Las Vegas

 Morning!  I have added a small amount of pictures we took in Las Vegas.  The first picture was in the airport.  We were welcomed to many people and slot machines already.

A quick taxi ride to the resort we stayed at Club Du Soleil just past the strip about 3 to 4 miles. Nice accommodations but felt we walked a lot to get to the front of the resort for the shuttle.  The shuttle was very nice to have to take you to and from the resort free of charge.  They will drop you off at either the Mirage or New York, New York.

 This was outside Treasure Island.

 The Venetian

 World's largest Ferris wheel.

 Flamingos and the Flamingo

 While sitting at Mirage waiting for the shuttle we noticed how tall these palms were along this 9 level parking ramp.

 On the shuttle to Mirage you can  see the Trump building.  I'm not much for gold color but this was kinda neat to see.

 Outside our resort surrounded by mountains.  This picture was zoomed in.

 Outside of the Mirage

 Inside Caesar's Palace.  I loved the feeling of evening ceiling in this place, I was in awe.

 The Bellagio fountains.

 Inside Cosmopolitan was Liberace's diamond encrusted car.

 The strip

 Excalibur

 Outside of New York, New York

 Another strip shot

 The Paris.  Beautiful inside, one morning we enjoyed some coffee and conversation for quite a while in there.

 Inside the Bellagio is a garden for Easter/Spring, with over size pots, butterflies and flowers. 

 This picture in the Bellagio garden was made entirely of flowers and greenery.

 The Bellagio fountains getting ready to start up.

We weren't sure if we could go on our trip because Mr. Man was in an accident a couple of days prior and he could hardly walk.  Walking or sitting too much was painful and we thought maybe the four hour flight there would be too much. We really didn't know if we needed to cancel until the day of.  He insisted we went but we did take it easy.  Many rests and going back to the resort early.  

We did see the night lights only once but we both were OK for what we got in.  We did go into all the major casinos the only ones we didn't get to were the further out ones like Circus Circus.  We did get up and down the rest of the strip but we did it over several days.

We didn't get to any shows because they were in the evening and we were back at the resort after dinner.  Which was early for us since we were three hours later than pacific time.

The one night we were there we didn't take in a show because we wanted to see all the night life stuff.

We did have one event we had planned, it was an early morning trip to see Hover Dam but the driver, we felt was on something.  He was very hyper, much to much for just morning coffee and his driving was very fast and dangerous.  In and out of traffic stopping on a dime taking corners way to fast and stopping at only half the stop signs then complaining about all the other drivers around him.  I said something to Mr. Man about how I felt I was fearing for my life.  He just was in an accident and also felt very uncomfortable.  So after 40 minutes or so driving around town picking up other passengers we got of at Harrah's and Mr. Man called the tour company to let them know about him.  Thankfully they just reversed our charges.

After a morning in on the strip we made our way back to the resort very early on to pack and we just enjoyed sitting on the balcony in extreme wind and felt very good about our decision not to drive any further with that crazy driver.

Las Vegas isn't our place, we don't think we would ever go back.  We aren't gamblers I think together we put in $27.00 in the slots the rest was just sight seeing and eating.

It feels good to be home and planning our next trip to Florida.

I did post a few other pictures on my facebook page, so if you are my friend on fb you can see more there. Too many to post all, but I think we got good shots and had fun doing that.

Thanks for the visit!
Hugs,
Tania

Update

Just a quick update on Mr. Man...

He saw a doctor on Friday and was told he was restricted from lifting, bending and pushing at least until his next visit which is this Friday.  He is not to return work yet and will be starting physical therapy on Wednesday.

He can be a difficult patient but I am being quite stern that he cannot lift things like taking out the garbage which he thinks he still can do.  

I'm sure this is all new to him for me to be taking care of him but he needs to heal and rest that back.  

He has three medications he is taking along with using an ointment on his back and a back patch when not using the ointment.

I'm sure he will make a full recovery it's just going to take some time.

He has had a lot of well wishers and prayers which he and I appreciate very much.  Thank you!

Hugs,
Tania

"Our Easter"

 Our Easter was celebrated one week before this was a first for us.  We have always spent holidays at home with at least a few of our family members.  But when Mr. Man and I were planning our anniversary trip to Las Vegas the best time for us to go through our time share was Easter weekend.

I did ask Erica if that would be OK to change it up this year and she said this would work for her as well as she drives around on the holidays to also Tommy's side.  

 We had Mickey over that week end and baked and colored eggs. The Easter Bunny came to our house too as a special request to come a week early.  She was so much fun this year.  She was so into it!

 That afternoon Tommy and Erica came over for our dinner.  Also this year we used decorative paper plates that's a first as well.  But really nice just to throw them away!

After dinner we did arts and crafts.  We are planning on a faerie garden in our backyard and we decorated and painted little bird houses bought at Michael's that will be the faerie's house.

We had a very nice Easter but I don't think I will ever be gone again over a holiday, at least by choice it just isn't the same.  The only other holiday I didn't spend with Mr. Man in the past 32 years was when my mom died and I was in Minnesota planning her funeral and he and the girls were in GA.

Happy Belated Easter!

Stop by in a day or so I will have our Las Vegas trip posted.  

Hugs,
Tania

Accident

Wednesday Mr. Man was rear ended on his way home from work.  

I was busy making dinner and thought for some reason I should check my phone, which by the way I am really bad at.  I forget it in my purse all the time.

There was a text from Mr. Man call me right away.  Then I saw two missed calls.  That didn't seem right to me so I called him and he said he had been rear ended and he needed to go to the hospital and if I could go pick him up.  I said are you sure your OK to move for me to take you?  He said that the paramedics said I could.

I learned from Mr. Man what happened on the way to the hospital.  He was sitting at a stop light with several other cars and he got hit from behind quite hard.

A woman stopped and said I am your witness I saw it all happen even long before it happened.

Apparently these boys (early 20's) were flying in and out of traffic and he changed lanes into Mr. Mans and tried to stop but plowed into him.

The fire dept was out there and closed two of the three lanes to measure how long those skid marks were and told Mr. Man it's very clear what happened here.

I asked Mr. Man if the driver came over to see if you were alright and to apologize.  He said no he never came over but he heard one of the passengers say "man that was messed up".

Mr. Man was pretty shaken up and it a lot of pain.  Head pain along with head ache as his head slammed into the head rest, neck stiffness and such low back pain he could hardly walk.

After 5.5 hours in the ER he was sent home with some drugs and lots of rest.  He had strained his back.  He is doing OK can't stand or walk for long periods of time, a little neck pain still.  He had been rear ended four years ago from a semi and fractured his back in two places and we were very afraid he could have re-injured those spots but thankfully did not.

It has surely made both of us think he may need to change occupations.  His body has taken a toll on the physical work all these years and driving around Atlanta is always a risk and a scare.  I think he needs to find a desk job even with a pay cut I think he has finally agreed.  He sure has enjoyed being on the road and not being micro managed and chained to a desk but I think we may need this change.  He loves being outdoors and meeting new people everyday so that may be his biggest challenge.

I have always worried about him driving all day and he has had several accidents though out the years but these last two really has scared me, this last one him.  We aren't getting any younger ya know.

I still need to post our Easter and that is yet to come, maybe end of next week as we have things planned.

Thanks for the chat, catch you next week?
Hugs,
Tania

30 Years

 Since our last visit Mr. Man and I celebrated 30 years of marriage.  30 years!!!  Wow!  We didn't do anything big on April 7th other than we were together and had appetizers, dinner with wine.  Because our trip to Vegas is what we are doing special for this milestone.

The above cheese board Erica gave to us for our anniversary. It's so great I can't use it but it will sit out on the counter.

 We pulled out our unity candle which has seen better days and Mr. Man pulled out this wedding couple bell and quite honestly I don't remember it, if we bought it, if someone bought it for us...did we use it.  My memory has failed me some these past 30 years I guess.

I was out and about that day and stopped in at Walmart and picked up a cake and they added this heart and 30 for me.  Mr. Man and I don't eat a lot of sweets like this so we each took a small piece and the other day it was still sitting there with just those two small pieces taken so I wrapped it back up and put it in the freezer.  

It will probably get thrown out.

I feel pretty blessed to have been married to Mr. Man for 30 years.  Many, many good times but not with out a bump or two in the road. But I think and pray we have been through the worst of times and it is smooth sailing for the rest of our lives.

Stay tuned I hope to blog again this week about "our" Easter which we had this past Sunday.

Thanks for stopping or hopping on by!
Hugs,
Tania

Rained Out

 

                                                             Minnie's Bag
This past Saturday I was to set up a table at a sale with my handmade bags.  But it started raining Friday morning with some thunder and lightening.  The weather channel said it was to continue until 7 p.m. Saturday night.  Ugh!  It was a very hard decision but since it had rained all day already Friday I had decided not to set up. 

I was looking in buying a canopy which would have been fine maybe...if it rained straight down and not at a slant.  Also it was quite windy. 

Well very upset it wasn't all as bad as they predicted but it still did rain some and probably wouldn't have made the sales to cover the cost of buying a canopy. 

I'm not going to look back on this any more but move forward.  I put five new bags in my Etsy store and I have many more.  They will be there until I set up my website
thepurplecats.com

Sunday Mr. Man and I want to see the movie Noah and we did see it on the IMAX.  Lately we seem to see most of our movies at the IMAX, we love that big screen.

 

It was very entertaining but a very loose interpretation of the Bible. 

 

I had told Mr. Man when Son of God came out in the theaters I wanted to see it, he didn't seem to keen on it but he did say he wanted to see Noah.  He usually doesn't like Bible based movies so I had to take him up on it. 

 

We belong to various movie club award cards and when we paid for our Noah tickets I also got a free ticket to use because of our accumulated points and I said immediately to Mr. Man I'm going to go see Son of God with this.  He almost looked like he wanted to go, we'll see.

 

We ended our Sunday date with dinner at Fronterra's, we don't usually eat Mexican out and now I remember why I really don't like to eat it out, I like my version of Mexican food made at home.  Note to self.

 

Thanks for the visit I know it has been a little while once again.  I am off now to look for wedding decor for my daughter bride to be.

 

Hugs,

Tania

 

Hello Spring!      

Isn't it wonderful!  It makes me smile and I'm going to use fun springy font to blog with today!  I hope you can read my post OK.

soooo.....

St. Patrick's Day came and gone and I didn't write about it.  I did our usual St Patty day dinner which is corn beef, cabbage with potatoes and carrots simmering all day.

I had lots of left overs, we ate in on the 19th as well and still had left overs, its like Thanksgiving turkey!  I just couldn't throw it out so yesterday I made soup out of it and added a bag of frozen mixed veggies and a small handful of pasta, oh and some beef broth.

 And may I say it was yummy!!!  I had two bowls of it!  Two!  I never do that!  (I had some again today)

 All this week when I take Fiona out I get to see beautiful flowers and trees blooming and I have been meaning to take these pictures and finally did it today.  The leaves are starting to show through and the flowers are falling fast, I am sure next week the flowers will be gone from the trees.

 

 It's it beautiful?  You can see more neighbors down our block with this same type of tree.  They are pear trees, we had several in our back yard in Conyers, but not a one at this house.

Can you see the yellow daffodils?  I think they doubled in size this year.

As I write this I am so happy about spring but in the back of my mind I am thinking of Erica, Mickey and Tommy.  Erica was backed into over a week ago and just got her truck out of the shop yesterday late afternoon and just minutes after picking it up the truck behind her didn't stop and pushed her into the car in front of her!  He was angry at her!  He was quite a jerk to her and it wasn't her fault.  On top of it all she has a very bad cold, Mickey too.  All three of them (Erica, Mickey and Tommy) have beck and shoulder pain and Erica also has head pain.  They went to the hospital she had a head scan, thankfully all is OK.

They are all pretty miserable today. The damage isn't as bad as we thought which is good but its another trip to the auto body shop and another call to the insurance company.

Didn't mean to leave this happy day on a sad note, what can I say to change the mood?

Let me open the windows and let the breeze in and think about it a moment...smell those flowers?

Hugs,

Tania

                                                    

Projects



What I have been working on besides making bags.

 

I have been working on organizing my mom and grandma's photos, cards and memorabilia and it's been fun, It is now organized so I need to do something with them. I have been putting them in a quick type of album.

 

I like this approach for these old pictures because one day my girls may want to take them out copy them or read the backs.

 

I am about half way on the pictures being done and look forward to working on the memorabilia part of it.

The last picture I showed you of my bags and new design  weren't complete.  I added a flower or a yo yo or buttons to each back also if you look very closely each zipper has a charm zipper pull added. 

 

The charm is a heart on one side and the word love on the other.  I am currently looking for a manufacturer to make my own charm design to really make it my own as well as my fabric design for the lining of each bag. 

 

All baby steps but a fun process.

It's been cool and rainy this week which I am kinda thankful for since I need to be inside making bags for the fair coming up the end of the month.  Next month I will be making bags for my Etsy account and possibly my .com  I am hoping that will be my one stop and combine my blogs and store. 

Also next month I want to focus more on my back yard so I hope to post that process because our back yard is a mess!  I love having a nice back yard, park like but with all of our moves I lost my mojo and I hope getting out there before it gets too hot I will feel the need to be in there beautifying my yard.

Hugs,
Tania

Arthur Bayliss Jr

Today is the funeral for my first cousin once removed.  He is also my Godfather.

 

I have many early memories of him and his family as our families use to get together all the time.  Then Jr (what we called him) and his wife Evie got a divorce and our families  separated ways.

 

 

The divorce was hard on him and also the fact his ex wife didn't let him have a relationship with his two children, he took to drinking which caused him to have diabetes. 

 

One night was too much and he suffered a major stroke and was put into an assisted living home.  Oh my he must have been in there for at least 20 years.

 

This past year he has had kidney issues and was in and out of the hospital and had dialysis.  It was too much for him and the three months ago he said he just wanted to go back to his home city/assisted living to die.  Which he did March 11, 2014.

 

His story is a sad one but when ever I went to see him he always was smiling and loved to laugh.  Sadly the last time I saw him was 2006 when his mother (my great aunt Sally) passed.

 

I pray for him to have peace.

 

The picture is his graduation picture.  He was only in his mid 60's.

 

Hugs, special hugs for his siblings Duane and Debbie

Tania

 



 Sunday morning we took Mickey to Yellow River Trail Game Ranch in Stone Mountain.  It's our first time there and wasn't sure what to expect.   Most of the animals here are rescued.

It was a beautiful morning a perfect day to be there.

First you walk into a building to pay there are gifts to buy and food for the animals such as sleeves of crackers, bags of peanuts, carrots and apples.  We bought crackers, peanuts and Mickey said we needed an apple so we bought one.

 We had such a wonderful time feeding the animals. Some were outside the fence most inside and some doubled fenced like the wild bob cats, bears and the bigger deers.

It took a little coaxing to get Mickey to hand feed the animals but once she did it she was comfortable doing it.

 This sweetie liked to suck on your finger it was just a baby.  It made Mickey laugh so hard.  This time I had to help her but after this time she was OK to do it on her own.

 *note...go in the morning by the time we were leaving the animals were ready for their afternoon nap.  Also this place is so much better than the Atlanta Zoo. 

We picked up lunch on the way home and sat on our deck to eat such a treat after a cold winter.

 We went inside to do our craft project.  You put plastic beads on a template, iron to melt to make things like a cat or turtle.  Mr. Man put magnets on the back so Mickey could put them on her fridge at home.

 Then we took out the card table and sorted through small shells.  We are looking for shark teeth and cute different little shells.  We brought buckets of small shells home because it was too cold to be on the beach to look for shark teeth.  We have gone through four buckets and not one!  But it is fun family time.

Backing up to Saturday after we picked up Mickey, when we drove up the drive way Mickey noticed our neighbors daffodils flowers in the yard.  I told her we had some in our back yard and I had picked some and she said Mimi I pick some for my mommy.  Sure!  So we went right into the back yard and she picked a bunch of flowers for mom. 

Then we decided to pick up some sticks and branches to put into our fire pit wood pile.  We had several from our big trees, it was a hard winter on branches this year.  Mr. Man came out and joined us, after a long while we decided now would be a good time to make brownies.

Mickey was trying real hard to turn the knob to get in the house and wasn't able, so then I tried...oOpS!  We are locked out!  Mr. Man wasn't happy about this.  I said who was the last one out.  He said well I didn't lock it.  Hmmm I wonder who did then?  He was the last one out.

I thought it was kinda funny.  I have been locked out two other times so I've been there this was his first time.  He went next door and got a ladder from the neighbor.  The only window I could remember that maybe unlocked was in my creative room.  Ahem three stories up! 

As Mr. Man climbs up the ladder Mickey yells up to him, Papa don't forget to unlock the front door!  ~laughing~

Our neighbor told her no we all have to climb the ladder up to get in, she was ready to do that!

Once in we made our brownies and later had mint chocolate chip ice cream with them.  YUM!

Sunday Erica came to pick up Mickey so we had dinner on the deck I had made crock pot chicken and dumplings I found on pinterest this is such a good dish!

This week I have been busy once again making bags.  I made this little coin purse to put my square in so I won't loose it in my purse.  I have never made anything with this type of closure.  It wasn't hard to do just awkward.  I may have to make more of these to sell.

Well gotta go make more bags!

Hugs,
Tania