Home, Laundry, New Doctor, Bathroom Redo, and Visits with Friends and Family!

 I got up Monday morning and took my coffee out on the carport deck to finish whacking up the pile of denim squares. I had set a goal and I made it! I cut dozens of the larger squares and this will make a quilt go faster - plus it's a change from the smaller squares I've been using.

I saw Tabitha sitting there on the table after I brought my stack of denim squares in and wondered if she knew we were about to go home?

That's Louis Dean's one ton Dodge Ram truck and it was PACKED!!

We were taking home two storage pieces I'd bought at Sam's plus the tiller he'd bought the first week we were down there in addition to all the other debris like rugs, covers, laundry and so much more.

We are not ones who travel lightly!

The horses came up to tell us goodbye and I fed them lettuce and celery and watermelon.

I miss feeding critters when I'm in the city.

I really do miss my opossums!

It was sometime after 2:00 by the time I had finished cleaning and vacuuming.

We go back on Monday (there's a bee meeting on Tuesday) so it will be nice to return to a clean camper and front room! And running water in both!

We got home shortly after 5:00 what with stopping to get ice cream cones at the Dairy Queen before we ever left Mart and then we had several potty breaks. It's just 110-115 miles from the ranch gate to our front door but it always seems to take us awhile to drive it!

It's always nice to come home to no surprises - thanks to our sweet neighbor, Ilene!

She watched the house and watered for us and was such a blessing. Thanks to her for catching a faucet that was accidently left on and for keeping all my flowers alive!

It's also nice to come home to a stack of real mail!

Most of what arrives in our mail box is junk - but we do receive some treasures and I loved sitting down with a glass of iced tea and reading my cards and a newsy letter and opening a box with a beautiful gold bee necklace! Thank you.....Sharon, Susie Q, Sharilyn, Rayne, Amber, Darlene, and Jean and Sheila!

THIS is the way my laundry room looked Monday night AFTER I had washed a few loads. 

It's all done now but it was a marathon!

Bed felt good that night!

While we were at the ranch, I got yet another bladder infection.

My urologist had referred me to Dr. Geoffrey Nuss in Arlington, Texas.

His office called last week and we set up an appointment for Tuesday....

It was a really big place. I haven't been to a new doctor in a long time!

You walk a lot when you go here!

It's upstairs and it's HUGE! The waiting room was full so I figured I would be there awhile. I checked in and my paperwork was already in the system so I didn't have to fill out papers! Since I needed to go to the bathroom (Duh!) they told me where to go and as I was coming out of the bathroom door, a staff member asked me, "Are you Mrs. Chapman?" I was led straight to an examining room. Talk about efficiency!!

Turns out, this is one cool doctor. Tall and lean and wears cowboy boots, wranglers and a longstreet western shirt - no doctor coat! AND he said, "Just call me Jeff!"

Bottom line, I am encouraged!

There's a reason for my continued infections.

I had reconstructive surgery on my bladder in 2003 and it's time to have another one.

I go back on the 21st for a test to determine if there's any other problem before we schedule the surgery.

Win! WIN!!

God continues to bless me with wonderful doctors.

I'll be sure and bake some cookies for my next visit.

The medical office is less than 5 miles from where my oldest son lives.

He was in a motorcycle accident inside the parking garage where he works and seriously injured his knee. This happened while we were down at the ranch and I have been yearning to see him with my eyes.

He's my first born son and I felt so much better once I saw him.

He's a coffee connoisseur and he talked to me about coffee and I shared with him about the bees and honey and we had the nicest visit.

I just looked at a photo of my brother, Buster, and I do believe I see a family resemblance in Jesse.

Wednesday, Louis Dean started putting together the thing I bought for his bathroom - a storage place for his t-hirts and socks and such. We actually started on this when I got back from Arlington on Tuesday evening. We spent hours and made no progress. However, I arranged all the parts on a tray with the identifying labels and we had all the pieces out - but we still could NOT figure out how to put it together.

Thank the Lord for a good night's sleep!

It was frustrating and it took several more hours.....and we scratched up the newly painted walls pretty good in the process......

but we Got 'R DONE!!

Or at least the unit is put together and the batroom is straightened up.

I still need to repaint - I must not have sealed the stucco plaster well enough before I painted the walls.

I'm going to buy a can of faux glaze to mix with the paint (after I do the touch ups) and maybe this will help. Plus I did the faux glaze in the laundry room and I love the way that looks.

I must love green. The laundry room and kitchen are both green and there's green in the wallpaper in our bedroom.

As soon as we finished, we got dressed and in the car and headed to Fort Worth by way of Arlington!

I love this road that leads to my son's home.
It's called Forest Edge Drive....

I forgot to bring the package of coffee I had bought for Jesse when we were in Culvert, Texas last Thursday.

It was nice getting to see my son two days in a row.....

and I loved seeing Levi! I simply cannot look at his face without smiling!!

This is his sweet dog!

Faith has a dog, too, as does Sam so it's a three-dog home!

I didn't get a pic of Faith but I did get to tour her room which I dearly love!!

As a matter-of-fact, I love their entire house! Country French and so warm and cozy and calm.

Soft music played and I could feel myself relaxing.

Jesse is in bed 24/7 until he has surgery but he has all his coffee things right there beside him and he made up a cup of the coffee I had brought him. I learned a lot and there's still so much more I don't know. Coffee is as fascinating as wine!

We left there and drove over to the nursing home to see Lillian, picking up a couple of pizzas on our way.

This was the first time Louis Dean has been there to play music for her since late 2019!

It was a blessing toget to hug and hold hands again.

I remember when I would visit and we would put our hands up to the glass door that stood between us.

Just look at her super cute shoes!

I'm so encouraged by this visit.

She loved getting some well deserved attention!

Who wouldn't love being serenaded by a tall dark handsome man?

Lillian is just a year older than Louis Dean.

We all ate pizza - we had bought two and I was going to leave one at the nurses station, but Lillian had some ziplock bags and saved the extra slices to eat the next day. Good for her!

Louis Dean sang for well over an hour and then he stayed to visit with her while I made a Walmart run to get her some soft drinks. She said she did not have even ONE!!

Well, she has plenty now!!

It was a wonderful visit!

Thing is I got way too tired and it was DARK when we drove home....and I say 'we' because it took both of us to drive since neither one of us see well at night.

I was SO glad to get home, take a shower and slide into bed!

Today (Thursday) was my July lunch date with Brenda.

I had picked up a rotisserie chicken last night and some fresh salad fixings so we had a healthy Chef's salad for lunch. I served our ice tea in my Kansas City glasses my sister, Rita, gave me. 

The pepper poppers are made with peppers I picked fresh from my garden this morning.

LOVE these things!

Louis Dean sang us a song before we ate......

Old Dogs and children and ....watermelon wine.

After Brenda went back to work, I shopped Aldi. We are having a music jam session/dinner party on Saturday and guess what I found? Watermelon wine!

Tonight we took Ilene out to eat at The Catch!

This three in a row photo reminds me of the photo booths you could sit in and it would spit out a strip of photos!

It was a fun dinner out and the food was good and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with Ilene.

I'm up way too late tonight but I wanted to catch up - I've been too tired by the end of the day to write my daily journal entries this week.

My heart is hurting for Chris, Chandy's husband, tonight.

He was injured in a freak accident with a power washer a few days ago.

Chandy took him to the ER and he had surgery on his hand but things have taken a turn for the worse.

There was more trauma and nerve/tissue damage than the doctor realized at first. His fingers are dying....he was re-admitted to the hospital and had surgery this evening. There's a 50% chance he will lose his entire hand. Praying for Chris and Chandy tonight and will pray every time I wake up through the night.