Sunday, May 29, 2022

Yikes!

 I can’t believe I haven’t posted since early May. I guess we’ve been busy. 

We’ve made plans to go to the International Handbell symposium this summer. We are headed to see Miss O and her parents - they purchased their first house this past Friday! We are incredibly proud of #1 and Yellow Rose. They are waiting on their furniture and house hold goods to arrive - hopefully on Wednesday. Miss O’s crib will arrive on Thursday. The new things they purchased will arrive one at a time starting Monday - their fridge will start the deliveries. Woo! 

LLB is spending her long weekend with friends and her beau at the beach. It’s good to see her having fun with friends. 

Us? We are here at home. We power-washed the patio furniture, the pool deck, and the outdoor rug. Mr did the mowing and weed eating. We did some porch sitting and had dinner al fresco! Life is good. 

Next weekend we are having a handbell workshop - BRAVA will be running it and Emmanuel and Leeds will be doing the learning. We are all looking forward to BRAVA’s foray into the educational part of the mission statement. We have great teachers, good ideas, and lots of positive vibes. 

Monday, May 09, 2022

Good things!

So April was busy and fun! We got new wheels, a new grand daughter, and new internet. With the new internet came streaming and that allowed us to drop the satellite TV. That saved me enough money to pay for almost half the car payment. We are so blessed and we don’t take these blessings lightly. 

We were supposed to head south to see #1 and his family at the end of the month, but that has been postponed a week or so - thus saving us a large chunk of change! I’ve been asked to help decorate the nursery!! Squeee! Mr thought he was going to be saving money… hahahahaha! Silly man! 

LLB is off to the Virgin Islands for a well deserved vacation with her beau. He is home from his deployment and ready to spend time and relax in the sunshine. I can’t wait to see the pictures and hear all about their adventures. 

Mr and I continue to live large - we are headed to Costco this afternoon. (We are done with Monday bells for a couple of weeks - until we get ready for the BRAVA workshop that will take place at our church in June.)  Personally, I think he just wants to go out to dinner and this Costco trip is a good excuse. 

The pool resurfacing should happen this month - if it ever stops raining - as should the new front walk and gardens. Then we will consider the house finished - for a bit. We will sit on the porch, enjoy the view, and sip our coffee… until we go sit by the pool, listen to music, and grill some goodies! 

See? Life is very very good. 

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Real Fast Internet

Welcome to the year 2022. April has been a banner month! 

New granddaughter, LLB’s beau is home from deployment safe and sound, and we finally have decent internet. Starlink has arrived! It is gloriously fast. I will update our TV, too! No more DirecTV - hello Apple TV and Discovery plus and Netflix! Buh-bye Hughesnet! Don’t let the screen door hit you in the bum on the way out! 


Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Today we became

Grandparents! 

#1 and Yellow Rose welcomed their Miss O into the world at 6:10am TX time. 

7lbs 11 oz 20 inches. 

Life is good. 

Monday, March 28, 2022

Logs

 It’s that time again! 




This pile of logs is now split and stacked. 

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Making stuff

I got a new Cricut for Christmas. I just started using it and it’s really fun! 

I’ve made wooden nativity decorations for gifts. Yes, I’ll be making more things like that, as I think they look pretty professional. 

Here they are in progress. 

I can’t wait to start some more projects! 

Wednesday, March 09, 2022

Wednesday, March 02, 2022

Monday, February 21, 2022

Mini is…

Quite the personality! 

Here she surveys all that is hers. She doesn’t care that it’s cold and you’d like to close the door. The storm door is plenty, right?

She is shunning us. We are not worthy. 🤣

She is obviously annoyed and is wanting me to stop taking her picture. 

We love her so much! I think she might be the most spoiled cat on the planet. 


Friday, February 11, 2022

It’s tax time again…

It’s tax season again… the time of year when everyone complains about how high their taxes are. Unfortunately, they forget that all that free stuff the government gives away costs money.  The only money the government has, comes from you, the tax payer. 

Don’t like high taxes and high inflation rates? Stop voting the Democrats into office. 

Tired of wasteful spending? Stop voting the Dems into office. 

Tired of being dependent on Russia and the Middle East for petroleum and natural gas? Stop voting the Dems into office. 

Tired of your tax dollars paying for free stuff for illegal immigrants? Stop voting the Dems into office. 

Figure it out! Get some sense or you won’t have any cents left! 

Wednesday, February 02, 2022

Surgery

LLB had to have some minor out-patient surgery at Walter Reed this week. She asked me to take her, and I jumped at the chance to spend time. 

She had to get up at 2am and drink 32 oz of Gatorade. That’s a LOT of Gatorade! She did as directed. 2am is early! There was no point in trying to go back to sleep because we had to leave by 4. FYI: there is no traffic at that hour. It was a lovely drive! 

We arrived at the hospital shortly before our required arrival time of 5am. We parked and then I followed her into the hospital. Please note: this hospital is enormous! I should have paid better attention to where I was going so when it was time to get the car, I’d know where to go. 

She had the Covid test and then went to “pre-op holding”. We sat for a very long time. I think we both hit the potty twice before they took her back. The Red Cross staffs the waiting room and the people are wonderful! There was coffee and snacks! This is notable because when you get up at 2 and just have coffee, by 10am, you’re starving (and cold because the place is exceptionally drafty). 

I got her back after she was awake and somewhat lucid. Then I had to find the car and get to the pick up point. It took a bit, but I managed - with help from kind hospital staff who directed me and didn’t make me feel as lost as I actually was. 

We were home and eating a late lunch by 3:30 or 4. 

Needless to say, I stayed with her until today. I wanted to make sure there were no crazy complications before I left her. I got to hang with her, make her favorite dishes, we met Mr for lunch yesterday, and I helped her take her Christmas tree down. Hey - it’s still epiphany! It was a fun few days. 

I came home this afternoon. I stopped at the grocery store and then got my chores done - including laundry and dinner. 

Now it’s bed time. I am tired. It’s a good tired, though. Life is good! We are so blessed! 

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

No job…

 No problem! 

It seems #1 got a new assignment. They are headed to Alabama! I’m headed there to help when needed - so a job would cramp my style! 🤣🤣

I’ve been busy working on this: 


Those are for the church’s valentines cards. 

So so cute! 


Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Jobs….

So the other day I though I should probably go back to work… you know, to make some serious cash and get medical benefits so Mr could retire. Yeah… what was I thinking? 

I got my resume together and wrote up a cover letter. I sent both off thru the Interwebs and figured the universe might smile upon me. 

Fast forward. It snowed. It iced. I had a dentist appointment today and Mr needed to get to the office. We piled into my car - the one with 4 wheel drive - and set off. I despise Route 66. I despise fast, heavy, and big scary truck traffic. I got Mr to work, went to the dentist, did the shopping, and went back to get him. Note to self: unless a job is exceptionally well paying and worth my time, I will absolutely not be headed East on Route 66 on a daily basis. Ever. 

So… now I need to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. I guess for now, I’ll enjoy my volunteer work and call it good enough. 


Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Temperature Blanket - The Beginning

 I decided to make a temperature blanket this year. So far, so good. 




Friday, January 07, 2022

And this…

Mike Huckabee had this in his email this morning. 

Read. Understand. 

Scott Adams, best known as the creator of the DILBERT cartoon strip but also a bestselling author, trained hypnotist and professional prognosticator who predicted (like us!) Trump would win in 2016, made some interesting points about January 6 in his Thursday podcast (Episode 1615) of “Coffee With Scott Adams.” Worth quoting at length, so we will:

“...There were a ton of people there who didn’t even know they were breaking the law because the fences were down before they got there. They were just...protesting. So if you’ve got a President who is presuming without the benefit of a trial that these people were there for insurrection, you have put the assumption of guilt on citizens from the highest office in the land. The highest office in the land, the President, just put the assumption of guilt on a bunch of people --- some of ‘em were guilty, some, some. But most of them, not so much. Most of them were trying to do what they thought was preserving democracy, by postponing the certification until some audits could get done.

“Now, of course, when the fake news reports about it, they act like the idea was that they’d just take over and change the government. No demand like that ever happened. The only demand was, ‘Can you give us a few days to audit some suspicious stuff. That is PROTECTING the republic, at least in the minds of the people there.”

Also this: “We’re giving the states the presumption of innocence when they’re not giving us an auditable election. That’s backwards. The presumption has to be that the election is corrupt if you can’t audit it. That doesn’t mean it is...[but] the government has to prove they’re not guilty. They’ve gotta open the books.”

Darn right.

...............................

Last but certainly not least, this: “...You are in the middle of a massive brainwashing operation. I don’t know the degree to which it is organized, but it looks organized. It looks as if the whole January 6 thing is to keep Trump out of office and to keep Trump supporters and Republicans in general demonized by keeping that story in your head. Because it creates the situation where Democrats can do anything to Republicans, ‘cause dammit, those Republicans deserve it --- look at them and their insurrections!”

This!

This was from a Daily Wire post. It was originally a tweet written by Allie Beth Stuckey that was supported by many including Candace Cameron Bure. She says it! 

The idea that the biggest threat to democracy comes from the right is nothing more than projection. With all the institutional power in the world, leftism consistently seeks to limit free speech, religious liberty, the right to self-defense, medical freedom, & so much more.

Take a gander at the world right now and see where people’s rights to work, travel, and move freely are being trampled on. See where parental rights & the rights to free speech & worship are being constrained. Are these right-wing nations? No. They are “progressive.”

In a nation where a girl is praised for cutting off her breasts & calling herself a boy, & a man can become the “first woman” to do xyz because he now goes by Sally, but a person who won’t bake a cake for a gay wedding has his life ruined, our biggest problem ain’t conservatism.

We have been warned by intellectuals for decades that the Christian nationalist fascist state is imminent. Not only has it never come close to fruition, but we have become far more secular, & our views have become more liberal over the years, especially over the last 10.

As we’ve polarized, the left has moved much farther to the left on every issue than the right has moved to the right. In fact, on gay marriage & immigration, Republicans have moved to the left.

And as the left, and the country in general, has moved further to the left, they’ve become extremely intolerant of others’ views. This study shows how overwhelmingly more tolerant of people’s opposing political opinions Republicans are than Democrats.

94% of a Republicans saying they’d be friends with someone who voted for the opposing candidate, vs 64% of Democrats, doesn’t exactly support the idea that Republicans are the ones intent on conforming others to their views.

Are there conservatives & professing Christians who want to implement a Christian theocracy? Sure, even though there is no Biblical directive to do so. But more likely is that Christians, just like secular progressives, think their value system is a good basis for society.

Every law speaks to a worldview. The question is, which one? Nothing is neutral. Christianity has offered a foundation for laws in the West that have, over time, accomplished more freedom & flourishing than any system in history. Secularism has a much more oppressive track record

So, if you’re scared for the future of democracy, look at those in power actually taking away people’s freedoms. If the only “freedom” you care about is the right to kill a child, and the limitation of that freedom is what you consider authoritarian, then evaluate your worldview.

Tuesday, January 04, 2022

Snow!

Yesterday we had our first snow of the winter. It was heavy and wet and simply lovely - if you didn’t have to go out in it. 




We also had our first snowblower catastrophe of the season - this time it’s a chunk of wood caught in the impeller. 🙄 We will let it dry and then attempt to whack it out of there…hopefully before the next snow that is due here on Friday. Note: it happened after the driveway was done! Woo! 

We had a bell rehearsal last night in town for our community group because we have a concert this Saturday. It was so much fun to get back to it! Mr and I are singing as well. The soprano, who is simply wonderful, won’t be with us this coming weekend. 😳 That leaves me on my own… I did ok! The DOM at Emmanuel will be singing with us this weekend, so I feel much more confident. The bell group was very supportive and told me that I did really well… I guess I can sort of sing! Who knew?! 



Saturday, January 01, 2022

New Year!

Happy New Year! 

What did we do on New Year’s Eve Day? We cut, split, and stacked firewood… yes, we did! 

Mr is our log maker

This tree was enormous!

This is what we started with…

LLB and I split those logs

The panorama of Ladybug’s Lumberyard. 
That’s a lot of logs for the wood stove!