Zoe and Sophia, good buy, the storm

I am afraid this was not much of a fun weekend for Zoe and Sophia. The only time they got to play was on Friday evening and Sunday evening. Other than that, during their waking hours they were on the move with Mama and Victoria or traveling to meet their mommy and daddy with me and Mama. I think they had fun with us, especially Victoria. At least they are very familiar with the house and the farm, so they were able to settle in very quickly. They are still afraid of the big dogs, the goats and the chickens when they are up close, but they like them all from afar. They love Mocha. They are bigger than her and that fits into their comfort zone. However, when Mocha barks during play with them or Mama, it still scares the girls. I did not get to spend much time with the twins Friday, Saturday or Sunday, but we got some time together Monday; both in the morning and as we traveled to meet Brittany and Andrew in Altus. But we stopped for a visit with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa on the way.

We met Brittany and Andrew at a donut shop in Altus. It is called Donut and Fried Rice. That is exactly what it was. A little donut shop that served fried rice and pad tai for lunch. Mama and I were hungry, so we tried a dish of each – shrimp fried rice and combination pad tai. It was a little past the girl’s lunchtime, but they were not interested in eating. They realized they were being given back to mommy and daddy and they were not sure they were altogether happy about it. Brittany and Andrew were already at the restaurant with a couple they had been stationed with in England. That couple had recently had a baby boy they were showing off. While in Altus, Brittany and Andrew had visited with two or three other military couples who also recently had babies. They had had a fun long weekend.

We ate a leisurely lunch together, transferred all the luggage and bedding items from the Sequoia to the van and loaded the girls into their car seats. They were not happy for me and Grammy to be leaving separately, but they recovered quickly. Brittany told Mama later that the girls had fallen asleep before they got out of town. When they each woke up later, Zoe asked for Mama and Sophia asked for me. They were not pleased that we were not there.

While Brittany and Andrew were heading home, Mama and I headed East to Lawton so we could look at our two houses there. What we found was very discouraging. In the Dover house, nothing has been done over the last three months. We were not able to get into the other property, but it looks untouched from what we could see. I will contact our realtor today, but I am at a loss what to say. With the Dover property, we successfully bid on the house in September of last year. We closed in November. So, we are closing in on a year of remodeling – hit and miss. Mostly miss. I have no idea if that is normal or if there is some reason our projects are going so slowly. Though I do not want to offend, I need an answer to address the timeline and a projection what we can expect for completion. Before I contact him, I need to do some research and get my timelines straight, but promises have been made and not kept. I can only say it is a good thing I did not base any of the decisions made for work on those bold promises.

Mama was supposed to meet with Kimberlyn today to work on their craft business, but she is feeling poorly and cannot make it. The two of them were also supposed to attend the Wise County Auction here in Decatur today. With Mama feeling as badly as she did last night, I am not sure that will happen either. We did buy Mama a nice walker this weekend. There was a yard sale very near us and they had the walker sitting where it was easily seen from the road. I took Mama by and we looked it over. They were asking $25. We offered $20. They took it. We also bought several pairs of boy’s jeans for Grant and Blake. Spending a total of $25. Mama and Victoria used the walker as they shopped the outlet mall with the twins. The twins rode in the walker seat while Mama used it to help take the pressure off her knee. It was a good buy. A fun ride for Zoe and Sophia. Support for Mama.

Pray for Maggie and the kids – and hundreds of thousands of others – as the hurricane approaches the East Coast of the US. Aaron is on the boat heading out into the Atlantic to keep the boat safe and be ready to help in the recovery after the storm passes. Maggie has told to evacuate. She is not happy, but she has better options than many of the thousands that have no one to turn to as she does.

It will be a long week and perhaps a difficult month for many in the path of the storm.