More September Days....

 I've loved every single September Day this year and we still have 16 more!

This is the turkey pot pie I made and we finished the last of it up last night!

It is Saturday afternoon as I write my journal entry.

Thursday morning I got up early and pulled myself together before gently waking Louis Dean up.

He remembered we were going to Fort Worth Texas Department of Public Safety for an 11:00 appointment to switch his Driver's License for a Texas ID card.

I wasn't surprised when I couldn't find his wallet but I WAS surprised when he said he had hidden it from me. Of course now even HE couldn't find it - but he did in time to keep the appointment!

It helped that we went to the office where my niece Trish works and they were all so sweet and kind.

While Louis Dean was not happy about doing it - he did it with grace and humor.

He was a bit blue and very quiet when we got back in the car.

I had baked cookies earlier that morning to take to Lily. That's Joni's mother and Nita's ex mother-in-law that Nita loved so very much.

When I got to the assisted living place - Louis Dean said to take my time but he was going to stay in the car. I could tell he was depressed.

I visited with Lily about a half hour and asked LD if he'd like to go out to eat. I was trying to think of something to do to cheer him up and take his mind off of things.

That's when I remembered the movie my friend Debbie had recommended!

God's timing was perfect and the movie did the trick!

Plus I bought him a tall mug of draft Shiner Bock and a large platter of food!

Three small cheeseburgers, cheesy dries and a pile of Buffalo wings.

I ordered a garden salad and ice tea.

It was a really good movie and LD could relate to it as it contained long term memories of those Reagan years. Since I knew it would end on a sad note about Alzheimer's - we started gathering up our things to leave during that part and he never noticed the ending.

Joni had driven over and was waiting in the bar for us so we had a nice visit with her and Louis Dean enjoyed that! Plus she brought me two big bags of delicious pecan coffee!!

He was a happy camper all the way home and chatted and chatted and told me lots of his stories!

We had not been home long when I was on the front porch and son Dean drove up in the driveway. He was spending the night on his way to Oklahoma the next day to a karate event. THEN - as a bonus - Ilene was out walking and came in for a nice visit and a glass of Chardonnay!

We all sat out in the gazebo and talked. Ilene got a phone call and I got a call from my Brother Buster in Kansas City so LD and son went over to the new deck to admire it.

What could have been an extreemly stressful day turned out to be fun like a party!

We ended up in the den and the guys watched a movie and drank a couple of beers while I went on to bed.

Friends and Family make all the difference!

For weeks and weeks Louis Dean has been asking when  we were going to get the three bags of peat moss and six bags of garden soil......well, Friday was THE day!

Son Dean was up before we were and we all had coffee together before he headed out and we went to Home Depot.

My friend, Shirley, came over for a tea and cookie visit and it was a real blessing to just sit and talk. 

Louis Dean even joined us for a good while.

He likes it when people pay attention to him!

Don't we all??

Look what we had for dessert Friday night!!

Homemade German Chocolate Cake that Shirley shared with us!!

Today (Saturday) has been a good one.

Louis Dean is always fixing something!

Notice he doesn't color his hair much anymore.

We have been working in the yard and planting plants.

He bought a tomato plant and six small Brussel sprout plants - and paid a pretty penny for them.

He doesn't even LIKE Brussel sprouts but here he is watering them!

He tries to gather all the stuff he wants and pay for it and load it while I am looking at something else!

Sneaky man! It's a good things he's so cute!

I'm going for low maintenance with English ivy and Mondo grass.

I'll close for now as I need to gout and give LD a haircut.

It's Saturday night and we are planniing on attending church in the morning!

More September Morns.....

 Monday was my time to have a mammogram and it was an easy peasy exam.

At least I am assuming it was. They sent me an enscipted email that I tried to jump through all the hoops to read - but to no avail. I am assuming it was 'normal' results and if not - surely they will communicate with me in a way that I can respond.

All these electronic communications drive me crazy!

I'm barely able to keep up with texts and emails and instant messages.

The ins and outs of things I do NOT know would amaze you!

Life is especially good when Louis Dean has a project!

And it needs to be a BIG one to keep him occupied for awhile.

Redeeming the back yard has been a good thing for him to do - and an answer to my prayers!

I'm loving every one of these September morns......

The Texas Sage is blooming!

I go out on the kitchen deck with my first cup of coffee and soak in the beauty of the God's creation.

There's a pair of birds who sit together on a bare branch of a huge tree two doors down from us.

They are there every morning.

As are we - Louis Dean and I - sitting and watching them.

I normally only make Texas Trash in December for Christmas and yet last year I did not!

I don't remember why I didn't but maybe I thought my family was tired of it.

But last week when Brenda and I were talking about the holidays and I told her I had skipped making it - she said, "Well, if you make it again - I WANT some!"

So I had an instant inspiration for her birthday gift!

She and I are both September babies!

Fruitcake cookies and Fire Blankets were my gifts to her.

AND a tin of Texas Trash!

We celebrated her birthday with lunch at El Fenix after our Tuesday Treasure hunting.

What a joy and blessing to spend time with your best friend.

Do YOU have one?

Brenda is my very first BEST friend ever....

I have many friends for many years but she is my only very BEST friend.

We've known each other at least 30 years or more.

Who knew I would be an old lady before I ever had a best friend?

God is full of surprises.

Who knew I would find true love at the age of 57 on eHarmony?

Life is an amazing journey and I am grateful for the design God has for mine.

My pictures loaded out of order and I am too tired to fix them so this is the faux succulents I bought Tuesday.

I put them in a pot on my herb garden which has some real plants in it as well.

These are the fake ones.

A wonderfully scented candle for $5 at Pop Shelf!

And these two medicine cases.....$3 each.

They are zippered so I can keep them in the bathroom without them getting mushy!

I love Targets scented dishwashing soap and I will be loving this one from Meyer's!

The Pop Shelf store is a blend of Target and the Dollar stores.

My total haul for the day.

This is all from the thrift store.

It was such a good Tuesday - until it wasn't!

I came home and the truck was GONE!

Louis Dean had escaped!

It hasn't been a problem lately and I neglected to take the keys to the truck.

Truth be told - I couln't find them but I wasn't worried.

No problem, I  thought.

I tracked him on my Apple tag - THANK YOU, Summer, for gifting me this!

I tried not to panic and resisted the impulse to go  look for him.

I unloaded my tresures and Aldi purchases and put things away while trying to hold back my tears and avoid an emotional breakdown.

I knew he was wandering around and trying to find his way home by looking at my app.

He finally figured out the right direction and I knew he was close to home.

We had a bit of a confrontation once he was here safe and sound.

Even he realized he was not supposed to be driving. It scared him and it certainly scared ME!!

This is my SCARED look!

We ended the evening with a glass of wine on the driveway and a good long talk about the changes we are facing.

Change is hard for anyone at any age and we are goimg through some big ones.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are driving to Fort Worth to see my niece Trish at the DMV office to surrender Louis Dean's driver's license and get a Texas ID card.

I am so grateful for family that makes these hard changes easier.

Another issue that has developed is that Louis Dean forgets to eat.....and that freaks me out!

I have to purposely set out food and insist he eat it!

In the evenings we usually watch a program and we have totally exhausted John Wayne and most westerns!

So last night I found U-571!

It was a win! WIN!!!

I'm all in in Matthew McConaughey!

Right now while I am writing tonight's journal entry he iswatching....

with Christopher Plummer.....

I am always looking for movie suggestions for Louis Dean!

Sometimes I am scrolling and scrolling looking for something he will like.

It's becoming a big deal.

So.....have any of my friends discovered this?

Amber had some the other day and now I am addicted!

Normally, I'm not a sugar lover.....my downfall is salt and wine.

But, OH MY GOODNESS! These are so GOOD!!!

Today (Wednesday) was a home day and Louis Dean and I both love that!

He puttered and so did I.

I took a two hour nap this afternoon because I could.

Having time to myself is such a blessing that I never take for granted.

Louis Dean was up in the night listening to music on YouTube with his headphones on at 2:00 this morning. The next time I woke up to check on him it was 4:00 AM...

It is a real blessing that he can stay up late at night and it doesn't involve me.

Then he sleeps in later than I do and that gives me some quiet morning time to myself.

God has a way of working everything out.

Dinner tonight....

Watermelon/Feta Cheese/and fresh mint....

Turkey pot pie filling.....

I dearly love a ripe cantaloupe!

Lord, help me to be this kind of friend......

A Few MORE September Morns!

 I have been loving these milder September Days......

It's cool enough to turn the AC off and open the back bedroom door when I wake up.

At least for a few minutes!

I do my prayer time, scripture reading and prayer journal while I enjoy mu first cup of coffee and the sweet fresh air.

For my second cup of coffee, I carry it outside on the kitchen deck.

I love looking up at the sky as I continue to pray and meditate.

Our backyard is a registered Back Yard Habitat and we see so many critters out here.

Louis Dean loves putting up bird houses and filling the feeders!

Once the sun hits the kitchen deck, we relocate to the patio outside our bedroom where we read Little House on the Prairie and our John Wayne book.

Louis Dean found a Home Depot bucket full of sea shells and dumped them all along one edge of the new garden bed he built recently. He said he needed to use the bucket!

Friday morning I was awake at 4:20 - my alarm was set for 4:30!

Amber had a medical appointment for 8:00 so I went over to do the school run for the Bell Grands!

I LOVE doing that and I took special fall cups and napkins along with a teapot of hot cocoa, toasted Brioche rolls with butter and cinnamon sugar, pumpkin muffins and bacon!

We had a leisurley time together and at 8:30 we were on our way to school!

I love this so much better than when they were in elementary school and had to BE there before 7:30!!

I dropped them off and went back home to pick up Louis Dean.

He did a few dishes - he absolutely LOVES washing dishes!

Then we went to Trader Joe's - I love that place!!!

He bought a big bouquet of flowers for Amber!

Her procedure went well and she is doing fine!

She and I both love movies so we watched Hollywood Homicide......

This was LD's expression through out!

NOT a John Wayne film!!!

I took dinner over and we all had dessert first!

A plain yellow cake mix cake with choclate frosting.

It is Mike's favorite and I've been making these for him since he was a lifeguard at North Lake Pool way back when!

Dinner was good and we ate in shifts.

The girls had gone straight from school to the high school to play in the band for the football game.

I wanted to see them play but it was late and I really and truly cannot drive in the dark anymore.

I CAN drive from my house to Amber's and back no matter the time - day or night.

The lights work and I can do this - but that's all!

Mike took this video so could 'see' the girls playing!

Since we were gone all day on Friday - Saturday was a 'Home Day!'

I finished a baby quilt and have it ready to mail plus I finished Chapter 35 of my book.

Alas, Word doc shut down and I lost part of it so regrouped and rewrote a hundred or more words - then saved it as Chapter 35 (Recovered). Then I couldn't FIND it but at last I did and went in to delete the OTHER Chapter 35 - but deleted the recovered one instead. I did a dumpster dive to get that one back and now I have TWO Chapter 35's and that's the way it is.

I emailed them to myself so they are now safe from drive by clicking!

Louis Dean and I enjoyed this appetizer tray in leiu of dinner on Saturday night.

I was really tired today (Sunday) so I watched church online and LD and I worked some outside.

He did some more work on his new deck while I worked on cutting back ground cover and pulled weeds.

Last night I finished the baby quilt for Louis Dean's GREAT -great - granddaughter!

I boxed it up and addressed the package.....

And I will mail it off tomorrow!

It was such a glorious day this blessed Sunday!

I turned the AC off and the attic fan on and opened the house up.

Samantha and Tabitha were both allowed to go outside and enjoy themselves.

They would stroll back in from time to time but they pretty much stayed in the backyard.

They are inside now and the doors are closed but I will be turning the attic fan on before we go to bed tonight. The low will be 60 degrees!!!

I am loving every single one of my September morns!!!