Win, Place & Show Colonel Style...

Today my hubby took me on an adventure!!!

We drove to Louisville to Churchill Downs. It was a new, and what promises to be annual, Kentucky Colonels event. We arrived and parked in the Longfield parking lot. Then we pulled out our tickets for the day and headed into Churchill Downs. I have never been to Churchill Downs. This was a nice affair. Dress was business casual. The dress code was set by Churchill Downs because of the rooms the Colonels would be using. There were 1,952 people attending the Kentucky Colonel function. These guests came from 29 states, Canada and Scotland. We used the Trophy Room, Skye Terrace, and Millions Row on Level 4 & 6. Claude and I were on Millionairs Row Level 6. We were assigned to table 61 with 3 other couples. I forgot to take my camera. Didn't even think of that being something I should think about. So what pictures I have I took with my little cell phone. The lunch was a really nice buffet. We arrived right about noon. They were just playing the National Anthem prior to the first race of the day. It is always moving when a huge banquet room full of people stand with their hands over their hearts and a trumpet plays the National Anthem in a clear tone. Our table had a lovely centerpiece with flowers in a Kentucky Colonel bud vase. Claude and I got to bring the vase home. At each plate was a pen and a nice stone coaster with the Kentucky Colonels on it. Claude and I did lunch first. I had not eaten and it was time to enjoy a morsel or two of food. I had potato salad, tossed green salad, roasted potatoes, vegetarian jambalaya with dirty rice, turkey and a roll. Claude picked our desserts from the dessert table. He had a bread pudding and I at a chocolate brownie with a side of cooked apples. The food was good. Our table was quiet. I did learn that the Brown's were from Lexington and the Eckler's were from Dry Ridge. Mr. Brown did some kind of work on a house in Sadieville and was aware of the Eagle Bend development in which we live. When the second race was won, we went outside of this Millionaire's Room to a terrace and watched the race from way up high. This was my first view of the race track itself. The Winner's Circle for the Kentucky Derby is right in the center of this picture.

It is always fun to watch a race. Even with my limited knowledge of horses I still find it a thing of beauty to watch them run. The first race we watched as we ate our lunch on the many monitors around the rooms. There are monitors everywhere. The line the walls. They bring the horses out and let them walk the track with the jockey on their back before the race begins. During this warm up one of the horses got away on the track. It was like watching real cowboy action to see one of the Churchill Downs horsemen run after and grab that race horse by the halter and pull him in. That horse reminded me of the Alaskan huskies we watched in Fairbanks. These huskies were just so eager to run they couldn't get them attached to the harness fast enough. This race horse was headed around the track as though someone were on his back and he was really running the race. Claude said, "He is sure to be the winner." Since no other horses were joining him and he was running alone, I'm sure Claude was exactly right. However, they did scratch him from the race because of his outburst. Even thoroughbred horses have to obey rules of conduct. The picture below is of the second race of the day from the Millionaire's Room terrace. This was the 6th floor of this building and the highest view you could have unless you went to the roof.

The fifth race of the day was the Kentucky Colonel's race. We stayed for seven of the 9 races and then headed for home. As we left we stopped to check out the rest of the facility a bit. As we went down the escalator we found this beautiful blown glass replica of Churchill Downs. The light coming through the window behind it made it and interesting thing to take a picture of. But each of these figures and the stands are all blown glass. There are blown glass race horses running the track and everything. It was a beautiful display.

We checked out the eatery area. Then we went out front to see the paddock area. This is where they walk the horses prior to their race.

It was a wonderful afternoon. The food was good, the weather was wonderful for being outside on that terrace, Claude and I are awful at picking who we think might win. Fortunately we don't have to worry about either of us gambling away the family home. Not gonna happen. But it is a fun afternoon to watch these magnificient animals. The jockeys are WAY to thin. I was amused that one of the races was won with a jockey that was 1 pound over in the weight of him and his saddle, etc. on the horse.

Having never been to a horse race in my life, I find it interesting that this year I was able to attend races at Keeneland in April with Claude and Katelyn and then again today at Churchill Downs. Way Cool!!!

And I made it to Friday...TGIF...

This has been a good productive week. Last week I spent several days sick and it was just great to have a well week I could fill as I was able, needed and wanted. I was invited to teach early morning seminary this week and next week. What a treat!! Our class meets in a classroom at the high school. It is one of the trailers (we called them shacks when I was in high school 40 years ago...really...I can't believe it was 40 years ago!! I graduated in 1968 so it was really 40 years ago. Oh my goodness. But I digress...). It is called a club and a teacher sponsors us. The teacher is Ms. Rice. She teaches Spanish. She is not LDS and sits at her desk working for the lesson time. She is a wonderful young lady and makes you feel very comfortable using her space. This year the kids are studying the Book of Mormon. For those who view this blog who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), the kids go to early morning seminary all four years of the high school experience. Each year they focus on a different book of scriptures. They do Old Testament one year, New Testament one year, Book of Mormon the next year and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History one year. For kids in an area not highly populated with LDS kids, they usually meet at the church for 'early morning' (translated - before school starts) seminary. Some kids have 'home study' seminary if they have too far to travel or only a very few kids to attend. Kids in really populated areas attend 'released time' seminary. Their class is held in a school room or an actual seminary building on the campus of the school. They have to use one of the extra credit class times to attend. Throughout my life I have taught 8 total years of early morning seminary. I taught 3 years when we lived in Denver (New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History). Then when my kids were in high school I taught again for 2 years (Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History) and then in our last few years of in Maryland before retiring I taught for 3 more years (Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Mormon). Then for 2 years I was the Stake Seminary Advisor. This means I helped the Church Education System person over all of our seminary classes with the classes within our stake. I mainly focused on helping the teachers with ideas to learn the 25 scripture mastery verses the kids focus on each year in the scriptures they are studying that year. I also tried to come up with a major combined event for all the seminary students in the stake. We held one at the Washington, DC Temple Visitor's Center and one was a big scripture mastery event at our Stake Center in Germantown, Maryland. I have had 2 favorite callings (opportunities to serve) in the Church. Teaching seminary was one of them and leading the kids music in Primary (kids 3-11 years old) was the other. The hardest calling I have held in terms of time and hours was seminary. But the spiritual strength gained from daily concentrated study of the scriptures and doctrine is almost indescribable. It can give you the highest highs to begin your day. So when Alicent Manwaring asked if I could substitute for her for a couple of weeks, I couldn't have said no. I just love being with these youth and studying the gospel. On top of that the kids are in the Book of Mosiah for their study and I was asked to teach chapters 18 through 29. What a great book to teach from. So many, many wonderful lessons. I enjoyed making a reader's theater one day out of the reading block. I had the kids tape to their foreheads the name of the character they were reading, each one got a script with their part highlighted and we read the chapter as if we were in a play. Brittney really got into her part. When we were cleaning up to leave I noticed that Niamh still had her name taped to her forehead. We got a chuckle out of her possible wearing that all day. After we read the play, I had them each write a 5 word quiz about the content of the play. Then we took turns asking questions and having the others answer. They had to give the scripture reference the verified their answer. Josiah was a great question writer. The kids each have an assignment in their class. It is with pure delight I watch them come in and take over their assigned tasks. Since this is a school room, the 1st one in always takes the chairs off the tops of the desks. Ms. Rice has let Alicent have a bit of her closet to store their notebooks, scriptures and hymnbooks in. I loaned Alicent my CD's of all the hymns. The kids pull this stuff out and set it on a back table for those who come in late to quietly get and take their seat. They have a chart of each person's turn to pick and lead the music. They also have a chart for each person's turn to give a devotional. There is a secretary to make sure the chart goes around for reading each day in their scriptures and to gather attendance records. There is a president to make sure the beginning of the meeting is conducted and prayers are asked for the opening and closing of the meeting. When everything is done they set to putting the classroom in order for Ms. Rice to teach Spanish. I have enjoyed watching them perform their simple tasks and wondering if they understand it is preparation for leading organizations at Church and running their own families in the future. Of course I am old and look at it through different eyes but I appreciate very much the order and care they take with their classroom and the way it functions. So, this week I've been up at 6am each morning, out the door at 7am and home by 9am. These are better hours than the last time I taught early morning seminary in Maryland. I was up at 4:30am then, out the door at 5:30am. Home by 7:45am. Off to work by 8:30am. Home by 6:30pm. Yes, these are much better hours. Wednesday was a fun day for me. Claude had training in Covington, KY about managing grants. He was gone overnight and returned Thursday afternoon. So after teaching seminary Wednesday, I headed to the Dairy Queen in Georgetown. They make a really good biscuits and gravy. I love biscuits and gravy. So I took myself out for a quiet breakfast. I also carried the last of my shopping catalogs to finish going through. I created a list of the Christmas presents I would order from them. Then added that to my Christmas present grid. I must explain about 'grids'. I make a Word table and fill it with whatever I'm working on. I call them my grids. My family has a lot of enjoyment about Mom's grids. I have one made up for Thanksgiving when the family will all be here with days of the week at the top, then rows for breakfast each day, lunch each day, dinner each day, snacks/treats each day, and activity possibilities each day. I make them for Camp Christensen, I made one for Andie & Michael's wedding. They just help me get through things that require lots of different trains of thought at once. They let me list lots of possibilities with the understanding not all of it will get done but you'll know what the possibilities are and can make choices rather than spending time thinking of choices. They are placed on the fridge and then everyone is on the same page with regard to food and activity possibility and even treats that can be made for that day. After my breakfast and with grid in hand, I was off to Lexington for a day of shopping to try and finish up Christmas shopping. This is early for me to have Christmas this close to finished. But we have all our family here for Thanksgiving. Then a few days after they leave Claude and I are headed on vacation for the first couple of weeks in December. This leaves before Thanksgiving to be ready for Christmas. So I'm getting it done early, much earlier than usual. It went to Target first. Then I enjoyed walking Fayette Mall. It was a good thing to do. I now don't feel so bad that I really don't get to this Mall very often. I like to look but I'm really getting to a point where I just go to get what I need, not to shop. So many of those stores just don't have anything of interest to me anymore. Then I found the fabric store. Then back to Georgetown to Walmart. Then to CVS to pick up a prescription. Then to the nursing home to sing with Papa and visit Mimi. Then with Papa to visit one of his single sisters that he Home Teaches. Then I headed home. Got the garbage out, walked my treadmill, got my shower, and came downstairs to work on Christmas stuff and watch 2 TV shows before bed. Whew...it was a full day but it was just a great, fun day. Last night Claude and I went to the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance (FSR) meeting. They had election of officers and I'm now the official secretary/treasurer. This group has been functioning for about a year now. Their main focus is to restore some of the historic buildings in Sadieville. I've blogged about the Mt. Pleasant Church and school. Last night we discussed another old home with a store attached that we are looking at taking on as a restoration project. The home was actually built the year before Sadieville became an actual city. It is part of the old railroad community that was here and is the origins of Sadieville. Claude also told everyone last night that he is going to run for Mayor in 2010. So everyone keep your ears open as I share over the next year the run for Mayor of Sadieville by my hubby, the Honorable Claude J. Christensen. Really, Claude would make a great mayor. His heart is in the right place with regard to maintaining Sadieville's history while also preparing Sadieville for the future. He is willing to study and learn and work at he job. He'll put the time and effort into making a great mayor. And he is an honest man in a difficult world. I told him that I would not need new dresses to be a Mayor's wife but I might need a new pair of blue jeans!! So, I'm off to work on Christmas, then get a hair cut this afternoon, then visit some friends in Georgetown tonight. Saturday we are headed to Louisville for a Kentucky Colonel event.

Oops...It's Been A Week Since My Last Post!!!

Last Monday evening Claude and I went to a reception for a new Republican candidate for Kentucky's House of Representatives. We met him at the Republican picnic several weeks ago. His name is Ryan Quarles. He is a young man with several college degrees and lots of experience helping other candidates get elected that we think highly of. It was a very pleasant evening, met some other people in our community, enjoyed Ryan's remarks and left feeling really good about him as a candidate. There was another politician there names Stan Lee. He was a guest speaker. I totally enjoyed listening to this man talk. He has a beautiful southern accent. I'm from Louisiana so I can tell you ,as a southern girl, that some accents are beautiful and some are, well, not so beautiful. Stan Lee's was very pleasant to listen to and he had a good sense of humor. As he finished I leaned over to Claude and whispered in his ear, "He could do a great job playing Rhett Butler!" Tuesday, November 3rd - Claude and Papa spent their afternoon at the Family History Center. I spent my day at home getting a few more things ready for Christmas. Wednesday, November 4th, I was supposed to spend my morning with the Countryside Homemakers Club I belong to. I had all my gear ready for a craft project we were going to learn how to make. I had my green beans ready to get up early in the morning to fix for a side dish for lunch with these ladies. I had my bag packed for visiting Mimi at the nursing home and singing with Papa in the afternoon. I even went to bed early Tuesday evening so I would be rested. THEN IT HAPPENED...during the night my throat kept getting worse and worse. I just couldn't believe I felt so awful. Lots of aches and pains. I got cough drops and took them throughout the night but by morning I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I crawled out of bed and telephoned Papa that I would not be singing that day or spreading whatever germs I had around a nursing home. I called JoCarol and told her I wouldn't be at Homemakers club. Then I headed back to bed. I got home late and checked eMails and did my computer puzzle for the day. Then I drug this tired old body back up the stairs and crawled into my bed which I deliberately did not make just in case I needed it again. I took a great nap and spent the rest of the day just taking it very easy, drinking lots of liquid and resting. Thursday, Nov. 6th was more of the same. I knew I needed to be well by Friday. We were heading to LaGrange for Hayden's 5th birthday. So I stayed down and only got up to do a few more things on the to do list. By Thursday afternoon I was much better. Claude went to Vernon's, a friend here in Sadieville, to borrow his trailer. Friday, Nov 6, was Hayden's 5th birthday. Claude attached the trailer to his Jeep and we headed into Georgetown. Papa had a very old iron bed frame. He has had it in his extra room. Papa tells me that this bed frame was given to him and Mimi by his parents when they got married. It belonged to his parents before that so we are not sure how old it is. Mimi's parents gave them a mattress and box spring. That started their furniture when they were first married. Papa had me ask Andie if she wanted it for her spare bedroom. Currently Andie and Michael have a futon they use for a spare bed. Claude has helped Andie and Michael get the concrete in their basement etched, then cleaned, then painted. Andie is setting up a big playroom down there for the kids and having the futon in the basement makes a nice place for an adult to sit when in the basement with the kids. So we were going to put Papa's bed up in Andie and Michael's spare room and move the futon to the basement. In addition Papa decided to give away his chest of drawers from this spare room. So we needed Vernon's trailer to get all this stuff to LaGrange. Papa helped us load it to the trailer and we were off to LaGrange. Claude pulled the Jeep and trailer across Andie and Michael's lawn and into the back yard. Andie had taken the kids to a playdate that morning and was not home when we arrived. We were comfy in their living room when we heard the garage door open. I went into the garage and the mimi-Marx's were about ready to burst. They knew we were coming over on Saturday but they didn't know we were going to actually get there on Friday and spend the night. Spending the night is a very big deal to Hayden. I helped unbuckle the kids from the car seats. Hayden was a flurry of words. So many things to catch up on since we last saw each other. One of the cutest things he said was, "Ma, today is my birthday! I'm 5 years old!!!" Then he took his pointer finger and thumb and made a tiny little measurement gesture and concluded his thought with, "And my brain grew THIS much!!!" He was so excited to be 5 years old. We got the kids in the house. Andie was watching Preston, a little friend of Hayden and Bailey. Pretty soon Preston's mom came to get him to go home for his nap. Claude and showed Hayden and Bailey the Jeep was in their back yard with a trailer attached to it. The kids helped unload the trailer by carrying some of the wood slats to go in the bed frame to hold up the box springs. Then they set to playing in that trailer. Claude eventually showed them how the back went up and they were in a little box. Then I climbed into the back of the trailer and sat down and the kids sat down in my lap and beside me. Claude got behind the wheel and we did a couple of laps around the Marx back yard. I really thought Hayden was going to burst as we moved around in the back of the trailer. I know kids on the farm do this in the back of trucks all the time. But not so much for kids raised in the city. So it is a huge treat and lots of fun.

We played until time for quiet time. I was reading Hayden a couple of books before I left him alone for quiet time. We were sitting on the floor with our legs out in front of us. Suddenly the little guy stretches out his leg and says, "Ma, do you know what that it?" There was only the briefest of pauses and then he said, "It is the leg of a 5 year old!!" While Bailey finished her nap and after Hayden had enough time for quiet time, Andie took Hayden out and Claude and I watched the cake to take it out of the oven when it was done. Then we had playtime with Bailey while Andie and Hayden were gone. Andie took Hayden to get his own library card for his 5th birthday. He and Bailey love books and the library so this was a real treat. They also stopped at a toy store in LaGrange and got an orange school bus for Hayden and a wooden garbage truck kit.

When Michael came home he went right to work helping Hayden put together his wooden garbage truck. Hayden sat quietly beside him and played with the pieces as they were finished and occasionally helped with the working of the screwdriver.

It was a fun evening with the Marx family.

Saturday, Nov 7th, was the day to have Hayden's birthday lunch and open presents. Papa was invited out for lunch and opening of presents. Andie got up bright and early and started to frost the cake.

Recently Hayden and Bailey have grown to love the Magic School Bus shows. Hayden originally wanted a shark cake for his birthday. Then he changed his little mind and wanted a Magic School Bus cake. Thank heavens he has Andie for a mom. She loves making cakes like this and she can create the detail that is so important to her little guy. Andie had a recipe of how to make a school bus cake. Hayden found a picture in on of his Magic School Bus books that was exactly how the cake detail should look. Andie set to work combining the two and created a most wonderful Magic School Bus caked for Hayden's 5th birthday. She iced that cake for 3 hours if she iced a minute. We were all very impressed with her accomplishment on this cake.

I told Andie when she was working on this cake that I had always felt good about our birthday tradition with Nissa, Andie and Jake. All of my cake baking was done from scratch (more an economic factor) except for their birthday cake. They were each taken to the store and allowed to pick out the cake mix of their choice and icing. After looking at Andie's masterpieces over the years, I'm still happy with my tradition for my kids but can see that a lot more can be done if one has that talent and patience.

Lunch was barbeque. Yum. We learned that Miss Bailey Marx loves ribs and you better keep your hands out of the way when she is eating them. She has quite an adorable barbeque face mess when she is done.

After lunch Hayden got his cake and tried to blow out those candles that keep relighting themselves.

Then we retired to the living room to open presents.

I'm just including 2 pictures of Papa with the kids. He enjoys these times with great grandbabies so much. Bailey was trying to check our heart beats. Amazingly this was done around one's stomach and Bailey never put the monitor thing in her ears. In the picture of Papa and Hayden, I'm not sure what just happened. But I loved their expressions. Yes, Hayden is in his pajamas. He wanted a pajama day on his birthday celebration day. Now, really, is that too much for any of us to ask?

Saturday afternoon Claude and Michael took the trailer to get a few sheets of sheetrock to put on the walls over the insulation in the basement. Then they spent their afternoon cutting and putting all that sheetrock in place. At one point Claude came upstairs to go out to the patio and trailer where they were cutting the sheetrock. You could hear Michael diligently hammering away in the basement. As Claude walked past Andie and I he said, "We have another Jewish carpenter!" Such fun.

I forgot my camera so I have to thank Andie for sharing all her pictures with me. What kind of Gramma is it that forgets a camera when going for a visit on a 5th birthday???

Sunday, Nov 8th I visited the Winchester Ward (congregation) with Lisa Adams, my counselor. We had a perfectly wonderful Sunday morning in Winchester. The lessons taught and the talks given were all very well done and so uplifting.

I dropped Lisa at her home and then hurried back to Georgetown to see if I could catch a bit of choir practice. Our choir is singing at stake conference in a couple of weeks and I need all the practice I can get. I made it for the last song and that was a good one to be there for.

Then I visited my mom at the nursing home, straightened out her clothes, and made sure she was tucked in for a nap before dinner.

Sunday evening I spent working on Seminary stuff. It was a good day.

Papyrus Brought Me Here...

In Georgetown we have an outlet mall (small and starting to flounder) that I have a few stores I have enjoyed shopping in. I'm beginning to see some of these stores close. There was a KB Toy Outlet. That is now gone. There was a movie theater. That is now gone. There was a Carolina Pottery store that closed but the Peddler's Mall moved in and that made the Peddler's Mall closer to where I live by a couple of miles. So that was good. A week or so ago I went into the Paper Store, another of my treaured little places to shop. I noticed signs taped on the doors and windows and around the cash register stating the store would close the middle of November. Sigh...I really appreciate this little store. They sold note cards 20 for $4. They were not in boxes, they were in a display shelf and you could get 3 of the thank you kind and 3 that were for birthdays and 5 that had flowers on the front and 1 with cats for Barbara's birthday, etc. You just picked out the 20 that fit your needs, took them to the register and the nice person checking you out would count the cards again then give you 20 envelopes for the cards. It was a great way to get cards without purchasing an expensive box of cards. I would get my 20 cards and as they dwindled down I would head back to the Paper Store to replenish my supply. Now, sometimes I do make my own cards with my Create a Card software. That is fun to do but having a supply of little note cards in the gossip bench upstairs was just the best. Claude has even learned they are there with address labels and you just pick out what works best and get an address label and you are ready to correspond on whatever. The other thing they sold that I regularly bought was really nice heavy wrapping paper in 72 square foot rolls for only $6. There was a really nice selection of all types of wrapping paper. I always bought wrapping paper at the Paper Store. I determined I needed to stock up on supplies before the doors to this wonderful little shop close. So today, after visiting mom and practicing music with Papa, I headed to my Paper Store one last time. I headed for the notes cards first. Then I noticed the percentage off sign over the cards. But the 20 notescards for $4 sign is now gone. In it's place is a $.23/card label under each row of cards. I reach in my purse for my little notebook. Quickly I tried to see what that meant for savings. I multiplied my $.23 times 20 cards (this made them more than they had been before the sale). Then I added my my 10% + 10% + 5% off to get 25% off (That may sound silly to some of you but I can do that in my head still faster than on paper.) Then I subtracted my amount off from the new amount for which the cards now sell. I was still going to have a savings and I knew I wouldn't have time to come back to the store before it closed so this was the best savings for which I could hope. Next I counted out 5 stacks of note cards in varying styles for everything from birthdays, to thank yous, to weddings, to funerals, etc. I had 10 of some kinds and 5 of a couple and 20 of one kind. I had them neatly arranged in stacks of 20 cards each. I also picked up several rolls of wrapping paper and headed to the checkout counter. The young man behind the counter asked me if I was ready to checkout. I assured him I was. Then he tells me he doesn't any more envelopes for these 100 cards I wanted to purchase. So my almost 60 year old brain starts to process again. I knew I had a box of the little envelopes you can buy at Office Depot for when I make the cards with my Create A Card software. I was sure these notecards would fit in those envelopes so I told him I still wanted to purchase them. He asked me how many cards I had as he was picking up the first of my stacks. I had taken the sets of 20 cards and turned each set a different way so it would be easy if they wanted to count them again to just count groups of 20 cards. He takes the 1st stack of 20 off the top and scans with the scanner and rings up 20 cards. Then he takes the next group of 20 and scans for 20 cards. Then he realizes that the stack of 20 cards might have 2 kinds of cards in it. So he looks at me and says, "How many cards did you have here?" I said, "I really don't know. I'm sure there were 4 or 5 sets of 20 cards each." Then it dawns on me he needs to ring each set up because they probably have different codes for the different kinds. So I show him how they are all in 2 sets of 10 for the most part and that would equal the little stacks of 20 cards. Except for the one that has 20 in it and another stack that had 10 and then 5 and 5 to equal the 20. The poor kid looks at me at says, "How many did you have total?" Now I'm not sure what total he wants, the grand total or the total in each stack. So I try to clarify by asking if he is talking about the grand total of all the notecards or the total of each of the stacks. He leads me to believe he is talking about the different types of cards in each of the stacks. So I calmly reach over to the notecards and separate the stacks by the kinds they are. Then I show him visually that there are 10 of these, 20 of these and 2 little stacks with only 5 in each of them. Clearly now he is more confused than ever. He says, "Did you have 2 stacks with 20 of the same kind?" I pick up on the fact that he probably wants to not have to reverse any more out of his register than he needs to so that the codes and amounts in the register are correct. So I carefully show him that there is only 1 stack where all 20 note cards are the same. The rest are all 10 each except for 2 little stacks of 10. By now I can also confidently tell him there are a grand total of 100 cards. Now he blows my almost 60 year old mind by taking the cards 20 at a time and scanning them not worrying about any code on them whatsoever!!! At this point, I don't really care how he scans them as long as I only pay for 100 notecards at the discounted price. But I'm beginning to feel like I'm in some type of notecard shell game and I'm on the losing end of the game. I'm wondering if this is meant to wear me down so I don't care if I get a discount. The kid just regroups the cards into 5 stacks of 20 cards each and rings each stack up as 20 cards not worrying about a code. I mean REALLY!!! the store is going out of business. They aren't going to order any more cards so why are codes that important anyway. I'm sure they just want to sell all they can for as little reduction as they can. Fortunately the 2 ladies behind me with the cute little round girl were very happy people. They were purchasing the little girl a stuffed bunny and she was in imagination heaven playing with that bunny while they waited patiently behind me in line. I'm feeling good I got what I already felt was a good deal for even more of a discount. It was an interesting experience. The good thing is that this young guy and I didn't lose our tempers we just kept on trying to get it so we both understood each other. I'll miss this little store. Wonder what will take its place???

Moon Over Sadieville...

Well, we made it to November. Can't believe it got here so fast!!!

Tonight my dear friend Laura called and told me to go outside and look at the moon. I took this picture. It was just a beautiful sight. The sun was getting ready to go down on the front side of our home and this full moon was reflecting the sun's light on the back side of our home. I know this picture does not do the sight justice but it will help me remember this beautiful moon, Cosmos moon (for those of you who saw Moonstruck).

Claude and I were prepared for the trick-or-treaters to come Saturday night. I had on my Halloween sweater. I had my pumpkin plate full of candy. The time in Sadieville for trick-or-treating was 6pm to 8pm. Little Zachary from next door came close to 6pm. Then no one came. Finally at 8:30pm we had one last little guy about 7 years old. I just looked at my hubby and said, "It is a shame we have to eat all this candy by ourselves." I miss the little kids coming in their costumes. We've never had many kids show up on Halloween night. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact we are way out in the country and the houses are set far apart and you have to go up and down hills to get to them. If I were a parent, I'd think seriously about heading to Georgetown where there are a lot of homes close together. But it was still disappointing to have only 2 kids show up. If Claude and I can be good, we'll have some Halloween candy for the grandmonsters when they come for Thanksgiving. However, in all honesty, that is a long way off for us to be that good. We'll see... This morning the alarm clock went off at 7am. Claude has meetings at the Church on Sunday mornings at 8:30am. I go in with him and have a chance to sit quietly in the chapel and read my scriptures. I truly enjoy this quiet moment to read and reflect. We usually are up at 7am and out the door by 8am. It was getting close to 8am and I was in front of the mirror in our bedroom when Claude walked up behind me and put his arms around me and said, "Happy November 1st." I was a little puzzled and said, "Happy November 1st to you too." Then he said, "Happy Daylight Savings Time." I just stood there and tried to digest what the Big Guy was telling me. After a few seconds it registered and I said, "Do you mean this was fall back in time and we would have gotten and extra hours sleep?" "Yep!" was the reply. I determined to take a glass half full approach and headed to my craft room in the basement to find my computer puzzle for today and do it before Church. Silly us. Claude took the opportunity to reset clocks through our abode. I think the thing that made it register for Claude was when he checked his Blackberry and it gave a message that the time was changed due to Day Light Savings Time. So, there you have it, 2 trick-or-treaters, up an hour too early and a great moon to end the day. Life is good in Sadieville!