Sunday Dinner and Monday's Breakfast!

   Saturday I worked in the sewing room nearly all day long.

I do believe it will take me the rest of the summer to get my house back in order - but that's okay!

It's a process and I am enjoying arranging order and design from the messy chaos.

Besides, it's time to purge some things I will never use and no longer even want.

It seems that's what we do all our lives.

Move the old worn things out and make room for the better versions of whatever we are redeeming.

Back in September of 2019 we had a terrible flood here in Irving while we were up in Canada after our Alaskan cruise. The water came in the den and sewing room and rose to a good half foot or more.

The den furniture fared better than what we have in the sewing room.

I have two pieces that are in need of replacing.....

a bookcase for our cookbook collection.....

a low chest that holds craft supplies.....

and one piece - my sewing machine cabinet that needs some serious repair work.

The water damage has caused the pressed wood to crumble when we moved them!

My main mission Saturday was to redeem the dining room so I could host a Sunday dinner for my two oldest grandsons.

I am loving these pretty sunflower plates and the rich deep colors.

It's not fall yet but I have started bringing my sunflower decorations in and just seeing them makes me so happy.

Louis Dean's main job on Saturday was cooking a big brisket and he did a fine job of it!

By the end of the day, he had cooked it to perfection in the roaster oven outside on the deck, sliced it up and I packed it in a big container that was so full I couldn't snap the lid on so I had to set some heavy things in the fridge on top of it!

On June 1st, my son, Jesse, helped me order a new laptop that was scheduled for delivery on the 28th.

It would have been sooner but they were experiencing shortages of some components from China.

As it happened, though, I received a message that it had shipped earlier and on Sunday morning at 9:00, there was a knock on the door and my laptop had arrived!

Jesse went right in and sat right down and started working on getting it ready for me.

That's because I do not know how to transfer pictures, documents and the hundred other things you have to do to set up a new laptop.

He worked for 4+ hours doing all the ins and outs of things!

And he will continue to tweak things for me in the coming days and weeks.

What a gift Jesse gave me!

His time and expertise!

"No need for a Geek Squad", he said, "you have me!"

The boys arrived before 6:00 on Sunday evening and I had dinner all ready!

Using four crockpots made it easier to do.

One crockpot for the BBQ brisket, one for the cream cheese corn, one for the garlicky green beans and one for the baked potatoes. Have you done that? Baked potatoes in a crockpot? It works great!

Dessert was a huge banana pudding calling for 8 cups of milk!

And right before they arrived, I baked some snickerdoodles so the house would smell good when they walked in!

These rolls from Aldi are SO good!!

Fresh watermelon with mint.

I meant to get some feta cheese to sprinkle over it but I forgot.

Sliced onions and dill pickles just like Dickies BBQ!

We enjoyed out time around the table just talking and listening to some of Louis Dean's stories about his childhood. The boys talked of past MiMi Camps and the one we had at the ranch.

They want to go back there and see all the changes!

While I did the dishes, the guys all carried boxes of Jesse's things to take to his new apartment out to the truck and Louis Dean packed them all in with a little room to spare.

The rest will be packed up and his new move in date is now Friday the 17th.

It was supposed to be Wednesday but you know not much goes according to plan.

No worries. It all works out.

I suggested we all take in a movie and we had just enough time for two rounds of NUTS card game before we left! Levi won the first one and Sam the second!

I am no longer the Queen of Nuts!

Even Louis Dean joined us at the movies!

I have been wanting to see this and now I have!

It was really good!

What a great Sunday we had!

We went to the Movie Tavern since he loves to get a stein of beer!

It was well after midnight when we got to bed and the only reason I woke up was because of the sound of silence. You know how it is when the power goes off and the AC and fans quit working and it is QUIET??

Louis Dean suggested we get dressed and go out for coffee - meaning breakfast - and so we did.

I put my hair and make up on using the light from my phone.

It was DARK in the house but I didn't want to open any doors to let the light and heat in and the cool air out. We are in our 100+ degree days of Texas Summer Heat!

I suggested we eat at First Watch - a new kind of breakfast place - instead of the old school Joe's Coffee Shop he likes. He took one look at the menu and could not find eggs, bacon and hash browns anywhere on it!

He finally settled on two pancakes and the million dollar bacon!

The coffee was good and the food excellent and he was a happy camper!

Not what you'd get at Joe's!

Both places are good but it's nice to change things up a little.

From there we went to Tuesday morning in search of new drapes for the sewing room.

I found exactly what I was looking for and came home and got busy!

Even so, I took a nap and paced myself and still got most of the room cleaned, restored and decorated.

Tomorrow I will address the little area left in here but for tonight - I am done!

Candles lit and wine poured as I have written this journal entry tonight.

It's been a really good Monday!