Resolutions

Relax

Exercise

Socialize more

Organize everything

Laugh a lot

Update my blog

 

Try new things

Ignore stupid comments - try to

 

Open new doors

Nurture myself too

Shoes - Always shoes!



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!