how about drinking?

Ouch on that car repair bill!!! Ninety degrees is too hot for me. I'm enjoying our stretch of mild daily temperatures, high in the 70's and lows down to high 40's or low 50's. Love, love, love not needing a/c for sleeping. It will eventually heat up and then my neighbor Mary can be happy.

What's blooming

Beautiful blooming flowers.

90 degrees in Maine? Doesn't sound right.

Today is dh's birthday. We're going to dinner tonight at his favorite Italian restaurant in MN.

Hi friends, happy Funday Sunday. It's warm here too, we had a few days of rain early in the week but now in the low 90s too which is typical for this time of the year. Fortunately, no 100s yet and with more rain lately I am hoping our summer will not be as brutal. My yard is doing well and been getting a few more plants for the planters and gardens and like having the rains show up to help keep everything in better shape.

As you can see, some of the cacti blooms are doing their thing right now. It's a lovely time of the year with all kinds of blooms and longer daylight.

NM - how are things coming along with your home improvements and your mom's move to assisted living? Sorry to hear about the big car bill. I found car repair is super expensive now and am glad to have a newer car without those expenses. It's either a car payment or repair bills, right?

Carole- wishing your husband a lovely birthday and hope he is able to enjoy his special meal.

Hope everyone has a good week!

The weather has been cold enough the last two days for us to opt for bourbon old-fashioneds for our evening drink. Today the sunshine is returning and the high will be in the 70's.

Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Hump Day! The trip to look at the apartment went pretty well. The apartments are small, but big enough to be comfortable for one person. These even have a sun room attached! I did not expect a washer/dryer in the apartment, but there it was in the bathroom. Mom won't commit to going on the waiting list yet because it was foggy and she wants to go back and see what the ocean view is like when it's clear, and she wants to look at other places, but I haven't found any that fit her criteria (not in town, in the country, view of trees or ocean or both, place to grow some plants, place to get outside and sit or walk, windows that are low enough to see out of easily while sitting down) all of which yesterday's place has. I'm considering filling out the paperwork and paying the deposit myself to get her on the waiting list, she can always look at an apartment that becomes available and decide not to take it. It's further away from me than I would like, but the location is where I grew up and she spent most of her adult life, too, so it's not like I'm not used to the drive. So now it's back to the search for another apartment for her to look at and compare this one to. We even sat and chatted with a couple of current residents for a bit. One lady had been there for 9 years, the other for 3 months. Both were really happy there. The apartment we looked at was in the Independent Living section, but they have access to more support services for a monthly fee and the included amenities will nicely meet Mom's needs as they are now.

Today's job is to start marking items I do not want removed during the clean out next week. The game plan is to mark what I want to keep, then make another sweep over the weekend and see if I can get rid of some of those things. The goal is to get rid of as much as possible that I can live without, aiming for a more minimalist style, with less to take care of. My reward will be to go to the Wednesday, Women, and Wine get together this evening with a feeling of having gotten something sizable accomplished.

Carole--Nothing like a warm drink on a chilly evening, is there?

Mirandra--LOL at the lizard description! I prefer the 70s to 80s temp range myself.

Apartment Hunter Cocktail

Ingredients
• Whiskey: 2 oz(60ml)
• Cherry brandy: 1 oz(30ml)
• Bitters: 2 dashes

Recipe Fill a mixing glass with ice.

1. Add 2 oz of whiskey, 1 oz of cherry brandy, and 2 dashes of bitters.
2. Stir well until the mixture is chilled.
3. Strain the cocktail into a cocktail glass.
4. Garnish with a cherry and serve.

From https://www.cocktailwave.com/recipes/hunter-cocktail

NM - I like your idea of you signing her up now for the waiting list if you can swing the deposit. As you said, she can refuse if/when a place is vacant. I especially like that Mom could get extra services at the same place. Sometimes that's hard to find.

Happy Saturday to everyone. Things are quiet in the lounge. Hoping we aren't all suffering from hangovers. LOL.

Good morning ladies:

Wishing happy Fathers day to those with dad still here on this earthly plane, your DH's and perhaps sons who are fathers too.

It's hot here now and starting hitting 100 degrees as of Friday, 102 yesterday. We are maybe going to have a wetter summer season with the monsoons which should be starting soon. Good for keeping the temps a bit better and the yard and gardens in better shape. I have a nice gym with pools both inside and outdoors to keep me cool.

Went to my first outdoor music concert last night with the music of Stevie Wonder, so much fun. Met a group of friends and saw others there and we danced the night away. I felt grateful at 65 I still have the ability to shake my booty on the dance floor (and dance is good exercise too!)

I love flavored vodkas and started enjoying some of those with some diet tonic water, Friday night was grapefruit vodka as the flavor of the day.

NM- good luck with the assisted living visit. My sister was able to recommend the one for our mom when the time came as she saw patients from the one she lived in and thought they were getting good care. Our mom thrived the years she was there, and hope once your mom gets used to the idea, she can be happy there. More services is what we had too as time went on. It's expensive though, I am sure you already know all this.

Teka - love it!!! I have a wonderful pictures of you shaking your booty holding on to a walker.

Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Twofer Tuesday! The crew will be arriving to start the big clean out in a couple of hours. I took the puppers to the kennel yesterday, did not sleep well last night for missing the cuddling and elder care induced anxiety. I got a call from Mom's neighbor last evening, she had put an egg on to hard boil and then fell asleep, and did not wake up when the smoke alarm went off, not until the neighbor went in and turned off the stove and opened doors to air out the smoke. This is the second time in a week Mom has set off the smoke detector, the first time was when some toast burned in the toaster. Later I got a call from Mom's landlord, he was right on screech about how Mom was going to burn the place down and I need to either move in with her, move her into my home, or send her to a nursing home ASAP. Of course, he would not allow me to move in with the puppers because the big dogs would be a danger to the neighbors' little dogs. The landlord is going to call back in a couple of days to find out what I am going to do with Mom. Like I can make any kind of arrangements like this in 2 days. Especially since I will be rather busy with my own home renovation work.

If I'm not on the boards much this coming week it's because I've got my hands full juggling major projects.

Remember the Maine

Ingredients

• 2 oz Rye whiskey Use bonded rye i.e. 100 proof. Thank us later.

• ¾ oz Sweet Vermouth

• 2 tsp Cherry Heering

• ½ tsp Absinthe that’s 4 dashes from a proper dasher bottle

• Garnish: Cherry And you should already know by now that to avoid the Hall of Shame it had better not be one of those fluorescent things.

Instructions

• Add all the above to your trusty mixing glass.

• Add ice and stir. As Baker notes “Stir briskly in in clock-wise fashion – this makes it seagoing, presumably!” (Baker does not advise on whether this should be reversed when south of the equator, so use your own judgment.)

• Pour into a pre-chilled cocktail glass

• Drink.

• Rinse and repeat.

From https://drunkardsalmanac.com/remember-the-maine-cocktail/

NM - we'll all be thinking about you and Mom and hoping this week goes well. Can you hire a "babysitter" (warm body) so spend part of the day with her?

Just A pretty snap from nearby to brighten everyone's day.

NM, The same thing happened with my mother. The police picked her up wandering and gave a week’s notice before they would refer her to social services and the court conservatorship system. She stayed with me until I found a place for her. It was a tough abrupt transition but she ended up in a decent place about 40 minutes from me. I had to keep reminding her the choice was my decision or the court’s when she got stubborn. Hope things work out well for you and your mom.

Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Saturday! It's been a busy and exhausting week but well worth it. Two big dumpsters worth of junk and clutter hauled off, all the flooring pulled up, mold areas cut out or cleaned up, walls washed, counters and surfaces cleaned, and they even picked up a bunch of clutter and junk from outside the house for me! It is such a relief to have the big stuff that I can't move myself taken away and out from underfoot. They even took the old stove that barely works and has been a pain in my anatomy away. Now begins the process of putting things back, reorganizing as I go, but with everything is in laundry baskets I got for this job. The baskets are small enough that I can move them even when they are full, but small enough that I can deal with all the contents of one basket without getting overwhelmed and giving up. The game plan is a basket a day. I've already ordered new crates for the puppers, that look like furniture. Zoe's will double as the TV stand, and Colt's will go in front of the window and become my indoor garden spot.

The hardest part of all this was having the puppers in the kennel. I do not sleep well at all without them in bed with me. I slept soooo good last night though! They are having quite the time running around and sniffing over everything and seem to be wondering where everything is!

Mom actually seems to be doing a bit better since finding out she's going to be moving as soon as we find an appropriate place. I did not realize she wanted to get out of that apartment so much, or that she was so uncomfortable with landlord. She always said and acted like she was really happy there. Anyway, we have an appointment to see an apartment in a retirement community nearby on Friday. I believe they have openings there now, and if they do I'm going to start the paperwork right away and see if I can get her moved right away. I've already started the paperwork for the place she wants to go to permanently, which will be better for her but is not expected to have any openings until later in the summer and I don't know how long the waiting list is. I don't like the idea of her having to move twice at 89, but not much to be done about that. I'm trusting God to make this all work out.

Carole--yup, that was scary, and made me realize how much more important it is to get Mom moved that I had been thinking. Thanks for the helpful vibes! My next major project is going to be getting new flooring put down throughout the house, the CPR certification business is starting to pick up with a big class on Monday and another next month that I hope will turn into a repeat customer.

Minus--I thought about having someone stay with Mom, but couldn't think of anyone she knows that was available. Going forward I will try to find someone to visit with her when I have a multiday project going on.

Reader--thanks! What a beautiful picture! Where was this taken? Did you take it?

Rischalier--I wish I could take mom in, but it just wouldn't work. She can't manage the stairs to get into the house, she doesn't like living with dogs, and I live too far out of town for her friends to visit. I'm not a big red wine drinker, I prefer whites and rose, so I don't have any recommendations for you.

Maggie--yikes, what a scary situation that must have been! At least my mom isn't wandering. I do need to take more control, though, I know now.

Jazzy--thank you! The blossom is beautiful!

Wandering ELRIS
Ingredients:

• 2 oz homemade shine muscat liqueur
• 1 oz dragon fruit puree
• 0.5 oz lychee syrup
• 0.5 oz fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon violet flower extract
• Edible glitter (gold or purple)
• Fresh muscat grape for garnish
• Dragon fruit slice for garnish

Instructions:

1. In a shaker, combine the homemade shine muscat liqueur, dragon fruit puree, lychee syrup, fresh lime juice, and violet flower extract with ice.
2. Shake vigorously until well chilled.
3. Strain the mixture into a martini glass rimmed with edible glitter.
4. Garnish with a skewered fresh muscat grape and a thin slice of dragon fruit on the rim.

Glass: - Serve in a martini glass to emphasize elegance and allure.

From https://www.bargpt.app/ai-cocktail-recipe/wandering-elris