No More Tree

This is the pear tree in our front yard.

 This is the split in the pear tree (that after the last storm goes all the way down the trunk)
When the wind blows the split widens and closes back up...just a matter of time before the whole
section would break off, causing damage to the house or cars parked on the street.

Complete Tree Service was out today and removed the front tree
and did a deep grinding of the stump.
All that is left is a 3 foot wide hole about 2 1/2 feet deep.

The AFTER photo - no tree!

This is the tool that was needed  when the stump grinder tore through the irrigation main. 

The workers did their best to patch the irrigation line.
I'm guessing we will have to re-route the irrigation main before we plant another tree.

It's a Shopping Saturday

Saturday, I met Jill and we drove to McKinney Texas for the day. We spent the day on the Square!  Visiting most of the 28 antique stores and other specialty shoppes.  I didn't buy anything, but Jill scored a two step - stepstool for Andrew to use at the bathroom counter and some unique kitchen towels.

We drove back to Frisco and went to Chili's for lunch and then on to IKEA.
I have never visited the store before. We took a short cut to the end of the store to visit the kitchen and bath items as well as some storage solutions.  I purchased a bathroom rug for the upstairs bathroom and Jill got a popsicle set.

After IKEA, we visited Sam Moon. We both found a new purse.

FYI - Doug they are going to be opening a Total Wine & More
in the shopping center at Hwy 121 & Preston Road...just down from Michaels & World Market.

I spent the evening watching the movie "Now You See Me".

Weekend of Singing

This weekend I headed down to Conroe to visit Jackie & Jonathan.

Jackie had a Chorale concert on Saturday night at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX.

Friday night she had "dress" rehearsal..but didn't have to "dress" for it???

So Jonathan and I visited most of the evening on Friday before Jackie got home.

Saturday morning, I did some sewing repairs to Jackie's choir dress.

We enjoyed some chicken tortilla soup made by Jackie.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with doing some medical insurance organization.

We were off to Huntsville around 5:45pm and the concert started at 7:30pm.

Jackie had a solo during one of the hymns "This is My Father's World".

It was beautiful...She was beautiful.

I was one proud mama!

Below is the flyer for the concert that I received from her professor, Mr Franklin.

The below photo is from Facebook of the choir performing on Sunday night
at Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston.  Do you see Jackie?

After the concert we stopped by Denny's for a late dinner.

That place was popping for 10pm on a Saturday night!!!

Sunday morning, I attended the church where Jackie is the choir director and Jonathan is in the choir.

This was a great Sunday to visit as Jonathan had a solo during the Choir Anthem "The Gift of Love"

So not only did I get to hear Jackie sing....but also got to hear Jonathan sing.

You all might not know this but Jonathan is a great singer.

He was a little nervous, but he had the added pressure of performing in front of his mother-in-law.

Who wouldn't be nervous?

I think there might be some duets in their future !!!

www.aprilsound.org

 

After church, I started the drive home...got home around 3pm...unpacked a few things and then drove over to the Elliott's for dinner (and some Andrew play time).  We had a great time on a walk around the apartment complex and he encountered a couple of dauschaunds and one of them licked his nose. He quickly said "No! No! PooPoo (aka puppy)"  He kept retelling it over and over at the dinner table. He's so cute!

So all in all it was a great weekend...it always goes by too fast.  I look forward to my next "Family Fun" weekend!  Hope you all spent the weekend doing something you love instead of something you have to do!  I did!

PVC Project

This weekend I designed a PVC project I've been wanting to make for a while.

I purchased the pieces at Home Depot. Later in the day, Josh and Jill came over to help me remove the landscaping bricks from around the tree out front (that is another story coming up).

I showed them my project design and the items I had purchased.
Josh pointed out a flaw in my materials purchase and said he would check Lowe's for the right parts.

Today, Josh came over after work and we started to work on the project.
I needed help with the cutting part of the project as the pvc pieces were 10' long.
Josh got the workbench down and it clamped to the pvc perfectly.
He even let me use the reciprocating saw to cut.
I still have all of my fingers and so does Josh.....so it was a good day!

Measured and re-measured...now ready to cut.

The parts are coming together nicely.

Assembled but I think we need some more height to keep the cushions off the floor

and away from the mice that roam the garage in the winter.

Chaise cushion holder complete!

No more using the smoker, storage boxes and the top of the refrigerator for storing these items.
Thanks for all your assistance Josh to help me realize my vision!

Dee's Doctor appointment updates

After the wedding, I decided to follow up on some unresolved health issues

I went to the podiatrist for a problem I was having with one of my toes.
The nail got real thick, turned black and when I tried to trim the nail a bunch of digusting stuff came out. I treated it the best I could but figured the doctor would need to remove the rest of the nail.

So I went to the doctor for my left foot, you will notice in the photo below...it is my right foot that is bandaged.  No...the doctor didn't make an error. He noticed the same infection (abcess under the nail) that I had previously dealt with the prior weeks.

So he made an I&D (Incision and Drainage).  He removed a piece of the nail and then put some "magic medicine" in so that the nail would not regrow in that spot again.  Follow-up treatment is epsom salt soaks twice a day and antibiotic ointment.  So it's been almost a week and now I see the same thing happening on another toe. I think the nail clippers were probably infected and have caused the infection to spread to the rest of my toes. No wonder they've been sore and red for a while.  So I'm soaking the clippers in alcohol and hoping for the best. Oh brother....time will tell.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Other areas of concern are my sinuses and the lump I've noticed on the left side of my neck.  This is where, being a nurse is not a good profession to be in. I immediately jumped diagnosis of Hodgkins Disease. Luckily my husband coaxed me to get to the doctor and get "this thing" figured out.  I had an appointment last week (10/08/13) with the ENT that Doug saw for his sinus surgery.  He listened to my long list of symptoms and palpated my neck.  He said "that little thing".  "We wouldn't do anything for something less than 1cm in size" "It's probably just an inflamed lymph gland because of your repeated sinus infections"   So to move along, I had a sinus ct scan in his office on Friday (10/11/13). I ended up at CareNow (our local urgent care facility) with a bad case of a sinus infection. The urgent care doc gave me a dexamethasone injection (decadron & methylprednisolone) - prescribed Biaxin for 10 days along with a 5 day dose pack of oral prednisolone and steroir nasal spray. I'm feeling much more improved since Saturday.

Today, I saw the ENT for the results of that scan.  He said I do not have a sinus cyst (which is what I was told by a prior physician) but a great deal of fluid backed up into my maxillary sinus. He said the "plumbing" is bad and this fluid will never drain. And every bug I come in to contact with inflames this fluid and causes an infection.  The treatment is ...of course...surgery. He said it would be a 30 minute procedure to fix the plumbing issue and drain the sinuses of the infected material. 

Surgery has yet to be scheduled..but will likely be sometime in November.

FlashBack

 

Doug sent me this photo from his most recent business trip to China. 

When was the last time you saw a pop tob soda can?

Happy Fall Y'all

Even though the thermometer here in Texas doesn't indicate it...It is Fall. So I pulled out my fall decorations this weekend and yesterday afternoon finished a couple of fall arrangements for the mantel. These are my fall decorations. Enjoy!

Kitchen table display

Window pumpkin
Andrew was tickling the toes of this pumpkin on Sunday.

Breakfast Bar decorations
Each candle has a different fall scent.

The formal dining table ready for somebody to join me for Thanksgiving.

A close-up of the flower napkin ring I made for the napkins.

The mantel over the fireplace with my two new arrangements I made.

I tried to make the arrangements as similar as possible...
but sometimes silk flowers have a mind of their own.

I also finished collecting and putting photos in frames for our
"Memory" tree.