Monday....

Welcome to the new week ya'll!

What would a week be like if it didn't start with Monday....who knows.  We all look forward to Friday but I really do like Monday.  It sets the tone for the rest of the week, so if you make it good, the week will go relatively smooth.  Or so I like to believe.

Friday was a fun day.  I had lunch with the every funny Christine.  We ate at Taydo Chinese Vietnamese Restaurant at Highway 6 and Westheimer.  I love good Vietnamese food and Christine knows where to get it.  I agreed to let her choose since we were meeting near her job this time.  I had the Lo Mein....YUM!  It was a quick lunch but we always have so much fun.  We get caught up in no time and laugh the whole time.  Can't wait to the next time!

The afternoon was slow but then evening flew past.  It seems like one moment it was 5:30 PM and then I blinked and it was 9:45 PM.  I know that we watched TV but I really couldn't tell you what was on.  I was knitting on the Clementine and I guess I was so engrossed in it that I really did tune out the TV.  I managed to get all 46 rows of Chart A and the first 20 of Chart B done Friday.

Saturday was an odd day here at Chez Ruby Ringz.  SF has started back up the diet she was on before we met and had to weigh in at 8:00 AM.  We are up by then most Saturday mornings anyway since we "normally" get up at 4:00 AM on weekdays.  I fixed a strong cup of coffee and enjoyed it poolside while she was gone.  After breakfast, we ran some errands and then we worked on the pool.  The rains have played havoc with the chlorine (salt provided) and we had to take a water sample to the pool place to get detailed instructions.  We could test it here ourselves, but they do it for free and tel us EXACTLY how much of each chemical and salt we need to add so we don't have to guess.  That took the swimming prospect out of the weekend, as we had to add the muriatic acid first and then double shock it yesterday.

That left us with plenty of time on our hands and we decided to read.  I don't think it was a spoken thing.  I was drying my hair after my shower and when I emerged squeaky clean SF was reading a book for a class she will be teaching soon.  So, I chose to read instead of knit.  I managed to finish The Beekeeper's Apprentice.  I had forgotten how much I did enjoy Sherlock Holmes mystery stories.  It was a delightful book and I fear that I will be acquiring the remaining nine books in the Mary Russell series.  SF puttered around between chapters in her book, as it is printed in font size 9 and gave her fits.  The book is far more technical than educational and I had to get the dictionary out a few times to help her with words.  I knew their meanings but I didn't want to cloud the content with my context clues so I read her the verbatim definition from the dictionary.  Yes, Saturday was one of those days when I know things were accomplished but it felt like they were in an alternative universe.

Sunday was just a slight bit better.  We had a spot in the back yard where we have tried to grow a few plants.  She has tried a few varieties of palms and we had two plumeria plants there last year.  The plumerias grew and bloomed last year but the BIG freeze and snow did them in.  The spot has been bare this entire time and we were in route to buy some sod when I remembered that there was a plant that I have always had at every house I have lived in since arriving in Texas, a Hummingbird Bush.  I did not have my A Garden Book For Houston with me, so I had to explain to SF what I was wanting.  She likes tropical stuff and we both wanted LOW maintenance since we have  the pool and the motorcycle that we like to play with on the weekends.  We headed to Houston Garden Centers in Missouri City to see what they had since they are running their 1/2 off sale.

Jackpot!  They had a bout 25 plants to choose from and we settled on one that was already about two feet tall and brought it home.  I promptly put her in the ground and dripped water on her roots for about a half hour.  The butterflies and honey bees have already found her.  I can't wait to see her in a few weeks after she gets acclimated to the new digs and her next wave of blooms appears.  I'll grab a picture of her when she is ready.  I love the flowers but the color of the leaves is just as dramatic and I think that she will actually survive the variety of weather that this particular corner of the yard seems to encounter.  She is a hard one and the space is ample enough to hold her if she does ever decide to get the 12' x 12' expanse that they can attain when they have the perfect conditions.  So I was able top get a burst of color and a low maintenance plant that should not be of any concern to the pool maintenance all for ten bucks!

I am back on my eating program as well.  I don't really ever diet.  I have moved all of the heavy carbs back to breakfast and lunch and will be getting more seafood for dinner.  I love tuna (yellow tail) and SF can have a variety of fish on her diet.  Bonus for both of us.  I am also eating more veggies again.  Asparagus and artichokes are plentiful at the moment and I love both of them.  Corn on the cob freshly roasted on the grill is a bonus this time of year as well.

I will be posting about the wine tasting from last week a bit later.  It was fun and I am looking forward to more.  This week is reds, so i will skip, as I prefer reds in the cooler season and whites in the warm weather.

Make the most of your Monday and get your week off to a positive start!