Some People Think That It Is Still July4th

A gift from my sister Linda. I love it.

Hi,

 Well I guess I will not have any sleep tonight because some people are still setting off firecrackers and fire works. Not sure why the police that cruise by doesn't put a stop to it. 

 I mean if it is against the law to shoot them off inside the city limits then why are they being set off in the city limits? Why are they not confiscating all of the fireworks and making them stop? Or give them a ticket for disturbing the peace. It is almost 1:00 morning. 

 Foxy has been so scared and she has cried and barked and been in my lap. Poor baby. All I can do is just hold her close and try and comfort her.

 My sister Linda gifted me this container for some of the plants that I want to plant. Isn't it pretty. She sent me the photo last night and she put a large soda cup beside it to show me how tall it is.

 She left the dirt in it but said she would empty it before Karyn picks it up for me. I want to put succulents in this one. She said she had a  chain for it but I told her no thanks. The wind here gets really crazy so I don't want to hang it. I will set on my little table. If I hung it up then I risk it getting broken. 

 Nathan and I are going Sunday and get some of our plants. We are getting cat nip for sure. I was reading in my gardening app that Citronella candles do not work for keeping the mosquitos away. Plant cat nip for the most mosquito effective repellent. 

 Maybe that is why my candles are not helping. I do have better luck with the Citronella incense sticks tho.

 Jonathan drove me to see my cardiologist yesterday. My EKG came back good and he said that instead of me having to come back anymore that he is going to release me. I just need to call him if I need him. 

 That put a huge smile on my face.

 As we were leaving Jonathan said that he chose where he was taking me out to eat and I had no say so about it. I had to go to where he chose. I'm thinking well since your driving I guess I will go where you take me lol.

 I said that was fine and as he pushed the elevator button we both said... "I'm hungry".

 So we headed out and we were stopped at a red light just before we crossed the interstate and Jonathan said... "Mom do you see that gas station over there". 

 I looked up and nodded and he said "That is where we are eating".

 I guess he thought that I was going to make this protest or something but I shrugged. I would have settled for a hot dog and a bag of chips at that point.

 So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that it was actually Rudy's BBQ. 

 Rudy's is sort of a famous real bbq place here.  In my opinion it's very good but it is not near as good as where Nathan works and that is at  The County Line. 

 But that is my opinion only but if I had a choice of Rudy's or The County Line, I am going to choose The County Line.

 Here are some photos from the internet because I am not going to diss Rudy's because it is good.

To get you started off hee hee… I love the smile that he is wearing haha.

Enjoy these photos. If you ever make it to Texas please stop in and have a great meal.... Both places are definitely recommended by yours truly.

 Ohhh Be Still My Heart... Is that silence I hear? Yes I do believe it is. Do I dare believe that the fireworks are done for the night. Why it is only 1:41 am here.... 

 And with that news I think that I am going to call it a night... Sweet dreams! Come on Foxy let's go to bed...

 Good Night to all.... Take care everyone. BB

A Busy Day

Isn't this pretty?

Good Afternoon,
 It's been a busy day and another busy day tomorrow. I hope that after I get my errands ran tomorrow that I will not be as tired as I was today. 

 Jonathan and I got up at 7:30 and out the door by 8:00 this morning so we could get to the farmers market. 
 I left with a huge box filled with corn, potatoes, onions, beets, 2 kinds of squash, eggplant, apples and oranges, carrots and sweet potatoes and I am sure that I am forgetting a few things.
 The biggest surprise of all is that it was all free! All I had to do was provide my bags and boxes but I didn't even need that. 
 They had a wagon and had enough boxes to put everything in.
 They ran out of melons and tomatoes before it was my turn. I was number 110 in line. And we were there early.
 But no way am I going to complain. We have more than enough for our family and I will share with my friend Emily tonight.
 I will pick up my melon when I go to H.E.B. tomorrow evening.

 The library was closed. The entire library system is closed this week. I was like ok, I understand Christmas and Thanksgiving, even Easter but 4th of July? The entire week? 
 But it is and there is not much I can do about it but tomorrow Jonathan and I are headed over to Half Price books.

 Let me tell you about our stop at the Good Will. Hmm, so I really wanted some coffee and so we stopped at Burger King. It is in a little strip mall thing.
 I looked over as he was pulling into the drive thru and I said to him, "Look, there is a Good Will right there".
 So we decided to go there first and I was so surprised at how high everything was. You know those small metal dish racks that fits in the sink for your dishes? 
$12.99. I couldn't believe my eyes but yes that was the right price. I asked. Yeah it was a little better than the standard but not $12.00 better. I just want one of those small racks that fits into my sink and holds my dishes until I get ready to fill the dishwasher to just to keep glasses and dishes separated until they are rinsed. I will get mine at Walmart if I don't find one at savers for 5 bucks. 

 Jonathan found a water hose. 20 feet for $30.00 and he put that down rather fast. I didn't find what I was looking for but one small glass pumpkin caught my eye. We carried it around for a little while but it just didn't speak to me so I had Jonathan put it back. I really didn't want to spend the $6.99 on it. It was really cute but I wouldn't be able to see my plants thru it because the glass is really thick. 

 No good selection on books. The only thing Jonathan bought was a Citronella candle. I don't know what he paid for it because I didn't ask. 
 Karyn is going to take me to a good place tomorrow. We are going to a thrift store called Savers. They have a half off sale and they are relatively cheap anyway. 
 It is just a bit of a drive to get there. 

 Speaking of Karyn she has plans with friends on the 4th. They are going to the lake and her friends have a pontoon boat.
 I don't like her going on the water but she knows how I feel. I will worry no matter what so I will just pray she is safe and everyone else is as well. 

 Speaking of the 5th. It is a sad day for me. My dad died on July 5th 1990. My niece Joyce was born on July 5th 1968. My dad was laid to rest on my nephews birthday July 6th 1990.
 Joyce passed away April 4th 2014.  The numbers come out to 4-14-2014. 
So I think of them on that day. 
 I never cared for July 4th after that. 
Isn't it strange how certain dates signifies important things in our lives?


 Well I have to get moving and get my shower. I am thinking of a movie and just chilling for a little while. Talk to you later and everyone be Blessed... BB

An Early Post For Tuesday!

Borrowed From The Internet. My next indoor project.

 Hi,
 Just a quick post before I call it a night. I had to go to the doctor today and Jonathan and I had a few errands to run so I did a lot of walking today and I am really tired. 

 I am blogging this tonight because my Farmers Market Basket is no longer being delivered to my house. We have to go and get it. No big deal. It will or should be cool in the morning because we have to be there between 8-10 in the morning. I need to get our boxes and bags ready before I go to bed. 
 I really want a watermelon. I was going to pick one up at the store tonight but when I looked at the price I walked on... $8.99 for a medium sized melon. Wow... 2 years ago we could get 2 for $5.00. Everything is just getting outrageous. 
 Maybe tomorrow I will get lucky and get one if we make it early enough. 

 How do you like my Terrarium? Tomorrow Jon and I plan to go to a few thrift stores and even tho I am not a fan of our Goodwill I will bite my Pride In The Butt and walk in and hope to find a large enough container. I wish I could find my Vintage clear glass cookie jar I had when the kids were little. I left it behind when I left their dad and I am sure that it is long gone now. The kids don't recall ever seeing it after I left. Too bad. I was offered $65.00 dollars for it at a garage sale. My girlfriends mother had come over to add some of her things to mine and when customers left we would go inside to cool off and she spotted it. 
 Little did I know at the time that she was an antiques dealer. My friend Jen and I never discussed her mother's job. I found out much later. I was like... Um no, I really like that cookie jar.
 Now I wish I had handed it over to her because I am sure that it was probably trashed or broken. He never took care of anything. 
 But it would have been perfect my terrarium. 

 I started on my rock painting and decided to do the carrot. My rock is hidden so I hope that someone finds and hides it again. I put that on the back of it so perhaps they will and it can make someone smile.
 It isn't perfect. My hands are not as steady as they use to be but I am still having fun. I have the front mostly done. I need a second coat and so that is my plan for tomorrow and my friend and neighbor Emily across the way from me has gorgeous rocks and she is going to bring me rocks and we are going to do some painting together.
 I found 2 in my yard. One is palm sized and the other is a bit larger than a pebble. I took her sweet doggie Maple some Denta Styx tonight. I need to take a picture of Maple. She is a Service Working dog. A beautiful yellow lab. She is 2 years old. 
 Emily and she go out every evening and she goes down to the school down the street and lets Maple run. They play ball. She has several balls, tennis balls and Emily throws them and Maple chases them and brings them back. 
 I love going to see her. (And Maple too)… lol. 
 She is so fun. When she sees me she knows that she is not working and wants to play! I love it.
 Foxy is terrified of her. Foxy acts like she is a Lion in a bit of fur and barks until Maple stands up and Foxy starts whimpering and running back home as fast as her tiny legs carry her! Good to know that no cars are turning in or the street so she is ok. I  use her leash but sometimes she will dash right out the door.

 Well this is it for me. I am curling up in my bed with a book and read a couple of chapters and hopefully fall asleep. 
 Have a wonderful Tuesday to all... BB

Jon My Birthday Boy!

Jonathan, My Birthday Boy. Taken at Nuevo Mexico Restaurant, Austin Texas June 30th 2019

Good Morning,

 It is 4:30 in the morning. I couldn't sleep so I just got up and spent some time reading some blogs and decided to go ahead and do mine. So here I am.

 Sunday was Jonathan's birthday. We took an Uber to our special place. It is just his and mine. We did take Karyn once and Nathan more than once but it started out as a mother and son date place. 

 But it is such a delicious place to eat and it is small and quaint and it doesn't break the wallet either. We especially like to eat there for lunch. 

 Since he wasn't driving he decided to have a drink. I chose my usual... My Mexican Martini.

That little metal strainer holds 3 of the martini glasses of a tequila martini

 I am not sure of the name of Jonathan's drink. But he said it was to Girlie... Haha... still he drank half of it before handing it over to me! Whew I am not sure what all is in it but it was strong. I think that they must have doubled what ever was supposed to be in it. Haha...

 I didn't exactly stumble out of the restaraunt. No I saved that for waiting for the Uber to get there to pick us up. hahahaah.

 And Jon escorted me into the house. Even tho I could have made it under my own speed. He was being considerate lol.

I am wearing my bracelet from Miss Edna, my necklace Audrey made for me. You can't see my citrine ring that I am wearing because my right hand is covered. I ended up taking it off because my finger started hurting a bit. And I am also wearing another necklace and my dangly ear rings.

I really love this shot. Jonathan is pouring the last of my martini... He was like Aww mom, but it is good to the last drop!! And oh yes it was.

I made this page for he and I. I am going to do another one later on and I think I will turn this one into a scrap page.

Saturday night I gave our kitchen a nice scrub down. I really need to sweep and mop the floor. It is my next cleaning project. Jonathan said that he would do it but I told him that I would because I want to try out my new mop. What a crazy reason to turn down cleaning help lol.

 Oh I have my finished rock to post. I am happy with the way it turned out. I also took a scrubber and scraped off most of the paint on the ones the kids did so I can work on those. Most of the paint came off and now they are outside drying. They should be ready by tomorrow. I am not sure which one I will start. Probably one of the sunflowers.

Before

After

This is really relaxing. I am looking for a nice rock in my yard. So far I haven't found one I want to paint, but I will. 

 Ohhh and look at my Crystal... Yes that is once piece. I was letting it charge by sunlight and I left it out to also charge by moonlight. 

 It is gorgeous when I am holding it outside in the sunlight.

 We are having a cool down. Night before last a rain storm came in... Oh yeah our new gutters are working beautifully.
 It cooled us down to 68 degrees and yesterday and thru the night and even now it is really nice and cool. We are at 72 degrees with a nice breeze. Not a mosquito in sight. Now that is what I call great weather. The news forecast a thunder storm for tomorrow night.

 I found a beautiful dish that Karyn had up in the cabinet. I snagged it. I don't want it to get broken. I am not sure exactly what I will do with it. I might use it for my rainbow crystals. I am not sure yet but it is so pretty, or to me it is.

I really love this kind of design. It is nothing special as there is no writing on the back but it is the only one in the cabinet like this. It is prettier than the photo.

 I spent my points from Walgreens pharmacy the other day and now I have to start over. I should have held onto them but the clerk said that they were due to expire the last day of the month.

 Now my headphones bit the dust and so I am going to have to get a new pair. I could have used them then but I didn't know my headphones were going to bite the dust. Ohhh sometimes I do wish I had the ability to  foresee some things lol. I am sure that we all do.

 I have loved reading this months Reader's Digest. I have read it cover to cover as I always do. This month was really fun because it talked of a small town here called Mt.Vernon. It is really such a lovely slice of heaven here in Texas. 

 We have been many times. We didn't live far when my kids were growing up and spent quiet a bit of time there. 

Not all of Texas is pretty but there are so many of these little pockets of out of the way places that just makes your soul fill up as well as your eyes and hearts.  Mt.Vernon is one of those places. If you ever have a chance don't miss out and go and enjoy making some wonderful memories.

 

 Well this about wraps it up for me so I think that I will lay down on the sofa and try and catch a few winks. Karyn has to work in the office for a while tomorrow and then Jonathan and I have a doctors appointment.

 His is for paperwork and mine is a check up for my stomach issues. I have to order a blood pressure machine too.
 I also want to hide my rock. 

 We also have planned a trip to the library and a stop to Half Price Books. I am looking for a series to buy from a author I really like. I hope to find it.

 So have a wonderful Monday.... BB

Happy Friday Y'all

My latest colored page...

 Good morning,
 It is a little after 9:00 a.m. and we are sitting at 80 degrees with a humidity index of 90 and should reach the mid 90's today. Even tho the temps are warm and the humidity high I did have a nice time sitting at the patio with a cup of coffee. We had a really nice breeze but it is gone now.

 I took some pics of my art project today. I said yesterday that the rock was a pickle. I meant eggplant. I guess one of the kids decided to paint it green lol. Mine is of a tomato. I took it out of the box and took pictures. My markers are not acrylic but I have an acrylic sealer so no worries. In case your wondering what I will be using it is just a can of clear spray paint. I decided to order the acrylic markers yesterday so I will have them.
 I cannot draw so I think that I will do my rocks in some patterns and have something encouraging on them. The back side will have the date I painted and my initials. So there you have it.

 My plans are not very ambitious today. I'm still not feeling all that great. But I did sleep all night last night and I went to bed early. Before 9:00 pm. I remember Jonathan making some Banana Bread and Karyn leaving to go and pick Nathan up for work. But it wasn't like I was really awake. I was more like hearing things around me. I was aware but not aware enough to keep me from falling into a wonderful healing sleep. Also I was able to keep everything I had eaten down yesterday! Whoooo Whoooo,

 Yesterday Nathan and I cleaned our fishes tank. Poor little guy just does not like a clean house haha. He seriously does pout. But we were worried because he was not swimming around at all. But a few hours last night he was all over his tank. 
 Jonathan bought him some new gravel and a tank vacuum and a new plant. He doesn't like the gravel. So we are not going to put it back in the tank when we clean again. If we do we decided we will just put in a little, perhaps in the corner. About a 1/4 cup should be enough. It really keeps him from seeing his reflection and that is very important to Beta's. Gravel helps keep his tank cleaner but since we have this vacuum now he doesn't have to have it. Jonathan just bought it because the lady at Pet Smart recommended it. I do have to go back and get some more water drops and conditioner. We used all of ours yesterday because the tank is a 3.5 gallon. He did have a gallon tank but Nathan got him a larger one. It is really a nice one. 

 So yesterday I was sitting out on the patio when I felt something on my arm. I didn't pay much attention because I was reading an article on my phone and when I felt the movement I looked down and wowsie… what a huge gray spider... My phone went one way and I knocked the spider to kingdom come. 
 It was gray and huge. It didn't bite me that I know of but my elbow started hurting really bad. I have a long scratch right under my elbow. I had to have hit it on something when I jumped up but I have no clue what. Anyway I usually don't bother with spiders unless they are poisonous but this one was evil looking and when I say huge I mean he/she was very big. Sorry Mother Earth but I sent him off into Spiderland… lol.

 Sunday is my son Jonathan's birthday.  Today is his last work day and he is off for the next 9 days. He always takes his vacation the week of his birthday. I asked him if he had any plans and he said he would like to go fishing. I was surprised because he never enjoyed it. Not even as a child. He said he was surprised to but has a desire to just go fishing this year. I really hope that his day is wonderful.

 About a year ago I came across a blog that I really enjoyed reading. I lost it somehow and couldn't remember the name of it. Well Day before yesterday I was searching for something and her blog popped up. So I have been really enjoying catching up on it. 
 It is called I tripped over a stone. It is mostly about Fibromyalgia and other issues that can accompany the disease//ailment. Anyway I am going to try and put a link here in case you would enjoy it. Her name is Kim and I am actually a member of her and Karen's Facebook group so I pretty much already know everything that is going on with her anyway.... :)

 https://itrippedoverastone.com/

 Anyway I enjoy her so much and wanted to pass it on.

 Before I go I wanted to share a few pics that my granddaughter Cathy and I did on my phone. Some are of her and some of me. I really like the one of me as a garden... Hahahaha. It is fun playing with photos. My garden this year isn't as beautiful as I imagined so I decided to be a garden lol....

Ok so I am getting off for now... Have a great day.... BB

The Kindness Project.

 This is an image from Wikipedia that shows a painted rock. The story is really interesting.

 Good Morning. It is still morning here for the next 59 minutes lol. It is hot and muggy as well as  overcast in some areas.
 We are sitting at a 84 degrees and will hit the mid 90's with 68% humidity. Oh the sun just peeked out from the clouds. Hmmm well that means it will dissipate the fog advisories. I always get the fog alerts but really I haven't seen much fog lately.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kindness_Rock_Project
 This is the link to the Kindness Rock Project. 
 The Kindness Rock Project is a viral trend where people, commonly children, paint pebbles or cobbles and leave them for others to find and collect. Photos of the painted rocks and hints of where to find them are commonly shared on Facebook groups.^[1] The trend originated in the U.S. and has spread to the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand as well as other countries.^[2][3]

^{I think that these acrylic markers would be great for people like myself that cannot draw.}

 ^{I have had several things I wanted to say but I am having problems with this blog post so I will close for now and try to come back again in a little while. If I can't then I will be back in the morning... BB}

I Always Seem To Be Apologizing

Borrowed From The Internet

Hello,

 I really hope that everyone is doing well. I want to say I am sorry that I haven't been blogging but that is nothing new at the moment.

 My life has been so.... Indescribable. 

 It is going to take several blog posts just to catch up on the last 3 months. Some things I just cannot post on my blog so a long stretch will overlook several weeks of important things that have happened but I choose to keep as private as possible with only my family and a few friends.

 I know that it would be a huge relief and therapy to journal it all but sometimes that kind of writing therapy needs to be done in a real life journal under lock and key haha.

 Seriously tho lots has happened and so much of it not good. Most of these I can blog about. Like our air conditioning went out and the entire unit had to be replaced. Ugh what a terrible time during this kind of heat. 

 Thankfully we do have a great landlady and we were helped immensely by her kindness and how fast she and her husband took care of the problem. She also had a unit across from us that was vacant at the time and she let us use it as it had power. 

 My daughter Laurie and her family were here and they have been living in Northern California and this heat was very difficult for them. The last day was just miserable as we had the hottest day of the year so far at the time. They were trying to pack the car and couldn't be outside very long at a time. I was very concerned that heat exhaustion or stroke  was very possible with my son in law. I could tell he was not doing well. 

 Besides the heat what other misery at the time and still is? Mosquitoes the size of Texas along with the swarms. How oh how can they survive this heat is beyond me. It is impossible to enjoy our back patio. We don't have standing water but we do have a lot of trees and the leaves hold onto what moisture that they can.

 The repellent Off does not help, nor do the citronella candles and incense . Although I have discovered that the incense does seem to work better than the candles.

 My son Nathan and I are the ones that really love our back patio so we are investing in some Lemongrass, Lemon Balm and as many other plants that we can. 

 Money has been a problem. Having our family here as much as we were happy to see them, it really put us in a bind financially. Laundry, baths, dishes, etc used gas for hot water, electricity and water. but we knew that when they came. 

 So we are not complaining about having them. We just have to be a bit frugal for a couple of months. Right? Right.

 Awww I just received some sad news. Beth Chapman wife of Duane Chapman of  Dog The Bounty Hunter passed away today. My heart broke. I was so hoping she would recover. 

 I never watched the show or even kept up with them but it is still so very sad when we lose anyone. Famous or not, just the fact that she had endured so much and her family is devastated of course. 

 The day after our air conditioning unit got installed Nathan and my son in law David decided to spring clean before we moved our beds and things back over here.

 It was really nice of them to do that. I mean the house really needed to be swept and mopped and cleaned really well. Having 4 kids messes plus our own it really needed a good cleaning.

 We had really cleaned good before Laurie and her family arrived and even packed up a lot of breakables that we didn't want to take a chance of breaking but even so we still had a lot of dust and dirt. Little fingers and hands! I have never been one for the Minimalist look. I like my stuff lol. However I am really enjoying this minimal look.

 We also have a surround sound system. It is Nathan's actually and during the cleaning it was decided to move the room around for a bit more space.

 Karyn has this cute coffee table and they took the big one out and moved this one in. It is a low table and it blended in a bit too well with our hard wood floors.

 About 1:00 in the morning I was coming out of the kitchen and forgot the table was there. I tripped completely over the table, I came down hard hitting my head on the edge of a glass table and my neck hit my bookshelf. I really hit my chest hard too. My right breast took the brunt force of the fall. 

 I still have a large hematoma on the breast. The good news is that I am fading to a light green and purple instead of a deep black, blue and purple. The hematoma is still there. It really hasn't gone down very much.

 So of course I had to go to the ER for that. 

 My latest thing is that I am having a serious issue with my stomach. I haven't been able to keep anything down for the past 10 days. I seem to be doing a tiny bit better but the extreme nausea has had me down to the point that I really haven't been able to do anything. 

 I just haven't been able to have the energy or the inclination to do much. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my grandchildren. They are only little once. 

 But with my fall and the stomach issues we didn't do as much as we wanted to. Arts and crafts were a big part of my plan with them. I had bought them some cute little crafts to do with them but they ended up having to do them by themselves.

 Dollar stores are great. I bought each of them wooden crafts. A boat, train, car and airplane. They came with the glue and paint and stickers to decorate their little projects.

 Sidewalk chalk and soap bubbles was fun and my neighbor Emily loaned the kids her little plastic pool that is for her service dog so the kids could play in the water and attempt to stay cool. 

 The one really fun thing that I wanted to do with them was the rock painting. They are really kinda big. The size of a coaster actually. We had a carrot, tomato, sunflower and a pickle.

 I am not sure who pulled that craft out of the bag but I was disappointed because I really wanted to help with that. I want to do the rock painting and hiding.

 I did not know that this is a huge online trend. Let me see if I can find the information about it.

 My daughter Laurie said that people actually join these online groups, takes pictures of the ones found and when and where and then post them online to the group so that they had proof it was found. It is a huge thing. I had first heard about it from a blog poster.

 I think that this will be a topic for a future blog post. I want to really research it so I can give as much accurate information possible.

 I am also running out of energy so I will close for now and I hope to be back tomorrow. Or even later today.

 Take care everyone and Be Blessed. We have soooooooooo very much to be Blessed for. 

 Love to all and Big hugs to all.... BB