The Brick - Hollings Bar...

Today I headed into Georgetown to visit with my mom and and dad and pick up Papa's laundry. Had a good visit with my parents. Papa was all excited about some family history he found and forgot he had. He was really talkative about it all. Mimi just wanted to sleep. We kept having to wake her up to get lunch down her. She ate everything and drank all her milk and water. But I bet as soon as they get her back in her bed she'll be into a great nap before dinner. On my way home from Georgetown I stopped at Fat Boys BBQ to pick up take-out for our dinner today. I got one of their take-out menus and tried to read it quickly. A server came up and asked if she could help. I told her what I was up to. I ordered the meals for Claude and me and then tried to figure out the 2 sides for each of us. For me, it didn't take a lot of thought. I knew I was having sweet potato fries and fried okra. Set my little Southern heart free!! My friends, that is goooooood eatin'. But I wasn't quite sure about Claude's side dishes. I called him quickly on my cell phone and asked him which sides he wanted. Steel yourselves...his answer...I want 'front' and 'back'!!! My poor little server was busy with a full restaurant and I just looked at her as she patiently waited for my response. I grinned and told her he said for his sides he wanted 'front' and 'back'. Fortunately, I had a server with a sense of humor and she chuckled. Then we got a real answer from Claude and she headed to the back to fill our order. I sat at a table and pulled out my Sudoku book. I don't sit still very well at all. Seems to get worse the older I get. I somehow thought age would reverse that tendency and instead it has enhance it!! So I opened my trusty Sudoku book to keep me occupied while they filled my order. After finishing the first puzzle, I looked up to check out my surroundings again. Fat Boys BBQ used to be 'The Cedar Post'. It on the outside edge of Georgetown. Georgetown has a no-smoking policy in all restaurants. Since Fat Boys is outside the city limits, they don't have that policy. This is the only reason Claude and I don't frequent them more often. I have a hard time with that burned cigarette smell and then carrying it with me on my clothes when I leave. But the food has always been good the few times we stopped there. Now that it is Fat Boys and BBQ is the specialty of the house, it deserved some more tries. Take-out will be our answer to some good food and not having to deal with the cigarette smoke. But when I raised my head and looked around, it was fun to notice the place again on the inside. The restaurant and several of the buildings in the back are all built like old log cabins where they took planks of wood and put them together and filled in with mud between the cracks in the wood. I had looked at the other buildings with their chimney's coming out of the center of each one and wondered how old they really were. I must find that bit of history some time just to satisfy my curiosity. I looked at the inside with the board walls and the wood floor. There are booths on two of the walls and the floor is chock full of tables and chairs. They now do karaoke there on the weekends so there is a wooden elevated stand on the back wall. They had two big screen TV's up on 2 of the walls. They were both on to the UK and Tennessee basketball game. If you know anything about this part of Kentucky, you need to know that they 'bleed Blue' here. EVERYBODY!!! The University of Kentucky is in Lexington and their color is blue and everybody 'bleeds Blue'. I've not ever been a follower if basketball, football, baseball, etc. I've enjoyed it enough to know what is happening and can enjoy watching a game. I've had strong feelings for some teams in places where we have lived. I enjoyed being a fan of the Atlanta Braves and Dale Murphy when Jake was a kid. I'll never forget Jake going to Pittsburgh, PA with me on a business trip. I got us tickets to a baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium between the Pittsburgh team and the Atlanta Braves. We were in the nosebleed section, but we were there. Jake was just really happy to be at a real game in which the Braves and Dale Murphy were playing. We were truly the only people cheering for the Braves. We got a few nasty glares but we had a great time. Well, I looked around me at the room and realized it was full of couples and friends watching this most important basketball game. I believe Coach Kalipari (spelling?) was the coach at Tennessee before he came to UK and I'm sure that heightened the need to see UK win this one. I realized that many of these people are regulars and they know the owners. It was just a nice warm feeling in the room. When I looked up the score was UK 59 and Tennessee 65. There was moaning by these diehard UK fans. No one was inhibited in their need to yell out encouragements to the TV screens. As I watched UK managed to tie the score at 65 - 65. All these UK fans were happy now but there was still time till the end of the game. Not much, may 2 minutes or less. So they were still encouraging those TV screens. Before the end of the game Tennessee scored a few more times and won the game. There will be moans all over this area on the news and in conversations. That is when it hit me. I was enjoying the feeling of being in this place because it was like being in Hollings Bar. One of my favorite all time TV series was 'Northern Exposure'. I enjoyed just about every episode. My hubby has purchased all the DVD's of this series for me. When our regular TV starts it's rerun season, out come the Northern Exposures and once again we are in Cecily, AK and all the personality that is truly Alaska. Hollings Bar (The Brick) was a central gathering place for a lot of the show. And this afternoon, I felt like Fat Boys BBQ was the Georgetown version of The Brick. It was a good feeling. By the way, the BBQ was a great meal enjoyed by Claude and me. We'll definitely do that again. And the family history Papa found was a cassette tape of an interview he did with his mother and one or two of his brothers helped talk and ask questions. I brought it home and will transcribe it so we have that bit of family history. That is an even better thing. Today...Life is Good!!

Finding Peace...

Life can be a rush...the pace just moving all the time. Last Sunday was a visit to Lexington for a Ward Conference, then to the nursing home to visit my mom, the finally home to finish the day. Monday and Tuesday were snow days. I stayed in and began to do some of that cleaning out of things that you put off. I've been in a throw away mood and that is the best time to clean out things. I'm tackling the two file cabinets in my sewing room. It feels good to get them cleaned out. Tuesday I managed to clean the oven. My hubby headed to the Church to pick up his dress winter overcoat he left there on Sunday. I later learned he found snow on the parking lot and decided, since he was the only one there and the surface was just right, he would see how his Jeep handles doing circles in the snow. Men always stay boys at heart. Wednesday I managed to take dinner to a friend, get back into the nursing home with my parents and then to the Church for my presidency meeting. The parking lot still was not plowed. As I left in the evening I drove over Claude's tracks in the snow on the side of the building. Today Claude had an appointment to get new tires on the Jeep (Hmmm....wonder if all that snow spinning made that need greater??). I followed him in to the dealer where we have our work done and picked him up after he dropped off his Jeep. I drove him directly to Dairy Queen for biscuits and gravy. Then we took my car through the car wash. It was so nice to see it was still red after all the snow and dirt grime were removed. Grocery shopping at Walmart was next on our agenda. Then we headed back to Sadieville. After unloading all those groceries and putting them away, I checked eMail's and then headed upstairs to my bed with my novel. I read for about an hour and then slept for about 45 minutes. Been feeling like my brochitis thought it needed to make a comeback today. So I felt the rest would be a good thing. In the afternoon, Mayor Claude headed to Sadieville for a meeting with Geoff Davis, our U.S. Congressman. He is a very nice man and Claude had a good visit with him at City Hall in Sadieville about the plans for Sadieville. When Claude got home we headed back to Georgetown to pick up the Jeep. The payment for this trip was a visit to Fava's for 'frickles'. Fava's makes the best breaded fried pickles that you dip in their homemade ranch dressing. After dinner we headed back to the dealership where I left Claude to pick up his car. I headed back to Sadieville. This week one of our friends had knee surgery. We've been trying to keep tabs on her. Another friend found out her hubby only has 6 months to live. The range of emotion felt with all the things that happened during the week is wide and varied. I told Andie this afternoon I wished we had someone that was having a baby on our block so we could feel that excitement and joy as well. So back to my opening statement...Life can be a rush. It can be difficult to find peace in all the noise and rush of life. But it happened with a little incident this evening. I looked out in our back yard and there was a deer looking for places where the snow had blown away so they could forage on that bit of grass. Soon this deer was joined by another and then another with a little fawn. They were beautiful. My mind did flash quickly to them eating our veggies in the garden in the summer. But I put that in the far back corner of my mind (hmm...that must mean my mind is a cube or square if it has a corner...but I digress). These deer were just beautiful. What a neat thing to be created on this planet for us to enjoy!! We have about 7 inches of snow on the deck. I grabbed by camera and put on my clogs (not the best shoes for walking in the snow on the deck but they were close). I opened the door to the deck carefully and then stepped out in the snow. The crunch brought up the deers ears and the head came up quickly to watch for movement. I froze and waited until they felt comfortable putting their heads down. I finally got close enjoy to the rail to quickly snap one shot before they raced for the forest on the empty lot we own next to the lot our home is on. This is the picture I got of two of the deer. You can tell that the one in front is turning to make his getaway.

I went back inside to place a few calls I needed to do in the evening. Claude got home and he saw the deer. He called for me to come quickly. This time there was a whole herd. Maybe 10-12 of them. They were strolling across the yard. I grabbed the camera and headed to the open door just as the phone rang. They heard the phone. I grabbed it and told Valorie I would call her after I finished my photo op. Fortunately I left footprints in that 7 inch snow on the deck which made my steps easier this time. But that deer was still watching very closely so it was take a step, pause till I saw his tail twitch and then take another step. When I finally made it to the rail, I just paused for a long time and we watched each other. I was sure the first time the flash went off that deer would be out of there. I was surprised when it just stood there and watched me take the picture and then the flash.

As I watched where he was grazing, I was pretty sure I knew why the Marigolds I planted did not come up last spring. They probably fed some deer the winter before. I found myself wishing I could talk to that deer and see what his life was like in the woods near our home. I remember reading fairy tales as a child where some young girl or princess was so kind and good that the animals would come right up and visit with her. I wondered if I had that kind of aura about me that an animal could feel safe around me. Is it just instinct that makes them run or are they like Bambi and their mother taught them in deer language about humans and to fear them. It was a nice moment to pause and enjoy the wildlife we have around us in Sadieville.

While watching the deer I realized there were many deer tracks across the lawn to and from the stand of trees on our empty lot.

After a good bit of time, the herd returned. They must have foraged across the back yards of our neighbors until something scared them off. Some of the neighbors have dogs that may have done that or it could have been a person. But suddenly they were thundering back to get to the safety of the trees. At this point my camera decided it was time to have the screen go black to save energy. I did get one quick shot of the deer running but only 3 of them show up in this photo. They are beautiful when they run over that hill. You have to look under the 2nd fir tree from the right to find 2 deer and to the right of the big fir tree on the right at the edge of the picture to see the 3rd deer.

There you have it...a moment of peace amidst the chaos of life. I do love living in the country!!

Here Comes the Bride...and Groom...

Today, Saturday the 13th of February, is our 40th Wedding Anniversary. Wow!!! We had a quiet day at home. The Michigan grandmonsters called in the morning and sang "Happy Anniversary To You". What a trip. I spent most of my time trying to clean out one of my file drawers. I have this urge to clean and throw away. I find that when that urge strikes I should take advantage of it. We have only lived in our home 5 years and a bit. I can't believe I have accumulated this much stuff again. So it felt good to try and get rid of all the extra stuff that is really not necessary for life. This afternoon we scrubbed up and headed into Lexington for an anniversary dinner. We chose to eat at Joe Carino's. We have never eaten there before and heard it was a good place. It truly is a wonderful place to eat. We had great meals and the bread is to die for. I really could be happy with breads and salads and sugars. There, I was honest!! After dinner we headed back to Georgetown. Claude had a BOGO coupon for Dairy Queen. We ate our Blizzards and visited. I pulled out my Palm Pilot. Several years ago I made Excel spreadsheets. One is the DVD's we own and the other is the VHS tapes we own. The purpose was to keep us from purchasing duplicates when we find sales and to keep a list in the piano bench so it is easy to pick what you want to watch. I scrolled down through them telling Claude the ones that piqued my interest. Then we headed back to Sadieville. When we got home Claude and I agreed we would check the eMails one more time for the evening. Then we would rendezous in the basement for a movie in front of that big TV. Claude asked me to wait before I headed down to my computer. He went to his office and came back with a card and a bag. We had agreed no gifts since we went to Hawaii and are headed to Tybee Island in a few weeks. But, nonetheless, my honey came out with a card and a gift. I opened the most beautiful card. It is pink with a ribbon and cloth with a rose imprinted on it stitched to the front. The front says, "For My Wife, My Best Friend, On our Anniversary and Always". Inside the poem says, "Loving you is the most natural thing in the world for me, and all the little things we share--the daily talks, the understood silences, and the trust and comfort of knowing we have each other to come home to--keep our love changing and growing and alive with all the promise and wonder of sharing our days and nights together. On our anniversary and always, I love you and the special life we share." (Not that you needed to read the poem but I want it in my journal.) Then Claude signed it, "If I had a nickel for every wonderful year you've given me..." C I'd have... Then I opened the gift. It was a little glass dish with a glass lid. Inside was a note that said, "40 nickels...I Love You." And under the note, inside the glass dish, were 40 nickels. Now isn't that just the cutest. My guy is a cowboy at heart. The first Valentine's Day we shared he gave me a heart box of candy with a cowboy on the front that said, "Please don't stomp on my heart little darlin'." I just loved that box of candy and still have the box filled with other stuff. Cowboy's have an interesting way of surprising a girl with just the right sentiment at just the right time. Way to go Claude...you scored many points today!! Now I'm off to listen to an Eagle's Concert a full volume in our basement on the big TV with my cowboy. I'm even going to do a little needlework while we enjoy the Eagles. What a good day!!!

Gymnastics...

Last night, Wednesday, February 10, 2010, Claude and I scooped Papa up at his apartment and headed to LaGrange. The mini-Marx's are taking gymnastics again and wanted a full audience to view their amazing skills. All our kids took gymnastics when we lived in Denver. It is just a great sport to get your kids involved in. It uses lots of coordination and strength. Hayden and Bailey love gymnastics. This is their 2nd round of lessons. We made it to LaGrange in good time and stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up dinner for all of us. We arrived at the Marx home just as Miss Bailey was waking from her nap. She and Hayden were so happy and surprised to see all this family coming for a visit. With the snow and ice on the roads, we were not sure if our plan to visit would happen. But we determined it was a go in the late morning. After a good dinner where we learned the Mini's will eat cole slaw, we dressed in our warm coats and headed to the cars. The drive to Louisville Gymnastics was slowed down a bit by a train. There is a plant that makes salsa and, I think, jelly down the road from the Marx home just before you get to the on-ramp for I-71. There are two buildings there and a train track from them to the main train track across our highway. The bar came down across the road, the lights were flashing to warn us to stop, and traffic all slowed to a stop on the snowy road. The engines of the train pulled across the road and then stopped on the road. A man got off the train and flipped the switch to change the direction of the train. Then the train backed up to 2 more tanker cars (it already had 2 coupled to the engines). It coupled these two cars to the two tanker cars already on the train. Then the entire train and cars pulled forward. Now Hayden and Bailey were enjoying this movement of trains. Bailey was sure it was Thomas and Hayden was telling her he wasn't believing that but she could if she wanted to. The engines got the cars on the road and stopped again. We could see the writing on the wall, we might be late for gymnastics. Then the engine started to reverse again and backed all it's cars down the track to the 2nd building. Finally the gate was lifted and we could proceed to gymnastics. When we were taking the kids into gymnastics Bailey said, "That's daddy's car!!" Sure enough, there was Michael. Good eyes on that child. I walked right past and didn't notice. Granted, it was cold and I wanted to be inside where it was warm. There are many classes going on at one time. Hayden's class starts at 6pm and Bailey's starts at 6:15pm. Hayden's class goes first to get a little padded plastic square. This is strictly for the kids to sit on when they are waiting for their turn to participate. There were only two other little boys in Hayden's class. They first went to the bars. They practiced doing flips on one bar. Then they walked on the parallel bars first with their backs facing the ground and second with their tummy facing the ground. When they got to the opposite end of the parallel bars they were to swing 3 times and then dismount. While Hayden's class was doing this, Bailey's class proceeded to the back of the gym. There was a great obstacle course made out of all kinds of shapes and sizes of mats. They even had tunnels rigged up for the kids to go through. Bailey and Coach Jennifer proceeded to the top of a huge incline shaped mat and Bailey was taught to put her hands in the air and slide down the mat. At the bottom she went through a tunnel, up some steps down a slide, through a tunnel, over a raised path and then did a foreward roll down a small incline mat. Well, it was something like that. There was only one other little girl in Bailey's class last night so they had lots of fun navigating this path and doing these skills over and over again. Hayden's class moved to the water fountain for a drink and then to the trampolines. They were to learn half-twists and full-twists on the trampolines. After their turn jumping and doing the twists, they were to go to an incline mat and do a forward roll into a pit of foam cubes. Great fun. Bailey's class moved to learning cartwheels over arch-shaped mats. Then they were off to their trampolines. Coach Jennifer drew a heart with chalk on each trampoline and the little girls tried to jump inside the heart and then stop when their coach said 'freeze'. Hayden's class moved from the trampoline to the mats on the ground to learn to do cartwheels on them. They had a succession of two mats so the boys could do a cartwheel and then walk a few steps and do a 2nd cartwheel. Bailey's class moved to another obstacle course. This course had a path to walk. At one point there were some steps and at the top you jumped onto the mats. At another point there was a spring board and the little girls jumped on it and, with a little help, bounced to the top of a high mat, then they walked across this mat to a little slide and back to their path. At the end of Bailey's class she gets stamps on her hands and feet and belly. It was great fun to watch Hayden and Bailey. Then we headed ourselves back to Georgetown and Sadieville with a quick stop at the Dairy Queen for ice cream to eat in our warm car as we drove. I'm posting a link below that should, if we are very, very fortunate, lead you to a slide show of Hayden and Bailey at gymnastics. http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx70/SandiPhotos_13/Gymnastics%2002-10-2010/

Wow, What a Day!!!

Thursday, February 9, 2010...what a morning this day brought. We headed to City Hall in Sadieville this morning. We left early enough to do our banking and post office chores in Sadieville. Then we walked down to City Hall. Brian Reese was out sweeping the snow off the sidewalk. Claude brought our snow shovel which made clearing the sidewalks in front of City Hall a bit easier. We got about 3 inches of snow overnight. This sounds pathetic compared to our friends in the Washington, DC area and their 28 inches with forecasts of 10 - 20 more inches tomorrow. The City Commission had their meeting from 9:30am to 10:30am. Claude conducted it. On the agenda was the resignation of Mayor Rob Wagoner. He had given Rand Marshall, the City Attorney, is letter of resignation. The City Commission accepted that letter and Rob's resignation. Then they nominated Claude as the next Mayor of Sadieville to fill out the remainder of this year's term. This office is up for election this fall. Claude was going to run on the November ballot. This just makes it happen a lot sooner. Claude accepted their request that he fill the Mayor position. Before the meeting was over, Rand Marshall executed the Oath of Office and when the meeting was done Claude was the new Mayor of Sadieville. Amazing. Now, I had my camera in my crochet bag. I had taken pictures of the Main Street portion of Sadieville in the snow. When all this transpired and I realized they were going to swear Claude in, I quickly reached into my bag to get the camera to take a picture. I couldn't find the silly camera. It had nestled itself in between several balls of crochet thread and I just couldn't see it. I finally found it and turned it on while they administering the oath but the camera was too cold to warm up quickly. It was ready to take the picture just as Claude put down his right arm. Hopefully there will be a picture in tomorrow's Georgetown newspaper. The reporter was there for what was to transpire after the City Commission monthly meeting. Toyota was making a most generous grant to the City of Sadieville to help with the restoration of the Rosenwald School. The president of Toyota in Georgetown was there with a big photo session check replica. In the picture below Steve Angelo, President of Toyota is on the left and Claude Christensen, Mayor of Sadieville is on the right. Claude gave a quick talk thanking Toyota for supporting our community in this wonderful way. Steve gave a quick talk explaining that in these economic times Toyota had looked at its charitable donations. They determined this one needed to be made because the Rosenwald School is a huge part of Scott County, Kentucky history but it is also a huge part of the history of the United States.

This is a picture of the Rosenwald School. These schools were built many years ago as a philanthropic effort providing schools for black children who had no school buildings. These schools were often built near the church. I've blogged about the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Sadieville and this Rosenwald School. The City of Sadieville bought them and plans to refurbish them as close to their original state as possible. They have been listed on the State Register of Historic places. Our Friends of Sadieville Renaissance, Inc., of which I am Secretary/Treasurer this year, was organized to raise funds for these two buildings and to identify and refurbish other old structures of historic significance in our little community. The picture on the left is the Rosenwald School. The picture on the right is Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.

Sadieville is inextricably connected to Nicodemus, Kansas. Many years ago there was land to be given to people who could get themselves to Kansas. The African-American people living in the Scott County and Lexington area were told that for $5 they could have passage on a train to Nicodemus, Kansas where an all black community was being established. They would be given land to homestead. Sadieville was a railroad stop of significance in those days and these people all met and left from Sadieville. This Rosenwald School and Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church were buildings for the African-American population living here during these years. They are treasures to us and a great part of American History. We are having a Railroad Festival this October and plans are being laid and grant money obtained to have people from Nicodemus, Kansas return for a re-enactment of this important moment in history.

The picture below is the interior of the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. The guests from Toyota drove in a Toyota caravan to see the Rosenwald School inside and out. Then we walked down the hill on the concrete steps between the two buildings and viewed the interior of the Mt. Pleasant Church. This church has a beautiful wooden podium in the front and gorgeous windows that are pointed at the top. Really would have been a lovely building.

The Toyota guests headed back to the Georgetown Toyota plant. Claude and I headed back to City Hall. The reporter interviewed Claude about the school and the church. Then we headed to Wendy's for a celebration lunch. When we got home the Jeep left ruts in the snow. I got a quick shot of the front of our home. Claude is headed to the mailbox.

So we had a very full morning. I'm happy for Claude and for Sadieville. Claude really wants to do his best with this responsibility. He'll be a great Mayor. I told him before this ever happened when we were discussing the possibility of him running for Mayor in November that I would need a new wardrobe if I was going to be the 1st Lady of Sadieville. Claude asked me what that meant (I think concerns for the pocket book were mounting). I assured him that in Sadieville that meant I get a new pair of jeans!!!

A Chuckle...

Sometimes silly things happen... Last Wednesday when I went to the nursing home I was going to play the piano for an hour in lieu of Papa singing. He had an awful cold and he basically just stayed in his apartment all week. I fed mom each day and played the piano on Wednesday afternoon instead of him coming and singing. I have a binder that I have copied, from the many books I own, lots of kinds of music. It has everything from bits of classical music to popular type songs from musicals and plays, etc. I made the notebook so I don't have to carry armloads of books of music when I need to do this. So I carried this notebook and then a big book of Church hymns to the nursing home. Papa usually plays and sings from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. By then they have the residents all gathered for dinner at 5pm. I got to the multi-purpose room and the residents were asking how Papa was. They really missed him being there and were truly concerned about his health. They are really like a family to him and he is really a part of their family. I announced that he was sick and had laryngitis and that I would play the piano for them today since he couldn't come and sing. They were okay with that change of plans. Just wanted some music 'Lawrence Music' on Wednesday afternoon. I sat down at the piano and opened my notebook and started to play. The little lady behind me kept saying really loud, "Play something we know!" However, the lady at the table to my left who is fairly new at the nursing home was singing every song I played that would have had words to it. It was amusing. Sometimes they would sing the melody notes and then ask me what the song was when I finished. It was familiar but they just could not remember what it was. The staff was enjoying walking through and listening to the music. One of the pieces was 'Moon River'. We got stuck on Katherine Hepburn as the star of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and couldn't come up with Audrey Hepburn who was the real star. The worker went on about her work and sent a runner back when she came up with the name Audrey Hepburn. This was just very relaxed and enjoyable. I kept on playing and watching the clock as it got closer to 4:30. But that minute hand just wasn't moving very fast. I began to think the clock was broken. I finished the notebook of music and picked up the hymnbook from Church. Hymns from the LDS Hymnbook are a little different from a Protestant hymnbook. We have a few of the same but most are entirely different. JoAnn gave me this beautiful hymnbook. It sits on my piano. It doesn't have all the hymns but the ones it has are beautifully illustrated with great works of art depicting the Savior's life and work. It is a truly beautiful book. I played in this lovely book for so long. I looked up and the clock still didn't have the long hand on the six for 4:30pm. But they were beginning to serve people their food. Hmmm...something was not right. Then I stopped playing and looked really closely at that clock on the wall. The hand was still not on the 6. But the long hand was just past the twelve. I had been watching the short hand (there was a plant under the clock kind of covering it a bit) and it was not going to be at the 6 for another hour. It was now 5pm and they were beginning to serve dinner. I had played for 1 1/2 hours. I just laughed at the silliness of it all. I closed up my books and went to Mimi's table to feed her dinner. She smiled at me when I came up to her. As she was eating her dinner she paused and looked right at me. She doesn't do that a lot anymore. But she stopped and looked right into my eyes. Then, surprise of surprises, she winked at me. I couldn't believe it. It was just really funny. I asked her if she could do that again. Of course that wasn't going to happen. But it was really a fun and very cute moment with my mom. So when you read my post that is two posts back about 'movin' bags', just know that in the middle of all that silliness was this really cute moment in time.

Wonderful Weekend...

Thursday morning we set our alarm to be up by 7am. Our plan was to go to the 10:15 session at the Louisville Temple, then have lunch, then head to the Marx home. That was the plan. At 7am I was still very sleepy, rough night in the sleeping department, so Claude changed the alarm to 8am and we slept for 1 more precious hour. When one heads to play with grandmonsters one should be a rested as possible.

We got ourselves ready, Claude packed the car for our overnight at the Marx home, and we were off to McDonald's for breakfast from the drive thru as we headed to Crestwood, Kentucky. It is called the Louisville Kentucky Temple because that is geographically the main city but the actual address is in Crestwood.

We arrived in good time for the 11:30am session. As we sat there waiting for the endowment session to begin, in walked Lisa Curran. The Currans were in our ward (congregation) in Maryland. Lisa and Pete are wonderful people and it was great to see Lisa enter the room.

After the session we made arrangements to meet at the local Dairy Queen for a quick lunch. Lisa teaches piano lessons and had to be home at a specific time to do that. What a wonderful visit we had. It is always just the best to run into former friends and feel like the friendship is just the same even with passing years and little contact.

Then we headed to LaGrange to visit the Marx Family. This coming Monday is actually Bailey's 3rd birthday but Andie and Michael decided to have her little family party on Saturday so it wouldn't be rushed.

The Mini-Marx's were down for quiet time when we arrived. We tried to quietly bring our suitcase and things in but Hayden has ears that would rival a dogs for hearing. We weren't inside but just long enough to put out suitcase in the extra room before the little guy appeared in the family room. He is always so much fun to greet. He is always a bundle of hugs. Honestly, grandparents can't get enough of these. Plus, you get the added blessing of Hayden needing and wanting to share lots of really fun information.

After a bit Miss Bailey woke up, she actually still sleeps during quiet time, not so much for Hayden anymore. Bailey reminds me of Katelyn when she wakes up. They both have long hair and it covers their entire head when they get up. You know there is a little girl under all those brown locks of hair somewhere but you have to wait until she is ready to reveal her little face. It didn't take her long to figure out that Claude was sitting on the sofa. She curled up in his arms. Melts Pa's heart. His is putty in her hands after that. She knows it, he knows it and we all recognize it each time it happens.

Andie was busy decorating Bailey's birthday cake. Bailey wanted a Bambi birthday. So Andie was in process of decorating that cake. This gave Ma & Pa lots of time to enjoy the Mini's. We read books, watched a video about numbers, and did some marching.

Andie and Michael were going to have an evening out. Andie left and we fed Hayden and Bailey their dinner and played some more games. We ended the evening with a video about letters and how they make words. Then it was upstairs for getting ready and heading to bed. Claude took Bailey to her room and read her stories and got her to sleep quite quickly. I read to Hayden and when I left I thought he was quiet. But when I turned on the monitor he was still singing. The video about words has a little song that goes something like, "First you take a 'c', then you take and 'at', put them all together and you have 'cat'." This song had progressed to a truly Hayden version that sounded something like, "First you take an 'aster' then you take a 'roid', put them all together and you have 'asteroid'". Eventually the music settled and they were both sleeping peacefully.

Andie and Michael returned from the outing and we had a little 'adult swim' time. Then we were all off to bed so we could get up rested and ready to have a Bambi Birthday Party Lunch.

Saturday morning Andie made chocolate chip pancakes. Bailey and Hayden took their places at the island on their respective footstools. The pictures below are of Bailey practicing holding up her 3 figures for being 3 years old. Hayden has learned to cut pancakes. Never fear, the knife is a kid's knife from Pampered Chef. He can't cut himself, but he can cut the pancakes. What a great thing to practice and learn holding and cutting with a knife and fork. As fast as Andie could make the little pancakes, Hayden was cutting them in half and giving us each two halves of pancake at a time.

Andie finished breakfast, then she finished the icing on this wonderful Bambi cake. She took a Bailey approved picture of Bambi. She put paper with the picture on it in a cookie sheet and taped it down. Then she decorated the picture with icing so she had a perfect topping for the cake of Bambi with a butterfly on his nose. Andie froze this Bambi. Then she turned the paper over onto the top of the iced cake and pulled the paper off. There was a perfect Bambi on top. Then she put 'Happy 3rd Birthday Bailey' on the top next to Bambi. It was a beautiful cake and Bailey was extremely happy.

Then the boys headed out for a morning of haircuts for Hayden and Michael, a stop at Kroger for some incidentals and the final stop at the barbeque place to pick up our lunch. Yum!! While the boys were gone, Bailey got a bath. Then we had beauty shop time and I cut Bailey's hair and then Andie's hair. Then the girls got all dressed for lunch and finished just as the guys were getting home.

As Andie and Michael put lunch on the table, Hayden headed upstairs to make a special Magic School Bus. Hayden has some blocks and they are constantly being rearranged to make different versions of the Magic School Bus. His project this time was a Magic School Bus Birthday Cake for Bailey's 3rd birthday. Here is his finished product. The 3 red towers are the candles for Bailey's 3rd year on planet Earth.

We had a great lunch and totally enjoyed watching our little Miss Bailey devour her ribs. This little lady really enjoys her ribs. Her macaroni and cheese were made extra special by dipping them in the barbeque sauce. Then the table was cleared and they kids played a bit while that was going on. Then it was time for Bailey to take her place of honor as the 'birthday girl'. This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of the weekend. Bailey has enormous brown eyes. Getting her bangs cut reveal them again. Now I tell you, how can you not look at this picture and know that we have many very fun years in the future with this little lady?!?!

Michael let Hayden pick out the appropriate candles for the Bambi cake when the boys were out doing their errands. So Andie had him come into the kitchen with her an get the candle on the cake and help carry it in to the waiting birthday girl. We sang 'Happy Birthday to Bailey' and she blew out her candle quickly. We did manage to get a quick Marx Family photo before we cut the gorgeous cake.

Bailey chose the first piece. She picked the butterfly with a bit of Bambi on it. That cake was really good folks. Hayden speared his piece completely through with his fork and ate it quite like a shishkabob. Then we cleared the table. Hayden and Michael got the gifts portion ready in the family room.

Bailey got some fun gifts. The big gift from Andie and Michael was a doll house and lots of furniture pieces to go in it. Hayden and Bailey had lots of fun arranging all that furniture.

After a bit of play, it was time for Hayden and Bailey to have quiet time. It was also time for Claude and I to head back to Sadieville. We had a bit of snow during the night and we wanted to drive during the light of day while the roads were clear and before they started to ice up. After lots of hugs and kisses, Claude and loaded the car and headed down the road.

We were just close to getting up on I-64 when Claude's cell phone rang. It was Katelyn. She was keeping the home front together while Nissa and Todd had an evening away. She just needed a little adult conversation and called Claude and I to chat. It was really good to talk with her again. It is wonderful that the kids know they can call whenever they need us a bit. It sure makes us feel needed and helpful and just a bit loved.

Today we had a really good day at Church, choir practice after, a nice lunch and then we both managed a nap. Hallelujah!!! Claude is much better at napping than I am. I tend to get comfortable and then have the proverbial 'hot flash' and that pretty much kills the napping. But today I actually napped for about a hour.

So today, life is really good. Papa is getting over his cold. Mimi is doing okay. I'm enjoying a quiet evening at home. What more could one ask before the business of the week begins tomorrow.

Movin' Bags...

I'm going to wax philosophical...maybe... Tuesday we got groceries. Since some of our grocery items are stored in the basement, I always put the bags by the door to the basement and take them down as I make trips up and down those stairs. Since my craft/sewing/computer/everything room is in the basement, there are always many trips made each day. I carry those bags down and set them by the entertainment center until I have time to actually put things away in their storage spots in the basement. I also set things on the chair in my C/S/C/E room and then I take them upstairs when I head that way. There seems to be a constant flow of things up and down the stairs and a lot of it is in 'bags'. On one one of the trips to the basement, I realized I still had 2 'bags' on a chair in the basement from previous moving of items up and down the stairs and had not quite put them away (okay, I had not even put them away!!). Suddenly it hit me...my life right now is 'movin' bags'. In 2009 I went on our trip to Hawaii and totally enjoyed our trip without worrying about home or things to be done at all because I had all things done and in order before we left. When we got home immediately the routine set back in motion, piano tuner the day after we arrived, singing at the nursing home that day, etc., etc., etc. It did feel good to be back in the grind but then I began to remember all the things coming up with the holidays and then a new year and all the things that start up with it. I began to feel overwhelmed. As is my custom and nature, I tried to grab the most important things to accomplish to be on time with things needing to be done. That is just like grabbing those 'bags' that have to go up and down those stairs and feeling the relief of having something done on time but knowing there are a lot more 'bags' that need my attention. I was also struggling to get well from that awful cold I got just before we left for Hawaii. I really thought I was getting better an then it hit full force. The antibiotics were helping me heal but I just would run out of steam. I just hate running out of steam. It really is frustrating to want to do things but your head is foggy with medication and cold. You just want to curl up in flannel clothes under a warm blanket and eat soup and homemade bread...but I digress. Then I saw the grocery 'bags' the other day and thought, that is what my life is like. I'm moving the 'bags' closer but they aren't quite getting to where they need to be. Sunday Papa left Church thinking he strained his voice while trying to sing hymns at Church. That was not what it turned out to be. Monday he woke up with an awful head cold. I called him to see about practicing music for Wednesday and it was clear by his voice he was not going to be doing any singing any time soon. We determined he would play a DVD of country music or a Tabernacle Choir performance for them on Wednesday. Monday night I stayed up way too late finishing the notebook on Hawaii. Claude got his narrative written. I was finishing matching the pictures to the narrative, printing the pictures and the narrative and putting them in the binder in plastic sleeves. I finished the book and that two weeks of our history is preserved. It is a beautiful book, if I do say so myself, and will be a treasure for us to remember those two weeks. Tuesday Claude and Papa were supposed to go to the Family History Center in Lexington and cover a shift so patrons could come in and do research. Claude is not supposed to cover that shift alone. Papa was definitely in NO condition to do that. I was to have a day at home. I had plotted a day of housecleaning in the morning and computer stuff in the afternoon. But priorities ('bags') must be moved. Claude went to his city commission meeting in the morning and I set to gathering things I could work on at the Family History Center so I could still accomplish things but help him cover his shift. I called Papa and told him I would feed Mom dinner on our way home and for him not to worry about her. He was very grateful. We also assured him we would bring him some orange juice to supplement what he currently had at his apartment. I moved the cleaning 'bag' to the back of my mind. It wasn't happening on Tuesday. I prepared the material 'bag' to study the lesson to teach in Homemakers Club on Wednesday, the April Relief Society Leadership Training 'bag' to prepared for that, the talk for the Visiting Teaching Conference in February 'bag' to prepare for that. When Claude got home I was prepared to tell him I would go with him, he could treat me to dinner after his shift and then take me to the nursing home to take care of the 'feed Mom bag' while he ran a few of the errands, then we would finished with the grocery shopping 'bag' and head for home. It was a full day, I accomplished some things and did all good things. Wednesday, I called Papa and told him I would play the piano for him at the nursing home and then stay to feed Mimi. Then I hurried off to my Countryside Homemakers meeting and taught the lesson on Osteoporosis. That was one finished 'bag'. Yeah!!! I hurried home for a couple of hours before I was to head into Georgetown. I had a new 'bag' when I got there. Claude received a phone call while I was gone regarding my MasterCard. It seemed someone was trying to use it and a number was left for me to confirm it was an okay charge. Oh My Goodness!!! I had another meeting ('bag') in the evening in Sadieville to prepare for. I hurried downstairs and Googled the phone number Claude took from the message. The items I found were split as to that number being a valid number from the company through which I have my MasterCard and being a scam. I opened my MasterCard account history on the computer. I found nothing there that looked suspicious. I found a number on the website to call and dialed that number. The first person I talked to realized I should talk with someone else. She transferred me and that lovely young lady was able to tell me that someone tried to charge $1717+ on my credit card and a temporary hold had been placed on my card. So the phone number Claude took was legitimate, they were trying to be sure about that charge. I assured the young lady that was NOT my charge and she noted it as such and asked me if I wanted her to take the hold off the account. Process Sandi's brain, process!!! I stated to her that if she took they hold off they might still try to use that card. She suggested I talk to the next person in line. Okay...let's do that. I was connected with 'Elmer' with a strong accent from India. Bless his heart, Elmer began to do more research. He asked me about some charges he could see on my account. I confirmed the ones that were ours and told him the next 2 that were not ours. I assured him the last 3 charges we made were for gas for my car, dinner at Applebee's and groceries at Walmart. Elmer canceled my card, will send me a new one, and had me listen to a lovely message created for all those people fortunate enough to get into this situation. Bet that saves a LOT of vocal chords. I really heard lots of people in the background helping others with what I am sure are similar problems. Who are the people that think they can mess with our 'bags'. They should just get their own. I'm have enough fun just movin' my own 'bags' and trying to keep up with them with their interference!!! I mean...REALLY!!! I made it into town to feed Mimi and then back out to Sadieville for my meeting 'bag'. Then I came home, walked right past the 'bags' on my family room floor in the basement and sat down to eat a really, really, really good cookie and play a computer game. Enough with 'bags'!!! I've come to the conclusion I have too many 'bags'. I've got to get this under control or get rid of some 'bags'. All these 'bags' are getting in the way of my blogging time. They are causing stress above what is normal. I'm not sure what or how I'll do this but I have a clear picture, thanks to my 'bag' revelation, of what the problem is. Let's see if I can correct it...hmmmm...any guesses as to whether I can or not?? I'm grateful I can look at things in life and learn lessons from them. This happens a lot to me. I think I should write a 'Parable of the Bags'.