Repairs and replacements

 Well, our winter lasted about a week. We were fortunate that we didn't have any trouble from the ice and cold. We hunkered down and watched it from inside our cozy house. We both were suffering with chest colds during that time, so it wasn't even like we felt like getting out anyway. All of the ice and snow have now melted, and the temperature has been mild this week. I've been enjoying going outside, sitting in my chair, and just soaking in the sunshine. (Our colds are pretty much gone, too.)

Since I spent a solid week in the house, I was able to double down on a baby blanket that I was knitting for our new granddaughter who is supposed to make her appearance in late June or early July. This was my first "big" knitting project. I made some mistakes, as I ALWAYS do, but it still turned out cute and so soft! Kacey kept trying to get it while I was working on it, and I had some leftover yarn, so I ended up crocheting a little doll blanket for her. That child loves blankets and quilts!

Kacey's doll blanket

I like to start the new year doing those cleaning projects that I don't normally get around to. I had the carpet cleaned after the holidays were over. Now I've started doing a deep ceiling to floor cleaning, one room at a time. I just try to do one room every week or so, because this old body really complains to me afterwards! So far I've done our bedroom and bathroom and the large guest room. I'm hoping to tackle the hall bathroom this afternoon and the hall and entryway early next week. Then I'll have to take a few weeks off.

I've been struggling with carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel syndrome for quite some time. It has steadily worsened to the point that it needs treatment. My left hand used to just go numb and ache while doing handwork or driving. Now it happens when I'm not doing anything. So I am scheduled for surgery next Wednesday. I had carpal tunnel release in my right hand about 2-3 years ago, and it was a really easy surgery to recover from. This one will be a little rougher, since they will also be working on my elbow (cubital tunnel release), but I'm still expecting an easy recovery period. Probably won't be doing any knitting or crocheting for a few weeks though!

Back in late December, just before Dennis left on his South Texas hunting trip, my oven died. After doing a little research, I decided it was probably the igniter and ordered a new one. It arrived while Dennis was gone, so he was able to repair my oven as soon as he returned home. I was SO glad that we were able to save my range! I looked at replacements, and I couldn't find anything that I liked as well as the one I have. I'm hoping it will last me many more years!

I wasn't so lucky with my dishwasher. It started acting up a few weeks ago. It kept giving me an error message after every wash cycle. It eventually quit but then started having drain problems and giving me a different error message. We played around with it and finally decided it was probably a faulty "brain". So Dennis told me to pick out a new one. He installed it last Saturday. I really loved my old dishwasher (which was 10-11 years old), so I bought another Bosch. They are so quiet and clean so well! This new one is even quieter than my old one (which was very quiet), which is a big plus since our living room and kitchen are open to one another. This one has the 3rd tray rack for silverware and utensils, which I am loving. It also has a feature where you can set the door to pop open at the end of the cycle to let steam out. I'm also liking that! I hope I get many years of use from this one.

I hope all of you made it through the winter storm ok and are staying well!

Ps 147:12, 16-17 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion...He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?

 

Birthday Celebrations and Yummy Treats

 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 3^rd 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 16^th, 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.

hanging out in Grandad's truck

just a swinging

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)

Summertime Fun

 June started out with me having a cold. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, but it kept me in most of the week. Dennis managed to avoid it, so that was good!

Dennis went to see his vascular surgeon after having an ultrasound done on his carotid artery. The doctor wanted to do another CT scan on it, which was done last week. He goes back to the doctor on the 16^th to see if he’ll want to do a “clean out” or not. Right now, he seems to be leaning towards doing the procedure. Other than that, everything else is looking good.

We drove to Vian for Morgan and Zach’s wedding on the 15^th. It was a beautiful wedding, and we so enjoyed visiting with everyone. We stayed the night and attended services at Vian the next morning before heading home. It was a quick trip, and we were exhausted when we returned home, but we were very thankful that we were able to attend!

The following Wednesday, we celebrated Sheila’s birthday with a taco supper here. She also requested angel food cake. That’s what I usually do for Dennis’ birthday, since it is his favorite. After supper, she and Matt left Nam here for a couple of nights. That allowed us to have some time together, and they could go out to celebrate by having dinner and watching “Hamilton” at Bass Hall. Of course, we enjoyed our special time with Nam. I took him to the movies Thursday morning. Our local theatre always has special free showings for kids in the summer. We watched "Despicable Me" and shared a box of popcorn. It was fun! Then we returned him to his mom Friday morning, so he could visit with Stephen and Mandy’s kids. Sheila and Matt watched them while their parents went to the matinee showing of “Hamilton”. I love it when the grandkids can spend time together, even if I’m not there to see them. Cousins are such special friends!

Amber and the kids have been over a couple of times, plus the whole family spent one Sunday with us. I also babysat last week, so Amber could go for a checkup. Little Kacey is changing every time we see her! She is sitting up much better, reaching for and playing with things, and trying so hard to scoot around! She usually ends up going backwards unless she has something behind her to push off of with her feet. She has cut 2 teeth and is eating more “real” food. She is such a social little girl…quick with a smile for everyone. She absolutely adores her big brother and babbles and giggles at him all the time. It is so fun watching both of them! Last week when they were here, we made our usual trip to Atwood’s. It was Kacey’s first visit there. She loved looking at the baby chicks! She wanted to get down and play with them! We noticed some pool noodles while shopping, so we bought a couple to bring home for Archer to play with. He had a blast! Of course, we had many “sword” fights. He discovered, to his delight, that if he stood on his little stool that he could touch the ceiling with the noodle. He was SO proud of himself! Kacey just enjoyed squeezing and trying to chew on them. 😊

I made a little dress set for Kacey last month. The pattern went from size 6 mo to 12 mo, so Amber chose the larger size. It may be a little while before it fits her. I can’t wait to see her in it! I’ve also been doing a little knitting (dishrags) and crocheting (face scrubbies). Last week I sewed a pumpkin hot pad for this fall. I plan to do a pumpkin table runner next. I also have a couple of pillows that I plan to make soon.

Thiess brought some of the bounty from their garden to church last week. I ended up with several peppers, so I decided to try my hand at pepper jelly. It turned out so good! I’m not a big jelly eater, but when I do eat it, I usually want some kind of pepper jelly. I’ve got enough put in the freezer to last me a good long time!

It finally turned summer here last week! Temperatures have been up around 100 degrees every day. It has been too unpleasant to get much use from my chair in the front yard. I did enjoy it while Nam was here! Before it turned hot, I’d also go out in the cool of the evenings and enjoy watching the day wind down.

Dennis built me a broom closet in the garage last month. He’s still working on the doors, but it is already functional. I love it! I always kept my brooms/mops between the freezer and wall. It was a pain getting them out to use. Now I just open the door to the garage and there they are within easy reach. I love having custom made storage!

We had our 5^th Sunday guest speaker and potluck yesterday. Jett was our speaker, and his mom also came. It was great to see her again! Diane also came over for the day. We enjoyed a wonderful lesson and fellowship, as well as a delicious lunch at Thiess and Gina’s. We were short a few of our locals, due to sickness. We were so sorry that they couldn’t enjoy the day’s activities.

This week we have a couple of days of 4^th of July activities planned. Our local fireworks display is going to be Wednesday night, instead of on the 4^th. Ricky’s family will be coming for supper and staying to watch them with us. Then Thursday, Sheila and I have plans for our annual birthday outing. We’re going to lunch, then to a movie. That evening, the whole family will be coming over for a hamburger cookout and homemade ice cream. Looking forward to all of that!

I hope you all have a wonderful 4^th of July week! Be thankful, not only for the freedoms we have in this nation, but also the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.

1Pe 2:15-16 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. (NKJV)

Mother's Day Blessings

Another Mother’s Day is rapidly approaching. I hope that all of you moms and grandmothers get to spend some time with your kiddos. That’s my favorite thing about any holiday or other celebration! Tonight, Sheila’s family is treating me to an early Mother’s Day dinner at an Asian restaurant that I like in FW. Then we’ll be bringing Nam home with us for the night. It has been way too long since his last sleepover! We are looking forward to having some alone time with him.

Rick and Amber are planning to come to Eastside Sunday morning, then take us out for Mother’s Day lunch. He offered to take me wherever I wanted to go. I chose Whataburger. 😊 I love my weekly burger and fries, but I also like to avoid the crowded restaurants on Mother’s Day. Plus our Whataburger has had Hershey Hugs and Kisses set out for moms the last few years that we’ve been there on Mother’s Day…and I do love chocolate!

I received a surprise last night, delivered on my doorstep. Stephen’s family had sent me a digital picture frame. Once I got it set up, I discovered that all of my kiddos had already uploaded HUNDREDS of pictures onto it. I love it! Family photos are my favorite, and I have always tried to keep plenty of them around me at all times. It gets hard to keep them updated though. Now the family can add new ones on a regular basis, so I can enjoy seeing all of their activities. What a special gift!

Amber and the kids had come over for the day early last week. While they were here, Dennis and Archer went to Atwood’s to look at the baby chicks (and ducks and guineas). They saw a poster for the rodeo here in MW. Dennis mentioned it to Amber, because Archer had gotten excited and said he wanted to go. So, Saturday we kept Kacey so they could take him. There were storms blowing through, so I was concerned that they might get rained out. But they were able to stay a couple of hours, and Archer loved it! We loved having Kacey all to ourselves. She was such a good little girl! She is very active and curious about everything. I got LOTS of sweet snuggling in, too!

Sunday Kay and Diane came over and went to church with us, then spent the afternoon visiting. We do so enjoy having visitors! I am thankful for dear friends who go out of their way to grace our assembly and spend time with us.

I finished up my paper pieced table runner and love how it turned out. I quilted it by “stitching in the ditch.” That technique was perfect for the shapes used. One of these days I hope to get more adventuresome and try some free hand machine quilting. Baby steps! I enjoyed doing the table runner so much that I’ve already found another pattern to try. It is regular piecing rather than paper piecing…a much simpler design. It will be pretty for putting out in the springtime. I have also enjoyed my “toy making” and have a pattern to make a stuffed turtle. Since I love turtles, I plan to keep this one here for the grands to play with. I really like having projects lined up to do!

My cousin, Debbie, and I tried out a new restaurant that just opened here in MW…the Crazy Cajun. I was so excited when I saw the sign! I love Cajun and creole food (I really like most ethnic cuisines!). I didn’t think I’d ever talk Dennis into taking me, since he does not like spicy food (although Mexican is his favorite…as long as it is mild). We went for lunch, and their lunch menu was quite reasonably priced! We enjoyed it! They also have plain old fried catfish on the menu, so I should be able to get Dennis to take me from time to time. 😊

Dennis is ALMOST finished with our sliding barn door! It is looking great! He’s trying to get the final details completed before Sunday, so Ricky can help him hang it. It is VERY heavy! It will be so nice to finally have a door to separate our bedroom and bathroom…after living in this house for 18 years. I think it is really going to add to the look of our bedroom, too. I’ll post pictures when it is finally hung.

Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!

Ps 113:9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.  (KJV)

Time for Fun!

 Dare I say it? Our house is finished (for the most part). There is still a little trim work to finish up and the sliding barn door to do, but for all practical purposes, we are DONE! It feels so good! We are loving our new carpet. The odor was very strong at first (gave me bad vertigo), but the weather was so nice, we just opened the windows for a few days to let it air out. It has been fun watching Archer on it! He'll throw himself down on it and just roll around. Haha! Here are a few pictures of the finished product:

master bedroom

living and dining room

other end of living room

As most of you know, Frieda went into the hospital on the 12th with an intestinal blockage...her second one in 4 months. She ended up having to have surgery on the 18th. She is still struggling a lot in her recovery. The last report I read showed her making some significant progress. Hopefully she has finally turned a corner in her recovery. It has been a long hard road! Please continue to keep her and her family in your prayers!

As far as my crafting goes, I finished my winter rag quilt. I have it stored away until after Thanksgiving (still using my fall quilt until then). I only have one more rag quilt left on my "to-do" list...my warm weather one. I'll probably put it off until January. This one makes me 11 for the year. I sure am enjoying making them!

I also made a "chenille" pillow cover. It didn't turn out like I had hoped, but maybe it will continue to fray as it "ages". It is supposed to look like chenille, but it doesn't. Oh well, it was fun to try!

I have started doing on online knitting course, through Craftsy, and am learning a lot! Before I had taught myself using the book "Knitting for Dummies". The best that I could manage was knitted dishrags, though. I LOVE knitted dishrags, but I also thought it would be nice to be able to make more than that. So far, in my course, I've made some fingerless mittens and a waffle stitch cowl. I'm really enjoying it and learning a lot more about the process. I'm hoping my skills improve to the point that I can make a large project. Right now, I'm working on a scarf to match my mittens...just kinda "winging" it. I think my next class project will be a cap.

cowl

fingerless mittens

We hosted our 5th Sunday potluck this past Sunday. I had some hunks of meat that I usually use for making jerky that I needed to use up, so I ground them into hamburger and made up a big batch of chili. Everyone else brought "fixins" to go with it. We had a small group, but we really enjoyed the day. Between Andy and Sherry and Thiess and Gina, there were many interesting and lively stories told!

The next morning we got up and packed and headed north to Hochatown, OK. The weather has been quite chilly, which we are really enjoying! Tuesday morning we drove the Talimena Scenic Byway. It was a beautiful drive. The colors weren't "prime", but they were nice...much more color than we've been seeing at home (which is pretty much nil). We had lunch at Little Italy in Mena, AR. It was really good, and we had plenty of leftovers to bring back for another meal or two. Then last night we drove into Beaver's Bend State Park to look for deer. We weren't disappointed! We did a quick drive through, then went back this morning to go through the museum and drive around some more. We went down to Broken Bow for lunch and did a little shopping. Among some other things, I found and bought my new favorite coffee mug! 

pond where we are staying

one of the deer we saw at Beaver's Bend

cypress trees along the river

small cascade in BBSP

our cabin

Beaver's Bend Lake

We plan to pack up and leave in the morning. It has been a fun and relaxing trip, but as usual, we are missing home...especially now that we have it fixed the way we want it! We have the Highway Meeting and a baby shower for Kacey to attend this weekend, too. It's amazing how busy we stay for a couple of old retired folks!

Enjoy this wonderful fall weather and the everyday joys that come your way!

Ps 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: (NKJV)

Fall Fun!

 Fall has finally arrived! Today was our first really cool day of the season. I loved being able to wear a sweater again after such a blazing hot summer!

We've enjoyed several visits with Archer and his family. I love being close enough to babysit when needed! We even had another sleepover last night so his mom and dad could have an anniversary date night. Even though he was feeling bad with a cold, he was SO good! After supper, we went to Atwood's (his favorite store), then drove around looking for deer. The cooler temperatures had them out in force. Archer loved seeing all of them (daddies, mommas and babies!). Today when Rick and Amber came back to get him, we took him out to a pumpkin patch west of town. He rode the pony (for about 30 seconds), played in a corn tub with a dump truck, and played kickball with all of us. He would have enjoyed it even more if he'd felt better, but it was fun, and we got some cute pictures.

He had a blowout while shopping, so that's why he's pantless!

Shepherd's 9th birthday was this week, so last weekend we drove to Paris to celebrate with him. I made some Black Panther cookies to take. (The kids always expect some kind of cookies from Granny.)  It was great to visit with all of them and celebrate Shepherd. I kind of neglected the other kids more than usual because I was holding Rosie as much as I could. She is such a sweet baby! Only getting to see her every couple of months makes me feel like I'm missing out on so much. So I soaked in as much time with her as I could! I can see so much of Stephen in her. We really enjoyed our visit!

The weekend before we went to Paris, we took Nam out for the day. We took him out to eat lunch, then went to Hobby Lobby to shop for rockets. When Stephen was young, he loved shooting rockets with his dad. We figured Nam was about the right age to start. He loved it! We bought a 3-pack and put together one. Then we all went out to the soccer fields to shoot it off. He and his dad have since shot the other two. I love it when the rocket blasts off. Nam gets SO excited and whoops SO loud! I imagine we'll be doing many more over the coming months and years.

Dennis has almost finished our bedroom. The walls are textured and painted. He hung the light fixture and put in all of the electrical outlets and switches today (instead of accompanying us to the pumpkin patch).  I've made some curtains, which we should be able to hang soon. Dennis has to do the window sills and crown molding next week before our carpet is installed on Friday. Then we can move back into our bedroom! He'll still need to build the sliding barn door, (that will separate the bathroom and bedroom) but there's no hurry for that. After the carpet is installed, baseboards will go down, and we'll be through! Whoop! We are SO ready to have this remodel behind us!

I am currently working on a winter rag quilt for me. It is 3 layers of flannel, so it is very soft and warm. I'll switch it out with my fall quilt when the weather starts getting cold in December. I already had made a snowman rag pillow last year, so I just needed one more pillow cover to go with it. I'd seen examples of people making chenille quilts and was very intrigued. I didn't want a whole quilt, so I decided to do my second pillow cover using the technique. I can't wait to see how it turns out. 

We have a short get-away planned for the end of the month. We've been saying for months that as soon as the house was finished, we were going SOMEWHERE!. We don't really have time for a big trip right now, so we'll just head up to Broken Bow for a few nights. It will be nice just to get away and relax for a little bit. We'll try to take a REAL vacation next spring. We haven't decided where yet, but we are still wanting to go back and do the Blue Ridge Parkway drive. So that may be our destination. I also am planning on going on a Caribbean cruise with Diane and a few others the end of January. I'm really looking forward to that! It will be my first. Dennis isn't the least bit interested in going, so he'll stay home. He has a couple of hunting trips planned for this fall that he won drawings for (state park hunts). 

Well, that's what's been going on around here. I hope all of you are enjoying these nice fall days. Take care and be kind!

Ps 116:7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

 (NKJV)

Hello September!

 The 'ber months are finally here! That means fall is right around the corner. It is still getting to 100 degrees most days, but the extended forecast shows that ending in about a week. Even at 100 degrees, it feels so much better than what we had most of the summer! We even had a really good rain last week, so part of our yard has made a pretty good comeback. (A lot of it is still brown though.) I'm always ready for fall, but this year I'm EXTRA ready!

Dennis successfully got the floating shelves hung in our bathroom, and I love them! He then moved on to our bedroom. We moved all of our bedroom furniture into a climate-controlled storage unit. Then we temporarily moved into the large guest room. We demolished the walls; Dennis redid the wiring (finally finishing up replacing all of the house's old aluminum wiring with copper!), and we got new sheetrock up. He is now doing the "mudding". That is a long process (for Dennis) involving a lot of taping, spreading mud, and sanding...then repeating the process until he is happy with the results. Once he has it the way he wants it, he'll texture and paint, do crown molding and window trim, install electrical plugs and light fixture, then we can buy carpet and have it laid. All that will remain after that is finishing baseboards (where the carpet is laid) and building and installing our sliding barn door leading into the bathroom area. We are SO CLOSE!

Archer came for a sleepover last month...his first with us. He did so well! We really had fun with him. He was good until he first woke up the next morning. He was missing his momma! He didn't cry...he just walked to the front door and stood there looking sad. Once he had breakfast and woke up good, he was fine though.

I made a couple of burp cloths and loveys to go with Kacey's rag quilt. I tried to make the first lovey, made from a chenille bedspread, to look like Winnie the Pooh. It turned out awful! When we showed it to Archer, he was scared of it! 😒 So I made 2 more using minky and fabric from the quilt...just plain bears, not Pooh. They turned out much better!

burp cloths with chenille backing

I'm currently working on a fall rag quilt for myself. I have it over 3/4 done. I hope to finish up this week. Then I plan to make a couple of coordinating pillow covers. It's almost time to get out my fall decor! Here's a sneak peek at the appliqued squares. 

We went to Kyle and Nicole's Friday night for supper to start the Labor Day weekend activities. After visiting with the group and eating way too much, we drove on up to Lake Ray Roberts and stayed the night at the lodge. There was a cool breeze blowing, and it was so peaceful and comfortable! Kay had the room right next to us, so we sat outside and visited for a good while. The next morning we headed over to the park where the pavilion was reserved for the day's activities. It was situated right next to the water, which kept a nice breeze on us all day. We really enjoyed visiting with everyone. I even got to love on a couple of babies, which I ALWAYS enjoy! Dennis developed a bad headache before supper, so we left early to go home. We had to be at Eastside Sunday morning, so that was the end of our Labor Day activities. It was a good weekend, though!

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend! 

Mt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (KJV)

Busy Summertime! (Lots of fun and a few mishaps)

 We've been blessed with a lot of time with grandkids this summer! June started out with a graduation get-together for Ian and Caleb. We met up with their family, along with the other local Joiners, for pizza and good company. We really enjoyed visiting with everyone, and I loved the new pizza place they selected!

We have babysat Archer a couple of times while his momma went for her prenatal checkups. We are loving having this little guy so close! One Saturday in June, his family came over for a day at the Lake Mineral Wells State Park. Dennis took the boat, so Archer had his first boat ride. He was a little nervous about it but seemed to enjoy it. He absolutely LOVED playing in the water! It was a fun day!

We made a trip to Paris in June to take an antique bed that Dennis had restored for Mandy. I just can't get enough of little Rosie! I love all of my grands, but there is something so special about getting to cuddle a grandbaby! We made another trip over this week to take the boys on a short roadtrip. We basically did the same thing as we did with Nam last year. We picked them up Monday afternoon and drove to our rented cottage in Flint (just south of Tyler). Tuesday was absolutely filled with adventures! We started out touring the rose gardens, which the boys enjoyed more than I expected. (We mainly went there to kill time before the zoo opened.) We got to the Caldwell Zoo as it was opening at 9 am. The next 2 hours were filled with trying to keep up with 2 very excited boys! Dennis was feeling poorly (more about that later), so he rested and went at his own pace, while I chased after the boys. We had a blast!

After lunch, we headed over to the Discovery Science Center. The boys loved it as much as we hoped they would. We enjoyed it, too, for a different reason. We were able to cool off in the air conditioned building and sit on benches while they explored and played! After a couple of hours of fun, we headed back to the cottage for some much needed rest. After an early supper, we found an indoor, glow-in-the-dark putt-putt golf course. That was a blast! We had quite the fun-filled day!

On June 22, the FW Zoo opened their new predator exhibit. So we met up with Matt, Sheila, Nam and Jennifer and Asher and spent the morning enjoying the sights. The day was unseasonably cool, which made it even better. After seeing all of the animals, we all went out for some Mexican food and more visiting.

Nam came for a sleepover the second week of July. We didn't do anything special...just our regular routine with him. As always, we enjoyed our time together!

Diane came over the last week of June for a day of shopping and visiting. I had been working on a rag quilt for her and finished it up just in time to present it to her. I made it lightweight: 2 layers of cotton with flannel sandwiched between. I wanted it to resemble a sunset, so the colors are really pretty. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did making it!

I also did a quilt for Rick and Amber's little girl, who is due December 14. We are so excited to be getting another granddaughter! I still have some matching burp rags and a lovey to make. Hopefully I'll feel like doing those next week. 

If you look closely, you can see Pooh holding a balloon.

We had Ricky and Sheila's families over for a 4th of July cookout. I made homemade ice cream and Dennis grilled some burgers. It was great having all of them together! I am so thankful to be able to get together more often now that Rick's family is close!

We were saddened by the loss of Loita that same week. She was such a special lady! I do believe that she was one of the all time best hostesses that I've ever known. She will be sorely missed. 

Dennis and I both came down with a bad cold the next week. We are still struggling with the aftereffects. I think I am about over it...just some mild sinus stuff left. Dennis is feeling worse and is sure he has a sinus infection. His allergy doctor is sick, too, so he just called him in some antibiotics. Hoping that he feels better soon. Stephen's family has also been struggling with the same (or very similar) thing. He and Mandy both have secondary infections and are on medication. Lots of sickness going around!

Sunday, as we were heading into Whataburger, Dennis miss-stepped and fell on the curb. He landed on his right hand and hyperextended his little finger (all the way back until it layed against the back of his hand). *shudder* He didn't seem to hurt anything else, but his hand was in excruciating pain. He was able to get up and walk into the restaurant and sit down at a booth. Then he kinda blacked out for a minute or two. Scared me! No matter what he did, he couldn't alleviate the pain in his hand. He was white as a sheet and sweating buckets! He wanted to go ahead and try to eat lunch, so I got us our usual, but he could only get in a few bites. Watching him in so much pain made me woozy, and I had to lie down on the bench to keep from passing out! (So embarrassing!) When we finally thought he could walk to the car, I drove him to the ER to see if his hand was broken. Since he is 70 years old and had lost consciousness, they did quite a workup on him...including a head CT, EKG and blood enzymes (to rule out a heart attack). We spent 5 hours in the ER, and the only thing they did for his hand was xray it. (It wasn't broken.) We had planned to go to Paris that afternoon to spend the night, so we could keep the kids while Stephen and Mandy took Rosie to have her tongue-tie procedure done. We didn't get out of the ER until after 6, so we just grabbed a quick supper and went home to recuperate. Dennis's hand quit hurting (on it's own) after being in the ER for an hour or so. It also began swelling and ended up looking like a Mickey Mouse hand! But it never really gave him much trouble, as long as he was careful with it. The swelling is finally going down now. It turned out so much better than it could have!

After we got the boys home yesterday morning, the screw-in plug on Dennis's latest implant fell out. So we cut our visit short and headed to FW to stop by his endodontist's office. They were able to work him in pretty quickly. The doctor had to trim some tissue (which starts "caving in" the hole with nothing there to hold it back) and replace the plug. He also determined that the implant was completely healed and ready for the crown to be made. Dennis will have to get an appointment with our regular dentist to do that. He originally had an appointment with the endodontist in 2 weeks to see if it was ready, so we were able to get that done ahead of schedule. He has sure had a rough couple of weeks!

We had a setback on our home renovation. Dennis was starting to put up my floating shelves in the bathroom, and they wouldn't work. This system has to have walls that are totally level in order to work. Our wall had a slight bow in it. So he had to rip out his brand new wall above the toilet, reinforce it and then re-sheetrock and texture it...making sure to have it totally flat! He got that finished just in time for us to leave on our trip, but with him being sick and his hand still recuperating, I'm not sure when he'll feel like getting back to it. Hopefully next week!

I'm off this morning to have my bone density scan done. Then I need to buy groceries for the weekend. I'm doing Ricky's birthday dinner tomorrow night, then we're hosting a hamburger cookout Sunday after church. So my weekend will be quite busy! Believe me...next week, I am planning on taking things MUCH slower!

Ps 33:20-22 Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You. (NKJV)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

 I hope all of you moms out there are having a great Mother’s Day weekend! Mine has been wonderful! Amber and I went out for lunch yesterday and then on to Bass Hall to watch “Tootsie” (the musical). Afterwards, she and Ricky took us and Joe/Leanne out for supper. Charles, Linda, and Troy also went with us. We had a yummy supper and good visit…all of us greatly enjoying being entertained by Archer. 😊 

This past month has been quite eventful. I applied for and received my Medicare card (which will be activated July 1). We found out that Ricky and Amber are expecting another baby in December (grandchild #9 for us!). Dennis has ALMOST finished our shower. All he has left is grouting and trimming the niches. Sheila’s family came over last month to celebrate Caleb’s 18th birthday. (How is that possible?!) I made Ricky’s rag quilt and matching pillow, which was (by far) the most complicated one so far. (I gifted it to him yesterday, and he loves it.) Grandbaby #8 was born on the 19^th of April…Rosalie Mae, aka Rosie. We were able to go see her just a few hours after her birth, then went to Paris to stay with the other kids the next day until Stephen, Mandy and Rosie got home. (She is beautiful and such a good baby!) Stephen and Mandy arranged for my grandmother necklace to be updated with a birthstone for little Rosie for Mother's Day. I have loved that necklace, and they are so good about keeping it updated as new grandbabies come onto the scene. 

Amber and Archer have been coming over (almost) every week so I can help her learn to make a rag quilt. She is doing a great job and is really enjoying it! I'm thinking she will soon be wanting her own sewing machine, so she can continue making more. It is quite an addicting hobby! My next project will be making a couple of memory quilts for my cousin, who recently lost her mom. Her dad passed away a few years ago, so she wants one made for each of them...using the pj's (dad) and house dresses (mom) that they wore in their declining years. I've also ordered fabric to make a quilt for Dennis for his birthday in October. It will be my first panel quilt. I absolutely love trying new things and working out different designs!

Our congregation made the decision recently to start inviting a guest speaker to come every 5^th Sunday and have a potluck after the service. Our first one was last month, and Kirk T was our speaker. We had a few more visitors come, also, which we greatly enjoyed. We are looking forward to our next one in July!

We were also privileged to attend Lula Mae’s 100^th birthday party last month. That isn’t something that you get to do very often! She is an amazing woman, who still gets around very well, lives by herself, cooks, cleans and HAND quilts. Her memory is better than mine! What an inspiration!

Unfortunately there were a few others who passed away: my Aunt Ci, Doris C and Gayland S. This has really been a rough year for deaths! I hope we don’t have any more for a LONG time.

I’m so thankful for having all of my kids close enough now so that we can see them on a regular basis. We are LOVING our time with Archer. It is such a blessing to have a front row seat to watching him grow up. We are really looking forward to doing the same with his new little brother or sister. School will soon be out for the summer, so we can start back with our regular sleepovers with Nam. He is actually coming this Friday to spend the night. Sheila and Matt are taking me out this coming Saturday for a belated Mother’s Day dinner. We loved the special time that we had with Stephen’s kids last month after Rosie was born and look forward to more soon. Hopefully we can have the 3 of them (of course, Rosie is too little to join them) come for a visit this summer, too. Being a mom and granny brings so much joy to my life! I honestly can’t imagine life without all of my kiddos.

I hope all of you have a good week and fun summer with your loved ones!

Ps 113:9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

Winter has definitely arrived!

We’ve been homebound due to weather all week. We haven’t gotten any snow to speak of, but it has been very cold and wet…temps in the 20’s for the past three days. The roads are completely iced over. The freezing rain is supposed to continue for the rest of today and tonight, making the road conditions even worse than they have been. We are thankful that we haven’t had any reason to get out! Dennis did go to check on things at the church house a couple of times. We are only a couple of miles away, and he can avoid high traffic areas for the most part. Our Highlander also has an ice setting which makes it the best vehicle we’ve ever had for hazardous road conditions. I haven’t left the house at all. It is supposed to get above freezing tomorrow afternoon for a short time, then much milder temperatures Friday. I’ll need to make a WalMart run as soon as things thaw out, for both me and Aunt Coez. I hope they will have an adequate stock of what we need. With trucks not being able to get through, I’ve heard that the shelves of most stores are pretty bare.

Dennis’ hunting trip to ET last month didn’t go well. The first night he was there, they had tornadoes blow through the area. (Thankfully, he decided to stay in a motel this trip!) He didn’t see any deer while hunting and had a bad experience with the 2^nd motel he stayed at. So he cut his trip short and came on home, empty handed. Oh well, “those things happen!” (That is one of our favorite quotes from Dennis’ dad. That was his response when Dennis told him that we were getting married. LOL!)

I finished Baby’s rag quilt and matching accessories. I’ll post pictures after I’ve gifted them. Now I’m working on a LARGE rag quilt…another one worked “on point”. This one is going together much easier than when I did Jesse’s! I’m over halfway finished, but I’ve run short on some of my fabrics. With the trucks not being able to get through, it may be next week before I’m able to get my material and finish. I really like the way it is turning out. The colors are so pretty!

I have been enjoying my temperature blanket project. It is so fun to see the color changes as the temperatures rise and fall. The last 3 days have all been the same color! It will be easy to look back and remember when this winter storm came through.

Dennis had his dental implant surgery and has done very well this time. He could tell a difference right away in the way it felt from the last time. I don’t know exactly what went wrong with the first surgery, but it never did feel right…and was very painful. He has had very little pain this time round! Hopefully that means that it will “take” this time.

I was supposed to go back for my final doctor visit on my carpal tunnel surgery tomorrow. Since the roads are still bad and getting worse, his office will not be open. I’ll have to reschedule for next week. I’m able to do almost anything with my hand and have had NO numbness since my surgery. I have had more pain recently though…mostly muscle cramps and soreness around the incision site. (It isn’t bad…just bothersome!)  Dennis thinks it is from overuse, and he’s probably right. It always hurts more after “clipping” on my rag quilts or cutting fabric with my rotary cutter. I still can’t put weight on my palm, which the doctor told me would be the last thing that I’d be able to do. My grip is better but not quite back to normal. I’m looking forward to talking to my surgeon and finding out if my recovery is normal.

A couple of weeks ago, Dennis and I both were really feeling the effects of our age and activity. I got up one Saturday and just didn’t feel like doing much of anything. So when Dennis got up, I suggested taking the day off and going out to have some fun. He was all for it! We went to watch a movie, did a little shopping (at Lowe’s), and ate out for supper. It was just what we both needed!

Dennis has been making good progress on our bathroom, although he hasn’t been able to do anything this week due to the extreme cold. He has laid the mosaic tile down on the floor of our shower and laid the floor tile down in the bathroom. His plans, as soon as it thaws out, are to do the grout on the floor, finish out the drywall in the bathroom and get the toilet installed. We have really missed having 2 bathrooms, even though there are only the two of us. After getting that done, he’ll go back to work on tiling the shower walls, seat and niches. It is looking so nice! I can’t wait to see it completed!

before cleaned and grouted

We were very saddened last month by the passing of my cousin, Sammy. He was the 4^th son of my Aunt Coez to pass away. I can’t even imagine going through what she has endured! He was diagnosed with bladder cancer and only lived 17 months after it was discovered. This has hit Coez very hard. She is one strong lady, but this has really been a struggle. Please continue to keep her in your prayers!

My other aunt, Fay, (Coez’s only remaining sibling) has not been doing well at all. She had a subdural hematoma back in late November and has never really recovered from it. She also had COVID and some other health issues around the same time. She spent a few weeks in the hospital, then was moved to a nursing home for rehab. She is still bedfast and totally dependent on others. The hope was to get her strong enough to return home, but things aren’t looking very promising for that to happen. Please remember her in your prayers, too, as well as her daughter, who is trying to take care of everything as a result of her health issues. Old age is hard…as is caring for those who are struggling as a result of aging!

Diane and I went to watch Lion King on stage at Bass Hall last month. It was amazing! The costumes were incredible! It was so much fun to see. I’m really enjoying my season tickets!

I hope that all of you are staying safe and warm during this extreme weather!

Ps 147:16-17 He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold? (NKJV) 

All Good Things…

Well, the holidays are past; and it’s time to get things back to normal. I have thoroughly enjoyed this season, but I’m tired and ready to slow down a bit. I also need to get back on my diet!

December started out with Dennis and I going to Bass Hall to watch My Fair Lady. It was so fun to get dressed up and go out…first time in SO long! The play was great! I am so thankful to my kiddos for getting me the season tickets. I really enjoy the whole experience of stage performances. I am looking forward to watching Lion King in a couple of weeks.

I had my carpal tunnel surgery on the 9^th. Everything went very well. It has been a much easier recovery than other surgeries that I’ve had! I am pretty much back to normal now.  I should be able to get it wet by the end of the week, which will be SO nice! I have already been able to start cutting and sewing and crocheting again…with no numbness! So thankful!

Dennis and I both had crowns come off during December. (Our dentist said he sees a lot of that this time of year due to the rise in consumption of toffee and caramels!) Dennis’ crown broke in pieces, so he had to have a temporary one put on until his new one can be made. Mine was able to just be recemented back on. Dennis also went to his endodontist and scheduled his implant surgery for the 21^st. Sure hope it is successful this time around!

We went to Paris on the 16^th to visit Stephen’s family and take them their presents. It was fun to play with the kids and see them open their gifts. The next week, Nam came over for a 2-night sleepover. Of course, we always enjoy his visits. He helped me bake a couple of different kinds of cookies. Dennis had made slingshots for all of the guys, so he and Nam enjoyed practicing together with theirs. Sheila, Matt and Caleb came over on Friday to pick up Nam. We had tamales for supper, then drove around looking at Christmas lights before they headed home.

The next day we went to visit with Ricky’s family in Santo. Layne has a place there, where his family stays when they come visit. Joe and Leanne’s family were all there and had invited us to come spend some time with them. It was good to visit with everyone and spend some time with Archer. Rick and Amber came to Eastside for church services the next morning, which was a treat for our bunch. Then they came to spend a couple of nights with us on Monday. Dennis and I watched Archer Monday night, so Rick and Amber could go on a date. He did SO good! The next day we went to visit my Aunt Coez, who had come home from the hospital on Monday. It was really good to see her feeling so much better! She really enjoyed getting to finally meet Amber and Archer. Afterwards, we met up with Leanne, Linda, Becca and the girls for lunch and some shopping downtown. I just love the neat shops that have sprung up in our town’s revitalization!

We were very pleasantly surprised yesterday morning to have several visitors show up for church service with us at Eastside. The Brock congregation had cancelled their service due to a family with COVID, so three of their members joined us, one of which was Sue’s 99 year old mother. It was such a treat to get to visit with her! She is such an amazing lady. She still lives alone, cooks for herself and others, and works on quilts every day. Her mind is still sharp as a tack. Mark and Karen also showed up unexpectedly. After services, they went out with us for our weekly Whataburger, and then came over to visit a little longer. Not long after they left, Sheila’s family came over for our annual seafood boil and key lime pie. We all look forward to that every year! Such a nice way to begin the new year!

Dennis is heading out this morning for his last hunt of the season. It has been a few years since he went muzzleloader hunting in East Texas. He still has one tag left, so he decided to head down for a couple of days to try to fill it. He killed a nice doe last week, which we plan to take to Stephen’s family this weekend. Stephen was too busy to do any hunting this year, and they really enjoy having the meat, so we are happy to share what we have with them. Dennis loves to hunt, and we love being able to provide venison to our friends and family who enjoy it like we do.

I’m looking forward to a few days of peace and quiet while he is gone…no schedules to meet, being able to eat what I want, when I want, and not having to clear my sewing stuff off of the dining room table for a couple of days. I have started working on the new baby’s quilt and hope to get a lot done on it this week. I finished Amber's quilt in time to give it to her for Christmas. I also made her a matching apron. (I think she liked them!) I also started working on my temperature blanket for this year. It is a crocheted afghan which  records the temperature every day using a color coded system. I heard about them about halfway through last year and loved the idea. I did a digital version for 2022 just to get an idea of what it might look like. I’m keen to see how it works up!

Amber's rag quilt

reversible apron

I hope all of you enjoyed the holiday season and have a very blessed 2023!

Nu 6:24-26 "The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."' (NKJV)