Ready and Waiting

The baby is due March 11.  The mama is ready.  The grandparents are ready.  The doctor says things are beginning to happen and it could be as early as the 38th week....which is this week.  So we're all ready and ............waiting.......waiting......waiting.  I am trying not to think about it too much, but oh, my, goodness...it's my grandbaby!  And my own baby!  But waiting is all I can do.

 

Speaking of babies, this is the baby elephant I painted for the baby's room.
I cannot show you the nursery as it's not been revealed by the mama yet. 

I had lunch with two very good friends and was surprised at the end of the lunch, when they stepped away to get dessert...so I thought...and came back in the room bearing baby shower gifts.  I was truly surprised...although the above picture was a reenactment. 

 

Thank you sweet friends Patti and Rebecca. 

 

They are already grandmothers to children that don't live near

 so they knew just what I would need.

A Pack 'N Play!  And they gave me a booster chair/high chair, an audio monitor, receiving blankets, a hooded towel and washrags and a healthcare and grooming kit. I am ready to bathe the baby, groom the baby, swaddle the baby and put it down for a nap with the monitor on so I can run to it the second it makes a peep!  I just need the baby.

 

The last time I saw the mama was in January at her baby shower. 

 

The next time I see her, I will most likely be grabbing a baby from her. 

Prayers welcome for a safe and healthy delivery. 

I've been told I am in for a real treat, a deep love, a joy like no other. 

Come out and play baby....we can't wait to meet you.

Town & Country

Last fall, my sister and her husband purchased some property out in the country.  But between Christmas and January happening, we haven't had a chance to visit the place yet.  This place has a nice house on it and is slowly being furnished...meaning a beds to sleep in.  We made it happen this weekend and it's a place we'll return to often.  I consider myself a city girl, but I believe everyone has some "country" in their soul.

The best part about being out in the country is the absence of noise.  The second best part, is you expect dirt, dust, mud, spider webs, peeling paint and rust.  All that looks right in the country, but if at home, it rears its ugly head to be cleaned and repaired.  (Okay, maybe that's just me and how my brain works.)

There's just an inner sense to be calm and let it go.  No need to look at a clock.  No where else to be.

The clearing of the land has already begun.

Cedar.

We saw lots of Cardinals stopping for a bite to eat.

(Chuck, you need boots and cammo overalls.)

While the men mended fences, my sister and I did some cleaning in the house

 and sweeping of the porch and even some loving on the dogs.

The property came with two sweet dogs.  A handyman down the road stops by to feed them everyday.  No, I didn't bring this one home....but I think Harry may be the long lost cousin.
At first glance, I felt sad for them, but later realized they have the best life ever.  They are fed daily and have a nice big farm to run and play in all day.

Evidence of human activity on what is otherwise a place that seems to have stood still in time.

This is Texas...where we're mighty proud of our state and our flag.

This dusty tractor was taken out for a spin late in the afternoon. 

Two men turned in to two happy boys playing with a toy.

Sadly, we had to return to the big H town.

I am so happy for my brother-in-law and sister. 

Is next week too soon to come back?

If We Only Had a Door

The bathroom remodel is basically done...just waiting on the shower door.  It's been measured for and now in the production stage which is about 2 weeks.  So close to done...yet not.

If you check in here now and then, you may remember I called "TIME OUT" on the marble on the walls and floor because they clashed with the slabs.  We had to run out and pick a new marble...which of course, no one had enough in stock, had to find a new decorative tile for the shower and days and days went by with no activity going on in the bathroom...Project STALL. 

During this period of "nothing going on in the bathroom" time, I went to Scottsdale with the middle daughter for the oldest daughter's baby shower...and found out 30 minutes before the baby shower through a phone call that that my mother had passed away.  So I am still in a weird, processing frame of mind.  Literally, nothing is in order around here and everything is covered with 2 inches of dust.  But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I think it's going to be so worth it.

Sneak Peek:

The blue tape marks where the shower door will go. 

We went with Crema Marfil on the walls and floor

 and it is a very creamy, soothing color. 

 

I rarely wait for the paint to dry before hanging pictures and arranging decorative items.   I have to start seeing it come together even if I won't be in here for awhile.  I found this art at Cost Plus World Market and it ties all the shades of marble and paint together with just enough pop of color.  I saw this online and drove to the nearest store to see it in person...loved it and bought it on sale!  If you haven't been to World Market lately, you should go...it's full of goodies at great prices.

 

 

The past month has included this remodel, a visit to Scottsdale for the baby shower, the passing and funeral of my mother, and the losing of my brand new eyeglasses.  I'm ready for a little boredom.

Stubborn

Stubborn : unreasonably or perversely unyielding.  Stubborn is just one of the inherited traits I received from my mother... along with her chin, her quick wit and her love for arts and crafts.  I have spent many years trying to tame the stubborn streak.  She was stubborn.  I was stubborn.  Two stubborn people tend to get in a headlock over and over.

 

 

 

Me, Lisa, Catha*

 

 

 

This story of me as a child, that my mother told many times, just sums up the amount of stubbornness we both held within us.

 

 

 

While both of my sisters had already started elementary school, I stayed at an in-home daycare...Mrs.  Turner's.  I called her Turner.  My memory of this time zooms in on the little cots that we napped on.  I have always loved sleep so it's telling that I remember the "bed."  I also remember that she had a large, dark lady in the kitchen who would cook all morning while we played.  I was about 4 at the time.  One day, when my mother arrived to pick me up, the children were in the middle of picking up the toys.  There was one truck left out and my mother asked me to put it away. 

 

 

Me:  No.

 

Mother:  Put it away.

 

Me: No.

 

Mother:  Julia Dian, you will put the truck away NOW.

 

Me:  (silent but standing ground with my arms crossed.)

 

Mother:  Turner, please leave the truck right where it is, we'll be back.

 

 

(I was being taken home for a talking to and probably a spanking)

 

 

So back at Turner's with an attitude adjustment.....so my mother thought.

 

 

Mother:  Okay, we're back.  Go put the truck away.

 

Me:  No.

 

Mother:  I said PUT.  IT.  BACK.

 

Me:  (shaking my head back and forth)

 

Mother:  We'll be back.

 

(Second trip home...same scenario)

 

And now we're back at Turner's for the second time but the third try at putting away the truck. I walked in with a big smile and picked up the truck and threw it in the toy box.  Turned towards Turner with a sweet smile on my face and....

 

Me:  (with the most innocent smile on my face)I love you, Turner!

 

Mother:  (exhausted from the last hour of standing her ground and two trips home to spank me and talk to me)  sigh.

 

Way to "work a room"....  I'm sure I thought I had those 2 adults under my control.

 

I've heard this story so many times but I really don't remember the actual event.  I feel sure I didn't want to put the truck away because I probably didn't get it out.  But this story clearly defines the amount of stubbornness my mother and I both had on that evening. 

 

This same stubbornness got in our way many times over the years.  She would hold her ground and I would hold my ground.  She eased up over the years and I have eased up.  That's one of the nice things about growing older.  But I understood that part of her because I, too, had that stubborn thing running through my veins.


I know she understood it.  Didn't like it, but understood it.



 



* By the way, Catha has the best hair of all of us now.  This picture was taken in her Pixie cut days.