HOUSEWORK WEDNESDAY

A little cooler this morning but still not complaining about this lovely January warm spell we are having.
After chores and breakfast I dived in to catch up my neglected housework.
With only a break for lunch I mopped myself out the front door around 3:30 for a nice rest in the warm sunshine while all the floors dryed.
After about 30 minutes I went back inside to put the rugs back down and get my house keys and daughter's jeep keys so I could deliver her jeep back to her house and meet hubbie while he was letting Tipper out for a run on his way home from work. Daughter has a ball game at Thomas Jefferson high school this evening.
Hubbie has been working on some leaks in her jeep and she needed it back in case this nasty weather that might come materializes.
I snapped these pics as I rode back with hubbie of the winter dormant apple trees with apples still under them.

Love that winter blue sky !!
I guess we are going to have to say good bye to our really nice break from winter with the ninth winter storm of the season named Iola that is headed our way from the gulf.
This would be a significant snow maker for us if the ground was colder but now we will wait to see what she brings to our area.
This is a prediction map for late week.

After chores this evening I worked in my office on weekly paperwork and then watched a UNC/Wake Forest basketball game which UNC won.
Daughter called and said they won their game by 40 points.
Grateful to God for a wonderful blessing filled day.
Good Night and God Bless.

LANDMARK BURNS AND AFTERNOON OF PLAYTIME

An early morning ,2:30am, fire changed the look of our community this morning.
Griffin's store/ cafe burned to the ground with 9 fire departments fighting the blaze.

The owner of this store, Gary Griffin, was my oldest brother's best friend all through elementary school. Our mother and his mother were best friends and they just lived right up the road, less than 1/4 mile from us so we played together regularly.
Gary's dad Edgar built this store 47 years ago. When I was in high school this was the local hang out and each night after basketball practice everyone gathered at this store to have a cold drink and talk.
I have many wonderful memories of my nights here at the store.
This is the store as it looked before the fire.

There was a small cafe inside and that is where the fire originated.   There is also gas tanks and propane tanks I am thankful that did not catch fire.
I surely hate the loss of this landmark and hope Gary will build back in honor of his dad.

Today was baby BB's first doctors appointment, so I walked over at 10:30 and brought little EL over here so she wouldn't get exposed to the flu in the doctor's office waiting room.
D-in-love was bringing g-son up to play with her so we picked Beauty Berries while we waited. There is not near as many berries as the last time she collected these purple beauties.

We had to get the slide out on this beautiful day.

When g-son got here we went inside to have lunch while d-in-love worked on some picture editing.
After lunch it was back outside to enjoy this mid 60's afternoon and get a dose of vitamin D to last us for at least the next 10 days.
G-son and little EL played together wonderfully all afternoon.

It was a fun afternoon for these two for sure.
Daughter even came by and played for awhile before she had to get back to school for her ballgame. There was no school again today for a teacher workday.
Baby BB passed his first exam with flying colors and had even gained weight.
After everyone went home I got ready to go to daughter's ballgame. D-in-love and g-son met me there.

 Daughter's team won the game and they played impressively well.  She used to work with the opposing coach and here they are sharing a laugh after the game.

The varsity also won their game tonight.
When I got home after the game I did the chores and had a stir fry supper with some of the left over turkey breast. 
Relaxed for the evening.
Praising the Holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tonight as I bask in the beauty of days like this , spent with the two littles that mean the world to me.
Good Night and God Bless.

SPRING LIKE JANUARY DAY

Every January needs days like this one to help us get through a dreary winter. Already in the 40's as I did chores this morning in the bright sunshine.
I got laundry started and then walked over to check on  new baby BB and deliver the rose from church yesterday. BB was fast asleep after keeping everyone up half the night but all were doing well.
Back home I did a couple more loads of laundry while I got started on my basement re-organization project.
Hubbie had spent the morning out at school helping daughter move all the computers and her desk around in her classroom. She is going to have to get technologies to come out and move some wiring but she said she felt like she could be a better teacher with the new arrangement.
He got a haircut on the way home and then worked up at his shop all afternoon on various things.
I moved some things around downstairs I know I shouldn't have moved by myself. My big industrial sewing machine and also the old dining room table I put the legs back on and set up were very heavy.
I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow even after laying on a heating pad for a while tonight.
The project can move along now pretty quickly and hopefully I can get it finished this month along with the extra housecleaning I always do in January.
Re and little El walked over this afternoon and we carried some baby supplies back out of the storage shed.  It feels like a spring day this afternoon at 64 degrees.
A few more days of this and then back to January weather next Monday with a gulf storm brewing !!

After chores this evening I watched the news and then spent a relaxing evening after my day of moving heavy things around !
Thankful for some good news this afternoon that I will be talking more about later.
Thankful also for all the other blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

RESTFUL SUNDAY AND OLD MEMORIES

The sun is shining brightly again today as I get the chores done a little early so I can get a turkey breast in the oven and get the dressing made before I go to church.
Church was good we are still in the book of Esther. The church always presents a red rose to new parents and they gave it to us to bring home to Re and Aa.
Lunch bunch was very small today, only daughter made it, everyone else had other plans. #2 son came by after his golf game and took left overs home for his supper.
Hubbie and I used this Sunday afternoon for what Sunday's are supposed to be used for , we rested !
He in the recliner and me on the couch with my 4-legged kids,  watched a football play-off game and a UNC/ Virginia Tech basketball game which UNC won.
We did get out this evening to do the chores and then back to our resting positions !!
We need days like this once in a while to recharge and refocus for the week ahead.
I saw this photo on my photography friend's facebook page and thought it was worth reposting.
This is today's early morning "wanning cresent" moon.

The decade photos for this month were very few. I guess after Christmas pics there wasn't much to photograph in January.  The last of the decade series for this month are these undated pics from my old picture files.
This is one of the very few pictures of my paternal grandmother. Her name was Martha Louise Wilkie Pryor.  She probably didn't have much time for pics with having 13 children. I love this picture with the mountains behind her.

In the picture below is grandmother's mom and dad, the Rev. William Joab Wilkie and Martha Ann Reid Wilkie.

This is a picture of my uncle Victor Pryor, who was a lawyer and later a judge in Claremore, Oklahoma.  Looks like he is busy in his lawyer's office in this picture.

The last picture for this month is of my paternal great grandmother Susan Ann Pryor Connor Freeman Huntley . She was married 3 times , first to Alexander L Connor , second to Dobson Burrows  Freeman and third to John Bunion Huntley. Susan was born in 1936 and died in 1922.

I guess of all the ancestors I have found anything about I think this lady was the most interesting of all.  How I wonder what she was like. She was a mid-wife who never lost a baby or a mother in all the years she practiced midwifery in these mountains. Her first husband who was about 20 years old in 1860 when they married was 4 years younger than Susan. He was killed in the the Civil War in 1862, probably in the Seven Days battles of Fredericksburg, Plymouth, and Drewry's Bluff which were fought in December of 1862. He was a private in the 25th regiment, North Carolina  Infantry which was assembled at Camp Patton, Asheville N.C. in August ,1861. This unit moved to Grahamville, SC ,then in March of 1862 moved back to North Carolina and on to Virginia on June 24,1862. I am still researching where is was killed and where his grave might be. I have found notes left by my grandfather that do not speak very fondly of this first step father to my grandfather and his brother who were around 8 and 6 years old at that time, who were both born out of wedlock.

Great Grandmother then married a man 30 years older than her, his name was Dobson Burrows Freeman.  He taught her and both the boys how to read and write and from my grandfather's notes he was their savior as he was very good to them and taught them all they needed to know to be successful in life. He died in 1871 and is buried in Raleigh,NC I think at Dorothy Dix Hospital's graveyard as he met with an accident of a blow to the head which rendered him mentally challenged.

Husband number three was very interesting as great grandmother, who was 35 in 1871 when husband number two died, at some point afterward married a man who was 22 years younger than she was. His name was John Bunion Huntley. I don't know exactly when they married but in the  1880 Census records they were married ,living in Edneyville.NC, her age was listed as 40 and his was listed as 21. When Susan died in July of 1922  he hand carved her head stone, both front and back.

The engraving was very sweet and from a man who must have loved her dearly. It was a poem which read.
She Lived & Died
In Sweetest Love
To many on Earth
and One Above
Gone to dwell Among the Blest
There with her Savyer
To Forever Rest

Thankful tonight for a blessed restful Sunday and praying that His will be done in all that I do.
Good Night and God Bless.

DECENT JANUARY MARKET DAY

No phone calls this morning so hubbie and I were up early getting ready for market. With all the chores done and things loaded we made it on time to find a pretty empty market.
The temperature this morning was significantly lower at 22 degrees than was predicted so maybe everyone is waiting for the promised warmer day.

It was slow all day but several folks did come in to buy my cakes so I had a decent day for mid January.
I caught up my blog between customers and the author came in after the photos of great grandmother for his coming book.
I left market and stopped by Goodwill just to look around, not really looking for anything. Of course I found a couple things that were very good deals, a little blue new rolling horse for the kids, 4 small plates and cups that had pine cones on them for decorating my sunroom table and a set of quilted new placemats and matching coasters, all for $12.
Hubbie and I got home at the same time as he had been taking care of daughter today as she had gotten sick again last night and lost all she had eaten for the day. She was supposed to have taken the church youth on their winter retreat at the waterpark in Pigeon Forge,Tenn but had to get a replacement. She didn't feel like she should be driving so hubbie went over and took her up to the church to meet the other youth leader and give him the money and permission slips for the kids. They then went by the grocery store to pick up something she felt like she could eat and he went home with her and grilled her a couple small steaks and made her a pot of mashed potatoes. She was very hungry and ate a good lunch.  She said it made her feel much better. Had made a trip to Sam's Club on his way home to do our weekly shopping there.
We got unloaded and then settled down for a few minutes rest before we headed outside to try and fix an outside light that isn't working. We replaced the bulb and it burned for a couple nights last week then went back out. Now hubbie thinks it is the sensor so he replaced that today. So far so good tonight. This light is on the high end of the house at the roof level, it is three stories high, so hubbie had strict orders not to climb up there until I was here.
We  did chores and talked with Aa who brought EL by to feed their horse.  Baby BB had a pretty good night on his first night home and everyone got some much needed rest.
We spent a relaxed evening watching a beautiful sunset and building a fire back in the downstairs wood stove to combat a change in the weather forecast of a cold front moving in tonight with some snow flurries maybe.

 Talked to daughter tonight and she said she thought she was finally over "the bug" her stomach felt fine since she ate lunch and she felt normal tonight.
Grateful for another blessed day and for the love of a wonderful Heavenly Father.
Good Night and God Bless.

HOMECOMING !

An unexpected call early this morning changed my plans for this day but like I have said many times before, with each ring of the phone bringing more exciting times, I love it.
Today's call was from Re who is still in the hospital. Aa had spent the night with her and baby BB last night and none of them had gotten any sleep. Re's mom who spent the night at home with little EL was needed at the hospital today to take care of baby BB and Aa needed to come home and get some much needed rest so I went over and brought little EL to my house for the second day.(I can think of many much worse things to do) haha !!!
I did chores on the way over to their house. EL was just waking up when I arrived so Connie (Re's mom) and I had a nice visit while they both ate breakfast.
I had my breakfast when I got back home as I am a late breakfast eater.
I sat EL a small table up in the kitchen with several of her toys that she choose to play with  and she was a really good girl and played contentedly while I baked 6 caramel, 2 chocolate, 3 pound, 1 apple and 1 blackberry wine cake.  The weather is going to be nicer tomorrow than any Saturday so far this month so hopefully we will have a good sales day.
After we both had lunch , EL had 2 helpings of aunt A's (d-in-love) chicken/broccoli/cheese casserole that she made last night.

 I laughed as she ate the chicken without even noticing it was in there as she doesn't' like it most of the time unless it's in  a nugget. She was ready for a nice long nap after she ate.
Talked to daughter who is feeling better from her stomach bug and is at work today.
It was so nice and sunny we had to get outside for a little fun this afternoon.  EL loves riding down the hill in front of the house.

We didn't stay outside long because even with the bright sunshine it is 45 degrees and the wind is starting to blow.
Re got to bring baby BB home this evening so I had cooked a pot roast all day in the crock pot and cut up potatoes,carrots, celery and onions to go with it and took them and my pressure cooker over there so we could cook them to go with the meat while we visited and I got a chance to hold baby BB for the first time. He is really a beautiful baby and little EL loves him also just not sure yet mom should be holding him and not her !!

I think she will be a great big sister once things settle down and she gets used to the new baby.
She's a very loving little girl.
Baby BB seems to be a calm little boy and was really doing great.

Hubbie and I came home, did chores and then I rested for a few minutes watching the news before I iced cakes and got things ready for market.
I didn't even turn the computer on today with all the excitement so this post is written at market and back dated.
These last couple days have been true blessings for all of us and I pray that the coming days will bring even more good news and blessings.
Grateful to God for the place He choose for me.
God Bless.

"BIRTH" DAY

This day started out really early .  Suddenly this morning I was wide awake like I would after I had slept like 10 hours but that was not the case and it was still pitch dark outside. As I rolled over the clock said 6:00 and I wondered why I was awake ?   Just as I rolled back over and closed my eyes my cell phone rang with the news from Re that her baby boy was ready to make his entrance.  When I went to bed last night I worried that if I was in a deep sleep I would not hear my cell phone,so I thank my guardian angel for waking me before that phone rang, not taking any chance that I wouldn't hear it!
I got dressed and headed on over to their house through the path in the woods.
Re, Aa and Re's mom were all ready and headed on to the hospital as soon as I arrived. Little EL was still in her bed fast asleep, oblivious to all the excitement just outside her bedroom door.
I made myself at home in the recliner and napped until I heard her talking at about 8:45. As I watched the monitor she looked as if she was trying to pull her diaper off so I went into her room. She was very very surprised to see Mimi instead of mommy this morning but she is such a happy little girl she never stopped smiling.
She had some breakfast and then we came over to my house, we let all the animals out on our way here.
She wanted more to eat while I had my breakfast , she had already eaten a whole waffle and now she had a cookie and some vege sticks.

We spent the morning playing with pots and pans and farm toys.

She even was a little snuggley today which she is usually way too busy for that when she is over here and this was my favorite part of the day. She is a good snuggler !!

After a good lunch she was ready for a nap.
She is a smart little thing and has figured out exactly where the camera part of the monitor is.

When I layed her in the crib I always rub her stomach and say be really quiet and the sandman will come quickly.
As she shuffled around her crib holding on to her favorite bedtime giraffe after I left she was repeating in a loud whisper,"shhh, be really quiet". I'm glad she couldn't hear me laughing !!!
She layed down  for awhile just staring into space and asking for "mommy" a couple times as if she was thinking about her and I am sure she was.

Then she assumed the position !!   On her belly is how she always goes to sleep.

She slept pretty fitfully with occasional pleas for mommy but she didn't cry and at least she slept some.
I know she senses that something is happening today even if she can't understand what it is.
She slept until d-in-love brought g-son by to play with her after school for a while.

They were playing hide and seek and having a very good time as they always do with each other.

It amazes me how well they play together with their age difference. G-son stayed and played while d-in-love went home to fix supper.
 Aa came after EL and took her home to spend the night with Re's mom while Aa went back to the hospital to spend the night.
This is the sweet new adddition, he weighed in at 7.2 lbs and was 20 inches tall born a little after 11am.
Meet baby BB !!

Wonderful day for this sweet couple as they welcome this precious little boy into their family. Daddy is going to show EL this picture tonight and talk to her about her new little brother.

A beautiful sunset to end this eventful day.

 After everyone left tonight hubbie went with me for a quick trip to Walmart to pick up some baking supplies for a couple orders I have for Saturday.
Heading to bed early tonight to catch up .
Thanking God for the little miracle He added to all our lives this morning and thankful for this special family as they move forward in God's love.
Good Night and God Bless.