Sunday Celebration

When two become one.



22 years ago the Hunny and I got married. Sometimes I can't even believe it myself. Where did the time go?

We were going to have a date today but I was sick all night with asthma again. I'm holding out, no steroid shot but it is hard to do because I am so tired of this. But God who is able.

Have you ever pondered just what God is able to do?

He flung the stars into space and named each one. He knows when a mountain goat gives birth, he holds back the tides and sets the course of the planets. He holds everything together by just his voice. His word. That is in Job toward the end of the story when Job and God have a little conversation about his trials. We are dusty little creatures and trials are hard for us, especially if we are trying to slay those giants in our own strength. I am a wimp, my strength is nothing but weakness. I am grateful that when I am weak HE is strong. Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard you hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4: 6-7

Why are you cast down O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall YET praise Him, the help of my countenance and my GOD.
Psalm 43:5

Smitten With the Kitten

Tucker is sooooooo cute. We scored. This little kitty is a keeper. He's very playful,

and really fast, get it Tucker, kill the shoe! But seriously for all the usual kitty antics he is a big luvins. He purred all night long. He nibbled my nose and licked my chin, and when he licked my neck I called him Tickle Tucker. He made me laugh. I also didn't get to sleep until after midnight when he finally decided to snuggle up against my back, and purr. He purrs all the time. If I turned on my side he'd get up on my shoulder like a parrot. I think he loved me as soon as I showed him his spot. Once he saw bowls of chow and filtered water, a cat box to scratch in; whoo hooo that is a party! He's happy. He is going to be a good cat, (I know, if there is such a creature) but yeah he is a good cat. A definite keeper. I'm totally smitten with the kitten. Maybe I can get a little nap today, you know how it is with new babies at night.

I was just thinking that if everybody who wanted one just like him went and adopted a kitty their would be lot less kittens looking for a home. It really doesn't matter cost wise if it's a shelter or a stray, I actually think shelters spay and neuter the cheapest. Times are going to get tough for the animals too. I am such a softie. Ya'll got me pegged.

Meet Tucker

He's a little boy kitty. Jimmy's daughter has been trying to get her big tom cat to adjust to him and nothing doing. Two weeks of her big bad boy trying to kill the kitten and she's thinking of a plan B. He was a little stray with an owie on his back leg. Plan B is to bring him to Dad's house.

He's just a little guy. She took him to the vet already and got his shots and wormed him too. She really padded the offer. Will you look at those dark green eyes? He talks too, there is a lot of personality in that wee bit of fur.

Pa didn't say no, so he is making himself at home. Smart kitty found my bed and hunkered down. He'll flop over once he's sure he is safe enough to relax. My cats are pretty accepting so looks like we added to our list of problems today. Well, how much trouble can a little curtain climbing, couch scratching kitty boy be? Yeah, exactly what I thought too, but he's so cute. Already named to, Tucker. I think it suits him.

Trail Blazing a New Path

For the first time in 24 years I have recovered from a sever bout of bronchitis and asthma without antibiotics and without steroids. I was motivated. I don't want a hip replacement. Steroids right now could be the death blow to that joint so I had to find a way.

Why is it that we as humans won't look for a change or an answer unless our backs are up against a wall? If you read my blog you know that I was about to have a nervous breakdown at just the thought of a hip replacement. I know too much, I really understand the risks of a surgery of that nature and I didn't want anything to do with any of it. Yes, I know it works, and people have them every day. I also know about post op infections with super bugs that don't respond, infected hardware, allergic reactions to hardware, the potential to throw blood clots, and on and on. I just don't want it.

Inquiring minds want to know. I began to ask. Specifically I asked Rosie Kate over at paintsplashes because she seems very knowledgeable about nutrition. She also isn't a vegetarian, which I have tried. That diet does not agree with my body. I get fat and sluggish, not good. It's not that I am a raving carnivore but being a vegan or a vegetarian has never had a good result for me. She sent me an e mail with links to the Weston Price Institute and also recommended Sally Fallon's book "Nourishing Traditions." The rest as they say will soon be history.

Where do I start? First of all get the book. If you don't want the book go to these two websites and read everything you can get your hands on. Let me add that the first 80 pages of this book is her thesis, the following pages is a cookbook with side bars full of information on each page. It is a gold mine.

Also look at




this website. Joel Salatin is a featured speaker on this video clip and he has a website, a blog and some books that he has written on small healthy farming.

There is a wealth of information along these lines out there for the taking.

So you say, why this way? Why not the way I have always done it? I have been studying nutrition for years, why should I listen to you?

Your right, you don't have to listen to me. I am not a nutrition expert. I am a disease expert. In my 16 years of nursing the end result is that I feel the most comfortable helping people except their death and offering another shot of morphine. That is what happens most of the time in Oncology and ICU. I also have worked for hospice. What the patients have in common is that they are all so addicted to junk food and soda pop that they stock their hospital rooms with it. As I read, first of all from a perspective of organic chemistry that I can appreciate and understand, I found the train of thought very logical. The evidence sighted and the studies done that she draws her conclusions from are outstanding pieces of research in their own right. People all research is not equal. Some research is statistically manipulated. Having a study done for the sake of the knowledge that it will reveal REGARDLESS of the outcome is a rare thing. Most people enter into research looking to prove a theory they have, and some will not let the evidence change their minds.

I believe that this approach to health is right. It answered years of questions, years of observations and my own personal health. The immediate result is that by gagging down multiple spoonfuls of high quality butter/cod liver oil from Radiant Health, I have spontaneously recovered with out drugs. I wish I could convey how huge that is. See me jumping up and down wildly? Actually not, but in my heart I am and with joy. I intend to pursue this as far as I can. The idea to offer people something besides comfort and a prayer has me overjoyed. I know that some people won't listen. I know that some people will never give up diet soft drinks, sugar, and processed foods. But there are some that will! There will be some that will side step the demon of cancer, there will be some that heal their arteries and veins and regain a healthy heart, there will be some who find their emotional health restored and their chronic fatigue banished. It can happen. It is not too late for YOU. If you are alive it is not too late.

I found an MD who is practicing medicine in this way. His name is Dr. Thomas Cowan and he has a book "The Fourfold Path to Healing." He practices in San Francisco CA.

We can not be totally whole and healed unless our hearts and souls are also well. A bitter person is full of poison that no man can touch. We have to forgive. We are not just sum parts of chemical reactions, we are made in the image of God. We have spirit and soul. The body is just the vehicle for these much bigger parts to live in. So total health must address all aspects of a human being.

Speaking of heart and soul. Please pray for Heidi over at The Milkman's Wife. They are facing some very painful decisions and need our love and prayers. Go by and see her and leave her a kind word.

The Ultimate Give Away

Do you know what UGG boots are? I do. I am a hopeless UGG junkie. I don't care if they look ugly. I think they are beeee yoouuuuteeeful. My feet love them.

UGG is giving a pair of boots to anyone in the country anywhere once a month. All you have to do is post about it on your blog and let them know and you are entered. I have 2 pairs in my closet but they are the best new, when they are soft and fluffy inside. My favorite color was white but they only did those for a short period of time. I have a pink pair and a blue pair because they were on clearance.

So what are you waiting for? Go enter. And just to avoid confusion, it's not me that is giving away a pair of these boots it's UGG.

We are having our first days of FALL perfect weather outside! PERFECT! So winning a pair of these will be just in time for the cold that is coming in a few months. Time is flying again.

Watch Out I Am Learning.

Where do you bury dead computers? The mother board is gone. We brought home my still shiny very pretty 17 inch 3 year old HP laptop with the hard drive removed and some plans for making it a paperweight. This is disgusting.

On a brighter note I am reading some very good books. My new copy of "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon arrived today. I am already enthralled by the evidence she is laying out, the relationship between dietary practices and disease. Twelve years of nursing and watching people die of cancers and other chronic diseases has taught me a great deal. I can't help but notice that almost all of these sick people are hopelessly addicted to diet soft drinks and sugar. They eat a large amount of processed junk foods even while they are in the hospital. It is so hard for me to watch them continue to poison themselves, and add to it with chemical drugs dripped directly into their veins. These are the fruits of the beliefs that we are just a composite of chemical interactions.

We are taught in the universities courses on chemistry, biology, and physiology that we are just the end product of chemical reactions. The premise of our medicine simply stated, is that we measure the values from lab work data and adjust the findings. The main components in critical care medicine are calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and pH balance. Every day we draw the patients blood and check these values and adjust their Iv drips to regulate what is not in the normal range.

The problem is that people can feel very ill and have normal values. The people in the ICU are people who are dying and we are usually too late. So why is it that we don't look harder at the relationship between what we take in and how we are feeling?

The current recommendations for a healthy diet are not right. In fact a lot of what we are doing is flat wrong. Americans are desperate to feel better and are trying on their own to figure it out. Parents are totally freaked out about the rise in autism. They aren't vaccinating their children for fear that immunizations are the cause. But even with the rise of children who are not immunized we have skyrocketing cases of autism. The research doesn't lay the blame there. So where is the blame? What is killing our kids? What is making them sick? I cringe every time I see a baby bottle of coke or chocolate milk. How about kids that grow up on Happy Meals? How about the breakfast table of sugar cereals and a soda? Something has to give.

For a long time I have thought that society paid a big price to take the mother and the father from the home. We were told that the professionals could do a better job. The clothing manufactures could clothe us better. The food processors could feed us better. The school system could educate us better, and the government could make our decisions for us better. If we would just abandon our homes and join the work force our lives would be great. We would be less stressed and wealthier, we would be the products of the technological age.

Well, jury, what do you think? Are you less stressed? Are you healthy? Is your family better off in the hands of the professionals? Has the convenience of fast food been paid for by doctor bills? Are you suffering from chronic fatigue? Is your brain fuzzy?

I would suggest that we need to take a good look at the whole picture. We are sick, and the changes we need have to strike at the very fundamental attitudes we have adopted into our culture. We have been riding along in the age of science and technology, abandoning all the ways of our forefathers. But guess what? Our great grandparents were much healthier than we are and they were right, cod liver oil and sunshine are good for you!

If you are still here then I commend you for getting through my treatise. I have a lot of passion about the relationship between diet and disease and you may just be in for a few of these while I am studying this book. Remember my motto, this is where you get Fresh Fixins and you never do know what your going to get.

What Say You?

We have ONE working computer in the house and it's a MAC. Seems to be a pretty good machine. Are any of you bloggers out there techies or married to techies that can recommend a good machine? I may jump ship and get a MAC. I know I don't want VISTA, or another HP ever in my life. Seems like most everything is pretty much a short term investment for big bucks. So speak up.
You know if you leave a comment with that "no reply" on your email I can't write you back. I like to write you back so if you want a comment to your comment put your e mail address in. ( Coffee MAN)
Other news. MY manager doesn't want me back in ICU, he thinks I am a good nurse just not a critical care nurse. Do I agree? --- YES! That is a God thing. I have applied for a transfer, so pray if you pray, and cross your fingers, knees and toes if you don't. I have to go back to work! There are a lot of really BIG bills on my desk, and computer breakdowns, and a kid going to college ( can we say $1,500) just for a JC? BUT my kid is sooooooo happy! She got her driving permit, yeah she is a late bloomer, she graduated, and she is going to college and her whole outlook on life is looking up!
I have not killed my husband. It's his birthday tomorrow and I swear that I will be nice. Even if he is being a total and complete jerk about getting a dog.

So that is it. What kind of computers do you all recommend?

Speaking of Death

My computer died. The Hunny's computer died. The computer MD is a week behind with all his fix it work. Guaranteed to get a person behind in blogging. 

However I just might get some other things done. I ironed everything today that had piled up in the laundry room. Jimmy has a birthday Thursday and he built a wooden box for his truck that he wanted me to slipcover so I am doing that. I had to go to the fabric store....uh oh...may be doing some other projects too.

Kayla started college today, she had plenty of units to graduate and she is excited. We are finally going to get her driving and she is excited about that too. It's great to be young.

I may not get around everywhere I'd like to visit until we get this computer things fixed or buy some new ones. Just when the bills go down a little right? I can't live without a computer, it's like breathing air, I need one.

A Beautiful Day

This is the Natchez Trace. It is part of a national park that runs through all of our state and up into Tennessee. It was a part of the Indian Trails and is set aside land not to be developed. It is really a beautiful ride by car, motorcycle, or bicycle. We were headed up to Kosciusko yesterday. You know about that little town, it's where Oprah Winfrey came from. It is also where a lot of Jimmy's kinfolk live.

Jimmy enjoys the drive. I enjoy the ride we always like to go for rides together, we should get out more often. It's saying something when about the only time you go somewhere is because somebody died. I'm thinkin we should improve on that.

I asked to stop for a few minutes at the reservoir and see the boats, it's always cooler out there by the water, it makes me feel blissful just to look at the view. I would really enjoy going out on a boat ride sometime. We talked about that, renting a boat for a day. Then I can call him Captain Hunny.

It was a perfect day yesterday.

Mississippi can be really gorgeous at different times of the year. Yesterday we had perfect weather with a cool breeze blowing across this huge body of water, blue skies and fluffy pretty cotton candy clouds.

The funeral was held at the First Methodist church of Kosciusko, an old brick church that had beautiful stained glass windows in it. It was lovely. Old Southern towns are always built in a square, the state buildings, court houses and churches will all be close together in a city block. This church is close to the city hall. I like all the bumpy roads and tall curbs that happen from the changes in the clay. Old towns here are interesting and full of character.


This was the inside. I know you are glad that I am sparing you a close up portrait of that open casket. A Southern tradition that is practically sacred, it is expected that you go up and pay your last respects and admire all that paint and thick makeup. The expected comment is that the deceased looks so "natural," natural my foot. They look like a mannequin, not my favorite last memory. I am not one to look and linger over painted up remains. After seeing so many people die I am comfortable with the real deal but I do understand that I am a minority in that area. I just go with the flow.

The service itself was lovely. We sang "Be Thou My Vision," and heard "On the Wings of a Snow White Dove," her daughter read sweet memories about her mother and had the composure to do it and to speak loud enough for us to hear. That takes admirable strength. Then we went out to lunch with them and I ate like a pig, cheeseburger, strawberry milkshake, and Cajun french fries. An all American lunch to end a lovely day, and celebrate a sweet ladies life.

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.---what is mortal will be swallowed up by life"
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 5:4

Great Flippin Fantastic News!!!!!

The good news is I DON'T have to have ANY surgery right now. In fact he said it could have been a "misread" it might be some transient osteoporosis. Keep losing weight, work on the calcium and Vit D get blood flow back in there and maybe it will be alright. He said I could go back to work.

I haven't been able to get in touch with my manager this afternoon. I faxed over the return to work slip. That will be another hurdle to cross but it will be ok!

I am so relieved!! Besides all of this crap I have had a bad respiratory infection and coughing up a lung or a gut or whatever and have been sick as stink. I didn't want to mention that, too much doom and gloom and I could have like zero readers you know?

My whole outlook has brightened considerably! Doctor #2 said the only reason to do the hip replacement is #1 if it fractures and we have no choice or #2 because I have unbearable pain. He said anytime in the next 10 years that you want to have it done. It really isn't bothering me now. It's possible that my little herky jerky moves caused some edema in there. It's also possible that the MRI went overboard on the "read."

All I can say is PRAISE GOD!!!! The plan is to watch and wait and check again in 3 months. Keep losing weight, have lost 11 pounds. Ordered some fancy cod liver/butter oil for bone health and am working on fixing the low VIT D thing, and you know what? In 3 months there may be nothing at all wrong with me! In 3 months I should be able to get off at least 25 more pounds maybe 30. That will take a load off---ha ha that's a joke. Get it? I can live with this!!

Yes sirrrrreeeeeeebob this is my kind of a day. Man I am so ready for some new kind of abuse, let me go to work, being a patient can kill you! Not to mention what it does to your wallet. Let me go, let me at em! I'm ready, I am so ready. Oh Lord Jesus I feel like I have received my pardon from death row, honest to God. No, I am not dramatic at all. I am calm, quiet, and level headed at all times, and totally in control of my emotional response. YEAH RIGHT!!! Can your read shoutin?

Where are my uniforms? I am going to get some high top shoes and look out mama; back in the SADDLE AGAIN!!! whooooooooooooohhhhhoooooooooooooooooooooooo
slaps legs, throws hat, bangs head on desk, falls out, hollers, cries, and shouts some more!!
Yeah buddy that's what I'm talkin bout!!! Keep yo knife to yo-self!
yipppeeee iiiiii oooooohhhhhh yiiiiiippppppeeeeeeiiiiiii aaaaaayyyyyy I'm back in the saddle again! Singing glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah!

Frequent Rain

Have you wondered why it is so hard to take a picture of rain? You can see the drops hit the ground but you cannot see them in the air and yet in this scene the rain is pouring down. These thoughts led me to think about the seen and the unseen.


Sometimes the plans we make get tangled up. What starts out so neat and clear and in a happy arrangement gets cluttered up as life takes it along, but it still works. Just like this little area in my garden has decided to get quite out of hand but it appeals to me so I have left it alone. I call these messes in my garden "happy accidents." The plans I made turned out very differently than I expected but it is alright.

I read something this morning. "I will run the way of Your commandments, when You will enlarge my heart." Ps 119:32

Focus is everything. Where we look, what we look at, if we are looking in at ourselves and the circumstances we face; or if we look out and up in hope and believing.

I had a dream last night. Really it was a nightmare. In the dream I had gone back to work and had two horrible situations to deal with. The other people were sitting down talking and laughing and I felt all the stress that I had experienced in this job. In my dream I thought, "I hate this job." With all that has been going on, my focus has only been on the paycheck not the job.
The dream was a good reminder.

God knows our hearts. He has provided a way of escape from an experience that gave me a great deal of stress and frustration. I am walking a path that I would rather not take but I am not alone.

When I change my focus from the circumstances, to the Savior and how big he is and how faithful, then the rain in my life becomes waters of blessing. It is a storm now but when the sun comes out the rain will have caused the growth to come. The plans laid are changing but just as the garden can produce a happy accident so can my sweet Lord produce good from what seems so evil now, and the good news is, He will.

Pondering Possibilites

This post is going to just be a little update. The place out there is livable once cleaned but that in itself is a huge proposition. Since we don't have the money to invest into it I think we are going to pass. The good part about that was we could have reduced our monthly expenses, in theory, however a very big question would be what kind of problems are out there. It looks like a money pit. It was fun to look at.

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I heard from my manager this morning. I don't qualify for anything else at work. They don't have an available desk job. They can't hold my position for me anymore. Time for the resignation letter. Stink. I cried again, but just for a few minutes.

My appointment is on Thursday to consult the surgeon. I have $11,000 in bills on my desk right now just for the feet. We may end up in a trailer. I am trying to keep a positive attitude about this but it isn't easy, in fact it's going to take a major effort on my part. I sure do wish I could skip this. When I am up and moving around during the day my hip really kills me at night, so it has to be done. I just hate it that it is going to take a huge hunk of home equity to pay for it.
We have fallen between the cracks here and don't qualify for anything, so much for government assistance and programs. If my taxes weren't so high I might be debt free right now. We were awfully close. We could see ourselves there in the next 3 years. Instead we are going to go backwards at an alarming rate. I'm sorry I'm discouraged, but this is just plain hard.

I still don't want government health care and stimulus packages. We will figure this out. Our lives may take a big change because of our age and how long we have to work and pay for things but we can manage. We can make it because frugal has become a part of my mind set.

A friend was here and showed me a pair of cute pajamas that she said she gave $40 for. I almost choked. I have reduced my grocery tab at Walmart to that. She wanted to go shopping and I said pass. We drove around in the car and I showed her the sights and took her down to the Old Capitol building museum which is free and she enjoyed that.

We were at church and I saw where a lot of money could be saved in just a few places, raise the thermostat and save on energy bills, change our bulletin to something smaller and not glossy.
My brain is just running along those lines. We have been eating great. I bake bread, and make veggies from the yard and pick up others at the Farmers Market. We missed the fall planting times I think. I was looking at a catalog and saw that pumpkins take 120 days. We don't know what fall crops grow here and when they are supposed to go in. I do want pie pumpkins they are awesome for all kinds of dishes and they are expensive to buy. I make a great pureed soup with coconut milk and ginger.

Who knows maybe we will build a small cabin from scratch out in the country. I am not sure. We have to do something though, we can't just go into thousands and thousands of dollars of debt. Any southern farmers know about fall crops?

Maybe Shopping?

I read an add about a piece of property about a half hour drive from here. It's out in the country.

This is a loft in the middle sized cabin. This property has a main cabin and 2 others in close proximity to each other. There are also 2 little cabins whose foundations are in desperate need of repair or forget about it, and let them fall down. They could be nice though and they have good hardwood floor in them. They would be great for studio's or workshops. I didn't take a picture of them. 5 buildings in all.

This is the outside of the 2 medium cabins joined by a concrete patio.

The laundry hook up is in the main cabin and everywhere you look there is DIRT. This a utility closet for the washer and dryer.

and beauty, 5 acres of beauty and it's quiet. I took this from the upstairs and there is a sliding glass door. No deck or balcony yet.

This is one of the views from the upstairs in the main cabin. This makes me want to clean this place up. My hunny says it would take 10 years. He looked at me and said, 'When would I ever rest"? All of these beams are dry, everything needs cleaning and oiling or varnish. It needs something. But it is outrageously cool. This room is like a chapel. I would hang cool quilts over the railings. I can see us in this place and I love the picture in my head. I get great ideas but never know how much work is involved. Like the project the hunny just did. He did an amazing job and it took him about 3 weeks to get it done. Would this really take 10 years?

The other side of this room has this little loft, perfect for a reading nook. The beams are yellow long pine and they were salvaged from a cotton warehouse that was built on these timbers. They are termite proof and about 150 years old. The trees grow about 1/4 inch per year so it is very hard and strong. The floors have a gorgeous patina.

The downstairs, this is a shot of the wall and ceiling, a real cabin with chinking. I love it.

The downstairs main cabin. I would ask for that bed frame to be left there in a deal, it's a beautiful bed. There are two small closets lined with cedar chip board, smells good. I would like this area to be the main dining area with hutches and some seating. We would make the upstairs a living room and the loft a book nook. We'd have our bedroom in the middle cabin and an office over there.

Stairs going up to the main loft. These photos don't show all the dirt and how dry everything is. We would have to get gallons of oil. I think we should take a pressure washer inside and have at it and then vacuum up water with a shop vac. Maybe the oil or sealer could go on with a sprayer.

One bathroom, it works, that's all I can say for it. There is also a full bath in the smaller cabin. Kayla would have that, she could have her own little house in the woods. It's my least favorite of them all it needs something and I haven't got any brainstorms on that yet.

The kitchen actually has a dishwasher but I couldn't figure out anyplace for a refrigerator to go. In a pinch we could just use this as is. But if we were in a position to put money into it I would tear all this down up to the main cabin and build a new kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and master bedroom, plus a half bath. This place could be amazing but it would take money and work. Sweat equity.

The main cabin, the foundation is concrete block couldn't be sturdier. It says build a wrap around porch, don't you think?

Another view from outside.

It comes with 2 dogs I guess. The owner is an old man. He comes and feeds the dogs every day and they have a blast running the acreage. They are friendly guard dogs. We didn't have any trouble snooping around and they loved Jimmy. All animals love him and I am the dog lover, go figure.

I looked at it because it's less than our house. Running numbers we could maybe make $30,000 selling ours and buying this. That is not including what we would spend on it except for cleaning it. Spending would be a question of if, and when we have the money, not borrowing to make it great. There are a lot of questions. It's on a septic tank, there is no central air or heat. He has little window air conditioners everywhere and portable heaters. We could build a big fireplace in the medium cabin and put a wood stove in the main one. The air conditioner is a question. How much does it cost to run all those? If we added on we could put a central air unit in the addition.

We could just live in it and clean it, if we wanted to buy it. It's not so bad that you can't just clean up and move in. We would have to build a bathroom and a closet on the medium cabin and get a wood stove before winter. It would be so cozy in the winter.

It's very unique. The wood inside is just amazing. I love the setting, the property is beautiful. It is a big mess and needs to be cleaned up,(how many times have I said that?) by a small army of strong men. The driveway needs to be graded and gravel put down. It would be a country place. If I can go back to work we could really fix it up. If I couldn't we could live there and enjoy what there is. We would be able to reduce our debt load by the $30,000 which would make living on the hunny's income manageable. I would finally get to live in my cabin in the country.

I don't think I am not going to work anymore. I will work. So the real question is would this place work my husband to absolute death? He thinks it might. It's so pretty out there, but my first reaction was to run. Then today when I went back I liked it more. Would I really like being a country woman? 5 acres is the perfect size. It is a rectangle shape and all usable land. The soil seems very healthy. Our place in Felton was a horrible mess when we got that. It's what made the price tag where we could afford it. This one has a good price tag too.

Jimmy found some kind of big bug shell, I don't know what it was, something horrid. He put it on his head and when I looked at him I just started freaking out. Youurrrr HEEEAAADDDD!!!! He was asking me to get it off and I was yelping "I CAN'T!" Totally freaked me out. Of course about the time I have peed myself he busts up laughing and shows me it is a shell. Looked like a small crawdad, maybe it was an old june bug. Lord have mercy, nearly gave me a heart attack. We also found a little bitty tree frog, that was fun.

So that is how we spent some of our Saturday, looking at this place and thinking it over. We came back to our nice clean house and I just sighed. To buy or not to buy that is the question.

Treasured Gifts

My birthday was last month and as always my English Auntie had big surprises for me.
When the package comes I know it is going to be special, because she always makes it herself, or it is some heirloom treasure she has saved. My heart will beat a bit faster with the anticipation of a child on Christmas morning. I love that feeling of expectant glee.

Ooooo and the first thing is this beautiful hand made piece of linen with it's story written out in a note. It was made by a stout lady from England who lived with them, she had dark finger waved hair.


The little red pillow is needlepoint that she made and it is sitting next to the pillow she gave me last year which is also a treasure. That won't be it's final spot, it is a good photo op, two for one.

Which led me to the idea to post a hall of fame to Auntie. And show you some of her artwork. This little painting is a 10x13 very precious. Somehow she captured Kayla's essence in that child because even though you can't see her face the child in the painting is Kayla, the little stance, posture, hair is all her. The big newfie is an imaginary buddy, if he materialized he'd be right at home. All near a field of lavender be still my heart.

This painting is also a little 10x13 I love the smaller sizes because how many large paintings can you hang? This one is of our home with her little suggestions to the landscape and the color of the trim. That is a portrait of my beloved dog Rasmus. She does wonderful portraits of dogs and will do them from photos for a reasonable commission. If you want one let me know. I can ask her for you.

This is my large painting and it is wonderful. My Aunt has always loved the water, oceans, seas anything that blows fresh air and clean smells. I'm the one in the middle when I was a young woman or so she said.

She also has a fun sense of humor as evidenced by this pin dot picture. I have this one framed in the bathroom isn't it delightful and fun?

Another pin dot sent at Easter time. Beautiful details.



and a card that was cute not to frame and add to the hallway.



This years painting a tiny little one maybe 4x6 and absolutely precious! She said it took her one afternoon to make. I am so impressed. I am not sure that I have ever had that much creativity in a day, but then since I don't paint I can't help but be dazzled. The inspiration for this one was her own little girl. They say you can't chose your family which is true, but you can chose how much you love them and how much you bless them. I don't have to say to much more to let you know how special she is and how grateful I am that she loves me.

Somethings Cooking

Have you ever seen fresh picked pinto beans? The aroma from my kitchen today is mouthwatering. We stopped at the Farmers Market and I bought more than I should have. Everything looked so luscious.

I had saved a ham bone from a large ham and it is going to turn these beans into something so fine! Cornbread is coming and fresh sliced cantaloupe. Maybe even some sliced cucumber and tomatoes. What a feast!


We have had a ton of rain. It has felt like we were in Florida around her with a daily thunder shower. All this rain makes the grass grow thick and green. It made a mess of the garden can't get in there and pick anything because we'd sink a foot deep into the mud.

However some things are perched for easy pickins.


Something that is the best tasting, sweetest crispiest, most delicious ever! I thought home grown tomatoes were good! This is incredible!

Gourds and squash taking over and trying to survive the heat and the rain.

This is okra. Okra makes the prettiest flowers and it is a heavy producer. It is also about 6 ft tall right now and no end in sight. I guess it will topple over.

A close up of this fat round watermelon that was sweet all the way to the rind. Haven't tasted one this good since I was a child in Texas. Come over and have some.

This is one magnificent specimen of a garden spider. I wonder how old it is? We sure have plenty of bugs to keep it healthy. I'm not a spider fan but my brain overrides my emotions when it comes to beneficial insects. It is a pretty cool looking spider don't you think? It's huge. If I would've put my hand up there you could gauge the size to be about the same as the palm of my hand, but no you will just have to take my word on that.

What's cooking at your house?