Happy Friday!

From time to time you hear about someone getting an unexpected windfall in the mail but you never really expect it to happen to you.  Well, we were the someone yesterday! To say we were shocked would be an understatement!  My aunt passed away over a year ago and her daughter is just now settling the estate; I was listed as a beneficiary. The sum will go a long way toward our next investment property!

I spent a long time in the kitchen yesterday and am unfortunately paying for it today, but I had fun playing with my food experimenting with some stuff in the fridge that needed to be used up.  First I washed two days worth of dishes since the water was finally cleared for consumption sans boiling.  One of these days I really should replace that dishwasher.

Next I made a cobbler with a cake mix, some frozen fruit and a bottle of Sierra Mist, then I used up all the bits and dabs of vegetables in the fridge and a few things from the freezer to make a stew-like casserole. It was too hot to want an actual soup/stew, so I just cooked it all without the broth in my deep dish clay baker.  The meat was a little tough, but probably would have been fine if I had cooked it longer.

In the afternoon I took a little coma. I would say nap but I am pretty sure everything shut down and it took me a long time to come out of it!  I woke up just before Ornery came home and brought in the mail--which I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  While he went out to the bank to deposit the check, then to the post office to mail a package for me, I wrote a note to my cousin on one of my recently made cards.

After a quick dinner of leftovers, I headed back into the studio for an evening of fun and frolicking.  I put on my headphones and worked away, singing and talking to myself from time to time.  I made six cards last night, then when I woke up at 4:15 this morning I went back in the studio for 45 minutes and made a couple more.  I have pictures posted on the design blog.

Today I am making caramels.  I offered some to a blogger I "met" through the A to Z Challenge and she actually PAID me for them!  That was a couple weeks ago, but standing at the stove to stir for half-an-hour or more hasn't been possible with my back the way it was.  Hopefully I make it through them all today.  I need to make two double batches--which is a LOT of wrapping!  Not all of them are for the blogger, some are for my son-in-law as a thank you for all his help on 507.  And because I am a nice mother-in-law. :)

Since we have almost eaten everything we made two weeks ago, I guess it is time to go grocery shopping again and do more cooking.  We are also planning to work on the garage to incorporate a new shelf Ornery bought and assembled to help get more of his stuff put away from the work at 507. He had run out of storage space!

Sunday is Father's Day.  Michael, Elizabeth and their friend Jeff (the Gnome) are all coming in the afternoon. I don't know what all we have planned, but Jeff seems to really like to be busy, so I am sure some project in the Man Cave will happen. At any rate, it looks like it will be a fun and busy weekend!

One last little thing that really made my day yesterday was in an email from my niece about the birthday card I sent to her son.  She says, "By the way, K2 adored the card you sent him. He examined all of its details after I read it to him and then taped it on the wall next to his bed! Thank you for continuing to think of us on our birthdays even though you have so many other people to love on."   Aww.