Cards and Cucumbers.....and Sandford and Son News.

This has been a stay-at-home day which is one of my favorite kind!

Trystan slipped this note to me while we were in church Sunday.

I think it's the sweetest thing! SHE is the sweetest thing!

Truly! Of all four of the quads - Trystan is the sweetest.

They all have strengths but sweet is hers.

The note has lived on my bedside table since Sunday and I have read it at least once a day since. 

Twice yesterday.

I received a Box of Blessings this morning in the mail!

These hand crafted cards - each one a work of art - are from my long time friend in Florida, Sharon B. Her daughter swam with the Pirouettes of Texas Synchronized Swim Team along with Amber.

I am so proud of these cards! Sharon is a real artist!

I already have one written and addressed with a stamp attached ready to put in the morning mail.

I fixed a patriotic breakfast this morning - red, white and blue!

Cottage cheese with fruit and a blueberry bagel with cream cheese.

This gave us the energy to go out in the backyard and tackle some clean up projects.

Sanford and Son have been 'living' in our back yard ever since we married.

Louis Dean keeps everything. He actually uses a good bit in one project or another but there's so much out there that he can't find the things he needs. He buys tools and such but they are buried under piles of junk. There's no way I would take a real photo of the part of the yard they live in.....

Half of our property back there used to be pretty with gardens and the gazebo and two ponds.

All of the pretty part is a mess due to the ditches Louis Dean has dug for the additional French drains and sump pumps he's putting in. The other half seems to have gotten worse - not better lately.

Today he was in a get it done mood and I volunteered to help him.

That steel was a Basket Ball stand from my now 52 year old son. It was there a long time looking good on our driveway. Both Jesse, Jr and then 20 years later, Benjamin, used it. Real steel and real heavy. When Louis Dean and I married, he took it down so he could park his truck.

That was 14 years ago next month. It's been in the back yard ever since.

Until today! At first he said, "I can't do it." It was way too heavy for him to lift alone.

Next thing I know he's got a piece of that sewer PVC pipe down and between the two of us - we rolled that sucker out from the far corner of the backyard all the way to the curb - threading it through the narrow space between the house and two storage buildings. Ge also took the old chairs from the gazebo to the curb. I'd had them going on 30 years. Plus various other things!

Praise God!!!

It was hard work but we did it!

Came in and watched the pilot of The Closer.

Of all the TV shows we have watched - this was our favorite.

I fixed a good sandwich lunch and we rested.

Then he was back out there digging up the planter for his cucumber plants.

He started them from seed while we were at the ranch but they were getting so big we needed to get them in the ground. He prepared the soil and I planted them. Plus I cleaned out the garden storage bin that I had used as a toy box for the quads. That was kind of sad to dump nearly all of it in bags to take to the Goodwill. But it was time. They had outgrown most of it, anyway.

I kept the Legos and Matchbox cars, rubber balls and chalk as well as the Play Dough things.

The Legos were Benjamin's as were the cars and I am saving them for when he has children. 

He's only 30 and still single right now.

That left plenty of room for the chair cushions and pillows.

That was another round of hard work but we wanted it done before the storms move in tonight and tomorrow. I was so tired I came in and took a shower and went to bed for awhile.

But I remembered we haven't eaten supper so I am about to fill our favorite bowls with a heart healthy salad and call it a day. Originally I had planned a steak dinner with loaded baked potatoes.

Perhaps tomorrow......

I'm pretty sure we are going to eat and go to bed.

We are NOT passing GO and NOT collecting $200!