Love for Lilli on her 9th Birthday!

Yesterday, January 25th, was our sweet Lilian Leigh's 9th birthday!  We are so happy and proud to be her grandparents...not only on her birthday but every day!!

I had lunch with her and her mom and then a movie in the afternoon...

She's SO much fun to be with!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET LILLI!!!!!

Do You Ever Take Feeling GOOD for Granted??!!

Between an ol' crooked back that gives me fits and a tooth, that for the last year!, has given me fits....sometimes I forget when it just feels good!  Had a crack on a back tooth that was crowned over a year ago, re-crowned 6 months down the road and finally the dreaded root canal done yesterday.....

Even tho one side of my head feels like it's been jack hammered...which come to think of it, it was!...I can finally drink hot/cold again..lookout Sonic-I'm coming for my diet coke with extra ice again.. with no pain.  And the headache is gone...Allejuiah!!!!!!

FINALLY.....I feel like my young self again!  Oh sure, the back will always hurt but I've learned how to adjust my attitude to a POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE and keep doing my pilates and having the rolfing sessions.

AND

when your boyfriend makes stuff like this for you to eat .... all seems right in the world!!

best gumbo in the world!!!

Remember that Do Nothin' Day??

After I finished Doin' Nuthin' yesterday.............I made a huge pot of vegetable soup!  It's the way my mom made it and last night after enjoying a large bowl of it.....I smiled.  Reminded me so much of my daddy.  He LOVED this soup and I could close my eyes and see my daddy sitting in his chair slurping and smiling all the while he ate it!!!  Isn't it funny how food unites people and helps to leave long lasting memories of our loved ones??!

Also a funny story.....once when I delivered some of this soup to my babyboy's family, it dawned on me that it's really not "just" vegetable soup. I realized this when delivering, because my daughter in law doesn't eat meat....duh...imagine my dismay!!!!  Even tho my mom just used stew meat, I like to actually cube a big rump roast into small pieces and cook several hours before adding the veggies.  Really seasons the broth for the soup. Raid my refrigerator and put every vegetable I can find into the soup. And I always put a lil bit of broken pasta in it just because that's what Boo, my mom, used to do!!!!

Soup and Jalapeno Cornbread.....winner, winner.....Winter Dinner!!

**sidenote**....as I hit the publish button, I realized today's date.  My mom and daddy's anniversary!!!  They would have been married 78 yrs today...must be why they've been on my mind these past few days!!!!!

Just Doin' What the Blogs Say to Do!!

So, on this cloudy morn as I read some of my favorite blogs....I've learned something.  Today is:

                                                   NATIONAL DO NOTHING DAY!!!!!
                                                      (who comes up with this stuff????)

So excuse me....after I put some laundry in and do some picking up in family room and making some homemade vegetable soup and getting my blog ready to go to print and giving ms sophiejane a bath..............I'm gonna be busy .......
                                                              DOIN' NUTHING!!!!!

but really wishing I was sitting here on the Dominican Republic beach that we love!!!

It's Hailey's Birthday!!

My sweet daughter in law, married to my babyboy, is celebrating her birthday today and I was honored to share lunch with her and her mother and  sister AND new baby Rhoades.  And most adorable of the whole bunch......my grandson Lane!!!!

I hope the rest of your day has been happy and that you know just how loved you are!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAY HAY!!!!

Girlfriends Make My World Go Round!!

So......my birthday was this week....me & Elvis!...and my day was so nice.  One of the reasons???
Girlfriends!!!  Just always fun and peaceful and cool to hang with them!  And they made me feel so special.
It began last weekend, when I was over in Plano celebrating my granddaughter's 4th birthday and my bestest friend from WA state was in town for their college championship game with North Dakota.  No way that we weren't going to meet up.  Usually we only get to see each other once a year but what a joy to see her after seeing her in Florida back in October!!!

her husband and son, who was just a kindergartener when we first met.....sheesh....

She's so crazy and always a gift giver!!  When I got to the restaurant that night, this was hanging beside my chair...

she and her family had been in Florida for Christmas and made the stop in Dallas for the game on their way home.  She had schlepped this bag full of birthday goodies all the way from Spokane WA to Florida to Texas!!!!  She cray-cray!!

On my actual birthday day, my home town girlfriends treated me to lunch and even more goodies!

Then I got a phone call from real home town girlfriend, who lives right down the street from me, asking if we'd like to come to dinner!!!!  I was SO excited but I was also saddened at end of night when I realized I didn't take one pic the whole night.  She and her husband cooked steaks, potatoes, mushrooms, crab cakes and salad!!  She's also one who went with me to Cape San Blas in October.

It was such a sweet thing for her to do for me!!!!!

(photo by pinterest)

Oh Josephine....!!!

   HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY MS. JOSEY!!!!!

So, this morning, this is how the birthday girl showed up for her brunch!! I had to wipe the tears away because I was so amazed at how cute she was all dressed up in her "fur"!!!  Her little girlfriends and their moms all came dressed up to a nice restaurant for this special occasion! It was fun for me too!!

But yesterday, was OUR special day....I drove over to Plano to take her out on the town.  She told everybody we came into contact with that it was HER birthday...HER special day!

Of course, the day began with cake!

We rode the carousel...

Cap'n and I gave her a tea table and chairs with all the accessories so we also went to Pottery Barn to find just the right new bedspread for her room to go with her table.  Didn't get a pic but will get her mom to send me one.

We went to the Disney store.

We rode EVERY SINGLE ESCALATOR AND ELEVATOR in that mall!

We went to lunch at Whiskey Britches (it's new and adorable) where the little lady ate ONE french fry!!

She wanted to go back to yaya's hotel and hang out.  She was tired. 

But we had such a fun time and a day that I will remember forever. She was just so happy all day long and the excitement in her eyes and on her face was contagious!!

At the end of the day, after we'd talked about our birthdays being so close together, she said....

"Yaya....let's be birthday twins forever!!"

...sigh...with love!!

TIME....plz slow down this year.....New Years Day 'I9

The traditional quote that I use every year for the first post of the new year...given to me by a good friend many many years ago.  I think it's perfect for a good perspective of what we SHOULD be 

wanting to do instead of making empty resolutions.  Don't look at the past and and what you may not be happy with, but look to the future and how you can improve your outlook and how much you have to offer!
And as usual, I hope for health, safety and happiness for my children and grandchildren. I would love for time to slow down just a bit too...it seems I'm making a new years day post every few months!

But this year I'm also hoping for PEACE....maybe like no other year before.  Peace in families. Peace in societies.   Peace in government.  Peace in all the hearts of those who run our world.  We live in scary and dangerous times.  I want so badly for my grandchildren to grow up in a world of peace.
MY WORD FOR 2019 MUST BE .....PEACE......and I plan to pray a lot about it!

                HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!!

**proof that I saw 2018 turn to 2019...no proof tho that I was in bed by 12:15!!! heheheh

who wouldn't crash after enjoying a New Yrs Eve meal like this??

My boyfriend did all the shopping and all of the cooking...even cracked and peeled the king crab legs!!!

As I type this,  the blackeyed peas are cooking for Hoppin' John and the cabbage will be fried for dinner ... now if only LSU can pull off a win in Fiesta Bowl this afternoon.....we will be enjoying our first day of PEACE!!