Week (and a little more) In Review

Ah, Memorial Day. The unofficial start of summer. While it is warming up, it is no where close to what I would consider summer here at Wilted Acres. To me, summer is 85+ degrees with a bit of humidity to keep it real. And while I love the current high 70s to low 80s we are having, it feels more like late spring than summer.

In my last post I shared that I didn't have to report to work because of a "flood day." Initially I had planned to go into work. However, I decided I that my work bag contained more than enough paperwork to occupy my day. I tried to get some pictures of the flooding, but was not as successful as I thought I might be. Anyway, below is a nearby creek. You can see the brown water just past the trees in the foreground. Tough to see how high the water was, but I can assure you it was worthy of a flood day...

Below is the rain gauge from my garden. We had nearly 2 inches of rain in a 24 hour time span at my house. But other nearby areas reported more than 3 inches of rain in that same period of time!!!

After a three day weekend I was back at work bright and early this past Monday, ready to conquer the week. It's a good thing I had some extra time because the week ended up being crazier than usual.

On Thursday, I defended my dissertation proposal. What this means is that I am now ready to begin the next step in my research once I make the required changes to my proposal. These changes will be due to my committee members mid-June. Once those changes are made and approved, I will move on to the Institutional Review Board of the University. Pending their approval I can begin working with the necessary agencies I need to work with in order to complete my research.

Prior to my proposal defense, I took this picture of the room where I was about to present.

After successfully defending my proposal I celebrated with a vanilla chai latte from Starbucks and took a quick pic.

When I got home the Hubs and I decided a little family celebration was in order so we headed into town to a favorite local restaurant with Babycakes. After a delicious meal of drunken salmon, crab dip, fresh garden salad, loaded baked potato, spring veggies (I had PLENTY of leftovers!) and a glass of chardonnay from a local winery, we headed back home so we could get Babycakes to bed. She was super clingy that night and I thought she was just exhausted from a big day so we wanted to get her home. Not to mention that I had been up until 1 that morning finishing my presentation. So I was ready for bed myself.

But before we left for home I took a couple of pictures near where we parked. I can not tell you how beautiful it is in the Valley at this time of year. Because many of you are scattered across the country, I wanted to share some of the local beauty:

I have no idea what these little flowers are but they are beautiful!  It's hard to tell, but they are a light pink color.

These flower baskets are throughout the town. This one is on the bridge that runs over a small stream in town.

The aforementioned stream...

This is an antiques shop but I just love the little side yard!

After we got home, Babycakes and I crawled into bed for some cuddles and I thought she felt a little warm but she wasn't running a temperature. She fell asleep shortly after cuddles began and I didn't have the heart to move her into her bed so I just enjoyed the closeness and did a little reading to unwind.  By 10:00 she was running a fever and awake about every 45 minutes.  It was a LONG night for everyone. The next day she went to the pediatrician and was diagnosed with tonsillitis. A round of antibiotics and she was back to her shenanigans.  Like this selfie...

That's all for now readers! I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day and take some time to remember those who have gone before to make the ultimate sacrifice.