Isaias or I 26

 It has been a challenging week. 

I am completely exhausted.

I am thankful and sad at the same time. 

*****

Compared to so many around me, I came out really good.

Each storm has a name and that name goes down with its own story. I have lived through many and this one's main tagline will be, "The Storm That Broke All the Rules." 

A few observations...

I have lived through most of my hurricanes being center or east of the storm. West is best is the rule. This one seemed to have broken all those rules. The west was not the place to be. We were in the center with the National Hurricane deeming the center crossed Destin. That does fit. Lindsay and her family went to Atlanta for the storm. That was sorta in the works pre storm. Tucker is 8 today and came on the heels of Michael 8 years ago and is frightened of even a thunderstorm, which is not good considering where we live and those being a part of life, so they rode it out at Tyler's parents. She knew what was going on, but that is scary too thinking about your family down here and knowing what can happen.

We kept waiting for the surge of water. We know how far it comes up and had prepared. It never really surged. The wind howled and was about the right amount for what they said was coming. The rain however was not the right amount.

I do think the wind we received as that wall was coming over was about right. Do NOT mistake that for it was nothing or not scary as Hell. 

The rain was the craziest. The number of homes in Fort Walton Beach that are flooded is unbelievable. The direction of those rains too was odd. We have a couple in our small group who do live in a low lying area. They did have flood insurance. They prepared their back side of their home with as much as they could and decided to leave town pretty much knowing they would get water in it. What they didn't expect was the amount or the direction it came in from though. We know so many from our church that live in that neighborhood that flooded. I feel so grateful.

Paul Allen had a large tree come from a neighbor's yard in to his, but it missed the house. Praise God. Lindsay lost a fence, but you know all of those things are fixable.

Lindsay's neighbor did say the eye came over them because he thought a window was blown out at her house, but checked on it and the eye that it still had did come right over them. He was able to look up and see stars and then not.

There is debris as far as you can see everywhere.

Our live oaks all look pitiful. Heavily pruned but all standing. One of them next door fell, but didn't crash the house. Many down the street the same.

I will always say the number really means nothing unless it is a 5 and then catastrophic doesn't describe it. 

My mother's assisted living place took on water. I won't say flooded because it didn't go up the walls, but the flooring was soggy for certain. I am disgusted with the place for lack of communication, but I will get past it. I had taken her out the day before it all started. I didn't like that it was headed our way and they can strengthen quickly. Her place is close to the Gulf and wouldn't be protected from winds as much as we are even though we are on the bay. 

She has been with me for most of the week. She is entirely ready to be back in her place which HOPEFULLY will alleviate my guilt for not having her live with me. Just a week has been hard. I love her but she is a lot. I certainly don't think it would be good for Jeff.

Now, the west is best thing...

Whatever happened to the storm cause an odd phenomenon to occur. The worst winds were on the west side running from Milton to Repton. For those that know the area. Highway 87 leaves Navarre and runs through Milton where we bought Barkley, up by Whiting Field and into Brewton, my hometown. At the state line that highway changes to Highway 41. The highest winds ran from Milton straight up 87/41 all the way to Repton, Alabama. I have so many friends and family with lots of damage. It will be a while before things are back to normal up that way.

 I think people can be surprised at how far the winds can go. Brewton took a hit in Ivan and everyone is saying this was worse. Ivan was a low 4. 

I let everyone know on Facebook I was ok, but I had no idea about Mom's place or all my family. It has been a lot to swallow as all hurricanes are. About the 3rd day I had to quit looking at any news or social media to recapture my sanity. 

I am good now.

We had our small group on Wednesday along with the couple that their home is ruined. I wanted to find some Scripture to read since we were mainly meeting to pray and converse. 

I read Romans 5:1-5 emphasizing certain words. 

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, [a]we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and [b]we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but [c]we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

I am so grateful I was spare, but heartbroken for others. It will take time.

Jeff and I have had lots of doctor appointments the last few weeks mostly due to his Parkinson's. I have noticed a few new things which has led to testing, but I feel all of it is the P word. None of it is fun, but Tuesday after the storm he had his bladder appointment for the scope. He gets tense before each one and quite frankly, it is a good thing we were even able to keep the appointment in Pensacola. I keep reminding myself of the good. He does have another tumor and will need the surgery to remove it. That is why they do the scopes every 3-4 months. Bladder cancer has a high recurrence rate. We are waiting for that to be scheduled. He is seeing some other doctors in the days ahead for the other mentioned items.

Busy days.

I am of course behind in reading anyone's blog. I will get there eventually. I have mostly looked at Facebook to see family and friends. I do have power which is in itself ANOTHER completely weird thing about this storm.

I won't be around too much until it settles down a bit more.

I will leave you on a happy note. 

Barkley had no idea a storm came. He was completely happy and well cared for. He was pretty sure all was good while his doggy family in Milton was also hit very hard. Fortunately, many have swooped in to help cut trees and help out with the breeder's needs. All I could do was pray that would happen for her. 

He is just adorable.

Everything goes to his mouth. 

Can you believe that mum still looks this way? Now, there was debris everywhere around it but the wind came in from an odd direction and I guess its proximity to the house and being low it didn't get touched. 

Trust me when I tell you the wind whipping between our houses and in the circle in the live oaks was nuts.

We are off to celebrate Tucker's birthday and watch Georgia demolish us in football, but our family will always be Auburn.

Fall arrived this morning. It is cool and I am in my first long sleeve shirt and pants for the season. I think I am ready. I know all those cutting up logs and working are happy to see it. As I look across the bayou there is a huge tree they are working on now.

Forgive typos - my brain is tired too. 

I haven't even picked up a needle in over a week. Not good-

On one more good thing -

I saw a hummingbird on my bottlebrush the morning of the hurricane and then again yesterday. I take those as good things. Also I think it was Friday, I saw a ton of monarch butterflies in the front yard. 

Oh goodness, one more thing. See, I told y'all I am nuts. 

I 26 is the name I dubbed the storm all most immediately. What was the NHC thinking when giving a name like that for people like me living in northwest Floria and south Alabama to try and pronounce with southern accents. That may be a lighter moment in all this - the names given to it. I even heard it dubbed Julio Iglesias. I wasn't the only one who knew we would need something else. 

Thank goodness I 26 is gone. 

Thankful,

Sandy

September

I need to start this post with a huge thank you to all of you who commented on my last post. I have been so sad over the loss of Gus and I read each of your comments. I just couldn't comment back. Even new people left the sweetest thoughts. Our pups mean so much to us and I know many of you could feel my sadness. One thing I have done over the past few days was to print some pictures of Gus to have around to pick up and physically look at and hold. Everything is digital these days, but I found with the loss of my previous 2 dogs that holding their photo helped. 

Awhile back I had placed pictures of our family pets in gold frames in the dining room. I didn't have Gus there because he was with me. I added a new gold frame with his picture to our wall of fame so to speak for the love that each one of those dogs have given us.

You may notice the leaves. I am trying so hard to let fall in. I love summer and other than losing Gus, summer has been good to me. Much needed rest and good times with the grandchildren and Gus were the makings of a summer I hadn't had in several years. 

It is not that I don't like fall. I really do, but I don't exactly live in the area of the country where one thinks of a traditional fall. It comes... in December when everyone has moved on to red and green and Christmas trees. Fall does come in different ways and an astute eye will catch the change of season, however temperature and colorful trees are a long way off just yet.

I have found that a slow adding of things over the month of September serves me well with fall. So the leaves above, kitchen towels, and some beeswax candles are all that are happening here yet. The light is fading sooner so I am going to try and add candlelight and lamps to my evenings. 

I ordered some beeswax candles for votives and some sticks too, so here are a few that I set out last night in the living room.

Jeff and I celebrated 42 years of marriage on the 1st. We were married on a Labor Day weekend. I have found that to be a lot more common than one would think. I had just taken a new teaching job, so we waited until the next June to have a honeymoon. We went to Nashville. I remember all the places we visited and the fun we had together. We went to the Grand Ole Opry. Life was much different back then - no online tickets. It just so happened that Hank Locklin lived in Brewton and went to my home church. He got us tickets and we picked them up in Nashville. That was so very kind of him. He was a very good man and the deed was not lost on us. 

I decided to share that tidbit this year rather than another picture of us in our very 1984 wedding gown and tux.

Here is Hank singing one of my all time favorite songs from him. A real oldie but goldie from my birth year, 1960.

I have added the link to YouTube below in case the video I have inserted doesn't work. 

https://youtu.be/DndK5hZBgu0?si=gpLXvp4nZOToW7bs

It has been a quiet week this week and I must admit I was lazy as all get out. I took naps when Valerie did and just more behaved like a sloth. I feel better for having done it so that is good I suppose.

I have been stitching and reading as time allowed or I felt like it. I will share my reading in another post. I told you I was switching back and forth with a sampler and an osprey stitch. Both are sort of large but not gigantic. I pretty much stuck to my schedule of a week each until yesterday. A squirrel caught my attention. In the stitching world, that is another pattern.

Here is where I left off with my osprey on the week I stitched that.

Then here is my progress on the sampler.

Here is the squirrel that got me off track. 

This pattern was gifted to me by someone special and I kept thinking I would pull it out ---well it happened yesterday. I was walking around in the foyer/formal hallway and I have a beachy stitch that stays out all year except for December. I love that stitch so much and I have the hardest time putting it away. As I was looking at it today I thought about this pattern and I knew it would be the perfect thing to go in the same place for the fall months. I will let you know which one I chose in the next post. 

I keep saying I am going to get back to regular blogging. I have been in a reflective mood this past week with my resting time. I really do want to, but life keeps throwing things at me to keep me distracted or unmotivated to write. I am working on it. I have so many things I would like to write about to keep a record of for the children. My blog changed somewhere along the way to a journal of good things about our family and I accepted that, but there is some stuff I would really like to add. Like I said, I am trying to get back at it. 

Motivation is lacking or it is it laziness? I am thinking lazy is the answer.

I am going to close this post with something that happened last weekend. Jeff came at me fast and furious with we needed another dog. I will admit- it made me sadder. I told him I couldn't' even entertain the idea as my heart was so broken. He let me shut him down for a few days and then he hit me with what I thought was a horrible statement and still think that, 

but....

He said he needed another dog. His emphasis was on needed. He said he wasn't going to live long and that we had never gone more than a few months without a dog and he needed it and that I would need it too. 

I turned him off, but he proceeded to find a litter born on August 15 in Milton (an hour drive away). They had one boy left and he can come home on October 10. I reluctantly drove with him to visit the lady and see the kennel. 

Well, y'all know when I held him I cried and loved on him and he nuzzled me and I was hooked. I am still walking around crying at the most random times but yes, we are getting another Springer next month. I will wait to tell you more then.

That drive over to Milton and other places was our quiet celebration of 42 years of a blessed life together since we would be keeping Valerie on the actual anniversary. I consider keeping those grandchildren a blessing too. We visited a plant nursery, a flea market and held a puppy. Aren't we just wild? 

- no, but we are enjoying all of our days together despite Parkinson's trying to take a bite out of it. One thing that has happened with age is I say yes more often to things I once would have said no to. Everyday is a gift.

Coming up soon... which flowers have survived a very HOT August and start of September. Not really expecting that heat to leave just yet. Birthdays. Trip to Auburn. Football season. 

For now - off to watch college football and cross stitch one of those fall beach stitches.

Sandy

January 8, 2026 AD

     It is that time of year when we talk about New Year's resolutions and such. I knew I would be late to the game on this sort of thing and I do love this type of thing. I am very much a thinker. 

     Between sickness for me and the family I knew it would slow me down. We took the week after Christmas to go to Auburn and it was so good for me. I look forward to our visits to our second home to recharge. It is such a different setting than our normal environment here in Florida. You see the seasons in a more traditional sense there. We see seasons here in northwest Florida but through a different lens. Anyway, I rested lots which I needed. I knew I would come back to keeping more than one kid for a day or two and I would tire quickly.

The trees in Auburn are more like a typical view of the season.

     I asked for a cross for Christmas. We have one like the picture below in our home here and I just wanted something in our Auburn home. Our good friend makes these as well as  many other things for  a hobby. I thought it went well with the pictures just around the corner from it on the adjacent wall.

                    

     I have been busy thinking in between all the life stuff. I like to think of changing things in a more seasonal setting. I think each season is a good time to evaluate and to take a bit of time to reset when things are not going like you planned or let some things go that weren't working. 

     I do have some things that have been calling my brain. Things I want to change or add and things I want to try and eliminate from the routine.

     Now for some of my resolutions, goals, seasonal reset ---thoughts.

The evenings -

I want to continue trying to keep my mind active through January and most of February and not fall asleep at 6:00 PM. Anyone else? 

I have made a list of things I want to accomplish similar to the ancestry book I worked on in December.

Family Time -

I want to get Palmer out once a month on Fridays. That day is review day at his preschool and I just really want to do something special with each child...not always in a group where I get tired quickly. My goodness ---aging is real folks.

I want to eat lunch with Tucker once a month on another Friday. He won't always welcome that, but he is still excited about the idea.

I want to give Paul Allen and Katie a date night once a month on a Friday. Lindsay and Tyler are much better about this than Paul Allen and Katie. Mostly I think they are just sleep deprived. We did this last Saturday and I could look at Katie's face when they returned from eating a pizza without kids and I knew we needed to do this. It was fun too for Miles and Valerie and we enjoyed them.

Mostly I want to remember to do things that are helpful and good for the kiddos. I KNOW I need to take care of myself, but I want to spend time with them.

I also need to help Lindsay get healthy. Getting healthy can begin on ANY date. Mine started November 4, 2015. It is important.

I had a long thinking session about my physical body. I am trying something NEW. I will give it some time and let you know if it is successful. It involves less rather more.

Hotspots - 

I want to work on some hotspots in the house. Places that just don't make me happy when I walk into the room and don't work as well as I want.  One is here ...

This room is such a blessing and it stays too messy and honestly I am trying to do too many things in here. I am going to really try and pay attention to things over the next couple of months and rethink the organization in there. 

The cross stitch in the above picture is still sitting in that same spot. After realizing I was rushing things with it and that I wasn't going to gift it I let up on the quick finish. I have sewed cording around it and tabs to hang it on a dowel, but I have not stretched out the edges for the cording nor painted the dowel that is cut and waiting to hang it on... Need to get that done.

I have started a new stitch. I will update on that later.

About blogging.

I am going to share less pictures of my grandkids...

OR at least I am thinking that right now.

Blogging is such a weird thing and with AI and all the things coming along my mind spins sometimes.

Anyway, I am thinking pictures of the grands are what my blog is now mostly and maybe that is not a good idea. I am praying about it. It is something I am deeply pondering.

Do people read blogs with no pictures anymore? 

I know I have a few friends that I would be so sad if I didn't hear from anymore. I have followed along for a lot of years. I just need to think on this as the world spins a little faster these days. 

     As I sit here typing I have a digital frame that the kids gave me years ago. I upload each month's pictures on the last day of the month. I am seeing the snow from a year ago. Valerie was born just before the snow. The grandkids will probably never see that kind of snow again. 

The morning of January 22, 2025 AD

If you haven't stopped reading by now with few pictures, I am still going to blog, but rethinking the kiddos. It is a journal in some ways but maybe less in the picture department.

Until next time,

Sandy

December, the month of family sickness. 

Christmas did come and go with me reminding everyone that all was  going to be ok and we have to keep the real reason for the season upfront in our minds: that we have had years when things were more challenging; someone was sick, we had to move things around, etc. Then old Jeff piped into the family group text reminding us that  Paw Paw Palmer (Jeff's dad) was in Bastogne on Christmas 1944. That will quickly put it all in perspective. 

We did all meet at our house on December 22nd but there was sickness. Stupidly I don't think any of us thought about the flu until we were all together. I think there was no doubt Palmer had it that night. I was sick, but I don't think I had it. When Paul Allen came down sick the next day Jeff thought to go get him a flu test. He was positive and missed Katie's side of the family Christmas staying home with Valerie who didn't feel well either. It didn't matter that he stayed home because it is running through them now. Tyler's parents came down from Atlanta and I did see them between church services on Christmas Eve. They were sickie too, so it was all around. All of the kids eventually were sick. 

Fortunately Mama has not gotten sick, but it is all in her senior living facility. She is going to visit her sister in the morning for the week so maybe she will miss it. 

I actually got up yesterday morning and called the Teledoc. I don't have the flu, but my whole side of my head is full of junk. I now have an antibiotic. The only other person other than Mama who hasn't been sick is Jeff. Thankful for that.

Here are a few scenes from the last few days.

I mostly took candid shots on December 22nd which are wonderful in my mind too.

On Christmas Eve, Tucker and Palmer set out their cookies for Santa. All of the kiddos are in full belief age. It is quite sweet to watch. I think Tucker has another year before he questions it all.

Lindsay took this picture of Palmer at church on Christmas Eve. He was on the upswing by Christmas Eve, while Miles and Valerie were on their way to the depths of the flu. The service was so sweet.

This was Miles coming back in from viewing the swing that he was genuinely excited Santa had brought, but no energy to swing.

He would get some fever reducing medicine in and feel good for an hour. He gave it a try later, but even today he was still feeling a little poorly.

One interesting note, Katie did end up taking Valerie to the doctor since her fever was so high. Turns out Miles and Valerie each had a different strain of flu. One A and one B. Go figure.

Christmas morning, Jeff and I made it out for what has become our annual stroll on the beach. Someone took our picture after watching me try to get a selfie.

I am one to pack Christmas up right away. I know I am making some of you cringe. I can't wait to put it out right after Thanksgiving, but I am also eager to put it all away and get the house back in order on the 26th. I do the tree last. 

I love Christmas but for some reason I like the order that comes after Christmas. 

I am in  full on reflection mode now and hope to be back in the new year with some ideas for 2026.

2025 was crazy for us in many ways. I really try to focus on the positive though. Life can be even nuttier if you only focus on the bad. There is plenty of good.

I have listed all of my books in Goodreads the last couple years. I really like the digital footprint of my reading. I know many read way more than me but considering how many people I care for and things I do I felt very good about the 21 books I have read. I have two I am reading currently, but I am pretty sure both will be finished after December 31st.

I read 11 fiction and 10 nonfiction. The nod to fiction is a win for me. I am the girl who read the World Book Encyclopedia for fun as a child, so making sure I read as much fiction was a goal I had. I need more of that.

My 2 favorite fiction books were Theo of Golden by Allen Levi and The Last Twelve Miles by Erika Roebuck. I want to add more of Erika Roebuck this year. 

I honestly can't choose a favorite nonfiction book It would be a tie between at least 5 of them. I read some good ones this year. 

Honestly, I rarely read anything anymore that I don't like. If it is not hitting me right I move on. Don't want to waste the time.

I stitched 7 things; Valerie's name, small hornbook with Christmas/winter sampler, Valerie's ornament,

my little multicolored dolphin, the sandpipers, the Bible verse with flowers (round), and the 12 Days of Christmas.

I still need to share the 12 Days of Christmas finish. I will...I ended up not gifting it. The sickness, the rush, all that just led to me saying no to the gift. Maybe later. I will share it in January. It is cute.

I am a few days away from finishing the Bible Recap again this year. I really do love this. I would highly recommend it to anyone. I am not doing it again this next year as I want to slow things down. I am putting my reading plan together for '26 over the next couple of days. I want to slow the pace, but I truly love having a reading plan all set and sitting down to Scripture within the first 30 minutes of waking. It is a good habit to have a starts my day off well. 

I can truthfully say one thing has worked well this year. Keeping up with the house and having organized or decluttered so much over the last few years. I don't need to hit January 1st and go crazy decluttering. I will do many things, but not like I have in the past. I still need to let go of much in my sewing room, but I have many wins in the remainder of the house. Woohoo for me.

About a year ago, Jeff and I went through one of our closets together that contains small appliances mostly. I felt there was much we didn't need anymore. We did purge that day but we agreed to put some stuff that we were unsure about on the top shelf of that closet. I am here to tell you not one item was touched since the day we put it up there. I would say that is full evidence that the shelf can now be cleared out. It is on my winter list.

Speaking of winter... fall and now winter have been very mild here in northwest Florida. Much to my liking. Winter is swinging in for a day right as 2025 is leaving, but it seems to only be for a day. I will take that.

We are heading to Auburn to ring in the new year. I will ring it in before midnight as always. I am going to rest the remainder of this week and put together my goals for 2026. 

See you next year,

Sandy

November 2, 2025 AD

 Sunday evening, November 2, 2025 AD

I could not wait to put this out. I love Thanksgiving! November is here and I do love November. 

I am going to start and go backwards in time with my post today. Jeff and I went to a wedding this weekend in St. Augustine. We had good friends who moved to Ponte Vedra a few years ago. One son is here and one is in Jacksonville, so the one in Jacksonville was getting married. We drove over with another couple and had a nice little weekend in a great location. We ate at Columbia Restaurant on Friday night. It was so good. It is Florida restaurant with the largest one in Tampa. Man...it was tasty. St. Augustine is always a fun trip strolling in the historic district. The wedding was there with a view of the water on a rooftop. Very pretty!

I did not take pictures on the trip other than of us all gussied up. What kind of blogger am I turning into?

We don't get this dressed up much and I am ok with that. I am not one to go around sloppy, but dressing up doesn't suit me all that much.

I got sick once more and have had another round of antibiotics and hope I am fully past all of that. I need to really work on getting my immune system in order. I am starting in the morning with a pretty regimented plan for the month of November. 

We have been going to fall ballgames on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the past few weeks. It finally turned cold this past week and I had to put on leggings under my pants and a sweater and a blanket, but I do enjoy watching the little ones play.

That first cold evening which I know is all relevant to where you live  is so shocking to the system. It seems so much colder than it actually is but when you live in a warm weather climate it can be a blast on the system. 

September and October have been very pleasant months but not fallish at all. I think the Florida fall arrived so November is giving me some vibes.

College football is not helping me at all. Being an Auburn girl has been hard for a few years now. I am so ready for a change there.

Enough of that.

Here are the kiddos in their Halloween costumes. We were in St. Augustine for that, but I will document the costume choices. 

Tucker and Palmer chose Darth Vader and the Incredible Hulk.

Miles was Spiderman and Valerie a sheep... minus the mask and ears. 

Lindsay got a promotion. I am not going to tell you her title due to privacy issues but it is a BIG DEAL. She had to be board approved which I knew would happen. She is very qualified! I was in charge of making sure 3 little boys were quiet while this all happened. They did great! The family was there to support her that night. 

Her new duties will officially start in January, but she is super busy right now getting all the details with her new job while getting ready to hire someone to replace her current position. Mama is just trying to be there to help.

Many will remember her birth with Palmer was rough and endometriosis has reared its ugly head since . She will be having a procedure on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to hopefully alleviate that. No hysterectomy on the docket but she has been told not to have children anyway, sooooo other than her age that might not have been a bad idea. We are just praying for the right thing to be done to help her. She is a tough cookie.

A bluebird landed on the deck the other day. That is very rare for this time of year. I usually only see them in early spring here. I do love my bird watching. I just happened to walk over to the window and there it was.

A little Gus who is the best cuddle.

A little Valerie in warmer clothes on that first cold day.

I have some reading to share soon and I am sincerely going to try and post once a week for the month of November.

Quote from Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember by Barbara Rainey

After 65 days at sea from Plymouth (a total ofd 97 days from the first launch at Southampton), the Pilgrims caught a glimpse of their destination, the new land where God would be worshipped freely and -- in time -- where freedom would flourish. Shouting for joy and falling to their knees to pray, they celebrated by reading Psalm 100.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, 

And His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him; bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His lovingkindness is everlasting, 

And His faithfulness to all generations.

The book is so good. I will need to share more about it later. 

That is it for now...Going to try and stay awake until 9:00. It seems like is midnight and only 6:25. Oh this time....I must remain positive.

Sandy

 

October 18, 2025

As usual, time just gets away with life. I am still kicking, but was surprised that 3 weeks had passed so quickly. 

Here goes a catch up post.

*****

I have been stitching on 2 things. This first one I was enjoying, but I came across something that would make a wonderful Christmas gift if I can finish it. 

First up is the one I have been working on for fall.

The pattern is below and I think because of the pattern that AIDA will work quite well.

I ordered it from 123 Stitch and it may have to be finished for Fall 2026, since I did come across a pattern for the gift. It is a 12 Days of Christmas pattern and I immediately thought of a good friend who has helped me so much in the past few years. She has held my hand through so much of Jeff's diagnosis of Parkinson's so... if I can finish it that would be nice. I won't worry about it, just try.

Here is the pattern from Stoney Creek. My friend Anne loves the Christmas lights at Calloway Gardens. I specially remember the 12 Days of Christmas from last year when we went together. 

I am stitching them altogether in a grid and thinking a quilted type finish to hang on a door would be a nice finish. We will see what I come up with when I finish the stitching. I started from the bottom and plan to do 4 rows of 3. I have a little more to stitch on number 10.

Now, for some things going on here in the last 3 weeks...

I finally decorated for fall inside and now I feel like life is going by very rapidly. I always feel like fall is the fastest season. I am not sure why, but before you know it is Thanksgiving and people have already forgotten that and have decorated for Christmas. I am a huge Thanksgiving fan. 

I think the weather has been amazing here. It is not what people think of when they think of fall, but it is beautiful nonetheless. 

Blue skies. Perfect warm weather. Lights changing but still giving me plenty of it. Cotton fields a bloom still while some has been harvested and you get those big beautiful bales. All of it reeks of fall in northwest Florida.

I did plant my orange pansies yesterday. I love that they will take me through the winter.

***

Little Valerie at church in one of the dresses Mama smocked for Lindsay all those years ago. She is a cutie in it.

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We have had another home improvement project this month. It was a quick one and only took a couple of hours. I mentioned earlier that after the removal of the pine trees the kitchen and living room got tons of sun and heated up pretty intensely.

We have thought about lots of options, but Jeff remembered at our previous home we had one of those half circle windows above the French doors in a vaulted great room. It let in a lot of sun and heat in the afternoons. We had gotten a window tinting on it and it had solved the issue. That was 35 years ago, so our thoughts were it would be much improved now.

We had them do the bay windows in the kitchen pictured above and the French doors in the living room right behind my stitching chair. That is all we did. I had really observed the situation for a while and think that will take care of it. We decided we can always add more windows if needed. 

The day we had them install was an overcast day, so we couldn't really tell what it would be like.

You can see that is it darker than the doors out to the deck by the table. We didn't want them all done because it will make the room a good bit darker. We have had several weeks to think it over and I must say we are good with the decision. At first it was liking looking through some lighter sunglasses, but the view is not obstructed with curtains or blinds. We are totally used to the new look now.

The outside does have a darker look, but we have dark screens so we got out on the boat the next day and it is not an issue at all. In fact, the next picture the doors do not have film on them....

and the ones below are the ones that we covered by my stitching chair in the living room. 

We just didn't notice much from the boat so I think we are all good. 

The plus side is if we ever sell, this is removable if future owners didn't like it.

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Jeff is pictured with Paul Allen's dog, Dansby below. They were at the vet. You may want to caption it and then I will tell you what was happening.

The day before Paul Allen arrived home to discover Dansby had eaten 2 boxes of raisins. If you don't know, raisins are highly toxic and can cause kidney failure. Paul Allen gets home after picking up Miles and I take Valerie to him about 5 minutes after he arrives home. I walk in and he is on the phone with the vet. They told him if he could get Dansby there in 20 minutes they could see him, otherwise it would be an emergency vet. I told him to go. I had the kiddos. 

They gave him a shot to cause him to throw up. He threw up 36 raisins and had to drink about a liter of charcoal water. He was fine the remainder of the day. They wanted to take his bloodwork the next morning to make sure he was all good, so Jeff took him in the next day. He was sitting on the floor, but decided he needed to be closer to Jeff while waiting. Fortunately, he is fine.

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Now, for a funny...

Miles and Palmer were talking and Palmer who takes after me and loves dogs. I mean as much as me.

So, he asked Miles if he liked Dansby. Miles said, "Not really, but my dad really does."

This is funny on many accounts. The conversation between a 3 year old and a 4 year old, but also truth. Miles has no interest in the dog. Palmer can't imagine that.

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We went as family to Auburn last weekend. We had bought tickets for the kids to go to the game and we kept the grandchildren. It also turned out that long time friends were there as well.

A little backstory...

Jeff and the other Jeff have been friends since junior high. They were roommates in Auburn. I met Jeff in our apartment complex and the other Jeff met his wife in that same complex too. They lived here in Fort Walton all of our kids' lives. We did a lot of life together. Lots of Auburn trips were made with our 2 (Lindsay and Paul Allen) and their 3 boys. It has been ages since all 9 of us have been together. And of course, now they are married with kids too. Jeff and his wife Nancy have a home on the same street as us in Auburn. Their permanent home is in Huntsville. 

We were altogether for the first time in ages. I thought the below picture was just precious.  Sam, the same age as Paul Allen and the father of twin boys and one on the way was making them all tell each other their names. I put stars on the ones that you could see their faces and are not mine. One of the twins is kind of hidden behind Palmer. There were 7 kids, 8 if you count Valerie.

They had lots of fun and there were some tired boys for Jeff and I to watch. Didn't have too much trouble getting them to bed.

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Tucker has turned 7. I can not even believe that. 7 years ago he made me a grandmother. One of my best titles.

He is now old enough for a big bike. I feel like it is a new era for him.

He can ride it and Palmer not to be outdone has taken his old bike and will have it down soon. 

My life is completely busy with the kiddos and my mom and just the regular things of life. Sometimes I long for it to be a little less chaotic, but I would not change a thing about living near family. The boys are playing fall ball and it seems like someone always has an issue like a dog eating raisins. We took Lindsay's dog to the vet for a UTI 2 weeks ago. I am just glad I can help them out. 

I am thinking about making a list of all the things I can do in my sewing room or around the house for the months of November, December, and January when the sun goes down too soon. I want to try and avoid going to sleep too early. It is already happening. I need a list of things that I am mostly sitting to do but will keep me awake during those months for at least until 9:00.

We will see how successful I am. Determined not to dread those days this year!!!

For now, enjoying fall in Florida,

Sandy