Since we last met here, Kenny and I have been all over Louisiana and to South Florida.. I think we ended up on the moon at some point. Then we house/pet sat for Ashley, while she, Dustin, Gabe, Izze, and Isla went to Hawaii.
I didn’t take a bunch of photos, so you will just have to trust my word on our trip to the moon. 
While in Louisiana, I tried to remember the location of the B. Dalton Booksellers where I worked at the Pecanland Mall, in 1988. It was next door to Victoria’s Secret, where I also worked. Thirty five years takes a lot of memories with it.. so I am still not positive, but I think B. Dalton was where Rainbow is now. 🤔
In between traveling, we took in several concerts in Memphis and North Mississippi: Janet Jackson, Bobby Rush, Dave Matthews Band, and The Boxmasters with Billy Bob Thornton.
Then we returned home to the REAL Boxmasters: Frankie and Celie. According to them, the most prized possession in the house is the small gingham box that lives in the kitchen (see photo smackdown below).
Since then I have been spending most of my time on the porch, while the weather is nice:
My plants took a serious beating last winter. They were neglected for a month while we were in Florida, then our newest cat, Celie, could not destroy them enough while they were in the house. 
Most everything sprang back for me though; and the porch is a peaceful, green space for Kenny and I to share our coffee, each morning…
.. and of course a cigarette. 
Kenny and I quit smoking in 2007, for nearly ten years.. but started back on election night in 2016.
We had planned to quit early.. but life kept hurling bombs at us. Kenny’s widowed mother, Louise, had reached a point where she could no longer live alone, and moved in with us for three and a half years. During that time, we were trying to move everything out of our house and hers, and fix both up to sell.
In the middle of all that came COVID, which did nothing to help Louise’s fight with dementia. Before COVID, we weren’t even aware that she had dementia; but losing the last bit of her independence in quarantine seemed to accelerate everything, whether we knew what was going on or not.
By the end of 2021, we had to admit she needed a full staff of people to care for her in a nursing home.. and Kenny suddenly and simultaneously needed two hip replacement surgeries.
It’s still all very freshly surreal for me.. but we both clung to cigarettes, attempting to self medicate the stress into submission. I switched back to clove cigarettes a year ago, in a deluded notion that it wasn’t as bad, and wouldn’t be as hard to quit.
Anywho.. we are on Wellbutrin to quit smoking, for almost a week now. Keep us in your positive thoughts, and maybe give us a pass if we act a little strange while we are on brain meds for the next twelve weeks.
We’ve also both decided to lean hard into health again and lose the weight we gained over the past few years. See how cute we were ten years ago (above)? Back then we were eating right and walking 3 to 5 miles, five days a week. There’s no reason we can’t get back there… wish us luck!
Other than that sudden revelation, the only other thing to report is:
Upholstery News: I received my chair, two ottomans and bolsters we had upholstered to match the sofa.
I’m seriously in love with everything and we are both so happy that we didn’t leave the Henredon out on the curb! I’m not a fan of the look of bolsters on a sofa, but Kenny loves them.. so I guess they stay.. for now.
