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National Eat Your Jell-O Day

Today is National Eat Your Jell-O Day!  What a day to celebrate - also, it seems this week is filled with some fun obscure holidays!  As you can see above, Mom had some Jell-O made for us when we got home from taekwondo tonight.  It was delicious, of course.  

Today was a busy day for Mom and I.  She started out at the DANG doctor, where we parked in the DANG parking spot and spoke with the DANG physicians and assistants there.  And fortunately, Mom got a DANG good report about her skin.  For those of you not familiar, DANG is an acronym for Dermatology Associates of North Georgia.  I love going up to the counter to see what their DANG wi-fi password is.

From there, Mom and I did a few things - we shopped for an outfit for Mom for the upcoming wedding visit.  We were at Kohl's first, and then over to Burlington Coat Factory just because it was nearby - and lo!  That's where Mom found some success.  She was happy about that one.  Incidentally, did you know there's a K-Pop Demon Hunters slime that you can "beautify?"

I'm not sure what to say about this product.  I mean, the nature of slime is that it is slimy, and when I was a kid we had slime with fake eyeballs and worms and bugs in it.  But this slime needs to be beautified, apparently, and there are different products here to go with each of the three main characters, so in the end you can have - in fact - beautiful slime.  That's what the world needs more of, right?  Beautiful slime!  That would actually be a great rock band name, wouldn't it?

Moving on, we celebrated our successful outing at Chicken Salad Chick, this restaurant nearby that features chicken salad, of course, and has decor that sort of reminds me of the Front Porch restaurant in Dollywood, just this brightly colored Southern style.  The food isn't bad either - the peach tea is really good there.

Maddie drove us over to taekwondo tonight, and that was one of the longer sessions, but she really enjoys it.  Nate was there too, and Maddie was nailing a few aerials, which always makes her happy.  No rain the last two days, so when we got home I was watering everything outside, including our garden.  The chia pets are still thriving, and our hydroponic garden is sprouting up.  Also, the sea monkeys are doing well in their underwater Martian landscape - it's part of that daily routine to take care of all that, and myself too:  we have this regiment of pills to take, lately more because of the tooth extraction, which is still sore.  But all is well, except perhaps for the Braves, who lost again, this time to the Mets who are fifteen games back from us.  Spencer Strider had a bad game - one just missed catch led to a grand slam moments later, otherwise we'd be out of the inning and victorious.  There's always tomorrow, and hopefully this will get us out of what is now the longest skid of the season - three losses in a row.  That hasn't happened since last year.  

We watched another episode of Obi Wan tonight, and we're remembering how much we don't like the character Reva.  Not because of any good writing, but other than her character the show is fun.  We have that Lola droid set up by Mom's nightstand, watching over her as she sleeps!

In the Discworld tonight, we're almost at the end, I think one more reading to go.  The evil Stratford has been dispatched by the butler Willikins, who alongside Alfred, are easily the greatest butler characters ever written.  No, it's been fun.  Things seem to be wrapping up for this story though, although we may have to meet up with Lord Vetinari one more time, which is always fun.  

We said our prayers after this, and then... it was time for some sleep!

National Corn on the Cob Day

It's National Corn on the Cob Day, and of course this is a day worth celebrating, right?  I mean, wow!  Mom put these out on the table today and Maddie and I were ready to duel with those corn holders just to get first dibs!

Earlier, we had stopped by Sprouts, a grocery store in Cumming with the purpose of getting some corn, but we also picked up some Brazilian nuts and some gluten-free bread for Mom.  While we were out today, we stopped by the library for a few things:

First of all, check out this community art project!  Each person puts in a color sticker on the grid there, a sort of 'paint-by-numbers' idea with stickers.  Pretty neat!  While we were at the library, we also voted!  Yep, the run-off for the primaries is next Tuesday, so we did some early voting today.  I printed out a cheat sheet for the girls, as there were about six run-offs for us this time around.  We'll know the results next Wednesday or so.

Another thing we did was get Maddie her very own library card!  Yep, she has one now.  I wish we thought of that before she got a book - right now the book she picked up is in our account, but next time she'll be able to get her own book on her account.  For now, she's borrowed a Star Wars book that she'll enjoy reading the next few weeks.

Oh, one more thing we did!  We donated puzzles.  We had about six puzzles we were ready to part with, so we dropped those off as well.  The library has a program where you can pick up puzzles almost like books, and just bring them back when you're done.  We've borrowed plenty of these over the years.

The biggest reason we were out was to get some new clothing for Maddie and Mom at Belk.  We're heading over to a wedding very soon, and these two were needing something to wear for the occasion.  Maddie came away with a dress that she was pleased with, and because we were in that same parking lot, we went over to the Hallmark store for a few cards for Father's Day and that wedding of course.  We also picked up our traditional chocolate from behind the glass - each of us getting a luxurious piece of delicious chocolate, different flavors and so much richness that you can careful finish one piece of chocolate.

Also, those Christmas ornaments from last time were still on sale - we picked up a Funko pop Ahsoka ornament for just $1.99.  Adding more to our Star Wars Christmas tree this year!  And speaking of Star Wars, let's do one more check on our Chia Pets!

Both are looking pretty big with growth.  Lots of greenery there - I've been keeping the water inside topped off, recycling that water that pools up in the plates below, just part of the daily routine.  These look great - it'll be a summer of Chia Pets, because we've got the Statue of Liberty one cued up next for the Semiquincetennial.  Let's check on the other indoor growing things:

These lettuce leaves are rapidly growing upwards!  We've removed the covers from two of pods already because the leaves have started to press into the clear plastic ceiling.  The growth is pretty fast.

So a routine night at taekwondo, of course.  Maddie drove us over there, and she first helped with instruction with the younger students. 

And after that, she was in her leadership class as well.  It's a shorter night, and incidentally, it's super hot out there, at least compared to recently.  The humidity is what you expect in summer in Georgia.  Translation:  not quite as fun.  But apparently it's worse up north - in Chicago the rain and threat of tornados was such that the Braves game was postponed.  That's okay, we had other things to do and watch.

Firstly, there was some more virtual walking.  I got further along the trail today, and got this post card too.  It's been great watching all this Mt. Everest programming while walking along with that incline setting upwards.  The last two days I've been watching a movie version of the "Into Thin Air" story, the retelling of the 1996 disaster.  I remember reading that book in the 90's, as were most of us really.  It's a harrowing sort of adventure, and I was surprised I still remembered so much of what happened as the movie unfolded.  It's a huge tragedy that changed the way the mountain is approached these days, a warning to all.  Turn around at 2pm.  

Okay, tonight we watched an episode of "Obi Wan," content to continue our Star Wars viewing.  Tonight I also buried a chipmunk in the back yard.  I love these friends dearly, and this was a big turning point in our relationship with a certain cat that we've endured.  Shadow, the other cat, is okay.  This new cat, however, is on my hit list right now.  Not to hit or anything violent.  This cat is just crossed a line, and now it is no longer welcome.

Moving on, Maddie got some early birthday presents from the extended family!  These were some really big, really nice and fun gifts!

She loved them!  She loved the little cupcake with the candle too!  Happy early birthday!

Tonight we read from "Snuff" a few more pages, and after that, we said our prayers.  The Plush Entourage was there to listen in on the story, and then get tucked in to close out our evening.  Got some other things to get done tomorrow - it's time to get some sleep!

National Ice Tea Day

Today is National Ice Tea Day, and lately we've been all about these obscure holidays as you can see above.  Mom had this delicious ice tea waiting for me when I was done with my daily treadmill walk - she had lemons in there and as a special bonus, leaves of mint from our own garden plantings!  It was super refreshing!  We sat together and had our dinner, although I'm eating nothing but soft foods lately.  Not that it matters, I love a good baked potato with all the trimmings - except bacon bits today.  The mouth is still pretty sore today, but healing up.  I even got to work today to the office, finishing up the Summer Xtreme scripts and then making props for this weekend, and of course there was a pretty big Kidpak Meeting for everyone. 

Maddie was with Nate all day, and she had a good day of course.  She got home in time to watch the end of the Braves game, one where we lost again, but another close one.  We just couldn't manufacture runs tonight - that's okay, we'll get 'em tomorrow!

We read a bit more from "Snuff," which has this long extended ending where things are wrapping up for the characters, but again, there's that other shoe that needs to be dropped:  a villain is out there, lurking, heart set on revenge.  We'll see how all that turns out as we continue to read from the Discworld.

We said prayers after that, and sleep came easy tonight.

Donald Duck Day

Well, ouch.  This morning I had a pretty big moment in the dentist, who pulled a tooth from the upper side and all the way back in the left there, or right if you're facing me.  It's been a source of infection and soreness for a long time, so the tooth is gone after a great deal of effort.  The idea is that the underlying areas will start to heal over time here, assisted by some antibiotics to begin with.  But it was a stressful drive down there in the pouring rain and traffic on the interstate, and then of course there was the hour and a half at the dentist with two people probing and pulling and needling inside your mouth.  No fun!    So... how do you make a day like get a little better?  

How about a Donald Duck marathon?  Today is Donald Duck Day, so I pulled out the ol' Disney Treasures collection and plopped on the couch for some healing.  They say that laughter is good medicine, right?

I had a meeting online today, or at least that was the best I could do.  We've been getting things set up for Sunday, and of course Summer Xtreme.  Lots going on there. 

Check out our hydroponics garden - things are moving along here with some small leaves showing up.  The lights turn on and off on their own, and the only thing to keep tabs on is that water level, which is pretty easy to do.  Can't wait to see these things grow more and more!

Maddie was here today, hanging out and resting a good bit.  Not much to do outside today, as the rain was pretty hard and pretty frequent.  We watched a Braves game tonight, and it didn't go Atlanta's way, some bad strike/ball calls behind the plate in the third inning sort of sealed our fate, but at the same time, it all seemed orchestrated to give a first-time MLB player for the Chicago White Sox to have an unforgettable moment behind the plate later on.  Can't win them all, but congrats to that guy.  It was one of those games that just seemed "cursed" for some reason, things just not going our way in pretty remarkable ways, and it all led up to that extra innings moment.

After the game, we read for a bit, approaching the end of our story.  There's a bad guy still lurking out there though, although everything is largely wrapped up.  All is well, but Commander Vimes knows this villain won't just run and escape to safety, choosing instead a terrible revenge.  We'll see how that all works out, but something tells me it won't go well for our bad guy. 

We said our prayers after that, it was time for sleep.  I should have asked for my tooth so I could put it under my pillow!