Mother's Day Remembered

My eldest daughter has the name of my mother.

My youngest daughter has the name of my mother's sister.

This Mother's Day, my two daughters, my mother and I traveled to meet our cousins in the heartland of America.  We gathered in the old family cemetery where my daughters' great-great grandmother and several of her babies are buried.  It was always my aunt's wish that she would return to the farmland of the midwest, to be with her grandmother.  Her wishes were honored on Mother's Day, with 4 generations of her family clutching  umbrellas in the Eel River Church Cemetery.

Afterwards,we all gathered at the only place in  town.... Dairy Queen.   No matter though... the conversation was rich as 4 generations  shared story after story that only a family could love. 

  The old family home built in early 1900s is for sale. We had fun daydreaming about buying it !

                                                   Great great grandmother's farm

                                              House my mom lived in during grade school

 My grandfather built this house. We lurked out front for so long that the owner came out and  invited us in.

                                                         The old movie theatre

                            Sisters of a new generation on the steps of an old family home

                                     We toured Mom's  high school..looks like a movie set.

                                                Does your high School have a natatorium ? 

                                                         I think it is a good SAT word.

 It was a happy- sad- cold- warm Mother's Day we will remember....forever.

                          

Tuesday Morning Coffee

This is the last month of my son's last year in high school .

After drop-off on his first day of kindergarten a group of overanxious moms met for coffee to hold hands, share, cry and laugh.
Today is Tuesday.... and we are still meeting for coffee.

And guess what ? Next Fall, after college drop off....on Tuesday ...we will gather over at my house... or maybe Becky's house
to hold hands, share, cry, and laugh.

Ahhhhhhhh the power of friends dropping by for coffee.

You can read more about Tuesday Morning Coffee here

Thelma and Louis...part2

Awhile back I posted about my friend "Laverne" here. Well fast forward from then to now ... and a few bought and sold houses... and next thing ya know.... we are next door neighbors (week-ends)... in little 1930 cottages side by side in the hill country.


Here is Laverne's casa. She had a head start... so her house is in GREAT shape.

Don't you love her bright blue shutters ?

A view of my house from her yard.... well as you know... a total work in progress

( and I am loving the process)

Yesterday in her barn we found an old old cabinet original to her house that we are going
to use as an island in MY kitchen. Thanks LAV!

Can you see it that beautiful old chippy beadboard cabinet in my vintage kitchen with

shiny gleaming floors and beautiful white cottage cabinets ? ??? .
.... stay tuned !!!!

Grow..PRETTY PLEASE...

During the past few weeks I have visited so many beautiful garden posts from fellow bloggers, Joni at Cote de Texas, Brin at My Messy,Thrilling Life, FiFi at Chez Fifi, Cindy at My Romantic Home,Nancy at Shab-n-Chic... and I am GREEN with envy... because my thumb is brown and is coupled with the disadvantage of deer and hot hill country weather.

BUT we are trying to change the brown thumb trend this year!

So armed with the garden expertise of my MOM and the muscle of my DH and HS SON.... here are a few not so good pictures of the outside garden fun we have had in the past few week-ends.

                           

                            Brand new Belinda's Dream roses along the wall

                                    

                                    Birdhouse... no green thumb required

Bouganvillas... They grow like weeds at Nancys... but I will have to baby these



                                  Front porch.. no flowers due to deer



                                             Ladies on the front porch

                                  Geraniums from High School fundraiser



                                           Hibiscus in the big pots



                       Lavender... supposedly grows well in the hill country



      Secret garden....aka sideyard.... but secret garden sounds more artistic


  But if the gardening efforts fail...we can always sit back and enjoy the view !!


These are the garden BEFORE pictures.... can't wait to post AFTER.... keep your fingers crossed !

Demolition and Dirt **

"Would you like a pedicure this week-end ?" my DH asked on Friday.

What a sweet man..

Ladies....he had no clue what was on the agenda for the week-end..... demolition ...

We continue our demolition in the hill country house...discovering layers upon layers of surprises....some happy surprises.... some not.  Here are a few:

WE WILL BE DOING A WHOLE LOTTA SHEETROCKING IN THE R RATED BEDROOM ( see bad word above door?)




THERE ARE WOOD FLOORS IN THE MASTER BEDROOM.... under the carpet,the plywood, the linoleum, the black glue



THERE IS BEADBOARD ON THE WALLS IN THE KITCHEN.... but how do we match it ?



THERE IS AWESOME DINING AND GOOD FRIENDS IN THE HILL COUNTRY ... after demo eating place


SOMEDAY MY KITCHEN MIGHT LOOK LIKE THIS....kind of..


So no pedicures for now.... but it will be totally worth it...uh maybe !!!!

Hey God.... it's me... diana

The remodeling continues.... but has moved slightly down on my list of things to do... 

High school son is making last minute  college re-visits.  We made 3 last week.  The deadline for decisions... is May 1... and he is waiting until April 30.  Tad stressful.... but we will survive and come May 1... we will all have happy faces !

**Be VERY careful what you say....

As soon as I published my last post a YEAR ago... my world went topsy turvy and before I knew it... I was too stressed to be blessed. As I look back on that last post i shake my head and realize the gentle... no BIG BIG reminder life throws us to not be so smug, so content, so confident in our circumstances... as circumstances can change in a second. Yup, they really can.

And so I return today wiser, more reflective, but happy, enthusiastic, and eager to continue in sharing with my cyber sisters.  I will continue my search for humor,love, truth and beauty in my little life with my DH, my HS and College Princesses and HS son.

Here is  a new project I have undertaken  in the beautiful hill country of Texas.  I think I will call it.... design a house around this chandy.
Here are the "bones" of the project.  A Sunday House to be


A stone patio
A cutie little german stone house ...exterior
The interior of the stone house.... complete with wall to wall 70s sculpted carpet,lovely wallpapered wall boards, layers of  70s linoleum
I am in heaven... why???? because I don't really see the sculpted carpet, the wall papered wallboard...the linoleum.   I see something very different...  because I just know there are beautiful patinaed  oak floors, cream colored walls, crisp white trim, and that beautiful chandy in store for this baby ! 

And HS princess says I have lost it... she called me INSANE .  Can you believe she said that ?

More soon and much much love to my cyber sisters. xoxo diana