Just Living Life

 Things have been pretty wet and stormy around here lately! Thankfully, we haven’t had anything other than rain and lightning/thunder. We had a little hail last week, but it wasn’t heavy at all…no damage from it. I am very thankful for all of the rain! Our lakes are full, which is a very good thing around here. Hopefully, we can make it through the summer with no water restrictions.

Things have been fairly routine around here. Dennis is spending most of his time working on the church house remodel and going to (routine) doctor appointments. After having had a stroke, those doctors really like to keep a close eye on him! Everything is fine, though. He does need cataract surgery, but he’s putting it off until after our vacation.

I try to keep busy with my various crafts and bread baking. We get to see the littles about once a week or so. Earlier this month, they spent the night with us while their parents went to a Ranger’s game with Ricky’s boss. They were good, as always. They came over Monday with their mom and spent the day. Archer and Grandad spent most of their time building a bird house. Archer is so good with his hands. He can drive and pull nails very well! He loves to work!

We had a couple of visits with Sheila’s family last week. Nam had a choir concert last Tuesday, so we met up with them and Andy and Sherry for supper, then headed over to the school. Then on Saturday, they took us out for a belated Mother’s Day lunch. Nam gets out of school this week, so he’s planning to come spend the night early next week. It gets harder to plan sleepovers as he gets older. We look forward to each and every one!

When the littles spent the night, Kacey was helping me take clothes out of the dryer and grabbed a pair of pj pants that I’d recently made. For some reason, she really liked them and wanted to wear them. I ended up tying them around her waist, and she kept them on the rest of the day. So I tried to come up with something I could make her using the leftover material that I had. I ended up making her a little apron that she could wear anytime she likes. Of course, since I was making her one, that meant Archer wanted one, too. So I found some blue material and make him one. (He wore it all day today while working in the shop with Grandad.) Kids are happy with such simple things!

Kacey in her new apron

Archer's apron

I’ve also recently tried my hand at some easy furniture refinishing. I’ve had this old chair that used to be Sheila’s. It has sat in the corner of the small guest room for years, just being used as a place to stack pillows. It was in pretty bad shape and wasn’t fit for sitting on. I had bought some material when we were in Paris last month just because I thought it was pretty. I didn’t have anything specific that I had planned to use it for, but I knew it would be useful for something eventually. So I decided to recover the chair’s seat. Then I made a pillow cover for a kid-sized pillow to lean against the back of the chair (which wasn’t cushioned). I bought some paint to match the material and repainted the chair frame. I really like how it turned out! Now it is actually fit to sit in! Doing that inspired me to do another project. We’ve had my old piano bench just sitting in the corner of the dining room. I mostly just use it to set my sewing machine cover on or to move my table runner to when entertaining. It was stained a dark brown and had scratches all over it. So I painted it and lined it with wallpaper to use as storage for my trivets, hot pads and bowl cozies. It actually looks like it belongs in the space now. I have one more piece of furniture that I eventually want to refinish. Not sure when I’ll get around to it though. It is fun to try new crafts!

We plan to leave on vacation in about 2 ½  weeks! It will be our first big trip since 2020. We are really getting excited! We plan to see Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Yosemite, and the Sequoia National Park. I’ll share pictures once we return. I can’t wait to see everything! We’re hoping these old bodies hold up okay to all of those hours riding in the car! We try to space out our travel, so as not to be too hard on them.

I am really enjoying my new “laundry stool”. It is a real knee-saver! I’ve also used it for other things. I like being able to roll around so easily while doing a job. Dennis has used his for years for many purposes. I’m glad that he got me my own to use!

Well, I guess that’s all for now. I hope to have a lot of beautiful pictures to share with you in a little over a month. Take care and stay cool!

Ps 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions-