Thursday, December 31, 2009

Goodbye, 2009!







I must say goodbye to old 2009. It has not been the best year of my life but then it hasn't been the worst either!
I just hope and pray that 2010 will not be any worse than 2009. I have been lucky and the economy has not hurt me too much yet but I realize that it has been really rough on some people.
But I will just watch the ball fall from the top of whatever building it is that it falls from! Then shortly after that I will be snuggling into my bed and starting out the New Year.
I hope all of you have a very happy New Year and that your whole year is as good as it can be.

Friday, December 25, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!+




Merry Christmas to everyone! I know most of you are celebrating today, however, I will not be celebrating until tomorrow. Some of the family could not do it today so we made it for tomorrow.




Whatever day we celebrate it is the birth of our Savior. It is the reason for the season. I hope all of you have a very good day and don't eat too much!
I love everyone of you with all of my heart!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Christmas Tree Lights



























Wouldn't you think if scientists were smart enough to put a man on the moon, make a Hubble telescope and place a space station into space that they could figure out how to make lights for Christmas trees that would last at least through one season? Or at the very least that they could make lights that don't all go out if one bulb is bad?


I don't remember ever having a season that I didn't have problems with my lights! Already, this season I have had two strands of lights go out. One I was lucky enough to find the bad bulb right away. But the other one is on a strand of about 50 lights and I have no idea which place to start checking them.


At the very least you would think they could make lights which keep burning except for the bad ones. They make strands of 100 lights and you go nuts trying to find the burned out one.


Actually, since there are only 4 or 5 days until Christmas I am just letting my unlit strand alone. I do not want to test 50 bulbs to find the bad one.


I also have a fiber optic tree which is beautiful when it works. I have already had to replace the starter in it this season, I hope it lasts until the end of the holidays.


If our space instruments were built like Christmas tree lights I am afraid we would be on the end of the efficiency list with our JUNK!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Another Great Concert




Saturday night I attended my second concert this year. This was a Christmas concert and it was excellent. Carla Sue, my daughter, took me to it.


We got a snow Friday night and when I got up Saturday morning I thought the concert would be out of the question. But Tony came over during the day and plowed my driveway so that Carla could get in without a problem. They always have the main streets clear in a few hours. So we had no travel problems.


She picked me up at 6:00 PM and we went to Wendy's and ate our supper. Then the concert started at 8:00 PM. We parked in the parking garage and took the covered walkway over to the theater so we did not have to be outside at all.


It has been years since I have gone to any kind of concert, now in about six months time I have attended two of them! I am really living it up!


The concert was Christmas music. My favorite part was the young man who impersonated Elvis and sang Blue Christmas, He did a perfect job. He sounded like Elvis and he looked like Elvis. Then they had all of the traditional Christmas songs. I really enjoyed it.


I have no idea when I will ever go to another concert again but I have my memories of these two I have been to in the last six months! Thanks to my daughter and my sister!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Happy Birthday to ME!

March 1999-->



Today I am celebrating--I use that word loosely because I am not really doing anything-- my 83rd birthday.
Actually, Sunday was the day my family came over and celebrated my birthday. Brett, my grandson, made enchiladas for all of us. He brought all of the fixings and did all of the cooking. Then after we ate he and Carla Sue cleaned up everything and told me to go sit down, which I did! It was really nice to have someone cook for me and clean up.


This birthday is not really much different from all of my other 82 birthdays. I don't feel any different except maybe a little stiffer and a little less agile!

Another thing that today commemorates is the 9th year of Ford's death. What a terrible birthday that was! I can't believe it has been nine years. I miss him every day of my life. He would now be 90 years old if he were living. That seems impossible!

I may be around next year for another birthday, I hope I am--but only if I am able to be up and around and taking care of myself!






Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My Favorite Christmas as a Child



Olden Times Valentines



When I was about 4 years old, before Mary Ruth was born, my mother put up a huge Christmas tree--at least in my memory it was huge but it it may have not been huge at all! Anyway, Daddy had gotten the tree somewhere, I am sure for free--and he set it up in our living room.


We did not have a lot of money, actually, not much at all. So they couldn't afford to buy Christmas ornaments. But Mama was very creative and she got out her box of old Valentines. They were very colorful and pretty and had a lot of red in them. She decorated the tree with all of those Valentines. I can remember until this day how beautiful and luxurious that tree looked to me. Many might have laughed at her for using such odd ornaments for our tree. But believe me, I remember to this day that tree. If it had just been decorated with regular ornaments I may not have remembered it at all!


I think she was very smart to use something that to her was beautiful and she was recycling back when recycling was unheard of.


I wish I still had those old valentines because they would remind me of the most exciting Christmas I ever had. They got double use that year!


Monday, December 14, 2009

My Horrible Picture, But I am Proud of it!

I have removed the picture of my driver's license because of identity theft reasons!



I went last Friday and got my driver's license renewed. Actually, I don't like to show my driver's license to anyone--it is always so horrible. But somehow, I am really proud of this one. I worried for six months before I went because I was afraid I would not be able to pass the eye test.





But miraculously, I did pass it with no problem--and without any glasses--so I was jubilant as I walked out of the license bureau. I really slept good Friday night. They took this picture just after I had passed the eye exam, which is probably why I look so stunned. So you are looking at a very happy woman in the picture!





The license is good for three years so I can forget about it until about six months before the three years are up. Then I will start worrying again. But who knows, maybe I won't even be here three years from now? I hope I am and that I can pass the eye exam again for the next three years.





Now I will hide the horrible picture in the deep part of my billfold and never drag it out except when I have to for some reason!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

What You Eat on Saturday Night




What you ate on Saturday night may be disclosed on Sunday morning to your seat mates!

Years ago we used to sit in the same seats on Sunday when we went to church just as most other people sat in the same seats.

There was a family who sat in the pew right behind us most every Sunday. They must have loved garlic. Because we could smell it wafting around to our seats very strongly. Our church was small so everyone was very close together. Just the breathing of the people near you was evidence of what they had eaten the night before if it was a spicy item. These people invariably smelled of garlic. They were nice classy looking people but they did stink!


I love garlic--but not second hand! We finally decided that we would pick a different place to sit so we would not have to smell their garlic for an hour during the church service. It might have been doing them a favor if someone had mentioned to them that their garlic was offending other people--someone, but not me!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Books





















I have always loved books. From the very first memories of mine books were at the top of the list. So when I was very young, before school, my Mother began talking about getting me a primer. I really didn't know what a primer was but I did know it was a book.
So we went to the book store one day and my mother helped me pick out a book. I can't remember what book it was but that was the beginning of my fun days of reading. I think it may have been a Mother Goose book with all of the nursery rhymes.

I still have a love for books but TV has sort of wrecked my true love of books. I sometimes wish I could go back to reading just plain old books instead of watching so much TV. Of course the computer has also cut in on some of my time.

Actually, Today about 4:30 my TV, Computer and telephone all crashed. They said some big truck had cut a line and caused the problem. They were all out for about four hours. I really felt isolated with no phone, no TV and no computer. I did have my cell phone and that helped some. I used it to call Verizon to see what the problem was. They told me it might be 8:00 in the morning before the repairs were finished. I was glad they were wrong and it was only about four hours.


Anyway, I would have been digging out a book to read had they not been repaired until tomorrow.

I still LOVE books!

Friday, December 11, 2009

The Baby Doll

The Baby Doll Gift

Many years ago when I was just very small, we had a family in either our church or our neighborhood--not sure which--who was having a very hard time. I don't remember if the father had died or was just out of work but several friends got together and were getting a big basket of items together for the family.

They had a small child, probably about my age, so my mother bought the cutest little baby doll for her. In my memory it looked very much like the doll in the picture above. I wanted that doll so badly for myself. But my mother told me it was for the little girl in that unfortunate family and I must let her have it. So I braced myself and gave up the idea of having it for myself.

I remember how I wished I could be the owner of that doll. But I then felt that I was being good by sacrificing it for some one who had run on bad luck.

I never owned the doll but I have had memories of it for all of these years since then. I hope the little girl loved it when she received it because I fell in love with it even though I never owned it!



Thursday, December 10, 2009

Former World's Largest McDonalds





















McDonald's in Vinita, Oklahoma

I should have written this a few years ago. Then this McDonald's was the world's largest--now one in Orlando, Florida has super sized it.


Anyway, when we used to travel to Texas once or twice a year, we always stopped at this huge McDonald's in Vinita, Oklahoma. The McDonald's straddled highway I 44. It was also known as "The Glasshouse."


We have eaten many hamburgers and fries at this place. Actually, at the time we made stops there I did not realize it was the world's largest McDonalds. I have since discovered that it was.
I have not been there for some time--not since Ford died. But I have lots of good memories of going there and enjoying a McDonald's meal back in our fun days.
That McDonald's made the tiny one here in our neighborhood look like a play house! Maybe someday I will get to see the one in Orlando, Florida! NOT!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Archie

Archie Slater

The man in the picture above is my brother in law, Archie Slater. He was Ford's sister's husband. He is now deceased.

Archie was a firefighter years ago until he got an allergy problem and lost his sense of smell. That finished his firefighting career. With no sense of smell he was unable to continue in that line of work.

He retired and he and his wife, June, moved to Las Vegas, Once there he got a job at Sunrise Hospital and I am not sure of his title but it was in the emergency room. In the emergency room there were many times that people needed cleaned up after mishaps. Archie, with no sense of smell, offered to do many of those jobs. I am sure many people appreciated that because of the unpleasantness and bad smells associated with that kind of work.

I often thought how nice it was that he did that work for other people. He could not smell anything so it was not as unpleasant for him as it would have been for someone with a sense of smell--still not fun but not quite as bad.

He had to have polyps removed every so often from his nose because of his problem. Actually, his allergies led to heart problems and he died several years ago. I still think he had a honorable attitude toward people and what he was willing to do for others!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Campbell Soup Kids

The Campbell Kids





















I remember many years ago seeing advertisements for Campbell Soup. I fell in love with the Campbell Kids. I thought they were so cute--and I still do!



I still see some ads with the kid's pictures on them but not nearly as many as there used to be.



I like Campbell's soup--M'm! M'm! Good-- but I think it is much too expensive for the amount of soup in the can. I can make soup much cheaper than they charge for theirs--but it doesn't taste like theirs! But I still enjoy seeing the kid's pictures whenever I can.



I see that they actually had dolls made in their likeness. They were originally designed by Grace C. Drayton. They were made by E.I. Horsman Company in the 1930s and 40s. I never had a doll of them but I probably would have had one if I had known they were available.



I actually visually see those kids when ever I eat Campbell's soup. Hooray for the person who came up with the idea for the Campbell Kids! He, or she came up with a winner!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Fruit Bowls




Above is a picture of my Grandma Caffee, my Dad's mother. I remember visiting her house when I was just a little kid. She most always had a fruit bowl on her kitchen table with apples, oranges, bananas, grapes and whatever was in season. Back in those days people didn't always have fresh fruit available all year round as we do today. But I remember how tempting that fruit looked to me.
I usually asked if I could have something off the bowl and, of course she always let me pick whatever I wanted. I had a big decision picking the best and prettiest piece of fruit.
Nowadays, I have a fruit bowl on my dining room table but it never has fruit in it! Usually it has coins, odds and ends, and other clutter. I keep my fruit in the fridge.
But I often think of my grandma when I pick out a piece of fruit from my fridge. It is so expensive now that you almost need to keep it under lock and key!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

My Tree Decorator--Brett




Brett, my grandson, came over Thursday and put A Christmas tree up for me. He is very good at arranging the lights just right and getting the ornaments placed perfectly. He works at Target and he does a lot of tree decorating for the store.
I did not ask him to do it--he just volunteered. Of course, I accepted immediately.
I do not have the energy it takes to do all of that stretching, bending and stooping while putting a tree up. I gave that up several years ago.
I do enjoy looking at the tree during the Christmas season. So I am happy that he did the job for me. He also said that he will come over and take it down for me after Christmas is over. I also accepted that offer. I will probably take the ornaments off and place them in their box. But I will let him take the tree down. That will be after New Year's. It is terrible to get old but it is nice to have loved ones do things for me.

Friday, December 4, 2009

My New Little Gem






















This is my new little great grandson. I am sorry that the pictures are not very good. I had a problem getting the picture on my computer so I ended up making a picture of the picture with my camera and then getting it on the computer. So they are not as sharp and clear as they could be.


He was born last Monday and weighed in at 7 pounds and 8 ounces. He is doing great. He is not eating as much as they would like and he lost 8 ounces the first day. He will probably gain all of that back soon when he starts eating better.


Amy is so relieved that he is out of her and she feels much smaller! As I said in an earlier post, his name is Braylon Allen Miller. I have not seen him yet. but I will as soon as possible. They live 25 miles away from me.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Eating with the Cats!





























How would you like to eat your meal looking at this cat litter box? That is what I had to do once when we were visiting in California with some friends. They invited us to go with them to visit their son there.



Our friend's son was stationed in California while in the Air Force. He was living with his girl friend near his base. The girlfriend invited us to come to their house for a dinner one of the nights we were there.



We had never met her before nor had our friends met her but we accepted the invitation for the dinner.



It was obvious that she was no housekeeper but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was! When we entered the kitchen for the meal she had a buffet set up along one wall. Then we were to fill our plate and sit wherever we wanted sincc they had a very small table. I couldn't believe my eyes when right under the table with the food set up there was a cat litter box--looking exactly like the one in the picture above, I kid you not.


I hurriedly filled my plate and went out of sight of the litter box to eat. I will have to say that she had a delicious meal and I could have really enjoyed it under better circumstances.


Our friends were horrified, I am sure, that their son was involved with a girl like that. Actually he married the girl not long after that but it was short lived. He was not raised in that kind of situation and maybe he was finally sickened of it and left her.


We never went to the house again after that. Our friends apologized about the whole thing. Of course we didn't blame them, it was their son's friend , not theirs.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Along with Deaths there are births!

The family of the new baby, Braylon Allen


Now that I have grieved about two deaths I can rejoice about a new birth. My Granddaughter, Amy, just had a new baby on the last day of November. He was born at 8:05 PM and weighed 7lbs 8 0unces His name is Braylon Allen. That is a new name they found in a list of boy's names that are popular today. It is kind of unusual, I think.


I am eager to see him. He is my fifth great grandchild. there are three boys and two girls. I will post a picture as soon as I get one.


So a new birth kind of helps ease the sadness of the two deaths. It all comes out even in the end!