Thought I Should Do an Update

Well, it has been awhile since I have visited my own blog ~  so I will just do a rambling thoughts page ~ hope you enjoy catching up with us ~~~~ in no particular order

~ will be heading for WA/OR on 3/23 to see our 4 kids, 4 grandkids and tons of friends!!

~ found a new grocery store today in San Antonio: Sprouts, reminds me of Trader Joe's in WA; definitely will be heading back there next time we do a major grocery shopping which we think will be sometime toward the end of April

~ have enjoyed Skyping with Brandon's family especially the call Christopher made all by himself last Tuesday night.  He told his Daddy that he was calling Grammy and the next thing Brandon heard was Christopher telling me hi and me saying hi back.  We all laughed that Christopher knew how to call us using the computer and very thankful it was a free call

~ had a rough couple of weeks at work but think things have been resolved and straightened out and we are back in our happy space at work

~ have wrestled with some health issues but think I am back into a healthy frame of mind and have decided that I need to set some daily goals: tomorrow's are get up at 6:00 a.m., do my quiet time, walk for 15 minutes before work (working up to 60 minutes in six weeks) and do our laundry.  If still motivated will clean the bathroom from top to bottom or else that will be on Tuesday's goal

~ saw John (Ron's brother), Fawn (John's wife) and Miriam, their 19 year old daughter ~ who graduated from Basic training last Friday in the top 10% of her class ~ great job Miriam we are so proud of you!!  And so fun to see family here in Texas.

~ been busy planning some trips: our trip home on 3/23; then the middle of April getting together with a group of women/friends by Lynden Baines Johnsons ranch, then the end of April going to Wichita Falls, TX to spend a weekend with Miriam; and then Memorial Day weekend at King's Ranch.

~ and of course I had a bad cold thrown into the middle of life

~ celebrated long distance Opal's 4th birthday ~ said prayers of thanksgiving that she is the healthy little girl that she is; saw some great pictures of her swimming and enjoying a chocolate cupcake with lots of blue frosting

~ enjoyed a great concert by the Southwest Texas Singing Men at church one Sunday evening

~ been playing some great games of Mexican Train

~ enjoyed watching Ron win 3x at bingo and laughing when he yelled "bingo" and scared a couple of other players ~ not big pots but hey $7.00 pays for the next week :)

~ cooking some pretty tasty dinners

~ praying for friends who have had surgery/illness to deal with and seeing the Lord work in mighty ways

~ busy, busy days at work - the annual membership meeting was on 2/23 so lots to get ready for; lots of lots being sold and welcoming new members into the park

~ getting to visit with good friends Jerry, Lynda and their granddaughter Maddie as they made their way to San Antonio

~ trying a new restaurant in Castroville called Napoli's

~ reflecting on where we have been and where we might be heading

and through it all continuing to see the Lord's hand in our lives as he provides for us in so many ways with unexpected meals from friends, hearing from friends not seen in many months, good checkups with the doctor, phone calls from Jamie & Brandon ~ so fun to always connect with them and hear what is going on with their lives.

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with us.  Am going to try to get back in the habit of at least doing weekly updates and adding pictures along the way.

Weekend Happenings!

Greetings on this cool Sunday evening.  We have had off the last three days.  Friday morning was spent getting some much needed lab work done (Alice) and then off to see Dr. Emily.  Had to have a medication review and discuss an ongoing tummy problem that I have had for the last several months.  The outcome...time for another colonoscopy ~ oh joy!!!  We have decided to put that off till after our vacation the end of March.  For a couple of reasons: needing to save up the money to pay for it as the cost is about $1100 :( and time wise it will be better to take the two days off after we get back from our vacation.

After spending the morning at appointments we decided to take a drive on Friday afternoon.  Drove to Uvalde then over to Eagle Pass where we had lunch at the Kickapoo Casino and then drove toward Del Rio and Bracketville and then back to D'Hanis...a large circle.  It was a beautiful sunny day and a nice day for a ride.  We got home just in time to play bingo in the clubhouse...a good night for me as I won two games ~ won $14!!!

Then Saturday I did 4 loads of laundry and Ron cleaned up some in the motor home.  In the afternoon we decided to watch a few movies that we had recorded over the Christmas season.  All three were Hallmark movies - so fun. 

Sunday we slept in and then headed out to go down Texas 211 - found out it is a dead end road - no sign when you turn off Highway 90 to Texas 211...oh well, now we know there is nothing down that road :)  And then we made another large circle, this time going to Poteet, TX - which has a big strawberry festival each spring.  And this is what welcomes you into town:

Poteet's water tower painted like a giant strawberry!

And then we were off on more adventures.  And to the town of Lytle.  We saw a beautiful County Courthouse and the jail, both built in the early 1900's.

The Courthouse is the same on all four sides.  The jail is kinda obscured by the trees but beautiful none the less, the two signs talk about the history of the jail.  Both buildings were built and designed by the same man.

While in Lytle we had lunch at the Railroad Cafe...lots of pictures of railcars throughout the restaurant.  Ron had a jalapeno burger and I had a mushroom/Swiss burger with some delicious onion rings.  After our lunch break we made our way around many back roads to Sabinal and then back to the park.

All in all we went through two full tanks of gas, laughed a lot, sang some old hymns along with some crazy songs, saw lots of neat scenery, enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and most of all enjoyed each others company.

And often we shared about how blessed we are.  We are so thankful for our family and friends, near and far, and then we ended our day Skyping with Brandon, Danalyn, Max, Christopher and Treyson - can't wait to see them along with Jamie, Suzanne and Opal in just under two months!!!

Hope each of you have had a great weekend!!!

The ABC's of Me!

Got this from another blog I follow so thought I would do it ~ hope you enjoy reading about me!

The ABC’s about ME!

 

Age: – 54! 

Bed size: Queen!

Chore you dislike: Cleaning the bathroom ~ ugh!

Dogs: Not any more ~ much easier to travel without any pets.

Essential start to your day: Reading my Bible, writing a daily journal entry

Favorite color: Purple

Gold or silver: Either

Height: 5 foot 7 inches

Instruments you play(ed): Clarinet.  I played my Grandpa's clarinet and still have it to pass on to one of the grandchildren.

Job title: Friend Maker ~ love to be around people and make new friends!

Kids: 2 Wonderful sons here on earth and 2 little boys in heaven and 2 delightful daughters-in-love and 4 special grandchildren!!

Live: Wherever the motor home is parked!

Mom’s name: Mom, Peggy but we called her Yeggp!  Miss her so much some days!

Nicknames: Ali, Ali Cat

Overnight hospital stays: Too many to count!!

Pet Peeves: Rude people, people who talk with food in their mouths

Quote from a movie: none but really enjoyed seeing We Bought a Zoo!  with my hubby and friends last week.

Righty or Lefty: Righty

Siblings:  1 sister older and 1 sister younger ~ Yep I am a Middle-Child.

Time you wake up: During the week between 6:15 and 7:00 a.m.  On the weekends as late as I can sleep in.

Underwear: Yep, every day!!!

Vegetables you don’t like: Can't think of any.

What makes you run late: hate  to run late.

X-Rays you’ve had: Again, too many to count.

Yummy food you make: Chicken gumbo - recipe I got from my mom!

Zoo animal favorite: monkeys!

If you decide to do this let me know so I can come check it out!

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY FRIENDS!

Nice & Relaxing Weekend

Have had a pretty laid back weekend. 

I had planned to sleep in on Saturday but no, the body was wide awake at 6:45 a.m!  So don't understand why on days I can sleep in I wake up early and wide awake yet come Monday morning I will be dragging my butt out of bed and just wishing for another hour or two of sleep...just don't understand that one.

But alas, since I was awake I got up and headed over to the laundry room.  Did two loads of clothes and then cut out some pictures from last year's calendar to add to a photo album.  Just love the calendar's that Danalyn has made the last two years.  So fun to see how the boys have grown over the last year.  Also decided it was time to get the cross-stitch out and do some of the many projects I have on hand.  I will show pictures after the  first five get sent off to their recipients - want them to be surprised.   Making five things that are the same but different.  Can you guess what they are????

And then we were off to the clubhouse for some good ole' fiddler music.  Twice a year the Fiddler's come to town for an all day jam session.  And of course there was  a potluck with lots of great dishes.  I took a salad and a bag of multi-grain crackers.  Was able to visit with one of my Women RV Forum friends, Sharon, who's folk have a lot here in the park. 

And then we were home for the evening.  We watched the movie About Schmidt...loaned to us by one of the members here in the park.  It was about a man who goes on a cross country trip in his motor home and living life at the same time.  It had some good scenes but not really a movie I would watch again or recommend. 

Woke this morning with another dang headache.  Took some of my migraine medicine and rested for about another hour then got up.  Laid around on the couch and Ron made bagels for breakfast.  It's funny I am not a raisin person but sure do like cinnamon raisin bagels ~ go figure.  Then decided to tackle the two long cupboards in the living room.  Got them cleaned out and organized.  Now I have another big project to do - take all my paper address books and get them into one Excel workbook.  Once that is done I will have about 4" more space in the cupboard above the couch.

Then it was time for lunch ~ made some chicken & shrimp pasta.  Pretty tasty if I say so myself.  And then it was time for some football ~~~ my Ravens lost :( and now the 49'rs are in overtime...hope they win!!  While watching football I finished my first cross-stitch project that I started yesterday and then graphed out the second one.  Will start stitching it tomorrow night.


For dinner we had cabbage rolls.  When I made my one and only batch in December I had enough for two pans so I froze one for a later time and that time was today.  The only thing I did to it today was added some more seasoning over the cabbage rolls and then another can of tomato sauce...they were much better the second time around.

So that's about it for our weekend.  Relaxing and productive ~ can't ask for much better.  Hope you all had a good weekend and have a terrific week.

Puzzling - what do you think?

OK..I sent the following email out to the Lone Star Corral yahoo group - and then I have gotten comments that say this doesn't make sense.  Does it make sense to you??

Dear Lone Star Corral Members

I sent out an email today to ALL current LSC Members and received 15 back due to wrong or invalid email addresses. 

IF you are a CURRENT LSC member and did not receive an email from info@lonestarcorral.com today, January 16th please send me an email at info@lonestarcorral.com so that I can have your correct email address.

IF you are not sure that the LSC office has your current email address send an email so I can verify.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL, IT IS MY PRIVATE EMAIL.  PLEASE USE THE info@lonestarcorral.com address.
Thank you, Ali

So what do you think?  Does it make sense?

Let me say it this way...I sent out an email to the individual members of the Lone Star Corral from the LSC Office email account and then got 15 emails saying they were not deliverable - meaning for one reason or another the email did not go through.  So  then I went to my private email and sent an email to the Yahoo group for the LSC members (that email does not go to individuals but to the Yahoo group).  My question was if the LSC member did not get an email from me via the office email address to please let me know...is this so hard to understand?


I am puzzled.  I thought my email was pretty clear - maybe not.  Thanks for any feedback - Ali