March Roundup

 I feel like I need to do one more catch up post. 

I will start though with a picture of my only houseplant, the dolphin plant. It is such a unique plant. It blooms each March like clockwork.

I took a "too long" blog break and a lot of activity occurred. I am so blessed to be near my family. I said I wasn't going to post pictures and I am going to do much less of it, but this will be a quick update on family life.

Palmer and I have had 2 fun days together. Our first was to attend a play at the college with his preschool class. It was the book, Click Clack Moo. If you aren't familiar with the book the animals get access to a typewriter and can type up their requests/demands to the farmer. They go on strike and get the things they ask for, but all ends well of course. It was well done and the children were so well behaved. I love going to all these things that I once did as a teacher, but now from a new perspective. 

Then he and I went to the Gulfarium with his class. I absolutely had a blast on this trip. I think we both gave the day a 10. His little friend also had his grandmother along for the trip and it made for such a delightful day. Two older ladies trying to keep up with 2 energetic boys, but both behaved so well. We loved the dolphins the best, but Mimi also liked the manatees. They have recently added so much to the Gulfarium, so if you are ever vacationing here it is definitely worth the time.

It doesn't hurt a bit that the Gulfarium is right on the beach. Beautiful day.

Baseball season has begun for Tucker and Palmer. This year was the first year Mimi didn't walk in the parade. I just went to the end of the line to celebrate them starting the season.

Could they be any cuter?

On the last day of spring break I took Tucker and Palmer and met Paul Allen, Katie, Miles and Valerie at a park on the island. Lindsay and Tyler had to work. I made a picnic lunch for us. The kids played on the playground. 

This particular park has been around forever but the past year it got an update and a lot of additions. It will be a regular addition to my time with the grandchildren. 

The equipment is some of the most amazing stuff I have ever seen. The children never want to leave, but they finally got hungry. What is it about a picnic where even a sandwich tastes better?

I took the next picture to show you that we were right by the bay. 

This new park got what is called living walls added all around the point of land. These stone walls are for the birds but have made a great place for swimming with little ones.

There are walking trails and so many cool things to do.

The plan that did not include swimming, but tell that to Palmer and Miles.

Valerie is walking and is so tall for her age. She is in the 90th percentile for height. I think she is going to be like her PawPaw. Volleyball or basket ball?

Later that same day, Tucker and Palmer managed to get Paw Paw to fix fishing poles for them. He was pleasantly surprised that they caught on quickly. I am pretty sure they would do this all day.

We celebrated Mama's 91st birthday.

Lindsay got a picture of Jeff, me, and Gus. I am not photogenic, but in light of many things that have come up in the past 2 years, I don't say wait until I look right anymore. I just go with it. 

And look at this girl. She looks way older than 14.5 months. She is tall and has a mouth full of teeth. AND she has dark hair and darker complexion like her Mimi!

That is a wrap on the family. I feel like I have caught up and hopefully gotten my blogging mojo back. 

I can't pick a specific day to blog because my life is a little unpredictable, but I will be more regular. I have stitching and flowers to share next.

Springy Sandy

Stitching and a Little Spring

After the serious tone of my last post, I will try to keep it a bit lighter and cheerier over here. I am loving spring. March has been up and down with the cool vs warm. It is on the warm side now and I do hope it is staying. I am excited to be outside and puttering in the yard again. I have not planted much new, but am really reaping the good from a few years of work.

These hostas above were in one pot. I have had them for years, but I felt like last year they were about to burst through the pot they were in, so before they broke ground this year I separated them into 2 pots. They are an easy care plant that come back year after year and look wonderful until Thanksgiving.

The 2 pots they are held in were the ones used with my brief experiment with clematis last year. Those were a no go in this area. I will stick with more tried and true things for my area. 

I am not getting rid of the rose pots just yet, but I don't have plans to buy more and when they have exhausted themselves, I will let go on that idea too. Jeff is busy getting his tomatoes, peppers, and squash going in their pots and I am walking around looking for the next thing coming to life. 

We went to Auburn last week for spring break. It was so cold!!! We had talked about going to a baseball game, but I didn't want to sit in 30 degree weather for a game. We did order some new flooring for the upstairs. There has been some carpet up there and this will be the end of it soon. We will head back up in April to check on things. It was too cold for me to putter around outside at all. Hopefully we can get to a baseball game then.

Before we left I got in an order from 123 Stitch of the new March releases. I just threw things in a bag and thought I would get stitching time. That didn't fan out exactly like I thought, because one of the things I ordered was missing the pattern. 123 Stitch quickly put a new one in the mail and I spent my time up there thrift shopping, picking out the flooring, decluttering and reading.

When I got home I got my stitching plans in order.

I wanted to share the finished framing of the second set of sandpipers.

I loved how it turned out. I am putting a picture of both together below. The first one I did is on the wall and I still love it too. 2 different linens and counts to them and 2 different frames. Both are wonderful and Alayna, our friend really loved it. Made me happy.

After I ordered the new patriotic stitching patterns, I pulled out the bell I had messed up over a year ago and stitched it again.

I had fully finished the other one but then messed this pattern up when trying to piece it together. I will be very careful this time. 

I am stitching on a new patriotic small piece for America's 250 celebration, but in order to keep this post a bit shorter I will wait and share later.

I will also be back with some family updates soon.

Enjoying spring,

sandy

12 Years of Change and Growth

 It has been 12 years since I began this online journal. March 22, 2014 found me looking at retiring from teaching in a few months. I had spent 31 years teaching and quite honestly that had been my predominant hobby. From March to June that year I was juggling a lot of plates; winding down from managing a large DoD grant for 5 elementary schools, recovering after planning a wedding for my daughter, and spending my weekends and some weekdays traveling and taking care of my stepdad who would die of cancer that May and helping Mama with all which that entailed. ---I seem to never garner the quiet life!

Funny though when you read any of those months' posts you would not know any of that.

Those months were busy but I was so hopeful for what was to come. I was scheming of things to come post teaching.

As I was thinking about this anniversary, I decided to stroll down memory lane and look at all the posts from the first year of blogging. LIFE AND my focus in so many areas has changed. 

I mean really changed.

This post is going to be a little like those first posts. A reflection and some forward dreams too.

One of the most notable changes from the first year of blogging was the length of a post. I don't know when I decided to start writing such long posts. My guess is when life got so busy I could not blog often. I had recently decided I wasn't even going to try and write anything other than a monthly post. This stroll down memory lane has me thinking on that. By the way, this one is going to be long:)

The biggest life changing thing that we will get out of the way first is the Parkinson's diagnosis for Jeff. That came in September 2023 after I had worked hard to get Jeff to go to the doctor for what I had already self diagnosed. This was also the summer when Mama fell and I had to sell her home and move her to senior living. 

I spent that Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2023 doing 2 things which may seem at odds with each other. I realized life was going to change and that I would not be able to keep up...

Less decorating and more purging went through the set up for those holidays, BUT at the same time I realized how important those holidays were and my role in them. As a family, we were in shock and as the Mother Bear I needed to BE was a Mama Bear willing to lead the family.

Parkinson's entering our life alone may me want to quit blogging. I don't think God wanted that because trust me HE and I had lots of conversations about it!!! Have you ever experienced a rough patch and needed encouragement from those who have walked that road? I have felt Him whispering to me that very thing and I am going to be completely honest I have told Him - "I don't want to be that spokesperson."

Also throw in a little bladder cancer for him last April...yep, it has been a tough time.

I am still here ---so we will see ---

You see that title - change and growth. Not always fun, but they are part of life and our faith journey. He walks with me and He talks with me and tells me I am His own. And yes, there is JOY there. If you know the song ----

The other hard thing that we will get through and move on to the more interesting changes is -Mother. Mother was always so strong when I was growing up. My dad died young and she raised me well. However, in May of 2014 when my stepdad passed away, she just couldn't be strong anymore. One thing I had not put into my dreams about retirement was being in charge of so many things for her. She did her part for me, so now I reciprocate. She turned 91 yesterday. She has had some really good days since Thanksgiving. She does get very winded with any exertion now, but like I said, she has been doing well. I realize it could change anytime. I have had to do so much more than I realized I would be doing. It is very tiring, but it is a necessity and one I won't be sorry I did.

 NOW, let's move on to some lighter topics!!!

I have loved roses since I was in the 8th grade. I babysat for a couple that lived across the street from us and the man grew roses. He had a whole row on them down one side of his home. Think morning sun and richer soil in south Alabama than coastal sand. I always wanted to grow them. In the early 2000's just before we moved in our current house I had planted some at our old house. I was having fun with them and then we decided to move. 

As soon as I retired I set out to plant roses. Oh my goodness, what I didn't know was how hard they would be to grow in my environment. I was stubborn and never considered some varieties that might have worked here. I kept pursuing those that I had loved so many years ago. 

Change and growth with the growing of roses. I have decided I am truly tired of the struggle. Some years ago, I gave up trying to grow them in the ground in our sand. I changed out our beds and now those same beds that left roses with no leaves by July are lush and bring so much joy to me. Bottlebrush, day lilies, and amaryllis are much more fun to walk out and see than roses that aren't happy. I have 3 left in pots but they aren't happy and I am truly ready to give that struggle up and maybe just buy me some every now and then to enjoy.

While I am on the topic of growing things which I do love, I got over a house full of plants inside. Mostly because I got a good case of fungus gnats in my kitchen. Out went all of my houseplants except one and guess what I haven't missed them once! That surprised me. I kind of like the look of less clutter. I had way too many!!!

Sewing is next. Strolling through that first year of posts, I realized I did sew a good bit. I really thought that was something I wanted to do, but I really really didn't enjoy said sewing. I came to realize knowing how to do something and it being your hobby are really 2 different things. My mom was the seamstress and was amazing at it. I do a wee bit, but it is not something I am running in my little room to do. 

Oh and that room, the gift from Jeff that Lindsay is responsible for getting off the ground. I LOVE that room even if I don't sew as much as I thought I would. It is MY little space. 

Stitching was definitely on my mind. I had taken a break from it due to teaching and life being too busy for a season, but I was scheming in March of 2014. I had no idea how much the stitching world had changed, but I soon met many of you who inspired me and taught me all the new. It along with reading are 2 of my favorite things to do and keep me sane with all the growth and change going on in life.

Reading is one of those things that hasn't changed. I still love reading the same things...lots of nonfiction and happy fiction. Although, I read all types of things. I love learning. I will say I am very annoyed with publishers these days, as I see an agenda being added to all new releases that I don't approve of or agree with. I guess I am going to have to go back and read oldies but Goldies. 

Lots of decluttering and organizing have taken place in the last 12 years. I spent the first 6 months painting some rooms and finishing up that layer of my home. The one thing that the first year brought to light is that I broke ALL of MY OWN RULES for decorating that year. The stuff I bought to put in my home and blog about makes me shudder these days. Almost all of it ended up at Goodwill. I came back to myself after that first year. 

One thing I didn't have on my radar  was the growing family which has been my greatest gift. To keep the 4 munchkins that God has gifted me called GRANDchilren has been truly the most wonderful unexpected GIFT. He truly knows best!

I will be back later with updates on those grandchildren, my stitching, my gardens and so much more, but this post has been rolling around in the noggin for the past 2 weeks.

There are more chapters to write, more beach strolls, more flowers, more family moments, more stitches AND just more life.

Looking forward,

SANDY

P.S. What is a spring post without an azalea picture?