Celebrations and visits

Hello my blogger friends! How was your Labor Day weekend?
My weekend started off with a great celebration of my 5 year wedding anniversary.  Our tradition is to have dinner at the same restaurant that Todd proposed to me at. Its super nice and I always look forward to knowing we'll go there once a year. The restaurant is called 3 Forks https://www.3forks.com/ and the steaks are amazing!!  We both look forward to the 3forks salad which has blue cheese crumbles and a maple pecan vinaigrette that is incredible.  I also always get a side order of lobster mac n cheese which is my favorite. I always end up taking some home and eating the leftovers the next day. 

They always bring a complimentary slice of cake if you tell them you're celebrating a special occasion

 The following day on Saturday, my cousin Monya and her daughter Emma came by to pick me up and we went to East Texas to visit Nanny and my mom.  It was a nice day of just hanging around and we stayed until after 4 which means we didn't get home until around 6:30.   It was nice to see my mom and I look forward to having her back at my house for a visit soon.  Nanny was doing Ok but I am worried about her. I feel like she's declining slowly . She's doing great for 91 but I see some changes.

Mostly on Sunday and yesterday, we were lazy and sat on couch and watched movies. It was great not going and going.  It rained all day yesterday and it was perfect lazy weather!  We also started watching the series Shameless finally. We're only on season 1 episode 6 now but we're liking it.  A bunch of our friends told us we had to watch it so we're way behind. 
Last month was also my 7 year anniversary for blogging. Its been quite a whirlwind with some lengthy stops in between but I am so glad I started this blog and so very grateful for the friends I've met along the way . 

Happy Tuesday yall!!

Thanksgiving this and that

Hey y'all! So did you survive Thanksgiving with your family? Mine was good for the most part. We spent the day with Todd's family and we had good day. That evening we were on our way to my Dads when Todd decided to start a huge fight with me.  So rest of the day was ruined but at least there were some good hours beforehand.  The bottom line is he's losing his patience with me. He says I've changed and he wants the old me back. I miss the old me too.  I called the Dr's from the list given to me and they told me to call back this week. Because of the holidays , most of them were closed most of the week.  So wish me luck I get an appointment scheduled.  I'm still crying every single day but it's quick and not all day. Yay for waterproof mascara!!

My brother-inlaw married his girlfriend last Monday. It was super sweet and I love her so much! Happy to have her in our family.  Friday night after thanksgiving, we went to see Blue October in concert. I bought the tickets in July and I was so excited.  The weather has been absolutely terrible this whole past week. It's rained every single day nonstop.  We have a lot of flooding around the area. The rain didnt slow down attendance to the concert at all. It was sold out and 3000 attended.   I had never seen them live but they're one of my favorite bands. 

Then early Saturday morning, I drove back to East Texas to spend the day with Nanny.  She looks so good y'all! Her face is healing and besides the small bandage on her nose, you'd never know she face planted into concrete 2 weeks prior.  She still having some pain in her arms but nothing like it was.  So she's improving there.  The only thing left besides her arms healing is getting her dentures fixed.  This alone has given me great stress.  Do any of y'all have that family member that you'd just rather avoid? 

After the accident, my uncle made an appointment for Nanny to get in last week and she would have her new ones the next day.  That is if she arrives for her appointment on time.  Nanny doesn't drive and never has and my uncle traveled out of state to visit my cousin Lauren. Unfortunately, my unreliable aunt ( who's never been on time a day in her life) was supposed to take Nanny to the appointment.  Yep, my selfish narcissistic self- centered aunt was almost 2 hours late. This meant that Nanny didn't get to have her new dentures. I'm getting so angry just thinking about it!!!  My stupid aunt caused Nanny to go over a week without teeth. Now you try to get thru Thanksgiving without teeth. Not only that but I know good n well, my aunt would have NEVER stand for not having her teeth a day but it's OK to make her mother go without.   It was just heart breaking to see my Nanny go without.  It was pouring rain, so she never left the house. I went and picked up 3 containers of soup for her to have from a local restaurant.  It made me heart and soul heal to spend the day with her.  I'm going again during Christmas.  Her next appointment is for tomorrow.  I hope my uncle takes her or makes arrangements not to trust my aunt again. 

So that's it for the last week.  

Paula had a gold Christmas tree and a basket of ornaments. All the guests signed an ornament and hung on the tree.  Cute idea! 

Thanksgiving selfie with Todd and my step kids.  Alli spent the night with us on Wednesday and we had a good time. Took her to get her cartilage pierced again on top of her ear. 

Blue October

We put up out tree last night but didn't decorate it yet. That will be this week. 

Again, thank you for all of you that stopped by and left well wishes on my blog.  Y'all are amazing and I'm so very blessed for every one of you!

One of my favorite songs from Blue October.  An old one but i love it.

Fun day thrifting and family time

Saturday I drove out to visit my grandmother "Nanny" to spend the day with her. She's 87 years old and lives out in East Texas 2 hours one way. I try to see her once a month if I can.  We had the most gorgeous day weather wise- sunny at 70 degrees but just a little windy.  When I got there, I had a pleasant surprise because my younger cousin Shane was there with his wife Reagan and their cute baby Gunner.  Next month Gunner will be a year old next month. How did that happen?

Nanny made us biscuits and gravy, and bacon and eggs for breakfast and it was so good. I was just so focused on getting  there that I didn't stop for breakfast so I was very grateful. 

I really love watching Nanny play with Gunner. She's such an amazing grandmother and great grandmother.  She is so loving and fun! 

We got to visit with the cousins for a few hours and then Nanny set out to run some errands and take a drive .  I always like getting Nanny out of the house when I can. She was feeling better too so she was feeling adventurous. 

After picking up her prescriptions and picking up some curtains rods and miscellaneous stuff, we went to one of my favorite thrift stores.  The thrift store is kinda junky and had zero curb appeal but I have found such great stuff there! Nanny found a nice red blazer that was brand new with tags still on it. How much? Only one dollar!! All clothes were a dollar and I bought 2 shirts to cut up and use for a birthday banner I'm making.  I get my best fabric from buying clothes at thrift stores. 

I had seen a cute idea from a craft magazine where someone used cute state ( destination ) plates for dining.  They were great to use when you have guests over. I didn't notice until I got home that a few of them said Not for food use but oh well. I bought 17 plates. Lol!! I wasn't intending to buy so many but the guy who ran the store said he was going to give me a great bundle price.  Boy did he give me great price! 

  I found a really cute purse that looked very vintage and has suede pieces on the front.  I also found a Texas wooden photo frame and an old Better Homes and Garden book in decorating from 1975. 

The plates, book, shirts, frame , a sign I found for a friend, belt and purse - he only charged me 15$. I couldn't believe it!!  Nanny got the blazer , a small digital clock and a cute fabric baby book all for 3$. We had so much fun. 

I did stop at a garage sale just before I got to Nanny's and got some great deals there. Crazy but I bought another rolling cart. I already own 5 but it's vintage and he sold to me for 15$. I also bought 4 candle holders. 2 from the garage sale and 2 from the thrift shop.  I bought a black patent purse and 2 vintage pillow cases and 3 pretty dessert plates.  The little old guy having the sale also gave me  a bundle price at 20$ for everything.  I love all my treasures and had so much fun spending time with family.  Todd wasn't feeling well and wanted to state home and rest.  I wished he went but he was happy when I got home because Nanny set me home with a pot of homemade red beans and package of cornbread and a rum cake.  Nanny thought Todd was coming and he loves her beans so she made him some. 

We finished the day by driving to next town over Mineola and getting a vanilla coke at Dairy Queen.  Perfect day!! 

Here are some pics of my finds and family:

a few of the plates I bought

Did I mention that I actually am signed up to blog every single day except Sunday's for the month of April? Yep true story. I've never done this challenge before and I have strong hopes of completing it. 

Have a great day!! 

Happy Independence Day!!

After a long exhausting week even though tomorrow is a holiday- I am so ready for it to be Friday!
Working through this merger, my team is not allowed to take any vacation days off at all the whole month of July. I will appreciate tomorrow a great deal!  We have a some dear friends who are having a party tomorrow night to celebrate one of them becoming a US citizen.  Mike (the husband of Caroline ) is originally from Canada and has completed all the courses, signed the forms, taken the oaths, etc and is an American as of just a few days ago. I think its great timing to celebrate his being a US of A citizen.   I hope we can see some fireworks from somewhere nearby.
I am super duper excited for a family party out at my uncles house in East Texas on Saturday.  My most awesomest ,lovely, bestie cousin Lauren is driving down from Georgia to see her new nephew ( my newest cousin) and the rest of the fam.  We are taking Jax too for his country adventure. I even bought him an Old Navy July 4th t-shirt for him to wear.  It will be nice to see Nanny again too since it's been 2 weeks.
Sunday we have some friends coming over for dinner after church so we have a pretty full weekend planned.  Please be careful out there and have tons of fun!
Remember the most important thing: we are free BECAUSE of the brave!

God Bless!