Black & Blue and in between

The Searcy Community Band presented a rousing patriotic tribute on Thursday, July 3rd at Spring Park. For the first time, I actually heard most of the parts!! And it all seemed to come together pretty well, with the exception of some wrong notes. It was fun. My biggest problem is not new – it was my main problem growing up with piano and clarinet – PRACTICE!! But another clarinet player offered to practice together in August since I’ll miss some of the practices. Whew.

I went to Wally World after the concert to pick up essentials for the “Tucker Invasion” week-end. Laura suggested keeping it simple – so I planned a Ham & Rice Salad and sloppy joes. The weather was really nice Thursday night – not hot and a little breeze. However, by the time I got to WM (Wal-Mart), the breeze had really picked up and the clouds had rolled in. I briefly wondered if I should have brought my umbrella…..and I should have! I heard lots of thunder inside, and saw the growing line of people and carts by the door. But I finally just decided to run for it – it wasn’t too bad by then. And it had stopped completely when I got home.

On July 4th, I got up and ate a bowl of cereal before putting on some a t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops to pick blueberries. I knew, since it had rained the night before, that I’d probably get wet. I didn’t plan on getting thoroughly drenched and muddy – and I don’t remember being that muddy and wet in a long time. I had to cross some dirt to get to the berries and it was soft. So soft, in fact, that I sank into the mud and lost my flip-flops! I went ahead and picked and picked and picked. I found a branch and dug one shoe out. Then I jumped over the mud moat, and dug the other shoe out. Can you say wet & muddy?!?!? I found a water hose and hosed my feet and shoes off before heading home and into the shower!

I put some of the berries into the freezer, and then made a blueberry cobbler (light!) with the rest. I cleaned house, cooked rice, and relaxed before the Tuckers arrived. We met at the Brick Oven Pizza for dinner, and then went over to Harding for the fireworks. The kids had fun with the carnival stuff and the adults had fun catching up with friends. We sat with the Adams family and enjoyed the show.

Saturday John went on a bike ride (they had to wait for the rain to stop) while we hung out. He texted and told us that Willie had invited us over for lunch. When he got back, he took the kids and Laura & I went to Harp’s. We ran into Willie & Jake, and Flee Patton. We headed over to Willie & Kim’s house with the cobbler and enjoyed hamburgers and freshly-made guacamole! The kids bowled on their WII and I filled in while Emily ate her cobbler. That was fun! Laura tried out the FIT also before we headed home to rest. Laura & I made sloppy joes for dinner but John went home. We ran into Rena Howard & her family at church on Sunday then ate the Ham & Rice Salad for lunch. Laura and the kids packed up and left me with a very quiet house.

Fun Moments:
~Emily hugging me and saying, “I love you Aunt Katie.” – multiple times!
~Laura wielding my Pampered Chef Spatula.
~The kids fighting over my great toys: the exercise ball, my megaphone from 6th grade, and pillows (note to self: get some more toys!).
~Ethan pooping the potty! ~The blueberry cobbler and Mexican Coke.
~Bowling on WII
~Watching Jake and Clifford.
~Emily’s creativeness – from her telling everyone about her pet baby snail Amanda to her artwork of amoebas
~Ethan talking about anything
~Chatting with Laura & going to the grocery store not once but twice and finding Mexican Coke for Big John

Back to work on Monday! Fun Fun. After work, I went to WM to see about finding some clothes – mostly things I could take on vacation. I tried on several things but ended by buying two pair of capris – khaki and black. Then I went back to Anita’s to pick blackberries. WOW – talk about ripe and ready. I picked about an hour and got a bucket full – enough to freeze about 1 ½ gallons, and I saved out enough for a small cobbler. I also fixed up the leftover sloppy joes to freeze, so now my freezer is nice & full.