Deer

Chuck and I were waiting to meet Brittany, Will and the boys this last Saturday, when we spotted a young deer hanging out in the trees close to our house. 

The tall grass was the perfect resting place for the fawn, and we were excited to see her. 

A few moments later she moved closer to our house as we sat quietly on our front porch. 

Just a few weeks earlier Chuck had spotted around six deer out by the barn. By the time I got there to see them they had already jumped the fence and returned to our neighbors wooded lot.

 

I was excited to think that we might have deer on our property, but with this tid-bit of knowledge, gardening might be more of a challenge. 

Even so I’m looking forward to being able to spend more time in and with nature. 

“I’m Not Good at Puzzles”

My oldest grandson is good at puzzles. He began showing this aptitude at a young age. 

His younger brother, like his Mimi, is not necessarily gifted in the puzzle realm. 

The other day the youngest was unsuccessfully trying to put together a puzzle while his brother finished up his dinner. 

His frustration began to show, and he sadly confided in me that he was not good at puzzles. I replied, “Neither am I.”

I then reminded him that he was good at making up games. Earlier that day he had created a game Chuck named Hall Hockey. The game consisted of a large wooden spoon for each player, and a small sized basketball. 

Each person would roll the ball down the hall to the other player using the wooden spoon. 

After reminding him about the game we began playing it again. Within a matter of minutes he was gleefully telling me that he was good at this game, and he actually was. 

It reminded me that sometimes we focus on the things we don’t do very well,and end up frustrated or unhappy. 

Generally the things we are good at are things we enjoy. 

Now of course, this doesn’t mean the youngest should never try a puzzle again. After all he is only three, and puzzles can be tricky for most three year olds. 

But they may not end up being his favorite thing to do, and in the scheme of life that’s okay. 

Dinosaur Garden

Last week one of my friends posted on Facebook a dinosaur garden that she and her grandson had created. 

I couldn’t wait to make one with my grandsons. I quickly messaged her to see where she found her supplies. She sent me the Amazon links, and I ordered them right away. 

A few days later a small volcano arrived, along with a notification that the main part of the order, the actual dinosaurs and trees would not arrive until mid May. 

Not to be discouraged I began looking around the house to see what we might use. I then made a trip to Dollar Tree, and Hobby Lobby. 

I arrived with a bag full of supplies, and we got to work creating the garden. 

I had already decided that the sand and water table in the back yard would be the perfect container. I had received a call a few days before from my oldest grandson letting me know that the table was full of water due to the rain, and that he had dumped it out, and wanted to put it in the sun to dry. 

When I arrived on the first day we drug it out in the sun, and made plans to get started the next day. 

The boys had a great time arranging the rocks, and plastic greenery. We used a blue peanut butter jar lid as a pond, and filled it with water. 

The oldest grandson carefully arranged the small rocks around the trees, and the youngest began placing dinosaurs strategically in the garden. 

It really looked great. When I arrived home the original order had arrived, and I was quite pleased at the quality. 

The next time I’m there we will add the rest of the stuff, and the Dinosaur Garden should be complete. 

I’m hoping the boys have fun with their new creation. 

Mother’s Day Breakfast

When I arrived at Brittany’s this week I was greeted by my oldest grandson smiling sweetly with a bag of donuts and kolaches in his hand.

He had asked his mother if they could get donuts for me since the Mother’s Day Breakfast at school that week was for moms and not grandmas. 

Along with the delicious breakfast, which he had waited to eat with me, was a beautiful card he had made out of a coffee filter. 

Apparently at school he had learned how to use markers and then water to cause the colors to bleed. He had hit his Mom up for the filter, and knew just what he wanted to do. 

He did confide in me that he wanted to get me the sprinkle donut, but that his mom had said I’d probably prefer the glazed donut. I must admit I did sneak a small bite of the sprinkle donut. 

The smile on his face when I took his picture said it all. 

I am one blessed Mimi!

Trim, Doors and Floating Shelves

Today I stopped by the house to meet with the granite guy about measuring the countertops. 

Our builder Mike and his wife Leslie were there, and Mike and his helper were working on the trim around the doors, the window sills, and had hung most of the doors. 

Along with that the floating shelves over the desk in the kitchen had been installed. 

Everything looked great, and it sounds like the painters are next on board.

We are getting there. 

Granite

Chuck and I went to pick out granite on Saturday in Stephenville. We found one we liked, and made plans to check it out at the stone yard in Dallas. 

I’m so glad we did because we liked it even more after seeing it up close and personal. 

We are really excited that things are coming together so nicely. 

Later this week I’m meeting with the guy who will measure the countertop areas. 

Slowly but surely we are getting there. 

Knob Quest

On Friday Chuck and I made a trip to Lowe’s to pick out knobs for our new house. We had actually chosen some we liked when we first moved into the house we are in now, but decided not to add hardware to the cabinets. 

We knew that we would be visiting the new house on Saturday, and wanted to have sample hardware to determine what went where. 

We spent some time trying out different knobs, and then tallied how many we would need for each room. 

On Sunday we made a trip back to Lowe’s to pick up what we could. Prior to arriving Chuck activated his military 10% discount which his Dad had 

been encouraging him to do. 

At the Lowe’s in Euless we got almost everything we needed except for four of the cup pulls. We decided to wait on one of the knobs hoping they might have the ten pack at the next Lowe’s. 

We made the ten minute drive to the Southlake Lowe’s where we had to dig around to find four more cup pulls. Sadly most of them were returned without the screws, but they had been put back into the bins anyway. Luckily we found the four we needed. 

They did not have the ten pack there so we were able to get eighteen pulls, but we still needed ten more. 

We hopped back in the car, and headed to Euless again. We knew they had plenty of the knobs we needed, and we picked up the ten more needed to finish the job. 

We returned home with one more thing checked off our list. 

We’ve decided building a custom home is kind of like eating at a “workaraunt.”

You do quite a bit more work, but honestly it has been a labor of love, and we are pleased at how nicely everything is coming together. 

Tomorrow I’ll report on our granite quest.