Keeping My Harvey Evacuees

In the days since Harvey hit the Texas coast, things have been very busy, as I imagine it has been for most Texans.

I have read that 46% of the population of Texas was affected by the hurricane so it is safe to say that the rest of us that were not, all KNOW someone who was affected.

After our son and his wife and family evacuated along with an entire nursing home of residents (his wife is a charge nurse of said nursing home), their lives consisted of living out of a motel to the point that he wound up having to  come and bring the kids and stay with us for a time just so he could give them some place to play. It was all good though, I welcomed the chance to see him and the grandkids.

My daughter has been with us too and caring for the kids during the day and the grandkids have had some fun adventures at the park. One day she had them playing in one particular stream where she knew pyrite could be found. Searching for pyrite crystals kept the kids busy for a good long time.

Other days they stayed at my house and played with the dogs and made playdoh and kicked the soccer ball around and did whatever.

I got to enjoy the kids after work and read them bedtime stories.

They recently went back home and started school yesterday.  School had been delayed due to hurricane damage to most of their schools, but at least their town fared better than the neighboring town of Rockport who had to close their schools indefinitely.

Summer Vacation and Kids in the Kitchen

Well Hello again! I ran into an issue with the server from which I usually write my posts. It kept sending error messages for this blog and didn't allow me to post. I am on another server now so all seems to be good.

No doubt you are well into summer plans and vacations now but there are also those of you too who are working and you have your kids at home. That can at times pose the issue of what they are to eat during the day while you are at work.

Really your best bet is to make extras of your recipes the night before (or on weekends to freeze for the next week) Having leftovers in the fridge is going to be a big help because it requires nothing more than heating lunch in the microwave.

For breakfast, in order to stay out of the cold cereal rut, you can always make ahead muffins to freeze and you can additionally make extra pancakes when you make them on weekends and bag and freeze those as well and they too can be re-heated.

If your children like cottage cheese or yogurt those are also great options with a little fruit added.

The kids can also be a help in terms of the evening meal by watching things you have started in the slow cooker.

In the next post I will add a few easy, kid friendly recipes to help keep some variety in summer meals. In the meantime, I am just glad to be posting again without the error messages!

Shopping Day

The flash flood watch notice in my email seems a bit over zealous on the part of the forecasters. It only just started raining during the night and not all that much, from what I can tell. Maybe they will prove me wrong as the day goes on, who knows.

Yesterday hubby and I did some shopping. He has gotten interested in Blacksmithing and was in search of tools to gather up for his new hobby.  We went to a couple of his "gettin' stores", which by his definition is any store that he is especially likes. These stores were for "tool gettin'".

We had a lot of fun yesterday, laughing and joking as we spent some much needed time together. I got really tickled at one particular store who carried items that, though not a tool, would definitely appeal to tag along kids or the kid inside the man, whichever the case!

During the course of each week, hubby works long hours and has quite a commute as well. By the time he gets home we are all tired from our day's work and don't feel much like talking so Saturday is our chance to reconnect.

After Gene did his shopping I suggested that he take me to look for a new couch or chair. One that we have is a little bit too big for me; the seat is too wide. Gene took me too a furniture store, but before we ever went in, I said to skip that store and go to a nice consignment shop I knew of in Georgetown. They have some lovely furniture there, and if it's used, I won't pitch such a fit if the dogs mess it up.

So off to the consignment shop we went. I didn't find any "yes, definitely" furniture but I did find one "maybe". I am purposely waiting to go back because the price goes down the longer it takes to sell, and I am betting that one loveseat by itself will not sell as quickly.

Before calling it a day we went into a Goodwill store just for grins. I started looking at the clothes and found a few really good brand tops and picked up a couple of those. With that, our shopping day was done and we came home.

Three Deaths

My sister had gone with me that day. It is a custom of mine to try and visit the graves of family members every time I travel to the area of my hometown.

On this particular trip, we really made the rounds, visiting three cemeteries so that I could place flowers for remembrance of all my family members/ancestors who have passed away.

The last stop we made that day was the cemetery in La, Pryor, TX. As I stood over the grave of my great grandmother Mary Jane (Gates) Wilkins, my sister and I talked about the fact that Mary Jane had been born before the Civil War. We talked about the things she might have seen during her lifetime.

I then placed the flowers I had brought and when I did, my sister said that she had heard a quote once about three deaths. She said "We aren't really gone until we die the third death which is when no one remembers us anymore."

I have thought about what my sister said quite a bit since then and I realized that is exactly why I have spent so many years researching my family history. Yes it was in part to find out where I came from but more than that, it was to remember and honor my ancestors.

Here is the quote my sister referred to -  “There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.” ― David Eagleman, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

I have many, many ancestors who have not yet died their third death :-)

200 Things to Do with the Kids

Its always wise to have a ready list of things to do when the children decide they are bored, or the weather turns foul or even when the weather turns nice and you want to do something outdoors.... Here are links to two great lists with a wide variety of ideas of things to do and I am sure they will serve as launchpads for more ideas for your own list.


http://www.angelfire.com/md2/moodyfamily/100things.html


http://zenhabits.net/100-ways-to-have-fun-with-your-kids-for/

Memory Books

Memory Books:  Either in your child's baby book if space allows, or a separate blank book, keep a sort of diary about your child's spiritual, physical and emotional growth. Every few months (or weeks while your child is very young) make an entry.

You could include topics such as:

*how they have grown

*things they have learned

*special experiences (bad as well as good moments) and how you felt about those moments

*why that child is special

*new events that are going on in the world at that time

*special things the child says

*special awards or honors and relating the event to a special family time

Give the book(s) to your child as a gift when he or she is old enough to appreciate it. It would be a great gift for graduation or on a wedding day.

PawPaw Bunyan

About a year ago, my husband, aka "Pawpaw" to our grandson, and my son's brother in law and father in law put together a swing set for grandson for his birthday.

Even though there were lots of hands helping to put the swingset together, grandson gave Pawpaw all the credit. "Pawpaw built my swingset" he said and I think what must motivate my grandson's thinking is the shear size of my husband. Grandson must look up at his 6ft 7in Pawpaw and see an impressive giant of a man and so that is all he remembers.

This past Sunday grandson was at our house and I showed him a room we are remodeling that will be a guest room when they stay with us.

I showed him the wall that Pawpaw is refinishing and I told him that Pawpaw was making the room for him to sleep in when he visits. Grandson was impressed. His reply was "Pawpaw make the room for me?" as he pointed to himself.

Later that day our son and his family left, taking the pickup truck they were borrowing until their suburban could finish repairs in the shop. While they were still traveling, son called to tell me that Grandson had made the remark that Pawpaw built that truck for them!

We had to laugh that grandson seemed to think that Pawpaw builds EVERYTHING and it made me wonder if, when I start reading the Paul Bunyan books I have waiting for him when he is a little older, maybe I can substitute the word "Pawpaw" for "Paul" and get away with it!

December Remembrances

The month of December always takes me back to my hometown of Crystal City.


I remember walking up and down the sidewalks downtown and shopping and peering in the windows of the storefronts.


I remember Christmas plays where I played an angel in the nativity scene only because I had blonde hair and they thought at the time I guess that angels needed to have blonde hair!


I remember the Christmas lights decorating contests in neighborhoods.


I remember our hometown's homeless gentleman, Assi Alli, walking around near the Christmas tree lot where my Dad took us to buy a tree one year. I was afraid of that man in the ragged clothes and the American Flag bedecked hat, but as I got older I learned more and more what a kind soul that man was, and was saddened to learn years later that he died on Dec 26th, the day after Christmas.


I remember counting on getting new Nancy Drew books every year to read and add to my collection and the year my parents decided I was old enough to have a transistor radio and the year they decided I could wear makeup and gifted those items as well.


I remember a few years when Dad decided to help Mom with the Christmas shopping. When we were little, he gave me a little robot and a steam engine plant powered by sterno fuel and a remote controlled airplane. When I got to be a teenager I remember one year him buying me perfume...this was not long before he passed away.


I remember helping to cut branches from our juniper bushes and tying them to the fence in front of the house just before stringing Christmas lights over them.


I recall the year my mom, feeling festive, put a blue light bulb in the porch light, to go along with the other decorating and then wondering why the police car drove slowly by our house...


I remember some cold and rainy winters and some winters where I was still wearing shorts.


Christmas school holidays!


And then as the month draws to a close as it has now, I recall that my mom always said that all the world would be celebrating her birthday on the the 31st. Happy Birthday Mom, Happy New Year!

My Father - On Father's Day

Some pictures of my Dad

Starting out...the year was 1912

The oldest of his many siblings, and blonde haired and freckled

Then came the depression

Then World War II

Dad now in his late 30s marries and starts a family

My family in the seventies. This was taken the year my Dad passed away

Deer Goes A Swimming

Last night we heard a strange noise. I cant even describe it really because I had my headphones on listening to a youtube video at the time but I was still aware of some kind of crashing noise. Gene heard the noise too and it was loud.
When he and I went out to investigate we saw that a LOT of water had come out of the pool and that all the ground on one side of the pool was really wet.
The first thing a person thinks since it is one of those great big Walmart pools is that it sprung a leak.
We looked and looked and never found a place where water was still coming out of the pool. Finally on one area of the pool's side, as I held up my flashlight (this was after dark) I noticed that water had been SPLASHED on the side of the pool.
I called Gene over to see and we both made the conclusion that it must have been a deer and that the deer had managed to push down on one side of the pool hard enough to let out water before it ran off.
The logical thing to assume is that it pushed down with its front feet as it stood outside of the pool but if you saw how MUCH water we lost and the splash marks, I think you would wonder like me, if instead the deer had actually been IN the pool!