Keeping It Going in Alabama: Now We Have Summer

It's perfect. I'm in a shady spot with just a few rays of sun all day and an apartment above me to absorb the heat, so I'm finding it very comfortable. I have windows all along the front of the apartment, so I open them in the morning pretty early and then open the front door after I get dressed. I'd love to have a screen door, because most days a fly will get in and drive the cats crazy.

This is my view after I raise the blinds after I wake up. Birds are singing, and the only people walking by are pretty quiet that early in the morning. The sidewalk is also low enough that I can't see them while lying down. The little park that the girls love is right across the street.

It's been a busy time since I've been back mostly full-time babysitting. They both have gymnastics on Tuesday morning from 9:15 to 12:30, and that's a long time. Last week, Katherine and I left and went to Ace Hardware to look for some little something while Graysen was in her lesson, and that broke up the morning.

One week they had tennis camp every morning, then skipped a week and then had basketball camp every morning. It's a job getting them packed up in the car with their snacks and water and towel and sunscreen and equipment. I bought groceries one morning but usually just came home and work until time to pick them up. It's a 30-minute drive both ways, and they are SO tired at 12:00.

That's why it was so surprising to me that Graysen wanted to stop at the library before we went home on Wednesday. Of course, Katherine did NOT want to stop there, but we talked her into it. I knew if we got home and got all settled in, it would be hard to leave again. It was our bad luck that the library didn't open until 1:00, and it was 12:35 when we got there. Katherine was happy, but Graysen wanted to sit there and wait. Summers are mild but not that mild!

I spotted the Dollar Tree across the parking lot, and since we had not been in there together, I figured it would be a nice way to pass the time. Six dollars bought us a nice cool place to hang out and lots of excitement. They bought a sewing kit apiece, an "electric" guitar that was the perfect size for their AG dolls, some cute paper plates, and a pink lily for their mother.

We finally made it to the library, and they enjoyed getting a whole bunch of books. Katherine never got quite as excited as Graysen did, but she loved all the books she chose and picked up a Reading Challenge paper to fill in. I'm still amazed at how well she reads already. Both of them, really. Graysen is not intimated by the thickest chapter books and has a lot of interests. They still like me to read to them though, thank goodness, in my silly accents.

Graysen spent a lot of time picking out books for Katherine since she was not in the mood. It was Wacky Wednesday at basketball, which accounts for the strange articles of clothing.

Graysen is also taking mountain bike lessons and loves it. She did run into a tree this week and hurt her hand slightly. Mimi does NOT love this sport as well as some of the other ones. They both start soccer at the end of August. Maybe they'll soon zero in on what their favorite things are.

I had two good days this weekend, and they were quite different from one another. Yesterday it seemed like I was with people all day and loved it, and today I spoke to no one except Emily and Noreen by text and also loved that.

Early yesterday Bowie and I went out to enjoy the early morning with my planner and coffee.

While we were there, Lil, my newest friend and the assistant manager at the apartment office, walked by and waved. She then realized that it was only 9:00, and she didn't have to be at work until 10:00. I offered her a cup of coffee, she accepted, and we had a fun visit. Her granddaughter Chloe and Graysen were good friends when Covid sent everyone home, and they haven't seen each other much since then. Lil has moved here from some other Washington town to be near her family, so that makes four of us who have done this, all living in the apartments or associated with them.

Emily, Ryan, and Liz, their niece who is visiting from SD, were going to Seattle to check out UW for possibly PT school, and the girls didn't want to go, so they asked if they could stay with me. We sewed and read and had snacks, and then they got to watch Octonauts before their parents got home.

Noreen dropped by then, and we were drinking tea/coffee on the porch when Lil passed by again and relayed some information I had asked her to check on. She was invited to stay awhile, so I pulled out a third rocking chair, and we established ourselves nicely on that shady front porch. So nice to have friends nearby.

Today was just as quiet as yesterday was social, and I did a lot of standing in the sewing room figuring out where to put things and what things needed to be taken back out to the garage to be stored.

Emily brought the girls over to swim Friday afternoon, and they were the only ones there - at first. Then it started filling up, and they had several friends from school there. I had a bonus in that Mary brought her granddaughter, so we got to have an unexpected visit.

Most of these pictures were taken right after I moved, so things are already different, but it's shaping up nicely.

I inherited this shelf from Susan, my across-the-alley friend who is moving to FL next week. :( I was feeding her cat last summer and told her I liked her shelf, and she remembered that and gifted it to me. I have to have so many things out in this tiny kitchen, and this brightens it all up a little, I think.

Just like I inherited one of my favorite plate rack from Debby! I use the plates every day. They are perfect for me, and I can change colors to suit my mood.

Susan brought also a bag of nice clothes for Elise and so many toys and games for the girls. They had never heard of Twister.

Okay, it's bedtime, and I haven't finished one complete thought before being interrupted by one thing or another.

Here are some random pictures I took tonight - I'll call them "before" pictures, although there's not much more I can do to fit things in!

It's so nice and cool just at dusk.

I would wish for just a few hours of sunshine for the plants. I'll hold off on getting a new rug until someone causes the sprinklers not to sprinkle on the porch. I do get free plant watering though.

I bought this tomato when Emily and I went to the plant sale in Carnation this spring. The name had "early" in it, but I think it meant early only if it gets a glimmer of sunshine. The ones Emily bought are loaded with green tomatoes and a few red ones. Their whole garden is just so lush and delicious-looking. Besides the good veggies, she's the gladiolus queen. They just multiply and come back every year.

My garden. One of the four tomatoes.

I know we have deer and rabbits stopping by, and I think they ate a pretty good-sized hosta in my bed. This wasn't to their liking, I guess, but it seems to have been trampled.

The hall closet pantry for kitchen overflow - and 3 coats. I see my mother-in-law's green Dutch oven and food processor and wedding gifts from 1967. It won't hurt me to hold onto those!

The girls have claimed this bathroom for theirs. That picture may be just a little high! And we still have to pick out rugs. They love the little cross-stitched bunny picture and their great-grandmother's glass lamp.

There's not much I can do or am willing to do in the boring beige apartment bathrooms, but at least all the fixtures are in good shape, and there's new paint and flooring.

It's hard to find anything small enough to be useful, but I found this little Ikea stand to hold their hair stuff and toothbrushes. It has a fourth shelf, but I didn't use it.

I'm okay with my bathroom now that I have something to put soap and shampoo on.

Still working on the laundry room, but the litter box fits, and there's room for a tall bookcase and feeding area for the cats on the opposite wall, so I don't keep knocking over their water in the kitchen. The appliances are old, but they seem to do what they're supposed to, and if they break, I'll get new ones, so that seems okay to me.

I took the curly-looking top off the china cabinet, and I think I like this look better. I wonder if I need candles for those candlesticks.

The bottom is for all the games and crafts we've collected.

Using this useless space for appliances and leftover seasonings. I'm so happy with these magnetic shelves. If I had more space, I would get a few more!