Garden Growth

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

We did not do a big garden this year. I got the seeds started late, but I am proud to say that everything I am growing is from seeds. Not a big flex to anyone who gardens, but it is for me because I’ve never been able to do that before. Everything I’ve ever tried to start from seeds, except the cantaloupe last year, has died.

This squash is in the enclosed garden. It should be ready in a few days. I’m embarrassed to say that this garden is half empty. We do have tomatoes, tomatillos (they came up from the crop last year) and cucumbers. I finally got around to weeding this area last week because it was a mess.

This is the before.

And the after.

I do love my little front bed, but it doesn’t get as much sun as I would like. The cucumbers are starting to flower along with the tomato plants so that’s encouraging.

Donny planted this butterfly plant a few years ago and this year it has really taken off. I can’t wait for the hot pink flowers to really open up.

I have always bought a basil plant every year. This year I decided to try seeds and they are actually growing.

We even have a corn stalk. A piece of corn from the bird feeder must have fallen down and sprouted. I thought it was funny so I just left it to grow.

Our hostas that did not do very well last year, and we even thought they had died off, are going crazy.

I decided to plant some avocado seeds and I guess now I have a mini orchard.

We had some sunflower seeds that we had harvested from one of our giant sunflowers a couple of years ago. Donny planted them in the backyard and they are doing their thing.

I’m still trying to work on the back corner, but we’ve just been getting so much rain lately, I haven’t had the chance. I did make a little bell wreath for the patio on one of those rainy days.

So that’s the outside update. Fingers crossed that everything grows.

Months ago Jackson asked me to get these two cat pictures from a thrift store. I loved them so it was a yes. Last night we realized that they reminded us of Queso and Bailey so I guess it’s like a little tribute to two of the best fur babies there ever were.

King Queso

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

I HATE writing this post. Saturday night Queso and Monkey did not want to come in the house. It’s not unusual for them to be outside. Queso was my daughter’s cat that we took in when she moved to the Hill Country. Donny and I both fell asleep in the living room watching a movie. I got up about 1 am and since he looked so comfortable I let him sleep. He later told me that at about 3 am he heard a cat ruckus outside. This isn’t unusual because we have a very cat friendly street and there are a lot of strays that we feed. He went outside to look around to find Queso and Monkey to bring them in. He couldn’t find them.

Sunday morning Milo woke me up to go outside at 6:10. I always start the coffee and then go outside to make sure the cats have food and fresh water. When I walked out onto the patio I saw Queso laying under the big table. I called him but he didn’t respond. I got closer to him and realized that he wasn’t breathing. My heart broke. I went inside and woke Donny up. We picked up Queso’s body to see if we could see anything that would explain what happened to him. Nothing. Not a scratch that we could see. He had looked like he was just sleeping. We wrapped him in his blanket and buried him in the backyard.

This was the last picture I took of him. He was the coolest cat. He weighed 15 pounds and would not take no for an answer. He loved HARD. His favorite place to sleep was on my pillow with his arms wrapped around my neck. He loved to give kisses. He wanted all the other cats to be his friend. He would stand guard on our cars or the trash cans. His favorite place to nap outside was the plant shelf.

Taken during a thunderstorm.

His favorite napping spot.

Always wanting to help.

Late night snuggles.

Loving any basket, bag or box.

He and Milo were best friends. They always wanted to be near each other. Milo is having a hard time with Queso not being here. He wants to be in the same room as I’m in and if he’s not he will loudly meow. We are all going to miss Queso so much. He was definitely one of a kind and it felt like he was always more human than cat.

P.S.

We found some coyote tracks in the ditch mud so now we believe that he tried to fight off a coyote and when he howled he scared it off. There must have been damage that we couldn’t see.

Chatgpt

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Room UpdateLeave a comment

I had heard so much about chatgpt and how it could give a person suggestions on decor style. I decided to give it a try. I took two pictures of our living room and asked what my style is.

Chatgpt told me that my style was Eclectic Bohemian with Folk Art Influences. That is completely correct. Here is the picture that “spruced” it up. I love the look, but our front door is off to the left and doesn’t really work with the mock up. Also, I’m not changing the stereo stand, but I totally get what it was going for.

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Because I do love string lights, but they aren’t practical where chatgpt suggested, I pulled the ones our cat had knocked off that we had under our TV. Unfortunately, they no longer worked. I remembered that I had picked some up at Big Lots before it closed. They were candy corn colored and meant for Halloween, but I decided to go ahead and give them a try. I was also sick of the frosted covers I had put in the glass front doors of our entertainment center. I swapped the frosted look for the same fabric as the runner that’s on top. Don’t tell anyone, but they are placemats.

It looks really cool at night because of the orangey/yellow glow it gives off.

We’re watching the series Dark In case anyone was wondering what in the world that screenshot is from.

I love the way the clown looks in the light.

I’ve also had this painting for a while. I love it and wanted to use it somewhere so I just decided to add to the gallery wall behind the rocker. I also made the art of the two waiters that I think complements the painting so well.

It’s always fun to get ideas and switch things around in your home, don’t you think?

Whataweekend

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Frugal LifeLeave a comment

On Friday Jackson graduated from high school. I cannot believe how fast time flies by. I know that he will cherish his time at East Texas Charter School and that him going there was the best decision ever. Small class size, teachers that truly care and an amazing superintendent that kept the school in tip top shape made for an amazing 4 years.

The students get to pick their first and second choices of who to stand up and speak about their time at ETCS. Jackson picked his favorite teacher Mr. Damoude.

It’s so interesting to hear about each graduating senior. I’ve never been to another school that does this. There are no valedictorians. Each student has a chance, if they choose, to speak after the teacher gives their speech. Jackson did not want to.

There were a whopping 29 graduates this year.

Group shot before the hat toss.

A proud dad who unfortunately had to go back to work right after this was taken.

Proud mom and sister.

Jackson’s best friends. Two of them will be also heading off to Kilgore College in the Fall.

We have a tradition that when it’s your birthday or another special event, you get to pick whichever restaurant you want to have dinner. Jackson’ picked Rotolo’s. I loved it because they have cauliflower crust pizza. That was the last meal I have eaten because I got sick.

Right before we were about to leave I started having floaters in my eyes. The headache came right after we got home so I went to bed early. Saturday morning I woke up and felt like I couldn’t get out of bed. My body felt like it was made of lead. I still had a horrible headache. I ended up sleeping all day.

Sunday I was feeling a little better so I made a quick Aldi run. When I got home my stomach and back were cramping so badly. I was also coming down with a UTI. The fatigue was also back in full force. I asked Donny to pick up so AZO and cranberry juice. He knew that I was not eating sugar so he picked me up the only zero sugar he could find. I highly recommend NEVER getting this juice. My whole body puckered and seized up. I tried diluting it with water and stirring in some honey. Nope, that didn’t work at all. Hannah didn’t know that it was awful and had the same reaction.

I went to bed early on Sunday night and by Monday I still wasn’t feeling well. Now let’t throw in a sore throat and my TMJ acting up. It’s like my body’s check engine light came on. I slept most of the day, again. Today I feel like I’m at 75% which I’ll take over the previous days.

To make matters worse a skunk sprayed a possum right outside our patio door on Sunday night. If I hadn’t known better I would have sworn it had sprayed in our kitchen. It made Donny so sick to his stomach and gave me another headache. So that’s how the weekend ended.

I am ready for some good days ahead that’s for sure.

Blue Dog x2

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Longview, txLeave a comment

If you ever come over to our home you’ll probably notice that I have a thing for Blue Dog. If you aren’t familiar with Blue Dog, it’s George Rodrigue’s most famous subject. I first saw a Blue Dog painting while I was in New Orleans having dinner. There was a huge painting hanging in the restaurant. I had never seen or heard of this artist before, but it was love at first site.

When we first heard that the exhibit was coming to Longview we were so excited and last week we finally got to go. Hannah was busy so Jackson and I decided that we would go check it out and it did not disappoint.

I mean, c’mon, I got a smile out of him. He rarely smiles in pictures.

We now have two fine arts museums. This is the newest and it used to be a bank.

We took a picture at the selfie stop.

Hannah was disappointed that she wasn’t able to go so yesterday she and I visited.

Both Hannah and Jackson picked this picture as their favorite.

The saddest picture was the one that George never finished. He died of cancer and this was left on his easel. You can see the sketch lines.

After we finished touring this museum we decided to head a street over to see this exhibit at the main art museum. It’s called six degrees of separation because each vignette is connected somehow. We found several pieces that we really liked.

This was my favorite.

This was Hannah’s.

We both liked this one. The background are Splenda wrappers.

It was such fun days taking each of the kiddos separately to hear their take on all of the art.

I also couldn’t leave without buying a poster and a decal.

Jackson and I ran by the thrift store on the way home to see if I could find a small frame for the decal. I found the almost perfect one. I just had to paint the back of it to compliment Jackson’s Picasso rendition.

Hangry Cat

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

I’ve mentioned the stray cat that found us who we named O’Malley. Well, O’Malley had really wanted to come in the house all the time. That was great, except that unless you watched him like a hawk, he would spray. I felt bad having to keep him outside so I made an appointment to get him neutered.

We kept him in the house the night before the appointment. Now the funny thing about this cat is that he stress eats. Whenever you pet him or even just talk to him, he has to run to the food bowl and eat. It’s like his comfort thing. We were told by the vet to take his food up at midnight. The morning of the surgery he came into the kitchen and I was petting him. He will always roll over on his back to have you scratch his belly. This particular morning, while I was doing just that, he identified as a gator and chomped down on my hand. I felt his teeth sink into my skin and blood started pouring out of the wounds. He, realizing what he had done, jumped up and ran to the now non existent food bowl.

I immediately washed the bites and sprayed hydrogen peroxide on them. My whole right hand was throbbing, but I couldn’t miss the appointment, so into the makeshift crate he went. I do actually have a cat carrier somewhere I just can’t find it. It had poured the day before and I had only a bit of time to search the stacked up with totes to the ceiling shed. I had to just make due with what I had which was two laundry baskets, a Bungie cord and hair clips.

It was a little embarrassing walking into the vet with so many people in line staring at my “carrier”, but you do what you have to do. Six and a half hours later Jackson and I went to pick him up. He was supposed to be crated for 2 days, but that wasn’t working. Milo was very curious about his friend.

After about 8 hours he seemed fine so I let him out. He ate and used the litter box. We did keep him in for about 2 days and he was fine with that. It seems like he has taken to house life because he now is in more than out. This was him today and now he’s curled up on the bed with me.

I, on the other hand, was not fine. I didn’t want to tell Donny about the bite, but my hand started swelling, getting red and was still oozing. There was no way in hell that I was going back to the bougie ER and luckily I had a doctor’s appointment the next day. It was just the twice a year appointment to go over my labs, but I was definitely going to ask for antibiotics.

The bite was Wednesday, the appointment was Thursday. He did give me a prescription for antibiotics, but by Friday I was so sick that I stayed in bed all day. I couldn’t eat anything, but Donny got me a vanilla shake so I could take my medicine.

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I felt lousy. We don’t know if it’s cat scratch fever or if I developed cellulitis but whatever it is it is taking its own sweet time healing. It’s not as swollen, but still has a hard area around both wounds. The antibiotics make me nauseous and give me zero appetite. Next pic is gross, but it was taken this morning.

I guess we’ll just take it one day at a time. Geesh, the things we go through for our pets.

Holey Hell

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Monday started off great. I got the front yard mowed. We had grabbed some honeysuckle off our trail 2 years ago and this year it has finally vined.

Some of the plants are growing back from where the neighbor butchered it bald. We still have plans for our cozy corner, but rain is heading our way for the next few days so all of that will have to wait.

Then, while I was mowing the backyard, my foot slid into the infamous hole. I had marked it with a faucet cover the last time I mowed, but apparently it had fallen in. This is what the hole looked like.

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I KNEW it was there, but in the heat of mowing, I completely forgot about it. It’s about 14″ deep and my foot slid down pointed and I jammed my whole foot.

After falling to the ground and yelling some not so nice words, I kept mowing. It hurt. Bad. That, however, didn’t stop me from going on to my next project which is our shed. That poor thing was chipping and the wood needs tending too. I got our some wood screws and tightened the panels.

Next I sanded and scraped the loose paint off. Everything looks better with a tan so I used the brown storm coat paint I already had.

By this time my foot was killing me so I only got the front done. I have more plans for it but had to stop for the day. My foot was swelling and bruising. I iced it that night but it couldn’t sleep well because of the pressure the covers put on it. The next morning we were concerned that I might have fractured it so off I went AGAIN to the bougie ER.

After the x-ray it was determined that it was just a really bad sprain so they sent me home with this beauty.

It actually does help stabilize my foot, but I am so ready to be fully functional again. Rain is supposed to let up by Saturday so I’m planning on at least finishing the paint on the shed. Fingers crossed.

Big 1-8

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn BirthdayLeave a comment

Yesterday the baby of the family turned 18. It seems like just yesterday he was dragging his Mr. Potato Head suitcase into the living room so we could play with it.

His big present was going to the Tyler the Creator concert in Dallas last month. He got to pick out a few pieces of clothing from one of his favorite designers.

He is definitely one of a kind and has been since birth. He is so funny. He is also caring and kind. He is smart. Some of the conversations I have with him are mind blowing. He has great things ahead of him and I’m so proud to call him my son.

Although he didn’t have a party, he got to choose his birthday cake. He doesn’t like cake or many sweets for that matter. We decided on Mr. Churro. They make them while you wait and they are delicious.

Everyone gets to choose where they want to go to dinner on their birthday. Jackson chose Wingstop and got to pick out all the flavors he wanted. It was a good day.

ER Visit

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Thursday Donny and I decided to take a walk on one of the trails in our town. The forecast said there was supposed to be rain in the late afternoon so we decided to get an early start.

We ended up only walking a little over a mile and a half because Donny’s ankle and knee are getting better but we didn’t want to overdo.

When we got home I wasn’t feeling great. I’d noticed that for the past couple of days my stomach had been bloated, especially at the top. I noticed that it would go down when I woke up in the mornings, but if I had any food at all it would start sticking out like Jiffy Pop. By Friday I was feeling awful. It felt like a baseball was in my stomach. I hadn’t eaten dinner on Thursday and didn’t eat anything on Friday. I decided that I really needed to go to the bougie ER and see what was going on with my body. I got in very quickly and they did blood, urine, x-ray and cat scan with and without contrast. The only thing they could tell me was that I was constipated at the top part of my large intestine that just happens to run between your lower ribs and navel.

The thing is I poop every single day. So, even though I saw the cat scan and can confirm that I was constipated, it still didn’t make sense to me. I started looking online to see if I could find any answers. I started following nutritionists that specialize in Hashimoto’s and SIBO. I have every symptom of SIBO, which stands for Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. I think I could be in a kill off stage which would make my symptoms worse until everything is killed off and then you get better.

I recently have gone gluten free. Doing this has gotten rid of my joint pain that I was having on a regular basis. I have also been following the Low Fodmap diet. If I am in the kill off phase of SIBO I want to do everything I can to finish it. I went to Vitamins Plus today and Dave, the amazing nutritionist there helped me pick out what will help.

He told me to take a dropper full of oil of oregano in the mornings and at bedtime take the probiotic. We will see if this works. He also asked if he could pray over me and of course I said yes because I will take all the help I can get. I look at feel pregnant every time I have any food. I am so frustrated. I actually have a doctor’s appt on the 5th to go over my quarterly blood work.

I’m including a picture I took after the ER visit so I will be able to check my progress. Wish me luck because this is not easy.

Oh, I need to add that the ER docs recommended me taking Miralax when I got home. I ended up taking 6 capfuls because I didn’t think it was working. Oh, it did work. It worked all night. I woke up with a normal belly until I ate a small breakfast. My SIBO baby came back.

Green-ish Thumb

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

My seeds have finally grown tall enough to go into the ground. Yesterday I got the front bed weeded and tilled up in preparation for the little sprouts.

I have 5 cucumber plants and 10 tomatoes.

Some of them went into the front bed.

The pots have Calendula seeds that I’m hoping will eventually sprout.

I planted the squash and 2 of the cucumbers in the garden.

The 2 extra cucumbers went in the corner by the potatoes that are getting pretty big. It will still be a while before we can harvest them.

I had quite a few broccoli sprouts that I just planted in pots and we’ll see how those do. I still have some lettuce and tomatoes that were just slower growing than the rest and are still to small to plant. It’s supposed to rain for the next few days so we’ll see how it goes.

Jackson wanted to go thrifting today. I only found one thing that I thought was pretty cool.

Sharon made it, or bought it and gave it to someone, in 1974.

I just love giving old objects a new life and home.