Green Thumb

Saturday we went to Leo's First Birthday Party. Desi and Kenny's little guy turned one at the end of June, so they threw one heck of a party. The dessert table was the best part -- color coordinated and perfectly labeled, it included was a 3-tiered birthday cake, a mini smash cake, cupcakes, elephant shaped cookies, custard and fruit cups, Hershey's kisses with "Leo's First Birthday" stickers on the bottom of each kiss, etc. It was beautiful! Desi did most of it herself and said that was her favorite part of party prep. He's an adorable little boy and their family celebrates big, so it was fun to be part of the day.

                                                  

From there, we drove home (had to pull over on Hwy 212 to let Rob kill the ugliest spider crawling across the inside of the windshield right over me!) and waited for the torrential rain to stop before heading to Prior Lake for a BBQ -- Brian and Joe were home for the weekend, so his sister Shelly had a few people over. Always so great to see the two of them!

                                                  

Guess what we did Sunday. We finally planted a garden!! It wasn't as simple as putting seeds into the ground, which is why we got going on this project a little later in the season than we'd originally hoped. The dirt out here isn't great for growing things -- according to Rob it's mostly clay rather than dirt, so we had to use the skid loader to dig a hole to help even out the land and remove the clay, fill the hole with black dirt and then plant the garden. This was a whole day project. I'll be honest, Rob did most of the work, especially since there was so much work to be done with the skid loader. But I did take a turn and scooped up a load of dirt, drove it down to the garden and dumped it in place!

 

By the end of the day, we had our garden planted. I was giddy. I've never had a garden before and since it took so much work to get it done, it felt like a huge accomplishment. We planted carrots, beans, peppers, tomatoes, sunflowers and cucumbers. Hopefully something will grow. :)

                            

Since we were in planting mode, we went over to Andy and Malinda's and took 2 of their hostas for the front of our house. I've never seen hostas so huge, so we split them into 8 slightly smaller ones. Some of them are still pretty big and could definitely be split again. A project for another day. Here they are! I didn't think they house looked incomplete before, but it definitely looks good with more vegetation out front. I love it!!

                                              

Home.

Don't Cry Over Spilled (Almond) Milk

Normally, if I don't run by 8am, it's getting way too humid and warm to venture out for any aerobic activity. I lucked out yesterday. After an unmotivated morning (for exercise anyway), I decided to go for a jog just before 11am. Thankfully, it was overcast and there was a nice breeze and I survived the 5 miles. My plan was to head to Burnsville, pick up a birthday gift for Leo at Barnes and Noble and visit Grandma K at Ebenezer. But I needed to eat something before leaving home.

I bought almond milk last week and finally tried it with the vanilla protein, strawberries and bananas -- the result was a pretty tasty smoothie. Still not as delicious as the chocolate, peanut butter, banana smoothie, but I shouldn't consume that much peanut butter so this is a good alternative. I gathered all the items to make the strawberry banana smoothie, went to shake the almond milk before adding it to the blender and with the first shake of the container, almond milk went EVERYWHERE. I stood and stared. Unable to believe that just happened. Almond milk was splattered all over the floor, counter, toaster, box of chocolates (why aren't those hiding in a cupboard somewhere?), a package of buns, two containers of brownies (leftover from the TOH party), it was on the wall and dripping down the fridge. My question for you: who designed the almond milk containers with such a stupid, ineffective "lid"?? It was pointless to get mad, instead I started sopping up the milk.

You can be sure I won't do that again.

Grandma and I had a nice visit -- she seems to be in pretty good spirits all things considered. When I asked her how she felt about moving from the Rivers to the new place in Apple Valley, she said she understands the kids had to do what was right for her. Overall, she trusts their judgement. I'm sure she wishes she'd had a chance to say goodbye to her Rivers friends before up and moving, but she knows she could go and visit them. She seems more concerned that, during the packing and moving, the kids will have thrown something that maybe seems unimportant but that Grandma had wanted to keep. It's on her mind, but I don't think she's losing sleep over it.

On my way home, I followed Chad's dump truck into the cul-de-sac and watched as our garden dirt was dumped on the road. Earlier in the day, they dropped off the skid loader for us to move said dirt. This garden might actually happen!

                            

Last night, Rob and I went to Willinger's for dinner. They have great food, delicious sweet potato fries, and a large outdoor patio with a beautiful view.

                                                

Happy. Friday.
Jill

Par on the Front Nine

Wednesday night was the big Trades of Hope party -- kick off to Sara's part time career as a Compassion Entrepreneur. (I love that title!) We had a small, eclectic and fun group of us here. Sara A and Sara G showed up early for dinner (loved the extra time with them), others included Meg, Jenny P, Leila and Kelly. It's hard not to feel really strongly about TOH -- their mission is quite admirable -- empowering women out of poverty -- and their products are well made, brilliantly colorful and personally made.

                                                  

Yesterday I was inspired to start my run a little earlier than normal -- albeit only 30-45 mins earlier than normal, but it made a difference in the temp and humidity. Felt good. After that, I was a bit lazy. I sat outside and read, eventually finishing my 4th book of the summer, The Weird Sisters. It was fine. A story about 3 sisters returning home when their mother gets cancer. Dad is a Shakespeare expert, so there are some Shakespeare references and a lot of Shakespeare quotes throughout the book. Maybe because I don't have sisters, or because I'm not well versed in Shakespeare, or maybe because I wasn't enthralled by the characters, whatever the reason (probably all of the above), I wasn't impressed. I gave it a 3 out of 5 on my goodreads app, but as soon as I entered that, I wanted to bump it down to a 2.

I took my 2nd run at weed whipping the yard. I decided I suck at it. Not that it's so difficult and I don't feel it needs to be perfected, but I don't enjoy it like I do mowing the lawn. Maybe that outdoor chore can stay under Rob's purview.

On a more positive note, our flowers are doing well!!

                                                  

The big project of the day was cleaning the windows. I pulled off the screens, vacuumed and washed them, and Norwexed the windows. We have a whole new view of the outside!! I told Rob last night that my summer wish list includes getting an extension ladder and washing the outside of the windows. How boring is that.

It seems like the weather is always questionable on Thursday nights, aka Golf Night. Thankfully, the rain held off and we were able to golf the full 9 holes without weather being a big issue. Last night was my best of the 4 games so far! I tried to include a pic of the score card but it's too small. I made par on the 2nd hole, had 5 drives in the fairway (the contest of the week) and my overall score was 61. Not too shabby.

Jill

The Active Wave

Rob left early this morning and boy would it have been easy to sleep in. I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6:30am, not too shabby considering the house was quiet and I didn't have anything pressing on my calendar -- other than that delicious first cup of coffee. I read outside for a little bit, finished that first cup of coffee and decided I better head out for my morning run before it got too steamy.

Are you an active waver to passers by? I am. I wave at every car that passes while I'm running and grumble a little if they don't return the greeting. This morning, not only did I get an enthusiastic wave from a woman in a Prius, she gave a little toot of her horn! Made me smile. Shortly after that, I was coming up to the woman with the dogs (mentioned a few posts ago) ... she was talking to one of her neighbors who was driving out of the neighborhood. They both waved and when I passed the woman again a little later (which is not uncommon since my route includes going in and out of cul-de-sacs multiple times in the air park), she told me I was inspirational and that the only way you'd find her running was if a bear was chasing her. I slowed to a walk, introduced myself and we talked for a couple minutes about running, her dogs, the neighborhood, etc. I'm excited to have met someone from the airpark! Her name is Bev.

I came home and realized that now was as good a time as any to mow the lawn. Like last week, I took the 4 wheeler for a little spin before getting to work. Apparently, last week I mowed the lawn in "idle" mode the whole time, which would explain why I felt like it took extra long and I never picked up any speed. Today was much better. I still have to figure out the best route around the yard, but I certainly put less miles on the mower. I even tackled the killer hill behind the trailer on the northwest side of the house. I almost left it for Rob, kept looking at it as I was mowing near it, tried it a couple times and chickened out (it feels like I'm going to tip over!), but just before putting the mower away, I gave it one last try. Success! Take that killer hill.

After my laser appointment at Rejuv, I went over to Kelly's house for a walk and lunch. It had been awhile since I'd seen Ben and Sam -- they're getting so old! Kaitlyn was at horse camp so I didn't get to see her or wish her a happy birthday, which happens to be today.

Errands after that -- Costco and Target. I expected each of them to be less busy on a Tuesday afternoon, but they were both about as busy as on a weekend. Well, not entirely true. The Costco parking lot was much less crazy, but they still had samples (yum) and lots of shoppers. Is Tuesday the day for seniors to shop at Costco? Could explain all the white hair.

A little before sunset, I told Rob I was taking him on a 4 wheeler ride. We rode to a high spot, north on Canby, and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets we'll see this summer. There were big, fluffy clouds that turned orange and pink as the sun descended below the horizon. Neither one of us had our phones otherwise you'd see a sunset pic right here. It wouldn't have done it justice so it's probably just as well.

Terrific Tuesday,
Jill

Summer Solstice

Saturday night we headed over to the Lyles' to celebrate Julie's birthday -- lucky girl shares her birthday with the Summer Solstice!

                                                   

Sunday morning we met Dad for breakfast at Rudy's, then headed over to All Saints for Mass. Bishop Piche had been invited back to say Mass and to dedicate Jackie's stained glass window. It was a beautiful service and he had many wonderful things to say about Jackie as they had worked together for many years prior to him becoming Bishop.

                                                   

Terri and Todd invited the Saubers and Wallins over for brunch after church, so we ate another delicious meal in the company of family.

On our way home from the Petersons, we were commenting that we didn't have much else going on for the afternoon/evening and what should we do with the day. We got home, I finished my book (#3 for the summer) while Rob took a little nap. Then I took a nap. In the meantime, Andy J texted Rob to see if we wanted to meet for dinner at Firehouse. Yes! Moments after Rob replied yes, Randy texted asking if we were coming up for Hazel's birthday party. Sure! What started off as a quiet evening quickly turned into a more social night.

Today I went for a run, dropped off a copy of my license with Meg who was heading to SSM this morning, shopped at the co-op, got gas and a car wash and headed back home. One of the projects on my list was to clean out my car -- vacuum, wash the windows, scrub the floor mats, etc. It was a beautiful day so I got to work.

Once the CRV was sparkly clean, I came inside for lunch, made oatmeal scotchies for the Trades of Hope party on Wednesday,

did some laundry and started a new book. (I may or may not have dozed off in the adirondack chair while reading.)

Peter stopped by with some steaks from the county market so we talked until Rob came home. We started weeding the rocks around the house and came across several teeny tiny toads and frogs!
     

Rob pointed out that they may be cute this year, but next year they'll be large, ugly and croaking from the pond in the backyard. After dinner we went for a long walk in the airpark, reminisced about the conversations we had while on walks when we were in the middle of our dating years and decided we're pretty happy to be right where we are -- married, comfortable, content and happy.

Jill

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Rob and I have been talking for months about starting a garden. We're one step closer. I bought seeds. We now have 3 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, and several packets of carrot, bean, cucumber and sunflower seeds.

                                          

Think anything will anything grow?

On my way to and from town, I stopped by to see my hubby hard at work.

                                                  

Love him. :)

Happy Summer Solstice!!
Jill

Stella!

The rain stopped, but it was a foggy, overcast, muggy morning. I went for a 5 mile run and, I think I've said it before, but this was one of my tougher runs so far this summer. My time was slower than normal, which I blame on the humidity. I was thankful again this morning, as I was Wednesday morning, for the cloudy skies.

I finally got to fill the role of "parts girl" this morning as Rob needed me to run a piece of glass to Polzin in Northfield. Pretty exciting stuff.

The main activity of the day was lunch at Stella's Fish Cafe in Minneapolis with several college counseling women (Lisa P, Sara K, Mary H, Jill A, Chandra, Andrea and Karna). Meg and I met in Lakeville and headed for the big city. It turned out to be a gorgeous day for an outdoor patio lunch! I ordered a mojito and some of the most delicious fish tacos I've ever eaten. We had a great time.

                                             

After dropping off Meg at her car, I headed back to Polzin for the glass that was ready for pick up. Rob has yet to tell me where to submit my mileage.

We had a low key night at home, tried a new honey mustard chicken recipe, measured the spot for our garden and relaxed.

Jill

So Much Rain = Flooding

We woke up in the middle of the night to 3 different waves of torrential downpours! The first one seemed to be the worst, complete with thunder, lightening and hail. During the second one there was a clap of thunder so loud it shook the bookshelf in our second bedroom causing this decorative, music playing hanging to start playing music. (Hearing Edelweiss at 3:00am during a thunderstorm does not make for restful sleep -- that's the stuff horror movies are made of!) The rain really did not stop until late morning when it was time for me to head into Northfield for lunch with Jenny P, Jenny H and Jake H (classmate from StO).

I picked up the Jennys and we met Jake at Hogan Bros for a delicious sandwich and cup of soup (thanks Jenny P!). Jake had reached out to Jenny P to set up this get together, Jenny P was not sure what the two of them would have to talk about for a whole lunch hour so she invited Jenny and me since we know him from college and working in admissions as student workers. Turns out Jake had wanted to talk to her about a job opportunity, so while he was happy to spend time with Jenny H and me, he was probably disappointed that he drove all the way to Northfield and didn't get to the the true purpose of his visit. Oh well ... I ended up having a great time. He's a nice guy and it was easy to visit for the hour we were all together. As it turns out, he knows Curt S from his balloon flying days! Small world.

After I dropped the Jennys back on campus, I headed back downtown Northfield to check out the flooding of the Cannon River. Yikes -- it's pretty bad. The water has run over into the grassy area where the DJJD carnival takes place, it's over the wall obliterating the sidewalk in a couple spots by the Archer House and it's seeping through the floors in some of the businesses along the river walk.

                   

                                                

                                        

Right after I sent pictures of Carlson Co to Sheila and Jason, Jason walked out of the office! He was helping with the flood prep by moving furniture out of the basement of the building.

                                                        

After that, I ran walked a little farther north to the walking bridge where I took more photos and ran into Monica's sister-in-law Christine. I walked back through Bridge Square and ran into Rob's cousin Mike. And then Monica and Joey! The three of us watched the river, then walked to a hole-in-the-wall store and shopped for a bit.

                                                        

Even though I suspected that golf would be cancelled for the night, I left town in order to get home, change and make it to Apple Valley in time for our 6:22pm tee time. On the way to AV it poured! I got to the golf course and knew we would not be golfing, but we decided to attend the Lupus Foundation fundraising dinner, which was still going on despite the rain. Unfortunately, they postponed the silent auction, so there weren't many ways to donate to the foundation. However, Mom, Anita and I had a good time together.... watching Katie from afar. :) She was pretty tame tonight. Just a little tousled hair and slouched posture.

Hopefully the heavy rains are done, rivers can go back to normal and places can dry out a bit.

Jill

Hideaway

More evidence of country living:

Yesterday morning, I walked around the corner of the house from the garage to the front step and noticed a bald eagle flying above. As my eyes moved from the sky to the ground, they spotted a deer running across the hill next door. I watched him bound across the grassy area and as I moved our hanging basket from the front step to the shepherds hook, a little green frog was looking up at me. Eagle, deer, and frog spotted in a span of 30 seconds.

                                  

The little buddy was still there when I got back from my run.

                                              

My plan had been to weed whip after my morning run so before Rob left for work he gave me another little lesson (I'm learning so much about the equipment in our garage!). After cooling down from a decent 5 mile run, I was ready to work. The weed whip started right up the way it was supposed to, but shortly after I started cleaning up along the sidewalk, it died. I tried again. It started... then died. Turns out it was out of gas. Rob hasn't given me the full tour of the garage, so I didn't bother trying to find the gas/oil blend for the weed whip. Instead, I sat outside and read for 45 mins before getting ready for my lunch date with Grandma L. 

I had a lovely afternoon with Grandma! We had lunch at the Hideaway, where we visited for just short of 2 hours. She had a "just because" gift for me -- 6 flour sack towels that she had embroidered over the winter! When I showed Rob later, he made the comment that everyone has them and he always wondered where people got them. Grandmas.

                                                   

While at the Hideaway, I ran into Kevin G who has been working with our neighbor Tom about getting an association started. He came over to our table and reintroduced himself to me. On our way out, another person said "Hi Jill." I was taken aback because he did not look familiar at all. Turns out it was Eric L, my insurance guy who I thought I would never have to face after all the back-and-forth phone calls I'd made when Rob and I combined our insurance. Eric asked me about working at Shattuck, said he thought he saw me when he was there with his daughter. Apparently he has a good memory. Or is a bit of a stalker. :)

After lunch we went back to Grandma's apartment, looked at pictures from her trips to Wyoming, visited some more. Coffee time is at 3:00pm so I thought I'd walk down with her and then head out. Grandma ended up giving me a tour of their facility and we went to coffee together. I'm so glad I stayed -- I had the opportunity to meet Grandma's friends Zona and Donna (?).

My favorite moment was when we were talking about Hazelwood and the fact that many people left the church when a new priest came in (several years ago). Their former priest came back to say mass and all these people who had left returned to see Fr. E. This irritated Grandma and Camilla because they stuck with the church even in times that weren't so great. One of the people who returned was Vivian. Vivian had wanted to be a nun, but due to some health issues never saw that through. However, for years she wore a black head piece, which I imagine to be similar to what nuns wear. When I asked Grandma if Vivian ever got married, she said, "Heavens no." And then told me that Kathleen (another friend from church who has a reputation for being a gossip) referred to Vivian as the "Blessed Virgin." And then Grandma giggled and giggled. It was pretty funny.

After I left Grandma, I went back downtown Northfield to shop -- Julie's birthday is on Saturday so my goal was to find a birthday gift for her. I have said for many years that I should spend more time in Northfield because there are several unique and fun shops so it was fun to finally take advantage of the quaint town.

We tried a new recipe last night -- skinny greek yogurt chicken -- which involved whipping up a mixture that includes greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper, slathering it on the chicken breasts and baking them for 45 mins. Super easy and pretty tasty!

This morning I went for my morning run (thankfully it's becoming somewhat of a habit) despite the fact that it had rained not long before we got up AND it still looked a little ominous. That's how I know it's become a habit. I went even though it looked like rain. My thought process: I'd rather get rained on than run later when it's hot and muggy. It was still incredibly humid. I had started making banana bread before the run, so I came in and put that in the oven with the intention of giving a loaf to Julie when I see her for a wine date tonight.

Now I should find a house project to work on since I have most of the day ahead of me!

Jill

Country Living

It's official. I'm a country dweller. And I love it!

Before Rob left for work this morning, we reviewed how to start and operate the riding lawn mower and the four wheeler. It was touch-and-go for a minute when I was flustered by Rob's instructions, but once we got past that we were ready to go. I finished my cup of coffee, went for a 5 mile run (nice morning -- 8 min/mile pace), finished my 2nd book of the summer and decided it was time to get to work.

I had to move the four wheeler in order to get the lawn mower out of the garage, which is why I needed to learn how to operate both today. Unfortunately, during my flustered moment this morning, Rob stepped in and pushed the button necessary to start the four wheeler, which meant I didn't see how to do it. I sat down, pushed the brake (it won't start without that step), turned the key and ... nothing happened. I looked that thing up and down trying to figure out what step I missed. I was a little disappointed that I had to call Rob, but would have been more disappointed if I had just given up. He knew exactly what happened, how I missed it this morning, and shared with me the missing step in the process. She started right up! I couldn't just back it out of the garage without taking it for a spin around the neighborhood, right?? What a thrill!! I went over to the airpark and back. Now I need to make some friends who live just far enough away that it's a long walk, but just close enough that it's silly to drive! The airpark people are looking more and more appealing every day -- airplane rides, an excuse to drive the four wheeler, etc.

                                         

Now on to the lawn mower. No need to call Rob for that one, it started right up! Thankfully no one was watching as I made my way around the lawn -- I have a feeling I put many more "miles" on the mower than Rob normally does, but I also have a feeling that if he doesn't have to mow the lawn, he won't care how long it takes me! I felt really country when I took off my shirt and mowed in my sports bra. :) Don't worry... I applied sunscreen.

                                             

What did I do once I parked the lawn mower back in the garage? I went for another joy ride on the four wheeler!! This time, farther into the airpark and then south on the gravel road and home again. Another country moment.

                                                     
Weekend recap:

Saturday morning, I was lucky enough to spend several hours with Alix. We spent our time exploring the bathroom and shower (climbing in and out of the shower, opening and closing the shower doors), walking up and down the stairs, chatting while we laid in bed avoiding a nap, etc. She's quite entertaining and the most beautiful little girl I've seen, not that I'm biased or anything.

          

                                                             

That night, Sara, Wade, Sheila, Jason, Kelly and Andy came over for dinner. The 8 of us rarely get together, which is too bad because we had a great time!

Sunday was Father's Day so we started the day having breakfast with Peter at Jensen's Cafe. After that we headed to Walmart for oil, Rob changed the oil in the Dodge while I dozed off in his truck, and eventually we went back home. It would have been really easy to lay down for a little nip nap, but we resisted temptation and Rob worked on his mud truck while I went for a run. Andy and Malinda hosted Father's Day dinner, so we spent the next several hours celebrating the dads by enjoying the lovely evening from their deck.

                        

                                                      

I'm incredibly grateful for the close relationship I have with my dad. I could not have picked a better one -- he's thoughtful, level headed, sincere, kind, loving, gentle, dedicated, proud, honest, humble, social, handy, hard working, faithful, and more. He's truly the best.

                                       

A really wonderful day and weekend.

Loving the summer. And loving this country living.
Jill

The Birds

Do you ever feel like a prisoner in your own home? That's how I felt this morning.

A colony of swallows found the "perfect" spot for their nest -- on the front of our house, next to the front door. This isn't the first time they've started building in this same spot. Last year we knocked down their nest before they got too far. The birds must have a good memory, or this particular spot is really appealing, because this morning they laid the foundation and started putting up walls on their new home. I tried to keep them away, but these particular birds are fearless .... and mean. The other night, when they were swooping around us, Rob referred to them as kamikaze birds. They dive bomb.

Each time they flew into the corner where they were building the nest, I opened and slammed the front door in the hopes that they'd fly away. This worked 3 times. After that, they were not phased by the noise or the thump of the wall and each time I opened the door they swooped and came in for attack.

I admit, their project was fascinating. Several birds worked together to keep watch, bring materials, and build their nest. Over the course of just a few hours, they managed to lay the foundation of mud on the wall, they brought in grass, branches, etc to put the nest together. Here's how far they got today:

                                           

Rob was not happy with this progress, so as soon as he got home, he stood watch and scared away the swallows as I washed the wall.

Did you know swallows are federally protected? This means it's illegal to remove their nests when eggs or chicks are present. Glad we removed the nest when we did.

Other than that, had a fairly productive day. Went for a run in the morning, drove to Shattuck where I dropped off my health insurance forms, picked up paint samples for my office, and cleaned up my office in preparation for the painting, bought tomato and pepper plants at Donahue's (50% off sale!) and stopped by the liquor store. I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised by Faribault and its stores. It's been nice to get errands done without always driving north to do so.

We needed burgers for our gathering tomorrow night (the girls and their husbands are coming over) so I made my first trip to Lonsdale Country Market to see my father-in-law, Pete. What a great little store! "Meating You is Our Business."

                                                      

I came home, braved the front step, started a new book, soaked up some sun and eventually cleaned in preparation for tomorrow night. Rob came home, we took care of the nest, grilled pork chops and watched Breaking Bad. Fabulous Friday night.

Jill

Day Fore!

When I had to replace a lightbulb in one of our bathrooms the other day, I realized just how dusty the fixtures were. I'm sure Rob never cleaned them (who really wants to clean those things??) and I certainly hadn't take the time to do so in the year and a half I've been living here. So my project of the morning was disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the light fixtures. Not a difficult project, but you'd be surprised at just how long that takes!

Today was the day of the MSB Vet Tech advisory board lunch meeting at Jake's in Eagan. Christine had asked me to be part of their advisory group, which helps them continue to improve their program. I wasn't sure I had anything to contribute, but figured I'd participate. As it turns out, I had nothing to contribute. They wanted input from vets and other vet techs on how they can include the necessary material in their classes while still following the programming that is being given to them by the MSB administration. It was interesting to learn about their program, costs, retention, etc, but I didn't have much to contribute to the conversation.

Since I was already in Eagan, I decided to go shopping rather than drive all the way to Webster only to turn around for golf. My goal: find bedroom lamps and entry way rug. The search for the right bedroom lamps has been going for about a year. Thanks to Bed Bath & Beyond, I finally found The One. Pier One had a great entry rug, so the afternoon shopping trip was a success!

Even though the day started off cool, overcast and windy, it ended up to be a lovely night for golf! Mom and Sue did not golf tonight, so it was just Anita and me for the night. This was my first time golfing the back 9 and it lived up to its reputation. My score was terrible. However, as Anita pointed out, sometimes the score doesn't tell the whole story. Tonight was only my 3rd time golfing this year (and I really haven't golfed at all for at least 3 years) and I can see a little improvement in my game. I haven't gotten too discouraged and I'm hopeful that I'll continue to improve.

                                                    

We were nervous that temper tantrum Katie would golf with us, but thankfully she was already out with another group by the time we got there. We commiserated with Laura and Gail in the clubhouse once Katie left. They had an equally awkward/confrontational experience with Katie last week and are about as intrigued as we are by this woman. Anita and I got the giggles when we remembered that she referred to K as "numbnuts" earlier in the evening. We're terrible.

Jill