Wedding Shower Number Two For My Family

We had a shower Friday night for neighbors, friends, and family in our area. Here is a link to that post.

I shared in a few other posts that we have limited time to have showers due to time constraints and them moving to another state for her soon to be husband to finish school. 

With those time constraints, I figured if we needed to have a shower for my family, it would be better to do it before the wedding and if we could plan it the same weekend as one of the other showers, we could use whatever let over food we had for the next shower. 

His family is doing a shower this weekend with her friends doing a bachelorette shower for her, so the entire weekends was out to do one for my family. I suggested that we do my family shower after the friends and neighbor shower. So, we planned as shower at my Dad's house as my step-mother (I call her that only for clarity as she is like a mother to me) is an amazing gardener and her garden always looks so wonderful. 

I knew that she would enjoy hosting as she is the only one that wouldn't have to clean or work more in her yard to host. I did have a sister say she and her girls would like to host but I knew that the time crunch would make it hard to have one, so we just decided to do it even if people couldn't make it due to holidays and travel. 

We drove six hours round trip to go to and host the shower. It was SO hot outside but we were driving Princess Two's new car so at least the six hour drive was comfortable!  We also got to spend time with Princess FIVE on the way up! She chose to ride up with us which was nice. She hasn't been home since Christmas so getting that three extra hours was nice! 

Everyone was wonderful to help set up and clean up after the shower and due to holiday, camps etc, there weren't a ton of people, but one of her friends showed up with her husband and baby and that made her day! She was a bridesmaid for this friend a few years back. 

Several of my nieces brought treats to include with the food we had left over from the shower the night before which made for a nice table of food. My Step-Mother had a punch bowl set up and made slush for the drink, and she pulled out all her platters so I didn't have to pack any to her home. It was so nice to have it all ready to go. 

I planned the shower for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. knowing everyone had at least 2 hours in either direction and I didn't want to be driving in the dark as with the heat, the deer have been at lower altitudes and I nearly hit two on my last road trip. 

We were super tired when we got home and Princess Two and I went to bed. It was a super hot and long weekend but full of loving friends and family. 

Princess Three said she felt truly loved so both events went well. 

Have a blessed day!

Helping Others Helps Me - Yummy Apricots

I was running errands and drove past my friends house and she was kneeling on her grass and I thought maybe she was digging up a sprinkler head. 

I flipped a U-turn and asked if she needed help. She was one of the sweet people that came over to help me make popcorn treats for the wedding for over four hours this week. I haven't written that post yet, but hope to get it written soon. 

She has helped me many times over the years pulling stuff out of my garage and with Princess one's wedding reception, and many other situations! 

I asked what she was doing and she was using a knife to edge her yard. I told her I had an edger and she said she was almost finished, but obviously using a knife will not make the edges even, so I came home and picked up my edger and went back to her house. 

We spent the next few hours edging, sweeping, and mowing. While she finished up, she told me I could pick some of the apricots off her tree and I picked a bag full and they were perfect! I love fresh apricots and had a tree at one point, but I would only get apricots every few years as the blossoms would freeze. It wasn't worth keeping as I never got fruit. I have missed not having apricots. 

It was nice that my friend allowed me to server her as she doesn't often ask for help. I was grateful she let me spend some time with her and that I was able to help her get her front yard looking beautiful. I just now need to edge my own. ha ha

It never ceases to amaze me how every time I go to do service, I end up getting something out of it. Time and time again I have been blessed when serving others. 

Have a blessed day!

Wedding Shower Number One For Local Friends and Family

Princess Three is getting married. She only has a small window to get married as her fiance is in medical school and has to be back to school by mid August. 

With that Crazy timeline and a few holidays in the mix, we have had to consolidate the Wedding Showers. We didn't have enough time to have all the showers on different weekends before the wedding, so we had two in one weekend. Having them so close is a good and a bad at the same time. 

Here is a link to the night before Shower Number One. Three of my dear friends each did some of the food, helped decorate, printed the invitations, and after the event, allowed me to take the left over food and treats to use for our family shower the next day on Saturday! 

Princess Three's best friend from high school flew in to the nearest large airport and then drove in the middle of the night to arrive in our town to support Princess Three! She was only in town for the one event and it meant so much to Princess Three! 

Due to the timing of the shower, holidays, summer camps, and the heat, there was not a huge turn out, but Princess Three still felt very loved and supported. Every day I run into people and get people calling or dropping off cards and gifts. They say they weren't feeling well due to the heat, were at another wedding over the weekend, or were out of town. 

The area has changed much since Princess Three lived here and most of the neighbors have passed away or moved away so I warned her with the heat, holidays, most of her friends already being married and moved away, and many deaths in our older neighborhood, and now with re-surging strains of COVID, that we probably wouldn't get a good turn out. She said it didn't matter how many showed, but that she just felt so loved that our friends and family would go to such lengths to support her. 

The food was amazing. The decorations were beautiful and supplied by my sister. We were able to print out some of their engagement and bridal photos. People who love her braved the 100 degree temperatures. All that and, her closest friend coming really made it a great night! 

When the sun went down, we were able to sit outside and open some gifts as the heat cooled a bit. Most people gave cards knowing that they will be moving into student housing for the next three schools while he finishes school so space is limited and they don't have a big trailer for moving, so they are grateful for those who ordered off the registry as those items are being mailed to a family member who lives in near the city where they will be living. Also the cards or gift cards will be so helpful in allowing them to purchase the larger items needed once they move rather than buying larger items and then having to move them. 

We had some great help from my sister, my daughters, our friends, and my nieces cleaning up, and it was great having all the left over food to take up for the shower the next day. 

People have been so understanding and we are grateful for everyone's generosity! It was a beautiful night sharing time with family and friends! 

Have a blessed day! 

Princess Two Got a New Car Thanks to Some Great Friends

I shared in a post a few weeks back that Princess Two wanted to buy a new car. Here is a link to that post.  In the post, I shared that she tried all day at different dealerships driving all different brands of cars and after driving many different makers and models of cars, she realized that she really loves her Honda Pilot. 

While she was test driving at the Honda Dealership, I had a thought to call my good friend Julie that I have mentioned many times on my blog. She and her husband always drive Honda cars and have always driven the cars for two years and then upgrade. 

I called Julie and asked her when they were planning on trading their Honda Pilot in as Princess Two had decided after all the test driving, that she wanted another Honda Pilot. Her reason is she is really tall and when getting into the smaller cars, or her head was high into the ceiling and she has to duck down to see out the windshield which makes her lean forward in the seat and then her back strains, so it is important that she finds a car that helps her be comfortable while driving. 

Julie said she and her husband were going to travel the 3 hour drive to the Honda Dealership and see if they had the car they wanted to purchase. They went down at the end of June and test drove the only car the Honda Dealership had that they would like. It didn't have the tow package, the roof rack or the running boards. They asked if they would be able to get one anytime soon with those options and in the color that they wanted, and they were told due to COVID, they just can't get the cars they want. 

Due to the situation with COVID you have to take what you can take. So, with that, they decided to go ahead and get the beautiful blue Honda Pilot. 

They paid off the old pilot from the lease company and had the car parked in my driveway. I couldn't register or insure the vehicle until the title came. About a week later, the title came and we transferred the title and I got it registered and insured, but in the craziness of everything, I forgot to pay them for a day or two. My daughter asked me why she had so much money in her account and if I had payed them. 

I kept thinking in the back of my mind that I needed to do something else with the car, but felt like such a dingbat not paying them for the car! It was a HUGE amount of money as the car is worth more now than when they bought it due to COVID! 

I called them and apologized for my blonde behavior. I asked why they didn't say anything to me and her husband told me that after I left with the title, he asked her if I had said anything to her about paying. She told him that she would not worry about it and would let me get to it on my own. 

Have I not told you in the past how amazing my friends are?!?! They just trusted I was stressed with the wedding and in trying to get the car registered and ready for Princess Two. I apologized so many time and just felt horrible I left them hanging. I think because the title took so long to come and the car sat in my driveway for a week or more, the transaction just wasn't a smooth one as usually I pay and they give me the car at the same time. 

I got them a cashiers check and Princess Two came down for the wedding shower we had in town this past weekend and she got to drive it for the first time! She got more and more excited. She stared looking how to use things while I was driving and I would look up things to figure out how they worked while she drove. I guess I drove the entire trip on the way there in all wheel drive. ha ha. I figured it out when I drove back. 

Princess Four asked me to take a picture of her and send it to Julie and her husband and I took it but haven't sent it with the crazy that is going on. She said, "Today is the first time I've felt like I can get in my car and relax without worrying that the car may break down." 

That piece of mind really makes what Julie and her husband did for her HUGE. They were so cute that they got the windshield replace, filled the car with gas and left her the rubber side and back of chair mats. They have gone above and beyond kind! I know he wanted the car to be perfect for her and it is! It is amazing to me that my friends husband cares more about my daughter than many in her life who SHOULD care about her. She is truly blessed to have such great role models of what a good man / father / and husband looks like. It meant a lot to her that he would do all those things for her. 

She said it was such a smooth ride home and she is thinking that the more she drives it, the more she will love it! She isn't planning on getting a new car for a LONG time!  

THANK YOU JULIE AND HUSBAND FOR BLESSING OUR LIFE!

It's Been and Exciting and Exhausting Weekend

 I started a different post but I am so tired, I just can do it. We have been having a heat wave and we had an outdoor shower at a friends home and it as 100 degrees during the shower and I was dripping and dehydrated. We traveled long distance early the next morning and put on a shower in a city near where most of my family lives and then drove home. 

We then had to drop off her old car to the mechanic and pick up my car that blew the ballbearings in the rear tire while driving home from visiting Princess One's home recently. 

I just keep falling asleep as I had a busy day today as well so I will say "Good night" for now and hope I can!

100 Degrees at 7 P.M. and 97 Degrees at 8 p.m. Not Good For and Outside Wedding Shower

I spent the day pulling out my wedding decorations from Princess One's wedding which was 10 years ago in December. 

I have not pulled them out during that time. Styles have changed a bit since then but I purchased cream colored everything so that I could just add the main color in napkins, table clothes, flowers, and candles. 

Princess Three however, doesn't want any cream colored anything, so we are mostly going to use my sisters wedding/ reception business and use her things for the reception. I figured that will be the case most of the time as the styles change so much. 

I think I am going to give my sister my metal candle holders, baskets, and just keep the cream colored dishes to use for Thanksgivings and any showers I may through as the soup tourines, platters, bowls, plates, and salt and peppers all match. 

I am happy to have gone through most of the stuff I have stored. I do have several totes in the basement but it was such a HOT day that after pulling everything out of the garage, I was so tired I didn't have it in me to go down and pull more out. I think most of the stuff down there will be things for my sister, so I will do that another day as we have a few really busy days. 

My sweet friends are throwing a wedding shower for Princess Three and her fiance tomorrow and someone asked me to help them empty storage metal containers at her house as she has three currently in her yard as they had to redo their entire kitchen and it held the cabinets etc. I was dripping sweat and I looked at the temperature as I didn't want to go into a metal container and it was 100 degrees at almost 7 p.m. It was 97 degrees at 8 p.m.

I told her I really didn't have it in me to work in those in the summer even early in the morning. I was working in my yard from dark until 2 a.m. the other night because it is so hot during the day! 

I then began to worry about the heat as the wedding shower was supposed to be a garden reception and we are serving chicken salad croissants. When I say "we" I really should be saying "they" will be serving as three of my dearest friends are hosting the event for us! 

The friend who is hosting is having it in her backyard and with Covid, I haven't been there in a few years now. I contacted her worried about having the food out in this heat wave and she said she agreed and we would have the food in the kitchen and they can eat outside. 

In my mind I was picturing a hill and that people would have to walk down the hill to get to the deck and she said, "Haven't you seen my landscape?" I had not seen it! She suggested I run over and see her yard so I can get an idea of the decorations we will need and where to put them. I went over at 10 p.m. and the temperature was perfect for outside! It is sad we can't have it later! 

She has a beautiful yard! She has a beautiful kitchen they just remodeled, and a huge deck for seating on the back. She landscaped a new deck with a pagoda type cover with lights and a fan and the deck has fans. I think it will be hot no matter what we do, but at least there is shade over the two main areas! 

My friends are so dear to do this for us! I have been fighting a migraine all day and think it may be dehydration related but I have been drinking tons and am still thirsty.

It is midnight and Princess Three will be arriving soon with her intended, so I need to get this posted and finish getting everything finished for tomorrow. 

Have a blessed day!

I Was So Exhausted Today I Cried

I was so tired today I dragged around and cried a few times having NO energy! I would just sit not able to get up or do anything and it was so frustrating as I have so much to do getting ready for the wedding! 

I was trying to remember back when I felt like this last and I realized that I have been taking a few new things trying to kill off the parasites. 

I think that maybe one or two of them was working and then I left to go visit Princess One's family and stopped taking them for a few days. I think that whatever died off, the eggs are all hatching and that is why I am so tired. 

If you look back several months, I had this type of day when I was getting more sores on my neck and hairlines. 

I am so frustrated with this stupid parasite and wish I could wake up feeling like I had slept. 

I have been posting things for sale again and trying to clean out more items from the house. Princess One was getting rid of a few things and so I decided that I would sell them for a few dollars. It is getting harder and harder to sell things locally. I have been talking to several people and they are all saying that there are so many sites now on Facebook that things are just getting lost in their marketplace as you can't just renew them anymore. 

I have to agree that things are not as they used to be selling anywhere anymore. 

Have a blessed day!