Nearing June...

I received a notice from the Blogger people a couple of weeks ago. The notice stated they were changing their rating structure for storing pictures in June. Yuck!!

I have been Blogging for a while now.  I started with free picture storage.

At some point a few years ago, I had enough memory used in storage of pictures that I was asked to pay an annual fee to store my pictures. There were several plans available. I picked a plan that met my needs and have faithfully paid my annual storage fee of $5 for 20 GB of storage. I felt that should hold me for a while. As of today I have only used a little over 7% of the 20GB.

The recent notice regarding a June change in storage contracts from Blogger gave some options that were only monthly options. The least expensive one was $2.50/month. Simple math tells me that every two months I will now be paying what I have for an annual fee for several years or six times what I pay now annually. That is quite a big leap. This does not make me happy!!

I post this to state my frustration at this expense. Will one $2.50/month wreck my budget? No. That is not my point. It is all the people wanting to add their $2.50/month that kills a budget. It just sneaks up on us and before we know it we realize it is just too much.

I also post this to alert those who may follow this Blog that, if Blogger sends me another notice and I have to Blog at $2.50/month, I will cease to add to this Blog. I have other options out there that are not public and do not require an additional charge. I will choose one of them and go private with my thoughts.

I have appreciated the Blogging experience. I've always wanted to keep a journal and never been good at it. The Blogging experience has let me do that as I can and I am grateful. Through these years, each Blogging entry has been converted to a Word file and I have them all safely saved on my computer and printed in binders for each year of my Blogging. I may have even formed that habit of recording personal experiences and feelings so that I will continue without the Blogging forum.

There, just wanted to put that out there. Now...I will wait and see if they send me another notice in June...

Retracing Papa's History...Day 3

Well, this was the final day of Papa looking at his history.

We started it by attending Sacrament Meeting (Church) this morning in Winnfield.  We knew Edna Jean would be there but were not really expecting to see anyone else from Papa's past. Papa was pleasantly surprised to meet Mildred. She got out of her car as we were walking into the building. She recognized Papa before he recognized her. They enjoyed a big hug after many years of not seeing each other. Then the talking began. Mildred (I can't remember her last name) is the daughter of Gilbert Conner. I remember Gilbert because he had a hunched back. He was such a sweet man. He just radiated gentleness. I did not remember Mildred. But Papa remembered her and she knew him right off. Turns out she is the organist for the meetings.

As we entered the building another man was standing outside the chapel to greet people and he also knew something of Papa's history. Claude and I left him and Papa talking and went on in the chapel to find us all a seat. Jean came in and sat with us.

There was a lady sitting two rows in front of us. We talked a bit and I learned her roots were in Many, Louisiana. Her last name was Muse. I remembered that name. I told her my era was when Pres. Belial was stake president of the Shreveport Stake. She was able to share a little about people from that era. (Wow, that sounds old, era...)

We met Jean's son and grand-daughter. I learned that the man with the last name of Lawrence that was also a greeter at the chapel door was the son of Freddie Lee who was Papa's dear friend from childhood. We all knew him as Cuz and that was his son. Robert Taylor came in who was also the son of the Taylors that were Papa and Mimi's age. So Papa ran into some people with a knowledge or remembrance of him. It was a good morning for him.

After the meeting, we changed into our traveling clothes and hit the road. Our goal was Meridian, Mississippi. That would be about a 5 hour drive from Winnfield.

Before leaving home I found two restaurants that struck my fancy around Meridian. One was named Chunky Shoals Fish Camp. They had a restaurant that served fried catfish. Papa loves fried catfish. I checked it out as we drove and we determined we would go there and eat before finding our hotel. It turned out to be an excellent restaurant. We all totally enjoyed our fried pickles for an appetizer, the hot and not hot hush puppies, the best cole slaw I've had in many a year, the boys enjoyed their fried catfish and I enjoyed my fried shrimp po-boy, and Claude even tried fried corn on the cob. Yummy meal! Highly recommended for anyone in that area.

Now, one might ask, why in the world would one name a place 'Chunky'. Thank heavens the menu answered the question for me. It seems the Chowtaw Indians from this area played a game named Chunka. From that the area was named Chunky. I would have never guessed that.

After dinner I took a walk along the creek beside the restaurant. The restaurant is really a vacation spot for people. There is a boat landing and canoes were seen paddling downstream thru the windows of the restaurant. There is a white sandy beach with a playset for kids and picnic tables. People could swim in the stream and enjoy that white sand beach. Across the creek a rope hung from a tree. I looked at that rope and thought, "Nissa's kids would go bananas swinging from that rope and landing in the water." And they would.

We headed into Meridian and found our hotel and checked in. After a brief period of time to rest, I went to the front desk and asked if there was a Dairy Queen close by. She assured me there was and gave me directions. I came back and found it on my cell phone maps and we were off for a cool treat before time to settle in for the night. So happy they have smoothies at Dairy Queen.

Now we are all tucked in. Papa so enjoyed seeing people. He was and is very frustrated with finding the places so changed where he grew up. But it is a good thing for him to have settled in his mind. Now we'll all hopefully have a good night's rest and be ready for a long drive home tomorrow.

Retracing Papa's History...Day 2

Woke up this morning and checked out of a very lovely hotel. We really liked this room and the bed was sooooo comfortable. We made our way back to John and Wanda's home to pick up Papa for the next leg of our journey. We found them all around the table having a nice visit. 

They stayed up late playing music and visiting. Papa was up before anyone else this morning, as I would have guessed. John made them breakfast. They were just having a great visit like good friends do after not seeing each other for a very long time. We visited for about an hour and then we headed down the road.

The drive to Winnfield was a straight shot south from John and Wanda's. We just got on Highway 167 and stayed on it. We made one stop in Ruston for lunch. Along the highway we came to this interesting view of the highway. I thought it looked like the road to no where!!

Papa has been fascinated by all the orange barrel markers for construction for two days now. He can't believe there are so many and that they go on for miles and miles with absolutely no sign of any work being done where they are place.

Claude is definitely doing the hamburger tour. Each day at lunch he has had a different kind of burger.

I am doing the 'no paper towels' tour. Each day at our lunch stop after washing my hands I have reached to get paper towels to dry my hands and found the dispenser completely empty. With my hands raised like I'm a doctor headed in to surgery, I have returned to the counter to tell the establishment they have no paper towels in the ladies room.

We made it to Winnfield in good time and headed straight to Edna Jean Strickland's home. She is John Finney's sister and also a dear friend of Papa. We visited at her home for just a bit and then we all piled into the car to visit the old home places that Papa remembered from his childhood. I had asked Papa what they would be as we drove to Winnfield and written them all down so we didn't miss anything. Can't imagine all this driving and then missing trying to see something. Between Papa and Edna Jean we were able to find most of them. Most are overgrown with vegetation because they were located out in the woods and homes have been abandoned and nature has taken over.

Here are some of the very few pictures I took.

We found the Conner Road.  There were two places Papa lived on this road. If memory serves they were the Banks place and the Bright Place.  If that is not correct, I will correct it with tomorrow night's blog. Neither home was there. We did find where a road went back to one of them. We drove down this road to the end and turned around and came back.

On Conner Road we did find Aunt Annie's home. It is abandoned. She was Carl Edward Lawrence's sister. Carl Edward Lawrence is Papa's father.

The road that ran perpendicular to the Conner Road had this stream along one side.

This stream is important because in the woods behind here Papa and his friends blocked the water, dug a pit deep enough to dive into, made two things to serve as diving boards at two different levels and then released the stream to fill the pit for a swimming hole. Don't tell anyone but Papa says he learned to skinny dip in this stream. That is way Too Much Information, isn't it. Edna Jean said she was baptized in that swimming hole. Lots of history there. We didn't see the swimming hole, if it is even still there, but this stream would have fed into it. It had a precious little turtle sitting on a rock and when I came back to take the picture it literally jumped into the water.

 

We tried to find the '20' which was a piece of ground the family owned and different members of the family had different sections of it. We also tried to find Freddie Lee's home in Milltown and did not locate that.

 

It was interesting to listen to Papa and Edna Jean try to find places and then drift off in stories of remembrance of living in Winnfield as kids.

 

We did go to Winnfield High School. This is the actual building Papa went to high school at and graduated from. (Lots of prepositions in wrong places in that sentence but I'll leave it that way anyway.)  I cheerfully told Papa we did find one building standing from his childhood. He chuckled.

This is Edna Jean Strickland and Papa standing across the street from Winnfield High School in Winnfield, Louisiana.

Eventually they decided to give up the search for more places from their childhood. Poor Papa was having to come to grips that it was all either grown over or demolished for newer homes or roads. For a man in his waning years, this is a big thing with which to come to grips.

We headed back to Edna Jean's and air conditioning. When visiting John, he reminded Papa of how Papa used to climb up in an old Sweet Gum Tree on the Finney property with his scriptures and sit there in the branches reading and studying his scriptures. This was a new story to us and it brought back lots of memories for Papa. He determined we should find that Sweet Gum Tree when we got back to Edna Jean's.

We walked to the back of her property and could not find that tree. They both felt it was out in the woods along the side of her home and closer to the corner of where the property would have been between her home and the acre of ground Papa's family lived on. Edna Jean had us walk back to her home and around to the end of the lane thinking there might be a clearer view there. This ended up being full of undergrowth and trees and not near enough back in the woods in Papa's mind.

Then Papa looked at the situation and determined if he hiked back in those woods he would be able to see the Sweet Gum Tree, if it was still standing. My 85 year old father on unsteady feet, not listening to the three of us telling him it was not a good idea, plunged head long into the undergrowth to find this tree of his childhood. I handed Claude my purse and, with camera in hand, plunged in after him. I was never so grateful in my life to have him stumble on a fence that eventually allowed him to understand it was not a good idea to proceed any further. Here is Papa determined to search out this special tree.

Claude is a confident male and, actually his shirt and my purse were quite well coordinated.

We rested and cooled off in Edna Jean's home. Then we all went into Winnfield and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant Edna Jean suggested. Dinner was delicious. We drove her home and then found a gas station as it was time to feed the car again.

We checked into our hotel. Papa was worn out. He told me he learned two things in the last two days. First, he feels his back will be able to handle flying to Utah to see Junie. Second, he now knows how important his little cat naps are throughout the day and he was really missing them.

We got him to his room, I got ice for his ice bucket and he figured out a foot stool for the chair in his room, I got my listerine for him so he could sooth his sore gums after getting some food caught under his dental plate, we made sure he had an Ensign (church magazine) to read, a remote control by his side for the television and our room number on the pad by the phone in case he needed to call us.

Claude proposed he and I stroll across the street to the Sonic for an evening treat. We did just that and spend an hour just the two of us enjoying root beer floats and chatting.

Another full day. Some things were successful. Some things were realized and will need some time to digest. We are all going to get a good night's rest and then be ready to plow through day 3 of this journey through Papa's past.

Retracing Papa's History...Day 1

My dear father will not have a car after July 1st. This is a VERY BIG DEAL. My father has just a few things that he truly enjoys doing. One of those is driving, just for the joy of the drive and looking at the countryside. He could do this for hours and days and be very, very happy. Maybe this is why he made such a good long haul truck driver. So, losing that opportunity to get in a car and drive will be a major adjustment in his life and, by extension, my life.

When the reality of this began to set in, Papa determined he wanted to go home to Winnfield, Louisiana one more time. He wanted to see if he could find the old home places his family lived in when he was a very little boy until he grew up and left home. He was planning on doing this on his own and me watching his little dog, Tiny. I had major concerns about him doing this trip alone. I had no doubt in my mind he needed the trip. So I told him I would join him on this trip. I told Claude I was going on a road trip with my father. Claude said, "I want to come." And that is how it started.

The major obstacle was Tiny. She has never been in a kennel in her life. If she isn't with Papa, she is with me. I told Papa that she would have to be kenneled if all three of us took this trip. I had asked over Facebook if any of my friends could highly recommend a kennel. One of them gave me the name of one in Lexington that they praised highly. I told Papa I had a great recommendation but it would only work if he agreed to it. Then I left him to mull it over.

He thought about it and agreed we could do it but it would break his heart. I understood but knew I could trust these dear friends recommendation. I got the information and then made a reservation for Tiny.

Thursday I hurried to Papa's apartment after our Frankfort adventure and picked up Tiny's halter and leash. Tiny cowered. She hates a leash. I was only taking it for the kennel to use. I told her to say goodbye to Papa so she could go on her vacation. She just didn't know what to think of what was happening. We got her in my car and I headed to Lexington. It was 4:10 and I had to have her to the kennel before 5pm. Tiny hates to ride in a car. It didn't take many seconds before she began to shiver. I didn't take the turns to get her to Sadieville so she knew something was just not right about this trip. Then the rain started to pour down. Tiny hates rain. She was beside herself with confusion and fear. Eventually she got down on the floor on the passenger side of the car and tried to get so she couldn't see out the window. She just shivered and scratched at the floor. I just kept driving. This was the perfect storm in Tinyland.

We made it to the kennel just before 5pm. Just as we pulled into their parking lot the rain started to come down in buckets. Poor Tiny jumped out of the car as quick as I opened the door only to be hit in the face by rain. She hadn't expected that. I hurried her up the steps and she ran into the clinic portion. The ladies took the last of the paperwork I needed for Tiny to stay there. Then one of them came and talked to Tiny and she picked her up. Once Tiny was in her arms she calmed right down and perked up her ears. She was happy and going to be fine.

When I got back to Georgetown for the Homemaker's dinner, I called Papa before I went in and told him how happy she was. You could hear relief in his voice.

This morning we picked Papa up at 7am and hit the road. Claude is our driver so Papa can look out the window and enjoy the countryside. I'm sitting in the back seat so I can spread out all my junk. I have my cell phone on a charger and when Papa starts into some of his history I set my cell phone to record and hand it to Papa. He is actually getting very comfortable with telling his history into the cell phone.

Claude and I have gotten a kick out of him. He has told his story of him and mom getting married twice to us and once at dinner tonight. He started one story about motorcycle riding and got off on a tangent and never came back to the motorcycle story.

We drove past one town named Bucksnort, Tennessee.  I mean really!! 

Tonight we checked into our motel in Little Rock and then headed to John and Wanda Finney's home. Wanda prepared a delicious ham dinner for us. We visited for a while and then left Papa to have a sleepover and nice visit with his dear friend from his childhood.

So far, our trip is a success.  Now for a good nights rest before we pick up Papa in the morning and head to Winnfield.

Here are John Finney, Papa and Wanda Finney.

G.N.O.

Thursday, May 24th, was the date for the Scott County Homemakers Annual Banquet. I've never been able to attend this before. This year I was able to go. It was a fun evening with lots and lots of other Homemaker Clubs. Scott County has the largest number of Homemaker Club members in Kentucky.

We sat as clubs and enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner. There was a brief business meeting. Then we were entertained by the Sweet Adeline's. This is a ladies group of vocalists and they did a very nice job. Clearly they enjoy doing this.

Here is our intrepid Countryside Homemakers Club.

It was a great way to end a good year of Homemaker meetings.

An Award With a Very Long Name...

Thursday, May 23rd, we found ourselves in an entirely new surrounding, a place we had never entered before. We were at the Governor's Mansion for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

We parked in the Governor's Mansion parking lot and waited a bit because we arrived a few minutes early.

As we walked from the parking lot to the Governor's Mansion these are a couple of view of the Kentucky State Capitol.

I was also able to get a picture of Claude in front of the Governor's Mansion. I told him after I took this picture and just before we entered the Masion that we should look at it to see where we would place our furniture. We had a good laugh at that idea.

The purpose of our visit was to receive the Ida Lee Willis Award for the Sadieville Rosenwald School restoration.  Claude Christensen, as Mayor of Sadieville, and Cindy Foster, our city clerk and organizer of the Friends of Sadieville, were the ones to receive the award.

After receiving the award, Mayor Christensen gave a brief, purposeful speech with a touch of humor. It was perfect. I was very proud of my hubby.

We had to hurry right after so I could get back to take Tiny to the kennel before our trip. It was a great honor to receive this award and it was also a lot of fun entering this special home for Kentucky's governors.

A Little Utah in Kentucky Soil...

When we moved to Kentucky, we spent our first Christmas on a driving trip to Utah. Claude's sister, Joann, had beautiful purple irises which, if I remember the story correctly, have been from other family flower beds in Utah. Jo dug up some of these and sent them home with us.

We planted them under the trees on the hill which is our back yard. They didn't thrive there very well, probably because it was too shady. But they did live and multiply some.

Last summer we moved them to the flower beds Claude built on the hill to use as garden plots for us. After a year of beds full of beautiful tomato plants and absolutely no tomatoes to eat, we determined no more garden in those beds. We moved the irises to the top bed and placed them around three blueberry bushes.

This is the result this summer.  We have a little Utah in this Kentucky soil of ours. It is just beautiful. The added bonus is that the blueberry bushes have little flowers on them as well. I'm sure we'll feed the bird population in Sadieville quite well once these blueberries are established. But we are happy with the results so far.

It Must Be A Sign...

Friday, we filled our afternoon with chores in this order:

1. Go to City Hall in Sadieville and pressed the City Seal into the Certificate of Appreciation.
2. Stop by the caboose and tie up the trellis on the lamp post.
3. Drive to the park and take pictures of the new veterans monument and flag.
4. Head to Georgetown to do the banking.
5. Stop at the cleaners and pick up Papa's sports coats and suit.
6. Visit Papa and give him the dry cleaning and some roast for his dinner.
7. Have a bit of a date at Pizza Hut.
8. Then back to Sadieville to bake cookies for the picnic.

We felt so happy we remembered all of these things without writing any of them on list (see Laura!!).

As we got back to where Hwy 25 heads north to Corinth and you stay on Hwy 32 to go to Sadieville, a new sign caught our eye. It was beautiful!!

Claude told me there were to be three of them.  Off we went to find the other two. It felt like the Sadieville version of "Where's Waldo".

One was placed at the intersection of Main Street and Pike Street. I did not get a picture of it.

The third one we found out by the park. One side welcomes you to Sadieville and the other side thanks you for visiting Sadieville.

 What a wonderful treat and beautiful signage for Sadieville!!

Armed Forces Day in Sadieville...

What to do, what to do...

This year the Friends of Sadieville looked at possibilities for its calendar. The need...raise funds to restore the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. The method to do that was the concern. There are only a few of us and, to put it bluntly, we are an aging few. We needed to mesh our abilities with an activity that would involve our community and raise more needed funds. We landed on Armed Forces Day.

The first Armed Forces Day was held in May 1950. That is the year I was born. The idea was to combine all the individual Armed Forces Day's for each of the branches of the military into one day of celebration. This was because of the newly formed Department of Defense. The Air Force, Army & Navy agreed. The Marines agreed but also kept their individual day.

Sadieville has wanted to add a monument to all veterans at the base of the flag pole in our city park. Detta Wilson did the research on cost at several places. We determined who would do the work. Then Cindy Foster spoke with the American Legion and they provided us with $300 toward the purchase of our monument. The remaining cost was divdied between the Friends of Sadieville and the City of Sadieville with Sadieville Christian Church making a small donation. A Master Gardener in the area needed hours to qualify for something and donated her time in planning a flower garden at the base of the flagpole and monument and then doing the labor to put the flower bed in. The City of Sadieville purchased the flowers and all work was completed by this Saturday.

The Friends of Sadieville would now sponsor the 1st Annual Armed Forces Day Picnic.

The local Cub Scout Pack 234 came to perform the Flag Ceremony and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

A Certificate of Appreciation was presented by Mayor Claude Christensen to Herb Archer as a representative of American Legion Post 24 and their generous donation to the City of Sadieville for the veterans monument.

Joseph Henderson came and sang patriotic songs to us. Such a beautiful voice.

Mayor Christensen sold lemonade from the lemonade stand he made with his very own hands. By the end of the picnic he was eagerly helped by the local kids.

 

The bookmobile was on site with flags inside to set the mood of the day. Cornhole was played, as it must be in Kentucky. Hot dogs were grilled and sold to raise those needed funds for the restoration of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. And tours were taken of the Rosenwald School. We were blessed with no rain even though it threatened a bit.

 

It was a great first Armed Forces Day Picnic in this little community of Sadieville. 

Plan It...But Go With The Flow...

Our youngest grandmonster, Bailey, is learning to play soccer. She has practice with her team and then they play a little game. Her mom calls her the 'cutest train wreck in cleats'. We understand she is learning some important skills like: picking four leaf clovers while on the field and one should not pretend to be a puppy or a pony during practice or play.

Believe it or not, out of her entire schedule there were only two days Claude and I could go to see her.  Then one of those days became unavailable. That left Saturday, May 11th. We asked if we could come on Friday and spend the night and then go to her game at 9am on Saturday instead leaving Sadieville at O'dark Thirty to get there Saturday morning. This was going to work for the Marx family.

Friday we did some things on our respective 'to-do lists' and then headed to LaGrange. We did stop for a date of sorts at Chili's for lunch during our drive.

It was raining and sometimes very hard. Andie called during our drive to be sure we understood her practice and game might be canceled because of the rain conditions. We felt like we needed to press on as this was our only opportunity. So on we pressed. However, this was the most scary drive we ever had on Hwy 53 between Shelbyville and LaGrange. It felt constantly like Claude would hydroplane at any moment. He was even going slowly. We told Andie we would stop at the end of her block and wait for the Mini's to get off their school bus, load them in the car and drive down the street to her home. This allowed her a little extra time a school. The Mini's ran from that bus and loved jumping in the car with us.

Hayden is totally into the Titanic. He has a 1958 movie about the Titanic titled "A Night to Remember" he wanted us to see. He popped that movie in and we found snacks and settled in to watch the movie. Unfortunately the DVD was bad and we had to shift gears. Our second choice was Phineas and Ferb.

Andie got home and after the show was finished she pulled out new games for the kids to play. She finds lovely things at consignment sales and stores them away until they are needed. Out came an electric kit for Hayden and a LiteBright game for Bailey. At one point they paused and showed Claude their creations.

Andie brought home brown bag sacks with popcorn. These were enjoyed and an empty bag happened to be left by Claude. The wheels started to grind in Claude's brain and I could see what was going to happen. I also could hear some kernals of corn still in the bag. I stopped him long enough to empty the bag. Then he called the Mini's over and proceeded to entertain them with his time honored trick of blowing up a paper bag and bursting it. The Mini's were in awe. Andie and I were grateful that those kernals didn't go all over the family room carpet. Then it hit Hayden and the little man started to laugh and try to talk but he was laughing so hard he couldn't get the words out.

To say I love it when he gets laughing like this would be a HUGE understatement.  What set Hayden off in these peels of laughter. His eight year old brain conceived what a great prank this would be to pop a paper bag like that when someone was driving a car.  Oh my...he is so close to being a teenager some times.

 

Hayden and Andie went to the Mother/Son Dance Friday evening.

That left Bailey to take care of the remaining three adults. Hayden left Claude with homework. He gave him several of his books about the Titanic to read. Claude tried dutifully to plow through them and Bailey was only too eager to support him in that effort. She even made it much more enjoyable by covering them with a cushion for the chair.

We managed to get Bailey to bed before Hayden and Andie got home. Hayden was allowed to stay up a little bit longer to visit with Claude and me. We talked about his evening. I asked him if he told his mom thank you for taking him to the dance. His reply..."I don't have to tell her thank you. The last dance did that."  Oh my!!!

 

Late Friday night Michael got the eMail stating the Saturday soccer practice and game for Bailey were canceled. Just too much rain and the fields were too full of water.

 

Saturday morning Hayden tapped on the wall to our bedroom and I got up and took my cell phone to snuggle with him a bit. When I opened our bedroom door, there stood Bailey with Andie's cell phone. We quietly joined Hayden in his bed. Knowing Andie went to bed feeling awful, I wanted to kids to be quiet so all the other adults could get a little more sleep. I gave Hayden my cell phone and we all snuggled in his bed for a while.

 

After a while we tiptoed really quietly to the main level of the house. Hayden found a show they could quietly watch. Eventually Michael came downstairs ready for his day. He was off to get a hair cut. He returned with donuts for our breakfast. Yum. Claude showed up next. Then Andie finally joined us.

 

Our plan for this weekend was to have lunch with the Marx's and then to head back to Sadieville.  Bailey needed her bangs cut. We gave Claude and Hayden our sandwich orders and sent them off to Subway to get lunch for all of us. Andie, Bailey and I went upstairs to play 'beauty shop' with Bailey. We were quite surprised when Bailey said she wanted all her hair cut. She put her hands under her chin to show how short she wanted it. Yike!!

 

We talked to her about it a bit, took her to the bathroom and showed her by holding up her very long hair to see how it would look that short, explaining that once it was cut it couldn't be glued back on, etc. We finally settled on a plan to cut her bangs first. Then cut a good 3-4 inches off the bottom and let her see if that was short enough. If it wasn't we could also cut more off. Let the cutting of hair begin...

 

We ended up with a length that 'tickled her shoulders'. She loved that phrase. Andie said it to her and it did make her very happy. She was so excited about her new haircut she went upstairs and dressed in her own special clothes to look just perfect in her new hairdo.

After the boys got home we all sat down to a nice lunch together. Then we headed outside to retrieve some of Andie's green thumb plants that were growing outside their bounds. These plants will make their home on our hill.

As we finished up our plant retrieval. Andie and the Mini's disappeared. Soon they came out of the garage clearly carrying gifts. They were bringing me Mother's Day presents. I got a set of watering spikes made out of clay. You fill a big bottle with water and turn it upside down into the spike which plunged into the soil by your plant. These should be a most handy gift for when we travel and leave plants that need water while we are gone. Hayden also wrote this lovely card for me.

 Then we were said our goodbyes and headed back to Sadieville. Nice plan we had and when it fell through we still had a lot of fun.

Wednesday is a Day to Wander...

Wednesday, May 8th found me driving across the countryside to LaGrange. Andie had to provide dinner for the teachers at Buckner Elementary for Teacher Appreciation Week. Michael had to work. Gramma to the rescue!!

I got there in time to meet my Mini's at the bus stop. Just love that they run off the bus for hugs. Such a good feeling.

Hayden won a trip with 3 other second graders and their teachers to have pizza for dinner. Each of the four second graders were allowed to bring a friend. We had Hayden to Crestwood to Hometown Pizza by 4:30pm and, after making sure he was safely with his teacher, Bailey and I headed out for our dinner at Dairy Queen.

We pulled into the Dairy Queen parking lot and just as I stopped the car we heard the unmistakable sound of a very solid crash. We didn't even have our seat belts off yet. It seems the two cars just behind us collided right after we turned in. The driver in the back car got hit in the face when his air bag burst open. The mother in the front car had two kids crying, not because they were hurt but because they were frightened. That mother put a cell phone to her ear and it stayed there the entire time the cars were moved and the report was taken.

Bailey was fascinated. We got inside Dairy Queen (she used to call it Derby Queen). I tried to get her to focus on what she wanted to eat. The kid behind the counter was taken with her energy. Turns out he is a volunteer fireman and that was part of his fascination with her fascination with the wreck.

I tried to get Bailey to focus on the main course part of this fine dining experience. With those big brown eyes she paused, looked right at me and said, "Do they have anything with bacon on it?" The kid behind the counter quickly said, "We can put bacon on something if you want?" We determined a hamburger with bacon would work for Miss Bailey.

Now we had to pick the fries and chocolate milk part of the meal. I ordered the chicken strip basket. I asked Bailey to find us just the right place to sit to eat. She picked the seat by the window so she could watch the police officer that arrived to take the report of the wreck.

We talked of all things wreck as Bailey started into her burger and found it did not have bacon. I asked the kid and he brought her 4 pieces of bacon for her little burger. Bailey was so happy with the bacon and him. It was just cute. He talked to her about being a fireman. She asked great questions. It was just fun. Bailey also noticed that my meal came with a little container of gravy. I explained that was to dip the chicken strips in. She quickly grabbed one of my four chicken strips and proceeded to dip it in the gravy. She loved it. She ate it and one other strip. Then she dipped her burger in the gravy and stated that was really good. Then she found a bit of bacon and dipped it in the gravy, again pronouncing it good. Such a girl.

We determined to wait for the ice cream part of her meal and bring Hayden back with us after he finished his pizza. We were to pick him up at 5:30pm and it was right about that time. The kid behind the counter assured us he would remember us and would be sure Bailey got her free ice cream cone.

The neat part was Bailey could see where that air bag deployed as we got in my car and again was fascinated.

We left and found that Hayden was just beginning to eat his pizza. I told him we were going to wait in the car in the parking lot for him. Out we went and Miss Bailey found this monkey hanging on a truck.

Between the monkey, talking to the birds on the fence and playing with my cell phone, we passed the time for Hayden to join us.

Back to Dairy Queen we went being careful not to get in any wrecks. Ice cream was enjoyed by all of us. Then we headed back to LaGrange. It was nearing 7pm and Michael was to be home by then. On the way back we saw the most beautiful rainbow. It went completely across the sky and the sun shone on it so it was just bright. The kids enjoyed looking at it on both sides of the car.

Michael was home and I simply deposited the kids and headed back to Sadieville. Again I enjoyed the quick visit with the lively little ones.

He Finally Found One...

For the longest time, my dear hubby has been searching for a mailbox cover. The Marx family gave us one as a gift and it totally faded and had to be replaced. Claude has looked everytime he as been anywhere that might possibly have one. Last week he found one and put it on the mailbox.

This is the mailbox with our home in the background.

This is the mailbox with the empty lot we own next to our home in the background.

Now ain't that purty??

Michigan Bound...

Thursday, May 2nd, Claude and I loaded the red Buick and pointed it northward to Michigan. We would stop in Chelsea to pick up Jake and then head to Muskegon for the weekend.

While driving into Michigan Claude pointed out the compass in the car might not be right. As he drove north, very clearly north, the compass said we were going south, west, south west, north, east. It was all over the place. We got to Jake's a little before he was to arrive from work. Claude drove to the parking lot of a car dealership/repair place. He spent enough time going in tiny little circles very slowly until I was actually getting dizzy. That recalibrates the compass but it sure looks funny to those watching and wondering if that red car with the Kentucky plates may have possibly lost their minds.

With Jake loaded in the car we began the last leg of our journey to Muskegon. We  checked into the hotel and changed our clothes. Then we headed to the Tyler home so that Jake could change his clothes and we could connect with the Tyler family to go to Katelyn's graduation. Our evening would be spent at the L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon watching our oldest grandmonster walk and receive her Associates Degree from Muskegon Community College.

Can you see that grinning face in the middle of the graduates? That's our Katelyn.

When it was time for Katelyn to walk, I turned to Nissa and said, "I'll get the video. You get the still shots." She nodded her okay with that plan. I set my camera to video and moved to a place on the steps so my video would be better only to find I couldn't get the best picture there. The lady next to the step on which I was sitting told me to reach across in front of her as far as I needed. I still couldn't get the best picture. She handed my camera down three more people and, whoever that kind person was, they took an excellent video of Katelyn walking across the stage and accepting her diploma. Hence, I only have video and I have not the time now to extract a picture from that video. Trust me, KTNik did walk and did get her diploma.

 

I did get pictures of Katelyn hugging her family.

 

We ended our evening with McFlurries and burgers for anyone interested in either or both of those things.

Friday meant school and work for all but four of us. What to do? What to do?  We opted for a walk on the beach at Lake Michigan. It was a delightful morning for us and very refreshing.

After the beach, Jake treated the four of us to delicious smoothies at Apple Bagel. Then we headed back to Casa Tyler for a rest before Aubrey and Paul got home from school.  It was at this point we realized Katelyn did not have the keys to her home or her car. No key ring. We went through my purse three time and found nothing. We drove to where Nissa and Todd work and got their key to the house. Katelyn had extra car keys in her bedroom.

Aubrey and Paul made it home from school and did their chores so we could take them to dinner. The Pita Place was our destination. We had a wonderful dinner with Aubrey and Paul and then back to the house. Aubrey was to perform in the school's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jr. Friday night was the first of two performances. We got Aubrey to the theater two hours prior to the performance.

Nissa, Claude, Jake and I would go to see the Friday night performance. We enjoyed our balcony seats. Aubrey was a natural and you could tell she totally enjoyed her venture into theater. After the play, the cast came out in costume and talked to the audience who stayed to give them their attaboys. Claude gave Aubrey his program and asked for her autograph. Can you tell this pleased her no end?

Aubrey's performance was followed by a trip to Burger King for after theater dining.

Saturday Nissa and Todd had the day off. Katelyn, Paul and Aubrey would spend their morning swimming in the hotel pool. Then we all headed back toward Lake Michigan to dine a Max & Marley's. This is an exceptional hot dog stand that we have heard rave review about. They serve a huge menu of every kind of hot dog you can think of. Claude had the 'Ripper'. This is a hot dog that is fried until the skin bursts. I enjoyed a polish sausage hot dog. It was yummy.

Back to the Tyler home to watch the pictures of our Ireland trip. And then get Aubrey to the theater two hours early. The rest of us would go back to the Pita Place for salads for dinner since we all were still too full for a big meal after our hot dog feast. Alas it seems it is impossible for me to go to the Pita Place and not have a falafel. I did choose to have the smallest version for this dining experience.

Todd, Nissa, Claude, me, Jake and Katelyn would all go to Muskegon High School to watch Aubrey again shine as Gloria in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jr. It was great fun. No ice cream and/or hamburgers that night. We were all just too full. Plus, our plan was to have breakfast together before we left to head home.

Sunday morning we all met at Big B's for breakfast. This is the restaurant that Paul scored a t-shirt after eating this HUGE omelet made with 50,000,000 eggs (that is a bit of an exaggeration). Breakfast was big and truly good. We were all happy we didn't eat ice cream and/or hamburgers the night before.

After breakfast hugs were given and received, Jake's stuff was transferred to our car, and we began the return trip to drop Jake off and then get home to Sadieville.

EPILOGUE:
Upon returning home I emptied my craft bag while putting things away. Guess what fell out. Yep, Katelyn's car keys. I sent a quick text to Katelyn and she replied "LOL". I mailed them to her on Monday with a CD of all the pictures and video of the trip.

Great trip...Love my family!!