Neti Pot

I suffer from allergies in the Spring and Autumn. In the Spring it is mostly pine pollen and in the Fall it is ragweed that gets me. I get the runny, stuffy nose, scratchy throat and ears, sinuses clogged and headaches, sore throats, itchy watery eyes etc... A few months ago I heard of something called a Neti Pot to cleanse the nasal passages and sinuses. I was reluctant to try it but I guess feeling miserable does have a way of making you give in. This morning I reached the point of suffering enough and went out and purchased a Neti Pot. It is a little blue plastic teapot that comes with some packets of salt that you mix with warm water and pour into your nose. Being someone who can't swim and has nearly drowned on a couple of occasions just the thoughts of water being poured into my nose made me feel as if I were drowning. I was determined to give it a try after reading that the sensation you have is not like having water up your nose when you go swimming. I watched several videos on YouTube and tonight I had my maiden voyage with the Neti Pot. And guess what? I like it! It felt nothing like I thought it would. Actually it felt more like a little pressure in my sinus areas as they filled with the warm salted water but nothing about it was uncomfortable. You have to hold your head over and to one side as you do it but it does a nice job of washing everything out well. I felt immediate relief after using it. It recommends using twice a day so think I'll do that. There are several demo videos on YouTube and I have included one here for you to click on to check out to see what I am talking about.

Neti Pot Demo

Hannah's Driving!

Our neighbor, Robert, was kind enough to let Hannah and David take his golf cart for a ride. Hannah got to drive and actually took Grandpa for a ride around the lake. Unfortunately on the way home the battery died...oh dear! They were almost back so a little push got the cart back to the electric outlet to recharge. Hannah had fun driving!

The First Cake

Our grand-daughter, Hannah, is visiting with us for the weekend and I decided it was a great opportunity to teach her how to mix, bake and decorate a cake all on her own. She said she had "helped" her other Nana before but had never done one all by herself. First we went to the grocery store and I let her look at all the choices and choose the cake, frosting and decorations she wanted. She chose lemon cake mix, cream cheese frosting and candy corn for the decorations. We also bought a lemon to zest on the top once it was all done. She had a fun experience and the cake turned out a little lopsided but very yummy!

Getting started Hannah mixed the ingredients.

After baking she removed the cakes to let them cool.

While the cakes cooled she experimented with how she wanted to place the candy corn for decoration and decided upon this design.

Once the cakes were cool enough she frosted them.

Then the most important step... licking the spoon, beaters and bowl!!!

Once the cake was frosted she carefully laid out the design with the candy corn.

And here's the finished cake...YUMMY!!!! Nice job Hannah!

Millenni Has Surgery

Millenni had surgery this morning to remove a lump on her chest and a necrotic spot on her right hip. She's back home now, still feeling groggy and whimpering from time to time but otherwise she is doing well. She has one of those cones around her head to keep her away from the incisions and she is not happy with wearing it. She actually snapped at me when I put it on her and tried again when I removed it. She's being pretty good right now leaving it alone and is mostly sleeping so as long as she leaves the incisions alone I'll keep the collar off. She was miserable with it on.

Poor baby! She's probably wondering what in the world is this green thing around my head and why am I hurting so much.

Jamie's Apartment is Decorated

We've worked on it for a full week, shopping, buying then decorating but the work is done and Jamie's apartment is looking mighty fine! Below are photos of her new home. Tomorrow I head back home and prepare for the next adventure... Jordan and Elizabeth's wedding.

This is the entrance to Jamie's apartment, a little foyer area with coat closet and a cut-out looking into the kitchen.

The kitchen is spacious with lots of nice cabinets, countertops and appliances and a pantry.

She even has a little patio with an outdoor storage closet. She purchased this patio set and I bought her the palm as a house warming gift.

The bedroom has a new dresser and mirror and would you believe we had to get this mirror three times??? First one was broken when she reached into the trunk to get it out and we had to return it for a replacement. Second one I broke when I was trying to hang it for her and it slipped out of my hands. Third one you see here... it is in good shape but we both held our breath hanging it.

This was once my bedding and I loved it. We now have a king-size bed so the queen bedding no longer worked for us so I gave it to Jamie. She added some pretty artwork to match and now the room is complete. She has a large walk in closet in the bedroom.

The dining room is open and airy. Jamie found the table and the rug on Craigslist at great prices and found the clock at a local store. The clock is her favorite thing in the apartment.


A view of the living room and part of the dining room from the foyer area. And of course her doggie, Bella wanted to be in the picture so there she is posing.

The view from the dining room looking toward the entrance. And Bella got in this one as well. Jamie found this bookshelf at Ikea and fell in love with it. Our first trip there to get is was a waste... they were out. Went back another day and they had them so she bought it.

The living room as viewed from the dining room. The living room furniture is all new. The sofa has a pull out sofa bed for guests and that's where I've been sleeping all week. She found the chair on Craigslist too and it is so unique and comfy. I love it!

So that's the most of it. I left out the laundry room and bath room as they are both pretty standard looking. The apartment is really nice. It's decorated well and Jamie has made that step from having "college" furniture to more mature furniture. Now it feels more like a home!

Bluebonnets and Prickly Pears

Found some pretty Bluebonnet fields yesterday and thought I would share these with you. Springtime in Texas is so pretty. Yesterday was a perfect day. I've also included some prickly pear photos. Enjoy!

Jamie's Apartment

I'll post some photos of Jamie's new apartment later but for now I thought I would share a photo I took today of the pool area where she lives. The buildings in the photo are all her complex... there's a bunch of them here but you can only see a couple in this photo. There is a big pool, a spa and a wading pool that the waterfalls pour into. I love the gigantic pots in this picture. You can see the beautfil Texas sky in the background too. Nice!

Texas Wildflowers

Yesterday Jamie and I found some wildflowers in a field and spent some time photographing them. Below are some of the better ones showing most of the ones we saw. The wildflowers in Texas are always so majestic, absolutely beautiful. It's always nice when you can find a big field that you can walk out into to make photos. More and more of these fields are being plowed up and houses or stores being built where the wildflowers once grew. There are still plenty though, you just have to search until you find a good spot. A lot of wildflowers still grow along the roadsides in Texas but that's not always the best option for parking and getting out of your car to make photos. I'm so glad we found a safe place and got these pictures.

The Texas Bluebonnet

Indian Paintbrush

unfortunately I don't know the names of these yellow ones

a mixture of colors



stunning!



Jamie relaxing for a moment

And me, surrounded by color

Sun Goddess

OK, so maybe I had forgotten just how intense the Texas sun can be. Today was my day to soak up the sun and get a wee bit of a tan on this otherwise white skin that hasn't seen the sun since late last summer. Jamie had to work most of the day and it was a sunny 95 degree day here so I took advantage of that and went to the pool. I slathered myself up really well with sunscreen and plopped down on one of the lounge chairs. I baked there for a good hour then came in for lunch. After lunch I trekked right back out to the pool to get even more rays. Jamie came home for work and joined me but by the time she arrived I had just about had enough sun for one day. I never can seem to get the lotion on my back very well so now my back is on fire. I can feel the heat radiating off of it. I had Jamie put some aloe gel on it tonight but it still feels hot and boy is it red. My face was pretty red too but apparently the sunscreen did its job everywhere else. My skin now has some color to it so I am no longer pastey white. I'd love another few days like this one... so nice. 95 degrees, all sun, slight breeze and only 7% humidity... WOW! Talk about perfect!

Austin

It was a long travel day but I am now in my favorite city... Austin, TX. I left home this morning around 9:00 and flew to Washington, DC where I had a plane change. Then the long flight from there to Austin. I was more than ready to get off the plane by the time I arrived. Jamie picked me up at the airport and we came to her new apartment and unloaded. Next we went across the street to the grocery store. HEB is a chain in Texas that I really love and we spent a long time in the store getting groceries then back to her apartment and up the stairs lugging all the bags. UGH! So now it is almost bedtime for me. I am exhausted. It's been a full day. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful and warm so I am looking forward to that. Jamie has to work in the morning so I will be on my own which is a good thing so I can get my day going. Hope to have some good stories and photos to share in the coming days.