2026 is here - Let the adventures begin

 

Before taking down the tree I took a couple of pictures of us and the fur babies. 

Can't see much of the tree from the way we took the picture but oh well. The fur babies wanted the treat I had in my free hand.  At one point Bruno was watching my hand with the treat and he bent his head all the way back. But I finally got a pretty good picture of them. Sadie will always sit pretty when asked Bruno doesn't like sitting still for long.

I went down to see the boys one day after the new year rolled in and we went over to the park.  They had a good ole time. Their Cici (me) was anxious while watching them climb around. I kept seeing a broken arm and such. LOL  Killian is a little monkey and Braxton is working on it.

They are just like their Dad. They have to make faces when I'm taking a picture. LOL Or one will make the funny face and the other one smiles.

They are all boy.

The boys went on their first camp out with Kaleb in their backyard. The boys had a blast but poor Kaleb woke up stiff after sleeping on the hard ground. He thinks he's getting old. LOL

3 out of 5 days of the week (1/5-1/8) was spent on the road to doctors and dentist appointments except Tuesday and Friday. Spending Quality time together. LOL   Not much time for fun stuff but then poor David is struggling with back pain. Hopefully the MRI Thursday will give the doctor enough info to make a plan for the pain management. Which will start with possibly a shot in his back but that won't happen until 2/2. Geez

Thursday (1/9) was book club night. We met at Pony Express to discuss our latest read.. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It was a good book and provided plenty discussion. To recap anything about the book would be to spoil the story should you decide to read the book.  We gave the book 4.5 out of 5 being the best. Three of the girls saw the movie with Cameron Diaz and were very disappointed. It was totally different from the book. Read the book. The movie might not have been so bad had they not read the book. 

I think I caught Linda just as she put food in her mouth but Peggy was ready. Sorry about that.      And Emily was ready.

We have fun 99% of the time. Lol

And the discussions never stay on track. It's like squirrel. The food is always good where ever we meet at except maybe a couple of times. Wouldn't trade the gals for anyone else.

I have a quilt I need to finish and a couple other projects but I keep getting sidetracked. I need focus.  Can't find it. Soon though I better get busy.

The Day of Coordinator for Pamela's wedding had a baby a couple of months ago. Karina posted the cutest picture of Pamela and her at the hospital so I'm sharing it here. Pamela was her nurse for at least a 2 different days. Hey I'm bias'd okay. I think they're cuties.

Sadie was so tired she couldn't keep her eyes open. Her and Bruno had been running and playing outside this day. She kept trying to watch me but her eyes kept closing.  There was a progression of 5 pictures as her eyes kept getting heavier and heavier but I spared you from all the pictures. LOL

On (1/17) Saturday I went with David to the VTRA  awards banquet where they handed out trophies and awards for points, rookie of the year, etc and they auctioned off the the quilt I made for David to donate for Breast Cancer Awareness. VTRA is an association/club for the drag racers. The folks that did the cooking did a great job. There was steak, bbq chicken, potato salad, beans and deserts. In fact I made David's moms applesauce cake recipe to take buuuuttt it got left on the counter. Ooops.

This is Monte. He's the founder/president of VTRA. He with the help of Justine they book a track for races of different bike classes and send out a racing schedule to the memebers.

The guy in front of Monte in the 2nd picture is Chris and he was the one who started the auction last year for Breast Cancer Awareness. And the third picture is of the winner of the quilt, Bill.         

Here is a picture of the quilt and the label I made for it. Since it was going to be auctioned off I didn't put my usual who pieced and who quilted and some saying so instead I embroidered the Breast Cancer Awareness symbol and the date.  Folks I didn't expect what happened at the auction.

 I was blown away and felt honored. The guy running the auction was funny but he kept after the guys and at least one gal bidding by saying "come on we all like titties"  It cracked me up. So the bids were coming quickly. I heard $200 then $300 and thought that'll be it. Nope. The numbers kept going up. Final bid and winner was $1000! The young man Chris, who wanted to earn the money for Breast Cancer came over and thanked me and David. 

The racers were all really nice and very generous. Good thing they didn't give me a test to remember all their names because I'd fail. 

Okay so that's it for now.

Until next post...Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple

December moved along too Quickly.. Dang

December had got here but I'm wasn't ready and it felt like it was speeding by. On Sunday 12/7 I had a visitor from Houston. My friend Samara along with her daughter and grandson stopped by on their way home from her sister's place in Groesbeck. She had a purpose for stopping besides saying Hi. She was here to pick up the adorable Teddy Bears my friend Bekki made out of Eva's Dad's shirts. He passed in October and they wanted something made for the grand kids from his shirts and I suggested teddy bears.  Aren't they adorable?  

On Monday 12/15 I ran some errands and stopped by the Sassy Stitcher's Christmas Luncheon.  No sewing today. They could have but today nobody brought anything to work on. Everyone decided to come socialize, eat and do the white elephant gift exchange.  I just went by to say Hi and Merry Christmas.    From here I went to the post office and the Cameron Coffee Co. but they closed at 2:30pm.  ughh ! They used to close at 3 or 3:30.  Next time I'm in town I guess.

I had a quilt in my car I wanted to get some pictures of but holy cow the number of deers I saw driving home was crazy. I caught pictures of two different groups but there were more that I didn't catch.

I know they can be a nuisance but they are so cute.

The last few months have been a little rough. We've lost two family members. David's cousin Greg and his Aunt Linda, the last of his Mother's siblings. And then we lost our close friend Sylvia. She fought a long hard battle of cancer. Then a secondary cancer attacked her body but her brother donated stem cells and she was in recovery. She and I were texting about getting together and she said that by the end of the year she'd hopefully get her hip replaced.  But just a few days after our texting the family and her friends lost her due to a tragic fall.  May she rest in Peace now. She was such a sweet, faithful and very strong woman. She is going to be very missed. 

So I did a thing. I was actually commissioned to embroidery some aprons for a friend for her work team. 

Plus I did one for a friend as gift. She's a talented painter, shopper, blogger and author (biography). And an overall super nice person. Her name is Linda from Linda's Life Journal blog. Now I have to hope the one I just mailed to Linda gets there before I post this blog. LOL We met through her son in law who worked with David at one time.

  

At retreat one of my new retreaters, Dottie made/makes T-shirt decals. She's very talented in designing them, embroidery and quilting. Anyway I bought a couple of her decals then went and bought a couple of t-shirts at Hobby Lobby in colors of my choice then I went to my special friend who happens to have a heat press that would seal the deal.  I supervised. LOL    

I finally wore the blue one but managed to drip coffee on it before getting a picture but did have David snap this picture of me in the pink one.  I may have to get more decals one day to make other t-shirts of my liking. The photo don't do the colors any justice. They very teal and pink but they look faded here. Oh well.  

 I don't buy quilt patterns too often but I couldn't pass up the MSQC deals on Black Friday. The patterns were like $2 and I couldn't resist.  I bought a couple more after this. I guess I better get to cutting and piecing.  LOL Wish me luck. But first I need to finish one for a baby that is already 3 months old. I'm way behind.

By 12/21 I was ready for Christmas. Just in time. I got the stockings hung with care for all of us including our 2 fur babies and Pamela's.

My newest ornament I got from friend Kelli is on the tree and the presents are wrapped and ready.

On Tuesday 12/23 the bookclub gals got together for lunch & a movie in College Station at a place called Atami Steak & Grill. It was really good and they had a reasonably priced lunch menu. We had lots of fun and the food was yummy. Lots of fire and steam.

  

While sitting outside the restaurant waiting for everyone to arrive my friends Samara and Eva came by to pick up the memory T-shirt quilt I made from Eva's dad's t-shirts for her mom. He was a big Astros fan so she asked for the fabric to be Astro's colors and found the perfect fabric. My friend Margie taught me how to make t-shirt quilts thank goodness. I think she'd be proud of this one I did all by myself. It was made with 25 blocks that would fit a queen size bed. 

  

I loved the t-shirts I put down the center. And my quilter Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest picked an awesome quilting theme. Eva had bought a heart patch that I added to the label. They loved it.  Yay

Now I'm in trouble though because they want me to make more t-shirt quilts. The hardest part for me now is picking the right fabric for the sashing and back.  

Christmas is here and Santa dropped off a few things for Braxton and Killian and Pamela and Kaleb brought all their gifts up here.  The presents have exploded.

They picked up the boys at noon and headed our way for presents and food. Now I didn't actually get but basically two pictures of the day. It was a whirlwind with these two boy ripping through presents. LOL 

Braxton opening up presents as fast as he could. I couldn't see Killian behind some big boxes. LOL But I got a picture of all four of them before they left in front of the tree minus all the presents.

    

It was a great day except for poor David. Never fails he's usually sick but this time he was hurting and has been for a couple weeks. His back is trash. Doctors terms. Waiting to see the Pain Mgmt Doctor in January.  So long to wait when he's in so much pain.

Even though he's not going anywhere at the moment he sported his new hat from Kaleb.  He'll wear next time the Bell Gang get together and have lunch. Not sure it'll be the January luncheon since it'll be February now before he sees the doctor again. They sent him for an MRI this past Thursday (1/9). Maybe an injection is in his future directly in his back. 

That's it for now. Our New Year's Eve was spent quietly at home just watching TV. I had been up for some dumb reason since 3:30am that day and by 11:30pm I couldn't keep my eyes open. Yes I know it was only 30 more minutes but I didn't make. David was right behind me but I'm not sure how much he really slept.

Sure hope 2026 brings many more adventures and no or minimal back pain for my man.

Here's hoping your 2026 brings happiness and good health.

Until next post...  Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson

Thanksgiving is done time for Date night & Music

 We survived Thanksgiving with family and friends with no problem. Might have ate a tad too much but it was all so good. Thanks to Pamela and Kelli bringing food to share also.

On Saturday (11/29) David and I had a date night. We hadn't done that in a while but one of our favorite Texas country musicians were playing at Wilson Valley Mercantile. It's a family owned Distillery, tasting room and working ranch in Little River Academy, Texas.  Fun place with good drinks and food. We've eaten there on their steak nights a of couple of times. Pretty tasty.  We hadn't got to see Max and Heather in a couple of years but it worked out we could this time. They're great! Did I mention we really like them. Their son, Logan took our picture for me at the end of the evening.  Such a sweet couple and entertaining.

Heather plays a mean fiddle and harmonizes with her alto voice to Max's smooth sound. He's a fighting Texas Aggie too. I'm probably not giving you a good description here of their style but click here and you can see a quick clip of them from that night. If you get a chance you should catch one of their shows. We first heard them in Tomball at Main Street Crossing a few years ago. A great venue to listen to music. 

David might have even sprung for a couple of adult drinks while listening to their music. He had the spicy Whiskeyrita and I had a John's Caucasian.  (White Russian)    A Fun and enjoyable evening .

To clear out the leftovers once and for all from Thanksgiving I followed a Pinterest suggestion.  I put turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, some cheese and mustard on a bun 

Brushed the bun with some butter, sprinkled some Everything bagel on top and popped them in the oven till the bun looked toasty. I may have put something on there but I can't remember now but it was actually pretty tasty. It passed David's taste buds so I feel okay about it.

I had two quilts I needed to finish by Christmas plus I made Prayer Pocket Hearts to hand out at our Book club Christmas celebration on Thursday 12/4.  All the hearts had a cross but  I add an Angel wings charm to 3 of the ladies hearts in memory of their husband who have passed. 

But I seemed to have help the day I was making them.  Sadie got between me and my machine. That sweet face didn't think I was giving her the attention she needed. LOL  I couldn't say no.

Everyone brought food, drinks, some brought gifts for everyone and we had a friendly white elephant gift exchange at book club Christmas celebration. I think there was only a couple of steals because everyone loved what they got on their first pick.  We didn't have a book to discuss so it was all about friendship and laughter. There were 3 girls missing and they were missed but not forgotten. Peggy had her spare Cabin B, it's called, all decorated up and festive. It was a small and intimate setting for us girls. It was great.

If we do it at the cabin again we'll need to take our group picture at dusk. That way we'll show up and so will the decor' and lights. We need a tad more light for our group picture at the end of the night.

 

I had a Tea towel made with all our names on it and a few titles of books we read on a snowman. I need to figure how I can do this but by embroidering it.  I guess I have 12 months to figure it out. LOL

This one went to the hostess.

I forgot the damn selfie stick which would have made it a tad easier but nope it was at home sitting on the table.

The next day we drove John and Kelli to Bastrop where we had Lupper and drinks. We ate at 602 Brewing company then we headed down to the Copper Shot Distillery. We were having a late birthday celebration for John.  

It was a great afternoon.  They can now say they've been to Bastrop and had food and drinks somewhere new.

Well I'm into December activities finally. I'll try to catch up a little better on my next post which will be after Christmas I'm sure because the next 3 days are filled with busy and some fun activities too.

So until next post..“A smile doesn’t always stand for a perfect life.” ~ Faraaz Kazi