Hi

I always look at my blog when fall begins. Not on purpose. I just become even MORE of an introvert and like to look at things of my past.

Lots of things have changed since I last blogged. I'm fifty now. It doesn't even bother me (too) much to say that now. It did. I knew 50 was going to be hard. 50 always seemed ancient. I guess it always will to 17-year olds. But 50, yeah. My mind still thinks it's around 30 but my body certainly feels all of the 50 years.

My husband and I are still living in our tiny little home on the mountain he grew up on in Georgia. One day we will move just across the valley to "my" mountain. I can't wait to get back there. It's not even 15 miles away from here but that mountain will always be home to me.

I have four grandchildren now: two girls and two boys. My daughter recently moved from Florida to Alabama so instead of being 7.5 hours away she is now 3 hours away. I sure like that so much better.

I lost my interest in taking photos not too far into the digital camera era. At first I enjoyed having a digital camera and having my photos on my computer instantly. But now it's all a chore and I just lost the desire to shoot. It makes me sad because I've been taking photos for decades, actually since I was 8 years old. I hated giving up my film camera. I hope that my interest in it picks back up and maybe it will. Maybe my interest in blogging will pick up, too. :)

I Don't Remember

I don't even really remember how to blog. I pay for my site and NEVER use it. I don't know why. Actually I DO know why. It's because Facebook killed the Blogger star.

Right?

Not that I was ever a star...

If you're on Facebook then find me. Unless I don't really know you. If I don't actually know you then I don't add you as my friend. It's not because I'm mean. It's because I post personal stuff on there.

:)

Hi!

Long time, huh?

I still don't have much to say here anymore. I guess that's because I do most of my talking on Facebook.

I've been pretty sick but I'm healing quite nicely. In September I had to have surgery and have my gallbladder removed. I also had a procedure called "Nissen Fundoplication." I had several other issues going on that was making me quite ill but everything has been taken care of and I'm healing.

I got a go-ahead from my surgeon to start hiking again. I'm trying my best to get healthy, to get in shape. I have two granddaughters to chase around (even though only one of them is old enough to walk just yet). I need to get healthy and stay healthy so that they will both have the joy of my company for many years to come. :)

Anyway, hiking. I started last Saturday. I got my biggest buddy, Jack, and he and I walked at Cloudland Canyon State Park. I hiked alone, too, which was pretty impressive because I'm a HUGE chicken. HUGE. But I knew with Jack by my side that I'd be safe. He would gladly take care of anyone who tried to harm me.

The hike was fantastic. In fact, the whole day was fantastic. We started our day with that hike then met my husband for lunch in our hometown. We got to see the Veterans Day parade, then later we visited with my son and his family. It was one of the best days that I've had in a long, long time.

I know you've met my granddaughter, Sadie. Here's my new granddaughter, Delilah.

She lives in Florida so I don't get to see her often, but I do try and see her every two or three months. It's not even close to being enough but I will take what I can get. She will be a year old in March. She was born on Pi Day (3.14.15) so we've nicknamed her Moon Pi, which I'm sure she will appreciate greatly when she is older.

I hope to blog more often just for myself. I love having a diary of sorts.

Anyone still around? Probably not, but that's okay.

God bless!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sadie Rose had a great first Thanksgiving. Sure, she can only have breast milk right now but next year I bet she'll enjoy the turkey and all of the trimmings.

God bless!

Happy Anniversary!

My son (growing his hair out to donate to Locks of Love) and his wife celebrated their first anniversary on September 28th. They weren't able to go out so last night my hubby and I babysat (for the first time!) while they went out to a nice dinner.

It turned cold here a couple of days ago. I love it. Our temperature got down to 37 yesterday morning. It was just fantastic.

I'm back to my yearly fall reading of the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I love reading these nine books every fall and boy, I would've loved to lived back then. I think. :) Anyway, I've talked about it several times before but these books just make me so happy.

Hope you are having a great fall!

Ol' Grandma

Hi! Long time no see! Is anyone still around? No? *crickets*

That's okay, but if you ARE around then you'll notice that photo above. I'm now an old grandma (is 45 old or young to be a grandma?)!

That's my precious Sadie Rose and she is the daughter of my son and his wife. She was born on Thursday, August 28.  She's a tiny little thing. She weighed 5 lbs. 6 oz. She's precious and our family couldn't be more thrilled.

If you read (and remember) my last post you'll know that my daughter lost her baby back in April. I'm happy to report that she is pregnant again and she and her husband are expecting their first child in March. Please remember her in your prayers and ask for a healthy baby. :) Our family is also very excited about this, too. :)

I hope to blog more often. I've lost interest in all of my old favorite things to do. I don't really go out and take photos much anymore. I'm not sure why. I have serious, serious concentration issues. It's all I can do to sit and type out just what I've typed out in this one blog. It's very frustrating to say the least.

Hi!

I think the whole problem with me blogging now is that I always use my iPad when I need to check something and I'm rarely on my desktop. Good excuse, right?

Things have been about the same around here except for one sad thing that happened.

My daughter, Brooke, was three months pregnant (something we didn't have permission to share at the time) but found out on April 1 that the baby had died. :( She couldn't have the surgery to take the baby until a few days later so it was just a horrible, horrible time for her and her husband and all those who were so looking forward to this baby.

She is still healing - body and mind - and with her doctor's permission will try again before long. We know this was God's plan but even knowing that doesn't make things better, does it? But, we have faith and will continue to pray for understanding and for his healing.

Thankfully I was able to leave the day that she called us and head straight to Florida to be with her. I was so thankful that I could be there with her. Still, there's nothing at all worse that I can imagine than watching your child hurt and suffer and not be able to do a thing about it.

Still Alive

Hi!

I'm still around even though I don't really have much to say. My days all kind of bleed into one. There were some highlights during the month plus that I have been gone:

1. I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDMOTHER! That's right. My son Cain and his wife Ashley are expecting their first baby in September. I couldn't be more excited. :)

2. I spent a week in Florida with my daughter, Brooke. We had a fabulous time even though she still had to work. It was COLD down there (got down in the 30's) but I still visited the beach.

3. I quit drinking Cokes. I used to drink Diet Coke and quit drinking those some time ago, maybe about a year ago. I replaced the Diet Coke with regular Coke but now I don't drink those either. I'd have about 4 or 5 a day. I may still occasionally drink a fountain Coke, but I hope not. I'm very proud of me.

I'll be 45 on Thursday. I'm happy to still be around and hope I'll be telling you about turning 95, but when did I get so old?!

So, how have YOU been?

Rainy Day

My grandmother way before I was born. She was so much fun. I miss her very much. Also, I see where I get my thighs now. :)

Today was a rainy day so I just stayed at Brooke's house and read and played with the dogs. Lucy is enjoying spending time with her Humphrey and the feeling is mutual.

I can't wait for Brooke to get home. We're just going to take it easy tonight.

Siblings

I shared yesterday's letter to Brooke from her student with Cain and you can see his reply above. :)

My kids are pretty funny. They get that from me.

I spent a lot of time here today:

It was beautiful and COLD. The water was lovely and clear. Too bad it's too cold to get in though.

A cold day at the beach is still a good day.

Mrs. "Brumlow"

One of Brooke's students wrote this letter for her. How precious is this? She teaches third grade. I love it. :)

I spent the day with Brooke in her classroom. It's pretty fascinating to watch her teach. It's something I NEVER imagined she would do.  The kids are quite comical but I don't think she thinks they are as funny as I think they are. ;)

I love being with her. I've just missed her so much. I haven't seen her since Christmas, you know. I wish she lived near home. Maybe one day they can move closer to us and to Chad's parents.

Maybe...

Killing Thyme

I just got to Brooke's house and I saw this sitting on her kitchen counter. This was literally our first conversation:

Me: What are you killing in the bag?
Brooke: I'm killing thyme.

Then we burst into song "This killin' time, is killin' meeee, drinking myself blind thinkin' I won't see..."

And then we laughed. I'm SO HAPPY to be here.

(Our apologies to Clint Black.)

Blimp!

See that little bitty dot in the center (almost) of the picture? That's a big ol' blimp. We were quite excited because you just don't see things like that around here. I wish I could've gotten closer.

We watched "Now You See Me." It was pretty good, too.

Had a great day. Hope you did, too. I'm headed to Florida tomorrow to see Brooke and I can't wait. :)

HUGE NEWS!

Well, guys, it looks like my glider that I just got is going to come in handy because

I'M GOING TO BE A GRAMMY!

Cain and Ashley are expecting in September! Congratulations to them!

I've been about to BURST to tell you guys! We are all so very excited. God has blessed me more than I EVER imagined possible!

I don't think I've ever used this many exclamation points but I'm pretty pumped. Yay! A baby!

One More Month

I'll be 45 in one more month. I can't believe that. 45 seems REALLY old, doesn't it?

Don't answer that. Thanks.

Turns out that my rooster killed my chicken. I told my uncle (he sold me the chickens) and he said he had suspected that the rooster killed another hen at his place before he sold them to me.  I sure do love my rooster but I can't have him killing my hens. I also can't have him in my iron skillet for supper, but my hubby thinks I can.

Nope, not gonna do it.

Bummer

Any takers? Ghost chili salsa?  Yeah, none for me either. We bought this for our son-in-law who eats stuff as hot as he can find it. YUCK!

Something got one of my chickens last night. :( We're not sure quite how but I'm pretty tore up about it.

It's probably best that I don't have farm animals. It breaks my heart to lose an animal. :(

Oh, you've already seen the photo of Ranger that I posted yesterday. Oh well, he's cute enough that you can stand to see it again.

So Beautiful

Ranger is my nutball. He was trying to lick my phone, which I did not appreciate.

I left early this morning to run errands and I stopped at Cracker Barrel to have breakfast. An elderly couple sat down at the table in front of me. The wife was reading the menu to her husband and she said, "Oh, you ALWAYS loved chicken and dumplings, what do you think?" She's continued on and said, "When you used to drink hot tea you loved it with cream. Do you want to try it like that?"She went on and on telling him how he used to love this or that, or how he never liked green beans.  He obviously had Alzheimer's or dementia and she was so loving to him. It broke my heart because it was just so beautiful.

I hope that if I ever get Alzheimer's (like my maternal grandmother) or suffer from dementia that I will have loving people like her in my life.

Brass Billy Goat (Huh?)

That's right, boys and girls, my socks designate which goes on what foot. :)  I got these on clearance, otherwise they are ridiculously expensive. They are Keen brand and they do feel fantastic. If you can find them (I recommend on clearance, because seriously, $18 for a pair of socks? No thanks!) get you some because they really do feel wonderful, especially there on your arches.

Look. I'm taking about my socks on my blog. Aren't you excited?

So, my husband is on a business call and I just heard him say, "Well, they say that I can talk the horns off a brass billy goat."

Huh?!

If there is a brass billy goat with horns then yes, he probably could talk the horns off. That man can do some talking. I'm just trying to figure out why that sentence needed to come up in the conversation.

Weirdo... (says the girl telling y'all about her socks).

Just Relaxing

It's a beautiful day today. I'm relaxing on my deck with one of my favorite magazines (Country, which you can find HERE. It's also the sister magazine to one of my other favorite magazines, Birds & Blooms, which you can find HERE). I love it when the weather is like this. I'm so ready for spring!

Hope that you are enjoying your day, too.

Downtown Chattanooga

GiGi falls asleep like this between my legs sometimes. It's not very comfortable. For me.

This evening we went to downtown Chattanooga and enjoyed a nice Valentine's Day (late) dinner at Hennen's. It was delicious. It's across the street from the aquarium and near the (Tennessee) River. We sure thought it was delicious.

GOOO Me!

Did I ever show you this photo of myself?  My mom DRESSED ME THIS WAY ON PURPOSE and sent me to school! This was probably 1978 so I would've been nine. Nice, huh?

GUESS WHAT! Today has been ONE WHOLE WEEK with NO Cokes! None! Zilch! Zip! Nada! I did it! I can't believe it. I did it.

I hope I continue NOT to drink them. :)

Yowsa!

So my part of Georgia got slammed last night with some of the prettiest snow I've ever seen! We woke up to a winter wonderland. Here at my house we got 6-8 inches depending on what part of the property you're standing on. :)

Here are a few shots of today:

What a fantastic day. Too bad we don't get snow more often.

R.I.P. Dear Friend

I picked up our local newspaper and for some reason my eyes went right to Lisa's name - in the obituary section. It says she died of cancer. We were the best of friends until she moved away and we certainly went different directions after that. But every time I went to the town she moved to I hoped that I would see her & that our friendship might have a different ending than it did. I am crushed - just absolutely crushed. I'll never see her again and I always thought I would. I can't believe it.

RIP, dear friend. Even though I haven't seen you in decades I thought of you often and I will forever be sad that you are gone. :(

Crazy Weather

People all around us got several inches of snow, but not us. We only got a dusting. I'm jealous.

The weather is supposed to get awful here in the south. Wish us luck. We don't do so well in a lot of snow or ice. I have my milk and bread so I'm good to go. ;)

Praying for safety for those who have to be out in this craziness.

Not Much Count

This picture was taken a few years ago after I pulled these out of the basement. My dad made them when I was a little girl. It's where my love of gnomes started. :)

I haven't had a good day. My back is really bothering me and I DO NOT LIKE TAKING PAIN PILLS. But, I'm having to take them. :(

Missed Church

Doesn't GiGi look comfortable? She was as she stayed there for quite a while.

I missed church this morning and sure hated to miss. I enjoy my Sunday school class so, SO much. I can't drive while taking these muscle relaxers so I stayed home. Cain and Ashley came out to visit and Marshall's dad came over for a bit so it was good to see all of them.

Hope you have a wonderful week. :)

The Other House

Today we spent the day at the old house where we used to live and where our son and his wife lives now. We are remodeling that house and it's starting to look great.

The house was built in 1946 and boy has it ever needed the work. We haven't been able to afford to do much to it so we just do it as we can. So far we've had the dining room sheetrocked (the ceiling, too) and now the bathroom is being finished.

The bathroom is much larger now. We blocked off the basement entrance and extended the bathroom. It has new everything: ceiling, floor, plumbing, vanity, bathtub/shower, light fixtures and toilet. Cain (in the pic) and hubby worked all day on putting new floor tile in and getting the ceiling painted. It's going to look fabulous when it's done.

I sat on the couch all day and read. My back stops hurting only when I'm taking the medicine. It totally bums me out. :(

Later, tators.

Doctor Visit

Dr. thinks I have a pulled muscle. ??? No blood work done but everything else looked great. Muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory are my new BF's. I've never taken a muscle relaxer before and I'm not really looking forward to it at all.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 40th Birthday to my baby brother, Joseph. We fought like cats & dogs & we played like we were the only two people in the world. I miss those days. I don't see him much now but I love him like crazy. Hope your birthday is terrific, Joseph! I love you.

Will y'all please say a prayer for me? I'm having some pretty bad pain in my lower left back. It has been going on all day and it's constant. My hubby is picking up some medicine for me & if it doesn't help I'll go to the dr. I just want the pain to go away. 

Whine. Complain. Moan

See This?

This is my handy iPad holder that my daughter-in-law made me for Christmas. You use it in the kitchen when you're viewing a recipe. This time I was just using a piece of paper but it holds my ipad nicely. What a great gift!

Y'all probably know I'm from Georgia. I had a good laugh at SNL this weekend when they made fun of us Georgians and our "flakes of devil's dandruff."  :)



Love it!

Yummy!

Pioneer Woman's "Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich" was a huge, HUGE hit with hubby last night. It was so easy to make and smelled delicious. Sure, ADT called us twice because our smoke alarm went off when I was cooking but it was worth it! We don't have a vent over our stove so it got pretty smoky in the house. Well, at least we know that ADT is on their game. :)

Today I took Lucy and Schroeder to the groomers and I ran errands while they were there. I picked them up and took them to the vet where they both got their yearly vaccinations and a six-month heartworm shot. Poor buddies. They've had a rough day. 

I've been battling a horrible headache all day so I'm calling it a day.  Have a great evening!