Travel Tuesday

Actually, this post is about family traveling here for Morgan's baby shower. 

It was a whirlwind weekend. It's getting harder and harder to get everyone together due to distance and time restrictions. So we definitely make the most of our "all too brief" time together.

The weekend started with Mindy & Justin coming over for happy hour on Friday night. She needed to take care of getting her gift put together for the shower. 

Saturday, all of the girls came over around 11 a.m. Sandy, Victoria and Elizabeth got here from Atlanta a little earlier. I made a taco salad for lunch, the girls went through the stuff I was getting rid of, and we talked about our upcoming Costa Rica trip. Before we knew it, I had to leave to pick up the food for the shower while Stephanie and Morgan went to the airport to pick up Jordan. 

Matt and Sharon arrived from St. Louis and I ordered Corky's BBQ for dinner. About 6:30, the cousins all left to meet up with Mitchell and Emily at Stephanie's house. The rest of us stayed here and just spent the evening talking. 

Sunday was the day of the shower. It was a little hectic getting everything ready, but it turned out so nice! 

I borrowed the pram from my friend, Nancy. We had intended to use it to hold all of the gifts, but we ended up not having enough room for it. So, instead we used it to greet our guests! It was perfect!

Stephanie and her girls! 

Sharon made the centerpiece--it turned out so darn cute!

We also had everyone pen a note on baby diapers for a little late night encouragement! 

Sandy and her girls from left: Elizabeth, Victoria, Sandy and Emily (Mitchell's finacee')

The cousins: Jordan, Elizabeth, Morgan and Victoria. Why is it that all pregnant ladies hold their bellies? I don't remember doing that!

Me and ALL of my girls! Me, Mindy behind, Stephanie, Jordan, Morgan, Elizabeth, Sandy and Victoria. 

You can see Sharon and my brother, Matt amidst Sandy and her girls.

Mindy with her godfather!

Well, the only thing you can see in any of these pictures is the cute balloon arch that Stephanie, Jordan and Victoria made. The theme was baby safari. I couldn't believe how much stuff is out there for that. It was all so cute.

We had two games--the one where you taste the baby food--only these days, there is more than one flavor in a jar--like spinach, peas and bananas, or blackberries, avocado and plums! 

We also played the "name the baby name" of different animals. That one was hard. Surprisingly, a baby monkey is called an "infant!"

The food was delicious--we got it from Chicken Salad Chick. We ordered petit fours from Publix that were so good!

Morgan got so many great gifts and everyone brought a book to start off the baby's library. 

It was all very fun. The party ended pretty promptly at 3. Steph had to run Jordan back to the airport to catch her 5 p.m. flight back to L.A. We got the house put back in order pretty quickly with so many people helping. Then, Butch and I, Matt and Sharon had a relaxing evening! Whew! It was a lot! A. Lot!

Now, I'm off tomorrow for our winter scrapbook retreat. Sadly, Janet texted that she is sick and won't be able to join us this time! I'm really going to miss her. Jeanne, Janet and I started doing this twice a year about 20 years ago. It's two more times I get to see them during the year! 

I'll be back soon.

Me on Monday

Good Monday Morning y'all!

Wow! It was a busy, crazy, hurricane type of a weekend. The "whole" family was here for Morgan's baby shower (more on that later). Some of the guys weren't here, but it was mostly a "girly" weekend anyway.

On Saturday, I had all of the girls go through some stuff I am getting rid of:

I love jewelry and have a ton. But the truth of it is that I choose the same things to wear just about all the time. So, in my effort to clean out, I decided to let a lot of it go. A. Lot. As I explained to the girls, this doesn't mean I still don't like it, but I just don't wear it. I've just about never worn the necklaces at all. I have a simple diamond that I wear all the time. I just never really knew how to wear necklaces. I never seemed to have the right necklines. 

On this end of the table was holiday stuff. 

They didn't take quite as much as I'd hoped, but like I always say, "Our kids don't want our stuff!" I'm grateful for what they did take. Now they have a few things that will remind them of me!! And that's the best reason to let stuff go. It's just stuff!!

I'll be continuing with my clean-out and get rid of more stuff. It feels good to let it go. 

Something for Sunday

And so it begins....the assessment to find all of the pool problems after our recent "Big Freeze" and zero degree temps.

Hoping we don't have underground cracked pipes. Just looking at the pool, we can't see any cracks. We'll see...

Also, we keep reminding ourselves that better this happened outside than IN! I am grateful!

I also have some good news and bad news! 

Good news, it looks like our fish have survived!! That's a miracle as our pond is so small. I thought it surely froze all the way through. 

Bad news--most of my plants inside the house froze. I thought they made it through because they actually looked good at first. I think they froze in place! Once they started to thaw, it's showing.

Some of these might actually survive, but they are losing leaves every day. We'll see. It won't exactly break my heart. I'm pretty tired of dealing with them. But on the other hand, I feel like there's something missing if I don't have any live plants. 

Scrapbook Saturday

AYM (A Year of Memories) for 2026 is all about our home. 

January's quote was "There's No Place Like Home." Each person can interpret it anyway they want. 

I'm using the quote as an embellishment on my page rather than the title.

My title this month is "All Brand New"--"I think I'm going to like it here"--a quote from Annie.

I decided to tell the story about our move to Nashville. Then, on the other side, I journaled a little about each of the places we've lived. I made a little house shaped shaker to represent the year we moved here. 

Susan's layout. She focused on many of the homes she's lived in.

I

Karolyn's layout. She also showed all of the homes she's lived in.

Nancy's layout. She told the story of building their house in Devon Park. We all met each other in Devon Park--everyone was from somewhere else--except Nancy. She was born and raised in Nashville.

Pam had the same idea--she focused on the building of their new home in Devon Park.

Jeanne and Janet did not send their layouts. We'll be having our AYM meeting on our retreat, so we'll see theirs then.

Friday Funnies

Five Things Thursday

The family is going to be in town this weekend for Morgan's baby shower. So, I thought I'd show you some great and inventive baby things you can do with outdated furniture. I've added a couple of extras just for fun!

Who hasn't had one of the super heavy cheap bookcases?

I think this is an adorable way to put it to use. This is about the easiest thing you can do--although I would probably prefer to paint it. 

I remember when Sandy was moving from Charlotte. The most expensive piece of furniture they owned was their entertainment center. No one wanted it and no one would take it. She said it pained her (and me) to pay to have it hauled to trash! It was really a pretty piece. But if you don't have the room, then it has to go. 

This is a clever way to re-invent this one:

Isn't this the cutest little kitchen? Even that darling picture that looks like a window!

I suppose this was a little dresser.

How adorable is this little (big) dollhouse?

There was a time you could pick something like this up at a garage sale for 5 bucks. Are garage sales still a "thing"? I don't see signs anymore.

Anyway, what a cute little stove from junk!

I've never seen anything like this.

But it sure is a clever use of an old chair. Just cover it with assorted stuffed animals and upholster it in plastic.

This looks like it was probably one of those old chests that had doors on top for clothes. Or maybe it was a smaller entertainment center with doors.

It sure makes a darling little reading nook! Love the light and the little book shelf.

And finally this one. An extra large entertainment center turned into a changing station.

I think it's a brilliant idea, but could certainly be decorated a bit better. I love the color.

If I liked to paint, I would probably love to try my hand at something like this. But really, what comes to mind is that this would be a perfect hobby for retired men with nothing to do!

I'm Back!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I'm sure you've heard--or experienced Nashville's "Big Freeze." Well, here are 15 random things related to that:

1. We were without power for 5 1/2 days. We spent those at Stephanie and Nicky's along with a few other "displaced" seniors with no other place to go. 

2. Once we got home, we had power, but no WiFi which means no tv. It wasn't a complete disaster--although that Saturday was 8 days long!! Butch was on the fence about his trip to El Salvador because he didn't want to leave me with whatever might happen. I told him that whatever happens is going to happen whether he's here or not. 

3. On Sunday--in the wee hours of the morning, Butch and his friend, Jack did head to El Salvador. Me, with no tv became a cleaning fool. I cleaned 3 of our 4 glass doors and screens on our fireplaces. It's something I don't think about. It's awkward and a dirty job, but I got it done. I also cleaned out the drawers in the pool bath--sorted through and got rid of old beach towels. I cleaned out a couple closets in the back hallway. I cleaned the edges of the moulding on all of my cabinets in the kitchen--no fun, but it needed it. Anyway, you get the idea--a lot of nit-picky stuff.

4. I was able to make my phone a hotspot, so I could at least have WiFi and watch Netflix. But, I could only do it about an hour in the afternoon and an hour in the evening. I'm used to doing more than one thing at a time when I'm watching tv, but when I have to watch on the computer, then I cannot also be editing pictures or falling down the "font" rabbit hole at the same time on my computer. I went 8 1/2 days without it. 

5. Once the WiFi was back, I spent a lot of time printing pictures and journaling. I'm trying to get ready for my scrapbook retreat coming up a week from today.

6. I bought new underwear after I cleaned out my underwear basket. I got rid of 13 pairs. Victoria Secret had a great sale, so I bought some new ones. I have a total of 19 pairs. That means I can go somewhere for 19 days without having to wash underwear. Also, my girls don't like to hear this--these are the last underwear I'll ever have to buy!!

7. I spent 2 hours--yes, 2 hours cleaning out my jewelry. I was ruthless. I'm getting rid of a lot. When the whole gang is here on Saturday, I'll have it laid out for them to pick through. I still like most of it, but the bottom line is that I tend to choose the same pieces all the time. I'm hoping someone else will get some use out of some of it.

8. I spent quite a bit of time doing some things for Morgan's baby shower. I used to do big events ALL the time when I was in the height of my FUND raising years. Doing this little shower brought back all of the anxiety I didn't even realize I had back then. I make lists and check them dozens of times. Did I ever mention I'm a little obsessive? It's going to be fun!

9. I've read 5 books during the past two weeks. A couple were memoirs that were audio books. 

10. Butch said that he was glad he wasn't here as he would have been climbing the walls. I agree with that. What saved me was that I went to lunch with friends and even saw a couple movies. If I had to actually stay home the whole week, I would have been going stir crazy for sure. 

11. The night before Butch was to come home, we had an hour and twenty minute FaceTime conversation. That was fun--we had happy hour together. FaceTime definitely makes me feel like the person is with me.

12. I paid attention to how many tree services contacted me--9 brochures in the mail, 2 front door calls and 3 texts. I had no idea there were that many tree services in Nashville. We are on the list with our arborist. Since we don't have anything that's an emergency, I told him just to put us on his list. 

13. We came out of this storm relatively unscathed. We had plenty of trees/branches down--I am sad about losing a dogwood tree, no telling what the water bill is going to be from running 11 faucets for 9 days--double that for hot AND cold--not counting all the water we've lost from the pool since we apparently have cracked pipes (don't know that damage yet), but my prayers were answered. I prayed that any damage we have would be outside and not INSIDE the house. I didn't want to have to deal with that mess!

14. Unfortunately, Butch had to miss the Super Bowl as he was on his way home. Steph, Nicky, Mindy and Justin came over. I loved that--perfect way to end a long week--seeing my family!!

15. Oh, and one last thing. A police officer came by to do a "welfare check." I thought Steph sent him. He mentioned crossing us off his list, so maybe it was just a list of seniors that were without power. Nice to know someone is paying attention to us.