Week in Review: Nov 17-23

Wednesday 11.23.11
Everyone is here today.  Larry, Michael and Tom played 9 holes of golf.  Bree and Stephen were actually able to get on the same bus from the airport to get out here.  Doris left me in charge of taking Stephen's birthday cake out of the oven when it was done while she went to pick them up.  Unfortunately she didn't remember when she put it in the oven and said I should do the toothpick test in 10 minutes.  I did test it and it came out clean but figured I should give it another 5 minutes anyway.  Later on I asked Doris if I did OK and I FAILED.  The cake collapsed because the inside wasn't done.  On the good side, the inside was chocolatey and gooey and everyone liked it.  Michael did a good job of hiding the disaster under globs of frosting.

Ally made sugar cookies

in the afternoon while Larry and I took a 3 mile walk around the neighborhood where I got to pass my favorite turkey again but the big attraction this time was the giant fire ant hill.

Tuesday 11.22.11
Ally took a walk with us today.

 When we came back I sat outside and had a visitor.

Doris went to the airport to pick up Tom so we had happy hour outside and Michael made a fire in the firepit.  We had salmon for dinner with leftovers.  I repeat, no going hungry here.

Monday 11.21.11
Larry and Michael played golf again today, but later in the day.  I drove to Conyers in search of hockey fabric so I could come through with Hunter's request for hockey quilts for everyone for Christmas.  No luck.  I went to Joann's, Walmart and Hobby Lobby and that took me all afternoon.
Doris and Michael made do it yourself pork and beef fajitas for dinner with salad and beans & rice.

No chance of going hungry around here!

Sunday 11.20.11
Michael and Larry played golf this morning and Doris went to church and for a walk with Joan so I had time to myself and was here when Ally arrived.

Today was also the day to deal with the squirrel issue.  Michael built a barrier for the squirrel and used a 2 KG weight to block the opening, however he was still inside so we had to let him get out.  I wanted to take a picture of him coming out so I sat there and waited and waited.  When I wasn't going to watch for a while, I put the weight back.  When we went out to move it, it turned out that he had pulled it all the way in so that he could get around it and get out.  Just to be sure he was gone, I put some nuts both inside the barrier and outside it.  Later on the outside nuts were gone but the inside one was still there.  I put a cashew on the inside and pistachios on the outside, maybe he doesn't like cashews??? but we never heard any more noise.  Tomorrow the pest control guy comes to more permanently fix the problem.

 Above is what the squirrel did to the inside of the vent and below is the weight the squirrel pulled into the vent in order to get out.  It was heavy!!  Don't want to mess with a squirrel.

It was time for another movie marathon.  We watched The Town with Ben Affleck, Conviction with Hilary Swank and The Dilemma with Vince Vaughn.

Saturday 11.19.11
Doris and Michael went to the Georgia game today but we took a bye.  Another beatiful day so we took another beautiful walk.  Joan and Bill came for dinner and we ate delicious chicken that was bought from a local farm market  and Joan brought this yummy cake.

Friday 11.18.11
This morning someone came and put a shut off on the hose outlet until it can really get fixed.  We went to The Yesterday Cafe in downtown Greensboro for lunch and we each got a Blue Plate special.  We each got blackened grouper that came with corn bread and two sides.  We each got a squash casserole and larry got mac and cheese and I got collard greens.

 We shared a piece of Buttermilk Pie for dessert and ordered one to pick up before Thanksgiving.  I definitely want to try making one of these when we go home.

Doris and Michael got an earlier flight so instead of coming at midnight they arrived around 6.
Thursday 11.17.11
This was a very interesting day for all sorts of strange things happening.  I noticed in the morning noises that sounded like some kind of critter scurrying around in the ceiling of the bathroom.  It remined me of the noises I used to hear coming from the attic over my bedroom when I lived on Mt. Airy although there it sounded even louder.  I was going to mention it to Larry but forgot until he told me he saw a squirrel going into the vent outside the house.  The vent that led directly to our bathroom.

Since Doris and Michael weren't here there was nothing for us to do in the meantime other them let them know.  We took a walk around this area but drove to another location so we could see some new sights.  We wound up in an area where there were lots of vacant lots so not too many houses to see but it was still a beautiful day.

We played some pool and I actually beat Larry by getting in all the balls and the 8 ball and not by default because he missed the 8.  YEA!!!

 Later that night I was in the bedroom watching Private Practice.  During the last commercial break I flushed the toilet but it sounded like the water was still running.  After awhile I went back in and checked but it didn't appear to be doing anything but it still sounded like there was water running from someplace.  After awhile I woke Larry who fell asleep watching TV in the family room and said "I think we have a problem."  He went to investigate and found that the water was running out of a hose in front and it wouldn't shut off.  At 11:20 PM we called Doris & Michael in Boston.  Tomorrow someone would come to look at it.  In the meantime, we turned off the water in the house and went to bed.

Wednesday 11.16.11

Today it rained and rained so we had a movie marathon but in between the rain we did get a chance to get out for a walk around the neighborhood. That is when I got my first glimpse of  the turkey lawn ornament.

We watched Red - Bruce Willis et al, Burlesque with Cher and Christina Aquilera and Waiting for Forever.