Green Means Wake Up!

And I bet you thought green means go.

Our youngest granddaughter has always been an early riser. And, once she's up, she's up. Her parents are very kind to each other and take turns getting up with her while the other sleeps in on Saturdays and holidays.

Not too long ago they heard about a neat clock for the preschool crowd and decided to give it a try. It's called the "Okay to Wake" clock and has been a life changer for them.


Here is a picture of the one they have. It only took a couple of days for C to understand the concept and follow the clock's lead on wake up time. Pretty simple, really. When it is time to get up, the white around the pink area will glow green. If she wakes up and it isn't shining green, she knows it's not time to get up yet. It really works!

Last week C and I were in the car waiting at a red light that seemed to be taking a really long time to change. As soon as it turned green I said "It's green! Green means go." And from the back seat I heard her sweet little almost 2 year old voice say, "Green means wake up!"

And so it does!
~Nancy~

A Handy Thing to Have

Years ago, my sister made the neatest holder for my curling iron. It's lining is made of teflon coated material and you can store your curling iron in it when the iron is still hot. Its wonderful for traveling and even better for everyday use because you don't have to wait for it to cool down before storing away. I use it all the time. I think its one of the best gifts anyone has ever given me! She shared the pattern with me, but the instructions were for using a quilted placemat. I don't know if you've looked lately, but stores don't sell those kinds of placemats at the moment. At least I haven't been able to find any.

I was needing one of these nifty holders to use in carrying my aunt's curling iron back and forth to the skilled nursing facility where she currently lives. Sooooo....

I came up with a modified pattern,

bought some double-sided quilted material sold by the yard at the fabric store, bias tape, and some teflon coated material for the lining,

and came up with my own version of a very handy thing to have!
~Nancy~

Straight to the Punch Line!

Our granddaughter (22 months old) and I go to Kindermusik on Monday mornings. Her Daddy drops her off around 7a.m. and we have breakfast then play for an hour or so until its time to go.

There are no shoes allowed during Kindermusik class, only socks. So, I have to wrap my right foot with a bandage so my arch won't hurt. (I know, I know... Too Much Information)

This past Monday, she was watching me wrap my foot and all the while I was telling her what I was doing. When I was through and said, "see, all finished", she took my little toe between her thumb and finger and said, "wee, wee, wee" then looked up at me with the biggest grin!
~Nancy~

Napping at Grammy's and Poppy's

For some reason, our youngest granddaughter (22 months old) has never taken good naps at our house. Sometimes I think its because we're having too much fun playing! It couldn't possibly be that I'm a pushover. *ahem*

Last week the babysitter's daughter was sick so Charlotte spent a couple of days at our house while mom and dad were at work. The first day, she finally settled down and napped for about an hour. The second day, she had a hard time getting in the nap mode. We have a routine before nap that we follow and we even sang our rocking song after reading her book. I could tell she was tired but she wasn't having anything to do with her crib. I finally decided to try laying down with her on the bed that is in that room....

We laid down and I closed my eyes and "played possum". She started out being still for all of 30 seconds then tossed and turned and flipped and flopped. I didn't know you could change positions that much while keeping your head on a pillow! At one point, I could tell she had gotten pretty still but was moving around a little and when I peeked, she was doing leg lifts! Both legs at the same time! Wish I could do that. I ignored her and closed my eyes until in just a little bit she put her face close to mine and went "heh, heh, heh". I really wanted to laugh but I knew I didn't dare. Instead, after the second "heh, heh, heh" I opened my eyes, sat up, picked her up then stood between the crib and the big bed. Then, I told her that it was time to take a nap and "go nite, nite". I asked her if she wanted to sleep in the crib or the big bed and she pointed to the big bed. We laid back down and she was asleep in less than a minute. And, she slept for 2 hours! She never sleeps that long at our house.

I wondered what she would do when she woke up. Would she get up and open the bedroom door or call me? She called me and when I went in there she had a puzzled look on her face that said "where am I?".

What do you want to bet she's through with napping in the crib at Grammy's and Poppy's?
~Nancy~

WABAC Machine

On the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, there was usually a segment about Mr. Peabody (a dog) and "his boy" Sherman. Each episode of "Peabody's Improbable History" began with the dog's greeting, "Peabody, here." The premise each week was to introduce Sherman to real history. To do this, Peabody constructed the WABAC (pronounced "wayback") machine. The WABAC was a time machine used by Peabody and Sherman to travel back in time and witness various historical events. While this picture isn't necessarily historical it does go "wayback" to when I was in college and was taken in the backyard of our grandparent's house. I'm holding my first niece who I think was about 6 six weeks old at the time. Why her mother (extreme right) wasn't holding her we will never know! Thought you might enjoy seeing how we looked "back in the day"! (left to right is my cousin, my niece, me, and my three sisters)

Let there be light!

We've lived in our Murphy home on Wildwood Dr. now for nearly two years. As with almost all homes, if you are lucky enough to have some attic space to store things, the builder of the home will put a single light bulb fixture in the attic for you near the attic access fold down ladder. Such was our case. The attic area where we store things like empty electronic boxes, camping stuff, Christmas decorations, etc., is over our 3-car garage area. I decked this area shortly after our move in so that we could put all those sorts of things up there and have the garage for our cars and camper trailer. Before time to de-Christmas our house this year, I decided to add a couple of additional lights to go along with the one provided by the builder, as those items are stored back in the far reaches of the attic. It took me an hour or so stringing the wire, mounting the electrical boxes, and then tying everything together. It was well worth the effort, as now light shines brightly all the way to the far reaches of our storage space. In the picture, the nearest light you see is the original. I added another about half way back, and then a second light fixture at the far end just the other side of the cross beam where the roofline is already sloping toward the east end of the garage. Of course, it is all tied in with the original fixture and its switch, so it is very convenient. Our roof decking has a silver/reflective radiant barrier applied, so that helps reflect/spread the light even better. Nancy says she may have to wear sunglasses whenever she gets up into that area now!
Tom

Reaching his Goal!

About three years ago, our oldest son entered into a Masters of Education degree program at the University of Memphis. We are so proud of him for completing the degree! Teaching art full time for the City of Memphis Schools and being the great husband and dad that he is, plus working on his masters classes has made for a very busy fellow. We are proud of his family during this time, too! Their support and understanding of his time spent in class and study made it all possible. Congratulations, Clay!

Early Christmas Present

I had mentioned that it would be nice to have gas logs in the fireplace this Christmas. That has been one of the things waaay down on our "to do" list since moving into this house. So, the week of Thanksgiving we went gas log shopping. They turned out pretty nice, don't you think?

A Different Sort of Thanksgiving

This year, Thanksgiving at our house was different from most years. We usually host various family members for Thanksgiving dinner and afternoon football watching. However, this year found us not expecting any guests and not going anywhere!

Hmmm.... What to do... What to do....

Tom surprised me with tickets to see the Cowboys play in person! In all the years we've lived in the Dallas area, we have NEVER (!) bought tickets and gone to a game. We were on the first row of the top section at about the 45 yardline and they actually turned out to be great seats. We would watch the play on the field and then watch the replay on the giant screen.


Lucky for us we were on the side that Enrique Iglesias (halftime entertainment) faced! There were fireworks but I never got a good picture.




We met my Dad and his wife Lucille for Thanksgiving dinner in Fort Worth before heading to the game so we did get to eat our turkey.


It was a fun day!

October Garage Sale

We had a garage sale!

Now, neither one of us are fans of garage sales. We like the IDEA of garage sales because we've witnessed lots of great things that friends or siblings have bought. Some even keep lists of things to "look out for" and eventually find what they are wanting. But neither of us enjoy going around to garage sales and hunting through bunches of stuff. (And, yes, we probably miss out on a lot of stuff we didn't even know we needed/wanted!)

But, when we moved my aunt to this area, we needed to dispose of a lot of her things and clothes, etc. that we didn't have room for.

Since our neighborhood has a "Neighborhood Garage Sale Day" twice a year, we decided to schedule ours for the one held in October. The HOA registers the neighborhood with the city and takes care of signs at the neighborhood entrances. Then those who want to, have their garage sales on the same day. We were organized and ready. One of my sisters and her granddaughter came to help as did my cousin. Tom and I couldn't have done it without their help!

Thought I'd show a few pictures...

We don't think we will EVER do that again.
Nancy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Road Trip Part 2 - Remembering a Friend

Driving from Dalhart to Texline the next morning brought back so many memories. One of the things we would do as children was begin looking for Rabbit Ears as soon as we left Dalhart driving toward Texline. We knew when we were able to see the Rabbit Ears landmark we were almost to our destination. This particular drive was no different.

Look at the picture below... if you look really close, you can see the American Indian Chief lying down. From the left you see his feather headdress, then his profile, his hands folded on his chest, then way to the right his two feet. Even as an adult, everytime we drove through Texline on our way to Colorado, I always looked for Rabbit Ears as we drew closer to Texline and the state line.

The celebration of our friend's life began at the cemetery. He had wanted the service to be graveside and his wishs were honored. It was a loving tribute to a much loved, admired, and respected father and friend.

Then, it was on to the church building to be with everyone as we reminiscenced about our friend's life and influence within their family, church family, and the community.

We were glad for the opportunity to take our Road Trip.

Road Trip Part 1 - Laugh Across Texas

A dear family friend passed away. When I was given the news I immediately knew my dad would want to attend the service and offered to drive them to the far northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle. While we were waiting for information of time and location, two of my sisters let it be known they would like to go, too. Plans were made and we met at my Dad's house after lunch on the Sunday before the planned memorial service on Monday. And thus began our road trip!

I failed to get a group picture before we left Dad's house so took one when we stopped at McDonald's in Vernon. A much needed cool front had made its way into Texas that morning and we were enjoying the dryer, cooler temperature. When you've been suffering through so many days in a row of 100+ temps this summer as we have, low 90's and upper 80's feels great!

Hold on to your hat! It was really windy...

After we paid for our snacks, what do we see but a mural of Roy Orbison! Turns out he was born in Vernon.

That's a pretty good likeness. My sister wondered if she would be given a discount if she showed her I.D. since her last name is Orbison. I told her to "go for it", but she didn't.

By the time we got to Amarillo, we thought it was time to find something to eat besides snacks. When we were growing up, we always ate Sunday supper at The Pancake House. My sister suggested this place and it was a winner!


And LOOK! Everyone at our table qualified for their senior menu! And, we didn't even mind 'cause as it says right on the menu - Seniority has its privileges!

That's a good looking group of privileged citizens!

We had reservations for the night in Dalhart and were glad to arrive after our 8 hours of travel.

Whoever thought of the complimentary breakfast had a really great idea! we certainly enjoyed ours.

Well, Hello friend! I've enjoyed pancakes from these wonderful little machines before...

But this spread had quite a selection and I went for something else. Yum, Yum, Eat'm up!

All packed and ready to head out Monday. It was a nice cool and sunny kind of Texas Panhandle morning.

We enjoy being together and tend to do a lot of laughing and this trip was no different. As one of my sisters wrote on another blog, sometimes we had to lower the window to let all the laughter out!

So, with my apologies to Ernest Tubb... this sums it up!

When we laugh together, my world's in disguise
It's a fairy-land tale that's come true
And when y'all look at me with those laugh sparkled eyes
I can laugh across Texas with you.

Laugh across Texas with y'all in the car
Laugh across Texas with y'all
Telling stories and tales, with giggles and gales
I can laugh across Texas with y'all.

My heartaches and troubles are just up and gone
The moment y'all come into view
And with y'all in the car, I can laugh on and on
I can laugh across Texas with you.

~Nancy~

Grindin'

Very soon after Mark and Hattie moved into their home, the lone tree in their back yard blew down in a bad storm, laying down a few sections of their fence in the process. We were fortunate enough that the tree fell into the alley, and before we could get the chain saw out - a city crew swooped in and cut up the tree and threw it into a truck and left us with nothing but a three foot tall stump in the back yard (that, and the wrecked fence which Mark and I fixed shortly there after...). A bit later, I borrowed another chain saw and we cut the back yard stump down even with the ground, and Mark also took out a large yaupon in the front flower bed near the front door.

This summer Mark was determined to rent a stump grinder and finally rid themselves of these two stumps. With a couple of days of summer left - he finally decided to get 'er done! We drove to the rental place early in the morning and picked up the smaller of the two units they had available.

Of course, first order of business was to peruse the operator's manual. Didn't really learn anything more than what we knew already...

The unit consists of a gasoline motor mounted over two wheels, with the operator handles to one end and a cutter wheel mounted at the other end. You position the grinder such that the cutter wheel just reaches the near edge of the top of the stump. There is a brake lever on the left side which you engage to lock-in the left wheel only. This provides a pivot point which you use to sweep the cutter wheel side-to-side as it tears into the stump material.

A closer shot of the cutter wheel beginning to do its business. You take small "bites" at a time as you sweep the cutter back and forth across the stump's edge. Once you complete this location's cutting, you disengage the cutter, release the brake, and move the unit to the next position to cut some more.

Here you see we've worked our way completely around the stump at least once, chiseling away the material.

The process is repeated over and over until you run out of wooden stump material to grind. What you are left with is a hole with lots of dirt and wood chips piled all around.

Once you've ground it all up, it is simply a matter of filling the hole back in with the dirt and wood chips, and then encourage the grass to take over!

Here's Mark working on the yaupon stump in the front flower bed. This yaupon had been a large, multi-trunk bush - but we found that when we got down into the stump part, it was just a large ball of wood. But, the machine was very powerful and little by little, we got the job done here as well.

Using this machine certainly does not take the work out of the job - it is very tiring! Though we got the job completed by around noon - it was still quite hot. Horsing around the cutter and applying upward pressure on the handle to engage the cutter was still pretty exhausting. However, it would have taken days to dig out these stumps by hand using pick axes and shovels! In the end, we were glad we had the mechanical beast to help us get it done...

Tom

A Little Dab (of paint) Will Do Ya

My sister Marcene and I visited with our Dad and his wife Lucille last Friday. They are always busy going somewhere or doing something so we were glad they were available for us to drop by and take them to lunch. It was sort of a last minute decision.

Below is a picture of Lucille's latest project. She took an old dresser that was being used for storage out in their shop, updated it and then moved it into their bedroom. It was part of the bedroom set two of my sisters used when we were growing up. By removing the mirror, painting over the maple stained wood with this dark red color, and changing the drawer pulls, they now have a great looking piece of furniture! They have added storage and since it no longer LOOKS like a dresser, doesn't compete with the dresser that is a part of their own bedroom furniture.

I thought it turned out great!
~Nancy~

Oh Deer! Happy Birthday!

A couple of weeks ago, the taxidermist in Hamilton, Texas called to let Tom know the deer trophy from last November was completed and ready for pick-up. Since we were going to be going down to New Braunfels last week, we decided to drive the scenic route and pick it up.

Wish we could have timed it for a break at the Koffee Kup in Hico, but it was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch when we happened by. We settled for a soft drink at the gas station across the street.

We found the place and after admiring the taxidermist's handiwork, headed on to Lampasas where we stopped for lunch at a BBQ place.

Don't you think it looks nice? We have it hanging above the bookcases in the office.

Every thing is soooo very dry! Instead of summertime green landscape, it looks like winter time when the only thing green are the cedar and liveoak trees. Sad.

We were making our trip to New Braunfels to help Tom's mom celebrate her 92nd birthday! For her birthday dinner, Linda and Larry, John and DD and their daughter Debi, Tom and I and Wilma ate at Ryan's Buffet. It is her favorite place to eat and since it offers a wide variety of foods everyone ate well.

We headed home Saturday after lunch and for once I-35 actually flowed. There was a good bit of traffic, but we were able to go the speed limit the whole way. Nice visit, but we were glad to be home.
~Nancy~

Keeping Cool!

As you are no doubt aware, north Texas is in its "head in the oven on high heat" season we have every year. This year, it seems to have arrived a little earlier than most years. The weather forecast is the same each day - temps near 100 with no clouds to break the unrelenting sun bearing down on all who are unfortunate enough to be outdoors. Well, Monday our solar screens arrived! We ordered these screens for all the windows across the front of the house (the house faces west/southwest) as well as around the northwest corner of the house. Here some of the screens are laid out on the grass in preparation for installation.


The screens are simply placed over the exterior of the windows (at least, with the window types we have) and are attached with self-tapping sheet metal screws.

Purely for aesthetics sake, we even ordered screens for these three "windows" which have attic space behind them.

Two men did the job quickly. Our house was the 2nd on their list of installs this day. They had just come from another install of 42 screens on a home! Our job was a breeze compared to that!

Lone Star Solar Screens was the company we chose. We used them ~10 years ago on our previous home as well - and they held up very nicely the first time, so we are a repeat customer...

Here is the finished product. Notice the "grids" put on all the windows which can be seen from the street. They match up exactly where the grids are located on the windows they cover.

Looking at the northwest corner of the house. Behind the fence are two bathroom windows which we also had screened, as they catch the late afternoon sun.

It is hard to describe how much difference these screens make. It may not make a whale of a lot of difference in the A/C bill month to month, but it does make a VAST difference in the comfort of a room protected by these screens. If you have windows which take the brunt of the afternoon sun, we highly recommend them!

Tom