Fall Fun and Health Issues

 Amber and I took the kids to our local Pumpkin Patch the last Saturday of September. We all had a blast! The kids could have happily spent all day. Archer rode the little mini-train a couple of times. Kacey was a little too scared to try it. They loved playing in the dried corn tubs. There were also games that they played, as well as little houses to play in. At one point Kacey saw an Adirondack chair next to a food truck. She made a beeline for it and settled herself in nicely…just like she does in mine. LOL! I love being able to take the kids to stuff like that and watch them have fun!

Kacey crawled in the train but got out before it departed.

The next weekend we enjoyed a quick trip to Paris to celebrate Shepherd’s birthday. We gave him his present first thing…a small air hockey table. After he and Jesse assembled it, they immediately started playing. Things got a little rowdy! Ha! After supper we spent the evening relaxing on the front porch watching the kiddos play. Such a perfect night! The weather was just right, and we didn’t even have to worry with mosquitos. We visited and played with the kids Saturday morning, enjoyed a nice lunch that Mandy fixed us, then headed home. Lovely!

Sheila was scheduled for surgery the next Monday morning, so we headed to the hospital first thing. Dennis stayed until he was able to see her after she had awakened from the anesthesia and was settled in her room. I spent the night so Matt could go home to be with Nam. Even though she was in some pain (although not too severe), we were able to enjoy our visit that evening. We stayed up talking until after midnight. She was released around noon the next day. Surgery went well, everything checked out ok, and her recovery has been good.

After we got home from the hospital, Dennis and I both came down with a nasty cold. We felt bad for a good 2 weeks. Ricky’s family also had it during the same time. We are pretty much over it now and able to get back to a normal schedule. We didn’t get much of anything done for those 2 weeks though!

Dennis went bowhunting Monday and killed his first deer of the season…a nice big fat doe. All I had left in the freezer was 2 packages of jerky meat and 1 package of hamburger, so I was very thankful to see more meat come in! I had made up a double batch of jerky on Sunday. I just love how good the house smells when I’m drying it. I have just enough meat left to make up another double batch right before Thanksgiving. My boys (and others) love to snack on venison jerky!

Yesterday I took Amber and the kids to the FW Zoo. The weather was perfect! We had such a good time. Kacey is finally old enough to really enjoy the zoo. We rode the carousel, and she did so well…sitting up on her horse like a big girl. The kids enjoyed the petting zoo and “brushing” the goats. They loved playing in the playhouse area. I think they could have stayed there all day. Archer really liked the snake house and even petted a snake. Kacey was pretty much freaked out by it and was ready to leave! We ended the day with a trip to the gift shop, where I let the kids each pick out a stuffed animal. Kacey made a beeline for everything pink and ended up with a rainbow colored lion cub. Archer took much longer making up his mind. He really wanted something that could fly, but he couldn't decide what. He finally opted for the CUTEST bat. He is very soft and cuddly and has amazing wings! Fun day!

Kacey loved riding piggyback, but hasn't quite learned to hang on well.

Worn out little guy hugging his bat

Tired little girl with her colorful lion cub

While I was down with my cold I was able to crochet a shawl using Tunisian crochet. It took a little while to get the technique down but worked up nicely once I got the hang of it. It will be nice for the cooler temperatures that we are supposed to start getting this next week.

Yes, it has pockets!

I hope you are all enjoy this beautiful fall weather that has finally arrived and are able to spend it with loved ones!

Mt 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Way Out West (part 2)

 Day 8, Sun. - After worshipping in our room, we loaded up and headed west to Nevada. We had a room reserved about 20 miles north of Beatty. We stopped in town to stock up on groceries, then drove to our "inn". We were shocked! This nice little B&B, that had such good reviews, was a trailer house with small bedrooms to rent. The host was super sweet, but the house smelled like dogs, and the room was barely big enough for our overnight bags...much less the other things we needed. We went back to the car, did some frantic searching (there are NOT many places to stay in this area!), and finally found a room at a hotel right before entering Death Valley. I made our excuses to the lady at the "inn", and off we drove. I'll never live that one down (since I was the one who had booked the room)! The place we ended up staying was perfect for our needs, and even had a couple of restaurants that we could eat at.

view from our desert inn

another view from the inn

sand dunes in Death Valley

mountains in Death Valley

Day 9, Mon. - We got up early the next morning, ate breakfast in our room, and headed into Death Valley. It wasn't at all what either of us expected. It was very interesting, quite pretty in places, and not too hot. The temperatures in the park ranged from 77-97 degrees. We stopped for lunch in Bishop, CA, then took the Tioga Road to Yosemite. That was probably the prettiest drive on the whole trip! We saw lots of snow, and wildflowers were everywhere. They were beautiful! We drove to our cabin in Foresta, which is a private community surrounded by Yosemite National Park. Such a quiet, peaceful place to stay...and even had a washer and dryer that we could use.

Day 10-11, Tues-Wed. - We spent the next couple of days exploring Yosemite. It is a gorgeous place, but the crowds were crazy. We tried to time our outings to avoid the worst of the crowds...didn't really work. Since we had a fully equipped kitchen, we were finally able to do a little cooking to avoid eating at pricey restaurants. Everything out there is EXPENSIVE! I'm really glad that we were able to go and see the sights, but I have no desire to ever return to California.

moon over El Capitan

These guys are everywhere!

Bridal Veil Falls

Day 12, Thurs. - As we were leaving Foresta, a cinnamon colored black bear ran across the road, right in front of us. We stopped the car to watch him, and he stopped at the edge of the woods to watch us. We didn't have time to snap a picture, but it was a real thrill to see him!

Our next stop was Lindsay, CA. When we were making our travel plans, it was the closest town (not including cities, which we were trying to avoid) to the Sequoia National Park that we could find. It ended up being between an hour and an hour and a half to the park. Since we got there so early, we decided to drive up to Kings Canyon in the park. I have never in my life driven on such a curvy road! It was insane! We really enjoyed Kings Canyon though! This was Dennis' first time to see giant Sequoias. He loved it! After a light picnic supper, we retraced our steps down that snaky road back to our motel. When we were a few miles north of Lindsay, we got a really nice view of the valley below us. What a sight! There were orchards and vineyards as far as the eye could see. We also stopped at a fruit stand and picked up some apricots, peaches and plums for snacking on. YUM!

General Sherman

General Grant

3 Sisters

Day 13, Fri. - The next day we found a better road leading to the main section of Sequoia National Park, where General Grant is. (General Sherman was in Kings Canyon.) We walked among the giants and were amazed at their mass. I'm so glad that Dennis was finally able to see these magnificent trees! I had seen them the summer after I graduated high school, but I enjoyed them even more this time around.

Day 14, Sat. - We had seen everything we had come to see in California, so we cut our visit short by a day and headed southeast. For a state that has so many people in it, that section of the state is desolate! We were happy to reach Arizona!

Day 15, Sun. - We worshipped in our hotel room, then headed east for Holbrook, AZ...the gateway to The Petrified Forest National Park. We spent about 3-4 hours driving through and looking at the sights...even doing a little hiking to get a better look at the beautiful petrified logs. We had a late supper, then collapsed in our hotel room for the night.

historic inn

Blue Mesa

Day 16-17, Mon-Tues. - We had a hard day of driving on Monday, making it to Amarillo for the night. On the drive through New Mexico, we saw miles of blooming chola cactus. It was beautiful! I guess we hit it at just the right time, because it seemed as if every cactus was covered in pretty pink blossoms.

Just as it had happened on our way out west, we were met with storms. Amarillo must love it when we come through...we seem to bring the rains with us. Then this morning, we got up early and drove home. I have to say...seeing our house at the end of our long journey was one of my favorite sights of the trip. After 17 days, about 4000 miles, and having visited 6 national parks (and 1 state park), it feels SO good to be home! 

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-

Out with the Old, in with the New

Winter has definitely set in. Of course, we always have nice days interspersed with cold ones here in North Texas (one of the many reasons I like living here). Last week, we missed most of the snow that everyone else got. We got some, and it was beautiful coming down, but it didn’t really stick…just a light dusting. I’m so glad that all my grandkids got enough to play in though.  I really enjoyed seeing the pictures and videos of them! Another blue norther came through today. No precipitation is predicted, but the temperatures are supposed to be pretty chilly.  I don’t get out much when the thermometer drops below freezing. I made my (hopefully) final run to Walmart today, so I should be stocked up for hibernating. 😊

This was about the most coverage we got.

We had a sleepover with Archer and Kacey in early December, so their parents could attend Ricky’s work party. As usual, they were really good! Then a couple of weeks later, their family all came over for an early Christmas celebration. They were heading to New Mexico the next week. So fun watching the kids with their presents! I think Kacey like the little crocheted ornaments the best. LOL!

On the 17^th, we did our annual viewing of “White Christmas” at the Palace Theatre in Grapevine. Gwen and Gina went with me. We met up at Diane’s house, where she and Debbie P were waiting. Then the 5 of us rode together and had supper at Uncle Julio’s. It was Taco Bar Tuesday, so we decided to go with that. We had a blast! Then off to see the movie, where we met up with the rest of the gang. It was great, as always! The drive home was even fun, since I had Gina and Gwen with me. I love our girls’ outings!

We were so shocked and saddened by the death of James Speed! When Dennis came in to tell me, I kept waiting for someone to call and say they’d made a mistake. He was way too young to be gone! My heart absolutely breaks for Chelsey and the kids. He was such a special guy, and we will all miss him terribly. His funeral was in Paris, so we went the night before to get in a little extra visiting time with Stephen’s family.

We had our 5^th Sunday guest speaker and potluck on the 29^th. Layne was our speaker. After the assembly, everyone came over here for lunch. I made a big pot of jambalaya and some homemade ciabatta bread for the occasion. It was great spending time together and enjoying good food.

Sheila’s family came over on New Year’s Day for our annual seafood boil. We all look forward to that! It’s a once-a-year treat. Of course, we enjoy every opportunity to visit with them, too!

Ricky’s family came over and spent last Saturday. We went out to lunch, then went shopping downtown. The littles really enjoyed the outing (as did we adults) ! Archer especially loved Garrett’s Pawn Shop. They have a practice of handing out free ice cream sandwiches to their customers. The guy who runs the place took a shine to Archer and also gave him a free toy race car. That little guy made out like a bandit!

Ricky worked out of town last week, so Amber and the kids had planned to come spend the night. With the weather turning bad, and knowing we’d all be stuck indoors, we figured we’d all enjoy the change of pace. However, Archer woke up with a fever the morning they were supposed to come. Poor little guy felt rotten for about 3 days! He was heartbroken (as were we) that he couldn’t come over. Thankfully, Ricky was able to come home Wednesday night to get ahead of the storms. I know it helped Archer having his dad back home!

Ricky is supposed to be working out of town next week, too, so we are going to try again. Amber and the kids plan to spend a couple of nights and then head out to be with Ricky for the weekend. Hoping that nothing gets in the way this time!

Rosie was sick this week with a high fever. After 2 or 3 days her fever broke and she broke out in a rash…probably roseola. This is a rough time of year for littles! I sure hope no one else gets sick for awhile!

After getting out of my boot and going back to my podiatrist last month, he sent me for airrosti treatments. I was skeptical, but they really helped! It involves some very deep tissue “massage”, which breaks up scar tissue, relaxes muscles and increases blood flow to the area. Exercises to do at home are also prescribed. My foot/ankle is doing great now! I just have to continue the at home exercises as needed. After my first 2 (of 3) treatments, my foot felt fine, but I had developed a pain in my hip that wouldn’t go away. So my therapist focused her efforts on it for my last treatment. It was immediately better, and completely cleared up in another couple of days of home treatment. I’m a believer now!

I made several small projects during December. I did Santa hat towels for a couple of my girls, crocheted ornaments to go on all the presents, crocheted a toy basket (for here) and a highland cow (for Archer), made a snowman table runner and knitted a cap. Then this month I finished up my embroidery journal and crocheted a gnome. I’m currently working on a crocheted hedgehog, but it is much more problematic and time consuming than I expected. The yarn that I bought for the spikes is very hard to work with. It got all snagged and tangled, so I’ve been working on rolling it into balls for the past few days before going back to crocheting. The technique used to make the spines is very slow and tedious, so I’m going to play around with it to see if I can find another way to do it. If I ever get it finished, it should be really cute! So much work for such a small toy!

toy basket

Highland cow

gnome

Snowman table runner (I think this one is my favorite)

I like to begin a new year doing some cleaning and reorganizing. For the past couple of weeks, I have been cleaning out and straightening all of my closets and pantry. I finished the last one today. YAY! I made a trip to the thrift store yesterday with a bunch of stuff to donate. Now I have a bunch more to take. Everything looks so much better and is easier to locate. Now if I can just keep them all that way....

I guess that’s all for now. Stay safe and warm during this cold snap!

Ps 147:12, 16-17 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion…He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?