It's May Already

I don't know where the time is going.  Seems like we stay busy ALL the time!!!
April flew by.  Our oldest grandson JR celebrated his 9th birthday.  Jim bought me a "new" ride.  Since it's only me going places now, the Expedition was too much so I got a cute little crossover to scoot around in.  Her name is Prissy..lol.
We had a bitter-sweet Easter.  All kids (except Chris) were here for lunch and to say goodbye to Emily.  We loaded her car, put it on the tow dolly and left the next day for upstate NY.  She moved to be with Zack and they will be in NY until he finishes school, hopefully sometime in September. Talk about your broken heart.....leaving my baby so far away from home. To ease my suffering on the way home, my wonderful husband stopped by Hershey, PA.  We pigged out at the Hershey food court and bought enough candy to last 6 months.
We also made a stop to Mt. Airy but it was so crowded and the museum was being remodeled.  We finally left after not being able to move or find a place to park downtown.
Jim took the following week off and we worked around the house and on the shop.  Still trying to finish garage and have cleaned out 2 more closets.  Slow but really making progress.
I will close this out with a phrase I have heard all day.."May the 4th be with you"....bwahahaha

Wow

Seems like I'm too busy these days to actually blog about what's keeping me busy 😕.  Went to Orlando for the ARA (rental show).  Had a great time looking at all the party and entertainment supplies, great dinner with friends, stopped by IKEA and bought new dishes (YEA!!!).   Have been working on decluttering the house.  OMG this is a slow process.  Seems like every time I get started, something comes up and I get distracted.  I'm starting to realize how big and crammed with junk this house really is.  Slow and steady.  I should be finished before I'm 80.

We lost our beloved Bo (Jim's shop cat).  We don't know what happened, but Jake and I gave him a "proper burial" and we know we miss him terribly.

I have been gathering ideas and contacting suppliers to get Cracker Hill Collectibles back on track.  Have also been doing projects for family and locals, so that has kept me busy.  Have so many ideas swirling around and am trying to prioritize them.  I want to do EVERYTHING, but I know I have to pick and choose. Getting excited!!!

Time to get busy again.  A mother's work is never done 😇

Home Again

Returned home yesterday.  Wow at the laundry.  Been sorting and washing all day.  Took a break to buy some groceries.  Couldn't even make toast this morning😕.  Glad to be home though.  End of Galveston trip was not pleasant.  Had to leave President's reception and miss dinner because I indulged in foods I knew better than to eat during the week but the food was SO, SO good.  After lots of Pepto and sleep, we finally spent our last day walking the Strand again (no food stops except for Jim).  Broke up the trip home into 2 days but it was worth it.  We weren't so tired and made it home before dark Friday.  Now it's work, work, work until we leave again Sunday for Orlando to attend the Rental Show for the week.

Taking a minute

I'm taking a minute to post some of the things we have been doing in Galveston.  Yesterday was the "support group" outing.  It started with a bus tour of the historic district --then onto the pier for a dolphin watching excursion.  The wind was rough and the water was extremely choppy.  Only one dolphin decided to make an appearance, but we had a fun time anyway.  After that was lunch at the Olympia Spa on pier 21.  Great food!!!  Then back on the bus for a tour of  "The Bishop's House".  Oh my!! The wood and marble work was beautiful.  Last was a tour of the 100 year old oak stumps of the trees that DIDN'T survive the 1900 Hurricane.  The stumps were carved into shapes that the landowner considered dear to them.  Amazing.  Back to the hotel.  Then Jim and I decided to walk "The Strand" (shopping district) and dinner at Willie G's on the water.  This morning was spent in hotel watching weather.  Tornado WARNINGS for us and short but very powerful storm.  This afternoon the sun was shining and no evidence of storm at all.  Tonight will be the SAIA President reception and later, dinner with friends.  This is a busy week!!!  Well,  I was going to add some pictures, but forgot my apple password.  Now my account is locked until Apple sends me a way to reset....said it could take a FEW DAYS!!! UUUGGGHHH.

Staying busy

Lots happening this year.  Last Saturday, we drove our baby girl to the airport to fly to up state NY to visit Zack for 3 weeks.  We hope she decides to come home.
We left home on the 7th heading for Pensacola.  Jim did some work there, then we proceeded on our way to Galveston.  We made some stops along the way which included a massive outlet mall stop.    We made Galveston on the 10th and rode the ferry across to the island, another first for us.  We are staying at Tremont House.  Jim is busy with meetings and I have a long day of touring tomorrow, but it promises to be exciting.  We have dinners and receptions all week but it's fun.

Busy Life

Well, here it is.  The end of January.  Already this year is flying by us.  We have been a busy family.  Seems like everyone is going different directions. It's funny though....Jim and I have been the ones on the move...finally.  We left home Sunday the 15th headed for Destin, FL to catch a flight early Monday morning...destination....Las Vegas!!!  We spent the week at the World of Concrete convention and sightseeing.  This was not our first trip, so we decided to get off the strip for a day and go old downtown Vegas (Fremont Street, etc).  We toured the Mob Museum and walked Fremont Street.  Lots of "interesting" sights...lol.  We flew back to Destin Friday Jan 20 and drove to Ozark, Al to celebrate Ryan's b'day with a family dinner.  While there we learned that an old family friend had passed away.  Dr. Bob McLaughlin was more than a friend.  He was family and will surely be missed by all of us.  We also were able to see Larry and Kristy who are doing well and Uncle Billy and Aunt Merylon who also seem to be better than I expected.  We were unable to see Aunt JoAnn due to the fact that Jim became very sick while we were there. We left Sunday morning in search of a medical clinic to help, had to drive to Florida to find one (minute clinics are not allowed in Alabama and he refused to go to ER).  Got diagnosis of pneumonia.  I will forever blame this on a bacteria contracted through the CPAP machine he uses nightly.

We are on our way home (to show how sick Jim was, I was driving..lol) when storms erupted all around us.  The wind was blowing debris into the side of the car and the Interstate signs were flashing TORNADO WARNING...just our luck. We decided to stop in Quincey to spend the night and let the storms pass, but of course we lost power in the Hampton Inn that night too.  We FINALLY made it home Monday and Jim spent the rest of the week at home recovering.  I'm pleased to say that he is doing well and back to work.

We are preparing to leave again next week for Galveston but hopefully this trip will be a little less stressful.

 

Missing my friend

Sitting on my couch watching the National Championship game, looking around at my walls that now look bare thanks to taking down Christmas ornaments, and missing Daddy so much.  I have thought so many times to call him this past week to have him "whine" with me about Christmas being over.  It was "our" time of year.  We were "Christmas Buddies".  Constant Christmas music, shows, and movies.  Our favorites were A Christmas Story  and The Homecoming ( the movie that launched the Walton's series.  I automatically picked up the phone to call him while I was decorating and cooking only to be hit with reality.  He loved to hear play-by-play of the activity in our full house and the latest cakes or candies that had been made.  Mother always wanted to know if I remembered that the fudge would NOT set on a rainy day.  Even with her dementia, she remembered that :)   They will always be missed, but it seems the Holiday season is the hardest.

OCD

Walked into the bathroom this morning after Jim went to work and found this....This is a sign of a strong marriage....He took a towel from the middle of the rack and didn't fear for his life...lol.  Naturally I fixed it, but I have to wonder what makes someone want to do this?  Why the middle?  Why not the top...or the bottom...and why does this bother me???  So many questions...but the rest of my day was wonderful.  That is all.

28 years

As I am writing this post...I have laundry going, boxes scattered everywhere trying to pack up Christmas decorations, projects staring at me begging to be finished, and clutter waiting to be "decluttered".  It's been like this since the beginning.  28 years of marriage today.  When we first married, I didn't think I could love him any more than I did that day...boy, was I wrong.  Life has given us some challenges to deal with, but dealt with them we did.  Together.  I'm sure there are more challenges and adventures to come.  Life would be boring without them.  But I see our relationship as a recipe.  You start off with something that you love.  Blend in a few more things that you love (children, home, family),   some things that are needed such as jobs, FAITH (lots of faith).  You may even get a good "beating" with the beaters of life such as financial burdens, deaths, and teenagers.  But when you blend them all together, you get this wonderful mixture called Love and Marriage.  What we have endured in these years and God's help has made us a strong power to reckon with and as I said before, I was so wrong about not being able to love my husband any more than the day I married him. Our love will NEVER stop growing.  I know one day, one of us will face life without the other...but that is something that I can't even imagine.  So until that day comes...I'll be Scarlett O'Hara and I'll think about that tomorrow.  Happy Anniversary Jim.  I love you is an understatement.

New Year

I think my resolution this year will be to try as hard as I can to keep the blog as current as possible. --- Another Christmas has come and gone.  What a blessing for all of us to be together at several times during the season.
  Lately, I have been thinking about how mean, selfish and over saturated this world has become.  We have seen news reports of people having "breakdowns" because of the election...need "safe places" and therapy animals because not everyone agrees with everyone on how life should be lived. I also know that most of this is over exaggerated by the news agencies. But that being said, sometimes things happen in life that make you realized how blessed you really are. One of those things happened over the Holidays to my cousins daughter. Below is the link to her story.   Read it.  And the next time you "feel" like life is unfair to you because others don't agree with you, or someone hurt your feelings and you feel the need for a "safe place"...remember that this is true heartache..not some social or political hot topic that has hurt your feelings...this is real life...
http://solvingformyj.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-day-your-heart-stopped-and-mine.html

My prayer for my family is that we realize how blessed we are to have each other and thank God every day for the wonderful lives He has given us.