September 7, 2014

Happy Birthday to a Grandson!

September 7, 2014

One of our grandsons turned 15 years old today.  I know I say this a lot, but where have the years gone?  He was just a tiny baby a few years ago and now he towers over me.  He is such an interesting young man.  He has a lot of interests and talents.  He is an amazing piano player and quickly memorizes music.  He likes to bake and decorate cakes, play basketball, play video games, work with electronics, build and design with LEGOs, and enjoys working with young children at the church.  He went on a mission trip this summer to help at an orphanage in southern Mexico.  He loves to read and is quick to smile.  He is a great young man.  I told you I would show you the birthday cake I made so here he is, with it.

We went to our son's home for breakfast to celebrate the birthday.  Our daughter-in-law had made home made cinnamon rolls for us to enjoy. 

This was the second pan of the delicious pastry!

Part of the breakfast party

The rest of the group.

Following breakfast we all headed to church.  Our Sunday School class was great and then the worship service was very good.  The pastor finished up a sermon series on the reasons that we suffer.  It has been an excellent study.

Gift opening time.

As we left after church, the rain clouds were moving back in from the coast and before lunch, we had a heavy downpour.  The lights flickered several times.  We all were back at our son's house for lunch of pizza, salad, and that cake for dessert.  It was so fresh tasting and was delicious.  My mom had been to lunch with friends and arrived just in time for cake.

This precious grandson just started piano lessons this week and declared after his lesson, "This is my best day ever!"  He has slept with his piano book so he would remember to practice fist thing in the mornings and played his first piece for us - from memory.  He LOVES playing piano!  Hope that lasts!  That means 5 of their children are in piano this year.

As Ron and I left their house about 3:30, the clouds were building again and they were beautiful.  I just kept saying they were so pretty.  I was driving home, so Ron took a few photos. 

Once we arrived at home, I filled bird feeders and birdbaths.  The birds were very active and later in the afternoon while Ron napped I took photos of the birds.  Several migrating birds had arrived and treated me to their antics.  The warblers as usual loved the waterfalls.

Kentucky Warbler

Canada Warbler

The Tufted Titmice flitted around all afternoon.

Probably over 100 sparrows stayed around for the afternoon.

After all the rain, things in the yard are blooming and growing rapidly.

As for my hearing today, I did well with the sermon and better at my son's house than I had recently.  I was pleased.  I had to have some things repeated, but not too many.  I think I had told you in the past that I had trouble hearing the melody on the piano.  I found that 5 keys on the piano sound the same to me.  In the beginning, it was 8 keys.  I hope that means I am getting better at discerning the music!

Bronzed Cowbird

Wrapped up the evening with a phone call to our daughter in law in New Mexico.

September 6, 2014

Finally a Good Haircut!

September 6, 2014

To some of you, it may not matter if you have a good haircut.  Lately, I have really had trouble finding a good hairdresser.  I had one I liked but she left the shop where I had been going.  I let her boss do it a couple of times and was not happy.  I tried two others with even less success.  Today I decided to go back to the boss at the original shop.  She did a very nice job and said she has cut way back on what customers she will take since she is not replacing the other lady and she wants more quality and less quantity.  I think she achieved that with me.  I was pleased.  It is not perfect, but much closer and I can live with it.  It is barely over 2 months until Stephen's wedding and I would like for my hair to look pretty for that event.  The main thing I want is for the Cochlear Sound Processor to be covered.  To me that seems fairly simple.

Note that my left arm is working well as I mowed the yard this morning.

I was up early.  In the previous blog I mentioned that I napped Friday evening from 8-12 and was concerned that I might have trouble sleeping.  I did.  I didn't get to sleep until 5:00 this morning and then had to be up at 6:45 to get ready for the housekeeper.  After she arrived, I mowed the back yard and did a little trimming out there.  Then at 11:00 I went for my haircut.  Meanwhile, Ron worked on an area we call "the enclosure".  It is where we had a pad built for our motor home when we moved out here 39 years ago and the deed restrictions said if you had a motor home, it had to be fenced from view.  That meant a tall fence.  So that has been our storage area for yard "junk".  Ron has been working on that for two or three weeks.

Canada Warbler

This afternoon I noticed a little bird hanging around the window closest to my computer desk.  It was a Canada Warbler.  Migration has begun.  I told Ron that was the closest I had seen one to the house.  They usually stay out around the waterfalls, but that is where he has been cleaning.  I told him the little bird was telling me that his regular reservation for housing during migration time was not there.  I think they have stayed in the enclosure during migration.  I also had an oriole today and a few days ago I had a Yellow Warbler.  I love migration time!  The birds are such a delight.

Young Oriole - not sure which kind.  Anyone want to guess?

For a little while in the early afternoon I went to do a little shopping.  One of our grandsons has a birthday tomorrow and I promised to bake the birthday cake and needed some decorations.  I picked up a few things while I was out and then returned home to answer some emails and cut out some quilt squares.  I did a little sewing and then made lunch about 3:00 and supper about 10:00.

I spent some time in the late afternoon photographing birds.  There were a lot of White-winged Doves (White-wing hunting season opened today and they know they are safe at my house and my feeders are full).

This young dove was not letting the grackle beside it, chase it away,

 but it kept its wings ready for a quick escape!

I baked the birthday cake, frosted and decorated it.  I will show photos tomorrow, but not before he gets to see it.  I don't always have time to do their cakes, but love doing them when I can.  There is another grandson birthday in a few days.  They come fast this time of the year in our family!

Ron and I both found lots of mushrooms/toad stools in the yard this morning as we worked.  There were several varieties.  Interesting.  He took this great photo above.

A young sparrow on the birdbath.

September 5, 2014

Friday Fun and Frustrations

September 5, 2014

All in all, it was a good day, but I must say it was a mixture of fun and frustrations.  The fun included our grandsons and the frustrations centered around a continuation of the credit card representative from yesterday.

It was a beautiful day when I carried some trash out this morning at the house for pickup.  The flowers at the top of this page were getting the morning sunshine and were filled with bees and butterflies.  After all our rain (there was another heavy rain overnight) it was hot and muggy so as soon as I took my camera outside, the lens fogged up and I had to wait a bit to take photos.  I filled the feeders and ponds while I waited for the camera to warm up after being the the air conditioned house overnight.

This plant had not bloomed all summer, but a week of rainy weather was just what it needed to sprout some blooms.

My daughter-in-law texted me to see if I could pick our oldest grandson up for him to spend the day at the office with us.  It is always great to have him there, so I picked up donuts for us on my way to get him. 

It is always fun to spend the day with this guy.  He really had to help a lot today.  That is where the frustrations came in.  At the office we had decided to change to a different company to handle the credit card charges that we accept from our customers.  The man who had come to share the information with us yesterday came back today at 11:00 to answer a few more questions and then to process our application for the change over from our previous provider.  About the time he arrived, we got very busy, so our grandson did all he could to help us while we were swamped.  He does this out of love and kindness for us.

The credit card man had trouble with his laptop which he needed to sign us up and finally had to switch to his iPad to do the job.  It was very slow going from there on.  In trying to keep things moving, he thought he would fill in some of the information without interrupting us.  BAD idea.  The majority of his guesses for filling in that information were wrong and involved hours of correcting later in the day.  To make a very long story a little shorter, he finished about 5:00 in the afternoon.  It was only finished because I showed him how to fill out his form.  He encountered one problem after another and spent hours on the phone with his boss.  His phone and iPad batteries had to be about dead by the time he left.

The plans for lunch were that I would pickup pizza as a treat for our grandson.  At noon, I decided to wait until we were finished with the credit card man, but at 2:00 I left to pick up the pizza anyway.  We tried a new style which we liked, but 2 hours late, cardboard might have tasted good.

Another grandson arrived mid-afternoon from helping his other grandmother.  He had a school book to read and spent the afternoon quietly reading where ever he could find a spot since credit card man was sitting in his favorite reading chair.  We stayed busier today than on a normal Friday and got some things done, but none of the things on my planned list.

Three of my favorite guys!

The grandson in the blue shirt turned 16 this past Spring 

and the one in the red will be 15 in a couple of days.  It is birthday time again!

At the end of the work day, our daughter-in-law came to pick the boys up and had the youngest grandchild with her.  She is a cutie and we visited a few minutes before meeting friends for supper.

Supper with friends was just what I needed to relax after the stressful day with credit card man.  He was a nice man, just not trained enough in how to correct errors that he created on the application after he had filled in blanks without asking questions.  I think he learned a lot today.  One thing he learned is that I read the fine print before I sign anything!

By the time we got home about 7:30, I read for about 15 minutes before falling asleep in my recliner until midnight.  Now I may have trouble getting back to sleep for a few hours before the housekeeper comes in the morning.  As far as the hearing today, it went fairly well, even when the office was packed this morning with customers several times.  There was little time for just general "chit chat" with my grandson as we usually do on Fridays.  We chatted some while eating our lunch and as usual I had to asked for some things to be repeated but not too much.  There was no time for sewing or printing out note cards, as I had planned, but God had a few special treats in store for me today - praying for a new friend, sharing laughs with our daughter-in-law when she picked up the boys, and napping away the evening.  Now, I just need to figure out the decorations for the birthday cake for our grandson for Sunday! 

September 4, 2014

A Day Dealing with Credit Card Issues

September 4, 2014

This morning I had to get up a little early and be at the office earlier than I have been lately.  We had an appointment - the one that didn't show up about 10 days ago - and today the man showed up.  In our business, we accept credit cards.  We have not been pleased lately with the company which processes our transactions.  We have had only minor problems with their actual services, but their prices have been climbing and just seem to be too high.  The man today was representing another company and his offer was better, but it one of those strange times when you are comparing apples and oranges in many areas and it is hard to see what is really best.

We spent over an hour with the man today and then asked him to contact us later in the day after we checked out a couple of things.  Ron took care of checking on those things and we will probably go with the different company, but still have a couple of things to get good answers about.  The man was very helpful and not pushy.  If you know me, you know I do not deal well with pushy salesmen. 

This was a credit card day, I guess.  The bill for the credit card we use for purchases for our office, did not show up this month.  I guess the post office lost it.  It is always due on the 5th so I had Ron call the company a few days ago to get the amount due and to ask for a copy of the bill and after we finished with the other credit card stuff, I went to pay our bill.  While I was out I picked up lunch for us.

All morning while the credit card man was there, customers kept coming in and interrupting Ron from our discussion.  I needed him to hear things for me to be sure I didn't misunderstand some of the credit card issues.  The afternoon was VERY quiet.  Few customers came in.  Yesterday afternoon when it was flooded and rainy, Ron was very busy.  Customers would wade through the water to get a key cut and complain about getting wet.  I am not sure I have a key that I need copied badly enough to wade through water for it.  During the quiet afternoon, I did some bookkeeping and some reading. 

We had supper with my mom and it was relaxing and the food was good at Jason's Deli.  We saw several friends there and it was good to chat for a few minutes with them although some were sitting at the next table and I had trouble hearing them from that distance. 

After supper I went by the hospital that is near there to check on the lady I had tried to see last week.  We grew up together in church and she had been in ICU for several days last week, but is now in a room and I was very pleased at how she had progressed.  She has always been very soft spoken and so I struggled to hear her, but it has always been that way with her - not from the resent problems she has had.  We had a very nice visit as we talked about her children and mine.  We talked about mutual friends and yesterday's rains.  She was concerned about her house, but the rain had not been that bad.  I totally understood her concern because I am that way about our office since it floods there often.  Like last week, as I left the hospital, there was a lovely sunset in with the rain clouds that are still in the area.

By the time I got home it was dark and I was ready to get comfortable and relax.  I hope to do a little sewing this evening before I head to bed.  It was a good day.

September 3, 2014

My Favorite Backyard Visitor

September 3, 2014

God sent me another special treat today.  In my sewing room I have cafe curtains - curtains which start about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the window, leaving a gap between the top of the curtains and the top of the windows.  This cute little blue female budgie (Budgerigar) likes to sit in the same area of the huge Royal Poinciana tree every day, right out the sewing room windows.  She is not as afraid of people as the other birds, leading me to believe she is an escaped pet.  Where she sits in the tree, I can see her above the curtains so I get to enjoy her beauty before I even open the curtains in the sewing room in the mornings.  This morning it was very gray and overcast with heavy clouds, but there she sat as if to greet me in the morning.  Several years ago I read in a book that little treats like that from God to brighten our days are God Breezes.  That is a name someone made up, not something from the Bible, but seeing the bird was like a breath of fresh air.

The tropical disturbance that has been to the south of us in the Gulf of Mexico, along the coast of Mexico, went ashore last night about 250 miles south of us, but some of the rain bands were coming our way.  The first time I checked the weather radar this morning, it looked like most of the rain was going to stay  to the south of us.  For a brief moment the sun peaked through the clouds and I grabbed my camera to see if I could find a rainbow created by the sun shining through a light drizzle.  It had rained during the night and everything was wet and dripping.  I did not find a rainbow, but did find many pretty things.

This hibiscus plant is going to be in full bloom shortly.  It has a few flowers that are open currently but with this rain, it will soon be covered in red blooms.  I went to the back yard and took a few photos.  The yard is so beautifully green after the rains of the last few days.

I returned to the sewing room and downloaded an assortment of photos and in a few minutes looked out the window to see that it had gotten very dark.  The rain clouds were thick and dark gray, to a point that it was getting too dark to get good photos.  My camera will take good photos in low light situations, but then the photos don't show the true darkness.  I texted my husband and suggested he check the weather radar and maybe get the sand bags out at the office.  He managed to get them out in time to keep water out of the warehouse.

The rains started and quickly became very heavy.  What a soaking the yard got!  A friend north of town said they got 2 1/2 inches of rain today.  My guess here would be at least 2 inches.

My husband and I exchanged some texts and he offered to let me stay home.  I jumped on the offer and spent the morning cutting out fabric squares for a couple of quilts.  This afternoon I started to assemble one of them. Since the area around our shop floods, I expected him to have few customers.  Later, after work, he told me he stayed very busy all afternoon.

Mid afternoon I went to our son's house to take some cookies to my grandchildren and a few other things to the family.  I stayed for about an hour visiting with our daughter-in-law while some of the children worked on their school work.  They are home schooled, so they were working at the dining table on their assignments. 

Our grand children's other grandmother showed up to let them all see her new car.  The little boys thought it was great.  She needed a little more room for transporting grand children.

Our youngest grand daughter gave her approval to the new car...

as did our oldest grandson - the newest driver in the family.

The evening was quiet.  Ron came home exhausted from moving around sand bags and seeing that all the rain water stayed outside our shop and not inside. 

Late in the evening I was able to talk to our youngest son and we discussed wedding plans.  He and his fiance are making progress on the long list of decisions that need to be made.  It was good to talk to him.  I did have to have him repeat several things and a few of the things I would not want to pass on for fear that I didn't hear them correctly, but it was so good to hear his voice.  We just have not had enough time to visit lately.

September 2, 2014

One Year Check-Up on Elbow Surgery

September 2, 2014

It is almost one year since I had the second elbow surgery.  Actually next Tuesday will mark one year.  I had an appointment this morning with the orthopedic surgeon who had done my surgery both times.  If you are new to this blog, on June 1, 2013, I fell in the yard while using the electric edger.  I got tangled in the cord when the cutting line hit the chain link fence and it jerked and down I went, landing on my left elbow.  I broke two bones in the elbow and surgery was done June 3, 2013 to try to repair the damage.  Pins and plates were put in the arm, but one bone healed fine and the other didn't.  So in September of that year, I had surgery to put in an artificial radial cap for that bone.  It has taken time to get to where I don't have to "pamper" the arm, but I now have very few limitations with the usage of my left arm.

This morning at my appointment, x-rays were done and as I waited for the doctor, his wife came in to chat.  She is a delightful lady and we chatted about quilting, assorted other crafts, her new grandchild, and my hearing. When the doctor came in he checked the extension of the arm and how far I could bend it in as well as the rotation of the wrist.  He was very pleased with the progress and with what he had seen on the x-rays.  He had told me in the past that it could take 2 years to reach the full recovery that I will experience from the surgery.  He said he doesn't need to see me again about the arm so hopefully I won't break any more bones to necessitate a future visit.  I could hear him better than I could 6 months ago when I had my last visit with him.  That was nice.

As soon as I finished there, I went to the office.  This is the beginning of a new month and that means it is my busy time of the month as I bill our customers for work we have done for them this last month.  This chore is much easier than it was in the past since more and more businesses use credit cards to pay for purchases at the time they buy them and I have fewer bills to mail each month.  I did have a bank deposit to prepare and posting to do as well as printing the statements, etc.  It took much of the day to do all of the bookkeeping chores. 

After I got all the paperwork done, I took the deposit to the bank and it was windy and rainy downtown (which is only a few blocks from our office).  Late last week we got some rain from a tropical system to the north of us.  Now we are getting some rain from a tropical system to the south of us.  Both systems are missing us with their heaviest rains, but we are getting a nice number of showers and they are helping to water the yards around town. 

Around 4:00 I left the office to come home and get ready for my quilt group.  Actually, I took a brief nap in the recliner and then worked in the yard for a little bit.  I filled the ponds and birdbaths as well as the bird feeders.  When I went out to get the mail, there was a beautiful charcoal gray and white young cat laying on the front sidewalk.  He wanted to be friends, but I think he is the same cat I saw climbing my neighbor's tree yesterday as he hunted for a bird nest.  I told him I didn't want to be his friend. 

Some of the fabric squares I was cutting out this evening for a couple of future quilts.

Four of the ladies in the quilt group came this evening for our meeting.  We had a good time as we each worked on our own projects.  I was cutting out squares for a future quilt I am planning to make and for a project my sister is working on.  Mom was repairing a purse.  Pattie was hand quilting a wild quilt she had made while Sue did counted cross stitch and Katrina worked on a quilt that is one of the ministry quilts that the Friday group makes.  We had a good time catching up and doing a show and tell of items we have each been working on recently.

One of the Christmas Squares I did the handwork on this evening.

Later, while chatting with our daughter-in-law in New Mexico, I did some hand work on some Christmas quilt squares.  These are some I uncovered last week when I cleaned the guest room closet.  I got some sashing fabric to go with them yesterday when I went to Harlingen and am eager to make more progress on this project. 

Another square I finished this evening while talking to my daughter-in-law.

There are so many quilt ideas floating around in my mind, that I know I can't get them all done, but I keep trying.  At quilting tonight, I heard the group fairly well, but could never tell who was speaking or if it was me they were talking to.  They had to do a lot of repeating.  All voices sound very similar to each other and I can't tell direction of sound at all.  That is common if you only have hearing in one ear, as I do.

September 1, 2014

Enjoying Labor Day

September 1, 2014

Today looked was very pretty from the window in my sewing room, but outside it was hot and muggy.  When I would take my camera outside, or point it out the open window, the lens would fog up.  Then it would be about 10 minutes before I could take photos. 

This morning, as I had expected, I woke up much earlier than I needed to be up.  I was awake before my alarm that was set for a regular work day.  I got up and worked in the kitchen for a while before deciding to bake oatmeal cookies.  I had breakfast and then after finishing the cookies, I drove to Harlingen to shop at Picket Fence - the nearest quilt shop.  They were having a very tempting sale.  Quilt fabric prices have sky rocketed the last couple of years with the fabric now selling in the $10 - $13 range.  For today's sale, it was 30% off any fabric as long as you bought 1 yard or more.  It was time for me to stock up on fabrics to use for the sashings and bindings on my quilts.  The sashing is the frame around each quilt block.  I spent about an hour making selections and also bought thread.  It was quiet when I was there.  I had thought there might be a crowd but the sale started last Friday, so much of the time I had the place to myself.

While the clerk cut my fabric selections, I had a conversation with her.  The reason I mention that is because I have been going to this quilt store since shortly after it opened about 15 years ago.  I have intentionally avoided conversations when I go, as I very quietly select my fabrics.  I didn't want them to talk to me because I knew I would have trouble hearing them.  Most of the ladies who work there are older and their voices aren't very loud.  As I have mentioned, my hearing was very bad long before I went deaf.  Today I intentionally started a conversation and although it was brief and not about anything earth shaking, it was nice to not be afraid that someone would try to talk to me and I would be expected to respond.

Going to Harlingen, I passed through a couple of brief rain showers and coming home I went through a very light one.  I stopped at the grocery store for one item for the chicken salad on the way home and got in and out of the store quickly.

Back at home I had lunch and started working on the quilt square I had been working on last night - and finished it!  Yea!  I then started cleaning some in the sewing room.  I had bought a couple of shoe box size storage boxes a few days ago and I use them for "project boxes".  I put a project in progress in each box and then found that I had two additional boxes that were empty and I put projects in them also.  This keeps all parts together and I put the extra fabric I am planning to use in the box so it doesn't get used in another project. 

The wild blocks that I am working on went on the design with the sashing fabric behind them (that I bought this morning) just so I can see if it will look alright.  I am pleased and eager to finish more of the blocks.  I now have 8 of the 12 complete. 

Is that about wild enough?  I couldn't believe that here 12 or so years after I started this quilt, I found a sashing fabric with most of the colors in it that are in the wild blocks. 

After working for a while in the sewing room I spent time in the kitchen preparing the chicken salad and then eating some for supper.  Ron is not feeling well today, so he skipped supper.  It has been a very quiet day at the house with him either reading or watching TV. 

In the late afternoon I spent some time in the yard filling ponds and birdbaths and taking a few photos.  The birds had been at the feeders during the day but had not emptied them.  The hummingbirds were glad I had refilled their feeder a couple of days ago.

Tonight I need to get the sewing room cleaned since the quilt group is to meet tomorrow evening and I have an early morning doctor's appointment for a one year check up on my elbow surgery.  I have very little discomfort from the elbow but it will be interesting to see what the doctor says.