasn't thrilled with anything I had at home.  I suppose I could have made do.  I found a skirt and top and bought new Clark's sandals.  The sandals are sooooooooooooo light and comfortable.  I just didn't want to have to wear panty hose.  Ugh.  We will be outdoors at noon this Saturday.  If you aren't from around these parts, it has been powerful hot as of late. 
I've been babying my nails and for now have ten perfect nails.  I even had to trim the nails on my right hand. 
Chelsea has had a bath and we treated everyone for fleas this evening. 
It has been non-stop crazy, but we are just about ready!

Nothing

This is where I didn't work this weekend:   

Papertrix

Actually, even when I do work there, it doesn't feel like work.  It is wonderful to be there hanging out with Cindy and Wayne- assisting customers in finding items to help them with their artistic endeavors.  Cindy gave me the weekend off.  In the past five weeks I worked a weekend at Papertrix, then the next three weekends I had guests, then I worked another weekend.  So this weekend was nothing.  I took some items to donate to Goodwill and then to My Sister's Closet. 
Then in the evening, Doug and I went back to The View.  (For the third time in three weeks.)  It is so relaxing to sit like this:

 To look at this view: 

The blue hills of southern Indiana along the shore of Monroe reservoir.
I took this pic of Doug's cat, Tree, being lazy this morning.

Lazy kittrs

Next weekend, Doug's youngest son is getting married.  The rehearsal and dinner will be on Friday and the wedding will be on Saturday.  We will have Doug's family in.  His mother is staying here with us and I imagine others of the family will be here as well.  We will clean the house later in the week. 
Then the next two weekends I will be with my grand baby. 
Then maybe I will be back at Papertrix.  A couple of my friends were going to visit this past weekend.  I hope they did even though I wasn't at the shop.  Fall will be here soon and then I will be at the shop a lot.  I love it. 
This weekend- some laundry, a bit of cleaning, reading and relaxing.  A lot of nothing. 

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Would you work in a really, really, really hot building all day long with lots of fans droning on and on and making you feel ever so sleepy? 

The university does this thing called "cycling" with our air-conditioning.  What that means is they turn it off and on.  They cool the buildings with chilled air and when it is extremely hot, it is difficult to cool all of the buildings at the same time. 

The day before yesterday, it seemed we didn't have any air-conditioning in our building and they came around handing out fans.  Then yesterday morning when we came into work, it was hotter in the building than outside.  I walked in and said "who wants to go for ice-cream for breakfast?"  Then we had an email from our assistant Dean.  He went out and bought pop and water and Klondike bars in every flavor.
"Ice-cream for breakfast?  I think I will."  At some point yesterday, it seemed the air was back on and today we have cooler temperatures outdoors which makes it easier for the system to keep up. 
What would you do for a Klondike bar? 

Don't like it? Change it!

Welcome to my version of "Better After."  I love looking at that blog.  It gives me so many great ideas. 

For those of you who are regular readers, you know that until a few years ago, I did not do any art work.  When I started to do art work, it was as if the dam broke.  I jumped in and started to be adventuresome - to do this and that. 

The weekend that my friend LizBeth was here, we went to Michael's.  I found a small wrought-iron type plant stand that was marked down, originally - $60.00, then $30.00.  I bought it for $15.00.  I liked how sturdy and heavy the material was, but did not like the slate gray.  I knew immediately what I was going to do. 

I went home and got out my favorite paint, Golden's Titan Buff.  I slathered on the paint with a short stubby brush and wiped it off with a cloth.

See?  Better after!  And it only took a short amount of time to complete the transformation.

4th of July weekend

On Saturday afternoon our friends John and Kathy arrived.  I had a lunch of broccoli quiche, veggies and ranch dip and couscous ready with peach cobbler for dessert.  We sat right down to eat. 

welcome luncheon

 After lunch we played a dominos game called chicken foot.  We were with John and Kathy in Colorado at the Meeker Lodge when we learned this game.  I love to play chicken foot. 

chicken foot

 We went for a drive around the resevoir and saw the spillway.  This is where our drinking water comes from.  Doug is a lab tech for the city but we don't get our water from where he works.

spillway

 I wandered about taking photos.

bird house

fishin' guy

 We stopped to have a drink at this place called The View.  Crazy because it was featured in a story in our local paper on Sunday.  We had never been there.  They call this statue the guardians of the view.  We just had drinks, but the food looked good.  I would like to go back and try it sometime.

orange mojito

 Doug cooked on the grill.

cookin' out

It was wonderful to have them here and a great way to spend our 4th of July weekend.

Red, White and Blue

Explosion

Wanted to show you how the plants in the welcome basket are exploding.  I love plants!  Just add water.  It is that simple.  I fuss over all of them on a daily basis.

Our dear friends, John and Kathy are on their way down to our house as I write.  This is the third weekend for house guests.  We love it that people want to come and visit and we love having them.  As soon as a guest leaves, I wash the bedding and tidy the guest room, preparing for our next guest. 
The house is clean, the deck is ready.  Doug is mowing the yard and I am getting ready to make a peach cobbler and a broccoli quiche.  We went to the grocery last night and bought a ton of food and drinks and I know John and Kathy are bringing food and drinks, also.  No one will go hungry.   We've traveled with John and Kathy and camped with them.  We are all very comfortable with one another.  They have been my friends for almost thirty years (shew!) and when Doug came along, they just welcomed him into our little gang. 
What are you doing this weekend?  Whatever you do I wish you good friends, good times and don't forget- safety first.  Especially if you are on the water.