Friday is the day I mow for exercise. That way I have lots of extra calories to use when we take the inlaws out for our Friday night supper date. When we weren't getting any rain it took me an hour to mow the part of our acreage we have fenced in and have been watering.

Now that we have started getting some thunderstorms everything is greening up. I can't wait to see what kind of wildflowers bloom out front, but that also means more mowing. Today I decided to tackle the front and side of our place along the road and fence... you know.. the part people see.   I've been mowing since hubby left for work this morning and am just now done outside the fence. Tonight I should be able to eat anything I want!

My goal is to finish the inside of the yard and get the dog and me bathed before lunchtime. Maybe we'll have a late lunch!

Nothing interesting is going on around here. Just same ol' same ol'. Hubby and his brother are finishing up the bathroom remodel and I am still exercising and watching every morsel I put in my mouth.

Yesterday my MiL and I went to the big city to buy decorator items for the bathroom.

I'm attending a funeral this morning and then ragging the walls of the bathroom this afternoon.

Hopefully the cabinets and sink will go in tonight and the trim tomorrow. Then we can clean! Funny how a 3 day project so easily turns into 3 weeks...

Thursday I had one of my great nephews for the morning. He is at that age where he only has two speeds ~ on and off. He loves to be outdoors so except for naptime, we pretty much stayed outside the entire time he was at my house. I think I might have had more fun than he did!

First we ate pancakes al fresco.

He's getting pretty good with a fork...

His Mom has been teaching him to share and the lesson was not wasted...

Violet looked on with interest from a distance.

My china dolls got the boot at naptime...

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

A man who is not only my husband, but my best freind....

A man who dreams with me, and knows how to make me laugh...

A man whos hugs warm me and kisses still make my heart skip a beat...

A man who sticks around when times are tough and makes the good times even better.

Happy Birthday Billy!

Got formal written notice over the weekend that our renter is vacating the end of June. So that means we have to get the house inspected and spruced back up from 700 miles away. This time instead of renting it, we're hoping to sell it by offering owner financing. It is in the most desirable school district in that area, so hopefully it will move by the time school starts back up.

Praying and believing that God will send the right family our way that needs a little house. We know He can because we had this renter 2 days after we decided to move to West Texas. God's arm is not short!

We've had a week of absolutely gorgeous weather.  My shade garden is finally all planted. Once it all comes up I'll take a picture and post it. We've decided to just mulch the sunny one and wait to plant it until fall. We need to paint our house first and by then it will be too hot to put out anything. Still hoping I'll get a vegetable garden planted in the coming weeks.

Friday evening I enjoyed a girl's night out with my inlaws. We went out to eat and to a Christ in the Arts of West Texas production of Journey to the High Places, an original retelling of the classic spiritual allegory Hinds Feet on High Places performed as an elegant story ballet with a choir singing the narrative. It was my first ever ballet and I found it both both inspiring and beautiful! So glad I went.

Saturday I took my MiL with me to shop for supplies for hubby's upcoming birthday cookout and then to a nursery to buy bedding plants. She needed petunias and I needed impatients... Of course we had to stop at a thrift store along the way.... Hubby and his brother are still working on the bathroom remodel.

I'm looking forward to gathering in the Lord's house to worship this morning. Have a great Sunday y'all!

Last night hubby worked until bedtime so I spent the evening piddling around in the yard. We live on about three and a half acres so I am always finding something I want to move closer to the house to enjoy. Last night this is what I found and relocated near the entrance of my driveway. So far it is the only thing blooming on our place:

While I was relocating plants the skies grew dark and I literally saw the thunderclouds circle around us leaving behind nothing but wind and the tantalizing smell of rain.

If you look at the enlarged version of this next picture you will notice bits of yellow here and there on the prairie. That was the prickly pear before I moved it nearer the house.

Today I am planting Castor Beans around my vegetable garden spot.... Supposed to be a natural gopher repellant. We'll see.

We've been busy around here remodeling my MiL's only bathroom. I have been designated the interior decorator so last week she and I made an afternoon long trip to Lowes to pick out countertop, faucets, etc. Over the holiday weekend her boys began the rip out and redo process. All my years of helping hubby with projects has paid off because I think they have sent me to the lumber yard at least once a day for incindental stuff like a plumbing fitting or tile spacers so the work didn't have to stop. So it seems I am decorator and go-fer. Lord willing, they'll finish up by the end of the month. I know my MiL is thankful to have a son living right next door. Being without a bathroom is no fun!

Last night the guys took a break and we got together with the local kin at hubby's brother's for a Luau themed meal complete with leis and flowered attire. We have some great cooks in the family and as usual there was way too much food. It was a bit cool and windy for us grown-ups to get in the pool, but all the great nephews took their first dip of the season. At one point they even had the puppies in with them. You know you are tired (or getting old) when watching someone else having fun is entertaining.

Today marks the beginning of my Sister of the Heart's Year of Jubilee. Living 1500 miles apart makes getting together a once or twice a year event, so I can't just pop over with a birthday surprise and share a cup of hot tea.  Instead I will spend the day thinking of her, eat a bite of chocolate in her honor, and hopefully visit with her for a bit on the phone. I will thank my Heavenly Father for this fun-loving, gentle spirit I have grown to love like a sister these past four years. And I will pray that every day of her fiftieth year will be filled with good health, joy and peace, and the knowing that she is loved.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day! Mine started off on the wrong foot when hubby and I overslept and were late getting to church, but got better and better as the day wore on.

The first song was almost over by the time we found a seat near this sweet elderly couple. Which was fine by me~  until the music ended and I began to hear the all too familiar rhythmic pop of the older gentleman's oxygen. This was not my first Mother's Day without her, but I had a very difficult time concentrating on the sermon for remembering all the times Moma sat beside me in church, her breathing making that very same sound... and that it was Mother's Day and she wasn't there beside me.(Which just goes to show that you never know what it going to trigger grief, or where you will be when it strikes.) I didn't do a very good job of keeping the tears in check, and made a bee line to the car after service, hoping no one noticed my tearstained face.  For the life of me I couldn't tell you what the semon was about...

Hubby served me lunch out on the newly poured patio, and then we took a nice long Sunday afternoon nap before meeting up with the inlaws for a special Mother's Day supper. Everything tasted delicious and my MiL made out like a bandit in the gift department. After supper I talked to both my kids on the phone. Something I guess I'm going to have to get used to on holidays with us all living so far apart..... It helps a lot that they both sound happy.