Goof...

Sorry, Hayley Kathryn Designs... Read previous post. Thanks...

I Need Sunshine!!!

I need some sunshine BAD! I'm getting S.A.D.! No kidding... Had to change my blog and banner to something sunny and bright to lift my spirits. This is working so far - all I gotta do is look at these brilliant skies and the sunshine and it makes me smile!

We had a GREAT Christmastime with family and friends. DH and I think it was one of the best we've ever had, truly. It was nice to have all of our kids home - and as much as I want grandbabies - nobody's married yet and we don't have to share our kids with anyone else right now. We had fun watching movies, cooking together, just visiting, watching the guys kill each other playing war games on XBox 360 and yelling, hitting each other, laughing and cutting up. It was great!

We Christmas't again today at my folks' house. My sister and I always plan something silly for mom and dad. This year, we got mom started on a Pandora bracelet and we got Daddy an IPod. We wrapped all their gifts including each little charm on mom's bracelet and all the pieces to the IPod in different little boxes - 10 in all. Then we hid them like Easter eggs all around the living room where their Christmas trees were. We all unwrapped our gifts, and let the folks sit and watch. Then we gave mom and dad a Christmas gift bag and told them to start hunting! It was so fun and we all got a good laugh out of it! We hollered "you're getting warmer!" or "getting colder!" at them until they finally found 9 of the 10 gifts - we had to give them lots of hints on the last one. Then they had to open their gifts in a certain sequence. I think they had a lot of fun and it's neat to do something different with them each year!

We finally settled for grilled burgers for dinner. They were great! and everybody was tired of turkey and ham and dressing. So it was a nice change. We'll do a fish fry next week. Adam and Pop have been fishing several times and we need to eat that fish and make some more room in the freezer so they can go again! Otherwise, they'll have to do a "catch & release".

My daughter is just starting a blog called Hayley Kathryn Designs . She's very artsy-crafty and is going to advertise some of her creations - she's a big hit with young ladies her age (college age +) and will be adding new designs for sale in the near future. She's done quite a few of her particular works of art for friends, and thought since she's had so many requests, why not see if she could do something with it??? Hayley also loves re-furbishing old furniture and decorating. She has alot of talent and she and I have seriously thought about opening our own business doing all kinds of arts and funky stuff. She has a good eye for design and color. I think she would love for some of you sweet friends to stop by and say hi from time to time as she gets more stuff on her blog.

Well, here's a parting shot of little Bella with her Christmas collar on. It was red and green and she looked like a court jester running around with it on. She's a sweetie but a pistol. I don't know if I ever see her just sitting still. We should've called her "Taz"...

MERRY CHRISTMAS YA'LL!!

Merry Christmas! It's Christmas Eve at last and I think I'm ready - or at least as ready as I'm going to be. I'm leaving work in a little bit and making my last stop at the grocery store to pick up a few odds and ends and then it's home to cook for the rest of the afternoon. We are having Christmas dinner with the in-laws tomorrow and on Saturday with my parents and family. So I'll get a break on Friday.

Don't know if you read my post the other day, but we were trying to decide between a fish fry and hamburgers for Saturday at mom's house. I think we may do both, however, this morning, she threw a kink in the mix - now she says that she may do steaks and baked potatoes and all the trimmings.

Whatever...

Just thought I'd show my Christmas tree. It was lovely this year. I loved it. Some kind of spruce tree. I really liked it. I don't think we've had one of these before. I didn't do a tour of my home because I didn't do a whole of decorating this year. I kept it to a minimum because of my schedule. It's been crazy.

I was thinking back a year ago, and one of my first posts was about my middle son's birthday. Well, we did his birthday again Monday evening at the Mexican restaurant just like before. It's a tradition. He turned 23. wow - unbelievable. Here's a pic with his dad.

Well, gotta run - I wish you, all my blogging friends, the warmest of Christmas blessings, the love of the Lord upon you and yours, and that we all remember and feel the holiness and the awe of the coming of our Savior. In Him, Vickie

Thank God I'm a Cowboy

I forgot to mention something to ya'll. A little advertising here---- Adam just finished co-writing a beautiful song with Bill Shore & another songwriter (forgot his name!) in Nashville - it's called "Thank God I'm a Cowboy". It's really good - look at my sidebar and underneath his picture there's a link to the studio where he cut a demo that they are going to start pitching. I really like it alot, and I hope somebody will pick it up and record it. I think it's one of his best songs. Just thought you might wanna check it out. Here, I'll just go ahead and list the link here, too. Just copy it and listen... -http://sonicedenstudios.com/soniceden/shore.html

Thanks for takin a listen...

Gettin' Ready for Christmas

Hi everybody! We're all well at our house! YEA! Hopefully I can keep it that way for another week or so. Adam's home - got home on Thursday afternoon. What's the first thing he does? Calls his Pop-pop and they plan a fishin trip. This morning they went to Pop's friends' ranch where they have a private lake. I think they're cooking up a fish fry for Christmas dinner at my mom's house. Who knows - Mom just said she doesn't want turkey & dressin. We were trying to decide between Pop's Million Dollar grilled hamburgers (yum), Mom's Sunday roast, and a big fish fry with all the trimmings. So far, the fish is ahead. 'Specially if Adam has anything to do with it. Good ole big mouth bass & crappie! Yum-o!

Well, He and Pop stayed all day fishin and shootin turtles & varmints at the ranch - there's millions of em out there and they're a nuisance, they've also got hog traps & have caught quite a few - hey this is Texas and hog and varmint huntin is a state passtime, what can I say. The hogs literally tear up the landscape and make it not worth much for anything, dig up crops, eat whatever they want - and they breed like rabbits, and they're dangerous to boot. The more we can get rid of the better.

There are snakes, too, copperheads and water moccasins. Back in September when me, my sister and Pop went fishing out there we counted 4-5 water moccasins in the lake and a big one actually climbed up on the motor of the boat and was about to come in the boat!!! My sister was sittin in the back seat of the boat and I hollered at her and she jumped back and we swatted at it with our fishing rods and it scooted back into the water. It was a big-un! THEN, she freaked out.

I'm finally getting most of the shopping done, the tree finally got decorated and I put out a few other deco's. I'm going to be cooking for Christmas at my in-laws. My sweet MIL doesn't cook anymore - cuz she doesn't remember how. She's in good health and is sweet and happy, but I'm afraid Alzheimer's is slowly taking her memory. I hate it for her, and I hate it for my FIL who has to stay with her all the time and keep an eye on her. She's gone walking at night after he's gone to bed and he got up and found her missing. My FIL called my DH and he was about to go looking for her when she returned home. She just went for a walk. She just doesn't realize the danger anymore. It's sad. We are going to have to make some very hard decisions very soon I'm afraid. My FIL is getting more and more feeble and DH & I think they need to be in assisted living at least. They are unwilling to accept this right now.

Anyway, I guess I better start making preparations for Christmas dinner. We'll have Christmas at MY folk's house on the 27th when my sister's family can be here. My brother & his wife are not going to get to come this year. :^( Sorry I haven't posted any pictures of my Christmas tree or anything. I feel like I've done so little this year towards Christmas, but I've been alot more relaxed and I've taken a lot of pressure off myself.

Here's a pic of the new pipe fence we put up in front of our place at the farm. The gates still have to be welded, but DH put chains up for now. He's also painted it the same color green that the

shutters on the house are.

Hopefully, this fence along with the alarm system will take care of any would-be thieves. At least, we feel more secure knowing that people just can't drive up to the side of the house, break in the back door, and clean us out. At least it'll be alot harder for them. We hope to get the entire farm surrounded in this heavy pipe fence before it's all over with. Kinda expensive tho - we'll have to do it in increments.

All three of my kids are out roaming tonight. Even tho they're all in their 20's now, I still don't sleep until they get home safe & sound. They're good kids and I don't worry so much a bout what THEY will do, but about the other people around them.

Guess I'll go lay down and keep one eye on the clock and my cell phone. DH is snoring like a freight train - One of us has taken to sleeping on the couch nearly every night at some point. I think he has sleep apnea and his snoring has gotten worse over the years and the more weight he has gained. But he won't do anything about it.

Good night all - check with ya later... Vickie

Shoot Me Now...

Just Shoot Me Now... (I wrote this on Dec. 4, today is Dec. 13 - I couldn't figure out how to change the draft date...)

Been home for 3 days with a nasty cold, nasty, nasty. I decided yesterday that I should hang a bucket around my neck to keep my runny nose from running down my upper lip into my mouth like a little kid. Did your kids ever do that? And then just suck it on into their mouth? GAG. Mine did. I've gone through a box of Kleenex with lotion and my nose is still chapped. I've coated myself in Vicks and dragged my vaporizer around the house with me. I've coughed until my ribs and back and stomach are sore! I haven't washed my hair in 4 days and where it's not sticking to my head it's hanging in tangled dreadlocks - even worse than bedhead! What a bad time to be sick. I've got Christmas stuff to do! Parties and shopping! Decorating the tree! It's been sitting in the living room for a week with nothing on it!

Actually, I think my Nashville boy brought it home with him. DH and I both have it. Yuck.

It's been kinda nice being off work, but I really haven't felt like doing anything. I've been reading lots of blogs, but really had nothing to talk about. I've really enjoyed reading your blogs and seeing all your neat Christmas stuff - the trees, the decorations, the things you're making, the FOOD, traditions - it's been really interesting.

Ok, now back to Dec. 13. DH and I went to the farm today - he started painting the new pipe fence in front of the house. Boy does it make me feel a little more secure! I know people could still break in, but they'll have alot harder time doing it. I put up some Christmas lights and garland on the porch rails and did a little decorating. We're going to have Christmas at our home-home instead of the farm this year. I've done a little shopping now, and Princess is home from college and I'm looking foward to us going shopping together next week.

I think I'm more in the mood for Christmas than I was last year. I've had to learn this past year to say 'no', and just do what I can do and not OVER-do. If I can do all the things that make me happy and keep me unstressed then that's what I do. I will not feel guilty or stress out over things that don't get done. I may just hit the high spots and get the bare minimum done but this is what I have to do for me to keep me sane. Perhaps things will improve over time and I can get back to my rat-race life and trying to please everybody and keep everybody around me happy. But for now, I've got to keep myself happy - not selfish happy- just keep me calm.

A couple of years ago for my 50th birthday/30th annniversary, my sweet dear husband bought me a new wedding ring set - it's gorgeous!!! Anyway, I've been wanting to do something with the diamonds in my first wedding rings. I was too sentimental about it for a long time, but DH wants me to wear them. So, I went to several jewelers in our town and I found a setting that I liked. I wanted an antique-ish white gold setting and that's exactly what I got. It's rather renaissance-looking. I'll try to show you a close-up picture of it when I get it back! I'm so excited I can hardly wait and DH wants me to wrap it up and put it under the tree! Can you imagine that! Once it goes on my finger, it probably won't come off!

My job is about to change after the first of the year. When I first started working for Charles' construction company, we also managed 2 self storage facilities. This past year Charles' company has grown by leaps and bounds - we went from 5 fulltime employees to 20+, and we hired a new officer manager. He's taking a big load off of me, which is good. The lady I hired 2 years ago to manage the storage places has decided to get married and move to Waxahachie. So I'm going to be moving over to the self-storage place to do that. I was real upset and disappointed when I first said I would do it, but the more I think about it, the better I feel. I already knew the job, but I felt like it was a demotion. I was getting overwhelmed at the construction office. They may have to hire another person to just answer the phone and file and do light stuff. But the new office manager is going to take over most of my job - insurance, payroll, accounts payable/receivable, you-name-it-I-do-it.

I think I can see God's hand working here. He knows I don't need the stress right now. I am trying to seek His guidance in this and be open to His leading. Charles would've let me stay in the construction office and hired someone else to work the storage, but I told him I would do whatever he felt was best for the company and I'm going to be a team player. I truly think the Lord is leading me there, and opened up this opportunity for me. It's a low-stress job and I will have some free time at my office to read or do handwork or even do little watercolors. I hope I can work myself out of a job completely. As my kids get out of college in a year or two or three, I'm going to quit working outside the home. I long to get back to my home and painting and all the things I enjoy so much but can't do right now.

Speaking of jobs, my DH is trying to decide about his job. He was going to change in the summer, then in the fall, then after the first of the year. He thinks he needs to let the market settle for awhile. So we're still in a holding pattern for the time being. You know, "a bird in the hand..."

Well, let's see if I have any photos to show you. I need a Christmas header, don't I? well, let's see what I can do about that...

Here's some sillly pics of me, my mom and my sister in the car. They were yelling at me to stop taking pictures. Mom didn't want her wrinkles to show, and Lisa was being her usual obnoxious self for the camera. Dont' know what I was doing. We 3 always have a good time!

November 22, 1963, Happy Birthday Vickie!

No, I'm not trying to draw attention to myself. But I've been thinking back over the years about birthdays, good ones, bad ones, the milestones - 30, 40, 50 - and it seems like it HAS been 52 years, and yet it seems like it's flown by. The years are flying by faster and faster, aren't they?

1963 - I turned 7 years old. I was at my Nanny & PawPaw's house with my mom, dad, sister, & brother. My whole family was in mourning. My PawPaw had died on the day before - the 21st. He'd had 2-3 heart attacks in the last couple of weeks. I couldn't see him in the hospital for back then they wouldn't let you visit until you were 12 or so. Nanny & PawPaw were so special to me cuz I stayed with them when I was little so my mama could work at the bank. I didn't understand all that went on, of course, being so young. I drew pictures for PawPaw and my mom took them to the hospital to give him. She told me that he showed 'em to all the nurses. Still makes me smile when I think of that. PawPaw was only around 58-60 when he died. If it were today, he could've had by-pass surgery and lived...

Anyway, it was a sad day. Mom and Dad and Nanny were all upset, and trying to hide it from me and my sibs. They had a birthday cake and presents for me. Nanny had made me some clothes for my Barbie doll - she was a good seamstress. I don't remember what my parents gave me. People from church had brought lots of food to the house, but no one had much of an appetite.

We had the TV on during the day watching the goings-on. President John F. Kennedy was driving through Dallas, Texas, in a parade. All of a sudden, I remember this so clearly, my parents and Nanny, even though stricken with the loss of my PawPaw, jumped up and ran to the TV as we heard the shots ring out and the chaos that followed.

Unbelievable!!! Horrors! How could this happen to our President? Who could've done such a thing? I remember my folks were glued to the TV set as the events unfolded on November 22, 1963. I'm sure they, along with the rest of the nation, were distraught with anger, sorrow, and a zillion other emotions as the nation was shaken to the core with the loss of its leader.

I struggled in my 7-year old brain to understand what was going on. I just knew it was something terrible. I just knew it was horrible, almost as horrible as my PawPaw dying, even more so than before. My little sister was 4, she just kept on playing, and my baby brother slept through most of it.

Even today, the memory of that birthday is clear in my mind. It was a sad birthday. It was a historic birthday - something I'll always remember. A little black cloud hangs over that couple of days back in November of 1963. I don't know who my folks voted for that year, but I DO know that it always has seemed to me that he was the USA's golden boy and we will never know what great things Kennedy could've done, and never had the chance.

But you know what? I've had 51 other GREAT birthdays - times of happiness, times spent with loved ones, times with friends, hey my birthday falls on Thanksgiving every few years! My family says they get to be thankful for ME and we always have my birthday cake with Thanksgiving dinner (along with all the pies and stuff)! Of course, it's a big joke, but it gives us all a good laugh. I got cards in the mail, our best friends called from New York City to wish me Happy Birthday while on a trip, my kids all wished me a Happy Birthday & took me out to eat, my parents and DH's parents gave me cards with $$ in them to get me something, AND I got a new cell phone and some work boots for the farm from my husband. What more could a gal want? (I AM out of my favorite perfume, however, guess I'll have to get that for myself - I should have a big bottle or gift box of Light Blue - Dolce & Gabanna - Don't ya'll think so? I do!

911 - Help!

We had an exciting and scary time at the farm Sunday afternoon. My DH has contracted a young man to come do some welding for us and build a good fence in front our place for extra security and to keep people from turning around their car in our front yard (yes, stupid, insensitive jerky people DO do that). DH and the welder were doing their thing with the auger poking holes in the ground for the fence posts.

Me? Well, I was watering my mums (they are in the last throes of blooming) and pansies, when we all startled at the sound of gunfire. Pop! Pop! and then several more Pops! To our east across the front 25 or so acres runs a power line and a pole towards the end of the pasture. Boom! The transformer blew up, I'm tellin' ya it exploded! Fire and brimstone rained down upon our land and then the fire ran down a length of the power line burning up part of the line and raining down MORE brimstone! All across the front width of our pasture. DH and the welder ran down toward the pole to see what happened and quickly vamoosed out of there when the wire started burning.

I got up on the porch where I could see better, and a line of fire was engulfing the hay and the south wind was blowing it several feet at a time across the pasture. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911, and the operator patched us through to our local volunteer fire departments. In minutes the first one showed up with two small trucks. They took turns spraying and then had to run down the road to the water tower and fill their trucks back up. In the meantime, the other department sent a couple of big trucks out they, too, started spraying.

Gradually, they got the fire under control and in about 30 minutes had it contained and sputterin'. It burned out to the road, too, where it stopped short of jumping the road and burning 250 acres of Prime High-Dollar Tifton Horse Hay. All in all we lost about 25 acres. It's blacker'n black. But next spring it oughta come in beautifully and hopefully get rid of some bahia that was runnin'

through there messin' up the coastal.

Those beautiful shiny red fire trucks were black and wet and gloppy and so were the faces of the firemen. Now you know you're in po-dunk when the volunteer fire departments' wives are drivin' the trucks. But they all did a great job! I imagine we'll send 'em both a donation.

Also, one of the local TV stations came out and filmed part of it. My dear daughter who loves her parents so much and is so proud of them, flat out told me, "mom, you need to go in the house. Do NOT let them interview you!" How's that for love??? And then she said " MOM, make dad pull his jeans up! He's havin' a severe crack attack! Do you want to see THAT on TV!!!" (and he really was, bendin' over and diggin' and helpin' the welder) Which made me want us to be interviewed even more, but alas and alack, the reporters never did come up to the house. : ( I personally thought we'd've fit right into our little po-dunk community at the farm!

The Lord was watchin' out for us. If we'd not been out there, if the wind had been blowin' from the other direction, if, if, if, it would have burned up our little farmhouse, our shed, and all the work we've put into it over the last 18 months would have gone up in smoke.

Thank goodness for volunteers - of ALL KINDS! Where would we be without them?

It's Finally Here!

It's Finally here!!! Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage had a giveaway several weeks ago and she sent me a beautiful handmade gift. Only the Post Office must have delivered it to the wrong place for it only showed up just today! What a nice surprise when I got home from work. I've been checking on it at the Post Office and hoping that since we live in such a little town that perhaps the person who received my gift would send it on to me. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but it's here. Look!

When I opened the little package, it had a sweet note to me and her Quill Cottage card on the envelope. A lacy paper doily tied with a vintage tag wrapped up a sweet little tiny notebook that she had adorned in wonderful fall colors! On the front it has old lace, buttons and the word "inspire".

I think I'll use it for telephone #s, and/or birthdays! Thanks, Miss Sandy, for your thoughtful gift. Isn't it wonderful to receive hand-made items that come from someone's own heart and talents? I love things like that and treasure them so much.

Now, it'll be up to me to pass such a nice Gift-Away on to someone else.

I still can't get over how many nice ladies I've met via blogging. It just touches my heart to read your words of encouragement, heartache, joy, sadness, laughter and tears, and I feel like I can be myself here. I also feel like the "right" people will find me, and I'll find them - those who I make a connection to - kindred souls, if you will.

I've tried to explain it to my husband, and he just jokes about it and kids me about it. Since my son is a songwriter in Nashville, DH is trying to collaborate on a song about me being a "blogger" - I'm sure some kind of silly spoof. I'm sure they'll do it, too, just to irritate me. They are both big jokesters and LOVE to get under my skin. I try to be a good sport.

We were in College Station a couple of years ago with Adam, his best friend in the Corps, John, John's mom and several other friends eating at On the Border. We had a huge table of people, and were placing our orders. DH wound up at one end of the table and I wound up at the other. When I placed my order, my loving, sweet DH said in a loud voice, "Man, that gal can eat!" Everyone looked at me to see what my reaction would be. My kids died laughing (cuz they know their dad) and some of the other adults looked slightly bewildered and wondered what to do. I smiled and started laughing, I'm sure my face lit up cherry red, and then all the other people started laughing. I imagine the people sitting near us heard, too! I still haven't gotten him back for that one!

Which leads me to thinking about all the silly things he puts in my Christmas stocking every single year. Not ordinary things. He always has liked to come up with embarrasing or totally off the wall stuff to surprise me with. It's okay most of the time, but there have been several times when my kids have said," mom, let me see, what's that?" when I unwrapped a box of condoms, or the year I got a camo g-string. It's not like everybody's tearing into their own presents or stocking. At our house, we all take turns opening stuff so everyone can see. Plus, it makes Christmas last longer. I've gotten so many wierd things I am almost scared to open my stocking. I have to usually just tear into the end of it and make sure it's okay before I open it up in front of anybody else - I never know what to expect. I keep thinking I'll outdo him every year, but not so far!

Well, gotta run - the weekend is here and DH will be home soon. I'm going to stay home tonight from the farm - my house is a mess and I've got to get some stuff done. My kids will all be home for the holidays and so I've got alot to do. Can't wait til the last minute! I'll visit you all later!

Clay

Well, here's my sister and her son, Clay, who is leaving for Navy bootcamp in a week. We all hate to see him leave, especially my sister. We had a wonderful time at his going-away party, and sis decorated her home and yard in Navy stuff. Her hubby is hoping his schedule will allow him to go with her to Clay's graduation in Great Lakes (Chicago area). If he can't, I wish I could go with her. Clay's always been my buddy. Ever since he was a little bitty thing. He's always got a big hug for his Aunt Vickie. He'll hang all over me. I love it! Sis is 5'9", so you can see how tall Clay is! He's been a beanpole for a long time, and they tell him that he'll be a "double rat" for awhile. That means he has to eat first and then go eat again at each meal. They want to pack some pounds on him. Must be nice....

I'll be so glad when tomorrow is over with, and the decision has been made as to which candidate has been elected President. I think it's going to be ever so close, and we may all be surprised at the silent majority that comes out to vote. There are still lots of God-fearing, Christian people in this land that are praying for God's will to be done. I'm one of 'em and I know most of you that I follow are, too. Let's all band together and be on our knees tomorrow, in our hearts if not physically, and ask God to do what's best for our great land and to continue blessing her.

Halloween Night

Hi all my dear ones! Guess you're all either going with your kids trick-or-treating or answering the door. I'm answering the door tonite. Princess was home last year and she loves Halloween. She loves seeing the little kiddos all dressed up. Scuse me..... A little two-year old glow-in-the-dark skeleton! Very cute~~~ Princess and some of her friends are having their own Halloween party tonight at their townhouse. She's going to be a safari hunter (who'd have thought...)

I have Twix, Snickers, Bubble Gum in ooky colors that slimes you when you bite it, candy Dracula fangs with blood oozing out (I tried to get what my kids would have liked), Skulls & Bones tart candy, and some other Chocolate stuff, oh yeah, Tootsie Pops. The kids so far LOVE the Dracula teeth! One of my best Halloween memories as a kid was - my friend down the street, well, her daddy worked at Sunbeam bakery. On Halloween, he'd bring home little tiny loaves of fresh bread in tiny little wrappers. They were so cute and they smelled heavenly! We had to go to the Biggs' house FIRST to make sure they didn't run out of bread before we got there. Then we'd hoard our bread loaf and just take a bite or two at a time to make it last!

It's been a long week at work. Since we now have a new office manager, he's keeping me pretty busy re-organizing, re-arranging, re-filing, you name it. I have to admit that he's doing a really good job - very kind, upbeat guy, and he's going to get our office whipped into shape - it's just making me have lots more work to do. I guess when we get all the kinks worked out and it's running like he wants it to, then things will settle down and we'll operate like a well-oiled machine. I've been swamped. Almost too tired when I get home to do anything to my house. I just wanna fall down on the couch and not do anything.

Margo and I wound up at a neat Estate/Barn sale last weekend. I found a couple of cool items, and she did, too. As we went into the house, there was this neat arbor all grown up with different ivys. It was pretty neat, still had some flowers on it.

Tomorrow, we are going to my sister's house a couple of hours away. Her son is about to go into the Navy and she's having a combination Going-Away, Thanksgiving, Christmas party for him and we'll all be there. She's even doing a Thanksgiving dinner. THat's what he wanted. Hope to show you some photos of our get-together later. I think Mom and Dad are riding with us.

My DH is beginning to have problems with sciatica. He's never had any health problems at all since we've been married. It's really bothering him, not sure whether it's the pain or the thought of actually having a health problem. I think THAT is what is really bugging him. He likes to brag to people that he's been so healthy all his life and that he never even had childhood shots. (Of course he did - he just likes to mouth off). He's always accused the rest of us of being sickly weaklings. Guess I can tell him he's joined the ranks of sickly weakling now!

Doin' Girlstuff...

Hi, I'm back from visiting my daughter at her college town. I don't have any photos for you tonite, but let me just say we had the best weekend. Of course, we spent the entire day Saturday shopping, eating, and visiting. I am so impressed with the growth I've seen in her in only a couple of months. She seems to be the most mature one in her townhome she shares with 2 other friends. She does the shopping, the organizing, the cleaning, etc. She shares in the cooking. Unfortunately, her friends are slobs, to put it mildly. My girl is becoming more independent and self-reliant and isn't that what we all want?

As we crawled up in her bed Saturday night to watch a movie, she laid her head in my lap and said "tickle me, mom". That was always our "thing". I tickle her neck and play with her hair, and arms and back. She loves to have her feet tickled too. Over the years, no tellin' how many hours I've tickled. When she was little she would curl up by me in the pew at church and I would tickle her during the sermon. Even now, when the sermon starts, she'll lay her hand across my lap at church for me to rub her arm and the palm of her hand.

As we were leaving church this morning to go eat lunch I was telling her how much fun I'd had this weekend with just me 'n her doin' "girlstuff", she smiled and looked over at me, and I said "you miss me" like she does to me sometimes. She grinned even bigger and said, " OOOOO-KKKKKay, I miss you."

I think she was glad to have me there in her world for a couple of days. I know I was glad to be in hers. I miss her, too.

Giving Back Give Away

I won!!! I actually won something! I've never won anything
in my life! (Actually, I did win some free tickets to see A Capella once...) I'm so excited! Connie at Magnolia Street Style did a Giving Back Give Away.

I was excited to get my package today. I opened it very slowly so I could enjoy the surprise. First off, there was a beautiful card with bird art on the front and a sweet note from Connie on the back.


Then, I opened a little brown box and inside were 3 little net bags of old vintage buttons! How cool is that?

Then I unwrapped carefully a beautiful crystal relish tray. It's very pretty and Connie had a photo on her blog with the buttons in the tray. I could do that, or I could just leave the buttons in their little wraps and snuggle them into the tray.




I like to set a pretty table on occasion, too, so I can use it for that. It's a good size to use for all kinds of things! What a sweetheart - Connie started this Giving Back Give Away, so, when I decide what to Give Back to someone else, I'm going to pay it forward. I'll be on the lookout this weekend at the sales I go to for some goodies that I hope my winner will love!

Thanks so much Connie - go visit her site. She has such a good eye for decorating and finding just the right things to "cozy up" her home for each season. Tune back in to find out what I'm going to give away!

Tennessee Color

This photo is for Sher -in Tennessee. I enjoyed the beautiful trees so much up there. She had commented on the fall color and posted a great picture of the changing trees and so I had to follow up with a Tennessee shot of my own- Just for her! These trees were changing up on top of the hill. We saw lots of color in the area! These trees actually were alot more colorful that what I can see in the photos. Sher lives in a beautiful place!

Happy Fall!

I guess I'm getting into the fall spirit now. I made my husband pull over so I could photograph this cute punkin' patch in Nashville on Monday. This isn't half of the pumpkins they had!

We had such a blast in Nash-ville (emphasis on both syllables equallly), as we Texans say it. Adam says the locals say "NASH-vul". He told me to say it like I was from Texas. We ate way too much, stayed up way too late visiting, spent way too much money, and listened to music way too loud! But every second was worth it! We got to take in Adam's show at the Full Moon Saloon on Tuesday night. Of course, he had to introduce his parental units, but instead of being embarrassed, I stood up and waved at all the people there - I was so proud of my son - the entertainer for the evening. The saloon was full, the music was loud, he played country, but the crowd wanted to hear more 70's R&R - which was exactly what he did. They loved it, and my DH and I loved it even more! Here's a little shot of him playing...

Of course they were awesome!

Monday morning, we visited Bell Meade Plantation in Nashville. It was begun in 1807 as a thoroughbred horse farm where the horses became the backbone of some of the present day racing winners like Secretariat and many others. It was so interesting. We had a tour of the inside of the 3-story plantation home complete with columns, parlors, grand staircases, and faithfully restored with period furnishings. It was beautiful. I've always been a fan of the civil war era, and if you looked closely, you almost imagine Scarlett O'Hara come bursting out the doors with her skirts flying in the wind. Here's a couple of photos from the Plantation...

The slave quarters and a little garden area still sit on the property, as well as an old two-story smokehouse, gardens, a dairy made of stone, and a family mausoleum. Here's a photo of the carriage house, too. They had about 6 carriages there. It must have been very nice to be a horse that lived there!

Well, I got tons to catch up on at home tonight, but just wanted to check in. I'll have more to show you later - I promise to have only a couple more pics to post of our hometown Festival in my next post. I hope you all are doing well, and I'll be visiting very soon! Take care -

Gone to NASHVILLE

The parade was wonderful this morning. We had fun and it was a perfectly beautiful day! Tonights the ball, and I'll try to get lots of pics, and maybe some of Me and My Hubby! We don't have much of a chance to dress up and so it will be lots of fun!

We'll be out of pocket for a few days - we are going to see our oldest son, Adam, in Nashville. YEAAAAA!!!! I miss him so much. His 27th birthday is this coming week and we are anxious to see him. We'll also get to hear him play TEXAS COUNTRY at the Full Moon Saloon Tuesday night! I'm excited. I haven't gotten to hear him sing and play in about a year.


Our middle son, Josh, and some of his buddies went to Nashville during the summer and they had a ball following Adam up and down Broadway. Josh said "mom, they know him in all the clubs and saloons and they wanted him to come up and play everywhere we went". Hope we get to do some of that, too, and see him in his natural element!



So, all that to say that I will be gone for a few days and probably won't be posting. I may take my computer and I may not. Don't know... So you all have a wonderful week, and I'll look forward to hearing from you and checking up on you all when I get back! I'll have Nashville pics, too! (can you tell I'm crazy about my kiddoes?)

I'm a Doofus!

WHAT A COMPLETE DOOFUS I AM!!! You won't believe what I did! I was fooling around with the blogger choices and I decided to moderate my comments. Well, I turned that feature on and promptly forgot about it. I've been so busy with the Princess's pageant stuff that I've only had time to check my blog and look at a few favorites. I only saw 1 comment on my last post, and I thought, ' pooh, nobody's looking at it anyway, so what difference does it make?'

Well, I stumbled back on the 'moderate comments' feature tonight while surfing the blog, and WA-LA!!! 14 comments!!! Yea! I AM, too, being read!!! Oh joy, I'm not quite so boring after all!!! Thank you all so much for your comments! It makes me feel so good for you all to stop by to say hi and leave your encouragement and your thoughts! The comments are all posted here now and also I WON TWO GIVEAWAYS!!! That's a first for me, too! Can you believe it?? Here I was about to miss out on that! I'll post about the giveaways later when I figure out what I gotta do. I won Grinnin Gramma's drawing and also Connie (Magnolia Street Style) presented me with her Give Back Giveaway. How exciting!

I also wanted to thank you for your nice comments about my new header. I took this photo myself, and now that it's fall, I wish I had something a little more in keeping with the season. I'll see what I can do, and maybe keep this one for spring..... I need to get me a cool-lookin' background like some of you have, too. I need to "keep up with the blogger/Jones' " so to speak.

Well, anyway, we've been so busy with the pageant last Saturday and THIS Saturday is the parade and the ball. I'm tired and ready for this to be over. It's been fun, tho. I'll leave you with this little photo from part of the pageant. It was really a nice pageant and P and all her little court were so pretty. She had 6 little maidens and 6 little pages. Her escort was cute and a little nervous about the whole thing. It's not really a "guy" thing ya know - this whole deal is really a girl thang.

Well, I'll bid you adieu and good nite. I've had a sinus headache all day and only sleep will help it go away!

Our little pond

The sun is going down and everything is golden. We have a small pond on our place and it's pretty full right now. In the summer it goes down but hasn't gotten dry, thank goodness. Jake likes it. He found a beaver out there one day, think I've mentioned that before.

I SOOO wanted to have a photo to show you of our roadrunner. At our main home where we live right now, we have a sliding glass door on the back of the house. Yesterday, when I got off work, I went home and walked by the studio where the glass door is. There gawking at himself in the reflection of the glass was a tall speckled roadrunner. I stood right by the glass and he never saw me. I've never seen one do this--- He preened back and forth in front of the glass, looking at himself, cocking his head, ruffling up the top-knot of feathers on his head, spreading his tail feathers out, turning back and forth, admiring his beauty from every side. Or, perhaps he thought he was wooing a lady roadrunner. Who knows! You've seen parrots, parakeets and cockatiels do this, but I never knew roadrunners did! It was so cute. I didn't move for about 5 minutes. I finally backed up and reached for my camera. I edged around the corner of the house and as soon as he saw me, he bolted back into the pasture. Shoot!

Jake

This photo has nothing to do with anything at all. I'm just enjoying playing with my new camera. We went to the farm this evening just to check on everything and water the flowers. Jake wound up getting all muddy in the pond, and he found an old plastic whiskey bottle that he was having fun with retrieving. I don't know why he does this - whatever he carries around he'll drop it on the ground and then roll on it on his back ---??? What for, I don't know, but he's always done that. Silly dog.

The sun was going down about this time and we didn't get to stay long. The days are getting shorter now and this evening had a lovely golden glow on everything the sun touched. I love those kind of evenings...

Well, gotta go to bed. I'm sleepy... see ya tomorrow.

New Shutters

How do you like our new green shutters we put on the farmhouse? I rather like them. They kinda give the house a little more color. It stands out a bit more. My daughter wanted white, but her dad and I thought the green looked better. I'm pleased with 'em.

My roses are doing ok. They are "Knockout" roses, and very low maintenance. They don't give off big showy blossoms, but they are pretty just the same, and you don't have to do much to them. That's what I need - I have a brown thumb. We still haven't gotten to the shrubs nor have we painted the front porch. Been waitin' on dry days. It's been so hot and humid lately and we have had some rain, so it's better to wait.

Hubby has been cleaning out the garage today, but he got everything out in the front yard, came down with a bad sinus headache (the mold & ragweed are off the charts) and he's taken some medicine and is asleep right now. I get those nasty sinus headaches, too. They almost make me sick at my stomach. Not a migraine, but boy do they hurt! Anyway, it looks like we're having a garage sale at our house or we're white trash living here. I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what's going on over here....

Hometown Pageant

Hi people - I'm back and taking a little breather before we hit the road again. We've been so busy the last few weeks with the hometown Pageant that my daughter is in. She's a Lady in Waiting, and we've had trips to buy fabric in Dallas, trips to the seamstress, trips to the Court parties, to buy tiaras, working on her train, etc. It's been wild. I'm ready to collapse.

The big event happens in a couple of weeks over a two weekend period. We have a parade with floats, bands, horses, Shriners, clowns, etc., that coincides with our high school homecoming, a Revue, and a formal Ball. It's a big to-do. The whole town comes out for it. There is also a concert one night, a midway with rides, an arts/crafts fair and lots of carnival food.

Thought I'd post a couple of pics of my princess for you to see. It's a big deal in our hometown, and alot of fun for the girls who love to dress up. Princess was SOOOO disappointed when her Sr. Prom was over cuz she wouldn't be able to dress up again until she got married. UNTIL, she begged and pleaded to be in the Pageant. We caved...

My house is struggling to stay afloat right now. Not from Ike - from laundry, dishes, dust bunnies, and whatever the guys track in. I'm afraid it's going to sink! Oh well, I guess the housework will still be there after this is over... And I'd be lyin' if I said I didn't enjoy this as much as Princess is!!!

New Camera!!!!!!

HI!!! I'm baaaaack! I have a new camera and not much time this morning before work. But I did take a neat pic whalago (that's what we say in Texas) right outside my back door. We have hundreds of acres of land behind our neighborhood and from time to time get to see various wildlife. (it's also quite amusing to see the cows get out and run amuck through our back yard & into the neighborhood. I have to chase them back through the barbed wire fence with a broom.)

Well, I guess you could see these guys just about anywhere, but I was lucky enough to watch these little juvenile dove for about 30 minutes. They were on my patio, huddled together staying warm. Yep, that's right - staying WARM. After Ike, we had a little cool spell, first one. Always comes right before the East Texas State Fair. It's about 60 or so outside I think with a light breeze.

ANYWAY, I was ironing my husband's shirt & pants for work and spied these two cuties on the patio and grabbed my new camera to take their picture while hubby is standing there in his undies waiting for his clothes (first things first ya know!). The dove didn't move while I took their picture. In a few minutes, one of the parents came down to check on them - of course, the parent was alot more cautious and I didn't get its pic, but oh well. I threw bread crumbs out and the babies didn't move a muscle. They stayed for a while longer and then I guess their mama called them.

It was a good excuse to use my new camera. It seems to be working great. It's a Canon PowerShot G9 w/ 12.1 megapixels. My daughter and sons will NOT be touching this one. In fact, my husband told me to hide it and if they DID see it, for them not to touch it, look at it, breathe on it, or even think about it.

Hope you all have a wonderful day - be sure to check out Margo's blog and view all her photos from the Junk Bonanza that she is going to post hopefully today! Can't wait to see all the fun she had! Later ------------------------

Changing Jobs

Don't think I've mentioned this before. My husband is thinking seriously about changing jobs. He has worked in the petroleum industry for 26 years. Practically the same job all his working life. He's worked for a great company - small independent company - but the job has changed, the owner is aging and has himself changed and my husband is no longer challenged, and alot of other junk that I'm not going into. It's just time - we have to think about our future. At 51, it would be better for him to make a change now than to wait 5 years. The longer he waits, the less appealing he will look to prospective employers, ya know?

This has been something we have been thinking about for the past couple of years. I was ready a year ago, but had to wait until HE thought it was the right time. God's timing is perfect, tho, and perhaps we needed to wait until I could get through my illness and depression earlier this year. We're thinking either very soon or after the first of the year. I know he's scared. He's never had to do this before. Nearly all our friends have gone through this, but not us. The thing is - he can't look for another job until he's already quit this one. It's just the situation of his boss finding out, and my husband wants to do this on HIS own terms and not on the boss's.

Is it just me, or does it seem like it's sometimes harder for men to have faith in someone other than themselves (i.e. God) to take those scary steps that must be taken? Seems to me like men usually have the mindset of being self-sufficient, in charge and in control, being the boss, the breadwinner, etc., and when it comes to letting go and letting God be in control, it's really hard for them. My husband, A, we'll call him, is a good Christian man, strong in his convictions and has a deep faith in the Lord. But this is a big step for him, not having a new job already. We BOTH have to have faith.

The Lord has always been good to us - always seen us through the storms of life, the up times, the down times, the lean times, the bountiful times, and we know He will continue to do so. He knows our needs before we even ask. We know that this change has to happen, sooner or later. We think soon, very soon, when A feels the timing is right. My prayer is that the 'event' will go smoothly, that he and his employer can end on a good note, that A can find the right job preferably here in our town (our parents are aging), and that if this is not meant to be, that something will change in his present job that would keep him from making this decision if this is not what the Lord intends. I'll keep you posted!

I have officially lost my camera. I HAVE to get another one. I'm lost without my camera.....

Back to the old grind...

Princess is on the right, Kelly on the left... Howdy from College Station, TX! I'm back at work - UGH. Princess is cozily ensconced in her new townhouse and happy as a clam to be on her own. However, there is a small problem. Her room mate, Kelly, worships everything Princess does, wears, decorates, you name it. Now they've been best buddies since birth, but never spent this much time together. I hope they remain good buddies after this year at college! Kelly wants to borrow Princess's clothes, copy her bedspread, her wall decor, you name it!

My daughter called me last night, and said "mom, I'm gonna have to charge Kelly for wearing my clothes - she's going to wear them out!" and Kelly has plenty of cute clothes - just different styles. But - Kelly has big boobs and P says she's stretching her shirts out! Her bedroom is absolutely precious, but she likes P's better. I told P that copying is the sincerest form of flattery, however P will have none of that. She bought several cute tops before she went to school, and it seems that Kelly has worn nearly all of them. Princess told me "mom, now when we go anywhere with friends, they've seen all my new clothes on Kelly and they won't look new on me!" I said, "well, you have two choices - you can continue to let her borrow and be frustrated, or you can have a little sweet talk with her and let her know that borrowing should be just an every-once-in-awhile thing or for an emergency only."

I'm anxious to see what happens as I also told her to make her decision and stop complaining about it if she's not going to say anything to Kelly. Kelly has two sisters, and I'm sure she's used to doing that. I also think she's so glad to have P as her room mate this year that sharing everything and being alike is just a way to show how excited she is. She probably misses her sisters - they're older and already moved away.

Other than the daily clothes saga, things are going well for Princess, she's getting to meet new people and learn her way around. Wish I could be a fly on the wall as she, Kelly and Caroline (the other roomie) cook supper. They make the dishes they individually like and they'll have really random things thrown together for supper. I'm sure it's quite a hoot. Ah, college life.... I never got to do that. I stayed at home until I married and so I guess I'm a little envious. It's also been fun for me and Princess to do all her shopping and fixin' up her townhouse. Living through her a little bit, I must admit.

I'm doing surprisingly well for losing my last baby. So far, she's called me every single day she's been gone at least two or three times. Thank goodness for cell phones. She sends me text msgs, too. And the best thing is - THE LITTLE 'YAPPER' (Bella) IS WITH HER!!! YEA!!!

Be back soon!

Hi, all --- getting Princess moved to College Station this week/weekend. Just wanted to let you know where I've been. I'll be back in a few days to let you know how I survived the leaving of my last baby. Plus, I can't find my camera anywhere, and it's not working anyway. Maybe it's time for a new one????? So I'll leave you with this...

Time for Princess to Leave the Nest

Well, the time is quickly approaching for my baby to leave for college. We've begun the ritual - moving some stuff to her apartment 3 hrs away at her chosen college. We got her bed set up with Anthropologie bedding (my new favorite store), bought a new black iron bed at IKEA and cool curtains at Pier One. It's a start. We bought new mattress & box springs and may have to take the box springs home - what do ya'll think? The top mattress is really thick with a pillow top and it makes all the pillows cover up the headboard. The bottom of the bed has a platform where the box spring sits so we're thinking that just the top mattress would be okay. I'm interested in ya'll's opinions...

We have mirrors, black wrought iron junk to put on the wall, and yesterday I found the cutest lamps at Hobby Lobby for half price! If my camera worked I'd show you!! Dang! We have lots of foo-foo girl stuff that she's really into right now. The only thing I'm looking forward to is that her dog is going with her!!! YEA! I just don't have time to raise a puppy right now. She's so busy with work and getting ready to leave that GUESS WHO is having to pick up the slack. Plus, this puppy is a barker - ugh. I hate the yapping - my other pom didn't do that, and I'm not sure exactly what to do about it. Guess I'll let her deal with it when she leaves. Hope she doesn't drive her room mates crazy!

We've got boxes of her things and are working frantically on her garage sale desk that we're repainting black w/ turquoise designs on it, and an antique chest of drawers that we're also painting. This child of mine is a pack-rat, but all her 'stuff' is so well organized and labeled in her closets at home that she knows exactly where to go to find something. It's amazing - she didn't get it from me. She's really into details, she's painstakingly slow when it comes to getting herself ready to go somewhere, working on a school project, completing any type of artsy-craftsy project (she DOES get that from me). Never gets in a hurry but she does fret over things until they are exactly as she wants them. How many nights have we stayed up late or all night working on a project when any other kid could have completed it in a couple of hours and been perfectly happy with it! She's very artsy and is really good at design and color.

She's not a procrastinator - it simply has to be perfect. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I guess if it's brain surgery, it's good, but in everyday life, sometimes it can be bad. I don't care what time she gets up or starts getting ready, she'll be late every time. Bless her heart! She's trying to talk me into going to Canton early Saturday a.m., but I'm not diggin the heat. I've had a sinus headache for 3 days (allergic to mold - it's so hot right now and with no rain, the mold has been high according to weather man Mark Scirto) and can't shake it - walking around in 100 degree temps with 95% humidity and other sweaty sticky people bumping into me being sweaty and sticky does not sound fun right now.

Ran into Margo - Robolady yesterday morning at the first sale. So we decided to stay together and hit a few more. They weren't the best sales we've ever been to, but we did manage to find a few items. That girl is aptly named Robolady. Boy, can she swoop into a sale, rummage through everything, grab what she wants (and you can almost see the gears in her head spinning as she thinks of cool things to make), and she's outa there. She has a neat idea for something that she's going to make out of two completely unrelated items, but I'm not going to spoil her fun - you'll have to check out her blog in a few days and see what she did with them! It was sure fun, Margo - let's do it again! I'm ready for cooler weather so we can go to Canton! Have a great weekend ya'll! I'll try to get my camera working so I can post some new pictures. It's on the blink...

Fishin/Huntin Stories

Well, here's #2 son Josh with one of his catches. He and my dad went to Dad's favorite honey hole in the 101 degree heat to fish yesterday afternoon. They caught a good mess of big-mouth bass that I'm sure we'll enjoy in the very near future. As we speak, those lovely filets are sitting in a bowl of salted water in the fridge ( draws out the fishy taste) and will be frying in the outside cooker in no time!

I was raised on fish, venison, quail, dove, squirrel, rabbit, occasional moose, turkey, duck, froglegs - you name it, I've eaten it. My daddy was the biggest hunter/fisher you ever saw. Every Saturday, you could find him at any one of a number of lakes or river bottoms, or if it was hunting season, any number of backwoods places sittin in a tree or a deerstand or stalking some varmint or bird with his dogs. I know there are alot of you folks out there who are aghast at such things, but I'm sorry, that's the way it is in much of the South, especially Texas. I'm a country girl and such things don't bother me. In fact, I'm pretty proud of it - "...and a country boy can survive..." - Hank Williams Jr.

My boys are proudly carrying on this tradition, and even somewhat, my princess. She's certainly spent some of her time sitting in deer stands in her camo jumpsuit & boots and sitting patiently in the boat or on the pier with a fishing rod. We have deer heads and antlers and ducks hanging majestically on the walls of our sons' bedrooms. I'm sorry, I don't especially think they are good decor in the living room - I will draw the line there.

This is gross, but I just thought of something - when dad would bring a big cooler full of fish home and he was in the back yard fileting them, my little sister and I would get us a stick and poke the eyeballs of the fish (they were dead, don't worry). They don't have eyelids ya know, so it was great fun to poke those marble sized eyeballs and watch them roll around - they wouldn't pop tho no matter how much we tried - they'd just roll around. Our 20 lb Siamese cat, Bandit, would sit patiently by, waiting for dad to throw him a fish head or some guts.

I don't poke fish eyeballs anymore - kinda grew outa that...

I used to tease my daddy that I didn't know what beef was until I was allowed to date and my boyfriends would take me out for a steak! Of course, we had other things besides wild game, but it's part of my heritage. I love wild game. Daddy brings me a deer nearly every fall (if one of the boys don't shoot one), quartered, and I go to it on the granite island in my kitchen - cutting up the backstrap, the steaks & good cuts of meat. Then the rest is trimmed off to take to the meat market where they'll grind it up into ground meat and some mixed with pork & seasonings added to make sausage. A very lean sausage I might add. Venison is so lean - must be good for ya.

I used to love to go hunting with daddy before I married. Quail hunting was my favorite. I love to watch the bird dogs run around, sniffing, and then when they find birds, they freeze into whatever position the birds are first smelt. Dad would creep up quietly and the dogs would wait until dad gave the order to flush. Then there'd be a frantic whooshing of wings in several different directions and bang! bang! Then the dogs would fetch the birds and come drop them in front of dad. They get so excited- this is what they absolutely live for. Demon, my dad's best dog, would run through cactus, stickers, briars, but would NEVER stop. He's come home with his feet all cut up to where he couldn't walk and with skint places and cuts all over him. Daddy would baby him and soak his feet in epsom salts and play nursemaid to him and then they'd go back out and do it again the next time. Old Demon loved to hunt and he loved my dad. Daddy even made him some little leather booties to wear. That dog would come back from a 2-3 day hunt having lost several pounds and be all boney!

When we'd hunt dove, Dad would shoot them and me & my little sis would be the bird dogs, careful to watch where they fell. (can't use dogs on dove - at least around here) It was fun to see who could find theirs first. I'm surprised we didn't find a snake or two in all that brush!

A funny story about my brother - one time Dad took my brother, Dan, who was 12 at the time, deer hunting. In the dark they got up and went out to their places to hunt. It was sleeting off and on, bitter cold (but that's good deer hunting weather) and Dad told my brother to sit on an old tree stump where he had good cover and could see the clearing where the deer passed through. Well, he stayed there until dad came back to get him a few hours later. He hadn't moved the entire time - and lo, and behold, he was stuck to the stump! His coveralls had completely frozen in the sleet to the stump! Wish I could have seen that! Daddy had to pull him off!

Well, guess that's all for today. SorryI haven't posted in awhile. I've been busy spending time with my Nashville boy. It was great having him home for a week. I miss him so much! Take care - happy hunting! Vickie

Thursday & Friday Sales

Good morning all- I'm at work now - it's Friday, ya know - garage sale day. Ran into Margo at a nice estate sale yesterday morning. 'Round here, the Estate sales usually start on Thursday, 25% off on Friday and 50% off on Saturday. By Saturday, there's not much of anything that you'd want left. Anyway, I usually see Margo somewhere. You'd think we planned it. Guess we both have a good nose for which sales to go to cuz we see each other alot. We're looking for different things usually, so there's no competition. It's good to see her - she's become a good friend, got a big hug from her, and she always has on some of her beautiful vintage T2T jewelry. She is so talented - she can take trash and make into something beautiful. If you've not visited her site you should! I love her new project with the door. I saved a couple of doors from our farmhouse, so maybe I can do something along those lines someday!

I have to go buy another memory card for my camera. That's why there's been no pictures lately. My lovely Princess lost my card for me.

I did get a few goodies from the sales. Hope to post some photos for you this weekend maybe. One of the estate sales I went to was the home of Mrs. Gaiser - she was a Sunday School teacher of mine when I was young and I went to church with her for part of my life - she is in a nursing home now. She had a party for our GA's class at her home, and when I went in there yesterday, it brought back fun memories. Her home seemed not to have changed at all. In fact, she had alot of the same items there from 40 years ago. It's fun to go into people's homes and see their lives - where they've traveled, the mementos that they've collected, what was important to them. I bought a pretty green vintage cracker tin with a crystal knob, an old hankie, some wooden spools of thread, some OLD TV trays, & an old enamel-ware foot-bath style pan. Today I found a birdcage with pink roses already in it for Princess' room and a nice swag wreath that only needs the ribbon changed out. I did pretty good. And everything was fairly cheap.

What am I going to do? My husband thinks the farmhouse should be completely decorated by now? He wants to know why I'm still buying stuff. Can you imagine? How can I stop going to sales now? It's in my blood. Is there a place where you can just say, OK that's all? Can you ever be finished? I don't think so! This has become a habit now. It's too late - it's terminal. Thursday and Friday mornings just wouldn't be the same if I couldn't go to some sales before work. My boss is getting used to me being 15-30 minute late. Besides that, I'm used to seeing Margo around. What would she do without me! :^) Hubby's just gonna have to get over it!

By the way, I appreciate your sympathetic comments about me whining about "empty-nest syndrome". I'm sure I'll be alright. You know, when you have a little "discussion" with your child that's about to leave, you just want to pull your hair out and give 'em an extra boot on the backside on the way out the door. Then you wanna pull 'em back in and hold on tight. I'm so happy right now cuz my Nashville boy is here for about 10 days! Does a mother's heart good!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend everybody - stay cool! Love you all - Vickie

Musings on Kids leaving home...

What a fun gizmo! Thanks, Vee for sending me to The Little Red House! I was wondering what I was going to post about today, and here it is! This looked fun altho I really didn't know what lines of type to put on it. May not be intriguing enough to make you want to turn the pages, but I thought it was fun to see what my pic would look like! Kinda neat!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been working alot, and sometimes I guess things get so routine I don't think I have much to say that would be interesting to anybody else. I am feeling somewhat better so that's good. My son from Nashville is coming home this week for about 10 days and I'm trying to get the house cleaned up. It's funny that when your grown kids come home you want everything to be just perfect - maybe to make them miss being there? Don't know. What do I want then - for him to move back home? No, it's as it should be for them to move on with their lives.

Here's my little tangent I'll go off on today. I guess I'm feeling a little empty nest syndrome. Never thought I would. My husband and I thought we were ready for all the little chicks to leave the nest - we couldn't wait to have no responsibilities at home and take off at will and do what we wanted- but now my baby girl is fixing to leave in a couple of weeks. We've been getting her apartment junk ready and gathering all her things together to make the big move to college. We went to Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and IKEA Saturday in the Dallas area and bought all the necessary bedspread, pillows, cutsie girl things that she feels she needs to make her room look cool. Her dad sat outside the stores and waited while we shopped and became the necessary beast of burden to carry all our purchases - which turned out to be quite alot. We also bought a cool black iron bed for her apartment which I wouldn't mind having for myself actually, and I'll post a picture of her apartment sometime for your approval. The re-furbishing bug has bitten her, too, after re-doing the farmhouse. We bought an antique chest of drawers and desk & chair that she's going to re-do herself! You go, Princess!

(An aside here -These are the moments that we've raised them for, isn't it? It's scary - to me, scarier for my daughter than my two sons. I hope we've done right by them, that we've helped them to become independent and responsible. I hope that we've instilled a love for others as well as God and a desire to serve him. I know they are still young and have to find their own way. I know I did. It took me awhile to become mature enough as a Christian to learn to put God and all things spiritual first in my life. I assume it will take a little time for them to do that too. I hope that their Dad and I have been good role models. I hope I live long enough to see them all married to Christian mates and striving to instill the Christian ideals and heritage into their own kids that have run in our families for generations. That is my ultimate prayer - after that prayer that the Lord will come back quickly.)

Princess will be 20 on the 20th of this month. I got to have her at home a couple of extra years while she was trying to decide what she wanted to do and went to the local jr. college. She NEEDS to get out on her own and learn to appreciate Mom and Dad. She'll look over at me now and smile, and say "mom, you're gonna miss me", and I'll say, "baby, you're gonna miss me, too, more than you know". I know it's true, but she doesn't realize it yet. I've been trying to back off from doing so much for her as she's grown older, but I know I still do too much. She and I have been buddies, cohorts in shopping and crime, sparring partners, cat fighters, but best friends in the end. She doesn't have a sister, unfortunately. I hope that I haven't been so close that she doesn't have good friends her own age. She's had best friends in her life to come and go, but I want her to make some best buddies that she can depend on and have fun with FOR LIFE. I have some - but I have a dear sister who is my BEST FRIEND in the whole world. I want my daughter to have someone she can call her best friend, that'll be there through thick and thin. I won't always be around ya know. I think she and her cousin Erin are actually becoming closer. Erin is my sister's daughter who lives in the metroplex. The girls are still a couple of years apart, but Erin doesn't have a sister either and we are hoping that they will become closer. Now that they can drive and travel alone they have been spending more time together.

We will still have our middle son at home for awhile (he's been in and out a couple of times) and he's the one that's the most difficult to live with. You see - he's the slob in the family. He leaves a trail wherever he goes. Doesn't seem to bother him in the least. He's impeccable in his style and dress and grooming habits, but the things around him he could care less about - his room, the bathroom, the kitchen (he likes to cook), wherever he goes. I've taken to just closing his door as I've been fighting with him about it for 22 years and nothing has changed. I feel sorry for his future wife... He's still in college, too, and I'm about ready for him to get done and find his own place to live. Sounds terrible, but I've about had it with his slobbiness. :^)

Well, I did find something to post about. We had a good day yesterday at church and celebrated my best girlfriend's 50th birthday last night at a surprise party for her. (my best non-sister friend) It was good to be with friends and laugh and joke (at her expense of course) with the "over the hill" cake and all that goes along with that. It's a blessing that we're all still here and still celebrating birthdays! Thank you Lord! Ya'll have a great week!