Monk's End

Maddie's cooking skills are increasing as she is now making spaghetti sauce.  To quote Richard Farnsworth, "It's hard to spell, but it eats good!"  And Maddie's spaghetti certainly eats good - she did a great job with it, making a batch that we can enjoy for more than one meal over the coming days.  

So today I got a few decorative things done, including putting up the patriotic tree in our house.  We have a Fourth of July themed tree, one with the various ornaments we got from thrift stores, but then the ones we've ordered from the White House Historical Association.  Last February around Presidents Day I received ornaments for James Garfield, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan.  These are now hanging on the tree for the first time, and because the tree is up now, I've looked to see and sure enough, this year's new ornament is out.  I just ordered one for Jimmy Carter.  I think I'm correct in thinking that this would be the first President to be alive while their commemorative ornament is released.  I still have fourteen ornaments to collect, going backwards.  And forward from this point on, about seven.  Yeah, in eight years the ornaments will be caught up.  Anyway, the tree looks good in its new spot between the dining area and the living room.

The other thing I did today was get all the fairy garden out, plus the garden gnomes too.  They look good out there with the blueberry bush, which is growing a lot of blueberries on it right now.  Cool!

This morning I was walking in Zebra Canyon with the iFit.  Maddie will be back on that eventually, but there's no need when she's going to Team Edge practice each day.  Today she was at practice for a good bit, and then of course after that there was classes, both for black belt and leadership.  And more run-throughs for Team Edge.  They practice a lot, and there will be a full week of these run-throughs.  The event is really soon!

So tonight we watched "Mr. Monk's Last Case."  And that was a bittersweet moment, because it wrapped up a full year of re-watching this series again.  It was really great seeing these actors together again, and in many ways there were a lot of familiarities.  But certain things about Mr. Monk have always resonated with me, and tonight there were many unexpected emotions.

Anyway, we went to bed after that, heading upstairs to read, and then pray.  It was a good day today - got a lot done.