Azula settles in

E tied the shirt she was sleeping in to Azula's cage to help her stop whining. She said it's helped and she's settling in. E took her for her first vet appointment yesterday.

June flowers

Daisies behind the garage.

Tiger lilies in the yard.

Azula is home

We thought today was going to be the day E got to pick up her new puppy, but the breeder asked her to come Friday night. Azula is home and keeping E awake. She sounded really tired when we talked to her yesterday.

I also asked for pictures of Azula when she's awake. E said she sleeps a lot.

June skies

Lots of interesting clouds ...

a rainbow spanning over the elementary school ...

and a backyard cardinal.

Nail trim

Trimming the cats' nails has always been the girls' job. E loves doing it but she's in Washington so it's up to L. Not sure what we're going to do when she goes to college.

Pretty lantern

There's a nearby store that sells an interesting assortment of things I believe retailers couldn't sell. I saw this lantern over the weekend and it was only $12.99. I knew the designer and that she sells items on QVC so when I got home I looked it up and it was last selling for $49.95. I thought about it for a few days then went back and bought it. Couldn't pass up the deal. And it's pretty.

L breaks the clock

L ordered a Disney clock that looks like a watch when it's hanging so she had to take down the living room clock and hang up her Disney clock. After I told her to put my clock back, she did but didn't hang it very well. It fell to the floor and broke. Guess after 20-plus years it was time to have it replaced.

Target didn't have anything I liked (they only had three clocks that would have fit in the space) so we found this on Amazon. Nice, big numbers and the background kind of matched the wall paint. We didn't replace the nail so it's a little off-center but Andy said he can live with that. Not sure how long I'll be able to let it hang like that.

Coming home this weekend

This is the latest pic of the puppies E's breeder sent her. E thinks her puppy is the one in front and she goes to pick her up Saturday! She's already made her first vet appointment.

She's got her crate and flooring put down. Her pen should arrive soon.

B is 21

B is celebrating his 21st birthday today! Here he is blowing out the candles on his (overbaked) birthday brownies. Yes, he's wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday and his hair is longer than it's been in years. Guess that's what a semi stay-at-home order will do to you during a worldwide pandemic.

We got him AirPod Pros and a carrying case. And for dinner we ordered steaks from Longhorn Steakhouse. B got the ribeye with fries and broccoli.

Father's Day

We were taking our annual Father's Day picture when I joked that we could have L photoshop E into the picture.

Then Andy had the genius idea to Facetime E so she could be in the photo with them.

This popped up in my Facebook memories a couple of days ago - Father's Day 2005. Wow, the kids are all grown up!

This was 2010.

I made Andy a breakfast casserole this morning, B gave him a big container of Red Vines licorice and L gave him this solar-powered lighthouse for the garden. The light actually spins when it gets dark out. E said she's going to take Andy to dinner when he's visiting her in a couple of weeks.

Ice cream cake

We picked up a Dairy Queen ice cream cake yesterday for Father's Day. We couldn't wait till Sunday to cut into it so we started eating it last night. It's delicious.

This is the cake I ordered ...

with green writing that I thought would look like this.

This is the cake we picked up lol. At least it tastes good!

"Adoption" gift

L received the gift last night from her "sponsor" for being a graduating senior. Parents posted a picture of their graduate on a Facebook page and other parents and community members volunteered to "adopt/sponsor" them by getting them a surprise graduation gift. I made a gift for L's friend, M.

She got an insulated cup covered in flamingos and several gift cards.

And such a cute idea. L's sponsor put together a bag of four gifts and had a number taped on each one for 2020.

Meatballs!

It's nice to have B home, especially when he decides he wants to make dinner. Last night he made homemade meatballs using two pounds of meat.

It made a lot of meatballs. I think that was part of his plan though. He and Andy had pasta again for lunch today.

And he cooked fettuccine to go with the meatballs because L wanted "fun" pasta, not spaghetti.

Organizing my recipes

My quarantine project this week has been to combine two of my cookbooks into one and separating the recipes by type - breakfasts, appetizers, etc. I've also added pictures to most of the recipes and found that it's best to have all the recipes horizontally in the slots and typed to fit into the 4x6 space if possible.

New golf balls

Andy waited all day yesterday for Fed Ex to deliver his new golf balls. They finally came around 8 p.m. while we were sitting outside. He was so excited to get them. He wasn't sure whether he ordered the personalized ones or not. He did - marked with his youth football number. He said they're a Father's Day gift to himself.

Burning the schoolwork

It was a beautiful night tonight so we sat outside and started a fire. L brought out her papers from senior years and tossed them into the fire. Not sure when we started this tradition but she loves it. Here she is going through her papers finding tests she graded for the Japanese class she helped out in. Guess those grades aren't of any use to those students now.

This is senior year on fire.

Virtual graduation day

Today was the day. Parents voted in May to try to do a "real" graduation ceremony in early August (I voted for a virtual ceremony ASAP). The school announced its plans then switched to a virtual graduation ceremony. So many unhappy parents on the Facebook page. L said the parents need to get over it. I wasn't even sure L wanted to watch the ceremony. The school sent out the graduation programs which we received yesterday.

Before the ceremony, a couple of L's friends dropped off graduation presents for her.

Her friend, A, got her this cute Disney bracelet with personalized charms on it.

We did end up watching the ceremony - until we saw L's picture. (If you watch it on YouTube she's at 1:01.23). We were asked to submit a picture in the cap and gown. Lots of people didn't so the school just used their yearbook photos. It was nice to hear all the kids' names without the cheers from those parents who just can't keep quiet. And we weren't sitting outside in the football stadium. I'd say that's two pluses for a virtual ceremony.

L was cheering on her friends!

B's home

B came home from college today. He thinks he'll stay a week or two. I'll push for two.

Sitting with Schubert

Look who crawled up beside me as I was sitting outside. It's Schubert. He likes me to brush him.

Another project

When I went to turn off the back porch light last night, the switch broke. Handy Andy to the rescue! He thinks it's about the third time he's replaced that switch since we've been in the house.

Handy Andy

We've struggled with our back door for years. Every summer it gets harder to shut, the kids slam it, you have to lift the knob to get the lock to close. I complained enough that we had a locksmith come look at it earlier this year. He looked at it for about a minute (after being late for the appointment) and said it would cost $300 to fix. Um, no. My handy husband cut out the deadbolt and fixed that this weekend.

Then we ordered a replacement for the bottom lock on Amazon and he replaced that too! Two locks that work? What a change! Now we have to get the kids new keys. Our next project might be replacing the deadbolt with a number lock so we wouldn't even have to carry a house key.

It's a girl!

E talked with her breeder and chose her puppy last night. It's a girl. She plans to name her Azula after a character in the "Avatar" series. She picks her up at the end of the month.