Mango!

My first Florida mango picked off the tree. Sweet!!

It's not our tree...people at church bring them to share like zucchini in Indiana in August :)

Play by Play Didn't Work

Oh well...I'm trying to figure out the "just right" parameters where I will blog often and consistently. Facebook is so much easier! 

I thought maybe short little updates would make it easier to blog from my phone. That's where the Play by Play came into...but then I only gave you the first play and then we got so busy and crazy that I never did any more "plays"! 

I'm mostly blogging for my mom and Shari who don't do Facebook. I'm gonna keep on trying. Blogging from my phone is best and easiest, as is Facebook. The blogger app works just fine for that. Just need to get into a groove  = )

So here are the "plays" from yesterday:

- went to the thrift store to get the 2 matching night tables to match the dresser we got the previous day...we're turning the dresser into our new bathroom vanity with vessel sinks... way cool beans!!!!

- we were also going to look for a cabinet or armoire or something to replace the smaller linen cabinet in the bathroom...we found an amazing china hutch that they were wanting to get rid of...$65!!! It's over 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide! 

- discovered it wouldn't fit in the back of the Durango

- came home, borrowed a trailer from the people who sold us our house, picked up the hutch, the sellers met us back at our house and helped us carry the hutch into the house

- discovered that the hutch is 4 inches too wide to fit in the space in the bathroom...boooo!!!

- we'll use it in our bedroom...close enough to the bathroom to store bathroom stuff in it anyhow

- Petey worked on laying floor, taking out the old toilet, getting ready to install the new toilet and helping me with whatever I needed help with

- I worked on normal household chores and painting...painted some of the quarter-round and then the trim around several doorways

- went to mid-week Bible study, then Lowe's

- got the medium blue that we're painting the bathroom and I started on that when we got home while Petey made popcorn for a late supper. Have I told ya'll what a master of popcorn my Petey is? His popcorn tastes AMAZING!!

- I wanted to paint behind the toilet while I had the chance before Petey installed it

- LUUUUUUUV the shades of blue we chose!!!! Light blue is on the walls...medium blue will be in the bathrooms, the trim along the tops of the walls and the base of the cabinets...the darker blue (but not really dark...just the darkest shade of blue on the color card) is on the bottom trim and doors and will be on the cupboard doors in the kitchen

- we watched House Hunters while we ate our popcorn...one of the houses that was built in 1776 has the exact same color scheme that we'll have!!! WAY COOL BEANS!!!

- I'm not ready to post pics yet, the house truly looks like a construction zone!, but I will soon

Stay tuned!

Play by Play

Ate breakfast then headed out to the thrift store to buy two nightstands that match the dresser we got yesterday. We're going to turn the dresser into our new bathroom vanity!

We're back at the thrift store now to pick up the china hutch that we got to turn into more bathroom storage :)

Uh oh

We'll, I don't know if you can see the smoke in the air with these pictures but it's REAAAAAALLLLLYYYY smoky here!

At first I thought it was the start of the burn-the-sugar-cane-fields season but a guy just told us it appears to be a brush fire in West Palm Beach that's smoking us out down here. 

Maybe Petey will find out for sure when he flys out tonight...

When we lived on the bayou in Louisiana they burned the cane and I had a TERRIBLE time with asthma :(  That was 28 years ago so we're hoping I've grown out of it...we'll see....

Update: we found out that the smoke is from the Everglades burning. They've shut down Alligator Alley...the road that runs across the state east to west and right through the middle of the Everglades.

They haven't received the normal amount of rain so the water level has dropped allowing the bottoms of the plants to dry out and become susceptible to catching fire. All it takes is one idiot throwing a cigarette butt out their car window  = (

SO thankful the smoke isn't from burning sugar cane! The guy we talked to said that that smoke never makes it this far south...great news for me  = ))

He did it again :)

What a Sweety I'm married to!

He couldn't decide between the red or the gold so he got both. Two dozen of each! The stems were so long we had to cut them down before the roses would fit in the fridge. 

Petey got home late last night so we put the flowers in the fridge until after church today when I could fix them up pretty :)

I even had plenty to share with the mothers of all the kids who have been helping me paint this week...as a thank you for sending their kids home white paint speckled!

Just call me Tom :)

By the end of the afternoon I had at least 5 kids clamoring to "get a turn"!

Nick was a great help...he mowed the front yard after painting...with the REEL mower...he's 9 years old...the kid's a beast!!

WHAT???

Maybe they WILL grow here!! I'm sure gonna try = )

Another dream coming true!!!

We were told to not bury posts in concrete, just allow the sand to settle around the post and they would be stronger than if you used concrete so that's what we did...well, Petey dug the holes...I helped fill the hole with sand  = )

My Sweety Petey...he really is the most amazingly sweet man to work this hard to give me something that isn't needed...just desired.

I've wanted a white picket fence since I was around 11 years old. I'm finally getting it! After I paint it white, that is. I'm thinking about maybe doing a Tom Sawyer thing with the neighborhood kids ; )

Seriously, it will be a fairly big job to paint it but I have a big roller and a small one and will use the brush for whatever can't be reached with either of the rollers. I'm HIGHLY motivated...37 years is a long time to wait for a dream to come true!!!!

Retrench

Well, the laminate we got was either defective or such poor quality as to be unacceptable that we picked up what we'd laid down and returned the whole lot to the store this morning. 

We did get the rest of the carpet up in the living room so we'll be ready to lay down whatever new flooring we decide on. 

Out looking now! About to stop at planning & zoning to pick up our survey to take the next step in building our garage :)

Progress...

Good riddance, yucky carpet!!

My first aldergator!!

At the beach....

...and in the ocean!! The water was cool at first but we got used to it quickly. We were "riding the waves" and I got swamped by one. The salt water stung my eyes so badly that I couldn't keep them open enough to walk back up to where my towel was. 

Petey (that's him on the left) led me into shallow water and then went and got my towel. Sweety!

We've had a fun day with our niece, Deborah, and her friends, Wendy and Pete. Looks like tomorrow we're going on an airboat tour of the Everglades!

First bloom!!!

My mimosa tree has her first blossom!!! Oh how I wish I could see and smell it...

There are several trees around here that look to be in the same family...maybe a mimosa would grow here too?? I'm certainly going to try!

My 10 Year Thin-naversary!

Week #102 - 114.0 with no extra heavy clothes...I'm getting happier so I'm eating more...time to start being more careful! See how fast that happens?!

I mentioned to the lady weighing me that yesterday was my 10 year anniversary for maintaining my weight loss so they "celebrated" my Thin-naversary at the meeting...that was fun = )  Here's to the next 10 years! If I don't die at 52...we'll see....

Time for bullet-points:

- slept well

- went to Weight Watchers...really wanted to ride my bike but drove the car instead. I'm really looking forward to getting our garage built so I can have easy access to my bike and can ride it MUCH more! Saw my first Orthodox Jew walking home from Temple...fascinating! They don't use electricity or powered vehicles on the Sabbath so they walk to Temple.

- home for brunch, chatted with Petey some

- watched tv and crocheted quite awhile...started on the 4th skein on mom's shawl...one more skein to go! The goal is to have it finished by John Chase and Nicole's wedding so I can take it to her instead of shipping it to her. I'm definitely going to make myself one too...the feel of it is LOVELY! Only this time I will orient the rows to be horizontal while the shawl is being worn. I didn't figure that out until I was about 1/3rd of the way through with this one. Maybe after it's finished, mom will trade with me so she can have the one that looks correct

- worked in my craft room a fair bit...found 2 more boxes that hadn't been unpacked yet! mostly books with a few pictures and craft items

- watered my tomato and bean plants and the flowers across the front. I broadcast some zinnia, marigold and bluebonnet seeds in that flower bed. I see a few zinnias coming up. I'm not hopeful for the bluebonnets but it felt good putting the seeds there anyhow. Thanks, Shari, for putting the seed pod in the truck as we were leaving! I also broadcast the rose petals out there...a bit of Texas here.

- took Piper and Dingo on a 3 mile walk and then Buddy went .3 here in the neighborhood... thought he might want to go farther but he said .3 was plenty, thank-you-very-much

- worked on my craft room some more...our much-loved niece, Deborah, is planning to visit us with her friends in a few days and I thought maybe the girls might like to play in Pony's Playroom??? Gotta get it ready just in case!

- compiled the article for the Texas Runner Triathlete magazine...our running club has a column in the running clubs' section that I "write"...only this article is a runner's story of his experience at the Boston Marathon this year so he actually wrote it = )

- very sleepy and looking forward to church tomorrow! I'm going back to the first Baptist church we visited the Sunday after we got here. Something is drawing us to that church so we need to spend some more time there and go to more services

Good night...sleep tight!!

One month ago today...

What a difference a day makes...24 little hours...

And what a difference a month makes too! God has poured His grace on me abundantly and my cup runneth over = )

I am learning several lessons through all of this...I'm not sure I can articulate all of them at this early date but I've been thinking lately about the passage of time.

I remember going through a very low spot in my life during my 19th year. I wrote on a piece of paper, "this too shall pass" and taped it to the head of my bed. It just felt like my life was SO messed up that it would never be the same again...that it would never be "happy" again.

But I knew at that young age that those older and wiser who had gone before me promised me that "this too shall pass". So I clung to that promise.

And I discovered that the first was true...my life WOULD never be the same again...because I was learning some very hard lessons...adult-sized lessons...that I've since been reminded of over and over again. How people will fail you frequently...friends, co-workers, loved ones, near strangers... and that only God deserves and can uphold my TOTAL trust in Him.

So it would have behooved me well to have taped a piece of paper with "this too shall pass" on my headboard a month ago and then just....wait........and wait some more....................  Just do the next thing and be patient........let one day tick by second by second until the dawning of the next day.

And little by little, second by second, moment by moment, the sharp homesickness would smooth out. The feeling of "THAT'S home...THIS will never be home" will work it's way around 180 degrees.

And then one day, it will catch me off guard..."I like it here! I like this and this and this and that and these are things that I couldn't have had or experienced if I hadn't moved away from my beloved home in Texas and come to make a new home in Florida!"

Even with counting my blessings every day, it seemed like I would never reach the point of LIKING it here. And now here it is, just 30 days later and I feel like a traitor...I feel disloyal...I feel inconstant. But mostly I feel thankful to God and overflowing with joy!! hahahahahaha

I'm being reminded so often of things that I had asked God for while we lived in Texas and that He's answering those prayers here...giving me the desires of my heart...desires that I've had for many years. Do you know how WONDERFUL that feels?!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ"...and He has blessed me with many, many physical blessings in the earthly places too = ))

The Beach!!

We finally made it to the beach! The water was the same blue as in The Keys...beautiful :)

A cool Rolls Royce on the way home :)

It's amazing to think that we LIVE 9 miles from this beach...I could ride my bike here! 

We didn't have time today to hang out but after seeing the water we both said we wanted to come back. That's pretty good for non-beachy folks  :)

Drawbridge on the way to the beach!

Wedding outfit!

I ordered these shoes especially for John & Nicole's upcoming wedding. When I got them out of the box, I realized I already had a dress, a favorite of mine, that matches perfectly!

The hotel is booked...asking God to work out the details so I can be there!!!

My "garden" loves this weather!!