Thursday, March 30, 2017

Redeeming Our Back Yard!!


I do love redeeming things!
 Our back yard has been in dire need of redemption for as long as we have been married - 12 years in June!  Finally we have been able to get a good head start on cleaning it up this year - thanks to such an early spring and no other major problems to deal with - as in replacing the gazebo last year and all the flooding situations we had the year before!


I have concentrated on the back yard and never even got around to cutting the roses back in February.
They are blooming beautifully!

Yesterday I cleaned the 'clean' rooms and worked my way from the back of the house into the dining room and sewing room and on out to the gazebo.


I put the wall art vinyl letters from Goodwill on the hall closet door.
Not bad for $0.75!!

Since Louis Dean was working so hard, I made him a hearty lunch!


Chopped steak in gravy with mashed potatoes and candied carrots and garlic toast.


Fried apples for dessert.
It was such a heavy meal that I had to take a two hour nap before I could go back to work!


I fixed lighter fare for a late dinner.....a super salad with white wine.


Our house doesn't set where we get good sunrise or sunset pictures but last night's sky was particularly pretty!


Such beautiful colors!


It was dark by the time I was ready to take photos of what we had accomplished.


We are getting there!!


And just in time, too!!
We normally host a Good Friday Dinner and by then our place should be looking the best it has in years!

Today we were right back at it.
Not early, mind you!
It was nearly 11:00 when I woke up and I slept soundly all night!



Louis Dean prepared the end of the flower bed and scraped the dirt off the stone edging.


He's been so busy working out here that he's lost 10+ pounds!


He does what he can do and I do what I can.
As in cleaning up this area behind the fence by the sandbox!


This is the other side of that fence. We hang the sandbox lid here when the kids are playing in it.
See that cut out square? We used to have a water faucet back there and Louis Dean cut that out so he could get to it easier! I have to watch him all the time or no telling what he will do!!


You can see at the end of the house we still have a lot of cleaning up to do!!


But progress is being made!! 


On the side deck, things are beginning to grow! I planted a bunch of stuff and then forgot what it was so I'm always surprised!


Oh, how I LOVE honeysuckle!!!
This bush is above the kitchen pond and I am so excited!


The only thing is - it is next to impossible to get back there and cut a bouquet.
However, I'm going to try tomorrow!


This wall is the outside of the Christmas house where I store all my decorations.
When I stand at my bedroom door - this is what I see.


And that's our bedroom door! 
The patio has been all cleaned up now!
The dark brown storage box is where the quads keep their toys.
Now the patio is cleaned up and they can even play over here!


That's where we stopped for the day.
We both worked hard.
I never made it to the kitchen which is the room I intended to clean today.
The most I did in there was unload and reload the dishwasher and for meals we 'cleaned out the fridge' - meaning we ate leftovers or whatever we could find.
I will cook proper meals tomorrow.


This is my blogging place tonight.
Louis Dean is burning some of the burnable trash - like old plywood pieces and roots and such.
I told him I would keep an eye on the fire while he took a nice hot soaking bath.


Bless his heart!
He was one tired fellow!


I can't tell you how happy this makes me - getting our property cleaned up!
Next year we MUST paint the house and there are so many other projects we need to do.
I have to remember to look at what is at hand and do that first. Don't look at the bigger picture except every now and then. It can be too overwhelming.

Now for an update on Summer.
Recovery can be a bit overwhelming, too.


She's been in pain for such a long time, it's important to remember complete recovery comes in increments. The piriformis is the culprit now and I am praying it settles down and releases its hold on her.

This is from her Facebook post this morning.

Wednesday was 1 month since my back surgery. My body has been healing exceptionally well. However the piriformis is still kicking my butt. Seems standing, sitting and walking for any extended time/distance causes flair ups. Today I was riding in the car and sitting in traffic and it's yelling at me. So I cracked open the pain pills and muscle relaxers. Bad thing is the muscle relaxer or the pain meds wire me and I can't sleep. Thankfully, I have my favorite recliner here and we are bonding again. Your prayers that the piriformis would release and the sciatica would relax would be so appreciated. I have learned all the stretches for the piriformis and do them daily but there's not a "fix" for this issue. My body has to decide when it's ready to stop the spasms, shooting & stabbing pain. Thank you!


Thank you all for the prayers prayed for her!
Now it is not even 10:00 so Louis Dean and I are going to enjoy another hour or two in the gazebo before we head to bed. Tomorrow is another day!!







Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Quad Monday and Thrifting Tuesday!

This week we did something a little different for Quad Monday.
I prepared breakfast for them and their mommy brought them over in their pajamas!


Here they came!


I served chocolate gravy - courtesy of Estelle's!
Harrison loves hash browns so we had that and crispy smoked bacon plus biscuits!


They loved it all!!


Here they are giving Mommy goodbye hugs.

Then we we told them about the new sand......


and they were so excited!!!


Brand new sand!
We used to have a hot tub here and the hole is really deep so there is a LOT of sand in that box!!


The kids were a lot of help in cleaning up the sand toys.


You notice it's mostly the girls doing the work!
Can you see Harrison back there playing in the sandbox??


We taught them about gardening - at least a little.
They know not to pick the flowers or we won't get any tomatoes!
All these little arms and legs came in handy in spreading the cedar mulch around.


It's not the beach but toes in the sand still feels good!


Silly kids!

We ate a really good lunch of three cheese tortellini in Alfredo sauce, Italian salad and garlic toast.
Then we took equally good naps! Solid sleeping for all of us!
They usually wake up one by one and yesterday was no exception. Trystan was first so we spent a little cuddle time before Logan woke up after which we tip toed out of the den. It wasn't long before Kailey wandered in and then we had to go wake Harrison.


I promised them a bike ride before dinner and their dada was picking them up at 7:00.
They were the cutest things pumping their little legs. Sometimes one would get stuck and say, "I need a little help here!!" We went around the block twice and by that time we were ALL worn out!


We were just about to run out of time but we needed to get to Rule #4 of the Rules of the House.


The quads are pretty good at doing this already.
In explaining what it means, I said, "We take care of each other." 
And they do.


A hurry up tea party that doubled as supper!!
Win! WIN!!! We got it all in!!!


Then it was wine time in the gazebo!!
And this ended our Monday!

Tuesday morning we had an appointment with Louis Dean's cardiologist....
he got an EXCELLENT report!!!


We celebrated with a trip to Lovely Nails!!
He declined choosing a color!


He doesn't look nearly as happy as Ruth Ann!!
PLUS - he got a manicure AND a pedicure!!!
He cheered up later but I am proud of him for taking care of himself!

I took him home and then Ruth Ann and I do what we do nearly every Tuesday!
Hit up the Goodwills!!!
Here's my haul!


Some beautiful dishes!! These are Laurie Gates except for the one in the lower right hand corner.
I got two of those just because.
These will look great this summer on the dining room table!


I hit the jackpot with black and white!
One was brand new with a $39.50 price tag still hanging on it!!


The napkins were brand new.....
The Chocolat is really sturdy and I have a new outside wall in mind......
the vinyl love saying will go on the hall closet....
that pretty tablecloth will be used right after Easter.....
The plate rack will be re purposed - outside....


I could NOT resist this little bit of debris!!


Perfect!!

I made it home in time to unload all my goodies and rest a minute in the gazebo with Louis Dean and then it was time for art!


Ruth Ann actually got ahead of me at one point!!
That's not supposed to happen!!


Session #2 on this canvas.


We still have a few sessions to go!!!

It's been a really good Tuesday!!!

Also.....


I got my DNA results back today!!
Indigenous Amazonian.......
Who KNEW???


Tonight as I write, we are awaiting some serious T-storms with possible hail and winds.
I think I will go on to bed and just let them wake us up!!