Home Again

Our girls weekend was a wonderful one. We had such a great time. We arrived back home Saturday evening around 8:30 or so. We had driven all the way from about 30 miles north of the Texas/Oklahoma border. I drove the entire distance because I love to drive. My niece doesn’t enjoy driving at all and my sister didn’t care one way or the other. She also has a brand new car and I really enjoyed driving it. I think I know what kind of car I want to get next time we change. That will probably be a long, long time in the future, if ever! Would you believe the very first time I ever drove it, was during rush hour traffic through Dallas? I can’t believe she trusted me to do that! Then that night we drove back north again through Fort Worth rush-hour traffic, again with me at the wheel. We’re still here so I must’ve done all right! It was a long day and the last 2 1/2 or so hours were the longest. We ran into quite a strong rainstorm between Kansas City and Omaha.  All‘s well that ends well though, and we had an absolutely lovely time. Our stop that was the furthest south was in Waco, Texas. Home to the Magnolia Silos. It was almost too much to take in. I took this first photo as we drove by. That is the bakery on the corner. We had the best cupcakes from there. We bought them and took them back to our hotel and had them for a snack before bed. Yum!!!

Before we left Waco we had a late lunch at the Magnolia table restaurant. It is an absolutely beautiful building and the lunch was very good too. Actually, we all had breakfast for lunch.

The decor is stunning. The floor tile work is very intricate. I can only imagine the hours it took to lay that floor.

Another view.

This was the floor just inside of the main door. Amazing craftsmanship!

This old and no longer used Lutheran church was moved from the other side of Waco just in the past year. It was taken apart, piece by piece, and then reassembled on this site. The attention to detail is just stunning.

The inside. Look at those gorgeous chandeliers. So beautiful in their simplicity.

And the windows! Can you believe that they all survived the move unbroken?

Here is my sister Melanie with me when we very first arrived at the Silos.

And a closer photo along with my niece Chaela. We had such a wonderful time together.

Inside “Ferney’s”. This is Joanna’s sisters shop. Such beautiful plants. They all have name tags on them and have just the cutest names, like Jimmy and Lucy or Bob! Somehow, all the names fit the plants perfectly.

Since Melanie and Chaela were here a few years ago, they have added these shops alongside of the green. There are three on each side and they are all specialty shops. There’s a writers store and a lotion/perfume shop among several others.

There are several different food trucks around the site also. They were very busy at lunchtime. I didn’t even notice the security guards when I took the photo. Isn’t it a shame that we have to have people protecting us like this even at fun venues?

There is also a small baseball diamond on the site. There are balls, bats and gloves available for anybody to go in and pitch, if you want to hit a few balls. The concession stand that you see in the rear provides food from Magnolia Table to visitors. There are spots all over with entertainment for children. Lots of green space for them to run and bins of balls and other play things all around. It is truly a family gathering place.

I could go on and on with photos of our weekend. We were only gone four days but we packed a lot into them including driving to and from Texas! We laughed so much and had such a wonderful time. We hope to make it an annual event going somewhere with mothers and daughters. Hopefully next time Mandy will be able to join us.

I’m sorry it has taken me several days to get this last group of pictures out, but our days have been jampacked for about the last two weeks. On Monday we moved Mom into an independent living apartment. Dennis and I did a lot of work on the move before I left, and while I was gone family members jumped in and helped Dennis move her furniture on Saturday. I spent the day at the apartment on Sunday with Mandy unpacking everything and making the bed so it would be already for her. Monday I drove her to her apartment for the first time. We have spent a lot of time with her there since eating at least one meal a day with her in the dining room. It is a beautiful place and I would move there in a heartbeat! The food is very, very good. Their chef is from a local country club. Now we have begun the hard work of going through 47 years of accumulation. Dennis took 3 full pick up truck loads to the thrift store just yesterday while I was cleaning out the kitchen cabinets. The grandkids have gotten what they want and the rest is going. I have lots of furniture on Facebook marketplace and we hope to get the house on the market in the next week or so before it slows down for the winter.

It’s a huge change for her but I just hung up the phone from talking to her this morning and she said her second night was much better and she felt much more at home. Dennis and I bought her a new comforter set because she’s had the other one for 40+ years. She said she feels like a princess in her bed! I think it does help having her familiar things around her and we tried to set the apartment up as much like the house was as possible. She seemed very happy and content this morning. It is very near Mandy‘s house so quite a ways from us but we will be going out every day for a while until we know if she’s settled in. 

Her sister-in-law, Aunt Joyce has lived there for 14 months and absolutely loves it. In fact she says she’s angry at herself for refusing to move in earlier. She says she missed out on so much by staying at home alone.  Mom has eaten all of her meals with Aunt Joyce in the dining room since she arrived. Aunt Joyce is a firecracker! She is involved in practically every activity that goes on. If anybody can get mom more active, she can.

In some ways this will make our life easier with not having the upkeep of two houses and worrying about her when we travel, but in other ways it is complicated our lives even further. Number one is the ridiculous expense of these places and the other is the distance from our home. It was very easy just to run next-door and check on her rather than driving across town, but we weren’t going to move her just anywhere. It had to be a nice place in a safe area. Her balcony overlooks a little park like area behind the building and just yesterday she saw two deer in that park area. That was enough to convince her that she loves it! She does love watching deer!

I’ll be back soon. Take care and I’m sorry for the long post today.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Day One

We started out bright and early yesterday when Melanie and Chaela picked me up. Off we went heading south through Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Our first stop was at The Precious Moments Museum in Carthage, Missouri. It is amazing! It is all painted by one man, Sam Butcher, who was subsequently asked to make his paintings into sculptures. We know them as the Precious Moments figurines that are the MOST collected item in the world. Here are a few photos I took which do not even begin to do it justice.

Melanie and my niece Chaela.



The ceiling of the chapel. Mr. Butcher lay on his back for hundreds of hours while painting the ceiling.

The main painting in the chapel depicting the welcome into Heaven.

Please click to enlarge the photo so you can read it.



The last photo is Sam Butchers headstone that he designed. When he passes, it will be engraved with the correct dates. You can see his home from this spot.

We stayed last night in Bartlesville, OK at the Hilton where my nephew, Chaela’s husband Tim, arranged a great room for us.

This morning we were up bright and early to drive the 20 or so miles to Pawhuska, Oklahoma where we visited the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond’s Mercantile and other stores. We had breakfast at the Mercantile and it was amazing!

I ordered Grandma Ella’s pancakes with sea salt caramel syrup and cinnamon butter. Oh my! Oh my! Also homemade sausage, bacon and eggs arrived with the pancakes. I haven’t had a breakfast as good as that for a long time. A huge quart glass of ice tea was just 25 cents.

The Merc.

Parked outside the door was a shiny red farm truck from the Drummond ranch.

Inside was full of wonderful kitchen and other home items as well as Ree’s signature flowy clothing styles. 

Upstairs was a bakery and coffee shop with lots of room to sit and chat. We were there very early so it wasn’t very busy yet.

Even the bathroom was decorated nicely.

This was the boardinghouse next door although the reflection in the glass makes it hard to read.

After wandering around for several hours we jumped back into the car and headed to Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. We spent a few hours wandering around IKEA and finding treasures there.

Tim once again found us another Hilton tonight, just four miles away from IKEA. This time he reserved us a suite with a living room, bedroom and bath. Two TV’s and a kitchenette. We each have a bed! That boy is a keeper! Such a sweetie.

Tomorrow will be more adventures and I’ve been voted to be the one driving through Ft. Worth! I’ll let you know how it goes. 😍

Dennis is holding down the fort at home. Mom had a medical procedure today that kept them at the hospital most of the day. Please keep her, (and us), in your prayers.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Road Trip!

I’m leaving tomorrow on a girls road trip with my sister Melanie and her daughter, my niece Chaela. Mandy was supposed to go but she has to work. We’re going to miss her on what was supposed to be a mother/daughter trip.  I won’t have my computer with me, so I won’t be able to comment again, but this is just a short trip. We’ll be back on Sunday. After that I have no trips planned at all.

Can you guess where the three of us may be going?

Here’s a hint!

Oklahoma is one place we’re planning to stop. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. And boy! Do I need a vacation after this week. I’ve been in four different doctors offices in the past two days with Mom. That’s another story that I’ll tell you all about soon. 

I have my suitcase packed and a bag of snacks and my sock knitting ready to go.  See you soon.

Blessings and hugs,

Betsy