Happy 90th Birthday

 

 

 

 

Today is your 90th Birthday.

 

 

I want you to know what a blessing it is to have you here in our lives.

You bring us joy every day with

your wisdom

your humor

your spirit

 

We love you dearly!

 

Happy Birthday Mama.

 

 

Fall-ing into Christmas

 

I don't usually plant winter annuals but this year I decided to put in Pansy's.  They are so colorful and hardy and it was time for the Armadillo pic to go.

 

Decades is the theme these days.  On November 13th Tom and I celebrated our 30th anniversary.

 

 

This was taken 30 years ago in October at a Chile cook off and it was the first time he met my parents.

 

On December 6th my mother will celebrate her 90th birthday!

 

 

 

 I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week which makes Christmas just around the corner.  I'm making a ribbon garland for my mantle.  I wanted something colorful and whimsical.  Here it is in the making.

 

We have some family coming soon to visit and a daughter that I haven't seen in over 6 months so I want to get my Christmas decorations up early.  It just makes it more festive.

50 years ago for Christmas Santa brought me a doll named Susie.  My nieces, nephews and my own children have played with her through the years.  I have decided to pull her out of the closet and give her a makeover for Christmas.  I found the cutest Christmas outfit to put on her.  We have three little munchkins coming to visit and I want her to look a little more updated.  I'll post before and after pics on this soon.

Whimsical is a word right?

Armadillo Invasion

Courtesy of Yahoo

I've never had problems with Armadillos before.  The only ones I can remember encountering had already met their demise on the road.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed something had been digging in my neighbors yard.  The grass was pulled up and there were large holes all around.  I figured some kind of animal had been digging.  After researching and putting it out on our homeowners facebook page I found out the digging culprits were armadillos.

They started attacking our yard.  They dug under our backyard fence.

 

I put my rubber chicken to guard their new entrance.  It lasted one night.

 

Alas, pushed to the side.

 

Lots of holes in the yard.

 

The front flower bed is a major crime scene.

 

My poor kitty.

 

We treated for grubs because that's what armadillos like to eat.  My neighbor threw out mothballs.  One or the other worked because my neighbor found a dead armadillo in his yard and I am assuming it may have ingested mothballs or over ate grub granules.  We have been "hole free" for a couple of days now.

I've been trying to finish this blog for a few days.  All of a sudden I can't upload pictures.  I'm quite tired of fooling with it.  So this is the end. 

PS if you have a clue as to why I'm getting "Upload Failed Server Returned Invalid Response".  Let me know. 

Annoyed in Texas

Summer Slump

Every year I plant the same summer annuals.  Vinca. 

They miraculously survive the Texas summer heat as long as you give them a gallon of water every other day.  I always choose the red and white.  They look great in red planters sitting on top of two large green ceramic elephants that my father bought in Vietnam that guard our house on the back porch. 

The white variety is really the prettiest especially up close.

Actually I just wanted to post a picture to replace the July 4th American Flag.

The truth is...

I am in a summer slump.

It happens every August when it gets really hot!

I don't feel like doing anything.

My To Do list keeps getting longer.

And I can't bring myself to blog much.

My daughter is in San Diego.

My best bud from work left and went to work at another hospital.

I have a fever blister the size of Texas on my lip.

I will snap out of it in a couple of weeks when September rolls around and the promise of fall is on the horizon.

 

Spirit and the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

Molly is doing great and loving San Diego.  She has been settling in to a new apartment with her friends and busy interviewing for jobs.  She was hoping to find something that kept her in touch with students but gave her less stress, more money and an opportunity for advancement.  She found exactly that!  She was hired to be an educational consultant for a company that sells and teaches computer technology to schools and government offices.  They told her they had 4 real strong applicants for the position and settled on her.  Of course they did! My brag. 

We are so excited for her new path.  We miss her dearly but that's just part of this game of life.  Thank goodness for cell phones and Skype! 

I snatched this picture off her facebook page. She and her friends had been hiking.  This is so my daughter.  It makes me laugh.

It shows her humor.

It shows her spirit.

She's ready to conquer.

And she needs a sandwich.

I Hope You Dance

From the day your child is born they are slowly moving away from you.  You may not think about it for a while.  It may dawn on you when they start to crawl or when they take their first steps. 

We encourage them to be independent and cheer every achievement they make in their development.  There are zillions of these along their path of growing up.  Every day brings something new and we proudly watch and then all of a sudden they are grown walking out the door and you wonder how in the world it all happened so fast.

When Molly was young maybe in her early teens she told us she wanted to move to California. I'm not sure where that came from.   I said "Well if you move to California who is going to take care of me and daddy when we get old".  She replied "I'll send you a plane ticket."  We laughed.

Fast forward 10+  years later.

She sent us each emails telling us she wanted to move to San Diego and wanted our support on this decision.  It was probably better this way because she could detail the reasons she had decided to make this change in her career and not have to see the pitiful looks on our faces.  It gave us time to catch our breath and think things through.  I have to admit I spent the greater part of the day in tears and selfishly  thinking of everything I could possibly say to keep her from going.  That day I was looking at Pinterest and one of the first things I saw was this quote.  "It only takes one negative word to spoil a dream."  I firmly believe it was a message sent to me.  Also known as "Lord, put your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth!"

I am excited for her new adventure. She has always been independent and a hustler if she wants something she will give it her all to get it.  She has already achieved so much in her education.   We are so proud of her.  I want her to find a place in life that will make her happy.  It will be a new experience for us.  But we are supporting her all the way.  Even though our hands will be much farther apart our hearts will not.

I remember when she was close to graduating and leaving home I found this little book.    It was pictures and lyrics from "I Hope You Dance".  It touched my heart because it said things I would like to say to her. So I bought it for her.  This is one of the verses.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

And don't forget about those tickets!

We love you pumpkin!

Land of the Free.  Home of the Brave.

 

I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

God Bless "All Our Troops"

Remembering all our soldiers today.

What I Did Last Friday

My friend Heidi and I went to the town square in Rockwall last Friday to have breakfast, catch up and laugh a lot. We ate at a place in the square called "The Fatted Calf".

 

The food was tasty and all the ingredients fresh.  I went for the Huevos Rancheros.  I hear their pancakes are wonderful.

I loved this table in the center of the room.  I think it's a wine barrel cut in half.

We visited some really cute shops in the square.

This shop was called Enjoy.  It had cute kitchen items and sold packaged dips, soups and jars of everything!

They had samples out of course and guess who came home with pickled asparagus, passion fruit jalapeno jelly, dip and soup mix. 

We visited Bella's House.  A gift shop with oodles of everything.  I've posted the link to her website so you can get a better idea.

These signs are everywhere now a days. 

I fell in love with these Sid Dickens Memory Blocks.  I've never seen them before.  They are much larger than the picture makes them look.

My picture doesn't do them justice.  If you look at his website  here  you can get a better idea of how they are made and the endless possibilities of arrangement.  Be sure and read the "about" section to see how they are made.  I've already got ideas forming in my head of the blocks I would like to buy and where to put them.  I just need to win the lottery to buy them.

Have you heard of geocaching?  Heidi who loves all things travel (she was a stewardess for Delta Airlines for a zillion years) is into this game.  It's kind of a scavenger hunt played all over the world.

Here is my pitiful version of how it's played.

Someone (this I totally don't get) hides a cache (little piece of paper).

You go somewhere and check in on the geochaching site using your smartphone.

You tell the site where you are.

Then a satellite beams you a map with flags pointing to spots where the caches are hidden and clues to help find it.

You head for the location using your phone to guide you.

When you get there you start looking for it.  It could be anywhere.  In a tree, submerged in water or even in a bolt on a gutter spout. 

When you locate it you have your friend take your picture.  (I don't think this part is required:)

I'm not going to give away where she found it.  It was in a tin box and had a magnet in it.  That's all I''m telling.

Then you open up the tin box to get your cache.  Sometimes people leave something after they get there cache out.  In this case rubber teeth.  Eeew!

Then you sign a little piece of paper with your game name and date you found it.

Then you login into geocache to say you "Found It".

It was a lot of fun.  I've heard that families do this together too.  Maybe my husband can take this up when he retires next year.  I'm He's looking for something to keep him busy.

If any of you do this leave me a comment.  I'd love to know.

Always

I'll be loving you always

With a love that's true always

When the things you've planned
Need a helping hand

I will understand always

Days may not be fair

That's when I'll be there always

Not for just an hour

Not for just a day

Not for just a year

But, always

Happy Mothers Day!

I Hop

I HOP has this amazing item on their 7 for $7 menu.  You're lucky I stopped long enough to take this picture before I finished eating it.  It's called a Cheddar and Bacon Hash brown Stack. 

I discovered it when mom was in the hospital.  After I went 24 hours not eating anything, I went next door to I HOP and ordered it.  It's deliciousness had nothing to do with the fact that I was starving because I went back and ordered it for the next three days.  Always good! 

This is how it is layered. 

Hash Browns

Cheddar Cheese Slice

Tomato Slice

One Fried Egg Over Easy

Hollandaise Sauce

Lots of Bacon Pieces

Chives

It was so yummy my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

It's served with fresh fruit or pancakes.

They have other versions of the hash brown stacks but I can't remember what they are.  It doesn't matter because this is definitely the best as far as I am concerned.  The menu says it's for a limited time only.  I'm going to have to attempt to make this myself.  I have a great blender hollandaise sauce recipe that would work.

Anyone for breakfast?

Spring

Our Blue Bonnet season is almost over.  To me spring is here when the wildflowers come to life and the fields become blankets of blue.  People come to capture a picture of their children, pets, brides, engaged couples or pregnant couples posed and nestled in the blue flowers.  It makes a pretty picture but I cringe when I see babies or small children placed on the ground in the field.  I am too afraid of what is crawling and/or slithering to sacrifice a pudgy little leg. 

Spring brings out snakes too.  This one was on my back porch about a week ago and way to close to my back door and me.  When I stepped out and saw this I let out a one word expletive that was probably heard miles away.

It was big and fat.

And long ....about 5 feet

Spring also brings....

At last count it was 17!

I was at work when the sirens started going off.  The hospital called a code black.  Patients were moved away from windows.  It was a very scary time.  I drove home in it.  My very bad!  There was heavy rain and wind and once I reached the toll road I could feel things hitting under my car.  There was a big billboard flashing "Tornado Warning Take Cover!"  Cover?  Where? 

There are many survivor stories out there but the one about the grandmother that took refuge in a bathtub with three children is a true miracle.  After the storm all of them were safe but the bathtub was gone.  You can read about it here.