SHE WAS "IN THE MOOD!"

Know what's even better than a daughter who sews?  A daughter who bakes!

Not long ago I told my daughter that what I'd really love for my birthday, instead of any more "stuff", would be for her to come spend the night the next time her dad was out of town, hang out while we knit and watch a sappy movie like we used to, help me with a certain little project, and if she just felt like she had to bring me something, I wouldn't mind a few of her super-dooper chewy almond cookies to keep in the freezer, so I can have one now and then with a cup of hot tea.  This is what she brought instead.  Once I'd picked my jaw up off the floor, I told her she'd gone a bit overboard, and that the cookies would have been more than enough.  She just shrugged and said "I was in a baking mood."

Know what's even better than a daughter who sews or a daughter who bakes?  One who does both, and then gives it all away!

FLAPPABLE ME

Normally, I'm a pretty laid back person.  But, judging from the roiling in my stomach right now, we must be fixin' to travel!

What is it with me?  My sisters just love getting ready for a trip -- mapping out their routes, making reservations and itineraries, laying out all the outfits they wish to take and choosing just the right accessories for each -- but not me, baby!  I love being on the trip, and I love thinking about it for years afterwards, being able to relive it all through my blog and photos, but that period right before a trip?  That I hate.

That's cuz, no matter how hard I try to prevent it, this is when my mind seems determined to focus on all the things that could possibly go wrong on the trip.  I obsess over how much it is all going to cost, and whether we can really afford it (we usually take one vacation every 5 or 10 years, and this is our second in one year!).  I think about my propensity for motion sickness.  I think about all the missed connections and cancelled flights of previous trips, and how something like that could seriously screw up my trying to meet up with John at La Guardia in NY, since we're coming in on separate flights.  I think about people I should try to see while I'm there, and the complications of working it all out.  I stew over the fact that John has me leaving on a 6:00 a.m. flight, which means checking in at the airport by 4 or 4:30,  and if you allow an hour for the drive and time to park the car and shuttle in, that means leaving the house by 2:30 or 3:00 and making that deer-dodging drive in total darkness.  Me.  Alone.  With my night blindness.  And then?  Then I squash it all down, and I just DO it!  Because, in the end, I'm always glad I did.

I may make one minor adjustment though.  I'm thinking that driving into Austin the evening before, having a nice leisurely dinner with my precious daughter, then checking into a hotel right near the airport for a good night's sleep, and being able to both set an alarm and request a wake-up call, to make sure I'm up on time, might go a heck of a long way towards easing this stomach problem.  Don't you?

CREATIVE REUSE

If you're ever looking for creative ways to repurpose some of the bits and pieces you have sitting around your house or property, just go wander the aisles of a good flea market.  When we were strolling around at Wimberley Market Days not long ago, my niece was in need of a shelf to go over her desk.  Who knew there were at least a thousand different things you could make shelves out of?  Like that shutter, for instance.  It wasn't exactly what she needed, but it might be an interesting way to use one of those antique shutters I keep dragging from house to house, no?

A NEW RAISON D'ETRE?

Remember when John and I first spotted this little fellow? Remember how we even thought he was kinda cute?  Well, he's not so cute anymore.  In fact, he's about to become my hubby's arch enemy.  His nemesis.  His Moriarity!

John just loves planting new stuff -- especially now that he's semi-retired and has more time -- so we ended up dividing the property into "His" and "Hers" spaces.  Well, it seems that our devilish little 'dillo and his compadres have made themselves at home in His space.  In fact, they seem to have made it their mission to upturn every square inch of soil in John's territory, unearthing many a new plant in the process.  The beds look like a war zone, covered in hundreds of new divots, and it's making my hubby a wee bit crazy.

Yesterday, after inspecting the latest damage, he came storming into the house, muttering and grumbling, and headed straight for my computer back in the bedroom.  He was in there so long, I forgot all about it, and had no idea what he was referring to when he came out with a stricken look on his face, to tell me that he had some bad news.  Expecting to hear that someone had died, or that we'd lost our retirement savings, I just burst out laughing when he told me instead that he had been doing some research on how to trap an armadillo.  "It's not funny!" he declared.  "There's not a darn thing that will lure an armadillo into a cage.  You have to herd them in!"  That made me laugh even harder, and say "Good luck with that!"  I reminded him that, though I did manage to slowly herd him out of that first bed, inch by inch, by squirting him with a strong jet of water, the second time I tried it, he just stood up on his hind legs and began trying to catch the jet in his mouth and drink it!

John did not appreciate my humor, and I suddenly caught a glimpse of the future that was so clear, it was as if I was peering into a crystal ball.  "Oh my gosh!  You're turning into Elmer Fudd," I told him, "and that silly armadillo is going to be your Bugs Bunny for the next twenty years!"  Ah, well.  I guess a guy's gotta have a reason to get outta bed each morning, huh?

WHEN SLOW + SIMPLE = SEMI-HAPPY

First the good news.  We got three inches of rain this weekend!  A nice, steady rain, which actually had a chance to soak in and do some good!  Of course, one rain does not a drought-breaker make, and we'll need a lot more just like it to fill those lakes, rivers and aquifers back up.  It sure did help our rain tank's situation though!

The gauge on the tank, which shows the level is back up over my head now.

The down side was that it knocked our internet out again -- for two and a half days this time!  Which is why you haven't heard from me in a while.  Sorry about that!  I guess that's one way to force oneself to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life, but it's certainly not at the top of my list.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it wasn't even on my list, when I was jotting down ideas for my Simple Sunday posts.

Still, I must admit that I did enjoy lying in bed a bit longer than usual, listening to the sound of rain on our metal roof; all the extra time it gave me for curling up on the sofa with a good book; the slowly-cooked meal we prepared last night, and the wine we drank with it.

The impromptu meeting of the Muses on a covered porch was pretty nice too, as were the numerous pots of tea I brewed over a weekend which seemed much longer than usual.  Much, much, longer!

So, if you find it difficult to slow down enough to enjoy the simple pleasures that life has to offer, and your weekends always seem to go by in a blur, here's an idea.  Unplug yourself!

DAY TRIPPIN'

Just for the fun of it, I decided to go back and re-read the posts I have written, right around this same time of year, each year that we've had this house.  Oh my gosh, what a trip!

Do you remember this one from '05, called Happy Birthday to Me, about our first drive over to Fredericksburg?  The drive that took almost five hours!

In '06 I wrote I Won't Grow Up, which told of my discovering the Mystery at Jacob's Well.

In the fall of '07, when I wrote Lean On Me, we were recovering from all the repair work that had to be done after our roof just up and blew away, were extremely grateful for the wonderful friends that got us through it, and had just discovered an amazing little cafe, called The Leaning Pear.

In the fall of '08, we began our Year of Reading Dangerously book give-away, I was learning to appreciate Me, As God Intended, and I published my very first pictorial to-do list in She Loves Her Lists.

The next fall I gave you a Sneak Peak at my plans for a Mexican Hacienda Couryard Kitchen Cantina Garden, we learned that our precious Lexie was finally going to return, after four years of living in California, and we had to face up to the fact that the last of our four parents was going steadily downhill, and we were about to become the senior generation! 

 This time last year I was celebrating fall making concrete yard art and having tea parties with the Muses, attending my first ever dinner party held Outstanding In Her Field, and getting ready for my hubby to move to Wimberley full-time, at last!

Hard to believe another whole year has elapsed since then.  Impossible to believe almost seven have passed since we bought this house -- seven years of living the good life!  It's easy to forget, sometimes, what a truly wondrous trip this has been.  Thank goodness I have this blog to remind me!

'TIS THE SEASON: GIFT-GIVING

Caught in the act!

I can't believe it.  I was just sitting here watching the sun come up one morning not long ago, amazed that it was time to start thinkin' about Christmas gifts already, when suddenly it came to me -- the perfect gift for my dear hubby.  It's a miracle!  He has to be the hardest person in the world to buy gifts for.  The only things he likes are all the gizmos I know nothing about, and the truth of the matter is, if there is a piece of equipment out there anywhere that he hasn't already bought?  It's only because he doesn't really want it.  He's not one to drag his feet when a shiny new doo-dad comes on the market.  On top of all that, he's kinda forgetful and a bit impatient.  I force him to make a wish list every year, go out and buy a bunch of the stuff on it, then end up spittin' bullets, when, a week or two before Christmas, he goes out shopping and comes home wagging a few goodies for himself -- things he forgot he had put on his list, which I already had wrapped and ready to go under the tree!  Now I ask you, who goes shopping for themselves right before Christmas?

But not this year, by-doggie!  This year there will be neither spitting of bullets nor gnashing of teeth!  For the first time in forty years, I know exactly what to give him, and it's going to blow. his. mind!  If I can just pull it off.  It will involve a bit of sneaking and snatching -- two things I'm not very good at.  Too bad I can't write anything more about it until after the holidays!

P.S.  Actually, that wasn't really Santa in the fireplace of the garden center giftshop where I used to work.  That was just half of Santa -- and I had a devil of a time getting him shoved up into it!  Did you happen to notice that Santa traded in his traditional boots for some of the super-comfy garden clogs that we sold there in the shop?