Moving On

This past weekend was so precious! It all worked out so well without any planning or forethought. Don’t you just love when everything just falls into place like that?

Hubby made it home on Thursday to get things all squared away up here for the holiday weekend. Though, I don’t know what there was to “square away”. Then the older daughter came in on Friday with our grandson and we had a lot of time to talk and catch up. Plus, MiMi got to hold that precious bundle of energy and let him get used to us again. On Saturday we went into the big metropolis of Gatesville and had a lovely late lunch and then it was on to WalMart for stocking up on baby items for future use.

But, Sunday was the prize. The niece that lives up here on the hill with us had a fish fry planned for in the afternoon. So hubby got up in the morning and went to the younger daughter’s and did some plumbing work that had been planned. When he came home, he brought her with him. How he managed to pry her away from her studies is beyond me. But I do know those girls will do anything for their daddy.

Another suprise for us on Sunday was the attendance at the fish fry by hubby’s other brother and his family. It was so good to see them. We have not had much time with them and it was really nice to be able to chat and get to know them. Our prayers and loving thoughts have been with them this summer as they lost a son the beginning of July in a car accident. I don’t believe parents or brothers or sisters ever get over losing a family member like that, especially when he is only 18 years old.

Sunday evening and night we had all of us together under one roof for the first time in years and it felt so cozy and, well, just RIGHT. The girls did sister type things and the grandson relaxed in my lap for a long time. Those moments are precious and are stored away in my memory to warm me up on cold days.

Of course, all good times come to an end eventually, and they went home this morning. The laundry is done except for the sheets which I will get to tomorrow and I was able to get a layout done of a precious moment of this weekend. The grandson had his first bubble bath up here this weekend and of course the camera had to come out. Here is the layout I made with those photos. Is he not the most handsome little boy you have ever seen?

Splash!

We are in Houston for the second weekend in a row. I’m not sure how my health is going to take it, but I just had to come this weekend to see my brother and two of his kids.

Jim

They are only here for a few days, so there was not enough time for them to come up and see me. In addition, my older sister who they are staying with, invited a lot of other relatives over to have a get together on Saturday so we had a great party. It was so great to be able to see them all.

Towards the end of the day, most of us who would brave the heat, ended up around the pool in the back yard and some of the kids (sorry JJ, you are still a kid no matter how old you get or how many degrees you get) ended up in the pool. Here is a great photo of some of the kids as they were jumping into the pool.

JUMP!

Doesn’t that water look so inviting? I just don’t know how I stayed out of it. But, I was concerned for sun burn and this old skin just would not have recovered as well as it used to from sunburn.

MOVING ON

The store still is having problems. A couple of weeks ago, it was down and I found out they (the hosts) were moving it to a new server. The old server had reached critical and had to get some relief. Since our account was one of the larger ones on the server, we were one of the lucky ones to be moved. Then, about a week or so ago we were hacked. Someone broke into the code and entered some stuff about viagra for our entertainment. It took a while, but I got that fixed, installed a security patch and changed passwords all around, changed the database connection and more. Then, this weekend, there was another issue. I was just sure we were under attack again as the server was showing critical volume. But, it was not  – the security certificate that I had purchased from the store was not getting along very well with the new server. It took a while to get that straightened out but it eventually was fixed. It was not fun trying to figure all that out while on the laptop WITHOUT all my passwords AND on the cell phone instead of a regular phone. AND of course, I was supposed to be spending time with family not worrying about the store.

Now, I wonder what will happen next with the store?

Moving ON

So the mojo is coming back and soon I will be having new items in the store. It is about time. I have one kit in the works for all you out there that have fishing photos to scrap. I might even be able to get some CU stuff made to go with it. I love the photos I found to extract for this kit . If I was on my desktop at home, I would pull a completed one up for you all to see. Soon though.

He was always there, my big brother. His hair was red and he had freckles just like me. When you are taller than everyone else your age and you burn and have freckles it helps to have someone just like you around. He was a walking reminder that I was not a freak. He actually would take time with me occasionally. And I am so glad I was smart enough to cherish those times. When you are young you can be so oblivious to the important things in life.I remember talking over my SAT scores with him. He wanted me to apply to all these colleges for scholarships and said, “You can do it.” I remember playing work up in the vacant fields with the neighborhood kids. I remember how he was always the pitcher cause not very many of us could throw that well. He was a proven genius, his test scores said so. He went to two different high schools in order to get the classes he needed. It was always a given that he would be there.After our teens we always lived in different parts of the world, at times even different hemispheres of the world. But we stayed in touch and I knew that the world had a big brother in it – somewhere out there. He was the one who told my girls there was no Santa Claus, I helped to sew the wedding dress of his wife to be. We passed in and out of each other’s lives while learning to be adults, building memories with children and friends. He was the first to be there when family needed him, he would go the extra mile to keep in touch. You could always count on big brother for an email here and there to remind us we were a family.The phone call came this morning that he was in the hospital. He is OK for now, but I am not – it took the strength right out of me to think that there was this chance that he would not be there – out there in the world some where. It is my prayer that I am able to keep my family and siblings and be the first to go. Surely that is not a big thing to ask, to be the one leaves first?

Don’t go big brother, stay a little longer. We can play work up in the rest home together in our wheelchairs and talk to grandchildren on the phone about Santa Claus. We can compare freckles and remember our red hair. Your wife and my husband can shake their heads at us as we sit around the computers and type away so fast. There are still many memories to make together and much we can share. Stay a little longer big brother.