We must remember this: We volunteered

We're playing host to the grandest grandchildren for two days, starting tomorrow at noon when we meet them and their mother for lunch. We'll give them back on Sunday at noon.

So, for 48 hours, we'll be on our toes. We've had our planning hats on and so far have come up with:

riding the riding lawnmower
fishing with cane poles
digging the worms to use with the cane poles
going to Walmart to buy night crawlers if the above doesn't turn out so well
riding the riding lawnmower even though the lawn is already mowed
swimming at a friend's pool
seeing Cars 2 (Do we, as grandparents, need to see Cars 1 first? Perhaps I can just read a synopsis at imdb.com)
watercolors and new crayons are bought
clearance aisle at Walmart
walking to the park
playing Barbie
the riding lawnmower may need more gas

I'll report in when we recover.

Dana and Kay do the Med(iterranean) now online

The four-part series I did on our May trip to the Mediterranean is now online.

From home to Athens via London:
Part 1

Athens to Ephesus to the Greek isles:
Part 2

Italy from Sicily to Tuscany via the Amalfi Coast:
Part 3

Monte Carlo, Provence, Barcelona and home:
Part 4

Our only problem is deciding where to go next, but since we seem to do a big trip only once every three years, we have plenty of time to decide.

Losing the gas war

Went to Walmart today and decided to fill up my gas tank first. I only needed 8 gallons, but the price had fallen to $3.45/gal and there was no one at my favorite pump.

Came out of Walmart 20 minutes later and the price was $3.34. It had fallen all right--and I hadn't caught it!

Timing is everything and this morning, I didn't have it.

Let's see... what could I have done with that extra 88 cents in my pocket?

Have I been playing or Am I disorganized?

I've always thought of myself as an organized person. I've made to-do lists for years, sometimes starting the night before with the next day's list. There's the Call list, the Go list, the House list. So why, since returning from our cruise, have I not gotten anything done?

I made a big list and set it by my computer. It's still here.

What I've accomplished:
Paid bills, put up dill pickles, kept the grandkids overnight.

Downloaded 500 photos from the camera, put nearly 200 of them on a flash drive, and took them to Walmart to be printed. They look great.

Judged the Orange Rose contest via attachments. I should have done this before we left. There were four entries. It took over an hour each. There was a deadline.

Gave a talk at the local Rotary Club yesterday noon about publishing. Had to think about it and write it first.

Took my car into the dealership for what I thought was something minor except there was also something major wrong with it. So major that they floated me a rental car for 24 hours. Said rental car needed someone to get out and push it up the hill. It was crapola, and I drive a four-year-old Chevy Trailblazer, which isn't exactly luxury class. However, to be fair, the repairs were done that day and the rental and I only had to pull over and look up the instructions once.

Wrote the article for the North Texas eNews about the trip. Took DAYS to do it. Decided on the photos to accompany the four parts. Uploaded part one to the site, then the photos wouldn't do right and it's been two days deciding with the editor what to do about it. This afternoon, I hope, if nothing else comes up, I'll finish.

What I haven't accomplished:
Deciding whether or not to make an online album.

Making a collector's box of the trip to match the two from Australia except I can't find a box even remotely similar to what I have. When I found something that "would do", I bought the wrong color.

Written the two short stores for Woman's World that I thought up on the trip. They're good ideas, but when I ran them by the spouse, he frowned at one and shrugged at the other. We'll see.

Queried Texas Co-op Power Magazine with two ideas.

Did I mention my sister was coming? That Father's Day is Sunday and I'm getting another batch of canning cucumbers on Friday?

When I figure out where my time has gone, I'll let you know.

The Topsy-Turvy Tomato, 2011 version

This year, I got smart(er) and planted my Topsy-Turvy with a cherry tomato. The results are in, and though they look much (MUCH!) bigger and more impressive hanging on the vine than they do in the kitchen, you can see that success is closer at hand. I cannot, alas, say the same thing about the two varieties (Roma and something else) I planted in their veggie grow bags. They are just sorta'... there.

Was it something I said?

For Mother's Day, I received a gift certificate from Nordstrom's, and what better item to apply it to than my favorite perfume, Bulgari Omni Amethyste. So imagine my surprise when they didn't have it.

This did not bode well. The tester was in the drawer. No no no no, I thought. I'd only found this fragrance in late 2008 after being sent home with a sample from Nordstrom's along with Bulgari Pour Femme. Surely, they couldn't be getting rid of Amethyste (their spelling, not mine). Was I a perfume Jonah, having already put my beloved Quelques Violettes off the shelf, was another to follow?

No, I was assured, the fragrance was still there, just in a different form, as a "charm". Smaller and it didn't appear to sit upright, although I must admit I didn't examine it too closely. I was miffed; I took myself off to Neiman Marcus.

Where I bought the last bottle.

(FWIW, there weren't any packages at Dillard's either.)

I will have to ration my supply until Bulgari puts it back in the big bottles, although from the link above, you can see that it's still available from the source.

Whew!