Sunday, April 13 – Saturday, April 19, 2008
Sunday, April 13
Barbara: Today was another “I don’t feel well day” for me. I did get up early (6 AM) so I could watch some of the church services I enjoy on TV since it was obvious we wouldn’t be going out today. After Jim awoke, he joined me for breakfast and another service before he headed outside to work around Jean’s place.
Since I was feeling cooped up, I decided to rearrange, clean some cabinets, and fix a crock pot noodle dish which we could later share with Edith.
We were invited over to Jean’s for a cook-out with the clan to baptize her new grill, but we decided that I might still be contagious; so Jim wandered over there alone. However, it wasn’t long until he was home with a plate of food for me. He said he had been given instructions to deliver this before they ate. Even though I had asked him to not make a special trip back to Big V, I was pleased that he did, especially when I saw all the good food.
Monday, April 14
There is no doubt in my mind that this is a day I’d like to erase! Jim has been having shoulder problems for quite a while and decided that he’d better get to the doctor for it. Therefore, he left around 9:00 to do that. When he returned, it was with the news that his blood pressure is way too high and the doctor wants to do some blood work as well as schedule an MRI for the shoulder since he thinks Jim’s rotator cuff might be torn. We have been blessed with such good health that this news just kind of hit me hard. Go figure.
Then, after starting laundry at Edith’s, we took the car to the car doctor for a simple oil, lube, and filter job. We planned to walk through downtown Artesia and do some shop looking and have lunch. The shop looking was a bust since the store we wanted to look in is closed on Monday. However, we chose to eat at the Garden Café which turned out to be a very wise decision since the sandwiches were great and the view of downtown from the “garden” was very pleasant. It’s definitely a place we’ll go to again.
Knowing that we had spent plenty of time for the car to be ready, we walked back over to Guy Chevrolet only to find that the car had not been moved. I really needed to go back and put in another load of clothes, but the manager assured us that the car would be ready in 20 minutes. So…we took off walking again. (At least it was a gorgeous day for a walk!) To make a long story short, I’ll just say that the car was not ready and it was another hour before we headed over to Edith’s.
But, this little fiasco was not over! About half way between Edith’s and Guy Chevrolet, the phone rang and it was the cashier at Guy’s. They had forgotten to add the labor to the bill, and wanted us to please come back! Jim said he’d be there in a minute (one of their minutes!) and took me on to Edith’s to work on the clothes while he drove back downtown.
We had had such a fun day that we were exhausted and even though it was almost 4:00, we came home for a quick nap. However, mine wasn’t so quick, so Jim went back for the clothes about 5:10 leaving me still asleep!
When I finally awoke (about 5:25) I walked over to Nancy and Jerry’s to feed Benji since we’re dog-sitting him for a couple of days. He was terribly lonely and wasn’t a bit interested in his food; so I took him for a walk. I told him we were going to Grandma’s (which is the clan name for Jean) and he led me right there! After visiting a little with Jean, Benji and I continued our walk. Just as we were heading for his (Nancy and Jerry’s) home, I spied Jim pulling up so we changed our course and met him to help take in the laundry. Then when we finished that, both of us took Benji home and dropped by Jean’s again.
Jim got engrossed in the Red Sox baseball game with Jean so I came on home to watch Deal or No Deal. The Sox pulled the game out of the jaws of defeat so Jim was a happy camper. Finally, a good end to this day!
Tuesday, April 15
HAPPY TAX DAY AMERICA!!! Thought for the day: Did you ever notice that when you say “The IRS,” it spells “Theirs?”
Happy birthday to Jim’s Aunt Glennis in Florida!
What exciting events do I have to tell about today? Not much…Jim got up early so he could be at Dr. Khan’s office at 8:00 to get his blood pressure checked and have blood drawn for some tests. When he came home, he took a couple of the magic pills that Dr. Khan gave him yesterday and went to bed to “rest his eyes.” About three hours later he finally stumbled out of the bedroom and restarted his day.
We went into town to see Edith and take her some food that we had left over from last night, and then did some “shop-looking” at the store we wanted to visit yesterday.
Jim has wanted to do some more Puerto Rican cooking, so we stopped at Fenn’s Supermarket and picked up a few items before we headed back out to the place. I went in to visit Jean while he took the groceries to Big V and started tonight’s meal.
Jim: I decided today that I wanted to cook a chicken dish and some rice, so we stopped at the supermarket when we were in town and got some chicken breasts. When we got home, I chopped some onion and garlic and cut a potato into very thin slices; then, while I fried them in olive oil, I cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and seasoned them with the Adobo seasoning. When the onions, garlic, and potatoes were done, I mixed in the chicken pieces and fried them until the outsides were cooked. When I thought everything was ready, I mixed in a package of Goya seasoning with Culantro and Achiote. When everything was heated and stirred, I added in a couple of cups of water, boiled the mixture for a few minutes, and then let it sit and simmer while I fixed the rest of the meal. With that going, I started the rice. We are still so grateful that Margarita and Maria taught us about grano mediano when we were in Puerto Rico, because it cooks up exactly the way we like it. I've never been able to cook rice this well, but now, thanks to them, it comes out perfect every time! While the rice and the meat mixture were cooking, I started on the tostones. The plantains we bought a couple of weeks ago were just right (well, one of them had turned black, so I didn't try to use it, but the other two were ripe). We found that the last time we did the plantains, we had the fire turned up too high on our burners; so, this time after I got the oil heated, I turned the burner to "low," and it was just the right amount of flame and heat. Also, I paid a lot more attention to what I was doing this time so the pieces didn't burn. Barbara bought a loaf of French bread today and sliced it up to cook in the griddle for flat bread. While I was fixing the tostones, she did the bread. As luck would have it (it had to be luck, because I don't think we could plan it this well), everything was ready at the same time. (We were going to use some sofrito we bought at the supermarket, but when I went to open it, I found that it had already been opened and probably wasn't good anymore, so I just threw it away. I think that soon I will gather everything I need for sofrito and make it myself.) We called Jean to see if she was ready to eat. She said to give her a few more minutes, and by the time we got all the pots, pans, and other containers into her house, she had the table set and we were all ready to eat. We also took some salad to eat, so we had that, the chicken dish, rice, fresh cooked plantains, and hot flat bread...Yum-Yum!!! Jean said she enjoyed it very much, and we were proud of ourselves for the way it turned out...Again, we were so grateful for the cooking lessons and tips we got from Margarita and Maria. With two or three trips back to Puerto Rico, we could almost be experts!
After we finished eating, Barbara went over to Jerry and Nancy’s house to feed Benji and take him for a walk. They came by the house so Benji could see “Grandma” for a few minutes before going back home for the night.
I gathered up some of the pots and pans and took them back to Big V, where Barbara and I did the dishes and then sat down to rest for a bit. Later, we went back over to visit Jean for a few minutes and then came home to watch a little TV before ending our day.
Mike called us this afternoon to chat a bit and let us know that he and Kelly have set a wedding date. They will be married on Sunday, October 19 in the Richmond area. Of course, there will be more information on this big event as we receive it.
Wednesday, April 16
Edith and Jim had an appointment with the banker concerning house issues related to moving to Mineola. Therefore, I chose to stay home to begin packing up all the house knick-knacks since we have to go to Carlsbad tomorrow.
Eventually, we wound up spending the whole day running around (in the car). We enjoyed visits with Edith and then later with Billee and Ernie. We also had to clean out the refrigerator and take all our perishable items over to Edith’s since the ice maker will have to be checked out tomorrow.
Later Jim went over and watched basketball and baseball a little while with Jean.
Thursday, April 17
Edith had an appointment this morning at the hospital to have some standard blood tests done in preparation for her doctor appointment next week. This took only 30 minutes which gave Jim and me plenty of time to finish closing Big V before going to Carlsbad. We had decided that Jim would drive the motor home and I’d follow in the car so we wouldn’t be stranded at the repair shop.
After leaving Big V, we decided to conjure up some old memories by going to Furr’s Cafeteria to enjoy a leisurely meal. Back in the old days, Furr’s was a name to be reckoned with in the grocery and restaurant market around West Texas and New Mexico. The food was good, but we both agreed it wasn’t the quality that it used to be.
After doing some shop-browsing, the phone finally rang letting us know that Big V was ready to go…without an ice maker…they have to order it and then we’ll have to come back…go figure! To me, it just seems logical that since they have known for 2 weeks that we were coming, they would have had a new one to put in. But…guess that’s just too logical.
Since we were only inside the store for probably 25 minutes, we were shocked when we walked out to go get Big V to find that the weather had deteriorated immensely…the wind and dirt were in cahoots and they were causing all kinds of havoc! Therefore, it did us no good to get Big V because we couldn’t travel with her! After spending about 30 minutes rocking back and forth in a vacant lot next to the repair shop, we finally decided to check into an RV Park just a few yards down the road so we could get the levelers down and quit being “seasick.”
So…here we are…cozy as two bugs in a rug while the wind (gusts up to 45-50 mph) swirls around us!
The only excitement we had this night was when we got a call from Joyce announcing that Ginger and Michael are now the proud parents of another son, Max. They were in Maryland for Michael’s sister’s wedding, but they wasted no time heading to El Paso to bring home their new son!
Friday, April 18
We spent a lazy morning with no great rush to get on the road back home. The weather is supposed to be nice today; so we decided that slow and easy was our mantra today.
We had an uneventful trip back home and then squandered the day away.
Saturday, April 19
While I did chores inside, Jim took advantage of the beautiful morning by working outside. Then we headed over to Edith’s to begin the process of packing up her belongings for her eventual move. After 3 hours of that, we decided it was time to quit for the day. Edith suggested that we go to Ruth’s and get lunch for the 3 of us (even though by then it was 2) and by K-Mart to get her prescriptions…so we did.
Then it was home to take a much needed nap! We senior citizens can really get used to that being a part of our daily activities!
Once again Jim worked outside while I worked inside. Once I went out to empty the trash though, I didn’t want to stay inside. Jim suggested I go get some bubble gum to throw down the ground squirrel holes! Doesn’t that sound like a cool assignment? Anyway, I did it gleefully!
We finished up the week by doing nothing to write home about.
“If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want” – Church Signs (a gift Heather and Andy gave Jim for Christmas...thanks, guys, we both enjoy and use it!)
Just hanging around in Artesia,
Jim & Barbara
Little More Time
Sunday, April 6 – Saturday, April 12, 2008
Sunday, April 6
Barbara: We were really undecided today as to what we were going to do. I had checked out some nearby churches, but in the end, we decided it was more important to take Alexander and Abby over to Mineola so their Granny and great Aunt TJ could get to enjoy them since we didn’t know when or if they would have this opportunity again. With that goal in mind, we began preparations…diapers, sippy cups, snacks, juice, cell phones, etc. etc. Oh, yes…we need the kids! Okay, car packed and we’re off to the turtle races!
Keeping in mind that little ones do not enjoy being cooped up in a car for 2 hours, we made a playground stop at McDonald’s in Terrell so Abby and Alexander could expend some energy. With that mission accomplished, we loaded back into the car to make round 2 in the car.
In no time at all, we were pulling into TJ’s drive and were quickly letting the kids out of their car seats! What a great time Granny and TJ had watching and listening to Alexander and Abby enjoy their freedom. TJ and Jim eventually went to pick up some chicken for lunch (the kids favorite!) while I took them out for a walk to see the cows and horses down the street. Since Alexander decided he was too tired to walk, Abby and I pulled him in TJ’s red wagon. Then we went back indoors to play with Granny…
Sunday, April 6
Barbara: We were really undecided today as to what we were going to do. I had checked out some nearby churches, but in the end, we decided it was more important to take Alexander and Abby over to Mineola so their Granny and great Aunt TJ could get to enjoy them since we didn’t know when or if they would have this opportunity again. With that goal in mind, we began preparations…diapers, sippy cups, snacks, juice, cell phones, etc. etc. Oh, yes…we need the kids! Okay, car packed and we’re off to the turtle races!
Keeping in mind that little ones do not enjoy being cooped up in a car for 2 hours, we made a playground stop at McDonald’s in Terrell so Abby and Alexander could expend some energy. With that mission accomplished, we loaded back into the car to make round 2 in the car.
In no time at all, we were pulling into TJ’s drive and were quickly letting the kids out of their car seats! What a great time Granny and TJ had watching and listening to Alexander and Abby enjoy their freedom. TJ and Jim eventually went to pick up some chicken for lunch (the kids favorite!) while I took them out for a walk to see the cows and horses down the street. Since Alexander decided he was too tired to walk, Abby and I pulled him in TJ’s red wagon. Then we went back indoors to play with Granny…
After lunch while the kids watched TV in TJ’s bedroom, we adults were able to visit a little about Edith’s decision on the move to Mineola.
One of the houses we saw on Friday is a garden home which only had 2 bedrooms, but might as well be called something bigger since it has an office attached to the master bedroom. This is the home that Edith has decided to call hers.
This home also has a lovely screened in sun porch where Edith can have her morning coffee and watch the dogs roam around in the small, but lovely backyard.
This home was definitely meant for her! We all agreed on that. Now if we could just hit a magic button and have all her belongings in place and ready to live in!
Before we left, we conducted the usual photo session in order to document our special time together…
Eventually, it was time to head back to Richardson. We had mentioned to Alexander that if he slept in the car, it would count as his nap so that’s exactly what he did until we got to Terrell. However, this time we stopped at a public park that offered many opportunities for fun for both Alexander and Abby.
Once home it was time again for another meal, a little playtime, baths, story time, and finally bedtime for both them and us!
Monday, April 7
We all made a pretty lazy start to the day. Finally, it was time to hit the road to McDonald’s for lunch and playground time. A stop by Home Depot for a part for Jim to fix a broken shower was next on the agenda. While Jim fixed the shower, the kids and I played outside, inside, and all around!
Around 5 we ventured out in the wild, crazy Dallas traffic to meet Paul (Jean’s grandson) and his wife Stephanie at Double Dave’s Pizza in Grand Prairie. About a half block from our destination, we had to make a pit stop for Alexander. This turned out to be the coolest thing we did all week, because the convenience store had a life-size cut-out of Iron Man! Now how lucky could we be! Alexander was so excited about this that I asked the store clerk if we could take his picture by the stand-up cut-out. She was so kind and told we definitely could and just move it anywhere we wanted! And, we did!
With no more ado, we wound up at the restaurant where Stephanie and Paul were waiting for us.
Paul and Stephanie are expecting their first child sometime in September though one would never really know it by just looking at Stephanie!
Once we got the kids settled in with their food, I laughingly said as Jim and I were going to get ours, “We’ll be back in a week!” Never did I dream that Alexander would take me seriously, especially since the buffet line was right by our table, but he did. And, when we returned to the table, we found him in tears. Finally, with some hugs and reassurance for him, we all dug into the delicious pizza.
By the time we returned to Richardson, Abby was sound asleep and we just chose to leave her that way. Bath time didn’t seem quite so important! We would start the day tomorrow with baths.
We watched the Kansas vs. Memphis championship game with high hopes for Kansas, especially since I had picked them to win in my bracket group. With a win, I would wind up in 4th place out of 25…with a loss, I’d be 10th. As is now history, we watched with bated breath as Kansas tied the game with two seconds left! Overtime gave them the game and I found myself in a respectful 4th place in my group! Needless to say, it’s the best I’ve done since I began joining a March Madness group 3 years ago.
Tuesday, April 8
We knew today would probably be the most difficult day to keep the kids busy since they knew their parents were returning. But we began with a lot of outdoor time, which they love. Jim edged the backyard while I mowed it and the kids played on the deck. Then it was out front where I mowed one half while Jim watched the kids. However, when Jim started mowing the other half, I decided it would be better to take Abby and Alexander to the backyard where there aren’t quite so many rules!
After lunch and naps, we journeyed over to the Firewheel Mall where the kids could play and run around after we did a little shopping. Then a stop at Taco Bueno for supper to take back to the house was next on the agenda.
With a movie in the TV and plenty of toys to play with, time really flew by for them and by 7:30 Heather and Andy were walking through the door. It goes without saying that the kids latched on to them and were afraid to let go! So…after a little catching up on the job interviews and our activities with the kids, Jim and I headed over to Terrell where we had motel reservations for the night. This is where we were meeting TJ with Edith tomorrow and it seemed wiser to already be there instead of fighting through Dallas traffic tomorrow, especially since Heather and Andy would be trying to get the kids ready for school, etc.
Wednesday, April 9
Jim: TJ and Edith arrived about 9 TX time and the three of us pointed the Vibe in the westerly direction while TJ went back east. The trip was generally uneventful, although we found out after we got home that a tornado had skipped across I-20 at Abilene just after we had passed through there. The clouds looked a little funky as we were driving west of Abilene, but I didn’t think much about it. Barbara suggested that we turn on the radio and check the weather station, but I said it was just some low-swirling fog and wasn’t worth worrying about…guess God really does look after the foolish.
As we crossed over 12-mile hill east of Artesia, we saw what we thought were some dark clouds. Well, they were, but they were dark with sand and dust. A major wind and dust storm was brewing and we were headed right into the thick of it.
Around 5:30 NM time, we were pulling into Edith’s driveway where Ernie was waiting to help us unload.
Then it was home to Big V for us. The wind and dirt were blowing so hard that we elected to bring in only what was absolutely necessary for the night. We didn’t even open up the slide-outs on the right side because of the wind…just made do for the night.
There’s no place like home!
Thursday, April 10
A really do-nothing day! We slept in this morning, even with the wind howling around us. The slide-outs stayed slid in for most of the day, and it was foolish to even think of going outside and doing any work. Late in the afternoon the wind started diminishing enough that we could open the place up and bring in a few more things that we had left in the car.
Jerry called during the afternoon and asked if we wanted to go to dinner with them and then attend a magic show presentation by the Artesia Arts Council. We said that we didn’t think we were interested in the magic show, but when we found that Jean was going to dinner but not the show, we agreed to go with her to Kwan Den to try out their remodeled Chinese buffet (by the way, it was wonderful).
After dinner we came back and visited with Jean a bit before calling it a night.
Friday, April 11
We took our time getting around this morning…nothing important happening here at Big V, but later in the morning we made several stops around town to take care of business. We had some questions for Dr. Kahn, the physician that Mother sees. I am having some problems with my left shoulder, and rather than driving all the way to Liberal to see Dr. Gill, I decided to see if Dr. Kahn would take me on as a patient.
The Vibe also needed to go to the car doctor for a checkup, so we stopped at Guy Chevrolet to see about an appointment for regular service (and, no doubt, some filter changes due to all the dust and dirt storms we’ve experienced this spring).
With a doctor appointment scheduled for 9:30 Monday morning and a car appointment set for 1:00 Monday afternoon, we drove on over to Mother’s house to see how she was doing. Everything seemed to be just fine over there. She and Ernie had gone to the bank this morning and made arrangements to get the money to buy her new house in Mineola.
After leaving Mother’s house, we drove out to Roselawn Elementary School to visit Becky. She’s asked us several times to come out and see where she works as a Special Services paraprofessional.
We were pleasantly surprised to find a very bright and cheerful school building. The school nurse has recently painted murals on the walls that really brighten the place up. With a little help from the secretary, we soon found Becky and a couple of the teachers with whom she works.
After a short visit we went back to the front of the building where we had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Perez, the building principal. She didn’t have much time to visit with us as she was busy reading to three students who were in her office, but she did give us a hearty welcome and invited us to come back whenever we could.
Since Susie was coming back to Artesia to work an extra day this week, we joined the gang at Chaos for lunch and had a great meal and time to catch up on the events and activities of the last ten days or so.
After lunch, we made a brief stop at Mother’s house and then came back out to Big V to get a nap. It was a beautiful afternoon to be outside, but catching a few Z’s seemed to be more important.
Barbara woke up feeling a little under the weather, so while she stayed inside and rested, I went outside to do some work around the place and try to undo some of the wind damage from the past few days.
Later I went over to visit Jean for a few minutes and convey Barbara’s regrets for not getting out tonight. Then, it was back to Big V to eat supper, watch a couple of TV shows, and then end the day.
Saturday, April 12
It was a beautiful day today…the temperatures weren’t too high, but with little or no wind, it was very pleasant to go outside and work.
Barbara fixed breakfast, but wasn’t feeling well enough to get out, so she stayed inside while I enjoyed the bright sunshine and fresh air for a few hours.
Nancy stopped by to let us know that she had done well at her 4-wheeler driving school in Roswell this morning and to give us some information we’ll need for “babysitting’ Benji next week while she and Jerry take a welcome break for a short fishing vacation.
When I did come in, she had a great lunch fixed, with enough left over to share with Jean and Mother. I delivered the food, went to Wal-Mart to pick up a propane tank for Jean, and then came back to Big V to spend the afternoon watching the Red Sox and Yankees go at it at Fenway Park.
Tonight…just put life on “cruise control” and take it easy.
“Life just gives you time and space…it’s up to you to fill it” – Unknown
Back home in Artesia,
Jim & Barbara
A Little Time in Richardson
Sunday, March 30 – Saturday, April 5, 2008
Sunday, March 30
It was great to be back in our home church at Artesia First Baptist this morning. Brother Rick is a wonderful Bible teacher/preacher and was at the top of his form this morning.
After church we came back to Big V, fixed lunch, and settled in for an afternoon of NCAA basketball, only to be sadly disappointed by the total collapse of Texas as they fell to Memphis, and disturbed by the less that stellar play of Kansas in their game with Davidson (although Davidson was a great team and put up a great fight before finally losing by only 2 points. We were just wishing that Davidson had played either North Carolina or UCLA and knocked one of them out of the tournament.
After a quick visit over at Mother’s house, we decided that we’d cook up one of the meals that we had learned from Margarita and Maria when we were in Puerto Rico earlier in the month, so we fired up the stove top and started cooking. While Barbara was cutting, frying, and smashing the plantains, I went to work on the cubed steaks that had been marinating in olive oil and Adobo seasoning since yesterday. It didn’t take long until Big V was really “stinking purty.”
Later, Barbara started cooking some rice and I added tomato sauce to the simmering steaks and onions. By the time we were finished, Big V smelled exactly like Maria and Margarita’s house did when they taught us the recipe.
We decided we’d call Jean and offer to bring everything over to her house if she hadn’t eaten yet. She said to come on over, so we took the food and a pancake griddle over to her kitchen. Margarita taught us how to take fresh rolled bread (which we didn’t have, so we substituted some buns) butter it, and close the griddle on it to make flat bread.
With everything finally in place, we sat down with Jean and enjoyed a wonderful Puerto Rican meal.
After eating and watching a little more TV, we gathered our dirty pots and pans, took them back to Big V to wash, and called it a day.
Monday, March 31
Don’t know why, other than that deep down inside we knew it needed doing, but we decided to tackle a deep cleaning of Big V today. It’s been a while since we did that last, and it took about three hours to do all that we thought needed doing. We’ve had lots of dust storms since the last cleaning, and Big V, like every structure in southeastern New Mexico, is definitely not immune to invasion by the dust and sand that blows through here.
Mother had a physical therapy appointment this afternoon at 2:30, so I left Barbara at Big V and went to town to get her. In addition to a solid workout, she had to stay late to complete a bunch of paperwork, so it was after 5:00 when I finally got home.
Jean invited us over to supper tonight. She had some Portuguese barbecued chicken and beans she had bought at the St. Anthony’s Catholic fundraiser, so we enjoyed another delicious meal at her place before returning to Big V to watch television and eventually get to bed.
Tuesday, April 1
With a trip to East Texas coming up, we decided that we’d better get the laundry taken care of today, so we took everything over to Mother’s house to wash while we did some chores for her and us. We talked it over with Mother and decided that rather than driving all day Wednesday to go to Mineola, Texas, we’d leave after lunch on Wednesday, drive as far as Sweetwater and then go on to Mineola on Thursday. Our hope was that we would miss rush hour traffic around the Dallas/Forth Worth area and not feel so beat up when we did arrive in Mineola.
After getting back to Big V and having some lunch, I decided I’d work as much of the fence lines as I could on the east side of Jean’s property. The problem with cleaning out one side of the lot is that everything else looks worse until it’s cleaned, and I wanted to remedy that problem before we left on the next trip. The weather and wind cooperated, and by 5:00 p.m. I had accomplished even more than I had expected.
Tonight we did as much packing as possible in order to be ready for travel tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 2
Happy 14th Anniversary to us!
We had every intention of sleeping in this morning, but were up and around by 5:30. We took our time moving around…I fixed pancakes, bacon, and eggs and we had a leisurely breakfast.
We decided that, as much as we’d like to join the bunch for our Wednesday Chaos luncheon, it made more sense to get away around noon, so we checked with Mother to see if she could be ready to leave by 12:30. She said it wouldn’t be a problem, so we got busy doing all the chores necessary for closing up Big V for a few days. We let Jean and Susie know that we wouldn’t be eating with them today and headed on over to Mother’s house around 12:15.
Ernie and Billee were there to help us load the car and get underway, and by 12:30 we were on U.S. 82, headed toward Hobbs and various other points on our way to Big Spring, Texas, where we got on I-20 and pointed the car east toward Sweetwater.
We arrived at the Sweetwater Super 8 Motel around 5:30 and were pleasantly surprised to find a newly remodeled structure with all the amenities one could ask for in a budget lodging (not to mention the lowest price we’ve seen in a long time. We got checked in to our rooms and then Barbara and I walked down to the street to pick up a sandwich and some cheesecake slices at Schlotzky’s, and a Burrito Supreme at Taco Bell to take back to the rooms for our dinner.
We spent the rest of the evening watching TV, working at our computers, and generally kicking back and relaxing.
Thursday, April 3
We got up early and got everything ready to go. After a good hot breakfast in the motel dining room, we were ready to roll by 8:30, far better than what we had anticipated.
With cloudy skies at the first of the trip, we just motored down I-20 through Abilene, Weatherford, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Terrell on our way to Mineola…not much to say about the trip…just drive, derive, and drive some more. But, with the early start, we were at T.J.’s house in Mineola at two o’clock, ready to eat the delicious meal she had prepared for us, ham, macaroni and cheese casserole, green beans, and homemade bread. Wow…what a great welcome!
At 4:15 we went to a neighbor’s house to visit, look at the layout of the house, and check out the property. We had mentioned a couple of years ago that if Mother ever considered moving to Mineola it would be great to find something in T.J.’s neighborhood, and this house is one that we singled out as a great piece of property. The folks who live here are considering selling and moving to a new place, so we thought we’d take advantage of a possible opportunity and check it out.
After we got back to T.J.’s place and unloaded the car, Barbara and I drove downtown to Legal Grounds, a local internet café/coffee shop, where we checked our email and sent out a couple of messages. From there, it was back to the house (with a brief stop at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard for Barbara and a Mocha Moolatte for Mother), where we settled in for an evening of visiting.
Friday, April 4
Wow…What was that noise!? We woke up to the sound of thunder rumbling (been a while since we’ve heard that), and rain pounding down on the roof…took us a few minutes to dig around in the memory banks and realize what was happening.
After everyone was finally up and more or less ready to face the day, T.J. fixed a great breakfast for us and we chowed down on bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, juice, and coffee…more than enough to give us a good kick start for a busy day.
At 10:00 a.m. we drove over to Century 21 to meet a realtor and begin a home tour. Over the course of the morning we saw several houses, most of which we ruled out immediately for a variety of reasons, but we did see two places that were definite possibilities. The frontrunner was a beautiful two-bedroom (but that’s not a very apt description) garden home that will take little or nothing to be ready to occupy. The second was a lovely three-bedroom sitting on a large shady lot near one of the local lakes. Now it’s down to decision time for Mother.
After seeing the last house of the day, Barbara and I went back to Legal Grounds to check email, then to Wal-Mart for a couple of purchases before returning to T.J.’s house.
We received a phone call from Heather while we were at the realtor’s office. We had planned to come back to Richardson next weekend to watch the Alexander and Abby while Heather and Andy go on a job interview; but, she received a call from the school this morning saying that next weekend won’t work for the school, and could they come this weekend instead and interview on Monday.
We quickly changed our plans so that Mother would stay with T.J. until Wednesday morning and we would go on to Richardson this evening. Heather and Andy will fly out tomorrow morning and return Tuesday evening. Luckily, we were “in the neighborhood” and were able to help them out and they were able to make reasonable travel arrangements.
We left Mineola about 4:00 p.m. and drove west on U.S. 80 to Terrell, where we stopped for a while at an outlet center to look for shoes and “other stuff.” Then, we continued on to Richardson to the kids’ house to get settled in for the night and prepare to start keeping Alexander and Abby tomorrow morning.
Saturday, April 5
“Happy Birthday today to Aunt T.J. in Mineola, Texas!
Alexander decided to start his day early…we had told him to come to our room and get us when he woke up, but we didn’t expect it to be at 5:30a.m.! We were already downstairs with him before we realized what time it was, so we got him started on a video while we checked our email, all of us trying to be quiet so we wouldn’t wake up everyone else.
Everyone eventually got up and moving around…Heather and Andy had to pack and get ready to go to the airport; and, there was all the last minute instructions and other “stuff” involved in leaving the kids with Grams and Gramps for a few days. We were pleased to find that the little ones accepted us and let Mommy and Daddy leave without any tears…they really are growing up!
After fixing some breakfast (we found that both children absolutely love bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast), Grams and I got the kitchen cleaned up and put back together. We played with some of the toys, watched a little TV, and then got everyone cleaned up and dressed to make our traditional drive to Wal-Mart. We had bought a doll and accessories for Abby while we were in Mineola, but it turned out to be a duplicate of what she already had, so we went to exchange it. While we were there, a couple of other items just happened to “jump” into the cart…we never have figured out how that happens.
When we were finished at Wal-Mart we went for a ride before ending up at Chick Fil-A for lunch (OK, we went for a ride because we got hopelessly lost trying to find a McDonalds that we thought was close by…what we found along the way is that there don’t seem to be any straight and/or parallel streets anywhere around here…we were “certain” we knew how to get to a McDonalds that we visited with the kids before, but we haven’t found it yet).
After arriving back at the house, we played with the new toys for a bit and then decided it was naptime. Alexander went right to sleep (no wonder, since he had waked up so early), but Abby had her second wind and did not take kindly to nap time. I went in and talked to her to try to quiet her, and Grams got her up for a few minutes and then put her back down, but nothing seemed to work, so we got her up long before Alexander woke up.
We spent a large part of the afternoon outside since it finally turned off nice and warm. Alexander wore his Spiderman outfit and Abby was satisfied to play on the swing set. We did take a timeout for a photo-op with Spidey-Alex, Spidey-Gramps, and Abby together in the backyard.
Sunday, March 30
It was great to be back in our home church at Artesia First Baptist this morning. Brother Rick is a wonderful Bible teacher/preacher and was at the top of his form this morning.
After church we came back to Big V, fixed lunch, and settled in for an afternoon of NCAA basketball, only to be sadly disappointed by the total collapse of Texas as they fell to Memphis, and disturbed by the less that stellar play of Kansas in their game with Davidson (although Davidson was a great team and put up a great fight before finally losing by only 2 points. We were just wishing that Davidson had played either North Carolina or UCLA and knocked one of them out of the tournament.
After a quick visit over at Mother’s house, we decided that we’d cook up one of the meals that we had learned from Margarita and Maria when we were in Puerto Rico earlier in the month, so we fired up the stove top and started cooking. While Barbara was cutting, frying, and smashing the plantains, I went to work on the cubed steaks that had been marinating in olive oil and Adobo seasoning since yesterday. It didn’t take long until Big V was really “stinking purty.”
Later, Barbara started cooking some rice and I added tomato sauce to the simmering steaks and onions. By the time we were finished, Big V smelled exactly like Maria and Margarita’s house did when they taught us the recipe.
We decided we’d call Jean and offer to bring everything over to her house if she hadn’t eaten yet. She said to come on over, so we took the food and a pancake griddle over to her kitchen. Margarita taught us how to take fresh rolled bread (which we didn’t have, so we substituted some buns) butter it, and close the griddle on it to make flat bread.
With everything finally in place, we sat down with Jean and enjoyed a wonderful Puerto Rican meal.
After eating and watching a little more TV, we gathered our dirty pots and pans, took them back to Big V to wash, and called it a day.
Monday, March 31
Don’t know why, other than that deep down inside we knew it needed doing, but we decided to tackle a deep cleaning of Big V today. It’s been a while since we did that last, and it took about three hours to do all that we thought needed doing. We’ve had lots of dust storms since the last cleaning, and Big V, like every structure in southeastern New Mexico, is definitely not immune to invasion by the dust and sand that blows through here.
Mother had a physical therapy appointment this afternoon at 2:30, so I left Barbara at Big V and went to town to get her. In addition to a solid workout, she had to stay late to complete a bunch of paperwork, so it was after 5:00 when I finally got home.
Jean invited us over to supper tonight. She had some Portuguese barbecued chicken and beans she had bought at the St. Anthony’s Catholic fundraiser, so we enjoyed another delicious meal at her place before returning to Big V to watch television and eventually get to bed.
Tuesday, April 1
With a trip to East Texas coming up, we decided that we’d better get the laundry taken care of today, so we took everything over to Mother’s house to wash while we did some chores for her and us. We talked it over with Mother and decided that rather than driving all day Wednesday to go to Mineola, Texas, we’d leave after lunch on Wednesday, drive as far as Sweetwater and then go on to Mineola on Thursday. Our hope was that we would miss rush hour traffic around the Dallas/Forth Worth area and not feel so beat up when we did arrive in Mineola.
After getting back to Big V and having some lunch, I decided I’d work as much of the fence lines as I could on the east side of Jean’s property. The problem with cleaning out one side of the lot is that everything else looks worse until it’s cleaned, and I wanted to remedy that problem before we left on the next trip. The weather and wind cooperated, and by 5:00 p.m. I had accomplished even more than I had expected.
Tonight we did as much packing as possible in order to be ready for travel tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 2
Happy 14th Anniversary to us!
We had every intention of sleeping in this morning, but were up and around by 5:30. We took our time moving around…I fixed pancakes, bacon, and eggs and we had a leisurely breakfast.
We decided that, as much as we’d like to join the bunch for our Wednesday Chaos luncheon, it made more sense to get away around noon, so we checked with Mother to see if she could be ready to leave by 12:30. She said it wouldn’t be a problem, so we got busy doing all the chores necessary for closing up Big V for a few days. We let Jean and Susie know that we wouldn’t be eating with them today and headed on over to Mother’s house around 12:15.
Ernie and Billee were there to help us load the car and get underway, and by 12:30 we were on U.S. 82, headed toward Hobbs and various other points on our way to Big Spring, Texas, where we got on I-20 and pointed the car east toward Sweetwater.
We arrived at the Sweetwater Super 8 Motel around 5:30 and were pleasantly surprised to find a newly remodeled structure with all the amenities one could ask for in a budget lodging (not to mention the lowest price we’ve seen in a long time. We got checked in to our rooms and then Barbara and I walked down to the street to pick up a sandwich and some cheesecake slices at Schlotzky’s, and a Burrito Supreme at Taco Bell to take back to the rooms for our dinner.
We spent the rest of the evening watching TV, working at our computers, and generally kicking back and relaxing.
Thursday, April 3
We got up early and got everything ready to go. After a good hot breakfast in the motel dining room, we were ready to roll by 8:30, far better than what we had anticipated.
With cloudy skies at the first of the trip, we just motored down I-20 through Abilene, Weatherford, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Terrell on our way to Mineola…not much to say about the trip…just drive, derive, and drive some more. But, with the early start, we were at T.J.’s house in Mineola at two o’clock, ready to eat the delicious meal she had prepared for us, ham, macaroni and cheese casserole, green beans, and homemade bread. Wow…what a great welcome!
At 4:15 we went to a neighbor’s house to visit, look at the layout of the house, and check out the property. We had mentioned a couple of years ago that if Mother ever considered moving to Mineola it would be great to find something in T.J.’s neighborhood, and this house is one that we singled out as a great piece of property. The folks who live here are considering selling and moving to a new place, so we thought we’d take advantage of a possible opportunity and check it out.
After we got back to T.J.’s place and unloaded the car, Barbara and I drove downtown to Legal Grounds, a local internet café/coffee shop, where we checked our email and sent out a couple of messages. From there, it was back to the house (with a brief stop at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard for Barbara and a Mocha Moolatte for Mother), where we settled in for an evening of visiting.
Friday, April 4
Wow…What was that noise!? We woke up to the sound of thunder rumbling (been a while since we’ve heard that), and rain pounding down on the roof…took us a few minutes to dig around in the memory banks and realize what was happening.
After everyone was finally up and more or less ready to face the day, T.J. fixed a great breakfast for us and we chowed down on bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, juice, and coffee…more than enough to give us a good kick start for a busy day.
At 10:00 a.m. we drove over to Century 21 to meet a realtor and begin a home tour. Over the course of the morning we saw several houses, most of which we ruled out immediately for a variety of reasons, but we did see two places that were definite possibilities. The frontrunner was a beautiful two-bedroom (but that’s not a very apt description) garden home that will take little or nothing to be ready to occupy. The second was a lovely three-bedroom sitting on a large shady lot near one of the local lakes. Now it’s down to decision time for Mother.
After seeing the last house of the day, Barbara and I went back to Legal Grounds to check email, then to Wal-Mart for a couple of purchases before returning to T.J.’s house.
We received a phone call from Heather while we were at the realtor’s office. We had planned to come back to Richardson next weekend to watch the Alexander and Abby while Heather and Andy go on a job interview; but, she received a call from the school this morning saying that next weekend won’t work for the school, and could they come this weekend instead and interview on Monday.
We quickly changed our plans so that Mother would stay with T.J. until Wednesday morning and we would go on to Richardson this evening. Heather and Andy will fly out tomorrow morning and return Tuesday evening. Luckily, we were “in the neighborhood” and were able to help them out and they were able to make reasonable travel arrangements.
We left Mineola about 4:00 p.m. and drove west on U.S. 80 to Terrell, where we stopped for a while at an outlet center to look for shoes and “other stuff.” Then, we continued on to Richardson to the kids’ house to get settled in for the night and prepare to start keeping Alexander and Abby tomorrow morning.
Saturday, April 5
“Happy Birthday today to Aunt T.J. in Mineola, Texas!
Alexander decided to start his day early…we had told him to come to our room and get us when he woke up, but we didn’t expect it to be at 5:30a.m.! We were already downstairs with him before we realized what time it was, so we got him started on a video while we checked our email, all of us trying to be quiet so we wouldn’t wake up everyone else.
Everyone eventually got up and moving around…Heather and Andy had to pack and get ready to go to the airport; and, there was all the last minute instructions and other “stuff” involved in leaving the kids with Grams and Gramps for a few days. We were pleased to find that the little ones accepted us and let Mommy and Daddy leave without any tears…they really are growing up!
After fixing some breakfast (we found that both children absolutely love bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast), Grams and I got the kitchen cleaned up and put back together. We played with some of the toys, watched a little TV, and then got everyone cleaned up and dressed to make our traditional drive to Wal-Mart. We had bought a doll and accessories for Abby while we were in Mineola, but it turned out to be a duplicate of what she already had, so we went to exchange it. While we were there, a couple of other items just happened to “jump” into the cart…we never have figured out how that happens.
When we were finished at Wal-Mart we went for a ride before ending up at Chick Fil-A for lunch (OK, we went for a ride because we got hopelessly lost trying to find a McDonalds that we thought was close by…what we found along the way is that there don’t seem to be any straight and/or parallel streets anywhere around here…we were “certain” we knew how to get to a McDonalds that we visited with the kids before, but we haven’t found it yet).
After arriving back at the house, we played with the new toys for a bit and then decided it was naptime. Alexander went right to sleep (no wonder, since he had waked up so early), but Abby had her second wind and did not take kindly to nap time. I went in and talked to her to try to quiet her, and Grams got her up for a few minutes and then put her back down, but nothing seemed to work, so we got her up long before Alexander woke up.
We spent a large part of the afternoon outside since it finally turned off nice and warm. Alexander wore his Spiderman outfit and Abby was satisfied to play on the swing set. We did take a timeout for a photo-op with Spidey-Alex, Spidey-Gramps, and Abby together in the backyard.
Heather provided us with a nice selection of leftovers, so dinner tonight wasn’t too complicated…pork pie and beans as a main dish, and the kids enjoyed some left over chicken nuggets and fries as well.We spent the evening multi-tasking…alternately watching NCAA semi-final games (we didn’t care much about the UCLA/Memphis game, which was good, since there was a lot going on then…baths, clean up the living room, answering telephone calls, etc. Besides, if I had my way, that game would end in a tie and an investigation by someone in power would result in suspension from the tournament…in case you haven’t guessed, those two teams were squarely in my “who cares?” bracket.
We had Abby in bed and everything pretty well in shape by the time the Kansas/North Carolina game came on. Since Alexander had taken a nap in the afternoon, we let him stay up later. We got to watch the entire first half (a thing of beauty if you were a Kansas fan) and I gave him his bath during halftime.
The second half was a little scary for the KU folks. It looked as if UNC was going to have the ultimate upset, but Kansas regained control and advanced to the final game on the strength of an 18-point win…Go Jayhawks!!!
With the game safely tucked away, we went upstairs to read for a while and then called it a night.
“Basketball doesn’t build character, it reveals it.” - Anonymous
Babysitting grandchildren in Richardson, Texas,
Jim & Barbara
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