Welcome back, Genna! Sorry about your job, but I know you trust the Lord to lead you in the right direction!! We'll be waiting to hear about your trip to Brazil!
We took the 3 gkids to the lake this afternoon. I had a meeting at church at 9 a.m. today and didn't get home til 11:30 but the kids all slept late (no surprise) and they were just getting up when I got home. Grampa Al had it easy! LOL We didn't actually get the boat in the water till about 3:30 and we stayed about two hours before the clouds blew in and it started thundering. The kids were ready to get out, though, after tubing for two hours. They had a blast!
Tomorrow we are going to see the Titanic exhibit in Branson at 1 p.m. and I am sure we will find other things to do while there, too. :D Saturday afternoon we will take the boat and ride over to "Just Jackies" at Pontiac (another marina and resort about a 20 minute boat ride from the marina closest to us). "Just Jackies" is a pizza place on a hill that overlooks the marina at Pontiac. It is so-named because a couple used to own it but when they were divorced the lady got the pizza place and named it "Just Jackies" because it was now hers alone. LOL Of course we all know that teens love pizza and when it comes with a boat ride, well, so much the better! Ha, ha!
Sunday, we will go to church and most likely go back to the lake in the afternoon. Monday we are going to Silver Dollar City. Tuesday I will take them home and spend the night in Benton, AR with the Finney/Fitzpatrick family. Wednesday I will drive back home.
I am tired just typing all of that! LOL
July SIZZLES right along!
Marilyn I'm sure the kids are having a great time. Yes you will be tired!
I was tired myself last night. I am painting 4 booths! What a mess! But it's going to look so good when I'm through. I have two painted and 2 more to go. I have to take every thing off the wall and move all the furniture around then put it all back together again!! When you've done this for a while you learn how to move things with most everything still on it. People still shop when you have such a mess. It's like they are on a treasure hunt!
Marilyn, can I come vacation with you?? Sounds like ya'll are having a great time! :) I know the kids are having fun!
Charlotte, I know your booths will look great when you are finished. You might sell even more while they are treasure hunting!!
Alex and Natalie came down Saturday night for a visit. That is the first time they have been home since Christmas. Thankfully, they didn't get there until about 7 because the house was a disaster area! I usually like to leave things clean when I leave on a trip - but I didn't get to do so this time, and then between everything that got messed up while we were gone and all the clutter from the stuff we brought in, suitcases unpacked, etc etc ....I had a LOT of cleaning to do! Plus regular housework too of course. Jessica was at work all day and Kyle was gone on a bike ride until almost 3 so i didn't have any help - but Leigh was busy mowing the yard. He got the yard done and I got MOST of the housework done. Kyle helped me when he got back and that made things go faster. I have a few clothes left in one suitcase to unpack but the others are unpacked and everything put away. I also grilled ribs and boston butt for supper. When Jessica got home from work, she made a Limon Tart (Lime Pie) that we had learned to make while we were in Brazil...... we ended up with a little too much lime juice in it (they don't use measuring cups there so we had to estimate) but it was still good. Just a little more tart than what we had in Brazil.
Yesterday afternoon, we got the 14 buttons on Natalie and Alex's headboard and so the bed is officially finished. We loaded it in the suburban last night and Leigh took it to LR this morning. I have a picture of the headboard, but not the entire bed. I told Alex to send me a picture when they get it put up.
Better get back to work for the moment. I can almost see my desk again! ^_^
Saw this article about gardening design apps............ thought some of you might find it interesting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/garden/new-gardening-apps.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1333757737-Nbq2Lm5WXiDN4QCvbMYoHw&
Genna, the bed looks great! I know they will treasure it because of your work in it
Well, I guess it is "official" now, Cayla and Bryan are getting married ! He bought her rings Sat and they are looking at Sept 14th for the date, not sure of that yet as they have to check on using his church and things like that-she turned in her notice at work today for the end of August as she and Eli will be moving to Ripley, TN.
I am happy and sad-I prayed for her a Christian husband and God has answered my prayers, but I was hoping he would be closer than a 2 and1/2 hour drive--LOL ! She also bought her wedding dress and he got a new suit this weekend. She said he can't decide on his ring yet, they looked, but he just wanted to think about it a while as he was planning on wearing it the rest of his life.
They want to use his church as it is fancy--lol--she said it is a beautiful church.
Sandra that is such wonderful news!!!!! I k ow it will be sad to see them move away. It that is lse enough that you can still visit! I saw them together and you could re even then that he really cared for her. He is a fine you g man and I'm sure they will be happy!
Yes, he has always cared for her, but she wanted someone closer to home.
They were teen agers when they first met !
Congratulations on the pending wedding! I didn't know she was dating - but glad to hear she found a good Christian man! I know you will hate to see Eli leave... I am sure you have grown used to having him there every day!
They actually helped put the buttons on - and it was a much slower process than I thought it would be...... but they saw at least part of the time and effort that went into it. I am excited to see it all put together..... I have asked for a picture when they get it up.
The headboard was not that difficult - and wouldn't have taken too long if I had not waited three months for that fabric to fall out. Then we almost had it finished before I left but we were afraid to attempt the buttons late that night afraid that we would mess something up being tired! Once we started the process, I was very thankful we waited!!
The bed looks nice Genna! I imagine the buttons were the most difficult thing.
Trying to cover them was probably one of the hardest parts..... then putting them on was not difficult but was more time consuming than i anticipated. I was using a needle that was 6" long, but trying to reach both sides of the headboard to feed the needle thru was difficult in places - plus, Alex "pushed" in each button to get it the depth that they wanted before I tried to fasten the thread in place. I am a little concerned about the thread holding, but I used a method I found on line so I hope it works! The only other thing I was concerned about was keeping the long needle straight as it fed thru so that the rows would be straight. It was a learning process, like all new projects, but I could replicate one pretty quickly at this point. The bed on the other hand is a different story! It was a painfully slow project!!
This is one of the morning glories I brought home from Kathy Ann's. I have it in a pot at the base of my butterfly bush, that looks like a tree, and it is climbing into the bush/tree.
It is so tall that at the end of this season it is coming down and I will replace it with a yellow one I have rooted.
That morning glory is gorgeous! Why don't you just cut the butterfly bush back? I had one that was well over 8' tall, but I gave it a major trim this past spring, and my pink one is now over 6' tall and it will get a major trim this fall or early in the spring. It has been beautiful, but it is just getting way too large!
It is a very old bush, been there several years, a few years back a storm broke half of it off. It is just not that pretty anymore. I intend to put the newly rooted one there in its place. If we can get the stump up.
I am way behind! The kids were a joy to have here, although I had forgotten how much teens can eat! ROFL Their mother had told me that they ate everything that wasn't nailed down and she was right! :D We ate out a lot so, thankfully, I didn't really do that much cooking. We had a blast at the lake and at Silver Dollar City. I posted photos on Facebook so I won't re-post them here as you are all on FB, I believe. The kids are all looking forward to coming back again! In the meantime, I will start saving for groceries!! **grin**
Genna, the headboard looks great! You did a good job on it!
Sandra, I love that morning glory. I have already congratulated you on Cayla's engagement and coming marriage. I am so pleased that she has found a good Christian man! You will miss having them with you but, really, they won't be that far away and you can always Skype with them in between visits. Skype is a great tool for staying in contact with loved ones who live elsewhere.
It is unseasonably cool up here right now--high today was in the mid 70's. Al took advantage of the cool temps to cut down the huge mimosa tree in our front yard this morning. It is pretty when it blooms but makes such a mess when the blooms drop and it spawns so many "babies" that we decided to take it down. It will allow more sun on my sun flowerbed. The north end of that flowerbed was not getting as much sun as the sun pklants needed and they haven't done as well. Hopefully, they will do better now that they will be getting more sun.
Marilyn, I could not help but laugh out loud reading about your "teens". Pat has had Tommy and his two boys 15 and 17 at her house from Monday night until noon today. That means she cooked breakfast Tues, Wed and Thurs morning--she counted up how many biscuits she made in those 3 days and it was 56--and they were all gone!!!!! They came to see me yesterday and were going to get cereal and milk on the way back so she wouldn't have to cook breakfast this morning---she is worn out, when you are used to being alone it really makes a difference to have children in the house! When the older 3 girls were with us on the weekends I would cook biscuits, 2 pounds of sausage, a dozen eggs for our breakfast when they were teens, they really can put that food away.
He was taking them back to their Mom in Georgia today, they spent the whole month of July with him. He informed us we " have to make our plans " to come to Mobile in Oct to see him in an opera, he has the lead in this one. It is the Japanese one I can't think of the name right now.
We all have FaceTime on our phones, so I can see that sweet baby's face when I want, we used it last week end while they were up there and thinks it is funny Granny is in the box! I am so happy for them, I hope they have a long and very happy life together !
My wishes too!!!
Yes those teen boys can eat!! I would hate to see what my son's food bill is every month! I was out there one year when they were just getting into that stage. Kristi and I and the boys had been shopping for some things for them and we were late eating lunch. We went through a drive through somewhere and I remember Jake ordering all this stuff and Kristi telling him that that much food was obscene. I think she got used to it!
Once they get a little older they stop eating quite so much. Jake doesn't eat as much as he used to. They are very healthy eaters. I'm proud of that! I made a big blackberry cobbler from fresh blackberries I had picked. I still had some left over when they left. I also had some just fresh blackberries and they seemed to prefer eating them to the cobbler. They eat fresh fruit with every meal. They also don't eat fried foods (with the exception of french fries occasionally). My chocolate chip cookies are the one sweet thing they do really like! I had a big batch when they got here which they ate and I made another big batch the day they left to take on the plane with them. Probably turned out to be a good thing. They flew into San Francisco airport and the plane wreck was still on the ground and had a run way blocked. They were almost three hours late getting in because of it. And of course there is no food on an air plane anymore!
Sandra that will be fun to get to see your nephew as the lead in the opera!! I know he wants you all in the audience!!
It's in the mid 80's here but feels cool to me. It has been raining off and on all day. I got wet getting to and from the car when we went out to eat. I'm getting ready to put on some sweat clothes to get warmed up!! Going to give Samantha and Charlie a bath tonight and need to get the heater out to warm up the laundry room for them! Who would think we would need sweat clothes and a heater in July!!
This message was edited Jul 26, 2013 6:28 PM
That is crazy, Charlotte! We have the air on, but itis just about time to cut it off!
My sweats and the heater felt great!!! One down and one more to go but I had to take a break!
Also my healthy eating grandsons don't drink sodas and drink several glasses of water at every meal. When they come I always buy some fresh raspberry lemonade for them to drink. They didn't even drink all of it. When we eat out they always order water to drink - nothing else.
So glad ya'll had a good visit Marilyn. I love Mimosa trees and would have had a hard time cutting it down! :( I am like Charlotte - it is a 'memory' thing. We had two mimosas in our front yard all the time I lived at home with my parents and our family spent many Sunday afternoons sitting out underneath the largest one in lawn chairs. Those are such precious memories to me because my entire family was there(my two brothers and sister and their spouses and kids)...... part of my "norman rockwell" memories of a family that is now dysfunctional. Then I remember spending countless summer nights with the attic fan on bringing in the sweet smell of the mimosa blossoms. I still LOVE that smell! I know they can be messy..... but just such sweet memories. It is odd when I look at my yard because some of my favorite things are tied to my childhood - like my Tiger Lilies and my 4:00s. Of course I love my DLs now and none of my family had those growing up, but I can't help but think that my kids might always have at least a small patch later in life. They will remember the crepe myrtles, the butterfly bushes, the DLs and the hardy hibiscus for sure because they are always commenting on those. Odd the things we latch on to.....
Jessica is the maid of honor in a wedding this afternoon, so I am trying to clean house and have to get to town to do lab before I have to get ready. Guess that means I need to get off the computer and get back at it. We have had rain here off and on since Wednesday. Had heavy rains last night and lost power for several hours, and it was still raining lightly this morning and is overcast. It is a NICE change from the heat and the dust! I am sure all my plants are doing the happy dance!
I dug up some 4:00s for a friend from church who had been wanting some..... the ground finally got soft enough that I could get them up without breaking them off! I dug them late Wed evening - but she was gone to camp with the kids this week and I didn't get them to her until last night. The leaves were limp but I am hoping once she gets them in the ground they will revive back up.
Hope everyone has a great day!
Genna
Just occurred to me that July really has not sizzled like it normally does. So glad it hasn't!!
I'm making a huge pot of fresh tomato soup! I had a lot of tomatoes ripe when I went down today so I decided to make a big pot of soup and freeze it. Soup is actually my favorite way to eat tomatoes. I making a recipe that also has some carrots in it. It will give it a little texture. Also lots of onions, garlic, and basil.
Jerry said last night he dreaded August as July has been so mild, who knows what the weather will do these days.
We are eating our tomatoes as fast as they get ripe, we can't get enough--LOL
I'm the only one that eats tomatoes so I've had more than enough to do other things with. My tomatoes aren't doing as well this year as they did last year. I have plenty but just not the huge amount I had last year. I haven't spent much time on my garden either. I decided I wasn't going to can anything this year. Don't have time for that. I have been just giving away all the extra's I have.
Charlotte, it was very cool up here last Friday and over the week-end. Unseasonably cool weather for July but we are taking advantage of it! I even made a big pot of vegetable beef soup on Friday afternoon which is something I usually don't make in the summertime.
Genna, I know about those childhood memories. :) In my case it was the HUGE pecan tree in my grandmother's side yard. We would go down and gather up a big batch of pecans for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season. Mother always made divinity with pecans in it and it was the best divinity I have ever tasted. Soooo yummy!
While it has been cool, we did get the Mimosa tree cut down, cut up and all the small limbs, leaves, etc. cleaned up. It is amazing how much taking that tree down opened up our view of the hills to the east of us. Today we were planning to cut down a dead tree in the front yard but it is raining here. It is just misting now but we had almost an inch of rain in an hour's time earlier this morning. Maybe we can get out later and take down that other tree. Al has cut down a lot of trees over the last few years and he is really good at felling trees and making them fall where he wants them to fall. :) Then, if it is good for firewood, he will cut them up into pieces that fit our wood-burning stove and stack them up for use this winter. I rake up all the smaller limbs and trees, etc. He piles those up into a "burn pile" which he will burn later in the fall.
I'm glad that Yall have enjoyed a few cool days, we haven't had it here. It did start to rain Friday night with monsoon like showers and then all day Sat.(which just made it worst by adding humidity to the heat wave).
My childhood memories revert back to our porches and the time we enjoyed there, just sitting around visiting and even shelling the peas and beans. My grandmother had a porch swing and I can't tell you the hours that I spent in it reading and letting my mind travel to far off places.
When you get those two trees out you should have more room for another flowerbed. LOL!!!
Marilyn you all need to be careful cutting down trees! Al may have done a lot before but it's easy for accidents to happen. They don't always land exactly where you want. After the snow this winter there was a huge limb from a neighbors tree that was just barely hanging on and was right above some of my azaleas. I was looking at it and pulled on it a little and that thing came down with a huge crash. Did not land where I was expecting it to. Luckily it didn't hit me but it easily could have.
It pays to save old stuff! Jake my oldest grandson has gotten into collecting old 78 records. He has been haunting through antiques stores for them. I have a whole stack of albums sitting on a shelf. Jeff and I were talking about them last night and I told him I would send them to him for Jake. I hadn't looked at them in YEARS. Turned out to be a lot of Jeff's old albums plus some stuff I had bought one time. There were 2 Beatles albums in excellent condition plus a lot of other albums from that era. Jake's going to be thrilled!
Rainy and overcast looking here today. Makes you think of fall!
Jeri we did a cross post! Ah porch swings - have always loved those. Wish I had a place for one now.
For some reason you made me think of my special private place for reading, day dreaming etc. when I was a teenager. We had a big oak tree by the side of our house that had ivy growing all up the tree. It was in a narrow side yard and there was other shrubbery around it that made it a very private area. I would take a blanket and lay under that tree and read during the summer. My special spot!
LOL!! I remember Joann as a teenager going through the old albums and she stopped looked at me and said wait these are really good musicians.
When my ex-husband died last year my son discovered he still had all the old albums we had when he was really young. He was thrilled to death and took them all home with him. When he was 6 we had a young black girl that kept him after school for a while. I'll never forget her. Her name was Verde and she always wore a skirt and boots to the knee. She loved all our albums especially the ones by Nat King Cole and the blind guy (can't think of his name right now). The first thing she would do every afternoon was put on some albums and turn the volume up as high as it would go!! I would get about a half a block from the house and could hear the music through the car windows!!! LOL As a 6 year old he got a kick out of that.
Ah, sweet memories indeed! I got rid of all my old 78's and 33 1/3 records years ago. Now my 19 year old granddaughter is "into" that and I wished I still had the ones I tossed!
Al is very careful when cutting down trees. He felled a dead tree today after it stopped raining. It was already leaning in the direction he wanted it to fall so it was easy for him. He got several rounds cut for firewood and will do the rest later this week. Tomorrow is his day to go to his gun club.
There are certain things I don't throw away. Jeff is very sentimental also and I know I have a lot of stuff he wants but that he can't take home right now. Kristi would kill him!!! LOL And he would kill me if I got rid of it!! One thing is an old manual typewriter from the 50's or 60's. I understand and hang on to things as I had a mother that got rid of everything!!! There are so many things that she got rid of that I wish I still had!! I have all Jeff's old football jackets, trophies, etc. I just keep them all in boxes in the attic.
>>>>> that is me stomping in here to VENT!! Today at work was just the absolute worst - without typing out a darn novel it was just a day FILLED with phone calls from irate customers about people not doing their jobs, not returning phone calls for weeks on end and failing to do what they know needs to be done. Of course these people do NOT have to talk to these irate customers and worst of all I can't get enough info out of my own co-workers to talk intelligently to these folks. WHY OH WHY is the boss always off on these kinds of days and WHY do the very same people get away with not doing their job day after day and those of us picking up the pieces get zero credit for handling their disasters>>>>> that is me stomping out
Ok now I hope you girls are having a good night - sorry for that rant but I just so needed to say it. My favorite childhood memories are splitting open the seeds of a persimmon to see if it looked like a fork a knife or a spoon in there. We had an old persimmon tree in our yard and we lived for splitting those seeds. Here's a picture of some marked to show what they are. Anyone else ever do that?
The other great memory is of my mom peeling and slicing apples that we had just picked into cold salt water on the back porch - my mom could peel a whole apple with the skin in one long curl. We loved to watch her do that and eat apples out of that salt water. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
My grandparents had persimmon trees but the tree with the most memory for me is a catalpa tree. My grandfather on my dad's side fished every single day and he had two catalpa trees that he used for fish bait. He would hold big outdoor fish fries for the family under those two trees. Don't know if he planted the trees or if they just happened to be there.
Here is a link for those of you that may not be familiar with the tree.
http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/service/library/index.php3?docID=178&docHistory[]=2
My first cousin is still carrying on my grandfathers tradition of fish fries for the family!
Have the girls for their last summer visit before school starts, wow, where does the time go, Eli is enjoying playing with Faith, Charityhas her nose in a book
I can't believe how much Eli has grown!!! I'm sure he loves playing with the girls!
I've been over visiting with my next door neighbors. Just found out yesterday that he lost his drivers license when he went to get it renewed a little over a week ago. He has macular degeneration and could not pass the vision test. They are in their very late seventies and she has dementia and can't cook anymore. He has never cooked and doesn't know how to go about learning. He had been picking up food for them every day and can't now that he is not driving. Some of the younger neighbors found out what was going on and have been taking food over to them every night. As I've said many times before we have such wonderful caring neighbors! They have applied for an assisted living facility but it will be a month or so before they will be able to move. In the meantime everyone is trying to make sure they are cared for. I told them I would take them to the grocery store and whatever other errands they need.
My, Eli, must have grown a foot since his birthday.
It's so sad that they can't get with the council on aging to see if they have assistance for them.
Sandra, I love that photo of Eli and Faith! Your house is certainly going to be quiet when Cayla and Eli move.
Karen: it must be very frustrating for you to have to handle complaints about somebody else's mistakes! Go ahead and rant--we won't tell anyone! LOL
Charlotte, it is wonderful that you and the other neighbors are helping out the couple. I sure hope they are able to get into the assisted living place quickly!
Around here, we only have two neighbors but, really, the whole area considers everyone their "neighbor" even if they live several miles apart. The churches are really good about helping out anyone in the community in need. We live as much as 15-20 miles from some of our "neighbors" but we are all still "neighbors". It's time for a new thread for August so I will be back in a few minutes with the link.
This message was edited Aug 1, 2013 7:36 AM
Here's the link for our August thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1327675/#post_9618119
Join us to continue our talk and to add your photos:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1327675/#post_9618119