Happy to be Home

I'm happy to be back home once again. It was a busy few days and we got home late last night. I've got lots of catching up to do around here. It seems like this has been the summer for moving people's belongings. In early summer we moved both of our boys home from college. Most of their stuff ended up in the bonus room. Unfortunately my computer is in that room too. I have been trying to ignore the mess and remind myself that it is only temporary. Now one son's stuff has returned to college with him, but in it's place is some of my mom's stuff. I guess I will have to keep my blinders on a while longer. I'm not sure if I'll ever have the bonus room to call my own again, but if I do I already have plans for turning it into a sanctuary of sorts. A place to exercise, de-stress and most importantly ~ blog. Would you say I have my priorities in order??

Anyhow, I was especially happy to come home and see this had come in the mail:

I love that cute polka dot address label and you know it has to be something good when it says fragile all over the box. Well, not long ago I entered a giveaway that Barbara was having. Look here to read the details. Since I am rarely the winner of anything, I didn't have high hopes. So, I was really thrilled when Barbara contacted me and told me I was the lucky winner. Imagine that - out of 76 entries - I was chosen. I am a huge fan of Christmas decorating (you'll see what I mean in a few months) and I especially love old fashioned Christmas decor. I was really intrigued to find out which of her awesome ornaments Barbara would choose to send to me.

The excitement was mounting as I gently tore into the box. . .

Isn't this perfect?

A happy little home for my Happy Home.

I love it ~ Thank You Barbara.

I will treasure it always.

I have two Christmas trees. One is themed with snowmen and the other is for all of the really special ornaments ~ you know the ones that have been given to me as gifts, have been handmade by friends and family and the ones that have been in the family for years. I have already reserved a spot on this tree for Barbara's sweet little happy home.

How many more days til Christmas??

A Short Blog Break

Just a quick post tonight to let you all know that I will be away from the blog world for the next few days. I hope I don't go through withdrawal :-)

Tomorrow we are taking our youngest son to college and then after we get him set up we will continue on to my Mom's house to start the process of getting her ready to move into assisted living. There is a lot of paperwork to fill out, decisions to be made about which of her belongings will make the move with her and hopefully we can provide some happiness and moral support to her as she prepares for this next step in her life.

I hope to be back to blogging sometime next week.

Until then, I hope you all have a relaxing and restful weekend.

One Thing Leads To Another . . .

While I was eating my breakfast this morning I heard a loud and persistent tapping outside the window. I looked out there and saw a bird banging his beak on the empty birdfeeder. I guess he was trying to drop a hint.

After finishing my Cheerios and jumping into some clothes I went out to fill the feeder. I bought this food the other day. It is supposed to be good near porches and patios because there is no waste. This stuff almost looks good enough to eat.

There, that ought to keep him quiet for awhile. Well at least until tomorrow.

I decided as long as I was dressed and outside and the weather was slightly cooler I would take a little stroll around the garden. When I got to the perennial bed I noticed a lot of weeds that were starting to flower. These weeds are loaded with thorns and have a root system that doesn't quit. There is no way you can just give them a good clean yank. This is a job for the biggest shovel in your arsenal. So, I decided as long as it was a little cooler I would tackle this job. I donned my protective gloves and went at it.

This was my biggest VICTORY.
Look at the root on that sucker!
I wasn't as successful getting the whole root on a lot of the other ones, but at least they are gone and their flower heads can't turn to seed and spread even more.
Then I decided I might as well plant a few flowers I picked up the other day.



I planted this purple cone flower. It seems like I plant these every year and they disappear. Lots of my neighbors have huge masses of them. It is a mystery to me why I have so much trouble with them. But I'm not ready to admit defeat yet.




I had planted several zinnias in early summer. Some of them have succumbed to the drought, others were eaten up by some invisible bugs. So, I put in a few to refresh the looks of the bed and hope they will last until frost.

These lantana are taking over the bed and even crowding out some of the other flowers.

I guess I will allow them to do that since they attract beauties like this.

And this.

These were my companions as I worked out there today.

Look what I found on one of my dogwood trees. Now that looks like a hint of fall, wouldn't you say. It's hard to believe when it's been so hot here.

I thought I just went outside to feed the birds and now I'm ready to feed myself.

I'm in the mood for a chopped salad. I've had these at a few different restaurants and love them. I use what I have on hand. Today I will use romaine lettuce, mushrooms, carrots, red pepper, tomatoes, cukes and cilantro. Chop everything up real small.

Put it in a bowl. Add some grated Parmesan cheese and some dressing. I love this Kraft Balsamic Vinaigrette.

The birds are happy & so am I.

Day is Done. . .

Another day has come and almost gone.

My first attempt at a moon photo is pretty pathetic, but you get the idea, don't you?

The dishes are done and air drying.

The coffeemaker is set to start brewing in the morning.

How did you spend your day today?

I got a few loads of laundry done, fertilized all of my container plants and spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen. I enjoy reading a lot of different cooking and baking blogs. I often copy recipes from them, but don't always get around to trying them. Well, today changed that.

For lunch today I made Italian Style Portobello Burgers from Proud Italian Cook's blog. They were delicious. I would have taken a picture but they didn't stay on the plate long enough. I suggest heading over to her blog and seeing them. Her pictures are gorgeous and all of her recipes are mouthwatering.

Then, for dinner it was Crispy Chicken Wraps from My Kitchen Cafe. My 2 boys were home for dinner tonight and said I could make these any time. Chicken, cheese, cilantro and several other good things all wrapped up in a tortilla and heated until everything is warm and melty and the tortilla is golden and crispy. Mmmm, what's not to love about that?

Now, of course, you can't have a day end on a good note without some of this . . .

Dessert

For dessert today I tried Chocolate Zucchini Cake from The Bunnies' Bungalow. I have seen a few people in blogland making this cake recently. So, I thought I really need to try that and boy, am I glad I did. When we had it it was still warm. Yummy!! If you are trying to use up your zucchini this would be a great way. Make it for your family or invite a neighbor in for cake and a cup of tea or coffee, take it to your co-workers or heck, take the pan and a fork into your secret hiding place and indulge yourself a bit. I won't tell. The point here is ~ however you do it, just try the recipe. It's well worth it.

Well, that's been my day around here. I hope your day has been good. I appreciate your visits and support recently. We did have our conference call with my Mom and it went really well. Her husband and his family are all being supportive so with a little luck this will all work out for the best. Mom will be moving to North Carolina now instead of Michigan. She will be very close to our home. Yesterday we put a deposit on her room. So now all of the paperwork has to be filled out and then the packing and moving and furnishing the new place. But first we have two boys to move back into college. So, we are in the take one day at a time mode around here.

I'm off to bed with my book. I wonder if I can finish one chapter before I am sound asleep?

All I Can Say is WOW & THANK YOU

A Warm & Friendly Hello To My Wonderful Blog Friends

Please help yourself to a cookie. I baked them last night just for you.

I want to say Thank You from the bottom of my heart for your kind, caring, sweet, touching & compassionate comments on my last post. I really debated whether I should do that last one. Partly because I didn't want to put something sad on my blog and partly because I tend to keep things like that to myself. I'm not really sure why, but I think it's because I don't want people to think I am looking for sympathy. Silly, I know - but what can I say, that's me.

I honestly wasn't prepared for such an outpouring of support. It touched me deeply. Some of you have had to deal with Alzheimer's personally and I can feel for you. All of us deal with sadness, illness and loss at one time or another. Unfortunately, that is part of life.

Please know that your kindness has really helped me at this time. The conference call we were supposed to make to my Mom on Monday has been postponed until tonight and now she may be moving to an assisted living here instead of Michigan. There is a lot up in the air. Again that's the way it is with all of us scattered around. I will be relieved after the call is made and we can move forward with a concrete plan. I don't like living with everything so unsettled. But, for now I am trying to think of the good things that can come from this big change and not get overwhelmed by the things that could go wrong. As my husband tells me every night, "we will get through this". I know he is right. I just wish we were through it right now. If my Mom heard me say that she would say that I'm wishing my life away. Ha ha.

Tonight before we call my Mom I will be re-reading all of your lovely comments. I know that they will give me a warm and peaceful feeling ~ just what I need to face the task at hand. The power of words - isn't it wonderfully amazing??

******

Now, I really do hope to be able to get back to my regular blogging. I just feel like this whole thing has been occupying all of my thoughts lately and I couldn't even think of things to post about.

I hope you are all doing well, enjoying your summer days & keeping cool.

It has been so hot here. The past couple days I have had to water some of my container plants twice because by afternoon you would have never known I watered them in the morning. While I was out watering I noticed that one of the impatiens growing out of the crack between my steps is blooming. You can see it below.

A Heavy Heart . . .

This post is going to be a little different than usual.

I prefer to keep my topics light & upbeat. I figure we all have enough stress in our lives & reading other people's blogs is often a way to escape the everyday stresses we all face at one time or another.

I really wanted to do a light post today, but I have something on my mind today that is weighing a bit heavy.

I will try to briefly tell you about it without going into too much detail.

This evening my brother, sister & I are faced with telling my Mom that she can no longer live with her husband of 3 years and that in the next 6 weeks he will move to California and she will move into assisted living in Michigan.

Mom is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and it has progressed to a point that her husband can no longer care for her and his family feels it is best that he move into a retirement home without her. We had thought up until 2 weeks ago that Mom was going with him. Yesterday when I talked to her she thinks she is still going with him.

My Mom & her husband both lost their spouses to cancer 7 years ago. Four years ago they met and were like 2 kids in love. Mom wasn't sick then. I had never seen such love and happiness at that stage of life. So, while it seemed a bit strange to see her with another man after 56 years of marriage to Dad, I was just glad to see her happy and not lonely anymore.

Now, since all 3 of my Mom's kids live in different states and time is of the essence for us, we are going to have a conference call to my Mom to gently break this news to her . I am so thankful to have loving siblings to share this burden with, but I dread the call. Unfortunately that is how it goes when families become scattered around the country.

*****

Mom, in a perfect world it would be more like this ~

I would bring you over to our house. We would start with a walk through the garden. I know we both miss that. I remember when you were a young mother and grandma would come to visit the first thing you both would do is walk around the yard and look at the flowers taking note of what was in bloom, sharing stories of when the peonies bloomed this year and who gave you a start of their daisy plant. You always loved to garden and couldn’t wait to walk around the yards of your 2 daughters when you visited. It’s been awhile since you were able to see my yard. So, come take my hand and we will stroll thru the garden. We can take as long as you like and reminisce . .. There is no need to rush today. As you so often remind me, we need to take time to smell the roses.

After we have toured the garden we will have lunch together. I made Aunt Mary’s Chicken Salad and we can talk about all of the times you made it and served it to your tennis friends and that would most likely lead to many laughs about the fun you gals had together. We would definitely have something chocolate for dessert as we both know that no meal is complete without a bit of chocolate at the end. We can sit at the table for as long as you like ~ there is no clock to worry about today.

~ Mothers Day 1989 ~

My sister, me & Mom

When the time seemed right I would broach the subject that I would rather not broach. I will find it very difficult, but know that it has to be done. So, I will look into your eyes and explain to the best of my ability. We can cry together and when you forget what I just told you I will patiently explain it over again as many times as it takes. We will talk about how much all 3 of your children love you and care about you and want you to live happily. While we know it will be different, it can also be good. You will be back to the place you spent most of your life. The place where you were born, the place you raised your family, the place where many of your longtime friends and family still are. They have been concerned about you and will be so glad to be able to visit with you. I will assure you that we have found a nice place for you to live and we are going to make it feel comfortable and homey.

I will take your hand and reassure you that all 3 of us are here for you and you need not be afraid. We know life will take another change for you, but it is our desire to make it a positive change.
We love you, Mom!!

~My sister, Mom, my brother & me~

2002

Feeling the Love

I am so thrilled and honored to receive this award from Melissa at Sunbonnet Cottage. As soon as I saw Melissa's header picture with her yellow front door I knew she had a blog that I would be visiting often. She posts on a variety of interesting topics and is such a sweetie. If you haven't visited her yet, please do. You will be glad you did.





The rules: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same** (Visit (Memoirs of a Mommy)for the awesome story behind this award.)



Once again, I think all of the blogs I enjoy qualify for this award. So, if your blog is listed as one of the blogs I enjoy visiting please accept this award from me to you.

~ Thank You, Melissa ~