Goldilocks: "And this chair is just right!!"

We have a chair in our living room we dearly love.  We have had it for several years.  It is an overstuffed rocking chair.  The grandmonsters call it 'Pa's reading chair' because Claude sits there to read all the newspapers and magazines that come his way. On Christmas morning you will always find Claude sitting in it with his Santa hat on when we open presents. It is perfect for a grandmonsters to snuggle and enjoy cheese or nuts with their 'Pa'. It's just a big part of our family.

This last year the poor chair finally needed to be repaired or replaced.  The chair's integrity was great still for sitting in but the arms were threadbare. We contact a young lady in Georgetown that was highly recommended to us and asked about the possibility of reupholstering this chair rather than replace it. She asked for a picture. I sent her this picture.  We'll call it 'before'.

Heather assured us she could reupholster the chair. She quoted us a price to do the work. She also told us the yardage we needed to do the chair. We were responsible to purchase the fabric we wanted to reupholster. She was booked until the first part of December. I assured her we would wait for her timetable.

 

Claude was patient enough to go fabric shopping with me. This is definitely not his area but we wanted fabric we both felt great about. We went to three fabric stores before we found exactly what we wanted. Bonus...it was on sale.

 

I got a text from Heather just before Thanksgiving. She said she would be back from her Thanksgiving trip by Sunday evening, December 1st. We put the chair in the back of the Jeep Saturday evening and after Claude got back to Georgetown from Owingsville Sunday afternoon we met up and took the chair to Heather with the bolt of fabric.

 

Yesterday I got a text from Heather that the chair was finished.  It was pouring rain.  Claude and I each had a full morning.  I told her we would come in the early afternoon to pick up our chair. The rain broke as we got to her home.  We loaded our beautiful chair in the Jeep and headed back to Sadieville to put it right back in its home, dressed in its new clothes. Once in place, Claude sat in it and it was 'just right!!' 

These are the 'things' that help make a home, a home and not a house. It will be fun seeing the grandmonsters reaction to this new covering for our treasured chair.

December Decorating...

Saturday, after Thanksgiving, we started the process of decorating.  Each trip I made upstairs included some of the decorations needed to accomplish decorating the inside of the house. 

Monday we began the process in earnest. By the end of the day I had the tree up and the upstairs decorated. I was amazed. Claude's Facebook post states clearly his feelings for Monday, "Today I begin the Mt Everest-like climb that is getting the Christmas decorations up. Why did I not use the grandkids when they were in for turkey day?" By the end of the day he had the lights on the front of the house up.  He had meetings to attend during the day so we were happy to get that much going.

Tuesday we spent the bulk of the day in Lexington doing our shift at the Family History Center, having lunch and getting some Christmas shopping finished.  We hurried home so Claude could have a few hours to work on the outside.  He did get the lights started on the back of the house and the Nativity set up on the front yard. Again, great progress for the time available that day. I spent the evening working on getting the Christmas cards labeled.

Wednesday, Claude left for his meeting before the ladies arrived to go to lunch. I walked him to the garage to say good-bye and found this in the garage.

My Facebook post shares my feelings, "Priorities, the yard is partially ready but the Jeep is decorated. Love this guy!!"

 

I headed out for lunch with the ladies. When I got home I was late to pick up Papa.  Claude had just returned from his meeting.  I quickly prepared myself a soda and ran off to fill the rest of my day.  I would not return home until 7pm.  When I pulled up to the house, this was my view.

Again, my Facebook post with this picture.  "What a nice scene I just returned home to. Way to go Big Guy!"  I love the way we decorate the outside of our home.

 

Today Claude was able to finish the back yard between rainfalls and after a quick trip to Georgetown. I spent the morning helping ladies in the Friends of Sadieville decorate the Christmas tree at City Hall.

Now, I must confess, I have only completed a portion of the basement family room. The goal was to do that this evening while Claude was once again at a meeting.  However, I felt awful so I curled up on the sofa and rested for a bit.  I'll complete the family room tomorrow.  It takes a lot but I do love the Christmas decorations until January 1st. 

Lunch Anyone???

Wednesday was our December Countryside Homemakers annual outing to a fun place for lunch. We all agreed to go to Nonesuch, Kentucky where Irish Acres is located and dine at the "Glitz" restaurant.

Just getting us through the reservation and final count attending was an interesting journey.  I called after our November meeting when we determined to go to the Glitz and reserved seating for 10 people. They asked that I give the final count one week prior to December 4th. That was Thanksgiving week and I figured Wednesday would not be a good day to call everyone.  So I called on Monday, December 2nd to get confirmation from the ladies.  I left messages with those not at home to call me be noon Tuesday to confirm their participation. Tuesday afternoon I called with a final number of 9 ladies.  This number included one lady I had not heard from but was sure she would attend.  Late Tuesday I received a call from this lady and she said she would not be able to attend.  Wednesday I called the Glitz back and asked them to reduce our number to 8 people. All was set...I thought.

Monday late in the day I received a call from Barbara Vance.  Barbara is the President of the Scott County Extension Homemakers, our county president.  She wanted to come to our December meeting.  I told her we were not having a meeting as usual but were going to the Glitz for lunch. She said she would love to join us.  After making the arrangements to meet her in Georgetown to pick her up, I called the Glitz and again. Turns out the Glitz is closed on Monday.  I called Tuesday and left a message. They called back and I changed our number back to 9 people.  There...that should do it.  Now to just have fun.

We all met at my home Wednesday morning. The ladies brought canned food and coats for me to donate to our favorite charity. I gave them each the ornament I made for them. Then we were ready to leave.

We were taking two cars. I would drive and Charlotte would drive.  I had printed directions and was prepared to lead.  However, I asked Charlotte if she knew the way. She assured me she did, discussion was had by other ladies that Charlotte had been there with friends and would definitely know the way. We agreed Charlotte would lead and my car would follow.  Three ladies got in the car with Charlotte and three with me and we headed to Georgetown to pick up Barbara.  Barbara got in Charlotte's car and we were off.

Now, I expected us to follow closely to the MapQuest instructions I had.  In my mind we would head to I-75 and to Lexington.  Charlotte didn't do that. She headed into downtown Georgetown.  Okay, I could see us going on down Hwy 25 which takes one right to New Circle Road in Lexington and from there we could easily get to Versailles Road and on to Martha Layne Collins Parkway.  It would be a little slower than taking the Interstate but we had plenty of time.  I concentrated on talking to Janet in my car and staying close to Charlotte as I drove.

When we got to the By-pass in Georgetown, Charlotte turned onto it.  I was a little confused but still confident that she knew where she was going. I knew we could do the By-pass in Georgetown and get to Payne's Depot and follow it out to I-64 and from there to Midway and still make it to the Martha Layne Collins Parkway.  I again still trusted that Charlotte was just taking us a back way and would get it us there and we still had enough time.  Janet and I continued talking and enjoying this drive through Kentucky horse farms.

We made it to Versailles.  We got to one intersection after going through downtown and I saw the sign for Hwy 33. I knew this was the one that would take us out to the Ford's Mill Road and to Nonesuch. However, Charlotte turned to continue on Hwy 62 which we had been traveling on. Hmmm...I began to be concerned but thought Charlotte just still knew a back way.

We follow Charlotte for a good deal further and Janet said to Elaine, her mom, who was in the back seat, "Doesn't it seem like this is a longer drive than usual to Nonesuch?"  Elaine agreed. Then we discussed that we all felt we might be going the wrong way but Charlotte had been confident that she knew the way.  Then we saw it, the sign that said 'Lawrenceburg'. We were seriously west of Versailles and definitely going the wrong way. We now only had 15 minutes to get to the Glitz for our lunch appointment. Yike.

Fortunately, at this same time Charlotte pulled into an auto parts parking lot.  Barbara got out of their car and headed inside the store to get directions.  I had Janet pull a paper map out of my glove compartment and I headed over to help Charlotte and me get a visual of where we needed to go and possibly not have to back track to Versailles.  Pretty soon Barbara game out with handwritten directions to get us to Nonesuch as quickly as possible. However, the man in the auto parts store told Barbara it would take us 30 minutes to get there.

I called the Glitz as we backed out and started to follow our new handwritten directions to let them know we were running a bit late.  We made it back to Versailles on a back road and further south on Hwy 33 that before.  Then it was on to Ford's Mills Road and to Irish Acres. 

It was quite a journey.  The Glitz was very gracious about our lateness.  We had a simply marvelous lunch and great conversation.  Then we headed through Irish Acres.  This is an old two story elementary school that has been transformed into an antique store with very, very high end antiques.  It is simply delightful to stroll through those two stories of really beautiful furniture, dishes, books, trinkets, etc.  So much to see.

Now, I needed to get back to Sadieville and leave my passengers so I could drive back to Georgetown and get Papa to the nursing home with a DVD of country music. I took my camera to get a picture of all us ladies at the Glitz.  I can only describe my efforts to get us all together for this picture as trying to herd chickens.  It was painful.  But we finally got everyone at the staircase at the same time and the nice gentleman greeting all of us at the door was kind enough to take three pictures of us. This was the best of the lot.

Top Row:  Charlotte Archer, Barbara Vance, Maggie Williams
Middle Row:  Detta Wilson, Elaine Rutledge, Ann Zeyzing, Janet Preston
Front Row:  Sandi Christensen, Kathleen Preston

Now the first picture has the cutest expression on Kathleen's face.  Just loved it. She is a sweetie.

We had a great time and a grand adventure.  Yep, this Countryside Homemaker Group knows how to have a fun time going to and enjoying lunch together.

A Kind Little Heart...

Sunday, Papa didn't feel like attending Church, Claude was visiting Owingsville so I had the pew to myself. I was busy trying to get an agenda ready to conduct Primary.  My secretary, who usually provides this for us, was home with a sick child. My counselor who would have conducted was on a Thanksgiving trip and I was substituting for her.

As I sat there trying to get all the items on the agenda for Junior and then Senior Primary, I sensed the presence of a little guy.  Emerson had quietly come into the side pew were I was with his infection grin and that tossled head of red, slightly curly hair. I looked up and grinned at him and asked him if he wanted to sit with me.  He said, "We noticed you were sitting alone."  I put my book away and figured I would just wing it if needed.  Emerson was more important.

I opened the hymnbook and we sang along together.  He sat so quietly.  Then he sneezed.  I asked if he needed a tissue.  He said he did. I got him one from my purse.  He played with that tissue making one of those things you put on her fingers and pretend they are talking.  I knew he was getting restless when he started to try to juggle with that one balled up tissue. 

I took the little tablet I keep in the front pocket of my purse to make quick notes on. It only had about six sheets of paper in there.  I took out the two I had notes written on and left Emerson with 4 blank sheets. I gave him the tablet and a pen and asked him if he would like them.  He smiled and said "yes".  Then he quietly set to work writing and drawing.

After a while, he gave me back the notebook with one page on which he had written the following:

It is a picture of me and Emerson .  How cute is that?  I just love this kid.  What a nice thought and moment for me. I am richly blessed. Thank you, Emerson!

He Made His Decision...

Some decisions in life take a lot more thought and processing than others.  Such has been the case for my dear hubby.

Since retiring and moving to Sadieville, Kentucky, Claude has served on our City Commission and as Mayor of Sadieville. While serving in both capacities he has gone above and beyond the basic duties.

While serving as City Commissioner he was over Public Wrks. This was a big deal because Sadieville was in the process of transitioning from its very old, very dilapidated package waste treatment plant. New sewer lines were being places throughout the city. The goal was to sell the sewage system, once completed, to the City of Georgetown. Claude learned of a series of classes that he could take to be certified to deal with the sewer system. He took these classes and received his certification. This allowed him to be conversant with the contractors who were doing the work and communicate effectively to the citizens of Sadieville the needs and progress on this mammoth undertaking.  During this time, our Mayor became ill and, as Claude was the Mayor Pro-tem, he covered the duties of the Mayor.

Eventually the former Mayor could no longer perform his duties and resigned. Claude finished this term.  Then he ran for and was elected as Mayor of Sadieville. During his time as Mayor he has served on 20+ boards as well as other committees.  All of this he has done with the intention of making sure Sadieville's tiny voice is heard in Scott County and the Bluegrass Area. He has always included and been voice for all of Northern Scott County which have Sadieville as their mailing address. There was no paycheck for all the boards and committees.  There was just the intent to fill his retirement years doing good for his community.

Earlier this year he attended a conference and in conversation with others learned his name was being bantered about as a candidate for Magistrate for District 1 of the Scott County Fiscal Court. Hmmm...

Claude spent a lot of time pondering this possibility. We had many discussions so he could verbalize his thoughts and feelings, concerns and possibilities to learn and serve in another area.  During all this discussion, I was able to honestly state to him, "If you ran and won, I know you would do a great job."  I believe this with all my heart.  After 43 years of marriage and watching Claude pursue many, many things, there has not been one he hasn't been able to learn and proceed with the skills needed to perform above and beyond the tasks to be done. I have watched him create and execute entirely new programs from scratch that are now the standard from which some organizations work. He is quite capable of being a great Magistrate.

Claude did not take this lightly.  For this I am grateful.  It is a serious opportunity and should not be entered into lightly.

Before Thanksgiving, Claude told me he was going to file to be placed on the ballot for Magistrate for District 1.  Bless his heart.  We are now on another journey and I'm sure it will place in our paths many opportunities for growth and service.

I'm posting a picture here of Claude showing Nissa, our daughter, and Todd, her hubby, the current map of District 1.  It is the red portion of the map.

Way to go Big Guy!!  May the force be with you on your next grand adventure. I shall tag along and be there for you every step of the way.