Summer Stuff

 So, here is a picture of my new planter(s) that I mentioned last post.  In the background, you can see the 2nd one, just like it.  I like them because they hold the pot up so that the stuff that hangs over the side can cascade over the side really pretty.

I haven't sold much of anything, except a pair of jeans and a cool black Harley Davidson sweater.  But just selling jeans and a sweater this time of the year is good!  I also took a trunk load to Goodwill.  In getting my guest room makeover done, i got rid of one bed headboard and moved another one into place that i had in the attic.  Gave away the one with a large chest and mirror to a young man, a friend's son,  who is just getting his own place and got rid of something in my attic - win/win.  But, i had 3 large rubbermaid tubs under the bed storage boxes full of clothes and when I looked at it after being there for about 2 years I thought "I don't need ANY of this".  While, at the time I put it away, I was not ready to let go, evidently.  lol.  Basic clothes don't sell quickly or for hardly any money at all second-hand, so I mostly just give clothes away.  If you have a designer label or something really high quality (leather, jeans, coats, etc) I might try to sell, but just every day stuff (dresses, sweaters, etc) I mostly just donate most clothes instead of storing and messing with them.  But there is a time when I am ready to get rid of stuff, and when i am ready, i am ready, even a short time ago i might not be ready to get rid of.

Our tomatoes are still doing well.  Getting lots.  I froze 4 quart bags last week.  This week I will give some to family and I think make tomato soup, even though it certainly isn't soup weather!  But a nice light tomato basil will taste nice.  My sister and I drove for the day Saturday to the lake to spend time with some family.  My cousins are twins and their birthday this week.  So I took them home made bread and tomatoes and we ended up eating some of the tomatoes and people were going nuts over the "Arkansas tomatoes"!  I took big and small red ones, yellow and pink.  One of my cousins was really liking the yellow.  My mother in law likes them best too, less acid.

As for gardening, I have harvested some lettuce seed and will see if I can grow some more from seeds.  Pretty cool, huh?

I was sharing gardening stories with my aunt and cousin and so i shared this one.  This house we bought in 2014 had a pretty pink crepe myrtle directly in front of the house.  

As you can see, the plant there right near the front door, that's the crepe myrtle.  It is big, but not as big as it got before we just could'nt get around it.  Esp last summer, we had a really wet summer and it got so large that it blocked the sidewalk infront and was going up against the house, so we could not walk easily by on that side either.  So late last summer, we trimmed it way down and dug it up and moved it. Whew, it was a job!

The pretty crepe myrtle is doing fine!  We are so happy.  We really had to hack away to get it out, so we were a little concerned.  If you look in the background of this picture, you can see where it used to be.  We planted a small weeping cedar tree that we are training to curve back and forth.  I will post more pictures of it next time.

And finally, some cute dog photos

Hope you are staying cool and having a great August!  We are having a hot week, so i am just trying to enjoy summer while it lasts and not wanting to rush into fall!  

So I Have Been Busy Again

So I have been busy.  Chiefs winning the Super Bowl.  We watched from home.  This was after I came back from whirlwind trip to city to see my cousin whose mom died (my great aunt and my Granny's best friend). She was 95.

Then I got to see my Uncle who went on hospice and support my aunt.  I am so happy my uncle got to witness another Super Bowl win for his beloved Chiefs.

Then I had to turn around after the visit and pack and go to my Great Aunt's funeral back at the lake in my hometown.  It was nice to see my cousins and all our family from all over...Texas, Colorado, Ariona, Georgia, Missouri...  My sister and my cousins and I rented an Airbnb with a pretty view.

Then we did get to enjoy Super Bowl from our own home, DH and I (and our dogs!),

I have also been lucky enough to enjoy some pretty hikes lately.

I am getting spring fever.

This is what over $100 gets for a funeral now a days.  Crazy.

Tuesday Tired

This is the view from my home, from age 4 to about age 10.


Had a great weekend.  Celebrated my cousin's birthday at the lake Saturday.  Swam at the pool, then pizza in clubhouse, watched football.  It was fun.  Then Sunday went to the other side of the lake to see our friend N, sick with cancer.  I should say, be present for N.  We did not even know if we would see him, he is very ill.  But we did lend support to his girlfriend and my friend from Florida, J and his wife, T, they brought mower up and mowed his yard.  I weed eated and watered the animals, played with their pup. 

We stayed Sunday night with our friend, C who was just widowed July.  It was very hot.  I spent time with my girlfriend B while C was working.  We drove around our old hometown and reminisced.  Before I picked her up, I did the cemetery tour, my mom, grandfather and great uncle.  It was peaceful.  The cicadas are going crazy, tells me thought its hot...summer winding down. 
Was depleted driving back to city.  Made it safe, showered and had a snack with my aunt while we watched TV then bed.  Lots of work today.

I miss DH and my dogs.  2.5 more days.

Can This Day be Over Already

So, we had a great visit to another state to visit family and go to a relative's wedding.  The wedding was beautiful, the bride was stunning...Saw so many relatives, far and near.  It was just a great trip.  However, it was also tiring. I drove 8.5 hours Thurs and 9 hours back Sun.  We did take a 30 min detour and pop in to my retirement home on the way back yesterday.  My Uncle got to see my RH and we checked in on the tile work in progress. 
I think I am really going to love it.  Looks really nice with the cool gray and white of my bathroom.  The tile is warm yellowish beige tones.  Warms up the room.  My contractor complimented my choices.  I think all he has left to do is grout and clean up.
It was great to get home to my DH.  He stayed home with the doggies.  He was not thrilled at the prospect of being in the car with my VERY hard of hearing aunt and uncle.  And repeating one self over and over, practically yelling is tiring, but I was honored to be able to drive them and take care of them.  They have done so much for my sister and I.  Letting us come stay with them in the summer, showing me how much they love me, etc.  GREAT people. 
So, DH had dinner ready for me when I got home.  He even did grocery shopping and did some packing!  I was so proud of him and so glad to be embraced in a comforting hug.  Seeing my cousin's lovely young daughter and just all the reminiscing just made me tired and emotional.  So, I just chalked it up to that...then I relized that today is the day my Dear Belated Husband died in 1993 at age 32.  So, I have that making me blue, it is cold a raining here, so that adds to it...it is Monday, eta.
Except those things are not the main source of my emotion today...Our older dog, he is about 11 years old...well he is just not doing well.  He is declining in movement and sleeping a lot, but he still eats and drinks and gets around pretty good.  Well, DH said he has begun intermitten yelping once in a while.  DH thougth at first he was just dreaming, but he did it 3 or 4 times after I got home last night.  I was convinced he waited for me to get home and would not make it through the night, but he did and DH took him to vet today.  I missed 2 days next week, so it is hard to miss this week, but I am leaving early because while he is at the vet having tests, I am just sick to the point of distraction.  I realize he is getting older and I accept that dogs have a much shorter life span that I would wish...but I am really upset thinking it is so near and worrying that he is in distress.  Also, I told my DH I really am going to be devastated when he dies not matter what/when...but the possibility of it being so soon and before we move to Arkansas breaks my heart into a million pieces.  I see the pain in DH eyes too.  So, we have to be strong and grateful for every second with him. 
Wish us luck.  I will try to be back tomorrow.  Have a great Monday.  My lovely cousin is off to her enchanted honeymoon, where I bask in the happiness of my cousin - its her daughter and she is so happy.  I am going to hang on to that, because they are both special to me. 

Looking for Love is Like Gambling

16 years ago I moved home to the Midwestern city I was born in, from the Southwest.  I had lived in a large Southwestern city for 3 years with my job.  I liked it there quite a bit, but I was struggling in a few areas of my personal life and so I needed a change.  Part of my motivation was to take the focus off my career and meet someone, get married and have kids.  I did not want to meet a person from the another state out West and then never have a chance to make the move back to the Midwest.  So, I was essentially on a quest to meet a husband and have a baby. 

I moved back and stayed focused on my career long enough to get established and buy a house.  My job was going well and I got a promotion.  Then I started looking to meet someone about 9 months later.  I had a lot of family back here, so I met people through them.  That was really different from the other 3 cities I had lived in where I had no family.  I really liked the feeling that my family was there and loved get togethers and holidays.  I had a lot of fun with my cousins and my aunts.  I met people everyewhere I went, I was so excited to be home where I had roots as a child and my parents had roots and their parents.  Even though my mom was gone and my dad lived 3 hours south, I felt like I was home. 

This was still sort of early internet, pre Myspace and pre Facebook, at least.  The online thing felt weird.  Like people put their best foot forward and kept other parts of themselves hidden.  It felt like it was not authentic.  So, I decided I would have to meet someone the old fashioned way.  One night while I was studying for a huge test, I took a break and went to a concert with my cousins.  This was late July.  I met a man who was my cousins' friend.  He was very nice and funny.  He sort of followed me around that night and I did not mind.  He was very sweet to me and he was funny.  I could tell my cousins and their friends liked him a lot.  I ended up being the designated driver and drove my cousins, their friends and this guy home, in his large Lincoln sedan.  I had never driven a car that big.  It was fun.  We had all the windows rolled down and we sang songs at the top of our lungs.  Eventually I agreed to go out with this guy and he took me to an amusement park.  This would have been early August.  We had a great time and I enjoyed his attention.  We dated the rest of the summer and I met his kids in late September or early August.  His kids were adorable.  I loved the way he was with his kids.  He loved them so much, it was so sweet.  He was a really great dad.  His kids were really sweet and polite and were very sweet to me too. 

We got serious, mostly, things were fun.  There were warning signs, but I ignored them.  Part of me felt like this was my last chance to have a family of my own.  Part of me felt that I had given up too easily in past relationships and become a "runner".  I really wanted to try to make a relationship work.  I should have listened to my conscience and bailed.  Things went very, very wrong and took me down a really dark and horrible path.  I should have folded.  I tried to fold many times, knowing that I did not have a good hand.  But he convinced me to stay or my own conflicted feelings prevented me from getting out of the situation that I knew was not good for me.  I loved his kids and I loved his parents.  He had a business.  He was stable financially.  What I did not know was that there were a lot of secrets kept from me. 

Some of meeting a person and building a life are timing and luck, sort of like playing poker.  But there are also ways we can increase our odds and part of increasing our odds are knowing when we should fold.  I should have folded, put my cards down and ran.  But I just continued to ante up.  How could I have known he was keeping so much from me.  Did I know deep down.  The signs were there.  Why did I stay?