some surprises are just what we need...

This past Sunday, My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH) and Buddy Bear went for their daily morning walk to our gate. I got this picture from MSH about fifteen minutes later:

Not sure when this baby's Mama had him. Could have been between Friday night and early Sunday morn. We’re 98% certain this is a bull calf. Isn’t his coloring amazing? I told TLC it’s like coffee with just the right amount of cream!

The Mama cow’s name is Minnie. Little Leighton (aka LL aka Biscuit) has named all of our Mamas for the past four years. Since she could talk! We’ve had lots of “Princesses.” Elsa. Anna. Belle. Etc. LL had basically run out of Princess names. Hence Minnie.

This calf will soon officially be Mickey Jr. I thinks that’s adorable.

Our other Mama cow (Her name is Daisy. If she has a girl? The girl calf will probably be named Clara. After Clarabelle the Cow. On Mickey Mouse. Duh.  If he's a bull calf? No clue. Not at this point.) Daisy should have her calf soon. Three weeks. Ish.

We treasure our calves! They give us such JOY. Especially through the eyes of these granddaughters. (And even though Baby Belle, in her two and a half years on our Earth, has not been able to come visit at Grammy and Pa-Pa’s place as often as LL has been able to, in her six and almost a half years on our Earth, Baby Elle has had fun on several Ranger Trips with Pa-Pa and LL to view babies. She possibly won't remember all of them.)

Yesterday’s surprise reminded MSH and I how grateful we are to Our Dear Lord God Almighty. For his many, MANY blessings. Seeing that baby? After the evil that took place in Pittsburgh on Saturday? Gave us some comfort. Many smiles. Happy tears!

Wishing each of you a week that gives you a WONDERFUL surprise! And some peace in your hearts and souls.

Hugs,

ELC

p.s.: TLC tried to suggest to Biscuit that she allow Baby Elle to name this calf. Or, at the very least, the next one. Biscuit wasn’t quite on board with this idea—as of last night at bedtime. Grammy thinks Biscuit can give Baby Elle two to three options for names and Baby Elle can pick one. This way Biscuit has had some input. We’ll see how much pull Grammy has with LL/Biscuit…winky wink.

Funny Friday...

Y'all. These crack me up. They epitomize MOI. I found these via Jane's Instagram account. (Jane is an online shop where lots o' different boutiques sell really fun, unique products.)

It FINALLY feels AND looks like FALL here in Texas. The rain has stopped. The sun is shining. The air is cool. We actually went outside after dinner tonight. It was glorious.

We have desperately needed this. Poor Little Leighton has been plagued with every Kindergarten germ known to man: cold, conjunctivitis, double-ear infection, viral throat infection and, finally, a tummy bug. God love her. We head back to the doctor next week to make sure her ears have healed. We are sending up big prayers for a good checkup.

To celebrate our semi-healthy reprise, I have my Fall Scentsy turned on, my flannel and infinity scarf are ready to be worn and pumpkins are adorning my porch. It's officially FALL, Y'ALL.

Have a blessed weekend!

just messed up...

I have failed TLC (Please forgive me, Daughter…) this week. Promised I’d do a blog post Thursday. Then yesterday. Now it’s Saturday night and I’m pooped and basically out of energy and ideas. In the past, I’ve given her quite a hard time when she’s done the same…promised me a post that kept getting delayed. I’m grateful she’s forgotten it’s my turn! If she hasn’t forgotten? She’s being kind. Kind is good. Thanky, TLC.

I saw this on Pinterest the other night and laughed and laughed. (I have no clue as to who I should give credit to for this tres cute and accurate meme.) Not sure why I laughed…because it actually sums up my current life:

I lost my car

chapstick and now

my purse chapstick

is in my room and

my room chapstick

is in my car and my

whole life is just

messed up.

A week ago this afternoon, I was in the midst of trying to get home from The Metroplex. I’d spent the night at TLC’s on Friday. She and Her Hubby were going out to dinner with friends. Her Hubby had, unfortunately, gotten quite sick and they had had to cancel. I was scheduled to attend a Homecoming/Reunion for my high school at a Club only 20ish minutes from TLC’s casa the next morning so I stuck with my plan to spend the night.

(My high school was brand new the year I was a sophomore. In l968. It was a Six MILLION dollar school and that, My Dear Friends, was a lot of dough in those days! This, obviously, is it’s 50^th year and there were going to be all kinds of celebrations last week to acknowledge it.)

I was excited to enjoy Brunch and a Catchup-Visit with my classmates Saturday morn. I looked pretty darn cute—if I do say so myself. Winky. Wink. My hair was AMAZING. Just the right “BIG.”

At this point: I need to tell Y’all we’ve had nothing but rainy and dark days for what seems like well over a month. Last Friday and Saturday were quite scary—weather-wise. Lots of hard rain. Lots of wind. Cold COLD COLD air. (Well, cold for Texans.) I’d hoped I could get to said Brunch and make a quick visit to my parents’ home for an hour-ish before I headed West late afternoon to see My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH), Buddy Boo Bear and Hunter the Cat.

When I was approximately 15 minutes from my destination, I hydroplaned on the freeway. I wasn’t going fast—at all. I couldn’t. Because I couldn’t see three feet in front of my car. I pulled off and promptly texted my precious friend, Christy (The Queen of All  Class of l971 Reunions), that I was turning around and going home. Then I texted TLC. Finally, I called MSH, almost in tears, to say I was white-knuckling it to our place immediately.

I got home at 1:00 p.m. after pulling over twice for fifteen minutes each time. (I should have been home no later than 12:15, by the way.) I watched FOOLS fly by me—doing 70-80 miles an hour—and many other cautious drivers doing anywhere between 45 and 55 miles an hour. I cursed them. I prayed. I cursed some more. I prayed from more. I bargained. I begged. I cursed and cursed.

I cannot imagine that every person I saw driving at a dangerously fast speed in that horrid weather had any reason to behave that way other than to just get where they were going as fast as possible. (Yes, perhaps some of them had an emergency. Or were sick. Or needed a restroom. Certainly not all of them. No way.) To hell with the rest of us. THEY were the important people. What they had going on was a million times more important than anything the rest of us had going on—like…oh, I don’t know…living to see another hour or day or month or year.

I made it home. Truly grateful to be alive. Sad I’d missed my friends. Glad I’d not caused anyone else on the road to have an accident. (Oh—and I forgot to tell Y’all—I saw at least four wrecks that were NOT GREAT. Cars smashed up. Many MANY emergency vehicles. In three of them? An 18-wheeler was involved. No judgment—stating facts.)

The rest of my week? Sheesh. Every day it was something else. At the risk of Y’all deciding you no longer want to read about this whiny Senior Citizen’s daily issues, I’ll leave you with this: It was not my most fun week. We all have weeks we’d like to forget, don’t we? Months? Yikes. Sometimes maybe years. If we’re lucky and determined and somewhat patient? We survive. By the Grace of Almighty God—we survive.

Here’s hoping each of Y’all have a Sweet Sunday and a WONDERFUL (NEW!) Week! Don’t drive too fast, okay? Especially in dangerous weather. Be kind. Be wise. Be grateful. Don’t simply survive—THRIVE.

Smooches and Hugs,

ELC

...let it go...

Well, apparently North Central Texas has decided to just skip Fall and head straight to Winter. Y'all. It is currently 41 degrees at my house. I'm frozen. However, I refuse to complain. (Well, I might complain just a tidbit later in the post.) This weather and this season? They are my JAM. I love them. I'm literally wearing unicorn flannel jammy pants (compliments of ELC who has a matching pair!) and a Christmas tee. Bring. It. On.

ELC texted me this pic last week. Isn't it just LOVELY? (I'm sorry I don't remember where she saw this so I cannot give proper credit.) However, it got me thinking about several things I'd like to "let go of" right now. I think it's been awhile since I've compiled one of my lists, right? Humour me, okay?

I'm ready to LET GO of...

1. Kindergarten germs. OMG. In five days, we've gone from conjunctivitis to a double-ear infection to a viral throat infection. There isn't enough acetaminophen or wine to make this tolerable.

2. Rain. I know. I know. I should never be tired of wonderful, life-giving rain. We spend an incredible amount of time in a constant drought around Texas. We beg, plead and pray for rain. It has not stopped raining in, what now feels like, 40 DAYS. I'm over it. I'm over muddy, wet dog paws, general dreariness and broken umbrellas. Over. It. Now. I apologize. Unfortunately, this is my truth.

3. Grocery shopping. I hereby nominate myself as the worst grocery shopper. EVER. Amazon Prime? I rock it. Online shopping for birthdays and holidays? I am a PRO. Grocery shopping? Uh, no. Big FAIL. I can't meal-plan. I forget my lists. (I realize I should simply keep one on my phone. That's apparently too obvious.) I forget, every trip, the "most important item on my forgotten list." I'm the worst. Jesus, fix it. PLEASE.

4. Drug companies not being required to test and label their products gluten-free. I spent ONE HOUR at CVS this morning, after LL's doctor's appointment (they got her in first thing and we were rockin' it all the way home to jammies and the couch once we'd picked up her script), arguing with a tech, discussing options with the pharmacist and calling the manufacturer of the Amoxicillin she was prescribed. It's something most don't have to ever consider. Before Little Leighton's Celiac diagnosis, I had ZERO idea gluten could be in anything and everything. Children need antibiotics. They don't need the extra hassle, worry and concern over what is safe to ingest. I do use a website (www.glutenfreedrugs.com) that I could not live without. It has helped me tremendously over these past four years. I'm sincerely grateful for it. However, I need our government to mandate labeling. Like, yesterday.

5.  Two words: Potty. Training. Help. Jesus, fix this, too. PLEASE. PLEASE.

It is not lost on me how genuinely trivial most of these are. They are. They are my struggles at this time in my day. My life. I seriously know how blessed I am to have:

1. A warm, dry home.

2. Generally healthy children.

3. Health insurance to defer much of the expenses we've recently incurred.

4. Money to buy food for my family.

5. Sweet family and friends who support me and my family through their gifts of time, kindnesses, and greatly-appreciated suggestions. Family and friends who love us and pray for us. I am blessed. We are all blessed.

Little Leighton is about to put on a play for me and Belle. I think I'll head downstairs and make a hot, cup of peppermint tea. I hope y'all are warm and dry, wherever you are!

Happy Fall/Winter! LOL.