Happy New Year!

Hey, Y'all!
Well, it is almost over, isn't it? Many people think of New Year's resolutions on this last day of the year. I never bother to make them, because I know it is a foolish gesture because they are almost always things that we have attempted to accompllish before and never could.

Actually, each new day is a virtual new beginning for each of us, if we choose to do so.

This morning, I had a good cry thinking about my little brother, John, who was laid to rest on Monday, December 29th. I was thinking about how we spent so many years walking to school together, talking about things, and just generally enjoying each other's company. I remembered how he enjoyed telling or listening to a good joke. I thought about how we laughed together over those times in later years and how we won't be doing that anymore. His wife, Darlene, had sent me an e-mail telling me how they had buried his ashes in the National Military Cemetary on Monday, and how the Military had given him the 21 gun salute, played taps and gave her the American Flag in his memory. Thinking about all those things really brought it home to me, that he really is gone from this life. I know I shall miss him terribly in the years to come.

All my brothers served our country in the United States Army, and so far, three of them have been laid to their final resting place. I miss them all. I look forward to the time when I will see them again.

What does all this have to do with a Happy New Year? Well, although they are gone, there are those who are still here and Gramps and I intend on enjoying our time here as long as we can. Gramps actually got up this morning at around 10:30 or so. Hallelujah! He probably heard the activity going on outside our back door, although that is not necessarily true. I groused at him a little bit yesterday about staying in bed until 4:30 yesterday. Anyway, the noise outside the back door was our neighbor putting a ramp outside the back door for us to use so that Gramps can get out without my having a nervous breakdown trying to get him down the step without his falling on his snoot.

Scott, our new neighbor, is a construction worker, who is out of a job during the past few weeks. I hired him to put the new ramp in, and it is going to be perfect for us. Not only will we be able to use it for Gramps, but now Marion, (Judy's mama) will be able to come in easily to visit us. As you may remember, Marion is 90 years old, and uses a walker to get around.

This morning, I got up around 7:30, and cleaned the kitchen, did some laundry, vacuumed the living room and bed room, and did a few other things (like showering and eating breakfast), reorganized my linen closet, all by 10 a.m.

I put a cornish game hen in a dutch oven and put some barbeque sauce on it, and put it in the oven to cook while I went to the Walmart (this after I got Gramps fed breakfast). When I got home, the dutch oven was quite (very) dry and that poor little bird was almost a disaster, but I am sure that underneath that dark, dark skin, the meat is quite tasty. Oh, well, we shall see. I am going to use my new dicer to cut a sweet potato into dices, and cook them in a skillet, and also open some canned spinach to go with those things. I will let you know if the little bird was edible or not. Things that are cooked do not always turn out the way one visualizes, you know. I don't claim to be a gourmet (if I did, it would be an entirely false claim, you know).

Well, Gotta go fix that supper and tomorrow is New Year's day and we ususally try to have black eye peas and ham and rice for lunch or dinner (whichever you want to call it) We eat supper in the evening. Those items are supposed to bring luck in the new year. Also, my parents always said that if a person goes outside on New Year's Day, they should always bring something back inside to secure a prosperous year. We always had to at least bring in a stick of stovewood or some such thing if we went outside on that day.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Happy New Year to each of you, and may you feel God's richest blessings on your life in the year to come. Love to all and bye for now.

We Feel Blessed

Hey, Y'all,
Our daughter, Carol, each year composes a letter to tell of their year, and her two daughter's-in-law do the same thing. This is mine and Gramps letter this year. So here goes:

We began our year with the laying to rest of my sister, Margaret. You may ask, "how does that make you feel blessed?" We feel blessed for having known her and having her in our lives. Margaret loved the Lord, and she lived her faith for all to see. She did not flaunt her faith, but lived it quietly. She was a good role model, and she is sorely missed. Many times I have things I would like to talk to her about and questions that only she could answer.

Gramps and I moved into a new home January of this year and we continue to be blessed by that. We are living on land that once belonged to my family, and the portion we live on was sold to a neighbor in 1963 so that I could begin my college education at Carson-Newman. Our good friends, Mark and Allie (our adoptive children), bought the land back from descendants of the neighbor that my parents sold it to. We continue to be blessed just knowing Mark and Allie. We feel like we have come home at last.

We feel blessed by the new additions to our family this year. We added three great grandchildren this year. Our grandson, Will, and his wife, Tasha, had a baby girl, Alyssa Peige, born on January 9th. She is beautiful in the pictures we have seen. We have not yet seen her in person. I have a picture of her grandmother, Teresa, holding Alyssa as wallpaper on my computer. I am filled with love when I look at the two of them.

We feel blessed by the addition of Elizabeth Maria-Vanessa, to our family by way of adoption in January. Our grandson, Daniel, and his wife, Whitney, adopted her as their fourth child. She is beautiful and we got to meet her and hold her in August of this year. To know her, is to love her. We feel blessed in having her brothers and sister as great grandchildren, as well. Our hearts swell with pride and love for them.

We feel blessed by the addition of Alyssa Faith, born to our grandson, Andrew, and his wife, Julia. We haven't met baby Alyssa yet, but we love her and look forward to holding her. We are proud of Andrew and Julia and how they are living for the Lord as well. They are both active in their church.

We feel blessed by how our son-in-law, Daryl, is being taken care of in his illness of cancer. He and his family are trusting in the Lord to keep them strong and to deal with problems as they develop. They are looking ever to God and keeping Him in their sights.

We are blessed as the Lord cares for us in ways too numerous to tell. When we traveled this year, He watched over us. I believe we must have guardian angels who watch over us. I know that we barely avoided accidents that could have taken our lives as we traveled and do travel. We are so very thankful for that protection.

We feel blessed that we were able to visit our grandson, Daniel, and we got to spend time with him and Whitney and their four children. We got to meet our new great granddaugher, Elizabeth (Ellie) and to get to know her. She is a delight and full of joy. We wer also able to see the new church they worked in planting and are pastoring.

In June we traveled to Texas and visited Carol and Daryl, and their family. We feel blessed that Carol set me up with this blog, and that we have been able to keep in contact with family, friends, and make new friends. i feel especially blessed to have made so many friends. Gramps loves hearing about the things I read on other blogs as well.

We feel blessed when we hear of the good things that are happening to our extended families.

We feel blessed knowing that they are accomplishing things that make their lives meaningful, and they make us so very pleased for them and proud of them. For instance, our daughter, Teresa recently completed work for a college degree in business administration. She could have quit working on it, and have been thought no less of, but she persevered and completed it in September. It was an accomplishment that gave her the satisfaction of completion and made us so very proud.

We feel blessed in knowing that Tom and Teresa are so close to us in proximity, and that they were able to visit us this year. We feel blessed that they are such caring people, and have looked after us so well over several years.

We feel blessed knowing that our daughter, Carol, has a job that is bringing her great fulfullment and she is able to use the degree that she worked so hard for back in college a long time ago (well, not so awfully long ago). We are proud of her as well.

We feel blessed that our grandson, Will, has grown into a fine young man, serving his country in the United States Air Force, just as his mom, Teresa, his father, Bill, and his stepfather, Tom, have done. He is carrying on a proud tradition.

We feel blessed that our grandson, Matt, and our granddaughter, Emily, have almost completed their college degrees and have grown into fine young people.

We feel blessed to have gotten to know Imazo's sisters, and nieces and formed friendships with them.

We have been blessed to meet some womderful people in Ohio who took care of Gramps while he was in the hospital and in the rehab facility up there. I know it was in God's plan for us to be there when we were.

We feel blessed that Gramps has such wonderful nieces who care so much about us, and are willing to do whatever they can to help us. We are blessed that they can read the blog and know what is going on in our lives and keeping in touch with us.

We continue to be blessed just by going to Knoxville and spending time with Hugh, Imazo, Mae and our nephews and their families. We are blessed by getting to see David and Andrea sometimes and by keeping in touch with us.

We are blessed knowing that my brother, John, had such a good family out in Phoenix, and that they loved him. We are also blessed in knowing that they took such good care of him. He enjoyed life, and loved seeing us when we could go out there. He and I had a lot of good times growing up, and I am blessed by memories. We are blessed in knowing that he is in Heaven waiting for us.

Gramps and I are blessed that we have a roof over our heads, food in our pantry, clothes to keep us warm, and a Lord who loves us unconditionally. We are blessed that we have each other to look after and to be looked after. We are blessed that I can still take care of Gramps and have a reasonable amount of health left in my body.

Gramps and I are so very blessed in having so many good friends who care about us. We are blessed that we have a wonderful support group of people in our church and a good pastor who shepherds his flock.

We are blessed with good neighbors who keep an eye out for us and are always ready to help.

We thank the Lord for our lives and for the good in our lives.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the day, and trusting each of you will have a wonderful and blessed New Year.

More Pics from Hugh's Christmas Get-together

Hey, Y'all,

Well, as I promised a couple of days ago, here are some more pics from our get together at my brother, Hugh's, house. Now, I can't tell you who all the people are right now, but when I can get all the names, I will come back and edit this posting and identify all. I will have to get ID's from those who know. Probably Imazo will be able to tell me, when I can get prints made.

All I can tell you right now, is that we had a wonderful time meeting and eating together. I know my sister, Margaret, could have told me also. I would like to mention here, (in her memory), that she would have enjoyed the get together tremendously. She was a very outgoing social person, who got along famously with others. Today is the one year anniversary of her passing on to Glory. We miss her.

Well, Gramps is still abed, and I am going to try to entice him to get up by making a "breakfast" like he enjoys. I may even make some sausage gravy to go with his ham, eggs, and biscuits. He has so little that he enjoys doing these days. Well, yeah, I do enjoy that kind of breakfast as well, and it is Sunday morning and the day stretches before me.

I will be taking down the few Christmas decorations today that are up. Wreath on the front door, lights on the mantel, and small tree on the living room end table. That's it.

Empty boxes and unused wrapping paper to the basement along with the decorations. Then, Christmas is over. It was beautiful while it lasted.

Laundry to finish also (just drying what I washed yesterday. BTW, it was so beautiful yesterday, that I got Gramps out and went to Knoxville to visit with Hugh and Imazo. I also took him what I could find on the internet about a low phosphorous diet. He got the blood report back from the doctor's office and it appears that his phosporous level is too high.

While we were there, I took Imazo to the store so she could exchange his pants she had gotten him for Christmas, because they were too small around the waist. His illness has caused him to have so much fluid in his body that he is larger around the waist than he was. He is seriously considering the possibility of night time dialysis, but I don't think he is there yet. Please pray that God will lead him in making the right decision for his situation. I know he and Imazo (and those of us who love them) will appreciate those prayers.

Well, it is about time to go in and make breakfast (quite literally, I am about ready to eat the paper off the walls, because I have usually had breakfast by this time of the morning. ha.)

I hope you all have a lovely morning (what is left of it) and a great day. May God's blessings be felt by each of you who read this missile. Love to all of you. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the day.

Christmas Fun in 2008

Hey, Y'all,

I hope you had a really great Christmas this year. Ours was a lot of fun with friends and "family". The family we spent the day with yesterday is so dear to us, we consider them a part of our family.

I spent about an hour online chatting with our daughter, Teresa, who didn't get to go visit grandchildren, and I was so sorry to hear that she and Tom couldn't go see them. We did enjoy the time we got to spend chatting. (As we always do).

We left here Christmas Day about 11: 15 a.m. and headed over to Mark and Allie's, who live only about 5 or 6 minutes away.

There were a lot of people at Mark and Allie's. Besides Mark, Allie, Gramps and me, there were their three daughters, Sarah (who lives in California) and her fiance, Josh; Jessie and her friend, Travis; Rachael and her fiance, Jason; Jason's two children, Connor, and Cassidy; and our honorary grandchildren from Taiwan, Jennifer and Nelson.

You can see from the pile of gifts under the tree that there were a lot of them. We began opening gifts at noon, and of course, only one gift was opened at a time. If you can believe it, at 2:30 in the afternoon, we were still not quite through opening gifts. The paper, ribbons, bows and boxes literally flew as gifts were opened.

We finally had dinner/supper at 4 p.m. It was quite a spread, and Allie did herself proud. We had baked ham, roast turkey, green beans, niblet corn, stuffing, hot rolls, ham gravy, and turkey gravy, deviled eggs, sparkling cider, mashed potatoes, and other foods I just can't remember. That doesn't include the desserts which came about two hours after the dinner.

My sister-in-law, Mae, had called me earlier in the day and was telling me about the disaster that had come her way. She had intended her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to come to her home for Christmas dinner. Mae is 89 and had prepared the turkey to go into the oven (on Wednesday) and also had made casseroles to cook in the oven. She had her table set with plates, silverware, candles, the whole deal. She turned on her oven to bake the oven, and the casseroles. No heat in the oven. It had done its last do. She was frantic...what to do? She called her son, Fred, and he came and got the food and was going to bring it back on Christmas. I haven't talked to her yet to find out how it all turned out. I will, and will relate the rest of the story when I do my next posting. Mae is a sweetie, and we all love her.

I also got to speak to our daughter, Carol, and wished each other a Merry Christmas.

Pictures:

1. Rachael helps Cassidy with new robe.

2. Dinner table before we all fell to with both hands
3. Jennifer, Sarah, and Nelson

4. Cassidy and Connor open first gift of the day

5. Travis opens a gift

6. Gramps with new sweater

7 Josh, Yay, a Titan's fan

8. Sarah and Josh with gifts

9. Allie with new grandchildren to be, Connor and Cassidy

10. Mark with new PJ's, Cassidy in her new robe

11. Tree with pile of presents before the onslaught began

No pictures of me, because I was having fun taking pictures.

Well, that is it for today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Hope you all had as much enjoyment from yesterday as we did. Love to you all.

More to come in the way of picture from our get together at Hugh's on last Saturday. Goodbye for now.

Mini-Pies for Christmas

Hey, Y'all,

Merry Christmas to all of youse guys and gals,

This is, of course, Christmas Eve, and I was up at 8 a.m. today, because I slept in and my back was in pain. When I got up, I immediately smeared some Bio-freeze on my back and it helped some.

I haven't posted for a few days and realized I needed to do so. I have been a little busy with stuff and going and doing. A couple of days it was just too cold to get out, so I utililized that time working on Matt's quilt (which I had hoped to get to him for Christmas, but had to send him a promissory note instead). I also cooked some dried apples yesterday, in preparation for making some fried apple pies.

I sweetened the apples with splenda so that Gramps, Mark, and Allie could eat them without worrying about sugar. This morning, I got up and decided it was time to make them. You will notice from the picture how small they are. I purchased some of the ready made crusts that come rolled up and rolled the crust a little thinner (I used aluminum foil to roll them on). With the use of aluminum foil, you don't have to use flour to roll them. I then used my largest biscuit cutter to cut the circles, put about a teaspoon of apple filling into the center of the circle. (I always add cinnamon and cloves to the filling when hot, after draining water out of cooked apples).

After putting the filling on the center of the cutout crust, I put another circle of dough on top, and then using my index finger, I carefully crimped the edges of the crusts together. Then, using a salad fork (shorter tines, you know), I pressed the edges with it all the way around, then pricked the center in a couple of places to allow steam to escape from inside, and put them into a skillet with some butter-flavored crisco already in it, and melted. The skillet should be hot when the pies are put in and they only need a couple of minutes before turning them over. Cook till golden brown, remove, and eat as you wish.

Yesterday, I went into Knoxville to take Imazo anywhere she needed to go. I really enjoyed sitting with them and chatting for awhile. We reminisced about my dad and the way he liked chocolate covered cherries and chocolate drops. For those of you who do not know about chocolate drops, they look like a large chocolate kiss, (kind of, only rounded on top) and the center is made of a smooth creamy confection. People would bring some of each to him at Christmas, and he considered them his, so he would take them to his bedroom and hide them in a drawer, then later, would disappear for a few minutes. Then he would come back into the living room (or kitchen) kind of grinning. We knew without any guessing that he had been back there sneaking a chocolate drop. Ha. It is so much fun to remember things like that.

Imazo and I went out for some errands and when we got back I had to leave. I had gotten Gramps up around 11 a.m. and he had his breakfast and was able to be alone for awhile.

A grocery store was on my route home, so I stopped and got a few items, then proceeded on home. I was very pleased to see that Gramps had changed into his day clothes. We spent the rest of the day with the television on and after we had supper, we sat in the living room and I worked on Matt's quilt.

Today, after while, I will finish the fried pie making, and doing the kind of things that will have to be done before tomorrow. I just finished talking to my cousin, Mary, who lives in Knoxville. She is the daughter of my Uncle Arthur, and is in her 80's. It was wonderful talking to her and her husband, Fred.

Well, Gramps is up, so it is time for me to close this little episode. Love to all of you, and I wish all of you to have a wonderful day tomorrow with friends and family.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Bye for now. More later.

A Quiet Day

Hey Y'all,

Everything is very quiet here today, (except for the television in the living room running at full blast, since Gramps is really getting hard of hearing).

I actually didn't get up for good until nearly 9 a.m. We went into Knoxville yesterday afternoon to get together with family and when we left it was storming a whole lot! It was quite difficult driving through the rain, because the water was all over the highway, and falling in sheets (maybe even a few pillowcases).

I was so tense while driving that sometime in the middle of the night I woke up with cramps in both legs and so I just lay quietly hoping the cramps would go away, and eventually they did. When I got up at seven to make a pit stop, I went back to bed and didn't wake up again until almost 9 a.m.

When I got up at 9 this morning, I remembered I had promised Gramps last night that I would "make breakfast" this morning. Thus, I proceeded to do so, and got him up at nearly 10 to eat.

Last night at Hugh's, we had a wonderfully delicious supper that I know Imazoe must have worked all day in the kitchen to prepare. Yum! The menu consisted of: Mac and Cheese; mashed potatoes, green beans, ham, turkey, rolls, chicken planks, and topped off with cake and ice cream. She also had all kinds of things to drink (nope, no alcoholic beverages - our family doesn't do those).

She had invited a lot of people, some of whom Gramps and I had never met, but they were on the family side of Peggy, Jeff's wife (a dear lady, by the way). There will be pictures when I get them sent to me. There will also be more about the get-together when I do get them. I do know we all had a wonderful time.

I have one picture of the get together that I would like to post. It is a picture of Hugh, his son, Jeff, and Jeff's sons, Jonathan, Andrew, and Thomas. As you may be able to tell, Tom and Jon are twins. Andrew is the oldest son and is married. The twins are still single.

There are also a couple of pictures I wish to post that are of the new used furniture that I got yesterday from Mark and Allie. We are really pleased with it. It makes our living room look larger as well.

I guess I will go and do some more stitching on Matt's quilt in a little while. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. More tomorrow..Christmas is only 4 days away now. God bless each of you. Bye for now.

Unique Antiques Celebrated Christmas

Hey, Y'all,

Well, here it is Saturday, and I am just now getting to posting about our Senior Citizens "Unique Antiques" Christmas Party at our church on Thursday.

We had a really great time! We had lots of food (a priority, you know) to nibble on after we sat around and chatted with one another in a circle of chairs, waiting for everyone to arrive.

After we ate, we once again sat in the circle and began the fun and games. Our director, Judy, had planned well. The first thing we did was to write on a piece of paper 3 things we liked to do. The papers were then folded up and taken up. Judy then went around and one by one, each of us chose and read out loud what was on the paper. The group members then tried to guess who had written it. When it was correctly guessed, another person chose one to read.

Judy then started a gift around. It had several individual layers of wrapping paper on it. She played music as we passed it around, and then when the music stopped, the person holding the gift would take one layer of the paper off of the gift. Then it would be passed again in the opposite direction until the music stopped, etc. The person taking off the last layer of the gift wrapping would get to keep the gift.

Then she passed paper and pencils around and on the paper was written the words Merry Christmas. The letters were vertically written on the paper with a line after each letter. We were given 90 seconds to write as many words as we could beginning with each of the letters in Merry Christmas. I came up with 40 words as did some of the others. I think 41 was the top number of words.

Judy then started a santa's stocking with small objects inside it. We were each given 30 seconds to reach in and feel, to determine what the objects were. After 30 seconds we had to pass it on to the next person to feel inside it, while we wrote on the paper what we thought was inside the stocking. That was great fun, too. The objects inside were: plastic spoon and fork, bell, police car, beads, marble, (can't remember the rest of them).

The next thing we did, she asked for 4 volunteers to come up in front and so I volunteered along with her mom, Marion, who was my partner in the task. Another couple also volunteered. The task was: as a team, using only our left hands, to wrap a gift and be the first pair to completely wrap it. The two teams basically tied. We were given a piece of wrapping paper already cut to proper size, a box to wrap, and tape to use. We had to hold our right hand behind our backs so we could only use the left one. We had the use of a table to do the wrapping. It was a lot of fun.

The last game we had was when we got to receive a gift. We had each brought a wrapped gift with no names on them. The gifts were passed out and we listened to a story read by Judy as as we listened, the story concerned the "Right" family. Each time we heard the word "right" we passed our gift to the right, then when we heard the word "left", gifts were passed to the left. After the story was over, whatever gift we had in our hands was ours. Some of the gifts were gag gifts, others not. Mine was a pair of tall Christmas mugs. I joked with the pastor and said, "Wow! These will come in handy for drinking my brewski's...uh, I mean my hot cocoa." He laughed and said, "I know you were joking, Miss Ruby."

Pictures above:

1. Ralph opens a roll of toilet tissue while wife, Melita, and friend, Wanda, look on.

2. Fay is unwrapping a layer of paper while others watch.

3. Linda, Pastor's wife, holds Julie's baby.

4. Youth Minister's son, Luke holding train set.

5. Music Minister, David, eating with Wanda and Louise.

6. Pastor and Judy

7. Marion

8. Nell, Lester, David

9. Ellis making coffee for lunch

Well, there were other pictures, but I suppose this is enough for now. We are going to be heading in to Knoxville in a little while for our family Christmas get together. More tomorrow. Pictures at 11:00. (little news joke there).

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Thinking of my brother's family in Phoenix right now. Love to each of them and best wishes as well. Have a lovely day tomorrow, all of you faithful readers of my blog. Bye for now.

Visit to a Tearoom

Hey, Y'all,
I know I haven't posted yet about the Unique Antiques meeting yesterday, but I haven't downloaded the pics yet. I will do that in the morning and do the post about it.

The wind today was ferocious! I'll bet if I had stood in the wind for very long, I might be in the next county by now. AH Ha. Just joking! But it was very strong and cold. It knocked out the electricity in town and out here in the country and over in the next county. My friend, Judy, her mom, Marion, and I went over into the next county to a lovely little tearoom and had lunch. What a lovely treat that was! I had loaded potato soup, a half sandwich of chicken salad on puff pastry, and a pot of hot tea. Yum!

We spent about two hours over there and had such a wonderful time! We plan to go back soon.

I was up at 6 a.m. this morning (couldn't stay in bed any longer) and so I began sewing on the quilt again. I simply must finish it soon, so that I can send it to grandson, Matt, even though he won't get it by Christmas, maybe by the first of the year I can send it to him.

Our neighbor, Scott, has been working in our basement getting ready to add a bedroom, bath, and maybe a family room. We will be able to have company then to come and visit and have a place for them to sleep instead of them having to check into a motel. Wouldn't that be great? Mark is having the work done for us.

Speaking again of the wind, it seemed like it was going to blow away everything not nailed down outside and if it could have gotten inside, no doubt it could have blown away stuff from inside the house. Ha. Ha.

You should have seen the windchimes moving around. They were spinning like whirling dervishes. I was wondering if it would pick up my cracker barrel rockers and rock them on down the driveway, but it didn't. The sign hanging on my awning that tells the house number kept swinging like crazy, and but for the chains holding it, it would have sailed across the road toward the horses in the field. The wind must have made the horses invigorated, because they seemed to have extra energy, as they ran about in the field.

Tomorrow, we are planning to go into Knoxville to spend some pre-Christmas time with Hugh, Imazoe, and Mae and Hugh's family that lives in Knoxville. He told Imazo that was what he wanted this year for Christmas - just to spend time with family. He went to have blood drawn today to check on his condition. I am curious to find what they will determine from it. He has an appointment to see his heart doctor and nephrologist in January. We are all really concerned about his condition.

Also tomorrow, out in Phoenix, our brother, John's, memorial service will be held by his family out there. I am sure we will probably sit around tomorrow at Hugh's, remembering things about John, and the events of his life and how they intertwined with ours.

We are getting some different furniture tomorrow. Mark and Alllie are getting new living room furniture for their upstairs and will be moving what they have upstairs into their family room downstairs. We get what they now have in their downstairs family room. A sofa, and a love seat. Pretty good deal, eh? We will be passing on to a friend the love seat and a chair that matches it that are presently in our living room.

We will have to move our little Christmas tree (and the bookcase it is on, in front of the mantel, because we will need the space under the window to put the sofa. We will place the love seat where the occasional chair is that I usually sit in to sew on the quilt. Gramps occasional chair will stay where it is so that he can sit in it. (He has it broken in to fit his body). Thus we will have sitting places for seven people in our livining room. Right now, only five people can sit in our living room, one of them using the dining room chair that is in the living room.

Well , my eyes are telling me that it is time to go to bed. I must take my nighttime medications and take myself off to rest for a few hours. Vacuuming and furniture to move in the morning. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the evening. More tomorrow. Bye for now.

:Unique Antiques Meeting Today

Hey, Y'all,
Well, we got a big day of doin's today. Not really, but we do need to get going soon. I just got up about 7:30 this morning and took my Nexium (for acid reflux- probably more than you wanted to know) so since it is almost 8:30, I can have my breakfast of cold cereal and read a few chapters in my current paperback book.

Yesterday morning, I took our friend (and surrogate son-in-law) to have a medical procedure done and everything seemed to come out okay. He was weak from having drunk liquids all day the day before, but after we left the local hospital I took him to Perkins' Restaurant and we had breakfast. We took some gravy, biscuits and sausage to Gramps and he was just taking his blood sugar test and was ready to eat. (It was noon and he should jolly well have been up and ready to eat.)

After he had his breakfast, I had to run back into Jefferson City and drop off an obituary to put into the local paper, and then pick up some finger food stuff to take to the Unique Antiques today. That is what our church senior citizens group is named. We will be going down to the church today and eating finger foods and swapping "white elephant" gifts. Of course, we make a game of it, where anyone who picks out a gift, can exchange it for one that has already been selected. You know how that goes, I am sure. It is a lot of fun. Sometimes the same gift gets passed around a whole lot.

Gramps always enjoys that game, so he is willing to go (or at least last night he was).
After I picked up the food preps stuff for today, I was able to sit down and work on the quilt and do the finishing touches on a couple of more squares before the day was over.

I need to stop now, and get Gramps up, have our breakfast, get him and myself cleaned up and ready to go. That will probably take the better part of two hours, which will only leave us about thirty minutes before time to go.

Also, there is laundry to do today sometime and oh, you know the kind of things that just need to be done during any given day.

Thank you all for all the well wishes sent our way on the passing on of my little bro, John. May God's richest blessings rest on each of you. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the time being. Love to you all. Bye for now.

Nephews and Updates

Hey, Y'all,
Well, today is Tuesday and it is not long until Wednesday begins. Hopefully, I will be in bed before it begins (but not by much, I am sure).

We had a lovely day today. I worked this morning on Matt's quilt for awhile after I got up and had breakfast and took my shower. Then at 11:00 a.m. I got Gramps up so he could get ready to go to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast to meet our nephew, David, and his wife, Andrea.

Mark came over for awhile this morning and sat and chatted with me for awhile. He is having some work done in our basement by our neighbor, Scott. Scott is sealing the basement walls with a sealer that contains paint. It is really looking good, and he will be doing some more work down there and also will be closing in the back of our carport so that it will no longer be like a wind tunnel.

About noon, Gramps and I left and went to the Cracker Barrel and had a very nice visit with David and Andrea. David and Gramps had breakfast and Andrea and I had lunch. We then went on into Knoxville and had a lovely visit with Hugh and Imazoe. Hugh is still considering the prospect of going on dialysis, maybe. David and Andrea had to head back to Arizona this evening and Peggy, Jeff's wife, drove them to the airport to catch their flight.

Peggy was telling us that Jeff is feeling really bad with the inner ear infection that has not cleared up yet. We are not sure as to when that whole thing is going to be better. Neither are they.

After Peggy, David, and Andrea left, Imazoe made us some coffee and shared some delicious yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Yum! I asked her where it came from and she told us that her sister, Barbara, had made it and brought it with her and their sister, Dorothy, when they came to visit last week. I happened to notice in the kitchen a little later that we had the last of it, because the pan was empty. Great going, Barbara! That was really delicious! Thank you so very much, Imazoe, for sharing that good stuff with us!

Well, I better hurry with this if I am going to be in bed before midnight. More tomorrow. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. BTW, Gramps and I had a really sweet call from our grandson, Daniel, yesterday, giving us condolences on the passing of my little brother, John. We appreciated that so very much.

May each of you feel God's presence of love in your life. Bye for now.

John Has Gone Home

Hey, Y'all,

Today's posting is dedicated to my brother, John, who went to be with the Lord in the early morning hours of December 14th, 2008.

John was born on a cold February 25th, 1936. He was delivered at home in a house that belonged to the company that my parents worked for, The Holston Knitting Mill. John was delivered by the same doctor who had delivered his brother, Hugh, in 1928, and his sister, Ruby, in 1933. The doctor pronounced John to weigh seventeen pounds, and thus began John's journey in this world. John was the sixth and last live birth to our parents, James and Cecil.

When John was about sixteen months old, he became very ill and lost so many pounds that my parents thought he was going to die, and my mom took a picture of him, so that she would have it to record his being here. When they killed hogs, she made cracklings from the fat (made by cooking down the fat, and keeping what was left when the grease was poured off). She kept them in a dishpan in a lower cabinet. John got into the cracklings (called cracklin's, you know in the south, we often drop the g's) and had big handfuls of them, eating them. Mom said, "Oh, Lordy, he's going to die for sure, now!" But he began to get better, and survived.

As John grew older, his personality developed and he was the only one of her six children that Cecil could not bend their will to hers. He was stubborn to the nth degree. He maintained that characteristic throughout his life. Once he set his mind to a course, he did not easily change it or have it changed.

John had a great capacity for compassion, but did not easily reveal that to others. John was a loner, and I believe, shy about always revealing his feelings. Our mother was not a hugger, or kisser, so we didn't really learn how to do those things. We had no model for them.

Our cousin, Norma, was only two years younger than John, and her little brother, Fred, was about four years younger. Fred and Norma are the children of Bill and Mae. Bill is the oldest child in our family. The four of us grew up together and spent a lot of time together. We had some really wonderful times together.

John and I were very close, and got into trouble at the same times, because we were usually together.

When John was in the first grade, he wanted to get chocolate milk at lunch, and mom had given him the nickel to get it. He didn't know that they were only allowed chocolate milk on Fridays (rules, you know). When the teacher told him that he couldn't have it when he wanted it, he kicked her in the shins, called her a bad name, said that he "twit school" and left school, walking home. When my mother found out, she took him back to school, and made him apologize. She didn't know for years about the bad name he had called the teacher or that he had kicked her in the shins. Our Uncle John, one of dad's brothers, teased him for a long time, and asked him if he had 'twit school' any more.

John was a talented, gifted person. He had a genius IQ, and was a dreamer of doing big things. John has accomplished the ability to do a lot of things. Once he learned to do anything, the challenge was gone, and he moved on to other challenges. John didn't have to bring books home in school. He did his homework, even in high school, at school. He was forever working on inventing things. He built a crystal radio set when he was in elementary school. I felt it was my reponsibility to keep him humble by telling him 'It'll never work' about whatever he was trying to invent. Of course, that would just make him more determined to do whatever it was.

John had a buddy in elementary and high school named Robert, who was a whiz at electronics and could do just about anything with electronics. They competed for grades in high school and would race to see who could get their math homework done first. Robert was killed in a car wreck when they were just graduated from high school. I am sure John was greatly affected by the loss of his friend.

John went to University of Tennessee for a short time after he graduated from high school, but didn't finish. Then he joined the army and served for several years. He had a heart attack (his first of several) at the age of 25 and was medically discharged. He came home and felt the call to serve God in the ministry. He went to Golden Gate Seminary and while he was in California attending, he met his future wife, Darlene, and really fell for her, but felt the time was not right for marriage, so he waited and in later years renewed his acquaintance with her, and they courted long distance, and were married.

John came back to Tennessee with his Master of Divinity, but became discouraged when he could not get a pastorate. He then went to Carson Newman College and got a business degree and worked as an accountant for several years. Later, he got a degree in teaching economics, and taught economics at the local high school. We teased him about being a 'professional student'. It was during that time that he began courting Darlene again. By that time, she had been married and divorced and had a daughter, Becky. They got married, and had two children, Kevin, and Mark. When Mark was a baby, they decided to move to Phoenix.

There were several different jobs that John held while living in Phoenix. He became disabled in his later years, and his heart gave him great problems. He worked for the state in the finance department.

John was a voracious reader, (as the rest of his siblings were) and was always ready to share a good joke or story with others. He loved life, and his family. He was not easy to always get along with, because of his stubborn "I am right" attitude. However, John will be missed, and he was loved. Good bye brother, I know you are celebrating right now with our Mom and Dad, our brothers, Bill and Ralph, and our sister, Margaret, in the presence of our Lord. Our brother, Hugh, and I will be there with you one day. That circle then will be unbroken.

Other circles exist, and the circle of your present family is one of those. You have just gone ahead to begin that circle. I know they look forward to the time of rest with you, after their lives here have been completed.

A few years ago, John told me that he would like to have a particular song sung at his funeral. I found it for him, and here are the words to the song:

Gone Home

Verse One:

All of my friends that I loved yesterday

Gone home (they have gone home), gone home

The songbirds that sing in the dell seem to say

Gone home (they have gone home), gone home

Chorus:

They've joined the heavenly fold

They're walking the streets of pure gold

They left one by one as their work here was done

Gone home (they have gone home), gone home

Verse two:

Life here is lonely since they've gone before

Gone home, gone home.

The old weeping willow that stands by the door

Sadly says (they have gone home) gone home.

Verse three:

The trumpet will sound on that Great Judgment day

Gone home (they have gone home), gone home

We'll see all our friends that have gone on that way

Gone home (they have gone home) gone home.

(Lyrics written by Bill Carlisle)

(Pictures above:

1. John, holding grandson, Kevin James; brother Hugh; sister-in-law, Imazoe
2. John and Gramps

3. John and Hugh

4. John, age 12, with dog, Pedro

5. Kevin and Mark

6. John, Norma, Ruby (Grammy)

7. Fred, John, Norma

8. Standing in back: Hugh, Bill, Ralph; Standing in front: James, Cecil, Margaret

Kneeling in front: Ruby with daughter, Carol, and John

Well, that is it for today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off. More tomorrow. A lot to do today. Love to all of you. If I have made any errors in my facts today, please forgive them. Bye for now.

The Gathering

Hey, Y'all,

Well, here it is Sunday afternoon, (barely), and Gramps is sawing logs and i have been chatting online with daughter, Teresa, and having a great time of it.

Last night Gramps and I motored over to Puleo's Grill and had supper (some people call it dinner, but then, they didn't grow up in the south as we who eat supper did).

We shared the meal with my brother, Hugh, his wife, Imazoe, their sons, David and Jeff, and their wives - Andrea and Peggy, and our sister-in-law, Mae. The nine of us had a lovely time and were quite filled when we went over to the motel behind Puleo's and chatted for a while together. Why in the motel lobby? Because that is where David and Andrea are staying while visiting from Arizona where they live.

I took a few pictures (of course) and am sharing them with you, my friends.

Picture no. 1 - Grammy, Gramps, Mae (in back are David and Andrea)

Picture no. 2. - Hugh and Imazoe

Picture no. 3. - Jeff and Peggy

Picture no. 4. - Imazoe and Hugh, David and Jeff in back.

This morning, I received a call from my sister-in-law, Darlene, married to my brother, John and living in Phoenix. She called to let me know that John passed away last night. He passed peacefully in his sleep. The last thing she heard him say was apparently in his sleep he was dreaming and talking. He was laughing and saying, "that was a good one" like someone had just told him a joke. Then he became very quiet and she knew he was resting, so she lay down for awhile to rest. When she got up and checked on him, she saw that he had passed on in his sleep. Our prayers go out to Darlene, and their children, Becky; Kevin and wife Erica; and Mark; and grandson, Kevin James, son of Kevin and Erica.

I will not be going to the funeral, nor will Hugh, but our hearts are there with them in this time of sorrow, and yes, of joy, knowing that John is at rest with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.

Tomorrow's post will be pictures and stories about John and growing up with him. This leaves only Hugh and I of eight family members.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. May God's peace be with you, and if you are not ready to go to the great beyond, I pray you will get ready, for we never know when our time will come. More to come tomorrow. Bye for now.

Twenty-Five Reasons

Hey, Y'all,
One of my nieces sent this to me the other day, via e-mail, and of course, it is one of those circulated items that everyone gets at one time or another. If you have already read it, just please excuse my repeating it. Thanks.

25 Reasons I Owe My Mother (some of these I really heard from my mom, and some I didn't).
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'
2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
'You better pray that will come out of the carpet.'
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
'If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week.'
4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
'Because I said so, that's why.'
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
'If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
'Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you are in an accident.'
7. My mother taught me IRONY.
'Keep crying and I'll really give you something to cry about.'
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
'Would you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!'
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
'You'll sit there till all that spinach is gone.'
11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
'That room of yours looks like a tornado went through it.'
12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
'If I told you once, I've told you a hundred times; don't exaggerate!'
13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
'I brought you into this world; I can take you out!'
14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
'Stop acting like your father!'
15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
'There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do.'
16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
'Just wait till we get home.'
17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
'You are going to get it when we get home.'
18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
'If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way.'
19. My mother taught me ESP.
'Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?'
20. My mother taught me humor.
'When that lawn mower cuts off your foot, don't come running to me.'
21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
'If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.'
22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
'You're just like your father.'
23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
'Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?'
24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
'When you get to be my age, you'll understand.'
25. My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you.'

I'd like to add one of my own that my mom used to say when we were dangerously close to getting a whipping, but she considered the threat a warning. (Taught us about the HEREAFTER). 'You're flirting with the undertaker.' (If you don't know what that means, ask an older adult who has heard it.)

Well, that is it for today. Just a bit of fluff to fill the space and bring some humor. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. May God's love and peace fill your heart and those empty spaces that need filling. Bye for now.

No Snow and I am not Snowing You

Hey, Y'all,
Yep, no snow, and was I really glad! It has been a busy day, though. When I realized this morning when I woke up that the ground was dry and the weather clear, I knew I could get my Christmas shopping finished if I was diligent enough.

After breakfast, I told Gramps (who was still abed) that I would be back later. Then I put on my heavy coat (actually one belonging to Gramps), and headed out the door.
I went to Walgreens for some purchases, then on to Lowe's and Walmart.

When I got home two hours later, Gramps was up and looking for breakfast. He had a wild story for me about going to a lower floor and seeing a lot of stuff piled up and a girl was down there. I figured he had either had a very realistic dream or had come into the kitchen and saw the pile of stuff in the floor that I had purchased and not wrapped. Anyway, he had breakfast and I had lunch.

I began then wrapping gifts to ready them for sending off tomorrow. Then Darlene called to tell me that John is sinking fast and may not last through the weekend. I just pray that he will go peacefully without pain. I know he is ready to go, and he will soon be at peace. What a reunion he will have with my sister, two brothers and our parents!

Yesterday, I told you about the craft I had made. I decided to give it to our new neighbors who moved in next door a couple of months ago. Scott, the husband and father of the family, was here installing some handgrips for Gramps to use in the bathroom. Mark had asked him to do that for us. It was raining cats and dogs (they almost stepped into a poodle, I think).

Scott and the two younger children came back later and brought our mail up from our box down on the road. They told me how much they liked the little ornament tree, and of course, I was very glad that they liked it.

My brother, Hugh, who lives in Knoxville, went to his nephrologist today, and had the amount of lasix that he takes increased to help take care of the fluid that has gathered in his body. Hugh is quite often in pain when he walks, caused by shortness of breath, and aches in his joints. The doctor advised him that the option of going on dialysis is always open for him, and that there are two kinds of dialysis. One kind, the patient goes three days a week to a dialysis center. The other kind, the patient can do himself at home each night. Hugh is not ready for that yet.

I am hoping to get the packages sent tomorrow. I may send them by UPS instead of mailing them. UPS is open all day, and the post office closes at 10:30 a.m.

Hugh's and Imazo's son, David, and his wife, Andrea, are in from Arizona this weekend. I look forward to seeing them again.

Well, that is about it for today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. More tomorrow. Bye for now.