Ya, just never know.

This story will make you happy, sad and maybe shed a tear.

Thursday I took all three pugs for a nail trim and to Petsmart for food. On our way home I noticed a sign for a estate sale. Thought about stopping but it was starting to get hot and I wanted to get the pugs home. Then I decided to run in real quick just to peek. They pugs were sleeping. I could leave the car running with the ac on. As soon as I walked in I noticed a beautiful iron fireplace screen and a little pug statue. The sweet lady working asked me if I had pugs. Yes, I have 3 I told her. She then told me her sister (who lived in the home and had passed away, her things were being sold) also had 3. Charlie, Rosie, and Lady. She said those dogs were so spoiled that they never ate "dog food". Her sister cooked for them. When she died they would sit at the end of the drive and wait for her.
OK, I was tearing up listening. She often watched the dogs when her sister traveled. I could tell she missed her sister and the dogs.  The sister even left $10,000 for the care of the dogs when she died. WHAT?? The oldest daughter was the caregiver. But she decided that was not enough money and had both dogs put to sleep(and kept the money) she said.
She was whispering because the daughter was upstairs. Charlie was old, blind and in bad health. Rosie was still young. This sweet lady was not happy about this at all.
WAIT.... what about Lady? Seems lady was a "free spirit" and would never stay in the yard. She ran off. She was gone a week before anyone knew and it. It was January and freezing outside. They figured she would never survive the weather and gave up looking for her. The sister's memory and health got worse after that. My heart sank. This was about the time we found Pearl on our deck.
I didn't know what to say and was feeling terrible for this lady and the younger daughter who was also there. Finally I said I have Lady. The older lady said "oh you have a lady too"? No, I think I have YOUR LADY. And told them my story. And how we tried to find the owner.She is in the car I said. All of us were thinking the same thing. Could it be? They both came out and anyone who knows Pearl knows she is not overly friendly. But her tail started wagging and she didn't bark. (she barks at everyone except me)There was no doubt she knew them. I could feel my lip quiver, my voice was cracking and I was about to cry. THE UGLY CRY!
I asked the daughter "are you wanting her back"? She said, there is no way to" prove" she is lady and I think it's fair to say after all this time she is yours. I wanted to hug her. I looked at the sister and she said, honey I'm a old women and can barely take care of myself. She patted my hand and I lost it. Yep, I cried right there in front of complete strangers at an estate sale. And I was STILL crying when Jeff came home.
Then the sister said wait here I have something for you. She comes out with a box of "pug stuff". (more statues, coffee mug, etc.) She said I think these should go home with you too. She said we can tell you love "Lady" and my sister will rest in peace knowing at least one of her babies is being loved and taken care of.

What are the chances??? If it is Lady it sure explains her "running". Guess no one will ever know for sure. But from now on we call this one....  LADY PEARL.

Much better......

Before we went on vacation I decided to clean out and organize my closet. I had put it off waaaaay to long and it NEEDED it. What a mess!

No wonder I could never find anything. Every piece of clothing I own is in this closet with the exception of undies and pj's.

Ugly wire rods and baskets. It was time for a change. So I pulled EVERY SINGLE item, shoes included out and went thru EVERYTHING. I even found a dress that I liked and bought TWICE. I know!!!!! I said it was bad.
My brother Frank took all the old racks down and installed a brand new system for me. And I LOVE IT!

Believe it or not I did take 2 large bags of clothes to goodwill. Yes, I could still go thru my purses. Some I no longer carrry. Maybe craigslist??????

We used every inch of space. Now I can see all my boots.

Found this lil idea in a magazine and it works great. Chair railing to hang heels on. AWESOME!

Still need to add more chair railing for these.....

Hey a girl can never have too many shoes. Right???????? Can I get a whooop from all the "shoe ho's" out there?

Perfect? NO! BUT I can find things easier.

And it looks prettier than it did. So for now it works.

East Coast Vacation

Jeff & I saved all year for a 10 day vacation to see the east coast.DC,NYC, and Boston. After a year of wedding planning we were more than ready. Just the two of us. Then it all changed in an instant. Mystic Ct is only a 1 1/2 hour train ride from Boston. The Graces (aka the Wontons) lived there. Travis & Jades old neighbors and dear friends. And Trav knew this because he told us this info. Oh he wished they could go. If you have ever seen Travs sad face you know what I was dealing with. But we couldn't just take 2 of them.
It has been years since we had taken a family vacation. Could we??? Can everyone take time from work???
It was on. Everything fell into place and we were off and running with a plan. The closer it got the more excited we all got.
We flew into DC. All 7 of us. We had three days to explore this city before taking the train to NYC. We checked into our hotel and went to check out Georgetown. The next day we took a 6 hour tour of DC. It was so HOT. but very interesting. Jeff and Trav played golf and the rest of us did a little shopping. We decided on our last night of every city we would go somewhere nice for dinner and we toasted that city and everyone took turns telling what their favorite and not so fav part about that city was.

I love history so I really enjoyed visiting DC. Loved it.
Our hotel was in Virginia (long story) so we had to take many $$$$$ cab rides everywhere.
We did take the public transportation when we could.

Kate is missing from this pic she is a Tx girl.

Georgetown here we come.......

My beautiful daughter in law Jade and handsome son Travis

Handsome son #3 Curtis and his beautiful new bride Kate

My handsome baby boy Paul with our girls

I know I know Im a lucky girl. This is MY FAMILY and I'm one proud mama.
I'm SO blessed. My girls get along, my boys love the girls and Jeff and I are crazy in love with each one of them. We enjoyed seeing Dc and were ready for NYC.

Father's Day

Today was all about the man of the house. My wonderful husband Jeff.

We asked him what he wanted to do today and he said watch golf and lay by the pool.

Your wish is our command.

Notice the TV waaaay in the background??? He really did watch golf from the pool.

Lounging in his recliner.......

The king feasted on lime-peppered pork tenderloin, parmesan roasted potatoes, sweet honey carrots, grilled squash,zucchini,mushrooms, garlic asparagus,drunken vidalia onion, and rolls.... OH MAMA!!

All grilled by Chef Paul

Big daddy with the kids

Chef Paul even made homemade vanilla ice cream

YUMMY!!!!!

Travis surprised dad with a new putter because he said his old one was from 1940  a lol would go here but knowing my husband it's very possible that it could be that old...jk

He said today was PERFECT because he did exactly what he wanted NOTHING!

Laundry room re-do

Thought I would FINALLY post pics of the laundryroom re-do.
EVERY room in my house has been painted and re-done MANY time in the 18 years since we have lived in this house. In fact my brother Frank jokes that not even a tornado could blow it down because the walls are so thick from many coats of paint. But the one room that has NEVER been painted or really had much at all done to it was the laundry room. It is TINY. But it worked for a busy family of 6 for many years.
If our water heater had not had a leak not sure it would have gotten a re-do at all. WHY??? No clue.

Sorry for the dark pic but I told you it was tiny. And that door is new too. Imagine how dark it was without that little window.

The cabinets were a HUGE waste of space. To far back to ever get into them. What was inside? JUNK, I mean tools.

Bye-bye ugly cabinets.

Funny how we never thought to remove that door for more space. In 18 years. Really??? (see my hubby's sexy legs?)

TA DA! It is a beautiful summer sunset orange. Hubby picked it out. I know! Mr. OU himself. He did have rules when helping choose a color. Must be bright and not white. Check out the new shelves. Love them!

New light that is really bright. Huge differance.

Stole this idea from the" amazing Ginny". No joke when I say that. The girl is awesome.
Everything is all nice & organized and looks good too.
Well, there ya go. Now if I could  just get motivated to do something with my closet.

Pretty Blooms....

The weather may be gloomy today but last week when the sun was out our yard was blooming in all it's glory.

 A hosta peeking it's head out. Soon it will be 10 times that size.

Something pretty by the door.

This was a $7 clearance tree from last year. Beautiful this year.

A gift from my Oshman co workers 14 years ago in memory of Tim. My favorite tree in the yard. She's a beauty.

These white phlox look amazing on our rock wall.

The stair beds are always pretty in the spring.

Mother's Day

My family did a great job of spoiling me today.They know that Mother's day is bittersweet for me. Losing a child gives new meaning to Mother's day for me. Tim was the first sweet voice to say mama and I love you mama. All mom's know how those words melt our hearts. I sat on the steps watching the guys working and my mind wondered to the days when they were little.
 I'm amazed at the men they have become and I'm sure big brother is smiling down and proud of all three younger brothers. Where did the time go? Made me smile and brought tears to my eyes.

  A yellow butterfly was flying around the yard today and I like to think that it's a sign that Tim was near. He was on all our minds today. We miss him everyday but know that he would be happy that we were together and would want us to enjoy our day.

 I received some cards that made me cry, some beautiful flowers, the girls cooked dinner, and my guys put in 6 hours of hard work building me a new walkway.

This is what we started with and harder than heck to walk on in heels.

Jeff, Curt, Paul & I cleared out all the old rocks and dirt (Trav had to work)

Once Trav got there he surprised us all and laid most of the stones. Travis is my golfer. He is a assistant golf pro at a course and does not do manual labor.

He put the stones down like he was working a puzzle. He told us he was brilliant.

He has never been so tired in his life. I bet he sleeps like a baby.

Paul and Curt made not one but two trips to home depot, unloaded rocks and 40 bags of sand.

My poor hubby won't be able to move from being on his knees leveling the rocks. He and I took turns and let's just say we like to think we are young but our bodies were screaming at us to stop.

I tried to sit and watch. It is Mother's day after all but I could not help myself. I love playing in the dirt and couldn't wait to jump in and help.

The girls cooked this amazing meal.

All in all it was a great day. I laughed and I cried but I was with my family and to me there is no where I would rather be. I hope all of you wonderful mom's out there had the best Mother's day ever.

Stop & smell the roses

I have wanted to put a flower bed in front of our "Alice in Wonderland" fence since we put the fence up last summer. I call it that because it is a stair step fence that reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. Why? I don't know! Just does. Anyways because our land is on a slope and it is what it is. I have had a love-hate relationship with this fence since day one.

That is Zach 'the maniac" lawn mower/ landscape guy. He is awesome. Not only did he put my new bed in BUT he put a watering system in for me. No more dragging that big ole hose. I'm SO HAPPY!

I have always wanted a rose garden and now I have one.  This tree was on the other side of the fence and now sets on the corner in front of the fence. The perfect spot.

A peek of what's to come. I'm so happy to have 2 blooms already.

Check out the two baskets that hang on the doors. Found these on a trip to KC and love them.

I put this fake bird in one to keep the real birds from pulling my flowers out and tapping on the windows.
So far it has worked.
Well I'm already planning the next project. I asked for the " labor of love" for Mother's Day. (wink plus big smile here)
 Stay tuned.