Good News & Fun

 Let's start this off with good news... David finally got the call from his doctor saying that all is good. The cancer did not get into the into the lining or the muscle of the bladder so they got it all during the surgery back on the 10th.

Hallelujah! David took a deep breath and a sign of relief. We went out for dinner to celebrate. He will have to go back every 3-4 months for scopes or scans to watch for any changes. 

Where's Bruno? The other day I couldn't find Bruno and he was real quiet. I started looking for him and I looked over and I saw him under the pillows on the couch.

I started laughing and he popped up. You know that game at like Chucky Cheese called whack a mole? The mole pops up all over and you whack it, that's what we call Bruno. 

The next few days David and I are watching our grand-fluffs while Pamela and Kaleb go hang out in Missouri. Bruno loves the girls and wants to play but the girls still are real sure about him. So there's not a whole lot of peace and quiet until they wear themselves out. LOL

This is one of the quiet moments but it doesn't last long. 

David sat down on the couch and he was trying to get Bri to jump up and lay down but Bruno beat her.

They were having a stare off and then Bruno reached out with his paw and pushed Bri away like "Back off this is my daddy".  

Sophie doesn't take anything from Bruno. She puts him in his place. They seem to be getting along better after this little tif.

Pamela and Kaleb are having fun with Hannah and Phil in St Louis and surrounding area. Her baby fluff balls miss her.  

They're at Black Shire Distillery doing a tasting. I love the blackberry whiskey from here mixed with lemonade. Or at least I did before my surgery.  We'll see after 6 months what I think then when I can have a drink.

Saturday 8/27, David and I went into Tomball to meet some of the Bell Gang guys and their wives for dinner and some music by Ray Wylie Hubbard at Main Street Crossing. The drive for us is about 1 hr and 45 minutes but hanging with friends and listen to music is worth it.  Three of the Bell Guys Tom, Bill and Fred and their wives Marybeth, Cheryl and Kathy met for dinner at a place called Craft Grill off Kuykendahl. It's about 15 minutes from Main Street Crossing. Food was pretty tasty and the company was even better. Ray Wylie Hubbard was quite the character and put on a good show. Learned that his 29 year old son, Lucas is his lead guitarist. He was good.  RWH played his classics.... Up against the wall redneck mother, Snake Farm and others.

The show ended about 10:15 and we all walked to our cars and said our goodbyes. We got home right before midnight and the dogs were happy to see us. They had been outside since 3:30pm so they were happy to come inside for the AC.

Life has been kinda quiet so that's it for now.

Until next blog...Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.  Swedish Proverb

Quilting away and other News

One of the nurses that Pamela works with had a baby girl and Pamela found some fabric for a quilt and of course you know who gets to make it. LOL. 

This pattern is called boxes and bows. The fabric has a vintage looks. Even David said he like this fabric. I really like how it turned out. Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest did the quilting. 

And the best part is that Lauren liked the quilt for her baby girl Allison.

I also made a quilt for a cousin. Their daughter had a baby boy and I wasn't very quick at getting this one done. I believe Liam turned 6 months. Better late than never. I started another quilt pattern that wasn't going so well. Actually very slow. At the rate I was going Liam was gonna be a year old by the time I finished so I changed directions and came up with this idea.  Momma Jordan sent me a message and she loved it.  Nothing went quite right with this one. I had an idea for the back but I couldn't find the fabric and then I found this one. It was perfect.

My friend Donna @ Donna's Lavender Next quilted it with a boots and stars motif.  It came out really cute.                               I've already started my next quilt with 3 more in the que. Sew Sew Sew.

Thursday (8/4) was Date day for me and David. We've been wanting to go to this Texas Rustic place in Waco and off we went. And we found this bookcase for his office. He is getting to finally be able to unpack his boxes for his office and get it organized the way he wants it. And we bought a 2nd nightstand for the Texas guest room that I didn't take a picture of.  He's been trying to decide what size and kind of bookcase and now he found one he likes.  

Monday (8/8) was my Mom's birthday so Pamela and I drove down to Mom and Joe's to visit. Pamela and I have always spent the day with her for her birthday or close to it. She was in great spirits. Very talkative and alert until the end of our visit. She said she was really tired and I told she couldn't go to sleep because she had to visit with us. But the minute we said we had to get home and Pamela stood up, Mom laid over and was closing her eyes. I think she was asleep before we hit the door. It was a really good visit.

So on Wednesday 8/10 David had surgery. I haven't talked about it really but to a couple people but here I am on my blog. With David's permission of course. The week before he had a CT scan thinking he had kidney stones again but instead they told him he had a tumor on his bladder.  What?! This is hard and he definitely don't like being down.  They removed the tumor but we have to wait until the pathology report comes back to know the final outcome. The good news would be they got it all and it didn't go into the lining and he'll just need to come in for check ups every few months but the not so good news could be Chemo or radiation treatments. We just don't know. It's not something you expect obviously but we're hoping for the best.  He's recovering from the surgery pretty good except for some cramping but the doctor said it's not uncommon. I know David doesn't feel good when he's willing to stay inside and watch TV. He is normally working outside and yes even in this Texas heat. Hopefully we'll know something before this week is out. Please say a prayer for him and that we get good news.

Bruno and I took a walk out to the mailbox and I saw this ugly bug last week. Anyone know what it is? I thought it was a spider at first glance but upon closer inspection I decided it was a bug. A Creepy bug at that.                                                                        We went to the backyard and Jerry wanted to hang with Bruno. I missed the shot where they were kissing on each other. Animals are funny and cute.

Bruno is a mess. It's hard to water the plants without him wanting to help. This time David shot water out into the flowerbed so Bruno could play. He loves jumping and snapping at the water. If you listening you can hear him snapping in the video.

And if he's entertaining himself..... he starts throwing the blue bucket around in the backyard. He's pretty much destroyed it between tossing it and chewing on it.

  

He's been such a sweet and entertaining guy.

He loves to cuddle in David's lap and hasn't been able too since David was recovering from the surgery. He also likes to come running and jump over the side of the recliner and land in his lap but I set up a barrier of bar stools to avoid that. Or so I thought.  Last night David was leaning back in the recliner and Bruno saw an opening and leaped between the bar stool and the back of the recliner. He landed on David's chest. That sent the recliner further back to the point I thought the chair was gonna flip over to the floor. Here's the result

Bruno was now a happy boy. 

My Life journey is progressing slowly. As of Monday 8/15 I have lost 40 pounds. I can sort of see it in some pictures but I can mostly tell in my clothes and how they fit.  My little sister told me about this Unjury protein powder that I now use. Can't thank her enough because I wasn't able to get in the protein I needed just by eating and I was getting tired of drinking the premier shakes all the time. Now I can have juice and decaf coffee, etc. I have added the unflavored powder in some food if I'm making something for just me. Not sure David wants my protein powder in his food. Not that he'd know it.

Also went to the Heart Rhythm doctor to check out my pacemaker today (8/17).  Good report there. Everything is working and they saw on incident of Afib that lasted 20 seconds and said no problem.  Don't have to go back for 6 months. Yay. Doc was happy with the weight loss and was glad to hear that I have very few issues with or after the bariatric surgery.

That's my news for now. 

Until next blog... The mind is it's own place, and in itself can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n ~ John Milton

Have you ever wondered about....

 

 I'm just asking. My husband spends a lot of time at Home Depot. LOL

On July 21st my friend got to ring that bell. She has had her last chemo treatment and she's on her way to reconstructive surgery. I'm sending her lots of prayers and best wishes. Love that smile!

Pamela asked us to babysit our grand fluffs for one night. So after my workout on Friday 7/22 I picked them up. They like coming to see they Grampy but Bruno is still a different story. LOL.  Bruno just wants to play. 

David decided to walk out to the mailbox and all the Fluffs decided to follow along. It was so funny but they all behaved and stayed close by. Bruno led the way back.

       

David had to water the hummingbird bush and of course Bruno needed a drink too.  "Please Dad can I get a drink from the hose."  Bri stood by and took notes. I was surprised she didn't jump in because she loves the water hose as much as Bruno.  

On Sunday 7/24 David and I dropped the girls off at Pamela's and drove to Cypress to celebrate our great nephew Patrick's 1st birthday.

Patrick never slowed down. He is such a little cutie and always smiling. 

Can you tell it was a pizza party. Those are cookies but David said the real pizza from Locatelli's wasn't bad either. 

Patrick & Grandma Glenda

Grandma Glenda (David's Sister) had a friend make all the cookies and I'm not sure but most likely the cakes too.  It was also a swim      

party so several enjoyed the pool. I didn't figure they were ready for my body in swimsuit so I spared them. 

It was HOT but a very enjoyable day.  

And before we left it started raining! Rain. Some areas got almost 2.5 inches others not so much but we got nothing 100+ miles north. Dusty and dry still.

Also happening on this day was the bridal luncheon for my niece Emily in Missouri. My sister shared a bunch of pictures. Wish we could have been there but that would have been a bit of a drive. LOL

Emily is the niece I used to call the Tiny Dancer. She was an awesome dancer. This is her and her future hubby.

This is her with her Momma, my little sister Jerri Lynn and her sister-in-laws.

on the left is Melissa and on the right is Bailey Jo.

I have beautiful nieces in Missouri. I will be going up for the wedding in October. It looks like she had a great luncheon.

David and his TV buddy on the couch. LOL

Tuesday 7/26 I rode into Bryan/College Station with David. He had to go have a CT scan and while he was doing that I went to the gym for a workout. I finally worked myself up to 1 mile on the treadmill. I didn't think I'd ever make but the last 3-4 visits I've done it. 1 mile. Too hot to walk outside beside walking on the gravel road I'd probably hurt my knee like a goof ball. 

He texted to say he was done just as I was finishing up and he was hungry. He wasn't allowed to eat before he went in. While waiting on me he sent Pamela a message to know he was at the hospital and she came down because it was busy on her floor. I was nice and picked up her lunch and brought it to her. When I got to the hospital I texted that David's Uber was there and her Doordash had arrived.  She said I was better than the last time she used Doordash. I didn't lose her food and I didn't charge her $6. mmmm I may need to rethink this next time I deliver. LOL

Told David to pick his poison and not worry about me. I will find something to eat where ever he picks. So he picked Mexican. Then I gave him options of where we could go. He chose the new Mexican restaurant called Maria Mia. It's Good. Check out the size of the taco. I ate half of the first taco and then it fell apart but David cleaned his plate and then ate the rest of my tacos. So no left overs this time. Taco's don't make good left overs.

Thursday 7/28 I had a lunch date and a movie with my friend Kelli. No pictures to document it. LOL  We had lunch at Imperial. I got a shrimp and veggie stir fry. It was good and she had a beef dish. We went to see the movie "Where the Crawdads sing"  It was good. It really didn't alter the book but did leave a few minor things out. I was impressed how they were able to put the movie together.  I hate when they take a book and in the movie they change the entire ending. If you read the book and liked it, you'll like the movie too.

Friday nite 7/29 we went to the Garden Spot Cafe in Caldwell for dinner. They recently started serving dinner. David got a summer plate with steak bites, grilled green beans and a salad and I got grilled shrimp with grilled sweet potato bites. I have my leftovers for lunch today. Very good and the folks who run the place are super nice.  Again no pictures what can I say.  

 

Today Saturday 7/30, David needed to go feed our cows and Jerry some cubes (cow crack) and hay. So I went out to be the gate keeper but took the opportunity to love on Jerry. His buddy #16 is the only calf we still have left the rest are adults. We need to give him a name eventually

 Welp that's it for now.

Until next blog....“This above all: To your own self, be true”  ~  William Shakespeare

Mother Nature & Friends

 

 Friday morning (7/16) I went out to sit on the porch with David and Bruno. They do a ritual every morning just like when Lilley was here. They start in the back and then eventually they end up out front. I join them sometimes. It was actually pleasant out front. Bruno is getting the hang of staying close by but does love the chance to explore in the front pasture. 

The bees were buzzing and the hummingbirds were well fighting for the feeders and zipping around. 

This one little hummer was very interested in me. He stopped in front of me and kept inching closer to me.  And I got lucky by moving slow enough and got some pictures of him.

Hummingbirds are so interesting and cute. 

The whole time I was messing with the hummingbird Bruno was on watch for anything moving on the ground. Like snakes, lizards, toads, bugs, you name it. It didn't take long before he saw a lizard and he was off. 

Now if we could just get some rain. It's been at least 2 months. Again we could see it, hear it and smell it but it hasn't hit the Rock'n K.

That evening we headed to Kenney, TX to the Kenney Store for some dinner with our friends the Prudhommes.  We didn't expect the crowd when we got there but we headed to the back room where it was crowded or loud at the moment.  Then the band started playing inside and not on the outdoor stage. We couldn't hear ourselves talk the band started playing so loud. Once we finished eating, we went outside to their beautiful outdoor patio. That's where the bands normally play but they thought it was too hot. With the fans on it was actually pleasant and guess what we could talk and hear except there was a group of young kido's playing Red Light Green Light. They were very loud but it was manageable compared to the band inside in tight quarters. LOL.  Sylvia and I are worried we might make bad grandmothers. mmmm  

It was good to see our friends, Larry and Sylvia. Sylvia gets to ring the bell Thursday the 21st after her last cancer treatment. So happy for her.

She sent me a text the other day telling me she had finished working out in the yard, cleaned up and was sitting down to watch TV with her favorite quilt. I was glad to see she was using my quilt I made for her. That's the highest compliment a quilter can get. You know what I mean. You know they really like it and understand the purpose. A quilt is filled with love, hugs, warmth and comfort. 

Speaking of quilts.... I have finished the bit of work on my Vintage Santa Log Cabin Quilt. Thank Donna @Donna's Lavender Nest for quilting it. The candy cane quilting theme is sew cute. I love it. And thanks for the backing suggestions.

Onwards and forwards.. I have two more quilts to bind and then start on my next quilt and it's for a little girl and then one for a boy.

    So December 22, 2018 we moved into the Rock'n K and what a transformation to today. David has been working hard on the landscape.

Now if this damn heat and lack of rain for the last 2-3 months don't kill it. We're watering when we can. Of course with Bruno's help. That boy loves water. At least he dries off faster than the shelties.

In 2020 David was working from home because of Covid and started deciding on a layout  and what plants he wanted after work. And look at it today.

  

He's still working what else he wants to fill in the bare spots. The Belinda rose bushes were filled with huge pink blooms but of course now they're struggling with the heat.  I'll have to take a picture in the fall when it cooler and they should be in full bloom.  David loves his plants. He has the green thumb in this family.

He sold one more critter. It was a steer to a family who wanted to feed him out for freezer camp next year. So we're down to 3 cows, Ferdinand the bull, one 8 month old bull and another steer Bandit that will be going to freezer camp in September. And we still have charming Jerry the donkey. He got pampered this morning. The fairer came out and trimmed up his nails. Jerry felt like a new man. LOL   7 animals is much easier to feed and manage. Of course if Ferdinand does his job there will be new calves in the future.

It's hot as hades out and just as dry so any adventures will be inside. 

Progress update: I didn't weight like usual on Monday. I didn't want to see the same weight but today I went for it. I'm down 35 pounds now. Slow and steady said the turtle wins the race.  Why is it so easy to put it on but coming off is so painful? It's not really painful unless I eat or drink to fast. And maybe kinda loud. I get a squeaky hiccup/burp. 

So until then...“Sleeping is hard in the very hot weather because the blanket is too warm but I can’t take them off as monsters might get me.” – Unknown