STUFF

Have you noticed all the articles showing up on Facebook lately, warning we Boomers that our grown kids really don't want all of that stuff we've spent so many years accumulating? I especially liked the cartoon where an older gentleman rolls up the door on his rented storage space, which is packed to the brim, and tells his son "Someday this will all be yours!" The father is beaming with pride, but the son looks absolutely horrified!

It got me to thinkin' about all that "stuff". The kind so many people spend their lives accumulating, working to pay for, arranging, sorting, and protecting. My mom was a great collector of stuff -- to the point that it was the most important thing in her life. It was her identity, her claim to fame, her biggest accomplishment. Without it, she was a nobody. Which might explain why she was so dead-set against getting rid of any of it when she got older.  Eighty-some-odd years old, and never dressed or left the house except for doctors appointments, but she wasn't about to part with even one of her almost 100 pairs of shoes -- and their matching purses! These pictures below are from the final purge. The one that came after the one where we moved them out of their house, and the one where we moved them out of my sister's big house and into her smaller house, and the one after Dad died and we moved Mom into assisted living, and the one after she moved from assisted living to the nursing home.

This was all so odd to me, since all I want in the world is to be free of all this clutter. I really don't want to be remembered for my stuff. I just want to be remembered for all the fun adventures I shared with the people I cared most about. I feel confident that my kiddos, my hubby, my Muses and my lifelong besties have a pretty good store of those memories built up, so my main goal now is to create as many as I can with my grandkids, in whatever time I have left.

'Cause you just never know, do you, when that time will be up?

ONE MORE DAY

Last Wednesday we met this little tu-tued cutie when coming out of Hays City Store. I believe her name was LuLu.

Her mama called her The Ambassador of Smiles, and she was just what my hubby needed that day!

Not long ago, I looked at my calendar and realized that, early next year, Hubby will have gone Five Years without having to be in the hospital. Now, that may not seem like much to you, but for us it's a bit of a miracle. If you've been reading this blog for long, you might remember the string of bypass surgery, stroke, being life-flighted for bleeding in his brain, blacking-out episodes that led to a pacemaker - a pacemaker that came with a terrible staph infection, etc., etc. At one point he confessed that he didn't think he would live to see either of our kids married, much less grandkids, and it nearly broke my heart. But look at us now!

So why did Hubby need the ambassador of smiles? Well, back before Christmas he started having problems with constant drainage and coughing. Cedar Fever, right? Everyone gets it here that time of year. But when everyone else got better, he didn't. It just went on, and on, and on. I made him go to the doctor and he was put on antibiotics a couple of times for sinus infections, but the hacking always came back. Finally they did an MRI and referred him to an ENT, who told him that one of his nasal passages was completely closed, and he had enlarged "turbinates", both of which prevented proper drainage, which leads to sinus infections (and sometimes to sleep apnea, which he also has). The cure was a simple day surgery that only takes about an hour and a half -- a day surgery where they break your nose and rearrange it, ream out your sinuses, and leave you with a toothache in every tooth, dripping blood from your nose and down your throat, and unable to breath through your nose at all from all the splints and what-have-you that they stuffed up there, barely able to eat or sleep. For Five. Whole. Days.

At least he finally got to ditch the gauze-filled sling under his nose!

Four down. One to go!

  

OUR NEW FAMILY RULE

This weekend I had a brilliant brain fart. The kids were all gathering here on Sunday for a little holiday celebration. In fact, Lex, Nate, Izzy Dog and Little Goober were planning to spend the night -- Calvin's first sleepover! The only problem with that is, once I get caught up in the fun of having them all around, I never seem to think about picking up my camera. But, as I was bringing the food to the table, I had this sudden inspiration. I ran back to grab my camera, set it in the middle of the table, and made a pronouncement. "Henceforth, we have a new family rule! Each one of you, at some point during the festivities, must pick up my camera and snap at least two shots on it. Understood?" It didn't take the boys long to realize what I had left myself open to, for they all started smirking simultaneously. "Are you sure you really want us using your camera?" Yes. It was a risk I was willing to take. These are the results.

Calvin tried to eat the camera whenever it got in his face.

Best idea I ever had!

THE END OF THE RAINBOW

Hubby's Favorite Spot When it Rains

The Downstairs Porch In Front of the Man Cave

A few days ago, when the rain finally let up and the sun decided to show its face again, I was working in the kitchen when I happened to glance out the window and spot this.

The View From The Upstairs Porch

My photos don't do it justice, I'm afraid. It's hard to see that it was actually a double rainbow. Even more amazing? I could clearly see where its foot ended -- right in the middle of the road, just in front of the little church B&B. After all those years spent chasing the rainbow's end as a kid, to no avail, it had suddenly landed right there in my own front yard!

I considered hopping into my car to rush right down there and look for that pot of gold. But, then I would have missed soaking up this amazing view from our balcony, which only lasted for a moment or two. Besides, what exactly could I buy with that gold, that would please me any more than this once in a lifetime memory?

Here's hoping the winds carried that rainbow and its gold on down to southeast Texas, where it's really needed.
 

CHARMED BY CHARLAINE

You might be familiar with author Charlaine Harris thanks to her Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, which inspired the popular TV series True Blood. I had no idea, though, that she also wrote the mystery series behind the Aurora Teagarden movies I've been watching on the Hallmark Channel. Then, a week or two ago, Hubby came home with this...

the first book in a series that has spawned yet another TV show -- this time on NBC -- called Midnight, Texas.  Now, Hubby and I rarely read any of the same books. He was shocked to death when he found me reading Ready Player One, and really liking it. I'm the one that recommended Station Eleven to him. And we both fell in love with Fuzzy Nation, narrated by Will Wheaton, when brother-in-law Bud loaned us the audio-book to listen to on our way home from Dallas. But, as I said, that's pretty rare. So I was fairly shocked when, after finishing this one, he handed it to me saying "You'll probably want to read this." Unfortunately, I had a big ol' stack of library books that needed to be got through first!

Well, we had already missed the first couple of episodes in the TV series, but Hubby was able to order them On Demand and, not having anything better to do while we were housebound yesterday, we decided to pop up some popcorn, snuggle up on the sofa, and binge-watch some Midnight, Texas.

This morning, before the sun was even up, I had grabbed that paperback and started reading, library books be damned!

REACHING FOR THE SUNNY SIDE

One of the things we loved most about this house when we first went through it was the guest bath downstairs, with its antique dresser-turned-sink and this ginormous claw-footed tub.

We had never had a tub that was all that great for soaking in, and couldn't wait to fill this one up!

Then we discovered just how long it took to fill that sucker up, and how much water it used. And, then we went through an extended drought period here in the Hill Country, and installed our rain water catchment system, and started having to guard every precious drop in it! I don't think I've been it that tub since.

But, this week? This week of Harvey-induced wind and rain and tornadoes and flooding? This week we're taking bubble baths!

At least, until our power goes off and our water pump quits working.

A LIBRARY NOT TO BE ECLIPSED

Have I ever mentioned just how much I love our little library? I love everything about it, from it's warm, cozy atmosphere to the great selection of books they have, the ever-helpful staff and volunteers, and their wonderful children's programs for infants through teens. On top of all that there's the never-ending lineup of special events going on there, from favorite authors (Susan Wittig Albert) coming to speak, to documentary film nights, cooking demos and fun things like yesterday's Eclipse-Viewing Celebration, where they passed out over 200 pairs of protective sun-gazing glasses, and who-knows-how-many Moon Pies, Mars Bars and Starburst candies!

Pre-Event Fortification at Mima's, Our Favorite Taco Joint

Gathering In Field Next To The Library

Trying out Lexi's Pin Hole Viewer

Did you know about the colander trick? I didn't! If you hold a colander with round holes over a piece of white paper during a solar eclipse, all the holes in it will appear to be moon-shaped!
 

The only bad part was Calvin having a hissy fit because he didn't want to leave!