GOOD BYE JANUARY 2013

A text message at 5:30 am informed me that school was on a 2-hour delay this morning because of water and storm debris on some of the roads. When g-son arrived at 7 he was more awake today than any morning this week so far and was not interested in going back to sleep.
We ate breakfast together and then I did all the chores and got ready to go into town to run my errands after I dropped him off at school at 10:00.
I did my errands in record time today as I didn't have to make any extra stops and even made an Avon delivery and still made it home before lunch.
It is cold and windy today with temps not getting out of the 30's.
With an unplanned afternoon off I spent it doing small jobs that usually get put off until later.
D-in-love called and said her dad was sick so I picked up g-son and we came home to eat and play games until his dad picked him up.
Daughter came by and got her dad to go up to church and retrieve the futon and 2 papason chairs we had taken up there for her 5th quarter celebrations. With only one more home basketball game next Tuesday,unless they get a tournament home game the 5th quarters are over for this year.
She is planning to host some 10th innings after Friday night baseball games later in the spring when the weather warms up so that they can be outside. Guess we will be grilling hotdogs and hamburgers for those.
This last day of the first month of 2013 has been pretty calm and uneventful for my family. I am thankfully grateful for each month that passes when our health and happiness are intact.
The strangest thing about this month was the weather with most days not feeling like January at all but spring or even summer. At least one record was tied at temperatures in the 70's. And instead of our winter coats we have needed the rain gear on many occasions with two flooding rainfalls and several near floods.Schools were closed one day for a minor ice storm and 2 days were delayed because of flooded roads.
#1 son spent several long 12 to 15 hour days in his work with the DOT in the bad weather.
D-in-love volunteered to help chaperone a group a young girls with daughter and g-son got to go on  a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte which g-son enjoyed immensely.

#2 son put in an offer on another lot of land in a bankrupt development  and is still waiting for the bank to decide if they will take his offer.  His heat pump in his new house blew a fuse in the middle of one of the colder nights, but my cousin got it running again the next day.
Daughter has been super busy this month with church youth group and coaching basketball at the local high school. That's her in the pink scarf.

As for hubbie and I we have been very fortunate to have avoided sickness and have worked outside on several days doing what usually waits until late February or March. I lost one market Saturday due to the ice storm but the other three market Saturdays were pretty good considering this is the slowest month of the year usually.
I had the good fortune to get hooked up by e-mail with a cousin I didn't know and got the unfortunate news that another of my cousins that I haven't seen in many years passed away this month.
All in all it has been a good month although it has been a month unlike any I can think of lately that seemed to drag on forever with so many days of dreary weather.
I have got off my weight loss routine and although I haven't gained any of my lost weight back I haven't lost any more and I am still at least 10 pounds from where I would like to be. With all the rainy days it has been difficult to get outside to walk or run and even my inside exercise took a hit when I slipped on the ice during the storm and pulled a muscle in the side of my neck.
All excuses aside stating tomorrow, Feb 1, it is back to the grind to get back on the losing track,no more excuses !!
I am most Grateful to God for all the activities of the month and for continued good health and grace from His almighty love and kindness.
Good Night and God Bless

WIND,RAIN,FLOODING AND NOW SNOW ??

We are playing a waiting game this morning with the weather. It is errily warm this morning at already 60 degrees at 10 am and a light rain is falling. I think it rained most of the night and this is before the front with the severe storms even gets here.
I spent the day cleaning floors and changing all the covers for the new month of February.  I didn't get everything finished so I will wait for photos. I want to do some spray painting and today was definitely not a good day for that !!
As the winds blew hard and the rain came sideways there wasn't anywhere outside that any of the animals could escape getting soaked. I'm just glad it is warm out there.
There were problems all around our county with blown down trees and power lines.

Even after lunch today our area was still waiting for the brunt of the storm.

I always get nervous with this weather doing all the strange things that are going on lately. I feel safe here at home but worry about the rest of my family who are all out in the weather. Especially my two sons who are outside in the wind and pelting rain working. One delivering the mail and one doing his best to keep the roads open and safe.
Lucky for me I made my trip to school and picked up g-son before the worst of it hit our area.
We were right in the center of warnings and watches all afternoon.

I got a good soaking doing the evening chores. My poor little Silkies were all soaked to the bone with the door of their house blown shut and no where to get out of the downpour until I came to their rescue.
D-in-love had to drive through this high water as she left her work in Biltmore. She took this pic from her jeep as she headed home around 4:30 this evening.

As we watched the news this was what the streets looked like at 6:00 in the same area.

You can see these buildings behind the railroad cross in her picture.
She stayed over here for a little while until the winds died down before she and g-son headed home.
#1 son has to work overtime tonight as the roads are getting worse as darkness falls and some of them will need to be closed.
This is a busy business center in Hendersonville called the Beverly Hanks Center where folks were trying to get to their needed dialysis appointments.

Our creek is flooded in the bottom pastures but not into the road yet as I write this at 10:00.
I hear the rain still falling outside and if we get more our road will need to be closed also.
I poured almost three inches of rain from the gauge at choretime and it hasn't stopped raining since.
And now listening to the weatherman say by morning the temperature will be 32 degrees with the possibility of snow !
Wonder what tomorrow will bring ?????
Hubbie watched a Duke/Wake Forest b-ball game tonight while I did the weekly paperwork and payed bills.
I got to watch the end of the game which Duke squeaked out a win in.
So grateful tonight to God that we were spared the damage alot of  areas had from this passing storm front.  I rest  in the knowledge that God is ultimately and unquestionably in control !!
Good Night and God Bless.

YEARLY SKIN CHECK YEILDS ONLY ONE REMOVAL

Another very nice warm sunny morning as I head out to take g-son to school today.
Back home with chores and breakfast finished Tuesday laundry and housework day commenced.
I did manage to work in a work out video in my busy morning.
I went to school to pick up g-son an hour early because he is going to have to go with me to my yearly dermatologist appointment to have my skin scanned for more suspicious looking spots.
He went along gladly and was very good in the office while I had my exam. The good natured doctor showed him how to make a boomerang out of tongue depressors.
He only found one spot on my upper left leg that needed freezing off. It will be okay as long as it doesn't come back. I have a huge blister there tonight.
After the appointment of course g-son deserved a surprise for being such a good boy so we went to Fred's department store where he found some more Star Wars figures.
Back at home he had his regular mac and cheese and cookies. We actually made it home at almost the same time as usual as I had arrived early for my appointment,got called back early and left only about 10 minutes after my scheduled appointment time.
His dad picked him up and I did chores in the now cloudy cooler weather outside. The high today was 68 degrees and the air feels like summer instead of winter so we are in for a rough day tomorrow I'm sure when the cold front coming across gets to our area.
We are under a flood watch all day tomorrow because the front is moving so fast the 2-3 inches of rain predicted for our area will fall really fast.

We are also under a high wind advisory with gust up to 60mph .

And then the cooler weather comes back as the front passes.

Got word tonight that our senior pastor has arrived in the mid east safely. I pray that his time over there will help spread the word of Jesus to the lost in that part of the world.
Tonight I am very thankful for all of my church family.
God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
Good Night and God Bless.

63 DEGREE JANUARY DAY

Hubbie took g-son to school this morning and stopped on the way home for a haircut at the local barber shop. Giving me a leisure morning for a little while. As I did morning chores I was wondering what happened to the weather that was forecast for today as it was 37 degrees with a light misty rain falling.
When hubbie came in he decided to ride to town with me as I had to take my glasses into the shop to have one of the small screws replaced that hold them together as I noticed it was gone yesterday when my glasses kept sliding down my nose.They tightened the screws in his glasses also and said we should drop by about every 3 months to have this done,who knew ?
We also made a stop at Goodwill,hubbie likes to pick up winter work shirts in there to wear under his work uniforms. I found a Singer sewing machine for $11 and it runs,whether it sews or not I don't know yet but even it it doesn't it was worth that in parts for my other machines.
Back home after lunch the nice weather had arrived.This was the temperature map this afternoon.

I wanted to work outside on this shirt sleeve only day so I cleaned out my hen houses while hubbie gathered saws and supplies to cut some trees out of my forsythia patch below the house.
Last summer we noticed several walnut ,wild cherry, and large privot trees growing on the bank and decided to wait until winter to crawl into the thick mass of forsythia to cut them.
Today was the day and we managed to get all of them cut down.One of the largest walnut trees was precariously located where it might fall on my sewing shop,but we managed to push it over the bank.
We got almost all the limbs and wood hauled up to our brushpile before I had to go after g-son.
When we got back g-son was eager to help his Pawpaw unload the last load.

Love the effort he puts into his work and the rewarding smile of success.

On this nice afternoon he played outside for a while on the slide.

He got his report card today and it was all good. There is only 2 letter grades you can get, either an S for satisfactory or an N for needs improvement.

He is a good boy and we are very lucky he is interested in learning.

After his dad picked him up I did evening chores and then had a light supper. Sis-in-law brought some papers by for hubbie to sign on the sale of the old house and then we both relaxed for the evening.
Thankful for a very nice wonderful day to get some much needed outside work done and thankful for the energy and strength that He gives me each day.
Good Night and God Bless

CRACKER BARREL SUNDAY AND FAMILY MEMORIES

Church was special this morning as this was the last Sunday our senior pastor will be here for 2 months. He is going to Turkey on a sabbatical that has been almost 2 years in the making.
After service I took the family out to my favorite place to lunch.

All the family met here after church and we only had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated although it looked pretty crowded when we got there.
We were seated in front of the blazing fireplace which was giving off quite a bit of heat.

They kept adding huge logs of firewood. I thought how nice this would be if it was really cold outside. Today it was 40 degrees outside but under cloudy skies it did feel pretty chilly.
I had my regular spicy catfish with some favorite sides.

As always it was very good and we all ate our fill. Including g-son who was bribed with a "light saber" he wanted to clean his plate.
We all left and went our separate ways ,hubbie and I made stops at Sam's Club and Ingles on our way home.
We relaxed for the rest of the evening using Sunday as it should be. As I lay on the couch I thought I have been relaxing a lot lately and putting off some things that need to get done so starting tomorrow the relaxing is getting cut down !!
On a different subject, I would like to give blogging another plug. When I started my blog in July of 2009, the main purpose was to leave behind a glimpse into what my life is like for future generations of my family.  I had no idea of the fringe benefits that would be-fall me through my blog.
As time allows I work on my second blog, called "how I came to be" where I research my family history. This blog gets neglected much of the time because time has been scarce for much research lately.  However this blog has reaped a couple of benefits of finding family that I have never met and now I get to share old photos and stories with newfound family in other parts of the country. In September a cousin from Texas found me through my blog and came by for a short visit which was wonderful. A few days ago I was contacted by another cousin who lives in Charleston,SC. I remember her mother when we were younger and also her grandmother and great grand mother who was my dad's sister. Because there were 13 children in my dad's family of which he was the youngest,plus I was born in his third marriage when he was in his 50's that actually puts me in the generation with my second cousins. So I am more of this contacts mother's age than my first cousins which is her grandmother.
She sent me some precious photos of times gone by. This is one I already had but I didn't know exactly who was with my dad (far right) and his sister (next to him) ,and she filled me in.

My second cousin Janet is on left with her dad and mom (dad's niece),one of her aunts (another of dad's nieces) with her little girl Bobbie in front then dad's sister Hattie and there is Old Jack (dad's dog) watching to see what my dad is pulling from his pocket.
They are standing in front of my dad's 55 oldsmobile.
In this next pic this is my dad's sister with her 3 daughters. Back then they all lived in and around Forest City,NC. The one on the far left is this contact's grandmother.

These special pictures are of my dad and mom when this cousin and her family came to visit them probably in June of 1981 which was just about a month before my dad died on July 8,1981.
This is mom and dad with my cousin's family standing in front of dad's log house.

And this is one of just my mom and dad.

The last photo is a more recent photo of my cousins,from left third cousins Joy and Laura,Laura's husband,my second cousin Janet (their mother) and son third cousin Pete.

I am so delighted to have the pleasure of meeting these new found family members and hope that some time in the near future I will also get to meet them face to face.
Love,love ,love these memory stimulators !!!
This has been a nice Sunday filled with God and family and I am so grateful that my precious Savior placed me with the people He did.
Good Night and God Bless.

STRANGE NO MARKET SATURDAY

Felt very strange this morning not to be rushing around getting ready to go to market. When I went out to do chores all the ice was melted around here.
As hubbie and I finished a leisurely breakfast daughter drove up. She had finished her early morning recreation ballgame early.
This morning went from leisurely to busy in a short time with a couple phone calls. First hubbie got a call from #2 son asking if hubbie knew who he could call to get someone to work on his heatpump, which had quit working in the middle of the night last night.He got ready for work in a 55 degree house this morning.
Hubbie called my cousin who is a heat & air man and then took off to meet #2 son on his mail route to get a key to his house so they could work on the heatpump.
I got a call from a customer who needed a cake for a birthday and wanted to know if I could bring it to a neighbor's apple house right away.
Luckily daughter and I were just getting ready to head out to an estate sale so we dropped off the cake on the way.
We didn't find anything at all at the sale and went on to Ingles to get a few things. Then daughter wanted to ride down and see the lot that #2 son has made an offer on.
In the housing development where the lot was we ran across a large flock of wild turkeys.

Lucky for me I always carry my camera. This is 4 of about a dozen turkeys that ambled up the mountain side when we stopped the jeep to make pictures.
After she dropped me off at home I had lunch and then put a heating pad on my neck for a while to try to relax the muscle that is causing me alot of pain today.
Hubbie came in and said they found a blown fuse in the inside unit of son's heat pump,lucky for him.
We watched a Duke/Maryland b-ball game which Duke won,before we headed outside to get something done around here on this nice sunny mid 40' s day.  Sadie thought it was still kind of cool and was enjoying the heated electric pet pad I put in her rocking chair.

I ordered this off e-bay several years ago when we had an older dog named Pepper that needed extra heat. Then I gave it to #2 son for Flash to use during the day in his doghouse on cold days. These worked so well I ordered another one when old Willie got cold and stiff . Now Sadie is the oldest dog we have so she deserves to have a heated pad to lay and snooze on. Although her position doesn't look all that comfortable today !
We moved the old desk from the barn to the basement so I can get it cleaned up and ready to move into my office. But after all that lifting I needed some more heat on my neck !!
Hubbie built a new firewood rack for the front porch.
D-in-love called and invited us back over to her house for a supper of chili tonight. We never turn down a free meal so chores were done early and as we walked over to their house I took this photo of some lingering clouds at sunset.

The chili was very good and really hit the spot on this cool evening.Thanks again d-in-love !
As we walked home I noticed this layer of clouds covering the moon and was surprised that this picture turned out this good.

Back at home we watched a UNC/NC State b-ball game which State won. At times this game was hard to watch being a UNC fan but at the end they made a game of it.
My neck is still hurting tonight but seems to be loosening up. I used to get these catches quite often,usually between my shoulders but this one is in the side of my neck and extends across my shoulder making it impossible to turn my head to the left.
At 11:00 it is 31 degrees with clouds but no rain is predicted.
January seems like it has been a very long month to me but maybe that is a good thing as I am usually complaining about how fast months go by and we still have almost another week in this January.
Thankful for today's blessings and grateful for a loving God.
Good Night and God Bless.

MINOR ICE STORM HITS

The text alert on my cell phone woke me at 6am this morning. Schools are closed today with an annual leave day which means no one works. Hubbie, who's office doesn't observe the annual leave day rule, is already at work this morning. He said he  was going to watch the radar and come home when the ice storm started in our area. Every school district in western North Carolina was closed today !
I looked outside with the porch light and saw dry ground at our house so I went back to bed. I lay there listening to the police scanner but there weren't any accidents in the county so far.
#1 son had to be at work at 6am also this morning to get ready to keep the roads cleared when the ice started falling. He drives one of those big yellow state dump trucks on these days.

D-in-love waited until daylight to go to work so she dropped g-son off at about 7:30 this morning.
He was still in his pj's and he and Bernie snuggled under the warm blankets most of the morning.

His mom got off work early at 10 am as the first bands of the freezing rain began to hit Asheville where she works.
After she picked g-son up I spent the rest of the morning baking 6 caramel, 2 chocolate and 2 wine cakes, wondering if market would even open tomorrow.
Hubbie left work at lunch saying the roads were starting to get covered in a thin layer of slick ice. It was 23 degrees when I got up this morning and at 2:00 this afternoon it is still 23 degrees !
We spent the afternoon napping after both our early mornings. Bernie and Dolly get spoiled on days like today as they enjoy snuggling with me on the couch under a warm blanket.
At chore time this evening everything had a coating of ice, even as I stepped carefully I managed to slide sideways ,popping my right hip and almost falling because I couldn't put any weight on that leg for several minutes,until the pain subsided a bit. I can tell I'm going to be very sore tomorrow.
Icicles were everywhere as the temps juggle around the freezing point all evening.Fortunately we didn't have enough ice coating to bring trees and power lines down but there was enough to make the roads very slick and cause many accidents throughout the afternoon.

After chores Hubbie and I carefully walked over to #1 son's house where d-in-love fixed supper for all of us. Her tortilla soup is so delicious !!  And g-son enjoys having company to show off his games and toys.
After a nice visit we came home and just as I finished icing my cakes I got a call from the market manager saying market would be closed tomorrow because of ice in the parking lot. Hopefully I can get hold of some customers and sell what I baked today by personal delivery.

Thankful for all the blessings of the day and praying for all the folks who have to get out early on the slick roads in the morning,including both my son's. Be Careful !!
Good Night and God Bless.

COUSIN JACK'S DEATH

After dropping g-son at school I stopped by the Dollar General store right down the road and found some hand towels to make the sewing orders I have for Saturday.
This morning at 7 am the temperature was 37 degrees and by the time I finished chores at 9 am it was 34 ??!! 
I went into town early to get all my errands done and delivered my eggs to a customer. With all the stops I had I didn't get home until almost 1:00. The temperature is now 31 and the wind has been picking up all morning making it really feel cold.
After lunch I tackled my sewing orders. Into the hand towels I bought this morning I put a mixture of these things.

 The gallon pickle jar is filled with dried thyme leaves.

 Cured rice.....

And the finished products were 4 nice fragrant heatable neck wraps.

I made these years ago for a local chiropractor to sell in his office but he moved and since then I haven't made any of these. A customer and old patient of this chiropractor called and wanted 2 of these and another customer who had bought some sinus packs I made before Christmas wanted a couple. I was going to make a couple extra to sell on my table at market but ran out of cured rice.
The rice needs to be put in the freezer for a couple weeks to make sure no weevils survive so that's how I cure it.
My downstairs smelled amazing after I had finished with these, hubbie thought I had been using eucalyptus in something down there.
After chores as I sat in the living room watching the news I noticed this beautiful sunset out the bay window.

The sky continued to get redder and I stepped out on the front porch to make this picture at the peak of its colorful glory.

I thought how lucky I am to be able to have this wonderful view out my front window !
By this time tomorrow evening no telling what the sky will look like or what we will have on the ground as all the weather gurus have different opinions about this weather system that is making it's way to our area tomorrow.
Most say we will get some amount of ice and maybe some sleet and snow as this map shows.

I guess it will depend on where the temperature breaks are as to what will fall.  Hopefully they are right and it won't get here until about lunch time as that will be the warmest part of the day.

On a sad note tonight,a couple weeks ago I lost one of my cousins as he lost his battle with lung cancer.
I hadn't seen him in many years and only found one photo of us when we were kids although I know we saw each other a lot when we were young as his mom who was my dad's niece came to visit often.
In this photo Winnie is holding her younger son Barry with me standing beside her and Jack standing behind me squinting in the sunlight.

I found Jack's obit on line tonight. I read all the notes from friends and family and it sounded like Jack was a fine Christian man who loved the Lord and his family very much.

Wish I could have gotten to know him much better.

Thanking God for all the blessings he gave me today and praying for Jack's mom and family as they grieve the loss of a son,brother,husband and father.
Good Night and God Bless,

WORKDAY WEDNESDAY

22 degrees again this morning as g-son arrived at 7:00.  He has a terrible cough this morning but acts like he feels fine so off to school we went.
After chores and breakfast I did my weight lifting video and then cleaned my floors.
After lunch I worked on cleaning my office. I knew I would find something I had overlooked at Christmas time and this time it was 2 new ornaments I bought on our trip to Beaufort,SC and Hunting Island last August. I took a photo of them and posted it on the past blog post where it should have been.
G-son acted like he didn't feel all that good this afternoon,I hope he isn't coming down with anything serious.
Got a call from my dermatologist office postponing my tomorrow appointment until next Tuesday. The doctor was going to his Brevard office tomorrow afternoon because of the predicted bad weather coming in on Friday.
Our area is under a winter storm watch mostly for an ice storm.

With the predicted temperatures I hope that we get snow instead of ice.
We actually had a nice afternoon as temperatures rose into the low 40's and the sun warmed it up. I worked in my sewing shop cutting out covers for 5 neck wraps I need for Saturday. I couldn't make them yet because I realized I only had 1 towel. I will add 4 hand towels to my things to buy list for tomorrow.
Had a quiet evening watching basketball on TV. Watched Duke get beat handily by Miami then watched parts of UNC/Georgia Tech game which UNC ran away with.
I did weekly paperwork and payed bills between games.
Remember God is light, in Him there is no darkness !!  Thanking God for a blessed day filled with undeserved blessings.
Good Night and God Bless

COLDEST DAY OF THE SEASON SO FAR

My phone jarred me awake before the alarm went off this morning. #1 son on the other end saying he and g-son were on their way early. As I shook out the cobwebs and made my way to open the door for him I remembered there is no school today. His dad carried him inside and laid him on the couch handing me some kids claritin pills for him to take later for his stuffy nose.
I turned the TV on and got him all snuggled in a warm blanket then went back to bed myself to get warm again. The thermometer said 20 degrees and the wind was still blowing hard.
After about 30 minutes g-son was standing beside my bed saying he was hungry,so much for added sleep this morning.
I fixed his breakfast and then got an early start on my day. After chores I did laundry and house cleaning until lunch time.
G-son was in a building mode this morning and with each new creation he wanted a picture taken.
Small legos, larger legos and lincoln logs, perfect fun for a cold wintry day !!

He talked all day of his wonderfully fun weekend at Great Wolf Lodge where his mom chaperoned and he got to tag along for the fun.
Here is a few pics I got from d-in-love's blog  of him enjoying all the female company this weekend !
He got some time with his Aunt T .

 He loves them all, younger  and older  !!!

 I have never been to this park in Charlotte,NC but it looks like it would be super fun if you liked playing in water.

 It was entirely enclosed and stayed about 80 degrees with that also being the water temperature.
Today that sounds heavenly as our high temperature today struggled to get above freezing at 33.
Tonight is going to be an even colder night than last because already at 10:30 it is 25. At least the wind has calmed down.
After #1 son picked up g-son hubbie and I did evening chores. I always give extra feed on these colder nights.
After supper we watched a NCState/Wake Forest b-ball game which was a good close game and gave Wake an upset win.
Daughter's varsity girls team won this evening but her JV's lost against cross town rival West Henderson.
I have enjoyed relaxing and watching the flames in the upstairs wood stove which hubbie built a fire in for the first time this season tonight. I was afraid it would get too hot but it has felt really good as the temperature plummets.

Count your blessings day by day and all your cares will fly away !!  Thank You for this day Lord !!
Good Night and God Bless.