TGIF (Thank God In Foursomes)

My excitement for taking a day off to golf in the Royal Scramble was eclipsed by two things. One, our shotgun start was at 7 a.m. with a requirement to be there at 6:30 a.m. And two, the tee time temp was just 55 degrees. And that's generous.

Still, my friend Christine...

and her niece Allie and nephew's girlfriend Kayla were ready to make a go of it!

The temperature was so cool, there was morning mist coming off the water hazards. And speaking of water, the course was so super wet that we were getting splashed with every swing and our balls were leaving trails of water spouts behind them. It was insane. When we go done, it looked my feet had been in a bath tub for 4 hours. Not kidding.

But in between there, we had a lot of fun, lost a lot of balls, and decided that even though we were competing against many of our male counterparts on the men's team, we finished OK and with a score that we'd be proud of for 18 holes "in real life."

Jim was in the afternoon shift of golfers. I think he enjoyed warmer weather and drier conditions. In the end, we both got the same delicious meal at The Ridges.

And drum roll... our female foursome took 4th in the women's flight (what?!) sow each got a Wisconsin Rapids Rafter's baseball hat plus gift cards for Papa Murphy's and Chili's. Not bad.

Jim's foursome took a men's 5th and got free pizza and breadsticks at Goodfellas in Nekoosa.

Looks like we both pay to golf and get to eat our rewards. Not a bad day off at all!

Weekend Plans

Before I get to the "weekend starts on Thursday" plans, be assured the Circus Trifle was a success today. As many called it their "favorite" to date. I also thought it was sweetly spectacular with an emphasis on super sweet!

Now for the weekend...

Our home is within hearing distance of the Wisconsin State Water Ski Show – which is 1.5 miles away as the crow flies. As I've shared in my excitement as the team Shermalot photographer, these performances are such a cool thing to see. Three days of non-stop shows, all with different themes and "tricks", etc. And it's all free. Park your lawn chair on Red Sands Beach (or anywhere around Lake Wazeecha) and catch some of the action. For me these are skills I have never had and never will, so it's just impressive.

For sure I'll be there Sunday shooting 📸 my team. But maybe I'll get there some on Friday and Saturday, too. We'll see.

My Friday is actually a vacation day tomorrow. I'm in the Royal Scramble (aka fundraising golf outing to benefit all Assumption Royals sports). If you can believe after my friend and I had battery operated fans to cool off in our golf cart on Tuesday night that tomorrow morning it will be a cool 57 degrees when my foursome has our shotgun start at 7 a.m. Wow. 

I don't even know what to wear. I have hot weather / nice weather gear and nothing below (lower temps). I might just power through until it hits mid-60s during our round! I'll let you know how it goes. Of course, the main thing as that I win one of the raffle baskets/prizes like last year. Gotta keep that streak going!

Other than that, if you're local, don't forget Rome has the ultimate Farmer's Market on Fridays. Amazing! Or get some pretty cheap and delicious crab rangoon at the Rapids Farmer's Market on Saturdays (the last booth at the south end of 1st street, ha).

Or if you're handy, help our builders finish siding tomorrow. Yes, it's THAT close. Yay! Before and After pictures to come. 😊

Trifle Thursday Sneek Peak

 

When the "new girl" at work isn't on Facebook and doesn't know about my blog I can give you all a sneak peek of our Trifle Thursday celebration for her upcoming birthday Saturday – and she'll be none the wiser.

I also have a longtime friend at work who just got a promotion – and she loves Circus Animal Cookies – so this could be a 2-for-1 trifle day!

Here's the latest concoction recipe of sorts by layer:

• Since the temps have been more than HOT, I did not bake the cake layers on this one. I bought vanilla and confetti mini-cupcakes and sliced them up. 
• The matching pink layer is just white chocolate pudding with some red food coloring.
• The crunchy layer is my old stand by – diced up vanilla wafer cookies (you know, the ones with frosting in between the wafer layers).
• Topped with Cool Whip and more animals.

After all, this is my circus and these are my monkeys! Sounds delicious to me.

As Long As The View Is Pretty

I can't complain about my job when the late afternoon includes an Ice Cream Social that leads right into golf league at SentryWorld. So blessed. Honestly.

And even though the heat index was hot enough to melt that ice cream, we were fortunate enough to have a pretty constant breeze on the course later.

My friend Sharon (who had her inaugural golf round with us at Bullseye not too long ago) subbed for my partner Lisa tonight and did amazing. She's still new enough to the game she can hit it straight down the middle of the fairway with a half swing. So jealous!!

I told her the only thing appreciated about this picture is that dang, I do have tan legs. LOL. It's the little things in life!

And here's our group on the Flower Hole for the first time this year for league. The flowers are always prettier than our scores – and we don't mind.

Pretty warm but so fun as always. And while I did have at least one par dance, I was just those same 2 extra strokes that prevented me from a score in the 40s. Getting there! 

Inch-by-Inch Influencer

As a blogger, I was riding high this morning as I overheard members of our construction crew talk about my recently "published" label that our new soffits are sexy. I'm just lucky that one of my friends who reads my blog has a hubby on the crew.

Still, I'm like, "yes, they are!"

Naturally one of them installing soffits outside my office today shouted through the window "Are you sure it's the soffits or the crew?!" I promised to take photos and compare and let him know. But I never got out there while the guys were here. 

But I do have a few progress photos.

I mean you'll completely agree that even without the inset lights in the front side of the house, the soffit on the backside is still sexy, right?

And the progress on the east side of the house is why I heard pounding all day in my corner office (far right). No pain, no gain, I guess!

And the backside of the garage is looking so good! I love all the progress each day. I know there will be some hot weather coming in so we'll be grateful for whatever they can do without melting. But I prefer slow and meticulous and perfect to progress any day. Love this dedicated crew!

Rural Life

 

After visiting the neighborhood farm 3 times on Saturday, I am getting an appreciate for rural life. The first 2 trips were to get the veggies. And the third was taking Carter and Mamie over there to say hi to Farmer Peggy – and see the cats.

Sassy Elspeth looks a lot like their kitty Benny (and the Jets) from their college house.

This afternoon, after the kids headed back to Dubuque, I returned to the farm to return the little paper bags she uses for the produce. Might as well save her a little work since she's the hardest working woman in the tri-county area – no doubt! I stopped to take a picture of one of the many flower areas she manages to keep alive while feeding cattle and chickens and picking vegetables. Uff da. Hard work I am not cut out for.

On the way back, I'm like, but wait, look at this pompas ass grass we planted this spring! I mean it IS growing. Was it supposed to be knee-high by the forth or hip-high? Not sure. But anything green that comes from my two black thumbs is a victory!

Fresh Family Dinner

I had to get past a fierce security guard in order to put dinner on the table tonight – but it was worth it!

Carter and Mamie got to town this afternoon and we put together a very fresh family dinner.

Freshly harvested green beans from the neighbor's farm...

And some early baby red potatoes. So yum!

Jim had also picked up a few racks of ribs from the store yesterday to BBQ up. Farm to Table + IGA to Table = Delicious!

After dinner, we went downtown to hear our friend Pam's band perform at Whiskey Rapids Saloon. They always put on a good show! And it was great to hang out with the kids, of course.

My lesson from today: Support local farmers, local grocers, and local music!