Double Digits

 

My little man is not so little anymore.  He is now in the double digits.  He has grown so much in the last two years.  I see all the good.  He is still working on feeling all the emotions without exploding and doing a pretty good job.  He is so smart and funny.  He loves teasing his siblings even if they don't love it.  

I bought him a gaming chair for his birthday and he did not figure out what it was until he opened the box.  I thought for sure he would be able to guess from the shape.  He was happy and then I also got him the red Nike's he wanted.  I didn't tell him what my actual outlay was. Happy birthday!

Thanksgiving 2021

 It was loud.  It was chaotic.  It was beautiful.  I believe there were 19 of us.  So, it is amazing that there was pie left over.  Cassie did a fantastic job on the meal.  My contribution was peeling all the eggs.  Nice to sit back and just be part of the crowd.  

Very thankful and grateful.  

The Table

 Angel Strawbridge inspired table. I wanted to do something a little different.  A little creative.  

I went to an estate sale and bought these little dessert plates for $3.  I thought they would make great candle holders.  I had to buy the candles, but got them at Walmart and the table runner was on clearance for 75 cents.  Found the pumpkins at Gabe's and bought them since it is hard to find real ones now.  They weren't expensive at all.  

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I needed to finish up the decorating.  I took the oldest grandson with me and a snippers.  We walked around and clipped some greenery and berries and a rose.  I am absolutely amazed to find blooming roses now at the end of November.  We used all our clippings, black walnuts and fresh fallen maple leaves to make the plates natural and glorious.  I always tend to stay on the simple side and I think it makes enough of a splash to be festive. 

Trying to instill some other traditions other than just food.  

Front Room

 David and I teamed up and got the front room painted.  All the yucky brown is gone.  There are still some rooms with yucky colors, but we feel open and light with the front three rooms being a light gray.  

David did all the prep work and around the trim.  Then I painted the bottom two thirds and he did the top third.  I really didn't want to climb up on a chair to paint.  

We were tired when we were done and I could feel that I had done something outside the norm.  The front room is about twice as big as the other front room.  

Now to figure out what color for the big girl's room.  And the trim in the gray rooms. We aren't looking forward to that as it is all painted gloss which means sanding before paint is going to stick.  

Painting Continues

 

Cassie picked out her paint color for the downstairs.  David painted the dining room and it looks great.  Slowly but surely they are working through getting things settled in.  The basement needed some immediate work to get rid of water.  So everything they wanted to store down there was upstairs.  The basement was fixed and so stuff moved.  

Cassie decided the little front room would be a great place for the Christmas tree.  There is also a gas fireplace there with a great mantle for decorating.  So they emptied out the room and we decided that painting the walls before decorating would be a great plan.  Especially since it is almost empty.  

So David painted today.  He's pretty good and pretty quick.  One more room downstairs and the yucky baby poop brown will be gone.  Yay!  Then the trim work comes and it will be work because it is all painted with gloss paint.  

RIP Dorothy

 Dorothy died last week on Nov. 6, 2021 after a long illness.  Born in 1935, she was one of eleven children, with six still living.  She was married almost 60 years to Vern and they had four children, Lynn, Todd, Tom and Paula.  Paula had a daughter, Melody, who had a son, Braydon who was such a great blessing for Dorothy.  Every picture you could see how much she adored her grandchild and great-grandchild.  She was predeceased by grandson Greg. There are some steps and I mean no disrespect by not naming them here.  I know Dorothy loved them all but I never met them.  

Most trips to Illinois for me included a stop over at Dorothy and Vern's house.  We would have coffee and cookies. She used to send me pictures of her family.  We always had a nice visit and I'm glad I made the effort.  It's such a small thing.  The trips from here on out will be different and we will miss her forever.  

Paula had commented on the last few weeks of her life.  As the end drew near Paula got to see pieces of her mom that she had never seen.  A little funnier, a little flirtier with Vern, just more.  And my heart is happy that happened.  I know I found that to be true with my dad also in his illness. 

Her service was nice.  Paula had put up a lot of family pictures for everyone to look at.  It was obvious that there was a lifetime of memories there.  RIP Dorothy.  

May your journey continue with light and love.  

Quick Jaunt

 

My dad's cousin died last week after a long illness.  So I made a quick jaunt to Illinois since I was so close.  Spent the day with Wayne and Helga and then later, cousins from Minnesota came and Paula, Melody and Brayden.  We had a lovely catch up and heard lots of stories. It is sad as the older generation leaves us.  So we take advantage of hearing the stories while we still can.  We are sad but we also had a lot of laughs.  

And naturally I had a great time with Sugar.  I think he even knows me now as he let me spend a lot of time giving him love.  His favorite thing is looking in purses for hair ties...even empty purses like this one.  I had brought it to give to my cousin who fell in love with it after I bought it last trip. 

The End of the Tale of the Shelving

 

So Sam's finally had some shelving in stock.  Not the first one that I fell in love with, but the other ones that looked like they would do.  The nice thing about this one is it could be set up as five high or two side by side as David did.  I ordered it online from WA and let David and Cassie pick it up. 

They waited to put it together.  The shed was used as a chicken coop by the previous owners.  So it had a mess in it.  David spent one afternoon pressure washing all the chicken poop out of it.  The grass is going to grow well around the shed now. He did a fantastic job and you can't even tell it was a coop.  Then he put the shelving together and moved the camping stuff on it.  It is just perfect for the spot and I'm thrilled.  I hope they are too.  This shelf was half the price of the one that never came back in stock.  That makes me happy also.  

Long Drive

 

It was a long drive of about 34 hours.  I did it in two days.  Had a little sleep in a rest area.  No I was not afraid. People keep telling me about all the "bad" people at rest areas.  And yet, I have never seen anything that makes me nervous.  

The scenery was still fabulous although different than it was in September.  Much more color as fall is in full swing.  Sunset and sunrise were spectacular.  Saw it set in Utah and rise again in Nebraska.  

Feels good to be at my second home.  

Wild Hair

 So, I have a ticket to ride next week back to Kokomo.  And yet I am not too sure.  If I fly then I have no transportation while I am there.  And yes, I can use David's car, but not if he's using it.  I'm thinking I may just hop in my car tomorrow and go.  I am sure the passes are clear on this end of the trip.  And looking at a map, if I need to, I can take the long way home.  

My intention is to be there through the holidays.  As opposed to making a trip for each holiday like I did last year. It will be an extended stay no matter when I get there.

Food and Ambiance

 After the first night, all the rest of the food we had was amazing.  We had fajitas a couple of times.  I had a superb filet one night while Jodi had stuffed chicken.  She was amazed at being able to step out of her comfort zone and try some different things.  We didn't eat anything "odd", just different than our normal.  And I have to say I really liked spicy potatoes at almost all of the breakfasts.  We were actually disappointed that today's breakfast was just normal potatoes.  We enjoyed the ambiance of all the open-air places. We enjoyed watching all the food that was prepared at the tables

  

Day of the Dead in Cabo

 Many alters were set up along the marina for Day of the Dead.  Day of the Dead is a big day in the Mexican culture where they honor their deceased relatives and friends.  They set up an alter and then put pictures and favorite foods, drinks and items of the loved ones who have died.  They believe that true death does not happen until a person is no longer remembered.  The movie "Coco" is a really good movie that explains it.  It was really cool to walk along and look at all the alters.