I haven't posted a whole lot lately. Between getting the house all squared away after painting and all the normal chores around the house plus transcription work AND trying to get a new business up and running...I've been pretty busy! I haven't even made any new recipes lately to post. But I think next week I'm going to come up with a chicken enchilada recipe so we'll see how that goes. :)
Aubry's birthday was toward the end of June. It was on a Monday and then the following Friday she had to get her wisdom teeth taken out. :P So she spent the night here at home Thursday and I took her in on Friday. The IV sedation made her super emotional...so that was interesting. :P After we got settled in back at the house I got her some Chicken Gnocchi soup from Olive Garden for lunch and then we had Panera broccoli cheddar soup for dinner. Before she left to go home that evening, I helped her pick out a new Dell computer she wanted to get with her birthday money. Then for her birthday present from us, I ordered a lap desk, cooling fan, and a cool mouse for her on Amazon. :)
We didn't really do anything for Independence Day this year. Ashlyn spent the week at XH's parents' house and went to my grandparents' house with my mom for the evening of the 4th. Usually we go over there as well but Bozley was too freaked out by the fireworks -- even WITH his anxiety treats -- so we didn't want to leave him home alone. So Johnny grilled some barbecue chicken and we watched some episodes of Manifest on Netflix. Then on July 5th Johnny was still off work for the holiday "observed." Aubry drove Ashlyn home that evening and Johnny grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner.
There were SO many fireworks in our neighborhood. Legally, people could shoot them off here from June 27th until July 5th...but there were fireworks sporadically from June 26th until July 7th...including some at 5am on July 5th! I know there are some people who do it just to spite the people who have been complaining on Facebook about all the noise. When I was a kid...we did fireworks ON 4th of July and that was it. I don't think an entire week of fireworks is necessary. But...I'm not a loud noise person. Also, the "biggest" fireworks you could do back then were fountains. To see the big fireworks, you'd go to a fireworks display. But now (at least in our area) you can shoot off the artillery shells in the mortar tubes for the ones just like the "big" fireworks shows. And with EVERYONE doing it...it's super loud around here. And we have a dog who is terrified of loud noises...so it's an entire week of giving him meds to try and calm him down. This year we just did the CBD treats, but next year we may ask the vet for some actual anxiety medication for all the fireworks shot off during the 4th/weekend. It was a little more sporadic during the week and the calming treats helped for those...but it still wasn't enough for the weekend when the fireworks were a lot more constant.
OH...and my phone also broke during the holiday weekend. I was SO bummed. I was sitting on the couch and the phone fell off my lap and fell only one foot...but it landed right on the corner of my desk stand. The glass was crushed on one side and it messed the screen up. There was a bright line through the middle and the bottom half of the phone under that line would flash orange or bright white so I couldn't even see half of my phone. Plus no touch would register where the bright line was across the middle of the phone. I had to use Johnny's phone to call Asurion because I couldn't press the 1, 2, or 3 buttons on my phone to dial. :P And of course the place to get it repaired was closed until Tuesday. So I dropped it off when they opened Tuesday...just for them to tell me 2 hours later that they couldn't repair it because the screws inside of it were stripped when it was manufactured. So then I had to call Asurion back and they were going to send me a replacement instead...but they were sold out of the Note20 Ultra in all colors so they sent me a check for the full retail price of the phone instead. Since my Note20 Ultra was still on a AT&T Next payment plan that was being paid for by credits that made it "free" since I traded in my Note9 at the time...I used the money from the check to just pay the entire retail price of a new phone and continue the Next "payments" for the Note20 so I wouldn't be out that discount. Otherwise I would've had to pay off the $900 on my Note20 and then just get a new Next plan that I'd have to actually pay for because I couldn't trade in my broken phone for a discount on a new phone. So it all worked out. I ended up getting the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. I really, really hate that it doesn't have the expandable memory that the Note20 Ultra had...but it has a better camera and ultimately the camera is the biggest deciding factor for me when it comes to getting a new phone.
We also upgraded Johnny and Ashlyn's phones while we were there. Johnny got the iPhone 12 Pro with $700 off for trading in his iPhone X. And for Ashlyn's birthday, she got upgraded from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone 11 since they were having a special for $10 a month. She was SUPER excited. :) They like dumb ol' iPhones...I am an Android girl forever and ever. :P
This weekend I'm hoping to get the basement rearranged a bit so that I can move all the cat stuff (litterbox, food bowls, cat tree) from the office to the basement so that I have enough room to reorganize and get all my new equipment set up for my new business! Plus I have some transcription work to get done as well. So...busy, busy!