Bittersweet

Well folks, it's happened!
Today my mom signed the papers.
The house in New Orleans is sold!

This is a good thing, yet we are all so very sad to let go. I have moved around so much in my life that I guess when we moved there 21 years ago, that house became a constant in my life. After high school, I continued to move around, though as long as my mom and brother remained there, that was "home" to me. Even after I got married, I would catch myself saying "my house" or "our house" when referencing it. I guess other people probably do that too when speaking of their childhood home. It's hard to image that someone else will live there now.

April Shower Brought a Flower

Thursday we had dinner at Genghis Grill with Jeremy and Mandy. They are preparing for their move, so B is hoping to squeeze in some time with his brother before he goes.

I have to say that B and I were very excited about this weekend. Not only because our friend's new baby was coming, but because for the first time in a very long time, we had no plans!!! Don't get me wrong, we like having things to do, but sometimes it sure is nice to have no prior arrangements, and to just make it up as we go along.

Friday brought the arrival of Becky's family's new addition. Isn't she beau-ti-ful?!

I had to let B hold her too. Boo! Hehe!
Tiny toes. Soooo cute!
Saturday we had dinner at Texas Road House with Lisa, Jeremy, Mandy, and Nana. And we ran into David and Maria while we were there.

Unfortunately, Sunday B ended up having to do something for work, but by 4pm, he'd had enough. So, we made a trip to Blockbuster and got ice cream at Marble Slab (yum!). My last three rentals, that I turned in on Sunday, were all bombs. Heartbreak Kid, Someone to Eat Cheese With (independent-about as dumb as the name), and Margot at The Wedding (depressing and I'm not sure there was ever actually a wedding, I zoned out). I sure am getting tired of bad movies. It has actually become a chore to find something worth renting these days. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised seeing as there's rarely anything worth seeing at the theater anymore. I feel like I have had this conversation on here before, if so, sorry. Guess, I'm just frustrated because I used to enjoy watching movies. I suppose, it's not only that movies have gone down hill, but also that I have gotten choosier and don't want to waste time on one I don't enjoy. Ah, well, such is life.....

Oh, and this was a big weekend for Harley. Our Spring time yard bunny has returned - and Harley does so much enjoy a good rabbit chasing.

No sleep till....

Just thought I would note that it's 3am and there are 3 people and a dog in this house right now and the dog's the only one sleeping. B and Tom are up working and I'm, well, just up cause I'm me.

I'm Just a Girl...

Tuesday, April 22nd
Had a nice lunch with the girls today. After, I stopped to get air in my tires. I've been needing to do it, especially because it uses more fuel when your air is low. I certainly don't want to waste good fuel, since due to the prices, I can only assume that they have started putting gold flakes into it. My mom called to say she was at a dr.'s appointment in the area and wanted to see a movie or something after. So, I stopped by the two theaters so see what was playing and the times, but there was nothing that I wanted to see. I went to Market Street to walk around a bit until she was done with her appointment, which of course, included Borders bookstore. Even though I have been on a reading hiatus lately, I picked up a discounted book. From what I gathered from the description, it's about a woman that doesn't want kids, then at 34, she changes her mind. It sounded like a book I can definitely relate to. After the book store, I met my mom and we went to Garden Ridge for a while and then we went to eat some Mexican food.

A walk through my garden

Well, I've pretty much given up on planting in my yard. I'm just sticking with the few things that will grow for me. The only new thing that I planted this year were the bluebonnets two weeks ago, and so far, so good. Otherwise I have stuck to a few potted plants - my new lemon tree, my tomato bush, and an odd little plant called Fuchsia. I was very happy to see a few of my old plants return to bloom this spring.

Note: I don't mean to bore you, but I want to keep a record of my plants, so I can compare next year. So here goes.....

Indian Hawthorn - bloommed for a few weeks in March - done now

Azalia - bloomed for a few weeks in March- done now

Old Lemon tree with barely any leaves on it (R) - that I only got 2 lemons from in 3 years and am bitter about (lol) - and new lovely blooming Lemon tree (L), oh, and Harley of course!

Tiny little lemons on the new one - we'll see if they grow into anything, seeing as this is the wrong season for them to be popping up. I've been keeping an eye on the big one on the right and it's grown a little. Not much happening with the rest.

Strange thing that grows out of my aloe vera plants every year. It appears that I have 2 different kinds of aloe plants and only one kind gets this thing. It grows several feet tall, then eventually dies and I pull it off. Very strange!
Poison Ivy! - We get lots of this! - Aren't we lucky? - Don't be jealous!
My funny little Fuchsia plant I got 2 weeks ago is currently blooming on my porch. I spotted this in the Walmart plant area and it struck my fancy. I thought I'd give it a try.
. I like the little flowers on it.


Bluebonnets - I've had bluebonnets in this spot the past 2 years, but last year I planted some strange hybrid that made red bluebonnets. Lisa says I can't call them bluebonnets, if they are red - she takes her Texas State Flower very seriously! (lol) So, awhile after I planted them, I found out that you can't put the blues and reds together because they kill each other out. I guess because of the hybrid thing. And sure enough, this year neither came back. So, I'm started over this year and will now be staying away from those red ones - should have listened to Lisa!
--
Two weeks ago - still blooming!

Society Garlic - bought late last year, because as I mentioned in a post last year, the yard guy cut all mine down awhile back. The new ones started blooming a few weeks ago - still going strong!
My beloved Walking Iris! - These are my favorite of my garden flowers. I started them from some plants that I pulled from my mom's garden in New Orleans. They multiply pretty easily and my hope is that they will one day fill a large portion of my side garden.

This was last week - I got a cute little bud!
And this is today! So lovely! I think it looks like a cross between an Iris and an Orchid.

And last, but not least....my new tomato bush. I've had it about 4 weeks now, I believe and it is doing very well so far.

--

The progression of my maters!
March 31st

A few weeks ago

One week ago

Today! - Looky, looky what I got! I pulled the left one Monday and the right one today. I was so worried a bird or something would get to them this weekend while we were out of town, so I brought the bush inside. I put it back outside today so more would ripen.

So pretty! It's ashame I'm gonna hafta eat cha!
Back to work little tomato bush - momma wants a tasty salad!

Weekend #16 - Johnny's Family Reunion

Friday, April 18th

I do some grocery shopping (twice), make brownies, and pack up the car for the weekend. Then we head out to my mom's to await the arrival of Johnny's son, wife, and 3 kids from New Orleans. They have a one year old and 3 year old twins. We spend the night there.

--

Three car seats!

Saturday, April 19th

We all head out bright and early for Milano for Johnny's family's reunion. There's still some wild flowers in bloom, so the ride was nice. We had a good time visiting with everyone.

--

We did some......

Eatin'Fishin' Ridin' - A happy grandpa!
More ridin' - Johnny loves that tractor!Boatin'
Reflectin'
Marshmellowin'
Full Moonin'
Sunday, April 20th

Clean up and pack up to come back home. We stopped by Johnny's cousins house on the way out so the kids could see the cows, but they were in another pasture so we visited with his horses, Joe and Blaze.

Feeding Joe

An Erin sighting - very rare on my camera!
Driving down the road, Johnny spotted some people he knew going by in this mule drawn carriage, so we stopped to chat with them. That thing has a bathroom inside and a bbq pit that hangs off the back that they can fire up as they go down the road when they do trail rides. Then when they stop they can pull down the sides and sleep in it. Now, that's the way to do a trail ride!

Monday, April 14th - Tuesday, April 15th
I went with my mom and Johnny to Milano, Tx. Johnny and his sister have 50 acres there that had belonged to their parents. This weekend we will be having a family reunion there with Johnny's family, so we went to fix up, clean up, and get ready. Over time, Johnny and I have been working on replacing the flooring in his trailor, so we did a few more sections. He claims he can't cut a straight line, so I do most of the cutting. This is fun for me, because I do so much enjoy using power tools! Plus, it's good father/daughter bonding time! Since it's been a while since anyone has been up there, we had a lot of cleaning to do! Between the cleaning and washing my hands a million times, my hands got so dry I thought they might bleed. Booo! I have since, lotioned them up and they are doing much better now. Yay! And here's a fun little story.......Monday evening I was walking from the kitchen to the living room in the trailer and I see something move across the floor. Now my first thought is very large roach and it's no secret that I have a very large fear of roaches. But it took only a moment to realize that this was no roach. It was a mouse! Eeeek! This is were I start yelling "Mouse! Mouse!" and mom and Johnny come running. I would have loved to have gotten a photo of the little fella, but that would have required me to come down from the furniture my mother and I were standing on top of. After running around a bit, it climbed up inside of a chair. We stood there watching the chair to see what was going to happen, then all of a sudden, it popped up from between the cushion and was sitting on top the seat, which we had to admit was pretty funny. Then it went back inside the chair and would not come out. Soooo, what do you do when you can't get a mouse out of your chair? Well, you roll that chair right out the front door, that's what you do! And now there's one less chair in the trailer.
Here's one of the sections of floor that we pulled up. I forgot to get an "after" photo.

Just sitting on the dock of the pond, wasting time....
Enjoying the reflections on the pond
Gradient of blue from the reflection of the sky

Which way is up? - I posted this picture sideways because if you tilt your head either direction the picture is nearly the same!

Babies, babies everywhere!

Friday, April 4th
Lisa and I finished getting everything together for Becky's baby shower and went over to Becky's mom's house to set up. And....well....when there's a dog around, I tend to get distracted....and played around with the pup using our cowgirl shower decor. That look of quiet despiration...

-----------

Saturday, April 5th - Becky's shower!

Today we hosted Becky's Baby shower at her mom's house. Lisa and I picked up the cake and went to finish setting up. Everything was coming along quite nicely until we realized that I forgot the punch bowl and had to go back home to get it. Oops! I missed the first few minutes of the party, but we had punch!

-

cake topper

Becky, her mom (R), and her mother-in-law (L)
-----------

Thursday, April 10th

This week I have been getting my house straightened up for Lisa's shower on Saturday. Today I finished up the cleaning and framed a drawing I did for Lisa.

-------------------

Friday, April 11th

Becky, her mom, sisters, and Kelsey came over to my house with a bunch of cupcakes for the party and we put icing on them. There were a lot of cupcakes! Then we finished setting everything up. We're ready to go!

-------------
Saturday, April 12th - Lisa's Shower!

Becky, Kelsey, and I hosted Lisa's baby shower at my house this afternoon.
The cake Kelsey made! Lisa

Ok, so you've heard of the movie "Three Men and a Baby", well I call this picture "Three pregos and an Erin" hehehe Later this evening while B was still at his brother's house (where he was hiding out while the women filled our house) I met Micah, Lisa, Glenn, Becky, Chris, and Kelsey at the park for a dinner picnic.

-----------------

Sunday, April 13th

After church, we met my mom and Johnny for lunch. Then my mom and I went the the Woodlands Art Festival. It is one of the four yearly Woodlands events that I really look forward to. The others being Mutt Strutt and the 2 big Woodlands garage sales in the Spring and Fall. I've missed the past 2 garage sales because the one last month was when we were at the Round Top Antique Show and the one this past Fall happened to fall on the same day as Mutt Strutt.

-

Doin' some whittlin'

The brightly colored streamers on this tent caught my eye
Here's a closer look