Mama's New Home

We had been collecting plants for a few weeks & this weekend was the time to get her landscaping done. She never had many plants around the old home & it always looked a bit barren. We had some plants that we started & several we bought. The only thing she requested was azaleas. Here's what we installed today:

Purchased:

10 azaleas
1 plant with purple flowers that I can't recall the name, but is supposed to get large.
2 blueberry
2 crepe myrtle
12 aztec grass
8 daylillies (sister's)
4 lavendar
4 lorapetalum

Grown from starts:

1 camelia (sister's)
1 gardenia
3 hydranga's
2 sago palms
5 pine trees (sprigs received from Greenscape)

What a beautiful day to work. High in the 60s with bright sunshine. She & my Sister live in a small town about an hours drive from our city house. We got started around 11:00 & it took 4 of us about 6 hours to complete it all.

In addition to the plants, leaves & mulch, hubby put down 3 landing pads in pavers (leftover from front walkway in city). 2 for the stairs into the house (front & back) & 1 for the trashcan which her young neighbors kindly take to the curb for her.

We are most worried about her being able to take the 50' hoses off the hose racks & get them rolled back up. They are not the most expensive hoses & not very cooperative. We will see how she does w/those.

We are back at the city house & will be working with plants once again today. We grafted some lorapetalum & camelia's last summer. We'll be cutting them & putting in pots today & hopefully get those planted at the country house this fall. It's going to be another beautiful day with highs in the mid 60s. Got to get out there & get yard work done before we hit our normal hot & humid days in the 90s. Miserable conditions to work in for sure.

Pick Up Sticks

Remember that game we played as kids & loved it? Not so much as an adult. Guess I should have had kids so I could get them to do it now. Too late! Actually the picking up doesn't bother me. It's the unloading onto "the pile" that I don't like.

While Greg mowed the weeds (it's green from the road so it's all good) I picked up sticks along the driveway. I know, if you just leave them they rot away, but we like things nice & tidy when we can get it that way. So, picking up those sticks along the driveway was my weekend responsibility.

3 loads just like this.

Here's what he was mowing down:

Bitter weed is what we call this in our neck of the woods. It stays away after a couple of mowings. It's really very pretty but 8 acres of the stuff needs to be cut. Done in about 3 hours.

After I finished that task I took a look at the garden.

Boy, those weeds have grown in a month! Starting that particular task at 2:00p in 80 degree heat probably wasn't the smartest idea but I did get to use the shed roof off the garden shed with a nice breeze & it made a huge difference. I weeded each bed & then took a 5 min. break in the shade & breeze. It took just under 2 hours. No after pics, sorry. Greg string trimmed around the edges & I pulled from the bed itself. Had a whole Mule load full. Put them on "the pile" as well. We'll eventually burn that pile but for now it's just growing.

Anyway, spring has sprung at the Farm. Of the trees installed last year ... 1 maple, 1 willows & 2 peach trees made it. 1 maple & 2 apples didn't. Here's one of the peach trees in full bloom.

Need to prune.

Spring has sprung!

Quilt Retreat 2015 - Lancaster, SC

Normally, I travel to my friend's (Debbie's) house the day before the retreat, spend the night at her house then we head on to the retreat itself. This year the retreat was scheduled to be held only a few miles from her farm. That saved us about 3 additional driving hours, yeah! Here's a link to her farm - Fox Trot Farm they sell lambs & lamb meat products.

I arrived on Friday afternoon & unpacked quilt stuff then moved on to my room which was in a lovely house built with much love throughout the ages. The house started as a small log cabin in the 1800's & added on as the years & the family grew. Mrs. Catoe decided to turn the house into a Bed & Breakfast at some point & has decorated each room beautifully. Here's the website if anyone happens to be in the area - Homeplace Bed & Breakfast. They are a Christian based family & very family oriented. Many family members still live on the property & have goats, horses & cows they take care of. They have an Open House & Betheham Marketplace during the Holiday season. You tour the house (with a Christmas tree in every room - 33 in all!) then the family puts on a play in their large barn. The play depicts the birth of Jesus through to his homecoming.

In addition to the house you can rent the banquet hall to do whatever you please. We obviously were going to quilt the days away. My friend & her local quilting buddies decorated it with first class quality quilts on display along with work stations for each of us. There was also a cutting station & design station as well as ironing stations on either side of the room.

The hall also came with the use of a commercial kitchen. Each person makes at least 1 dinner & we all snack on the leftovers for lunch or make whatever we each brought.

A couple of the girls had some weather delays out of KY & didn't come until Sat. Debbie made a wonderful Tuscan chicken soup, bread & salad the 1st night. I cooked on Saturday & the menu included pork roast in the crock pot, smashed potatoes & broccoli casserole, plus homemade rolls that got really brown (read, burnt on the bottom) but still very tasty.We went to a local restaurant Wagon Wheel, on Sunday so that constituted our large meal of the day. Oh . my . gosh, the fried squash they serve was wonderful!

Our friend from KY served Taco soup & cheesy corn muffins on Monday night. Mrs. Catoe & a couple of local quilters joined us & it was a wonderful meal complete with family stories at the end. Plus, she made homemade pimento cheese & we had grilled pimento cheese sandwiches for lunch one day.

The last night was for leftovers. I also made my famous stuffed mushrooms & a cheese dip that left something to the imagination.

All in all it was a great vacation at a wonderful location. Here are a few pics:

Cathedral Windows. Not mine! This was part of one of the master quilter's bedspread!

My Starflower Block - the beginning of a special project w/special fabric. Later post.

My crooked Flower Basket Throw - I don't like triangles!

Headed to Another Quilt Retreat

This time in Lancaster, SC. Not so far to drive & the place where we are staying & quilting looks to be fabulous. Here's a pic of our workroom:

Doesn't that look like a bright & lovely place to sew? Can't wait. Should get there early this afternoon. Will post update when I return.

Without a Date

Bet you thought that was a statement about my situation tonight. Well, you would be right but that isn't the reason for my statement.

Greg is at the Country House building his shop work benches as I type. I am in the city after a day of trying to find fabric & other assorted items for my Mama's new house.

While out & about today I found that I was less than a couple miles away from a local 'green market' that is held at a beach park but didn't open until 2:00p. I decided to treat myself to lunch at one of our old hang outs nearby, while waiting for the market to open. I had a salad & broccoli soup ... plus a glass of wine. That made me very relaxed & sleepy but I went to the market for raw milk, yogurt & a flat of eggs anyway. One of the booths was selling sour dough bread which I love (a bucket list item of learning how to make) & bought a round loaf. Then I went home with the intention of a nap after that wine.

Got home, unloaded & decide to do another project instead of a nap since it was close to 3:00p by this time.

I have a cheap (very cheaply made & only paid $3 or so) slim ladderback chair that I decided would go well in my Mom's very small bedroom. I thought she could use it to help her dress in the mornings. I decided I would go ahead & stain it. I found a very small can of 'oak' stain that I used & it turned out great. I'll poly it tomorrow.

Back to my dateless situation ... A couple of weeks ago I somewhat reorganized the outside freezer & had found some meat product frozen in a rubbermaid container w/o a date on it. While in the garage staining said chair I remembered the frozen container & took it out. Upon opening it I found that it was Pizza meatballs that I made & froze .... last year sometime. I think it was around March or April. I opened the container & they looked fine. A few ice crystals on the top ones but otherwise fine.

I had opened a jar of homemade spaghetti sauce last week for some leftover cabbage rolls & had about 1/2 a jar leftover. I decided to heat that up & put in the meatballs. It's simmering on the stove now & I plan on cutting a couple slices of that bread & having an open faced meatball sub with freshly shaved parmesan on top.

I really have no idea how long those meatballs have been in the freezer but am going to eat them anyway. Will be looking at pics of  Greg's shop benches & eating a meatball open faced sub by myself tonight. Long (temporary) distance relationships are like this.

I am making a crock pot beef roast with smashed potatoes & fresh brussel sprouts tomorrow night, to have with my Bunch when he gets home tomorrow.

Hope everyone is enjoying this Hallmark Holliday & enjoying spending it with whomever you so choose ... even if it's with questionable meat from the freezer, without a date.

New weeds & a Shoulder Saver

Went to the Country as usual on Friday night with a trailer & truck load full of stuff. Greg wanted some of his garage back.

We got up Saturday morning & unloaded it all. First up was the shelving units. There was a World Market near our city house that was closing. After the merchandise was sold they started breaking down the shelves to sell. I was able to get 10. The shelves themselves are made with 3/4 solid wood & are 36" wide & 19 inches deep. Perfect for my future pantry. ($15 each) I also had one of the wire shelves I got from work that we took as well. It will definitely get some use. (free)

Greg had bought two used lateral filing cabinets from a discount/used office supply store. Will be used for storage of some type. ($20 each)

I had purchased a big rug & long hall runner at an estate sale a while back. (I think the rug was $35 & the runner $15)

We had a ceiling to put up in the garden shed so we headed to Lowe's to buy sheets of strand board. Greg had bought this device a few weeks ago beccause we knew we had ceilings of dry wall & this strand board to hang as well as eventually doing the walls. He used his ever present Northern Tool coupons to buy at a discount.($100)

If anyone has hung sheet rock or plywood on a ceiling you know how hard it can be. I used to hold the dead man but Greg would just about tear his shoulders holding his end up & the screwing it to the studs. With this tool, you just lay the board of top & roll it into place then raise the to meet the roof & screw into place. Truly a shoulder saver. It breaks down & stores nicely too. It can be used on vertical walls as well.

I took this pic of the storage shed a couple of weeks ago. I like the sun shining on it. That stick  in the whole you see in front, was where one of our oak trees used to be before it (& the other 2) up & died on us.

We put a shed roof & a mini deck on the back of the shed. I didn't match the roofing material so it looks a little red neck but it will be a cool space to get in the shade during the heat of the summer, while working in the raised beds.

Putting insulation on the spigots - yes we have water!

Speaking of the raised beds I noticed the weeds have already started coming in (they don't kow it's winter). There are some new ones that I haven't noticed before & are actually quite pretty. If anyone knows what they are, please leave me a comment as I have no idea about weeds except for the dreaded Bermuda Grass that hasn't shown it's ugly head yet.

This one is almost like a succulent & seems to only be in the blocks.

We've had this before but I don't know what it is.

Only 1 of these on outside of one bed, it has purple flowers.

This one is inside 2 or 3  of the beds.

Many have asked about my Mom & she's doing great. She is getting her sugar under control & the Endocrinologist was pleased. Our long term goals & to get her of injected insulins & back to 1 pill a day. We have the follow-up cardiologist next week & hope we can evenually lesson some of those meds as well. Thank you for all your thoughts & prayers. Her new house should be delivered next week so expect next weekend to be very busy. My sister & I have been buying all new stuff for her since almost everything she had was completely worn out. Of course, many of the items I have purchased have been from Estate Sales. 

Oh well, going to heat up leftovers for dinner & have the stupid game on but we never sit down to watch. Like many, we listen for the commercials then go back to doing something else. Hope everyone has a great week.

Glamour Girl ... Not.

Went to the country Friday night. Ate on the way & didn't arrive until 8:30p. We had a wood rack that we needed to move in order for the power to be ran to the electrical box.

The rack on the left needed to be moved but of course we had been piling stuff all around it. At least it was the rack with less wood. To top it off it was very cold Saturday morning. It was in the mid 30's with a wind chill around 29. Don't let that blue sky fool you. The wind was howling & blowing straight where we needed to work. I found my ear muffs that I love but guess what, they were broken so I had to improvise. I put on my Boggs rubber boots, a t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt & found a thin hoodie to help cover my ears (I can't stand my ears to be cold) & also donned a fishing hat to keep it all in place. Here is the pic, before I put on the flannel lined denim jacket & fuzzy gloves covered by work gloves. Mama Pea, I can't believe I am sharing this but here goes.

Not my best look but it definitely did the trick. Husband moved the wood on the rack itself & I tackled the crap extra stuff in front of it. By the 2nd load I lost the big jacket & the fuzzy gloves & looked pretty much like I do in the pic.

As we were working, one of my cousins pulled up. He had been trying to contact my Mom & didn't realize she was at my sister's & was concerned. I'm sure he thought that I looked pretty silly but didn't say a word, just gave me a big hug. We chatted with him a bit & then he helped us push the boat out of the way (behind the wood pile) & then he helped move the wood rack itself.

We left early this morning so we could stop by my sister's to say hello to my Mom. She's doing great just having trouble deciphering her meds, but in good spirits. My sister took her to church this morning so she was happy to get 'dressed up'. My sister will continue to educate her on the meds so Mama will be straight when she's ready to live in her new place.. Please say a prayer for my sister. Although, she is much more patient than I am it can still be very stressful.

While there my BIL cut us some fresh broccoli from their garden & while we were standing around chatting, his parents new additions stopped by to say hi. They are 2 pregnant females that were given to them. I'm not sure of the breed but they have identical dark brown crosses on their backs (apparently the whole herd does). His Mom calls them Jesus donkeys. They are very protective of the cattle they have. And they are verrry loud brayers (right term?).

Next week, we should find out when the new trailer will be delivered & what our timeline is. Until then, I've got a busy week. Hope everyone is getting back in the groove after the Holidays.

Update on my Mom

This is a post to primarily document my Mom's issues, so skip until next post if not interested.

She had a Heart Cath done on Monday, after a long weekend of tag teaming with my sister to stay w/her,  Had several family members sit with us during the procedure which went well. Had to put a couple of large stints in & then the long 6 - 8 hours of laying flat began. My sister, BIL & niece went to lunch & I stayed, just in case. Mama had been such a trooper up until then, but her back hurt from laying flat so long & she began to complain. Not much but enough for me to apologize to the nurses. They completely understood. She was able to move her left leg but that was it. I had to make her stop trying to lift her right leg & she didn't want to eat lying flat on her back. Can't blame her at all.

Sister came back from lunch & they told us she could go home on Tuesday. My sister asked if I could get her to her house the next day. We don't want her going back to her old home, it's just not safe enough. My sister went by the trailer place & picked out the colors for walls, carpeting, etc. It will be delivered in 4 - 6 weeks. She's going to stay at my sister's until then. If everyone gets too crowded, they will set up their camper, on their property, for her to stay in once she's stable.

For a 77 year old she hasn't had any real medical issues. She was diagnosed w/Type 2 diabetes about 4 years ago. She kept listening to too many others about their preventions & took matters into her own hands. She did take her insulin but changed her diet considerably. She lost about 30 lbs in 3 months & cut out ALL carbs & sugars for over a year. We think that may have contributed to her diabetes not getting under control. Maybe, maybe not. She didn't consult w/Dr. just made drastic changes.

Anyway, the final prognosis was Pulmonary Embolism & Coronary Artery Disease. She is currently on a boatload of medicine which we are going to verify all Meds in the next few weeks. She is getting used to a new routine & according to my sister tonight, getting the hang of it. Instead of just testing & injecting herself once a day (w/the long acting insulin) she now has to inject & test 4 times a day plus injecting herself with a fast acting insulin. She will do this until it's time to do an A1C test (or something like that) to see what her real blood sugar is.

We're following doctor(s) orders until we can research & ask questions about the amount of pills she is on. We think it's too much of certain things but it's just a hunch at this point until we know more. The hospital is definitely not the place to get specific info as they throw so much at you at check out time that it's very overwhelming. I can't imagine being an older person trying to understand it all on their own.

She never had to take any pills until now & they all look alike so we are worried that she will get them confused. So that's another educational item we are dealing with. So for now, sister will fill her AM & PM containers.

Dr. appts for the next 3 months & then we will hopefully be on an annual basis. The best news is that her strength is good (she could climb up in my SUV by herself when leaving the hospital) & she's testing herself & giving all the insulin shots herself. We just have to get the pills situated then we'll be good to go. I think my sister will give her, her car keys back on Sunday so she can go visiting & to her church by herself.

Thank you all for your prayers & well wishes.

So this is how 2015 begins?

Left on the Eve to head back to the Country. Greg had already gone back on Monday. Stopped by my sister's to give the news of the house to our Mom. She was very happy & appreciative. Got to the Country House by 4:00p. Has a nice dinner of steaks & baked potatoes.

We have a dear friend that was disagnosed with Leukemia last June. After her second round of in-hopsital chemo & then a bone marrow transplant she was improving daily & then  started going downhill. They made the tough decision to just let that horrible journey carry itself out & went home to be with family for the holidays. She died on New Year's Eve. Got the news on Thursday. She was a beautiful, charismatic, opinionated, classy, elegant woman. Forever known as the baby whisperer. She could make any baby quit crying by holding, cooing & just loving it. She leaves behind a very loving husband, 3 grown children & 2 beautiful grandchildren. The last one born on the 10th of December. Her memorial will be in a couple of weeks.

On Tuesday & Wednesday Greg had trenched the line for the W & E for our Garden Shed  that we had installed last year. So on Thursday, after breakfast, we went once again to Lowes (I swear I need to buy stock) to buy a few plumbing fittings & more electrical stuff. We got the water running (2 faucets at this point) ... yeah! I decided to spend the afternoon filling in the trench. Manual labor always helps me find solace. I thought about our friend all afternoon.

We then cooked our very southern rendition of New Year's dinner. But, instead of pork roast we decided on pork ribs plus white rice, black eyed peas (w/green onions sprinked on top), collard greens & cornbread. It was soooo good, especially since we hadn't eaten any lunch.

I woke at 5:00a this morning & couldn't go back to sleep. Got up & noticed phone was dead & plugged it in, turned the coffee pot on, got my blanket & curled up on the couch watching MeTV. Just before I made my first cup my text alert went off. My sister ... our Mama had called her & was having trouble breathing/catching her breath. Sister went to her house & took her to the ER in their small town. They put her on oxygen & ran a few tests then decided to transfer her to one of the larger hospitals in the City. I took a shower, packed & drove back this morning going directly to the hospital. They ruled out Pneumonia, Flu, etc. & started her on medication to remove the fluid. By noon she was doing better. My sister went home to gather a few things while I stayed w/Mama. Sister came back & will stay a while tonight & I will head over there in the morning. All her vitals are good so we are very hopeful that medication can control whatever the problem is. No Dr. sighting as of 15 mins. ago but the nurses are ALL so very nice, helpful, funny & they share whatever information they have & answer all our questions as best they can.

Please let the year go uphill from here ....

Christmas Weekend 2014

Had Christmas lunch at my sister's then opened presents. In addition to my sister, her husband & niece we also had my Dad & his wife, her daughter, boyfriend, grand daughter & my Mom. It was very low key this year. We normally open gifts one at a time so everyone can see what each received. With so many present this year we all opened at the same time which made it go a LOT quicker. Gift cards were the theme for us because we kept telling everyone we didn't need anything. Actually, I wish we wouldn't exchange anymore but my Dad will have nothing to do with that. This was the 2nd year without my other niece. We all miss her very much but truly believe she is in heaven doing what God needs her to do.

We got an earlier start to the Country due to the presents not taking so long. We woke the next morning to this beautiful sky:

After breakfast, we made enchiladas from some leftover taco meat from earlier in the week.We then decided to continue our Christmas tradition of buying ourselves blocks for our own present. If you remember, 2 years ago my niece had just died & we didn't celebrate Christmas at all. That's when we bought 250 blocks to define the raised beds in our garden. Read about that here Christmas 2012. This year we needed new steps to our front porch & off the car port. We had temporary steps made of a couple of old blocks & wood. The wood was starting to rot & spiders had taken up residence in the block holes. We decided to make steps out of solid blocks so off to Lowes we went. We only had to buy 24 this time, whew! We got the steps put in after much levelling & decided to call it a day. 

Just as we sat down I got a text from my neighbors at Hoss Tools down the road, inviting us to come over & hang out by the fire & to eat some Christmas leftovers. We put on our boots & hopped on the Mule with our enchiladas. It was a fairly small group of about 10 or 11. Everyone brought a dish of some sort. We had ham, boston butt, broccoli casserole, etc. My friend's daughter was home from Germany & made homemade biscuits. They were great with the ham & the enchiladas were a big hit. It was a nice night & we were home & in bed by 10:00p.

We got up the next morning & I decided to try to make some biscuits myself. I just don't have luck with the regular old fashioned biscuits so I found a sour cream/7 up recipe on Pinterest. I had 1/4 c. sour cream & some lemon lime soda. It was very soft dough & you place the 'cut' dough on top of melted butter. Very messy & while they were baking I had my doubts but boy were they good! And, I can't find the recipe now. I need to get back on Pinterest & search. I didn't want to pin it in case they weren't good. Silly me.

We then put up a weather vane that Greg gave me. It's more for looks than anything. It's really the same brown color all over but the rooster & arrow looks copper with the sun shining on it.

While at Lowes the day before we also bought insulation for our garden shed roof but wanted to wait until the end of the day to install that. The early afternoon was spent string trimming (him, not me) & laundry. We then got the insulation done & stopped for the evening. Had leftover spaghetti & meatballs & called it another early night.

We left fairly early on Sunday because we wanted to stop by my sister's on the way home. We stopped & gorged ourselves at a country buffet in a nearby town. Roast beef, potatoes, carrots, turnip greens, dressing, chicken & dumplings, butterbeans & fried chicken. It was sooo good & I think it was $6.99 a person.

My Mom's house trailer is falling apart & we wanted to talk with them about buying her a new one. Since they live in the same town as her, we wanted to see if they would coordinate getting the old one torn down, permits, etc. We all agreed & hopefully she'll have a new safe home to live in, in a few weeks.

Greg has gone back to the Country, his business is closed until the 5th & he is going to work on getting the electrical & water trenched to the garden shed. I have to work tomorrow & 1/2 day on the 31st & will then head back to spend the New Year weekend with him.

If I don't post again I hope everyone has a safe & happy New Year celebration.