I had an enormous amount of fun with my "ladies" in the kitchen and met so many wonderful people from all over the US, Australia, and Brazil. (Somehow I missed the Canadians...)

I was on my feet working anywhere from 8 to 15 hours a day from July 16 thru July 24th, served up over 900 meals (including 700 lunches, a semi-formal banquet & a meet and greet reception), and somehow managed to get everything on the tables at the correct times and UNDER BUDGET! 900 meals for approx $3600 - or $4 per person.

On top of that, 2 of the ladies I'd counted on bowed out at the last second leaving just me & one other lady to do all the work. And she was a life-saver! She did all the daily pickups for me (salad items, bread, drinks, etc.) and happily did whatever I asked of her in the kitchen. I couldn't have done it without her!

We had to work around some glitches along the way including tornado warnings, frozen salad fixings, an empty cistern, and way-too-ripe porta potties but it all worked out.

I got rave reviews & was even called out at the awards ceremony to take a bow. My "ladies" gave me a gift bag of my favorite teas & tea accessories & a "feral raccoon" t-shirt (don't ask!), the head guy gave me 3 bottles of high end bourbon and $200 cash, the Aussies left me with a stuffed koala & a stash of Australian tea, and the Brazilians (who didn't speak English) all stormed the kitchen & took selfies with me on the last day. I also have a standing invite from two different Aussie families to visit if I ever make it down under.

Y'all, I didn't think I could do it. I found myself in charge of the meals & was pretty much panicked. But I did it. And I'm damned proud of myself.

This reminded me that the strong, brave go-getter that I once was still exists... She has to be coaxed out of her den but she's still there.

We finished up shutting down late Friday & then T & Meg showed up early Saturday. Ai yi yi. Love 'em but that timing was rough! We spent Saturday working around the house/yard until it started raining. Then we went "walk about" to the South past a power plant where T interned while in college and around Lake Herrington with a stop off at a Mennonite bulk foods store where we bought way too many goodies. That evening, Meg wanted a bonfire so we TRIED to light 'er up but the brush pile was just too wet. We'll ahve to revisit that on a dryer date. Sunday, T jumped on the tractor and mowed out about half of the facing field. Then he came & got me to show me one of John's white oak trees that we thought had died but was just buried in weeds and is now approx 10' tall!!! I may have cried a little...

Yesterday, had to take Sebastian to the vet. Not sure if he's hot spotted his leg or cut it. Either way, antibiotics were needed. Then I mowed the yard & out behind the garage, used the weed eater around the house, and sprayed the gate area fenceline, behind the garage & boat house, and part of a flower bed before running out of weed killer.

Then the rebellion began... My body did NOT take kindly to a week of eating "normal" foods and then going cold turkey back to low fat, low carb, low sugar, high fiber and it was not a pretty situation. Kinda like preparing for a colonoscopy if you get my drift... I spent the rest of the day curled up in misery alternated with runs for the porcelain throne. UGH!

Finaly started feeling like I just might live in time for severe storms to rip thru here. Unbelievable winds, hail, and a ton of rain. Tornado warnings to the East. It was pretty intense for a while.

Been dealing with the aftermath this morning. Plants blown over, everything on the deck soaked & water ponding in the middle of the deck (where the flooring wasn't built right), and tons of debris everywhere.

Hopefully my stomach's rebellion has ended because I'm supposed to meet the Ladies for lunch & then we have to go clean up the clubhouse in preparation for Family Fun Day this coming Saturday. (And I've got to pull stuff from the freezer out there for us to prepare Saturday morning.)

And I thought life at this age as a widow would be boring.....