Great Summer Ahead

 

My daughter recently got her first paid job as a grocery store cashier!  She starts today. I’m so excited for her. She always gets so bored over the summer, and by the end of the summer her boredom turns to depression. The only summer that she wasn’t dealing with that was when she did summer school between 5th and 6th grades. 

She also has a new baby cousin, born yesterday. It’s her dad’s brother’s baby. From what I understand, mom has to go back to work pretty soon, and Evita is going to help babysit. She looks like such a natural holding a baby!  She said she can’t wait to have her own someday. I said ok, but don’t say that out loud. When I was a teenager and said I couldn’t wait to have my own kids someday, I got my ass beat. 

Treats for Good Boys

 The dog and three cats that live on this property are all very good boys. We went to a pet store, and they were selling pig noses for dogs for $1.99 each. Here is a YouTube short of me giving one to Thomas. My mother in law says he adores it. 

We also celebrated Alex’s estimated 11th birthday on May 19  I made him and Mitchell plates with sardines, catnip, and temptations treats.  That was the “birthday party.” 

A Fun Sunday

 Ever since I told my mother that Kevin is a vegetarian, she has been repeating this scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Then in the same breath, she’ll ask if he eats shrimp. (That’s because the Greek Orthodox Church doesn’t view shrimp as meat for periods of fasting, but conventional vegetarians do.) It’s because we are going to salt grass for her birthday. Kevin already knows what he’s getting there tho- they do have vegetarian options even though they’re a steak house. 

My mom turns 79 on Thursday, and Kevin’s mom turns 82 tomorrow. They are exactly 3 years and 3 days apart. If my dad was alive, he’d be turning 82 on June 14th. Kevin’s mom was 17 days older than my dad. 

Tomorrow the daughter of my ex boyfriend turns 14.  I don’t miss her father as much as I miss her and her brother. I hope they realize that while me and their dad wanted different things, I’m always there for them. No one tells you how hard it is to break up with a single parent, because you “break up” with the kids too.

Kevin bought his mom a birthday card and signed it from him, me, and Evita. He signed it as if we are a family of three. It really meant a lot to me that he did that. I actually couldn’t believe he did that. It was always so taboo for me to admit I wanted a family with a man and children that I would have never signed a card that way for fear of being criticized. Once, when it was just me and Evita in our old apartment on Beamer, I went to a birthday party for a coworker and signed her card from me, Evita, and the cats. That was the only time. But to sign a card literally for his mother that’s with him and me, his partner, and my kid, is awesome. I can’t describe how it makes me feel. If I sent a card like that to one of my aunts or something, there would be drama. Omg she has a family omgggg. That gesture was so nice and Kevin didn’t even think about it. 

Today I helped him and his team at work early in the morning and then we picked up Evita and went to a nice park. We saw ducks doing mating dances. Then we went for hibachi. Then we went to half price books. It’s starting to get hot outside, but that’s ok. I’m at peace. 

Resale

 I googled Kevin’s old address of the falling down townhouse he sold for $50K back in February. The investors that bought it have a pending sale for $165K. 

My original guess was that they’d just give it quick fixes and rent it out for about $1500 a month. But it’s actually resold!  I’m a little floored actually. I’m wondering if these new buyers know about the massive foundation problem. The investors are required to disclose all known issues. And it hasn’t been long enough for them to have fixed it properly. 

I’m in the home stretch of my basic real estate class, but I only took it for fun. I’m definitely no expert. These are screenshots from the Zillow listing. It looks REALLY nice. But how long before it starts falling down again?  😬 

I do participate in a real estate subreddit. Some people who’ve bought their homes from flippers are having a lot of problems. One person posted a picture of the entire kitchen cabinet crashed down out of the wall onto the floor and the broken dishes everywhere. Most comments agree “never buy from flippers”.  It’s interesting to me, but if they didn’t tell these people about the foundation, then that’s not ok.  Not sure what an inspector would say.  I do remember my class talking about things an inspector can’t identify, but I’d have to refresh on what those things are.  Wow just wow.  I’m glad they saved my boyfriend, but the buyers are in my thoughts and prayers 🙏🏼 

Thrift Store! 👖 👚 👕

 

I know in my last post I said thrifting used to be more of a gold mine than it is now. I forgot about this thrift store near my boyfriend’s old townhouse on Houston’s west side. Every single item in the store is priced according to the day of the week. Today, everything was a dollar. Kevin and I got 11 items total. Spent $11!  I know Wednesdays need to be tried out- we went once on a Wednesday, and it was a mad house!  Half the clothes were on the floor two hours before closings. 

Denim Chenille Quilts 🧵 🪡 👖

 

I’m making two denim chenille quilts for my daughter to put in her college dorm in the fall of 2025. I’m doing it with pioneer woman quilting fabric from Walmart, alternated with solids- some of the strips are pictured above. I know some of them have to be rearranged and taken apart because they won’t alternate right. Evita wants two quilts- one of each of those patterns. 

I made these quilts years and years ago. Back then, I made two for myself, two for charity auctions, and one king size one for my parents. Mom still has it, but only uses it in the winter. 

Back then, thrifting was a lot more of a gold mine than it is nowadays. I went one time to a thrift store called value village and bought several large, long denim dresses and skirts. I took off all the buttons and zippers and had a nice button and zipper stash. I was also in a free cycle group and got an entire roll of denim fabric which I traded for a bottle of ass kickin hot sauce. I’m serious!  

Needless to say, it’s been more than a decade since I’ve sewn anything, due to having suffered severe panic attacks. But I’m a lot better now, so I got out the machine. It was doing something weird, so I posted a video of it on TikTok with #sewing asking what to do. A few ladies commented what button to push, and the problem was fixed!  

I’m rusty, but still got it. One thing about quilting-  I hate rotary cutting. I just can’t do it, I get squeamish. I use regular scissors, which makes it less “precise”, but with this pattern, the clipping at the end to create the chenille effect takes care of that. After that, I wash it with a lot of fabric softener. 

Evita is going to love these, and her dorm will be so cute. I do gotta go to Walmart for more solids tho!!!

Random Funny/Adorable

How many of these have you done?  And who sat there and thought of all of those? 

Woman who fosters cats took in a pregnant stray. When the cat gave birth, she took her for a whole maternity professional photo shoot!

Kid decorates grandpa. 

 

Seed Ball Gardens

 Years and years ago, I read Food Not Lawns. I have since misplaced the book- might have to get another one. One thing I took from it was a concept called seed balls. Seed balls are one part seed mixture, three parts compost, and five parts clay. Make little balls out of this, wet them until they stick, and toss them anywhere. You can be pleasantly surprised at what comes up. I wanted to do seed balls in my garden here in Waller, but I couldn’t find bags of compost and I couldn’t find gardening clay. So I just smooshed all the seeds together in garden soil, wet it, and threw clumps anywhere. Not real seed balls, but this is what’s coming up:  

The last time I did seed balls was in 2010. I had a picture of Evita helping me make them. In the picture, she is holding a seed ball in her hand and looking at it with a grossed out look on her face. You can tell that her three year old mind is associating it with poop. I can’t find that picture to save my life, but here are some others from the garden that year:  

I recently discovered seed ball clay and compost bags on Amazon. I ordered them, and when they arrive I’ll be making actual real seed balls. 

Boroughs?

While Kevin and I go for walks on his parents’ 10 acres, we notice these random holes in the ground. I don’t know what they are. I’m not nature savvy. My guess is either boroughs where animals put their babies, or something to do with snakes. We have seen snakes!