Mother's Day Weekend!

I had an appointment with my urologist Thursday afternoon. 

You would have thought I was going to meet a celebrity - and I was!

Dr. Bloom is the doctor who rescued me from the constant UTIs and changed my life!

I now see his esteemed PA, Dr. Lee and she has been such a blessing to me.

The Pistachio Crack Cake was a big success and Dr. Bloom himself popped in and we hugged and visited a few minutes!

God has so abundantly blessed me and Louis Dean with such excellent doctors.

My 65th birthday was a highlight of my life and I was able to get Medicare and a supplemental policy with United Health Care. That has changed my life for the better1

Off topic.... growing my hair out has been a good thing for me.

Since I had a really thin spot - having more hair instead of shorter hair covers it up.

This pic, however, is after I put a clip on of fake hair.

Louis Dean said this is my Dolly Parton look!

I went with my own hair for my doctor visit and even so - Dr. Bloom complimented me on

 my new hairstyle.

I got a good report!

No UTIs this year and I am so grateful.

I no longer go to the bathroom every 15 minutes and I will forever be thankful for the freedom of all that pain and misery!

I am slowly inching my weight down and am eating a lot of salads.

This was Thursday lunch.....

And this was Friday's lunch.....

I only use vinaigrette dressings now but I have always loved a good salad.

If I could only have one menu for the rest of my life -it would be a baked potato and salad. 

Everything is blooming nicely right now and I go out each morning to snip flowers, herbs, bushes, and vines for my daily bouquet.

All our lilies are blooming but I have not cut any so far. 

I just can't.....but maybe I will.....

I set my alarm for 4:00 Saturday morning....

Son Jesse picked me up at 6:15 and we headed to the airport!

He gifted me with a day trip to Kansas City to spend an afternoon with my siblings - Buster and Rita!

We hoped to be on the 8:00 flight but barely missed it - we were stand by passengers since Jesse works for American Airlines - for nearly 30 years now!

We were issued seats on the next flight out and rode the sky link to the new terminal!

Not a problem! We bought coffee and we each brought a book - Jesse and I are both avid readers - and we enjoyed the time waiting for the next flight!

Rita was waiting for us at the foot of the escalator and all of a sudden - we were THERE!!!

Tom treated up to lunch at Bravo Italian Restaurant and it was such  an elegant place!

Then off to niece Gabriella's for a surprise 13th birthday celebration for her niece - and my grand niece. 

It was a great afternoon and like magic to actually BE there in Kansas City with family.

The party was fun with Gabe's children running around and Sylvie is the sweetest 13 year old I know.

Jesse had as good a time as I did!

The Maverick game was on in the 'garage' - which I wish I had taken a pic of it!

Their garage is fully finished out and Gabrielle has painted the back wall a deep and beautiful navy blue. Sports signs and neon lights decorate the huge wall with a large mahogany bar with beer, water and sodas.

Gabe and Toni's house is a popular place for friends and family to gather and it was fun to see all the happy children and sweet people just enjoying spending time together.

What a blessing Jesse gave me - the gift of a day...

a day with my sister and brother Buster , brother in law extraordinaire Thomas, and sweet nieces and nephew.

After the party at Gabe's we went back to Rita and Tom's home for a short visit before Jesse and I had to leave for the airport.

I loved every minute of Saturday - from the time I woke up at 4:00 that morning until midnight!

Shortly after Jesse dropped me off at home, Son Dean arrived and he, his dad and I had a nice visit in the gazebo...he was here to spend the night so he could pick Sherry up at the airport Sunday morning.  She had driven her parents up to Minnesota in their RV and then flew back to DFW airport. We are just 7 minutes away!

The bonus was her daughter Crystal picked Dean up early Sunday morning to surprise her mom for Mother's Day! 

I was NOT up when Crystal arrived but I did get up in time to visit with them for a few minutes before they all headed home.

No pics of any of this but as Dean and Sherry were leaving, LD insisted we sit on the bench on the front porch - and we called GOOD BYE!!! to them - as we always do with the Bell grands!

They probably didn't even hear us but we had fun!

Sunday was a rainy day and Louis Dean decided to wash his overalls and socks.

He loves to do this and it makes him happy - so why not?

Even though it was raining - he hung his overalls out to 'dry'....

Note - I gather the overalls and run them through the washer and then 'add' them to the dryer.

My next home project is the den window area.

Sunday I cleaned the den and Louis Dean pulled out every nail - no idea how many but it was a lot!

He took down the light fixtures and 'disposed' of them.

I have no idea what he did with them.

They were old fashioned fluorescent lights and I only found a small piece of glass on the east side of the house - I saw it when I took a bag of confiscated  trash over to my neighbor's curb!

So many 'mysteries' lately!

He is my hero!

Mother's Day was peaceful.

I watched Fellowship church service with Jimmy Evans online and and then had phone visits from my children.

I could not have had a better Mother's Day.

My sweet daughter Amber was a hockey mom in full force this weekend!

I am now and forever grateful to be a mom and what a blessing my four children are to me.

I love you all, Summer, Jesse, Amber and Benjamin!

Y'all are jewels in my crown and I am so grateful to be your mom!

Monday Sunflowers... Tuesday Treasures.....Wednesday Blooms

Sunday was an at home day.

I try not to schedule too many 'events' back to back with Louis Dean so we did not go to church but worshiped from home.

I mailed in our tithes and offerings and Louis Dean and I spent a peaceful day here.

We did some work in the yard - weed popping with the popper Doug Stiegler and Reaoma gifted me many years ago.

I so enjoy these homely days....puttering around and doing this chore and that and taking breaks in the gazebo with a glass of tea.

It was an early night to bed for me and I left Louis Dean up watching a western movie.

I figured out how to help him turn the TV off.....or actually to 'pause' it.

We put half of a green sticker dot on the 'pause' button.

Praise God that is working for us now!!

Monday was another 'at home' day  - and I do dearly love these!!

Brenda has inspired me to go ahead and decorate with sunflowers - of which I have many!

This is the perpetual tree in the den.... changed from season to season.

The den table all ready to host a luncheon for four!

A shower curtain can double as a chair cover with a little imagination.

I caught up with Blue Bloods while putting out my sunflowers.

Sweeet Samantha is Queen of any pillow she can find!

The sunflower theme will last all spring and summer and all through the fall...

Come August I will add fall foliage to the decorations.

Wednesday matched a record high of 95 degrees!

Praise God for AC and for average billing which is such a blessing to our budget!

Sunflowers make me smile!

I left the house Tuesday morning at 11:30 and did not come back until 6:30!

Brenda and I took her sweet furry babies to the beauty shop in Lewisville and shopped three thrift stores plus had lunch before picking them up and coming home.

We had a great time and it did me good to get out of the house for seven hours.

Louis Dean did well entertaining himself putting together his new lawn mower and then cutting the front yard!

I unloaded all my treasures after I rested awhile and visited with Ilene and Louis Dean.

Ilene has been walking faithfully while I have not. Instead I've been doing yardwork and cleaning closets and forever pulling weeds!

I was too tired to do a real photo op of my haul but you get the idea that we found a LOT of good 'stuff!'

Several things I bought are put up for gifts - so no pics.

My favorite prize of the day was an almost full bottle of Dolce Gabbana fragrance!

Priced at $86 - I got it for $18!

Win!  WIN!!

Today I continued to sort, purge and organize every cupboard and drawer in the bedroom and guest room. My entire back seat of the car is full of donations to drop off at Goodwill tomorrow.

I love my mornings in the gardens.....

Everything is blooming now and thriving! The intense has not arrived yet and I am praying for a mild summer.....we haven't had one in years and years!

Even my weeds are pretty!

I never pull these since they are so attractive!

For whatever reason, Louis Dean doesn't seem to get hungry until late afternoon.

That's not good for him so I fix him a meal around midday and I simply take it to him in his music room.

He always thanks me and proceeds to eat it.

If  I ask him first, he'll say he's not hungry - so I don't ask anymore.

Oatmeal, bacon and skinny bagel!

Louis Dean has been busy in his room all day long!

He takes things apart and then puts them back together again.

It's good therapy and he enjoys doing it.

Dinner tonight!

I bought a chicken/artichoke entree at Aldi, fresh sweet potatoes and a good salad.

LD loves cucumbers and I try to serve them every day.

Garlic toast is MY favorite!

Tomorrow I am going to tackle my closets!

I have three!

I also have a doctor appointment with my urologist in the afternoon.

They have a new office and location so I baked them a cake!

Pistachio Crack Cake

The Last Few Days....

 There's a price to pay for decorating for the seasons.

So far I've been willing to pay the price and will continue as long as possible.

This means I must start earlier and give myself additional days plus I have narrowed my extensive decorating to Fall and Christmas and using limited things for winter and my beloved sunflowers for the summer.

While I am transitioning things, the house is in disarray and the cats love this!

A wreathe left on the floor looks like a perfect place to sleep! 

Louis Dean and I went over to visit Billy and Brenda to make plans for a spur of the moment vacation!!

Louis Dean was such a happy camper!

Brenda noticed how much he enjoyed the music videos on TV at Billy's birthday party....

and she and Billy had been wanting to go to Branson, MO - and were so gracious in inviting us to go with them!

We went on an Alaskan cruise with them and they still love us!

Louis Dean was not a good cruiser - but I loved it!

For them to invite us to spend another vacation with them is such a gift!

We made all our plans, reservations, and selected the shows we wanted to see and then went to Braums to have a quick lunch

Thursday I was working in the living room but we stopped in the early afternoon to go over to Kimmy's.

Sophie is adorable and so sweet!

Louis Dean played some music for us and we all had a good time!

Kimmy gifted us some of June's things and we will treasure them as we recall so many good memories of her.

Dinner on Thursday night!

Louis Dean dearly loves my sweet potato casserole and I made some chicken with noodles and green peas plus a salad and garlic bread.

By Thursday's night end - I called the living room DONE!

All the Santas are gone and I have so many paintings that I can pick and choose from all of them and only hang my favorites!

I have a stack of my 'less' favorites and plan to rework them.

Perhaps they will eventually become new favorites!

Friday 'brunch' was served in the middle of the afternoon on Friday!

I saw the recipe on Facebook - flour tortillas, eggs, cheese, seasonings, chopped tomatoes and onions!

Bake for 20 minutes in the oven in an iron skillet!

Served with a dollop of sour cream and a large spoonful of salsa!

I worked in the den all day!

First comes chaos and then comes order.

I admit it is a whole lot of hard work!

Not only am I changing out the Santa wall and back to the gallery - I also took all the 'debris' down from around the window area here in the den.

Such a mess!

I should have counted the number of Santa paintings I've done.

Storing them away is not an easy chore.

I used to put them under and behind  the den couch - but in 2019 the terrible 100 year flood in September while we were up in Canada did considerable damage to the den and furniture AND my paintings!

The next year we stored them up in a storage building - but that didn't work well either!

My rule now is that the must remain inside the house! 

The next year they went back to behind the couch - but in white trash bags to protect them if they get wet - which they haven't so far!

Samantha found this huge basket and explored!

This is where I have now stored all my Santa paintings - and then covered the basket with a blanket.

While I was working in the den - Louis Dean has been working on his music!

He is so happy when he's making music!

It is now Saturday night and I have been working on the den all day long!

The window wall has been freed from al the baskets, paintings and other debris in anticipation of the upcoming 'redo' of this area.

All of the Santas are gone and I am enjoying the den wall!

I've been watching lots of good movies and shows while working in the den.....

I'm about to go to bed and am feeling so good about everything!

Louis Dean is happy and has been doing some really good things in the back yard and has made it look like a 'real' yard - for the first time in a long time!

I feel accomplished in taking the very last of Christmas out and cleaned the entire house - more or less!

My next projects are cleaning up the gazebo and changing out my closet to spring and summer.

Then there's gardening and weed pulling and mulching and such!

There's always so much to do and would we have it any other way??

If we had nothing on our 'to do' list - I think I would be be a little sad.....