I Needed A Grandma Fix...

...That's a Grandma Mazar fix! Those of you who are Stephanie Plum fans will understand. I checked my book journal and my last Plum book read was Eleven On Top and that was in September 2007. I couldn't believe it had been that long. I had #12 & #13 on my TBR shelf, so I picked up Twelve Sharp and started reading. Reading about Stephanie Plum and Grandma Mazar is like hearing about old friends. Reading about Morelli & Ranger is much more exciting though. If you haven't read any of this series by Janet Evanovich, I suggest you try it.

I had breakfast this morning with Lisa and Dorothy. We sort of celebrated my birthday which was 11 days ago. Lisa said it was still April so we could still celebrate. Dorothy made a peach cobbler, so after our breakfast we had dessert with our coffee. The owner of the café and one of the waitresses sang happy birthday to me in Spanish. About 30 minutes later they came back with maracas for each of us and they sang again. We all had a good laugh.

When I got up this morning I noticed that it looked all green out my front door. I soon realized that a tree in front of my house had a large limb split and land in my driveway. At first I thought I was trapped in with my car, but I managed to drive across a small part of my yard to escape. Jesse's son said he would come chop it down and haul it off for me after school tomorrow.

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club - the end

I finished the book and it was wonderful. Definitely recommended! In the book the lead character, Cassie, writes daily on her blog.

I also cleaned out my closet and threw away bags of stuff. Why do I keep empty boxes? They all went in the trash. I didn't get the desks cleaned off, but that will be another day.

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club - the beginning

I usually wait till I've finished a book before giving a review. And this isn't really a review, but I just have to say how much I'm enjoying this book. It's about a 20 something year old girl who gets drunk, after a day full of disasters, and in her drunken state she books a flight to Argentina and rents a room for 6 months. So far I've read 100 pages and have had a smile on my face through most of it. I've even laughed out loud a few times. I had planned to clean out my bedroom closet and clean off the two desks in that room tomorrow. That was going to be a full day's job. I'm afraid that my book will be luring me away from the job. Oh well......I can always clean on Thursday. :o)

On a different subject, I met 3 Yaya friends, Elaine, Joyce and Cathy, in New Braunfels today for lunch. We ate and laughed and visited till almost 3:00 pm. Thankfully we weren't kicked out of the restaurant.

Dr Report: I saw my surgeon yesterday and she said I am healing well so far. Since I have tissue damaged from the radiation, the healing process will take another 2 months. She suggested that I see the lung surgeon and go ahead with that surgery first and then come back to her. I think that's a good idea and will be talking to my oncologist tomorrow to see what he thinks.

A Little Bit of Everything...

I kept thinking each day that I would post something here, but I never got it done. So I will just have a mixture of my life events this past week.

Nita and I arrived in Nixon last Saturday night, ending my leg of our Texas Tour. Nita stayed until noon on Sunday and then she left for another few days of traveling before going to her home in Sierra Vista, AZ. We had such a fun time and met so many wonderful members of our online discussion group.

I didn't do much for the next couple of days as I was ready to rest!
On Wednesday Dorothy and I had lunch together at the Tea Cup Café. Later I went to Dorothy's office to visit some more and to send off a fax.
On Thursday I had breakfast with Dorothy and Lisa. As usual we spent a couple of hours drinking coffee, talking and laughing. I then drove to Seguin to do some shopping. I needed to pick up a bottle of wine for the WOW Bunch get-together later that evening.

Did I have fun that night with the WOW Bunch!!! We were each supposed to bring a bottle of white wine. I took Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay. We tasted all the wines and tasted some a few more times, LOL. Then we rated the wines. Mine wasn't the worst, but it was the next to worst. I can't remember which one won the wurst honors, but it was as sweet as syrup and I could only take 2 little sips before pouring it out! Everyone liked my "Group Therapy" wine shirt. I decided to create a new shirt for each meeting. I knew 3 of the ladies there and met the other 2. It's a group that likes to laugh and have a fun time - my kind of people!

On Friday I decided to do some yard work. I re-potted some plants and did some more outdoors work.

On Saturday I rode with Harold, Loyce and the twins to a nursery near San Antonio. They bought more trees for their yard and more plants for landscaping around the pool. I bought some more potted plants. We got back to Nixon in time to go to a benefit BBQ for Jesse's aunt. She had a stroke less than a year ago and recovered from that only to be diagnosed with cancer. She has worked at the local bank for either 30 or 35 years and the bank owner and employees put on the benefit. When I got home I worked on my plants and then started mowing the yard. It had been over 2 years since I had mowed and I had never used our John Deere that we bought last summer. I got half the yard done and then called it a day. I picked some leaf lettuce from the garden and took it to my neighbors and visited with them for a little while.

Today I finished mowing the yard and did quite a bit of tree trimming. The yard looks very nice! I then sat on the porch swing and finished reading my book.

The Day The World Came To Town 9/11 by Jim Defede

This was a heart-warming book to read. I wasn't too excited about reading more about the 9/11 tragedy. I felt like I had seen and read all I needed to read on that subject. I am so glad that I did read this book!

As soon as it was learned that there were terrorist attacks, the US airspace was closed. Some planes on the way to the US were able to turn around, most had to land in Canada. This book tells the story of the 38 planes that had to land in Gander, Newfoundland. There were 6595 passengers and crew members in a town whose population was barely 10,000. Homer Hickam, author of October Sky said it best:

When you read this book, I predict tears in your eyes almost from the beginning, but they will not be tears of sadness or grief. They will be tears of joy and pride for the citizens of the little town of Gander, Newfoundland, who bravely stood up and said to the world, "Today we are all Americans."

I definitely recommend this book.

Texas Road Trip ~Day 5~

Saturday....Nita and I were up early and enjoyed a nice breakfast. We then got on our computers and played for a few hours until time to leave for lunch. Of course by then it had started raining cats and dogs again.

Los Cucos was easy to find and the guy up front told us that he had put our group in the room in the back. Hmmmm sounds like he knew us. LOL Gayle was already there and informed us that she had ordered a bottle of wine. Soon Becka, Marilyn and her friend, Adam, joined us.

We took this picture in honor of our friend, Kat. (long story) LOL

MaryAnn, Marilyn, Gayle, Becka, Adam, & Nita

We had a great time visiting and eating. We had to watch that waiter as he would slip around and fill our wine glasses when we weren't looking.

Nita, MaryAnn, Becka, Marilyn & Gayle

We finally broke up the party after about 4 1/2 hours of non-stop talking and laughing. We hugged, shed a few tears, said our goodbyes and were gone.

Nita and I were at Harold and Loyce's house after a few hours to help Jesse babysit the twins. We stayed there until almost 10:00 pm. It was after midnight before we finally called it a night.

Texas Road Trip ~Days 3 & 4~

Thursday morning we woke up and Jaybird had a great breakfast casserole, coffee and juice ready for us. Her table is next to a backyard window and we enjoyed watching the many birds that visit her feeders. We had such a good time at Jaybird's and hope to get to see her again.

We had to hit the road early in order to pick up Kathy and get to Vannie's before they ate without us! When we pulled into Kathy's driveway, she was opening the garage door and ready to greet us. What a fun lady! We hugged, talked, and unloaded our stuff there. Then we all hopped into Nita's car and went to Vannie's house.

Kathy, Redfeather, Vannie, Bette & Pauline

What a fun time we had there! Redfeather, Bette, & Pauline were already there. So along with Vannie and the 3 of us there were 7 total. Eva was supposed to join us there, but because of other issues she was not able to come. We sure missed her! We talked and ate and talked lots more. We also took the tour of Vannie's beautiful home and yard. Her husband came in and visited with us for awhile. Then he went out in the front yard to take pictures of us. What a nice guy! Before we knew it, it was already after 5:00 pm! I don't know where the time went.

Nita, MaryAnn, Vannie, Kathy, Pauline & Redfeather

We all hugged, and promised to meet again.

Kathy, Nita & Redfeather in Vannie's backyard

Then Nita, Kathy and I drove back to Kathy's house. We relaxed, visited and played with her cats. Kathy is so much fun and we enjoyed every minute with her. She had a great Mexican casserole and salad for dinner and we got to visit with her husband, Ernie, while we ate. He's another great guy. I'm beginning to think that KT women know how to pick the good ones! Us ladies stayed up late into the night visiting and laughing and finally called it a night. We were up early the next morning and spent a relaxing time drinking coffee, eating breakfast and talking some more. Nita and I finally had to tell Kathy goodby and be on our way to Houston.

What a drive to Houston!!!! It kept getting darker and darker and the rain came down in buckets. Thank goodness most of the other drivers on the highway were driving sensibly.

At 4:00 pm we were in Houston, driving in a downpour, and it looked like it was 9:00 pm because it was so dark. It was so good to finally get to our motel. I know Nita was exhausted from driving in such awful conditions! We unloaded our stuff, got back into the car and went to get some dinner. We are now back in the motel, relaxing and getting caught up with e-mail, etc.

We are planning a fun day tomorrow, and I will be posting about it along with pictures.

Texas Road Trip ~Day 2~

I forgot to mention on yesterday's post that on Tuesday night Ruthie received a mystery phone call. We passed the phone to each other and no one could figure out who it was. It was that Brat Kat from Washington! It was such a fun surprise and we all had a blast talking to her.

After a great breakfast at Ruthie and John's, we loaded our stuff into Nita's car and were soon on our way to Austin. It was a nice drive and we saw a few bluebonnets along the way. In Austin we met Gardenspice at Elsi's Restaurant. We ate, talked and laughed. It was so much fun getting to see her again. It had been several years since the last time we got together.

Nita, Gardenspice & MaryAnn

We said our goodbyes to Gardenspice and headed to Waco. About mid afternoon we arrived at Jaybird's house. We sat around, relaxed, and talked for a couple of hours. Then Jaybird, her husband Charlie, Nita and I went to a steakhouse for dinner. The restaurant was located by the river and we got a window seat. The food was great and the company really great! As we left we snapped a picture outside the restaurant.

Nita, MaryAnn, Jaybird & Charlie

Charlie drove us around Waco to show us some of the interesting sites and then we went back to their home. Nita, Jaybird and I walked behind the house to take a picture of the beautiful bluebonnets there.

Nita & Jaybird

So far the timing has been perfect. Nita has the schedule down to a science! We didn't get much sleep last night because we kept chatting, so tonight we plan to get to bed early. We will be leaving early in the morning on our way to Tyler and another fun day. Will report when I can connect.

Texas Road Trip ~Day 1~

If everyday is a much fun as yesterday......it's gonna be a great week!

Yesterday Nita and I left Nixon a little after 10am and headed to Lockhart. There we met DeeDee for lunch at Black's BBQ. We had such a great visit, laughing and talking. The time just flew by.

Nita, MaryAnn & DeeDee

Soon it was time for Nita and I to hit the road so we said our goodbys to DeeDee and were soon on our way to Fredrickburg.

We drove to Buzzard's house and she was there waiting for us. We visited with her a while and took the tour of her beautiful home! Buzzard really knows how to decorate and her home is full of her counted cross stitch designs that she's done over the years. Ater a while we piled into our cars and drove to Kerville to visit Ruthie.

Ruthie and John have a lovely home in the country. We immediately felt at home. We sat out on the back porch with something cold to drink and talked and talked. As usual, it was like visiting with old friends. John cooked hamburgers and asparagus on the grill and soon we were inside stuffing ourselves! I was excited because now I am no longer an asparagus virgin!!! It was very good.

Ruthie, Buzzard, MaryAnn & Nita

Ruthie, Nita and I stayed up till 1am talking! And if any of the KT peep's ears were burning......well of course we weren't talking about any of you! LOL

It's after 8am now and I can hear Ruthie and John milling around the kitchen fixing breakfast. Guess I better go see if I can help. I'm excited about starting day 2 of our trip and will report on it as soon as I can.

A Common Theme

You all know that I belong to a few "women's groups". You're probably tired of reading about them here. I think I'm not alone because there are so many books with that common theme.
A few I've read over the years are:

The Red Hat Club by Haywood Smith
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
Circle of Grace by Penelope J Stokes
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Nobel
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
The Blue Bottle Club by Penelope J Stokes
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (not women, but teenage girls)
The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney
Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish
The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King

My friend, Lisa, has read several of these books too and at one of our bookclub meetings she made the announcement that she was not going to read any more books about women groups where one gets cancer and dies, since several of them ended that way. We all got a good laugh about that. Wouldn't you know that a month or so later I was diagnosed with cancer. Lisa and I still laugh about her statement and the timing of it.

What made me think about this is the book I just finished, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. I had been reading it for a few days, a few pages at a time. Last night I really got hooked with the story and read until late into the night. Today I picked it back up and continued reading until I had read the last page. The story was about a group of ladies, with nothing in common but an interest in knitting, who formed a group that met each Friday night at a yarn shop. They really came to care about each other, but, wouldn't you know it.....one of them got cancer and died!

I'm beginning to think I should write my own book with a different outcome. It might be a very interesting story. I would definitely have to change names to protect the innocent guilty. LOL Would you buy my book???

I should add that each of the books listed above were very good and I would recommend them.

I have two shelves and a large stack of books to be read. I took one off the top of the pile to start reading. You guessed it....it's another women's group book, The yada yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson. I'll be sure to give you all a review of this book when I'm finished.