The Last Day of the Year

Today was a busy day. It started out with plumbing problems at my house. The bathtub would hardly drain and the toilet backed up into the shower, so that was nice. (NOT!) Today was the day for my ladies to come clean so I thought I was going to have to call them and cancel and I wasn't happy about that, because my house was pretty dirty after all the cooking and extra folks around during the holidays, (which I loved having by the way). I got on the phone at 7:30 this morning and called Scottco, and wow! were they fast. They were at my house by 8:15 and had everything flowing again by 8:45. The ladies came about 10:00 and I left for work. I stayed there until 4:30 and got ALOT done because I was the only one there, which was nice for being productive. I came home and my house looked bea-u-tiful and that makes me feel happy and carefree (for a little while anyway). Then another guy from Scottco came over and ran a camera thru our pipes. I stood out in the cold and watched the little screen as the camera went thru. ......Very interesting stuff. Never seen anything quite like it before. The guy said it all looked good, and we are guaranteed a year's worth of 'no stop-ups.' That's nice. After that I ran to Walmart for a few things.

Tonight I am just sitting in my chair enjoying the quiet. Mason is watching a John Wayne movie he rented and Bo isn't home from work yet. Lilly is being a good little girl and taking a nap.

That's it for me. Happy New Year to You!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Jenny, my sweet daughter-in-law.

Adam Wayne was born 26 years ago today. What a wonderful blessing from God!

Bo & I made a quick trip to Tyler on Thursday and got back today (Saturday). We spent most of the day on Friday visiting my Mama. She was doing pretty good that day and we enjoyed the visit very much. We also went over to visit Daddy & Dorothy. They were doing good and we enjoyed seeing them too.

We stayed with sister Mary & John. They put us up in their 5th wheel out beside their house. It was very comfortable and we are very appreciative of their hospitality. --Although I think they were ready to get rid of us this morning and John snuck out and turned the water off. Last time I was there, I think he snuck out and turned off the heat. LOL.

We went out to eat at Red Lobster on Friday night with sister Mary & John, sister Glenda & Rudy, Michael, Kelly & Caleb, and Whitney and her friend, Cindy. It was good food and good fellowship.

Michael is home on leave from the Marines and wow, he sure is all muscled up. I almost didn't recognize him, bulging out of his shirt like that!

He's a sweetie, and it was so good to see him, and everybody else too.








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My Christmas Present from Cody, Jenny & Corbin

I just love my new bench for the backyard!







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Merry Christmas!

We have had a great time at our house this Holiday season. On Sunday night all the kids were over for our Christmas family gathering. We had a good meal and really enjoyed the time together. (At least Bo & I did) Mason made the broccoli & rice casserole, and Jocelyne made the sweet potato souffle'. I did the rest and it all turned out great, I thought. After eating, we opened gifts and just visited for a while.




Here's the kid's annual Christmas picture. Aren't they a good looking bunch?









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I talked to my mother tonight. 'It won't be long now, Honey,' she told me. 'But I feel so loved, so many people have shown me such love. I'm not afraid. Don't worry about me. I love you and I know you love me.' Oh, this alarms me. I believe people have a sense of when they are about to die. My son, Adam said to the nurse on the day he died, 'Am I going to die today? Please don't let me die today.'

Living in the world without my mother in it seems strange to me. She has always been here on earth, while I have been here. Even though I live far away from her and don't talk to her everyday, she is just here, and I know she's here. To not be able to pick up the phone and talk to her just seems weird. Oh my. --I know it will be OK. I know this is just part of life, loosing a parent. I am blessed to have had her this long, but this feels strange, unfamiliar, unsettling.

One Step Forward (Finally), Then One Step Back

Bo & I have been working hard to get Lilly housebroken. We take her outside ALOT and she will go, but she will go in the house too. Bo installed a doggie door for her and she goes outside sometimes by herself, but never to relieve herself. She only does that if we are with her. But today she went outside all by herself and pooped, then came back in. Yea!! I was so excited. (I was watching out the window). I gave her lots of praise and a treat. I was so happy, then in a few minutes, .........she peed in the floor.

Gosh, housebreaking a dog is hard.

The Letter Came Today!

Good News! He made it into the Program. Yea! I'm so proud of Mason. He has worked hard and it is paying off. He's got a lot of studying ahead of him, but I know he can do it. He will start back to school on January 14th, so he has a whole month off to rest up and get ready.

Way to go, Mason!

No Letter Yet, Hopefully Tomorrow

On Pins & Needles

Well, Mason finished up the fall semester in college. He made 3 B's & 2 A's. Yea! I think that's pretty good. I'm very proud of him. Now we are waiting to see if he made it into the Physical Therapy Assistant Program. There were 35 people applying and 24 will make it. It's based on grades mostly, but a couple of other things are factored in too. The Program Director said she would mail acceptance and rejection letters yesterday after the grades came out, so we are hoping to receive the letter today, but maybe Monday. Mason is anxiously waiting. The mail usually runs around noon, but we have snow today so it may be later

...........I'll let you know the outcome.




(Later the same day) - Well, the mail came and the letter wasn't in it. Boo. Now we'll have to wait until Monday.

A TEST

I'm just trying out the Blogger video upload feature to see if it works and this is the most recent video I have. It was taken at Sister Mary's house at Thanksgiving. We were singing 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling.' Pretty bad, but oh well..... we had a good time anyway.

Well, it took a while to upload but it works!

Lilly Update

Well, my first day with Lilly the dog was quite challenging, trying to get all my household chores done and watch her too, trying to make sure she didn't do her business in the house and cleaning up after her when she did. I called Bo at work that day saying, 'I just don't know if I can do this. Maybe this was a mistake!'

The second day, I started reading about housebreaking dogs on the internet, and learned about crate training. We had bought a crate the day we got Lilly because the breeder said to, so I decided to use it. I know it sounds cruel, but I really don't think it is. Lilly is getting used to it and doesn't seem to mind. It's been much better since I started using the crate. I don't have to watch her every second. I do take her out every hour or so to go outside, and she is slowly learning, I think. I let her out for a couple of hours to play everyday. (I try to take her for a walk, but she doesnt seem very interested in that. Hopefully she will learn to like it). The reason for the crate is so she has no opportunity to 'go' in the house, only outside. She doesn't go in the crate. Most dogs won't.

I'm feeling better about her now and even enjoy her sometimes. Hey, maybe there's hope for me yet.






OK, all you dog lovers. Please don't hate me.

Yesterday was Bo & I's 12th anniversary. WooHoo!

We couldn't think of anything special to do, so we decided to drive to Lubbock (about 2 hours away) for the day and just goof off and eat out. While we were there we remembered that Lubbock is where my neighbor, Suzanne said she got her little dog, so we thought we would call Suzanne, get the number to the breeder and just go LOOK at dogs. Yeah, that would be fun. Well, we got the number, called the breeder and headed out to their house. When we got there, she said she didn't have any puppies ready right now, but she had two 5 month old female Yorkies that she was saving to use as breeders, but had decided they were just too small, so she was going to sell them. They were about 3-4 lbs each. Oh dear, that sure is small, but they were just so cute. Another couple was there looking at them too. We stayed for 30-45 minutes and of course, we couldn't help but want one, but I just couldn't decide for sure. (Such a big decision for me, you know). The other couple took one of the dogs and left. Bo & I decided we would go back to town and eat and just think about it for a little while. I worried and fretted about it the whole time. Should we? shouldn't we? should we? shouldn't we?

After a couple of hours, as we were driving around we just happened to wind up at Petsmart. Mmmm. Imagine that. So we wandered in and bought a few dog things. OK, we were gettin a dog. ....Oh dear. ....I am so nervous about all this. We called the breeder back to tell her yes, we want the dog.

I'm sorry, I just sold it. She said.

You're kidding! Did you really? (After all the agonizing I did about it?)

Yes, I did. I really didn't think you were going to take it. .....But since that happened, I do have a 6 month old female that I was going to use as a breeder that I will sell to you. She is a little bigger than the other two though. She weights 5 lbs.

OK, we'll come look at her and see what we think. (We didn't mention that we had already loaded down the car with doggie things)

Well, of course "Lilly" was so very cute too! We filled out the papers, wrote the check, loaded her up, and headed back home.



So now we have a dog. Oh my gosh! Me, with a dog. If you know me very well, you know just how odd that is. I have never liked dogs, ever. But, I like Lilly alot so far. We'll see how it goes.







Today Lilly & I went for a bike ride.












Oh, and Bo says this is a trial. He will hold off getting too attached to Lilly. If I should change my mind in the first couple of months, we can sell her. "Carol with a dog" is not written in STONE. (I think maybe he just said that so I would say yes to getting her) LOL.

--But I'm going to give it a good shot.

I haven't blogged for a while, and I really have nothing to blog about today! Not much going on, and that's a good thing, I think. I can think of times in my life when alot was going on, and it wasn't necessarily good. Bo & I went for a 3 mile walk this morning and I went for a 15 mile bicycle ride this afternoon. It's a gorgeous day here, hardly any wind, 78 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky. I love, love, love days like this, and I know we don't have many left for this year.

Corbin & I went to see 'The Martian Child' movie yesterday. It was OK, nothing spectacular. I think Corbin got bored. It was NOT an action movie and that's what he likes. Then last night Bo & I went to a West Texas A&M football game. We got all bundled up, took some hot cappucino in a thermos and just enjoyed the game. I'm not much of a football fan, but Bo is and I enjoyed just being out and watching people. It was fun.

Well, that's about all I got.

Tah, tah for now!

Last night we went out to eat at the The Big Texan for Cody's birthday. It's a fun place to go, but sort of expensive, I thought. The food is good, but not as good as the price says it should be. But then, I guess you're paying for the atmosphere as much as the food, and it's a pretty fun place. Cody and Mason had a hot pepper eating contest. It was fun to watch them both skirm in their seats a little. After eating we went to the shooting gallery.

The boys shot at targets









while the girls watched with their doggie bags.









Corbin tried out a really big chair.









It was fun. Wish Jocelyne could have been there with us.

Hey, I thought I was finished with this post, but had to share a funny thing that just happened to me. The phone just rang. Bo was near the phone, but he was on his cell phone, so I jumped up and ran into the kitchen to answer the house phone. I was in my sock feet and when I tried to stop to answer, my feet just kept sliding on these new hardwood floors. Boom! I hit the floor, fell all the way back and bumped my head on the floor. Ouch. I'm OK though. Now it's funny. Bo told the guy he was talking to, 'Hey, my wife just crashed and burned, I better go. Bye.'

I didn't get to answer, the answering machine picked up. It was Mason's grandmother. Guess I better call her back.

Happy Birthday to Cody

Today is my boy's birthday. He is 28 years old! Holy Cow. Did I ever really think I would have a 28 year old son? Yes, I did, but it was always way out there in the distant future. --Well, not anymore. The distant future is here.

What a wonderful blessing Cody has been to me for the last 28 years, (except for ages 15 & 16), LOL.

He was the most wonderful and sweet little boy, and now has grown into a man that I am very proud of.

Corbin, the Weatherman

Well, he did it!
We got up this morning at 5:00, got ready and headed to the TV station. Corbin said he hardly slept all night, thinking about his debut as a weatherman. When we got there Matt Hines, the Meteorologist took Corbin aside and gave him his instructions.









Bo, Mason & I sat on the side and watched.







Then it was showtime! And Corbin did a great job.







Here's a link to Corbin's video. Go down the page a little ways and you should see it.




Afterwards we got a picture of Corbin & Mason with Matt Hines & Christina Medina.



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Fun times

I pick Corbin up from school two days a week and we just have a great time while he is here. A few weeks ago, on one of those afternoons, he drew a picture and colored it for a contest for 6-11 year olds at a local TV station. Every Friday morning at 6:45, a drawing winner gets to help the weatherman do the weather on TV. Corbin drew a really nice picture and put it in an envelope and we mailed it to the TV station. I really didn't think we would hear from them, but it was fun to do anyway. Well....... yesterday the TV station called and wanted Corbin to come help do the weather this Friday morning! Yea! We're so excited. Jenny is letting me take him to the TV station since I sent in his picture. (Isn't that sweet of her?) She and Cody are going to stay home and watch him on TV. I know he'll do a great job as a weatherman. ---And he gets a Kidcast Tshirt and McDonalds Happy Meal Giftcard. LOL. Big whoop on the Happy Meal Giftcard, but anyway..

The TV station will put a video of it on their website, so I will put a link to it on my blog on Friday. Hopefully this will be something Corbin will remember for a long time, (and me too). This is so fun!

A Step Back in Time (Sort of)

I am in Tyler visiting my family and enjoying it very much. We all had lunch together yesterday at sister Mary & John's house. John grilled hamburgers and it was good, --the food and the fellowship. Yesterday afternoon, Mary & I went to Edom to shop and visited the Blue Moon Gardens. It is such a cool place (if you like plants). Remember I talked about visiting there once before.

Monday night three old friends & I got together and ate and visited for a while. I went to school with two of these girls, Ginger & Regina, from 1st grade all the way thru high school, and with the third, Irma all thru high school. I saw Ginger 12 years ago, but it has been probably 20 years since I've seen Regina & Irma.

Oh my gosh, we had a great time! We laughed and laughed and reminisced and laughed some more. How we've all changed, (not so much in looks of course, HAHA), but in life philosophies. I was surprised at some of what I heard. It was fun though and felt almost like a 'returning to my roots' for a little while. I felt carefree and like I could just be my old self for a little while. Ahh, the carefree days of our youth. ---I wouldn't want to go back and do that again! LOL. Unless I could know all that I know now and all I've learned since..... but then it wouldn't be carefree...... I sure wish I could go back and correct some of my stupid mistakes though, mostly the ones that so affected my children..... But alas, that is not to be.

Anyway.... last night Mary, John & I had some watermelon, went for a long walk, then watched a movie called Big Fish. A very cute movie that I would recommend if you're looking for a light hearted funny movie to watch.

We are leaving for Dallas in a couple of hours to go to the airport and I will be heading back to Amarillo. It's always good to get away for a while and always good to get back home.

Sir, Yes Sir!

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It's Summertime & the Living is Easy

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An Interesting Tidbit

We often hear of Chicago being called the Windy City. However, its origin doesn't have anything to do with the weather. In the 1800s, Chicago promoters traveled along the East Coast, proudly proposing their city as a great place to invest. Their East Coast cynics called them "full of wind." With time, the name Windy City stuck. According to the National Climatic Data Center, the windiest city in the "lower 48" is in Kansas: Dodge City has an average wind speed of 14 mph. Amarillo, Texas, is not far behind at 13.5 mph. (From the Wichita Eagle Newspaper)

Today it's blowing 27 mph, gusting to 36 mph in Amarillo. Better hold on to my hat!

Storage Building Blues

I ordered a storage building for our backyard seven weeks ago. They had to order it and said it would be 4-6 weeks, or less. It didn't make it in six weeks, it took seven. Today they called and said it was ready. OK. Yea! But wait, they didnt make it like I ordered. It had no window and the front door was in the center, not on the side of the front. Ugh. I'm not happy, so I told the guy I just wanted to have my money back.(I had put up a 40% deposit). 'We don't give refunds,' he said. 'We will order you another one.' And wait another 7 weeks? I don't think so. So I just cancelled my order and disputed the charge on my credit card. The name of the place was Morgan Buildings & Spas. I couldn't believe they wouldn't give me a refund after they screwed up my order, after I waited seven weeks for it. That stinks and is very bad business, if you ask me!

When I got home from work today, I stood in the garage thinking about what to do now. Then I decided to start organizing stuff in the garage. I went to Lowe's Building Supplies and got some hooks and stuff for the walls and started to work. Here is the result:











Hey, maybe we don't even need a storage building after all.

Bo is out of town for a few days. Won't he be surprised??

Rub-a-Dub-Dub. Having fun in the Tub

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Out My Kitchen Window

One of my requirements when we were looking for our house was a window over the kitchen sink with a nice view. I must admit I am just a bit claustrophobic and I like to see wide open spaces. I saw some houses that I really liked, but there was no window over the kitchen sink, or there were some houses with a window, but looking out at the outside wall of the house next door, then there were some where you would face the den while at the kitchen sink which is what I had at the rental place we were in last year.

There's an elementery school right across the street at our house now with a big park behind it. There is alot of activity in and around the park. Kids practicing sports, people walking their dogs, running, or riding bicycles and such. I catch myself just standing at the kitchen sink watching people so often. I love my window over the kitchen sink!

This Saturday I am planning to walk in the Juvenile Diabetes 5 Mile Walk around another park here in town. My boss, and friend, Jerry Don has a 4 year old daughter, Avery who was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes last year and we will be walking on the 'Princess Avery' team. Here's a link to her page with a little bit of her story.

Isn't this a beautiful and cool-looking flower? It's a flower from a Passion Fruit vine that is growing in my mother's yard. I took the picture a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting her.


I brought home a cutting from the vine and planted it in my backyard and so far its still alive. Yea! I also planted some seeds but they haven't come up yet. Hopefully one or the other will live and grow. We'll see.

Today after our bible study, Bo, Mason & I went to eat at Beef 'O Brady's Restaurant. We've never been there before but it was good and we enjoyed it. It had TV's all over with sports playing on them, so it is kind of a guy's hang-out sort of place. Right across from us was about six older ladies having lunch. I mean like late 70's, early 80's old. We commented to each other that it was odd that they were having lunch in that type of restaurant. After a little while one of the ladies started to feel bad. We could tell because she put her head in her hands, and all the other ladies were doting on her. Then she started to fall out of her chair. Another lady yelled, "she's passing out!" Bo jumped up and ran over to catch her and keep her from falling to the floor. One of the ladies asked Bo if he was a doctor. "No," he said, "I'm not." I went and got someone from management to come see about her and perhaps call an ambulance or something. In a few seconds the lady came to, and seemed to get ok again. She didn't want an ambulance or any help from anyone. The manager and several waiters stood around and talked to her for a bit, but finally walked away and went back to work. In a little while she was chatting with her friends again and looked just fine, like nothing had even happened. Then before long they all got up and left. It was really strange.

After they left, Bo began laughing.

What's so funny?

That lady asked if I was a doctor.

Yeah, and?

I should have said "no, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night."

We all cracked up laughing. --That Bo is such a funny guy sometimes.

Today at work my boss's dad came by to visit. After visiting for a while he said his goodbyes and headed out the door. A few minutes later he was back, and came into my office.

I just backed into your car.
What?
I just hit your car as I was backing out.
You're kidding!
No, I'm not, I just hit your car.
Oh dear.

We headed out the door together to look at the damage. It wasn't too bad, just a big scrape and a dent across the driver's side back door. He apologized and told me to go get it fixed and send him the bill, and he told me I can drive a spare car of his while my car is in the shop. --That was nice.

And oh well, sh*! happens.

I have been out of town for a few days. Mason, Corbin & I took my niece, Whitney home to Tyler. It was a nice trip, but so hot in Tyler. We just thought it was hot in Amarillo. Even though the temperatures were the same, the humidity there made it seem so much hotter.

We stayed with sister Mary and enjoyed ourselves very much. Mary & John are such good hosts and so thoughtful of their guests, making sure everything we needed to be comfortable was provided and more. I appreciate you guys so much!

Here are Mason & Corbin playing on a BIG swing at their house:











The boys had fun playing at the pool at sister Glenda Lou's house on Thursday:









Thursday night we went out to eat with the whole family:










It was a fun visit and we enjoyed seeing all my family. We got home Saturday afternoon.

Is that a monkey in that tree??




No. It's my niece, Whitney. She's been staying with me this week, and we have had a lovely time.


Tonight we went for a bike ride. As we were casually riding along, we saw four kids riding towards us on the opposite side of the road, two boys and two girls, about 11-12 years old. All of a sudden, the two boys started riding fast and swung over to our side of the road riding straight towards us. It was sorta scary. I thought they were going to hit us, but when they got right in front of us, they swerved around us, laughing all the way. As they went by us, one boy's hat fell off. I stopped and picked it up. The two girls yelled, 'we'll get it,' and turned around to come for the hat. One girl came up to me, stuck out her hand and said, 'I'll take it to him.' 'No mam, you won't,' I said. 'I will give him back his hat, but he needs to come back here and ask me for it. What they did was very rude and dangerous, and I don't appreciate it. It scared us and could have caused us to have a wreck.' The two little girls just stood there in unbelief. 'They were only playing around,' one girl said. 'Well, that's no way to play around. If they want the hat, they need to come and get it.' The boys were waiting about a block down the road. 'Well, ok then,' and off the girls went. They rode down to the boys and we could hear them all laugh as the girls relayed the message. One of the boys yelled 'you can have it, I don't care!' .......All-righty then, Whitney and I proceeded to ride off (with the hat). As we did the boys yelled obscenities at us as they rode off in the other direction.

Other than all that, we had a very nice bike ride.

Isn't that a great tree? It is a big Cottonwood tree in my backyard and I enjoy so much just sitting out here looking at it.

I think it's beau-ti-ful!




I took this picture a little over a year ago when we came to look at the house once. We had the tree trimmed and I think it looks so much better.



A couple of months ago we went to an afternoon birthday party for Bo's dad in Channing, TX on Bo's sister's boss's property. There were lots of really old Cottonwood trees there. Over 100 years old. They were so big around and so tall. They were amazing to look at.

I love trees and just being outside. I love the wide open spaces of the Texas Panhandle too though.

I was just sitting outside this beautiful afternoon thinking. Hope you're having a good one too.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Today Bo & I were on our way to eat lunch and passed by the old street I used to live on. There were lots of cars parked on the street and mostly in front of my old house. I wondered what was going on, but didn't give it much thought. We went on and ate and came back home. Later I was out on the back porch reading the paper and saw that they were having an estate sale at my old house. It's not very far from us, so I decided to hop in the car and go take a look, just to walk thru and look at the house. It's been 14 years since I lived there with two of my boys, Cody & Adam. In fact, it's the house we lived in when Adam died, the last house on earth he had his own bedroom, where he played out in the yard, and walked thru the last days of his life, so it is a special place to me.

I parked the car and walked inside the house. I felt somewhat overwhelmed. I went into Adam's bedroom and remembered him being there. I thought about cooking supper in the kitchen and Adam sitting at the bar talking to me. I walked out in the backyard and thought about Cody & Adam playing kickball there and basketball in the driveway. What a sweet and wonderful time in my life. I wish I had known then how special it really was and appreciated it more. I had no idea that Adam would be gone one day and I could no longer see him and talk to him. Sometimes my heart just aches for him.

As I was in the house, I tried to look at the 'things' that were for sale there, but it was odd, I just couldn't focus on them. I stood in each room and took in the old familiar feelings the memories brought back. It was refreshing in a way, but oh so sad, too.

What I wouldn't give just to spend a few minutes with my Adam again. Sometimes I wonder why the Lord took him at such a young age. I know though that the Lord knows best. He is in complete control and nothing happens outside of his direction. What a wonderful blessing that Adam was with me for 11 years. Thank you Lord.

Thinking

I have been thinking lately that maybe, (just maybe, mind you), I sort of, want a little dog. I know that is a shock to those of you who know me very well. I have NEVER been a dog-person. I have never liked dogs and am annoyed by most dogs, but lately I have been entertaining the idea. My new neighbor, Suzanne has the cutest little Yorkshire Terrier, and I have actually felt somewhat affectionate towards it, which has got me to thinking about it.

Do I want a dog or don't I?? Would I get tired of it within a week? What a big responsibility it would be. And I sure do like my nice, clean, poopless backyard. Maybe I would enjoy it though, and I could take it on walks with me. Mmmm. I just don't know. --But I am thinking about it.

Well, I guess the footfile isn't that 'new of a thing.' A friend told me today that her pedicurist uses it on her feet every week. No big deal. Oh. Well, I have only had two pedicures in my life ....and they used a pumice stone, which didn't do diddly-squat for the calluses on my feet, but the pedicures sure were nice and relaxing. So to ME, the footfile is pretty cool, even if it has been around for a while. LOL.

You Gotta Try This!

I was at Bed, Bath & Beyond today and saw this footfile thingie. Now, living in the dry Texas Panhandle and at my age, and especially in the summer wearing sandals all the time, my feet get really dry, cracked and callused, especially my heels, so I thought I would just try this thing. I have tried many different products and nothing ever works very well, so I pretty much expected the same thing with this product. But I gotta tell you, and the reason I am telling you this is that I am amazed at how good this thing works. (No, this really isnt a commercial). If you have trouble with dry, cracked heels, you really need to get one and try it. It just shaves that dry, callused skin right off. It's really cool!

It's called a
Microplane Personal Care Footfile and I'm here to tell you it works!

I know this post sounds just like a product ad or commercial. I promise you it's not. I was just so happy with this little thing, I thought I would share it.

OK. That's it for me today. Adios.

Corbin got new glasses. Isn't he cute?


He came over on Thursday and spent the night with us. He and I went to see Spiderman 3. Yee Ha! I enjoyed the time with Corbin, but Spiderman 3 left alot to be desired in my opinion. LOL. Of course, Corbin thought it was great!

Last night Bo & I had his cousin, Linda and her husband over. We grilled some awesome steaks and enjoyed visiting with them. This morning Bo & I went for a 17 mile bike ride. It was such a beautiful morning and a great ride. Oh yea, and on Friday, Bo sold his motorcycle. That was a bittersweet moment. Glad to get it sold, but sad to see it go, too. We have had lots of good times on that motorcycle. Bo plans to buy a new bicycle with some of the money he got from the sale, so I know we will enjoy that.

Mason got a new job and worked his last day at Sonic today. He will now be working at 'the Water Still', a place to buy bottled water and flavored teas and such. He also got a raise with the new job, so that's good. He will finish up one of his summer classes this week, Medical Terminology. Still taking Intermediate Algebra. It will be finished in about 3 more weeks. This afternoon Bo & I took Mason to the Canadian River to ride his dirt bike. He rode for a little while, then his tire went flat so we had to come home.

Well, that's about it for our weekend. It was a nice one. Also, we listened to a great sermon this morning on Genesis 45:16-28 called 'Christ is Enough.' It was presented with Joseph being a picture of Christ and Jacob & his family as a picture of the elect of God. A very good sermon and we enjoyed it greatly.

Hope you had a good weekend too.

PS. It seems my blog is loading so slowly these days and I don't know why. I tried to fix it by changing the template, but that didn't seem to solve the problem. If anyone of my hundreds of readers out there (ha, yeah right) has a suggestion to fix it, please let me know! Bye.

My New Haircut

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I Have Not Taken a Shower for a Week.

It's true. --What a dirty old woman, you might say. But no, I AM clean. I have been taking baths in my new jacuzzi tub, and I love it. I have always been a shower-girl. Bo or I, neither one ever took a bath in the tub at our old house and we lived there for 10 years. The main reason we installed the jacuzzi tub in our new house was purely aesthetic. When we remodeled the bathroom, we thought it would look bad if we left the old tub, so we replaced it with a jacuzzi tub, thinking we would probably never even use it, but it would look nice anyway and help with resale value someday. But...... I decided to just give it a try one night, and it was SO nice and relaxing. I love it, and since I got my hair all cut off (Did I tell you I got my hair cut very, very short?) I don't have to worry about getting it wet, or I can just dunk my head and wash it very easily.

Guess you're never too old to change!

And yes, I think I like my new haircut. Another big change for me. I have never had hair this short. For the first few days, I hated it. I even went back to the salon and asked them if they could reshape it or at least show me how to fix it. They cut it even shorter and styled it, but I still didn't like it. Then a friend of mine, LuAnn, told me about a product called 'Aussie Instant Freeze Hairspray,' and told me how she uses it to fix her short hair. I tried it and since then, (so far), I am liking it much better. It is some powerful stuff though! It will make your hair will stand straight up if you want it to.

Anyway, that's about it for me. TTYL.

I'm sitting out on my backporch. It's a beautiful day and I'm so thankful I can sit out in my yard again. I missed that alot for the last year or so. Cody, Jenny & Corbin came over on Sunday and we grilled steaks and ate outside. I just love it, ....except for one thing. There is a dog in the backyard next door that barks and barks and barks. He's a yellow lab and very friendly, but his barking is so annoying. Bo & I both have yelled at him several times, but he just keeps right on barking. Mostly it's when the owners are not at home, but sometimes they are. I would spray him with my water hose (like Dorothy does, ---LOL, good idea Dorothy) but it won't reach him. He has a pen on the other side of the neighbor's yard. I guess we will have to talk to the neighbors about it eventually and that's an awkward thing to have to do. They seem very nice so I hope they continue to be after THAT conversation (if we ever get up the nerve). I'll let ya know.

Hey Mary Ellen, I told you I put out a little bird feeder and it sat there for a month without the birds finding it. Well, they have found it now and I have to refill it almost everyday, they eat it up so fast.











I enjoy watching them though!

Hey! It's been a while. It seems I am still very busy these days, but I am enjoying living in our new house and doing good overall. We went to an Amarillo Dilla's baseball game on July 4th and enjoyed that. Here's a couple of pictures:














Off to work. Have a great day!

We're All Moved In!

We're not all unpacked yet, but we're here. I got my internet and cable hooked up a few days early, and was glad about that, but was very unhappy with Suddenlink Cable Co. because they put up this ugly black cable all around my house. They couldn't run the cable thru the attic because of the vaulted ceilings and firewalls up there. (Funny, they said this house has never had cable or internet). Anyway, so they ran the cable all around the outside of the house. OK, I could live with that, but when I saw it all finished, I was not happy. We just had the house trim painted Antique White, and .....they ran ugly black cable over it.



Click on the pictures to make bigger and you can really see the cable.



So I called and complained to about 6 or 7 different people today, all told me I just had to live with it or paint it. I called one more time to cancel my service and got the nicest young girl who pulled some strings. Yea! On Monday, they are coming back out to take down the black cable and put up white cable. I have to pay $33 for the cable but I can live with that. I feel better now.

I have some after-pictures too. These are before we moved in. (You wouldn't want to see it right now, with boxes everywhere.) Here they are:















There isn't any glass in the shower yet. It had to be ordered and will be another week. We are using it though, just being careful not to splash too much. LOL.
And we have a stainless oven & microwave sitting in the garage waiting for Bo to install.

Well, that's it. It has been an experience and we've learned somethings, but overall everything went pretty smooth. Thanks for sharing the journey with us!

Still working on the house, but we're almost finished. The remodeling is all done (except for a couple of minor things), now we just have the clean-up and the move. Tomorrow morning I will start cleaning, along with some help I hired from a cleaning service. There is just so much to clean. Everything is covered in sawdust! And the trim work needs to be polished up, especially now that it is beside the new floors. All the dents and dings really show up. The floors are beautiful though! Then Saturday morning we will start moving.

Last Thursday, Bo & I slipped away for a very quick trip to Tyler. He had some business near there. We only stayed one night, but we enjoyed the trip and the visit. While we were there, sister Mary & I went to a really cool little plant nursery near her house called Blue Moon Gardens. I thought it was just a delightful place. They had some little miniture gardens they put together that they called Fairy Gardens. I thought they were so cool. They are tiny plants and accessories put together in a pot or on the ground. Here's a picture:









I bought some of the plants while we were there and made one myself (not quite so grand as theirs, but I like it):








Next week we will be without internet, cable and the home telephone all week. I called Suddenlink this past Monday to change our service, but they can't get to us until next Friday. Boo.

Well, that's about it for me. My sweet nephew, Michael graduated from the Marines Boot Camp this week in San Diego, CA, and I am just so proud of him. Congratulations Michael!!

Good night ya'll.

Gosh, I've been so busy, I haven't posted in a week. The house is coming along. The painters are finished. The tilers are 80% finished. The wallpaper hanger is finished. The countertops are in. Bo worked hard last weekend installing lighting and ceiling fans. The floor guys are coming back on Sunday to begin sanding and finishing the floors. We move in the weekend of the 16th of June. I will post pictures again when it's done. It looks great, I think.

Last night I listened to a sermon on Sermon Audio by Alfred Chompff called God's Purpose in Predestination. It was such a blessing to me and if you want to hear a good sermon, listen to it. It is quite an humbling sermon focusing alot on Isaiah 43:3-4, talking about God's purpose in reprobation which says:

For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

Also Proverbs 21:18 - The wicked [shall be] a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.

Reprobation exists in order that election may be realized. The reprobate give their lives (unknowingly) that the elect might live. God's love for his people is so great that he made a reprobate people so that his people might benefit. He was willing to give up people (reprobates) for the glory of his elect. How, you might ask. For one, there had to be sin and reprobates in order for Christ to be crucified. And Christ being crucified is what saves the elect. Also God uses the reprobate and sin to produce trials and tribulation for the elect to learn and grow in this life, and he even uses the actions of the reprobate as a means to bring his people to him, I believe.

Reprobation of some is the price God pays for the higher glory of his elect, that he loves so very much.

This is just amazing and so very humbling to me. Am I worthy of such? No, no, not at all!

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his GREAT LOVE wherewith he loved us. Ephesians 2:4

I know this sermon would be considered very controversial and "unfair" of God by human standards, but I believe it only teaches what the bible says

Working Hard

Mason & I worked all day making a flower bed in the front of the house. Before we started it had some english ivy growing like this picture of the other side of the front of the house (which we have yet to work on). Ugh.






Now it looks like this. It may not look like a very big area, but let me tell you it took ALOT of work. I am exhausted and am sure I will be sore tomorrow! I sure am glad I had Mason to help me. I can't imagine doing it all myself.




I love the two Yaupon Holly trees on each end.

















Bo worked hard all day on the inside installing faucets, the garbage disposal, and the pedestal sink and toilet in the guest bath.