June is Here but No Summer

 We get a few days you can call really hot and get all excited about warm weather finally arriving - and then we have days/weeks like this.  It's still beautiful with all the rhodies blooming and the blue skies and flowers, but it is a bit nippy!

It's been a good week, but I'm sure I won't remember everything since I refuse to write every day.  

I'm not sure about Monday.  I think I worked on a few filing and budget things and did some laundry, but the girls didn't come after school.

Tuesday was really a strange day though.  

I got ready for Mah Jongg even though I was having a little bit of burning in my eyes, especially my left one.  I think with allergies (still a lot of cottonwood blowing around) both my eyes would be affected, but I usually have one worse than the other.  I'm thinking it might be some face cream or soap that's irritating them since it just happens every once in a while.  Anyway, it wasn't enough to keep me from going to our 1:15 game.  The garbage and recycling bins are always behind the car on Tuesdays since that's Garbage Day, and they don't really pay much attention to where they leave them.  Sometimes I have to move some of the neighbors' bins too.  

Once in the car and backing up, I felt something different.  Something underneath the car.  Just a small difference but enough to make my heart beat a little harder.  Our two cats - the boys anyway - like to sit around by the garage door where it's sunny and is right across from the green area where they might see a bunny sometimes.  I sat there a few seconds and wondered if I should look but figured the damage was done already, so I slowly rolled backwards and breathed a sigh of relief when there was nothing in the driveway.  

Then as I started forward up the alley, the car started rolling back and forth with that awful feeling of a flat tire!  It's pretty unmistakable, and there was nothing to do but turn around and go back and park.  And call Ryan for help!!  

Elise had made a quick trip to the grocery store in North Bend the night before but had not noticed anything.  She took the interstate route where there is construction but otherwise didn't notice running over anything.

So, as usual, Ryan to the rescue.  I had already decided to not go to Mah Jongg because how could I?  No car, worry about a new tire, weepy eye and runny nose.  But he said he would take me to the Y, just a few blocks away, and come back and get the tire and take it to be looked at.  Getting in and out of that truck is not a fun thing, but it was worth it that day to leave my troubles behind and relax with friends.

And it was probably my best day ever with MJ.  There were only 3 of us, and we played with a 4th dummy hand, so we got in 5 games at a pretty fast pace.  It didn't start off too well since Anita won one game and Sharon won the next, and we were playing for money.  It's not much money, but it kind of makes you aware of wanting to win more!  I was down 75 cents, and it wasn't looking so hopeful, but the next 3 games were just perfect.  Even though they started off not so great, the jokers came and the right tiles just fell into my hands, so I easily won the next 3 games, the last one before we had even settled into the game.  I had to apologize, because I'm not too driven to win.  Not that I don't like to, but we are still just interested in learning the rules perfectly and learning the etiquette and just having fun.  Once I win one game, I'm okay with everyone else having a turn, but today I would have been irritated with me!  I think I ended up with a profit of about $2.  I don't really like it though.  I would love to keep score and just know how to figure out the complicated system, but our Thursday group doesn't really want to bother with having quarters available or getting out the chips.  Regardless, it was just what I needed to get my mind off my potential HUGE purchase, since I figured I would need all new tires.  And I did.  Sharon was nice enough to drop me off at home where Wuffie was lying in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch looking very handsome and curious about who was coming to see him.

I didn't see the girls again that day since they were all headed for a Mariners game in Seattle that night with the Wheats.  I'm sure I went to bed super early!  

A few pictures I insisted on their sending.                                                                                               

If I want to catch up on what I did when, I can usually go back to my texts with Noreen and Emily and see.  On Wednesday, Noreen asked if I wanted to go over for coffee/tea and meet her friend Helen who had just moved into an apartment down the street from us.  Of course I did!  And it was such a great morning.  With Noreen's upcoming knee replacement, Helen's uncertain knee and leg status right now, and my self-diagnosed plantar fasciitis, we found we had a lot to discuss!  N had made some sweet treats and set out a pretty display of munchies, and we drank our tea, talked, and laughed and just enjoyed our morning.  I feel like I get comfortable over there and forget to go home sometimes!  And then I have such a good feeling all day when I've been with friends.  Sometimes I have to force myself to leave the apartment, but it's so good for me.

On my way back to my place, I ran into Jennie, our office manager, walking her little girls back home.  They needed to speak to Wuffie and Bowie, and I was able to admire a school project - a diorama? - that one of them had made.  Jennie says the pool is open and the temperature is at 80 degrees, so we're keeping our fingers crossed there won't be any problems this year and plenty of warm days.  We actually had a HOT day Tuesday, and the new-last-year splash pad near the Y was full of happy children.  

I'm not sure where the girls went after school that day, but I'm sure I did nothing else.  Melissa, who lives above our garage, texted and said she noticed I had a flat tire and volunteered to help.  And she probably knows how to do it too. She is great about letting us know if our garage door has been left open or if there is a package back there.  So nice.  A plus is how much we enjoy her piano playing when she has time and also hearing the children doing children things!  Although Noreen and I both hold our breath ever time we hear how fast they run up and down those outside stairs.  Neither one of us wants to witness a fall!  

 Elise did walk over to Safeway to pick up something and saw Ryan and Graysen driving by.  He's figuring out tire stuff for me.  Four tires from Costco.  He took one and jacked up the front end and will drive over Friday morning and get them all put on.  It sure is nice to have someone to take charge.  I'm just useless on things like this.  

Thursday was Mah Jongg again, and we had four this time - Sharon, Gina Lori and me.  Elise volunteered to walk with me to the Y since it's very doable.  I just don't like to do it by myself.  I never know what my aging body is going to decide to feel on a certain day!  It was a pleasant walk, and she pointed out every ridge in the sidewalk and fussed about how I should have taken my cane.  She got a little irritated that I wouldn't hold her hand!  I did on curbs though.  I haven't forgotten the one that conquered me 5 years ago.  Unfortunately, we had to pass the vet's office where I had the fall that started all my problems.  I try to never look at that spot when I'm driving, and we did have to cross the street to avoid walking there.  

I'm not sure how many games we managed that day - 4 maybe.  I know I only won the last one, and we weren't playing for money. We'd rather eat! Sharon had brought the most delicious dessert.  She spoils us.  It was a monkey bread from a bakery in Factoria.  The Harvest Bread Company.  I think I would like to visit it one day.  These people actually go places and do things, so they had a discussion about a place in the shopping center there that sounds interesting - Hobby Town.  The name makes me laugh.  Lori showed us a picture of a 3D puzzle of Hogwarts Castle that she (and maybe her son) had done.  It was so impressive she displayed it on some shelves in her home, and it looks really nice.  I'm wondering if Graysen would like one of those to work on this summer.  I showed Kate a picture of it, and she said YES.  Actually, Amazon sells them, so I'll have to give it some thought.

Gray in her favorite spot on my bed after school.  She alternately gets a snack and reads or harasses me, according to the mood she's in.  

I wish I would take more pictures.  I gave Kate this bedside caddy for her birthday, and I think she's enjoying it.  Just not enjoying waking up.  Poor Gray has to get on the bus around 6:30, and Kate gets to sleep at least a couple of hours longer.  The caddy looks ready for any emergency, down to a couple of keychains and a water bottle (not shown).  

After school Thursday, Kate and Eiri came in and asked if they could go to Eiri's house.  They had not been able to reach Ryan, so I went out and talked to her mom Daisha who was walking with them and told her they could stay there or go to their house if it was okay.  They were planning on gymnastics, so I guess their bigger house was more appropriate.  Gray spent several hours here, alternately working on a presentation with her friend and doing her other homework.  

So now we're almost caught up on the week. 

Friday was a nice day to stay inside - so gloomy and rainy - so I got caught up on a few things I needed to do.  It was early release day, but Gray didn't come here from the bus but walked to her house.  Kate came, and she and Elise ended up watching a children's bakeoff on TV that was really cute and interesting.  Emily called and asked if I wanted to go meet Ryan's sister and her husband to eat somewhere near the airport since they were staying overnight before going on an Alaskan cruise.  I declined, mainly because the car is so crowded when you add me, and they haven't seen Lisa and Shane in such a long time they were sure to have plenty of catching up to do.  I enjoyed reading a little, playing a few games of MJ, and texting some.  Gray and Stephanie are planning to spend Labor Day weekend with us this year - on their way to a trip to Iceland and England.  Everyone we know is going somewhere exciting.  I haven't ruled out doing the Alaskan thing and trying to see a whale - maybe this fall, although it sounds a little chilly for me.  

The weekend shows nothing I have to do, but my one object is to clean the car.  Now that I have tires that cost a big chunk of my monthly income, I want the rest of my car to be up to par.  I'll try to get Elise excited about it since I know I won't do the whole car by myself.  Then we'll take it and get it washed.  That's all I can think of as far as weekend excitement, but it'll have to do.  

I found this pretty little notebook one day when Noreen and I were at Home Goods, but I haven't been in a hurry to use it, for some reason.  

I think I'm going to divide it into sections.  The first one is for Mah Jongg, and I started off by writing down some rules that are controversial or difficult to remember.  As I see things that confuse us, I'll jot it down here and maybe remember where I wrote it.  Someone was looking over my shoulder and left me a message yesterday.

I don't know how I'll use the rest of the book.  Maybe to consolidate a book list and try to keep up with the books I read or listen to, which are few lately.  I did listen to Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and loved that.  Nothing else I've checked out has interested me - but maybe soon.  I have some nice ones requested. 

There are lots of things I need in a central place, so I'll think about it.  Maybe just ideas when I see them, gift ideas or gardening or things to do.  Not recipes.  I have too many of those - everywhere - that I never get around to trying.  Lately, I've been enjoying a BLT almost every evening, and next week I'll be off on another tangent.  I found a huge box of beautiful strawberries last week and bought those along with some whipping cream to make strawberry shortcake.  I like just Bisquick for the cake part, but when I looked for my box, it was gone.  I don't remember using the last of it.  Anyway, the girls and I ate every one of the strawberries, and I'm using the whipping cream in my coffee, so it turned out pretty well anyway.