A little of this, a little of that...

Well, I guess I will just start out with this cute little thing! We were playing with the camera one day at the house and this was how she chose to pose. We never know what we are going to get with her, but I think it is adorable. (No prejudice here.)


We had to get Papa involved with the photo shoot that day. He really LOVES to have his picture made!

Now, on to some summer fun in the pool. We bought a new pool for Grace this summer and Mike decided to put it more in the shade instead of on the deck. It really only stayed there for one afternoon and then we went back to the deck with it. (Too many bugs while on the ground.) Anyway, this was her first day in it, she loved it.

Then, of course, Uncle T had to share some of the fun. I don't know who enjoyed it more, Grace or T. It really doesn't matter, they both had a ball that day. They took turns to see who could be the most aggravating!

Now for the inside! I don't know if anyone remembers, or cares for that matter, but last spring I got rid of all my bedding, window treatments and wall decorations in our bedroom. I had been looking on websites and in stores for months to find something that we liked to replace them with. While I was looking, Mike was slowly putting some of his western, cowboy pictures on one of the walls. I knew I had better get busy or he would have all the walls in only cowboy stuff. Not that I don't like it, but I didn't want it all that way. I was surfing one day and found a bed set on eBay that I really liked and it was affordable! He liked it too and it would go with what he had already put on the wall. So, I ordered it! While waiting for it to come in, I was shopping with Taylor at Arty Crafty in the mall and found some wall decor that I really liked that I thought would blend in just right, so I bought it and took it home. Mike liked it, too, and actually hung it for me that evening. The bedding and window treatments came in pretty quick so we now have our bedroom all decorated again. We both really like the way it turned out! I have added a couple of pictures so you can see the final result. We actually added the extra cowboy/western stuff that you see over the bed after we had gotten the bedding in. Now he has 2 walls in there that he decorated! I really think that everything works well together and we are both happy!!

I will have to say that it doesn't always look like that, I don't always get the bed made. But when I do, it sure looks nice. Mike is really bad to go in and nap in the afternoons, so he always has it unmade by 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon even if I do make it in the mornings, or whenever I manage to get up! Once school starts back up, I will at least get it made in the mornings because he leaves before I do.

This is one of Grace's baby dolls that stays at our house. Her momma won't let her take it home, she says it is creepy! Anyway, she is pretty good sized but Grace seems to love playing with her. She decided that she needed to put her clothes on the baby the other day. It's amazing how well they actually fit the doll! A little big, but not bad. Once she had her dressed, she told me that we had to take their picture.


Now for the next bit of randomness, Mom had some bushes on the side of her house and in the front that she wanted taken down. So, Tanner and I loaded up Mike's big truck and took off to Alma last Sunday. He worked and worked and worked at getting them cut down. They were a mess!! The first picture below shows one of the piles we ended up with.

I didn't get a picture of the end of the house before we started, but it looked worse than this picture of the front. The bushes were bigger and all grown together. Mike had sent a chainsaw with us, but not the big one. Tanner dulled 2 blades down pretty quick with the bushes on the side and ended up using a hatchet on the ones in the front! He worked some muscles he doesn't work when making pizzas!

This is how the front looks now! Bushes cut way down to the ground. The plan is to get a handle on them from the start when they come back, if they do!

Needless to say, Mom was very pleased with the results. I do need to mention here that my sister, Cathy, was in from Atlanta and she and I did a fair amount of work that afternoon also. We hauled off the branches as he cut. Then she got in the azaelea bed and started cutting them back. Tanner ended up in that bed also with the chainsaw taking them down even farther than Cathy did. Then after we headed home, Cathy went for mulch and got it all spread out in the azaelea bed. It looks great but I didn't get a good picture.

Mom was very excited to have so much work done that day. Tanner was also going to power wash her swing, but the power washer wouldn't work. We will get that done next time. Maybe by the time we get back down there with the power washer her deck will be built off the back of the house!! We are all excited about the new deck she will be getting very soon, thanks to the skills of my son-in-law!!

Til next time...