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Hello friends, how are things in your corner of the world?

We have reached the time of year here where it's sweltering hot. Highs are in the 90s but our heat index reaches 110-115 every afternoon. I have to keep all our blinds closed during the day now to help keep the house a little cooler, otherwise by afternoon our AC has a hard time keeping up. 

We still have red tide here too, and to make things that much worse we now have some kind of flesh eating bacteria in the water as well. Living the beach life isn't so great right now. I'm staying as far away as I can get.

On to more pleasant things...

We celebrated my oldest son's birthday this past Thursday evening. Having the whole family together again is always so nice. It makes me so happy that we all live in the same area. Between birthdays, holidays and other special occasions we all get together at least once a month. There's nothing better in my book!

For my son's birthday I got the big 120 chicken nugget platter from Chick-fil-A and we each brought two specialty sauces to add to our growing hot sauce bar. I made coleslaw and a big bowl of cut up watermelon to help ease the pain - the kids always bring super crazy hot sauces. My daughter brought a nice big pan of her delicious family famous mac and cheese, and my youngest son brought some Truly seltzers, and peanut butter whiskey and Godiva chocolate liqueur to make peanut butter cup shots. I also got a nice cheesecake for dessert.

We had such a fun evening just spending time together and playing some games. The kids all left at 9pm to go to karaoke night at our local brewery. It always really warms my heart to know my kids all still hang out together from time to time, and are still enjoying each others company as adults. They all had a fantastic time.

I'm still not doing menu plans here, and sticking with cool foods for now. We are having lots of main dish salads and lots of grazing boards. Speaking of grazing boards again, I wanted to feature another beautiful board by the queen of boards, Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer. Check out her blog if you didn't last week.

Summer Bruschetta Board by Reluctant Entertainer

I'm creating one similar to this one for us tonight. You can't go wrong with some homemade tomato bruschetta surrounded by fresh fruits, cheeses, toasty bakery bread, and whatever other goodies I decide to add to the mix.

The upcoming week will be my last week working in the storage room. It will be about as finished as it can get until my son's house is done and he can get the furniture and everything else he has stored here moved out. I've given up on my hubs not letting go of things. I'm just organizing his stuff and trying to make room for most of it in the big closet I have out there.

I have no other plans on the schedule for next week, just staying inside and out of the heat. How about you? Here's to a great week - cheers!

Paranormal Activity

The word paranormal simply refers to something that is beyond the range of the normal human experience and/or scientific explanation. I have had many what I consider paranormal experiences. I thought I would ask a few questions today along with my answers to get a feel for how all of you view these kind of topics.  

1. Do you believe in ghosts?

I've never seen a ghost, but have had people I trust completely say that they have. 

Some of my experiences really make me wonder if there isn't something, but I don't know if ghost is the right word - ghost, spirit, angel, energy? I have no clue.

One of my experiences happened when I lived in Ocala Florida. I would often see shadows passing through the house at night. I lived in a wooded area and my house was very secluded. Not to mention I always had blinds or curtains on all windows - no way anything outside could have caused the shadows, and there was nothing moving in the house to cause them either.

Nothing scary ever happened, but there was no reasonable explanation for what could have caused those shadows around the house. For whatever reason it never frightened me. When I think back to it I really wonder why I wasn't afraid.

2. Have you ever seen a UFO?

Yes, but not like a typical flying saucer. You know how those search helicopters look when they shine down the spotlight that light up an entire street? Well, they used to anyway, now they use night vision, but hopefully you know what I mean. 

One night many years ago there was a big bright light that looked exactly like that coming down the street, but there was absolute silence, no sound of a helicopter or anything else. A few seconds later it just disappeared. There were other people with me who witnessed it too. I still have no idea what it could have possibly been, but it was definitely not a helicopter.

3.. Do you believe in Cryptids? (Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, etc.)

This is one I was always extremely skeptical about, but then back twelve years or so ago my kids and I saw something as we were coming home late one night. It looked identical to what bigfoot, or the skunk ape as it's called in Florida is always described as. 

Whatever it was that we saw was huge, about 7 feet tall, it moved faster than anything I could ever imagine, and the stench it left behind was horrible. We still talk about it just about every time we get together and wonder about what we could have possibly seen. 

I would love it if you would answer these questions either in the comments or on your own blog. I have lots more to share if this proves to be something there is interest in. I find this kind of stuff fascinating!