Cowboy Suna, Gratitude

Cowboy Suna
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Readers asked for a better photo of me in the red cowboy hat, so here's one, taken over the weekend when Lee and I made another trip to his dad's farm. Not the best light, but you get the idea. There are a couple of other photos on Flickr (click link below photo to go to the site) if you want to see very ripe corn, a big spider and some sunflowers.

Everything worked out great this weekend. XH stayed at our house with the kids, so Lee and I went to his dad's without having to worry about who'd feed the dogs or anything. And the kids didn't have to pack up and go to a hotel room. They had helped Lee set up the guest room so it would be usable (after wrestling the jelly-like guest mattress upstairs, they then had to bring up the very substantial bed). So, we had a nice space for XH to sleep. They could make dinner at home, too, which was convenient and fun for them. Seems like a good deal--he saves $ and we have dog-sitting. And he washed the bedding when he left, and had the kids fold up the clothes that were in the dryer. That worked out great! I hope we can do it again on weekends when Lee and I don't have to be in town for some reason.

Lee and I enjoyed our first long trip in the Limo Truck. It sure rides nicely. His dad was very impressed with it, too. Since my own dad told me he'd printed out the truck's photo, I say we did a good job in pleasing the parents with the purchase! Lee's thinking of getting the rear windows tinted "limo" dark, since we call it the limo anyway.

It was good to see how Lee's dad is recovering from his skin cancer removals (big ole incisions--I think he waited a bit long on them). We took him to Victoria and fed him a steak dinner at one of those noisy roadhouse places. The steak was so delicious that it made up for the noise. Lee's dad also loved the mushrooms he had with his. I liked that you could get a small 6-oz. sirloin. (Still gained a pound over the weekend, sigh.) Lee's dad had stomach pain on Sunday morning, which worried Lee, but it is something he has been getting for years and no one knows why. Hmm.

It was interesting to see Victoria. It is about the size of Chambanaland where I used to live. Not a lot of character for the biggest city in south Texas, but they told me it all got over-built by strip malls and car dealerships. Lots of those. And hospitals. Oh, and if you are interested to know where the heck Lee's dad lives, here is a link to the website of Yorktown. The history section is actually pretty interesting, and mentions Lee's ancestors who settle the area (that would be the German settlers).

We took a nice scenic trip home that was only marred by traffic when we approached Austin. Then had adventures in paint and accessory buying for the guest room redecoration. We choose a periwinkle and a pale grass green combo and found a quilt with exactly those colors in it. Unfortunately, the only matching curtains we could find had just ONE panel. It was a challenge getting the Linens-n-Things people to order us another pair, but we managed. That took so long that by the time we got back to Lowe's to get the paint, they were closed. Sigh.

So we came home and worked together to make an interesting dinner, and were happy with the kids. Kids make us happy. But neither of them liked the cheese grits I made. Darn. They did love our weird nachos, smoked salmon and watermelon dinner from Friday, though!

Lee is off work this week doing home improvements. I wish I could be there to help! By tomorrow the old fridge and beds will be gone, plus all the old mattresses (yay Limo Truck). We will have a nice guest room AND space to park the car and motorcycle in the garage again! Woo!

Gratitude

No, I didn't forget it was grateful Monday. I guess I can't say I am grateful for Lee and the kids every week, can I? However, they are mostly where my gratitude lies. So, I'm picking them ANYWAY. It is just so wonderful to come home to three men, all smiling and wanting to tell me about their days. All willing to help me out, and to build me up. How lucky I am.