Friday Photos and Share Four Somethings

Friday Photos- Just a few photos from the week and then the Share Four Somethings prompts with Jennifer (though I am not certain that I am using the correct prompts).

On Monday, Donnie had a BIG birthday! He turned fifty!! Aww, he looks so good but what is on the outside pales in consideration to what is on the inside: the most kind, generous, intelligent, hard working, God fearing man that I could ever imagine. 

This was a few...er over twenty year ago but he still looks this handsome :).

We didn't celebrate his birthday on Monday. We had gone out with family the evening before, and we are celebrating with friends this weekend. Donnie worked on Monday, and we didn't even go out to eat on his birthday... We had eaten out every meal the previous two days and food out did not sound good to either of us. Instead, we ate some food that his secretary provided! At his office, it's a tradition for people to bring in food- usually lunch type items for someone's birthday. Donnie's secretary brought in quiche and insisted that he take the leftovers home. Donnie called me to tell me he was bringing it home and that we could have it for dinner if I wanted. Yes, I wanted!

Donnie also brought home this cake that his secretary got for him. 

Ironically, the very next day, we decided to eat out for dinner. We are hardly ever near a Rally's, but we were Tuesday evening. Whenever we are near Rally’s, we at least weigh the pros and cons of eating it. The cons are obviously how bad it is for you. The pros are the great flavors of the burgers and fries. We succumbed to temptation this week. It had probably been close to two years since we had had it so... not too bad!

On Thursday during the day, I met a stranger named John at a gas station to complete a sales transaction. When I told Donnie about it later, he expressed some surprise that I didn't let him (Donnie) know I was on my way to do this. I told him that I considered it but knew how busy he was at work and didn't want to disturb him with the news, albeit quite good, that I was getting a great deal on Christmas china but that the deal was occurring at a gas station. Instead, I left my laptop in the kitchen with the browser open on the page that showed my correspondence with John. If something happened to me and I never made it back, John would be a good person to check with. It was all good though! I got my china (for SUCH a great price) and John was as kind and not a serial killer as can be.

This is what I got- this set is discontinued so I can only get pieces on the secondary market. I could not believe that John only wanted $20 for all of these pieces. The soup tureen alone can go for up to $50 on ebay. 

I got out some of my other pieces in this pattern. My goal was to store the new pieces in the same cabinet that stores some of my other pieces. In a feat of domestic engineering, I was able to fit the new pieces in the same cabinet where some of my other pieces are stored. 

Share Four Somethings

Something Loved:

We bought a new kitchen dining set recently and I love it! We had been wanting a new kitchen table for some time. Our old one was from Ikea and just not the best quality. But it had two leaves that expanded the length of the table quite a bit. We were able to fit ten people (albeit tightly) around the table. Incidentally, ten is the number of people we often have over when we have a group. So the two leafer Ikea table remained. Recently we went into a furniture store and found a table with almost the exact same dimensions as our kitchen table that also had two leaves so that it will be just about the same size as our Ikea one. The set came with matching chairs which we needed. The Ikea chairs with our old set were not the best quality nor did they look the best. We love how the new set looks in an of itself; compared to the old set that we weren't crazy about, we love it even more!

I loved going to Indiana and seeing my sister for the first time in 2024 and getting to see other loved ones to celebrate Mary Gracia's first birthday.

I loved hearing about a revival this week on Ohio State's campus that was led by a number of football players. So cool! It can be read about here.  And it may help to turn me into an OSU football fan. It's too early to make that call. I need to really contemplate the existential ramifications of not disliking OSU.

Improved: My hair? I had been noticing it was thinning around my face. I started taking collagen tablets several weeks ago and I think I see an improvement (though maybe it's a placebo affect/ wishful thinking?)

Accomplished: Got the youngest all dropped off at college! Renewed my sub license. That perfect part time job is a unicorn! I will keep looking but, in the meantime, I will sub this school year. 

Noticed: Just so much- where to start? Though we experienced a bona fide heat wave this week, harbingers of fall's imminent arrival are appearing. I saw a yellow leaf in our yard just this morning (though 99% of the leaves are still green). Darkness is arriving earlier in the evening. The garden is still producing bounty but, despite getting plenty of water, I am seeing more browning of leaves and stems. 

Temperature before our evening walk one day this past week-

The house is not much quieter without the girls living here. I mean, it is quieter but not by a huge amount. One reason is that the girls were gone a lot over the summer with their various work and social activities. When they were home, they spent a decent amount of time in their rooms. They both like to listen to music but with ear buds, the sound was contained. Finally, none of us are voluble people by nature- we talk of course, but constant chatter is not the norm.