Tuesday, 31 August 2021: Green Bay

Mimi left at o’dark thirty this morning.  We took her to the airport and then went home and back to bed. 

While Mimi was here, we enjoyed a foray into Door County, dinner at The Loft in Fish Creek and ice cream at Wilson’s in Ellison Bay.  I’ve wanted to go to that touristy ice cream shop for several years and Mimi was the excuse.  She didn’t want to go to Lambeau Field or the Packer Hall of Fame but she was in for TV viewing the last preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.  I made sure we had gluten free snack options for the game and throughout her visit.  The tomato tart with goat cheese made from a cauliflower crust was a hit and Mimi asked for the recipe for the GF zucchini bread and the GF rhubarb crumble.  We also ensured she got to Renard’s cheese so she’ll have some Wisconsin deliciousness when she returns to Georgia.  I so enjoyed her visit.  

Tomatoes.  We have tomatoes.  We are giving them away as fast as we can and we are eating them in all sorts of fashions.  Justin's Green tomato salad is a stand by as is my tomato avocado salad.  I tried tomato pie.  It is supposed to be a Southern staple...I'd never heard of it much less eaten it.  It was yummy!  I made another pie with tomato and eggplant.  As much as I like eggplant, I'll stick with Southern Living's recipe for Tomato pie.  We will have that again.  I made a marinara solely from yellow tomatoes.  That was yummy.    Thank goodness Rick and Mimi were willing to try my creations.  

Wednesday, 26 August 2021: Green Bay

Today would have been Mother's birthday.  I chose to honor this day and think of her!

Justin and I went to Heritage Hill with Mimi this morning.  She arrived late last night so we were ready to see the sites today.  Heritage Hill is a "living history park" devoted to the preservation of buildings and artifacts from the people from Northeastern Wisconsin. The 26 buildings are situated on 56 acres along the Fox River right in the middle of Green Bay.  I guess I driven by there a hundred times but never stopped.  None of the buildings were opened due to Covid, so Mimi and I made up our own stories as we peeped inside through the windows.  

PT at 2:15 then nap time for us all.

I love it when company comes. I scramble around the house to clean and prepare and then I can relax and play. 

Hurricane Ida plowed into NOLA leaving the entire town with out electricity -- again.  

Fires continue to burn.  Based in Reno, Steven hasn’t had blue skies in over a month.

Sunday, 22 August 2021: Three Oaks, Michigan

We went to Packer practice twice this week.  It was great to be out in the sunshine and getting ready for football.  There was no public practice at all last year, soo, of course, the locals were there as well as those who had travelled for miles to attend these practices.  We are looking good!  
 

Road trip!  Justin bought a boat.  Yea, I know.  

We did a lot better in prepping for this trip than we did when we went to California.  Still forgot a few things (I was most remiss in the salty snack department) .  We just need to get back in practice.

I activated and installed the iPass. The toll tag from Illinois is good in twenty something states while the Texas toll tag is good only in Texas and in Oklahoma.  Now I’ll just need to remember to move the responder into the correct car.  One more thing to remember...aaargh.

We went boating with Kelli and Carl on Friday afternoon and it was devine!  That was really our first time out on the water this season.  I came away with a couple of beautiful bruises on my elbow and wrist and I am still pushing swimming  since it’s too soon after surgery...but my knee is healed, right!?!?!

Justin is sad that we have sold Brussels and I am ecstatic.  He has not been poopy about it at all and we got the most kind of notes from Deb, the new owner.  They seem to be oh, so happy with their decision.  Justin says that his opinion of whether or not it was the right decision will depend on what happens next.  That means time on the water and time traveling.  I am all in!

Mimi is coming to visit. Rick will need to share the upstairs with her when she's here but there is plenty of room.

The klafuflle in Afghanistan continues.  

I love my ice machine.

And corn... OMG  Even mutant corn is delicious!

Wednesday, 17 August 2021: Hartung

Justin sold the EOS.  We bummed around Europe in that car and it was ubber fun but it was time for it to go.  He’s got his little truck now and he can focus on that.  Tina, the lady who bought it, was from Neenah.  Yes, Tina from Neenah, admitted to having a mid-life crisis.  Now I need to cancel the insurance on the house in Brussels AND the EOS.

Sunday, 15 August 2021: Hartung

Happy birthday to me!  A slow, easy morning with coffee on the deck led to a relaxing ride on backroads in the EOS and then an early lunch at The Black Sheep.  We had Bloody Mary’s and then I had a pulled pork sandwich and Justin had a black and blue burger.  Not fancy fare, but yummy!

The main even of the day was an outing to the Meyer Theater to see Tommy Emmanuel.  He was great.  I truly enjoyed the concert as I listened to his incredible guitar music; I’d imagine that I’ll be hearing more from him and his contemporaries when next I turn on the Bose or the Wonderboom.

Saturday, 14 August 2021: on the deck at Hartung and Lambeau Field

 This Banner day in the Miller household started early.  We were scrambling to tidy up since Deb and Rick were coming at 9:00am for closing.  Yes, we hosted this event...Justin didn’t want to have to do it at Brussels.  We had a bottle of bubbly and lemon zucchini bread to share after.  Yum!

The movers had come on 6 August. About al I could do was direct traffic.  Thankfully Ric was here to help too.  He's been a huge help!   This move was so different from moves where the government was taking care of everything.  Thankfully, this was a very short, local move.

  

So now Brussels is gone.  We have the new property and while it certainly doesn’t have the appeal that our North Bayshore property held, we are out from under the responsibility.  I pushed for this sale and I am confident this is the right thing for us.  We have until 15 April to get everything out of the garage so we will be back there soon.

We kind of wasted away the afternoon before an early dinner of pork loin, corn on the cob, carrot and raisin salad and zucchini cornbread.  That recipe is a keeper with freshly grated zucchini and fresh corn it was a vegetable delight.  

Then on to Lambeau Field for the first preseason game against the Houston Texans.  We took an Uber to get there and then changed our regular seats in for ADA seats.  I don’t use my crutches around the house anymore and this was a big push for me.  I wanted crutches for stability (and the sympathy vote).  

The Texans came out on top so thank goodness preseason doesn’t really count.  Jordan Love looked promising but I’m not going out to buy his jersey just yet.  

Tuesday, 3 August 2021: Bellin Hospital

 

Surgery and home.

I have been limping around and precious little help to Justin as we are moving our of Brussels.  I couldn't dance even a little at Kim's wedding. But today we are taking care of that.   

Justin had a set of crutches in the garage but they were too tall for me so I got new crutches and a walker.  I am set for recovery.  I've promised Justin that I'll follow the rules for rehab ... he says that I haven't been very good in practice. 

"Get well" flowers from Gloria

Friday, 30 July 2021: Green Bay DMV

At the DMV, I gave up my Texas driver’s license?!?!  I had received notification that my Texas license couldn't be renewed again online.  OMG!  This was HUGE for me!  

Void???

When we were in Reno, Justin got a call from Ric.  He's returning to Green Bay from North Carolina.  He and Carolyn have split up and he is going to be living with us.  This is perfect.  We get a roommate now and he'll stay in our house when we go to Mexico.  This is great news on so many fronts.  Justin had really wanted to go with Furnished Finders and rent to traveling nurses, etc.  I'd much rather have Ric in the house.  Since we are incorporating all of our stuff from Brussels back into Hartung, and since Ric is effectively "starting over", we are donating items to his “hopeless “ chest.   I had to explain Jim Muir's sense of humor to Ric and thankfully, he got it.  

Eric is bringing Lola this weekend. He comes to Green Bay probably every other weekend. Brody seems to be playing somewhat well with Caleb and Jonas and Fin and Willow play together when Willow breaks away from Kris but this leaves Lily as odd man out. And, she is tired of her older cousins picking on her. Several weeks ago we encouraged Erich to let Lily bring a friend. Well, he took us up on that advice and the offer that the girls could stay with us.  Let’s throw another plate up into the air!  Never did I imagine that we’d be moving back to Brussels even if only for the weekend. 

Wednesday, 28 July 2021: in the friendly skies with Delta

Today was a travel day.  After a lovely visit with Steven and Barbie we were at the airport by 5:30 am.  From Reno, our first stop was LAX, then Atlanta then into Green Bay...gotta love airline geography.  Admittedly I went for the least expensive fare since I booked only yesterday, but still!?!?     

Back to Green Bay to get busy.  Gemma was still in Milwaukee with Erich but they are coming this weekend...maybe Friday!

Best gift ever… the gift of time. The buyer agreed that we could store some of our stuff in the garage until 15 April!!!.  We received the email last night about 10pm that the new owner, Deb, would allow us to keep stuff in the garage until 15 April 2022.  That was the best news ever.  We won’t have to get a storage unit and we won’t have to move things twice.  We are still going to push to get it all done before we go to Mexico but with my surgery coming up on the 3rd, this gives us a bit of room to breathe.  

Monday, 26 July 2021: Los Angeles

 

We checked out of our hotel in Irvine this morning.   We were so out of practice in traveling... there were so many things we forgot but we made it just fine... after we bought new water bottles, etc.  The airports were jammed packed and crazy just like before Covid.  It was so different compared to when I flew last year in July when the airports were almost deserted and people really were careful.  Crazy!  And, then, over three hours in line at LAX to get our rental car!  What a cluster!  Finally, after all the wait, we got a Nissan Kicks...poor little thing couldn’t get out of its own way.

Venice Beach

The past few days have been filled with wedding festivities.  An informal get together for out of town guests at the hotel bar on Thursday night kicked off the events.  Vicky Taylor, Alice and Chris Bernard and Justin and I headed to a nearby Mexican haunt for a late dinner.  This was the beginning of a great super, mini-Dodd’s reunion.  Justin and I explored a bit around the local area but the focus was wedding.  Julie's home was a perfect setting looking out over the ocean.  Just like our reception, Kim and Brian had guests from all over.  It was nice to get to meet people from other arts of their lives and of course, it was great to see her mom again and get to meet her dad.  They are off to begin the et phase of their lives together.  

       

   

   

After a quick flight to Reno we were at Barbie and Stephen's house.  Justin was excited to visit with boats.  I was excited to spend a bit of time with Barbie while the boys talked smart.  

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world watched the Tokyo Olympics on tv.  The stands are empty.

Simone Biles withdrew from individual competition and the Russians took the gold.  On the Packer front Aaron Rogers showed up for training camp.  Blake Bortles was released and Randall Cobb is coming home.