The 28th of July

 I have a headache today and it's sapping my creativity. I feel like I'm moving in slow motion and everything is taking more energy than it should. I get headaches a couple of times a month - enough to be a distraction but not enough to be a medical crisis, relatively speaking. However, years of headaches have taught me that the best thing for my headaches is advil liquigels, therefore I am never without them. Here in The Sticks, a trip to a store for meds is a half hour ordeal and you don't want to make that drive with a headache. However, my trusty stash somehow disappeared and I have had to just suffer through the pain in my brain today. If by tomorrow morning the headache hasn't found it's way back to wherever it came from, I will make a dash to town. Mama has to get prescriptions filled tomorrow anyways and she dislikes going to town by herself as she is not yet comfortable getting there and back. I'll be sure to stock up again. Back pain is uncomfortable and disabled but at least I'm used to it. I don't think you ever get used to headache pain.

I just wrote a whole paragraph about a lack of headache medication. I guess that beats writing a paragraph about the weather. It's hot, by the way. Thanks for asking.

Cody and Marquee came back from their camping trip today and have taken my sweet Sammy dog back home with them. Sammy did much better than I had expected in his first "spend the night" trip to the mountain house. He did have a few "accidents" (on purpose) but for the most part he was his bouncy, energetic self. Most of our animals are lazy like the old dog in HeeHaw so having a high energy pup in the house really changes the dynamics. It was a nice change. Not that we need more/different animals but truly, it's nice to see something with a pulse around here.

The kids' camping trip sounded like a lot of fun. They did all the things you should do while camping in the mountains: went horseback riding, went tubing, made s'mores, saw lots of wildlife. They had a good time and got some great pictures which I will share if I can get my paws on them. I think I mentioned that they were going to Cherokee, North Carolina? The Smokey Mountains are one of my favorite vacation destinations. I would love to go up there -and it's not that far - but it would be tough on my spine and my budget at this point. One day. Maybe.

For us today was pretty much like any other day. I got up and made coffee, went upstairs to my "dressing room" (the upstairs bathroom because it's bigger) and got dressed, came back and sat in the recliner watching tv and co-watching the zoo, made dinner, got into my pjs and then came down to the Whine Cellar. I think the only thing that really changes around here is the menu.

I cooked smoked sausage and potatoes for dinner. Pop bought this great non-stick huge frying pan and it makes skillet meals soooo much easier! The potatoes were perfect - tender with just the right amount of crisp. I'm not a fan of the smoked sausage but it was good this way. The only thing missing was onion - we were out and it wasn't worth a drive into town. Mama made chocolate chip cookie bars today -- some for us and some to send home with Cody and Marquee. They were one of those mixes where all you do is add butter and an egg and they were very good.

I bought some mango frozen fruit bars when I made the emergency ice cream run the other day. They are so good that I could eat the whole box in one setting. I don't know what the calorie count is on them but they taste like they might be healthy. At least healthier than butter pecan ice cream with caramel sauce.

A blog friend of mine, Missie, lost her mom last week and the funeral is tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers. I wish there was something more I could do for her than pray but I guess praying is really the best thing you can do anyways.

It didn't rain today and I think, if I remember correctly, it didn't rain yesterday. I think that's the longest spell we've had all Summer. The other side of that coin is that it's hot and steamy - just like you'd expect it to be in July in the Deep South. God knew what He was doing bringing me into this time in history because He knew I would wilt without air conditioning.

Now that I've covered the menu and the weather, I guess that's about all I have to say today. Hope you all had a great weekend and that the next week will be kind to us all. I'll leave you with a few more pictures of the animals. Love and hugs, y'all.