Weekending + Amazoning

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday:

Here came the sun- check this out:

I spied with my little eyes shafts of sunlight Saturday morning- say what? The sun had  not been out much the last week. The forecast called for it to be sunny all day on Saturday. But big surprise, it ended up mostly clouded. Now, Sunday was sunny and beautiful all day- low 70's, perfection. 

Sun and rain- my plant babies need both so I am thrilled with this forecast...

With the weather out of the way, what more is there to say? It wasn't a super exciting weekend but it was nice, nonetheless.

Friday evening we were out chatting with our neighbors. These were some of the neighbors who came to our house last weekend for a cookout. The family roots for Indiana University, the husband being an alumni of the school just as I am. They are also big Indiana Pacers fans and last weekend when we had our cookout, we all watched one of the Pacers- Knicks play off games since that was on. Anyway, on Friday, we invited them to come over on Saturday to watch game five of the series on the patio with us if they wanted. Saturday was a big sports day for their kids- their club soccer players were in the state cup and had big games on Saturday but those were during the day. They said they'd love to come over so we made plans for that.

Saturday, did some exercising- Donnie and Abby went to the gym while I ran on the tready. Alyssa packed to get ready to go to South Carolina- she was leaving Sunday morning. Later, Donnie and I went to Sam's Club. It was shockingly (blissfully!) not very busy and we got in and out quickly.

Donnie grilled steaks for dinner and then we hung out outside. It was not sunny but the temperature was pleasant. 

The table that Donnie bought that doubles as a pool table and a dining table actually triples as a ping pong table (all the "play" tops he bought separately. However the tops are made with the specific table in mind. (If that makes sense.)). I like ping pong a little better than pool just because it's fast moving and the two people playing against each are both always active. We added the ping pong top to the table and played ping pong. It was fun!

We invited a couple of other families to come over and watch the game- they are also Pacer's fans. The game was a good one. I don't think the Pacers were ever behind- maybe at a couple of points but for the most part, they were ahead the whole game. The game was good without being super intense and it ended with a V for the Pacer's so it was all good. They clinched the play off win so they are in the NBA finals. 

During half time (Pacers were up so we were all in a good mood...), we made s'mores. We "s'more" with lots of variety :).

Sunday morning, Alyssa left for her trip to South Carolina. We said good-buy to her and then headed to church. Heard a good message and then I relaxed for most of the rest of the day. We grilled out again for dinner- burgers that were so good.

Future (in close to 700 miles 😆) beach and pool bums...

My after dinner s'more- so good!

Amazon-

Per usual, I didn't order much from Amazon:

The 1916 Project: The Lyin’, The Witch and the War We’re In

I heard the author on a podcast, Allie Beth Stuckey's if I remember correctly, and I knew that I would want to read and own the book (I normally check out fiction books from the library onto my Kindle. But if there's a non fiction book that I have a pretty good idea is going to be good, I like to buy it). This book was good, albeit, much of the content was disheartening due to it describing accurately many of the problems our secular society faces. The author posits that almost all of society's ills can be traced back to the year 1916 when eugenicist  Margaret Sanger opened the first Planned Parenthood facility in a predominately minority neighborhood in NYC. Sanger believed that white Aryans were "better" than other races and providing contraception and unborn baby killing "services" to minority women under the auspices of caring for them was one way to keep minority populations from growing too much. Really a harrowing account of numerous evil people and their deeds in the early 20th century (Hitler was also a eugenicist. Sanger and Hitler had a great deal of respect for one another.) I will do a more detailed review soon.

upsimples 8x10 Picture Frame Set of 10, Display Pictures 5x7 with Mat or 8x10 Without, Multi Photo Frames Collage for Wall or Tabletop Display, White

I ordered these frames to use for Abby's college graduation display. I really didn't want to buy (and then have to store) more things- this is how storage areas in my house are bursting at the seams with things. BUT, I had several photos of Abby that I really liked and wanted to have on display so I bought them. Now I'm stuck with storing them but I'm sure I'll use them again.. The quality isn't the greatest- in fact the front of them are plastic and not glass (though you can't really tell just by looking at them). At first I found that annoying but now that I need to store them, I'm kinda glad they're plastic and not glass. It makes them not so fragile. They worked well for display purposes and at $29.99 for ten of them, seemed like a good deal.

NISOCY Red Latex Balloon Arch Kit, 102PCS 18In 12In 10In 5In Arch Garland for Anniversary, Wedding, Birthday, Celebrations, Red Theme Mother's day...

I bought these for the balloon arch for Abby's graduation dinner. Her school's colors are red and white so I needed those colors of balloons. I have quite a stash of balloons on hand from doing other arches and so I didn't need to buy any white ones. 

As You Grow Paperback – Picture Book, December 1, 2022

I wanted to read a "banned" book. Yes, over fifty libraries across the country told actor and author Kirk Cameron that they wouldn't let him read his book at their libraries. Now you may think there must be something controversial or inappropriate in the book for librarians to not want this book read to children in libraries. Nope. This book emphases the importance of virtues such as kindness, gentleness, goodness, etc. There's no hateful message and there's nothing remotely age inappropriate but... many, unfortunately, dislike conservative voices and wish to silence them in the public sphere. Sad! I stand against hate and bigotry and am for messages of hope and kindness which this book exudes. I'm glad that I bought a copy of it to support Cameron and Brave Books which published the book. 

My one complaint is that the book is pretty short. The message on each page is good; there just aren't many words per page. I'm wordy and will always be in favor of having more rather than less words.