A Visiting I go... plus Family

 Continued to run the roads after our anniversary adventures. I went down to visit Mom and Joe. We had some good laughs. Tried to keep her laughing anyway.
I needed to go mail a package for Pamela so I told her to come and keep me company. Plus I wanted to run by a quilt shop in Montgomery, TX that I got an email about called Montgomery Quilt Company that was closing. I didn't even realize there was still one there.  Come to find out they had moved from the smaller shop that I could see as I drove down Hwy 105 to a larger shop around the corner. Well darn.  The owner is closing for personal reasons and not financial so that's good to hear. They have everything marked down 30% even the shelves, tables, display items.
 I saw this little machine and snapped a picture to send to a couple of friends who love these machines. This had been cleaned up and totally refurbished. They had 2 left.
No I didn't buy one. They're not my thing but they are fun to look at.
Besides I had already put a dent in my quilting budget for the month but I did need thread.  Mom looked at the pretty fabric and looked at what I was getting. She saw some things that she liked but nothing she needed to buy since she doesn't sew any longer. Her eyes are giving her fits with the macular degeneration.
Then I saw a piece of fabric that went with a line of fabric I have stashed away that I figured I could handle a yard of fabric. It's A Riley Blake fabric. They had other pieces I wanted but had to leave for another visit before they close hopefully.
I was at the cash register when I saw this clock. Dang it. I had seen this clock on someones post in one of the groups I'm in on FB and I had to have it for my Sewing Room.  In fact I think that was the name of the group. The Sewing Room.

Anyway I had to have and then I had to get out of there before I started blowing up my budget. I love this clock.
Once we get my curtain shelving up it'll go up there.
Soon...


David was coming home that night so I took Mom back home and visited a few minutes longer with Joe and then I headed home to cook dinner. This is what was for dinner. Zucchini taco boat. Normally I buy 2 zucchini's (one for each of us) and split in half. But the zucchini David picked a few days earlier was big enough that all I had to do is split this one and we each got full on our half filled with taco meat, jalapeno, bell pepper, onion and topped with cheese.  KETO friendly. So yummy good. I like being able to use fresh veggies out of the garden.

 We had a few okra and a squash that needed to get cooked up so I sliced them up with jalapeno, bell pepper, and onion and sauteed them up. I forgot to snap a pretty picture before we start eating on it. Again it's Keto friendly. I sometimes add mushrooms but I didn't have any this time.





On 9/11 the clouds were making weird shapes. Okay I was being easily amusement.  It was a Hersey Kiss. Well in my eyes. By the time I got my phone out to take the picture it had distorted a little. LOL


Now this wasn't funny, it was serious... The sky's were getting dark and angry looking over the house but they tricked me and move right on over and didn't drop one single raindrop.  How rude!

We need rain in the worst way. Our ground is hard as a rock and cracking and our poor pond has gotten smaller.

Then I was down to one single rain cloud but nothing. Night view of backside of house. I wish it was raining on me but didn't happen.

Friday the 13th presented a Full Moon over the Rock'n K so David and I sat on the front porch with an adult beverage enjoying the view.  This was the first full moon on a Friday the 13th in 13 years.    The Harvest Moon.  Posted this picture on FB and Josh goes nice cozy. It's the one from their wedding in 2014.  Good eyes.

My 1st cousins, Gayle and Lisa, who I spent a lot of time with when we were kids threw their parents an anniversary party at the senior living home where my Aunt and Uncle reside on Saturday the 14th.

I thought 41 years was an accomplishment but Uncle Dick and Aunt Mary celebrated 65 years. Twenty four more to go David. They shared pictures on FB and I'm going to share them here.

Lisa Guinther, Aunt Mary Mullins McLallen, Doug Dowell,
Uncle Dick McLallen and Gayle Flynn

I love this one because the gentleman standing up is a cousin who I haven't seen in 40+ years and she tagged him so I was able to friend him on FB and say 'Hi" He's a multi- talented guy. He's been a lawyer if I remember right and since at least 2009 he's been an actor and producer.

 Doug had 4 brothers. As a kid I loved when we went to visit their house. I thought they were cool and the cutest brothers ever and they always put up with me. 

Then they posted another picture of more cousins. Their Mom was my grandfather's sister. We spent a lot of time at their place when I was growing up too . I remember picking strawberries in Aunt Marie's huge garden. Well it seem huge when I was a kid.  It's been a while since I've seen these folks too but not as long as Doug. 

Connie Barnes, Phyllis Bethards and their brother Bill Triplet  with Aunt Mary and Uncle Dick

Thank you Gayle and Lisa for sharing these pictures so I could save them in my album and share them on my blog.

So I'm stopping for now but there is definitely more Saturday activities that were happening but if I stop now the blog won't be so long. Don't want to bore you totally. Saturday the 14th was a fun day but you'll have to wait until my next post to see what I was up too.

Until next blog post...

 Take spring when it comes, and rejoice. / Take happiness when it comes, and rejoice. / Take love when it comes, and rejoice.” ~ Carl Ewald

As My Dad💗 would say.... Toodle Loo,  See you in the funny papers.

41 Years of Marital Bliss & Quilts completed

Okay my title might be a little off. We've definitely have those ups, downs and every which way. But the good times out number the off days. We signed on for another year.  Here we go again. LOL
Saturday (8/31)was kind of a lazy day. David finished up the shelf for my 2nd window in my sewing room and set it up there to check sizing and see how it looked. Love it. Now I need to putty the nail holes and paint it then David will attach the shelf to the brackets and my windows will be complete.
I worked on some quilts I need to get finished up so I can get them in the mail to the recipients.
Basically today was doing small projects and just hanging out. In the late afternoon we got ready and did a quick stop at Wal-Mart and then we headed to dinner at another new place. We've been hearing about this place in or actually outside Rockdale called Apache Pass Steak House. There's an ice house next door too. This was our anniversary dinner choice even if it is a couple days early.
Whoever took my phone call to make reservations didn't quite follow through. They didn't reserve us a table after all but the hostest came through and sat us a table for 8+. Now that felt weird but at least we got to sit. The outside of the building has a tepee' entry and the inside decor is nice and rustic. The steak house is only open Friday and Saturdays. The ice house side is open Thursday through Sunday.

Nice waiting area when they need it or just a nice place to sit and have a drink with friends. There's a fire pit in the middle of the restaurant. 
And the back wall is all windows that have a nice view out back. I want to sit out there when the weather is nice. At least under 90 degrees. LOL

Oh and the food was great. As a special treat for us because of the messed up reservation they comp'ed our dessert. The young lady who waited on us was so sweet. Made our first visit very special.

After dinner we decided we wanted to walk outside and see the outside only it was already dark by the time we went out so we couldn't see a whole lot but we took time to have a drink on one of the 5 patio decks. I had a sangria margarita swirl.... mmmm

I do believe we'll go back to this place.

Pamela and her nursing gals were in Houston at the BackStreet Boys Concert. I do believe that had way to much fun. LOL

David David How does your Garden Grow? For first timers we had a pretty good harvest today.

Cucumbers, okra, jalapeno and Anaheim peppers, squash, yellow and purple bell peppers and 2 big zucchini's .  We've had plenty of flowers on the zucchini's plant but this was the only ones we've got to harvest so far. Tomatoes are done until fall planting.

On Sunday 9/1,  I sat on the back drinking my ice coffee and watched our hummers. This little guy was guarding his juice supply. lol

They're so much fun to watch.

David called me over to the fence area by our garden to point out the tracks. We had a visitor that morning. The sprinkler went off at 6 so it had to be after that to make the paw print because otherwise the ground is too hard. We're thinking coyote.  mmm

And look at this little guy. At first I didn't notice him.
I thought it was a piece of green bark until it moved. Not much bigger than a 50 cent piece.

Later that day I rode to the base of the property to see where our feral hogs got on to our property.

 We actually found 2-3 places.  And as we were walking along I noticed this tree with fruit on it. I picked this one up off the ground. It's a persimmon. There were plenty of the tree but too high to reach.

Pamela came up and we went to have my fav.. Mexican Food.    Pamela didn't stay the night after dinner and drove on back home.      So David and I sat out on the back porch just relaxing. Unfortunately I finished off my Blackshire Blackberry Whiskey that goes awesome with Simply Lemonade. mmm.

They don't ship their whiskey or sell anywhere except at the distillery. Gonna have to make a trip back to Hermann Missouri to get some more.

Or find a distillery here in Texas that sells a good Blackberry whiskey.

So Monday rolls around our actual 41st wedding anniversary and it's quiet and not much happening. LOL We did our celebrating all weekend. On the quiet times I got in and finished up my great nephews quilts that live in Missouri. Took pictures and got them in the mail.  Nephew and his wife had Preston a few months ago and I finally got his quilt finished And since his big brother Carson didn't get one when he arrived I made him one also using the same fabric. I wasn't quilting so much back when Carson arrived so I'm making up for it now. On Preston's quilt I did what is called a faux binding. It uses 2 fabrics to make it look like it has piping around the edges. The quilting motif on both quilts was wildlife. You can see a deer, moose, a bear and a tree.  My friend Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest did the quilting.  She's so good to me.

Used the same fabric but a different pattern.

Their mom, my niece Bailey Jo sent this cute picture of the boys with their quilts.

 Aren't they adorable? I love it.

One more great nephew to go.  He came next. Baby Tate was born in March so yes I'm real fast on getting the quilts made but yeah I'm working on it.

Then I'll work on a new quilt for the Texas guest room here at the Rock'n K. Babies come first though.

I did just finished a quilt top for my friend Pam's newish grandbaby Girl. She too was born in March. It's going to the Quilter on Thursday for sure but can't show the picture yet. Soon though.

Well that's it for now folks. Oh what shall I get into next. So much to do and see.

Until next blog...  

        “To keep your marriage brimming with love in the wedding cup

      Whenever you’re wrong admit it.

                                                Whenever you’re right – shut up,”  ~Ogden Nash   LOL

Friendship and Our celebration

Well isn't this just lovely. Had this entire blog post disappear. I had saved it and even scheduled it to post and saved it again.  Awesome! My website shut down and puff it was gone. All that was saved was the next paragraph. Well here I go starting over.
Last weekend David decided to check out renting a room in a house near work instead of staying in a hotel. He'll save money. He found a place, signed on the dotted line and left a deposit. At least or at least we hope he won't have people fighting outside his room or people banging on his door in the middle of the night wanting in.  And the best part is it's clean. He'll have 3-4 roommates. It's gonna be like going to college. LOL. It's month to month so if he doesn't like it he can always give notice and go back to staying in a hotel. He's trying to work until he turns 65 which is another year and a half. He works Monday - Thursday most weeks but it varies sometimes. Basically he leaves here at 5:30 am on a Monday or Tuesday and returns Wed-Thursday or Friday anytime from noon on.  It all depends on his work schedule.
Wednesday, August 28 we needed to take my car in for repairs. To date we have not found a place around us for car repairs so I worked a few hours that morning, grabbed Lilley dropped her off at Pamela's in case we were late. Don't want that baby girl to miss a meal.  LOL.  Besides she likes hanging with her fur babies.
I got in to Houston by lunch time so I met up with my friends Samara and Genesis for some Thai food. I haven't found a Thai place around here and besides no one else in my family cares for Thai or at least they don't think they do. After lunch I went back to the Technology building to visit some of my former co-workers. I can never see all the people I want to.  My time always runs out. I miss my friends.
Monday, September 2 David and I  celebrated 41 years of marriage. The weekend is about us and no projects.







Thursday 8/29 - David was a little disappointed that we didn't run out and explore but I needed to get some work done First. I did go have coffee on the back porch and caught this little guy flying around. He's very shy. He lands on the backside of the feeder and at the very least amount of noise of movement he's gone.












Before I went in to get to work I counted 3 hummingbirds.









He likes to hang out in our desert willow tree David planted outside my sewing room window at the end of the back porch. Too bad he didn't land closer to the the branch that's flowering.

Today we stayed home so I could work and he worked on projects outside

Thursday was also the opening Aggie Game against Texas State. Pamela and nursing friend Amanda got tickets and went to enjoy the game and discovered beer is now served on the general admission side, Not on the student side.

Final score 41-7 Whoop!. David and Pamela feel the score should have had a wider spread.

Aggies need to pick up the pace if they plan on beating Clemson or Alabama.








Friday (8/29) I semi woke to the sounds of David getting in his night stand and the door chime as he went out. But then I woke up to POP POP POP. What the hell. I get up and go out the front door and see David shooting about 16-17 wild hogs running across our front pasture. This is the 2nd time they've been on the property. First time we thought they just came in the open gate but the gate was closed last night. So David got on the 4-wheeler to ride along the fence line to find a breach and he did at the bottom of the property that backs up to the railroad track.  Dang it. Something David will add to the 'To Do List' .
Since he was out there he decided he'd take the time to move Jerry and the cows to the front pasture since they've ate down most all the grass in the back pasture. It wasn't so hard since they all thought he had something to eat so they followed him like the Pied Piper with Jerry in the lead. LOL

These critters don't want to miss a treat but the only treat they'll find is fresh grass in the front pasture. They seemed to be happy enough bouncing through the gate.

The last little straggler was the calf born in April. We now think he's a bull. We were hoping for a female. Oh well.

He was very hesitate to come through the gate even with his Mom standing a few yards away but finally bounced through.                            Well with that excitement and the moving of Jerry and the cows over we were ready to begin our adventure.  This weekend is about us an quality time.

David and I jumped in the car and headed to to explore our new area. We had no clue where we'd end up but off we went.
David decided our first stop would be at Westphalia Market in Westphalia. He wanted see where it was and to get pricing for processing a couple of cows for the freezer when we were ready for that step.
There were other people around picking up their meat and other items available to purchase. When we walked out of the store this lady was sitting on the bed of her truck and she hollered at us "So y'all raising Dexter's" That's the breed of our cows. Well that started a conversation because David had all kinds of questions for her since raising and processing our cows is something new. They exchanged phone numbers and we left after a lengthy question and answer session. She was really nice and helpful.. In fact we hadn't been on the road more than 5 minutes she was already texting David some more information. Next time we're all in Taylor we're going to meet up at the Taylor Beer Co. LOL
All that talk of processing we realized we were hungry. We found a Deli just down the road but it was packed and David was thinking more on the lines of BBQ. Imagine. Being in the country it's not like you're gonna have a huge selection of eating places period. Our next stop was in Mart so we drove on down the road with our eyes open for somewhere to eat. We arrived to our turn off in Riesel to get to Mart and found a BBQ place for David.  We parked on the side of the road and saw the cute idea of how to use wall mounted sinks.  Too cute. The sinks were mounted on the wall and used as planters.  The yellow building made them stand out.
We ate at B&M BBQ in Riesel and was very pleased. The brisket and sausage were cooked and seasoned just right along with the sides of potato salad, green beans for me (yummy) and pinto beans for David. Very yummy. Next time we're in the area we'll stop again that's for sure
On the road again. Heading towards Mart to Leon Junction Antique. Pamela and I went there last year and I thought David would like it too. He seemed too.  He likes to collect the old metal signs and he found a couple there. I went to go take a picture of them and moved them somewhere.
Oh well. At our Tomball home he displayed them a couple on the patio and others inside the garage. Not sure where he'll hang them now. They're cool old signs.  He found this sign and we both laughed. He didn't buy it though.

So now what shall we do... We drove down the road toward Groesbeck to see what we could find. I also texted our good friends that live in the country near Groesbeck to see what they were up too.

About the time we hit Groesbeck my friend Sheryl texted back saying just hanging at the house to come on by.  She had been following my facebook post and knew we were in the area. So we had Siri map us to their place. Only Siri look us on the long route to NY and back. LOL Okay maybe not NY but she took us in a BIG loop. We finally made it by.  Sheryl decided she needed to repay me for all the wine she drank at my house and gave me a glass of wine and so on. Ross and David discussed live stock and farm life.
We even went out to visit their animals. They have 2 girl donkey's smaller than Jerry and 3 very small cows called Zebu's
These gals are so cute. And the cows oh my. They're so little. The black and white one is the boy. These babies stand barely 5 foot tall.

They look about the size of a Great Dane dog. My Dexter cows look huge upside these babies. LOL
Before we knew it, it was nearly 6pm. Yikes ! We say our goodbyes and turn the right direction to get back to the main highway and much shorter than Siri's path.
As we hit the highway David asked if we want to go try Leona General Store for dinner or should we head home. I said we had time and that Lilley girl would be fine so we headed to dinner. Oh wow so delicious. Thursday's is catfish night but Friday and Saturday is either Ribeye or bone grilled chicken. We chose the steak. It came with a salad, smashed taters and the best yeast rolls. Sorry but Taste of Texas may have met their match.  It was that good. The steak was seasoned to perfection, juicy, big and thick. We got lucky since it was opening football season so they weren't as busy so we walked right in and was seated. Our waitress told us they generally serve 500-600 a night. That's a lot of steaks and chicken.
Time to head home to feed our Lilley. She's gonna give us the business when we get there.
Tomorrow is another day. Stay tuned for the rest of our celebration.

Hopefully this one will post and not go into Internet la la land and have to recreate it again.

Until next blog post...The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes . ~ Amy Grant