Getting Back in the Swing of Things.

I am going to try and get my blogger motivation back up and running. I have lost it along the way and my family has informed me they don't think I should quit, so here I am jumping back in. It is a bit hard to write these days when the world is such a terrible mess, but maybe that means I need to all the more. I can't do much beyond give and PRAY for the world, but I can keep a distraction going over here on the Homefront.

I was at the doctor's office a couple of weeks ago and I could hear through the paper thin walls at one particular conversation he was having with a gentleman about depression. I think all that isolation time and now war talk has more than a few just losing hope. I think my visit was a good interruption for the poor doctor in his day. I had great bloodwork results and no problems. I think he was pleased to walk into a room where he didn't have to do much but just say hello and howdy do. However, today my allergies have wiped me out. I woke up so congested. Fortunately I had some good medicine from a previous visit to an online doctor, so I am better this evening. I need to bounce back as I am keeping Tucker tomorrow. His daycare has a teacher workday. Tucker has high expectations for a visit to Mimi's house. He gave me a list of foods to have on hand Friday evening. There is no way he can eat his entire list but it is all in the pantry for his selecting tomorrow.

Jeff was on spring break last week....

My week turned out to be not my own. IT was guided by everyone else, but it all turned out well. We made it to the Auburn house, but it was more of a work trip that I had hoped. We took two beds (not mattresses) to exchange and I can adamantly tell you I am over moving furniture. I told Jeff that I am officially too old for that! I was sore in far too many places upon our finishing.

The beds were from Danny's house. Both were way better than the two we had in two of the rooms there. I was able to use the wood from them, but not the mattresses. He was a smoker and they were just awful. Now for the bedroom downstairs we were able to just use the mattresses we had. Both were queens so all was good. 

The second bedroom upstairs was a full or double bed and we had wanted to change it out anyway. We bought a box spring from Sam's and also tried out one of those mattresses that are a mattress in a box. Just let me tell you they are not any lighter because they come in a box! So with moving one down the stairs and a new one up the stairs I was completely pooped. I took a picture of the one upstairs, but failed to remember the one downstairs.

This will be a lot more comfortable for the couple who has to sleep in here. A full is quite small compared to a double and just think...I remember when that was the bed most people had when I was a kid.

A blogger must remember to take photos.

Mother went with us this time. It was her 87th birthday while we were there, so we went to eat at Outback on that day. She ate well. Hip hip hooray. She didn't feel too well as the allergies were bugging her, but all in all she did well.

When we got back we did a little bit of yard work. Jeff took off for the whole week. Lindsay didn't so I had to keep the kids on some of the days. She worked half days so I got a wee bit of a break.

Tucker helped PaPa plant the orange tree that we have been talking about planting for two years. 

I told him he was 3 and the tree was as tall as he was. We would have to see if was as tall as him when he was 4. Either way, we will have to watch them both grow.

I thought you might like to see the next picture. The blur is Gus getting out some energy.

PaPa helped feed Palmer.

I told Jeff it was time to go ahead and set a date for retirement. I have set one for him of next June...not this coming one but the next. I think it is time. We will see what he says.

Mimi got her picture too.

Jeff, Paul Allen and Katie went fishing on Friday to a place called Basin Bayou to the north of the bay, hence the different trees.

The live oak tree leaf drop has begun here along the coast. It is fall in the spring with those trees.

March definitely has lived up to its mantra of being a windy month. My poor fern downstairs has been on its side more this month that it has been upright.

I am hoping it will go out like a lamb and bring on those gorgeous April and May days I love. All of my day lilies are above ground with tiny buds starting to appear. Spring is showing up here and I am ready. I spend as much time outside this time of year as I can. We had our first supper meal yesterday on the deck. Hoping to make that a daily occasion if the weather is cooperating. 

I have much outside work to do but it will get done. I am not going to rush it. I am spending my days doing chores, loving on the grandkids, reading, a little stitching, and just soaking up every good blessing in this crazy time. I think I am more aware than ever to give thanks to God for all my blessings. Life can change at anytime.

I am going to try and get back on here at least once a week. 

Sandy

Spring!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring to some people. I am beyond excited about that idea, but the truth is I adhere to meteorological dates for spring and summer and astronomical dates for fall and winter. You can easily see which seasons I like most with this view of the starting dates. 

I had hoped I would have that "little" heron all stitched by this day. That didn't happen. Here's my progress.

He is going to be a winner when I finish his tail feathers. I did get his beautiful neck and head all done. There is also an over one dragonfly started over to the left. All of it is a distraction to those grays of the tail feathers. I have no explanation as to why they are so hard other than I am off a little bit and am not frogging it. I am going to plow forward and the grays all run together so I have to do little bits of it at a time. 

Hence, I am not giving it a timeline to be finished anymore. I want to enjoy it and it not be a chore. What will be will be!!!

I have so many other things I want to stitch on, so no rules for me. I am too old for all those rules.

The past few weeks have been tough and busy so no blogging has taken place. I lost my friend, Kim. Her funeral was this week and that just took all my emotions to write with it out the door. I still can't even write a tribute to her. 

We have cleared Danny's house and are just waiting on the cleaning people to do their thing and then we list it. It is hard to get anyone to do anything these days. I think Jeff and I have determined we have checked almost all things off the list except those of the house and then closing out the bank account. I got his taxes ready to send to his accountant this week and everything has been donated, sold, or turned off. I think that is incredible that most has been done in less than a month. Danny gets credit for having his house in order so to speak. 

I am still working on trying to get mine more in order. I have been brutal in this round of getting rid of stuff. I think the Goodwill people must wonder. It feels really good to get rid of things. It has taken me a long time to get there.

The one thing I did keep of Danny's was his stereo that had a turntable. I put it downstairs where we had one that I took to donation. I have had the most fun going down and listening to my old 45s mostly and some albums. Tucker enjoyed the old stories where it dings to turn the page. I did keep about a dozen books to read. I will pass them on as I read them though.

Jeff and I are going to take off a few days at the beginning of this week to go to the Auburn house. It is spring break in our school district. Lindsay and her family have traveled to visit with Tyler's family, so I have the first part of the week with no kiddos. Paul Allen and Katie are getting the baby room ready. Things are starting to look cute in there too.

I haven't much to say other than I have just been busy. 

Palmer and I have fun days together. He is army crawling everywhere. He is so close with the full on knee crawling. I had to take the walker away from him because he was too fast with it and he is like a bull in a china shop with it. He is quite a bit more rambunctious than Tucker was. He loves stroller rides and I love getting out with him.

When we return from Auburn I hope to spend the end of the week getting some outdoor chores done. I am ready to see everything in full bloom. The azaleas popped out a bit too early this year and got bit by the cold spell that dipped down too far south. They won't have a banner year in my neighborhood, but everything else is budding and looking like they are daring anymore cold weather to stick its nose in down here.

This "no rules" girl is signing off for a few days.

Life

 

Danny passed away on the morning of February 23rd. This is a photo I took at our house when Lindsay and Paul Allen were little. I have lots of these kinds of photos, but this one was on his mantel at his home. I loved it and thought it said a lot about him.

Kristan called him Uncle Dan Dan until she was grown.

He didn't want a funeral and I always said that about me too, but it is an odd feeling when you don't.

We are going to have a family cookout and a graveside service with just our family when Kristan comes in June. We were able to get approval to bury his ashes between Jeff's parents and have a Navy marker (Vietnam--USS Shangri-La) placed on one of their graves at our local municipal cemetery. I like that idea lots better than scattering them. 

We have been nonstop busy clearing out his home. He didn't have a ton of stuff but still it is a lifetime accumulation that has to be dealt with. We are donating almost all of it. We are going to keep his beds and take them to Auburn to swap out with some up there. Paul Allen is in charge of listing a few chests and a bookcase on Facebook and Lindsay, Katie and I have cleared closets and hauled to Goodwill. It has been a family affair with all of us keenly aware of the need take care of Jeff during this time. We are hoping to be finished with this part by the end of this coming weekend so we can get the house up for sale which Donna is taking care of.

Clearing out a home is another reminder of how I don't want to leave a mess for my kids. I came home one night promising myself the next day that I would cut my paper files by a large percentage. Doing it while we had just dealt with his desk helped me to be ruthless. I made a huge dent in that. Check...

I want to enjoy the things I have but I don't want kids having to deal with closets and drawers filled with unnecessary clutter. I will renew my efforts on this again.

One more note of sadness....

my friend Kim that I mentioned in my second to the last post will not get her liver transplant. She has not recovered enough from her downturn and they are just trying to keep her comfortable with the days she has left. 

YES, my heart has been in a rough place and couple that with the news of unnecessary moves by Russia has made it hard to even compost a post.

It has renewed that feeling of counting every good thing in life. 

Counting our blessings is what keeps us sane!

I consider it joy that I spend so much time with my family. Keeping my grandchildren is not always easy. It limits my free time, but I just keep thinking about how blessed I am to be with them and love on them and serve my kids by keeping them.

In a break last Saturday morning from the work of Danny's home, Mother and I went with Lindsay and the boys to the Armament Museum. This will be Tucker's 3rd visit in his short 3 years but he loves it so much. Again, we had to tell him the name of every plane. We put Mother on the pushing the stroller detail because we didn't want her falling down with Tucker as he rushed from plane to plane.

Palmer is 7 months old already.

I read a sad book in the month of February. It was Before We Were Yours, by: Lisa Wingate. I say sad because it was about an orphanage and somewhat based on a real orphanage in the 1930s-50s. I thought to myself at one point, "Why I am reading this when life is so sad right now?" I will say it was a very good book though and well written. I am reading more these days which is one of my loves that often gets put to the side in the busy days.

I have stitched on the heron when I have the energy. I have moved my goal date back to the first day of spring. We are going to try and go to Auburn the week before that so I am hoping to get some time to put the finishing stitches in him. I decided no more progress photos. I will share it when he is done!

I am also starting to think about flowers too. I have done some pruning and fertilizing and making lots of plans to work outside soon. I ordered a new rose to go into a container downstairs. I know I said no new plants but it is not a new plant in that I got rid of something to make room for the rose. I saw a lady down the street with this rose last spring and it was amazing. I asked her about it and she had ordered it and gave me the details. It is supposed to be a rose made for containers and should be shipped according to my zone. I can't wait. I am sticking to my smaller number or things to care for as it was so much more manageable last year.

Spring brings hope each year. I have a hopeful heart even in hard times. That comes from Jesus! As we move into the Easter season, my heart just has to focus there.

I will leave this post with one more quick story. In the midst of all that has been going on my oven decided to go out in dramatic fashion! 

I think I remained exceedingly calm, now Jeff will tell you differently, but I did. However, Gus didn't:)

It had a short or something and kicked on the broiler and burned the cookies I was doing for Mother to take to an event. I am so happy that Mother is getting out more. She has slowed down for sure but this new neighbor has done more good that you can even imagine.

Anywho the stove wouldn't turn off. The cookies were on fire in the oven! I had no fire extinguisher (I do now). I was on the phone with Jeff telling him to come home. He suggested turning off the breakers. I did do that, but I knew I needed to get those cookies out of the oven. I literally think the pan was going to explode if I didn't. I decided in my head if I couldn't get that out the door I was calling 911. I pulled them out and threw 3 towels on top of the cookies to smother the flames. I took about 10 pot holders to take it down the long hallway out to the driveway. I knew I couldn't take it out the back to the deck because it would burn the deck. The broiler burner took about 15 minutes to quit being red that is how hot it got. Jeff and Paul Allen arrived back at the house after I got the cookies out and Paul Allen moved the stove out from between the cabinets so it wouldn't damage them. 

I know they were secretly wondering if I had hit broiler rather than bake. NO! Jeff tried it later that day to see if that was the case and no it did the same thing and wouldn't turn off. 

SO, I have a new stove after cooking two weeks on a hotplate and a toaster oven. I think all that worked pretty well and I guess I could do a TV show on how to manage without a stove. 

I was just grateful we found one to be delivered in just two weeks!!!!!!!

Now, back to Gus. I am pretty sure he thought there was a demon in that stove. AT one point, I noticed he was sitting in the middle of the driveway so he could see me. If a dog can have a panicked look he had one. He didn't want to come back in the house and when I finally coaxed him back in he wouldn't go near the opening of the stove. It took him hours to calm down.

That is not the end of the story....

You see I remembered that stove didn't have an outlet to plug it in visible. 

Of course, this all happened right before Danny passed so Jeff had zero time to deal with it, so he sent Paul Allen over to find the outlet. We thought maybe during a time when some mice got in 20 years ago that maybe it had been sheet rocked over:) So Paul Allen cut the sheetrock to find no plug. Jeff then remembered that when we purchased the stove 20 years ago that it had just been hardwired in. 

The sheetrock has been repaired. Paul Allen, Jeff and I are actually pretty good at that now if you need tips:)

The new stove arrived yesterday and all is well again. 

Paul Allen and Katie are officially having a boy and Katie is doing well.

I barely responded to the last set of comments, so I hope to get back out there to read some blogs and participate in life again next week. 

Life is filled with ups and downs. I try to focus only on the positive but sometimes....

Well, that is it for now. I will be back next week,

Sandy