HAPPY MONDAY!

Well, by keeping our noses to the grindstone, dh and I put in a LONG week-end, and got quite a bit done, haha.  My poor hubby spent most of Sat. on the patio cover roof again, and we THINK we may have the problem solved.  Let me put it another way, it is as good as it is getting!   lol.  It was raining occasionally on him as he worked, and rained pretty hard after he finished, and for the very most part there was NO water anywhere.  Certainly the front door and the mat stayed completely dry, so that's a REALLY good thing.  Like I said in the very beginning, what really needed to be done was a complete tear down and start all over kind of thing to have done it right.  But this was a very close second.  It "looks" fantastic, and sooo improves what we had going, I am a happy camper.  And if I am a happy camper, he is a happy camper, lol.  While he worked on that, I did my sewing.  I finished my blanket, and it was as my sisters told me, SUPER EASY!  Now I may make more.  But not right now...I am a little over-extended with what I have going on (imagine that?) and I will be lucky to keep all my balls in the air, haha.  I have finished everyone's PJ's but Lindsey's and Annabel's, and they are just getting lounging PJ bottoms, which I can make up in about a half hour a piece.  I do need to run and get a pattern before I can whip those up though, so I am on a break, haha...Here are some pics of my week-end projects....

I think it is not only darling, it is REALLY warm!

Cody's & Donatella's

Cody is totally into this movie Cars, and I thought this was just super cute fabric!

Tella's Christmas kitties

On Sunday we went to church and then over to my son's house where Larissa whipped us a delicious lunch.  We headed home right afterwards though so we could finish up some more of our projects.  Hubby began hanging the Christmas lights, and I (guess what?) sewed, haha.  He did barbecue some yummy burgers for dinner and we relaxed (finally) with a little TV.  A long but productive week-end.  HOWEVER, there is still much to do.  I am organizing not only Thanksgiving, but Sam's open house which will be the Sat. after Thanksgiving.  We are not serving a meal, and yet, we will be having appetizers, snacks,  some sweets and coffee of course, and drinks.  Lots to do to get this all ready.  THEN....on Dec. 16th we will be celebrating my dh's 60th birthday.  We have been married 37 years (well almost 37) and I have only had one other birthday party for this guy.  Now it's not that his birthday is not celebrated, but it is just very low key.  A special dinner, cake, maybe a gift, and that's about it.  Dec. 17th is just a hard time to have a birthday.  Everyone is always soo busy this time of year and another get together just seems wrong somehow.  But this birthday is a BIG one, and I just decided months ago I wasn't going to let it get by.  Well, the 17th falls on a Sat. this year so it seemed perfect and I told everyone to try hard to save that date.   But when I went to make a reservation at a restaurant, I found that everyone was completely booked for that large of a group for that night.  There will be around 45 people or so.  I was somewhat frantic, and decided OK, maybe I would just rent out our clubhouse here.  It is BIG and beautiful, but it would require a lot more work on my part than a restaurant would have to pull off, so it was my definite second choice.  HOWEVER, they were booked for every Sat. and Sun in the month of Dec.  More panic!!  Finally, I settled on a Friday night.  Not ideal, but it is doable.  And my youngest son has promised to come up early and help me get everything set up.  Whew....   Melody (as her gift to her daddy) is going to pay for all the food, so I have LOTS of help.  I am BEYOND grateful.  AND THEN....I decided several weeks ago I wanted to do something special for his birthday.  He is a special guy truly who rarely thinks of himself, and I just wanted to have a special way to honor him.  Soooo, we are putting together a book of wishes.  Everyone who has been invited is writing there favorite memory, funny story, and good wishes up in a blog post complete with pictures etc., and then I will have it printed up in book form and give it to him.  I am very excited about this project, but it is somewhat stressful I am not going to lie. Everyone seems excited about this, but getting them to all to DO IT by my cutoff date will be quite the feat.  Mine is done, but so far that is it, lol. Oh!  It is safe to write about this here, as he NEVER reads this blog, haha..  THEN....I need to get our extra bedroom rearranged so we can set up a portable crib, nursing area etc., for Mike & Mel when they come with Sam next week.  AND!!  Christmas is coming too so I am trying to get my head into my shopping for that too.  I am keeping that VERY easy this year, and VERY low key, but I do have 9 grandkids to buy for, haha...None of this would be as difficult as it is sometimes if it wasn't for these knees of mine.  How I wish I could do sooo much more than I can sometimes without help.   But I am grateful that I have been as healthy as I have been, and have had the strength to do all that I have.  Soo, that's all I have to say about being busy, haha

Melody took little Sam to a pediatric cardiologist today as his doc had heard a slight heart murmur on him on his last visit, and he wanted to check it out.  Melody was a little overwhelmed as this required her to drive into Lubbock which is a good two hour drive one way for her.  Mike has LOTS of issues going on right now at the dairy with his employees, so he wasn't able to go with her.  One of those times for sure that I wished I lived near so I could have helped.  Well, the drive went well, but Sam DID NOT like his visit, haha.  He worked himself up into quite a state.  They did a couple of tests on the baby and discovered that he does have a VERY small hole in his heart which is causing the murmur.  Now Melody and I both have heart murmur's with no problems whatsoever, certainly no holes, so we were kind of expecting to hear the same thing here.  Her doc did assure her however, that the hole is very small.  In fact it is sooo small that she said with less sophisticated equipment you probably wouldn't have even seen it.  She is sure it will just close up on it's own, but the baby will have to be monitored in the meantime.  He is to be seen again in a month.  I would soo appreciate a prayer or two for little Sam's complete healing of this.  He is continuing to gain....He is up to 11 pounds 2 ounces!!  All of her doc's seem quite pleased with his progress.  I am thinking he might have to slow down soon or he will be an enormous baby by a year if he keeps up this pace, haha.

One of the professional newborn pics she had taken....soo precious!

Such  a happy guy....one more week, and I will be kissing this cutie!

I know it probably seems sometimes that I write A LOT of information, and I am sorry....BUT!  I am doing this blog mainly as a personal journal of my life, and that comes with lots of details. ; )  Hope you all have a WONDERFUL week...