A Little Off my Game.....

We made it home early on Sunday evening and the traffic was heavy with a terrible accident closing I35 down to one lane. Our WAZE kept telling us to go a different route and yet we didn't. More traffic as we neared downtown Dallas and yet we still didn't follow her directions and ended up driving into the sun for a scary minute or two. Finally I did as she said and was rerouted through the heart of downtown and back up on I35 and heading home.

I think I've learned my lesson and will follow my Waze voice and do as it says.

Coming home is always hard work.

The unloading and unpacking and putting up and starting laundry and on and on.

Having fun is hard work in  the end.

Bed did feel good Sunday night, though!

My sunflowers are still producing out by the back pond and I picked a pretty bouquet first thing Monday morning.

I've discovered a good way to make tea without breaking glass pitchers or cracking my plastic ones.

I use a Mason canning jar!

Once it's cooled, I pour it into my pretty pitcher and add water!

Win! WIN!!

I had just come in from admiring all the flowers now growing when the mail arrived and I had a package  from my sister, Rita.

I love this tea towel that was nestled in a box of other SUNNY things - as in sunflower theme!!

It's smooth on one side and terry cloth on the other. How perfect!

Rita and Buster both have the most PERFECT timing!

Their every call, text or package or note has always come at a moment when I felt a little needy.

Rita and I had a nice phone chat a few minutes later and it set the tone for my day.

Tuesday was a pretty good day.....Louis Dean has been a little more confused lately and when I suggested we fry up the okra he had picked at the ranch garden right before we left - he was all excited.

It's been a long time since he's fried any okra but it came right back to him.

We used a really old Fry Daddy!

Remember those???

Now we have Air Fryers!!

It turned out pretty good.

Dean says we didn't cook it long enough so we can finish cooking the rest of what we haven't eaten in the the air fryer.

Dean and Sherry came in late Tuesday to spend the night.

We live 7 minutes from DFW International airport and Sherry was flying out early on Wednesday morning to go up and help drive her parents home from Minnesota. 

Louis Dean folded the denim quilt I  finally finished for Rita's newest grandbaby and it fit in a large flat rate box for mailing! Even he surprised himself!

 

Wednesday was an Amber Day!

I was at her house before 11:00 and we had the entire day before us!

First off - lunch at McAllister's deli!

Next we drove to Frisco for the grand opening day of HEB grocery store!

We both love HEB from our Katy, Texas days but we decided to NOT stand in the hot sun (97 degrees) that felt like 102! There was a long line that ran down the side of the building and we just couldn't see the sense of spending our time that way.

We don't get a lot of time together, Amber and I, so we are pretty protective of it whenever we DO get a day together!

Since we were already out in the Frisco area, Amber decided to take me to see a few places I've never been before!

This area is all about the Dallas Cowboys!

It was fun to act like tourists for a little while.

We had some shopping to do so we set about it.

The Cowboys Pro Shop was a good place to start.

We had already shopped Hobby Lobby before going to HEB so now we headed to 

Marshalls, Five Below, Target and a Starbucks break while we were there.

Pumpkin Spice scone!

Oh, MY!!!

Costco followed!

It was after 6:00 when we got back to Amber's.

I finished off my list of groceries at Aldi's in Dallas as I waited for the sun to set.

Normally I carry lots of insulated shopping bags in the trunk of my car - but we took them all out when we made our trip to Mountain View. Alas, Louis Dean couldn't remember where he'd put them and I wasn't thinking so I left Aldi with a full cart to store in a car full of everything from fall garlands and pumpkins, bales of hay and shopping bags of birthday gifts as well as a floorboard full of mums! And another pumpkin!

So out of Aldi I went with a cartload of this and that and I just stuffed it where ever I could find a place!

Cans of tomato paste, bacon, fruit, cheeses, and on and on and on. In the back seat, floorboard, front passenger seat, and the trunk was FULL!

I say all this because I was nearly in a terrible accident right as I was about to get to the Beltline exit off the Bush Tollway. I was wearing my weather driving glasses and turned my blinker on and checked the rear view mirror. As I was sliding over into the other lane - a small white sports car came streaking past narrowly missing me! He swerved but didn't even slow down and was gone!

I immediately thanked God that I wasn't hit and praised Him for that.....

and then I started to laugh just thinking what a wreck would have looked like with cans of tomato paste scattered among silk sunflowers and garland and all the other odds and ends I had in the car!

Still, I was a little shaky when I got home and Louis Dean told me he had barely escaped being in an accident himself. The other person honked at him and got his attention!

It took us a long time to unload and put everything up.

And I always come right in and 'put things to rights.'

There was next to no damage control as it appears Louis Dean played outside much of the day.

I am loving the Pure Honey perfume from Kim Kardashian.

I know who she is but I've never watched any of their programs and had no idea she had a line of fragrances. She had me at the honeybee on the bottle.

Louis Dean sat out on the driveway and watched as I decorated our front porch with all the debris I bought that day!

I am LOVING it - except for the hay which I tracked into the house!

That's since been blown OFF the porch!!

I woke up this morning NOT in a very good mood.

I was nervous and shaky and all jittery and cried at the slightest thing.

Feeling like that wasn't the best time to try and deal with some financial things and then I think I MAY have bought a new wiglet but I can't be sure! I finally decided I better just get away from the computer especially since I'd already blocked myself out of a couple of websites.

I tried not to let my inner turmoil spill out so I kept myself to myself as much as I could.

Summer came in this afternoon to stay for a couple of nights.

Thank you all for thinking of and praying for Rayne and Sabrina with the recent hurricane in Puerto Rico. The storms are past now and the electricity was back on as of 10:00 this morning. They had 100 miles an hour winds and 30 inches of rain and were using a generator. Thank the Lord they have one!

Brenda came over after work this afternoon and we sat out on the driveway with our tea and had the nicest visit. I felt better than I had all day. She gave me a great collection of fancy coffees for my birthday and a Candy Corn candle that smells divine! 

My friend Rosey sent me the sweetest poster and such a kind note.

Friends really do make all the difference in the world!

I think Louis Dean played outside too much and got too hot today.

It's not bad like when he went to the hospital but it concerns me and I am adjusting myself to the new normal of caretaking and keeping my eyes on him.

Tonight he helped me pin together the backing, batting and quilt top together for Chandy.

I promised her a denim Birthday quilt two years ago and am going to get this thing finished before we go to see her and her family next week!

I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying about some life changes happening right now.

Not only grieving over Nita - I still cry every day - but seeing the changes in Louis Dean.

Now I cry about that every day. Just a little bit and not long sobbing cries but small tears.

We all have to readjust our sails in life and we must do that more than just once or twice.

I did a needlework once that said....

Make the most of what you've got - 

and the least of what you've not!

I better understand what that means now.

And with that thought I am going to bed!!