READING AGAIN

David just finished reading this book last week and insisted I read it before he takes it back to the girl he borrowed it from. He said that it was one of the best books he has ever read. I am over 60 pages into this 248 page book and I am feeling so sick to my stomach that I have to read fast and continuously now to get to the good part. Stay tuned...

The Shack is a fiction book written by William P Young. Let me know if you have read it.

****VOTE****

I was not too excited about our upcoming election until McCain picked his VP. The more I hear about this woman the more I want to vote. I purchased this little tile to put in my kitchen. The coffee motif is perfect.

WASN'T HE PLAYING VOLLEYBALL IN MY BACK YARD YESTERDAY?

It is so nice when you get back in touch with people you love and lose contact with. Chad was like one of my own kids for many years.

He was funny, always around and at times down right loveable.

He was a giving kid. He brought me Christmas presents when he was a teenage. One of my favorite is a poem that I have framed and hang up every Christmas. The title is "The Night Before Jesus Came." Every year when I hang it I say a prayer for him and his family where ever they may be.

DAVID'S NEW TOY

Well, thanks to a new golf cart David can now get from one green to the next tee at a little faster pace. More importanly, he can be sure it will make it up the small hill going to #2 hole. That's the one we can see looking out our lanai.

I don't really think that golf is a sport where you get much exercise (unless you are as bad as I am and have to swing many times to hit the ball).

This snazzy little demo cart was used at a course on Sanibel for 6 months before we got it but it is still like new and will get much use.

WEEKEND VISITOR

Natalie came over after school to spend the night. When she got up Saturday morning there was condensation on the sliders so when she saw me cleaning it off she wanted to help.
That is a lot of glass for a little girl.













She logged quit a bit of time playing with the Barbie dolls.








She worked hard making her own birthday cake. We used an old lamb mold that Nick, my grandmothers husband made (probably before I was even born). The cook was rewarded with the beaters.

While we were waiting for it to finish baking Natalie's 5 imaginary friends came to the door. She let them in and made them sit on the sofa until we were finished. Their names were Clair Cobb. Yes all of them.





The finished project was pretty cute.




After all the hard work we had to relax at the pool. The water was a little cool after all the rain but that didn't stop us. Natalie, David, the Clair Cobbs and I all played and had fun.








Natalie lined the Clair Cobbs up and we went home to get ready for the party.









We went shopping for another gift, purchased balloons, plates and candles, she wrapped her own gifts, and set the places. She got to sit by the cake and the Clair Cobbs shared seats at the bar.



When Tara arrived we had the party and Tara took the party photos.

TARA'S NEW CAR

Tara called tonight after we got home from dinner to see if she could come by to show us her new car.

It is so nice. It has leather interior and it looks great!

Here is David coming to check it out too.

I wish my car looked that good. I am so happy for her, all of her hard work is paying off.

CELEBRATING 64 YRS ON SEP 3

I found Mom and Dad's cake topper in her cedar chest. The ladies head was broken off but Jason, a guy I work with fixed it as good as new.

On the bottom JAPAN is stamped on it. I remember when I was young all of the nic naks were from Japan. Now everything says made in China.

This is something worth keeping, just in case one of their Great Granddaughters wants to use it at their wedding. She has 7 of them and I hope they all inherit her value of marriage.

BLAST FROM MY PAST

For the first seven years of my life I lived in a little white house that was later converted into a two car garage . My dad had started building the "New House" on the front of our property before I was born. We anticipated moving into that house for years and with every nail that went in we were that much closer to living in a home that was nice, pretty and spacious. A home that we could be proud of.

We received these glasses as a house warming gift when we moved from the garage into the "New House".

We only used these on special occasions but they are a reminder of my very happy childhood.


We always stored the set in the original box so you can see that the cost was $5.49 back in 1960. That was expensive for us. This was also back before bar codes.




I wish I could remember who gave them to us.

ONE OF MY TREASURES

Anyone that ever knew my cousin Linda loved her and loved being around her. When I was a child she would take me on the bus downtown to see a movie or she would take me ice skating. She didn't just do this for me but she did it for all of her nieces or nephews or children of her cousins. She would also take them to the State Fair and get everyone dressed up in costumes to have a photo taken. She would go to the drive-in or any other fun place she could think of. She didn't have to go anywhere to be fun. Christmas Day was never complete until she arrived. She was an airline stewardess and was responsible for Dave and I going to Europe.

There are so many stories I love to remember about her. She always thought David had "Hot Legs", she kissed Troy on the mouth the first time she met him, one time she was going to do a jump when she was water skiing and chickened out when she got to the ramp causing her to go up and then slide back down it on her butt. They had to pick splinters out of her for quite some time. Painful for her but a very funny story for everyone else.

When she got cancer she went to Camp Bluebird. It was a camp just for cancer patients. She made this bird feeder while she was there. She gave it to Mom so when I found it while cleaning last week I had to have it.

Dave and I went to Home Depot and got this pole to hang it on. We hung it up Saturday but took it down this morning because a storm is coming. I am so glad to have it right out there where I can see the birds enjoying it.

RECAP KY TRIP

We had a very successful and fun trip to Louisville.

I found and brought home some really cool things from my childhood and some things that were in our family long before I was even thought of. I am a firm believer that things should be used up instead of kept in a safe place to save for a later date but if other people felt that way I would not have these treasures that I brought home for myself and for others. (We also would not have filled a 40 cubic yard dumpster or made some $$$ at the scrapyard)

Soon, I will show you photos of the "things" that I had to pull out and carry 1,000 miles because they had meaning to me but first I wanted to show the real important treasures.

We had a family reunion and the photos of that haven't been sent to me yet but it was a wonderful day.

These photos are of my cousin Rich (Richard to the family). He has been a stage hand for most of his adult life and a party boy since he was big enough to walk. He was always fun. He and Robin were quite the team. We lived at opposite ends of town but we loved their visits. Richard and his brother had cool toys we didn't have, so we were impressed.

One of my favorite memories was when they would come to visit and bring their soft red rubber kick ball. We would play with it for hours and then when it was getting dark and they had to go home Robin would kick it as hard as she could into the field of tall grass. The result was that we would just keep it for them until they came back.

Richard never got mad but the memory he has of me, the younger cousin was not as pleasant. He remembers me tattling on him for cursing. He said that he only said shoot and darn. That is not the way I remember the story. (You would think that after 50 years he could let that go.)

I also remember him taking me to school one time when I was 5 and staying with them. He went to Catholic grade school and I was his "Show and Tell" that day. I stood up in front of the class of 5th graders and said the books of the Bible. I thought that was a cool day. I got to sit in a desk just like the other kids until lunchtime when my aunt came and picked me up.

This is not a very good picture of Carol but since it was at the end of the week when I worked her, Richard, David and Ronnie like slaves I thought it would be okay to post it. She is with Irene, Rich's wife. We had such a fun time I look forward to seeing them all again.

WRAPPING UP FOR AWHILE

After 5 days of dragging stuff out and 4 days of begging shoppers to take our stuff we got tired of playing this game and took down the signs.

I really did have a good time. We had lots of old friends stop by to visit and to help. Now that there is a sidewalk along our road here we got shoppers that were just walking by. One lady even came on her motorized wheel chair. She even purchased a coffee table and 2 end tables for a whopping $10. David delivered those for free.

My cousins came by last night and picked up all the good stuff that was left to take to their yard sale that they will be having in a couple of weeks.

Today David will take the last truck load of metal to the scrapyard and collect the last check from that. Carol and I are going to collect trash from the house and basement to finish filling the dumpster. Tonight we will be going to dinner with my cousin, Rich and his wife and that should wrap up this trip to Louisville.

KENTUCKY REPORT

After spending one night on the road we made it to Kentucky Friday evening. We stayed at a Country Inn in Valdosta, Georgia. I highly recommend Country Inn. The room was nice and the bed was comfortable. However, I do not recommend traveling over 970 miles in a Toyota truck. Not so comfortable!
We have used the truck since we got here to take a load of clothes to Goodwill. Today I want to take a load of aluminum to the scrap yard.
Dave, his friend Ronnie, my cousin Richard, Carol and I cleaned out the garage and the garage attic yesterday. Today we start on the basement. It is even worse than the garage but since the dumpster is over half full we probable won't get as much done down there.
Oh, I almost forgot to thank you all for remembering me on my birthday. I got calls from every end of the country, cards, chocolate covered (monster-sized) strawberries (that were shared with my work crew), a CD. solos in two different languages and a recording from a group similar to the Von Trapp family.
Seriously you all couldn't have done better making my birthday a happy one. I love you.

MONDAY MORNING GIFT

Eric brought me a box with a fat little green frog on top of it this morning. I might have been offended if he hadn't given skinny little Allison one like it.

He said that we were suppose to keep them on our desks.

I think getting a gift first thing on Monday is a good way to start the week off with a smile.

STAYING OFF THE "NAUGHTY LIST"

A "NAUGHTY LIST" has been formed for people who do not post on their blog in a timely manner. I noticed that one of the creators of this list hasn't updated in a week and therefore she is back on.

Last week was very slow at work as usual. I have started reading "Desire" by John Eldredge. I thought that was better than playing games on the computer all day.

Saturday morning I went to Lottye's memorial service at Cypress Lake Baptist Chuch. One of the interesting stories that they told was one Lottye had told me before but I had forgotten about it.

Jerry P. Jenkins, coauthor of The Left Behind Series mentioned in the beginning of one of his books about the importance in his life of Vacation Bible School and Mrs Lottye Case. Just think how her influence in his life has been multiplied by all the people who where touched by the Left Behind Books.

Saturday night Nattie came over to play for a few hours. We played board games, games on the computer, Barbies, watched movies and she only got mad at me once when I had to prove to her that as long as I out weigh her and am stronger than her, she will not beat me when we wrestle. I didn't hurt her but she got mad when I would pin her down. She is a little alpha dog.

Sunday morning we only had 30 some people in church. It was sad but we will have an interim pastor starting next week so it should get back to normal.

Dave golfed yesterday afternoon and I went to the grocery. It was a relaxing weekend and we are looking forward to our trip to Kentucky in 11 days.

THE ROTT'S FAREWELL

Saying good bye is one of my least favorite things in life. John and Laura are moving to Idaho to help with a church plant. They will be helping Laura's sister and her husband so they are very excited to be going back to the north west.

John was a very good Pastor and the kind of guy that could do anything with his hands. The activity center was built while they were here and much of the work was done by him. They were both very nice friends. We will miss them and their cute little boys.

THE SUMMER RAINS HAVE BEGUN

We have started to get our daily showers, they don't last long but things are beginning to green up a little bit. All of our lakes are very low and we have a pet that travels from lake to lake. He is approximately 10 feet long. I call him Al.

VACATIONS IS OVER

When I got back to work today my photo was still in the frame with all the other employee photos so I breathed a sigh of relief knowing they didn't decide they could do better without me. We are still slow but that isn't too unusual this time of year.

It looks like we are about to get a big storm so that rain we have been needing for so long is on the way. I look forward to a green golf course and a full pond.

LUNCH WITH FRIENDS

Time may change the way things look and it passes faster than we could ever imagine but the love we have for others stands the test of time.

Today Carol and I went to lunch with John "my first love" and his mom, Mary Webb.

NATALIE'S GROWING UP

Since I don't have Natalie during the week any longer I picked her up from school so she could come to our house and spend the night Friday night. She has had regular chores at our house and they just weren't getting done with our new schedule. She loves to help with laundry, putting cokes in the refrigerator and shredding old papers.

She did work on these things Saturday but after I let her play all the animated cards on JacquieLawson.com she wasn't as excited when the dryer stopped as she was before. She still took the clothes out and separated mine from David's and hers but it wasn't at the top of her priority list.

I was amazed at how well she navigated to see all the cards and play the games. She is 3. She can't read and she only had a few things that stumped her. I get stumped on the computer doing things I've done before.

We had to swim, chase squirrels and ride in the golf cart as we always do but the computer was her new adventure and I think she will be tutoring me soon.

TIBETAN BEAUTY QUEENS

Isn't it amazing how much these two beauties have grown since they moved to China 3 years ago? Since Todd isn't posting I get to post his photos before him.


In case you are wondering, No, they are not twins.