April 7, 2015

My Mother-in-law's Flowers

April 7, 2015

Marigold bloom

This morning Ron got me up early so I could get my allergy shots out of the way.  I made his coffee and then did the shots.  I think maybe I didn't bruise today.  That would be nice, although the bruises don't hurt.  I worked in the kitchen a bit and read for a while before going to the office. 

Easter Lily buds

Ron had taken my car in so that it could be picked up for some work.  This car did not have a remote to lock and unlock the doors and I think he decided I needed some help since I very often have my hands full when I head to the car.  By early afternoon the man had returned the car.  He is a very efficient alarm installer and a kind man.  He and I agreed the way Ron told him to set it up might not work the best for me so he said if I could convince Ron to do it my way to just bring it back and he would fix it.

Amaryllis blooms

Some of my day was spent entering last month's checks into the computer and then when the bank statement arrived just about the time I ate lunch, I was quickly able to reconcile it and prepare all the things to send to our accountant.  I know he is busy with tax preparation for clients, so he in not in a big hurry to get it.  I just need one figure before the 20th; the rest can wait.

Most of Ron's mom's bluebonnets are going to seed, but a few are still blooming

I paid some bills and wrote a couple of notes.  I prepared a deposit and went to the bank to take it and get change.  I did have to wait a bit and was thankful for my Kindle.  That does come in handy!  By the time I got back it was past closing time. 

Amaryllis buds

Once we locked up, Ron went to pick up prescriptions and supper for his Mom and I went to check on my mom.  Mom seemed to be doing well.  She had her yardman do a lot of work in her back yard yesterday and it is amazing.  One corner looks a little bare, but will look lovely with some hibiscus plants or some blooming shrub back there along the fence.

Aloe Vera blooms

When I left my mom's I picked up my supper and joined Ron and his mom for supper.  He had just gotten there a few minutes ahead of me.  After I ate and visited, I took photos of some of the blooming and soon to be blooming plants in her yard.  The flowers throughout this blog are from her yard.  Her care giver had taken her to walk in the yard yesterday and see the beautiful blooms.

Cluster of Easter Lily buds (and a Lady Bug)

Ron's mom has some of the most amazing Easter lilies!  They are so tall (about 4 feet tall) and on one stalk I counted 10 or 11 buds.  It is in the middle of a large bed so I didn't get too close.  It is the cluster of buds in the photo at the top of this paragraph.  There were lots of Lady Bugs throughout her garden.

Mixed flower bed of amaryllis and Easter Lilies

One of my customers today was a very interesting older gentleman.  He is a winter Texan and has come here for several years from Arizona.  He has a very interesting past and I really enjoyed talking to him and listening to him.  As I have said before, this is something I really missed even before I went deaf - just chatting with a customer.  I had tried not to engage in conversations, since I knew I would hear little of what was said.  It probably took 30 minutes to get all his key needs worked out, but we had a good time talking while he kept buying. 

Amaryllis

During the morning a friend came to get a key cut and to visit.  She and one of her sisters had come to visit on a day we had been closed and I am sorry to have missed her sister, but it was good to see this lady today.  There are some women who just get more beautiful as they age and she is one of them.  Retirement agrees with her.

Large cluster of Easter Lily buds

The evening was short since it was after 7:30 before I got home.  I read some, worked on a few minor chores, and did a little cleaning in my car.  I know I will enjoy having the alarm and remote.  I hope I don't set it off too often.  It is loud!

April 6, 2015

As All-American As...

Little League Baseball!

April 6, 2015

#8 is our grandson.  I am so glad they have numbers.  

In the uniforms and with their caps on, they can all look alike!

April and Little League baseball go together.  For years in Jeff's family, it seems at least one if not two of the boys have been in Little League.  This year, only the 8 year old is playing.  The six year old decided he didn't want to play - until tonight at the opening game for the season.  Maybe next year. 

In this grouping  in Little League, the coaches do the throwing, but one of the players is on the pitcher's mound to catch any balls hit his way.  That position is what our grandson was playing tonight.  He did get two runners out tonight by getting the ball to the right place at the right time and then he got a great hit, but was put out at first base.  All in all it was a very good start to the season. 

This is the ball he hit, as it was approaching his bat.  

He got a good strong hit on it.

This morning I was getting ready and when I showered, I was using a new bottle of the same shampoo/conditioner I have been using for 8-10 years.  The only problem is that they changed the formula and I can't stand the smell of the new formula.  My nose started running and my eyes started watering.  I coughed.  I am so frustrated!  There was no indication on the bottle that anything had changed - no "new formula" warning.  So now I start a search for a new shampoo that I am not allergic to.

Just before 10:45 this morning, I picked Mom up for a doctor's appointment.  We were there for about 45 minutes.  She needed a couple of refills on medications and the doctor has ordered some x-rays and bone density tests.  It was a good visit and he is so good with her.  After I took her home, I picked up lunch for Ron and me and went to the office.

Today at the office was slow.  I did a little bookkeeping work, but not a lot else.  I did wait on a few customers, and waiting on one, I started coughing and coughing.  I am not sure if I was allergic to some scent the lady was wearing or what.  Ron finally took over with the customer.

Our cheering section

I left the office a few minutes early and came home to do a few things in the yard before I fixed our supper.  Ron arrived just as supper was ready.  After that he worked on my Suburban, on the lock on the back.  He is taking it tomorrow to have a remote opener installed in it as well as an alarm system.  He finished that chore just in time for us to go to the baseball game.  The weather could not have been nicer for the game.  There was a great breeze and very few mosquitoes, especially considering there was water standing several places on the property.  It was fun to watch with the family.  Barbara's mother was there and Jeff made it home in time for the game. 

Ready to catch a ball

We won't be able to go to every game, but it was fun to watch our grandson enjoying the game and doing well.  He is small for his age, but a fast runner and it was a good game. The sun was setting as we left the ball park.  It was a very nice day.

April 5, 2015

Blessed Easter Day

April 5, 2015

A hibiscus at Barb's mom's house this afternoon

This was a blessed day.  It started early and has been a busy one.  Ron got me up at 6:00 after I hit my snooze alarm, so I could get my allergy shots long before time to go to church.  We managed to get to church on time after I fell back asleep while Ron showered.

Mom coming out her front door, to go to church this morning

Many in our Sunday school class seemed to be running late, but by the time Ron started the lesson we had a good crowd.  I left early to go get Mom for the worship service.  Church was almost full.  We had a good sermon and good music.

Mom admiring her plants

After church Ron and I came home for a lunch of leftovers and then he put confetti in the eggs the children had painted while I started baking cupcakes.  There were two batches - one chocolate and one yellow.  It took me the rest of the afternoon to bake and decorate them.  Now the kitchen needs my attention. 

Look how much Mom's amaryllis plants had opened just since this morning.  

The photo with Mom beside the planter was taken about 10:30 this morning 

and this one was about 5:30 this afternoon.

At 5:00 I left to pick Mom and Carmen up for the picnic/egg hunt.  The event has been held at my daughter-in-law's mom's home for many years.  This year there were approximately 40 people there.  There was a wide variety of guests from 1 year old twins enjoying their first egg hunt to my 92 year old mom enjoying watching the whole  gathering.

The delicious food being served by the caterers

Barb's mom had the meal catered.  We had wonderful Mexican food.  Some of the guests brought side dishes and three of us brought desserts.   We all enjoyed the meal and then the children were sent inside while eggs were hidden. 

Next the egg hunt took place.  Hearing outside was sometimes a challenge.  One lady repeated things over and over to me.  That becomes frustrating and embarrassing, but it can't be helped if I am to understand what is being said.

The children were all so good and enjoyed the treats they found in the plastic eggs and enjoyed breaking confetti eggs over the heads of anyone they could catch.

After the hunt desserts were served.  There were Rice Krispie treats, cupcakes and a wonderful fruit covered cheesecake. 

About 8:00 I took Mom and Carmen home and relaxed a few minutes when I got back to my house.  It has been a long day, but very good. 

Two gold egg shells filled with confetti and hung on a tree. 

 It took a little bit for the kids to spot these even though they were out in plain sight.

April 4, 2015

Another Rainy Saturday

April 4, 2015

White-winged Dove

A lot of activity has been packed into today.  Ron woke me at 7:30 after I had hit my snooze alarm for an hour and a half.  I showered and washed my hair, unloaded the dishwasher, started laundry, stripped the bed, replaced all the towels, and a few other chores before our three youngest grandchildren arrived at around 9:30.  They stayed until about 9:30 this evening.

Right away the kids headed to the play rooms.  The guest room houses the Lego collection and that is where the 2 little boys went.  Our youngest granddaughter who is 3 headed to the play room and got the dolls to play with before joining me in the sewing room.  A little after 10:30 I went to Mom's to pick up Carmen to bring her to clean our house.  She is so much help and I really appreciate her help.

It had started to rain about 10:00 and ended up raining until about 6:00.  The rain did not keep the birds away from the feeders.  There were lots of them all afternoon and the majority were Red-winged Blackbirds.  The children enjoyed watching them.

You can see beads of rainwater all over the back of his Red-winged Blackbird.

When I went to get Carmen, it was raining hard at our house and there was only a slight drizzle at Mom's.  When I took her back to Mom's they had received a lot of rain, but still not as much as we had. The kids enjoyed just being left alone to play.  They got out the "baby" blocks at one point and built with them right in the middle of the sewing room.

Ron asked if I noticed that the children wanted to be where I was.  What Mom has not noticed that?  It wasn't long before they wanted lunch and they had banana and peanut  butter sandwiches.  It must be one of those things that skips a generation.  None of our boys like that combination, but most of Jeff's like it and Ron was delighted to have someone join him in eating that mixture.

Jeff and Barb and the two big girls joined us for supper at 7:00 and we had our Easter dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, and  corn.

Ron's self portrait

Ron and the boys painted some Easter eggs.The children chattered away the afternoon and it was good to be able to take my sound processor off when they went home.

April 3, 2015

A Quiet, Peaceful Good Friday

April 3, 2015

Great Kiskadee

Today I was up early to do my allergy shots before Ron left for the morning.  We had closed the office for the day.  I spent time doing some cleaning, reading, and generally relaxing before I started sewing.  I did spend most of the morning in the sewing room and had the curtains open to watch the birds.  There was a nice variety of birds today. 

Male Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Last night I had laid out a new quilt on the design wall.  It is just a quick, easy one for Easter.  I got all the pieces on the design wall last night, and this morning around 11:30 started sewing.  I just took a couple of hours to get it pieced.  I still need to do the border and have not decided for sure on the border fabric.

Female Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Lunch was a chicken sandwich.  I had some chicken breasts in the freezer and cooked them.  Yummy.  I will probably make chicken salad out of the rest of the chicken tomorrow.

White-winged Dove

Ron stopped by briefly but left again to go to his mom's house to check on the work being done by the plumber to replace her hot water heater.  It had been leaking for a while and required a lot of work.  Thankfully it was in an outside storeroom so nothing in the house was damaged.

Mourning Dove pair

Off and on, I stopped my sewing to take photos of the birds.  Today I spotted the Great Kiskadee, both male and female Golden Fronted Woodpeckers, a Green Jay that would not stick around for a photo, sparrows, two types of ducks, three kinds of doves, Red winged Blackbirds, Grackles, and a couple of hummingbirds.

Red-winged Blackbird

This evening we went to Jason's Deli with Mom for supper.  Ron met us there after being at his mom's all afternoon.  I had trouble hearing tonight even though it was not very crowded.  There seemed to be a lot of background noise.

Ice Plant

Mom and I did our grocery shopping after we ate and it was almost 10:00 p.m. when I got home.  It was a productive day and a relaxing one.  I had better not stay up too late.  The three youngest grandchildren are coming to spend the day tomorrow.  What fun we will have!

Cajan Hibiscus (I think)

April 2, 2015

A Good Thursday,

 Before Good Friday

April 2, 2015

This was a good day.  There was nothing really spectacular; it was just a good day.  At the office we had some busy spells and some slow ones.  Ron was out on a couple of jobs.  I finished up the monthly report and it was a good month (March).  We have had some bad ones recently, but God has obviously never let us go hungry.  He has provided every need and we know He will continue to do so.  I still need to wait for the bank statement to finish gathering things for the accountant, but everything else is done; my desk is clearer than it has been in weeks, and Easter is coming!

Recently I heard of someone saying we should not use the term Easter because it is not in the Bible.  Instead we should say Resurrection Day.  I really don't care what you call it as long as you use it to celebrate the fact that Christ gave His life on the cross for our sins, died, was buried, and on the third day rose again.  He paid for MY sins on that cross.  I wish I could live a sinless life, but I CAN live a forgiven life.  I mess up more often than I want to think about, but Christ loves me and I accepted that gift of Eternal life that He purchased for me on the cross.  Each of us must make that decision for our self.  If we deny that Christ is the Son of God and that He paid for our sins and we are not willing to make Him Lord of our lives, that gift of eternal life will not be available.  He is offering us that FREE gift, but we must accept it by making Christ Lord of our life.

Over the years, our Easter Sunday has been celebrated in different ways.  Sometimes, especially when I was growing up, we went to Easter sunrise services.  I love those.  Sometimes they were at the beach where we had a clear view of the sunrise.  We had egg hunts, and they are a fun part of the family time at Easter, but they are not the most important thing.  We will be going to a picnic and egg hunt late in the day Sunday at the home of our daughter-in-law's mom.  She does it every year.

The thing that keeps coming to my mind the last few days is gathering together at church on Easter Sunday, and in response to the Pastor's declaration, "He is risen!" as a congregation we will respond, "He is risen indeed!"  I love that.  I love hearing the chorus of voices, young and old, from many parts of the world, all echoing together, "He is risen indeed!"  Yes, it is Resurrection Day, but don't get hung up on the word, but rather get into THE WORD, God's Word.

In the afternoon, I took Mom to an appointment with her lung doctor.  He was pleased with her lung health.  Her oxygen level was 100% when we got there and after 6 minutes of brisk walking it was 98%.  He did not have the results back from blood work he ordered, but will let her know the results.  Her back was hurting her a lot yesterday and so after the appointment, I took her home instead of grocery shopping as we had talked  about.  I do have trouble hearing her doctor - maybe it is understanding him that is the problem.  He has an accent and talks fast, but she seems to do alright with understanding him, which amazes me.

I returned to the office and worked on clearing my desk.  I cleaned two drawers in my desk and that was helpful.  I left the office about an hour early to take a book by Mom's house.  Then I went to the mall to pay a bill and stopped at the drug store for milk and bread on my way home.  Ron met me at the house and we went to join our friends at the Mexican food restaurant where we have been eating recently.  It was a very nice evening.  The food was good and the friendship is priceless.

We didn't stay too long.  Our friends are having a garage sale this weekend and so they had things to do.  At home I read and looked through some fabric for the border on the next quilt top to be put together.

As I said, it was a good day!  I hope your weekend is wonderful.  Almost forgot!  I saw a yellow warbler on the waterfall just before dark.  The picture is terrible, but I will include it anyway.  I hope he is just the first of a migrating group of colorful birds. 

April 1, 2015

Do You Play April Fool's Jokes?

April 1, 2015

April Fool's Day has never been a favorite of mine.  I don't like to be made to look foolish and I don't like to do it to others.  I don't have the imagination to come up with elaborate jokes and just don't think that I want to embarrass others.  Growing up, Dad would wake us up on April Fool's Day telling us that it had snowed.  We usually were eventually convinced until we looked outside.

Maybe the air conditioner repair place was playing an April Fool's joke when they brought my car back to the office just a couple of hours after Ron took it in and said it was fixed.  A couple of hours later he took it back and let them try again to fix it. 

Before going to the office, I went in the backyard briefly and the mosquitoes were aggressive again.  I had bites all down one arm by the time I got back in the house.  I was not out long but apparently it was a little too long.

Being the first of the month, it was my busy day.  I did all the posting, balanced the account and printed the statements for our customers.  I attached the copies of their invoices and gave them to Ron to check.  He then got them in envelopes for me and has them ready to be mailed.  This was a better month than the last couple and that is nice.

When I arrived at the office a salesmen was there representing one of our suppliers.  This man started in outside sales with their company about the time I started working at the shop over 25 years ago.  He never changes.  He complains that we don't buy enough from him.  He complains that we don't travel 600 miles each way to their trade show every year.  He complains about a lot.  I like our UPS man who says when I ask how he is doing, "I can't complain.  It is against the company rules."

I waited on customers most of the morning and early afternoon.  Ron was out on jobs.  Once he was back so he could wait on the customers, I was able to get the bookkeeping done fairly quickly.  It was a good day.  After the mail arrived I prepared a bank deposit and took it to the bank.  I found that many customers were wishing me a Good Easter Weekend.  People were in a good mood today and very kind.

After work I went by Mom's house.  She was up working at the computer.  We had a nice visit and then walked in her backyard to discuss the removal of some plants.  She feels they are creeping away from the fence and taking over the backyard.  She wants to reclaim it.  We talked about how to have some trees trimmed hoping to allow more light into the yard so the grass will grow better. 

On my way home and stopped and picked up fresh tortillas to make enchiladas for supper.  They must have been pretty good.  Ron almost cleaned out the baking dish.  It had been a while since I had made them.

As I turned toward our house on the way home, I looked up to see this beautiful view of the moon shining in the early evening sky while it was still daylight.  God has created amazing beauty in this world.