Category: lifestyle

The Spring of Floods and Flowers

Wow….this has been quite the Spring! There have been floods all over the country, and I’ve seen several of them. And, I don’t know if it’s because of all the rain, or because we cut down our photinia trees last year, but my flowers are doing better than ever. Love it!

My beautiful Rose of Sharon bush.

I’m blessed to live in Texas. We don’t have flooding around my area. Our rivers have been high. Over Memorial Day, I went to Clinton, Missouri area, to a family reunion. My aunt lives up on a ridge, above Truman Reservoir. When they first moved there, we encountered a lot of ticks. So we’ve named it Tick Ridge. It’s always so fun to see everyone at the reunion. It’s about the only time I see some of my cousins.

This year, we had a chili cook-off. Four of us made our own unique chili. Now, I’m known for my chili. I won a chili cook-off at our church, a few years ago. (Of course, the winner was determined by the most money in their money jar. If someone liked your chili, they put money in your jar. It was determined by how much the jars weighed. My hubby decided nickels weighed more, so he went home and grabbed all of my nickels, and put them in my jar. Yep, I won.)

Anyway, at our family reunion, I made my famous Yankee Chili. I find Texas chili to be really different. I like beans, onions, Rotel tomatoes and green peppers in my chili, with lots of spices. As I was making my chili, my aunt and cousins were watching me. (I was being Julia Child.) When I got to my spices, I couldn’t find them. As I started to go out the door, the spices started coming out of the pockets of my aunt and cousins. Brother!!! It turned out that the others were sabotaging each other. The winning chili was Hawaiian Chili, and my cousin put flowers in front of the crockpot to sway the judges. Another cousin had given one of the judges fresh cookies, earlier in the day.

Jan Jones, trying to sway the judges with her flowers!

I went to Missouri by way of Oklahoma and Kansas. I stayed all night with my brother and wife, at our farm outside of Cherryvale, KS. When I was ready to return to Texas, the Verdigris River was out of its banks. Tulsa had terrible flooding in parts of town. I can’t believe all of the flooding and tornados that have hit our country!!

The Verdigris River, in Independence, Kansas

Today, we took our grandson, Isaac, to the neighborhood pool. He had a blast. At first, he hung on to Boppa, and then he ventured out to test the waters. Boppa taught him to splash me. Blah.

Isaac and Boppa at the pool.

Tonight, my piano students have their Spring Recital. Luckily, they decided to practice this last two weeks. Two weeks ago, I told my hubby that we should call it the “I Don’t Really Give A Shit Recital.” I have the awards ready, and just have a few things to get done before the recital. Love these kids. I have a bunch of silly awards to give out, in addition to the usual music awards.

Our weekend is totally full. We’re heading to Austin, for a weekend of cards, and seeing our kids new house, in Buda. Then we’ll bring home our two other grandkids, to stay for a few days.

What is your summer looking like? Do you have a lot of plans? Please leave me a message, on this post. Hope you decide to subscribe to the Blog, and press LIKE if you enjoyed this post.

Happy Summer,

Grandma Sherry

Things I Love About May

Check out my blog post: Things I Love About May.

Preparing for a big car showdown!
  • The greening up of the grass and trees.
  • Flowers everywhere!
  • Taking walks with my dog, Bill.
  • Having outdoor play time with my grandkids.
  • Seeing relatives at my niece’s Graduation.
  • My upcoming,annual,family reunion in Missouri.
  • Having all three grandkids here at once.
  • Meeting new ministers and organist at our church.
  • Having my close friend move back from S. Korea.
  • Perusing the Spring Gardening magazines.
  • Seeing progress of my piano students.
  • Purging and getting ready for the church garage sale.
  • Finding a $50 bill that I thought I’d lost.

What do you like about May and Spring time?? Are you being deluged by the rain? Leave me a comment, and press LIKE if you enjoyed this post.

Grandma Sherry

It’s Been A Busy Week!

What did we use this doggy for? Read on to find out!

Wow! This past week has been a busy, fun-filled (for the most part) week. I spent several days getting ready for Easter. I set the table the day before. Took out my Ham from the freezer to thaw, and it wasn’t a ham…it was a TURKEY!! So we had Easter Turkey. LOL

Our daughter and hubby, and their sweet son, Isaac, came for dinner on Easter. Nathan’s parents were also here, and a friend of Jessica’s and her little girl. The kids played together and we had an egg hunt for the kids. It’s so delightful to watch a little one’s excitement about finding an egg!

Wow! Found an Easter Egg!

Saturday, I received a letter reminding me that I needed to pay my ticket fine, or appear in court on Monday. I had received a ticket for going through a red light, when I recently went to Waco. I didn’t even think about when it was due. So here it was: I either pay by Monday, or have another $100 in addition to my $240. AAAGGGH! I was ready to drive to Waco on Monday. then we discovered we could pay it online. Halleluiah! I’M NOT A CRIMINAL!

The best news I received this week was that my A1C had come down from 6.8, six months ago, to 6.3. That’s a diabetic measurement. I’m so happy to be down!

Isaac and I went to the Happy Lark to play. It’s always a fun place for him. They have so many things to play with. It really feeds the kids’ imaginations with possibilities.

I’m King of the world!

We always take our snack with us, in the doggy treat container. The other kids think it’s something to play with. It’s pretty fun. Just pull its ears out, and then open the top. We got this at Ikea.

Our doggy snack box….a favorite with little kids.
Just pull up his ears and open him up.

The opened snack doggy.

I think a highlight of my week was singing, twice, the “Halleluiah Chorus” at church. What an uplifting song to end a glorious Easter service!

What’s been the highlight of your week? Did you serve Turkey for Easter? Did the Easter Bunny come to your house? Leave me a comment and tell me about your week.

Grandma Sherry

There Were No Heads. What To Do???

Remember this skateboard??? What did it have in common with the art I bought? Read on to find out.

Oh my goodness!!! I went to the Main Street Arts Festival, in Ft. Worth, looking for something funky. I usually buy a head for my head collection. Alas… there were no heads!! The really fun, funky things were out of my budget. But, oh yes, I found something. In fact, I found two things. I’m adding a little class to my life, and inspiration to get my garden in great shape.

In a way, I added a head. I bought a skate board from an artist that hand draws his art on skate boards (without wheels). He is from New Orleans, and had all kinds of great art. He was also working on an original work, while waiting on people. I was so impressed with him.

Hanging on my wall, in my entryway.

The other thing I bought, was for my garden. It is a pole with a beautiful stained glass insert. It was made by Roger Mathews, from Wichita, KS. Mine was one of his smaller ones. He had some really big ones displayed. I really worried, last night, with the rain and wind, how all of those displays held up. Yesterday was the first time they ever cancelled because of weather conditions.

I love going to the Arts Festival, every year, and finding something fun and new. I’m honored to have things in my collection from these artists. I always get some great comments from people about some of the things I have purchased.

SPEAKING OF GREAT ARTISTS!

I had the great honor of being invited to my former piano student’s Senior voice recital, at Baylor University. Yesterday was Zane Freemyer’s recital, and he did an excellent job! I was so proud that I had helped him with his start in music. He is graduating with a Bachelor of Church Music. After his recital, the family also had a reception for him. There was lots of good food, and fun decorations. Zane was so gracious, going around and talking to everyone. I wish him much luck in the future.

I hope your weekend has been great. I have my two grandkids here, and we are going to go to Palm Sunday Services at our church. There is usually a parade of children waving their palms, with Jesus riding in on a real donkey. I think they will enjoy that.

Just a last thought…..if you are going to run a red light, don’t do that when sitting in the waiting traffic, at the head of the line, is a policeman. Oh my. I have a big fine, and am really lucky no one drove into me. I was frazzled, trying to find the right road.

I’m finishing this post on Monday evening. I’m very sad to hear about Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris. We visited it years ago, and it was such a beautiful , majestic place.

Please press LIKE if you enjoyed this post. Also, join my subscriptions. You can do that at the end of your phone page, or up at the beginning of the post, on your desktop.

Grandma Sherry

My Hubby Just Left Me!

Did that attract your attention??? LOL Well, my hubby DID just leave me for a week. He will be staying downtown Ft. Worth, to help with the Main Street Arts Festival. If you’ve never attended one of these festivals, you should! You’ll be in for a treat. We go, every year, and I try to buy something fun and funky. (Bring lots of money…it’s a juried art festival and it’s rather expensive.) There will be concerts, food trucks, and many things happening. The festival starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday. Here are a couple of the things I’ve bought in the past years.

One of the funky heads from my head collection.

Speaking of art…..remember in a post, a few posts back, that I mentioned that my grandkids had been here for a few days? They made a big jail, out of a box, and had a great time decorating it with black magic marker? Well. When I entered the laundry room, and shut the door, I found some incriminating artwork. Check it out! Nope…it was permanent marker…it won’t come off. At least it wasn’t somewhere in a highly visible part of the house. I love my grandkids….I love my grandkids….I love my grandkids……..

Gee…wonder who drew this?

I spent a few days with my two oldest grandkids, while their parents were doing other things. We had a lot of fun. They played with their dog. They styled my hair. It rained so we went to McDonald’s to eat and play, only to discover their McDonald’s didn’t have a play place. WHAT???!!! It was fun to go to their schools and walk them home.

On the way home, I stopped at Winstar for a little distraction, and to help out the Native Americans with their Education funds. I was down to my last $20, and I put it in a machine, as I was about to go out the door. Spent 68c, and got a bonus. It paid me $970. You probably heard me screaming and yelling, didn’t you?? LOL I stayed longer, and went home with more than that. I was so happy.

I’m gradually working on our garden and yard. It’s a mess. I did paint my pots, to add a little color. Now for the weeding and planting. How are you coming along with your gardens and yard? Leave me a comment and tell me what’s happening with you. And don’t forget to subscribe. Scroll all the way to the bottom of your page of posts, on your phone, and you’ll find the subscription thing.

Grandma Sherry