Yesterday was supposed to be a very busy day but even the best intentions fall victim to mother nature at times. My sister and I were signed up to participate in Paint The Town yesterday. We got up early (5:30am), put on old jeans and gym shoes, grabbed a couple of baseball style hats and headed to Norwood Plaza. It was raining but not too hard so we had high hopes of it stopping. When we got there we were so happy to see that so many people were already there, apparently rain doesn’t dampen the heart of volunteers at that these events. Despite the fact that everyone was getting thoroughly soaked everyone was upbeat and enjoying eating breakfast in the drizzle. We got our t-shirts and water bottles before grabbing our breakfast and mingling with others.
Sadly the rain not only continued but it turned into a serious down pour and after checking radar the event was canceled and moved to July 10th. Knowing that many of the over 1000 volunteers won’t be able to come back that date, and there are 59 houses to be painted in less than 8 hours, there is a need for more people willing to give up their day to make a neighborhood look nice. These are neighborhoods in serious need of some TLC so if you have time and don’t mind working with some nice people, being fed breakfast and lunch, come join us. I’ll be posting more information as it is available. Our team is painting one of 2 houses, side by side. We were given a drive by view to see our projects before being sent home looking forward to this upcoming project.
Plan B became grocery shopping for the Diva Den. I went with mom to knock out that trip. With our grocery list in hand and a request that I make black bean chili for dinner, we headed out to load up on food for the coming two weeks. Two stores and a couple of Foursquare updates later, we went to the Burger King drive through to grab lunch and headed home. It was sunny and HUMID all of the late afternoon, it was just flat out uncomfortable outside, I am SO thankful for central air conditioning!
I made the chili and set some aside for dad and then mom and I ran that to him and picked up a few things he needed from the store. Two trips to Kroger in one afternoon, we should have our own parking spot and check out lane as often as we are there. Dad is not able to drive anymore so he has to rely on us and friends to either run him to complete his errands or run them for him. Next time we need to think ahead and call him when we make OUR trip to the stores. We opted to skip the Reds game last night as it was so hot and humid that just sitting in the shade we started to sweat and the threat of rain was very likely. Jeannette and I had already had our share of getting soaked to the gills.
Saturday, as mentioned in other blogs, is wine night in our home. We wait until all of us are home for the evening then try a new wine, or two. My sister had picked up 2 new ones at the store on Friday and mom and I had gotten cheese and crackers on our grocery trip. We were sitting outside on the deck waiting on Sarah to return when the ‘severe’ thunderstorm warning was issued for our area. The lightening show was impressive out to the west and just before Sarah pulled in the storm hit. Judging from the debris in the yard and on the deck, and the 2 shutters and damaged siding on the neighbor’s house it must have been more intense than we realized.
Anticipating a power outage we had a bunch of candles lit on the dinning room table and opened the blinds and turned off most of the lights. It was a relaxed atmosphere but we figured the neighbors likely think we were over here having a midnight seance. The power did not go out but we left it this way just because. At one point we were all being goofy and started singing songs, or pieces of them. Jeanne ran and got her laptop, and then so did Jeannette. Before long we had the actual songs playing and were looking for more good ones to sing along too, it was Princess karaoke. I have no idea what time Sarah slipped away to go to bed, but I went up at 2:30 this morning, and my mom and sister were still up singing at 3:00am. I slept in until 11:30 and the only reason I even crawled out of bed was fear that Pixel would need the litter box. Next week the Divas have decided to try some of the various imported and micro brewery beers that the store has in stock, so that should be interesting. Now every other week Saturday is Divas uncorked, the others will be Pop The Top nights. All female friends and family are welcome to attend our Saturday night ‘seance’ gatherings, we can even bed you down for the night if you have too much. Just let us know you are coming so we plan for it!
OH and before I forget, these are the two wines we enjoyed this week:
Marti Gardner 