Wednesday Hodgepodge

Good morning everyone!

This morning I thought it would be fun to participate in the Wednesday Hodgepodge link-up. You can find it HERE.

1. How did you meet your significant other? If you don't have a significant other, tell us how you met your best friend. 

My husband and I met during a hurricane. He was a news photographer and I was working in a hotel on the coast. Our hotel was one of the few hotels open during the storm, so we were housing all the visiting news teams. When he passed by the gift shop, where I worked, he made a lame excuse of needing to buy something and we stood around and talked for hours. Afterwards he asked me out for a drink, to which I said "Yes, but I'm driving so I can push you out of the car if you're a weirdo." And we've been together ever since. 

2. It's Department Store Day (October 16)...do you still shop in department stores? If not do you miss that kind of shopping experience? Do you have a favorite department store? Any fun memories of department store shopping when you were a child? 

I miss shopping in classy department stores. I grew up shopping in Sears, Montgomery Wards, JC Penny's, Foleys, and Joske's.  We would go to downtown San Antonio and see Joske's decorated lavishly for Christmas. It was just like in the movies. Everything had class back then. When I was a senior in high school, I worked at Foleys in the monogramming department, where you could buy a polo shirt and have it monogrammed right then and there. I also worked in the stationary department, where people came to order wedding invitations. 

3. Something you're currently nuts about? 

Something I'm currently nuts about has now ended...it was rewatching the series Gilmore Girls. I have finished the series now and will have to revert back to Dancing with the Stars for my lunchtime entertainment. 

4. What's your favorite nut and is there a favorite recipe where this nut is used? 

My favorite nut would have to be pecans. I was raised on pecans (hello South) and there's nothing like a homemade piece of Pecan Pie. 

5. On Wednesday we officially reach the '70 days until Christmas' mark. Have you purchased any gifts? If you don't celebrate Christmas then how about Hanukkah presents? 

I am an "after Thanksgiving" shopper for Christmas. If I shop any earlier than that, I will totally forget what I've bought. I like to savor Christmas during the actual season. Starting too early just makes you sick of it by the time it really comes around. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Gee, I have so many random thoughts! Every day I think about things I would love to tell the world, but then I would sound like I'm always telling everyone what I think and who wants that?

However, recently here are some random thoughts I've had:

1. Yoga pants aren't pants. They are basically like having your body painted and thinking you have clothes on.

2. When you go to Walmart and they have 50 checkout lines, but only 2 cashiers working. Yet, you look around, as you're standing in line, and there are other employees just standing around, over by the self-checkout, and other random places, and you're wondering if they see the long lines of people waiting to be checked out by 2 cashiers. So you finally move to the self-checkout and it takes you a while because you have a basket full, and I'm wondering why I'm not getting paid to do their job, while they are being paid to stand around. Things that make you go hmmmmm. 

Well, this was fun! I'll be linking up with From This Side of The Pond for this one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until Next Time...

Blessings! 

Getting Used to the New House

 

Pioneer Woman's "Monster Cookies"

Happy Tuesday, Friends!

It's week 3 in our new home and the first week that feels somewhat normal. I've been learning to cook with the oven, which seems to be a convection oven. Everything cooks in record time and gets brown very quickly. If I master this situation, I think I will appreciate it in the long run. The first few times I used it, things came out very well done, and that's not always a good thing. 😅

The decorating is coming along. We've hung quite a few things on the walls and the furniture is all in place. The only room that's incomplete is the big family room, which needs a piece of furniture, but I'm not sure what. I think it will take me a while to get that room done. 

In the meantime, we are in the process of selling our little lake cottage, so more house business to be done yet. 

On the mother-in-law moving in situation, it's been a disaster. Just being honest. We had to take her to another facility where she could get some intense physical therapy, in hopes she can learn to stand up and walk again. She was walking and taking care of herself before going into the hospital in July. She will (at some point) be going into a nursing home full time. There is a lot more to the story of her two-day stay here, but nothing I feel like sharing, so I'll just leave it at that. 

On the upside...we are having our first Family Dinner in this house tonight! We are also celebrating my birthday, which is on the 20th, and Calem's 2nd birthday, which was this past Sunday. Alex is cooking and all I've had to do is supply the drinks and paper goods. That's my kind of dinner 😀

Today I'm heading out to see if I can find a Blue's Clues balloon for the birthday boy and maybe slip into a little boutique along the way. My wardrobe is in serious trouble these days! I'm down to t-shirts and jeans, with a few nice blouses, but not many. David and I are sharing a closet these days, which is good! It helps keep shopping in check. 

As you pray this week, please keep us in your prayers. We have several things going on that we need help with - David is having some walking issues, due to his back being in bad shape. We need some miracles getting his mom to the right place and need to sell our other house quickly, so we're not paying two house notes. (Our neighbors are actually buying it, but we need it to move along quickly). 

If you do pray for us...thank you from the bottom of my heart 💛 It makes all the difference. 

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

Welcome Home

My new backyard 🌳

Happy October, Friends!

I don't know about you, but I'm glad for a brand new month, with the possibilities of cooler weather and the promise of holidays around the corner. 

As you might have noticed, I made a few changes to my blog title, as well as the layout for now. Not sure if it will stick, but I'll try it for a few minutes and see how I like it.

In the meantime, David and I are still in the process of moving stuff over from the lake cottage to the new house. Thank goodness it's literally just down the road! We're exhausted! I honestly never want to move again. 

However, from the first night we slept here, we felt like this was meant to be our house all along. That's a great feeling!

A cozy little spot by the fireplace and bookshelf. 

The fireplace won't be used, but it's still a cozy spot. 

 

We still have lots of little things and half a storage shed to empty, so hopefully that will happen this weekend. We're also in the middle of real life, which means work must go on, grand babies, moving David's mom into the house and all the chores of every day life. I'm hanging on for dear life and counting my blessings all at the same time. 😅

I have to share something that my son Ted said, as we were talking recently. We were talking about God's timing and how, when he gives you something, you have to trace all the steps, miles, hours, weeks, years, etc. back to where you are now. Then they make sense. You see, we lived in our little dream farmhouse for 13 years, but we left it behind in 2017, after Hurricane Harvey devastated our area. 

From 2017 until now, we have moved several times, never feeling settled, never feeling like we were in the right place...until we bought this house.

But as Ted so wisely pointed out, when I questioned why God couldn't have just moved us from the farmhouse to this house, instead of taking us around the world, mistake after mistake...this house wouldn't have been available back then. It wasn't available until the previous owners were gone and the house was put up for sale. And that made so much sense to me. 

God's timing is everything, because with his perfect timing, all the pieces start to fit together. That doesn't mean we don't still have questions or things we don't understand. It just means that he truly does work all things together for the good of those who love him. 💚 He's a good, good Father.

If you are questioning God's timing in your life right now, I encourage you to be patient. It's the hardest thing in the world and seems so cruel sometimes. But all of these trials build faith and when that missing piece of the puzzle is put in place, you can (and will) look back and see that God was taking care of everything for you, all along.

As I close out this post for today, I pray that you know Him and that you feel his presence in your life. There's truly nothing like living with Jesus as your savior. Truly nothing. 

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

Blogging Break

 

Hello Friends!

I'm taking a blogging break for a bit. I will still be checking in with all of my favorite blogging friends, so I'm not disappearing, just focusing on other things right now. 

Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully I'll see you soon!

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

Catching Up and Lots of Family Time

Good Tuesday Morning, Friends!

Last week David was off for a few days and we spent those days moving the rest of his mom's belongings out of her apartment and into our storage building. On Thursday David and I did get away for a bit, about an hour or so down the road, to a town called Kemah. We indulged ourselves in a full lunch, complete with an appetizer, salad, main dish and dessert, just so we could sit and enjoy being away for a few hours. It was really nice. 

After that, it was back to work, moving, visiting with his mom, keeping Asa while Collin helped David move things and doing all the normal daily things around the house.

Saturday Collin, Morgan and Asa came back over to hang out. I mean, when your DIL calls and says they want to come hang out, you never say no to that! It's always fun conversation and built-in entertainment with Asa running around. 

Sunday they came back over for lunch and we had a lazy day drinking coffee, talking and just enjoying a  day at home.  I made chicken fried steak, rice and gravy and green beans. It was so yummy!

I snapped these silly pictures of Morgan and Collin. They are the mini-version of David and I, which makes us laugh all the time. 

I love getting to hang out with my big kids! I don't take it for granted, ever. 

In the meantime, our other kids are currently in Scotland. They spent last week in London and then moved on to Scotland. They are having such a great time. 

In this picture they are standing in front of Abbey Road Studios, the famous music studio where the Beatles and many other famous musicians recorded music. This was a dream for Ted to go to Abbey Road because he actually partners with them in his own business. He has been working with them for a few years now, but on this trip he actually got to meet the man he works with and the whole family was able to take a tour of the historic building, which is not open to the public. What a dream for Ted to be able to do that and have his family along too. 

They will be coming home at the end of this week and boy, have we missed them!

As for the new house news...we were waiting on the appraisal, hoping it would be favorable and it came back yesterday and it was great! We are so excited! I will continue to update you on that, as it moves forward.

Today Morgan and I are having a girl's day out and I expect a pedicure, some lunch and who knows what else is on the schedule. I'm looking forward to a fun day. 

For the rest of the week, I think I'll start packing a few things in boxes. I'm getting excited! Moving is a pain, but the setting up of a new house is always enjoyable. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and hopefully I'll be back soon!

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

A Little Sewing and My Kids Are in England!

Happy Wednesday Friends!

How's the week been treating you so far? I've had a good combination of busy, productive, and calm, for the most part. 

I've been busy signing things on the computer, pertaining to the new house. All is going well, so far. The appraisal is today and we're praying there are no major issues to deal with.   

In case I forgot to mention, we made an offer on a house on our same street, just a few doors down. If this all goes well and we end up actually getting that house, I'll tell you more about it. 

In the meantime, we are still packing up my MIL's apartment and will finish that up this week. She doesn't have much, in the way of furniture, but has a lot of clothes and personal items to store. I'll be glad when we get that done and can mark that off the list.

I'm not packing up our house just yet, but I have been cleaning out drawers, toys, clothing, and other items that I really don't want anymore. I don't want to go full blown into packing things in boxes until I get the final word that the house has passed all it needs to pass. 

But, until then, my house is getting a good purging, which is never a bad thing. 

 

I did a little sewing project yesterday, which is always so much fun. I really need to start sewing more. It's just so satisfying to create something out of a piece of fabric and stand back and realize you made something that you didn't have before. 

I would really like to sew some cute aprons out of fun fabric. I think it's so fun to collect aprons and have them hanging in the kitchen. Whenever I see aprons at the antique stores, I will buy any that are $5 or less. I have several half aprons that are part of the girl's dress-up clothes in their playroom and I love to see them coming down the hall with one of them on. 

Speaking of the girls, they are all in England this week! They left on Sunday for a two week adventure to the U.K. So Saturday we had a goodbye lunch at a local pizza place. We already miss them greatly, but I know they are having the time of their lives (minus the jet lag, which has been tough). 

Ella, Morgan, Asa, Collin

Precious Addie

Emmy

Our traditional family selfie

Millie and Emmy

Emmy was emotional as we took the family photo and she really didn't want to be in the picture. So her mommy took one of just us and it was just what we needed. She is my Millie girl and such a big part of my heart. 

I got to FaceTime with them their first day and she took me all around the AirBNB and showed me all the cool features. Today they are off to tour London. What a treat! 

Well, it's time to get ready for the day. It's going to be another hot and muggy day of about 100 or more.

Fall, please hurry! 🍂

Have a great week and remember, today has enough worries of its own! Don't waste time fearing tomorrow. But most importantly...God has already gone before you and is working out your tomorrow. He's a good, good Father 💚

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

A Simple Recap of the Week So Far

 Hello Friends!

Happy Thursday! This week is moving right along.

Tuesday night we had our weekly family dinner and I surprised the kids with a little treat to celebrate the upcoming babies (due in December and January). Collin and Morgan are having another boy and Ted and Alex will be bringing their 4th girl into the family (they also have 1 boy) and we couldn't be more excited!

I bought them each a little outfit for their newborns-to-come and set out these blue and pink cupcakes for dessert. We are all getting excited to have two more babies in the family.

Wednesday I spent much of the morning working on new-house tasks, such as paperwork, roofing estimates and communicating with my realtor. I did a few loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen and made a big pan of chicken enchiladas for lunch. 

Banjo - our very spoiled dog

He's an old man now, so he likes to lounge most of the day. 

Wednesday there was a heat advisory outside. Though the temps were in the 90's, the heat index was in the 100's. At 7:15 pm, it still felt like 99 degrees outside. It's hot!

This heat makes me feel like joining Banjo for an afternoon nap, but instead I watched a few episodes of Gilmore Girls and folded laundry to keep myself awake. 

In the evening, when David gets home from work, we will watch old episodes of the tv show FAMILY, which was on in the 70's. Last night we watched one of those and sat and recapped our day. 

I made myself a fruit smoothie and had some almonds for dinner. David had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I guess we'll eat the rest of the enchiladas today. 

I have a few errands to run today and most likely, more decisions about house stuff will come up. I'm feeling a little bit out of it right now, around this house. With the prospect of a new house on the horizon, I'm at a creative standstill around here. I'm actually looking forward to having more space to decorate and organize in the future.

Well, I'm off to find breakfast. My sister says I need more protein in my meals, so the question is always "What to eat today?" I've always said that if I could have any kind of hired help around the house, it would be a professional chef. Wouldn't that be the dream?

What kind of help would you choose? Chef, housekeeper, lawn guy? Leave me a comment with your dream helper choice. Inquiring minds want to know 😉

In the meantime, have a great Thursday! Remember, focus on today and let God handle tomorrow!

Until Next Time...

Blessings! 

A Delightful Book

 

Find it HERE

How many times do we get to use the word "delightful"? It's a word that can only be used to describe something that just makes you so happy and feels so fun, while encountering it. Such is this fun, delightful book, written by Susan Branch. 

Personally, I think the work of Susan Branch is always delightful, but this little book about the English countryside especially fits the description. 

In this book, Susan and her husband Joe, set off on the Queen Mary2 for a two week passage to England. Once there, they explore the countryside for two months. The book is set up as a diary, complete with drawings, paintings, and quotes, in only the style that Susan Branch can do (have you read her books?!).

I'm sharing this, not to give you a book report or even a review, but just to share with you her delightful work and tell you to put this one on your list of things to read, if you've ever wanted to go to England. 

That is all.

Have a delightful Tuesday, my friends 💚

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

A Surprise Visit and a Much Needed Hug

Happy Monday my friends!

You know I love Mondays 😀 Here's hoping this one won't let me down.

My fancy lunch on Sunday

David and I spent Sunday packing up his mom's apartment.  We will make room in our storage building until we get the new house. It seems we have also found a home for her cat, which is an answered prayer. 

Today I have items to complete on the list of things to do when buying a house. Why is buying a house so nerve wracking? So much to do, think about, pray about and then you still have to pack and move. It's kind of like having a baby...it's tough, but the end result makes it all worth it.

 Millie and Asa Miller 

💙

After getting back from the apartment, we got a nice surprise text from Morgan, saying they wanted to come over. When you haven't seen your kids in two weeks, who cares if the house is clean or your hair is not fixed? This hug says it all. 

These visits are the best! No agenda, no planned dinner, nothing but family just missing one another and grabbing leftovers out of the fridge, throwing some bacon in the microwave for sandwiches, pulling snacks out of the pantry to munch on while you talk.

Morgan and I threw together some oatmeal protein balls for her to take home. We mixed oats, chocolate chips, honey, maple syrup, and peanut butter together and though I didn't intend for her to have to roll them all, I might have gotten distracted by the cute 2 year old running around. I had to get in all the hugs I could. 

Collin and I talked for at least an hour on all of his research he's been doing on some theology topics. I love having conversations with my grown kids. He has always been my kid who will research deep topics and I love that about him. 

While Morgan, Collin and I sat at the table, David and Asa were building things and destroying things with Magnetiles in the living room. That's right up PawPaw's alley! And Asa's too 😀

They headed out about 8:00 p.m. and it was such a needed visit. We will see all the rest of the kids and babies on Tuesday for family dinner. I can't wait!

If you think about me today, pray that I can find good insurance for the new house. I only have this week to secure the insurance, to make sure the monthly note is still affordable. I greatly appreciate all the prayers!

I will keep you all updated on the progress as the weeks go by.

Thanks for checking in!

Until Next Time...

Blessings! 

Never Tell God You're Bored!

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope you've had a nice, cool week (wishful thinking here in Texas). The skies have been gorgeous lately, but the heat is unbearable. 

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, to say the least. We've had David's mom in and out of the hospital twice and now she's in a rehab facility to hopefully improve her health and physical strength.

We've been faced with some life-changing decisions this week; ones that have changed the direction of our very near future.

Because of a multitude of reasons, it looks like David's mom will be coming to live with us, once she's released from rehab. She really can't live alone anymore (she's 83) and she doesn't have the money to go to an assisted living, so it's up to her family to take care of her. Needless to say, this will change our day-to-day living, for sure.

The Lord has brought some things to light this week, that have turned into David and I needing to make some decisions about buying a bigger house. I think we've both been feeling this for a few months now, but sometimes life pushes you off the edge you've been teetering on. 

Over the past few months, we've realized that this house is not working for our long-term future. We are about to have 7 grandkids, 4 big kids, two elderly moms still living and the tiniest house we've ever had. I remember writing about this house a few months back and saying that we would just have to make it work, but that's about when things started to shift.

Sometimes in life you can feel the Lord bringing about a shift in your life and you basically just have to hang on for the ride. Well, that's what's been happening around here and now we know why.  We have also grown very uncomfortable having the lake in the back yard and 7 little babies to protect when they're here. This just isn't the place to do that. 

So, in the near future, we will probably be moving and gaining a house guest for the long haul. But that's ok. Sometimes the situations that seem the hardest, turn out to be great blessings. I just have to trust in the Lord's love for me and my family and call on him daily for the grace and strength to handle whatever comes about. 

As for today...

I'm going to take the day to recharge myself. No hospital visit, no rehab visit. Just me and my house, cleaning, organizing, making lists of things that need to be done in the coming weeks and hopefully sitting down now and then to a cup of coffee and a good book. It's what's needed today.

One little blessing I'll share before I go...

Since having to make this decision about my MIL living with us, we've discovered so many of our friends who have had to do the same thing, at different times. It comforts us to know we have people that have already walked where we are about to walk. Thank you, Lord 💚

"He always comes alongside us

to comfort us in every suffering so that

we can come alongside those 

who are in any painful trial.

We can bring them this same comfort

that God has poured out upon us."

2 Corinthians 1:4

(TPT)

Thanks for hanging out with me for a few minutes today 💛 I'll see you soon.

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

Sometimes You Just Need to Bake a Cake (and a 10th anniversary)

 

Hello Friends!

It's been a wild few weeks and it's not over yet 😅

My MIL is back in the hospital (since Friday morning) and that means

that we have had a busy weekend, full of hospital visits, mixed with keeping

grandkids.

Yesterday we stayed home from church so David could go visit his mom.

While he was doing that, I decided to bake a cake. 

Seems like a random thing to do, but I guess I just needed something

normal to do and I had been wanting to try making a two layer cake

with jelly in the middle...so I did.

I had a jar of Sour Cherry Spread and I thought it might pair well with

this vanilla cake.

I didn't add too much; just enough to give you a taste of sweet and tangy,

mixed with the deliciousness of the vanilla cake.

I think it added just the right amount of something.

It was delicious! I topped it off with buttercream frosting

and it was the perfect snack for the afternoon

and my three little guests that came visiting.

We had promised Ted and Alex we would keep the girls as an anniversary gift to them.

Yesterday was their 10th anniversary!

We had their wedding at our old farmhouse, back in 2014.

We turned the carport into a wedding venue,

complete with hay bales to sit on,

candles in mason jars and shortbread cookies

in brown paper sacks for the guests to take home.

It was the most simple wedding and yet,

still to this day,

one of my favorites.

Ted and Alex drove down the driveway in David's old army jeep.

Thankfully they had a car waiting just around the corner.

They wouldn't have made it to Houston if that was their get-away car. 😁

A few fun facts about the wedding:

We forgot to tell our neighbors that we were having a wedding,

so as the ceremony was happening, 

our neighbor was mowing their land behind us. 😅

Also, just as the bride and groom had their wedding kiss,

our two horses put on a show and went running by as fast as they could

(just behind this picture).

You just never know what will happen at a wedding!

Ten years later and here we are 😅

We're so proud of them and the little family they've created.

💝

So back to yesterday,

the girls wanted to sew purses out of fabric,

so that's what we spent the afternoon doing.

I have a feeling that we will be doing more sewing projects

in the future. 

I've taught them how to use needle and thread,

but haven't put them on the machine yet.

They seem content right now just sewing by hand

and with all the excitement we've had around here lately,

I think we'll just stick to that!

🧵

Well, I'm off to start the day.

I'm praying for God to rain down his blessings today;

whatever that may look like.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday, with a blessed week to follow.

Until Next Time...

Blessings!