some surprises are just what we need...

This past Sunday, My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH) and Buddy Bear went for their daily morning walk to our gate. I got this picture from MSH about fifteen minutes later:

Not sure when this baby's Mama had him. Could have been between Friday night and early Sunday morn. We’re 98% certain this is a bull calf. Isn’t his coloring amazing? I told TLC it’s like coffee with just the right amount of cream!

The Mama cow’s name is Minnie. Little Leighton (aka LL aka Biscuit) has named all of our Mamas for the past four years. Since she could talk! We’ve had lots of “Princesses.” Elsa. Anna. Belle. Etc. LL had basically run out of Princess names. Hence Minnie.

This calf will soon officially be Mickey Jr. I thinks that’s adorable.

Our other Mama cow (Her name is Daisy. If she has a girl? The girl calf will probably be named Clara. After Clarabelle the Cow. On Mickey Mouse. Duh.  If he's a bull calf? No clue. Not at this point.) Daisy should have her calf soon. Three weeks. Ish.

We treasure our calves! They give us such JOY. Especially through the eyes of these granddaughters. (And even though Baby Belle, in her two and a half years on our Earth, has not been able to come visit at Grammy and Pa-Pa’s place as often as LL has been able to, in her six and almost a half years on our Earth, Baby Elle has had fun on several Ranger Trips with Pa-Pa and LL to view babies. She possibly won't remember all of them.)

Yesterday’s surprise reminded MSH and I how grateful we are to Our Dear Lord God Almighty. For his many, MANY blessings. Seeing that baby? After the evil that took place in Pittsburgh on Saturday? Gave us some comfort. Many smiles. Happy tears!

Wishing each of you a week that gives you a WONDERFUL surprise! And some peace in your hearts and souls.

Hugs,

ELC

p.s.: TLC tried to suggest to Biscuit that she allow Baby Elle to name this calf. Or, at the very least, the next one. Biscuit wasn’t quite on board with this idea—as of last night at bedtime. Grammy thinks Biscuit can give Baby Elle two to three options for names and Baby Elle can pick one. This way Biscuit has had some input. We’ll see how much pull Grammy has with LL/Biscuit…winky wink.

Funny Friday...

Y'all. These crack me up. They epitomize MOI. I found these via Jane's Instagram account. (Jane is an online shop where lots o' different boutiques sell really fun, unique products.)

It FINALLY feels AND looks like FALL here in Texas. The rain has stopped. The sun is shining. The air is cool. We actually went outside after dinner tonight. It was glorious.

We have desperately needed this. Poor Little Leighton has been plagued with every Kindergarten germ known to man: cold, conjunctivitis, double-ear infection, viral throat infection and, finally, a tummy bug. God love her. We head back to the doctor next week to make sure her ears have healed. We are sending up big prayers for a good checkup.

To celebrate our semi-healthy reprise, I have my Fall Scentsy turned on, my flannel and infinity scarf are ready to be worn and pumpkins are adorning my porch. It's officially FALL, Y'ALL.

Have a blessed weekend!

just messed up...

I have failed TLC (Please forgive me, Daughter…) this week. Promised I’d do a blog post Thursday. Then yesterday. Now it’s Saturday night and I’m pooped and basically out of energy and ideas. In the past, I’ve given her quite a hard time when she’s done the same…promised me a post that kept getting delayed. I’m grateful she’s forgotten it’s my turn! If she hasn’t forgotten? She’s being kind. Kind is good. Thanky, TLC.

I saw this on Pinterest the other night and laughed and laughed. (I have no clue as to who I should give credit to for this tres cute and accurate meme.) Not sure why I laughed…because it actually sums up my current life:

I lost my car

chapstick and now

my purse chapstick

is in my room and

my room chapstick

is in my car and my

whole life is just

messed up.

A week ago this afternoon, I was in the midst of trying to get home from The Metroplex. I’d spent the night at TLC’s on Friday. She and Her Hubby were going out to dinner with friends. Her Hubby had, unfortunately, gotten quite sick and they had had to cancel. I was scheduled to attend a Homecoming/Reunion for my high school at a Club only 20ish minutes from TLC’s casa the next morning so I stuck with my plan to spend the night.

(My high school was brand new the year I was a sophomore. In l968. It was a Six MILLION dollar school and that, My Dear Friends, was a lot of dough in those days! This, obviously, is it’s 50^th year and there were going to be all kinds of celebrations last week to acknowledge it.)

I was excited to enjoy Brunch and a Catchup-Visit with my classmates Saturday morn. I looked pretty darn cute—if I do say so myself. Winky. Wink. My hair was AMAZING. Just the right “BIG.”

At this point: I need to tell Y’all we’ve had nothing but rainy and dark days for what seems like well over a month. Last Friday and Saturday were quite scary—weather-wise. Lots of hard rain. Lots of wind. Cold COLD COLD air. (Well, cold for Texans.) I’d hoped I could get to said Brunch and make a quick visit to my parents’ home for an hour-ish before I headed West late afternoon to see My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH), Buddy Boo Bear and Hunter the Cat.

When I was approximately 15 minutes from my destination, I hydroplaned on the freeway. I wasn’t going fast—at all. I couldn’t. Because I couldn’t see three feet in front of my car. I pulled off and promptly texted my precious friend, Christy (The Queen of All  Class of l971 Reunions), that I was turning around and going home. Then I texted TLC. Finally, I called MSH, almost in tears, to say I was white-knuckling it to our place immediately.

I got home at 1:00 p.m. after pulling over twice for fifteen minutes each time. (I should have been home no later than 12:15, by the way.) I watched FOOLS fly by me—doing 70-80 miles an hour—and many other cautious drivers doing anywhere between 45 and 55 miles an hour. I cursed them. I prayed. I cursed some more. I prayed from more. I bargained. I begged. I cursed and cursed.

I cannot imagine that every person I saw driving at a dangerously fast speed in that horrid weather had any reason to behave that way other than to just get where they were going as fast as possible. (Yes, perhaps some of them had an emergency. Or were sick. Or needed a restroom. Certainly not all of them. No way.) To hell with the rest of us. THEY were the important people. What they had going on was a million times more important than anything the rest of us had going on—like…oh, I don’t know…living to see another hour or day or month or year.

I made it home. Truly grateful to be alive. Sad I’d missed my friends. Glad I’d not caused anyone else on the road to have an accident. (Oh—and I forgot to tell Y’all—I saw at least four wrecks that were NOT GREAT. Cars smashed up. Many MANY emergency vehicles. In three of them? An 18-wheeler was involved. No judgment—stating facts.)

The rest of my week? Sheesh. Every day it was something else. At the risk of Y’all deciding you no longer want to read about this whiny Senior Citizen’s daily issues, I’ll leave you with this: It was not my most fun week. We all have weeks we’d like to forget, don’t we? Months? Yikes. Sometimes maybe years. If we’re lucky and determined and somewhat patient? We survive. By the Grace of Almighty God—we survive.

Here’s hoping each of Y’all have a Sweet Sunday and a WONDERFUL (NEW!) Week! Don’t drive too fast, okay? Especially in dangerous weather. Be kind. Be wise. Be grateful. Don’t simply survive—THRIVE.

Smooches and Hugs,

ELC

...let it go...

Well, apparently North Central Texas has decided to just skip Fall and head straight to Winter. Y'all. It is currently 41 degrees at my house. I'm frozen. However, I refuse to complain. (Well, I might complain just a tidbit later in the post.) This weather and this season? They are my JAM. I love them. I'm literally wearing unicorn flannel jammy pants (compliments of ELC who has a matching pair!) and a Christmas tee. Bring. It. On.

ELC texted me this pic last week. Isn't it just LOVELY? (I'm sorry I don't remember where she saw this so I cannot give proper credit.) However, it got me thinking about several things I'd like to "let go of" right now. I think it's been awhile since I've compiled one of my lists, right? Humour me, okay?

I'm ready to LET GO of...

1. Kindergarten germs. OMG. In five days, we've gone from conjunctivitis to a double-ear infection to a viral throat infection. There isn't enough acetaminophen or wine to make this tolerable.

2. Rain. I know. I know. I should never be tired of wonderful, life-giving rain. We spend an incredible amount of time in a constant drought around Texas. We beg, plead and pray for rain. It has not stopped raining in, what now feels like, 40 DAYS. I'm over it. I'm over muddy, wet dog paws, general dreariness and broken umbrellas. Over. It. Now. I apologize. Unfortunately, this is my truth.

3. Grocery shopping. I hereby nominate myself as the worst grocery shopper. EVER. Amazon Prime? I rock it. Online shopping for birthdays and holidays? I am a PRO. Grocery shopping? Uh, no. Big FAIL. I can't meal-plan. I forget my lists. (I realize I should simply keep one on my phone. That's apparently too obvious.) I forget, every trip, the "most important item on my forgotten list." I'm the worst. Jesus, fix it. PLEASE.

4. Drug companies not being required to test and label their products gluten-free. I spent ONE HOUR at CVS this morning, after LL's doctor's appointment (they got her in first thing and we were rockin' it all the way home to jammies and the couch once we'd picked up her script), arguing with a tech, discussing options with the pharmacist and calling the manufacturer of the Amoxicillin she was prescribed. It's something most don't have to ever consider. Before Little Leighton's Celiac diagnosis, I had ZERO idea gluten could be in anything and everything. Children need antibiotics. They don't need the extra hassle, worry and concern over what is safe to ingest. I do use a website (www.glutenfreedrugs.com) that I could not live without. It has helped me tremendously over these past four years. I'm sincerely grateful for it. However, I need our government to mandate labeling. Like, yesterday.

5.  Two words: Potty. Training. Help. Jesus, fix this, too. PLEASE. PLEASE.

It is not lost on me how genuinely trivial most of these are. They are. They are my struggles at this time in my day. My life. I seriously know how blessed I am to have:

1. A warm, dry home.

2. Generally healthy children.

3. Health insurance to defer much of the expenses we've recently incurred.

4. Money to buy food for my family.

5. Sweet family and friends who support me and my family through their gifts of time, kindnesses, and greatly-appreciated suggestions. Family and friends who love us and pray for us. I am blessed. We are all blessed.

Little Leighton is about to put on a play for me and Belle. I think I'll head downstairs and make a hot, cup of peppermint tea. I hope y'all are warm and dry, wherever you are!

Happy Fall/Winter! LOL.

you can never have too many doctors...

So I was down for the count over the weekend. I had five WONDERFUL friends over for a late breakfast Friday morn. There were OODLES of laughter. I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to be friends with some of the most amazing women on Planet Earth.

Early Friday evening, I realized I felt kind of yucky. By late that night, I could feel a lowgrade fever making me chilled. Saturday and Sunday I spent in bed or on our davenport. I had chicken soup. I drank LOTS o’ liquids. Fortunately, I never got worse than I was on Friday evening. By Sunday evening? I knew I was overcoming whatever had invaded my old body.

I took the opportunity to start watching many of the new television shows I’d recorded.

Let me say this: The Voice? Dancing With the Stars? Dancing With the Stars—Juniors? OH. MY. HEART. I simply could not love and need these television shows MORE. TLC has not watched either in several seasons. It blows my mind. I feel frustrated for her because I sincerely believe she’s missing out on fantastic entertainment. (Are they political? Perhaps. Are they rigged? Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t care. Watching the talent and determination of the contestants on both shows makes me extremely joyful.) Yes. Yes, I cry. Every week. During both shows. Now I get to do it with the “Junior” dance contestants. Sigh. Those kids are INCREDIBLE. Period. End of story. The professionals and the “celebrities:” MAGNIFICENT.

As those of you who have been reading our blog for many years understand: If I recommend a TV show—it is often the kiss of death for said show. Which makes me feel horrid. Yet I cannot contain myself about these new series I’m about to share with y’all!

Each of these TV recommendations are, IMHO, creative. Clever. Interesting. Touching. The comedies are SO FREAKIN’ funny. To moi. The dramas? Tears fall from my eyes. Alot. Naturally.SHEESH. (As if the sadness of this world is not enough to keep me stressed.) I’m not going into details about each show. I think you should Bing them and see if they sound like they’re worth your time. These are my unsolicited suggestions. Teeheehee.

My NEW FAVOURITE SHOWS:

God Friended Me. CBS. Sundays. I loved it from the first few minutes! I will tell you the main character is an atheist. His father is a minister. I sincerely hope by now y’all know my faith is strong. This show does not offend me in any way. It intrigues me. I’ve watched two now. I’m hooked.

The Cool Kids. Fox. Fridays. The pilot? My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH) watched it with me and we were crying tears of pure, unmitigated joy. Yes, it’s about oldish peeps. (The cast is people you’re familiar with and that are major talented.) It takes place in an assisted living home. So I suppose anyone under the age of…oh…50…might not be as tickled as we were/are at this comedy. If you’re a “Senior?” Check it out. It’s About Us, Peeps. Either the now "us."Or someday "us." It is a hoot.

Last Man Standing. Fox. Fridays. Used to be on ABC but was cancelled. After an uprising from fans, Fox picked it up. I’ve always regretted not finding it until it’s third season. I’m beyond happy it’s back. There was a daughter that didn’t return. My niece, JP, and I are going to have a bit of a challenge getting used to the new actor that plays Mandy. She’s lovely. She’s so totally opposite of the first one it’s unnerving. And yet…this show was and will always be one of my all-time favs.

I Feel Bad. NBC. Thursdays. Amy Poehler is an executive producer. During the two shows I’ve watched, I’ve had to back it up—I miss too much of the dialogue because I’m LOLing. It’s charming. A family I can truly love.

Young Sheldon. CBS. Thursdays. Not new. Y’all have heard me say how much I treasure this show. I don’t even really watch The Big Bang Theory. I have seen it in the past. Not lately. But Sheldon? As a child? In Texas? With Annie Potts as his grandmother? THE BEST.

Single Parents. ABC. Wednesdays. In watching the pilot, I’m not going to lie: I didn’t think I liked it. I decided to try to the second week’s show. Am I happy I did! It is hystertical, y’all. Again—IMHO. Worth a watch. Give it two chances, okay?

TLC and I’ve been faithful—and I mean FAITHFULLY LOYAL—Grey’s Anatomy fans. From the very first show. And even when we had those nights where one or both of us said: Nope. No more. Too much. Not doing it. Can’t do another Thursday night...we’ve never stopped. This Is Us? Oh. My. Goodness. UNBELIEVABLY and tremendously amazing.

Here are two more dramas I’m going to need to watch:

A Million Little Things. NBC. Wednesdays. Wow. Oh what a terrible web we weave when first we practice to deceive. This drama has it all. Beautiful/handsome actors. A somewhat mysterious plot. Intrigue. Shame. Guilt. Humor. Everything.

New Amsterdam. NBC. Tuesdays. Yep—another medical show. (I do want to tell y’all I’ve watched The Good Doctor a few times and I appreciate it. A lot.) Can I watch too many hospital shows with sad and scary illnesses/graphic surgeries? I was thinking that answer is a big YES. I must limit medical shows. (I also can believe I have the illness/illnesses being treated. I became an undiagnosed hypochondriac watching Dr. Kildare, Dr. Ben Casey and Dr. Marcus Welby in my early years. They all made me quite certain I had the Illness Du Jour. I was thinking NO to New Amsterdam. Now I’ve watched two. I’m hooked. Completely. COMPLETELY.

Should I be reading books? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. (And I do. Trust me. I do.) But y’all, I need my TV time. Thank our lucky stars we have DVRs. Right? Because I don’t have to schedule my life around these programs. I can watch them when I’m searching for escape. Giggles. Wisdom. Etc. I’ve been a TV addict since I was a small child. My TV Time is critical to The Value of My Life. Not saying it’s healthy or smart of me to feel this way or spend so much of my time on a couch. Simply being honest and real. And acknowledging the talents of writers, producers, and actors. (Also recognizing there are a lot of television shows and movies I wouldn’t/couldn’t/shouldn’t watch or recommend. And won’t. I’ll leave those to others.)

Wishing each of you a week full of GOOD STUFF. Books. Television. MUSIC. Art.  But mostly—lovely, quality time with family and friends.

Gotta scoot…it’s a rainy/cloudy/dreary day in North Central Texas. Heading to my most comfy chair to READ. Yes—READ! Promise. Winky. Wink.

ELC

p.s.--There are a few more shows that still have not aired but have attracted my curiosity. I'll try to follow-up on those. Also, let's hope at least half of these shows aren't cancelled. The guilt becomes hard for me to bear. 

FALLelujah!

Yep. It's still 80-plus-degrees here. Yesterday, I wore a long-sleeve shirt in protest. Of course, the only thing that happened was: I got hot. UGH. Though I seriously have zero-trust in our local meteorologists, I'm hoping they're right, and it will at least cool down into the 70s by next week.

Regardless, my pumpkin decor has been up since Labor Day. I've retired all of my "summer attire." We currently have three bags of candy corn in our pantry. And, because I love ALL-THE-PUMPKIN-THINGS so much, this is also the time of year where my husband asks nightly at dinner:

"Does this dish have pumpkin in it?"

LOL. I've been known to sneak pumpkin into pasta dishes and soup. There's no shame in my game.

However, this may come as a shock to some, BUT: I don't particularly like Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Blasphemy, I know. My local coffee shop has an "Autumnal Spice" Latte that is heavenly. But the Starbucks variety? Not my jam. I was discussing this the other day with someone, and they made a DELIGHTFUL suggestion:

Add cinnamon to my coffee grounds before I brew it.

GENIUS, I tell you. I shake maybe 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon. It makes my coffee extra cozy. I love it. Y'all must try it soon.

I hope you're loving your October, thus far! This is my happy season.

Happy Fri-YAY!

sweater...no sweater? lawdy...

If you live in Texas or have ever lived in Texas, you know the true meaning of this meme. (And, by the way, it’s not original to me and/or TLC. A fellow Texan and friend of mine posted it on Facebook. So I don’t know who to give credit to for how funny this is to Texans. And, yet, how not funny. You know?)

September? Not an easy month for me and My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH). Although I enjoyed sharing my gratitude for 40 years of marriage to MSH, I was not sorry to see it go. Long story. Let's bypass it. Yes—I don’t like how fast Time zooms by me. But, seriously? I was more than ready for a fresh start with a new month. Sheesh.

October is here! Woo Hoo and Yippee! TLC’s favourite month. Hands (and pumpkin lattes) down. Winky. Wink. We have no plan and/or theme for this month's blogposts. I’ve suggested to TLC that we simply Go with the Flow. See what happens. Throw Caution to the Wind! Inotherwords…PUNT.

Hope Y’all have a Wonderful Week—wherever in this World Y’all are! Be cool. Be kind. Be sweet. Be fair. Be ready for spontaneous and, as of this moment, mysterious posts! (Wow. That sounds almost spooky, right?)

smooch,

ELC