Day 253, Friday, September 10th, 2021
Shopping Success
I HATE shopping, I mean I really hate shopping. It seems to end up that over half the stuff I buy shrinks or wears weird and I end up not wearing it after one or two washes. I desperately needed some new shirts so I popped into Belk last Friday afternoon and found FOUR tops! This is a huge deal for me! YAY!
Day 254, Saturday, September 11th, 2021
Nana’s Gifts
Saturday was my mom’s 72nd birthday. We got her a few gifts which I didn’t have a chance to wrap until Saturday morning. That’s just as well because my mom is a sneak and will poke and prod her presents to tease me. She’s an amazing gift wrapper and always has ribbons, bows, and other decorations… mine is just paper. I am a neat gift wrapper, just no frills.
Day 254, Saturday, September 11th, 2021
Singing to Nana
Mom wanted a white cake from HEB and some Tipsy Cow. Mike hooked me up with a 1/2 gallon of chocolate chip… omg it was amazing. We all gathered in the kitchen to sing Happy Birthday to Nana and she was all smiles!!! We feel so blessed to have my mom with us and don’t take her for granted. Side note: that t-shirt was a gift from Jenny for her birthday last year! It says Read Books and Fight the Patriarchy.
Day 254, Saturday, September 11th, 2021
Design Remix
Mom has gotten into watching home interior design shows and clips on YouTube. One of the items on her wishlist was this book, Design Remix. Anna really wanted to give this to her and mom was thrilled to receive it. She and Jenny spent most of the afternoon looking through it (poor mom, one eye at a time… only another week until she gets her second eye surgery). With Jenny getting ready to build her first home, she and mom got lots of design ideas. I think mom has even started a Pinterest board for Jenny, lol! They called me over several times to share the beautiful rooms. This designer definitely has an eye for layering beautiful fabrics, colors, and shapes into a cohesive look.
Day 255, Sunday, September 12th, 2021
Another Orb Weaver
The orb weavers are proliferating right now! I found this big one in between our fire bush and our rose bush. The web is so pretty and delicate, until you accidentally walk into one. (True story, feeding the deer earlier this week I walked through one by my fence line that was strung between the tree and the fence. You should have seen me dancing around!) I approached this orb weaver more cautiously because it was so big and asked permission to photograph it. I really love this side view!
Day 256, Monday, September 13th, 2021
Anna’s Chocolate Chip Muffin
Anna’s been on her new med, Paxil, for a couple of weeks now. We have seen a big reduction in meltdowns and less OCD symptoms too. Monday she came home with chocolate chip muffins that she had made at Life Bridges, so super proud of herself. Her job coach, Deanna, is the bee’s knees! Anna went to HEB to shop on Tuesday, worked at Arlan’s on Wednesday, walked to Stripes on Thursday, and earned a pizza party with friends on Friday. Friday morning they had several team members absent and were short staffed for work at Arlan’s and Anna volunteered to work 1/2 shift! WHAT?!? She got Shout Outs nearly every day. We are so freaking proud of this girl.
Day 257, Tuesday, September 14th, 2021
Mimosa Yellow
I went back out to check on our big orb weaver by the rose bush and saw this pretty yellow butterfly fluttering around. It really really liked our fire bush! I stood stock still and started following it around with my camera and got this shot. I got so nervous every time it went near the spider web, I was sure it was going to get caught. But it seemed to know it was there and just skirted by it each time it flew near.
Day 258, Wednesday, September 15th, 2021
Faux Louis Vuitton
One of my big surprise gifts this year for my birthday was this bag and wallet from Jenny. She said, “Now mom, when you open it, it’s NOT what it seems!” I pulled out a Louis Vuitton outer cover bag and gasped. Jenny started explaining that it’s a super high quality faux label that she found on Instagram. Wow, I was floored. I LOVE the bag and the wallet! I had a little scarf on my previous purse that I lost in Key West so I went on Etsy and found this adorable purse handle scarf wrap with an attached bow and key from DMonogram Designs. I LOVE it!!!
Day 259, Thursday, September 16th, 2021
Filling Out Host Home Paperwork
Back in February, we found out that Anna’s name finally came up on the HCS (Home and Community Services) interest list that we put her on when she was 5 years old. It’s a program that provides individualized services to people with intellectual disabilities. It’s considered the Cadillac of services so we were excited to finally get started with them. It’s taken months and months but we are this close to starting up. I chose to be Anna’s Host Home, since I’m already taking care of her and we have no immediate plans to change anything. Basically, I will be paid to teach Anna basically living skills, and will need to fill out weekly reports on how I’m helping her with those goals. The Host Home application was over 30 pages long, so I spent a couple of days at the table filling it out.
Thanks for looking!
