I'm late to the party, as usual.

I'm late to the party, as usual. Me and Shaun just finished watching the Twilight series today. I'd seen a couple of the movies before, and he hadn't seen any, so that's what we've done the last 3 days.

I'm not trying to post spoilers, but I like how it ended.

When Kira comes down we're probably gonna do girl talk about it. 😂

Kira came down here...

Kira came down here and was looking at Anansi, then asked if tarantulas can get cataracts.  She said "It's Science Time!" as we went down a rabbit hole about who all can get cataracts.  😂💙

I love talking with her. I never know what adventure her brain is gonna take us on. 😊

Happy ¼ of a Century to Kira today!

Happy ¼ of a Century to Kira today! We're kind of on opposite schedules right now, so me and Shaun stayed up late to have birthday dinner with her. We hung out, talked, and watched music videos while we waited for the food to arrive. I always love hanging out with this girl. She's so funny and sweet!

Shadow got her some cute cupcake earrings, and we got her a Concha pillow. We're going shopping this weekend, so that should be a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday, Kira! It's been amazing watching you grow into such a beautiful young woman. We're so proud of you! 💙

Kira made these pecan bars.

Kira made these pecan bars. She made everything from scratch. They're similar to pecan pie, but I actually like them more. It's more crust, less goopy filling, and a slight bit less sweet. So good!

I hope she keeps trying new things. I love being her Guinea Pig. ❤️

Last night, me and Shaun had a date at Namaste.

Last night, me and Shaun had a date at Namaste. I tried a few new foods:  Lentil Crackers, Vegetable Samosa, and some kind of Yogurt/Mango drink. I also had Chicken Vindaloo spiced to the max. It was all so delicious.

I woke up this morning with my stomach rumbling. I don't normally have issues with spice, so I'm thinking I went too hard on new foods last night. But 10/10, I'd eat them all again. 😂

Today, I spent some time watering my plants. I snuggled Cub for a nap. I had tasty food today with Shaun, Shadow, Kira, my friend Caitlin, and her husband Joe. It was nice to have everyone together.

Shaun got a lamp for me to do my nails. I'm usually on the dark side of the room, so it's nice to have a light. I just finished filling in/rebalancing my structure gel while using it, and it's really nice to be able to see. He also got me some plant hangers for the greenhouse. The kids got me tasty snacks.

It was a really nice day. I've been getting messages all day, but I haven't had a chance to respond yet. I'm about to chill and check my notifications.

I hope you all have had a lovely weekend. I know I sure did. ❤️

Kira made these Cookie Butter cupcakes...

Kira made these Cookie Butter cupcakes with Biscoff cookies and they are SO GOOD. They don't even need icing be tasty, but of course I like them with a little sweet on top.

I think this is my favorite dessert from her so far!

Kira made these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins...

Kira made these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and they are really good! She's got fall dessert plans. I'm excited to see what all she makes. ❤️

Look at this gorgeous photo of my Gramson, Leon.

Look at this gorgeous photo of my Gramson, Leon. Shadow took it.

He looks like a model.

I don't think last night was what any of us were expecting. 😂

I don't think last night was what any of us were expecting. 😂

When we were eating dinner, the wind kicked up pretty hard (not unusual for here), but it also started raining hard.

I ran outside and started moving my plants into the greenhouse because I really hate for them to be watered from the top. If water remains on them, it can cause rot and the leaves can also get burn spots if the water is still there when the sun comes back out.

The roof and walls of the greenhouse are up, but the floor isn't done, my shelves aren't in, and in general, moving plants quickly in the dark and the rain is not ideal. Not to mention that I really, really wanted to clean the dust, bird poop, and any possible pests off of them before putting them in there, but at this point I'm just glad I had somewhere dry to put them.

Shaun came out to help me and about the same time we were done moving them, the rain had passed. Of course. 😒 What I didn't know was that there was more on the way. By the time I went to bed, it was raining again. It rained for a long time. I fell asleep listening to it.

I woke up this morning to two funny messages from Shadow. One:  We have a little roof leak in the stairwell. He put a cup underneath to catch it. (This one's only funny because it won't rot my house like it would've in Alabama. It'll dry fast here. We'll get it checked out/repaired and it'll be fine.)

The second message, well, see the image. 😂

This is funny because we ordered a microwave from Best Buy several weeks ago, but it never came, so Shaun called customer service and they sent out another one. We got the second one according to the tracking numbers. But just the other day, the one we ordered first showed up after being lost in the mail for weeks. We assumed it had been stolen. But anyway, it's been sitting in the living room, new in the box, because we didn't know what to do with it. I guess that sorted itself out. 😂

I haven't been awake for long. It's cool and cloudy, so very tempting to stay in bed with my weighted blanket and the cats. But I guess I need to get up, see if we can finish the greenhouse, and check on my plants.

Happy Saturday, y'all. ❤️

Gramson is home from surgery.

Gramson is home from surgery. He's so drunk. He can't fit in his tower because of the cone, so this is what he's doing instead. 😂😂😂

I've had a really low-energy weekend.

I've had a really low-energy weekend.  It might be my own fault.

I lost my box of Estradiol last weekend.  I was supposed to change my patch on Thursday, but couldn't.  I thought I had a new box of my higher-dose patches around, but couldn't find those, either.  That isn't like me.  I contacted the pharmacy and they said they could refill it again, but they won't have the patches until Monday.

Shaun went looking and found my new patches... on his shelf of the pantry, still in the bag from the pharmacy.  He must have mistaken it for one of his prescriptions and put it up there.  I can't even see that high, so I never look on his shelf.  😂  I would have never found those by myself.  Anyway, I put one on last night and got sick to my stomach.  Then I slept until 3 pm today.  Fun times.

I worked a little bit this weekend.  I'm on 3 projects currently and it just takes some of the stress off during the week if I can spend a few hours focusing on only one thing.  I would prefer to keep work during work hours, but I'm grateful for the flexibility.

Other than that, the only thing I did was nails.  Shaun took off his old gel and I gave him a fresh coat.  I also re-did my gel overlay, but haven't thrown down anything pretty.  I don't know if I can/will.  I have a growing list of things to do that I am falling behind on and I don't like it.

I didn't do my cleaning like I normally do on the weekends.  I need to mail some packages, but ran out of packing tape, so I'm picking that up before work in the morning.  I need to water my plants and build the greenhouse and change my sheets and probably 100 other things, but I'm done for the day.  I have a 7:30 am meeting, so I'm heading to bed.

Also, Kira's son, Leon, is having his bladder stones removed tomorrow.  Shaun will be dropping him off at the vet first thing.  Send him all the good vibes.  He's a sweet kitty and we want everything to go well.

Goodnight, friends.  ❤

Houdini is exploring his new house! ❤️❤️❤️

Houdini is exploring his new house! ❤️❤️❤️

We got his heat tape today, so could finally complete the setup and move him in. He's been alternating between exploring his new setup and chilling in his warm hide.

I'm happy to see him moving around. I hope he'll eventually make use of the higher basket and hanging ball. So far, he's only gone into the bottom 2, but he's got all the time he needs to find the comfy, cozy spaces.

In other animal news... The neverending vet bills continue. Shaun and I woke up to a message from Kira saying that Leon (our Gramson) had blood in his pee. Our wonderful vet office worked him in, and he has bladder stones, too. Antibiotics for now, surgery the 23rd. Kira's medicating and keeping a close eye on him. At least she's excited to see him in a cone. 😂

Look, I am not a loser, ok?

Look, I am not a loser, ok? I'm not just out here losing stuff. Even as a kid I don't recall it happening much. I was brought up to appreciate what I had. If I lost something, it was not getting replaced.

So anyway, we were out last year and Kira wanted this bracelet. It was sometime before Christmas, so I told her we'd get it and it could be part of her holiday gifts. It came from a local Hispanic grocer. The person at the checkout handed it back to me after we paid, so when I got back to the car I dropped it in a Walgreens bag that was going in the house.

We got home and I was aware that we needed to put the bracelet up somewhere safe. I told Shaun that it was still in the bag and to hide it (because he is the gift-hider). Then, I assumed that he did.

Y'all, he DIDN'T. 😂

So anyway, Christmas came and went and we couldn't find this bracelet. Kira was like "Find it for my birthday, then." Fair enough, but if we couldn't find it for Christmas then we really had no idea where to look, though we tried. So her birthday (in March) came and went and STILL no bracelet. We eventually just took her back to the market and replaced it since that was definitely on us.

So today - this morning - I found it. Completely by accident.

Guess where it was.

You can't. 😂

It was still in the Walgreens bag, which was now under my bathroom sink.

The bag was under my sink upstairs because it was going to be used as a trash bag. I grabbed a handful of them recently from our bag drawer in the kitchen and I guess it was in that bunch. So last year someone crammed that "empty" bag in the bag drawer without checking and lost Kira's bracelet. I don't have any idea who did that. But we finally found it.

Happy June 24th, Kira. 😂

Look at my handsome Gramson, Leon.

Look at my handsome Gramson, Leon. This is Kira's baby. He came downstairs to visit. ❤️

Kira made homemade whipped cream and homemade cream cheese dip...

Kira made homemade whipped cream and homemade cream cheese dip and this shit is 💯. Just slice some strawberries and put it all on a graham cracker and it hits the spot without being heavy.

I don't know why she's so into making her own whipped cream and spreads, but I am NOT complaining. ❤️

The cake Kira made...

Today is Kira's birthday. She's a whole 24 years old.

Today is Kira's birthday. She's a whole 24 years old.

She wanted a Strawberry Shortcake for her birthday, but I think there was some confusion on whether she was celebrating today or this weekend.

Long story short:  She has all of this cake now. 😂

Unbeknownst to us, she made the 2 smaller cakes for herself last night so she would have a cake today. Me and Shaun went shopping this morning and found a slice of Strawberry Shortcake, but not a whole cake. We also found the other strawberry cake which looks really good, so we snagged it, too. And cakes pops, just because. 😂

So... Looks like we'll be eating cake for the rest of the week. 😂

She wanted dinner at Cracker Barrel so we did that and it was good. She also wants to go thrift shopping this weekend, so that's our plan. I hope she's had a good day! ❤️

Shadow didn't see a difference...

Shadow didn't see a difference in Shaun's teeth before we pointed it out.

Kira saw Shaun's teeth and was like "No offense, but you're teeth were ugly before, like in a unique way. Like a rat." 😂😂😂 Then she said she could tell that they were shorter.

(We value honesty and Shaun's feelings were not hurt and she didn't say that hatefully or anything. Shaun and I both cracked up.)

Before Kira went back upstairs she asked me if I was going to be ok. I didn't answer (not to be a jerk... I think my head was elsewhere at that moment) and she paused and then repeated herself, but as a statement with a stern face looking directly at me. 😂 Yes ma'am. 😂😂😂

I love my little family. 😂❤️

You really never know what Kira's about to be into.

You really never know what Kira's about to be into. She has Shaun looking up The Phantom of the Opera. We're doing YouTube videos, but might end up renting it before the night is over. 😂

I love this girl. 😂❤️ She keeps life interesting.

Kira made these brownies with Dr. Pepper.

Kira made these brownies with Dr. Pepper. I can taste it a little, but it's interesting and good. I've never heard of that before.

She also has chunks of chocolate in there and I really dig the texture.