"Feels Like Monday" Morning Chit Chat

Today definitely feels like a Monday to me.  To be honest, I'm surprised I even know what day it is at all, with all the busy-ness that's been going on around here.  I hope all of you had a nice holiday weekend. 

Ours was nice and not quite as busy as I thought it would be.  Shane found out for sure on Friday that he would be leaving today to start work again in Garden City tomorrow.  We were hoping he wouldn't have to leave until this coming Sunday, but the general contractor out there wouldn't budge on it.  So, we ended up scaling back some of our weekend activities so that we could get Shane packed and ready.

On Saturday we went to Shane's mom's and step-dad's house for lunch.  They grilled t-bones and made several side dishes; it turned out to be a really nice meal despite the weather being cool and drizzly.  Afterward, we came home and relaxed for a couple of hours before hosting Shane's dad, step-mom and great nephew for a burger cookout.  We had a really nice visit with them here at home.  Here are a few pics from that:

Shane grilling in our still-not-finished sun room.

Kat, with Vincent in the background.

Me, with my mother-in-law L (Shane's step-mom). 
I cut the top of my head off and now I look like my dad (bald).

My father-in-law G., relaxing.  I don't think he was feeling well that day.

Shane's 2yo great-nephew, Vincent.

Silly smiley Vincent.

On Sunday, Shane and I took Kat to a place called Wild Rose Equine Center to go on a trail-ride.  Kat has been on horses before, but just the small 1-2 minute rides at fairs and festivals.  This trail ride was an hour-long, up and down hills, across streams, in open fields, etc.  The ride was guided and were giving instructions, but no real assistance was offered in handling the horses.  Kat did great!  She handled her horse and the terrain beautifully, and we all had a wonderful time.

Our horses, all in a row.

Helping Kat mount her horse.

Happy Kat.

Shane and others in the group, waiting to ride.

Kat was in front of me on a horse named Mystique.

Shane was behind me on a horse named Reno.

And I was in the middle, on Twigger.

Ever the gardener, I'm pointing out some wild strawberry plants.

Waiting for the others to catch up.
I told Sluggy that I look like a toad on horseback in this one.
And see, I'm really not bald.

Kat the horsewoman.

After our ride, we stopped for some Chinese buffet for lunch.  We were supposed to have helped my daughter and son-in-law put screens on the second-story windows of their house, be Shane felt like the ground was to muddy to support the ladder safely, so we cancelled on them and headed back home to do some packing and to mow the lawn.

Yesterday we were supposed to have visited my parents, but that would have taken most of the day, so I decided I will just go visit them without Shane in a few days or so.  Instead, we stayed home, did the rest of the packing to get him ready for his trip, and then put our tomato and pepper plants in the ground.  Well, we put some of them in the ground.  There wasn't room yet for all of them (our peas and lettuces are still going...I had thought they'd be done by now) so some just got up-potted into larger containers.

Which brings us to today.  Kat is at school for her last few days of regular school for the year.  She'll be going to summer school, but that's for a different post.  Shane is at the doctor's office trying to straighten out some prescription issues, then he'll come home and pack up the truck to go.  He says he will be gone at least four weeks, but in all honesty, has no accurate idea how long he'll be gone this time.  More work has been added to the existing job, and another unrelated small job has been contracted, so who knows.  But hey...at least it's a job.

Things should calm down a little around home, though.  Now, that sounds like it's because Shane is leaving, but that's not it.  It's because we got most of what was urgent done and marked off the list.  The dumpster will be picked up today, the PODS container will be picked up on Thursday, and things can slowly start returning to normal.

The rest of the week looks pretty quiet.  I might be having lunch with a friend on Thursday, and Kat has an early-release day on Friday (her last day), but otherwise, things look pretty typical.

What did you do over the weekend?  And what do you have planned ahead?  If you have kids, are they out of school yet?