Depression

For quite a few years I've had a problem with depression. Just within the last couple of years, though, I thought I had it licked--I'm on a drug called Zoloft, which up until last week seemed to be all I need. Now with the forced change in diet, I am back in the depths, seems like. I hate to plan meals, I hate to cook, I hate to clean up--all things which up until this week were enjoyable. I guess I'll get over it, but it's going to take a while. Take care, and if you're having a good day, keep on having it! Love to all, and God bless.

Peeps

Giving up carbs at Easter is hard. One of the things I am going to miss most is Peeps. I walked by them several times at the store today and never even picked them up. Peeps, Mellocreams (I think that's what Brach's calls them), Whoppers, candy corn--I can do it, though. If you are a lover of Peeps and a scientist, you might want to consult this site: http://www.peepresearch.org/. Of course, due to my inadequacies as a blogger, you are responsible for copying and pasting this on your own. Love to all, and God bless.

What's new?

I guess it's about time I update this blog. I'm trying to remember what all happened since February whenever it was.

For one thing, I got to spend most of a week with Cora down in Chattanooga. She was sick again, which is bad, but she is all better now, which is good. She and I had a great time. I do love that baby. A highlight of that trip was making it through the roundabout on the second try! I am getting better as I get older.

Then came March. What happened in March? For one thing, I turned 60. David gave me a beautiful opal necklace, which I lost--but we found it again, in a garbage bag. Now I just have to take it to town to get a longer chain. Joann (Plum Tree) thinks just a couple of inches longer would be really good. So do I.

I had nice visits with my girls. Ann and Daniel came up last weekend (March 16-18) to celebrate my birthday, which was fun. They talked us into going to see Amazing Grace at the movies--great movie, by the way. We also had some fun shopping at the Fayette Mall, which I haven't visited in at least six months (not even Christmas!). This past week Lydia, Geron, and Cora came for a visit. Geron installed my new computer, along with a web cam and Skype set up. You techie folks will know what Skype is--I've used it once, to talk to Geron last Saturday.

Last week I finally got around to making the yearly doctor's appointment. My bad--I guess I missed it last year--so this was a biannual visit. Things went pretty well during the visit, but blood work came back all screwy. I had a follow-up visit today and got the news that now I am even sweeter than I was before--I've developed type 2 diabetes. So I am in the process of learning how to monitor blood sugar, what to eat and what to avoid (my doctor says if it even looks like it might have white sugar in it, avoid it), and experimenting with medicines to see which ones will get this sky-high blood sugar under control David says he is going to help me out. We'll see what develops. I really like my doctor, even though he is a veritable whipper-snapper. I think he and I (with God's help) can get through this.

Love to all, and God bless.

NGOTB

Probably by the time any of you reads this blog, we will have two new little girls in our "family". J's daughter gave birth on Wednesday to a sweet, sweet, tiny girl, who came exactly one month early and weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 pounds. When I last talked to J, all was well with both "Peanut" and her mom. And Her Eminence's daughter-in-law is anticipating the birth this weekend of her dumpling. Let's hope all goes well for them.

Someone asked me recently if grandmothers had postpartum depression. I told her that I know I had crying jags after Co was born, probably from the release of anticipation, worry, and tension. It was one time that I really missed my mom. Becoming a grandmother is very different from becoming a mother, because your precious baby is the one who is giving birth to this precious grandchild. In addition to the concern about the gc's health, a grandma tends to have worries about how her child is handling this experience. There should be support groups for Grandmas!

Enough. Love you, and God bless.

Six Weird Things About Me

Ann tagged me. Now it's my turn to tell six weird things about me.

1. I collect coconut monkeys. I love those things! I have also given them as wedding shower gifts. It is interesting to see the folks ooh and ahh over something that I know is really a gag gift. I have a few favorites, one with a red guitar, one with leather ears, and one that actually belongs to Ann. It came from the Philippines, and she saw the man carve it.

2. I love whoopie cushions. I also love remote control whoopie cushions. I always have. One of my favorite vacation memories is going to Gatlinburg with Becky, Lydia, Ann, and my mom, and sitting on a bench downtown blowing up and letting rip with a whoopie cushion. Another good memory from that same trip was taking the wc into a bathroom at a rest stop, going into a stall, and letting it rip. I enjoy watching people's reactions.

3. I gave my pastor "Snowman Poop" for Christmas one year. You've probably seen the stuff, miniature marshmallows in a sandwich bag with a note, "You've been naughty, so here's the scoop. All you get for Christmas is Snowman Poop." He took it to his family's Christmas gathering.

4. I have a dial-up internet connection. What's weird about that is I have a modem for the Bellsouth DSL, but am unable to figure out how to get it set up. I've had the modem since November.

5. I have a photograph of four ladies making a quilt framed on my bookcase in the living room. I don't know the ladies. They are dressed up with hats and all, and one, whose name is Anna May, is wearing her hat with a pair of slacks, a collared sweatshirt, and jogging shoes. She reminds me of my mother, who I believe would have done the same thing. The photograph came out of the Life section of our local newspaper. Just Tuesday, I saw another photograph that I would like to frame. It is of a boy, about ten years old, maybe taken in the 1920's. He looks like Buckwheat, all dressed up for church or something.

6. Black gospel music makes me cry. I think it goes back to my infancy, when my parents and grandparents used to sit in their yard on Sunday nights and listen to the music from the Black church near my grandparents' home.

And here's an extra one, just because you've been nice enough to read through the other six. Jewish music and the Yiddish language also make me cry. I have no idea why. I used to say it was because I was Jewish in a past life. Since Baptists don't believe in reincarnation, most folks just laugh at that. However, I do wonder sometimes.

Love to all, and God bless. And by the way, Everett, Lydia, Jules, tag--you're it!

Hmmmmmm

I was trying to think to see if there was anything new I wanted to blog about, but the thinking got too hard. I guess that's why I haven't blogged lately.

What's happened around here? I hear there are new babies on the way at my old place of employment. My friends Julie and Joyce are both expecting granddaughters this month. And then of course Tara is expecting this month--first girl in Jim's and her family! But then Tara isn't around here,I guess. I wish she were--we'd have to have a pink shower for her. Charlene let it drop last week that Brad and Mary are having another baby this spring--Ann, I know you will be interested in that.

I have now finished (well, no fringe on this one yet) three prayer shawls. One has gone to Mrs. Mac, one to Andrea, and I think this last one is going to Betty W. This was a completely different pattern than the other two, but it was a quick knit. I need to get that fringe on there. I believe I'm going to start making baby shrugs next. I watched them make one on Knitty Gritty the other day and thought, I can do that. So I went to the site for the instructions. The only instructions they had were for adult size. Of course Knitty is really big about making your own patterns, so I guess I'll just fool around until something like a shrug comes out. If that doesn't work, then maybe all these baby girls can grow as fast as Cora, who I hear rolled over this week.

David has a dentist's appointment tomorrow to fix a broken-beyond-repair tooth. They are going to remove what's left of the thing and put in an implant. This is his first implant--I hope it takes well. The stuff he has been through with the dentist this year is almost enough to make a person put off dental health care. Never even mind what he has done in the way of physical health--I don't want any part of that, either.

We had a good visit with Christopher James, also known as CJ, last week. He is a total delight. Even when he poked a hole in the bottom of his cup and flooded the Plum Tree, he was a sweet, charming little boy. He also introduced us to the fine game of building with china. Of course, we can't hold him completely to blame for that. It isn't his fault the extra dishes were there. He really liked David's "eyes" tricks and would giggle and squeal whenever David started cutting shines. I am so glad we had a chance to meet him during his baby-ness.

Enough of the odds and ends of daily life. Those of you who are getting out and doing things, start posting to your blog so you can entertain me! Love to all, and God bless.

Sadness

Two great folks died this past week. One was around for over 90 years and did a lot of really good stuff. The other one, maybe 30 years or so, and not too much will be credited to his name. Anyway, I am going to miss both of them.

I met the first lady when I was a student at GC in the 60's and very early 70's. I had her for an "independent study" class in nutrition. In other words, she set apart an hour, two or three days a week, just to help me meet the requirements for certification in elementary ed. We would meet in her office, and she would go over assignments, etc. She really knew her stuff. Next, I encountered her as a friend's advisor. The friend was a home ec major and had to prepare a meal for guests as a part of a class. The friend, two other couples, this teacher, my husband and I, all enjoyed a meal together at the home ec house. After that, I knew that if I had any questions about food, I could ask her, and I did. I found out that she was a great seamstress, too, and she helped me out by putting buttons into a dress I was making for my daughter.

But where I knew this woman best was at church. For years, she was our church hostess and the chef for our family night dinners. Those dinners were truly fantastic. She served a full meal, salad, entree, at least two vegetables, hot homemade bread, and homemade desserts for $3.00 a head (and that was even in the last five years!). She cooked almost every bit of it herself. Not only was the food fantastic, she took extra time to decorate all the tables with fresh flowers. She also had theme meals for the holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, President's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter. The two biggies, Thanksgiving and Christmas, she would have hot appetizers, cheese balls, raw veggies, punch for folks to enjoy while they were waiting for the meal to be served--you wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it.

She took great care of her regulars, too. For instance, she knew that the pastor didn't like raisins, so whenever she served her dressing with raisins, she kept out some just for him. Also, since my mom was allergic to fish, she would be sure that there were little ham biscuits for her while the rest of us ate salmon croquettes. And she would be sure that there were special sugarfree desserts for the regulars who were diabetic.

In addition to this gift of hospitality, and it was a gift for sure, she had one of the greatest spirits I ever came across. There was always a twinkle in her eye--maybe no smile on her face, but the twinkle was there. You could tell she enjoyed life and wanted to make the most of it, but on her terms.

Near the end of her life, she moved into an assisted living home here in town. We had friends who would regularly pick her up there to take her to church. One morning the couple arrived at the home to find that she had moved out the day before--she didn't tell anyone that she was moving. They later found that she had moved back to her home. I guess she got tired of institutional food!

I sent her a Christmas card, telling her how much we missed her on Wednesday nights at supper. She wrote back to tell me, "I keep hoping I can come back and cook one more supper." That really meant a lot to me, to know that she still had hope. God has her now, and I'm sure there are fresh flowers on the tables at the banquet feast.

The other fellow is not quite as well known. He was a student I had about ten or twelve years ago in my special ed class. He was autistic, in a day when autism wasn't getting the press that it gets now. He didn't speak much, he had really severe mood swings, and at times he was very difficult to work with. However, what I remember most about him was his sweet, sweet, smile. It was very hard to stay mad at him for long. I remember one day I was walking him down the hall to his speech class, and he reached up and touched my cheek. "What's that, Mrs.M?" he asked. "Feel like a boogie?" It was. I guess he thought he was sharing. Another memory: he would play and play a computer game in the room. When he got ten answers correct, there was some sort of onscreen reward. All day, my daughter thought he was saying, "Damn right, Mrs. M!" The actual statement, ten right.

Two other memories to share. His favorite book was In the Napping House. He just loved that book, about a granny who was taking a nap and joined by all sorts of critters (including a grandson) until the bed finally collapsed. He would just laugh and laugh when I read it to him. I suspect it reminded him of his own granny who took care of him sometimes, but I'll never know for sure. And then there were the trips to McDonald's. All the time I taught, I found that trips to McDonald's were great motivators for my kids, no matter what age or for what purpose. Occasionally this fellow would earn a trip for something or the other. He and I would have great fun over a hamburger, french fries and ice cream. He absolutely loved the big yellow centrifuge where pennies would spin around and around before they finally dropped into the bottom of the container. Give him a quarter's worth of pennies, and he was in heaven, where, I hope, he is now. I hope there is a great big centrifuge up there and all the pennies he could every want!

Treasure the folks in your life who make you smile. Watch for twinkling eyes, and don't get up tight over a boogie on your cheek! Love you, and God bless.

Tooooooo Long

I've been lax in keeping up my blog, even if it is just for the sake of Jenn. Sorry about that.

Things are going okay here in G-town. I am really enjoying having time off at Christmas. This hasn't been the case for 22 1/2 years, so I'm having a little difficulty knowing how to handle it. Like so many who read this blog, I work better under pressure of a deadline, and often wait until the deadline is in sight to begin my work. It seems so strange to actually have days at a time with nothing that has to be done.

This week has been a little busier than most. For instance, Tuesday morning was WMU at Maribeth's, followed by a retired teacher's luncheon. The choir from one of the local elementary schools performed at the lunch. When the kids were leaving, something was said by one of the retired teachers about how we were such a grateful audience. The choir director responded with a line about retired teachers, "Old teachers don't retire, they just lose their class!--Especially Meadors!" And I did not in the least bit feel insulted.

Thursday I went to Friendship, which is my usual Thursday practice. I told David it was a lot like teaching, even though the students were, in this case, less than a year old. I liked the challenge of figuring out what their problems were and trying to stop cries before they happened. There's nothing much better than sitting and rocking a baby for an hour or so at a time, talking with them, talking to them, and as my own kids would say, "talking for them." Case in point, this darling little fellow named Sota who had the awfulest case of stick-up hair! I took him out into the reception area of the nursery and said, "hello, ladies! What do you think of my new hairdo this morning?" And another little guy named Allistair, "How do you all do (talking to the two little girl babies"--could I maybe play with you today?" We do have fun in there. Then when I was leaving, I went over to the toddler side of the nursery suite, and this great little fellow named Shusuke came running at me with a big smile on his face and his arms up in the air for me to pick him up!

I do love those babies. They make life seem worth living. If any of you are feeling a little low, I can recommend rocking a baby to calm or to sleep as one of the best (allbeit temporary) morale boosters known to man!

Everyone take care when you're shopping, and don't get too lost in the bustle to call a salesperson by name and ask about his/her day. The sourer they are, the more persistent you should be--if anybody needs attention, they do. And don't be afraid to say Merry Christmas. It's worth saying.

Love to all, God bless, and Merry Christmas!

Bronchiolitis

Here's the latest. My darling grandbaby disappointed me by not being able to come to Georgetown for Thanksgiving. As David said later, thank God her parents had enough sense to take her home from Corbin on Thanksgiving Day. At the doctor's office on Friday morning, they learned that Cora was just as sick as they thought she was, and were sent to Children's Hospital in Chattanooga, where she spent the night.

At first the medical folks thought she might have RSV, which is a serious respiratory virus that infects premies and newborns. Thank God again it wasn't that, but rather turned out to be bronchiolitis. At the hospital, in addition to finding out what she didn't have, they gave her breathing treatments which helped to break up her cough quite a bit and got her oxygen level back where it needed to be. Her mom and dad said she was a pretty good trooper about the whole thing, and that even when she was at her maddest, the nurses still talked about how sweet and beautiful she is.

Here at the house, she is mostly sleeping, nursing some, taking bottles of formula not very eagerly, and slurping down the apple-juice/water bottles. She coughs a good bit, until it's like she is coughing rather than breathing. BUT, and big deal here, she IS getting better. She can wail like a banshee when they suction out her nose or take her temperature or give her a breathing treatment. We spend a lot of time holding her--she breathes better upright--and "beating" on her back when she's coughing. I don't think we've bruised her yet. She has a beautiful Christmas tree in the living room, and being a child who is fascinated by light, I can usually quiet her down a bit by sitting with her in there.

I think I need to go be Nurse Granny. Everyone take care, and pray for our little Cora. Love you, and God bless.

We Are Still Married

Before anyone gets upset, that is just the title of a Garrison Keiller book. I have no clue what the book is about, but I do know that David and I are still married, with no plans to change that status.

I have finished a couple of projects that I've been working on for quite a while. One was filling and taking to church six Christmas boxes for Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham's operation. The boxes will go to three little girls and three little boys somewhere in the world, who otherwise probably would not have much of a Christmas. I did this in honor of my three boys and three girls. We sent crayons, color books, slinkies, puppets, hotwheels, dolls, stuffed animals, lots of pencils, erasers, markers, paper to "write" or draw on, stuff like that. It was a lot of fun for me to get the boxes together.

The other project involved some detective work which was more lengthy than I had thought. When you google something and get the reply, sorry, "-----" has no matches, then you know you have a long search ahead. However, with help from someon named Truman Price and Everett, it got done, and the gift has been ordered. That was a lot of fun, too.

My next project is to go grocery shopping and get cooking for Thanksgiving. I have scalloped oysters in mind, as well as hashbrown casserole and Jello salad. We're all going to my sister-in-law's, Caroline's, for the big feed. That's because she has the most room. Caroline truly has the gift of hospitality. When we go down there, we feel free to invite anybody we can think of, since she has always made all our friends feel at home. This year, we invited Sam, Ting, and Alex, as well as Kumar, and then Sunday when Joann asked where we were going for Thanksgiving, we invited her, too. I don't think she took us too seriously, but she did listen carefully to the directions and came back to talk to us a couple of times about our plans. I may email Sam and tell him to invite Tsing Tsing and Ding Ding, too.

Which reminds me--I can seldom remember Tsing Tsing's son's name. He and Sam are roommates at EKU. Yesterday I was asking about him and called him Dong Dong. Tsing Tsing just giggled. They told me his name was Ding Ding. Tsing Tsing went back to the kitchen and brought him out, so that I could talk to him. Joann came over and said, "On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, his name is Ding Ding. On Tuesday and Thursday, it is Dong Dong." We had quite a laugh over that. We also told Tsing that she could name her next child Dong Dong, and if she had a third child, she could name that one Ding Dong! Silly, I know, but fun. I like to see the folks smile.

I guess I'm through for now. Maybe I'll post again sometime in the future--just keep checking. Love to all, and God bless.

Monkey Mama had a dream

Awright, we all have dreams. So what was different about this one?

Several things--for one, I remember a bunch of it. That doesn't happen a lot. For another, it was a G or PG dream, so I figured it would be OK for Lydia to read it.

Here goes: I was in a house very similar to the one we live in now, five-room plain little house, empty house (that's different from ours!), that maybe we were getting read to sell. On an inspection of the house, we found some animals living there. They seemed to be about the size of squirrels or chipmunks and didn't seem fearful (in that they didn't run and hide when they smelled humans.) What was unusual about them was their coloration. Some of them were brown with white spots--sort of irregular spotting, not anything symmetrical or possibly related to camouflage. There weren't a lot of them, probably no more than 3 or 4 to a room.

Once we had kind of adjusted to these spotty chipmunks, we started to see black ones, with blue glow-in-the-dark stripes and spots. That was really weird. As I said to someone who was in the house with me, "I know birds and fish can be blue, but I don't believe I've ever seen a mammal with glow-in-the dark blue spots!"

There were a few other loose ends that made this dream interesting. My kids will recognize this reference: The Lone Ranger's horse and Tonto's horse were there, not real horses, but plastic figurines about 6" tall. I didn't see the "men" who rode the horses. I thought the figurines might possibly be at my house, so I was going to look for them. Just in case the figurines were there at that house and might show up, I left a note for them on a piece of paper, telling them where I was going. Then I wanted a way for them to acknowledge the note, so I asked if anyone had a golf pencil, since sometimes the two of them could work together and write with a golf pencil. Fortunately one of the men who was there had several in his pocket, so we left one with the note.

And another loose end that has me puzzled: There was a woman there in a gorilla suit, a black suit, and a blue plastic hula skirt that pretty much hung from her shoulders. She wasn't a gorilla, just someone dressed up as one. I have no idea why she was there, but she was helping me look for the chipmunks.

Now if anyone can figure out this dream for me or at least tie in some of those loose ends, I'd appreciate it. Thanks, love to all, and God bless.

I'm baaaaaack--was it worth the wait?

I don't know about you all, but I don't like blogger very much. Yesterday evening I spent a good little bit of time writing a post, believe it or not, and then blogger ate it. So much for that. I will try to remember what was on there.

1. Trees. When you get to be my age, trees are important. There are certain trees that made my drive to Frankfort palatable the last few falls, and in the last two weeks I've had a couple of chances to look them up. They are all still there, the ones at St. Francis, the ones at Fork of the Elkhorn, and the ones on US 60 near the CHR building. There were some beautiful trees at SSS, too, but the one chance I had to look at them was on a gray, rainy evening, and they didn't look too hot. For one thing, it's been too rainy around here for good leaf retention. Surprisingly, the color in the trees south of Berea is much nicer than the trees right around here.

2. Cora's dedication. David, Ann, Daniel, and I all got to witness the baby dedication ceremony for Cora Sophia last Sunday. It was beautiful, very meaningful. One change--I wish I hadn't been behind Geron, because I couldn't see too well from that location. Cora looked like a little doll. If you don't believe me, look for yourself. Go to the Brown baby blog, and click on any one of those pictures. My favorite picture is the one where her bonnet is slightly askew, and she looks like she has her blanket rolled up under her arm. It looks to me like she's saying, "All right, folks, enough with the pictures. Let's get out of here!"

3. Gracie Acie Lacie Macie. This is probably one of my two favorite three-year-olds in the whole world. The other is Gracie's cousin, Alyssa. If I'm slighting any of you, I'm sorry--these are just the two little girls I know best. Gracie had surgery yesterday afternoon in Louisville at Kosair Children's Hospital for a condition called "twisted spine" or "twisted cord", something like that. She came through the surgery well. Apparently they had a rough night, but according to her daddy David, she had weeeeeeed all by herself today. As all of you who have had any major surgery can testify, this is a big step toward getting well. Also, the docctors are saying everything went just fine. Try telling that to parents who have up all night with a crying child--yes, fine, but not too happy right now. I'm sure she'll be back to her old smily, cheerful self in just a few weeks. Gracie is the little dear who has been so concerned about Baby Cora's lack of clothes. All the pictures she had seen of her, Cora was very scantily clothed, so Gracie was insistant that folks get her some clothes. Another concern of Gracie's was Cora's hip brace. She was very worried that she would have to have therapy, just like she had when she was learning to walk. We assured that Baby Cora wouldn't need therapy, since she wasn't walking yet. But I guess you can tell that Gracie is a sweet, caring child, and we all wish her well.

4. Susie. My sweet cousin Susie got married back in September--forgive me, but I've forgotten the exact date. The wedding was beautiful. It was at the Seelbach Hotel in downtown Louisville, and was a real treat for this hick from the sticks! (I used to know a story about the Seelbach, but I'm not going to do that to you.) Anyway. Susie was the sixth of Libby's children and a delightful addition to the family. Her daddy was really delighted that he had a chance to watch her grow--he had been so busy working when her siblings were little that he didn't get to enjoy their babiness very much. Suze was a different matter. Her next younger sibling was Kenny Mike, around 6 years old when Susie was born. Oh yes--I remember, I already shared about that wedding! And I already told you that Susie danced with all four of her brothers at the ceremony, including Mike.

5. Friendship International. One of the best parts of volunteering with Friendship has been riding to Lexington with some of other volunteers. I so much enjoy listening to Mary Dan Price's stories of Georgetown, as well as to Maribeth Hambrick and Cornelia Wainscott. Yesterday I told what one of them considered "the best nursing-home story ever", the account of my daddy and why there was a top on the fishtank at Dover Manor. Another little bit about yesterday: I had some Halloween sweatshirts I had purchased for a two-year-old I don't get to see very often. I knew it wouldn't be likely for me to see him before Halloween, so I took them to Friendship. The mothers were pleased to get them. I had hoped that Jiagi, my little Chinese baby, would be one to take a sweatshirt home, but she was not there yesterday. I do hope I see her again next week.

Well, not a lot new, but still more than I have posted lately! Love to all, and God bless.

Goooooood Weekend

I got to love on my baby this weekend. The next youngest didn't seem to mind too much, because she was loving on her, too. I wish I had had just a LITTLE more time to visit with my sweet Annie and her husband. It moves me so much when friends, both old and young, seem so happy to see my kids. And it wasn't because of getting to see the new baby, either--their family at church just loves them all.

We got to share a meal with a bunch of great folks on Sunday, at our Sunday lunch place. We had two tables in "the party room" with friends and relatives, all of whom seemed to get along just fine. Everything was good until Libby started to walk out with Cora--she said she'd be back in just a minute, but I think we all knew better. It really wasn't a very strong threat, though, since she didn't have keys to her ride back to Louisville, and I'm pretty sure most of us could walk faster than she. We didn't have to issue an amber alert. Dexter, Brandy, and Chuck got to love on Cora too, after we got her away from Libby. Maybe Brandy will start thinking about another sweet baby--Alyssa is a winner, for sure.

And Julie didn't start a food fight--she was on her best behavior. Alex said he would tell on her if she did--he was on HIS best behavior too. And Andrea and Laura got to spoil Cora. Everyone pray that next fall we will be passing a new little Rose around the table and taking photos all over the place. And Yen got to hold Cora and give her a red envelope. She told us the traditional Chinese gift for a new baby was a "red envelope". That baby ought to be Chinese, as many times as her mommy has eaten at the Plum Tree!

All in all, it was a great day. I wish we could do it every week, maybe adding a few more dear ones each time. Love to all, and God bless.

Phone pranks

Nope, never did any myself, but I've surely heard of a few good ones.

Our current "prank" is the way David answers the phone. If you call our house and hear, "This is me. Is that you?", you'll know David's there. He did that today to a person from another country (which shall remain nameless), a rep for Bellsouth, and the poor person did not know how to reply. That one wasn't on her flowchart.

My brother Mike and some of his friends were excellent at phone pranking. One time they kept the 411 operator occupied for quite a while, trying to get a phone number and address for a friend--they claimed to not know the last name or address, except "down the road from ---". Used to be, long time ago, you didn't get in trouble for stuff like that. Mike had all the fun I wanted to have when I was a child.

The girls (and most of my readers know who I mean) used to call infomercials to ask about products. The younger one once called a 12 step plan and said she didn't have enough money to buy the whole plan, but did they have a six step one? She might could afford that. There were a lot more details, but those ought to be enough to get your memories flowing about the stuff you did. Love you all, and God bless.

Nobody likes me.

How come don't nobody never write any funny stuff on my blog? I been reading the stuff you wrote on Everett's, and don't nobody never write nothing like that on my blog. I love you all anyway, and God bless.

Fall vacations

It's that time of year. David and I usually take a vacation about the first or second week of October. This year we are going to spend our fall vacation very much similar to the way we spent the spring one, sitting around the house and pretending we are getting things done. My friend Joyce has gone to Panama Beach, Joan has gone to Garden City (Leitchfield Beach, SC), and I am here in the dust dunes of Meadors' beach wondering where my feather duster has gone. I have one goal for next week--to dust enough so that Lydia, Cora, and Geron can come to visit. David has one goal, too, to get the taxes finished. Let's face it. If Aniel are old, we're ancient! Love to all, and God bless.

Thank you, God

I don't know all the details, so I may get something wrong. I just know that today around 12:30 pm Geron and Lydia called to tell me they were taking Cora back to the ER at the Children's Hospital there in Chattanooga. They took her to her pediatrician yesterday because she was spitting up quite a bit, and he sent them down there for tests. All tests they did yesterday came back in the normal range. The ER doctors told them to go back to their pediatrician.

That was yesterday. I didn't know a thing about it. Today, they took Cora back to their doctor, since she wasn't better. She had developed diarrhea, in addition to the spitting up. Her heart rate was elevated, both yesterday and today, and their doctor thought he heard a heart murmur. He wanted her checked by a cardiologist.

They were on the way to the hospital when they called. I got on line and asked a bunch of you, some I haven't seen or talked to in quite a while, others I see frequently, to pray for Cora. You did. Thank you for your prayers.

When the doctors at the hospital examined Cora, they found no signs of a heart problem. I don't believe it disappeared--I believe God healed it. Their regular pediatrician is a well-respected person in the medical community in Chattanooga. He knows what a heart murmur sounds like, and he knows when something looks or sounds wrong to him. He wouldn't have sent them downtown if he didn't think Cora's condition warranted it.

All I can say now is thank you for praying, and thank You, God, for hearing our prayers. Thank You again for Cora. As one of my friends (Sandra F) said, God has a special purpose for Cora. I believe that.

Love to all and God bless.

How was my weekend?

One of my good friends asked me yesterday how my weekend was. I can tell you pretty quickly. David and I went to Chattanooga. We saw Cora. I held her, a lot. David looked at her, a lot. Geron, Lydia, David, and I went out to eat three times, with Cora. Lydia and I went shopping, with Cora. The four of us went to church, with Cora.

In church, Cora would sit so still when she heard her daddy's voice, either singing or speaking. She was supposed to be asleep, but I think she was listening. One time during the children's sermon, Geron was giving out little box banks to the children. He asked if everyone had a bank. Cora raised her hand--he didn't see her, though. (It may have been a stretch, but it was very timely.)

We love Geron, Lydia, and Cora. A lot.

Love to all of you, and God bless.

Paper Dolls

When I was a little girl, maybe 50 years ago, I loved my paper dolls. I used to spend hours in my room playing with them, especially designing dresses for them. Daddy had brought home a bunch of old deposit tickets (not used, blank!) from the bank after they printed new ones, and I found the backs of the tickets were just exactly the right size for drawing paper doll clothes. All the dolls had names and personalities. They were even in families. My cousin Sally had paper dolls, too. She took more of a practical interest in hers. When one of them would have a torn arm or leg, Sally would make casts for them out of wet toilet paper. She also gave them tsetse fly enemas. I didn't grow up to be a designer, but Sally became a nurse!

What prompted this trip back into childhood, you might ask? Or then, again, you might NOT ask. I got an email yesterday from Dover Publications. They used to send me a teacher's preview of materials they considered educational once a week, and I would run off color pages, etc, for my "kids". This particular email was about their new books, including something I had never imagined, Dalai Lama Paper Dolls! Love to all, and God bless.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a funny thing, no, I mean that, really a funny thing. Just recently amidst the daily emails I receive were a couple of jokes. Actually, there were a lot more than a couple, but these two looked like jokes some former coworkers of mine would enjoy. The first one I forwarded yesterday to my former boss. It was a jibe intended for folks who take life too seriously, a list of funny little bits such as 47.9% of statistics are made up on the spot. He and I had often laughed about things like that together, and I thought he would enjoy them. He did, and sent me an email back thanking for me for sending them his way.

The second one came today. It was a story on Mikey's Funnies about a family going camping. The husband had taken his blackberry with him. A former supervisor used to email me from meetings on hers--she said once that was a sign of how boring the meeting was, when she was sitting there checking her email during presentations. I figured she would get a kick out of this one, especially since the wife in the family referred to husband's blackberry as his crackberry. It struck me right away as odd that I would even think about sending this email to her, since we haven't communicated since I "left office". But I went ahead and sent it. I haven't heard from her yet.

I believe that was God's way of telling me it was time to let go of the past and get on with my life. Is there someone in your past you need to forgive? Or at least reach out to? Life is too short to keep these things smoldering. We need to go ahead and go forward. I'm glad I did. Love to all, and God bless.