Thoughts and Other Things.....

 Do you ever get tired of meal planning and cooking, serving and then cleaning up?

I was that way last week so I decided to empty out the bits and pieces from the freezer and use them or feed the possums.

The three shrimp were perfect for my salad one day....

Leftover Frito Pie hit the spot with Louis Dean.

For our Saturday night dinner and movie, I served navy beans (from the freezer) and fried onions and potatoes with garlic and bacon bits and Hot Honey cornbread from a mix I bought at Aldi.

Fresh sliced onions to go with the beans and Baskin Robbin's strawberry cheesecake ice cream that Jesse had delivered for Mother's Day along with a beautiful bouquet of roses and special chocolates!!

Our movie of choice was one Ilene had seen awhile back and it was excellent!!

I love Saturday nights!! 

Monday was another doctor visit to the podiatrist.

We've turned out to be frequent visitors!

He's been seeing two doctors there....Dr. Garcia and Dr. Lawler.....both excellent!!

If he hadn't stepped on that shard of glass, this would have been our last visit.

However, I will continue to inspect his foot and apply medicine and a fresh bandage everyday.

Our next appointment will be June 8th.....

The doctor said June 1st but that's the day I'm having my cateract surgery.

From the doctor we went to City Hall  to cast our ballots in early voting.

I'm taking a risk here and say that we are  concervatives and vote Republican.

No hate, please. We all have our political positions...

I accept yours and hope you will accept ours.

I try to do something special when Louis Dean and I go out on errands.

After the doctor visit and voting, we ate a late lunch at Angelo's in Irving on Pioneer Blvd.

It's an Irving tradition!

Angelo's Spaghetti & Pizza House in Irving, Texas, has been open for 60 years. The beloved local institution first opened its doors in February 1966, making it one of the oldest and most enduring restaurants in the city. [1, 2, 3]

My margarita was great and our server even gave me a sample of the peach bellii!

We will be back!

Our kitties are enjoying their time in the back yard.

I found Samantha tucked in under the trumpet vine roots..

Brenda had previous plans with Billy so I dressed up for my Tuesday Treasures!

Louis Dean went with me but he stayed in the car while I made a quick walk through.

Candles - especially NEW ones are such a score.

I bought two of these! 

The wooden wick kind.

Love these two seat cushions!

I am using them out on my morning quiet time on the kitchen deck.

Do you see the Scofield Bible?

It was Copyright 1909.1917

Copyright renewed 1937. 1945

by

Oxford University Press

 New York, INC

I  do not know how long I've had this Bible but it has been my favorite for at least 60 years.

I will treasure this Bible and am blessed to read it every day.

For the year 2026, I am reading Proverbs daily. 

31 days to the month and 31 chapters,

What blessings I've received from this book and continue now....

I love changing my decorations out according to the seasons....seasons in nature as well as seasons in life.

All my seasons are changing ...Louis Dean continues his journey with his dementia and I am adjusting to my own mental and physical changes.

So decorating is therapy for me.

I love all my beautiful lacy outfits.

Perfect door art, 

I took out the black comforter and some of the other things......

This is my view from the chair in the corner of our bedroom...

It's one of my 'secret hiding places' when I want to be alone.

I love our bedroom and redid all the chests, mirrors and frames from the furniture from my 'past.'

Instead of replacing the pieces - I redeemed them!

I always have this saying where I can read it every single morning..

To bear all cheerfuly, 

Do all bravely.....

Isn't that what we do?

Some Days are Diamonds.....

I woke up one morning earlier in the week with this song on my mind. 

Over the years, John Denver's music has reflected much of what I was feeling about life.

Back in a couple of lifetimes ago -  I would start singing this as....

Some days are diamonds and some days are just hard rocks!

I've felt this way for several days but I am wise enough to know that feelings never last.

So, I am embracing mine and will be glad when they move on.....

Saturday night Sherry was dropped off by her niece as Sherry's car broke down when she was in the DFW area for a family gathering. The car was towed to the niece's home and Sherry spent the night here as Dean was back at the ranch, but their truck was also broken down, and our truck is there but it's not running either.

Sherry went in to visit Louis Dean in his music room and noticed blood all over his floor.

She asked him, "Does Linda know??"

I did know that he had stepped on a piece of glass and I had put ointment and a Band-Aid on the cut, but I did not know it had started bleeding again. This cut was right in the middle of the meaty part of his foot, and he could feel the pain!

I had an appointment with my urologist on Monday and it was good to see both Dr. Bloom and his associate....the doctor always comes in to visit for a minute or two.

I baked cheesecake squares and took a tray to them - it's a tradition to bake something every year for my annual visit.

It appears I may have a UTI for the first time in well over a year.

Tuesday was supposed to be Louis Dean's final follow up appointment for his toe injury...

however he stepped on a jagged piece of glass over the weekend and that presented a more serious concern.

Still wearing the surgical shoe!!

Since I missed connecting up with Brenda, I took Louis Dean with me to two thrift stores and he waited for me in the car. The doctor told him to stay off his foot as much as possible.

I didn't find a lot but I love the things I found.

Four brand new candles - all extra nice ones.

The Rae Dunn olive oil dispenser and I never pass a garland up.

The butterfly is diamond art and it is beautiful.

We picked up prescriptions at Walgreens....seems we do that every other day!

Wednesday I had an appointment for my annual eye exam and showed up only to realize I need to schedule cataract surgery and get that done before having my eyes tested!

What was I thinking? I guess I wasn't but I had taken them some baked goodies and said I would be back later in the summer!

( I now have cataract surgery scheduled for June first at 8:00 in the MORNING!!)

I was feeling a little blue on my way home and decided to stop at a thrift store on the south side of town and I did find some treasures that cheered me right up.

I'll share those soon.....

Louis Dean was instructed to keep the foot bandaged and DRY but when I woke up Thursday morning he had taken all the bandaging off and his foot was dripping blood on the floor. 

He said it had got wet! Like how did THAT happen?

I cleaned it up and rebandaged it and we were BACK at the doctor's office again that afternoon.

He just put together that these were two separate injuries - not just one.

The foot is still infected and he's still on antibiotics.

The doctor told him this is the kind of infection that can ger really BAD really QUICK!

Our friends, Joel and Terre, moved to Texas a year ago this month and we met up with them for dinner at Mexican Sugar along with Ilene. She drove us and I was able to have a margarita!

First one I've had in ages!

The food ws good and all five of us had a great time - even though it was really LOUD!

It's our tradition to go to Braums after dinner and it was much quieter there.

We all decided it would be fun to have a monthly dinner date. This month was in Irving and next month will be in Cleburne where their new home is.

I was so excited to see tham that I totally forgot to take pics!!

This pic is from our visit in 2022....

We met them at their hotel and went out to dinner.....

And then to Braums!

Louis Dean punched his straw through the Styrofoam cup and made a big mess.

We still laugh about it!

Today has been 'uneventful' and I greatly appreciate that.

I am now on a strong antibiotic since the culture came back positive for UTI.

I'll close tonight's journal entry with this pretty pic of  Samanthat!

She and Tabitha are loving going outside - backyard - for awhile most days.

Thank you all for being my friend!

 

Weekly Catch Up!

 Here it is Sunday night and this week has slipped right past me,

The weather has been mild and I've opened the doors so the cats can wander in and out.

They stay pretty much in the back  yard.

With three regular litter boxes, Tabitha has been a good kitty.

Samantha is such a pretty girl!

Louis Dean does love his cats!

True love.

We had an incident this week.....

Louis Dean was trying to level a heavy three pieces of stone statuary when it fell over on him.

His right leg was wedged under the seriously heavy base when I went out to check on him.

The top piece....

.......the middle piece.

Louis Dean was able to tell me how to use a crow bar and leaverage the base with a stone.

This was harder than it sounds!

He wasn't seriously hurt even though he fell and cut his head above his eyebrow.

He looks pretty pitiful here.

I took this photo when I told him that I was going to tell Kailey he had hurt himeself!

Still has his sence of humor!

He fell on Monday and I thought he would be okay to stay alone while I went thrifting with Brenda.

I checked on him using the Ring camera and I spoke to him to let him know I would stop and pick him up to go to the grocery store. No cell phone for him and no landline but we still have a way to communicate.

We shopped two thrift stores but I left the second one with an empty buggy!

It happens every once in awhile.

I've been decorating my front porch with faux flowers to add some color.

So pretty!

Brenda found these Chico's jeans for me.

She also found the pair of boots I bought!

They will go perfect with the long cream duster a few weeks ago.

The next day Louis Dean was back out there moving the stones.

The season for salad is upon us and I am loving it!

Have you seen Remarkably Bright Creatures yet?

That was the movie Ilene and I watched last night and it was excellent!

So good I watched it again this morning.

Amber and Harrison stopped by this afternoon and I gave them a tour of the back yard.

They didn't want Louis Dean to move the top piece into position at the corner of the pond area so they did it themselves.

Win! WIN!!