A fond farewell

This afternoon, I went out to what I dubbed the treetop guest apartment to start packing up the decor atop the kitchen cabinets now that we're footing the bill for our niece to move into an apartment in anticipation of this house being sold. She has lived out there for the past eighteen months since she and her mother have a contentious relationship. It's a long story, as you can imagine, and one that always grieved my mother. But that's a tale for another day. I'll miss having my little in-house dogsitter and our weekly lunches, keeping tabs on what she's up to with classes and the college coed life.

I had set up the treetop decor when mother initially moved onto our property. She lived there for about a year until she opted for the cabana because it was larger, closer and by then we had installed an inner fence so her pugs could roam at will instead of mother having to take them out on leashes.

Mother enjoyed living back there because she liked the views of the trees out her windows since it was located above the workshop. She was always spying lots of cardinals and told me it was her mother, my granny, come to say hello. I have no idea where that bit of folklore originated, but it's comforting to think that cardinals are departed loved ones visiting us from heaven. 

Almost as soon as I got to the top of the stairs out there, a beautiful cardinal landed on the windowsill and tapped the glass to alert me to its presence. But it didn't stop there. Over the course of an hour it continued to fly off for a few minutes and then return to peer in the window at me repeatedly as if to say here I am, I see you.

It was a sweet reminder of mother and the years we enjoyed having her right here in our backyard. This house holds so many memories of her that I treasure. Amidst the joy of that is the pain of looking back at the guest apartment and cabana every time I walk from the master bedroom through the family room to the kitchen, confronted with a wall of windows to the backyard broadcasting the fact that mother isn't there anymore. That she gained her wings like that beautiful cardinal when God set her free from the sin and pain of this world. Praise Jesus that He defeated death for all of us when He was nailed to the cross to assure our salvation.

 

Speaking of messages, I received one yesterday from the monument company that mother and granny's joint marker is complete and ready to be set as soon as I pay the balance. After contemplating using a cardinal, we opted to go with a dove because it also had special meaning for both of them. Once we get moved and settled a bit, I hope to get back to my old hometown to see this pretty memorial honoring the two wonderful women who raised me.

Matinee at the rodeo

Our college senior came home for the weekend because she had invited a friend to rodeo. We enjoyed the usual sights, including a visit to the critter barns and a stroll down the midway. After lunch in the club, we watched the usual rodeo events. Mutton bustin' is still one of my favorites.

I was surprised to see a contestant from a tiny little town near my tiny little hometown in southeast Texas. Cheek is an area where some of the kids attended my school district, while the rest of them attended the schools my husband attended. Good news for Mr. Harrison - he won his steer wrestling heat with the fastest time.

My least favorite competition is the bull riding. I duck my eyes and can hardly watch as the riders wait for the buzzer to hit eight seconds. Talk about anxiety producing, at least from my perspective, hoping the contestants won't get hurt as they hang on for dear life.

Music entertainer Keith Urban played several songs I was familiar with from the radio. At one point he got off the stage and stopped almost directly in front of the section where we were seated. Pretty exciting, y'all. Unfortunately for all of the Urban fans, his set got cut short because of a mishap with the Budweiser Clydesdales.

The majestic team of horses pulling the beer wagon rolled out to everyone's surprise. It was impressive to watch. They stopped in front of our section and we got a really good look at it all. As they were about to go into some maneuver, the lead horses swung around and ran into the horses directly behind them. I have no clue why they did this, but it caused an immediate response from the wagon drivers and various rodeo folks. Everyone dashed out, but not in time to stop the front right lead horse from taking down one of the second pair of horses. At that point I had to stop watching. After initial gasps, you could have heard a pin drop in the arena. 

They immediately covered up the downed horse's head to try and settle it. There were several folks on the scene, working to undo all of the rigging to detach the front pair that caused the pile up. They got the downed horse unhooked, as well as its partner. Then they led everything away from the downed horse so they could see if it was injured. After several attempts, it was finally able to gain its legs and walk away. Talk about scary. Not to make light of the situation, but I was hoping they weren't gonna have to bring out a gun and shovel if it was severely injured. Though I imagine a forklift would be more appropriate for a horse that size. Which makes me think I've been watching too much Yellowstone or 1883, ha-ha!!

FOOTNOTE to my original post: It seems the Clydesdale mishap made it to a national news website. I've circled our family in the stands (top left side in both) as seen in pics from the story. 

It's rodeo season, y'all

On Wednesday, I hosted some of my old teacher friends at the rodeo. We chose this date because Alabama was the musical performer. This group was my very first concert waaaaay back in the day, and I attended with my mother. Forty years ago, I was a sweet fifteen year old, while lead singer Randy Owen was 33. 

My mother always thought lead singer Randy Owen was a hottie. I think this was mainly because he bore a close resemblance to her husband at the time. Randy and I are both a bit slower and the gray hairs have really taken over, but he can still belt out the hits from their country and western superstar heyday.

They played lots of crowd favorites, as you'll hear below. I didn't make time to video my favorite tune of "Old Flame" because I was too busy singing along. I wish mother had been here for this sweet stroll down memory lane with me. 

I especially enjoyed how they had the old original music videos from the 80s playing on various screens while he sang some of their most famous songs.

February odds & ends

I recently made four spiral mesh wreath bases for someone who's using them as decor at a rehearsal dinner. It dawned on me that they're the first wreaths I've made since mother passed away. She was always my wreath making buddy.

Thus far we've packed up about half of the house. Tomorrow my cleaning lady is coming over to earn some extra money helping me pack up the entire kitchen. There's my excuse not to cook for the next couple weeks!

The updates at our new house are coming along. Wall paint has been rolled on several rooms downstairs - it takes some time to paint 5500 sq feet - and it's a breath of fresh air with the lighter shade our decorator chose. The electricians were out to install new fixtures all over the place recently. My new dining room chandler was bent in one place when they unboxed it, but our handy contractor straightened it out for hanging. I'm looking forward to the accent wall behind that fixture being built, with new lighter paint and my Restoration Hardware table being delivered this week to sit beneath it.

Sunbathing buddies

When the daughter's chorkie first came to live with us, our girl cairn terrier Pepper wasn't too keen on him. But alas, the little chupacabra grew on her and they're pals now. They like to jockey for position at the back door in anticipation of rushing the back yard to chase off any squirrels or other critters that dare to step foot into their territory. I snapped these pics below of them in the last week, enjoying some warm sun on cool days, both indoors and outdoors. 

 

The ol' coffee & cabinet pull switcheroo

I have a favorite homebuilders/remodeling website that I've used to order all sorts of things since I discovered it in 2017. They have a wonderfully wide selection of items like sinks, faucets, ceiling fans and light fixtures, just to name a few. The prices are competitive, and the bulk of their inventory is deliverable within the week. So I've been busy buying some things that are going in the remodel house. 

I recently ordered an assortment of drawer pulls like those above in various sizes and finishes to decide what was the best look for both existing as well as new cabinetry. Once those arrived and we chose the winners, I placed a large order. Sure enough, an appropriately-sized box arrived Thursday afternoon on my front porch from the store's distribution center. I opened it up to discover this.

Y'all, what the what?! It was a box full of coffee concentrate instead of the cabinet pulls I was expecting. Realizing it was too late to call their customer service line, I stored them in the fridge and rang them up the next morning. Needless to say, the guy that landed my call was highly entertained. I believe he thought I was pulling his leg, so I sent him pics. Then we both had a good laugh. He said, "We don't even sell that stuff." And I'm like duh, it's certainly not offered on your website. I had sent him a pic of the label attached to the box and he verified it's from one of their distribution centers. 

The customer service guy immediately reordered the 80 cabinet pulls I chose so they'd arrive on Tuesday. But what about the six bottles of coffee, I asked him? He told me he'd ask his supervisor, but figured they'd just tell me to keep them. It's a shame I've never been a coffee drinker, but figure our twentysomething daughters will be happy to take them off my hands next time we see them.

 

Critters & custom kitchen storage

A sweet little cat wandered up to our house recently. She was obviously someone's beloved pet, and so we took her to our local vet to check for a microchip after she decided to make herself at home. Turns out her owner was in California on vacation when they called the number on file. I'm thinking the pet sitter who let this very friendly kitty escape and hang out at our house from Friday to Monday got a well-deserved tongue lashing for their negligence.

Our older daughter's Chorkie that lives with us continues to be entertaining. He enjoys perching on laps when it's cold, as well as burrowing under covers. Alas, his back foot/feet always end up in the air at some point. There's no need to watch the door to let him back in because he has the stare and scratch routine down pat.

Thanks to the cold snap this week, very little got accomplished at the remodel. With no electricity for about 36 hrs now, we're hoping the pool pipes weathered the freezing temps since the system lost power. One thing that did happen is the cabinet stain samples. Our decorator chose three options for the new coffee bar, butler's pantry and master bath that compliments the kitchen cabinets. Each of them were used to stain a piece of alder and now it's just up to the decorator to make a decision.

I've been contemplating what to do in my master bath closet cupboard. We've never had his-and-hers closets before, but I think I'm gonna like it. I ordered some lovely blue jewelry organizers for one shelf. Now I just need to figure out how to best utilize the rest of this space.

One place where I'm adding helpful storage is in the kitchen. I'm truly spoiled with some lovely custom touches in my current home. Figuring I could locate these same custom options on my favorite homebuilders/remodeling website, I happily found all sorts of fun choices for our contractor to install. As soon as electricity is restored, I plan to take measurements and hatch a plan for some upgraded storage.