I live in a cozy old home in the Piney Woods of east Texas.
This is my journal
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The weather was absolutely perfect today. I got the yard mowed, the flower bed weeded and the Halloween decorations out of the shed. Our patio can tend to get junky if we’re not careful so today I made a new plant shelf and moved the solar lights.
I’m really enjoying sitting out here in the evenings when the weather feels this good. I hooked up the backyard lights because cooler nights mean fire pit time.
I also cannot wait to start having dinners outside. I think being outside is my happy place.
Today I wanted to run to the thrift store right by our house to find a big water bowl and food tray for the raccoons. They had a big table with kitchen stuff on sale. I got these for 20 cents.
While I was looking around I saw a lady pick up this big glass fish. I walked over to her because I really wanted to see if that’s what it was. It was hand blown and amazing. She said that she didn’t have a place for it so she put it down. When I saw that it was only $5 I snatched it up.
It reminds me of my sea glass fish.
I also found this recipe notebook. I would much rather use written recipes instead of trying to get through those I find online with all the ads.
I can’t wait to start using this. For $1.50 you can’t beat it.
Jackson found this cute little Halloween cat. I googled it and it’s a vintage Avon cat. We just replaced the batteries and it started lighting up and changing colors. It was $2.
I am sitting on the patio writing this because I’m waiting for the raccoons to show up. Skunky already made his appearance and at all of the hotdogs off the tray. I put another one out and he ate half of it.
This is a picture of one of them from last night. I gave him some fish sticks and he loved them.
Here’s our sweet little skunk having dinner tonight.
I’m hoping the raccoons come before I have to head in to bed.
And now I’m wondering if skunks have bad eyesight because as I was sitting here he walked right by me and started eating the cat food. I guess he just knows who keeps him fed.
I just thought I heard the raccoons, but it was this beauty.
It’s animal kingdom around here and I’m loving it.
Lately, for some reason, I have been very uninspired to cook actual meals. Donny was off on Thursday this past week so we decided to make the drive to Lone Star to have dinner at Arnold’s. The prices are so good and everyone there is very friendly.
It’s not much to look at but the food is worth the 40 minute drive. The kids didn’t even complain because it really is a gorgeous drive.
Our neighbor across the street works for a restaurant food supply company so he brought us over some pizza dough and crumble pizza sausage. So Friday’s dinner was sausage pizza. Today I knew I had to make a grocery run which I dread doing on a Saturday. I do 95% of my grocery shopping at Aldi because it’s small, there aren’t many selections, I know what I like and I can get in and out fast. One of our favorite quick dinner meals is their asian chicken meals.
From start to finish this meal takes 20 minutes. I get both kinds because I serve the sauce on the side and it’s good to have a choice.
I serve it with rice and stir fried broccoli. It’s so good and everyone in the family likes it. There’s also almost always enough for Donny to take it for lunch the next day.
After I mowed on Friday I finally got around to doing something I had wanted to do all summer. Our front stoop (for lack of a better word) was looking so bad. The concrete, no matter how many times we power washed it, would not come clean. The pavers around it were faded and not looking their best.
This is an older picture but it’s the only one I could find. Anyway I painted the pavers the same color as the door (aqua fresco). I painted the concrete square the same color as the trim. I don’t have the color because it’s from two gallons of oops paint I got on sale. It looks so much better and just crisper.
I still need to put the plants back where they go.
We still have our little visitor and last night the raccoon came to visit and I fed it a hot dog.
The little skunk is so sweet. It doesn’t bother anyone. The cats just ignore it. Just eats and leaves. I wish I could get a picture of the raccoon.
Oh, and if you do happen to be in Aldi, these are the best cookies. I bought them on a whim and they did not disappoint.
I love Halloween and Christmas. My only issue is that I don’t like moving things into the shed to make room for the decorations. I feel as though I lose my house for those months. This year I’ve decided to only put out the things that I really love and donate the rest. I did buy two things to add, but I really loved them both.
I love Bethany Lowe halloween decor. It’s just so very expensive. I was online and saw this cat they had at Walmart. I checked online to see if any stores around us had it. Nope, not a one. I even went to Walmart because a lot of the time the inventory they say they have is wrong. I found the hole where it used to be, but no cat. I decided to go ahead and order it online. When I went to checkout I noticed that the shipping was almost as much as the item. No thanks.
Jack and I had to make a Walmart run so I checked again online before we left and the website said they had it in stock. When we got there there was still just the empty space. While we were shopping I ordered it as a pickup. By the time we got home I had an email saying that it wasn’t available for pickup but they could ship it to me for free. Why yes, that would be great. Two days later I got my cat in the mail.
I absolutely love it and am tempted to just keep it out year round. My decor is already kind of weird so it would fit right in.
Jackson and I also went thrifting and I found this guy for a dollar and had to have him.
I’m not sure what he’s made out of, maybe a gourd, maybe paper mache. I’m just not sure, but he’s so ugly he’s cute.
We have been getting night visitors for a few weeks. This cutie is not bothered by me in the least now.
I’m glad it’s not scared because I would hate to get sprayed.
When Donny and I were away I got these texts from the kids.
The possum is quite shy but likes to come eat the cat food. I see him just about every night. I’ve only seen the raccoon once. I’m not sure what we’re going to do about them, but they don’t bother the cats or the chickens, so that’s a plus.
I had no idea what to get Donny for his birthday. I mentioned this to my friend Lisa and she suggested to give him an experience. I thought that was a fabulous idea so I started searching on airbnb for a place in Jefferson, one of our favorite towns. Everything there was way over my budget for a one night stay, but for some reason a place in Lone Star caught my eye. The price was perfect, it had great reviews and it was right on Lone Star lake so Donny could fish. Since everything for us always seems to work out best when it spur of the moment, I ended up booking it two days before we were leaving. Donny’s “weekend” is Thursday and Friday so we decided to leave after Jack got home from school on Friday. It would only give us one day there but we would make the most of it.
Friday we packed our bags and headed about 35 minutes away to Lone Star.
One thing we love about living in East Texas is that there are so many small towns around us to explore. When we drove up to Scenic View it was picture perfect.
The small motel was built in the mid 1940’s. The nicest couple bought it in 1998 and have taken such good care of it. There are 8 motel rooms, a cabin and a full hook up small RV park. If you have seen the show Ozark it reminds me of the Blue Cat.
We dropped our things off in our room and decided to go find a bite to eat. I had read good reviews about a place called Arnold’s family restaurant. It did not disappoint. Our server was attentive, we met some locals having coffee and had one of the best chicken fried steaks I’d ever eaten.
I ate every bite. After we got back to the motel and were feeling almost too full to move we decided to try to work some of it off by playing corn hole.
I lost both games, but it was so much fun. Even though the temperatures weren’t in the 100’s we still got sweaty and decided to just sit, have a beverage and enjoy the lake view.
Donny wanted to wait until sunset before he got his fishing pole out. We decided to move onto the deck because there were fans and it was starting to get a little hot out.
There were grills guests could use and so many places to enjoy a meal outdoors.
The sun was setting so we headed out to the pier to do some fishing.
It was so beautiful out on the water.
We only had one snafu. The worms the container of worms that Donny bought before we left were, well, wormless. There was nothing but dirt. He ended up trying to use pork rinds and kettle corn with no luck. He said he didn’t care because he was having so much fun just relaxing.
We started seeing some lightning so we gathered up our things and went up to the top deck to watch the weather roll in. Nothing but a few raindrops and I ended up falling asleep in the lounge chair.
I loved the way the owner had everything lit up. It looked so pretty at night.
Next thing we knew it was morning and we had to pack up our stuff and head back home. We absolutely love this little motel. The rooms were older but pristine. The beds were so comfortable and Donny loved the pillows. The little kitchenette was perfect for what we needed.
And you get a real, honest to goodness, key.
The cabin is so cute.
Donny had a relaxing fun filled birthday and we will definitely be back to this little gem.
This morning while I was waiting for the coffee to brew I was playing around on Google Earth. I decided to look up our house that we sold in Baton Rouge. I shouldn’t have. We worked so hard on that house after it flooded. We had the yard looking so good. I worked my butt off on it putting in new beds and getting the grass up and going again. To see it not being taken care of breaks my heart. Here is what I saw.
I loved this house so much. I can’t see the inside, but I hope that it’s more taken care of than the outside. I pulled up our photos from right before we moved and it made me even sadder.
I really miss Baton Rouge.
On a happier note. Look what Donny and I saw on the trail this morning.
Yesterday morning after I mowed I decided, since I was already sweaty, I would go for a hike down the trail adjacent to our neighborhood. It was such a gorgeous day and it was made even better because about 98% of this trail is shaded by a canopy of trees.
A creek runs through this area. It’s where we let Ollie, our rescue possum, loose.
You don’t have to stay on the asphalt trail because there are some primitive trail shoot offs.
One thing I noticed yesterday was that there was so much trash on the trail. I can’t understand how people can just throw there trash into the woods or just leave it right on the trail. So this morning I decided to take a trash bag and go collect it.
Most of it I could get to easily, but there was a lot deeper in. This is what I was running into.
Very sharp thorny trees. There were also these thin vines that had so many thorns that would wrap around my ankles and legs. I crawled through as many as I could to get what I could see.
There is a small plastic cup in the pic above that I just couldn’t get because of the thorn vines. I didn’t want to get any more cut up.
I ended up collecting an entire bag before I hit the turnaround. So I guess, all in all, it was a good workout carrying it back to the trail head.
Some of the weird things I found were cut off legs from camo pants, a sock, a clothes hanger and a shirt. These were not all in the same place. I also found a half empty gallon of orange drink that was very old. I did not open it to dump it out.
There were also so many Beauty Berry plants. I just love them.
The next time I go back to pick up litter I’ll be sporting jeans, boots and a long sleeve shirt.
P.S.
I got my hair cut last Saturday so I wanted to document it to remember when I had it done. We only cut an inch off, but put more layers in it. I just let it dry naturally in this pic trying to embrace my waves.
While I was scrolling Instagram today, I saw this picture.
I have seen so many people already putting up Halloween and Fall decorations. When I go into the stores holiday decorations are already on the shelves. I get it because I was once a buyer for a store and I know that Fall merchandise begins arriving in July. That doesn’t make me feel good about it though.
I admit that it’s easy to fall into the trap of always looking ahead, longing for what is coming up. Summer is waning and Autumn is just around the corner but I feel like I am letting Summer down by rushing into the next season before one is truly over. I’ve decided that I am going to savor the rest of Summer. I’m going to lean into the hot days that are left because I know that when we are in the coldest days I will be longing for the hot sunny days I was wishing away a few months prior.
I will take my time ushering Fall in. I want to not be rushing through my days, but to savor each and every one. I want to take pleasure in all of the little things and not rely so heavily on waiting for the big things.
Speaking of little things, Donny and I were in Big Lots and found that all of their summer merchandise is 50% off. We found some solar lights to hang from the jasmine trellis. Will they stay there? Who knows, but for right now I really like the little bit of extra light they give to our side yard.
I am not a chip eater, but Jackson and I were in Walmart a few days ago and he bought some new Doritos. Not a Dorito fan, but I tried one of his and OMG they were the very best chips I’ve ever had. I only ate 2 of his, but could not stop thinking about them. Today Donny and I had to make a Walmart run because I wanted to make roast beef croissant sandwiches for dinner and you can bet I bought a bag of these magical chips.
I am not a big fan of curry or spicy for that matter, but these are so good. Not very curry or spicy. I actually may have bought two bags and hidden one.
A few weeks ago my daughter Bethany was moving to the hill country with her family. They found the cutest house, the only problem was, the landlord didn’t allow cats. No problem, we met her in Waco and picked up her cat Queso. This is how he rode the whole way back.
When we got home I picked up the cat burrito, but I didn’t realize just how big this cat was and he almost slid out of my arms. He is another tuxedo cat like Milo but he has extremely long legs and tail. He is an inside/outside cat like all of ours are.
At first the other cats were not really sure about him, but he quickly made friends with Milo.
One thing Bethany failed to mention was that he preferred way to sleep in on your chest with his head on your chin and then he drools. Yeah, he sleeps at the foot of our bed. He also loves to rough house. Last night Donny said he was wrestling with Milo, got over excited and ran and jumped on the bathroom door jam head height.
He is such a sweet boy though.
And now for some random information. I have mentioned this product before, but I washed a load of laundry and didn’t realize that Hannah had an open lipstick in her jeans pocket. Didn’t notice until I took everything out of the dryer and saw all of the red, yes it was red lipstick, on the clothes. I immediately grabbed this and started spraying.
Every bit came out of Donny’s pants and jeans. The only place that is still red is the pocket of her jeans where she had it.
I swear that stuff is magic because the lipstick was all over the front.
I love planners. Every year I get one from Big Lots. I don’t get a planner at the start of the year, but in July because I use it for the school year. This year when I went to get one, Big Lots didn’t have any. None. I was really bummed because they are really good planners and are under $10. I decided to hit up Ross because it’s in the same strip mall. I found an even better one than the ones I usually use and it was only $8.99. So if you need a planner definitely hit them up. There were so many to choose from also.
Big Lots last year planner:
It was cute, but it was the size of a spiral notebook, so almost too big.
This one is thicker and smaller:
It also has a pocket in the back which is going to come in handy.
There’s nothing like a brand new planner.
Also we got a surprise rain shower today. Not a lot, just enough to wet the lawn clipping bags enough to where the bottoms are going to fall out. They should have been picked up yesterday when the trash ran.
We are making progress in the side yard. I pulled up all of the weeds around my jasmine. They had gotten so bad. I didn’t take a before picture, but they were taller than the planter.
I guess a little progress is still progress, right?
Today I felt it. Fall is right around the corner. Well, at least what we consider Fall here in East Texas. It was slightly overcast and there was actually a breeze. I have been watching the weather all week so I decided today would be a perfect day to mow. I was so right because when I finished I did not look like I had just crossed the Sahara. It’s been two weeks since I’ve mowed and I honestly could have probably gone another week. The weather is changing. Grass is growing slower, days are getting shorter. That doesn’t mean that we will still not have heat advisory days, but I’m still hopeful that there won’t be too many.
At the beginning of Spring our front yard was AWFUL. There were so many bare patches that it was embarrassing. I am proud to say that we have been working on it all summer and it’s finally looking good.
We have some butterfly bushes and cantaloupe growing on the left side which makes our bed look out of control but it really isn’t.
Can you spot the cantaloupe?
I also weeded the front beds that were surprisingly easy.
I am really ready for some cooler weather and we are getting there slowly but surely.
I also need to add that we actually decided, on the spur of the moment Sunday night to go to Fun Noodle Bar. It normally takes us hours to decide where to eat if we are actually “planning” it. Sunday afternoon before Donny got home I just did not feel like cooking so I made the decision that we should go. It’s a mile from our house and, we’ve only eaten there once before, but it was good.
I’m adding this because I wanted to document the best sushi we’ve eaten here. It actually rivals Kumori, but the rolls are about $4 cheaper. This was Donny’s. ONLY his.
Jackson’s was impressive also.
It was such a fun dinner. I think it has become my new favorite place to go.
I came thisclose to getting a smile from Jackson. Grrrrr, that kid and pictures.
One more really good thing that happened today was that I found my hair stylist. She had left the salon, given me her cell number and then I couldn’t find it. Well, I found it today, texted her and have an appointment Saturday. I get anxiety when I get my hair cut due to a really bad cut I got when we lived in Arlington and I had to go really short. I completely trust Desiree. She is so good. I think it’s been almost a year since I’ve gotten it cut so it is WAY passed time. Here is a before and I guess I’ll have an after Saturday night.
The Funky Frugalista 