Deco post...

One of my favorite things of our Thibodaux house

was my kitchen floor...

 It was not ceramic or expensive.. it was just a linoleum in

a checkerboard fashion. I just loved it! Like lots!

So much so that at a garage sale I bought the painting below

for many reasons but the most being the floor in the picture.

I knew that even when we left Thibodaux, at least in this

painting I would always have the remembrance of my floor.

Now, in the Cottage I have just white ceramic tile which is great,

but I miss my black squares also.

This morning I am surfing the web and I see this...

and I am once again transported back to the kitchen

I loved so. It was not just the floor, it was the last house

that I am my children lived in all together at the same time

to make it a home. We had many good memories there.

So now, having seen this awesome I am having

brain farts...

Is there paint I can use on my ceramic to paint every other

white ceramic square black at it will hold up?

Probably not but I am surely going to search it out!

Bean turns 5!

Yesterday was not only our sweet Bean's birthday party

but her actual birthday.

It is so hard to believe she is 5.

I love all my grand girls.... like a lot.

Yet, as all grandparents know, there is something

different about the first.

Bean was born at the best time for me.

I was struggling to get over a necessary back surgery,

trying to deal with the end of a nursing career of 30 years,

a marriage that began to show some "wear and tear"

I probably put too much of myself into her

but we all did. I honestly don't know how I would

be had this little girl not come to us when she did.

She was my light at the end of a long tunnel

and although I now am so happy, content, standing

on my own two feet, I am not sure it would have turned

the way it is without having Bean at the time.

Her parents have a little spitfire on their hands,

she knows and loves fashion and is forever arguing

her clothing point with her Mommy and Daddy.

She has so much personality that sometimes

she has to be reminded that she is just 5, not 20.

Yet, she is the most loving big sister ever.

She may be talking to you not paying attention 

to what her hands are doing and she will be patting the

head of one of her little sisters, holding their hand

to keep them away from things,

She is forever kissing on those sisters and if it were 

up to her, she would have many many brothers and sisters.

She is smart, loves her school and especially her teacher,

Ms. Delania, when she showed up at her party,

Beans face lit up! I don't think she honestly believed 

her most favorit teacher would actually come to her party.

It was a great day, so many there who just love our

Bean as much as we do.  At one point, I looked around

the room and was overwhelmed with just how many people

had come out for our girls bday.

I would like to say,

Koodo's to her Mommy and Daddy

who have learned the best way to handle this little girl

they love so much. They are not ones to brag so I will.

These little girls are the luckiest to call these two

Mommy and Daddy.  Inside, maybe things stress them out

but when it comes to their little ones, their goals are 

to make these little girls their priority, giving them

the happiest childhood but also how to discipline them

each in the way they understand what they did.

It is hard as a Mumsie to see the girls get timed out

but it is necessary with these girls.

They are always fair and once the break is over

they both will get down to eye level with their girls,

ask if they know why they were given a time out.

Once Bean repeats the reason they hug her,

tell her they love her and they let it go!

Wow, how did they learn how to do that??Lol

Now to My Jilly Bean...

I adore you, you came to me at a time when I did not

know where my life was going.

I could be so sad, having a rough day and somehow,

there you would be cheering me up not even realizing

what you wee doing. You love me and you let me

know you do. We share lots of memories and we

continue to make more.

I look forward to many more "adventures" with you.

My life would not be complete without you in it.

Thank you for always reminding us that only love

is what is important.

You are one special little girl, and as your Mommy 

 commented, we are all thankful that God gave 

you to us to be ours.

I thought my life was good, then you came 

and showed me that my life was great, no matter

how many heart aches I may have, you and your

sisters wash it away as soon as I see y'all sweet faces.

Happy Birthday my sweet first Grand Girl,

this Mumsie loves you dearly!

FLAGS SHOULD FLY HALF MAST...

A sad day for me as today, I read

news articles of the loss of one of my favorite

public women, 

NANCY REAGAN.

I have said before,

My daddy, who was in WWII

always taught us children that whether

you agree with who is President or not,

once they are President, you are to hold them

in honor. Once they are President, having the hard

job of running our country they deserve respect.

AS a teen, our President was Ronald Reagan.

I have always loved the woman behind two

of those Presidents, First, Jackie O

and the second, Nancy Reagan.

What I admired most was her undying love

for her husband. She was the epitome of what

a first lady should be. Some may not know that

a first lady has jobs that are expected of them.

Yet, for Nancy, her first and most important

job was loving her husband and she did it 

fiercely, first as the First Lady,

always standing by his side and being 

known for "the gaze" when he spoke,

staring lovingly at the man who she called "her Ronnie"

She began the campaign to teach young children

the dangers of drugs and was known to have

made the statement "JUST SAY NO" 

a household saying.
She also actually made women think getting a Mammogram
was like a vacation day.
Many women got their breast exams because Nancy
spoke about its importance so often.
Having had a sister who had breast cancer twice,
I am so thankful for what she did to make
Mammogram a household name.
She never forgot, however

that her first role was to protect her husband.

I remember the day, long after they were out of 

the White House, when she gave a press conference

saying "her Ronnie" has Alzheimer's and that

"every day is a challenge"

After that day she always made sure that the public

would never see our former President in the state

of what Alzheimer's brings to a body.

She. like me, loved the color Red.

There is even a color called "Reagan Red"

Having come from old Hollywood as an actor,

many felt like Ronald Reagan did not have 

what it took to run a country, his wife

never doubted him. For me, he has been 

one of the Presidents I admired the most.

With Nancy behind him, always protecting

him he remained famous through her words.

RIP Nancy Reagan and as her step son reminded us

in a news cast last night,

"Mom is finally where she has always wanted to be

next to Her Ronnie"

and as I said yesterday,

flags should fly half mast, today they do at

the White House and in many places all over our USA.