My Busy Busy Year! Slow DOWN!

Wow, it's time to rest a little!

Well, maybe after the holidays...

Two weddings this year, keeping my grand baby some, helping two grown kids move.  Whew!!! I guess I just THOUGHT I'd been busy before!

I miss blogging!  I miss my blogging friends!  I keep saying I'm going to try harder, but it just hasn't happened.  My daughter just got married two weeks ago and she moved home and lived with Tony and I for two months before the wedding so we could work on that. It was a glorious affair and she told me after the wedding before they left for their honeymoon that it was perfect and a dream come true!  So I was happy!

It was a wonderful wedding - kept growing as we went along. Cody's family is big and they have lots of relatives on his side of the family and one cannot leave relatives out, you know!  Hayley & Cody have lots of friends they wanted, too.  The best thing we did for this wedding was catering BBQ from one of our local favorite BBQ places.  They came, they set up, they served, they cleaned up - it was great!  And since we had a very rustic outdoor wedding, good ole Texas BBQ was a hit!  I'll probably show y'all more pics as they become available.  They went to Belize on their honeymoon and had a great time!

Bella Boo is growing like a weed - she'll be walking soon and is saying a few words - well, at least WE can understand them.  She is so cute and happy most of the time and grins real big when you tell her "no".  Maybe it's just girls, but she loves to scream just for the fun of it!  She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she hums when any music is playing.  She had her first birthday the day after Hayley & Cody got married! 

Her mommy & daddy threw a big birthday party for her - we had young parents and little ones all over their house - it was mass chaos, but OH SO FUN!  To be able to celebrate our little one's birthday was such a blessing!

Well, gotta run!  I have 4 paintings to do before Christmas!  I've got to get busy again!  Like I said....

Maybe after the holidays.... 

Pallaverin'....

Sunday past, the 14th, was the one year anniversary of my sister's going to be with the Lord after her bout with cancer.  We spent the day at church with her husband and went to the cemetery.  She is not there, but it IS a place that we can congregate and rejoice over her victory and remember and reflect on her life and how important a part of our lives that she was.  Her memory and her love will go on with us in our hearts until we are reunited with her someday!

My darling kids sent me this beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas, peonies and lilies in remembrance of my sister.  I was so touched.  Isn't it just so wonderful when your kids are so thoughtful when they get grown?  Makes me feel like I did something right!

Here we are waiting on all that rain from the Hurricane Bill. (who in tarnation gets to name the hurricanes?  who in tarnation named it Bill - that's the dumbest name for a hurricane that I've ever heard. just sayin'.)  We are just east of the line of fire, but in the danger zone for tornadic activity should there be any.  It's been showering off and on the last couple of days, but they say we're going to get a bunch over the next couple of days.  I was actually about ready for some more rain.  This sugar sand where we live doesn't not hold water for the grass and vegetation and it was getting rather dry.  I do pray for the folks that live in those already flooded areas that really don't need any more water.  How tragic about the lives lost in the last floods here in Texas and elsewhere...

I have been making plum jelly for the last two weeks. Right now I'm up to 11 dozen 4 oz jars.  Why? Because my dear daughter is having these little jars for her wedding favors in October! Her idea. I don't know if it's saving me any money, as I still have to buy sugar and S*re-Jell and jars.  Atwoods had tons of the little ones.  I'm thinking we're going to need about 10 or 11 dozen MORE to make sure we have enough for all guests... On Pinterest, there are such cute ideas for decorating the jars - ribbon, tea-stained tags, burlap, cute printed stamps. 

You'd have to know my daughter.  We had to find a venue that NONE of her friends had used, bridesmaids' gifts that nobody had thought about, flower designs, engagement pics, wedding favors.  Everyone wants to be original - I do understand that.  Last September, I helped my daughter in law and her mom make little lavender soaps for her favors.  That was fun, too.  So, when the peaches ripen, I'll add some peach preserves to our stash!

Bella Boo getting her bath.  LOVES her bath time!

Bluebirds had made their nest in here and laid eggs. Some nasty sparrows ran them out and took the eggs out. Now the baby sparrows have hatched.  GRRR.....  they eat my chicken feed....

A stinkin' ole chicken snake tried to get into my coop/pen.  I have chicken wire all over but had to cover the whole thing with bird netting to keep the sparrows out.  If you look closely, you might can tell that Mr. Snake has trapped himself trying to slither thru the bird netting to get the wire and is stuck tight!  Haha!  Tricked you again!  Remember the golf balls?

Now, Mr. Tony, my husband was gone to work, but I've learned how to deal with these varmints.  I got the loppers that Tony uses to cut limbs with and neatly clipped Mr. Snake's head in two places.  Takes 'em a little while to die cuz he was still trying to bite. He couldn't do much wriggling because of the netting.  Easiest snake I ever kilt!  A 12 gauge hoe or a 10 gauge set of loppers will do the trick!

TIP:  If you ever see a snake crossing the road (and there's not a car behind you), speed up a little and right when you get to the snake, slam on the brakes and skid over it.  Gets 'em every time.  If you just run over snakes with without skidding, they don't always die -  they just slither off.  Gotta skid.

And I'm skiddin' on outa here.