Monday, Monday

Is it really Monday already?  I had a full weekend. I ran 4.5 miles on Friday and 5.9 miles on Saturday. Our weather was fantastic (on the hot side, but relatively low humidity) and I wanted to take advantage.  My older brother (who lives in Tokyo) arrived for a 10 day visit on Friday.  He's a pretty easy guest.  He's very interested in eating healthy food and so whatever I fix is appreciated.  We went to visit our Dad  in his nursing home.  Dad knew him and greeted him by name and said "long time no see," which is true since my brother can't get here very often.  


DH and I are thinking of buying a second house as an investment. On Saturday, our realtor showed us one that pretty much meets all of our requirements, so we're thinking about putting together an offer.  Yesterday,  my exercise was biking. to that house (5 miles away) We biked through that whole neighborhood, getting a good feel for what it's like.  


After church yesterday, I fixed a fantastic roasted tomato and corn soup.  My bumper crop of basil (it loves this weather!) provided the perfect garnish and a wonderful aroma and tang for the top.  I should have taken a picture.  I am working on getting together some of the recipes that folks have requested.  If you use Blogger and have any technical advice, I'd be obliged!  The request for my brownie recipe almost tripped me up.  I went so far as to go to the store to buy butter (a key, necessary ingredient for my recipe) thinking I'd make a batch so I could add a picture to my recipe.   That's a "primrose path" if I ever heard of one!  What do you suppose might have happened to those photo props after the picture was taken???   (hint:  I probably would have made them when there were no other adults in the house . . . !).  But I didn't.


My brother and I went to a funeral this morning.  A good friend of our parents (her husband was a West Point classmate of our Dad's) had her service at Arlington Cemetery.  She had a wonderful, full life and was a loving, vibrant person and was 89 when she died.  It's sad, though, when someone lives so long that they outlive their generation.  


I was able to wear a favorite, Ann Taylor LBD that hasn't fit me for a while.  I paired it with a linen jacket, formerly size 14, that someone thoughtlessly ran through the washer and dryer with all his gym clothes. (hint: his initials are DH and he's forbidden to ever do laundry again chez-nous, and I'm not telling him that it fits me even better now that I'm much smaller than I was.)  Wearing that dress helped me stay away from the carb-heavy buffet at the reception.  I talked with people and had a very nice stemmed glass of ice water.

My friend Patrick, Responsibility 199, presented me with this in his post yesterday!  Thanks, Patrick!

Only two rules for this one:

1. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience in 5 words:

Hopeful, Inspired, Community, Available, Amazing

2. Pass it on to 10 other Amazing blogs:  Check out these amazing bloggers and their amazing blogs!


Arlene        Adventures in Weight Loss, Cooking, and Life
Julia          Jewlia/Goulia
                 Diet buddy Daily - From Frumpy to Fabulous
Tonyne     The Unlikely Success Story - My Journey to Health and Wellness
Mel           Diet Naked
Sarah        Low Stress Weight Loss
Tami          Nutmeg Notebook
Jessica       See How She Runs
Cammy      The Tippy Toe Diet
Karen         Waisting Time


Thanks for all your advice on the ant war.  They are pretty much gone, now, my ant cocktail having done the trick.  


Want to see a cutie pie?  This is little J, with his kitty.