Lucky Star

For the past few weeks we have been dodging rain on our "weekends" so our weekly outings have been hit and miss. It's been either rainy or too cool and windy for my taste for outdoor activities. Although I am grateful for the much needed rain in our area, I do know  there is a very short window of springtime weather to enjoy outdoor activities before the extreme Texas heat takes over the next several months.

Despite my innate need to explore the world around me I took on the gratitude attitude and focused on what I could do instead of what I couldn't do.

Recently on my morning runs with Bo I have admired the blooming wildflowers. This morning I decided to take my camera along.....

Starting my morning off with an attitude of gratitude continued on throughout the day. I couldn't help taking pics of everything that sparked my grateful soul.....

A Dad and Husband who's is ALWAYS there when we need him......

Being silly with Skye............

My Antique Rose that was given to me....even though I have no earthly idea what an "Antique Rose" is I am very grateful that it is blooming....

Friends, no matter how annoying they may be at times....

Lowe's garden clearance section....

An absolutely beautiful double rainbow at the end of an afternoon rain shower....

Beauty is Simple to Find.

Picnic in the Park

A few weeks a go I came across a website or an article or something, I can't remember now,  that gave a list of the most haunted places in Texas. Always intrigued by the paranormal I scanned the Austin area to see if there were any sites in our area that we could make a day trip out of.

One listed was The Driskill, which we have been to several times and never seen anything out of the ordinary. 

The next one that caught my attention was the Moore's Bridge at Richard Moya Park. I like bridges and parks.

The legend states in the early 1900's a man was caught having a relationship with a black woman and was hung from the bridge. Supposed apparitions have been spotted around the bridge over the years. If you click on the Moore's Bridge link in the above paragraph you can read the whole story.

As usual, we didn't see any apparitions but we did enjoy our day at the park...

Playing in the creek....

Skipping rocks

I do believe Skye's favorite part of the day was hunting and eating the pecans that had fallen from the numerous Pecan trees around the park.....

Lunchtime...

Other random pics....

Lazy Sunday

...well, aren't Sunday's suppose to be lazy?? Actually, it's rare to ever find me being "lazy". Even when I may have the appearance of being lazy I am far from it. My mind is always contemplating my next move whether it be mentally throwing ideas around in my head for weekly meal plans or making note of the ceiling fan that needs to be vacuumed of dust and storing it in my mental list of things that need to be done within the next week, etc. etc. etc.

So this morning I prepared Toby bacon for breakfast....

 I've been trying to limit meat in our household for more reasons than one, but with Toby's gluten issues it gives him such a limited amount of food that he really enjoys that I like to "treat" him every so often with some of his favorite foods that he CAN still eat like bacon and homemade peanut butter cookies.

The other day while I was out walking Bo one of our neighbors was spring cleaning his garage and put an old iron skillet on the side of the road in a pile of other junk to be picked up. I scooped out the old, rusty iron skillet and toted it home with me to re-season it.  I already have a super large one that Robin gave me and another very small one that was my mom's. This one was a medium sized one that fit perfect with my clan of iron skillets. Southern folk love our iron skillets.

Skye contemplating whether it was hot enough to jump in the pool...nope, not yet...

My lush lawn I have worked really hard on.....

Toby has suggested we put a garden in this section of the backyard. If you could have only seen this section of my backyard a few years ago you would understand why I'm a little anal about ripping it out for a garden. When we first had our pool put it in there was a HUGE pile of clay that they half-ass packed down after the pool installation then came the drought where nothing but hoards of weeds grew that I had to meticulously pull out one by one for two years in a row until the grass finally took root this past summer.

Nope, not that section. Any other section is up for grabs, but not that one!!!


Then there is dang Bo in my flower garden again!! I had never thought about it before until today but when he lays in the garden he always lays right next to Brandi's grave (she's buried under the flower pot to the left of Bo) I wonder if there is some kind of dog from beyond the grave communication going on??? ;-) After all, I have discovered that Bo tolerates Chihuahua's attitudes very well....

Everything has thorns on it here...even the trees!! This is my Bois d'arc tree. I let it grow from wild in my yard because a man in the neighborhood once told me that the Native Americans would travel hundreds of miles to Oklahoma to collect the fruit from the tree because it repelled insects and that the branches of the trees were strong enough to use as arrows and that's how they got to our area of Texas. I think I did a little research on the tree after he told me that and found it to be true knowledge....

I also went to pick some fresh veggies out my very gracious friend Robin's garden.....Kale, Broccoli, Salad Burnet, Spinach and my very favorite Swiss Chard. Thankful? Yes, very much!

Well, that's about as interesting as it gets around here!!

Soul Friday

I worked in my yard for the majority of the day. It was an absolutely beautiful day with warm temps and the sun beaming in it's usual Texas kind of way which made it irresistible not to be outside soaking it up.

I cut grass, pulled weeds, watered vegetation, and puttered around just enjoying the sunshine.

As I was cutting the front yard grass I noticed a Mocking Bird was following me around taking advantage of the stunned insects as they surfaced. I noted he/she was the only one that was smart enough to use the lawn mower to his/her advantage. Smart bird.

Bo tried to eat the lawn mower practically dragging it out of my hands a couple of times. It only took about two rows before he decided that it was too much work to "kill" and slinked off to a shady spot to nap while I finished up the yard.

With all the energy I was exerting  I still didn't work up enough of a sweat to take a dip in the pool. Won't be long though. Funny, I am the one that bucked having that pool put in the most and now I believe I am the one that enjoys it the most....most likely because I am the one that spends the most time in the yard working up a sweat.....

After I came in and showered I started working on a crochet project I saw on Pinterest...an afghan made up of circles....

Toby has been working on some flash art lately....

Aren't we the crafty ones around here??

And you may be wondering where my Skye is while I putter about doing exactly what I want to. Well,  she spends most of her time in her room making videos, moderating and running servers for MINECRAFT, and "conducting business" as she refers to it.

I eavesdrop on her sometimes. She's smart. As controversial as the idea of "Unschooling" is for mainstream society I have to say this is one time that trusting my instincts is paying off.  Our unconventional style of "schooling" has been beneficial in more ways than I could imagine. I have no doubt in my mind Skye will easily climb to the top of a corporate ladder or run her own business one day.  Living in Austin will make this an even more attainable goal for her.

Friday was a good day.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

For the past two weekends the (much needed) rain has put a damper on our planned outdoor activities so I have improvised by doing some experimental cooking, hanging out on my Ipad playing those silly game apps I swore I would never get addicted to, and taking pictures.

This is my philosophy on life lately...

Today for lunch I made a taco rice casserole...gluten free of course. It tasted okay, but it was rather bland in my opinion. I mostly enjoyed the jalapenos that were cooked on top of it....

Toby helped cook breakfast (omelets with bell pepper, mushrooms, onion, Canadian bacon, and cheese) this morning. He flips the omelets MUCH better than I can...

This bell pepper l cut open looked pregnant. It appeared to have baby bell peppers growing inside of it....

For dessert I made this GF chocolate pie. I first attempted to make this pie a couple of weeks ago and screwed it up so bad I had to throw the whole thing away. With food as expensive as it is nowadays, I was determined not to have another disaster. Luckily this time it turned out pretty good I must say!!

With all the rain we have been having the wildflowers have been blooming nicely.....

Texas Red Lantana

Texas Dandelion

Texas Bluebonnet (State Flower)

Pink Evening Primrose

Yucca Blooms

And last but not least, Bo the dog. :-)

I Had To Laugh

This afternoon as I perusing my FB pages I came across this article "10 Most Terribly Overrated Destinations." in the Huffington Post.

In the half decade that we have lived in Austin (and most likely several years before we moved here) Austin has been recognized as being a great city to live in and visit for a number of reasons and has made it's way onto numerous "best of" lists from being the best city for families to best city for economic growth..and everything else in between.

I had to laugh after I read the article because as much as Toby and I love and call the Austin area and Central Texas our home we have often mused about the hype that Austin is given. I mean YES we love Austin because we love the outdoors and not only Austin but the whole Central Texas has more than it's share to offer for the outdoor loving family.

Austin is also and endless pit of opportunities which is beneficial for Skye and has certainly been beneficial for Toby and I financially. I have also grown to love Austin for reasons that aren't even on the "best of list".

All that said, I still don't understand all the hype for Austin to be a travel destination. I mean really, unless you live here Austin really doesn't have that much to offer for the traveler as far as attractions...unless you like to hang out in bar rooms with drunk college kids or hike, bike or boat.

All that said, I couldn't ever imagine myself living anywhere else and even the thoughts of  ever having to makes my heart hurt and my eyes water.

Life Happens

Gosh, it's been so long since I have posted that I had to go back and see where I had left off.  For the past couple of weeks it seems like every time I sit down to post something would come up...Skye would need help with something, Lucas would call to chat, something else needed priority, or, like last night, my computer was acting up and I couldn't get on the Internet.

Anyway, here I am now...finally. I know there has been anything IMPORTANT missed so I will try and summarize as best as I can.

I have spent a good bit of my time planning and preparing meals lately. With Toby's new dietary needs grabbing a quick burger or some Chinese like we used to do is a thing of the past. He also can't grab a burger while he's at work anymore so I have to not only have menus planned for home but also make sure he has something to take to work to eat. It's 'round the clock cooking and meal planning for me now.  I won't lie, it is a bit daunting at times but on the flip side I do find the challenge slightly exciting.

It has gotten easier for us both and at times it's even fun. For example, when we went to the lake a couple of weeks ago we brought along a package of Wholly Guacamole and some tortilla chips, nuts, and fruits which we shared  amongst the three of us for lunch. Just last week, when we were getting new tires put on the car at Sam's we got hungry so we bought one of those Rotisserie chickens in the deli section and stole some plastic ware and napkins from the snack section to eat it with in the car. I also always have to be mindful to bring along snacks in the car when we go off for the day. Nowadays eating out is a picnic in the car.

The whole experience has been worth it to see the difference in the way Toby, looks, acts and feels now.

I take a lot of pics on my phone. Here we are hanging out in Sam's while they put new tires on my car...

This is a gluten-free pizza I made. It tasted good. I'm not really sure why I took the pic of my breakfast the other morning other than to maybe show Toby that breakfast CAN BE SIMPLE and does not always require chopping and cooking!!!

I have absolutely no idea why I took this pic, but I'm sure there was a reason at the time!!

...nor this pic....

I've spent a few of my evenings using up some of my scrap fabric on quilt tops. For whatever reason Bo likes to "own" my quilts while I'm working on them. I"m glad someone appreciates them anyway....

Groceries are expensive.  I have been trying to regrow some of our favorites...green onion, romaine lettuce, basil...

I took Bo for our morning run at the park this morning. I spotted a Bluebonnet patch and had him pose for me. Luckily I brought along treats so it was an easy task to get his full attention...

Tiptoeing through the bluebonnets

I also spied this blooming tree that is common in Central Texas. I had someone tell me what the name of it was once but it had a weird name so I can't remember it....

My life has been pretty mundane lately, but strangely enough I have been enjoying my day to day boring life.