A Slow Saturday at The Chapmans......

The weather was beautiful today! Here it is February 7th and it was near 70 degrees! This time LAST year - there was snow on the ground!

Louis Dean is sick. He has what the quads had and has been in bed for much of the last two days.

I have been waiting on him hand and foot.

7 Up and crackers and Jello to snack on. Bringing him tissues - okay - let's be honest!!

LD is a BIG man and uses paper towels instead of 'tissues!'

We watched a little TV in between his naps.

I did manage to get out in the front flower bed this afternoon - the one by the front porch - and cut back all the rose bushes in it. I also trimmed the liriope and pulled mint up - that ever invasive MINT I planted many years ago!! I have been fighting this Love/Hate relationship for a long time. My second blog post back in 2010 was 'I Never MEANT......' about MINT!!!!

By the time I had filled two black trash bags with weeds, rose trimmings dried leaves and MINT - it smelled just like a fresh pack of Wrigley's Double MINT Gum!!!!

I dearly love my two rosemary bushes!!

They had a bunch of dried leaves caught up in them so I pulled all those out and the air was instantly infused with that wonderful scent!!!

Who KNEW yard work could be so FRAGRANT???

I've been putting the last of my Valentines out.

This tree is in our bedroom.

The teacher card was from Amber back in our homeschooling days.

I love how she signed it 'Sincerely!'

I have just about all the Valentines anyone has ever sent to me.

I hope to have some time to sort and organize them before packing them away this year.

Summer has always sent special cards every year.

This is one from many many years ago!

A special Valentine from Ben when he was about 3 years old.

I love all the memories this house holds.

I stayed busy doing what I love to do best - keeping house.

I started in the bedrooms and bathrooms and didn't make it much beyond that.

Candles are lit and the rooms smell 'Clean!'

I LOVE that smell!!!

Louis Dean sat up a little while tonight.

When he asked about the quads, I showed him a picture Amber had posted on Facebook of Kailey.

You can tell by his smile he is feeling a little better!!!

Maddie has stayed right by his side nearly all day!

Tonight he is sleeping in the guest room so I won't catch whatever 'IT' is!!

After being sick myself for over two weeks - I don't want anything else.

He's already tucked into bed and I am soon to follow.

I enjoy taking a few minutes at the end of the day to wrap it all up in a few photos and words and then store the day away where I can go back and read it again in time to come.

I have a box of letters I have collected over the years with a couple of them dating back to the late 1700's. 

These were written in pencil and are still legible today.

Others from the 1800's were written in such a way it looks like a foreign language!

I love reading letters from long ago. I have a book called 'Letters From a Homesteader' and will be looking for it so I can read it again.

I wonder if someday my children - and grandchildren - will be reading MY 'letters.'

I like to think that blogging is the current version of the old fashioned letter writing of generations past.

As I sit here at my little secretary in the den, I can hear the tinkle of the wind chimes and the hum of the dishwasher.....and the classical music on the CD player.

Of all the hours in the day - this last one at night may very well be my favorite.