A Little Life Update

 Life has been so full since my last post that I'm not sure where to even begin.  First off... I am the proud great aunt to another nephew.  Meet Henry James.  He was born Tuesday and let me just say he made quite the entrance. So much so, that he is being called our miracle baby. 

Mom was having trouble with delivery so she had a choice to keep pushing or have a c section.  She made the decision for the c sectiion, and boy are we glad she did! When Henry was born he was silent. Dad later said he was lifeless. Chest compression were immediately started and he was wisked away.

 Dad was busy reassuring mom and baby was in the next room. Dad could hear chatter and heard someone say, "he's gone." He said that was the worst moment of his life.  He heard this, but really didn't know what was happening. A few minutes later he learned they were saying gone from the room, not from this world. Praise Jesus!! 

Our little 8 lb 4.5 oz little guy is in the NICU and doing great. He is now breathing room air and for the past 24 hours has been bottle feed. They have done numerous test and everything seems fine. It won't be until he continues to develope and meet milestones that the full extend of any damage due to lack of oxygen will be fully known. I would appreciate any prayers that little Henry continues to grow and develope without any developmental delays due to his eventful birth. 

In my spare time (ha!) I have been working on Megan's little house. I don't want to speak poorly of my beloved neighbors, but they were slobs! Oh my, have we been cleaning. 

And painting. 

The new shower has been installed and soon Chuck will be able to finish the rest of the bathroom remodel.  The flooring crew is over there this afterrnoon finishing up trim work. 

All of this brush came from overgrown trees along the driveway and in the backyard. There is still a ton of yard work to complete, but it's looking so much better. 

In fact, we have been in such a go, go, go pattern that I haven't been documenting the changes as much as I wanted to. We have a time line of delivery for the new refridgerator and couch this week, so we have been hustling!

There is still a ton of work, but we can now see progress. 

Let's see what else has been happening.  We spent a couple of days in Kentucky for a funeral.  Great Uncle Vearl was 92 and had lived a full life. It was such an uplifting service as Vearl as recently come to know the Lord!  It makes the loss more bearable knowing your loved one will spend eternity in Heaven.

Megan will be starting a new job later this month.  She has taken a position at the company where her dad works.  She is referring to it as her big girl job. 

As you can tell, life has been full.  It's a lot, but I'm trying to enjoy the ride. I know that big changes are coming and I want to soak all of this up. 

Wendi 

August Vibes

It's that time of the year when the flowers are looking worse for wear. 

I think I'm starting to feel that way also. Life is spinning right along at warp speed plus it's been hot. We've had rain, thankfully it's cooled things down. Sad thing is that there has been some flooding. Feast or famine, I tell you!

It's that time of year for back to school. I spent some time helping my very pregnant niece set up her classroom. Then I planned out some "school" for my three year old great-nephew. Early childhood education is my favorite!

Little man is getting so big! He'll be with me until about the first of September before his mom is on maternity leave. 

My garden is producing well. This was all from one morning. 

Chuck made me a stand to dry produce. My potato harvest wasn't very big this year. 

I believe I mentioned that our beloved neighbors were moving. Megan went over with me one evening to watch the babies for a minute. She kept saying, "this place could be cute." 

The next morning I am barely out of the shower when she pops open the door and says she's on the phone with the bank. 

All that to say that our baby is a homeowner!

She'll take possesion as soon as the neighbor can get moved out. They are working on it and hope to be out this weekend. I'm not sure they'll meet that goal. 

Then the real run begins as we will doing a mini flip. I'll take you along as "we are balling on a budget" as Megan says. It could be interesting. *smile*

Just to show you Megan's sense of humor... this is the notice she put on the neighbors door as they were closing on their new house. 

My neighbor called me and said, "tell my landlord she's mean." lol

My already busy schedule will be a little more packed for a while. So, if this little spaces remains quiet you'll know I'm ripping out flooring, cleaning, painting and doing all the other fun things that come with making a house a home.

Wendi 

Let's Catch Up

Well, Hello Friends! It's been just a little bit since I've visited my little space on the web. Let's catch up!

I've been spending most of my time painting. 

So far I've painted approximately 140 feet of post and 2x4's along with 115 pickets. We won't even discuss how much more I have to go. 

Megan turned twenty!!

We've had plenty of rain and it turned HOT! Which means the garden has been going crazy. 

Between my garden and my moms' we ended up with a little over three, five gallon buckets of SNAPPED green beans. That resulted 60 quarts canned. 

I don't know if I mentioned that my great-nephew, Ben, is going to be a big brother. His little brother will be here in about two months. We hosted a small sprinkle for my niece on the 4th. 

My oldest niece made the banner. We're encouraging her to start a side hustle. 

And if I don't have enough going on I'm working on some furniture flips. Let me tell you that removing black paint is the pits! It took a bit, but I got it done. 

Our annual 4th of July picture. 

Excuse my awful hair. I'm growing out a cut that I dislike.  Ugh. 

I hope everyone is doing well! 

Wendi 

Snow Day

 Like most of country, yesterday was a snow day. Come along and see how I spend my day. 

Sleeping in is how I started my day. Chuck was clearing snow when I woke up. We thought Megan would have to work. While he was clearing snow there was a text saying the business she works for was closed for the day.

Snow, nor cold can come between a man and his Blackstone!

We enjoyed a great brunch!

I then got dinner started. Next it was time to putter around my home. I started by doing a little sewing. I was working on something for another area I've been organizing. 

What is a snow day  without some baking. Getting my dough rising was first on my list. 

Then it was time to catch up with some of my favorite Youtube channels while I did a little crafting. 

I then decided it was time to venture outside. 

At this point we had 10 inches of snow. I'm not sure what the final total is, as it snowed at least four more hours after I was out. 

Once inside there was more baking. Fresh chocolate chip cookies for the win!

There was also books to be read. I received this series for my birthday from my mother-in-law. There are eleven books in the series. I thought they might last me the entire winter. At this rate, nope. 

Snow days call for stick to ribs kind of dinner. 

After dinner we found out that our county had declared a state of emergency and there is only essential travel until at least noon Monday. That means I get to this all over again tomorrow. Pure bliss for this home and family loving girl!

This has been a monster of a storm. I hope all of you are safe.

Wendi 

A Fall Weekend

It feels like fall is finally here to stay. Although I imagine we will have a few warm days here and there. It seems the trees started changing over night. I awoke and it looked like someone had been painting the green leaves. Simply beautiful!

The weatherman had indicated that our warm spell would end, so we made the most of the what might be our last 80 degree day. Chuck decided that he would burn a pile of brush Friday evening. A bonfire means roasted hot dogs and smores. 

The kids from next door were more then happy to come join us. That meant lots of burnt marshmallows! It's crazy how fast they go from golden brown to burnt to a crisp. 

It was such a lovely evening. We enjoyed the sunset and then sent the kids home. Chuck and I sat around the fire until it burned down. It was delightful!

Saturday we tackled a bunch of yardwork. Chuck tilled our garden and my parents. Spent flowers were removed, a little mulch was put down and weeds were pulled. There is probably one more Saturday of yardwork before we are ready for the winter season. 

I also put the last coat of stain on the shelves Chuck made for Megan. 

Saturday evening we received some much needed rain. It rained off and on Sunday which led to a temperature drop and a cool, blustery day. It was a great afternoon to work on laundry and make some comfort food. 

Fall break is over for our local school, which means little Ben will be returning after a two week break. It's back to the grind around here.

Wendi 

Puttering and Prayer

The house that my niece purchased belonged to her husbands late grandmother. Although his parents have sorted through the house there are still spaces that need to be purged. One of those was the attic. They needed to make a dump run and since we have a trailer we (meaning Chuck!) asked if they'd like to split the cost of the dump run with us.  During our big purge this summer Chuck had gathered a pile of things that needed to go. Friday evening we loaded up the trailer. 

Most of the things in our pile was old wood. Scraps from projects, fence pickets that had been replaced and random pieces of this and that.  While loading the trailer I picked out a few of the scrap pieces for a couple of project.

A cold front has come through and the season change is starting to feel real. That means I've been thinking about decorating for fall. As much as this girl loves summer, once the season changes I'm all aboard! 

As always Chuck takes my ideas and makes them reality. I had him turn the scraps into a couple of items to use in my outdoor décor. Here is a sneak peek at one of the items. 

The garden is starting to wind down. The cucumber vines are dying back, the potatoes have been dug and things are slowing down. 

My thoughts have turned to fall gardening. For me that means I started prepping things for the winter season and thinking about fall flowers.

I picked up these little mums on sale for $0.98!  

Since Friday I have been in constant prayer for Chucks' cousin and his wife.  They lost their baby at 39 weeks. She was induced on Friday morning and delivered their precious baby girl early Saturday evening. Sometime between a routine appointment on Monday and lack of movement on Thursday the sweet thing ended up with the cord around her neck. Heartbroken and devastated is an understatement. 

Saturday evening we ended up going out for pizza with my extended family. All 13 of us! It was good for my soul.

He healeth the broken in heart, And bindeth up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

The weekend ended with ice cream on the way home this evening. 

No matter what happens in life we can rest in the solid assurance that God only brings what is good. Even in the hard, ugly and heartbreaking moments. Prayers for this young couple would be greatly appreciated. 

Wendi 

 

Day in the Life

It was a little after 8:30 when I woke up. Generally I wake between 7:30 and 8:00.  I hadn't slept well the night before. I have been limiting my access to news and social media since the flooding in Texas.  Although I know I need to stay abreast of things happening, it has been very hard on this Mama's heart. I spent some time on the computer Sunday night and that resulted in my poor sleep.

Number one the loss is heart wrenching. Number two I read a couple negative things that people are saying. One that really bothered me was a women who made this sad, sad situation about race and politics. I generally refrain from mentioning any of those things on my blog. I was really bothered and upset by the comments. I'm sure you have all seen some stories of blame and just plain stupidity. That's all I will say about that.

I start my day be having a cup of tea and time in the Word on the back porch. It was such a pleasant morning. The humidity was low and the temperatures very pleasant. After praying about all the mess in the world we live in I decided to do what women have been doing for centuries. What you may ask? Focusing on what is most important... my family and home.  As Mother Teresa said, "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family."

With the pleasant weather I decided to focus my energy on the outside of my home. I began in the front landscape. The daylilies were pretty much spent and I spent a couple hours cutting all of the stems off.

When that was complete it was after 12:30. I made a quick trip out to pick up a prescription and to drop something off at my parents. Once home I made a simple lunch. While eating my neighbor popped through the back gate and we chatted for a few.

Next on the list was mowing the lawn. We have a large yard and it takes an hour to an hour and forty-five minutes to finish. It just depends on how detailed the job is done. 

See those brown spots? Did you know that if you spray your grass with bug spray it will kill it?  I didn't. On the Fourth I sprayed some during fireworks. Oops! Dumb, dumb, dumb!

As I finished cutting the neighbor came back over. Could I watch the twins, as it was baby time! They are having a second set of twins!! Soon there will be six little boys living next door to us. 

While the boys played I watered my flowers. Since it was Monday that meant it was time to feed them while giving them a drink of water.

This basket looks happy to me!

The boys were here for a little over an hour. We were waiting for grandma to pack a few things and head over. 

I had been cycling laundry through out the day and made a quick trip inside to fold a basket. 

I then went back to cleaning up the front landscape. I pulled all of the dead out of the lilies and then weeded. I was still at this when Chuck pulled in at 5 p.m.  He did a little weed eating while I finished up. 

The front was now in full sun and I was hot by the time I finished. So, into the pool I went for a little cool down. 

I floated for about ten minutes before I went in to make dinner. Tacos were on the menu. Since I had been outside most of the day I opted for a taco salad. 

After dinner was cleaned up I took a walk to look at the garden. I collected a few goodies. 

I know some may question why I cut grass. One reason is that I enjoy it. The other is that as a help meet to Chuck I want to make things easier for him while he is home. There are times when he will cut, or we will do it together. By helping out instead of cutting grass that evening he was able to take us to Rural King. 

The chickens needed a few thing and the plan had been for Megan and I to go the next day. It was sure handy having him along to lift these things for us!

Once home I took a couple of these and sat down about 8:30. 

I may have over done it just a little. I spent the rest of evening chilling out while Chuck dozed while watching TV.  It had been a full day and by 10 I was tucked in bed. 

The world around me may be broken, sad and on fire. I can't fix those things, but tomorrow I will start the day the same way... a cup tea, time in the Word and prayer.  Then once again I take care of my home. Making it a safe haven for the family I love beyond words. 

Wendi