Things I Like About June

  • The bright show of my perennials. They are at their finest!
  • Hosting two librarians from Kazakhstan, through Sister Cities.
  • Having the Grandkids here for a week.
  • Viewing my son’s new house, in Buda, TX.
  • Enjoying “The Classical Mystery Tour” at the Concerts in the Garden.
  • Filling the new planter, that my hubby made me, with lots of flowers.
  • We’re going to my Grandson’s birthday party, on Saturday. He’ll be 7.
  • Grilling burgers outside, and entertaining the neighbors.
  • Going to the neighborhood pool.
  • Planning a few trips for the upcoming months.

Life is really good. How is your life going? It’s starting to get hot. Gardening and grandkids seems to be my theme. It’s time to start purging again. What did you do in June?

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Toodles,

Grandma Ruddell

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

Feeling Fancy and Pampered!!

We’re back home!!!   I have returned home from a 10 day vacation, and am just now getting back into the swing of things.  We went to Florida, to spend a few days in our time share.  We didn’t drive past the places that had houses demolished, but along Highway 10, there was so much devastation of trees.  It was amazing.  You wonder how much force can pull trees up by the roots!

We decided to drive from Texas to Florida, and see things along the way.  Ha, ha, ha.  We spent so much time driving, that we didn’t stop to see a lot.  We did stop at  Fort Parker, in Texas.  That was quite interesting.

Another fun thing to see was the US Alabama.   There were a lot of planes there also.  My husband was in Vietnam, and he pointed out some of the things he remembered.

We stopped in Cocoa, Florida to see my friend, Cindy Griswold and husband.  They just recently moved to Florida.  They have a great house and look so refreshed and good.  Retirement and a new grandchild seems to agree with them.

Ft. Lauderdale was our final destination, and it was beautiful weather while we were there.  The thing about time shares is that while you’re there, they’ll try to get you to upgrade.  We spent about 2 1/2 hrs. listening and repeatedly saying no thanks.  But we also did some sight-seeing.  While on a famous street, by the river, we sat down for ice cream.  Up above us, were two helicopters in stationary position.  Someone mentioned that wasn’t a very good sign.  As we sat, eating our ice cream, a bomb squad, three police cars, and a fire truck went speeding by.  It turned out that there was a suspicious package not far from us.  Wow!  Another day we went to a nice Italian restaurant in Weston, and our waiter was so cool.  He was Italian, but had lived in the US for a number of years.  Think charming and lots of talking with his hands.

That was also on election day….what Florida THOUGHT was their election day.  We thought maybe it was an unhappy voter.  Florida’s election was so close that they are still counting votes.

We have come back home and are back in the swing of things.  Our church has a big Veteran’s Day celebration every year.  Dick participated in that , wearing his Vietnam army uniform that he still fits into.  Now…we’re preparing for Thanksgiving.  We’ll go to Tulsa for the weekend following T-Day, to see all of the Ruddell nieces, nephews and greats.  I’m hoping to get all of my Christmas shopping for them done by then, so I can take the gifts with me.  We won’t be seeing them for Christmas.    Any occasion with them involves lots of wild card playing, and eating lots of food.

Today, I’m feeling pampered and spoiled.  Linda is here, cleaning my house.  Oooh la la!!!  She’s doing such a good job, and it looks and smells so much better.  I haven’t had anyone clean my house in 30 years…and then it was just a time or two.  What luxury! Of course, I had to go around and pick up a lot of stuff before she came.  She’s going to come once a month.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?  Are you joining your family for a big dinner?   Is a turkey in the works?  Or are you missing a loved one and having a hard time this year?  I hope you have a nice holiday.

If you enjoyed this, hit the like button below.  And remember to subscribe to my site.  Leave a comment!

Grandma Ruddell

September Happenings

September….wow…lots of things happening here.  It has been a month of travelling, parties, grandkids, dogs, and a smelly carpet.  My piano students have started back to school, and to piano lessons.  They continue to be a delight.

The last week of August, going into the first week of September, we were on vacation.  We spent a week in Gatlinburg, and then three days in New Orleans.  We were at a resort, that had several units.  Our particular unit was brand new, because that unit plus three more they were building, had been destroyed in the big fire that Gatlinburg had, a couple of years ago.  Gatlinburg is rebuilding, and you have to look hard to find burnt out homes and trees.  There was a little gurgling brook going alongside our unit.  On the way there, we stopped to see Loretta Lynn’s house.

Gatlinburg is a little bit like driving through the main drag in Branson, Missouri.  Very congested, to say the least.  And it was Labor Day….some kids were having their last big hoorah before school started.  Once the weekend was over, it was less crowded.  The cool thing is that at the end of the main street, the Smoky Mountain National Park started. My hubby loved the park, and he hiked part of the Appalachian Trail.  When we drove, slowly, over the mountain to Cherokee, the road was the only main road going across, and hemmed in by beautiful trees.  My claustrophobia really kicked in.  I was glad to get back to civilization.   One day, we did see a bear, and that was exciting.

Other things we did included going into Pigeon Forge, to the Island.  We ate at Paula Deen’s restaurant, and shopped at her store.  There were lots of fun shops, and I got a start on my Christmas shopping.  We also went to Asheville, North Carolina to see the Biltmore estate.  What a place.

In New Orleans, Dick fulfilled another thing on his bucket list.  He visited the WW II Museum.  I spent some time at the Harrah’s Casino, losing my money.  Sigh.  New Orleans is always hopping.

I had a lot of Mystery Shopping this month.  I’ve gotten very good at picking out good TV’s and computers, and knowing whether or not the sales people are doing a good job when trying to convince me to buy.

My Granddaughter, Libby, turned three years old.  We had her birthday party here.  They brought their new dog, which is a Labradoodle.  Bill, our Black Lab, was rather jealous and they had a few territorial fights.  Bill grabbed not only his own big chew treat, but also the other dog’s treat, and gobbled them down as fast as he could.  Then they had some other treats.  So…here’s the plan for the party:

  •  Grill burgers and dogs outside
  • Kids will play outside in Sandbox
  • Open gifts
  • As kids play inside, adults will watch a big game on TV.

What could possibly go wrong with that????

  • It rained.  We had to cook the food inside.
  • Kids were running around and underfoot.
  • Libby opened her gifts….yeah!
  • During the gift opening, Bill got sick….at least 6 times on various carpets throughout the house.
  • The TV went out on us, and we couldn’t watch the game.

Lord help us, it was one disaster after another.  And I tried to clean the carpets from vomit and pee, with a urine/vomit out carpet cleaner.  It totally stunk for a week or two.  I was so embarrassed!

My good friend, Gayle Landers, was in town for a few weeks.  She and her hubby moved to S. Korea a couple of years ago.  They are planning on moving back in another year and a half.  So while she was in town, I invited all of our Punch Bunch ladies, from church, to a luncheon for her.  It was a salad/dessert luncheon and everyone brought something.  My husband couldn’t fathom a meal without meat!  LOL

We had a fun time.  Lots of catching up was happening. After several ladies had left, there was a small group left.  We were all laughing so hard, and telling crazy stories.  (Which direction do you begin, when shaving your legs?)  All of a sudden, the doorbell rang, and it was the Bug Man, come to do the quarterly spraying.  He said “What is going on???  I could hear y’all clear down the street?”  I told him to beware, we were telling a lot of stories.  He just shook his head, and went about his business.

That was on a Wednesday.  On Friday, of that week, my sister-in-law, Lu and hubby,  Cliff Mark,  came up for the weekend.  It was our weekend to play Euchre…all weekend!   Dick and his sister, Lu are one team, and Cliff and I are the other team.  It was so fun.  It was also Lu’s birthday.  So we celebrated that.

They left on Sunday, and on Monday, I hosted Ladies’ Poker.  It’s such a fun group of ladies!    Then I had a few days of normal activity.  I made a reservation for us and three other couples to go to dinner, on Friday.  Our S. Korean friends were back and ready to see old neighbors.  I thought about who I invited, and made the reservation for 6 at 6 pm.  When we got there, and waited for our table, I counted again, and realized I forgot to count us.  I think my brain had been in overload for a couple of weeks!

This week, I’ve relaxed.  Tomorrow is my dear daughter’s birthday.  Tomorrow evening, Dick is going with a bunch of guys to San Antonio.  This is their annual golf trip, to play three games of golf over the weekend.  I must admit, I’m looking forward to some alone time.  I have my plans!!!!  Winstar, here I come!!

How has your September been?  Feeling some cooler weather?  This may be a fluke day, but it’s nice.   I’m still thinking about those folks in North and South Carolina, and along the coast, with the flooding.  What a tragedy.!

Toodles,

Grandma Ruddell

10 Things I Love About August!

I know….we’re only about a week into August, but it’s a great month.  Here are 10 Things I Love About August.

  • My birthday is August 15th.
  • This month, I turn 66, so will start getting Social Security next month.  Woohoo!
  • My cute grandson, Isaac, turns two on August 13th.  We’ll celebrate his birthday this weekend.
  • My brother’s birthday is tomorrow, August 9th.
  • I stayed at WinStar casino last night and they gave me a Corner Suite.  Ta-Da!
  • We’re going on vacation at the end of the month.
  • Driving through Waxahachie today, and seeing all of the beautiful houses.
  • Rain, maybe, this weekend.
  • Seeing the round bales of hay, in the fields.  It always looks artistic to me.
  • Seeing all of the Back to School sales….it makes me miss my teaching days.

What are you enjoying this month???   Leave me a comment (look at the side of the post.) and Click on the Like button if you liked this post.

Grandma Ruddell