After I wrote earlier, Tommy decided he wanted to make a chocolate cake all by himself. He even promised to clean up all his mess and wash the dishes he messed up.

Well, he greased and floured and mixed and stirred and while his cake was baking he washed up everything he messed up. After the cake baked and cooled, he made the frosting from scratch following a recipe on the back of the cocoa can. Then he frosted it and after we ate supper he and Chad had big slices to eat and then I cut the rest in half and they took it to Chad's house when they went up there.

When he was little and lived with me, he loved to "help" me cook. He even had his own apron. Maybe he'll grow up to be a chef like Nancy's Jarad.

And speaking of eating, Chad ate two hotdogs made with National Hebrew franks, a big bowl of soup and was still hungry, so I made him a grilled cheese and then he ate cake. And I'll bet that when they got to Chad's house they told Ron that they were hungry and wanted Japanese!

We still had snow on the ground on Thursday night when the snow started again. It snowed all day Friday and just stopped at 1pm on Sat.

Rebecca and Tommy came up Thursday and of course Tommy wanted to spend the night at Chad's house, so I took him up there late Thursday evening. They stayed up all night playing Chad's X-box and were out in the snow at 6am playing in it. Then they came down here about noon and ate a little and went out and played some more and when they came in they were wet to the skin. They took off their wet clothes and put on pj pants and I made potato soup and they ate and were both asleep by 7pm. They slept for 14 hours straight. Hooray!!

They ate breakfast and now want to make a cake! I have everything they need except the marachino cherries. And I'm not gonna go out to the store today to get them. I have 33 bananas that Susan brought home from work and am gonna make a banana pudding as soon as I get off the computer.

The weather channel says that we will probably get more snow,sleet and ice Tuesday evening and some more wintry mix on Friday. I'm sort of getting either resigned to it or just bored with it. I'm running out of books and that's what I do when I can't get out. Help!!

The weather folks got it right again! Twice in less than 2 months "they" have forecast snow for Danville and both times we've had a lot of the white stuff.

It started late Friday evening and stopped during the night on Sat. I don't know how much we officially got, but it was more than the 3 inches "they" forecast. Much more! Now they are saying more of the white stuff for this coming up Friday!And the kids don't have to go to school tomorrow either!That's Monday and Tuesday, so far.

This evening I was hungry, but didn't really know what I wanted, so I decided I'd make me a fried potato sandwich. But, who can eat just one? So, I ate two!! They were just what I wanted and very filling. I learned a secret about frying the potatoes that I'll share. Peel and wash the potatoes and slice. Then lay on a dinner plate and microwave for 3 or 4 minutes and they don't take so long to fry and you can eat a lot sooner.

It's 2AM and some nut is out there with a snow blade on a red pickup moving snow and piling it up on the sidewalk making an effective barrier for anybody who wants to walk up or down the street on my side. I mean from the end of my hedge to the street! Now, the truck seems to have disappeared. I was hoping he'd clear off all of the parking lot, especially in front of where I park my car.

Well, so far the freezing rain they forecast for Monday night hasn't materialized. I was hoping for a nice warm rain to get rid of the snow piles before they turned all dirty and nasty looking, but no rain at all yet.

I don't have Coby Tuesday, so I can sleep late and then have a leisurely breakfast and maybe get to the bank and the grocery store. Old Dutch has some good buys this week and I have some good coupons.So, a plan!

Guess what? We actually left the house at 9:15 AM and got gas, went to bank and left Danville at 9:30AM. Rah for me!!

There wasn't a lot of traffic going until we got close to Charlottesville and we actually got there early and got to spend about two hours with Sharon. We bought her the goodies she doesn't usually get and we got on the road for home kinda early.There was a lot of traffic coming home and I saw one car pulled over by a trooper and another trooper lying in wait for an unsuspecting speeder.

On the way home we stopped at the Goodwill in Charlottesville. I bought a Disney glass( the kind Burger King gave away many years ago) for 37 cents. Once last summer at a yardsale I saw some and the lady wanted $8 each for hers! Yep, I said each.

Then we stopped again outside of Lynchburg to get gas and use the bathroom. I bought four $1 lottery tickets and we each scratched one and we won $3, so we took them back and got 3 more and won $2, took them back and got 2 more and only won $1 on those. So, we stopped and hit the road again.

It was dark when we got home, but was only 5:45. I'll be glad when the days get longer again. I hate driving in the dark when it's still early. Also, the weather was nice altho there was still a lot of snow in and around Charlottesville. Seems they got 24 inches of snow in Dec.

When we got back to Danville, I dropped Tommy off at Chad's house cause they only got to spend a little time together last night. Rebecca went to the mall and I put on comfortable clothes and got my snuggie and wrapped up in it and started a book, but decided to check my e mail and facebook. So, that's my day. Oh, I got a $10 Target gift card in the mail for filling out a questionare and mailing it last Monday. That was pretty fast, huh?

Last Tuesday after I took Coby to pre school, I came back and was washing dishes and listening to Trading Post (a local buy, sell and trade show on WBTM).

This guy got on and said he had a "deal" for somebody. His wife had bought an $800 sofa a year ago for their living room and had now decided that she wanted an antique sofa and so he was selling the sofa for $100. I happened to have a $100, so after much thought, I called him. I told him if he would deliver it, I would give him an extra $20. And I would buy it sight unseen. (He had described it to me when I called)

Well, he didn't have a truck and was on the way to the dentist, but his wife was home so he gave me his address and after much searching, I found their house. It was in Forest Hills and those streets go 'round and 'round!

The wife turned out to be a former English teacher at GW and Richard's home room teacher! She said the sofa had hardly been sat on because they used the den all the time. It was nice and clean; firm sofa cushions, extra pillows with it, a nice sofa for the price. So, I paid for it and told her my "redneck" son in law would pick it up when he got off work, so not to be surprised when she opened the door.

Jackie and James went and got it and brought it here. Jackie said that by the time he got to her house, there was a big sign on the door "The sofa is sold!"

I got them to take the old, spring-less studio couch out of the den, put the old living room sofa in there and then bring in the new one. Now, the den looks good and I have a comfortable place to watch TV and the living room looks good (I even "Murphy Oil Soaped" the floor in there. I'm really tickled!!

Well, I remembered to put up my two new calendars and when I was taking the old ones down I remembered I'd read or seen somewhere that you could re-use the pictures on the calendar. So, I did. I opened an envelope and drew the outline on the calendar picture and then folded and glued and had a beautiful envelope. It was so much fun that Rebecca got involved and we made about 10 or 12 envelopes. Some letter size and some card size. I might make some more tomorrow after I take the kids to Stoneville and the house is quiet and I get lonesome here by myself.

Well, I still have Christmas presents, souse meat and candy for people a week after Christmas. I'm thinking about eating the candy, tossing the souse and putting the presents up for next year. That'll be 10 less I'll have to buy next year! Actually, I took the tag off one box of candy and gave Hunter some to take to his mom. It's only good for so long.

Right now Tommy and Chad are in the den playing x box and Rachel, Rebecca and Emily are in the living room watching TV and eating freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And I'm on my computer trying to figure out why I can't send any e mail. I got an e mmail from Comcast saying that my port used to send e mail had changed and I was supposed to click to fix; but clicking hasn't fixed it yet. I tried last night and Hunter worked on it today, but it's still not sending. What to do? What to do?

Well I put off my shopping til the last minute, but actually found everything I had on my list in one trip to the mall, WalMart, KMart, and Coleman Market Place. Then I had to wrap. I love buying, just hate to wrap. But, I got most of it done before Cindy got here to help on Christmas Eve.

We got snowed in on the 19th and 20th so I made candy all of one day and cut and wrapped and gift boxed on the next day. That worked out pretty well.

When the streets were cleared enough I had to go to the grocery store and buy the fixings for the souse meat I always make for Tami and Kerri. It has to be cooked and cooled a bit before you grind it or else it won't congeal the way it's supposed to. I had a time grinding it. The old grinder I use was my mama's and it doesn't open enough to screw it onto my kitchen table, so I had to put paper towels on the seat of a dining room chair and towels underneath on the floor and screw it onto the chair. Then I had to bend over to grind the stuff and I think I have arthritis in my thumb joints, so they started hurting well before I was finished. Seems like it took forever to grind it all, then I had to mix and season and put it in containers to cool and "clinker" together. And guess what?? It's still setting in my fridge cause I can't get the recipients to come by and get it! Or the candy I made. I think I'll throw the souse meat out to my neighbor's dog if I don't get rid of it soon. And take the candy to my preacher.

Rebecca and Tommy came on Christmas Day and Santa had left them some great gifts here and Cindy wrote clues and they had to go on a scavenger hunt in order to find them. Tommy and Chad have been in my den playing with his gift ever since.

Sarah and Chad stayed with me since Christmas night because their dad and Emily went to see the Dallas Cowboys play in Landover, Md. Sunday night. Rachel has been here since Christmas Day and two of Rebecca's friends showed up Sunday. That's six (6) teens and one near teen I have been feeding and boy, can they eat! At least they'll eat any and everything I put in front of them. I made a big pot of chili for supper tonight and it didn't last long. I guess I'll have to go back to the store(I went today) by Wednesday so I'll have food for supper til the weekend. Or, maybe, lots of grilled cheese sandwiches and oodles of noodles.

This doesn't have anything to do with Christmas, but everytime I go over the wee bump at Market Garden I remember once when I was just a kid; maybe 12 or 13. I was going to spend the night with my girlfriend Doris. She had lived across the street from me as long as I could remember, then they moved into that two story house across from the ball field. She and her mom walked up to our house and made the plans with my mama and then we went back to her house. Doris's mom had to go to the store and she said we were to lock the door when she left. There was no one else at home so we sat at the kitchen table to have a snack. The stairs leading to the upstairs bedrooms were in the kitchen. They went up and there was a hall at the top. We were sitting there talking and eating and all of a sudden we heard footsteps up stairs and then we heard steps coming down the stairs. But there was nobody there! We jumped up and unlocked the door and ran as fast as we could to my house. When her mom came home and we weren't there, she came over to our house looking for us. We told her what had happened, but she said it was just our imaginations. Doris went back home with her mom, but I stayed at my house. Funny, but they didn't live there very long, nor has anyone else who moved in there. There's almost always a "for rent" sign posted on the porch railing.Weird, huh?

Yesterday was our day to go see Sharon. Cindy hadn't seen her in several years and Ashley had never gone. So, we made our plans; Cindy got here early Sat. morning and Betty picked her, Rebecca and me up and Ashley was gonna meet us there. We timed our leaving so we'd all get there at the same time.

We were about at Lynchburg when Ashley called. She'd had the misfortune of getting stuck in traffic somewhere near her home because of an accident. She said she'd only gone 10 miles in the last 45 minutes. So, Betty told her to just turn around when she could and go back home because at the rate she wasn't moving, we'd get there and have to wait a really long time for her to arrive.

We got there about noon and Cindy had to fill out a paper because she wasn't on the list any more. We only had a short wait and we got to the visitor's room by one. We had an extended visit, so we had plenty of time to get Sharon fed and get caught up on things going on in our lives.(Well, not mine cause nothing is going on).

On the way back home we stopped at the Goodwill in Charlottesville and all of us bought something. Then a little further down the road we stopped at a McDonalds for supper. Cindy's treat. Then we came on home.

This morning while I was in church, Cindy brought my big Christmas tree up from the basement and put it together for me. Some lights around the bottom didn't work and I called Tommy and he came and checked it out and then went back to Richard's house and brought me some lights. So, I just strung another 100 lights around in the non lit area and it's ready for decorations. Maybe tomorrow. Depending on how I feel. I really don't have any Christmas spirit and haven't even been shopping yet. Haven't made any cakes or candy yet either. Maybe I'll just make a lot of candy and give that instead of gifts!

And now for the latest Coby antics. My new pastor came to see me the other day and Coby just fell in love with him. He went and got the boxing gloves and they boxed and Coby climbed up in the chair with him and talked about his dad going deer hunting and fishing. The preacher asked Coby what his daddy's name was and Coby just looked at him like he was crazy and said, "Honey". So, the preacher asked his mom's name. "Tiff-i- ny" said Coby. So, we know what his mom calls his dad! Friday I had to go to the grocery store and I had to take him with me. He was in the cart being a good boy and we saw this guy in a red jacket with mostly white hair and beard go down the aisle in front of us. Coby's eyes got so big and he sort of whispered to me, "There's Santa Claus". We followed him down the aisle and I told him what Coby said he replied that he heard that all the time. He talked to Coby and asked if he'd been good and told Coby that he would talk to Santa and tell him what Coby wanted. Later at the check out, we saw some candy canes filled with Hersey's kisses and Coby said, "Oh, My forgot to tell Santa my wanted a candy cane. That guy just happened to be there, too and he told Coby that he would tell Santa about the candy cane. Coby breathed a sigh of relief and said "Tank you." He's very polite for a three year old.

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and all the turkey is gone. All that remains is the "turkey bone soup" which is really tasty.

I was thinking the other day that some things that happened a long time ago might interest someone who reads this. For instance; when I was twelve I baby sat my Banny Hall who was about 86 at the time. She lived with Lillie and Effie in a little house on Riverside Drive. She needed a sitter cause she loved to get out and walk. Once she took off and went all the way out Riverside Drive to where the Ranch restaurant used to be and sat down at one of their out door tables to rest and the waitress brought her a bowl of soup and some water and one of the guys gave her a ride home.

I decided to make a cake once when I was sitting with her. No cake mix, a recipe I found in a book. I made it, baked it, made icing and frosted it and while I thought it was "setting up", Banny got the dish rag and washed the frosting off. I made some more and re-iced it and Lillie and Effie ate it for supper.

When I was young my daddy and Uncle Harry would make kites for Connie and Harry, Jr. every windy March. Then they would get out their rods and reels and use them to fly the kites. They would get out on that little hill behind our house and get them way up in the air and then they might let Connie and Harry, Jr. hold them for a while.But the boys had fun!

When I was in junior high school we had a white Eskimo Spitz named Fuzzy. We used to get out the old plastic pool in the summer and fill it with warm water and give her a bath and she would be so nice and white. We'd get her all nice and dry and when we turned her loose she'd make a bee line for Shirley's old Hudson and run under it and come out the back end with a nice wide grease mark down her back. Then we'd catch her again and wash her again. She never learned.

We started out early and went to yard sales where we found some pretty good things. We went to both Pilot Club Bazaars; one at the Luthern Church(not too good) and the other at Sacred Heart School (very good). I got 5 books there!

After we finished the yard sales we went to Sam's Club. I'd never been there before, altho I went to one in Carolina a few years back; but it was called Paces then. Probably a different company altogether, but the concept was the same. Unfortunately, I hadn't cashed my baby sitting check so I didn't have any money, or at least not enough to buy anything good. But the others bought some good looking meat! Maybe next time I go I can buy something.

When I first got on the computer Tommy called to see if he and Rebecca could come up on the Wed. before Thanksgiving. I thought they were coming next weekend, but the Boy Scouts (his troop) are making stew next weekend and he has to be there. That works for me because I'm invited to a Thanksgiving dinner next Friday evening at the Presbyterian church across the street and I wanted to go to the Holiday Bazaar at the Community market next Sat. morning.

Well, after days of rain and wind, we had a loverly day today. Nice and warm and sunny! Maybe we'll have a week or so of good weather now.

In order for you to understand part of today's blog, I have to tell you about last week's yardsales. Last Sat. it was foggy when we left home and all three guys had on hoodies, but my hoodie smelled like perfume so I couldn't wear it. After a little while the rain started and they had dry heads; my jacket didn't keep my head dry.

This morning it was clear, but very cold. When I went out to the van, Danny had me a gray hoodie! Very nice color and a perfect fit, plus a lining which will keep me warm.

So, we got started! Considering the weather, there were a lot of sales. The first thing I bought was a very small carafe for a coffee maker. Somebody told me to look for one; unfortunately I don't remember who. But, it was only a quarter! We went to one I heard on the radio yesterday and Tommy got several pairs of jeans, some khakis and some bib overalls. They were all very nice, too. Then I found some books; Tommy bought me a pyrex portable (you know, to transport food to dinners and keep it warm or cold), I found a cute Spiderman shirt for Coby, a pair of black dressy jeans, some more books and probably some other stuff I can't remember right now.

But, what was really odd, we went to one we'd gone to last week and only Tommy and I got out to look. There were two very sturdy wooden tables, small but a good size for plants on a deck. Tommy looked at them and said in a low voice,"I'd like to have them if they were a dollar each". The guy walked up and I asked him how much and he said "A dollar each". So we lugged them to the van and rearranged everything to get them in.

They bought a beautiful Christmas bedspread and sham, some gold "tings" to decorate with and I think some more decorations.

After we finished we went to Kool Cafe and had lunch. The cook had told them yesterday that she was cooking greens and fried cornbread today for lunch. They got that, country fried steak and deep fried squash. I got my favorite:confetti. But I got the fried corn bread to go with it. Ummmm! Mighty good eating.

Rebecca and Tommy came today for the weekend. They got here earlier than usual cause they didn't have school today, so Tommy and I went to Ollies and both Family Dollars. We were looking for him a plain white mask that he could decorate. We actually found it!

Earlier Emily had come down with a costume she had bought for a party tonight. It was a taxi drivers outfit. Really cute, but way too big. (It was a medium). So, she put it on inside out and I pinned it for her, then she sewed it on my machine and altered the top of the sleeves a bit and it looked really good.

A little while ago Kerri's Chad called and said he'd come get my car and change the oil for me, and bring it back tonight. I told him he could return it tomorrow, but he said he'd go on and do it and return it later tonight. He's so sweet!

Tommy is at Chad's (the other Chad)and called and wanted to come back here so they could work on Halloween costumes. Unfortunately, I didn't have a way so I told him to get Ron to bring them down. I don't know what time they'll be here, tho. I just hope they go to bed kind of early cause I'm going to yardsales tomorrow!! With the yardsale professionals!! Can't wait...........

I don't think I've written in 3 or 4 weeks, so I'll start with the painting. I wanted to paint the kitchen and Cindy kindly offered to get off on a Friday and come up and help. I got rid of Coby for the day and Cindy got here pretty early and we went to buy the wall paint. I'd already bought the white for the trim, but I needed another opinion on the walls.

We went to the store and looked at all the traditional kitchen colors, but decided on a color called chambray.(Which is a restful color of blue).

I had already moved everything out of the kitchen so when we got home all we had to do was put on painting clothes and get started. We had painted for a while when Emily showed up and she wanted to help, so, of course, we let her. The more the merrier! After she'd been painting for a while, and doing a good job, she said "You know, I've never painted before. It's pretty easy".

We got everything finished that day and after Cindy left on Sat., after yardsales, I might add, I started putting things back, but instead of putting everything back, I de-cluttered quite a bit and now have almost empty counters, neat cookbooks in a row, and a lot more room. It looks pretty good, even if I say so.

On Tuesday after I took Coby to pre school, I came back and started looking around and decided that the trim in the dining room needed painting. I did that, but then the trim in the hall was just begging to be painted. Then the trim in the bathroom and the front hall and living room. Now all I have left to do is the front door and the stair risers. If I don't run out of paint. I intend to do the door tomorrow and the risers on Thursday. By then I hope I am out of paint cause I'm tired of painting! But it does look so much better.

On the Sat. after we painted we went to yardsales with Richard, Tommy and Danny. I think all of us ended up buying something. Cindy got a lot of stuff and I picked up a few things I just couldn't live without. Richard bought a fur purse for Ashley to go with a hat he'd bought her earlier. All in all, a good yardsale day.

On October 11, we had Homecoming at church. We had a really good group from Roanoke to sing and had lots of good food to eat. Marie went with me and said she really enjoyed our pastor's preaching. Maybe she'll go again.

This past Sunday, Cindy came up again and brought me a TV for the den (one I'd loaned her a couple of years ago), and stayed and had lunch with us. Rebecca, Tommy, Chad and Susan were here too and everybody seemed to enjoy the meal.

Well, my eyes are getting sleepy and I can't think, so I guess I'll get comfortable on the sofa in the den and watch Dancing With the Stars results. That Donnie Osmond is good!!

Cindy came up on Friday and we painted my kitchen and made it look all clean and shiny. We worked all day and with the help of Emily for a few hours, we got all the painting and spot removal done. We went to bed fairly early so we could be ready for yardsales bright and early Sat. morning.

Richard and Tommy always have a plan as to where we start. This day we started on the southside and worked our way to Westover and 58 west. Most of the sales were just that: sales. Because the people wanted to get rid of their stuff. However, we went to an estate sale on Westover at a beautiful house (I asked Tommy to buy the house for me, but he declined). They had numerous ladies with tags on thir clothes that said "estate sale assistant". It was like going thru one of the "famous" homes here in VA Like Mt. Vernon or Monticello. Everything had a price and the prices were astronomical. There was a cabinet that had a sold sign on it, but I didn't see anybody buying anything. One bedroom had a quilt on the bed and the quilt had a tag of $600 on it.There was a room with "vintage" toys and a sign saying, do not touch toys and there was a chest top full of Johnny West, Jane West and the lil West kid, plus all their horses. I think Tami had them all at one time or another! Vintage?

After we left there we went to a few really good ones. Coby loves Spiderman and I bought him a life size stuffed spiderman, a pair of Spiderman pjs, a lunch box and a big fleecy blanket with spiderman. Got it all for $2.50. Then we went to one and the girl had a new Black and Decker coffee maker; I paid $1 for that and it works really well. She doesn't drink coffee and her hubby only drinks one cup a day, so he uses instant. I got a lot of other things, books for a guy at church for 10 cents each, note cards, a game for the boys, a cute Ty baby doggie, and other stuff I can't remember. Cindy bought some good stuff as did the guys. Richard bought a nice sport jacket and wore it until it warmed up a bit.

But the most amazing thing I saw was at a yardsale off Westover. It was a lady that Tommy knew from his work and she had a topsy turvy tomato planter and that tomato had gone from way up on her porch ceiling all the way to the ground. I was admiring that when she took me around to her back yard to show me her tomatoes there. This is what was amazing to me. She had bought two big bags of potting soil (maybe 20/30 lbs. each) and laid them on the ground beside her deck. She'd punched a few holes in the bottom for drainage and then had cut two X shaped holes in each bag and planted her tomato plants in them.They had gone up past the deck railings and she'd made pictures of them and they were big, pretty tomatoes and the plants were humongous. I couldn't believe it and I asked her where she got the idea and she said she'd read it in a magazine about 10 years ago. I'm gonna do that next year. I can just put the bags next to my garage and I won't have to dig or anything. Just plant, water and fight the squirrels and birds.

This week I babysat Coby, but not as much as his mom took Monday and part of Thursday off and then today I painted, so she took today off.I did take him to preschool all three days, and fed him breakfast and lunch.

Last week end was our week to go see Sharon and Emily decided to go and Rebecca's friend Hunter went also, so we had a car full. I told them all to go to the bathroom before we left because I was leaving early and wasn't going to stop for bathroom breaks. Well, we made it all the way there without stopping and got there about 11:30 and got in to see Sharon by noon; this even with Hunter and Emily having to fill out visitor's forms. We had an extended visit, so we got to stay for 2 1/2 hours.

It had drizzled rain on us all the way up and when we got ready to leave to come home it was pouring and it poured on us all the way back to Danville. I got behind four big chartered buses that swooshed water up on my car like waves. I tried to stay well back of the other vehicles because the roads were so wet that it was a constant deluge on my car from the road. For some reason there was a lot of traffic on the way back home and a couple of trucks that passed us like they were on the way to a fire ended up in ditches further down the road. We passed both of the trucks overturned and another car down an embankment; don't know if there were any injuries, but one wreck had a couple of EMT trucks and an ambulance stopped with a couple of gurneys waiting.

I was never so happy in my life as I was Sat. when I saw the Danville city limit sign. I was more than ready to be back home, even if I did have to cook for all those hungry kids, plus Chad, who was here waiting for us to get back. But, it was a good visit and every body enjoyed it.

Wed. was Emily's boyfriend Josh's 24th birthday and she had supper with his family and met his grandparents for the first time. I don't know how the conversation came around to kin, but his grandparents, who are Dodsons, said they knew Keister and Laura and the girls.

Then the G'ma told a tale on Josh. Said she had taken him somewhere when he was about 3 or 4 years old and he came running up to her all excited, "Guess who I saw? I saw Superman". He kept insisting he'd seen Superman until she told him to show her and he led her over somewhere and pointed to Keister. I guess his dark hair, suit and tie and glasses made him think CLARK KENT! Aren't kids adorable?

I haven't written in a while. Haven't felt like trying to get my mind in the proper mode. Maybe I can work back from today.

We did our usual Sat. morning thing: yardsales!! Tommy got a lot of really good stuff for his cruise in October. Formal wear, jackets, shirts, even a rolling bag to carry it in. Richard bought another Christmas tree. I think this was number 125 0r 126. Yeah, he puts them all up! I bought some books and a paring knife (new) and a very small biscuit cutter for Richard's biscuits when he has his Christmas open house. Oh, Tommy bought me a full length black leather coat that looks like new and is genuine leather. Now I need some black boots to wear with it when it gets cold.

After I got home from yardsales, Betty came by and picked me up and we went to Target to get Tommy a B'day present; went to Marshalls to see Kerri and to Dollar General. Then she dropped me off and I went to get gas and Emily and Sarah came by for a while; Emily left and Sarah stayed for a while and then I dropped her off at her friend's house over in the Cedarbrook community.

This past week I doggy sat Cindy's Charlie while she went to the beach. He was very good, not a peep (or a whine or bark) out of him. He liked going out for walks around the funeral home parking lot and watching the street traffic. I think Cindy missed him more than he missed her, although he's so low key you can't really tell how he feels.

Also this past week we had a board meeting at church, Wed. night bible study and the new preacher came to see me Thursday evening. Right at supper time! I invited him to eat, but he said he'd already had his supper.I also had Coby, but only three days. Monday his mom was off for Labor day and Wed. he had to go to Charlottesville to get his check up for the surgery he had last year.

Ginny and Tommy came up Friday evening to pick up Chad to go to visit Tommy for the weekend and help him celebrate his B'day. I'm going to pick him up tomorrow afternoon, I think. They had a lot of fun stuff planned for them to do. Sometimes I wish I was a kid again!

I think that's about all except that Cindy and I did talk about painting my kitchen sometime before Thanksgiving. It's been a while since it was painted and I've had a gift card from Lowes ever since last Christmas to get paint. I just really don't like to paint any more. But, ever since I got my new floors in the kitchen and den, I've wanted it painted and I guess the only way to get it done is to round up some help and do it myself. It shouldn't take too long because there's not a lot of wall, mostly cabinets. Oh well, we'll see. Maybe I can round up some more volunteers.

The weekend started early for me because I didn't have Coby Friday. So, I went to the grocery store and got a few things I needed so I wouldn't have to go Sat. after yardsales.

Rebecca and Tommy didn't come until late Friday evening, about 9:15PM. Tommy wanted to go to see Chad, so I took him up there and Rebecca went to bed early because she came in with a bad cold and cough. I doctored her a little and she went to bed and I even went to bed early.

I got up early Sat. and was ready for yardsales at 7AM. My brothers picked me up and we took off. A lot of them were "pricey" and a lot just had kid and baby stuff. I'm trying to think what I bought. I think I found a couple of books at a couple and a nice flower pot at one. I paid 50 cents for it, but when I got home and looked a the bottom and it had a $5 price ta on it. Then, at one of the last ones the guy had a Mary Higgins Clark book I hadn't read. He was asking a dollar, but I really wanted to read it so I got my dollar out and he said, "Tell you what. For $2 you can have all the books I have." So, I got out another dollar and Tommy and I loaded them up and took them to the car. I got 26 books, mostly hardbacks, for $2. That's less than 10 cent a book!

Later in the afternoon, Tommy R. called and he and Chad were ready to come back to my house. So, I picked them up along with Sarah and Tommy cooked the steak and I baked potatoes and made salad for supper. It was all very good. Tommy makes a rub out of different things he finds in my cabinet and the meat always tastes good. Of course, the food didn't last long. They were hungry for oodles of noodles about bedtime. This is after eating icecream.

Sunday I went to church and Teresa came to preaching. He let us out before 12 and I went home, changed clothes, cooked again and after the dishes were cleaned up I took them back to Stoneville. Chad rode with us and he slept all the way back to Danville. Sarah had stayed here to work on some homework and the kids hung around for a couple of hours before they went home. All in all, a pretty nice weekend.

Sunday was my birthday. I'd already had one birthday dinner on Sat. with Betty. I had been asked by Emily if I wanted to go to eat at Chili's for my birthday and Cindy had also said she was gonna take me out to eat.

So, my day arrived. I got up and went to church and while a few people wished me a happy birthday, they forgot to sing for which I'm grateful.

I got home from church and Cindy called to say she was on the way and Emily called to say she was on the way and before either of them got here, Kerri called to say she was on her way here. So, I asked her to join us, too. Then I invited Susan to go and by the time Cindy and Emily got here, we had a nice bunch ready to go eat.

We ended up going to Lone Star. I'd never been there,(But, I don't go out to eat often, except Kool Cafe)and there was a pretty good size crowd when we got there. We were seated and after a bit we gave our drink orders. Because they were kind of slow to do that, we got a couple of free appetizers and I got a free dessert.

After we ate, we came back to my house and we raided my neighbor Chris's garden. Kerri got eggplant, peppers, tomato, and Brittany got a watermelon. Cindy only got tomato and cuke. He has been so good about letting me get anything I want out of his garden. And his pink tomatoes have been outstanding. The kind where one slice covers a slice of bread and hangs off.Mmmmmmmmm.

After a while longer, Kerri and Brittany left and then Cindy had to go so she would get home before it was too dark. Then Bobby called and came over and brought me a B'day present from him and Teresa and also one from Sue, Teresa's mom, and he stayed for a while. After he left, I got on the computer for a while and then went to bed.

Today I was laying on the sofa in the den while Coby was sleeping and Keister came by with a beautifully wrapped gift. He was on his way to the Westover branch of Wrenn Yeatts and couldn't stay, but I opened it and found a gorgeous black three piece pant suit. It will be just right for my Christmas party at church come winter. Or, a heavy date with a handsome man! Hmmm, it will be good for anytime I want to dress up. It's really pretty. All in all, a wonderful birthday! Oh, I also got a new printer from Fara for my birthday. Bobby is supposed to come Wed. and hook it up for me.

Last Sat. Rebecca and I went to a "surprise" 50th birthday party for Keister. It was held at the Ringgold Volunteer Fire Dept. and I actually found it without getting lost. We got there well before Keister and I was told that it really wasn't a surprise after all. I think he'd probably decided sometime on Sat. that something was up and had to be told. But, it was fun anyway and Laura made a sweet speech about him and about their daughters that brought a tear to my eye. I think the tear thing has to do with getting OLD!

I saw some folks I used to see a long time ago when I worked, but hadn't hardly seen since. I also saw and met some of the guys he does volunteer work with at the crew and at the fire deptpartment.Had good BBQ and fixings. Even got some to go!

Several weeks ago Betty had asked about going to see Sharon and we set a date. We actually left my house at 9AM, stopped by the bank to get quarters and was on the road. We made good time, got there at 11:30, but the place was more crowded than I've ever seen in my 10 years of going up there. We finally got in to the visitor's area at 12:30 and she got there shortly after. Betty made several trips to the snack room to get her goodies. Then a storm came up that was so bad we could hear the thunder inside and the rains came and because of the storm, we got to stay nearly 3 hours. When the rain slowed a bit, we left and by the time we were about thru town, the rains stopped. When we got to Lynchburg, Betty treated me to a birthday dinner at Crackerbarrel. I was facing the window and had about finished my dessert when I looked up and saw Keister and Laura coming across the parking lot. While there were a couple of empty tables in the room we were in, they were seated in the next room. After we ate, we walked around to where they were and saw them for a minute. I think they were sorta surprised to see us.

Then we made our way back to Danville and Betty came in for a minute before she had to go home. While she was here, the phone rang and it was Sharon checking to see if we had made it home OK. She was worried because of the storm. It's been about 5 hours since I ate supper and I'm STILL full. I might not have to eat my peanut butter sandwich before church tomorrow. I feel like a blimp.

I got a card from Sharon today and she said that since she couldn't buy me a "real" gift she would share some memories. I read them and cried.

I remember when I was little and you and me would weed our big garden, sometimes Grandpa (your daddy) would come up to help. Afterwards we would take lettuce and cherry tomatoes in for lunch or we'd take radishes in and have a radish sandwich. Sometimes we'd have strawberries that Grandpa brought.

I remember us sitting up at night after everyone was asleep; we'd watch Mannix and sometimes share a treat that your Aunt Lily gave you--mostly sweet, juicy pears. I've never had one since then that tasted as good.

I remember you having to put a surprise on my bed so I'd go to school. Once there was a black Dawn doll which I loved. Other times was candy and I think my little Busy Bee necklace. Sorry I was such a brat.

I remember moving to Baugh St. There was a fig bush that you were excited about. Well, Daddy cut it down because he thought it was weeds.

I remember being in the animal lovers club at Woodrow Wilson School. We could bring our pets to it that afternoon. Well, I had no pet, but you sent Tami to buy me a hamster and bring it in to show. Tami said she would pick me up after school, but when I went outside I didn't see her so I ran all the way home. I was just so excited about my hamster I wanted to get home to play with him.

I remember being very little and while you were giving me a bath I asked why I had this little mole above my right boob. You said that when I got big it would be on my boob. Well, mama, it's not. My boobs never got big enough.:)

I remember how you would fix me "real" cream of wheat, or a slice of bread, no crust, with a vienna sausage rolled up in it.

I remember all the times we'd go to see Geraldine. She'd always have something good cooking on the stove. Remember her black eyed peas with ham hocks? Mmmmm....

I know how even now I still eat fried potato sandwiches.

I can still smell roast beef cooking as I came in from church.

I remember being scared in the middle of the night and you'd let me get in the bed with you.

There's so many more wonderful memories of how you showed your love for me. My favorite one is how very much you love my kids, since I've been away. Thank you Mama. I love you and Happy Birthday. Sharon

We got our usual early start this past Sat. morning. Ashley and her hubby were in town at Richard's house, so we went by to alert them so they could follow us.

We went to the north side first and I think we were at our fifth or sixth before I even spent a cent. Then, Ashley found a hat box for $2 and I paid half, because she wanted the box and I wanted a hat that was in the box.

I think then we went to a yardsale and fishfry on Riverside Dr. We were looking around at the church lady hats and Danny picked up a BIG red one with draped veil, big brim and maybe a feather and plopped it down on his head. All those lil ladies had hissy fits. They laughed and carried on and one of them tried to get him to buy it by telling him how good he would look wearing it to church. I told them that while it looked really good, he sung in the choir and the director might not let him sing! Anyway, I think Tommy's fish sandwich was all we bought there.

We went to a few on Martinsville Road and 58 west and finally Ashley and Patric decided they'd just go check out the Salvation Army Thrift store and we decided to hit a couple more further out 58 west. The last one we went to was way out on a road I'd never heard of and they had the best prices I'd ever seen in Danville. They were actually as good as or better than the Mechanicsville sales. Tommy and Richard bought a bunch of stuff and so did I. I mean, she had a beautiful mirror for 50 cent, a light wood bread box for 50 cent, a set of nice German steel knives in a case for a dollar, a mug rack for 10 cents, and a like new blue plush flip chair for $4. (I bought that)! The prices on their toys were really good, but we didn't need any toys, although now I wish I'd bought the skateboard scooter that was only a dollar cause I think Coby could have rode it. But, I didn't. I just looked at it. All in all, it ended as a good day.

I had a fine morning until the mail came. Coby was staying with his dad today and I did laundry and straightened up a little and then ate leftover ravioli for breakfast.

Then the mail came. To set this up: I have been having an ongoing dialogue with Capital One ever since the first of the year. I've been paying my account every month and I have the bank statements where the payments cleared my bank, but Cap. One keeps saying I haven't paid it. We have talked on the phone, I've written letters and they've written a couple of letters. But, today when my mail came I had a big thick letter from Capital One saying they were going to garnishee my checking account as of Sept. 10, 09.

Well, I had a check Ginny had written so Rebecca would have some spending money while she was here and also a deposit. When I went thru the drive thru to do my business, the girl asked if I could come in for a minute. I did and lo and behold, Capital One had put a lien on my checking account and not only could I not cash a check, my deposit would have been put on hold. Of course, this means that the checks I wrote last Friday for comcast, phone, and another card will bounce. Along with my tithe check for church. But what makes me really mad is that I HAVE BEEN PAYING MY CARD!!

The girl at the bank said to make copies of my bank statements and send them to Cap. One. I have made the copies, but I think I'll send it registered mail or something so I'll know they got them. However, as long as it takes them to do something, I'll be having a big problem when my SS check is put into my account(and put on hold) and I can't pay my utilities on time or other things that are due the first of the month. What to do, what to do?

And to make matters worse, they say I owe more than I do because they haven't been taking my payments off my balance. A big YUCK to Capital One!

After yard sales we went back to Jess's house and had a late breakfast and got our stuff together for the trip back to Danville. After telling Bob good bye and getting an invitation to come back anytime, we transferred the stuff from the rental car to Jess's car and left for home.

We made good time and got to see the new Marriott Fairfield in South Boston where Doug works. We got to town and unloaded my stuff and some plants she'd given me. I think it was about 7:30 by then and after a little while Jess left to get a room in a motel. I'd offered one of my empty bedrooms, but she said with both of us having to shower and shampoo before going to church, we might be late. So we made plans for her to get here by 9:40 so we would get to church on time.

Sunday morning she arrived and we went to my church; had a good Sunday School lesson and an equally good sermon. After church we met Deborah at Kool Cafe for lunch and then went to Ollies again. Deborah went home and we decided we'd stop by Wallace and Colleen's house for a minute to say Hey. That minute turned into half an hour and during the course of the conversation Wallace said he had four nice chairs stored where he worked and could I use them. I said sure and he said he'd bring them by one day. We left there and came back to my house and Jess got on the road for Mechanicsville. She made a safe trip home and I went to bed.

This morning I happened to look out my kitchen window and saw a white van beside my underhang. I watched for a minute and saw Wallace setting chairs out. I ran down there just in time to see him and Sonny from the funeral home huffing and puffing getting a table top out of the van. I carried the chairs and table legs into the basement and Sonny called Darryl from the funeral home to help him put the table top in the basement. It's really heavy and they were breathing hard when they finally got it situated against the wall. It's really pretty and now I have to decide how to get my old table out and my new one up there to the dining room.

So, that's all of my terrific road trip. That is, until fall when we have another one planned. See you, then!

We unloaded the car, went inside and said hello to Bob and settled on our rooms for the night. I took Sara Jane's room and Zane had Matt's old room. They are both living on their own now, so they were available. I think I need to say something about "the farm" as Jess calls it. It is a brick house with a wonderful porch all the way across the front. They bought the house and had it remodeled before they moved into it. Bob said they knocked down a few walls, added sky lights, opened up the dining area and kitchen. Whatever, it's gorgeous! They also have another brick house across the road leading to the house and closer to the road. Jess took me on a tour of that house and it's a nice one story, ready to live in house. They bought the land to enlarge their acreage and the house was on the land.

Anyway, we got settled in and Jess fixed some supper and we had a nice evening talking and filling Bob in on what we'd been doing. We went to bed fairly early and I conked out the minute I hit the bed. However, I did have a weird dream. I dreamed this old guy showed up with a big ceramic Christmas tree that had all these lil holes on the ends of the branches. He said you had to put little croutons in each hole and when you did they disappeared. I asked him why you couldn't use little pieces of cork because I happened to have some and because they would last longer. The old geezer got very angry and stomped his feet and almost threw a fit. Don't know why I had that stupid dream, tho.

Friday we got up, had breakfast, sat around and talked for a while and helped Zane repack her car and she left for Whaleyville. We called Mary in Williamsburg and made plans for lunch with her. Jess took a pasta dish and a salad and Mary made tea and a blueberry dessert. We visited for a while and talked to her and her husband and then we headed back to Mechanicsville. Sometime or another we stopped at Ukrops and bought some of their good peanut butter.

Later that afternoon Sara Jane came by for a while and then later Matt came and cooked supper for us. He brought his own cooker and did some mysterious things to steak and it was really good. He stayed a while and we talked and then he had to get back to Richmond. We walked out and saw the garden and the flowers. We went to bed early again that night.

Sat. morning we got up very early and went to the four yardsales advertised in her paper. Actually, we went to a lot of sales because those folks do like Danville folks. One person advertises a sale and every body in the neighborhood puts up signs. We got some really good stuff and had a lot of fun. And, except for two old ladies, who evidently didn't know a lot about yard sales, everybody was very reasonable. Anyway, we had a good time. (Part three to follow)

Fara had invited me on a "road trip" a few weeks ago. Due to a job slow down, Lisa was able to go, too. For you who don't know, Fara and Lisa are my sister Geraldine's daughters.

I was up bright and early Wed. morning, had my coffee and packed my traveling bag. Lisa called about 10:30 and said they were about two hours away. So I had time to do some last minute things that needed doing.

They arrived right on time, had a bathroom break and we decided to eat here before we started. This is when we decided on our road trip names. Lisa was Zane, Fara was Jessica (Jess for short) and I was Edie. We went to Kool Cafe and Fara and I ordered chicken livers; mine plain and hers with gravy. I think we both had potatoes and I had fried okra. Don't remember what Lisa ordered besides fried squash, but I re-introduced her to chicken livers cause they were really delicious. Then we stopped by Ollie's, a discount store and then we "hit the road".

Our first stop was Bedford, VA to visit their brother Buck. We got a room there in Bedford and freshened up and met Buck for supper. (Told him about our name change and he immediately settled on Burrfield.) The place he'd planned for us to go was closed, so we went to a restaurant that used to be a train station back a long time ago. It was beautifully re-furbished and the food was out of this world.

After supper, we went back to the motel and Buck went to his house and got some old pictures and came back and we had a good time just looking at all the pictures of a younger and better time. Then he left and we went to bed.

Thursday morning we went to Emerson Creek Pottery where Buck works and he took us on a tour and we saw the whole process from the big barrels of red dirt to the finished product. He explained it step by step and it was interesting to see how much work goes into making a dish or flower pot or lotion bottle. But the folks working there made it look so easy. There were two girls painting the designs on things and I was looking at a set of Christmas dishes which had the snow man motif. Each snow man was so perfect that I asked Buck if they used decals. I barely escaped with my life! "No, indeed! Each design is hand painted"!! So there!

After the tour, we went to the show room and bought a couple of things. They had such pretty things it was hard to decide what to get. They also have useful things:loaf pans for baking bread, shortbread pans which are really neat, sets of dishes, coffee mugs in all shapes and sizes. just, as my mama would say,"a slew of things".

After that we went to a Goodwill store and looked around. I found a book and Fara found an outfit that was really nice. Don't remember what Lisa bought or if she bought anything or not.

We left Bedford and headed back toward Lynchburg to get on the road to get us to Mechanicsville. Of course, we had to eat again, so we found a Country Cookin in Lynchburg and had delicious pulled BBQ and onion rings. Then we headed on to Fara's home in Mechanicsville, where we were greeted by her husband Bob, Larry the dog and two humongous black cats.(Part two tomorrow)

I remember when I was twelve years old and it seems as if we went to Bedford every weekend. I especially remember Feb. of 1948. My G'pa Mack was sick and we had gone to see him. He and G'ma Craig lived in a tiny little house back behind the house that Uncle Carroll and Aunt Lila lived in way out in the country. They didn't have electricity and the bathroom was a lil house out back down a path.

On Feb. 29, 1948, we had gone to see G'pa and we all went in and looked at him laying there in the bed, breathing, but just barely. Sometime during the day he died and for some reason, I really don't remember, Mama and Daddy and Connie and Tom went back to Danville and left Geraldine and me to spend the night with Carroll and Lila.I don't remember who stayed in the lil cabin with G'ma after the funeral home picked up G'pa, but Gerry and I stayed in the house with Carroll and Lila. I had never spent the night away from home before and most certainly had never spent the night way out in the country with no lights, toilet or inside water. Sometime about dark, Carroll and Lila decided to go to a little store up the road to get snacks and drinks. Carroll didn't have a car, so we walked. He carried a lantern and we all had to walk real close to him so we could see where to put our feet. From their house we went up a really rutty path, which then turned into a bumpy narrow lane, which finally turned into a dirt road which finally led to a gravel road. That was the longest, darkest walk I ever went on.

After we got back, we had snacks and washed up in the kitchen sink and Lila showed me and Gerry where we were sleeping. Way upstairs in the darkest room I have ever been in. We both got in bed and sorta cuddled together, because, they also didn't have heat except in the cook stove in the kitchen. That was probably the longest night of my life. I think we talked all night and got up before the crack of dawn. After we dressed and ate breakfast, we walked the floor waiting for Mama and Daddy to get there. I reckon we were the happiest people in the world when Daddy's Ford finally came rolling down that road. Mama got out and hugged us so hard that she nearly choked us. Daddy told us later that Mama worried and fretted and cried all night about us being "way up there in the country". He said at one point, he got up and put his pants on and was gonna drive up there to get us, but mama looked at the clock and decided she could make it without us for a few more hours.

This being Sat., it was first and foremost, Yard Sale Day! The first one we got to was out off Rt. 360 and we were greeted by the "hounds from hell". Actually two good sized black dogs who didn't live at the yardsale house. The lady had a long stick trying to run them off, hollering and yelling at them. They finally decided to leave on their own, when they got good and ready.

The lady had a lot of stuff, but whenever you asked a price, she always said it was her daughter's stuff and she wasn't there yet and she didn't know what she was asking for anything.I didn't see what was so funny, but on the way back to the car, Tommy was sorta laughing with Richard and he said he's seen something at this sale he'd never seen before at a yardsale. I asked what, and he replied, "A large box of unopened condoms". A big, $18.99 size. Different, huh?

I don't think anybody bought a Christmas tree today, but I found a couple of neat things. A garden seat with planters on either end, and only $3. Of course, Tommy and a guy there had to carry it down to the edge of the yard to empty the dirt out. Emily has started reading Nicholas Sparks books and had read all of mine, so she asked me to look for ones she hadn't read. I found one hardback for her and saw a couple of paperbacks, but she'd already read them.(I had her make a list of the ones she'd read, so I wouldn't buy them).

I also found a can opener that actually works, but it has to be mounted under the cabinet and I tried, but couldn't get it up. Maybe I'll see Spanky next week and he'll fix it for me. Maybe he'll also hang my blind between the den and kitchen.

This evening I went to Aldi's with Linda and Leanna and bought a few things. Things are reasonably priced if you can find what you're looking for. I found part of the things on my list, but couldn't find a bunch of stuff. I guess I'll find it at Old Dutch Monday or Tuesday.All in all, a very good day.

I had some yard work I had been wanting to do, but I always had good excuses. Too hot, too wet, too dry, Coby's awake, etc. Today I didn't have Coby; it was nice and cool earlier this morning, it wasn't too wet or too dry.

So first I put my lil flower basket thingys on my deck. I tried to get them sort of evenly spaced on all four sides of my deck railing. Then I put potting soil in them and very carefully cut and laid the preseeded flower carpet in them. I then wet them thoroughly per the instructions. They look very nice, I hope they sprout and bloom.

After I did that, it was still not too hot so I went down to the gully that separates my yard from my neighbor Chris. I had put Round Up on it a couple of weeks ago and all that weedy stuff had died, so I moved that and two boards, several empty cans and bottles, gutters; one long and one short, and lots of other trash. Then I put the contents of two long planters Fara had brought into the dirt and then scattered lots of wildflower seed around and wet it down. It looks nice and clean right now, except for the pile of trash I'll have to pay Darryl to move for me.

While I was working I looked up and saw a dark blue Honda pull up. Kerri and Brittany got out; she brought me some cucumbers she had grown. I ate one for supper with my squash (Old Dutch), my snaps (Linda), my tomato (Old Dutch) and my meatloaf (Made by me). Of course, while the squash and tomatoes weren't grown around here, they were homegrown in Turbiville. I ate like a pig, but it was GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

I've cleaned the kitchen and now am waiting for America's Got Talent.

Emily got back from the beach today and came by to eat and bring me something she bought for me. One was a lighthouse hook to hang things on, but the other was really unique. It was a box with a chain that had a cage hanging on it. On the other side was a flat can with a pull tab on it (like viennas) Inside the can was a mussel in some oceany looking liquid. You had to get a knife and open the mussel shell and there was a pearl inside. According to the box, they were different colors and each color meant something: Love, health, happiness. wealth and something else I don't remember.At first I thought mine was peach colored, which meant love, but now it looks like it might be creamy. Anyway, it's very pretty and I love it!

Well, it didn't rain on our yardsales today. Actually for about the first hour and a half it was pretty cool. We headed up 58 west first and then on to Westover Dr. There were several that weren't listed in the paper or the Piedmont Shopper. I guess the folks just decided to put their stuff out when they saw a neighbor putting theirs out.

One place had a lot of hardback books by Catherine Coulter that I would have liked to read, but she was asking $5 and $7 for them. I did buy six books, but I didn't pay but 25 cents for them. And this was at a different place. Richard found some flashy clip on earrings for his miniature Christmas trees and, I think, a Christmas wreath. Danny actually found some stuff today and so did Tommy.

Guess what I bought? A harp! Not a big one, but one sorta like a lute. It sounds so pretty when you strum it. I think Sarah will enjoy playing it or trying to. I need to tune it. Yeah, I know. I'm not musical at all, but it had very easy to understand directions for tuning it. So, I'll try. If I don't do it right, it can be re-tuned by someone else.

Friday I decided I'd re-pot some flowers. I had bought a bigger flower pot last week for my anthurium, so I decided I'd separate it and re-pot. It made two nice pots and so far they are both looking healthy. I also repotted some angel wing begonias and coleus that Fara brought last time she was here. They, also are looking good. Maybe my thumb is turning green! I still have to clean out the dead stuff left when I "Rounded Up". It took a while, but all that stuff in the gully between my yard and my neighbor's yard is finally dead. It wouldn't be hard to move the dead vines, but the gully also has boards, gutter pipe, slate, drink cans and bottles and who knows what else. However, I intend to tackle it Monday while Coby naps. If it isn't too hot.

Tomorrow at church we are going to have an installation service for our new pastor and afterwards we're going to have dinner. It will be our interim pastor's last Sunday with us, too and the DS will be there also.I made a good dessert with icecream sandwiches, cool whip, cherries and nuts and a broccoli/cornbread casserole. In the morning I'm making potato salad and tea. I hope we have a good turn out to wish Pastor Barry goodbye because he has been a wonderful interim and he does a ventriliquist act for the kids and he can really play the piano, too. One Sunday our song leader wasn't there and he did the kid thing, played the piano and lead the singing and then preached. He's talented!

"In the light of the moon a small white egg lay on a green leaf. When the warm sun shone on the egg, out popped a very small and very hungry caterpillar. He looked around for food. On Monday he ate thru one red apple. On Tuesday he ate thru two pears. On Wed. he ate thru three plums. On Thursday he ate thru four red strawberries. On Friday he ate thru five oranges. On Sat. he ate thru one piece of chocolate cake, one icecream cone, one pickle, one sausage, one piece of salami, one slice of swiss cheese, one lollipop," and on and on.

My version says "Once there were two teens and two preteens. First they ate breakfast, then they went thru one 2 gallon container of neopolitan icecream, one box of popsicles, a dozen chili willies,a bowl of oodles of noodles each, six cans of soda,two bowls of potato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich each, more ice cream with whipped topping, more soda, another bowl of potato soup each, six icecream sandwiches and then corndogs." In between, they ate salt water taffy, chips and cheese dip, and who knows what else. And they stay hungry! At least the very hungry caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly at the end of the book. The kids just keep eating. No butterflies in sight!

We got started at 6:45 AM as usual. The first several yardsales nobody bought anything. So, we went to a different area. We were on the north side and went to a sale where there were a couple of cats and a dog wandering around. I don't think I bought anything, but Richard or Tommy might have.

Finally we got to a house that had a bunch of stuff in the driveway. The lady was up on the porch and said everything in the driveway was a dollar each. There was a wicker bookcase about six feet high standing there and I asked her how much it was and she said again, "Everything in the driveway is a dollar each." So, I bought it and Tommy and Richard took it apart and put it in the van.They bought a lot of good CDs for a dollar each.

Later after we went to several more, every time I got back in the van I could smell something that smelled pretty bad. I kept thinking it was the wicker piece I had bought and was thinking that maybe that's why she sold it so cheap. After another stop, Tommy was closing my door and looked down at a smear of something on the entry step. He asked what it was and I didn't know, but looked at my shoe and it was full of either doggy or kitty crap. I did the best I could getting it off with a dry napkin which I tied up in a plastic bag.

When we went to the other side of town it had rained and there were a few puddles around so I stood in one and then wiped my shoe really good on the grass. That took care of the remaining poop on my sole.

After a bad start, we had pretty good success. I bought several tee shirts, sleep pants, two pair of gray knit knee knockers, a mug, a lighthouse toothpick holder,two books for me and five books for Rebecca and something for Cindy.(A secret until I see her!)

When we got home it hadn't rained a drop here but about three o'clock it rained a little and then it rained some more and about seven it thundered a little bit and then rained some more. Enough I hope to wet my flowers out back really well so I won't have to water them for a couple of days.

Tomorrow is our new pastor's first Sunday. Rebecca and Rachel are supposed to go with me to church. I'll see..............

As usual, my plan to start early met with sleepy kids who didn't want to get up, but finally did. I fixed them sandwiches--turkey for Tommy and grilled cheese for Rebecca and they finally got ready and off we went. 30 minutes later than I'd planned.

There was a lot of traffic today for some reason. Vacation travelers, maybe? Also a huge delay on Rt.29 just north of the Chatham exit. A big tanker truck was sitting there all crumpled up and about half a dozen cop cars with their lights on. After a pretty good wait, we got going again. Not a bathroom stop the whole way!

Last time I wrote about record road kill. This time I noticed another phenomenon. Every time there was road kill, I would see two big black crows. Not one, or three or four; but two. I think one would fly over, spot the roadkill and call a friend and say,"Hey, fresh roadkill. Join me for lunch?"

Anyway, we got there at 12:38 and was in the visiting room at 12:55. This includes the going thru the metal detector, pat down,feet and shoe inspection and the bus ride to the visiting center.Pretty quick today! We actually got to stay for two hours and had plenty of time to feed Sharon all the junk food she wanted.

When we left I let Rebecca drive most of the way to Charlottesville and then I took over. We didn't stop for food at the usual place, but kept going. We did stop at a new little place outside of Lynchburg called Joe's Coffee Bean and got something cold to drink. It was pretty good, too.

We got home at 6PM and Rachel came over and her and Rebecca went to eat with a friend of Rachel's and now they are both sleeping in the den with the AC on and Tommy is at Chad's house with him. Ahhh....peace and quiet!

Fara told me a couple or three weeks ago that she was gonna come down one day and help me "garden". We decided on a day and I got my baby boy, Coby, another sitter for the day. I got up early and got ready cause she told me the day before that she was going to leave early.

She got here about 11:30 and we got her car unloaded. In addition to plants, gardening tools, a humongous bag of dirt, there was a cooler full of food from Ukrops. Also a bag of flavored peanut butter from the New York Co. peanut butter factory.And a jar of dried lentils.

She had called a friend from the old days on Bellevue St., Deborah Henderson, who now lives in Martinsville. She arrived about an hour and a half after Fara. We got ourselves together and into one car and off we went to lunch at the Kool Cafe. I had been told that they had the same cook as the previous owners and so we went for their famous confetti.And it was just as good as ever!

After a lengthy, fun filled and laughter filled lunch, we went to Goodwill on West Main. Everybody found something. Deborah found lots of stuff for her granddaughter,I got three books and a pretty skirt and Fara bought some books.Then we were on the way to the Thrift store on Riverside Dr. when we decided to go to Ollie's instead. They had NEVER been to an Ollies! Talk about shop---they did. Fara had a cart full of books and some gravy and me a pair of red Crocs, Deborah bought lamp shades,and lots of other stuff. I bought a bag of cookies. (I'd been there before)! And I'll go again soon.

After we got home, I made more coffee and we had fried pies and pound cake that Deborah had brought and then she had to leave to go back to Martinsville. Fara got her tools out and started pulling and cutting on the side of the house that was over run with a form of vinca. I got my long sleeved shirt and gloves and went to help. The long sleeves were because the mosquitos love to snack on my arms. When we got finished there was a huge pile of tree limbs, vinca and rosebush piled up there on the sidewalk. Then she "rounded up" all the weeds. It looks much better.

Today while Coby was napping, I went down and repotted a lot of the plants she brought and as soon as the round up kills the weeds in my gully, I'm going to plant something she brought that spreads and has yellow flowers on it. In the meantime, the asparagus fern and coleus are hanging and the angelwing begonias and the Rose of Sharon are waiting to be divided and repotted. Well, not the Rose of Sharon, just the begonias. I'm going to give Chris, my neighbor, a couple of the Rose of Sharon trees. He has right much room and he has a green thumb.

Well, I hope that covered everything we did. It was nice to eat,talk, eat, garden, eat, shop, and just eat. I think that's one of my most favorite things! Eating!!

I set my alarm for 5AM so I would have plenty of time to get up, have my coffee, check the paper and be ready for Tommy, Richard and Dan at 6AM. Well, I happened to wake up, rolled over and looked at the clock and it was 5:45AM. My alarm didn't alarm. Don't know why.

I ran down stairs, washed my face, grabbed my clothes and jumped into them, found my shoes and went and looked out the kitchen window and there they sat, waiting. Luckily, I had showered and washed my hair before I went to bed! I didn't even stop for coffee.

We got to the big sale in Martinsville about quarter to 7 and they were already going strong. Lots of people, lots of stuff. They were trying to make $20,000 for the choir (Oh, I forgot to mention, this was the choir's yardsale)to have a real professional group come to the church and make a CD of the choir. Anyway, if I'd been in the market for lawn equiptment, little children's toys and clothes and cookware, I would have been in hog heaven. As it was, Tommy bought more neckties and I bought some books.

We went to several more in Martinsville and Collinsville and then headed for home and a couple at churches here. I found more books at Sacred Heart and a cup for those who always say they'll have half of a cup of coffee, at the other church here.

I did find some good stuff, tho. At one in a better neighborhood, I saw a pair of new, soles not even dirty , Converse sneakers. I asked how much; she said "Oh, you can have them for a dollar". So, I did. I also got a like new, big purse like the teenagers like to carry for a dollar, a nice big bread pan, decorative plates, a cookie cookbook. At a moving sale a guy had two chairs that looked like they might match my dining room chairs, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't get them. They were only $5 each. When I got home and checked: yep, they would have matched! Oh, well.

Richard and Tommy bought another Christmas tree for their collection and more decorations. Also wreaths to redo and flowers to redo them with. Anyway, when we got home the back of the van was filled up.

On Thursday afternoon, Kerri, Brittany and I left here right after Coby left at 3:30 and went to Sanford to Joshua's(my grandson) graduation. It had been storming on and off all day, but we got thru the graduation ceremony before it rained. I never saw so many Mexicans as were there in the bleachers. And they all yelled and clapped everytime a Latino name was called out. And there were at least 73 in his class.

After the graduation and the picture taking, we went to eat. Guess where? A Mexican restaurant!! And it was really good!

This evening at church we had a "meet and greet" for a pastor who is trying out at our church.(The real word is candidating.) After the hotdogs, potato and macaroni salad, cornbread casserole and icecream sundaes, we had a "short" board meeting with him so we could ask him questions and he could ask us questions. I got home at 10:10. But, before I left I made two trips to the car to put my stuff in and the first time I tried to shut the basement door and it popped back open and I tried it again only harder and it got stuck and I couldn't get it open. So, I'm locked in the basement. I finally got out the other door; which we never use because it's also very hard to open and close. But, when I got home, I could open it from the outside and get in. So now when I go to church in the morning, I'm going to have to go out the hard to open door, open the regular door with the key; go back and shut and lock the first door, and then go out my regular door. I won't have a problem getting back in, I hope. But I'll have to get somebody to come and work on the door. It's just too much trouble getting in and out the way it is now. It's always something, right?

The guy came and fixed my drain pipe to the outside which had been leaking for a while, but had just started leaking into the basement last Monday. About an hour after he left, I went to the basement for something and heard a "drip, drip, drip" and now a skinny lil water pipe over the part he fixed inside has sprung a leak. I know he didn't touch it, because it is overhead, over the work bench. Don't know why it developed a leak, but it has, so I guess he'll be back over next week. I hope!!Oh well, what's the old saying? "When it rains, it pours".........

After our reunion Kerri called me and said she'd been planning on coming and had even made a new casserole that she said was really good. However, she woke up that Sat. morning sick and couldn't come. She said she was gonna come by one day soon and bring me some casserole.

She came by Monday with Brittany, but only because she'd had to take Brittany to the doctor because her eyes were all swollen and she had a croupy cough. The Dr. said she had allergies that were causing her problems and she wasn't contagious and could go on to school today.

Well, this morning I had put Coby down for his nap when I heard a single "ding" from my doorbell. Not "ding dong", but just "ding". I went to the door and there stood Kerri and her lil dog Toby and Kerri had a big baking dish in her hands. Of course, I opened it as soon as I got it to the kitchen and I put two hunks on my plate and Kerri put one on hers. I heated it in the microwave until it was just warm and it was really good! She called it Broccoli Cornbread Casserole and it was delicious. I had more of it for supper tonight along with macaroni salad and butterbeans, and it was better tonight than it was this morning. Or, maybe I was just hungrier this evening.

She wrote the recipe down for me before she left and if anyone wants it, I'll be glad to share. I really don't think Kerri would mind.

I guess after so much work and worry you get a let down feeling after everything is over. But, everybody I've talked to had a wonderful time at the reunion and all have asked when we are going to do it again.

I've had so many comments about what a good job Cindy did to get it all together and so many comments about "your beautiful daughter". I know she was concerned that a lot of the sides that were promised didn't show up, but I think everybody had enough to eat. I mean, we had lots of hotdogs and delicious barbeque.

The lady from Gretna had such a good time that she took notes and then called her cousin in Williamsburg, who wanted to come but couldn't due to her mother in law's illness, and told her all about it. I know because the Williamsburg lady e mailed me a long letter to tell me what a good time Tamara had and how tickled she was to meet Marie and the other cousins. Marie called me today to tell me that her and Tony had a "real good time" and to do it again soon so her sister Lois can come from Ohio.(Marie was supposed to invite her, guess she forgot.)

.If you look at the pictures Betty, Keister and Nancy took, you'll see smiles on everybody's face. Matter of fact, Sarah, my granddaughter, said she had such a good time, she "just went around hugging everybody cause she figured they were kin and needed a hug."

So, Cindy, you did good, looked good, and the whole reunion was GOOD! Let's do it again, soon.

Back in the early part of the year, someone posted pictures on the internet from our last family reunion in 1988. Cindy saw them and said that we ought to have one this year. She got to work on it and the date of May 23 was settled on and she rented the shelter at the park and we both started buying stuff that we would need. She put a family reunion e vite on a web site so folks could sign up to say if they were coming and to sign up for side dishes and desserts.

As it got closer we speeded up the purchases of paper goods and stuff necessary for eating out. Richard and Tommy volunteered to get the hotdog buns and buns for BBQ, charcoal and some drinks. Danny made barbeque and slaw for those who don't like hotdogs.

On Sat.morning Cindy and I got up early and made potato salad, tea and slaw (for hotdogs), made numerous trips to the car to get it packed and still had to draft Susan and her truck to help carry stuff to the park. Once there, of course we had to unpack; but Richard and Tommy and Danny were there to help with that and to get the grills going. We had bought tablecloths for the tables, but as soon as we started putting them on, the wind started blowing. So, we covered the food tables and washed off the others. Tommy and Richard took on the task of cooking wieners and in a short while, everything was ready except the guests. Where were they?

Finally about 12:15, the first car showed up and we had people coming on a fairly consistent basis for a while. But, where was Suffolk? Bedford? Harrisonburg? Lynchburg? Hampton and Gretna were there and Danville was there, for the most part. Then we started getting calls from various folks who were sorta lost and they got directions from some of the men folks and finally everybody was there. Of course, the ones who had been up since the crack of dawn were hungry, so we had to eat even tho, some still were on the way. But, that's OK, cause we ate with them when they got there.

Cindy had bought games and Ashley's hubby, Patric put up the badminton net and they got some games going. Some of the younger ones walked on the trail which started right at our shelter. I think everybody had plenty to eat and we have leftovers for another cook out during the summer.

At 5:00 we started cleaning up and packing up and were ready to go at 5:30. The out of towners went to their motels and washed up and Cindy and I went home and a little later the Harrisonburg clan and the Quigley clan, and the lone Bedford representative, came to my house and we continued the party. I made 2 big pots of coffee and Jay ordered pizza and they all ate again. I was too full to eat pizza, but I did have leftovers for breakfast this morning. Good, too!

I want to thank Cindy, Richard, Tommy, Danny and all the others who helped to make our Reunion 2009 a success. I had fun and it was really good to see how all those lil kids have grown into beautiful women and handsome men. Yall come back, now. Ya Hear?

I forgot to say that during Ashley's graduation, one guy marched up on the stage to get his diploma with his baseball hat under his other cap. And one guy came down off the stage with his robe open and had on a kilt and that lil purse that Scotsmen wear. I couldn't see if he had on his underwear or not.

Today was Mother's Day and I had a most wonderful day. Talked to most of my kids and the ones I didn't talk to came by for a visit. Cindy came up from Raleigh with Charlie and brought banana pepper plants for my deck garden.

I came home from church and dressed in my khaki pants and black shirt and necklace and earrings that Doug got me a while back from Avon. I went next door to tell my neighbor something and he said I looked hot!! Not as in sweaty, but good. Since he's about 35, that sorta made my day! Now, all I have to do is find one a lil older that thinks I look hot, but not Morris!

This morning I rolled out of my bed at 3:45 after a night of rolling over and checking the clock so I wouldn't over sleep. The reason for this: going to Harrisonburg to JMU to see Ashley, my niece graduate.

Richard, Tommy and Danny picked me up at my back door at 4:45. They had Mapscape instructions and a map printed out with the route in blue. Well, I know how to get to Charlottesville and from there it's just a hop, skip and jump down I64 and I 81. We made good time with only one pit stop and arrived at Ashley's apartment about 1 1/2 hours before the graduation time of 10:30 AM. Patrick's (Ashley's husband)dad got there right after we did and Betty and her friend arrived shortly thereafter.

We hung around for a while and Ashley announced that it was time to leave to make it over there in time. Oh, we walked the three miles to the field where the graduation took place. We found perfect seats....everyone with cameras would have a great opportunity to shoot to their heart's content. And Betty did! Not only Ashley, but everybody else in camera range.

The graduation didn't take as long as I anticipated, only about 1 1/2 hours and then we had to wait for more pics and then Ashley had to do pics with friends and we finally made the three mile walk back to her apartment, where the bathroom was occupied by her roommate taking a shower.

Ashley and Patrick had made reservations for lunch at Outback in Waynesboro, so we loaded into the cars again and took off. There were 14 for lunch, but by then I had been without food for so long that I only ordered a hamburger. But you know how they bring that brown bread and butter out--by the time I got my burger I was pretty well filled up on bread and tea. I think lunch took about 2 1/2 hours and then we hugged everybody goodbye and hit the road again for Danville. It was a wonderful day of fellowship and renewing old acquaintances and meeting new friends. Funny, it didn't take near as long to get home as it did to get there. Wonder why?

We left to see Sharon at 8:55AM. Of course, we had to go to the postoffice, bank and service station first. So, that meant that we left town at 9:30. Lots of traffic, but we got there at 12:30 and actually got in to see her 10 minutes later. The fastest we've ever gotten checked in, patted down and bussed to the visitors center.

But, the road kill. On the way to the postoffice we saw the first dead possum on Orchard Drive. So, we started counting. By the end of the trip, I had Rebecca and Tommy looking for those "flat animals" that sleep on Virginia's roads. All total, going and coming (and the last one was right at the bottom of Baugh St) we saw 44 dead possums, one deer, one red fox and several big birds. What a fun way to spend driving!

But, Sharon was looking good, had a healthy appetite and a nice new haircut. The kids had fun catching her up on all their doings while she ate all the goodies they got out of the machines for her. She had two picture tickets and the pics turned out pretty good except for the one with me in it. They all looked good, but I looked like I always do.....awful!

We got to visit for 1 hour and 15 min., which seems pretty short after a 3 hour road trip, but a short visit is better than no visit. Maybe next time the guards will be different and we'll have a longer visit.

After we left, we went to the Goodwill in Charlottesville and Rebecca found two books and I found one and Tommy found one of those very expensive calculators the kids have to have in math now. It was $1.75 and when we put batteries in it, it works just fine. Of course, it's so complicated that I can't work it. I couldn't even figure out how to turn it off after I turned it on. I think he also found a model car, complete with all the pieces. He spent $3.52 all told. Then we stopped at MacDonalds and got food cause we don't buy all that expensive food out of the machines for us. Then we headed home, counting road kill all the way.

Yesterday evening Emily came down with all this carwashing stuff and we washed our cars. By the time I got home tonight, my car was splattered with bird poop, bugs and just dirty splotches. I had to get a wet rag and give it a once over so I can drive it to church tomorrow. Well, later today.

I was sitting here and all of a sudden it started pouring rain. I can hear it really good on my tin roof.It reminded me of when I was a little girl and when it rained in the summer time, my Banny Hall would come out on the porch, adjust her rocker just so and every kid in the neighborhood would show up and gather around to hear her famous, true ghost stories. I wish my grandkids could have that pleasure.

Sometimes when I drive up or down Baugh St. I remember back when we lived in that old house and had a garden. The first ones we had, my daddy would come up and till the garden and lay out the rows and I would plant. Later, when Boots retired, he took over the plowing, but I still got to plant, weed and pick. I wish I had room for a garden now.

I do have my earth boxes. One is full of strawberries that actually have berries, but not ripe yet and the other right now has lettuce. However, after May 8, I'm going to plant some tomatoes. Back when we had a garden on Baugh St. Mr. Stevens, the man across the street who raised and sold tomato plants, wouldn't sell me any until May 8. According to him, by then the danger of frost had passed and we wouldn't lose any plants. I guess he was right cause we never did.

I'm getting excited about the family reunion. I hope a lot of folks come and that we have good weather that day. If anyone reading this is planning on coming, bring your favorite dish to share. Or your favorite dessert or bread. It's so much better when you get to eat other people's cooking!

Today was a beautiful day. I got up early, showered and got dressed and went to get gas. Then I took in a couple of yardsales, bought two books,then did the rest of my errands. Yardsales aren't fun when you're by yourself.

I came home, put my few groceries away, fed the cat again and then decided to sit on the deck in the sun. Yesterday I sat out there for a while when Coby was sleeping and got some sun on my arms, so today I put on shorter pants and a sleeveless top and sat and read for about an hour and a half and got a little more sun. It might look good if old folks didn't have wrinkles where they shouldn't. Wrinkled, tan skin just isn't becoming!

Emily came down for a while and we ate jalepeno poppers and I washed dishes while she sorta napped. Tomorrow is her birthday and I think she's going out to eat three different times. I had put chicken in the pot to make chicken and dumplings so I guess I'll eat them by myself. Oh well, they are better warmed up anyway.

Someone sent me a recipe for cake in a mug that you cook in the microwave. Think I'll go try it and put some vanilla icecream on it. It sounds real good and fattening!

Today I didn't have Coby so I slept a little later than usual. Then I got up and made a pot of coffee and took my time reading the paper and drinking my coffee.

Then when I discovered the blind in the dining room had fallen, I decided to go ahead and take the other one down and wash them. Then I cleaned the windows and washed the curtains, cleaned all my little knick knacks and cleaned the carpet and cleaned off the dining room table and put a different table cloth on the table. I also dusted all my lighthouses. Then, I was so inspired that I cleaned and re-arranged the den and swept the stairs.

And then I remembered that's why I would like to quit babysitting. I got so much done, even made jalepeno cornbread. When the boy is here I spend all day keeping my eye on him so he won't get hurt or escape and I do good if I get the dishes washed. I told the G'kids over the weekend that if I could come up with $300 a month, I wouldn't have to babysit anymore. Donations, anyone?

I know some of yall don't like stuff about the kids I babysit, but I have to tell you a couple of Coby things.

He loves to eat and will eat any and everything; consequently he does pass a lot of gas. One day he kept on doing it and I told him he was supposed to say "excuse me" when he pooted. So, one day last week he was standing beside me and let loose a loud one and I said "Coby, what are you supposed to say"? He smiled an angelic smile and said "Bless you"?

Last Monday when he came there was a piece of black thread hanging out of a kitchen drawer where I keep needles and thread and he tugged it out. It was about 18 inches long and he played with that thread all the week. He tied me up with it, tied Emily and Susan; tied his feet, tied the toys he was playing with. Actually, he can't tie so he would just wrap the thread around my hands or his feet or hook it on the toys someway. He had more fun with that thread than with all the toys in my toy box. Friday when he left, I hung it up on a nail so he could play with it again this week. It's very entertaining!

Today was Friend Day at church and I invited a lot of friends to come, and I was so glad to see Kerri, Brittany and Douglas. Doug stayed to eat lunch, but Kerri had to go organize a B'day party for Brittany. Maybe they'll come back again.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, altho a little windy and Tommy, Chad and I went to yardsales. There were quite a few in the paper, but I only went to the ones on the north side and a couple on Westover Drive. I found some books and a lil pan for my toaster oven that was new. I don't think the boys bought anything until we got to K Mart. But, it was mostly little girl toys, so they weren't interested in that.

The weather people are saying we're going to have another wet week. I hope not because Rebecca and Tommy are going to be here until Thursday evening. There's not a lot to do in the rain, that is, unless you're a duck!

Something happened to my computer last week. First, I couldn't connect to the internet, no matter how hard or when I tried. Then I lost my e mail. Couldn't connect to that either.

I called Bob Sunday and caught him as he was leaving work and he came by here and worked on it until about 8:30. He finally got it up and going again, but last night I still couldn't find my journal web site. It kept on saying it was "temporarily" shut down.But, Hallejah! Thanks to Cindy, I finally logged on tonight way past bedtime. So, it's back and I'm so happy. I thought I'd lost 10 years of my journal. More later.

I grew up in the shadow of the mill smokestacks which were recently imploded.

My dad and mom moved here in 1930 with their baby daughter, my sister, so my daddy could go to work at Dan River Mills. He worked there until he retired 43 years later.

From time to time, brothers and sisters of either mom or dad would come from Lynchburg or Bedford, stay with us until they got jobs and made enough money for their families to join them. But, I didn't know I was poor.

We always had plenty to eat--it might not have been the choice cuts of beef, but my mom could make anything taste like a feast. I remember lots of times, I would run in from playing outside and my mom and G'ma would be making sandwiches and heating up beans for strangers sitting at our kitchen table. I loved to listen to their stories-they had been working in Carolina or Georgia and had been laid off and were traveling looking for work. Sometimes my mom would make a couple of extra sandwiches for them to take on their journey.

I didn't know I was poor. I was born in the waning years of the Great Depression. I always had shoes to wear. My brothers and I always had a quarter a week to go to the movie. For a quarter you could pay your way in to a double feature and get a drink and popcorn.

We lived in a mill house off what is now Riverside Drive. When the mill decided to sell them in the early fifties, my dad bought ours. We loved the house and the location. My dad had only to go down the street and go thru the gate to get to work.

I remember sometimes my dad would go on short time. Then, for a while, it would be 3 days every other week. But, I don't remember being poor.

We had a big garden every summer and we picked, shelled and my mom canned for winter. Our doors were always open to relatives or friends who hit upon a spell of bad luck or unemployment.

We got our first phone in 1950. I hadn't missed not having a phone because all my friends lived either on the same street or right around the corner.

My daddy always had a car. The first one I remember was a '39 Ford. I don't know if he ever had a new car, but the ones he had were always well taken care of and if somebody on the street who didn't have one needed to go somewhere, well, my dad was available if he wasn't working.

And, do you know what? Except for buying the house, my dad was never in debt. If he didn't have cash to buy what he wanted, he saved up until he did.

But, I never knew we were poor!

I forgot to say in my previous entry that I received 7 boxes of chocolates, a bag of Hersey's Bliss chocolate, a box of Girl Scout cookies, 3 Valentines and a rose. Sat. was Valentine's Day!

I was looking forward to the weekend and it really lived up to my expectations. The kids got here about 5:30; Chad got here a few minutes later. Of course they were hungry so I made oodles of noodles and turkey and cheese sandwiches.

They all stayed up late, but Tommy had asked me to wake him to go with me to the one yardsale that was advertised in the paper. I did and he got up and dressed and we went. They didn't have anything we were interested in, tho. So, we went to the Goodwill on West Main St. and I bought books and Tommy found a silver plated candy dish that was all tarnished and black. He said he could clean it, so I bought it for him and when we got home he cleaned it and it looked like new. When I took them back to Stoneville Sunday, he put cupcakes and candy on it and wrapped it in saran wrap and put a bow on it and took it to Ginny. She really liked it.

While we were out Sat. we also went to Ollies. He wanted some bubble bath, so we found a cheap bottle and bought it. Later when we got home he asked if he could take a bath. I thought that was kinda strange because he'd already been in the tub earlier. But, I said Ok and he went in and stayed for a good while. Later when I went in to tidy up, I saw the EMPTY bubble bath bottle in the trash. So, I asked him about it. Seems he'd used the whole bottle and had bubbles halfway up the tub enclosure. Said it was fun!

Today was my day without Coby. It was fun. Tried to sleep later, but I guess my body is attuned to getting up at 6:45, so I did. But I took my time drinking my coffee and reading the paper. I actually kept my pj's on until almost 10AM. Then I got dressed and went to Ollies again and went to Dollar General and picked up some fingernail polish remover for Tommy and Chad to use to clean their paint brushes when they work on their model cars again. (It works good and is much cheaper than paint thinner.)Then I went by Old Dutch to pick up some of the 8oz. blocks of cheddar cheese that was $1 a block, but they were out of all but the mild. But, the truck comes in again Thursday so I'll have to go back.

That's about all I did except for cooking and dishwashing. Seems like that took up a good deal of my time. I don't know how a sink goes from empty to full in the blink of an eye. But, mine does!

People are always talking about the "good ole days". Which day exactly is that? I like the good new days. Just think. In the good ole days people didn't have electric or gas cook stoves, microwaves, blenders, cell phones, cd players, TVs,refrigerators, cars, mopeds, skateboards, and numerous other things we take for granted.

For example, whenever I had to open a can, I just stuck it under the blade holder on the electric can opener and mashed down and it magically opened. It even held the can and the newly separated lid. About a week ago, I was opening a can and all of a sudden, the whole upper part of the can opener separated from the rest of it. Of course, the can wasn't opened so I had to rummage thru the silverware drawer and finally found the old fashined one. You know, the kind you have to stick in the edge of the can and then push it around the edge and risk cutting your hand or finger when you try to get the top off.

Well, last week I decided to make vegetable soup and had my carrots, taters, onions and meat cooking. I had my cans lined up on the counter to add the other stuff, you know, corn, peas, mixed veggies, etc. Then I remembered: I had to use the hand can opener! I almost decided to abort the soup making. But I didn't. After a long bout of pushing and pulling, I finally got them all opened and into the pot and it turned out to be very good soup!

Bad things first. There's a humongous fly buzzing and divebombing around me as I type. Isn't it way too early for flies?

More bad. I'm on equal pay for my utilities. I have been for several years. One year it was $185, once it was $305, and last year it was $279. I think there was another year, but right off the top of my head, I can't remember the payment. Every Jan. they do a revised statement and then you start paying the new amount in Feb. This year it's $407! Can you believe it? This is just for one month, not every other month like the county. And my house isn't even warm.

Now the good. My car, as you know if you read my last post, made it to Charlottesville on "a wing and much prayer". Kerri read it and told me that Chad would work on my car if I could get it up there bright and early Sat. morning. I did and he did! He brought it back today and it looks and runs like a new car. In addition to the front and back shocks, it has some other new part under neath that was broken. He also rotated the tires, had it realigned, then washed and polished the outside, cleaned and armour-alled the inside, blacked the tires and got me a new sticker. It looks and drives like a new car. Rah! Thanks to Chad for the work and Tami for the financing of said work.

More good stuff. We have had two days of beautiful, almost spring weather. However, bad news now. The groundhog saw his shadow and "they" are forecasting snow for later tonight!

Well, I'd said I wanted to leave at 9:30AM. We actually left at 9:40, which was good. But, at the top of Claiborne St., Bradley (Rebecca's friend)remembered that he'd left his ID at my house. So, I turned down all the side streets and went back to the house, retrieved his ID and got back on the road.

We didn't stop at all on the way, not even our usual pit stop for the bathroom. I'd worried about taking my car because it's been making a funny noise in the rear end for the past month or so, but it did pretty well. I tried to avoid holes, big patches and such in the road because it seems to make it more noticable. But we got there okay.

We arrived at 12:30 PM and got checked in right away. Got searched and patted down and then had a long wait for the bus to take us to the visiting area. When we got there, we were told to go to a different door to get in. So, the whole gang of us stood there for about 10 minutes before the nut in front decided to try the door. It was unlocked. So, we go in. A lil black guard told us to follow her. I asked if she didin't want our papers. She said to follow her, she'd get them later. We followed her to a table and stood there and another lil black guard came up and asked why we were there. I told her to see Sharon and the other guard had led us to the table. She acted confused and shook her head and finally took our papers and told us to sit. We did. Tommy went to the snack area and got a Mt. Dew and some candy for his mom and then he went and got some for me and him and we waited and waited. Finally, about 1:30. Sharon finally got there. From then on, we had a nice visit. Fed her cheeseburger, chips, popcorn, candy and finally got a honeybun and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. We had to leave at 3PM, picked up a box she had for me, got in the car at 3:15 and only stopped once on the way home. We arrived back in Danville at 5:45. It was a very pleasant trip going and coming and I thanked God that he answered my prayers concerning the car and let us get there and back with no problems.

So many funny (?) things have happened in the last couple of weeks. Well, maybe funny isn't the word. Maybe it's smelly!

Week before last I put Coby down for his afternoon nap and about time for his mom to pick him up, I heard him in there talking to himself. I opened the door and nearly gagged. Coby had pooped his diaper and then proceeded to take off his pants, socks and diaper and had it rubbed all over him from his cheeks (face) to his toenails. I had to lift him under his arm pits to keep it off me and carried him to the tub where I scrubbed him for 15 minutes. Then I had to wash his sheet, blanket, the clown he sleeps with and his play yard. It was all full of it! Then last week he did the same thing again! If he does it again, I'm gonna save it and him for his mom!

For Christmas I got a lot of bath and body wash and stuff like that. Even a big fluffy towel. So, Friday evening I was here by myself and decided I'd take a long bubble bath. I turned on the little heater in the bathroom and got it nice and warm and got out my new pj's and poured in some of the good smelling bubble bath that Tommy got for me and got in and relaxed and soaked for about an hour. Until the water cooled down and then I got out, dressed and went to the living room and lit all my candles and my rock salt lamp and watched some of the first season of Boston Legal that Emily got me for Christmas. A throughly nice, quiet, wonderful night.

I'd been wanting some oyster stew ever since that I made at Christmas wasn't fit to eat. I think it was the oysters. Anyway, I went to the store Sat. and they had a fresh batch of them so I bought some and after I went to Danny's dad's funeral Sunday afternoon, I came home and made a "bait" of stew and it was very tasty. Jackie came by today and I sent Linda a bowl and there's still enough for another bowl. Wish someone would come by and eat it.

The old year is about gone and we wait to welcome the new.I was thinking about changes that have happened just in my immediate neighborhood.

Back during the late spring or early summer the old mill at the end of Union St. bridge caught fire. We could see the black smoke rolling all the way up to my house. It was being taken down and I guess someone "accidently" dropped a match or cigarette butt. Anyway, the fire took care of most of the building.

I grew up on Highland Ct. in the shadow of the smoke stacks. Back when I was a young child I remember mama fussing about the soot on the porch and on her laundry that was hung on clothes lines. Later, whenever I came down Claiborne St. and saw them standing like sentinels overlooking the highway, I guess I took them for granted. After all, they had been there all my life. On Nov, 19, 2008, they were imploded and now when I drive down Claiborne and stop before turning, there's nothing there. It's like an old friend disappearing. Why couldn't they have left them standing and painted them to look like lighthouses? That would have been a converstaion starter for anyone visiting Danville.

Well, it was nice, noisy, and now it's over.

I guess we started the celebration with a Christmas open house at Richards with all 82 of his decorated trees. Then we went to Madison, NC to see the murals in a little country church and stopped to eat at Mountaintop Inn. Last Sunday we went to Greensboro to see the living Christmas tree at Lebanon Baptist church.

After a bit of Christmas shopping last week, I started making candy and other goodies for Christmas dinner. However, we were missing a few folks this year. We only had about 24. But we had fun!

It's kind of quiet right now because Cindy had to leave and a couple of the G'daughters have gone out to eat and Tommy and Chad are playing quietly. Tami came last Sat. and brought some toys her Josh had outgrown and Tommy and Chad have had fun playing with them. I kinda think they had as much fun with his old toys as with the new ones they received from Santa.

I think I'm going to start taking down the trees tomorrow. It looks pretty, but it'll be nice to have some wiggle room. I might leave my little beach tree up for a few more days, but I think every thing else is gonna go.

More later.

I'm still so excited over my new kitchen and den floors. As many people as I had there over the Tday holiday, I didn't have to wipe it up even once and actually didn't sweep it for three days. You just can't see anything that falls on it. It's so nice!

I was cooking supper tonight and had to have cornbread to go with my collards and deviled eggs. I got out the cornmeal and milk and then remembered that I had boiled my last three eggs. What to do? What to do? I looked in the fridge to see what I could substitute for an egg. I didn't think cranberry sauce would be too good, nor would buffalo chicken dip. Susan had some cottage cheese, so I put about a fourth of a cup in and it made really nice, moist corn muffins. So, if you're ever in the same bind.......substitute!

When Cindy came home for Thanksgiving she brought a tub of cookie dough she'd bought from some fundraiser kid. I cooked some of it this morning and it made good cookies. Chocolate dough with white chocolate chips, ummmm.

I guess the next thing is to drag out the Christmas decorations and the tree and start getting festive. Bobby and Tim have done my porch for the past two years and I hope they show up again to put the stuff around the door. Maybe I better call and mention it to him. I'm going to try to get my floor scrubbed and waxed so I can get the tree up. Richard and Tommy usually do that for me because it's big and is in at least three sections that have to be put together and the lights connected. Then I can put the ornaments on.I really love it once it's done; it's just the doing that I wish the cute lil elves would do. Any elves out there that want to volunteer?

Well, Tday is over. Or is it? I went to the store today and bought another turkey breast and some more stuffing mix. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

This year I figured Rebecca and Tommy would be here; Cindy came up and Linda and her crew came and Linda brought real turkey to go with my two turkey breasts. Teresa brought her delicious sweet potato casserole. Ashley called in mid morning and asked if she and her friend Kristen could stop by and I said sure. They've been coming for the past three years and we always have enough for extras. This time, tho, when they got here Ashley had a brand new husband with her and Kristen had her boyfriend (who turned out to be a good dishwasher). But that was OK because about noon Emily and Rebecca decided they'd do some cooking, too and they made broccoli casserole and home made mac and cheese. I'd already cooked green beans, butterpeas, corn, angel salad and we made fresh cranberry sauce with berries Cindy brought. We also had rolls, pies, cheesecake and home made brownies. Enough to feed 20 or 24, right?

Well, after everybody ate, visited for a while, rode scooters and bikes, I was left with five teenage girls to spend the night. That was Ok , but mysteriously during the night most of the leftover turkey and dressing disappeared. But, NO ONE ate it. I guess it disappeared into the black hole of the refrigerator. So, that's why I bought more turkey and stuffing today. I want leftovers for Sat.lunch before Cindy has to leave. Leftovers are good!

Now for some more important news. I have beautiful new floors in my kitchen and den. The guy did the kitchen last Thursday and did the den Tuesday and it looks like a new place,except, now I need to paint the cabinets and trim so that will look as good as the floors. Maybe by Christmas...........

Last Sat. I went to the "Cruise In" downtown with Linda, Lindsay and Leanna. It started down at the end of Main St. and went all the way up to the Elk's Club. The streets were blocked off to traffic and were lined with antique cars and revved up old trucks. There were lots of old cars I recognized and lots I didn't.

We walked up one side and then back down and we passed this guy who looked about drunk. Then next time we saw him he sorta leered at Linda and muttered "Where have you been all my life"? She just shrugged and kept going. Funny.

Today it was raining when I woke up at 6:45, so I turned over and went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until nearly 10. Then I had my coffee and decided to pull my stove and fridge out and clean behind them. That took a little longer than I anticipated and then Jackie and James showed up to do a couple of things for me. I finally made it to the grocery store about 4.

Oh, I forgot about yesterday. Ava called me and asked if I could watch her grandson Kyle from 8 to 12 because his babysitter decided to take a day off. Amanda, his mom, brought him before 8 and I asked her when he needed to eat breakfast. She said he was probably ready then. Well, I made him an omelet using a jumbo egg and gave him some vienna sausages. He ate all that and when Coby got there a little later and I fixed his breakfast, Kyle had to eat again. He's an eating lil machine!

Emily and Rachel decided to come spend the night with me. I don't know why cause Rebecca isn't here this weekend, but I think they're downstairs watching a movie.I think I'll play a couple of games and then go to bed. Goodnight!

Nothing to write about. Went to yardsales on Sat., went to church today, cooked dinner, cleaned up mess, read a book from yardsale, checked e mail and now watching Desperate Housewives. Good night!

Well, here it is Sunday evening and soon the long weekend will be over. Well, long for Tommy and Rebecca cause they get to stay until Monday at 10AM. They had teacher workdays Friday and Monday, so we had a nice visit.

Last time they were were here Tommy and Chad discussed having a Halloween party at my house and I told them it was OK as long as they handled all of it. Chad made invitations and took them to school and Thursday evening they dragged out all the halloween decorations and some new stuff that Chad had bought and decorated the big room in the basement. Then Friday while Chad was in school, Tommy made cold spaghetti worms and jello with eyeballs and some other creepy stuff and set up a game room in the boiler room. It was all spider webs and black lights and scary music.

For food they had hot wings, chips, cupcakes and candy. All in all a lovely party. Except, none of the kids from school came. However, we did know some folks with boys Chad's age and also some girls, so they came by and played and ate and then they went out to trick or treat and got some good stuff, so they had a good time.

Yesterday I went to yardsales for the first time in about four weeks. I think the first time since Cindy was here and we went. It was a very good day cause all of us, even Richard, found things that we liked. Richard bought another Christmas tree; I think this is number 84, and lots of decorations. Tommy got a new, long handled limb cutter and some other stuff and I found some books, including a vampire book for Rebecca, a couple of new neck scarves, a pair of snow boots for Coby, a small trifold with change purse for me almost like the other yardsale one that I used for 5 years until I wore it out. After that one finally wore completely out, I went to Sears looking for one cause I had gotten used to just sticking it in my jacket pocket or my jeans and not having to take a purse when I went grocery shopping. Anyway, the one I found at Sears looked OK, but it was a little bit bigger and a little thicker and never really fit. But, the one I bought is just like new; just the right size; and has room for all my cards and ID. So, I gave the one I bought at Sears to Rachel. She liked it! I found Tommy a new wrist band like the kids like to wear and a pink stuffed beaver for Rebecca.( Because I couldn't take Tommy something and not take Rebecca something and I forgot about the book I got Rebecca).

Well, I guess the nice peaceful Sunday is over. I heard what sounded like gunshots and went downstairs and Susan was talking to the cops. Doug, Rachel and Rebecca were on the porch and were watching a bunch of blacks fighting across the street and down at the corner next to Quik Chek when some body started shooting. So, she called the cops. It's gotten so it's almost a nightly occurence. Where do these kids get guns?

I told you in an entry last week about our former district superintendent not showing up to preach at Homecoming. Well, what happened was that he had our former pastor's address and phone number instead of the church's address and phone number. So, when he got to town he went to Jenny Lane, but didn't see a church and tried calling the number he had for directions and they weren't home, so he and his wife spent the better part of an hour just driving around Jenny Lane and then they went to eat and went back to Roanoke.

More than 12 years ago Naomi met Jack. Naomi had been happily married as had been Jack, but their respective spouses had died and both were lonely.

I don't know where they met, but I met them at our Christmas Bazaar at the Community Market about 10 or 12 years ago. They came in together and he ordered some of the potato soup we had for sale. She didn't want any, but he insisted she sample his and then she ordered some too. They left with their soup to walk around and look at the other stuff and when they came back by, Jack ordered another bowl of potato soup. Of course he told me that it wasn't "fit to eat", but it was warm on a cold day. That was the first time I met them.

After that whenever we had any kind of food fundraiser at our church we invited them and they always showed up. They walked in the mall together, window shopped together, went to senior citizens meetings, visited their friends together, watched TV together at either her place or his. I never saw one without the other.

Thursday they went out to eat, which they did often, and had planned to go to his place to watch TV. She asked him if it would be OK if he just took her home early because she didn't really feel good. He agreed, but all of a sudden she sort of sighed and then leaned back in her seat. He pulled his truck over and called 911, but she was dead when they got there.

Jack and Naomi would have gotten married except he had a tremendous amount of money and his children had fits every time he mentioned it. I guess they thought she might end up with his money. I think she put up with a lot from his kin folks. But she was always so nice and sweet and he was always so attentive to her; you could just feel the love flowing between them. I don't know what Jack is going to do now. He's 92 (but looks 65)and I really don't think he'll last long without her.

Shame on his kids and grandkids!

Thursday evening Rebecca called and asked if her boyfriend, Bradley could go with us to see Sharon on Saturday. I told her it was OK with me, but we were leaving at 9:30 AM and if he wasn't here, we'd have to leave without him.

Well, the kids came Friday evening and Tommy and I went to the store and picked up a few groceries and then picked up Chad. Came home and fixed them some supper and they played around until bedtime and we all went to bed pretty early.

My alarm is set for 6:45AM for every morning, so when I got up Sat. morning I went down and went to wash my face and when I was coming out of the bathroom, my doorbell ding donged. I went to the door and there stood Bradley with a sheepish grin on his face. So, he came in and had coffee with me and then about 7:30 I went and woke up Rebecca to tell her Bradley was here and she rolled over and mumbled "Unt unn, G'ma" and covered her head. I finally convinced her that he was here and she got up and pulled on her sweats and stumbled out.

Anyway, we got on the road at 9:30 and altho UVA had a game with Carolina at 3:30, we didn't encounter much traffic until we got to the stadium turn-off in Charlottesville. We got to Fluvanna at 12:30 and were in the visiting room by 1:00 and got to visit until 3:00. A really nice, long visit. All the machines were working and there was a good supply of food and drinks, so Tommy got her a Mt. Dew and popcorn(the kind you pop yourself), then when she got in there he got her pizza, Milky Ways, oreo cheesecake and maybe something else. Anyway, it was much better than last time when all the drink machines were broken.

When it was time to go we said our goodbyes and hugged and were in my car by 3:20. We stopped at our favorite MacDonalds in Charlottesville and ate lunch and were home by 6:15. And, UVA won the football game!

Today was Homecoming at church so when we got home I had to run to the store to pick up a few things I hadn't gotten on Friday and then I cooked for dinner at church. We had hoped for 100 today and actually had 98. If Kerri and Brittany had come or if Rachel hadn't been sick and Teresa had to take her to prime care, we would have made our goal. But, 98 was good and the little 12 year old twins who sung were really great.

We've been without a preacher since ours resigned in August. We've been having different pastors to fill in and the one who has preached for the past 4 weeks (Pastor Allen) was invited to come although our former district superintendent was invited to come and speak. Well, he was supposed to be there by 11AM and by 11:15 he still wasn't there, so our Sunday School supt. asked Pastor Allen to preach and he did the best sermon off the top of his head that would make a lot of preachers wince in shame. It was good!

After he was finished we went to the fellowship hall for lunch and we had a tremendous amount of food without a lot of duplicates. Actually the only duplicates were deviled eggs and all of them were eaten. And some of the best desserts......fresh coconut cake, butter pecan pound cake, earthquake cake, cheesecake; chocolate, brown sugar, pecan pies, banana pudding, strawberry/pretzel dessert, blueberry cobbler, brownies, cookies of all kinds and I could go on and on, but I won't.

Then after I got home I had to go to Ron's house and pick up the boys and fix them some food and then they got their stuff together and I had to take them back to Stoneville. All in all, a busy, busy weekend!

I had a nice long weekend starting Friday since I didn't have Coby. I got up at the usual time, but had a little more time to spend on my coffee and newspaper. Then I showered and dressed and made a shopping list and went to the bank, postoffice and grocery store. Came home, put groceries away and ate a combination breakfast, lunch.

Linda and her girls came by about 1 PM and we went to the radio station to pick up prizes we'd won that morning and then went to Aldi...a sorta weird grocery store that you have to pay to use their buggies, but you get your quarter back and you have to furnish your own grocery bags. But, they have a good selection of food which is mostly cheaper than the regular store.

Cindy had told me she was going to come up for a day and night so we could go to yard sales and she got here about 3PM. We hung around and talked until supper time and she took me out for supper and then we went to Ollies Salvage and she bought a couple of things and I saw a lil girl who was the spitting image of Kerri when she was little. We spent the evening watching TV and went to bed sort of early.

Early Sat. we got up and had coffee and got ready and Tommy, Richard and Dan came by and we followed them to the sales.(Not enough room in Tommy's van for five) We had fun and I bought a few things and Cindy bought a bunch of stuff. She was so tickled with herself cause she "haggled" with a lady for something. Actually, Cindy was already going to buy one article and asked the price of something else and the lady said "Make me an offer" and Cindy asked if she'd take blank amount for both of them and the lady agreed.

After we finished up the sales we came home and ate potato soup and buffalo chicken dip and then she made another dish of it and we went out to Linda's for a while. Cindy ended up spending Sat. night, too and I cooked dinner today and we ate before she had to leave for home. Oh, we raided Chris' garden for green peppers and tomatoes before she left. But it was OK cause he was out there working on his house. All in all a fun weekend. EXCEPT, my throat felt a lil sore and my nose was dripping a little last night and I woke up with a full fledged cold today. Right now, I'm sitting here breathing thru my mouth while my nose drips away. And I have to babysit tomorrow. Wish I could just sleep in and take it easy. But I have to eat and if I don't babysit, I don't get paid. Oh well, maybe some day before I'm too old, I can retire!

I went to bed early (for me) Tuesday night. I was sleeping and having a pleasant dream when all of a sudden a big BOOM BOOM woke me.

Then I heard Susan talking on the phone and looking out the upstairs hall front window. I stumbled out to see what she was doing and I heard another BOOM BOOM. Very loud booms. I looked and a black guy was beating on the back window of a van the funeral home had parked up next to the street beside the hedge. Susan was talking to the police dispatcher and giving a description of the guy as he was trying to break out the window. Finally he busted thru the window and tried to reach in for something and then I guess he gave up and started walking off up the street at a leisurely pace.

A few minutes later the cop car went up the street and a little bit after that, the cop car came down the street and pulled into the parking lot and shined his light around, so Susan went out and talked to him. He then went down to my parking place and checked my car because Susan said she heard the first boom and then there was a space of time before she heard the next one.

Anyway, he left a big rock in the van when he gave up on it. The cop had stopped him up the street and checked his ID, but let him go on to wherever he was going even tho he had busted out the back window of the van. Looks to me like he would at least have put him in the cop car and questioned him. Guess I watch too many cop shows and read too many cop books.

Sat. we got an early start and the first stop was a yard sale at the end of North Main at the intersection. Unfortunately, all they had was junk. Then we went to a ritzy neighborhood up Mt. Cross Road. They were having a neighborhood yardsale and I think when we saw a pair of worn sneakers for $20 that we weren't going to have too much luck there. Well, everybody was way overpriced. $2 for a paperback! No way.

Richard reminded us that his neighbors were having a moving sale so we went there next. We were about 10 minutes early, but they were ready for us and we got some good stuff. I got 2 Martha Stewart egyptian cotton towels--really big--for a quarter each. Richard bought a two seater glider with cushions, a weed eater, a cement pelican, all sorts of things. It took about 3 trips to get it all to his house. From then on, most of the sales were pretty reasonable and had good stuff. I ended up with a blazer, a shirt, capri pants, a swing cushion, a chair for my deck, an elephant for Tim, a couple of lighthouses and a lighthouse necklace, some yard ornaments, and a couple of books. Oh, a 54 GW year book for my friend in Washington. So, all in all, a very good Saturday.

Well, here it is Friday again and the weekend is looking lovely. I have a 6:45 date for yardsales and there are right many advertised. Hope some of them are the good kind. You know, things you're looking for for folks at a "yardsale" price. I'm hoping!

I guess Keith (Spanky) is finished with my house. It looks good, but I still have the same old worn kitchen floor and the same old smelly carpet in the den. I thought a wood grain covering that covered both of them would be nice. Ollies Outlet had just what I wanted last week for $13.88 a box. I don't know how much it would take, tho. Maybe if I save enough money I can get it and get Keith to put it down for me.

Coby has just about recovered from his surgery. He's been wanting to use the potty and so I told his mom to get me some of the lil cotton underwear that are kind of lined in the front cause that's what I used for my boys and Linda used for hers. However, she brought Luvs pull ups, which are OK, I guess, but he tells me "pee pee" after he pees in them. I guess they feel like a diaper to him. I still think the cotton ones would do better. His dad told me when he picked him up today that he would get him some cotton ones. We'll see.

I made some good potato pagachi for supper last night. I used garlic and herb potatoes instead of four cheese, but I added shredded sharp cheddar to it and it was really good. I think I'll go down now and reheat one and eat it. I also cooked some fried green tomatoes, first time, and they were OK. I think next time I'll soak the slices in sugar water for a while to get the bitter out. Or maybe, that's how they're supposed to taste. Susan and Douglas liked them, tho. So, I don't guess they were too bad.

A couple or three weeks ago the city inspectors came and inspected and last Monday, the guy who does all sorts of handiwork at the funeral home came bright and early and started doing stuff. Coby was fascinated with him and loved to "help" him. His name is Keith, but lots of people call him Spanky. Coby couldn't say Spanky, but he can say Keef and he says it continually if he's around here working.

So far he's repaired the hole in my den ceiling, made the bells at my door ring,put a new lock and hinge on my front door, put smoke alarms all over, put new screen on my basement doors, recovered that big pipe at my back door, cleaned the gutters and drains, repaired one of the porch columns damaged by rain, put primer on others, and today put a one piece shower thingy in my bathroom. Looks real good, too. Tomorrow he's going to paint the columns if it isn't raining. Now what I want him to do is put down a new kitchen floor and extend it to also cover the den floor. All one piece. But that wasn't on the list. What to do? What to do?

Brittany Grace is in the first grade this year and while she's really smart, she doesn't like school. Especially the part that says you have to be quiet and not talk. Kerri said they get squares representing how they behave. If you are good, you get a green stick to color your square green. If you're not too bad, you get a yellow stick to color your square yellow and if you are too talkative or don't mind, you get a red stick to color your square red. She said that evidently Brittany got a yellow square and on the way home she colored it green with her green crayon. She also "accidently" lost a note from her teacher that he had put in her back pack. Me thinks Kerri is going to have to keep a sharp eye out on this child. She seems to be a whole lot like her mommy was when she went to school.

I didn't cook supper tonight. Tommy and Rebecca were here over the weekend and Tommy and I cooked Sunday and I cooked something Friday and Sat., so I decided not to cook tonight. Susan came in from work with four hotdogs "all the way" and that's what I ate for supper, along with some fries. Not all four, just two! I'm thinking I'm going to go to Chris' garden and get a couple of green tomatoes and try some fried. I've never done them, but I have a recipe that's pretty simple. Oh, I did cook today. I made Ryland, the guy from the funeral home, some fried pies hoping to soften him up so I can approach him about the floor.

Since our preacher resigned we've been having "fill ins" for the Sunday services. We're looking, but in our denomination, it's hard to find a pastor this late in the year because they're usually snapped up by July 1. But, we're having Homecoming on Oct.19 and our former D.S. is coming to speak and he's a really nice man. We're also having the Church Sisters to sing and then we're having lunch. Yall are all welcome to come.

Yesterday while we were at yard sales we saw a man who had a bunch of tools spread out. Richard reached over and picked up a big hammer with a rubber head. He sort of hefted it in his hand and put it back.

Last night Rebecca and I went to bed early. I was dreaming I was in a big place with Richard and we had big rubber hammers just banging away. It got really loud and then there was a voice hollering. I finally woke up and there was a loud banging and a voice hollering. Susan had gone into the upstairs bathroom and closed the door and then she couldn't get it open. She said she tried and tried and then started beating on the door and hollering. Well, I worked and worked and finally got it open. Then this evening she "forgot" and did the same thing again.

I was checking out WBTM's web page and they had a page about hutches. The kind you put things in and then further down I saw Dave Hutchinson (wrong spelling) and then further down I saw Dave Hutchison(also wrong spelling). Then further down I saw Maxine's Journal. I clicked on it and saw, yep; my journal. What gives?

I guess while I'm writing I'll put down a couple more things I really hate. For example, the guy who ran the red light, nearly hit the truck beside me and then looked at the truck driver like it was HIS fault. Also, sitting at the intersection where Cat & Fiddle used to be; waiting for an oncoming car that was in the lane to turn right, giving her signal, which would have put the car going up beside me; but the lady was so busy talking on her cell phone that she didn't turn, she just kept going up the road towards Arnett. Good thing I don't trust folks and their turn signals.

Well, that's enough. I need to go to bed cause the guy is coming early tomorrow to rescreen my basement doors. And I think the plumber is coming to fix a leak. Maybe.

Last Monday I didn't have Coby because of his surgery and so I decided I'd clean up the basement. I started about 8:30 and spent all day down there except for bathroom runs. I made about 20 trips to the dumpster and had just about filled it up when the truck came and emptied it, so I made a few more trips.

I put my year and a half accumulation of newspapers outside up close to the house so James can come pick them up one day and take them to the newspaper recycling place. It really made the basement look better. I still have some stuff in the part we use to go to the car, tho. Maybe next time I get the urge, I'll do that.

The next day Keister called and asked if Wed, at 2pm would be okay for the city inspectors to come and inspect. I told him not really, but agreed that they could come. This is a fairly new thing the city has started and it's only for rental property and the owner has to walk around with the inspectors while they note whatever is wrong. Then they have 30 days to fix it and the inspectors come back and see that everything is done and up to code.

I don't know what all they found wrong, it looked like a half page of stuff he wrote down. Things like gutters being stopped up, a couple of screws out of the door hinge and of course, that hole in my den ceiling. But that's another story! Anyway, not near as much as the 3 pages of stuff they found wrong at the parsonage that we have to fix.

Actually, after we made the arrangement for the inspection on Wed. Tiffany called and asked if I could watch Coby for a while because Adam's G'ma had died and her funeral was in South Boston and then the burial was someplace else. It poured rain all day Wed.(that's how they knew the gutters were stopped up) and I had Coby until after 6PM, so I didn't go to church that night.

I told you about Fara coming but I neglected to tell you how delicious the butterbeans and okra were. Also, the big, one slice covers the whole slice of bread tomatoes and the little plum tomatoes that are so good, I grab a handful every time I walk by them. The have a completely different taste from the ones Chris grows altho they look the same. Also, all the different flavors of New York Co. peanut butter. Mmmmmmmm!!Right now I'm eating on the raisin cinnamon swirl. It's good!

This was a long summer. But nice! We had lots of kids around just about all summer. Rebecca came when her school was out and stayed a few weeks and then went to Disney World with a friend and then came back and stayed til her school started. Tommy was here after he went to camp for 4 weeks.

Later in the summer, Tami came up on a Monday just for a one day visit, and Joshua came with her. I don't think he'd been here since he was about 5 years old cause he was always playing ball. Anyway, when they left, I hugged him and told him to come back for a visit. Later that week Tami called and said Josh wanted to know if I was serious when I invited him to come back. I assured her I was and she said Josh might be up to see me.

A couple of days later he showed up with a baseball friend named Terry. A cute little boy who was very nice and polite. As Tommy and Chad were here, too, I gave the big bed in the front bedroom to the big boys and the other two, smaller ones slept on the studio couch and flip chair in the den.

They hung around with Rebecca and Rachel (who also spent the week here)and went to the mall and I think the boys took in several movies. I hope they had a nice visit. Guess if they come back next summer, I'll have my answer!

Last Monday Fara called and asked if I was open to a visit the next day. I was really tickled cause I hadn't seen her in a couple of years. Then on Tuesday morning, she called and cancelled because Bob, who had been on an extended business trip, decided to come home early. So, she asked if this Tuesday would work. I said it would and it did.

She called about 9AM and was getting ready to get on the road. She stopped at Ukrops and bought all that wonderful peanut butter.....deep chocolate dream, white chocolate, raisin cinnamon swirl and a new crunchy kind; also humongous oatmeal cookies, sugar cookies, butterbeans, squash, okra and plum tomatoes that she grew herself and a lifetime supply of different size zip lock bags! Oh, I nearly forgot.....a chicken cobbler that smells delicious that I'm having for supper tomorrow. That along with butterbeans and okra, fried with a green tomato. Ummm, sounds good, doesn't it?

She was hungry when she got here so we went to Tickles and ate confetti. I think she liked it pretty good; she said she was gonna make some for supper one day. I had fixed the coffee pot so all I had to do was hit the button to have fresh made coffee and I forgot all about it until she had gone.

I invited her to come back when she could stay longer. I hope she does, cause she only saw Richard when he passed us on Memorial Drive when we were on the way to eat. He was working his bank runs so he couldn't stop.

Waking up and starting to make my coffee and discover the sugar dish is empty. Going to the bathroom in a hurry, sitting on the commode and discovering the toilet paper roll is empty. Going to the fridge for a drink of cold water and finding an empty Brita in there. Or, picking up the milk carton and discovering it's empty. And some folks who pour the tea pitcher empty, but puts it back in the fridge anyway.

Also, going to bed with an empty sink and getting up the next morning to a sink full of dirty dishes and glasses. This happens mostly when the grandkids (the girly ones) are here. Oh, this is a big one.........opening the closet in the bathroom where I keep my towels and find it bare of bath towels. Then looking in the bedroom shared by granddaughters when they visit and find 10 wet ones on the bed and on the floor; but nobody messed them up!

My main thing I hate when I'm driving is the one who weaves in and out all down the road like he's going to a fire and then all of a sudden turns off into the fast food drive way. Or the one who drives on your tail all the way down the road and then passes you and immediately does a left hand turn onto private property. Makes me want to spit!

I forgot to say that Linda had a feast to celebrate our birthdays. 4 kinds of pizza, chicken sticks and ranch dressing, chili cheese dip(really delicious)and chips and B'day cake.

Today when I went to my car after church. my friend Margaret had a gift for me. A really pretty outfit consisting of burgandy pants and matching top. She told me to look at it and then she would return it because when she got it home she tried it on and it didn't fit her. Well, the top was too small, but I took the pants home and tried them and they were a perfect fit. So, I'm going with her to the store and we're gonna return the top and get another one.

This afternoon I went to Penneys and took the money my brothers gave me and got a pair of the sorta dressy black Sketchers(like Tami has that I loved). They look good with pants and also with skirts and they feel so nice.

When I got on to check my e-mail tonight I had a letter from Fara. She's coming for a visit on Tuesday about noon (in case anyone wants to come by to see her). But call to make sure we're here cause we're going out to lunch; any suggestions as to a good place?

Today was my birthday. I started it off by going to yardsales with Richard, Tommy and Danny. I didn't find much, a couple of books for me, some jewelry, and a few shirts for my friend. But I had fun and after we got finished, Danny treated me to lunch complete with a lighted candle on a huge piece of chocolate cake and singing.

After I got home, I had to run to the grocery store to get the rest of my groceries and then about 5:30 I was going to Linda's to celebrate mine and Leanna's birthday. Well, imagine my surprise when somebody knocked on my door and it was Linda. Her and James had something in the truck for me, so "please open the basement door". I did and they brought in a box with the cutest lil freezer that I've ever seen. It was a gift from her and Bobby cause for the last couple of years when both my freezers died within weeks of each other, I'd only had the one in my fridge. And it's hard to stock up on bargains when you don't have a place to put them.

I also got candy, money, cookies, home made jelly, green tea and lots of hugs. All in all, a great birthday.

We had plans to leave at 9:30 AM and Teresa and Rachel were going with us. Simple, yes? I got up at 4:45 to take Susan to work and came back here and went back to bed and slept til 6:45. Still according to plan.

When Tommy got here Tuesday, he had on the most disreptable looking shoes I have ever seen. Well, Penneys had sent out a gift card for ten bucks and the sale paper yesterday had Vans on sale and he loves those, so I went to get him some this morning at 7:30. He assured me that he wore a size 5, so I found a pair and got them and brought them home. He loved them! But they were so stuffed that they didn't fit. So I got him fed and dressed and we went back to Penneys so he could try on a pair. They didn't have another size 5 in the one he liked; the 4 1/2 and the 5 1/2 didn't fit. So the nice lady went back to the back and found another , different pair of Vans that he liked, but, of course,they didn't have his size in that either. So, he ended up wearing a pair of high top purple Converses that Cindy had brought up here a couple of weeks ago when she was downsizing in preparation to move. He really likes them too, and nobody noticed or at least said anything about the color.

So we left at 10:10 and are diddibopping down the road when all of a sudden there's a cop car across the lanes and the cute lil cop is out directing(or trying to) the traffic up an off ramp leading to some little town in Amherst county. I slowed down and did what the cars in front of me were doing and went on down the road. Well, in the blink of an eye, the traffic had come to a standstill. Two lanes of it. And it just kept coming from the rear. We sat there for over an hour before we were finally moving. Of course, by then we all had to pee as did everybody in all the cars in front of us, so the first Apple mart we came to did a lively business there for a while. One of the ladies there who was further up the line of traffic said a car had flipped and rolled coming down the exit ramp and had landed in the middle of the busy highway. Nobody knew if there were any injuries, but the car we saw on the flat bed truck parked at the ramp looked like it was smushed in from both ends and folded up on the sides. Not very much left at all.

We didn't stop again, but we were slowed by all that traffic and we finally got to Fluvanna at 2:20. Teresa had to fill out a form to get in and when that was done we finally got patted down and got on the bus. We got to the visiting area at 2:40 and only had a 20 minute visit. In the meantime, when we didn't show up when we should have, Sharon got worried and called home and by then Susan was home from work and she called me on my cell phone and found out where we were and when Sharon called her back, Susan could tell her that we were OK, just running very late.

Coming home I was fussing about the short visit and the traffic tie up and Tommy said, "Well, G'ma, suppose we hadn't been running a little late and we had got to the ramp just when that car was coming off it. I think somebody was watching out for us." Well, so do I.

Tami called me either Sunday evening or early Monday morning and wanted to know if I was up to company for a while. Hayley had some time before she had to go back to school and she wanted to come up and bring her boyfriend cause it had been a while since she had been up here. I told her to come ahead, I'd be here. Rachel had gone home on Sat. evening, but Bobby brought her back because Hayley wanted to see her,too.

Well, she had said she'd leave about 12:30, but she got a late start and got here about 3 or 3:30. Imagine my surprise when Joshua walked in with them. I hadn't seen him since he was a little boy and now he's about 6 foot tall. He's so cute and funny. He wanted to see James so I called out to Linda's and in a while James showed up. They were two good ones together!

In the meantime, Tami called Kerri at work and she came over and I made coffee and soon everybody was hungry, so Tami ordered pizza from Domino's and everybody had all they could eat and some left over.

Kerri left and went home about dark and Tami stayed here until about 9:00 and then they went to Kerri's house to see Brittany and Kerri's new kitchen.

I think everybody had a nice visit and Joshua might be coming back next week for a couple of days so he can hang out with James.

Rebecca came for her summer visit Sunday afternoon. After Emily got off work, she showed up with movies and snacks. I went to bed about 11:00 and they went to get fast food and came back here and ate and watched movies til morning. Needless to say, they slept the better part of Monday.

Monday afternoon, Rachel showed up wearing a really cute shirt she had made. So, they had to go to Hot Topic so they could get shirts for her to fix for them. It's kinda neat: she cuts out the sleeves, does something to the neckline and cuts out parts of the back so it can be tied in about four places. They look really cute on. As a matter of fact, Rachel was wearing one at the beach and another teenager stopped her and asked her where she bought it.

Monday night they had more movies and of course they had to cook. I think burritos, cooked fresh mushrooms with onions and green pepper and I don't know what else cause this time they actually washed up the dishes they messed up.

Rachel is multi-talented. She makes the cute lil shirts, bracelets and anklets, can really cut hair good and does make up extremely well, in addition to cooking. Emily and Rebecca dance really well and they cook, too. I don't think either of them are brave enough to cut hair, but they also do good makeup.

Emily was off work Monday and today, but has to work tomorrow. She's training for a different job, something in the office. She went home earlier so she could get some rest after being off for two days. Cause she didn't get any rest here.

Coby, the little boy I babysit really had fun with three girls to entertain him today. He's starting to talk and I hope he didn't pick up any words he shouldn't say. I did notice that when they would tell him something, he would get this look on his face and say, "so"? I told his mom to be ready for that.

Right now the two remaining ones are watching a movie and I'm hoping they get to bed a little earlier than the last two nights.

Carolina Beach or Pleasure Island as it is known ,is a wonderful place to go on vacation. We arrived there after a four hour trip from Virginia and immediately were drawn into the magical world of sheer pleasure (lazing around on our butts doing nothing but eating and lolling in the sand and surf).

Our cottage was a short walk from the fishing pier and we went there every day. Not only did they have a restaurant that was open 24 hours a day, but the food was really good and reasonably priced. For the price of a hotdog, you could sit and watch all kinds of shenanigans. For instance, the old guys who never fished, but would sit nursing a cool drink and talk about all the big fish they had pulled in. You could see them in the morning and go back in the evening and there they were, still at the same table, same clothes, same fish tales. Same leering looks when a young lady walked by in her swim suit. Old fishermen never die, they just lie away.

One morning I was the first one up and took my coffee out to the deck to watch the sun come up. I noticed something that looked like a bundle with a giant brillo pad on the edge of it laying right on the path in front of our house. I watched it for a while and then it started to move and a tall young guy rolled out and put on his tee shirt and cap and sat on the rocks to wait for his girl to wake up. The brillo pad was her head full of red hair.

We walked out on the pier and there was a guy cleaning a good sized fish he had caught. A humongous pelican flew up and perched on the rail to watch him. After a while the guy tossed some fish entrails at the pelican. He caught them, shook his head and tossed them right back at the fisherman. Fisherman tossed them back, pelican caught them, gave them a good shake and threw them back and this time they hit the guy in his face. Seems the pelican didn't want the fish guts, he wanted a fillet.

One evening I was alone at the cottage on our deck, just looking at the constantly shifting scenery on the beach. I saw a figure come walking down the beach. It had turban like head gear, what looked like a flowing robe and some kind of beach shoes. When it got closer I could see a long cigarette holder in one hand and when it stopped a guy on the beach for a light I could see that it was actually a woman. I never figured out the head gear, but the flowing robe was actually two beach towels artfully tied to resemble a robe. When she drew near to where I was, she stopped, did a slow turn then leaned over and picked up one leg and placed it in front of her; did a few lunges on that leg; then did the same thing with the other leg. She walked a few steps down the beach and repeated the process again. Then as if dancing to music she could only hear, she started dancing in slow circles with her arms moving in time to music only she could hear. After a few minutes, she sorta shook herself and as if emerging from a dream, strode off down the beach. I never saw her again.

Then there was the little boy with the skim board. At least that's what I call them. You sort of skim it along the edge of the surf and then chase after it and jump on it as it skims along the edge of the water. This little guy would skim his along, run as fast as his short little legs could carry him, jump and miss the board and fall while his board kept on going down the beach. That didn't stop him, he would retrieve his board and go through the process all over again. Then his dad decided he would show him how to do it the right way. That was really a big splash when dad missed the board. I give him credit for trying, even tho he only tried it once. I guess he thought it might be dangerous to the health of an overweight, out of condition guy. The next day I saw the little guy and he was doing a credible job of surf skimming. I guess practice does make perfect.

One day a party of nine set up chairs, blankets, etc. right in front of our cottage. After a few hours of swimming and sunning, they opened their beach bags and cooler boxes and pulled out sandwich makings: bologna, mayo, bread, cheese and chips. This was going well until one loan sea gull saw them. Of course, he did his sea gull call that says to his mates and family, "food at four o'clock high". Immediately the poor family of humans was beseiged by dozens of sea gulls who swooped and screamed and scared the poor folks back into the water.

Oh, the monkey part. My beach towel had the cutest little monkeys on it and I did see a restored 70 Camaro and once when I went to the pier I even heard some country music. All in all, a most enjoyable trip to a beautiful beach. I didn't want to come home, but duty calls.

I've seen it happen more than once and most of the times I've felt sorry for the person it's happening to. You know, the harried young mother or the older person who gets up to the check out counter and has more groceries than money. The times I've not felt sorry was when someone gets there with a humongous buggy of food, mostly junk food and drinks, and hasn't enough money.

Today, I went to Old Dutch to pick up a few things. The first thing I did after returning a hunk of cheese that had mold on it when I opened it was to put a pound box of shaghetti in my buggy. However, when I aimed for the buggy the end of the box popped open and I had spaghetti noodles all over the aisle. I went and found the manager and he and one of the bag boys got it up and swept up the crumbs.

I'd sort of tallied the amount as I went so I wouldn't get more than I had money to pay as I'd remembered after I got most of the things on my list, I'd left home without my "security check". I don't carry my check book because it's so bulky, I just tear out a couple of checks and put them in my little money holder that I've grown fond of carrying.

But, I decided, I don't have too much. I ought to have enough money. Well, I kind of added it up as I put it on the counter and figured that I'd have just enough. Well, guess what? I didn't. Now, what to do? What do I take off the total so I could pay? I told the cashier, who was a sweet lady and one who checks me out often, "I'm going to have to put something back cause I don't have enough money and I'm so embarrassed," but she said "Oh, honey, that's okay. It happens to the best of us." So, I told her to take off the carton of the store brand drinks and it ended up just right. But, still. It was an embarrassing moment and one that I hope never happens to me again.

All my life I had heard that my great g'ma had gotten up out of her childbirth bed to carry my Bannie Hall down to the tracks to see the train with Abe Lincoln's body pass by. Today my son came over and he told me that he had heard this guy who was an expert on Lincoln talk and #1, the train didn't go near Lynchburg, but I don't know where they were living when Bannie was born. #2 They had 22 funerals for Mr. Lincoln. As the train wended it's way to Illinois, everytime it stopped for any length of time, they had a funeral. #3, When he was finally buried, and it was a good while later, vandals kept desecrating his tomb, so they finally dug him up and moved him to a different part of the cemetary and built some sort of vault that was vandal proof. #4, At his final interment in 1902, the coffin was opened and he looked just like he did when he was first buried. Except the little flag that was put in the coffin had deteriorated.

I asked my son, since he is an undertaker/funeral director, what Lincoln was embalmed with and he said that back in that era they used silver nitrate (I think)or maybe he said mercury nitrate and they didn't use it any more because while it did a great job of preservation, it was really dangerous to the person doing the embalming.

I remember when I was a little girl and Betty Ann(Tootie)and I would be trying to sneak around and do something we weren't supposed to do and Bannie Hall would say in a stern voice, "You girls stop that right now. I can see what you're doing". But she would have her back to us and there's no way she could see what we were doing.

One day I asked her how she could see us when her back was turned. She smiled and said "All g'mas have eyes in the back of their heads, didn't you know that?" Well, I couldn't believe that Bannie had eyes in the back of her head, cause she wore her hair in a bun on the back of her head, However, G'ma Craig wore her bun on top of her head, so I could imagine eyes on her head. But she never caught us in half as much mischief as Bannie Hall. So, maybe she did. I know I tell my grandkids that I have eyes in the back of my head when I catch them doing something. But it's a secret how it's really done.

I saw something in a TV show that reminded me of a tale my Bannie Hall used to tell us girls. I think it might have been to provide a moral :ie that you don't ever do things that you don't eventually reap repercussions.

Since Bannie was born in 1866, this must have been her mother she was talking about. Seems her mother helped out in the kitchen of a fairly well to do family whenever they were entertaining and needed extra help.

The way she told it, they were having a fancy party and had employed lots of extra help and the mistress of the house had really been making life miserable for the help. Nobody could do anything to please her. She came to the kitchen once again to complain and while she was there, great grandma made a show of straightening out the bustle on her dress. In reality, she was pinning a long greasy dishrag on to it. Then the lady of the house went out and danced the rest of the night away with this rag pinned to her dress. And everybody else at the party saw it, but no one told her about it. Some joke, huh?

Imagine my surprise about a month ago when I answered my phone and it was Shirley's sister, Margaret; known as Gussie. We've been talking a few times a week ever since and I love talking to her. She reminds me of Lillie, Effie and my mama all rolled into one. Same weird way of talking and turning a phrase.

She told me her niece Mary, Gene's daughter, was doing a geneology of the Hall/Craig families and if I had any info she'd love to see it or hear about it. Richard had a couple of bible's and I sent her the info in one and also a copy of a paper I had with some names and stories about ancestor's during the Civil War.

Recently I talked to Mary myself and she sent me a copy of what she'd discovered so far and it's really interesting. I wish I had some facts that would help her. I can remember hearing my G'pa Craig talk about Ike and Pat, whom I assumed were his cousins or uncles. She found the name Ike in some of her research. Also a few other names that I had heard mentioned when I was a kid.

What I found so interesting was that names that figured prominently long ago also occurred in more recent findings. I guess that the old saying "there's nothing new under the sun" refers to names and people, too.

Since we don't have Sunday night services until after Labor day, and I didn't have the kids, Margaret and I decided we'd go to Martinsville to see one of our ladies who is up there in a nursing home.

Margaret wanted me to drive her car, so I did. After I moved some of the pillows she perches on so she can see. We got rained on a little on the way, but it was just sprinkles.

We always go to Country Cookin' to eat when we go and today was no exception. The food is really good and reasonably priced. Only thing I don't like about it, they charge extra for the tea. You could buy a whole gallon at the grocery store for what they charge for a glass. But, since the food is so plentiful and so good, I guess that's how they make their money.

We got to the home and Mrs. Davis was laying in her bed with a blanket over her and it was so hot in there I thought I'd die. I asked her if she was hot and she informed us that she was about to burn up. Her bed is the one next to the door and her roommate's bed is next to the window, but when we got there she wasn't in the room. She came rolling in after a while. She'd been upstairs to the weekly singing.

Her roommate is something else. I went over to her side of the room and sat in her chair and talked to her for a while. She said she'd missed seeing us and was tickled over the little bags of goodies we'd taken them. She said she loved the Hershey's kisses and hadn't had any since she'd been there. Then she started talking, " You know, I was born March 16, 1916. Do you know how old that makes me?" I said, "Yes, that makes you 92". "Yep, in 8 more years, I'll be 100 years old. Bet you don't know any other 92 year old who can crochet and not wear glasses to do it. Did you know I was born in 1916?" I'm not making fun of the nice lil lady, but she did tend to repeat herself. Over and over. But, she really did crochet and read without glasses.

While I was sitting over there talking to her, Margaret had sat down on Mrs. Davis's bed and was fanning away. I looked at the combo heat/air sysyem and it was turned to heat. I moved the knob to cool and you could feel that cold air start to come out. It didn't take long for the room to start to cool down.

We stayed about an hour and a half and Mrs. Davis didn't really rouse herself to do anything but cough. She looked like she felt bad and was really coughing from way down in her chest. I asked her what they were doing for her cold and she said they weren't doing anything. I took her a book cause she likes to read and she did thank us for the goodie bag, but she really wasn't herself. Oh, she was also born in 1916.

Company, food, fireworks,hot,baseball,rain,over

My daddy's mother,Martha Elizabeth Craig, nee Wood, from my first memory of her, always had pure white hair and she wore hers in a bun on top of her head.( Her daughter, Lulu, inherited that white hair as did Lulu's daughter, Hazel). She wasn't fat, but she had an ample lap and bosom which was just made for cuddling; and I loved to cuddle. It was a standing joke between my cousin Harry, Jr. and me as to whom she loved the best. I still think it was me!

We called her G'ma Craig and her and G'pa would come several times a year and spend a few weeks with us. G'ma Craig always brought her crochet needles and thread and would spend hours making doilies. She never had a pattern, but would make sets that always matched both in size and style. She could sit and talk and crochet without ever dropping a stitch.(I still have some of her doilies). I think Geraldine inherited this ability from her, cause I sure didn't.

G'ma Craig was also born in April, I think in 1861 in Bedford County and as far as I know; except for forays to Lynchburg and Danville, lived there her entire life. She had 7 children that grew to adulthood and a couple who died either at birth or a very early age. Her and G'pa farmed the land to feed their family and when we used to go to Bedford to see them when I was a kid, they didn't even have electricity.

G'ma didn't tell ghost stories like my Bannie, but when they got together; they could tell some tales. It doesn't seem funny now, but when I was little it sounded odd for them to call each other Bess and Mary. Cause they were Bannie and G'ma.

Now that I'm an old lady and a g'ma many times over, I wish I had spent more time asking questions instead of just being so happy whenever G'ma Craig came to town. What were her dreams and ambitions? Was she happy spending her life as a farmer's wife? Was she filled with pride when two of her soldier sons did duty at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?

I wish cassette recorders had been invented when her and Bannie got together. Boy, would we have some good stories and memories.

I've been reading a book about grandmothers by different authors; some famous, some I've never heard of. So I decided I'd write about my two grandmothers.

My mother's mother was a small boned, wiry lady with hair down to her waist that she kept in a bun on the back of her head. She never let any of us brush her hair because one of the granddaughters at one time was brushing it and got the brush all tangled up in that hair and I think it ended up with some of the hair having to be cut to free the brush.

She was born Mary Jane Creasy, but didn't like the Jane so she changed it to Ellen. I recently found an old yellowed paper with "Mary J E Creasy was born April 3, 1866", but I've heard all my life how her mother got up out of her bed after just giving birth to Mary Jane to take her down to the railroad tracks to see the train bearing the body of Abraham Lincoln after he was killed. And that happened April 4, 1865.

Her grandkids called her "Bannie Hall" and when she was a young woman in Sycamore, VA and in Lynchburg, she was the local midwife, herbalist, sewwer upper of bad ax cuts or not so bad ones. She roamed the mountain getting the proper herbs for what ailed the folks and putting her knowledge to good use.

When I knew Bannie Hall, she was living with us on Picket Street and whenever it stormed or rained in the summer, she would gather all the kids on the street on our front porch and tell the best and scariest ghost stories you ever heard. They were so real that you could hear the chains rattling behind you. She could also recite these long poems,ie, "Casey at the Bat" and never leave out a word. She also knew one that was about 20 stanzas long about a bride who hid in a trunk on her wedding day and her bones were found "mouldering" in a trunk many years later.

When I knew her she loved snow and would get out in it to walk to town for any reason; "I need a size needle I don't have", or maybe she just wanted a dime's worth of candy from Woolworth. I never saw her cook anything at our house, but she used to wash dishes some time. However, I saw her pick and shell bushels of beans and snap bushels of green beans. I don't know if she read for pleasure or sewed for fun. I don't know a lot about her, but I do remember that she had a large nutmeg in her room in a jar and if we were very good, she'd cut off a small chunk and give it to us at bedtime. I don't know why we all thought that was such a treat cause it really didn't taste that good. Actually, it was pretty awful. But, it was something that made us feel special.

I need to tell some personal things about Bannie. She married at age 14 and gave birth to 11 live children. The first was born in 1884 and she had one every two years for six years and then skipped three years and started the every two year thing again from 1891 to 1911 except for 1909. That was a bunch of kids. While she was living at Sycamore with several of the kids and her hubby, she caught him out in the woods with her sister "making whoopee" and beat the tar out of her sister and then gathered all the kids and some clothes up and walked from there to Lynchburg. A good lil walk...probably about 25 miles as the crow flies. She was some woman! My Bannie Hall.

It's funny how you can see someone or something and make an assumption about them/it and be entirely wrong. I was in Old Dutch this morning and a scruffy looking, bearded, skinny guy was in the produce aisle with me. He sorta smiled and spoke and I answered him back, but to me, he looked like what my concept of a homeless person would be.

I got what I had gone for and when I got to the check out line he was ahead of me and had a bunch of groceries; looked like a week's supply for somebody with a family the size of Linda's. I don't know how much it was, but he pulled out a roll of bills that would choke a cow to pay for them. Funny, I assumed he'd buy a bottle or carton of beer and pay for it with change.

Coming home down Claiborne I saw another old guy; this one walking with a cane. But what a cane it was! All decorated with stuffed toys, a Santa, and flowers. It was looking good! I don't know which house he went in; I've seen him several times, but he's always walking like he has a destination in mind. And his cane is always decorated with something pretty. Gives you a lift. You know, he might be the homeless guy!

A couple of years ago my friend Danny gave me a gardenia that he had rooted. It was in a small pot and the first thing I did was repot it into a huge container. Last year it had about doubled in size and had a couple of blooms on it. When it got cold I pushed it over against the wall and covered it with a blanket and watered it every once in a while. This spring I pulled it back over to the edge of the deck where it could get sun and water and it has been blooming ever since the weather got warm. Right now it has about five gorgeous blooms that you can smell when you step out onto the deck.

Mother's Day Keister came by and brought me a hibiscus and a pot to put it in. It had a bloom on it when he brought it and I immediately repotted it and it has had blooms on it ever since. Beautiful pale coral colored ones.

I also have a lot of blooming petunias that came up "volunteer" and they have weird designs on the petals. They are strange shades of pink and purple with tips of white or star like designs on the petals. Different! My rose moss is blooming, but so far they are all deep pink. Last year I had a couple of white and yellow ones, but non so far.

I put some four o'clocks and some of that viney stuff in a planter for Tami, but so far, she hasn't come to get it. It's growing, tho. But it needs a lot of water cause the planter isn't very deep and it's out in the yard.The verbena is planted on the corner of the wall at the side and it's thriving, altho it's having to fight the four o'clocks and vines. But it seems to be very hardy.

It's been a nice cool evening. I came home from church and finished dinner and we ate and I had a book I'd started yesterday, so I decided I'd go sit in the swing and read. So, I did.

While I was sitting there someone came across the yard and spoke and after my initial shock, I looked up and discovered Dave Heard standing there grinning with a six pack in his hand. Nope, it wasn't for me, but for my neighbor Chris, who is having a birthday today.

I was reading some of my old scribblings today after Cindy re-arranged my archives and I used to be a lot better than I am now. So, how do I change? I think I'm just getting too old to write.

What would you do and where would you go if you could magically close your eyes and make a wish and have it come true? I've been thinking about this for a while and what I would really like is simple. Well, except for my trip to Ireland. That's where I'd go.

I would like to be loved and taken care of and pampered by a nice man. I don't especially want the sex, but I would like to be hugged, cuddled, wined and dined, long walks on the beach or even the walking trail and lots of conversation. Oh, the sex would be okay, too. But I really miss having a male figure to lean on. Guess that's my fantasy. And it really is, isn't it?