Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

It's now April 30th and I've been in another world since my last post on April 11th. My daughter and granddaughter visited over Easter so that kept me very busy. We went to an Easter egg hunt at the church I attend, and another one at the country club. We also went to the neighborhood park numerous times. We left for Dallas on Wednesday and spent the night with my son and daughter-in-law. Thursday we drove to Tulsa. My other daughter and her family arrived Friday and I babysat their two children while they attended a wedding Saturday night. Sunday I drove to Little Rock and stayed until yesterday. Now I'm back home thinking, "Okay, back to this world". It's kind of a weird feeling. I've got lots of catching up to do, including more detailed posts. But for now, I'll just add some pictures from Easter weekend:

Now, Where Did I Put That?

Yesterday, my youngest daughter and granddaughter flew here from Tulsa. I woke up, did last minute vacuuming, took the dog for a walk, got ready and was about to head for the airport when I realized I couldn't find my cellphone. I hadn't allowed time for this mishap so I was in a real tizzy looking for it. I checked all my usual spots: the car, my purse, and all bathrooms. I dialed the number numerous times because I often have it on the vibrate mode and knew it would be hard to hear.
I next had to retrack my activities from the prior evening. Oh dear, that involved margaritas. This was going to be tough. I'd driven to a sports bar, and then left my car there while we joined another couple at the club for dinner. Then back in my husband's car to go get my car. So that meant it had to be at either the clubs, or in my husband's car (which was at a golfcourse near the airport).
Great - just when I needed this to NOT happen. I wanted to get ahold of my daugher to let her know she'd just have to meet me outside at the airport, and that I had no way of calling her. So to the land line I go. Only problem is that I don't know her number as it's programmed into my cellphone. I had her home phone number in my address book, but not her cellphone. I ended up calling my mother-in-law and she thankfully had the number.
I was going to call the sports bar, but I knew it wouldn't be open yet. I then remembered that we'd picked up a friend on our way to eat and I'd called her from my cellphone when we were in her driveway. Whew! Down to two options, I next called the country club and got a recording. Left a message and was about to head out the door when the club called and said they had a phone matching the description I'd given. Yay! Crisis averted, but not without way too much stress involved. Darn forgetfulness and memory. And it gets worse with every birthday. Ugh!

Potato Salad & Brownies

Talk about screwing up a diet - these are, in fact, two of my weaknesses. I was doing really well with my own version of Weight Watchers, until I entertained at our home last Sunday. I decided to invite some of my husband's golfing buddies (and wives) over to watch the final of the Shell Houston Open Golf Tournament. Our country club (it's really pretty much just a golf club), had been given volunteer responsibilities for hole #18. Many of my husband's golf buddies had volunteered. My husband had volunteered also, but only for Thursday afternoon and Friday.
As mentioned in the last post, I had decorated for Easter and my house was fairly clean. Both good excuses for having company, don't you think? I thought so too.
We weren't sure how many would show up. Potentially, it was as few as 6, to as many as 20. That wasn't good because how do you plan for that? Gotta go with the possibility of 20, right?
What to serve for food - I decided to fix two recipes given to me by my one of my sisters: French Dip, and Brownies. I went with a potato salad recipe from my mother-in-law, as it was similar to an old faithful recipe from my side of the family. I also went with seasoned pretzels, again from my mother-in-law, a Rotel cream cheese/beef dip from my other sister, and a wonderful shrimp salad recipe served at a baby shower for me while pregnant with my now 29 yr old son.
Everything turned out great, except only 5 people showed up. They were very complimentary, while eating, but I couldn't talk them into taking anything with them. That meant I was stuck with left-overs. So throw them away, right? I don't THINK so! I was raised in a clean-your-plate environment. Plus, it was darn good food. Can you just chuck potato salad and brownies? Wish I could, but that's not me.

And the winner is...Mom!

My mother was the queen of decorating for holidays. You couldn't walk into her house without realizing what holiday and/or season it was. She enjoyed going to craft fairs and rarely came home without a new holiday decoration. I've taken after her in that I too, like holiday decorations. I used to not mind getting them out and putting them around the house. Notice the words "used to". In the past few years, I've lost interest. I can remember my grandmother scaling down to things such as a tabletop Christmas tree (fake nonetheless) and thinking, "What is that about?" Now I can SO relate, and in fact have invested in my own fake tabletop tree.
What has caused this lackadaisical behavior? I'm pretty sure it's the age thing, although it didn't stop my mother. I also think it's because I no longer have children living at home. When my kids were at home, I had incentive to decorate. Our house was the gathering place for their friends, and often they'd comment on my decorations. Since then, we've moved away from their stomping grounds and they rarely come to visit. What's the point of decorating? My husband doesn't notice. We've only been here 3 years and we seldom entertain in our home.
My mother was born, raised, and died in the same city. Her house was the gathering place. It was the only house my parents ever owned. My dad still lives there. It's still somewhat the gathering place, but the decorations are gone. No, they're actually in drawers and bins in an upstairs area. It's now kind of sad to go there on a holiday, because the decorations are missing. She's been gone since 1999, but I can guarantee you that her children and grandchildren all recall the days of visiting and enjoying those decorations.
This year, I've been more vigilant in my decorating. My kids came for Christmas, so that helped. But I've also decorated for Valentine's Day and now, Easter. And since my daughter has told me that these blogspots are better with pictures, I'm going to post some, although they don't even begin to match my mom's.

My Patio Project

Awhile ago I went to a craft fair and bought a plant stand tool thingy. I'd seen one last summer, and thought it was cool so I thought I'd give it a try. It involves patience - not always my best trait. It also involves dirt, but since I bought some new gloves, the dirt dilema has not been as much of an issue. You have to put 5 pots on the stand, and balance them off the side of each other. You do this one at a time. You also plant flowers in each pot, as you go. This may have taken someone else about an hour, but for me, it took the entire afternoon. It might have something to do with I try to be a perfectionist. I hate that about myself. I move things umpteen times before I'm okay with them. Plus, one thing led to another and I ended up reorganizing the entire patio, along with planting more pots. But I'm fairly happy with the end results and am posting a couple of pictures:

Hole in One!

This past weekend we went to my husband's company picnic. It was lots of fun. We played bingo, and there was a ping pong contest, along with a golf contest. I got a hole in one - twice! Too bad it was putt-putt golf. However I did beat everyone, including the men. There were several of us who got a hole in one on the first hole. But only two of us made another one on the second hole. Since neither of us made one on the 3rd hole, the winner (ME) was determined by closest to the hole.

Mean People Suck

This past weekend we gave away our rodeo tickets to our friends because we were unable to attend. They were thrilled because their daughter was coming to town with her boyfriend and the tickets would give them something to do. The rodeo is really awesome. It's the largest one in the world and lasts around 2 weeks. There are all kinds of exhibits, animals, and food, along with the carnival stuff. It's very well run, with tons of volunteers. There are concerts after the events. This year some of the entertainers were Rascall Flatts, Alan Jackson, Reba MacEntire, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Brooks & Dunn, ZZ Top, Lady Antebellum, and others I can't remember. Our tickets came with a parking pass, which lets you in lots that are somewhat closer than others.
The daughter of our friends has only been out of college about a year and has struggled to find gainful employment. Her boyfriend is attending law school. They arrived at the rodeo and realized he had his laptop in the car, so they locked it in the trunk, along with her purse that she chose not to carry. She also left her cell phone in the purse, because her boyfriend had his.
When they returned to the car, they discovered it had been broken into, and everything had been taken. What an awful experience for them! They then had to spend the rest of the evening and next several days trying to clean up the mess(cancelling credit cards, notifying the phone service company, checking on insurance, etc.).
We felt terrible. I had been violated by cartheft once in Chicago and will always remember the horrendous experience. I don't like Chicago to this day as a result.
My guess is this couple will not care to ever attend the rodeo again. So sad. Stupid mean people!