We ended the week with

10/6/23

some outdoor playtime in the driveway.

We ended the next day with

10/7/23

some outdoor playtime in their driveway and street.

We ended the weekend with treats

10/8/23

from the ice cream truck in our driveway.

It sounds like we spent the weekend in the driveway.

I started the week with

10/9/23

sangria for lunch.  I met a friend for lunch at La Casona since it was a holiday and we both ordered a sangria, but they brought us wine.  We corrected them and they brought us the sangria, but told us we still had to pay for the wine since we already drank some of it... HELLO? Whatever.

Halloween came and

went.  We went with a Coco theme since I'd already decided on Day of the Dead.

I was no one in particular and Cosme was Miguel, the main character.  Well, I bought him a red hoodie to be Miguel and suggested he carry around one of Eric's guitars but he was too tired to be in on it.  A group of kids yelled "COCO!" when I answered the door but I let them know that Miguel was too tired to come to the door.

That was that.  Yeah, Thanksgiving is next but let's focus on Christmas.  I've had two presents wrapped and ready to go under the tree but look at this.

It's been hard trying to keep the baby away.  I don't know how the gifts will last until December 25th.  I think I might need to buy packaging tape and suggest everyone bring a pocket knife and/or scissors.  This should be interesting... and exhausting.

yesterday was Easter and we

had a little get-together.  It was the baby's first so I put candy in her basket for Eric and Paige to share.  Next year they'll have to fight a little harder for it.

I even decided to put out a few decorations.

I went all out.  I might do a little more next year.  I will say this though, those eggs and that bunny basket came from Dollar Tree.  Those might be the cutest things I've ever bought there.  Speaking of cute things, I got a bunny box from Gigi's Cupcakes.  It was a box of 12 mini cupcakes.

They were cute.  For the record though, the bunny box was just a plain box and there were only three of the bunny cupcakes so it could have been called anything else.  Chick crate?  Nest nest?  Carrot cart?  Spring-themed variety pack of one dozen mini cupcakes?

All the cuteness aside, we ate.  It was an awesome spring day and perfect for grilling.  We had burgers, baked beans, potato salad and deviled eggs.  I grilled the burgers but also did the baked beans and deviled eggs.  I ate entirely too much and made myself sick.  By the time dinner and Game of Thrones rolled around, I was fine with just a sandwich.

Can we just take a moment for Game of Thrones?  Before going to bed, I had to get on YouTube so I could watch theories and predictions and one made a lot of sense.  It was actually two videos and the first was about the Night King and what he really wants.  The second video was more to do with The Night King and why there must always be a Stark at Winterfell.  It's a lot to take in right before bed.

I think I might need a GoT Oreo now... or two.

it rained most of

yesterday.  That's fine because all we planned to do was chill, cook, and eat.  We pulled the grill to the patio for cover and went on about our day.  We had bbq chicken, mac and cheese, baked beans, and peach cobbler.  Cosme and I ate before Eric and Paige because they had stuff going on.  We finished our meal and I made note of our food and the red, white and blue paper plates and commented about how American that meal was.

I didn't get a picture of the actual meal.  I was starving and didn't waste any time digging in.  I didn't even get a picture of my cobbler.  This was a second helping later on.

I then looked down and added that I was drinking Coke in a Dallas Cowboys (America's team) koozie.  Yeah, I'd say it was a solid American meal for Independence Day.

Eric and Paige came in to eat a little bit later.  We were on the couch and as Eric was finishing and I pointed out the peach cobbler, he commented about how American that meal was.  I told him it would have been even more American if they'd stopped and brought a tub of Blue Bell.  He said good peach cobbler doesn't need ice cream.  I agreed and continued on with my chilling on the couch.

That was our July 4th.

I'm trying not to get carried

away.  When it comes to Christmas lights outside on our house, I like clean and simple.  When it comes to other houses, I like clean and consistency.  I don't want a bunch of stuff in the yard because I thought it was cute last year and this year I'm going to add to it with something totally different that I think is cute this year.  I like to see lots of lights, lots of matching, straight, pretty lights... just not on my house.  Everything that goes up must come down.  Even more than putting those lights up, I would hate to take them down.

Last year I bought a few wire reindeer from Walmart.  They were cheap but the they matched.  They were equally plain and small, unlike the bigger, more elaborate deer you can find at some houses on our street.  I had Cosme get the deer out of the attic this year and one doesn't work and well, they didn't make it up.  Since our light-wrapped small trees don't really have much on the larger trees down the road, I thought I might find something else to put in the yard.  I went to Home Depot.

There are so many to choose from.

There are snowmen.  There are white deer.  There are brown deer.  There are candy canes.  There are trees.

 I could replace our deer with the bigger, more elaborate deer.

I started taking pictures because it was all overwhelming and I wanted to come home and think about it.  What direction did I want to go with this?  Did I want elaborate?  Did I want to go with pretty or did I want to go with cute?

Then I saw the dog, the brown dog with the ears that stick up and fold down like Maggie's that has a strand of Christmas lights in its mouth like it just tore down all the decorations.  I knew if there was going to be a decoration, it had to be THAT dog.

I found the box to get a better picture.  I wanted to show it to Cosme and see if he'd be able to talk me out of it.  I love that dog but the more I thought about it I couldn't see spending $59 on an outdoor Christmas decoration, especially knowing the neighbor's decoration was stolen last year.  It's like I feel like I'm throwing the money away just thinking about it.

I left Home Depot and came home.  After hanging the garland on the front door, I realized I needed another box of lights so I ran to Walmart.  Then I saw the cat.

I'm all about equality with the animals and knew if I was going to represent one, I needed to represent the other.  I got the $20 cat in case I went back for the dog.

I think we've decided to pass on the dog.  I told Cosme that Walmart does have a few dogs but they look like a schnauzer and basset hound.  That doesn't work because this dog at Home Depot is THE dog if I'm going to get a dog.  Since I bought the cat to go with the dog and I'm not going back to get THE dog, I'm returning the cat today.

To sum it all up, I've stuck to the way I like it, clean and simple.  I've got lights around the trees in the front yard and in the garland at the front door.  Oh, that trip to Walmart to return the cat won't be just for that though.  I already have a strand on one of the trees that isn't working right.  It's a good thing I'm keeping it simple.

it's time for online

shopping.  I wanted a new desk for Eric's room.  I didn't want anything fancy or expensive because I don't know how long we plan on keeping it there.  Honestly, it's just a desk for the iMac and all of Cosme's flight simulator gadgets.  I basically just needed a flat surface with no drawers or frills.  That's what I got and I also got a great deal on it.

I saved $0.99. Beat that.  I love sales.

I was looking up Christmas present options on Amazon.  This one probably won't make it in time.

I also had to pick our new insurance plan yesterday.  I got to the vision section and was comparing two different plans.  I can't decide which one is better.

Should I pick the one that's 20% off?  Or the one where I only pay 80%?

They both seem like decent deals...

And so I won't leave anyone hanging, I think I picked another one and I don't even know what the percent off was referring to.  I think it was lens stuff.

I probably won't get any online shopping done today.  I've already started making cornbread for dressing.  This will be my first time to do homemade.  I mentioned Twomama's recipe to Cosme the other day and that I'd try to do it.  I pulled out the recipe and was totally confused.  It calls for 1 quart of biscuits (or 20), 1 quart of toasted white bread (8 slices) and 1 quart of corn bread mix (3 packages of yellow Martha White).  That's sounded crazy.  I was pretty sure Cindy makes it every year and I really couldn't see her baking all those biscuits.  I asked her about the recipe and she has basically the same recipe but Myra told her to just use 6 packets of Martha White white cornbread mix the day before making the dressing.  I couldn't find Martha White white packets but I did find Gladiola From the makers of Martha White.  Instead of 6 packets though, I'm making 3.  Well, 4 just to be safe.  So yeah, that's what's happening this morning.  I'm prepping Cindy's take on Myra's version of Twomama's dressing.  It might sound a little confusing but not near as confusing as a "quart of biscuits"... or, as a vision plan might word it, use either 4 cups or 1 quart.