The Brod Abode ~~ Where life's a hoot!

Even though the temps are still hot here in north Texas, the air has changed. At least it seems that way to me. Grasping at straws.....quite possibly. LOL  But regardless, it lifts my spirit and I'll take that any day. Fall is my favorite time of year. Opening windows after living in air conditioning for months on end and before buttoning up for the colder air of winter and the heater. The leaves on our ornamental pears begin to turn a beautiful shade of maroon, the neighbors' trees are a riot of gold and orange and the leaves begin to fall. Yard work slows down. I swear every year I'm going to have a wonderful fall veggie garden and every year it doesn't happen. I have always believed we will have better luck in the fall rather than our non existent spring that quickly melts into a hot and dry summer. One of these years I will have to follow through. Have you had a successful far garden? Texas weather can be so strange but I still have hopes of getting a garden in. S

Oh my goodness! How long has it been? And how to leave the readers hanging? Are you out there? LOL I think about the blog often and what I need to share and post and the pictures I want you to see. I think a lot! :0 So today I will catch up with our grand daughter's wonderful journey and all the other good stuff going on at The Brod Abode. Guinevere Isabella was the phone call we got that day in February. She was to be born a month early and it was a wild ride for the next few weeks. But........... Our grand daughter, Izzy, has thrived. She is growing like babies do and she is the blessing of our lives. Our home looks like a day care center which is as it should be! She and I have been spending a great deal of time together the past few weeks. Her daddy, our youngest son Jordan, plays in an ice hockey league. In July during a game his skate got stuck in the ice while he was trying to get the puck and he broke his ankle. Now, Jordan is a stay at home dad. Our sweet daughter in

Happy New Year? Part 1? Yes, I have been away for a long while and so much has happened. I'm breaking it up into 2 parts to try to explain all the crazy, wonderful and yes, painful things that have happened too. It's been crazy around the Brod Abode since the holidays and hasn't let up for a moment. But, all is good. Once the holidays were over I always leave up our decorations until 12th Night or the Epiphany. I enjoy them so much more after the holidays it seems because there is a bit more time to relax and focus. I planned to take them down starting on the 6th. For those of you who occasionally read my occasional blogs, our family had a major challenge handed to us last summer. Hubs, Mr. Mike, who has been a pharmacist for nearly 40 years lost his job at Express Scripts. Yeppers, they just closed the entire place down in June. This put hundreds of pharmacists and pharmacy techs out of work in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Which means those who found jobs in this area were v

Time flies so very quickly. I thought after the boys were grown and gone our lives would slow down a bit and as we aged and our bodies broke down a little day by day it would be leisurely. Time still goes by at the speed of light or so it would seem. Mr. Mike is 61 and I will be 60 in 5 short months. Halloween is upon us and the decorating has begun. Christmas is right around the corner and I'm starting to plan and get ready for that. We will have a no addition to our family in early spring. We are expecting our very first grand baby with our son and his lovely wife. We are absolutely giddy with excitement and thanksgiving. God is so good and mom and baby are doing well. I'm in a flurry of activity for that as well. Quilts, burp cloths, story books.....all occupy my mind daily and just the glory of it all fills our hearts with joy that only the Lord can bring. We are blessed and are praying for continued good health (with a bit of sickness during the day) and a healthy mom a

I can't believe it's been nearly 3 months since I posted! OMGosh......I thought life would slow down once that "certain age" was attained life would slow down and we will enter the golden age of relaxation and slowing down. Well, the Lord says His time is not ours and His ways are not ours and we saw that in spades this summer. So with our faith and trust in someone greater than us we have forged ahead. And been blessed in a way we weren't quite ready for but knowing someone has our backs each and every moment of every day is a comfort. In May we were told that Mr. Mike would no longer have a job after June 27th. He has worked for Medco mail order pharmacy and then Express Scripts for the past 10 years. After working in retail for 30 years he was ready for a change. Those of you who are in retail and those of us who have worked that merry go round know of what I speak. It's daunting in this "entitled age" of which we live. Shame on people who get u

My eyes have been so weepy this week. I do not think this is from the recent cataract surgery. I'm sure it could be due to the so many changes going on in our lives right now and the difficult decisions that have to be made concerning our future. My mind has been consumed with thoughts of my sweet baby boys, now 34 and nearly 32 and the overwhelming desire to go back. And do it all over again. Because being a mom, a stay at home mom, was absolutely the best. Once the chickies started leaving the nest I was devastated. It hit me so dang hard to watch them drive off to Texas A&M in 1998 and 2001. I was devastated because they had been my life for so long. Yes, there were days I would have signed them up for a field trip to Mars. Yes, I realized quickly how much easier it was to have a job away from home than stay home with 2 little boys, 2 1/2 years apart in age. But I would not have traded it for the world. And the fact that I was a volunteer firefighter/EMT probably kept me san