Spending Time With the People You Love.....

It's been good to be home.

Our kittens are amazingly well adjusted to be traipsing back and forth from the city to the country and back again! We keep them secure in the guest room while we load and unload and then let them have the run of the house and RUN is what they DO!

Then at night we round them up and take them back to the guest room for treats and petting and then we put them in their kennel for the night.

I've had a lot of cats over the years but this is the first time we have trained them to go to bed at night! Makes life so much easier! Since we got them so young, they don't know any other way!

As a matter of fact, if we are up late, Samantha will get tired and put herself to bed and all we have to do is tuck Tabitha in and shut the kennel door.

Tuesday I continued to do laundry non stop! We were in the country for 24 days so that was a lot of laundry plus I stripped the beds a few times so ALL the linens were dirty as well as all the couch and chair covers. ALL the towels and washcloths! I did a LOT of laundry!

On Wednesday, I drove to Rowlett and picked Summer up for a doctor visit.

This was the 'second opinion' doctor and his advice was not the same as the first one.

Summer's main complaint is the numbness in her left hand. She has no strength in it and drops things.

She needs carpal tunnel surgery. The first doctor missed this. She also has a pinched nerve in her neck which is undeniable and showed up in the myelogram but this doctor did not recommend immediate surgery. We had feared bad news regarding her spine but this was not the case and we are praising God! This day surgery will solve her problem and we have already scheduled it for September.

We celebrated with margaritas at Chili's!

We have been going to Chili's for as long as we can remember!

At least 30 years.

It's our Go-To place!

I got home before dark Wednesday and my heart was much lighter than when I left that morning!

Just about every day, Chandy and I 'talk' to each other by way of text messages.

I love that she takes the time to keep us in the loop of her family things.

This is beautiful Kaitlyn, her oldest daughter.

A sweeter girl you will never find!

It's hard to believe Chandy is a mother of four now!

Kaitlyn, Piercyn. Bella and Jaxon!

I can't WAIT to see them and we are making plans and reservations for September.

The last time we were there was in December and the last time Chandy was down here was in February.

Thursday I had a routine appointment with my knee surgeon and he said I was doing great!!

I gave him a jar of honey and he was excited about it!

I'm so grateful I have such good doctors.

Friday morning I got up early and baked a cake!

It was for Pam's birthday which was Monday.

She found this recipe last year in the newspaper.

I lost my clipping of it but found it online.

I love that it's so easy to find things.

I meant to take her picture when she came by to pick it up and visit for a few minutes.

She was going camping in an air conditioned cabin at a state park along with a few friends.

I wanted her to have the cake before she left so she could share it.

I have to say - it's a really good cake and freezes well!

Louis Dean and I did our Bible reading later and I got so sleepy I had to go to bed at noon and take a nap!

I slept solid for three hours.

The best sleep I've had since we have been home.

I accidently left a bag with some of our medicine in it at the ranch.

Apparently I really need the night meds.

Plus my sleep had been a little wonky the last few days in the country what with getting up super early! My friend, Rosey, said a few days of that and I would convert to a morning person.

We all know that's not going to happen.

But I HAVE been waking up early!

I was out watering the front yard at 5:30 the other morning.

This is not normal for me!

Friday night we met up with our good friends, Brenda and Billy, for dinner.

Brenda and I know that if we don't plan it - it won't happen so every time we are together - we plan the next date and put it in our calendar! September's date is already planned!

We love to catch up with them amd hear about their adventures.

They have a luxury RV and two cute dogs and a beloved granddaughter they travel with.

They just returned from a great trip to Colorado.

They got COLD at night and had to buy a heater for their RV bathroom!

I want to be cold!!

The AC unit in our bedroom went out. I guess the compressor. It blew air but it wasn't cold!

Louis Dean replaced it with the one we bought for the front room at the ranch and brought home because it was not enough to do much. It's fine for our bedroom here though.

I do NOT like to sleep hot!!!

Then guess what?? The car AC went out! Once again, it blows out air but no cooling!

The auto shop we use wasn't any help as their machine is broke down so we may have to take the car and the truck with us to the country and get it fixed there.

I think it just needs some coolant but, then, what do I know??

My youngest son, Benjamin, turned 32 on Tuesday!

We celebrated his birthday today at a water park.

Louis Dean wore his regular uniform of denim overalls, sox and white athlete shoes.

NO flip flops for him but he did wear a pair of red bathing trunks underneath the overalls.

It was super hot today but we found a place in the shade and with the lazy river and wave pool, we stayed very comfortable. I even rode one of the slides in the children's area! Logan was proud of me for using the rope walk and pulling myself up instead of using the stairs. I was kind of proud of myself. I only rode it once, though!

I asked Ben what kind of cake he wanted and he said, "Funfetti!"

So that's what I made along with Funfetti cookies.

The cake was really good, too. It was so warm even in the cover I carried it in, that it was like fresh from the oven! Since it was a mix, I used real butter instead of oil, milk in place of the water and an extra egg plus a teaspoon of vanilla.

I will close this multi-day journal entry with a pic of all of us.

Summer couldn't make it and Jesse and his family were out of town so it was 10 of us - including a special young friend - and MAN! Did we go through that cake FAST!!

Benjamin did get a large piece to take home and I think there were a few cookies left in the tin for him, as well.

We visited and laughed and we all told our kitty stories....

Ben's Klaus and Amber's Ginger and our Samantha and Tabitha.

It was a good day to spend outdoors with family!