August was a full month. Here's some of what we did:
Mom had a neighborhood gathering at her house, so Jac prepared the food for it. He had fun "playing":
And mom got this amazing spread for her party. She loved it, and so did all of her super impressed guests! What a nice Jac!
And...Jac put on a Cuban feast!
Jac's workplace treats their employees to a big feast every few months, just as a thank you for their hard work. Jac is, of course, in charge of it. For this month's feast, he served Cuban sandwiches. And he spent DAYS leading up to it cutting, marinating, grilling, roasting, slicing, and portioning the meat. Look at all this:
I helped with parts of it too. It was mostly fun.
The sandwiches blew everyone away, of course. And, Jac made it even more fun by ordering fedoras and sunglasses and fake cigars for all the servers. Plus he wore this Hawaiian shirt and his muscley chest tee. What a funny goofball!
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Movie Night!
We're finally going to start redeeming all the coupons we got from our Christmas-Countdown coupon doubles game. I picked an easy one to start with -- a special movie night for Jac. Here's the coupon:
Here's the invite:
And here's the concession stand (pre-popcorn):
This month was website mania!
I spent the entire month getting the bookstore up and running. And I decided to also sell my teaching stuff on the site too, so I started the month with this mess:
I organized it, put it into themed sets, photographed them, wrote up simple instructions for each, and then moved it into the bedroom closet (along with all the picture book sets). It was a lot of work, but I was very proud of myself.
But then we came up with an even better idea! Jac and I figured out a way to move it into the little shed, without getting in the way of the Wined Up stuff (that's coming next month) or jeopardizing my chances of starting seeds in the spring. We now have these wire shelves (that Jac set up 😁 ) currently holding bookstore stuff, but they'll be ready for plants in the spring (when hopefully the stuff is all sold, or mostly sold.)
After all the books and teaching stuff was organized, put into sets, photographed, then shelved, it was time to REBUILD the website, since I couldn't get access to the original one (it's in Brent's name). I had to do the start up steps, the layout stuff, and then create HUNDREDS of new product pages, all at a NEW domain: best-childrens-books-clearance-sale.com
Phew!!! But it's finally done. I plan to "go live" the first week of September and start marketing it. Hope this makes us some moolah!
The garden had some drama this month!
August started out so lush and verdant and promising! We loved sitting in the yard just taking it all in.
And it was PRODUCING! We were eating A LOT of vegetables, and Jac was also pickling, canning, and cooking then freezing lots of our loot. It was so exciting! It was all going exactly as planned.
But...halfway through the month, nature was a meanie! Northern Utah County had a 100 year storm, with fierce wind and large hail, and our garden took a huge beating! We just stood inside and watched the carnage in shock!
I gave it about four days (mainly because I just could deal with it 😒), but then I went through a pruned out the dead stuff and tried to prop up what seemed partly alive. And then we waited. Thankfully, by the end of the month we were getting harvests again. Nowhere near like before the storm, but still....all was not lost. This just can't happen again. Not for another 100 years, right?
Regardless of the garden drama, we still enjoy our backyard EVERY DAY! Jac worked on the lights and tarp cover to get them just perfect. We really love it out there.
Jac's Birthday
For Jac's 61st birthday, I surprised him with a picnic in the forest. I reserved a camping spot in American Fork canyon, and then spent the day prepping for it (buying items at Walmart and Trader Joes, plus going up ahead of time with mom to get it all set up.)
For his present, I bought a VERY cool 3-part picnic basket [on Facebook Marketplace for only $25 -- score!] AND some battery operated lights. I'm sure we will put both of these items to good use a lot in the future!
I decided to do a picnic for his birthday because that was one of the many coupons I still have to do this year for Jac. (Remember, he won 8 times and I only won 4!)
Jac was very touched. He loved the picnic basket and also just the whole experience. He said I make him feel special. That's easy -- he is special!
I did NOT cook the food. I don't cook. Instead, I bought yummy charcuterie type items at Trader Joes. And Jac kept saying "You did good", so yea!
We slowly enjoyed our dinner and dessert while surrounded by all the forest beauty, and then packed up and headed home. Hopefully this was a memorable birthday for Jac. He deserves it!
Cats Rule!
I always have to include a few cute cat shots, because....I can't not. Here's this months:
And, of course, we had loads of delicious foods all month long.
EVERY meal is something amazing. Here's just a sampling:
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And since Jac uses the "Smokey Joe" so often, he worked with people at Companion to manufacture this inventive fold down metal table. He can now stow the 'to-be-grilled" and the "already grilled" stuff somewhere while he works his magic on the grill. And it's metal so it won't catch on fire (and can stow away in the pantry when not in use.) I've said it before, and I'll say it again-- Jac is so inventive!!!
Look at these delicious bbq ribs he made on the above evening of grilling.
Before the huge storm hit, we had A LOT of vegetables to harvest nearly daily, mostly tomatoes. Jac put them all together into a delicious spaghetti sauce
There certainly was a lot of amazing food in August. There's always a lot of amazing food. I'm a lucky lucky lucky gal!
I got to spend all of August with this fun, happy, positive, kind person. I have a Jac!!!!!!
