It was a dark and stormy night

Please feel sorry for the residents of my little town, who had their fireworks ruined last night due to some seriously scary storms that came through. The first one was around 8:30 – right before the fireworks were supposed to start. The sky looked like we had a spotlight in the backyard – at least when lightening bolts weren’t hitting. And hail of course. We just managed to get the boat, grill, and doggie door covered before all “hail” (ha ha) broke loose. Several came through during the night as well. There were limbs all over the back yard and the roads. I love storms, but those were some doozies! About 4,000 houses are without power this morning. Happy 4th indeed.

We did grill out some turkey burgers with my mom and we made more polymer clay. I will be taking photos this weekend – promise!

I’d fill you in on my exercise & eating, but I’m too embarrassed. No binging which is good, but not very good choices either. :-( Daytime eating has been fine, but too much evening snacking – and beer! Luckily THAT is out of the house!! Weather permitting (we may have some more bad storms today), I will get in some exercise tonight. I won’t be driving around if its like yesterday though.

The hub and I never had a honeymoon, and over the years we have discussed doing something fabulous for our 5th anniversary (next May). For a number of reasons, money has been much tighter this year than hoped, so spending a bunch of money on a trip next year seems foolish. I think I’d stress over the expenditure more than I’d enjoy the trip. I asked hub yesterday what he’d think about taking our trip a bit early and heading down to Helen Ga. for the mountain stage of the Tour de Georgia. Helen is this really cool German themed town, with a beautiful wooded river running through it, German restaurants & beer halls, and some nice B&Bs. A nice long weekend plus watching some cycling in person sounds like a blast. Not to mention much less expensive. And he agreed! Woot!

I know I’ve written before about my love affair with CostCo. I found some great “margherita” thin crust pizzas, where half the pizza is less than 400 calories, and its 3 for $10. And I found some awesome teriyaki turkey burgers (which we had last night) – yummy! That’s my idea of summer cooking. Pair that with some corn on the cob & tomatoes from the farmer’s market, and I’m in heaven!

The Tour. Yeah, I’ve been watching. I was so proud of Kessler yesterday. It’s great to see Robbie doing so well, and to see Tom in yellow on his home turf. And boy did George deserve to wear yellow. I bet Floyd is still skeeved about those seconds he lost day one due to a flat! In short, there’s plenty of excitement right now. These are the sprinters’ stages, and they are all there. I think it’ll be a little bittersweet during the mountains. I don’t know whether those cyclists are guilty are not – but the whole thing makes me a bit sad.

July is one of my favorite months of the year – it’s summer, full of great veggies from the market, lots of time with my husband, and the Tour. I watch every day, carefully avoiding all news outlets so the outcome is a surprise. It’s special for me because it’s the only sports event I watch faithfully. And I love it for so many reasons. It makes me sad because this scandal has diminished it in my eyes a bit, and that’s unfortunate because the Tour is probably one of the most spectacular physical feats a human can accomplish and the guys that do it deserve our respect for that accomplishment.

I read a quote the other day “the difference between a rut and a grave is depth”. I chuckled, but you know? I find ruts useful. They keep me plugging along, taking care of myself and my family. Does this mean I’m turning into an old fart?