Monday morning, coming down

I'm not really talking about me, although I'm certainly not quite as high up on that cloud of excitement and empowerment I was on Saturday after scolding a U.S. Senator.

My husband is still shaking his head over that one.

I'll post the photoadayJune picture (how serendipitous is it that today's prompt is "door"?) as soon as I publish this post so you can see what I'm talking about.

I came out into the living room this morning and noticed one of the sliding glass door panels was completely shattered. I looked for a brick or a rock on the patio, but found nothing. Then – of course! – I Googled and learned that spontaneous shattering of tempered glass sometimes just happens.

What a bitch.

As I sit here at my dining room table, the door is behind me and I can hear it. It's literally creaking. The spider-vein cracks are probably still spreading, although I can't see them do so, as when a car windshield cracks.

I've called the hardware store, gotten a couple numbers (an Andersen window representative and an installer) and am waiting for the somewhat civilized hour of 8 a.m. to call the first one, who will need to inspect it and tell us what to order.

Nothing like reality to bring you back to reality.

And nothing like the threat of rain to get you outside, weeding the herb bed and spreading the rest of a truckload of mulch. I got the landscape bed mulched last night after dinner and there truly is something magical about a freshly mulched flower bed. It's just lovely – so neat and tidy and professional-looking. I'm hoping the herb bed will look just as awesome – even though it's filled with quite a hodgepodge of plants, not all of which are herbs – when I finish it.

As both of you already know, the herb bed is circular and sliced into wedges, like a pie. I'm going to use dark mulch on the slices and crushed coconut shell mulch on the paths between the slices. I think it will look pretty enough for a picture.

When I was out there last night working on the weeds, I found four volunteer tomato plants. I'm leaving them there – free food! – and thankful I feel no need to make this herb bed a showpiece. Heh.

The plans they are a changin'

No, not the four five daily missions (water, weights, walk, no snacks, food journal). I thought I had at least another week to make and ship my younger granddaughter's Halloween costume. She's going to be a bride. The pieces are all cut out and ready to go, but I haven't started sewing yet.

The phone rang last night. It was my son, the father of the bride. Their neighborhood Halloween parade is this Saturday. That's more than two weeks before Trick or Treat! The local crafty mamas already knew that, of course, but Grandma in the Middle of Nowhere didn't have a clue.

So. As soon as I hit 'publish' on this post, I'm headed to the sewing machine.

I will take breaks for breakfast and lunch and walk the package to the post office when I'm done. I might be hoisting dumbbells after dinner today. And I hope I don't have Alzheimer's, because the food journaling will also be an end-of-the-day activity. Fortunately it doesn't take any extra time or effort to drink water.

Before I get started, I wanted to share a little picture with you. I was taking something out to the garden shed the other day, which is on the other side of the yard. I took a closer look at what I thought were weeds growing in my future herb garden. We've been throwing kitchen scraps and coffee grounds on that space, using it as an open compost pile.

These aren't weeds, they're baby tomato plants! You don't know how tempted I am to build a greenhouse over them. Or to transplant a couple to see how they do as houseplants. Heh.

Okay, time to get to work. Hope you have a productive day. Hope I do, too!