WARNING: This is a sad one...(well, to me)

It still looks like Christmas around here..trees are still up, still have some candy, cookies and fruit around the kitchen tree...my Christmas countdown clock has been changed to tell me how many more days til our Hawaii trip...the kids have taken home their goodies from Granny and Pappy's and the silence is deafening...all the days and weeks spent in anticipation of the big day, only to be gone and over in just a few hours....no matter how much you love and enjoy Christmas Day, it only lasts for a short time...then all the memories of the day go into photo albums, get posted on FB, or just find a quiet corner in your memory bank, to be withdrawn and relived when you feel like i'm feeling right now...

... Christmas hasn't been the same since my parents arent here anymore..Not on Christmas day when my kids and grandkids are here, we are making our own memories and having a ball doing so!....but when it's me, Donna, Darrell and our kids...It's like, the kids are all here, but where's Mom and Dad? The ones who instilled what Christmas means to me today..the ones who taught me how to make my children happy with baking Christmas cookies..and Daddy, who always managed to do a little "buck dance" to some corny song...Well, yeah, ok...we got Darrell, who is always after a laugh, and he usually never fails to deliver..he would make Daddy laugh so hard sometimes that he'd lose his breath and proceed to go into a coughing fit that we just knew would kill him..ha ha..

It's been a few years now since Mom and Dad have passed away...Funny, it sure doesn't seem like it's been all that long. You never think about them being gone and how it'll be cause you really can't comprehend it til it happens..then you think..."if I had just done this"...I wish I had spent more time with them. But nothing you can do or say or think will ever change that..there are no more chances to undo anything.. I wish I could have been a better daughter to Mom..seemed like she was closer to Donna than me, but that was ok..I lived down here and Donna lived up there close by for a long time..eventually we all wound up down here. By then I was so used to not having her and Donna close by that I would forget they were...I missed Mom and Dad when they lived up North. I would count the days when I knew they had a trip planned. Me and the kids would start in deep cleaning, and i'd do all I could to make my little trailer seem impressive. Daddy always spoiled the kids when they came down. He'd take them to the store every day..and there was no discipline allowed much when Daddy was in the house! That was one thing he couldn't handle..by the time they'd leave they were rotten..lol. Mom always had some new clothes for them, maybe a toy, they never came empty handed.The first Christmas and Thanksgiving without Daddy was awful. He always wanted us to sit around the piano and sing..he always played Santa..we still laugh at how he called out everyone's name..lol. ?"To DON-NA"?...he always sing songed our names when he called them...Mom would sit quietly in a chair close by and move her foot up and down and watch ...he always acted like Christmas was no big deal to him, but we knew better...he would have a fit if we had not celebrated it.Every holiday that first year after Daddy died was hard. You know there is a face missing from the picture, one less plate to set at the table...and then, 18 yrs later, you're going thru it all over again after losing Mom...and you relive all the sadness again. You feel the emptiness that their passing left behind.....Now, they're both gone...and all we're left with are their memories. And they're precious memories. Some good, some bad, some funny..some sad. Sometimes I look at the picture I have of them together on my fireplace mantel and wonder what they would think of things today...their oldest grandson is the pastor of a church, their only granddaughter sings like a angel in a group, Donna's boy's are grown and on their own now, and she has 2 beautiful grandsons named Coen and Crossan...Darrell's boys have all grown up too and one of them loves to hunt probably as much as Daddy did! Boy, Daddy would have loved that! And Darrell has 4 grandkids, 2 boys Jameson and Landon, and 2 granddaughters, Audrey and Journey. Daddy would have also loved the fact that I live so close to the river he so loved to fish in..and that we have a camper right on the water...Mom would be proud to know that Donna, Darrell and I, love each other beyond words and get along so good. And that we're trying to carry on the holiday traditions they started with the family, so many years ago. Sadly, we can't go back and change anything, we can't call them back for one more hug, one more song, and we can't live in yesterday...we have to go on...we'll just re-live the memories...and make some of our own that our kids can sit at a computer one day and remember us by!....

Almost done....

Well, i'm almost done with Christmas decorating...or I should say, my deco-elves are...lol. I have a total of 10 trees up, with 1 more to go! I've gotten about half of my shopping done though...ugh. I don't know what to get the kids this year. Last year, we told them from here on out it was gonna be about the grandkids...that they have had their "big years"...but I don't know if I can do it...we've had treasure hunts, guessing games, some big surprises, (think Corvette) and a lot of shocked looks when they realized what we were gonna do for them... and all that was fun..so I dont know if I can just say..."here is your gift"..I know, I know, it's not about the gifts...but isn't it fun to give em? The kids worry themselves to death over what to get me and Tony, but they don't realize...(one day they will)...that just having them here, around the table, and later the Christmas tree, is something that all their money couldn't buy. Time spent with us, is something that one day will be priceless to them... laughing, eating, opening the gifts with Pappy playing Santa....Slick worrying that one of the kids are gonna sneeze or cough, which will immediately send him checking them out..their temp, how many times did they cough in the last 15 min...etc...lol But i'm not kidding. He's paranoid. I think sometimes he forgets that i've raised, (by the help of the Lord)..two kids of my own and they had temps, and coughed and sneezed...but I understand to some degree his issue...2 of the kids have Asthma...and if one gets a cold it has to make its rounds through the whole gang..
I bought Tonys gift the other day..I'm all done with his...and, hee hee...he knows i'm done with his, and he has no idea what to do for me and i'm just playing it cool...I don't even think he's asked me what I want...I didn't ask him. I got him what I wanted him to have, and i'm not gonna mention it here cause I don't know that he don't read this...or that Slick wouldn't think he needed to be informed of what his gift is..like he did several years ago...yeah, ole Slick was taking care of good ole Dad..back when money was a lot tighter, me and the kids would go in together to get Tony his gift, and Tony would go in with them to get mine...well, we bought Tony a leaf blower...sounded good to me and the girls..we had a yard full of trees and it would make his job easier..well, good son Slick couldn't stand it..he thought it was a bad idea and he felt sorry for Tony and didn't want him to be disappointed when he opened it up....so he decides to tell Tony ahead of time to give him a chance to wrap his mind around the fact that he was gonna get a leaf blower...HA HA...so Slick tells him...and Tonys like "A leaf blower???"...yeah Dad..but, come Christmas morning, Tony opens his present and plays the part...lol..Slick confessed to his crime later...we laugh about it now..but we wanted to wring his neck. It's not the first time Tony was enlightened to his gift thanks to his one and only son Slick...
This particular year, I was so excited about Tony's gift! He had wanted an aquarium for years, but I never could get one for him. But this year...YES! I was able to get it...oh it was a nice one too..I'm not quite sure of the exact details, I think I block it out cause I wanted to strangle my son and I temporarily lost my senses.. ha ha, but I think it went something like this...(on our way to church) "Hey Dad, I know what you're getting for Christmas...it's an...." and Tony IMMEDIATELY knew..."An aquarium!!" Tony yells excitedly... He could tell by the look on my face that he had guessed right, and Slick...oh I wanted to murdle-ize that boy...I started crying, and was still crying when I got to church...I was SO disappointed..Christmas was over for me...of course Slick felt bad, his Dad's Christmas was spoiled, his mother was sitting on the front bench at church trying not to cry..what a sight.....but we laugh about it now...it's one of my favorite Christmas stories..actually I could have started a series, I guess....I could have called them " How the Slick Spoiled Christmas" Season 1 "The Leaf Blower" and Season 2 "The Aquarium". lololol.....awww, the memories..

Oh the weather outside is frightful..

Ok, so it isn't time to "Let it snow", but Christmas is definately in the air at my house! I have 10 trees up and 1 more to go..They are all decorated but 2, and no, I didn't do them myself. I have very talented friends who turn into elves that come to my house and decorate when Tony isn't around..lol. He can't stand all the mess and dissarray that goes along with the decorating, but he sure loves the holiday celebrations we have when it's all done..It helps them with Christmas spending money, and it lets me keep enjoying all the decorating that i've always loved to do but not able to so much anymore. Of course since they've started doing all the work, I don't get tired and keep adding more and more! At some point, the garage will no longer hold all the tubs that I store the deco's in..so I gotta stop...NOT..ha ha We love Christmas around here that's for sure. Slick, Crystal and the kids came to see us tonight, and Crimsyn was loving all the trees and by the time they left, he was covered in glitter..ha ha..I think they all were probably.
I'm very excited for Thanksgiving too. This year we're taking all the kids and grandkids to Gaylord Opryland Hotel for Thanksgiving. We have a lot of fun things planned to do there. Going to see the Rockettes, ICE, have a character breakfast with Shrek and the Madagascar gang. Some sort of treasure hunt and dinner at a great restuarant. Not your traditional Thanksgiving gathering, but we love going on family trips and I kept getting emails from Gaylord about their upcoming packages and the kids were all for it, so hey, why not? We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with our extended family Sunday, so we'll still have our turkey.
On the flipside of things...I had surgery this past Sunday. We were supposed to go to Disney with Janice, Duane, Stanley and Carol Sanders. Had this trip planned for at least 6 mo. Tony was leaving, with Stanley and Carol following him, on Friday afternoon. Me, Janice and Duane were flying down on Sat. Well, on Wed morning I woke up feeling fine. But within an hour I started hurting in my stomach..not too bad at first, but as the day wore on, the pain became more severe. By late that afternoon it was almost unbearable. I had them meet at the church to pray and I got relief, came home and slept all night.I had a regular dr appt the next day for routine bloodwork results and they came back that my liver enzymes were extremely elevated. I explained what had happened the day before and she said if that happens again, go straight to the ER. But the rest of the day Thurs I felt fine, til around 4pm. The pain got worse this time. Tony was delivering metal, he was over an hour away, so I had Slick take me to the ER. I was in agonizing pain I tell you..never hurt that bad that I can remember..long story short, I wound up having gb surgery on Sun morning. I hate that we had to cancel our trip, but would have hated for this to have happened while we were on it and be down there and not able to get home..the Lord sees about us when we don't even know we need seeing to..He's a wonderful God. Ever since the surgery, when i've prayed, i've not been able to ask the Lord for one thing. All I can feel right in saying is "Thank you Lord". I've thanked Him for seeing to me, helping me thru the surgery, allowing them to find out what was wrong, cause at one point they thought it might be something else...I've just prayed from a thankful heart. I still have one more hurdle to get over. During the surgery he found a spot on my liver. He biopsied it. They really don't think it's anything, but i'll know next Tues..i'd appreciate it if you could think of me during your prayers...
Our trip is rescheduled for Feb..during Valentine's week. Stanley and Carol will be celebrating their 36th anniversary on Valentines Day. They went to Disney on their honeymoon, so I think it's cool that they'll be back again to celebrate an anniversary...I guess as long as we can stay healthly, our next trip will be to Hawaii with Donna and Chad in Jan...we'll see!

Hello, Hello

I thought I would sit down and blog for a while tonight. Didn't seem to have anything better to do for the moment. Sometimes I wonder why I do this. But, I have found that sometimes it seems to help to put it into words. Now I need to define what "it" is..I guess it's things that I wonder about, things that I don't seem to find a reason for..have ya ever had something just bug the daylights out of you, and it seems so big and real to you, until you tell someone about it. And it seems that as you speak the words, you can just feel how silly it sounds, or how dumb it is that you're struggling with it. Many times this has happened to me. I would wallow and struggle and have a full blown warfare in my mind going on and i'd try to be a good gal and not say anything, but then the man i've lived with for 38 yrs asks me what is wrong, and after a few "it doesn't matter", i'll cave and tell him the reason i've been cranky, or weepy, sometimes cranky and weepy, whichever the issue called for. And as i'm playing this dramatic sequence of events out to him, I feel dumber and dumber, til i'm almost embarrassed that I ever did or said anything...and I can see that it's really no big deal at all...well, enough of that. Don't know where that come from, but it's gone now. LOL


I'm gearing up for the holidays! I already have 5 trees up. Not decorated, but put together. Gonna start decorating for Christmas the day after Halloween! It takes about 2 weeks of solid work to get everything out and up. I am planning on a total of 10 trees this year, but it may just wind up being 9. Tony is going to try to start putting the lights on the house next week too. He'd like to have them up so that we can light up the house the night after Thanksgiving. We are going to Florida with Janice, Duane, Stanley and Carol the week before Thanksgiving. I think we are going to have a good time. They are old friends..and we're looking forward to going to Disney with them. Disney at Christmas is gorgeous! Love the decorations, and the Christmas parade at the party they have. This trip will be kinda laid back though, considering that 3 of us will be in electric wheelchairs..ha ha..Janice and Duane have never flown, so that will be an experience in itself. Janice is in panic mode thinking about the flight..I hope the weather is good so it will be smooth.


I don't know about ya'll, but I can't hardly believe that it's almost the Christmas season. Slick has already started emailing his wish list to me...lol. He has no problem letting me know what he wants for Christmas. Erica doesn't either most years. She just wants money or gift cards, but this year I hope she finds something different...only so many ways you can wrap up an envelope..lol. (yeah, i've put it in boxes, played treasure hunt...etc) This year, i'd like to have a Christmas party with all my old friends from up North..(hey Sherrill, if your reading this, HELP)..lol. We had some come to the house last year, and it was so much fun reliving our younger days..I hope I can pull this off.


Well, I need to go check on my mama dogs. I had one who had her pups Monday. She had 6 and 3 of them died today. I got another mama dog who is 3 days overdue..but I think she'll have them tonight, oh..i'd say bout the time I get good and asleep...I had another one born last Fri and I about drowned it..didn't think the dog was gonna have any pups..she sure didn't look like it. And when her estimated due date came and no pups, I figured she just took a break this time. 2 days later, I go out to feed them, and she has this other female by the neck, growling and shaking her. I get the water hose and start pouring it to her, but she won't let go..in a min I see this little puppy floating in the barrell. OH MY GOODNESS...she was protecting her baby!..He lived, but I pert near drowned the little fella..I told Tony that surely I could come up with a good testimony outta that experience!!! HA HA Til next time.......

Yes, I am still here....

Man. Has it really been 2 months since my last blog? I remember posting that last week, right?..oh well. Time flies. Been a hot summer here at my house. But thankfully it has passed with no major health issues for me. I usually have at least one bout of bronchitis during the summer, but thank the good Lord, I have made it thru the worse of it without one it seems.
I'm getting anxious for the holidays too. Yep. Already have a christmas tree sitting in the hall..lol. It's still in the box, I just got it a few days ago. I ordered it from the Christmas Shoppe in Pigeon Forge this spring, and it's just arrived! That definately put me in the mood and it's debut now ups my tree count to 10. Gonna start putting them together the first week in Nov..we're off to Disney the second week, and thats when these "decorating elves" come in and do all my decorating for me! When I get home, everything is decorated and ready to enjoy for the season. I've always decorated big for Christmas, altho not to the scale that I have these past few years. I have some friends who like to decorate, and need money for Christmas, so I hire them to do it all while i'm away. That way I , well, actually Tony, doesn't have to deal with all the mess that comes along with decorating and they have some Christmas cash! Works for me. These same girls come back in and take it all down and store it for me too...I'm just not able to climb that ladder up and down to even finish out one tree, much less the others..so this has really been a blessing to me and has allowed me to carry on some of my decorating traditions. Wow! A blog about Christmas decorating already....but it will be here before you know it!


Something else that will be here, and not quick enough I might add, is our upcoming trip to Hawaii in January with my sister, Donna and her husband, Chad. I invited my brother, Darrell and his wife Tamara to go, but HE DECLINED! Can you believe it? He was just too scared of the plane ride. Donna said she was too, but she was gonna get over it. LOL. I don't blame him. Some fears you just can't seem to override, no matter how insignificant it seems to others. I've made the trip twice already, (and got some beautiful grandchildren out of the deal)...but it still makes me nervous. I know they say if it's your time to go, you're gonna go...but Darrell says he's not gonna get on a plane and say..."here I am"...lol. I told him if something happened to our plane and he lost us, he better not put "I told you so" on our tombstones..ha ha. I really wanted it to be a trip for all 3 of us. I don't remember us going on a vacation as a family, unless you count the annual 2 trips to Alabama that we took growing up. Those vacations consisted of going to Granny and Papa Brazier, and Granny and Papa Gray's. Now, i'm not gonna say we didn't have fun...but we didn't do anything just as our family..know what I mean? Darrell said we can get together and go to the Smokies as our "sibling" trip...yeah right....me and Donna said..."get over yourself and go to Hawaii with us"...and he finally agreed to go...but with much pleading, and trying to console him and reassure him...but in the end, I could tell he wasn't at all excited about it. Not one iota. So..I called him and let him off the hook. I'm very disappointed, and he's very relieved. Oh well...maybe someday we can do something together, but i'm pretty sure it's not gonna be the Smokies..ha ha...
Kristen had a girls night here at the house Fri nite...she's such a hoot. She gets a lot of her personality from her daddy, ugh....but honestly, i'm glad she's a people person. If she's with the older teen-agers, she just hangs right in there with em...and when she's around the 5yr olds..well..she can act just like them as well..(sometimes she will do that when they're not around...:)...kinda the "only child" syndrome I hear...but nonetheless...she's my oldest granddaughter, the one that officially earned me the title of "Granny"! It won't be long and the boys will be knocking on her door, giving Todd heart spasms like he did us...and I hope they're good strong ones too...he might as well get ready for it...And it looks like our darling Resiana is gonna be Ms Personality as well!...she loves being around the older girls too...she has done so well, it's amazing actually...bless her heart, when I told her that I was going to Hawaii, she asked me was I coming back...and I told her yes, it was just like the vacation when she went to Disney...we go to visit, but always come home. I asked her if she wanted to go back some day and she said, "on vacation like you and Pappy?" and I said yeah...that she would have to come back home to Alabama when it was time to leave. She thought about it a minute, and then nodded her head "yes"....she's such a blessing to us all...her story, her laugh, Lord I love to hear her laugh...when we were just learning about each other, and she would laugh, (she kinda cackled..lol)...and i'd say..."Lord, I hear that chicken!"...and she'd just laugh harder...that memory still brings a smile to my face when I think of that...she kinda took up with me in the beginning...several noticed it...which of course made my heart swell...but now, she's comfortable being around people for the most part and doesn't "need" Granny as much, but she still will come running, arms open wide, with that big ole grin of her's, to hug me when she sees me...and she loves her Pappy as well. And Crimsyn! You talk about Granny's buddy!...he loves his Granny! And that just thrills me too...when he sees me, it's all over folks...ha ha...I got it figured that he will be our last grandchild, so i'm trying to take in every moment of his babyhood...almost like I did my own...I want to know every new accomplishment, can't wait for him to walk, (I think I do, but that means he's getting bigger, leaving that baby stage behind)...so I dont know if I want him to or not..lol...me and Crystal have laughed and said we want to enjoy him at this stage as long as possible, but we don't want to make him retarded...ha ha...and Caden...sweet, loving, sneaky Caden..oh boy...this one is gonna make Slick pay for his raising alright...there is no way that Slick could have had a blood kin kid that would have been anymore like him...i'm serious..it's like being with Slick all over again...always wanting to make you laugh, but sneaky as a snake..he can tell some of the biggest yarns you ever heard too...and eats non-stop when he's at the house..If I know they're coming I try to have something on hand that they like, but with Caden I don't think it would matter...I mean, he even tried, and liked, turnip greens!!!! But I love that they come to Granny's and Pappy's and enjoy their time here...he is truly funny, until you laugh at him for something that wasn't supposed to be funny...then he's not happy...and that makes us laugh even more. Those episodes usually end with him stomping out of the room, but Tony usually has him laughing in no time again...And wow, Carter...he is so smart..and getting older...I don't feel like it will be too much longer before he comes to the Lord. He is very protective of his siblings...and is a perfectionist. Everything has to be just right. When he stays the night on a school night, and he has had to when the baby was in the hospital..he got up, 1st call, showered and got dressed, no compaints. Then he helped me with the other 2...like gathering bookbags, or tying shoes. He is a big help to Crystal I know....my goodness, he's gonna be 11 this December....where has the time gone.....
Well, I guess i'll close for now...maybe it won't be 2 months before I post again...but then....

See Ya Later.......

Well, today I said goodbye to my dear friend Rhonda...we're all gonna miss her. It's so hard to believe that she really did die...I mean, we all gotta go someday, but I had always told her that I would go before she would. I felt like I was in worse shape than she was...she showed very little outward appearance that she had any problems...here I am, overweight, high BP, and lung issues, mostly chronic bronchitis. She on the other hand didn't complain of many ailments..mostly a achy back and swelling feet. It wasn't until that day when she got out of her car and picked something up that something in her back gave way...and it was all downhill from there...little did she know that cancer was ravaging her body at several points..she just thought she had twisted her back...so it just goes to show, you never know.
But one thing I do know...the Lord took care of her. She had almost no pain whatsoever. Even the doctors were amazed that she wasn't in agonizing pain. They kept bringing in pain medication to give her, and she would just turn it down because she didn't need it...the Lord was so merciful to her and spared her the pain she should have been in. For that alone, her family and us were so thankful. Towards the end she did have some...but she was able to handle most of it with very little help.
Her funeral was beautiful and touching. One of our vendors that we buy material from, was there. He had drove from Tallassee, AL. an almost 4hr drive. He knew Rhonda from when she worked for us at TJ'S, then later at K & C , then she ordered from them when she worked for Michael at the Georgia plant...His name is Archie, and he thought highly of her and even made the drive to see her when she was in the hospital. He wanted to go to the cemetary, so he rode with Tony and me out there. On the way, he asked us what was the name of the song they sung as they wheeled Rhonda's casket out the door after the funeral. After I told him the name he said "I've never heard that song, but I do believe that's the prettiest singing I've ever heard"..he proceeded to tell us that he'd been to Gaither homecomings, and had been to many gospel concerts, but he had never heard singing that beautiful before, and he loved that song. He even wants us to send him a copy so his church can learn it...I wanted to tell him that the reason the singing was so good was that it was sung from the hearts of people who loved the Lord with all their hearts and that He himself let His presence be felt thru the singing, cause He was there...I hope He will come to mine when it's my turn....
Well Rhonda, I'm kinda miffed cause you get to get Roger 1st for leaving us when he did...but I think i'm still gonna take a swing at him cause if I know you, you were so happy to see him that you couldn't punch him in the nose like we agreed to do...I just wished I had thought to tell you before you left so he'd be expecting it when I get there...LOL.... And I worried about telling you goodbye...didn't know how to do it...and I didn't have to..cause after I thought about it, I didn't want to. I don't want to say good-bye...how about.."see ya later".......

How Can I Help You Say Goodbye....

Rhonda Brown is my friend. She's been my friend for nearly 30 years now. I've known her longer than that, but we became friends after her and Roger married. I'd known Roger all my life, and Tony and I grieved with him when he lost his first wife and children. We were so happy for him when he and Rhonda married. He couldn't have found a better person to be his life partner...especially with the work the Lord had for him. She is a wonderful person. She loved Roger very much. After his passing, she was so lonesome and depressed. I have no idea the feeling of emptiness and longing she had in her heart for her husband who had left the walks of this life to enter into that land she had heard him preach about many, many times. She often spoke to me of how she couldn't wait to meet him again..and I told her that just as soon as I was sure that I was gonna get to walk thru the pearly gates, I was gonna walk up to him (Roger) and punch him in the nose for leaving us so soon...lol. She always smiles when I tell her that....she said if I got to go before her, to give him a punch for her too...LOL....
But, it looks like she's gonna make it home before I do...of course it might not happen that way...who knows what God's plan is...all I know is that she's laying in a hospital bed in my living room with very little time left. And that breaks my heart. She's told me many, many times that I was her best friend. Oh, I don't have a big head about that, i'm sure she's told many the same thing...she wasn't one to show a difference..lol..and at the time she would say that, I was the one she hung with the most...she made me feel like she needed my friendship...she would tell me that I made her laugh when she was sad, that I gave her hope when she couldn't find anything to hope for. But the truth is, she was good for me. Most times when I would be telling her my feelings, she would bring another side of the story into play for me to consider...and it usually helped me to realize that I might be wrong about something...I've had her tell me things that bothered her, but she always ended the conversation with "it's probably just me"...the past few years, we've not had nearly as many conversations as we used to....kinda drifted apart. Life has a way of consuming your time. We sold the business she worked at, so I didn't see her on a regular basis like I had been..She went to college to become an Accountant...I was busy with helping out with our business and at Cutie Petooties..She found a great friend in Sis Sissy...the two of them went many places together...both are single ladies and have a lot in common. It seemed that she was getting things together in her life. Although she got laid off from her job, her college work was almost completed and she would have been starting a new chapter in her life anyway...her and Sissy were almost inseparable, going to church and singings and shopping together...I even went with them a time or two on some occasions...and we had so much fun...
I remember when she lost her first baby. We cried together, as I had lost my first and knew how she felt. And how happy she was when she found out she was expecting again...and I remember the night she brought Tiffany home from the hospital..I spent the night with them, and Tiff slept in the bed with me so Rhonda could get a full nights rest..then the loss of another child before she had her last baby, Jordan. I remember going to their house after church and me, Rhonda and Roger would talk til late in the night, while Tony slept in the recliner cause he couldn't hear what we were saying due to his hearing loss.. we talked low so the kids wouldn't wake up..how they came to the house the night Tony's dad died, and begged us to stay with them so we wouldn't be alone...I could go on and on about the good ole days...
We said good-bye to Roger long ago..and now it looks like we will be doing the same with Rhonda in just a short time...how do you do that? I want so bad to tell her that we'll be seeing her again in a few days...that i'm sure Roger is just sitting on the banks of the river, writing in the sand, waiting on her to cross to the other side..he probably looks up every now and then to see if he can see her coming...I want to say good-bye, but how? She is slowly slipping away from us...getting closer and closer to the shoreline...I want to say good-bye, but the words are stuck inside my throat, yearning to be spoken. Not that I want this dramatic scene full of tears, and sobbing, but to try to convey to her a feeling of peace...peace that her children will be well seen to..that we'll make sure her grandchildren remember their "Nanny" with precious memories and pictures and stories of how much she loved them, and I have a few funny stories to tell them when they get older and can realize the humor in them....stories that still bring a smile and a small chuckle to me as I sit here thinking about them....I want to tell her how much she'll be missed, and how good of a person she was, never speaking against anyone, no matter how hurt she was from things that others had said....that i'm sure she'll have no "gate" trouble when she gets there...and that it's ok to go on to be with Roger, their babies, and her daddy, who she was still grieving for...how can I help you say good-bye Rhonda? I only wish I knew............

Cute Kid..

Watch this ya'll...it's hilarious.http://www.godvine.com/Adorable-Baby-Reacts-to-his-Mom-Blowing-Her-Nose-305.html

I have no idea what I just ate.....

Ok, I do know, but I couldn't tell by tasting..you see, my taste buds are on strike. As is my sense of smell. I have had this before, but NEVER to this extent. I mean, I forgot about supper on the stove one night this past week. Normally, I could have smelled it when it started burning. But not this time. I didn't smell a thing. Then Tony walks in and asks me.."What are you burning on the stove?"...uh..." I'm not burning anything!" I reply indignantly...and then I remember that I am cooking something on the stove..but I don't smell it burning...So I go in there and sure enough, I have a charred blob of something in the pan...but i'm not upset that I burned it...I was freaked out cause I didn't smell it burning! I mean, the house could have been on fire for all I would have known! I told Tony that maybe I could salvage it...stupidly, before I could think, I stuck my non-smelling nose in the pan and said that it didn't smell burned... ha ha ha...DUH...ya think? Tony said there was no way he was eating that...and I guess that's when I realized how bad my sense of smell was...he was saying the whole house stunk...I didn't smell it at all! Then to make matters worse, a lady came by later that evening and brought me 2 candles as a gift...(did she smell the house all the way from where she lived???)....one was Blueberry, one was Pineapple...they both just as well been plain brown mud cause I couldn't smell either one of them.....I told her of my dilema, and apologized that I couldn't make over how good they smelled cause I couldn't smell them, but I was sure they smelled wonderful... and told her I would call her when my smeller got better and let her know how I liked them...LOL....Erica comes over the next day. The pan is still sitting in the sink...(I couldn't smell it so I had forgot about it..)...when I told her that my smell was gone and that I had burnt dinner and didn't know it, I remembered the pan..I held it out for her to smell....and she bout puked. LOL...nah, she didn't ...but she said it smelled horrible! I stuck my nose in the pan again...and could not smell a thing! Amazing....but not being able to smell is not near as bad as not being able to taste...........
There is something about eating a marshmallow and not being able to taste it. I mean, you are chewing on the rubbery peice of food, but you can't taste it. You begin to think all kinds of things..like...I wonder if this is what chewing on .......would feel like. I mean, i've been on a diet, right? I couldn't even get any satisfaction outta cheating on it...I mean, if i'm gonna pay a penalty for breaking a rule, then you better believe i'm gonna get the satisfaction of at least tasting what it is that's gonna cost me!...and if those two aren't bad enough....
My right ear is completely blocked up. I can't hear worth a flip outta that ear. I feel like I am talking in a drum. I have yawned, swallowed, pinched my nose and blew back in my mouth, used nose spray and chewed candy. It will not unplug. I am beginning to feel a lot of pressure behind the eardrum. For now, there is no pain with it..I am praying it stays that way.
So folks, 2 out of my 5 senses are useless right now..and a 3rd is on it's way out. All that is working right now correctly is my site..(no these are not glasses on my nose...ok..yes it is).... and the sense of touch. Of course this one would be the only one working...LOL.....

Oh To Be Well Again....

I must admit that this post isn't about me...altho I would love to have knees that don't creak and a back that will allow me to stay bent over for more than 5 seconds before it sends me into a tizzy...this post is about my kids and grandkids.....

I have the most wonderful, funny, loving, cutest and SICK grandkids you've ever seen. I mean it...I feel so sorry for these kids, both the grown ones and the grandkids. It seems like about the time that one gets back on track, another one is down for the count..and most of the time more than one of them is sick...like right now...Carter has to have surgery on Fri morning for an unexplained cyst-like something that has come up on his abdomen. He had this when he was a little fella, had to have surgery then too...and it has resurfaced..almost, if not, over night. So he goes in to have it removed on Fri..the doc thinks it's benign, but they are going to send it off nonetheless..then yesterday and last night, Caden coughed and coughed, and run a temp..haven't heard if he was able to go to school today or not...then I call Erica to see if she knew about Carter, and she told me that she had to go get Kristen from school because she was sick...I kept baby Crimsyn a few days ago, you know he just got out of the hospital about a week ago with the flu...and altho he is much better, he was still coughing...Resiana is on the top of the "Well" list right now, but even she had a slight cough yesterday...I told Slick the other day to send me the well ones and maybe they could stay well and not catch it until the sick ones were well again...But then Crystal, Slick and Erica, all 3, have been battling this crud for weeks. They all are getting better, then worse, then better again, but they still sound a little...uh...cruddy..LOL...

I know this ain't funny, but it is almost comical. I told someone the other day that if my little family EVER gets EVERYONE better at the same time, we are having a party! A "Everybody's Healthy" party! I'm gonna serve vitamins, juice and antibiotics, give away presents of air filters, thermometers and humidifiers, and send home party favors of cough suppresant, fever reducer and face masks!

I know that my kids read my blog..and I know they'll know i'm kidding here...there are many more good days than there are sick ones...altho right now that might be up for debate..lol...all kidding aside tho...my heart goes out to them..And Erica would agree....especially to Slick and Crystal....you guys are such heroes...to know that if you hadn't opened your hearts and home to these little guys, there is no telling where they'd be at now...and if they have to be sick...i'm so thankful they have you to take care of them...all will be well again in a few days...weeks......by summer...(hopefully)...LOL

Recovering from the weekend...

Whew...This was 5th weekend and I feel like it has been...I'm wore out..not as young as I used to be...duh....it's better than the alternative I guess. We had so many visitors Sat nite and Sun morning..it did my heart so good to see everyone of you that came. There was a great feeling there Sat night as the Lord blessed our visitors, and Sunday morn the Word of God came and it was wonderful as well...I've got left over Taco's in the fridge, and a few brownies, but everything else pretty much got wiped out, and that suits me just fine because I started a diet this past Monday and I didn't want all those goodies just sitting on the counter sending out signals to my brain that they needed to be eaten and not wasted. I had to fix 4 desserts for Sun and I gave all my leftovers away...I was a good girl....Me, Darrell and Sis Janice Sanders have started a diet and we're doing great! Our first week, and actually is wasn't really a whole week, just Mon-Fri and we all lost...now we will weigh from Fri-Fri..we're doing it biggest loser style, not pounds, but percentage..makes it fair for everyone. One of the rules I chose was I could only have 2 cans/bottles of regular pop per day. No big deal one might think, but when you are used to drinking at least 6 or more a day, well...let's just say, it is gonna make a drastic drop in Mt Dew sales at the gas station..lol. The first day/night was so hard for me...I actually woke up at 10:36pm and thought I have 1 hour and 24 minutes and I can legally go get me a can...but then that would be 1 of my 2 for the day, and I willed myself back to sleep....lol. After Mon tho, it seemed a lil easier, I have to have one (I think) when I first get up, then I drink water, or sugar free tea til about dinner, then I splurge and have my 2nd one...I've gotten it down to a science now tho..my other rule is I can't eat after 7:30pm unless it's a church night...seems kinda limpy huh...well, a LOT of nights Tony wants to go to Crackerbarrell after church, and I hated to have to say please no all the time...I mean, he could go without me, but won't hardly. And I certainly don't want to go and sit and watch him eat...UGH..who can do that?????? We have to keep our rules, each one of us have our own rules, chosen by us, and have to be a challenge for us to keep...I mean, if I chose no eating after 9pm that would be too easy for me...we'll keep these rules every day, no exceptions unless something beyond our control occurs, until St Patricks day..oh, I might mention that we have a penalty of $5 every time we break one of our rules...the one who loses the most percentage gets it at our final weigh in...I honestly fought the first day to drink that 3rd can of pop, but wasn't willing to pay $5 for it...almost, but my pride refused to let me be the first one to fall, much less on the first day...lol....Darrell would have never let me lived that one down..we are very competitive though, and I might add, he had to pay the first penalty..hee hee..course Donna says I should let him slide cause he just forgot, but nope. I could just "forget" how many cans of pop i've had too..LOL...gotta be tough in this competition...Sis Janice is in the lead so far percentage wise...way to go Janice! Wish it were me, but it's not...so woo hoo for her...we'll i'll try to keep ya'll updated on our diet progress...stay tuned!

First Blog of the Year...

Well, it's 2011. Can't believe it...where has the time gone? I'm looking at Christmas decorations, i'm ready for them to be down, and yet, it just seems like I did that??? And it won't be no time, til i'll be dragging them out again...I've heard some say they are ready for summer already, well, I love summer, but i'll wait..why wish your life away? I plan on enjoying a couple of months of NOTHING...I plan on doing some winter cleaning. Gonna start at one end of the house and go through drawers, cabinets and closets and get rid of some stuff. I don't know how in the world I accumulated all these things! I mean, you'd think I was a compulsive buyer, or worse, a hoarder, from the looks of some of my cabinets. I am determined to put the stuff I haven't used in 6 months in boxes and see if Erica or Crystal want it. And if they don't, Goodwill here it comes. I mean..I have Arbonne that's never been opened..I just thought I wanted to look younger..ha ha. And then I have Tony egging me on..he wants me to throw away all of my dishes and get new ones that match! Even silverware! I told him that some of those bowls were Mom's and Granny's and I wasn't doing nothing with them, but I guess i'll be cleaning out kitchen cabinets too. I think I would like not opening a cabinet and then throwing up both arms to protect my head from falling plates and bowls..ha! I got new cookware from Tony and Crystal at Christmas, he got me stainless steel and she got me T-Fal..I really like both. I was dreading cooking some stuff in the stainless steel pans, so she took care of that with the T-Fal. But now that means I have to go through my pots and pans and decide what to get rid of. I'm keeping my cast iron stuff...got too many years seasoning them babies...lol.
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. I think I enjoyed this year more than I have any other in a long time. It's been a couple of years since I lost anyone in my family, so it wasn't as sad for one thing. Darrell got me the sweetest gift..a portrait of me, Donna and him when we were young..it made me cry..(Thanks Br Shannon)...then we had Resiana and Crimsyn this year, and it was so good knowing they were a part of our family now. And I had many grateful thoughts that the Lord had allowed Crimsyn to come home to us. I guess our little family is complete now, and we'll just sit back and wait on the Great Grandkids to come along...I suppose Kristen will be the first to marry...she's a couple years older than Carter. I know one thing, she won't marry without Todd Davis having heart spasms..haha...it'll be payback for him taking Erica away from us so young. She's already got her a fella, he's a cutie too...Stuart Higdon. Of course Todd says she won't be getting married til she's like, 13546 years old...yeah, that's what we thought about Erica too. Carter has a girlfriend, her name is Josie. I told him she already scored points with me because that was my grandmother's name! He was a good lil fella and bought her a nice bracelet for Christmas..spent his own money too! Man, I just know that one day i'm gonna think about this night, sitting here writing this blog, and wonder at how the time flew by...
I loved getting up Christmas morning to the snow! I couldn't believe it...I ran back into the bedroom and woke Tony up...at first I just thought it was just real foggy. Erica, Todd and Kristen almost didn't make it down the mountain to come to the house. And Slick had to try several times to make it up our hill (driveway)..but it was so good when they all got there. Tony had built a fire in the fireplace..breakfast was good, Resiana got to help Tony play Santa. This was her first official Christmas. She said she knew about Santa, but he didn't bring her anything. That wasn't true this year! I felt a pang of sadness for her birthmother and all of the people, which includes children, living in the park. Felt guilty. Crystal had sent care packages over there to her for herself and to distribute to those in the park with her. Crystal is such a good person. She truly does care for others and i'm glad she's my daughter-in-law.
Well, I guess i'll close for now...need to hit the sack and get ready tomorrow to head to Florida Monday morning if i'm able. I've taken a slight setback with this cold, and if i'm not able to go to church tomorrow night, I won't be going to Florida...I do feel better than I did yesterday, but i'm still coughing...there is so much sickness going around..I guess we just need to pray for everyone, sick or well, and believe that things will turn around for those that are sick soon....til next time!