July, Numbered "One"

Lawn mowing day - it was really hot out, so I only mowed the east lawn.  Mom went shopping for her birthday dinner ingredients, so I did a little project.  The place where our concrete meets the alley is less of a line and more of a general idea.  So, I got out the push broom and cleared it up.  Not perfect, but it looks a whole lot better.

Did some laundry today and I washed one of my favorite dresses - it's a pink hi-low (that's hemmed higher in the front than the back).  Well, I wear a white shirt under it and I went to wash the white shirt and it was tinted pink!  Yes, I am starting to hate that red/pink dress.  To make matters worse, I didn't realize I'd put the dress in with my work shirts.  Yes - my work shirts.  They all came out tinted pink, which is fine for the ones that were already pink to begin with, but not so much for the rest.  I took the dress out and washed the shirts again - still pink.  I'm really mad.  I love my work shirts.  Any ideas on how to get the tint out?  Help me...

Well, after the laundry fiasco, mom and I went shopping looking for strawberries.  We wanted to make strawberry pies, but safeway didn't have any strawberries.  So we went out looking.  Turns out, Leprechaun had a pretty good deal.  We came home and decided to do our own things until 3:30p, when we'd come together and make pies.  I got a little cleaning done and checked my just washed (again) shirts - still tinted.  Then cleaned my room out of frustration.  And by cleaned, I mean put my books away and then moved everything around the room...

Well, here it is, the pies-de-resistance.  (Yes, that is a pun and it was ridiculously intentional.)

Doesn't it look beautiful?  Okay, I'm biased - that's my pie.  We tried out a recipe called the "Wham-Bam Pie Crust."  It only has 4 ingredients, and we were a little skeptical as to whether it would actually turn out.  Well, it did!  We haven't eaten mine yet, but we ate mom's after I got home from institute.  The crust was really crumbly, but it tasted good.  Maybe we need to use more dough for our pie pans...

We had steak, potatoes and an Olive Garden salad for dinner.  I did the steaks on the stovetop and oven.  They turned out pretty good.  Then it was off to institute.  One of the interesting things we talked about was how The Lord calls his prophets, and how he can call them home whenever he desires.  Bishop Stones was talking about Harold B. Lee, and how everyone expected that he would be prophet for a good decade or two, but he died 18 months after being sustained.  Whereas Spencer W. Kimball was ill when he was put in as prophet and no one expected him to last very long.  Well, he lasted for quite awhile.  (I don't remember how long Bishop said, and I wasn't here for his ministry, so...)  It was interesting.  I never go to institute and then feel sorry that I went.

Came home and had pie with Mom, Tif, Vaughn and Josh.  Then we had a little party for mom.  Not a bunch of presents, but some good ones - chocolate, more chocolate and a new summer-y purse.  Happy Birthday Mom!