B15 - Tex!

 

On a business trip - and, of all places - Niagra Falls, Toronto Canada

 

 

An unusual way to take a bath

 

 

Playing catch with Mr. Handsome

 

 

Building a train track with Little Miss

 

 

Chilling with Bruiser Charmer Boy

 

 

Cutting floor tiles for the master bathroom after the Flood of 2012


 

Washing his truck

 

The nerve of him!
 

Finally, he sleeps.

 

Tex - my husband, my best friend, my Beloved.

So very many, numerous blessings wrapped up in one man.

Tex, I'm so thankful that Our Lord brought us together.  I'm so thankful that you are my husband and I am your wife.  I love you.  Forever and For Always.
Sharmie


*~*~*~*~*
Thanks for reading, y'all!
Be blessed.




B5 - A Leaky Waterbed

Our waterbed burst this morning.  Just as Tex was getting out of bed, a spot on top of the mattress tore.  It was a significant tear and not one that could be repaired.  Water immediately came forth and started soaking the sheets (along with the vast majority of all of our towels as we tried to contain the leak to just the surface of the mattress).

Tex is currently looking online to find local waterbed sources, so we can buy a new mattress.

We have just finished draining the mattress and have put up all of the tools and equipment that we've been using these past 4 hours.

Yeehaw!
:)

There is an absolute multitude of blessings that I am thankful for regarding today's wet adventure.  The following are just a few of them.
Get ready; here we go:

(1) The mattress decided to burst this morning, at the end of our sleep; versus last night, at the beginning of our sleep. 

(2) The mattress went to its watery grave while we were at home; we didn't have to come home to a big, wet mess.

(3) Tex takes these kinds of things in such stride. He simply does what needs to be done at any given time and then goes on about his life . . . C'est la vie.
Man, I love that man!

(4) Tex was able to call work and tell them that he didn't know when he'd be in to work today (or even if he'd make it to work).  He simply told his boss what had happened and that was that; no hoops to jump through or anything.

(5) He has plenty of comp time to use to offset this surprise day off.

(6) The co-worker that usually rides with Tex called this morning, just minutes after the Titanic made its appearance, and told Tex that he (the co-worker) needed to drive himself to work today.  This completely solved a potential problem of what to do about that and made it a moot, non-matter.

(7) We now need to buy a new waterbed mattress.  Thankfully, we are able to do so at this time.  God's Provisions is always a huge praise!

(8) Tex had most of the tools on hand to do this unexpected project.  The only thing he needed to buy was a water pump accessory to go on the end of his drill, so that we could drain the waterbed without having to rent or buy a water pump.

There are so many other blessings surrounding our now dearly-departed waterbed mattress, but I'll stop here. 

*~*~*~*~*
I'd love to hear about your similar experiences - where something not so good was covered in an array of blessings!

Thanks for reading; y'all be blessed,
Sharmie

Baby Steps

My little Bruiser Charmer Boy is learning to walk!

These photos were taken last week at his house.  He actually never took a step during the photo-shoot (he's a shy model, doncha know), but I did get to see him take 2 full steps on his own when there wasn't a camera in his face.

Oh my word; he's growing up so fast.  I'm not sure if I'm ready for this.

*~*~*~*~*
Master Bathroom Project - Day 5

Today, when Tex gets home from work, we are going to Lowes to choose our vanity and cabinets.
"Choose our vanity" . . . sounds like some kind of weird counseling assignment for narcissistics.

The actual tiling is going slower than Tex first anticipated . . .  cooking dinner for and hanging out with friends, rental saws not working properly, puppy girls' beauty appointments taking much longer than normal and just living life in the moment as it comes - all have had the unmitigated audacity to interfere with laying ceramic tile on a concrete floor (but I most definitely wouldn't have it any other way).

BUT!  Progress is definitely being made.  It's going to be so pretty!

Tex and I both really like the tile we chose.  We both really liked it at first glance, too.  When we were walking up and down the tile aisles, trying to decide which one to adopt and bring into our home, I wasn't wild about some of the ones he suggested and he wasn't wild about some of my suggestions.  Then, there were a few that we both liked, but in an iffy sort of way.  However, when we saw "our" tile sample, we knew that it was The One.

So very cool how that worked.


*~*~*~*~*
It's going to be another hot day today - temps are expected to reach 106.  And, I still have my triking to do - better get going while it's still reasonably cool.

Y'all have blessed days today; thanks for reading!
Sharmie

Family Photo

Our daughters, sons-in-law, grandkidlettes and Tex & me - July 4, 2012

And, now, I bid y'all good days today; I'm off to go help Tex tile our master bathroom.

I get to run the wet saw!!!   (And before last night, I didn't even know what a wet saw was; fiddle, I hadn't even heard of a wet saw till last night).  

This should be interesting . . . and fun!

Y'all be blessed.

Thanks for reading,

Sharmie 

Love Comes Obscurely

We woke up yesterday with plans to mow the yard.  Our weekly summertime mowing chores includes not only mowing but also edging, weed-eating and blowing.  I do the mowing; he does everything else.

But, first - my trike ride.  I left for my ride and came back 45 minutes later.

During that time, he had started pruning bushes and pulling overgrown thorn bushes and other unwelcomed plant life.  Lots of pruning; even more pulling; about 2 years worth . . . life demanding our attention elsewhere throughout the years, doncha know.

I helped when I got back from my triking.  Somewhat.
By the time we got around to bagging all of his efforts, it was about noon-thirty.

Way too hot and humid for me; I decided to delay my specific mowing chores until today, when I could do it earlier in the day.

He also decided he was done with the lawn, for the time being.  He called a friend, and the two of them finalized plans they had made a few days earlier to go do some remodeling of some friends' kitchen.

He spent about 30 minutes loading his truck with various heavy pieces of equipment and some that weren't heavy, but were numerous.

And, off he went.

He was gone several hours.  Working.  Remodeling.

Around 5:30pm, I hear my awesome hubby - he who makes my heart beat widly - pull up in the driveway.

I was just about to get in the shower.

He spent another 30 minutes unloading his truck and putting away all his tools & equipment.  And then he told me that he was going to get busy with the edging, weed-eating and blowing.

An hour and a half later, he comes back inside, covered in lawn dust and such, and heads to the shower.

   "Wanna walk the girls after my shower?", he asks.

During his shower, I clean up the kitchen.

It's then time to walk the puppy girls; but first, he goes outside to smoke.  I continue puttering around in the kitchen.

Through a closed door leading to the garage, I hear him groan a few times.
   "He is beyond tired right now", I think to myself.


*~*~*~*~*
Many minutes later, much later than his usual cigarette break, I was getting a bit, uhm, concerned.
   Is he ok?  Do I need to go check on him?  I'll give him a few more minutes.  

Finally, he walks through the door.

Exhaustion was written all over his face.

   Oh good!  I say as I smile at him.  I was beginning to wonder if you were ok.
      I'm ok, he says.  Yesterday I saw that one of your tires was low, so I was out there airing them all 
     up.  Ready to walk the dogs?


*~*~*~*~*
Sometimes love shows itself in huge, obvious ways.

More frequently though, love shows itself in quiet, obscure ways . . . such as an over-exhausted husband airing-up his wife's trike tires and then going on an hour-plus walk with her.

Tex does both; the obvious and the not-so-obvious.

I am so incredibly beyond blessed.
I love that man.  Deeply.

Seizures. Boo. Hiss. BUT! Life goes on!

Last Thursday, I told y'all about my triking to the pool and back.  And, then, as a bonus, I also created my first PEA blog (Public Education Announcement).

Oh, and speaking of which . . . let's sneak in another tip regarding how to treat cyclists, shall we?
Yes, let's.  An excellent idea, indeed.

We'll call it PEA #2:
It's probably not the coolest thing in the world to pass a cyclist, to their left; and especially while they are in the process of making a left-hand turn.  Nope; not cool at all.  Can y'all visualize it?

Let's all say it together.

Ready?
Set.
Go.

Doodle Head.
;/-

This very scenario happened to me this morning.   My guess is that it was a parent running late in getting their child to school on time.  I was turning left - in the middle of a neighborhood, mind you.  I had actually started making the turn, when I heard a car come roaring up behind me, tap its horn and then proceed to pass me to the left (and at a rather speedy rate, I might add) . . . all so he / she could make the same left-hand turn I was making and do it before I did.  This almost caused a wreck with that car, another car and me.  The other car had arrived at the stop sign and was turning right, onto the road from which the demon doodle-head car and I were both turning left.

At least Speedy Gonzalez lightly tapped their horn, versus blaring it.  I guess that should count for something, right?  I'm going to run over you; but I don't want to scare you while I'm doing it, so I'm not going to lay on my horn.

But.  Alas.  I digress.
But, please do file this PEA away . . . and share it with your friends, family, co-workers and everyone you see today.

*~*~*~*~*
Back to the topic of this particular post.  Last Thursday, about an hour after I told y'all about my adventures in triking, I had a stupid grand mal seizure.  For those of y'all who don't know me, the first seizure I had was back in 1987.  It's been a long, weird journey; one of which I won't go into right now.

I will mention two very important things about this seizure history:
(1) They're not "my" seizures.  They're "the" seizures.  I never invited them into my life, and I have no intention of their staying around.  They're not welcomed, and I do not claim them; not even on an infinitesimal level.

When speaking to me about seizures that I have had, please do not refer to them as "your seizures."  They're not mine.  You may refer to them as "the seizures".  Thank you ever so much.  Truly.  (And, there's not many things that I'm adamant about; but this is one of them.  Please be prepared to be gently corrected if you ever forget and use the phrase, "your seizures").

(2) I'm also just as adamant regarding anti-seizure meds.  I am, in fact, anti anti-seizure pharms.  I simply won't take them.  I won't even consider it.  Over the years, I have tried 12 different prescriptions in relation to seizures.  None of the meds controlled the seizures, and all of them had very serious side effects that I was and am not willing to experience.  The final straw was a near fatal side effect.  Nope.  Not going to take any anti-seizure pills or other pharmaceutical concoctions.  (So please do not ask me to try, suggest I do so or tell me about the newest anti-seizure pharm on the market).

I do, however do my own research and I also avoid various seizure triggers (including certain foods and also non-edible things; i.e., fluorescent lighting being one of the non-edibles).

*~*~*~*~*
As much as it hurts my pride to contemplate that this most recent seizure was probably self-induced, I really think it was.  I believe that given the timing of the seizure in regards to my triking expedition the day before - and given that it had been a while since I had been so, uhm, energetic - and given the lack of sleep from the night before due to my muscles spazzing all night - I probably am responsible for last week's seizures.  Lack of sleep, btw, is, in and of itself, a seizure trigger.

Fiddle.

It took me a couple of days to recover; but then it usually does.  The day after a seizure is usually the hardest.  My muscles are so sore that I do not move very well at all.  That, plus I'm pretty exhausted from the seizing.  Tex put the kibosh on our walking the puppy girls last Friday . . . probably because I had morphed into Neanderthal Woman and was not walking upright.

And truthfully, I was bummed about that because it broke my activity streak.  On April 2nd, I had started a streak that involved doing at least 20 minutes of physical activity daily.  Up till last Wednesday, I was averaging 35.12 minutes each day, for 17 consecutive days.  While I did factor in walking the puppy girls from last Wednesday, I intentionally didn't factor in the 2.98 hours of triking and swimming from last Wednesday, given that it was the first time doing that in a while (triking to the pool), it would have skewed the average.

And we can't have skewy averages, now, can we?


So, now, my current fitness streak is at 7 consecutive days (with an average of 60.71 minutes per day; still not factoring in last Wednesday's trike & pool session).

Tex says that I should include the other 17 days in my count because the seizure (and its after-effects) was out-of-my control.  He's a gracious man who finds myriad ways to support and encourage me!

I guess in the end, his logic is correct.
But, it is a bit of a bummer that seizures control so many aspects of my life.

*~*~*~*~*
This too shall pass, though!

There are so many awesome blessings that Our Lord has given to me.  I choose to focus on what I do have and am able to do, versus what I don't have and am unable to do.

I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth (recount and tell aloud) all Your marvelous works and wonderful deeds!  I will rejoice in You and be in high spirits; I will sing praise to Your Name, O Most High!
(Psalm 9:1-2; Amplified version)

Remember to look for the good in your life!

Thanks for reading; y'all be blessed,
Sharmie

The Wheels Go Round and Round

I first discovered aqua classes when I lived in beautiful Jackson, under the shadows of those magnificent Grand Tetons.  As you can tell, I have very fond memories of that area.

The local rec center had aqua classes several times during the week (they probably still do), and I went as often as I could.

Being a pedestrian, I walked to and from the classes.  But then, being a pedestrian, I walked just about everywhere I went; and where I didn't walk, I took the bus.  Which, btw, was free (and probably still is).  Man, I loved that place!

But I digress (and pretty early in this particular blog, I might add).

*~*~*~*~*
When I moved out of Wyoming and into suburbia, there were several learning curves that I needed to conquer.  Some of them have taken longer than others to tame; transportation being one such creature.

The very vast majority of the populace where I live not only drives, but has their own car at their constant disposal.  Being a pedestrian in such a suburban area carries a very unique challenge.    . . . which, oddly enough to me, is not always apparent to others.

People who don't drive do not have the ease of immediate transportation that those who do drive can enjoy.  Couple that with a lack of public transportation, and the challenge grows bigger.  BUT!  As an aside, last month, the town started a commuter shuttle service to the metro's rail and bus service, so there's a huge praise there.  It's also kinda funny . . . it's a 30-minute trike ride to the shuttle stop  - but hey!  It's much more than what there was before, and having access to the metro's transports is definitely going to help expand my world.

Tex, as y'all know, is amazing.  One of the hats that he wears is "Sharmie's Chauffeur".  And, he's so awesome about this; taking me where I need to go and always making sure that I know that he doesn't mind.  Tex, however, also has his own life; and part of his own life includes work, school, softball and a few other things along the way.   If one of those, especially his work or his school, is requiring his presence at any given time, he's not able to be my chauffeur at that particular moment.  That's just how it is, and that's also how it should be.

*~*~*~*~*
This past August, I discovered "my new pool".  Man, I was in heaven!  The glory of being able to use a pool again.  AND, to my delight, they, too, offer aqua classes several times throughout the week.  Granted, they're not Aqualogix classes (as the ones in Jackson are), but still, they're pretty decent classes, and I enjoy the workouts I get.

Between you and me, though, I am eventually going to buy my own Aqualogix equipment and use them during the aqua classes.

So.  Tex has been chauffeuring his bride (that would be me) to/from the pool these past 8 months.  Let's all truly give a hearty cheer for him because he really is absolutely wonderful and he spoils me rotten.  Rotten, being the operative word.  Y'all heard it here first, folks.

But.  As great as it is to be able to go to the pool, doing so under Tex's chauffeuring does make for a rather "crowded" evening.  If it's a pool night, Tex comes home from work, crams in as much schoolwork that he can before it's time to take me to the pool.  After he drops me off from the pool, he zips back home again and crams in even more school work before it's time to come pick me up from the pool.  Rinse, lather, repeat.  Plus, just between you and me, I'm not really a evening / night person.  I want to get up in the mornings and get all the things I need to do done, during the day; including my trips to the pool.

*~*~*~*~*
A few months ago, I told Tex that I wanted to start triking to the pool.  At first, he looked at me like I had grown an extra nose somewhere; one with a big wart on it.  For you see, going to the pool via a vehicle is a 20-minute one-way drive; we had no idea how long it would take me via trike.  But.  He went ahead and helped me map out a safe route (that didn't involve the interstate that he normally takes to get me to my pool).

The route took approximately one hour for me to trike  . . . one way (and, then, of course, one hour for me to trike back home).

Yep.  Two hours of triking to swim or do aqua classes for one hour.  Hey!  It's a great way to sneak in more exercise, right?!  :)

Only . . . because of poorly patched and slanted segments of road along the route (not noticeable by drivers, but definitely by trikers) and because of an extremely near-miss where the driver of a car veered into my lane while in a curve and came perilously closed to hitting me with her vehicular weapon, I kinda lost the wind in my sails about triking to/from the pool.

Yet, I continued to want my evenings to be less rushed.  So!  Tex, God Bless that man, modified the route along the poorly-patched, slanted, curvy area.  The new route adds about 10 extra minutes; but it's a much safer route, and for that, I'm thrilled!  I also changed the time I leave the house to bypass all of the school and work traffic.

Yesterday was my first day back triking to the pool.

Can I tell ya? . . . Yesterday kicked my, uhm, rear-end!  Because of events of the last couple of months, I had not been able to get up to the pool as regularly as I had previously been going, so I don't think I was as prepared for 3-hour exercise session (as I was when I started triking to the pool the first time.  Once I got back home from the pool yesterday (and those last 15 minutes or so of triking home seemed like an eternity to me), I was pretty-much toast the rest of the day .  BUT!  I did it!  I started triking to the pool again.

I have taken away all of my excuses (poor road conditions, unsafe drivers, commuter traffic).  And, eventually, I'll be able to come home from a triking / swimming session and not have to spend the next 42.8 hours recovering.

My goal is to trike to the pool at least twice each week, preferably thrice . . . inclement weather being one of the acceptable exclusions.  Tex has told me that he will continue to be on chauffeur standby mode for days that are triking-prohibitive.

Speaking of weather, the gentle breezes I felt yesterday during my to/from triking were blissfully wonderful.  The raging wind, however, was not at all kind to me, and Bob Seger's voice kept swirling around in my head . . . Against the wind; I was triking against the wind.  I'm older now and still triking, against this blasted wind.  That is how the original words go, isn't it?

Trike on, y'all!

Thanks for reading!
Y'all be blessed,
Sharmie

Saturday Morning Antics (with photos)

Saturday mornings have been pretty hectic lately with Tex and me.  It's that beautiful, wonderful, mysterious thing called life.

This past Saturday morning found us without any house guests and no scheduled nor necessary away-from-the-house activities.  Tex was going to work on one of his school assignments (he's pursuing his Master's Degree in Science and Civil Engineering (with an environmental focus; specifically, water).  I was going to get caught up with a few projects from earlier in the week, and then spend the rest of the day getting ready for two of our nieces, a nephew-in-law and one of our great nephews to come for dinner later that evening.

By the way, dinner was chili and chicken-n-dumplings.  Served in separate bowls, of course.  Well, except for when one of our nieces decided that she wanted her 2nd helping to be a combo of the two dishes.  I think we've created a new and oddly interesting dish - chumplings.  Let me know if you want the recipe.  :)

Why such two very different dishes served in one meal?  Consider it a mini buffet.  We had been promising one of our nieces some chili, and had been promising her sister some chicken-n-dumplings.  There ya go; a two-for-one deal.  A good time had by all . . . at least I hope so.  Tex and I certainly enjoyed the evening.

*~*~*~*~*
But I digress.  Back to the following a.m.

It was a lazy Saturday morning for Tex and me.  We even woke up later than we thought we would . . . and the sleep was absolutely blissful.

We then went out into the garage to sit, chat and watch the traffic go by in the alley next to our house; call it a slow waking-up, if you will.

I even convinced Tex to let the puppy girls come out into the garage to keep us company.  The big deal in that is that they were unleashed.  They can run around all they want in our back yard - our privacy fence contains them quite nicely (although, not their periodic exuberant barking).  However, rarely do we let them come hang out with us when we're in the garage with the garage open (and rarely are we in the garage when such door isn't open).  To their credits, our canine creatures truly are learning to just chill and relax with us out in the garage; but every now and then, they still like to test the waters to see how far out of the garage they can get before we reign them back in.

Suburban life with pets, doncha know.


*~*~*~*~*
Lizzee, our 5-year old Golden Retriever / Chow loves, absolutely loves, her freedom; and if she's unleashed, she can take off running down the street before we even know what has happened.  She thinks it's a grand game . . . and it's a game we try not to play . . . she runs really fast!

Echo, our 15-year old Beagle / Border Collie often tries to convince us that she's an old woman (usually when she wants to just lay around and sleep and not be bothered); but she still has enough spunk in her to also periodically push her own freedom limits.

But.  Still.  They are realizing that it's much more fun to hang out with us while we're in the garage rather than only wish they could while they're either inside the house or in the backyard where they will periodically stick their noses through a very small peep hole at the bottom of the fence trying to get glimpses of us.

*~*~*~*~*
The girls love to go for their daily walks; especially Lizzee.  She grins about it for hours afterwards.  Really, she does.

By the way, there is, of course, gmail; of which I'm sure y'all are all aware, if even on the smallest level.

But!  Have y'all ever heard of pmail?  Lizzee certainly has.  In fact, she checks her pmail frequently during her daily walk; and every now and then she even leaves a pee-mail or two of her own.

Just thought y'all would like to know.

It's a Tex-and-Sharmie-ism that we made up several months ago.  Yeah, it's not just him and it's not just me . . . we're both pretty goofy; it's one of the reasons we make such a great couple; yep, yep.

*~*~*~*~*
Many of y'all know that I have a tri-wheeler (an adult tricycle).  This is my second one, actually.  The first one was one of the original Schwinn tri-wheelers from the '70s.  It was faded canary yellow.  I loved that trike; I had it from 2002-2009.  And I very much missed triking when I no longer had such wonderful contraption.  My current trike is a couple of years old and is bright dark royal blue.  The brand is Torker, for those of y'all so interested.

Regardless of the brand, I heartily recommend tri-wheelers.  Try one for yourself!

By the way, the basket in the back of my trike can hold a considerable amount of groceries.  It might take me a few minutes to get them all packed just so; but they will fit - and will do so in a manner so that nothing gets squished, broken or otherwise damaged.  Of course, it does make the commute back home from the grocery store a bit more, uhm, weighty than the "to" trip . . . but that's ok.   Consider it a unique kind of exercise weight.

*~*~*~*~*
Back to the puppy girls; specifically Lizzee.

Sometimes, during her walks, Lizzee gets the idea that we're not going fast enough to suit her.  So, she puts her head down in focused effort, strengthens her resolve and tries to literally plow ahead, pulling me as hard as she can.  It makes me laugh to see her grit and determination.

So!  Tex and I were talking about that, this past Saturday morning, as we often have . . . how she would make a good snow dog (if we lived where it snowed).  We could just hook her up to a sleigh and off we'd go!

But.  Since we don't live where it snows (fiddle, faddle), a sleigh probably wouldn't work too well.  Good thing, too . . . we haven't a sleigh to our name.

But.  We do have . . .  drum roll, please . . . a trike!

The more we talked about it, the harder we laughed.  Ya gotta admit, the imagery is something else.  A dog pulling a trike??!!!  Surely we jest.

Surely not.

It finally became too much for us to just imagine.  We had to actually try it.  Yes, we absolutely had to.

Tex usually doesn't ride my trike, but we both decided that he should be the pilot for this particular adventure / experiment.

I got 2 leashes off the rack, gave one to Tex and put one on Echo.  He then put his leash on Lizzee and slipped the looped end over the handle bars of the trike.

And off we went.  The four of us.  I, walking Echo, and Tex perched on the seat of my trike with Lizzee leashed to the trike.

While we were still giggling and laughing about everything, we saw our across-the-street neighbor looking at us in what can only be described as bemused puzzlement.  Of course I'm sure that our explanation didn't help his opinion of our sanity or lack thereof  - "We wanted to see if Lizzee would pull the trike!"  He just politely grinned and stood their staring at us; at that point, completely speechless.

At first, Lizzee was content to just happily trot alongside the trike, thinking it was all great fun.  Then, Tex started pedaling slower and slower, so Golden Girl decided to take matters into her own paws and, yes, actually starting pulling the trike . . . with Tex on it!

Echo thought we were both nuts and refused to try to keep up.  I considered that a good thing, seeing as how I was the one connected to her leash and I did not want to try to keep up with a rolling trike.  Hey!  I've ridden that thing.  I've also been clocked at going 14MPH.  Zoom, zoom!  I'm quite sure, however, that Lizzee was not going that fast.  No matter.  A seat connected to 3 rolling wheels can go faster than I personally would like to match with my own two feet.  I'm a triker.  I'm a swimmer.  I'm an aqua-classer.  I am not, however, a runner; not even a jogger.  Now you know.

After a few minutes, Tex decided to see how fast Lizzee was willing to go.  He slowly started pedaling faster.  Our sweet Chow girl was in her glory and she was going at a pretty good clip.  Me?  Well, I've never learned how to walk gracefully and laugh uproariously at the same time, so Echo and I were pretty-much standing still while watching the show.

And, yes, Tex did eventually slow down to a more manageable pace.

All-in-all, such adventure lasted about 10 minutes . . . from the time we left the garage, till the time we touched home base again.

After that, Lizzee came in the house and laid on the cool tile floor.  All.  Day.  Long.

We must not have scared her off from her daily walks, though.  The next day when we took the girls for their "real" walk (sans any wheeled machinery), she was enthusiastically raring to go.

Just between you and me, though, I do think she was secretly glad that Tex was going to be transporting himself via his own feet and not while perched on top of a tri-wheeler.


And just to let y'all know . . . both Echo and Lizzee are doing fine - AND they both got treats afterwards for being such good sports . . . the photo below is a couple years old, but it still comes very close to how they looked after their adventure this past Saturday morning.

Y'all be blessed!
Look for the fun in life.
~Sharmie

Tuesday's Tornadoes

As many of y'all probably know, Dallas was hit with a fierce tornado storm system a couple of days ago.

Click HERE to view a video showing some of the force and resulting damage of just one of the tornadoes (link will open in a new window).  There's also 11 more videos (via the same link) showing various footage of the storms throughout the Dallas area this past Tuesday afternoon.

For those of y'all who have sent an email asking if Tex and I are ok . . . we most definitely are!

Tex, our puppy girls, our daughters' families, the rest of our family, and even our friends - we're all doing very well.  Praises to Jesus!

And Thanks so much for y'all checking on us!

If you have sent an email, do know that I'll be replying to them today (and possibly, tomorrow).


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Not everyone fared as well as we did, though; many homes and businesses were destroyed.  Please keep these people in your prayers as they begin to rebuild and go on with their lives.

Also, if you don't have a medical condition preventing you from doing so, please consider donating blood and/or plasma to your local blood bank to help replenish their supplies that may have been sent to the Dallas / Ft. Worth area earlier this week.  For that matter, it's always a good time to donate blood and/or plasma (well, unless you've just recently donated within the past few days).

My thanks to my New York friend, Belle, who reminded me of the importance of blood donations.

Y'all be blessed,
Sharmie