Tuesday With My Friend and then a Water Event!

Reaoma was my next door neighbor for over 17 years! She and her husband, Doug, moved to the country and built a wonderful home there. Amber and Ben loved to visit them during the month of August every year! We would drive down there and stay for several days. Doug took them fishing, they rode horses, went swimming, climbed the tall pine trees, did target practice - so many things!! Doug and Reaoma cooked their favorite foods for them and treated them like they were their very own grandchildren! Going to 'Rainbow's End' was like summer camp to them and Doug was the best 'father figure' they ever knew growing up.

Doug taught Amber how to drive down there. Doug and Reaoma meant so much to me and my youngest two children.

Doug passed away two years ago. Amber was already pregnant with the quads when we learned about the cancer. It was impossible for her to travel to see him one last time. He did know about her pregnancy and marveled that she was going to have FOUR babies!! Doug had known and loved Amber her entire life.
She used to sit in the window sill of her bedroom and watch for him to come home from work. No matter how tired he was - Doug always made time for that little girl. She adored him and he adored her.

Reaoma has moved back to Irving and it is wonderful to have her close by again!
I picked her up today and we drove over to Quadville to see the babies.
This was her second time to visit them.

She said Doug would have been so proud of Amber!

Harrison climbed right up into her lap and Reaoma turned the pages of the book while Harrison told her all about the pictures! 

This pic was taken back last August - her first visit.

Reaoma has lost some of her sight but she can still see well enough to take in a movie with me.

pic taken last August

We saw Draft Day with Kevin Costner.

Her favorite kind of movie is a romantic comedy!

So far we have see Non-Stop and now Draft Day!

Surely a romantic comedy will be showing up at Starplex or the Cinemark 10 soon!

After I took Reaoma home I stopped by the grocery store and was looking forward to coming home and having an hour or two of alone time before Louis Dean returned from Quadville. I'm not alone very often anymore and sometimes I yearn for a little 'Just Me' time.

Alas, as I was putting up the groceries I noticed WATER in the utility room!

A LOT of WATER!!!

I got my Rainbow vacuum and quickly started sucking up water!

It was coming in faster than I could suck it up!

I felt like a grown up because I had the presence of mind to go out in the front yard and turn the water OFF!

Or NEARLY off! I couldn't pull it all the way but it DID slow down.

I went back in and kept sucking up water until Louis Dean got home when he went out to turn the water off and turned it ON instead! We DO have our moments!

Long story short - we will be starting our utility room makeover - originally slated for AFTER MiMi Camp -about 6 weeks earlier than planned! Turns out it was the water heater and that is something Louis Dean has been wanting to replace for a long time. He wants an electric one - not gas!

We are taking a wine break in the gazebo before going in to get more water out of the den carpet.

Sherry and Cindy stopped by and I read the beautiful letter from Ruth Ann who has been spending a few weeks at her farm out loud to them and Louis Dean. We had a 'Ruth Ann' Reading! She is a gifted writer that can truly paint pictures with her words.

That reminded me of Doug and Reaoma - Amber has always been a writer and as she was growing up she would send them some of her essays. Reaoma used to say they had 'Amber Readings' in the evening.

Life is kind of funny! A little adventure.....good friends.....change.....

As Louis Dean and I were working with all that water he said, 

"Linda, I am so glad we are who we are!"

I asked him what he meant and he said,

"We don't panic or get upset when things go wrong. We just go with it and turn it into another adventure!"