I'm like Sandra that's a lot of wood!! We used to buy a cord of wood in the fall but we got where we didn't use all of it and would end up with a lot of rotten wood to get rid of and bugs and critters would get in it. I don't like to burn our fireplace unless we're planning to be in the den. So we just mainly use it at night when it's really cold and it seems our weather has gotten warmer and we don't burn it that often. So we have started buying no more than a rick at a time.
I can't believe Al didn't have one of his DIL's or one of his wife's friends go through all her personal things and take care of getting rid of them before he even invited you to see his house. I would have had to draw the line there. Someone would have had to come in and take care of it. Just too personal - too much information.
I've been on a roll today but haven't done anything constructive to the house! But at least I'm getting stuff ready to get out of the house! Didn't even comb my hair or put make up on.
Spooky Oct. is here!!!
You know, Charlotte, some men are apparently clueless about some things. They don't think about things the way women do. It never occurred to Al to have someone come in and get rid of her things and to clean the house real good before I moved in. He realized what he had done the day he came home from the gun club to find me completely frustrated after an especially tiring day (not to mention the previous weeks) of going through her stuff. I didn't say anything to him but he told me he knew from the look on my face that I was very frustrated and had just about reached my limit of having to go through everything of hers. The other Marilyn was not biological mother to Al's two boys. Their biological mother abandoned the family when the boys were about 6 and 9. The other Marilyn and Al married soon after and they were married for 39 years. She was the only mother the boys had. She was a good stepmother to them but the bond was not there that is between a mother and her children so I suppose Al did not even think about asking his one DIL to come in and help him get rid of her things. I filled at least four of those huge trash bags full of her clothes plus one of her friends carted off 2 carloads of clothes still on hangers to take to a garage sale for an animal rescue place. In addition to her personal things, the house was actually a totally unorganized mess although it was clean on the surface. Every drawer, every cabinet, every closet was literally stuffed full of "stuff". I went through it all and got rid of tons of it but it took me a full month to get it all done. I would not ever, ever do that again but would, like you said, hire someone to come in and do it before I moved in.
Oh, well, I am through "venting" and that is all behind me now. Fortunately, Al and I are both healthy enough to enjoy traveling and we have a good group of friends here in the community and a good church family. Everyone here has been very gracious and accepting of me, for which I am thankful. Though we are certainly not wealthy, we are fortunate enough to be financially stable and life is good, praise the Lord!
Everyone is different as to how they handle things. When my mom died my dad wanted me to get all of her clothes out of the house as soon as we got back from the cemetery!! The only thing he wanted me to leave was her handbag. I think it just really bothered him somehow to have to look at her things and for her not to be there. So before I could come back to LR I had to gather up all her stuff. Thank goodness she was one that got rid of anything she wasn't wearing. So I took all her good clothes and gave to one of her sisters and the rest I put in my suburban and bought back to LR and took to Goodwill. I also found that when someone is sick the way they leave things is not necessarily the way they always handled things. My mother was a fastidious housekeeper!! While she was only in the hospitable about 10 days before she died she had not been her usual self for several years. She had congestive heart failure. I didn't realize just how bad she must have been feeling until I started trying to help dad some. She had continued to cook every day and all the normal things she had always done but had very little strength. I discovered that the kitchen cabinet top next to the stove was coated in a layer of grease. It took me forever to get it off. My guess is she was just not strong enough to clean it the way it needed to be cleaned. She would wipe it off but didn't have the strength to get it really clean and the grease just kept building up. I found a lot of other things like that that was just totally unlike the way she did things. Dad didn't want me doing a lot of cleaning so I had to do things after he went to bed or when he was doing something else and not paying attention to what I was dong. He had realized she couldn't do a lot of lifting and other things and had started going to the grocery store with her and would pick up whatever she wanted and put it in the cart for her. He had also been helping with the vacuuming.
Marilyn glad things are good for you. When is your next trip?
Jeri, I am so sorry to hear about your friend's loss! Suicide is such a hard way to lose someone - and leaves us with forever questions about what could have been done differently. We lost a good friend over 20 yrs ago to suicide - and at times the questions still return! We saw him only days before he killed himself and knew that he was not his normal happy go lucky self, but we had NO idea how bad things were. He was telling us that his wife had closed her business (that we knew was a huge drain on him financially) and that she had started work back at the hospital (as an RN) and that he was thankful to have the income again instead of money just flowing out. What we didn't know was that he was scheduled to appear in court (in a neighboring county) for writing hot checks. He never made it to his court appearance.........instead he stopped in the woods and paced back and forth for what they estimate was an hour or more contemplating going thru with his suicide. He had photo of his family in his pocket - but he shot himself because he had already verified his life insurance would pay off and they would be debt free. :'( His funeral was absolutely packed and EVERYONE there was saying how they would have gladly given him money because of all the times he had helped them out for free. He was just too embarrassed to be brought up on hot check charges and he did not want to ask for help........... so very sad........ I will put Leona on my prayer list - I can't imagine the pain she must be feeling!!
I have been fairly pleased - so far at least - that I am managing to keep things cleaned where I have been.....except that the floors are a constant battle because of the dogs and dust is a constant battle too! But, I think I have finally found the source of a lot of my dust and we have spent the past two nights trying to remedy it. My dryer vent was completely stopped up! We didn't realize it - and about a year or two ago we changed the vent hose, etc and seemed to clean out a ton of lint from my dryer, but upon much closer examination we have learned that my dryer duct is too long and needs a booster fan in it to force the hot air out. Instead the water was condensing in the pvc duct and then the lint was sticking to the moisture, etc. We had to purchase a special "lint eater" which is a brush that goes on a series of 3' fiberglass or plastic rods. We ended up with 24' feet but we finally managed to get it cleaned out! Needless to say my clothes should dry a LOT faster! I had someone scheduled to try to put the booster fan in on Friday, but now we can't find one anywhere and I am going to have to order it off line. It can't be here by Friday so i will have to get it installed at a later point, but I am thankfully to have that cleaned out. My laundry room stays COVERED in a thick layer of dust - and my house stays very dusty as well. I am hopeful that now the lint will go out the duct like it was supposed to instead of filling up the dryer and the house!
Charlotte, I am like you and in a lot of ways my house is in this shape because I made the choice that I was going to be at all the kids activities, be super active in booster club, church activities, etc and I spent most of my time at work or with them somewhere..... not to mention in there somewhere there had to be cooking and laundry! But, I wish I had been more diligent when they were little about getting everyone to pitch in. Kyle and Jessica are fairly good at cleaning but Alex was horrible at cleaning as a teenager because when he was small I did everything for him. If I had it to do over again, each one would have to take some time at the end of every day to get all their things back in order...... but I can't go back and redo so I can only move forward from here! Plus, I am the type that would MUCH rather be outside working than in the house cleaning - but I am going to try to do a better job of keeping things in order and eliminating the clutter before it piles up!
For years, I have chunked every piece of junk mail that comes in the instance I get in the door - then I try to get the bills recorded and put away as soon as possible, but it seems I always have at least a small pile of things that need to be tended to on my table. It has gotten better - especially since for several months it was only me and instead of cooking or cleaning up after cooking, I would spend my time dealing with those things. I am not ever expecting to be a perfect housekeeper - and not sure I am willing to try to be.... LOL.... but I am trying to maintain a little better! I boxed up some clothes that I have had since we moved in 10 yrs ago....I think it was about time for most of them to go. I have been thru my side of the closet twice so I think I have that pretty well cleaned out, but so far, I haven't managed to get Leigh on his side and he probably has twice (or more) the clothes that I do because he keeps them all forever!! I was getting on to him the other day because he had worn a shirt to work that the collar had worn completely thru on!!! He has NEW shirts in his closet but for some reason he pulled out it........ :(
Thinking about it, my mom kept almost nothing as keepsakes, didn't keep bills or anything except for receipts when my dad was running his logging business and tax records. She was good at getting rid of everything. She had most of my Dad's stuff gone after he died before I even knew she was going thru it. But I guess that is one reason she was always able to keep a cleaner house!
Have a good night everyone. Jessi is home for fall break, and we are cleaning in the morning before her appt and hopefully tomorrow afternoon if we don't get stuck at the dr office all day........ I have high hopes to make lots of progress. It is finally at the point that I can tell we are getting close to having it together!
Yes Genna I believe in putting a lot of other stuff before my housekeeping! Always have been that way and always will be that way! My dirty house is always going to be here but other opportunities will not!
Your dryer problems has me thinking I need to check my dryer vent also. About 10 years ago Richard decided to change the dryer vent for some reason. He made it much longer and curved it. Never understood why he did that and seemed to me it would be easier to get clogged up. My dryer takes a long time to dry heavy things like towels. I've been thinking it's probably just because it's 25+ years old. But now I'm thinking maybe I need to check the vent and see if it could possibly be clogged up!! I clean the filter in the dryer regularly.
I am with you all on the housekeeping, I had rather be outside. Yesterday I went out to try and mulch the asparagus and the wind was so cold I had to stay in the sun to work I am nowhere near a perfect housekeeper and never will be, but I do hate clutter. It is just easier to live with things put away. Jerry is the same about not throwing things away, it must be a man thing. Pat pushed me to get Mamma's things done away with. I could have just sat and looked at it for siz months, but Pat said she couldn't deal with it if we didn't do it immediately.
Everyone deals with things differently.
Having a cup of coffee, Pat said she will be here ar 7-if not before to leave, I hope to get lots of pictures at the gardens.
Enjoy your trip with Pat, Sandra! Of course, you two have probably left home by now and you won't even see this! LOL
I clean my house once a week wether it needs it or not!!! LOL!!! Of course, it always needs it and then some. The rest of the week I don't worry about it. I do, at the least, one load of clothes everyday. Then Mary uses my washer and dryer to do her clothes and Terrie does her's and Bre's outer wear. Poor machines get used almost 24/7 due to that.
Sandra, you and Pat have a great time!!! I know you will!!! I love Bellingrath Gardens!!! Can
t wait to see your pictures. Everything should be getting ready for the holidays!!
Well we dropped into the 40's over night but our days are in the 70's and by the weekend we'll be back into the 80's. Have Yall's leaves started to change?
I haven't done any decorating for Halloween this year. It takes all my time in the garden and after that all I'm up to is Candy Crush!!! LOL!!!
Peyton is having her tonsils out tomorrow and then I'm having a skin cancer removed from my lip. I don't think I'll get anything done outside after that, I'd better get twice as much done today.
I know all of you will not be able to attend, but you know that you are always invited and welcome! This info is also posted on FB.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1339077/
Sandra I know you all will have a great time! Love Bellingrath Gardens also. The Bellingraths from Pine Bluff are of that same family. One of Richard's brothers was a good friend to one of the kids when he was growing up and used to spend some of his summer at Bellingrath Gardens. This would have been years ago. Don't know if any of the family actually lives there any more.
I've been painting on things for my booth and digging out and pricing stuff all week. But got to get some other stuff done today! Nope doesn't include cleaning house! LOL
Sandra, I know you and Pat will enjoy your trip! Have fun! The Mikado should be great! Especially seeing someone you know in it!
We're going to Tuscaloosa to the Alabama-Tennessee game this weekend. This is one of the only games we go to each year. We stay with friends somewhere a little out of town whereever the game is on Friday and Saturday night. Tailgate on Saturday. This time the game is early, which I'm happy about since we won't get back so late on Saturday night and will still have time to enjoy sitting around for a while at the Inn and actually might get some sleep!
Roll Tide!!
Sandra, hope y'all have a great time! Sure sounds like you will!
I cleaned out some if my moms things like clothes etc immediately but then I decided to wait on cleaning out the rest of the house - thinking it would get easier ..... I was so wrong ! It only got worse :(. I just reached the point where I had to force myself to rent it to make myself finish the task. In hindsight, I wish I had just gotten it over with. .....
Elaine, y'all have fun at the game and spending time with friends.... Sounds like a nice tradition that y'all have!
Jeri good luck with your procedure .... Hope it all goes well !
Jess and I are just sitting and sitting in the dr office! She had an 11:10 appt and it is after 12:30 now!!! I hate that especially when I have a million things I need to be doing at home!! There is another woman in the waiting room that had a 10:40 appt so apparently we will be here a while yet. !! :(
That is so frustrating having to wait a long time in a doctor's or dentist's office. I figure my time is as valuable as theirs. Hope you and Jess are out of there by now, Genna! (It is 3:02 p.m. as I write this.)
Jeri: hope all goes well with your procedure and that Peyton does well, too.
Elaine, you and Earl have a fun week-end, too!
I went out and cut the remaining blooms on my dahlias this afternoon as we have a hard frost forecast for tonight. The dahlias are a burgundy color and are quite pretty. This is the first time I have grown a dahlia. I'm not going to dig it up so I hope it comes back in the spring although I have read that it won't in this zone. I'm just going to try leaving it and see what happens.
Thanks Yall, mine is next to nothing, I think. She is suppose to look for more while I'm there. They already biopsied it and now it has to be frozen. I'm gonna be cute for church.
Peyton's will be over in 10 minutes. Then popsicles and ice cream.
Hope Yall are out of the Dr's office by now, Genna
Elaine I hope Yall have a great time too, especially since they aren't playing LSU!!!!
I got the compost and a few plants into the front of the teahouse bed.
The last is a picture of my mom when she was young.
What kind of flowers are those! Pretty!
Your mom was very pretty! I can see a resemblance with you.
I need to make an appointment also with the dermatologist. I have a spot on the bridge of my nose right where glasses rest that needs to be removed. It keeps a little crusty spot there. Keep putting it off. The last time I went I left a bloody mess! Then she decided I needed to go to a surgeon and have a bigger hunk taken out of my back! Turned out to be nothing (after he removed the big hunk and left a scar). I about decided it was just a racquet! The big hunk he removed was right in the middle of my back right at my belt line. It had never seen sunlight! I also couldn't see the spot. My primary care doctor referred me to the dermatologist to have a skin check (just routine), then the dermatologist referred me to the surgeon! So all three got paid by my insurance! I have good insurance and sometime I think they take advantage of that.
I think they are just mums. I was so excited to find them for $1.97 and then I found the white ones in the back of Lowe's for $1.00 each.
That's how my lip would do. I thought it was a fever blister but it never healed. She biopsied it on my last visit and it was a pre-cancer. I've had to wait a month for the biopsy heal and now they want to freeze it.
I never thought my mom was pretty. She was my mom!!! But my sister found this picture and just sent it to me and I love it!!!
That's a wonderful photo of your mom, Jeri, and yes she was pretty! :) I just think the hairdos back them were not as flattering as they are nowadays. We have personal curling irons and hot rollers and blow dryers that they didn't have back then and we know better how to "do" our hair nowadays. I love it, though,that the women always had dresses on--rarely did they wear pants and the pants back then were always more like men's trousers.
Your new flowerbed is pretty and will be even prettier when the plants get bigger. You got them for a bargain, though, and that is always good.
Marilyn I agree about the hair do. If you will remember we didn't have hair spray when we were in high school. That's why I always hated PE. If I had it in the morning, my hair would never be right the rest of the day. But our grandchildren when they are old will probably look back at us and say the the same thing!! LOL No telling how they will wear their hair 50 years from now!
I'm doing my dreaded winter and spring chore!! Changing out clothes. Since it's cold outside and I don't have any winter clothes in the closet thought it was time whether I wanted to do it or not. All the while I've been thinking boy would Marilyn ever croak if she had to go through this mess of clothes! I'm about to feel the same way. I have WAAAAAAAAAY too many clothes and I know it. But I will admit that I like clothes. I keep my out of season clothes in big tubs stacked in the the garage by the refrigerator. It means taking everything out of my closet and stacking on a bed. Then bringing everything upstairs from the bins. Then taking everything on the bed down stairs and putting in bins. You would think I would get rid of some of the stuff - or at least stop buying it!!! I am making a stack for Goodwill but it want be as much as I know I should get rid of.
My mother died in 1996 and she NEVER owned a pair of pants. Would not wear them! Never understood why. All three of her sisters wore pants.
We finally got home from the Dr office at 2.....(10 min drive)...... so we were there a while! I HATE that....I hate waiting period but when you know you have a million things you need to be doing and that you took vacation time to get some of them done it is really aggrivating. At least they did apologize. :( She had a student who was shadowing her all morning and she said she spent to much time "teaching and explaining" and she is very thorough. They over schedule her in my opinion because they know she likes to spend more time with each patient.
My husband's grandmother always wore dresses until her husband died because he wouldn't "allow" he to wear pants. Thought it was improper...... but as soon as she died, she went to wearing pants almost exclusively except for church, weddings, or funerals. I remember being a small child went one of my uncle's passed away. It was actually the brother in law of my Dad, so my uncle by marriage, but this was probably in the late 60s or very early 70s and his daughters ( all 4) wore dress pants to the funeral and my Dad thought it was the MOST attrocious thing ever!! When he passed away, I did not own a black dress but owned a very nice black pant suit. I didn't DARE wear it because I knew it would be very offensive to him - so I wore another dark color dress I had. The other day I attended a funeral where one of the daughters had on pants and a BRIGHT RED shirt, and a little girl in front of me had one a lacey blouse with nike shorts and flip flops...... I almost laughed out loud because I could almost hear my father and what he would have had to say about it.........
My Mom wore pants alot...............and she wore them to work every day because she worked in a garment factory as a supervisor and was on her feet all day. But, to my knowledge, she never owned a pair of jeans or anything remotely close. She did however always wear dresses for formal occasions.
Charlotte, sounds like that is a chore for sure moving all those clothes back and forth. I don't envy you any. In Arkansas, it is so hard to know WHAT the weather is going to do - hope you save a few warm weather things out so you don't roast when the temps go back up! Seems like we always have a few warm days thrown in here and there..........
Jeri, your bed is beautiful as always! I don't know how on earth you keep all of that looking so beautiful! I love that pic of your Mom - I know you will treasure it. I can remember being little and thinking my Mom wasn't "pretty" either.........she was short and overweight but the older I got, the more I realized how beautiful she was. She was totally unselfish and always put all of us before her own needs. I learned I was looking at the wrong thing - and that as I matured, her inner beauty outshined all her outer blemishes. My Mom always looked a lot younger than she was - was blessed with very few blemishes or wrinkles and almost no grey hair. I had so many people tell me how they had always thought she was so beautiful............ so, you just never know how others see you. I love this Dove real beauty test .... it says imagine a world where beauty is a source of confidence (in whatever shape or form) instead of anxiety......
http://realbeautysketches.dove.us/
I am back at work today and break is over ..............so better get back at it!
Genna
I could lessen my work just by getting rid of a lot of clothes! But never seen to get rid of enough! I actually have a really big walk in closet with double hanging rods on both side of the closet and shelves from the floor to the ceiling at one end and shelves all around the top of the closet. But I just have never left my really winter clothes or my really summer clothes in the closet all year round. I do have a lot of clothes that are basically year round and they stay in the closet. I also have one section of the upper rods that I keep winter and summer dressy jackets in. They are the things I seldom wear but don't want to fold up.
Genna I saw your post on FB about this being the anniversary of Alex getting burned. What kind of accident did he have? You may have said before but I don't remember ever hearing what happened.
On the day Alex was burned, I had gotten up at 4:00 am to travel with friends to a funeral of friend in NW AR. It was a morning funeral so we left really early, then we got back to LR, we visited another friend and semi-retired co-worker who was in very critical condition. They dropped me off at my house at 4:30 that evening - and Alex and the kids had been home since 4 when they got off the bus. As soon as I got there, Alex was wanting to go to a friend's house. I let him go for a little while, but it was Wednesday night and I knew they would be going to Awana's at church which started at 6. He had instructions to be home at 5:30- warned him I was exhausted both physically and mentally from the day and that I would fix them a sandwich for supper and take them to awanas and go to bed. and Dad would pick them up - and he left on his bike to head to the other end of East Camden (about 4 blocks)...... but the last thing he asked me before he left was if he could take an empty ovaltine jar to Trey. I said, "well, i don't know why he wants an empty jar, but that is fine" - Alex said he wanted it for an experiment! The boys waited until Trey's mom left the house to walk the dog, which she did every evening, and then they poured some of Trey's brother's black powder into the Ovaltine jar. They pulled some fuses out of some bottle rockets with the intention of setting off the jar.............Alex said they never got the match to the fuse and the whole thing went up! His shirt caught on fire and he had to stop and roll and roll and roll (his words) in order to get the fire out. Because the fire was all over his upper body and face, he actually thought he was going to suffocate before he could get the fire out because the fire was taking all the oxygen. His shirt burned completely off of him, and Trey tried to get him to let him wrap something around him and the burns - but Alex told him no - that they needed to get help. Because Trey's Mom wasn't home, they walked to a nearby neighbor's house where one of their classmates lived. It was her Mom that called me to tell me about the accident. The phone rang at 5:31 - and I was sure it was Alex telling me he was late leaving Trey's but was headed home. Instead, it was the voice of a woman I didn't really know, and it took me a moment to place who she was. I was horrified that Alex had gotten hit on his bike. Instead, she told me that he and Trey were messing with something and he had gotten burned. I yelled at kyle and Jess to get in the vehicle and we flew over there - me thinking he had burned his hand or arm or something messing with something he shouldn't have. When I got there - he was sitting in her carport on the steps out of sight. As I got out of the vehicle to inquire where he was , he came out walking toward me. His shirt was gone and his entire torso and face were burned. He his face was black except for where he had reached up and touched his face with his hands causing the skin to droop - it was white there. :( I literally remember falling back into the front of my van - it was probably the closest i have ever come to passing out but all I could think of was that we HAD to get to the hospital. Alex started in with his "momma now don't be mad" and he was obviously walking fine so I ordered him to get in the vehicle NOW. and I took off. We had multiple conversations on the way to the hospital, him wanting to know how badly he would be deformed, etc and I told him I had no idea but that I was just thankful after the day I had had that we were headed to the hospital and not the morgue. As I reached the river bridge, Alex was having trouble breathing and saying he couldn't catch his breath. I was terrified it meant that he had burned his lungs, but in fact he was swelling from the burns and his throat, nose everything were swelling shut. I told him he HAD to breathe, because I had to drive!! I couldn't do CPR and drive - so he had to try to stay calm and breathe. At the ER, the dr originally told me his lungs were burned as well, but the nice guy who put him on the vent (and let me stay in the room while he did so) told me he did not see any black down his windpipe and he was pretty certain that the burns were contained to his outer body. They airlifted him to children's and we were told the next day by the head dr in the burn unit to notify our employers that we would probably be in children's for at least 4 -6 months! They put us on the list for the McDonald house and everything because they expected us to be there VERY long term. I had my brother call the church from the hospital - and had people start praying and asking others for prayer before I was even able to get word to Leigh what had happened. (before we had cell phones) When we met with that burn doctor on Thursday morning, I had a co-worker sitting there with me, when he told us we would be looking at multiple skin grafts to the face and neck and possibly torso. He said he would not be able to tell us for sure how many grafts would be needed until Monday morning but to plan on several and months of being at the burn unit. Burns have to mature for 48 hrs before they can determine that - and since the head man didn't work weekends, we had to wait until Monday. It seemed like an eternity away. My friend and co-worker said that we could get lots of prayers up before Monday and get lots of prayer warriors in action. On Saturday evening late, the ICU burn unit nurse said that his face was looking miraculously good and that MAYBE we wouldn't have to have any grafts on his face - there would still be grafts on the side of his neck definitely, and probably on his torso, but she thought we might be able to get by without grafts to his face. That was welcome news - because he would turn 13 on November 24 of that year and needless to say he was worried about his face being disfigured. On Monday, around noon we met with the head surgeon again from the burn unit, he told us he could not explain it, but that we were not going to need ANY skin grafts! He said he had no explanation for the healing that was occuring - and I told him I had one! I told him we had people praying all over the state and out.........hundreds of people - many we had no idea who they were! Alex spent 14 days!!! in the burn unit before being sent home. He spent another 6 weeks I think at home before he could return to school - even then he was only allowed to return to school because he BEGGED the dr and it was finals week so he could only go half days part of the time. He couldn't go out in public, had to be very careful about who we let come over , etc. He had to undergo burn debreedings every day for months - but the results are an absolute miracle. They said he would NEVER have facial hair - and most of you have seen his pics with full beards. I still cry every time I relive those events - not because I am sad although it was THE most terrifying experience of my life, but because I am so very humbled and thankful for what God has done for us! I have NO doubt that it was only by His mercy and grace that Alex is still here - even more so that he has no noticeable scars!
He did end up having to have a surgical procedure on his vocal cords later because scar tissue formed from the vent tube and his vocal cords wouldn't open and move out of the way like normal to allow for air passage. He also had to have surgery to remove some scars that formed keloids (large raised scars) - he also had a spot that was burned on the back of his head UNDER his hair. They didn't even know he was burned there until about 10 days into the process - and the hair just fell out of that area. He still has scars on the back of his head where he has no hair - but they are larger now than they were because when the doctor tried to "fix" them when he did the other scar repair surgery...... they are actually worse. :( But, regardless, we are thankful that they are on the back of his head! Plus, they have opened a lot of conversations for him about what happened and so he tells his story. He says it is no coincidence that burns hurt so badly........... it is a warning about what hell will be like.
Sorry to rattle on - but I love sharing our miracle story. I can't seem to say thank you enough to God for His mercy. It has been 13 years and the emotions are just as real today as they were then! I will also admit that prior to Alex being burned I would tell someone I would pray for them - and sometimes I would, and sometimes I wouldn't...... it wasn't that I meant to lie, but I would let other things get in my way or distract me from fulfilling my intentions. Now, I know first hand that power of prayer, and I feel an obligation to pray for others to "repay the debt" so to speak. i am so grateful for all the prayer warriors that helped us during that time. Many who personally did not know us.
On a side note, my MIL was headed from Warren to LR to see Alex when he was in the burn unit and she stopped in Fordyce for some gas or something and saw a former student of hers. The woman was living in Rison.....but she inquired what my MIL was doing how things were going , etc. My MIL told her that her GS had been burned in an accident and she was headed to LR to check on his progress again. The woman asked her if his name was Alex - and my mil was shocked and answered yes and asked how on earth she knew that. She told her that their church had been praying for a 12 yr old named Alex who had been burned and they did not even have a last name! Thank you Lord - because HE knew his last name!! I have found it amazing that they did not know him - yet were willing to pray for him. Since that time, I have lifted many names in prayer of people I did not personally know, but I have learned that it doesn't matter if I know them.......... God knows them.
I have gone on long enough..........better get to work on this house! Everyone have a blessed day!
Genna
What a story Genna! He indeed does look out for us and take care of us! I have never heard the whole story before or I would have remembered that. I think I have always just heard that he was seriously burned but never actually heard the story.
I finally started the process today of getting things ready to put up in the greenhouse or bring inside. I got all my caladiums dug up and sorted out this morning. I kept all of them in pots this year which made it a lot easier to dig up. I usually start all mine in pots and then sometimes put some of them in the ground. I had bought 2 big boxes from Caladiums 4 Us this summer and they were all mixed. So I sorted them out according to type and color and will try to keep them labeled this winter. I used to try to keep them according to name but that's just gotten too complicated.
Just ran across this link to Pleasanton, CA. This the town my son and family live in. I have always loved the big Pleasanton sign across the street on Main street. What they show is the downtown which is a big hang out with interesting local shops and restaurants. However they also have a huge mall with Norstroms, Macy's, etc. right off the interstate. I've always said I could live in Pleasanton (that is if I could afford to!).
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/topofthetimes/features/la-tr-pleasanton-escape-20130414,0,5474987.story#axzz2iyAFCdM2
I am home and very, very tired !
The opera was great, the gardens were great, the house tour was great too! The Bellingrath's had no children, so no one lives there now. It is furnished with all the antiques that Mrs Bellingrath had collected. She had china collections, glassware collections and a Tiffany lamp that she bought at a yard sale for 500 bucks that is now worth half a million ! They were being inventoried by their insurance company a few years back and the lamp had been setting where tours walking through could touch it and the insurance man would not leave until the staff promised to move it out of reach.
We were not allowed to make pictures inside the home. Mrs Bellingrath died in AR, Charlotte on a trip to visit someone there. She only got to live in the house 8 years after it was finished.
When we left there we went to a Bayou where Forest Gump was filmed with the shrimp boat. We saw several shrimp boats but just rode through as Pat is terrified of, water and bridges. Just a phobia and she gets in a panic if she even thinks he is headed toward the bay ! We stopped at a quick mart to get a drink and I looked around and saw heavy white rubber boots on the shelf, something not seen every day.
The Bella Voce rehearsal was good too. He has some great singers in that group too, around 40 ladies.
Glad you had a good time Sandra! It's been rainy here the last 2 days but looked like you all had good weather. It was also good that you and Pat got to spend some time alone together!! Quality time when you are in the car traveling! Best shrimp I've ever eaten used to come straight off the shrimp boat in Baytown, Tx when mother and daddy lived in Dickinson, Tx.
I did a google seach on Bellingraths in Little Rock and came up with this link. There is still a Bellingrath living in the house in White Hall. Every generation had a son named Ferd. There are Bellingraths now living in Little Rock that are from this same family. The one that built the house in Mobile and the one in Pine Bluff I think were brothers but may have that wrong. They were all of course in the Coca Cola business. Richard could tell me if would stop and think about it. He knows the Pine Bluff/Little Rock Bellingraths. He grew up with them. Richard's best friend that now lives in Fairhope, AL is related to them. His mother was an Oudin. He also spent summers at the Bellingrath house in Mobile.
http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.aspx?id=1599
Got to finish my Halloween boxes to send to the boys!! I guess I'll be putting together boxes for every special occasion until I die!! Don't think they will ever tire of getting boxes!
Looks like another great house that Coke built ! I was so tired yesterday, I thought you were saying someone lived in the house in Mobile.
The tour guide talked about the couple a lot. She said in the depression years Mrs. Bellingrath would hear of a family in the area that was in real trouble. She would have her driver take her there and she would walk up to the door, introduce herself and proceed to tell them she had driven by their home several times and had wished she could have that wonderful azelias bush for the gardens. Then she would offer them 500.00 for it. They said they still had visitors that would come and ask if they knew where the azela was planted that Mrs. Bellingrath had bought from their ancestors. She wanted to help them, but not to make them feel as though they were taking charity.
For any that didn't see on FB-this is my dignified nephew-Dr Thomas Rowell---LOL ! He was Ko Ko the high executioner in the Mikado. See what a good education will get you--LOL ! I told some of his friends there that I was really disappointed, I though Tommy was going to act, he just acted like he has his whole life, nothing new to me. It was very funny, when the Mikado finally made an appearance about 3/4 of the way through, he was Elvis-red rhinestone costume, the works! The audience went wild when he came on stage.
I'm so glad that Yall had a good time. Of course, I knew that you would. Sister time is so special!!!! The Bellingrath's were unique in that they enjoyed sharing their wealth!!! I hadn't heard the story about buying azaleas but at Christmas time she brought presents for all the children. I thought that was extraordinary!!!
Isn't that strange that Pat is so afraid of water and you don't care for seafood. I wonder if there is a connection. Does Pat eat seafood?
She eats fish every now and then, but that is about all. She has an early memory of our Daddy taking her swimming in the gulf on his shoulders and he went underwater with her. It terrified her and she thinks that is why. Pat is a few years older than I am and she remembers our Dad, I don't because he left Mamma carrying me. He painted the inside of water tanks and they traveled all around in a camper to different jobs. Pat is also afraid of heights and bridges, even if there is no water under the bridges. She can't even watch a TV show with a snake on the screen, she sees danger everywhere she looks. We laugh at her all the time, but we wouldn't scare her on purpose.
I love the water and always have.
The Bellingraths were very generous people it seems. She said that the tables (three dining rooms in the house) were always set to full capacity. When her friend questioned her why she would do that every day she said that she never knew who the Mr might invite for lunch or supper. She wanted the unexpected guests to be welcomed as if she had expected them.
After the Mrs passed and he had retired he was in the garden one day talking to an elderly lady sitting on a bench. He asked if she was enjoying the garden, she said oh yes, but my legs have just given out. My grandchildren left me here and will return in an hour (no cell phones then). He told her to come with him. The grands came back and no Grandmother, they frantically searched the gardens and then finall knocked on the door of the house. When the butler answered they asked if there had been an accident in the garden and described the missing Grandmother. The butler asked that they follow him, he took them upstairs to the sleeping porch where the Mr was asleep on one sofa and their Grandmother was asleep on the other. He told her it was his nap time and if she was that tired, she needed one too! She told the story as she was showing us the matching sofas. They have them in a downstairs glassed in porch now, we weren't allowed to go out on the sleeping porch.
I need some help with an ID on these plants, wanted to see if some of you know before I post them somewhere else
These were all in the greenhouse there
I bet there was a story for just about everyday of their lives!!! They were such remarkable people!!!
Sleeping porches are very common in a lot of the plantations down here. That is where the young boys would sleep when there was a ball and people slept over.
I think you were about the 1st person I had met that didn't LOVE seafood of some kind!!! I thought it was b/c you didn't live by the gulf. We were raised on seafood, even living up here. It use to be SO cheap. Now it's almost a luxury even here, I can only imagine what it cost in other states!!! I remember my grandaddy buying a sack of oysters for $3.00 and sitting by the clothes line shucking them and eating them straight out of the shell. Back then I turned my nose up at them but now I love them!!!
Sorry cross posted.
Not sure of the 1st but the 2nd is a Ti and the 3rd is a papaya.
I'm not sure about the plants but they are pretty. I had not heard that about buying the plants either. Neat! Funny story about the current Bellingraths here. As I said Richard's best friend is related. A couple of years ago the Ferd of their generation was very ill and dying. He had moved to LR (it is his son that lives in the house in Whitehall/Pine Bluff now). They had announced the time and date of his funeral and Joe had come up here from Fairhope to go to the funeral. He ended up having to extend his visit as they had to change the date of the funeral. He was still alive on the day and time his funeral was supposed to be!!! He didn't die until a couple of days later. NEVER heard of anyone scheduling a funeral before someone actually died!!! I guess the doctor had said he would not live more than x number of hours and they just went ahead and scheduled the funeral!!!
Sandra, Pat sounds a lot like my mother was. She was terrified of water!!! Her brother moved to Pensacola when I was in grade school. I have pictures of her on the beach in her dress holding an umbrella. Daddy loved to swim and would take us in the water and play with us but mother would just stand on the beach and be terrified we were going to drown! Wouldn't even get close!
I was thinking the second was Ti but was afraid my guess was wrong.
Sounds like you had a great time Sandra! The Bellingrath's sound like very special people .... I have never heard of their gardens, but it sounds like a nice place to visit.
Maybe Pat's fears come from being abandoned as a child............I am sure that was a really scary time for her and your Mom and those fears might have manifested themselves as other fears? Just a thought............... I know kids often transfer emotions, adults too for that matter.
Well, I worked all weekend and made a lot more progress but still not quite there - MAYBE I will be finished by the weekend ( I am not sure how many weekends i have thought that!!) I think I am almost to the point where I am going to start advertising the house and take my chances with being finished. I still have a few things here and there and the garage is a wreck so I might have to wait until I can hit the garage this coming weekend........ I have about 8 boxes in the back of my vehicle to go to Ouachita Industries (similar to goodwill) and i hope to get those by today because I know there will be more to come but i need to free up some space. I also have a few things listed on ebay so maybe I can generate a little income for some of the junk! LOL
My back is giving me fits again today - although not as bad as a few weeks ago. But, thankfully, I already had a chiropractor's appt scheduled for today so I hope that does the trick!
It rained a good part of Saturday at the house..........and the temps were pretty cool but this morning was much warmer, almost 60 when I left for work this morning.
Who knows what causes all of Pats fears. Charlotte she does not even want to stand on a beach, she doesn't like to even see water !
I didn't know the Ti made those berries, you gave me some when we visited you in the spring that year, but they just showed foliage, do the berries come from blooms?
I should have thought about the tree, racked my brain trying to think, but I guess it has lost a few memory chips--LOL
I posted the review from the opera on FB if any of you would like to read I can post it here also
I would have already listed. If people can't appreciate the hard work then they might not be right for your home. Time is ticking!!! 9 out of 10 times the new buyers re-paint to make their mark on the house.
Must be something in the air, Mary's back is killing her. She thought it was a pulled muscle but it's been going on over a week now. Her's is radiating either from or to the front. She sees Dr. Fort Thur. Maybe we will know something after that. Hope your's is better soon, Genna!!
Poor Mary
Back problems are in the air alright, all us "seniors" seem to "catch" it !
A few more pictures
Genna I agree with Jeri! The garage is not that important. That's were most people put stuff when they are getting ready to move. Your getting into the most difficult time of year to sell a house. People are too involved with holidays in November and Dec. Time is of the essence as far as getting it listed and advertised!!
We did a cross post Sandra. Beautiful pictures. What a healthy and pretty begonia!!