Just Plugging along

Today we finally have our family celebration of Papa Pea's birthday. Admittedly three days late, but it will be a special day nonetheless. Chicken Mama is preparing meat loaf (or buffaloaf as she's using ground buffalo meat) and mashed potatoes which her dad requested, and I'm making the gravy, spinach for a veggie and Freshy's Blueberry Pie for dessert, also requested by the Birthday Boy.

I have to take time to tell a little story that I think about every single time I make this particular pie. A while back one of my fellow quilter's family was going through a tough time. I made and took over a meal and a pot of soup for them. I also took this pie which was a big hit. D asked me for the recipe which I gladly shared with her. Months later she came to a quilt meeting with her hand swaddled in one honkin' big bandage. She explained that while making Freshy's Blueberry Pie for a special family get together, she had (get ready for this . . . ) stuck her thumb into the electric beaters when she was making the whipped cream. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Her thumbnail is now a little funny looking but otherwise she's okay. So that's why I think of D whenever I make this pie. (I'm also super-careful when whipping the cream!)

Besides Papa Pea's special meal, what else does he want to do to celebrate? Well, he's currently out doing some much needed weed whipping (oh gosh, I'd better go stand in front of the clematis!), and I have a sneaky suspicion he'd really like time to work on our out-of-commission lawn mower. The repair parts finally arrived yesterday and he'd be glad to get them installed and cross that little job off his list. (Hey, it's his birthday celebration day and if that's what he wants do do, who am I to stop him?)

I have a deadline of Tuesday night to get the kitchen walls repainted. B can give us time on Wednesday and we plan on using her expertise to help install the kitchen floor tile and fireproof tile under the wood stove. Hubby and I have laid our share of tile before but this one may be a little tricky. We're working with a very uneven floor and some special prep work needs to be done prior to laying the tiles. When you consider that this part of the house was originally a resort's bunkhouse on a lake about 35 miles from here, is it any wonder the floor might be a little wonky in spots?

We need to disconnect and move our wood stove out. First of all, it needs to be moved so we can install the fireproof tiles under it at the same time as we lay the new kitchen tiles, and hubby also wants to give it a new coat of paint while he has it out of the house.

Okay, what am I doing still sitting here? I need to get on with things. Our weather has been just loverly . . . sunny and warm during the day with a lilting breeze and cooling down enough at night to make sleeping snuggled under the covers delightful. We've both had two consecutive nights of good, long-enough sleep and it feels wonderful. Hope your weather is good, too.