The Waiting is Over

I have an announcement !!!

My new cousin is coming soon

Her name is Chloe !!!

The new parents
Jim and Cora


Mommy and Daddy are coming for me !!

I will have my own private room.

I might miss my room mates.

Stop Smoking or Else

Ann Sheridan was a chain smoker for years. Died of esophageal cancer. She was 51.

Some things are easier to give up than others. I need to give up Pepsi Cola because it is too expensive for my budget. I gave up iced vanilla latte’s some time ago. That wasn’t too hard to do, but this Pepsi is a different story. Even though I only drink one can a day.

Many years ago I gave up a cigarette habit. I hated it, but just kept smoking and puffing away, but I did begin to pray that God would help me quit. Let me tell you something. God answers prayer, but maybe not the way we would like it to be.
So this is what happened:
One day I laid the little cigarettes down and never picked one up again. I didn’t pussyfoot around about it. I worked at that time and Margaret, one of my co-workers was always telling different folks that I just went home from work one night and quit smoking. She was so impressed about it, but it wasn’t quite as easy as she made it sound. It was a fact that I quit cold turkey and never touched another one, but I got a little cancer alarm and that was all it took. I had awakened from a Saturday afternoon nap and was coughing up blood.

This was before computers, so I dug out the medical book and one of the first symptoms of lung cancer can be coughing up blood. That was all it took. I slammed the medical book shut and went into high gear worry mode. It is Saturday, and I can’t call a doctor. You don’t go to emergency and tell them you think you have cancer. I even considered it because I wanted it taken out of me ASAP. I knew I would be the laughing stock of the emergency room if I showed up with my emergency case of cancer. So I cooled my heels and waited for Monday.

No cigarettes touched my lips again. I prayed some more. Sunday afternoon I took another nap and woke up with the taste of blood in my mouth. I put 2 and 2 together and rationalized that the blood must be coming from my mouth somehow. I finally found that I had a canker sore in my mouth and it was bleeding. I guess when I would go to sleep it drained down my throat and that was why I was coughing up the blood. I don’t even know if it was a canker sore, or just a hole that God put there temporarily. I got the message loud and clear from God. Quit smoking. I knew in my heart of heart that God was answering my prayer, by letting me know how I would feel if I really had cancer, but now I need to do my part. So I obeyed.

Great Grand Kids

A little girl waiting for her parents to come and get her.
Cora and Jim are expecting news any day that

lets them travel to China to pick her up.

Another picture of the little charmer. Cora and her niece, LeahAnother little charmer

This is all for now folks. Come back later to see
more pictures. My Great Grandma likes to show us off.

A Penny Saved is Not Much

Air Conditioning

My latest pet peeve is the games you have to play to get the most for your money when shopping for groceries. When a person lives alone it’s even harder to play their games.
Buy one and get one free. I only want one so why can’t they just say its half price. I cut out the coupons and remember this one doesn’t start until Friday. To use this one you will need to buy $10.00 worth of non-coupon items. It’s only $2.50 per pound, but you need to buy the family pack
I don’t have the money for the family pack. Or how about Coke and Pepsi. One time they put it on sale, but you can only buy one at that price. The next time it goes on sale, you cannot get the sales price unless you buy four cartons.

If it’s a dairy product, be sure to check the expiration date. Chances are it will only be good for a few days. I wish all the stores would carry spices in the smaller sizes. Why can’t they sell honey in packets like you get at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I buy the smallest size they sell, but always end up throwing out the honey because I can never use that much in one lifetime. I guess honey will keep for eons, but it turns to sugar and I think that may be the century it needs to be disposed of.
I am not much of a pro with this coupon business. I have only recently started paying more attention to them. I notice some people have big envelopes stuffed with coupons. I will always be an amateur in the coupon world.

What Do You Collect?

Why do people collect things? The collection can be anything from a particular piece of glassware to old milk cans. My sister started collecting cows when she was young. I think she must now have close to a million of those four-legged critters. These are not just any old cow. They seem to be black and white and made out of anything from paper to concrete. She has not received a surprise gift since it all started. She knows when the gift is opened, it will be another cow. A cow cookie jar, a cow flower vase, a cow plate, here a cow, there a cow, everywhere a cow cow. At one time they were in the dairy business so that might explain why it started.

My daughter collects Mickey Mouse figurines. I think it started when she was in highschool. For her College graduation gift, we bought her a Mickey Mouse telephone. It’s a real phone that still works and is in her living room. Not to give away her age or anything, it even has the rotary dial. When Mickey Mouse overran the house, she changed her collection to Thimbles. They take up much less room. There is a lighthouse thimble, a crocheted thimble, a Christmas tree thimble and the list goes on.
My son-in-law collects squirt guns. I sent him an email to authenticate the accuracy of my tale about his collection so I will include the return email.
Dear Editor and Chief,
The current count is 641 and rising (I hope).
My overall favorite is my Python, it is a remote control truck, that with the push of a button a snake head comes up and shoots water.
I have several old squirt toys that are from Occupied Japan, which means they are from the late 40's. Some older ones in the shape of a ship, airplane and locomotive.
Another of my favorites to use on people is a cell phone. You push the top buttons and water squirts out of the antenna. When you shoot people they always say let me see it. You give it to them and tell them to push the bottom buttons to get it to squirt, they always think "you fool, now it is my turn to get you. However, when you push the bottom buttons the water comes out the mouthpiece, you get to squirt them twice.
SIL

I have a collection of dolls. You know where they ended up. The top of the closet, the bottom of the closet, the dresser drawers, the garage, the guest bedroom has dolls decorating the entire top of the dresser and nightstands and I’m sure my many (2) guest must feel like they are in a wax museum when they spend the night. This collection probably stems from my childhood, when I didn’t get that Shirley Temple doll for Christmas.
What do you collect? Doesn’t everybody have a collection?

The Flour Sack

I remember the floral flour sacks very well. I once made myself a dress with them. It was a project in high school. A subject we had was called Home Ek. We called it Home Ek, but it probably was ec for economics. The class was mostly about food as I recall because we had to learn how to cook.
It really was a fun class. I loved it. We also had to learn how to sew. My project was a dress with a zipper in the side seam. Does anybody remember dresses with a zipper in the side seam.
Mom had saved several flour sacks of the same fabric. That was a bit of a challenge to lay out the pattern on the pieces of the flour sacks that had been ripped apart and washed and ironed.
We didn't have to make it with flour sacks and everybody else had regular fabric, but I wanted to make mine with the sacks.
I was worried about putting in the zipper so my Mom showed me how to put the zipper in and she was an expert in the field of sewing. I went to school the next day and it was time to put the zipper in. I put that zipper in exactly how Mom told me to and I guess lady luck was with me because it went in perfectly. That teacher was so impressed with my zipper job and she made me feel wonderful. So wonderful that I still remember if after all these years.


THE FLOUR SACK BY COLLEEN B. HUBERT
　
IN THAT LONG AGO TIME WHEN THINGS WERE SAVED, WHEN ROADS WERE GRAVELED AND BARRELS WERE STAVED, WHEN WORN-OUT CLOTHING WAS USED AS RAGS, AND THERE WERE NO PLASTIC WRAP OR BAGS, AND THE WELL AND THE PUMP WERE WAY OUT BACK, A VERSATILE ITEM, WAS THE FLOUR SACK.
　
PILLSBURY'S BEST, MOTHER'S AND GOLD MEDAL, TOO STAMPED THEIR NAMES PROUDLY IN PURPLE AND BLUE. THE STRING SEWN ON TOP WAS PULLED AND KEPT; THE FLOUR EMPTIED AND SPILLS WERE SWEPT. THE BAG WAS FOLDED AND STORED IN A SACK THAT DURABLE, PRACTICAL FLOUR SACK.
　
THE SACK COULD BE FILLED WITH FEATHER AND DOWN, FOR A PILLOW, OR T'WOULD MAKE A SLEEPING GOWN. IT COULD CARRY A BOOK AND BE A SCHOOL BAG, OR BECOME A MAIL SACK SLUNG OVER A NAG. IT MADE A VERY CONVENIENT PACK, THAT ADAPTABLE, COTTON FLOUR SACK.
　
BLEACHED AND SEWN, IT WAS DUTIFULLY WORN AS BIBS, DIAPERS, OR KERCHIEF ADORNED. IT WAS MADE INTO SKIRTS, BLOUSES AND SLIPS AND MOM BRAIDED RUGS FROM ONE HUNDRED STRIPS. SHE MADE RUFFLED CURTAINS FOR THE HOUSE OR SHACK, FROM THAT HUMBLE BUT TREASURED FLOUR SACK!
　
AS A STRAINER FOR MILK OR APPLE JUICE, TO WAVE MEN IN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD USE, AS A SLING FOR A SPRAINED WRIST OR A BREAK, TO HELP MOTHER ROLL UP A JELLY CAKE, AS A WINDOW SHADE OR TO STUFF A CRACK, WE USED A STURDY, COMMON FLOUR SACK!
　
AS DISH TOWELS, EMBROIDERED OR NOT, THEY COVERED UP DOUGH, HELPED PASS PANS SO HOT, TIED UP DISHES FOR NEIGHBORS IN NEED, AND FOR MEN OUT IN THE FIELD TO SEED.
　
THEY DRIED DISHES FROM PAN, NOT RACK THAT ABSORBENT, HANDY FLOUR SACK!
　
WE POLISHED AND CLEANED STOVE AND TABLE, SCOURED AND SCRUBBED FROM CELLAR TO GABLE, WE DUSTED THE BUREAU AND OAK BED POST, MADE COSTUMES FOR OCTOBER (A SCARY GHOST) AND A PARACHUTE FOR A CAT NAMED JACK. FROM THAT LOWLY, USEFUL OLD FLOUR SACK!
　
SO NOW MY FRIENDS, WHEN THEY ASK YOU AS CURIOUS YOUNGSTERS OFTEN DO, "BEFORE PLASTIC WRAP, ELMER'S GLUE AND PAPER TOWELS, WHAT DID YOU DO?" TELL THEM LOUDLY AND WITH PRIDE DON'T LACK, "GRANDMOTHER HAD THAT WONDERFUL FLOUR SACK!"
　

Candy Corn

Candy Corn



My friends on Facebook started going on about how much candy corn they ate and other clever comments like that, and I got a craving for candy corn. It was just one of those things that hit us from time to time. I went to Wal-Mart to buy some groceries so while there I remembered the craving. Would you believe I couldn’t find one kernel of candy corn in that stupid Wal-Mart store. What is the matter with those people!
Corn is a vegetable, isn’t it?




I also looked in the candy department. I went up and down that candy aisle three or four times. They did not have any.

The Beauty without the Beast

It's a boring Saturday afternoon and I was going through my all my treasurers that I have saved for a rainy day. I ran across my old wig and my eyes lit up and I thought--- I might just be able to entertain myself with this for a few minutes. I actually wore this to church a couple times. No wonder they excommunicated me !!! I always wondered why.