Ladies Who Lunch

Arlene, Loretta, and I are getting together for lunch today--Canyon Cafe. This will probably be it before Arlene and I go back to work. Loretta and Kirk are retired--damn it!!! Just kidding--I am a little envious, though. I wonder sometimes, how people stay in business, when they don't show up to do a job!!! We are waiting for a carpet cleaning crew to come shampoo our carpets. It is now 10:45--they were suppose to be here by 9:00 am. Kirk has gone and come back from HEB. We got up early and moved all the furniture out of the living room and piled the furniture up on our bed. If those dudes don't come-- or come this afternoon I am going to send them packing!!!!! if I am even here. Then, I am going to call "Stanley Steamer" to come shampoo the carpets!!!! What a way to run a railroad.
I guess I had better go and pack for our weekend in Dallas.

Kirk's first retirement day

Well, yesterday was Kirk's first retirement day. It went pretty well. He got up, took a two mile hike, came back and sat outside and read the paper and drank his coffee(watched me putter around in the yard, pulling weeds, moving and watering plants.
Today, Tuesday, he went to New Braunfels and sat in court listening to his best friend, Phil Watkins work.
Meanwhile, back at the "ranch" I have shredded a ton of old papers, canceled checks, bank statements, and old bill statements--from as far back as 1995. Right now I am blogging while the shredder motor cools down. I think that I probably should take "her" to the barn until tomorrow. She might need a brushing down, or something. I really don't want to burn up another shredder. This is a heavy duty one, I guess I was exprecting way too much of the old girl.
I think that I will call it a day--been in this room ALL day--and go outside and water plants.
Adios!!!

New Lifestyle Ahead

Tomorrow is Kirk's last day. He is soooo looking forward to not having the stress. Actually, I am a little jealous, after all I am older than he is. I should be the one retiring. I will next year. Now he will join me in puttering around the house, working on special projects(new fence and gate), weeding flower beds--I did the one in front. I am saving the one in the back yard for Kirk because we have two grass snakes who have taken up residence in our yard and I am very a scared of snakes. I KNOW these are the good kind, but I am still scared.

We will be off to Kansas to visit with my Mama toward the end of July, while Patsy gets Amanda moved to New York City. That is so exciting--now I have someone to visit and go to see Broadway shows.

I have some begonias calling me to come plant them.
See Ya!!!

Broken Plates Project

I saw the greatest chair in Tuesday Morning a couple of weeks ago-- bad news--it was $180.00. So I started thinking about two metal chairs that I have had since 1975--they have been recycled several times, one more time wouldn't hurt.
I went to Home Depot looking for scrap plywood and I found some. I thought that I would have to pay a nominal fee for the wood--the Gods were smiling on me and I got the wood for FREE!!!! Saturday I measured and sawed the wood into squares to fit in the seats of the chairs. NOW COMES THE FABULOUS PART!!!! I went to the Goodwill Store and bought an armload of different kinds of plates, brought them home, wrapped them in a towel and smashed them with a hammer. I created mosaic
seat bottoms in those old chairs. (Just like the expensive ones at Tuesday Morning). They have to dry for 24 hours before I can start the groutting process. I can hardly wait to see the end result!!!
Now I have to come up with another project, since I have nearly finished that one.

What I really need to do is iron the stack of clothes that is piled on our guest bed, so that Larry and Cheri have place to sleep tomorrow night. Maybe, I will do that tonight and watch a movie. Looking forward to the weekend.

Leap Of Faith

Kirk and I took a Leap of Faith today. He and I were on the same page in our life and didn't realize it. This morning I woke up to bad dreams. They were very confusing and disjointed. I got up and poured a cup of coffee and got back into bed to read, but I could not keep my mind on the book. I closed it and just sat quietly for a while and it came to me that I needed to have faith. I grabbed the phone and called Kirk to tell him "to go for it." He had just finished typing his resignation letter. We were thinking the same thing!!! He was retiring!!! All during my life there have been points where I took a Leap of Faith and it has always worked out!!!! God is always there. Kirk's last day will be June 23,2006. OH HAPPY DAY!!!! I have at least one more year before I hang it up. It will depend upon how next year goes!!! Right now I have never been so sure of anything in my life, as I am of Kirk's decision.

Thrusday Thirteen

I am such a technology Know-Nothing. I don't know how to do the Thursday Thirteen Thing, but I am going to do my OWN thing.
1. I'm out of school.
2. I attended a Small Learning Communities conference
last weekend.
3. Hooked with my new team of teachers for next year.
4. Will seriously consider retiring at the end of next year.
5. Summer time--Camaryn!!!! She is so cute.
6. Off to Kansas end of July to spend time with Mama while Patsy and Amanda go to New York.
7. I'm singing in a Broadway review June 16th and 17th.
8. Lunched with my two best friends last week.
9. I finished the concrete walkway to the garden gate yesterday--looks great!!
10. Cleaned out all the closets except Kirk's.
11. Repotted some spider plants that were way overdue for new digs!!:)
12. Paid bills yesterday, not much left, but thankful I had the money to pay the bills we had.
13. Looking forward to next weekend--family reunion, Broadway Tonight, and Kids Home!!!!

My list could have gone on and on.

Best Friends

You know it is hard to beat lunching with best friends. I did that today and it was wonderful. There are not a lot of people who are as lucky and I am to have a group of dear friends who would walk through fire for me. Sometimes I take them for granted, my sweet wonderful sister does not have the luxuary of having good friends who would be there for her and listen to her, hold her up when she is down. I count myself a very lucky woman to have "sisters" who are always here for me, NO MATTER WHAT!! I wish that I was not so far away from my sister, we have so much fun when we get together. She is an artist. What we could not do if we were in the same town. We have laughed about renting a RIDER truck and going across America poking through antique stores. We have done that on a small scale either in the Kansas region or the Texas region of America. We have lots more to poke through. Sometimes, right after I get home from visiting her, I miss her so much my heart hurts. She is my only sister, I have two brothers and I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to visit with all of my siblings, and I must say that it was like we had not been away from each other at all. We laughed so much that I would get a headache. The four of us have always been very close, and it does not matter that we have lived half a world away from each other over the years. We have traveled to places that most people just read about, and we have lived in the heart of the south and in middle America. We have gleaned knowledge from everywhere we have been. The world does that for you , if you let it.