Italian Wine Light

Louis Dean and I were out in the gazebo this morning chatting about our weekend plans.

We are heading to Katy, Texas to visit Amber and Mike......

planning to leave in the WEE hours of Saturday morning and arriving shortly after breakfast time.

It will be so good to see them!! (AND the cats.......July and Snowball!)

That evening we will join them in attending a party in their neighborhood.

I told Louis Dean I would pick up a bottle of wine for a hostess gift.

HE suggested I make a wine light instead!

So I did!

Every one I make turns out slightly different!

I used a stick from a torn up grapevine wreath to push the light strand to the bottom of the bottle.

Then I decided to LEAVE the stick and add a few more!

Bringing a bottle of wine to a party is ALWAYS appreciated!

Hopefully they will enjoy this WINE LIGHT just as much!

"I have lived temperately....I double the doctor's recommendation of a glass and a half of wine each day and even treble it with a friend."

~ Thomas Jefferson

Say CHEESE!!!

As in The Cheesecake Factory!!

Yesterday afternoon I picked Summer up at her downtown Dallas office and we headed straight to dinner!

We both love EVERYTHING about this place!

The ambiance, the lighting, even the muted background sounds of plates and forks clicking together and the hum of conversation....it is all so very relaxing!

AND the A/C is cranked up so you forget how HOT it is

outside!

The food is always scrumptious!!!

These Avocado Egg rolls are our FAVORITE!

We had the very NICEST evening together! I am so blessed to have daughters who want to spend time with me. I will be heading to Katy early on Saturday morning to see Amber. These two daughters of mine are so very special......as all mothers feel about their daughters, I am sure!

Mine are 22 years apart.....having had Summer in my youth and Amber in my older age!

There is no greater compliment in the world ....for a mother.....

than to have her 'child' want to spend time together.

After dinner and a little shopping we ended our evening with the first snow cones of the season!

Blue coconut and banana! They are as pretty as well as tasty! Perfect dessert for a summer's eve!

We came home and sat out on the driveway in our chairs visiting with Louis Dean for a little while.

It wasn't long before I suggested Summer go to bed early! She has a one year old daughter and has been going on very little sleep for just about that length of time! I remember those days!

There is a 'specialness' to one of your kids coming home to spend the night!

I got up early to see her off to work this morning!

I guess you can tell I am a very proud MOTHER!!

Isn't she adorable??

"My mother wanted me to be her wings, to fly as she never quite had the courage to do. I love her for that. I love the fact that she wanted to give birth to her own wings."

Erica Jong

Many 'MINI' Distressed White Frames!

I am redoing our bedroom one small step at a time. I am so NOT ready to be displaced for months as happened when we redid my bathroom. Every single thing we do takes so much TIME. And the Texas summers are so hot it is hard to stay motivated long enough to tackle the hard stuff! I can do quite a bit of the work on the bedroom myself....unlike the bathroom!

I actually have TWO walls I COULD go ahead and wallpaper!

 That is just as soon as I ORDER the paper.

After careful consideration I have decided on this one!

I simply LOVE it! It is a little pricey but I am saving so much money in other areas

(like refinishing a chest, tables and mirror frames I already have!)

I am going to go for it! I will have this paper the rest of my life....perhaps!

You can see the existing paper behind the bed. I hung this in 1983!

Of course you could not even SEE this wall until recently when we hauled the large bridged headboard with side chests out of there! That was quite a job! I have tucked the mirrors behind the bed and after papering will hang them above the headboard Louis Dean and I are making together.

My granddaughter, Faith, helped me paint the many frames I had hung across the wall above my closet.

I plan on putting sepia tinted photos of family in them.

This will look nice against the new paper.

I fill just about every available space on a wall with something!

I always have and I guess I always will.

I love to VISIT homes decorated with less clutter.

I simply can't LIVE in one like that myself.

I have a large chest to refinish in the same manner as this Ethan Allen piece....

When I am daunted about starting such a BIG refinish project.....

I tend to find something smaller and more manageable like this coat rack!

Hence, the MANY mini frames!

I DO have three large framed mirrors that went with the dresser I pitched.

Maybe I'll knock those out next week!

Little by little......I am getting it DONE!



High Lights of MiMi Camp 2011

MiMi Camp 2011 was a success! The grandkids, Granddad and I all had a great time!

We had a whole lot of old fashioned wholesome FUN!

NO computer games, you tube, and less than one hour of a Classic Looney Tunes DVD!

We had an evening picnic in the park.

 The boys played and Faith discovered she has a very real talent with the camera!

She documented many of the 'memories' from this year's camp.

After baths I popped some corn and the kids sat on a blanet in the front yard where we watched the

Full Moon rise and move up through the trees.

In the triple digit Texas heat,

the kids helped us water the things that are SUPPOSED to be green every evening.

(It is a little bit lonely watering all by ourselves now!)

Thursday morning we all did my 20 minute yoga routine. They were impressed I could DO these moves!

While I prepared lunch, the GK's settled down in the living room with a pillow for each of them

and listened to Jack Lemmon reading Peter and the Wolf.

Amber and Benjamin used to listen to this with me years ago.

It was as much fun for me to get to hear this again as it was for the kids!

We saw Rango at Starplex complete with popcorn and cokes.

They had already seen this but I hadn't!

I love all things Johnny Depp!

For the evening's entertainment

I brought out Benjamin's yo-yo collection and the book we checked out at the library.

Granddad said he was pretty good at yo-yo's.....and he still IS!!!

This was all the rage back in the 50's.

I am going to try to find a super duper one for Sam's birthday.

I safely returned all of Ben's back to the tin for safe keeping.....

until he has his OWN children!

They will inherit quite extensive collections of yo-yo's, Lego's, and Match Box cars!

Plus I still have his Erector set!

The horeshoe and nail puzzles were a challenge for all of us!

We spent our last night eating watermelon on the driveway and watching the moon and stars.

We loved listening to the kids chat with each other. They play SO well together and are unusually close.

All too soon it was Friday morning!

They looked a bit sad as we loaded up the car and drove to Fort Worth.

We dropped Granddad off when we picked GiGi up for her weekly trip to the beauty shop.

My little Ford Fusion will only hold 5 people!

I kind of miss my big old van!

(But NOT the cost of the HUGE amount of gas it took to drive it!)

Lunch at CiCi's pizza was a real treat for me!

I have been eating healthy since Louis Dean is on a heart healthy - diabetic friendly diet.

I traded Mother for Louis Dean and we were off to Granbury!

The 'beach' is actually a section of Granbury Lake but we still enjoyed the sand and water

on such a hot summer's day.

There was a SCORCHING wind blowing although the kids did not seem to notice!

Louis Dean does not care much for the beach.....

he wore black pants, shoes and socks AND his wool flat cap from Scotland!

He says he is old enough now to do and wear anything he WANTS!

And so he DOES!

After spending the entire afternoon it was time to clean up and get dressed.

Their mother just so happened to be celebrating her birthday with a close friend in GRANBURY!

She met us at the beach and we transferred the precious cargo!

Faith took a couple of last shots with the camera.

I know what I am going to get for HER birthday!

SO that's it for MiMi Camp 2011!

We did a TON of things and I hope we made just as many good memories!

We have a couple of make up days left so I think I will have a

'Mini MiMi Camp' a bit later on this summer.

Now we are now resuming our normal routine.

Each day we are recalling - 'This time LAST week we were...........!"

Already enjoying some of those memories!



Crafts With the Grand kids: Painted Crosses

Yesterday afternoon MiMi Camp resumed. Our first adventure of the day was craft time.

They each chose their personal favorite color.

Faith's was PINK, of course!!

After they coated the crosses with paint and water to thin it down a bit we then brushed on a glaze of white or cream......then wiped most of it off.

The last step was to sand the edges to give it a more distressed look.

I think they turned out very nice. Levi was carrying his around so Faith didn't get to snap pictures of his.

She has an artist eye with the camera.

Yesterday she took 165 pictures!

I am still sorting and cropping before using some for the next blog post.

This is one of Faith's favorites from yesterday and it speaks to my heart.

We all have issues in our life that only God can handle.

I faced one of those yesterday and I needed this reminder of FAITH!

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.
It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.

- Joni Erickson Tada

MiMi Camp Day 1.....

The first 24 hours of MiMi Camp 2011 was awesome! We had a blast!

We first hit up the library for a bag of books, DVDs and books on tape.

Our next stop was Centennial Park.

(Faith took the pic of the park above.)

I had a phone chat with Summer while Faith took pictures and Levi ran around!

Faith is a good little photographer! She will be 7 later this month.

I cropped the photos but you can tell she has a real eye for taking pictures!

Sam decided to rest while Levi explored.

I should have guessed he didn't feel well.

He said he developed a headache while we were at the library.

Our next errand was the Mexican Market......aka 'Savers' grocery store.

The music, announcements  and store signs are all in Spanish.

They each chose a Mexican pastry from the bakery case.

Once back home all the kids grabbed a pillow and listened to the first half of the CD 'Peter and the Wolf' read by Jack Lemmon while I got lunch ready. I love that CD!

Naps and snacks followed.

I should have known everything was going TOO well.

Poor Sam looked up at me after we had played a game of Chinese Checkers and said,

"MiMi, I am sick."

He had 102.9 temp. I took it THREE times!

 I even took my own to make sure the thermometer was working right!

He did not WANT to be sick! He said, "I can handle fever pretty well, MiMi!"

Made my heart hurt!

Faith was taking a bath when I called my son and daughter in law to tell them Sam was ill. 

By the time she was dry and dressed HER eyes were hurting and she was running a fever of 102.2!

Both of the older kids were chilled so I covered them up with throws and we settled down to wait for their mother to arrive. This is the scene of the final hour of MiMi Camp 2011 Day ONE!

I am happy to say they are feeling better as I write this post.

My son said that when he put Sam to bed last night Sam asked,

 "Daddy, do you get make up days at MiMi Camp like you do at school?"

YOU BETCHA!!!

So Louis Dean and I are anxiously awaiting the grand kids return tomorrow evening when

MIMI CAMP 2011 resumes!!

MiMi Camp 2011 is now OPEN!

My son dropped the grand kids off about 6:00 yesterday and we were off and running

for this year's MIMI CAMP!

First thing on the agenda was WATER! Always a fun thing for kids of just about any age!

It just so happens I have THREE water hoses in the front so all the flower beds had a good soaking by the time the kids were done!

This is my oldest grandson, Sam. 'The THINKER.'

Faith is our little glamour Queen!

And Levi is a mixed bag of all things CUTE!!

While the boys played Lego's Faith helped me paint some frames for my bedroom.

Hot dogs for supper followed by roasted marshmallows,

chocolate covered graham crackers, popcorn, mint tea

then MORE popcorn!

Before Faith went to bed (MUCH later that night!) she asked,

 "Can we have more JUNK FOOD tomorrow?"

Of COURSE!!! You are at MiMi CAMP!!

We all sat out in the gazebo and cheered on the Mavericks!!!

Faith has SO much personality!!!!

Can you TELL???

She is also quite a photographer!

She took a lot of the pics!

Like this one!

Sam and Faith played a checker game that lasted OVER an hour!

They actually left it tied and finished it this morning.

Both of them are such great thinkers.

We were cheering the Checker Game along with the Mavericks on the radio!

Guess who won the Checkers?

This was the game as they left it last night.

Levi can play Checkers when he is six years old.

For now he plays with the marbles and Chinese Checkers!

Win! Win!!

After the game we took Lucy on a late night walk through the neighborhood.

The moon and stars were so pretty we laid a quilt out on the grass and just looked at the night sky.

Sam went right to sleep.

Faith and Granddaddy counted the cars who did or did NOT stop at the stop sign on the corner!

It was after midnight before Faith would give up and go to bed!

Once she sprinkled water in her eyes because they were falling shut!

I always leave snacks by the bed in their room in case they wake up hungry....

and a bottle of water!

They were all in the den this morning when I woke up - Granddad included - watching the Maverick win from last night. We listened to it on the radio live but had recorded it to watch later.

They were all so cute talking about the plays and the players and cheering!

I guess you can tell I am having fun!

We are off to the library now and the Mexican Market......maybe a stop at Centennial Park.

It's going to be another good day at MiMi Camp!