Heading for the country!

It's a much easier trip driving my car than it is with the big white truck.

Our only stops were for fuel and at HEB.

The mops were there to greet me!

I need to do a photo shoot with them so I can paint their pictures!

Dean was up there, too, having turned the water on for us and checked things out before we arrived.

He and Sherry are so good to us.

We brought food from home plus the milk and eggs we picked up at HEB.

Louis Dean did a good job cleaning the fridge for me.

Stocked up with plenty of food.

The first night we had rotisserie lemon chicken and the second night I made a big pot of potato soup with some smoked ham from Dean and Sherry along with onions, carrots, rosemary, corn and green peas. It was delicious and we had it again today for lunch.

I bagged the remainder up in zip lock bags and put them in the deep freezer we have done here to take home with us.

I fed our wilted veggies to the goats and they gobbled it all up.

Next best thing to feeding my possums is treating the goats to scraps and leftovers.

I have a set of devotional books and scripture memory cards that I leave here at the ranch.

I bought this Bible word search book at HEB and I haven't decided if I will take it home with me or leave it here.

I play Wordle, Connections and Strands with my son, Jesse, every day.

Plus I do Words With Friends - just in case one of you wants to play!

And I have added Word Search to my agenda of keeping my brain active.

Do any of y'all do these or maybe other things?

Plus I read every day.

Sherry gave us a bunch of books and we are enjoying them.

I've just started this one ....

and I'm reading this aloud to Louis Dean.

It's hilarious!

I haven't been out and about much on this trip to the ranch.

I walked across from our place to take piccs of the goats.

There's just something special about being in the country.

Time seems to slow down and I can sleep, read, rest....whatever I need.

It's like I stopped the world and got off for a few days.

The icing on the cake is that LouisDean found his missing wallet!

It was NOT in the truck like I thought but in his shop room in a drawer under some things.

He is now a very happy camper!

The weather is changing and it will be 33 degrees here tonight and 23 degrees on Saturday night.

So....we will be going home tomorrow afternoon.

Louis Dean does not do well with the cold and we should get home in time to have a nice fire in the den Saturday night and then be there to watch football games on Sunday.

That's what I'm going to do.

We have a Dearborn heater in the bathroom and I will enjoy a hot shower before climbing into the comfy girl bunk with jersey sheets and a warm comforter....and a good book!

As he slept late into the afternoon, I was up early and watching the 9:30 service of Fellowship church.

I decided to build a fire in the den (after bringing in some wood) and lit candles, poured myself a cup of coffee using eggnog for creamer. Feet up and making the best of what it is.

There were three football games and I watched all of them.

Louis Dean watched part of each one.

His attention span is extremely short.

I cooked up a good brunch of eggs/crisp bacon/fried potatoes with onions and rosemary!

And toast! With pepper jelly!

Louis Dean and I spent Monday - or at least some of the day - working on the gazebo.

The canopy ripped and the new one I ordered arrived on Sunday evening so his mission was to take down the old and put up the new one.

Which he did - albeit upside down.

Still, he made it work!

The gazebo had not been used since the middle of fall.

I took out all the debris I'd stored in there as well as the fall decor.

Louis Dean took out all the chairs, glider, tables, lamps and such when he replaced the canopy so it was like starting all over with a fresh slate.

Everything was going well until Louis Dean realized the two outlets (on opposite sides of the gazebo) weren't working and he was bound and determined to fix them!

I may have had a mini meltdown and stood my ground!

NO! I said, "NO!"

I covered the outlet he was focused on with a basket and hoped he would forget about it.

Tuesdays are my favorite days but I was worried that Louis Dean might go out there and mess with the electricity in the gazebo - and the RING camera battery had died so there was no way I could check on him if I went thrifting with Brenda.

Last week I saw him take matches from the kitchen and came home to find he had dug a hole and built a fire in the back yard.

So I couldn't leave LD home alone.

Small life changes.....which are really big ones.

Louis Dean is always creative...

and he's been working on his folding door today.

I bought him a supply of duct tape in every color recently and he used that and copper wire to repair the door. Somehow he lost one of the handles so he improvised.

He really is creative!

He put the one handle he could find on the hall side so I wouldn't have any trouble opening it.

Since I couldn't go thrifting with Brenda, I took Louis Dean with me this afternoon to drop off a few bags at the Goodwill. Sherry had brought some things and I had some so LD helped me load them up.

After I dropped them off...and since I was already there.....I decided to run in and see if I could find a treasure or two.

Treasure #1

It had a yellow sticker so the price was half of $3.99!

I can't remember what this kind of chair is called but it was only $6! 

Another yellow tag!

We were only gone an hour but Louis Dean was so happy to get back home.

He has to have a project and the trim above the gate Hector had built had a crooked piece of wood....

But he fixed it!!!

We are getting ready to go to the ranch for a few days so I cleaned out the fridge.

The possums are eating well and they don't seem to mind Samantha and Tabitha watching them or me taking pictures!

I hope Louis Dean sleeps tonight instead of tinkering in his room until 4:00 in the morning.

I'm taking my laptop and diaries for 2004 and 2005 and plan to get back to my book.

What I've already written is catching up to the chapters I still need to write.

Goodness! I will be so grateful to get this done!

Hoping Amber can edit it for me but she's so busy I'm wondering if she has the time.

I would love to see it published while I'm still here...

Thank you, my dear friends, for all the encouragement regarding my memoir.

He cleared out the storage building I call the 'Christmas house' and organized all the tubs with lids for when I start storing away the decorations.

But not yet.

It's nice to simply enjoy the coziness of the house for awhile.

I've cleaned and organized in the kitchen....

Sorted the silverware drawers.....

It felt good put things in order.

It took me two days to clean and organize it.

Not that I worked on it non stop.

I'd watch a program or read a few chapters of a book and then go back to it.

Louis Dean repaired a deck box hinge and worked outside as much as he could.

Tuesday I finally got dressed and left the house!

Shopped for Tuesday Treasures with Brenda....

I'm thinking this will go in the foyer later on.

Brenda spied two of these cute things so she bought one and I bought the other one.

Brand new candles are always good.

The picture is from Brenda and I've hung it in our bedroom.

I'm thinking of changing things around in there using a lot of green this spring.

The two green pillows will work nicely in there.

It was nice catching up with Brenda and we visited over lunch at Chick-fil-A.....

until I checked my RING cameras and watched Louis Dean take matches out of the kitchen drawer.

Oops! Time to get home and check things out!

You have to hand it to LD - he is creative!

He had discovered a bag of mostly paper trash I had thought I'd hidden away safely, dug a hole in the ground of the back yard and proceeded to burn it.

I went out and discovered the flames with Louis Dean nowhere around.

Good grief!

He had gone in to find more things to burn!

What's done was done so I didn't make a big deal of it and he decided to add some firelogs, pour some wine and we sat outside watching the campfire until after dark.

I never know what he's going to think of next!

True love.

I cooked a huge pot of beans on top of the stove instead of the crockpot on Wednesday and the whole house smelled so nice.

Dean and Sherry came up to spend the night as his Uncle Roy was having ear surgery the next morning in Fort Worth.

They both left early enough to be at the hospital with Ruth Ann and the surgery was short and sweet and successful!

Louis Dean and I drove over ther in the afternoon and visited with everyone at their hotel.

It was fun getting to spend some time with Ruth Ann again!

We laughed as we took selfies in the hotel bathhroom!

Dean and Sherry treated us all out to dinner at The Old Neighborhood Grill on Park Place Avenue.

We laughed and talked, told jokes and had a great visit.

The surgery allowed Roy to hear so much better and it was good to see him so happy and enjoying listening and actually hearing what we were all saying. He still has hearing aids but his quality of life has greatly improved.

It was dark by the time we got back to the hotel - which was less than one mile away.

We took time to take pics since we don't get to see each other nearly as much as we did when they lived in Irving. Dean and Sherry used to live down the street from them before moving to the country and then Roy and Ruth Ann moved to the Ranger/Breckenridge area several years ago.

Things never stay the same, do they?

Ruth Ann and I used to spend just about every Tuesday together, thrifting, lunch, a fifty-cent movie at Starplex and THEN art class that night! 

Man! We had our mojo back then!

Dean drove Louis Dean home in their car and Sherry drove me in mine.

I felt so grown up to be out after dark!!

Dean and Sherry went home Friday morning and the weather has turned colder today.

I finally got around to baking my eggnog bread yesterday.

SO good!

Since it's colder today Louis Dean has had to stay inside and play.

What have I done?

Nothing.

I have literally stayed in bed most of this entire day.

While I'm not sick, I don't feel well. Lethargic and not an ounce of motivation or ambition.

I just feel flat.

Hoping I wake up in the morning feeling like my old self!

We are planning on going to three hockey games tomorrow and on Wednesday we hope to go to the ranch for a few days. Our truck is still there and needs repairs so I'll be driving the car filled with two cats, his guitar and 'stuff' and groceries. We are well stocked up so I'll just take enough food for our time there.

I'll be taking my dairies and notes and will begin working on my book again.

I have sewn paockets on all my aprons and carry my phone with me aas I never know when I'm going to fine a special pose from one of them!

It's amazing the small spaces they can wiggle into....

It's Sunday as I write this journal entry and it has been a trying week!

On Wednesday I was still basking in the glow of such a wonderful time on Monday and I dressed up in some of my gifts and bling and went out to pick up a few things at the store.

This is the first year in maybe over fifty years that I have NOT done after Christmas shopping.

Summer used to pick me up at 6:00 AM on the 26th of December and we would get breakfast at McDonalds and hit up the stores.

This was back in the days of Macy's and Dillards and other department stores where we could buy really nice decorations for 75% off.

In more recent years I have shopped Home Depot mainly for lights since I use them year round.

However, I have more than enough so I skipped it this year.

The next two days were stressful as we were still without gas and Louis Dean was fixated on boiling water. I can't really complain since he kept the dishes washed and filled the tub with enough hot water to take a couple of nice baths. That kept him busy but carrying huge pots of boiling water through the house made me nervous.

I called Atmos Energy and went through all the prompts multiple times as well as calling the city of Irving's Inspection Department.

On Friday I was in tears and told my 'story' to an Atmos agent in Amarillo and another one in Waco.

They were both kind and I asked them to pray for me.

Victoria and Rachel.

They advised me to call the city - again - and this time I poured my 'story' out to the lady who proceeded to resend the corrected inspection permit all highlighted and underlined and marked URGENT.

Finally, late Friday Atmos came out and checked everything and turned the gas on.

The central heat came on but the two workers could NOT get the water heater to light.

Louis Dean tried to tell them but they said, "SIR! We KNOW how to light a water heater!"

But they didn't and as soon as they left, Louis Dean went in there and read the instruction on the heater and proceeded to light it! Win! WIN!!!

Except NO water was going to the water heater!

By this time I had used up every bit of nice I had left and proceeded to go to bed at 7:00.

Billy came over Saturday morning and discovered the leak detector had come on (while the Atmos guys were trying to light the heater) and was flashing red. He pushed the button and BAM!! Water surged into the heater and we were back!

Thank you, Billy!!!

I've caught up with the laundry and Louis Dean has taken a couple of hot soaking bubble baths and I enjoyed long hot showers and a good shampooing!

Now I just feel drained and flat - like I've used up all my 'stuffing' and am like a rag doll.

That's okay and I am grateful for these quiet days.

I spent a lot of time cleaning my pantry and the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen.

I'll continue to do my 'therapy' because that's what housework is to me until I get my mojo back.

Today we watched church online and Louis Dean watched football all afternoon while I napped.

I'm looking forward to a new week in the new year!

Thrifting with Brenda on Tuesday and Dean and Sherry are coming to spend the night on Wednesday.

There's always something to be grateful for...and I am.

In other news.....

The Bell grands skated together for the first time in years.

Harrison had a scrimmage gane and the girls were invited to join.

The Stars game this evening...

I get a lot of joy from watching my children and grands live LIFE!

Jesse took his boys to Las Vegas for the weekend....

I dearly love these guys!

They went rock climbing.

And I love my son!!!

He and Mike are the best dads I've ever met!

I love all my blog friends and pray for 'all who read my words.'

Mary G was a good friend from Alabama and she and I were prayer partners for the last 15 years.

She prayed for Amber and the quad pregnacy and for the babies and she prayed for me when Mother and Nita died..... and when Louis Dean was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's. 

I prayed for her twin grandsons and the cancer one of them battled and survived and went on to have a great life and his brother who is serving in the armed forces as well as other family concerns.

She wrote me in the early fall that she was having a triple bypass - not even realizing she had a heart condition until then.

The surgery was a sucess but she later had issues and has been in the hospital for two months.

She went home to heaven yesterday and I am sad even as I rejoice.

She was a lovely lady who loved the Lord and now is with Him.