Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had time to spend the day with family and friends and gave thanks for all the blessings that you have. This year, some of us may be experiencing what we consider to be "hard times" but even in the midst of it we still have so much to be grateful for.

We had a great time, since my son was able to come up from Texas and spend the day with us and didn't have to return to "Hookem Horns" land until today, Black Friday!
He had a great time with his nieces and nephews, teaching them how to use a metal detector. Kept them occupied for at least a couple of hours, which is saying a lot since they all ranged in age from 5 to 11 and the attention spans vary so much at those ages!

He also got a chance to see the newest addition to the family, little Allison!

My daughter truly amazes me! I can't believe that she felt up to entertaining about 12-14 people at her home just 21 days after giving birth to a baby! I did a lot of the grocery shopping for the get-together but she did most of the preparation and cooking! I did go out to the house on Wednesday and helped her get the house ready and prepared a few dishes but the majority of it she did herself.

From a great grandmother (who still drives by the way) who came down from Oklahoma City, two grandmothers and a grandfather, a brother, a sister and two brothers in law, two rambunctious two year olds, a five year old, two 9 year olds and an eleven year old and a three week old baby who was in the midst of all this, who either slept, ate, or was quiet the entire time! What a crew!

We gathered together to say a blessing before we sat down to eat. As I listened to my son-in-law, his words really touched my heart as he gave thanks not only for the food that was there to nourish our bodies, but thanks for being able to join together in love and fellowship with our families.

I looked at the faces of those of us who have many years of living behind us now, our wrinkled faces that have seen so much history in the making over the years of our lives. Then I looked at my children who are now in the midst of raising their own families, going through similar experiences that we, the older generation, went through, even though they are different to some degree. Then I looked at the faces of my grand children, full of carefree expectations of what lies ahead for them, basically not worrying about tomorrow, only today.

I looked over at Great Grandma, knowing that she had lived during the Great Depression of the 1930's. I so wanted to go over and visit with her, to learn more about what that generation had to go through, but I couldn't disturb her; watching her holding her great granddaughter in her lap, just gazing at this child as if in total wonderment and awe of this blessed child. Little Allison who we are so fortunate to have with us after three months of Heather being on bed rest to keep her from being born too soon. She truly is a miracle child! When you see a moment like that, you realize that whatever you have to struggle to go through, it is all worth it!

So no matter what your situation is at the present time, don't look at what you don't have, look at what you do have. You have your health, your family and friends, the wonderment of a new life and the next generations to follow. Let their excitement and adventure of each new day bring you a sense of encouragement, hope and faith that we can and will overcome all obstacles. That we will see the light at the end of the tunnel before too long and then there will be a rainbow!

Granddaughter Has Arrived

Sorry to be so late on bringing everyone up to date, been a might busy around here lately!

Little Allison Grace has arrived.... all 8 lbs 1 oz of her! She's healthy, got a great set of lungs on her when she is hungry or wet and a very good baby per her mom!

There were many prayers said over this little gal, since she was 23 weeks in the making! My daughter was required to go on bed rest just before all this project started on the house. The Doctor was actually very surprised that she made it to her projected induction date. Delivery went quick and easy and for that we are all thankful and blessed.

I am working now on getting all the little odds and ends done around here that were not in the contracted work. The laundry room has been painted and I am working on the baseboards in the living room. I should have those done this weekend.

The other day when it was so nice out, I went out and scraped down the paint on the patio beams that need to be painted. If weather continues to be nice this next week, I will get that done before winter sets in.

The old utility room out on the patio, where the dryer used to be, has now all been reorganized and is neat and tidy. A good place to put the lawnmower and a bunch of things that can be stored outside.

I am going to take one of the pieces of plywood that is left over and put it up across the rafters in the new laundry room attic access and store some things up there! I am not going to know what to do with all this new found space.

Would you believe I actually hung pictures on the wall in my laundry room? It really makes it feel very cozy in there! I also moved a bunch of my craft supplies out there on shelving, which is great. There are also other shelves out there now too for canned goods for a pantry area and I won't have to use my kitchen cupboards for that any more. There is also room to store big things like the soup pot, crock pot and the electric skillet. What seemed like a really large room has shrunk in size once all the shelves have been put in place and I still have more to go, to be hung on the wall over the washer to store detergent and laundry supplies on.

I also need to work on sanding down the top edge of the bedroom closet door, it is still sticking because of the house settling. It will be nice to be able to shut it and know that I can also get it back open. Gotta love the Oklahoma clay soil, it causes all kinds of settling problems with your house.

The front flower beds are still naked as a jay bird since we pulled out all the ivy that was once again attempting to climb up the front of the house. If I don't hurry up and get some perennial bulbs planted in there before winter sets in, I will have to wait till spring and go from there. I am having a horrible time trying to decide what flowers I want in there. Since I am partial to pink, lavender and purple, I am sure that will be the colors I will pick to go in there against the red brick.

If anyone has some good suggestions of what to plant I would love to hear from you. Central Oklahoma is zone 7A and I love flowers and bushes of all kinds. The front of the house faces North so the flowerbeds get only partial sun in the afternoons. I am looking for plants that I can plant once and forget! I am not one to do annuals.

It's A Wrap!

All the work is done and I have signed the final papers to release the rest of the construction costs of the repairs.

Now I have to finish up my part, which is the painting of the baseboards in the family room area and the patch on the wall in the bathroom where they had to readjust the light switch after installing the GFI outlet.

This may all have to take a backseat for at least a couple of days because my granddaughterr is scheduled to be born tomorrow, November 4th!

Construction Has Been Completed!

It's A Wrap!

All the work is done and I have signed the final papers to release the rest of the construction costs of the repairs.

Now I have to finish up my part, which is the painting of the baseboards in the family room area and the patch on the wall in the bathroom where they had to readjust the light switch after installing the GFI outlet.

This may all have to take a backseat for at least a couple of days because my granddaughter is scheduled to be born tomorrow, November 4th!