Days gone byHoliday Memories and chat

I will start with a sad but kind of funny memory I have of one Thanksgiving

Cayla was 3 and Mamma had to work on Thanksgiving, it was my turn to stay with Gunny. We went over on Wed night so I wouldn't have to drag Cayla out so early to go the next morning. I made dressing there got everything ready for supper so we could have a little holiday when Mamma got there. Around the middle of the afternoon Gunny didn't seem to be acting normal. I checked her sugar and it was really high. I called her nurse and she got there about the time Mamma got home. Cayla had figured out we were worried about Gunny so she got me by the arm and pulled me over to the table where Gunny's snuff box was. She told me that Gunny would feel better if I gave her some of her snuff !!!
Sweet memories.

That is a sweet memory! I agree having little ones around and watching through their eyes makes holidays special. I don't have any small kids around anymore either!! Maybe great grand kids one of these days.

Oh, Sandra, that is precious! I agree about the little ones! I'm so proud of our kids and grandkids but the grands aren't so little anymore but still special. I can't wait to see the surprise on Mackenzie's face next week when she gets the keys to her car! She doesn't think she's getting Meredith's old car until sometime in December. Meredith really didn't think she would be able to get her new one until sometime after the semester is over around the first part of December and she gets her tuition check for next semester. Well she cashed in some of her saved hours at work, she had more money in her savings than she thought she had, & Mama/Nonnie helped out a little, so Meredith got her car last week, but isn't picking it up until this Friday and then is keeping it at our house until Sunday. That part is killing her, not really getting her car until then, but the surprise for Mack is going to be worth it. We bought a big red bow the other day to put on the front windshield and she is wrapping up the keys so that will be the last gift she will unwrap. I can see the tears flowing now.

Thank you all so much for your sweet words.

Yes, Charlotte, I love scalloped potatoes too. Don't know why I don't make them more often except for the calories, lol! I used to make them a lot with the kids and would put pork chops on top and let them cook while the potatoes were cooking and then just add cheddar cheese at the end when the chops were done. A one-dish meal.

Sandra, thank you for starting a new thread. We needed it!

Jeri, I hear ya on the hotel room! A whole lot less trouble and stress. Congrats to Chris and Tori on their new house. Did you ever get anything straightened out on the trailer park or is that still in progress?

I had cleaned out a bunch of stuff from my closets last month and it still doesn't look like I did a thing. I have since filled up 2 more boxes to take. I have way too much.

I know Mackenzie will be so surprised!! That first car is always a memorable experience!!

Jeri congratulations to Chris and Tori on their new house. How exciting for them.

I know I have way too many clothes! I just got my winter clothes out this weekend and I've managed to find things to wear just fine without them. I gave a ton of stuff to Goodwill this summer. I even have too many paint clothes! I use my old clothes that aren't good enough to wear out anywhere to paint in. Somehow I've even ended up with too many of those. I'm really trying not to buy a bunch of new stuff. I always like something new every season. I bought a long vest and matching shirt at Chico's last week and that's going to be my new outfit for the season. I also bought some new pants (I had some that needed to be replaced) with a Kohl's 30% off coupon so I should be set for the winter.

I'm making a crustless quiche. Hope it turns out good. I plan to freeze what I have left over. It has spinach, mushrooms, onion. It called for ham but I decided to leave it out and then I remember I had some peppered bacon in the freezer so I added some of it.

TG and each of you prayer warriors!!! Ashley got the job at Costco and starts Sat. I hope she doesn't drive me nuts before then!!!

Thanks Yall for the good wishes for Chris & Tori!!! I'm excited for them too!!! Been a long time but I remember that 1st house and all the excitement. Blaidon got up all excited this morning!!!

Mackenzie will be over the moon!!! I see many tears in the future also!!! Take lots of pictures!!!

Cute memory Sandra!!

That quiche sounds really good Charlotte!!!

On Jeri, TG for Ashley. Wishing her all the best in her new job. She will do great I'm sure of it!

Yum on the quiche! I made one a couple of months ago when I had a lot of veggies from the garden. Don't know why I don't do it more often as we really enjoyed it.

Yeah for Ashley!!!

The quiche was good. I froze what I didn't eat and will have several more meals. I have my freezer full now! Three kinds of soup and quiche. I also picked up a small lasagne and several other small serving frozen things. Bought a pork filet (those things that are about 6 oz of meat vacumn packed in the shape of a filet) that I'm going to cook a sweet potato with. Whole grain bread and cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches. Then I've been keeping arugula and olives and dried tomatoes from the salad bar for salads. So I'm set for food. I usually go out to eat a couple of times a weeks with friends and usually have left overs for another meal.

Another rainy day. It also turned warm. It's 73 right now!! All my windows are fogged up from the humidity. Sat it's supposed to cool off - 56 for the high and 31 for the low. So I guess that will be my first killing frost.

Hello all! Trying to catch up!

Charlotte, sounds like you are on a cleaning frenzy! When you get thru there you are welcome to come visit and do some cleaning here! :)

Elaine, I am in awe of your accomplishment!! I don't know how you do it - but I am proud of you! So happy your hard work paid off big!

Thanks for the compliments for Jess - I do wish they had kept the camera on her while she was talking but they did the same thing to some of the other people during the show so I assume they were just trying to get as many people "on tv" as possible. I am just glad they didn't cut that segment after her having to be down there so early!! :)

OBU lost the game, but other than that we had a good weekend. Kyle and Maddie came down Friday night and I fixed homemade chili and we had frito chili pies with different toppings for supper. Then they went to the game and went back to LR from there. We all had to go eat after the game of course - because they are never going to pass up a free meal! LOL.... Jess was sad that was her last FB game. She has been actively involved in football season since she was 4. She will miss it for sure! Leigh and I worked in the yard for several hours after church - we were both exhausted by the end of the day. But, thankfully, we got a lot of stuff cleaned up. We are thru by any means, but it is looking better.

One of my HS classmate and good friend lost her home to a fire yesterday - total loss. She lives in Arkadelphia as well - so I headed back to Arkadelphia as soon as I got off work yesterday. Leigh and I lost our home to fire just before our 2nd anniversary and it is so devastating. I knew I couldn't fix it - but I just had to go and see her. I gave them some cash - actually handed it to her sister who was going to walmart to at least get her some underwear and extra shoes and a change of clothes, toothbrushes, etc. She was soooo much more organized than I and had all her photos of her grands in drawers in chronological order! All those are gone now. :(

I cleaned out a big box of stuff out of my closet as well a few weeks back but I still have drawers that need to be gone thru and I REALLY need Leigh to sort thru some of his things, but he refuses to get rid of things!

It is pouring here and feels like tornado weather - it was actually HOT outside this morning compared to what it has been. Hope everyone stays safe!

Oh, I need some advice from ya'll please.

I have two large beds that haven't had ANYTHING done to them for the past 2 years. We are trying to pull all the big weeds out of them, take out bushes that have died, etc. One bed has 3 DLs in it that I missed somehow when I tried to move all the DLs out 3 yrs ago. The same bed has a couple of larger things - such as a dogwood and an amsonia ? in it that I would like to keep, but that are too large to move. The other bed only has a couple of larger things as well but it mostly empty, except for the grasses and weeds that have overtaken it.

So, here is my question. I would like to start over on these beds and get all the weeds and grasses killed out before starting over. I have considered trying to cover the beds with black plastic - but that tends to attract black widows in my area. I have also considered trying to cover the area with cardboard and just try weighting it down with rocks or something. Any suggestions? I doubt very seriously that I can get both of them redone next year, but I can hope - but in the meantime, I want to try to eliminate part of what has overran them if possible. There is also a possibility that I might not redo them at all depending on how my other beds do next year. I have fought them hard this year and felt like they won - so if I can't keep them under better control then I will give up on redoing the others. But, I know it will take a while to kill out the grass and weeds so I would like to start on that process now. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

Genna, can you post a picture or drawing and tell us how big the area is you're trying to work with? Two large beds....how big? And where are the dogwood and amsonia? I can understand not wanting to kill the dogwood, but an amsonia can be replaced pretty easily if you want to cut it down. Are there any shrubs still alive in there? Do you want to keep them as beds?

It's almost too late to spray Round-up. I can't remember the low temp requirement for brush killer but it's somewhere around 55 degrees. We might have some days with that temp but you might be better off getting a roto tiller in there and tilling up whatever is growing, spraying brush killer, and then covering with cardboard for the winter anyway.

Yeah I think it is too late for roundup for sure............... kept meaning to roundup it all summer but we had rain til the end of July - and after that it got so hot that I just didn't get it done. Not sure it would have mattered because the parts that I used RU on in August were growing like crazy...... :( And I buy the concentrate so I can mix it myself and I mix it heavy. The oval bed is probably 16' long or so, I will need to measure to be sure and probably 8' - 10' across in the middle (the widest part of course). The dogwood is at the very back edge of the bed in the center. That particular bed doesn't have a lot of actual grass in it - at least in places because it has been over run with the double phlox that I got from Jim. I love it, but it has taken over the past two years that I have just let that bed go.

The other bed is around a light pole and guide wire - it was started to keep us from flipping the mower under the guide wire which we came close to doing a couple of times...... but unfortunately when I was so sick several summers ago I lost almost everything in that bed because it is a couple of hundred feet from the house and I just couldn't drag the hose. I moved all the DLs that survived out of it the next spring so literally all that is in there is the purple fringe bush (I am blank right now on the name) - probably 5 of them planted around the light pole and then a few spring bushes on the outer edges. So most of it is open area that can just be killed out or covered. It is pouring here today so it may be a day or two before pics are an option.

Are you talking about lorapetalum? Those are pretty and they will get big but can be trimmed back successfully.

I know cardboard works but it's an ongoing process too. You have to keep after it just like anything else. If you know you're not going to put anything else in there for a while, just blast it with brush killer where you don't want anything to grow (you don't really have to mix it stronger, just use something stronger than round-up that says it works for a year), then put the cardboard down and put some mulch down on top. We used to use Brush-B-Gone under our fence, but I think they have changed the name. That should do you for a couple of years at least until the cardboard breaks down. I use pine mulch (not the bark but the shredded stuff) and it lasts longer. You'll probably have to refresh it some after a year but it works pretty good and you can over-spray it.

We have fire ants building everywhere now, I am trying to kill them, but they just move a few feet over. They are really getting bad here.
Do y'all have them too?

Genna, I finally gave up on my miniature daylily bed, just couldn't keep the grass out. I dug them out and let the grass have it. I had dug the whole bed up and re planted it twice and still didn't kill out all the grass, so I decided it wasn't worth the fight.

I have plenty of other ants but haven't noticed fire ants.

Well the one good thing about a shady yard is grass doesn't grow in flower beds!! I get plenty of weeds but no grass to speak of. I actually have very few weeds in the back yard. The constantly falling pine needles provide a constant mulch. I'm a firm believer in laying cardboard. I have a spot in my back yard between the fence and the workshop that I'm trying to eventually turn into a space for hostas. No grass but ivy has gotten into the area. I keep piling cardboard on the ground and then putting pine needles over it to hide it. I'm trying to keep the ivy from growing and it's doing a pretty good job. I have an endless supply of cardboard. I have big boxes my stuff is shipped in. I don't use all of it but I figure I may as well put it to good use when I can. I take a lot to my garden also. I put cardboard over my bed last winter and when I uncovered it this spring I didn't have any weeds.

Several beds at the garden have gotten totally out of control with bermuda grass. A couple of people covered them with black plastic (works best in the summer) and got rid of the grass. I'm sure it will come back but I guess you can keep doing it.

It rained all day long!! We had flash flood warning out this afternoon. I had several things I needed to do out today. I kept waiting for the rain to quit and finally just ventured on out. I couldn't drive in the right lane for all the water. They closed parts of the interstate between LR and the Air Base at times this afternoon because of flooding on the interstate. I think the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow.

Oh my goodness Sandra - we have fire ants EVERYWHERE!! Huge mounds!! I cleaned a bunch of pots of my porch steps this weekend and I even had one pot that I moved with fire ants under it - and I was busy trying to avoid them and there was a BIG black widow! YUCK! That is the first one I have had to kill in quite a while - so I have definitely made a dent in their population, but I couldn't believe she was living under there with all those ants! I sure hope they don't get to where they are teaming up or I will be in trouble!

Charlotte, that is one definite advantage of shady beds - not to mention you have built in shade while working instead of being out in the blazing sun! My sister didn't realize how much difference it made because most of her beds are in the shade until she put a big bed out in the sun....... she says she works a lot harder to keep it cleaned up than the others! I may literally just give up on those two - I haven't made up my mind yet. We have a small area of trees to the side of our house where we have a swing, and I have planted several things there in the past, but I don't have much luck getting things to live there. I guess the ground is so sandy that the trees soak up all the water from the plants trying to get established. Plus, it is SO hard to dig holes for plants because of all the roots everywhere and with the sandy soil, I have to be able to dig a bigger hole to improve that area or it won't stand a chance of making it......

My front porch becomes the catch all for wayyyy too many pots - and I finally got it all cleaned up this weekend and swept. My UPS guy brought another package yesterday and I bet he was shocked to see I finally got the mess cleaned up! Nobody uses my front door but them! LOL

We got lots of water here yesterday, but no flooding that I know of, and no wind damage that I have heard of.

Alex drives to Columbia, MO today for dinner tonight, and interviews all day tomorrow. Then he hopes to drive all the way back tomorrow, but not sure he will make that. Prayers would be appreciated for his interview to go great. Also, I would sure appreciate it if ya'll would pray for him to get some additional interviews. He can list 12 choices on his match form BUT ONLY if he has at least 12 interviews. So far, he is only has 4 - he has received 20 rejection emails from places that are not going to grant him an interview, so we need some more offers to show up!

Everyone have a great day !

Prayers for Alex!

Yes, we have numerous fire ants. Since we have such wide-open spaces it's almost impossible to treat them except mound-by-mound. DH and I discovered that we need to treat with both kinds of treatment - the one that kills the queen and the one that sterilizes. We found a really good product that seemed to work (Tiger something) but then it was hard to find and the guy at Lowe's recommended something else. Over-and-Out was one product we used to buy by the big bag and use along with something else (I forget the name). But it doesn't seem as effective as it once did. I'm constantly finding more little mounds here and there.

I'm just not putting out as many pots as before. I have an asparagus fern I always put out under the Japanese Maple. It goes under the house in winter and dies back some but comes back. And a strawberry pot with succulents and another small succulent pot. And I have about 3-4 other medium-to-large pots I plant with colorful stuff in the spring and that's it.

Alex is going to have a long day tomorrow if he drives all the way back. I'm not sure where Columbia, MO is. Is there a certain date where he will stop receiving interview offers?

I have way too many pots and I'm planning to cut back on them. I have several big pots under the pergola and a number of really large pots placed around the yard. My yard is flat and I like to add some different heights is why I plant a lot of things in pots. Most of them I have finally gotten planted with perennials. I have also cut way back on the tropicals I bring in. I have a couple of brugs I'm keeping and several ferns that I really like. My lambs foot, a couple of bird nest ferns and a foxtail fern. I don't try to keep any other ferns. I just replace them every year. I have a bunch of begonia but I was able to get all of them in the sunroom. Some other big houseplants I want to try to save I put in front of the windows in the den. My windows go all the way to the floor so they should be ok.

I made a major dent in cleaning out Richard's closets and have the truck bed totally full!! A lot of the stuff he had should have been donated years ago!! He had two closets totally packed with clothes. Both closets had double rods in them and one closet is a walk in closet! Now I need to go through my clothes and do the same thing!!

I don't have much light access to bring plants inside, the only thing I brought in was the red ice plant I got this year, everything else can fend for itself.

I have been trying to figure out windows 10 today, I downloaded it on my laptop. I am having a problem with pages not recognizing that I am connected to the Internet ? Does anyone have any idea why ? I would rather monkey around with it a little before calling customer support. It will connect some pages just fine and others pop up that I don't have an Internet connection, it is connected.

Can't help you Sandra. I have Windows 8.1 and it took me long enough to get it operating just the way I wanted! Don't want to mess with it. I have a touch screen and everything works the way I want it now. But you're like me, I would rather just play around with it and try to eventually figure it out rather than calling customer support. I do a lot of googling!! LOL

Yes, I do too ! I just hate how slow my laptop is compared to my IPad. I feel like I am back on dial up using the laptop ! I do have to use it for pictures sometimes so I thought I should go ahead and update it.

For some reason it's just the opposite for me. My Ipad is so much slower than my laptop. I don't know why my ipad is so slow. It has lots of memory. I've been thinking about taking it to the Apple store and see if they can tell me something to do.

Something must be wrong with it, mine is instant, it responds as soon as I touch it.
I have days when our internet is slower than others, but my IPad is wonderful

Alex did drive all the way back from Columbia last night. They got out a little early and he got home sometime after 11, so it wasn't horrible - just a long way to drive by his self. I am not sure if there is a time frame but the later he interviews (which I think technically interview season goes thru January) - then the more likely that they will have already decided on who they want for all the slots. He didn't really like the program at Columbia - but of course, if he were to match there he would just have to deal with it for 3 years! It is a new program there and they just have 1st and second yr residents there bc of it - and the trauma surgeons seem to control the ER instead of the ER docs. They also limit what procedures you can do based on the year you are in instead of the skill level - he doesn't like that because he loves doing procedures and has advanced in them quite well .... so well, he was teaching several things at Lexington to their regular med students at the requests of the attending. So his preference would be to go somewhere that he can actually do things! But, he doesn't really have a say so. He sent out 64 applications originally - he is up to 20 rejections..... so that leaves 44 that he hasn't heard from - but some will not notify you at all if they aren't interested. He just REALLY needs to receive some positive emails and have some more appointments set.

Sandra, you may have some virus or malware on your laptop slowing it down. They can really bog it down.

And, I am ashamed to say this, but most of the pots I was cleaning up was where I had purchased something that died before I got it in the ground, or where I had transplanted something and left the old pot there to "move something else into" and it never happened..... I just had way too much junk on my porch steps - and I was glad to get it cleaned up.... I did have some nice pots with actual plants in them, but too much other stuff too!

I actually took off early this afternoon because the weather is so pretty and I want to get some more done in the yard. So, I better get after it! :)

Genna hopefully Alex will get more interviews.

I finally got my gas logs installed! I really like them. Just in time for the cold weather coming in this weekend! I have glass doors up now and I will need to keep the glass open when I have the logs burning. I may end up just taking the door down. I think it will be easy to take down. If I do take them down I'll just get a fire screen to put in front of them so puppies don't try to get in the fire.

This message was edited Nov 20, 2015 9:03 PM

Prayers for Alex!!! I know he will have more interviews!!!

Love the fireplace, Charlotte!! I know you will enjoy it!!!

Well I think I messed up getting my plants moved. I did all I could yesterday by myself since my family is so busy!!! I planned on finishing up today but got up to it storming. I'm sure hoping it quits with enough time for the pots to drain so I can even pick them up. LOL!!! This time waiting until the last minute is not paying off.

I ordered $200.00 of Legacy de-hydrated foods to have on hand in the event we have problems here like in other parts of the world. I remember walking into Walmart and there not being ANY meat a week after Katrina. We were just to the point of having my BIL bring us food from Texarkana when we finally started getting some supplies. It will be good to have on hand for hurricanes even. www.legacy food.com

Love the gas logs! We had planned to have a fireplace but since we tried to build a "doug rye" home we were advised not to have one. We had already had them pour the foundation for it when they did the foundation work for the house - so we could add one at some point if we wanted. But, I had thought having an open fireplace between my living and dining area with gas logs would be nice so it would be visible from both sides, but now I realize how small my living space would be had we done that so I am glad that we didn't . But, we ended up not being able to get natural gas lines ran to our house so we would have had to have gotten a propane tank.

Alex has one more day of his acting internship at UAMS then he will be done with that. He is very tired of working every single day - and the only days he had off except for two he was driving and interviewing and driving..... so he will be glad to rest up some next week.

Kyle is interviewing at UAMS today.

I don't know if I told ya'll that we had a major fire at my plant last Friday morning..... there were some errors made and a breaker was off that shouldn't have been and our backup oil system to our generator didn't come on. A hydrogen seal ruptured on the generator and the hydrogen caught fire when it contacted the air. The two guys working that night couldn't get the fire out and the fire dept wouldn't come in when they got there because they found out there was Hydrogen in there. So, eventually the hydrogen that was in the generator burned itself out but not before it did a LOT of damage. Original rough estimates were close to 4 mil in damage, but now they are thinking that there is actually only around 2 million...... still a lot of money, but not as bad as they originally thought. We have a 2 mil deductible on the insurance and they are not even sure they will get beyond that. I am just very thankful that those guys didn't get hurt! If I had seen flames close to that generator I would have been GONE.... Lol.... and come to find out they thought at first they were fighting an oil fire on the bearing..... it was after the fact that they realized it was the H.

I know some of you may know Karen Coffelt from DG Daylily page and FB .... I might have the opportunity to meet up with her today, but probably tomorrow. She is moving to Arizona by way of stopping to stay with relatives in Texas and coming thru Arkansas. I am going to see if I can meet her for a meal. I would offer her a place to stay for the night - but she is traveling with the dog which is at least part bassett - and I know my dogs would cause a stir. If I thought I could keep everyone calmed down she and the dog would be welcome, but I wouldn't want a dog fight to break out. :( My little ones are SO jealous - then they stir up the big one and he gets all wound up. He wouldn't purposely hurt the dog, but somewhere in all the craziness one of them might end up hurt.

Hope everyone has a good day and manages to stay warm with the cold front that is coming! I have petunias still blooming but I am sure they will be gone tomorrow.......

I saw where Karen was moving, but I have no idea why? Do you ?
I wish her well, whatever is making her have to move.

The logs look nice and comfy, just in time for the cold weather. We went and spent the day with Jerry's Mom. His 2 sisters and one of the sisters granddaughter all went in their big car and we had a good time together. We got home about 7:30 and the cold wind was blowing, made my knees ache just hitting them. We found out a few days ago that Mammaw has a blockage in her leg. They are going to do the procedure to break it up or stent it on Dec 8th. We all were ready to go see her so we just got together and did it today. We went by the grocery store and got deli ham, turkey, chips, bread and I threw together a cheesecake yesterday afternoon and we called it Thanksgiving ! The 8 of us all got full-twice--so it worked out pretty well.
We will be going to Caylas for Thanksgiving.

Sandra I believe she's moving because she had to sell her parents house and didn't think she could afford to live where is is now. I believe all the siblings owned the house together and she couldn't afford to buy them out. I may be wrong but I think that's what I've read along the way.

Those impromptu get togethers like that sometime work out the best! Sounds like you all had a good day. Hope everything goes well with Mrs. Mills on the 8th.

I got back out with my hiking group yesterday. Sarah Jines and I went with the group. It had been 2 years since I had been able to go with them. It rained early that morning but about 30 minutes out of Little Rock the sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. It was a littsle windy but we were all dressed in warm clothes. There were 14 of us. That morning we hiked 2 and a half hours then we ate at the lodge. After we ate we went to the Rock House Cave. I had never been there before. It was about a 1/2 mile hike to the cave over a lot of turtle rocks going down hill but it was really worth the walk down. It was a huge cave.

Then on the way home we stopped in Conway and went through a couple of flea markets. I was so tired I was in bed by 8 pm and went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I didn't wake up until 8 am this morning. I guess I'm still catching up on my rest!

Then I went outside this morning to get the paper and noticed my yard didn't have a leaf on it! Went I left yesterday it was covered in leaves! I'm guessing my nice next door neighbor got my leaves up when he got his own up. There are lots of bags of leaves piled up by the street!

Then the other day I came home to find a card stuck in the mailbox and a letter from a local nursery. The card was from several of my neighbors and then later when I decided I should open the nursery envelope it turned out to be a gift certficate from them to a nursery in the neighborhood. One I really like. I almost threw it away since it wasn't in with the card! Now I already have plant money! I need to replace the things in my two pots on the first porch. I need some kind of year round shrub. I planted something a few years ago to replace some evergreen shrubs and I don't like how they turned out plus one of them has died. I need two matching things.

I've got my thanksgiving week worked out. My next door neighbor (same ones that racked my leaves) invited me to have Thanksgiving with them at her mother's house. The first time I told her no. The second time I decided to go. I have met her mother several times and really like her. (Her mother went to the trouble to clip Richard's obituary and put it in a card and had them personally deliver it to me) Her mother is also having a friend of her's and her daughter. Then there will be family members. I'm going to take a couple of pies. Then Friday Mary-Milam is going to have a mini Thanks-Birth-Giving day. So I'm going to eat for two days in a row!

Burr!!! Yall's cold weather has finally made it's way to Central. I got the last of my plants picked up yesterday and can barely move today after 2 days of moving plants.

I'm glad Yall got to spend time with Mawmaw yesterday and that sounds like a fine meal. I guess since all I have to do for the holiday is prepare the dressing, it's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is even here. Prayers for her procedure on the 8th!!

Charlotte you have some wonderful neighbors!! It's so nice when people lend a hand to friends and family. Our pastor calls it being the hands and feet of Jesus.

I'm off to lunch with Terrie & Bre. Yall have a wonderful day!!!

Charlotte, your fireplace looks great and so cozy and warm. We haven't even fired ours up yet. We have gas logs (propane since no natural gas in the country) we installed when we built the house. Also had them put in at our condo a few years ago because we had to have the chimney flue and cap replaced and just did it all at once. Saw your hiking pictures on FB and am glad you were able to re-join your hiking friends. You have some good neighbors! Very nice of them to do that for you and have you for Thanksgiving.

Sandra, glad y'all had such a good day. Sounds like a good meal to me too. Will be keeping Mawmaw in my prayers for her procedure. Enjoy your day at Cayla's too.

Well, yesterday's Sweet 16 was a big success. I'm exhausted so it must have been worth it, right? At least my house is clean for the holidays now. I didn't get to a few of the windows but I can knock those out some other time. Who's looking? Mackenzie really enjoyed herself and was totally surprised about the car. Lots of happy tears. Meredith put the keys in the pocket of a hoodie she bought for her and also wrapped up the license tag. She opened those last and sort of had a blank look on her face. Then someone said they thought something was sticking out of the pocket. She took out the keys and said 'Are these mine?' (the key ring is almost exactly like Meredith's - a silver spoon handle). We went outside and there was the car with the big red bow. I posted a couple of photos on FB some of you probably have seen.

Earl & I are going out to eat on Thanksgiving day. Then maybe on Saturday we'll get all the family together again. Everybody keeps asking us what we're doing. I just said yesterday that I hadn't thought past the party, which was true. Too tired to do anything else right now.

Charlotte, glad you got the chance to get back with your hiking group! It did turn out to be a very pretty day! Sounds like you have good plans for Thanksgiving as well.

Sandra, sounds like you had fun and it wasn't too bad getting the food together! sounds like my type of get together. Will be praying that her procedure goes well. How far away does she live from ya'll now? Did she sell the trailer that she was living in there close to ya'll?

Elaine, glad the party was a big success! I haven't seen the pics on FB but maybe I can look later. My internet has been the pits at home and I wasn't on line much this weekend.

I ended up not getting the opportunity to meet up with Karen. I am not really sure why she is moving, or why Arizona - but she had originally thought she would make it to Arkadelphia by 8 last night - so, even though that was going to put me late getting home, we were going to meet for supper. Then she thought she would be there earlier - then it ended up thinking it would be 9 or after before she was there, and I told her I hated it but I just couldn't meet her that late and then be 10:30 or so heading home. If I had been off today I would have done it - but I had to work so I just couldn't be midnight getting to bed to start off the week. Turns out she stopped in Lonoke, so it's probably best I couldn't meet her so she didn't keep pushing herself to get further down the road. I sure hate she is coming that close and not getting to say hello though.

We had our annual pot luck at our church yesterday so I made 2 pies and took 18 eggs that I deviled....... it is always a lot of fun with good food and fellowship. Then on Thursday we are going to my sister's house here in town. Her son and his family will be there, all my kids will be there, and her oldest grand daughter will be too so we should have a lot of fun! Been quite a while since we had this many of us together at one time. Then her grand daughter are going to join us for our crazy black Friday shopping spree - that now starts on Thursday..... I don't really have anything in particular that I am wanting but Jessica and Judy (my sister) think we HAVE to go....LOL....so we will go. At least we have a lot of fun!

I am SO thankful for you all - and I pray that you each have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Genna

Sounds like fun Genna!! That is all but Black Friday!!! No thank you!!! LOL!!!

Jim just called and he is on his way home. Things will pick up here now for sure!!! We're still going to Robyn's.

It's still amazes me that we have become such a close knit group over our mutual love for gardening!!! I remember the 1st RU I was gonna attend and the looks my friends gave me when I shared that I was going to Tupelo to meet people I had met on the internet. Now I can't even imagine life without each of Yall in it!!! I'm thankful too!!!

For sure..... I have gotten some pretty strange looks myself but I would not have missed the gatherings I have been able to attend for anything! I love my flower sisters! :) I just consider us one big family at this point!

Love, love, love right back to you all. I feel like it will be pretty quiet here the rest of the week, everything going on like it is.
Sorry you didn't get to meet Karen, Genna, she is on a very long road trip !
I remember a few years ago, one of her sisters got bucked from a horse and is now in a nursing home. I thought that might have something to do with her move to AZ if I wanted to relocate somewhere I don't think I would choose AZ as hot as it is there. I hope she enjoys it and doesn't regret it.

Happy Thanksgiving, and God's richest blessings for all of your travels and gatherings. Last Thanksgiving was very different for us with Cayla being so sick then. I praise His Holy Name that she is better now. Not where she should be yet, but she is not laying on the couch 24/7 and crying with the pain. Life can change in a matter of seconds as we all know, let's all pray for wonderful times through the holiday.

I have never been a Black Friday shopper. That's the one day you want find me close to a store!!! LOL It seems like stores are getting away from the big Black Friday specials. They seem to be spreading it over the week. I got an email today from Bed Bath and Beyond that they were having a black friday special on Keuri k cups - 80 for 19.99. That is an exceptional price so I ran by this afternoon and picked up a package. I probably should go back and get another one.

I love my gas logs!!!! They actually heat the whole area I live in (I keep the doors closed to the living and dining room). The hear also rises up the stairway and heats the hallway and my bedroom. I have the other bedroom doors closed. I have both my heating units set on 60 and they are not coming on very often. I've been turning tthe gas logs on for a couple of hours in the morning and then when I get home late in the afternoon. I actually had to turn them off last night about 9. I was getting too hot!

I had business I had to take care of today that I think will just about wrap up the things I had to take care as far as estate things.

I need to work on my booths before this weekend.

I forgot to tell you Justin did find a part time job. He does not have a car at school and was wanting to take a car back so he could get to a job. They told him there were plenty of jobs on campus and that the only way he could take a car back was if he found a job that was related to his school work and that would be something helpful on his resume. They said they were not going to let him take a car back to get to work at some sandwich shop or something! Well leave it to Justin he actually found a small business in Santa Barbara that was looking for someone to do part time accounting. He goes in before his classes (7 - 10) several days a week. He's not planning to be an accountant but it is related.

I wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving!

This message was edited Nov 23, 2015 7:10 PM

So thankful for all of you and love and kindness you spread here. I wish you and your families a blessed and safe Thanksgiving!

Our number of 'regulars' seems smaller these days, but those who have dropped off here in membership are not forgotten either, nor are those who only chime in often. I know they read the posts as often as they can. Chrissie comes to mind (haven't heard from her in a while), Clemen, and a couple of others. Of course we keep up with Marilyn, Kathy Ann, Kim and a few others on Facebook but it's not quite the same as chatting here but I know they are busy.

Jeri, hope Jim has a safe trip.

Sandra, how is Jerry doing with his job? I'm with you - I couldn't move to a place like AZ. Too hot for me. When I was young, any place seemed exotic and I thought I wanted to move, but now I'll just stay put.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I had a very nice day. There turned out to be 20 of us at the dinner I went to. It was at a beautiful big old house. It was like stepping back in time. Her dining table actually sat 16 people. Then she had a card table for 4 set up at one end. She had a great way of handling the seating. Every seat had a number and then she had a bowl with numbers in it and we each drew a number to determine where we sat. Sort of like the way we do door prizes. My neighbor's mom (the house I went to) is such a nice gracious lady. She lost her husband several years ago. She had also been a caregiver for him for several years before he died.

I talked to Jeff and they also had a good Thanksgiving. He was telling me more about Justin's job. Justin actually has a real job at a medical clinic of some kind. There are around 200 people that work there. He is the only young person. The other people are all in their 30's and 40's and up.. They do know he is a college student. Justin is handling accounts payable. He has his own cubicle. He is making 15.00 an hour. He goes in from 7 - 10 5 days a week and then goes back one afternoon to work. He's working about 20 hours a week. They have been very impressed with how fast he can process the work! He had done some accounting stuff for Kristi during the summer so I guess that helped. He has to have a high grade point to get into his economic major program. He is considered a pre-economic major now (everyone is until they make the cut) and has to make the cut this year to actually be considered an economics major. So far he hasn't had any problem working and keeping his grades where they need to be.

He just found the job on Craig's list and applied and got it.

Like Jeff said so long as it doesn't interfere with his school work it is great experience. He is actually getting to see how an office works and getting great experience for his resume. He has his own log in for the computer system, his own email account with the company, etc.

This message was edited Nov 27, 2015 9:13 AM

Hope everyone had a Happy and blessed Thanksgiving!! Sounds like a nice dinner Charlotte and love the seating idea.

Jim made it safe & cut the grass for my grandmother's old house, mine & my sister, mixed up the cornbread dressing and took me to pick out a brand new golf cart, then got up yesterday morning around 7:00 AM and drove back to San Antonia. He was afraid the mustang would break down and he'd be late for work Fri. He got there and they put him right to work so he is happy and with my new golf cart I feel like Christmas has already come!!

That sounds like a really great job Charlotte and you are right...the experience will look fantastic on his resume!! All 3 of the boys(I guess I should say young men) are so gifted I see them doing anything they set their minds to.

We had a great time, just always seems so short, back at home now. We took Eli for a haircut today and he did so well, he actually got a nice cut. Usually he is fighting it so bad it winds up all gapped up !
Think I will sleep late tomorrow !

Glad everyone had a safe trip back to their destination.

I worked at the antique malls for a while this afternoon and then I've been replacing the rug in the sunroom. I'm about to get it all finished. I've been working at a slow pace! But I'm about to get it finished. I am going to just throw the old rug away so that will be another big chore to get it out by the street! I had to move everything in the sunroom to get the old rug out and the new one in. So everything has gotten a good thorough cleaning.

It has rained hard here all day yesterday and all today. The ground is soaked with water standing everywhere.