Happy Mother's Day and vacation tidbits in Day to day life from a woman that turned 60 in Oct 2014 and who lives on a farm and Retired on January 2, 2016. I plan to do more sewing, work outside in the yard and just enjoy my retirement.

To all moms and moms of 4-legged furry kids, have a wonderful Mother’s Day!!

Jacob and I got home yesterday afternoon about 4pm. We unloaded everything and we did some sorting and putting away of items packed. Dirty clothes in the washer and the mundane life resumes. Ahhhh! Discovered a beautiful hanging basket on the front porch from my Dad. Sad part is that I hadn’t even noticed it when I went out to check my plants until I called him and he mentioned it. Wow! When I am focused on certain things I am maybe a bit too focused. All of my plantings are doing good and the rains we received seem to do wonders for the growth factor. The only ones that seemed a bit “drowned” are the radishes and it seems that the gutter overflowed right into the barrel they are trying to grow in. I kinda wondered if they were a little close to that end and now I know. It is too heavy for me to move so they will either make it or not. I may be able to put something over them to shield them from the overflow but need to come up with something. Some day I will take pictures and post some of the garden containers. Just to clarify I only have veggies in containers. I have blackberries and strawberries in the little garden spot. I will prbably plant the green pepper plants that decided to sprout after all. IF they all survive I will have around a dozen or more green pepper plants. lol Hope I remember next year that it takes green pepper seeds 2-3 times longer to germinate than most other seeds I plants. Course the 1st ones never did germinate so fresh seeds every year are a must.

Now going to write about the rest of our vacation. Friday after J woke up and got dressed we went to the complimentary breakfast in Bldg 1 of Hotel complex we were staying. It is on the 2d floor and thankfully there are elevators. The breakfast choices were amazing. Biscuits, gravy, link sausage, scrambled eggs, potatoes, a mixture of eggs, potatoes, and salsa, plain oatmeal, cold cereal, milk, bagels and other like pastries, waffles, fruit, and jelly and syrups. Coffee and a variety of fruit juice. We ate late breakfasts both mornings and then didn’t eat until the evening meal. Ok so after breakfast on Friday we went back to the room to shower and change clothes. I suspected our AC wasn’t working correctly and sure enough it was not. Long story short, they switched out AC units in our room and it made a big difference. Yay! We then headed to Tangor mall to find the big and tall clothing store. I finally found it which took a bit longer than I expected but boy oh boy did Jacob get a haul. The total bill was $403.00 but it bought him a lot of new shorts, pants, underwear and some sweats. Kinda of a complete 4 season’s worth of clothes. I was so excited and relieved to find sizes that fit him.

Then it was time to head for the Jerry Presley afternoon show. We arrived early as usual so I could make sure to get the best parking spot available. I didn’t realize they only were going to have 20-22 people for the show. The great thing is the show went on even though the size of the crowd was sparse. We, of course were seated on the side that Jerry had his back turned to most of the concert but it was all good. There were so few people I didn’t want to take J’s chair across to the other side. Too obvious. He did turn towards us for a 1/2 dozen or so. The tape they had playing of Elvis’s cousin, Jerry sounded so much like the real Elvis, but during the show.....not always or often. The sound wasn’t exactly set right and maybe that was on purpose. Don’t know, but more often than not, we could hear the instruments and the back-ground singer much better than Jerry. He just doesn’t have the range as Elvis, but then again, no one does. However, I think the “Elvis” gene was divided a few too many times by the time it got to Jerry, although he is and has been making a living off the impersonation ability. I told J after the show that I kinda liked the the impersonator we saw a couple of years ago better than this one. He told me I was mean. lol

After the show I decided to go back to the mall and see what I could find for me at Bon Worths. I did find buy a pair of plum (drk purple) pants and a top to go with it. Then went to the Quilt and Quilts store. Too much fabric, too much stuff, too high prices so only bought a new pair of tiny scissors to snip threads. Kind of disappointed that I never found the fabric store that I went to two years ago. But, I really don’t “need” any more fabric anyway. I don’t think you can ever have too much, however I can have too much for the area you keep it in. lol

After the shopping it was time for supper. Went to Shorty’s something. It was good. Then headed back to the hotel. Put our left-overs in the mini fridge, and changed into nighty nights even though it was only 6ish. Oh I did go by a pharmacy chain and get some OTC meds for J. Allergy pills and Musinex. He took his breathing treatment and the OTC meds and it made him cough for about 30 minutes. but after that it seemed to break some and by 7:45 I was in bed. The AC was working and unlike J, hadn’t had several naps throughout the day, so I ended up going to sleep and not getting up until 6:30 the next morning. I did wake up periodically a couple of times and J was breathing much better than the night before. We both got some needed rest. Saturday after J finally woke up we went up for breakfast, came back to the room and loaded the Tahoe to head to Springfield. My sister’s husband’s daughter and her hubby have a store called “Honky Tonk” there and I had promised them I would try and get there this summer. The time was at hand and even though there is construction on the main road to their store my GPS in my phone did an excellent job getting us there and avoiding all the construction mayham. J got two tie-dyed shirts and I got one too. The store is so cute and has throw back stuff like the Hippie era and Bohemian clothing. Lots and lots of stuff. They had a place in CA which is where the GPS wanted me to go the first time I put in the name so took the name out and just used the adddress and it was smack on getting me there. After that store we headed home and stopped again in Lebanon and I went to another BonWorth store in their little mall. Got a few more things as there were having a better sale. Yay! Also went over to the Lee Outlet and bought a Christmas sweatshirt (dressy) for $5, a new pair of jean that are super soft for less than $10 and a top that will also match the pair of pants I bought in Branson. It was a good shopping trip for me too and I’m good to go for work stuff until I retire!!! I ended up with two new outfits for work, a pair of jeans, and 4 tops. And I paid under $100 for all. I love getting new stuff on sale!

There is more to write but this is long enough and maybe too long. I didn’t go to church this morning as I just didn’t want to hear the standard Mother’s Day song at church of “If I Could Only Hear My Mother Pray Again”. E.V.E.R.Y single Mother’s Day they sing that song and I think it is so cruel for those of us who no longer have our Mothers. Maybe it is just me but not going to do it.

Want to wish you again a Happy Mother’s Day. Take care and God Bless