Ending September

Monday was a beautiful day. We didn't go out for dinner, but instead just ate some leftovers at home. Stroker and I had to be at the church at 6:30 to go on FAITH visits with Sterl.

Tuesday, I surprised Stroker with lunch at work. We were all surprised when I cooked dinner at home that night too.

Wednesday, I experimented with Crock Pot Fajita's. They were okay, but the kids told me that I didn't ever have to make them again. Hint taken.  We went to church and hung around until after 8:30 talking. By the time we got back home, it was baths and bedtime.

Thursday was the last football game of the year for Brookelynn. It was a later game than usual and you can tell that Fall is here. It got kinda chili outside by the time the game was over.

Friday night was a kid free night at the Hayes house. Brooke spent the night with Treasure and Devin spent the night with Braden. Stroker and I had dinner at Chili's with Debi and Sterl.
Our metal for the roof was also delivered today.

Saturday was Austin and Kristen's Wedding Day. It was also Dash's birthday party. We had a trip to Alpine and Gainesboro on the books too. Busy was not even close to how hectic our day was. W e had to miss out on something and it was Dash's party. We had received a "save the date" card months ago for the wedding.

Sunday went by fast. Church, Cheddar's and a trip to pick up the slide at Stacia's that Dash used at his party.

On Monday, the last day of September, I spent the day dropping off kids consignment clothing, FAITH visits and the wonderful sight of the roof being started.

Birthday Week

The only way to make a Monday a good day is to celebrate a birthday. Happy Birthday to Stroker. I got up early and took him a cup of Birthday Coffee.

We celebrated with dinner at O'Charley's. We invited Sterl and Debi to join us. We had a good meal with cake to follow.

I got Stroker a pair of Dr. Scholls insoles so he could be "gellin'".  Brookelynn got him some wax for the truck and something else that I honestly cant remember.

We also went out with Sterl for Monday night FAITH visits. It was a good day...all day long. I sure hope Stroker enjoyed every minute.

While Brookelynn went to Power Athletics on Tuesday, I covered the Wal-Mart shopping. I also cooked dinner at home with some of the food I purchased. It must have worn me out because I hit the sack at 8pm.

By Wednesday, we were back to the regularly scheduled program...Dinner at Logan's and church. We did make a run to Sam's Club to pick up some allergy medicine because we are all getting sniffly here lately.

I picked Devin up from school at 2pm on Thursday because we had to go to Sparta and be back at TTU by 5pm. Some days are just too busy.

Friday, Stroker and I spent the entire day together. We bummed around for a while, we went out for a lunch date and as romantic as this may sound...we scheduled a new roofer.  I know, I know that is the true sign of being married for over a decade. When getting a new roof gets you as excited as going on vacation.

Truth is, we have been waiting on the roofer we hired in July and he has not shown up yet. It is time to move on.  So our new roofer, known as MURPHY starts next week. Yay!

Friday evening, we went back to Sparta and had dinner at KFC with my mom. She doesn't eat much, but she enjoys the KFC buffet...or maybe she just enjoys dinner with us.

Saturday we woke up to a rainy morning. Too bad our roof is not already on. When the rain cleared out by midday, we had to get to work.

Sunday, we had to make another trip to Smithville after church. Mildred cooked a big birthday dinner. She had a birthday cake with all her son's names on it, and as usual, Stroker's name was mispelled LOL.

Pure Panic

If you don't already know, Brookelynn is quite the social butterfly. She seems to always have a side kick. This Friday, her friend Ella came home with her for a sleepover. Brooke is at the age where she entertains herself and required minimal attention. We hardly knew those two girls were around.

 Stroker cooked burgers on the grill Friday night, so dinner was basically the only sight that we had of them. 

Saturday was a beautiful day. Sunny and 77 degrees. Brooke and I had lunch at Cheddar's and we also went to Sparta to visit mom for a while. 

Sunday held more nice weather and a miracle. Before church, Stroker and I had to make a trip to Smithville. We were pressed for time, but made it to church right on time. After church, we all hopped back in the truck and headed to Byrdstown. On the way, we stopped for lunch at Livingston McDonald's. We were running ahead of schedule so we decided to eat at the restaurant instead of taking it "to go". We found a table right beside the door. When we finished our meal, we were back on the road. 

As we got back in the truck in Byrdstown, I reached down to move my purse out of the floor board and realized that my purse was not in the truck. As I panicked, I reopened the door to see if I had kicked it out of the truck when we got out. It was nowhere to be found. I knew where it was, but didn't want to accept what had happened. I left it on the chair by the door at McDonald's. By this time, about an hour and a half had passed. I knew I would never see that purse again. I swallowed a huge lump in my throat and decided to call and ask anyway. The person that answered the phone told me that no one had turned in a purse. He asked where we had sat and I explained that we were the table right by the door and that I knew it was long gone. As I was fixing to hang up the phone, he asked "is it black and white?' "Yes!" I said. He told me that they found it still hanging on the chair.  

I am still in shock. How could it hang there for an hour and a half, right next to the door, with people constantly coming in and going out and yet no one picked it up. Well, I will tell you how...by the Grace of God. 

Blazin'

We had to take a trip to Allons TN on Sunday after church. Other than that, I got in a little nap. That makes for a good Sunday.

Home cooking again on Monday...Spaghetti this time. I made way too much though.  By 6:30, Stroker and I were out making FAITH visits with our Pastor. We got back home in time for this weeks episode of "Under the Dome". 

Tuesday held a couple of exciting factors. Russia is threatening to bomb Syria. This world gets scarier every day. I scared myself and the kids pretty good Tuesday night. I turned on the oven to preheat it to 400 degrees for the chicken wings that I was going to cook. A couple of minutes passed and I noticed a weird smell. When I opened the oven door, there was flames in the bottom. I panicked, sent the kids for Stroker and started opening the windows because smoke was consuming the air.

When Stroker came in I handed him the fire extinguisher to which he calmly sprayed on the flame. It went out and started up again. He sprayed it with the extinguisher again and said "Did you turn the oven off?"  Then it hit me..."nope, it is still set to 400".  

He turned off the switch and we all bailed out the front door because we were choking to death from a mixture of smoke and fire extinguisher dust. It took hours to clear the house out and there was white dust on EVERYTHING in our house. The element had burnt up and so had the connector to plug in a new element. It's either a new stove for us or surgery on our stove to get it repaired.

Welp...so much for my cooking :/

After shopping around for oven prices on Wednesday, we decided it would be cheaper to get a new element, so we did. Of course our element is the $90 one. Stroker then went into "repair man" mode.

It took a little while, but by Thursday night, he had the oven fixed. Me, Brooke and Darlene went by Michaela's new shop.

Starting September

On the first day of September, I got up early and turned on the oven. Yes, you read that correctly. It was my day to take a breakfast item to church, so I got up and baked a cheese danish. Yum-O as Rachel Ray would say. I cut it into sample size pieces, but it still went like hotcakes. I also had to work in the sound booth today.

After church, we had a good lunch at Judy's house, Gary's moms. She had cooked several good dishes that we all dug into like we were starved animals. We hung out at her house for a few hours. By evening, we had to head back to Cookeville for our Labor Day church picnic. Darlene and Gary came over to Cookeville to join us for that.

By 8:00 we were back in Sparta to pick up the castle at Dennis Hobson's. He hooked us up with some ribs to take with us and they were delicious!

Since we had the day off of work for Labor Day on Monday, we went to visit mom and took her out to lunch. After a few hours at moms, we went by to visit with daddy for a while. 

We also got in a visit with Mildred Monday evening. We had a good day of visiting without having to rush around all day. That was really nice for a change. That must be what it feels like for people to have a day off.

Tuesday evening we took the dogs for a walk around Cane Creek Park. We also gave them a couple of rib bones for a treat. Those lucky dogs...pun intended.

Wednesday, I cooked sloppy joes for dinner before heading to church. It was a quick meal, but at least it is a home cooked meal. We are worried about Cletus because he has gotten sick over night. We think it is a bone hung in his throat. Stroker seems to think that Cletus might not make it.

Thursday I had a doctor appointment with Dr. Geer. Devin went for a hair cut and Brookelynn cheered at the ATMS Homecoming game. Those poor ATMS football players. They can't win a game for nothing :(

To end the week on Friday, Stroker and I had a quiet lunch date at O'Charley's. It's nice to have a meal with just the two of us every now and then. Brookelynn babysat little Gray for a couple of hours. Brookelynn never put him down.  

Friday night was movie night at home. That is a rare occurrence too. We watched "42" and Brookelynn fell asleep on us before the ending. She gets that from me. I like to get my full eight hours every night :)

Saturday I took Devin and Brookelynn to lunch at Cheddar's and then some light shopping. Did you know that we cannot find a single store in Cookeville with socks in Devin's size?