Hot and cold

E said it was hot in Issaquah yesterday. It was hotter there than here and Florida. We had a gorgeous day weatherwise (a high of 80!)

I made a cold caprese salad with our Aerogarden basil. Had to use store-bought tomatoes though.

It was so nice outside we were able to have a fire (and watch our new neighbors move in across the street). The hot weather is coming for us, at least that's the forecast.

Another pretty sunset.

Napkin ideas

I've been seeing all these Christmas in July references and realized Christmas is less than five months away. I spent awhile the other day watching YouTube videos and trying out different napkin folds, then, of course, asking everyone's opinions on them. Amazing what you can learn on YouTube.

Sunflowers

My sunflowers have started to bloom. They're not as tall as last year's flowers. These seeds were from the dollar store. I'll have to get some better seeds when we go to Michigan in September.

Sad tomato harvest

Our tomatoes are not doing well. Last year we had end bottom rot and this year, while we don't have that, we have really small tomatoes. The two on the left are supposed to be regular size, the one on the right is a cherry tomato. We had so many cherry tomatoes last year. This year, we just have a few. We're going to have to do some research this winter on how to fertilize for better tomatoes next year.

New deadbolt

A couple of weeks ago I was locking up the house before going to bed and the key in the deadbolt just kept turning. Hmmm. I woke Andy and he looked at it (and turned it just like I did - don't think he believed me lol) then tugged on the key and the center part came out. It was broken for real. We were still able to lock the house with the bottom lock but his weekend project was putting in a new deadbolt.

I picked out the color and he installed it. Didn't swear once, it was that easy to do.

He was even able to key it himself to fit our exisitng deadbolt key.

Caterpillar transformation

I found this Monarch caterpillar and brought it inside Sunday, July 10. It was so tiny I wasn't sure it was alive but by Monday morning it ate a couple of holes in the milkweed leaf so I brought in a new leaf for it.

Friday afternoon, July 22, I noticed it had made its way to the top of the container!

By Saturday night, July 23, it was in its prepupal J-shape. It's getting ready to shed its skin for the last time.

I've been sending the girls daily updates on its transformation and E replied with this pretty gross sentiment.

When we left for church Sunday morning, July 24, the caterpillar was still hanging in iys J-shape. When we got home two hours later, it had shed its skin and made a pupa. Now to wait for a butterfly to emerge!

An up-close shot of the gold crown, the diadem, on the pupa. So cool!

My baby girl is 20!

L is starting her birthday off by shopping at a cast member Christmas in July event in Disney Springs.

We had gifted her an Apple watch back in April as her early birthday present but I let her get dinner and charge it to our card. She got a sausage and pepperoni pizza from Dominos and lava cakes.

Lucky find

I was switching purses to attend my friend L's mom's memorial service yesterday and pulled out this pack of X-freeze Tic Tacs. They're so much stronger than regular Tic Tacs but we cant find them in stores or on Amazon anymore. I'll have to carefully ration the remainder of this pack between me and Andy.

The service was at Covenant Church in Glen Ellyn. The family had dispalyed their mom's handmade (and hand-quilted) quilts across the backs of the first three pews on both sides. That's where the family sat during the service. Such a neat idea.

Cat friends

Schubert came by with his cat friend. His human told me the yellow cat is part of a feral colony and just started hanging out on their deck. They wander the neighborhood together. The yellow cat, they call it Mango, wouldn't come close to me but did eat our cat food. He would only come up the stairs when I was inside the house.

Getting comfortable.

Cat experiment

I read that if you make a circle on a floor, a cat will sit there. B decided to try that with a blanket in the shape of a circle. It worked. August slept there most of the day and when Andy woke up he was still sleeping on the blanket.

Works for Muffles too.

Visiting Swallowtail

Sweet cats

August hanging out in E's room.

Muffles seem to sit wherever this blue blanket is.

And Schubert relaxes in the yard.

‘Working’ in New Mexico

Andy was at a golf outing in Colorado and now he's "working" at a convention somewhere in New Mexico. He said it was hot and even the people in the pool looked hot. He forgot to pack his swim trunks.

This is the view from his room. He's staying at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort. I'd like to go to the Southwest but maybe not in summer. Looks very, very hot.

Uh-oh

My little caterpillar has been eating steadily for a week. This was the first time I've noticed August noticing the caterpillar.

It's grown a lot in the week since I brought it inside. I moved it to a bigger jar but I don't have a lid that fits securely. I put some screen wire on top and put a rubberband around it. B suggested putting a paper bag over the jar so August can't see the caterpillar. Out of sight, out of mind? This could end badly.

Back from vacation

I was doing some painting on the back porch yesterday when Schubert stopped by. Guess he's back from vacation.

He surprised me. I didn't think he'd be back until later this month. At first I thought August or Muffles had snuck out of the house.

I gave him some food.

He didn't visit for long. Had to continue his neighborhood exploration.

Umbrella puzzle

August is at it again - sitting on our puzzle ...

and sitting in the box of pieces.

B and I finished this one in three days. It's so pretty and all the pieces were there!

Not liking the flowers?

Came home from grocery shopping to find my fake flowers knocked out of their jar. I thought one of the cats doesn't like them, but maybe they like them too much?

Lucky day

L got quite the surprise in the mail yesterday. She finally received the Facebook lawsuit settlement check. It didn't come packaged like mine and it was so much later. Not sure why. She's pretty happy to have $397. She put $200 of it in her savings.

Not nearly as lucky as L but CVS actually had their free gift of the day in stock. And, my Amazon package of Mrs. Meyers hand soap that was supposedly delivered at 2:15 this afternoon was delivered by a neighbor at 8:30 tonight.

Plant puzzle

Our latest puzzle is all houseplants. I bought it at a church friend's garage sale. It's a high-quality puzzle (Galison brand - never heard of that but I'll be looking for them now) which I like. B noticed that all the pieces are similarly shaped. I never would have noticed that.

Even though the puzzle was never opened before, we're missing one piece. I blame August. B said it must be here ... somewhere. We'll leave the puzzle together for a few days in case the missing piece appears. Yay! B found the missing piece on the floor today! We'll pack up the puzzle and drop it off at church for someone to take home.

A Monarch

Haven't seen many Monarchs on my milkweeds this summer but saw this one the other day.

Later, I was searching for caterpillars and found this really tiny one on the first leaf I turned over. I brought it inside. Hope it survives.

Belated birthday present

I saw this adorable Disney suitcase at Ross on Friday. Couldn't decide whether to get it. I don't need another suitcase but it would be easy to spot in the baggage claim.

We went back later and it was still there. It was a sign! We bought it as my belated birthday gift. I'll be taking it to Disney next month when we being L home.