July has been a busy month…and actually cooler than normal! Although we’ve had a few days in the low 100’s, most days have been in the 90’s. We’ve also had a few small showers, which we are always grateful for!
Sheila and I celebrated our birthdays together on July 4. (Her birthday is 3 weeks before mine, so we usually get together between them to celebrate.) We went out
for lunch and then watched “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot”. It was a
really good movie and took place not far from where we were living at the time (in the 90's).
Not long after we got back to the house, Matt and the boys showed up. Dennis
grilled burgers while I fried up some taters. I had also made up some ice cream,
with homemade caramel sauce, chocolate sauce and buttered pecans for toppings. Unfortunately
our local fireworks display took place on the 3rd this year, so they
weren’t able to watch it with us. Dennis and I went by ourselves, but we still
enjoyed it. There were young families all around us, so I enjoyed watching all
of their children. There was even one family with an Archer and a Saylor next
to us (Saylor is Amber’s youngest niece). What a coincidence!
Dennis and I enjoy these frozen yogurt bars that I’ve been
buying for the past couple of years or so: Yasso bars. They are delicious but
expensive. So I decided to try to learn to make my own. I haven’t found
the right combination, but I’m still enjoying the results. So far I’ve made
strawberry flavored using monk fruit sweetener (froze too hard); a fudgesicle
using maple syrup and sugar (not bad); a vanilla with caramel, chocolate and
buttered pecans, using honey (pretty good…just too strong a honey taste); and a
peach flavored sweetened with honey and monk fruit sweetener (honey overpowered
the taste of the peaches). I’m going to keep at it until I get it right! I
started out making them with homemade yogurt, but that just got to be TOO much
trouble. So now I’m just buying a large carton of plain Greek yogurt as my
base. I really want to perfect the fudge one and the vanilla with caramel,
chocolate and pecans. (Dennis is sticking with his Yasso salted caramel bars!)
On the 16th, I had a couple of my cousins over
for lunch. Dennis had a doctor’s appointment scheduled in FW that day, so he
spent the day shopping and running around. It was supposed to be four of us,
but Anita had to cancel due to illness. I really enjoyed my visit with Gwen and Debbie though! I hope that
we can make it a regular thing.
Ricky’s family came over for supper tonight to have a joint birthday dinner for me and Rick (his birthday is 2 weeks after mine). I cooked supper, and Amber made and brought birthday cake (with a little help from Archer). We all ate way too much, but it was fun! We had shrimp tacos, watermelon and chocolate cake. After supper we all went outside and watched the kids play. Dennis is working on a seat that Archer can use to swing on the rope. He has some fine-tuning to do, but Archer still got to try it out. I let Kaycey hang onto the rope while I walked and twirled around, so she’d feel like she was swinging on it too. She loved it! She is growing up so fast…it is fun watching her learn new things and realize how much she can do.
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| hanging out in Grandad's truck |
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| just a swinging |
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| taking a ride in Grandad's deer hauler |
I’ve finished a couple of sewing projects this month. I made my fall table runner. It is my largest so far. It goes the whole length of my table (without leaves). I’m really happy with how it turned out. I love the colors! I also made a Scrabble pillow for Sheila. I’d watched a video on Craftsy and decided to try to make one. I struggled with it a little, but I still think it turned out pretty cute.
Dennis is still waiting to hear from his vascular surgeon on when he will do the surgery to clean out his carotid artery. It definitely needs to be done, and it is located in the wrong place, plus it is too constricted to go through a vein. He will have to open it up to clean it out. We are hoping to get it done within the next couple of weeks. We’ve been waiting on his cardiologist to give his ok. That just happened yesterday, so we are now waiting on the office to call to schedule the procedure. Since they'll be making an incision in the artery, he'll have to spend one night in the hospital.
Dennis finally decided that he needed to replace his old
recliner in the den. The one he’s been using was a second-hand one that we
found at an estate sale years ago. It was in pretty rough shape! I didn’t
realize how big some of the holes in the leather were! So we went to a sale at
the store where we’ve bought all of our LaZboys. We found a really comfy one in
microfiber that wasn’t too expensive. We tried putting the old one out on the
curb to see if anyone would pick it up. That usually works. That old chair was
in such bad shape that NO ONE wanted it! So Dennis just broke it down and put
it in the trash. It only took 2 or 3 pickups to get rid of it. 😊
Dennis has still been working out in the garage. He finished
my broom closet and then moved on to putting doors on the cabinets that he’d
already built out there. He plans to build more cabinets until he can stow away
most of the stuff stored out there. He’ll also put up a couple of peg boards
for hanging some tools and stuff on. It is really shaping up nicely. We hope to
be able to park my car in the garage when he finishes!
One of my favorite things about summer is the fruit available. I’ve been keeping watermelon in the fridge all month, as well as berries and cherries. Last Saturday I went to the local farmer’s market and bought some fresh local peaches. They were SOOOO good! I can hardly wait to go back next time and get some more. A couple of vendors also said they should have honey available next time. I'm looking forward to trying out some of that, too! I also bought a carton of farm fresh eggs. Not only are they tasty, but they are so pretty in all of the different colors!
Well, that’s been our July. Hope you have all enjoyed yours,
too!
Am 8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, a basket of
summer fruit. (NKJV)
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