Happy New Year, Almost!!!

It's just after midnight, so it is officially New Year's Eve here in WV. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog this year. I know it isn't the most productive thing you could be doing with your time, and everyone is so busy these days, so again, I thank you for spending a few minutes with me now and then.

As you probably know, I'll be having a new grandbaby this year. My daughter, Jen, is having a girl to go with her two little boys. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with all of them this summer. My son-in-law will be serving overseas in the Army in 2009, so she will not only be taking care of her sons, but having a new baby while he's gone. Pray for them whenever you think of them - they'll really need it!! My husband thinks they will have their own TV show pretty soon - "Jen & Jake plus eight" I'm sure at times the two boys seem like eight already.

My other four grandkids are growing up too fast. Last time we saw them, only Brandon was still shorter than me!! I'm sure he'll probably outgrow me this year.

I have so much to be thankful for. I couldn't begin to list the prayers that God has answered this past year, or the blessings he has provided. I hope all of you have been as happy and as blessed in 2008, and I pray all of you will have a wonderful 2009.

Happy New Year, from the Rhodes family!!

Christmas Eve Lunch

Normally we have our Christmas Eve dinner with my sisters and Mom about 5 or 6 pm, and then we all exchange gifts. But, since Christmas Eve fell on Wednesday, the church was having a candle light service tonight, so we decided to have our Christmas Eve dinner/gift exchange early. I had considered the idea of Italian food, but we finally went with our usual Mexican feast. We all love Mexican food, and besides, I had these nifty new cast iron fajita skillets to try out. They were a gift from my in-laws. So, here's our delicious beef fajitas fried with some onion and poblano peppers.

And we had my favorite, chicken enchilladas. Along with some shrimp poppers. These are large shrimp stuffed with cheese and jalapeno pepper, then wrapped in bacon. They were absolutely the best part of the meal.

The gravy boat makes a perfect dish for serving your queso dip. Add some chips, condiments for the fajitas, and warm tortillas, and you've got a wonderful Christmas Eve Mexican feast. If you think it sounds like a lot of work, think again. The fajita meat is ready to go in the freezer section of the grocery store. Just add some onion and peppers, heat it all up, and you're done. Even the enchilladas are easy. I start with large taquitos from the grocery freezer, pour enchillada sauce over them and top with cheese. Put them in the oven for an hour and it looks and tastes like you've worked all day. The shrimp poppers were a lot of work, but soooo worth it.

The real job is cleaning up the mess. I make it harder on myself, because I insist on washing my Christmas dishes myself. I'm so afraid someone will break one, so I always wash them and put them back in their boxes personally. So, here's a couple of pictures of the kitchen just after we finished eating. All the Christmas dishes go back in their boxes and back into that bottom cabinet. My cat had been playing with that bubble wrap that's on the floor.

The stove is covered with pots and pans used to make rice and beans and heat other things. Tomorrow morning, all those blue pans will be replaced with my brand new Cook's Essentials eggplant colored pots and pans. I love my Cook's Essentials from QVC. These blue ones are still in great condition after years of daily use, but my Mom got me the new ones for Christmas. I guess I'll have to post a picture of them, if I ever get this mess cleaned up!!

Another idea for wrapping up your gifts!!

Ever have the perfect size box for a gift, but didn't want the recipient to think they were getting a toaster (or whatever was originally in the box)? The other day I realized most boxes are only glued together on one corner. I have taken three different boxes apart this year and simply turned them inside out and put them back together. Now the box is plain white or brown on the outside and has all the features of the toaster on the inside. When they tear off the paper, they see a plain box. If the inside lists all the features of last year's toaster oven, they won't notice because they will be enjoying the gift you put in the box for them.

Investing in one of those packing tape dispensers is well worth the money, too. I've had mine for years and you can ask either of my kids or grandkids - when Grammy tapes it up, it takes an act of Congress to get it open.

These are my Poinsettia & Ribbons Christmas dishes. I started collecting this pattern about 8 years ago when I bought a set half price at K-Mart after Christmas. That year I got a service for 4 of the dishes, as well as a set of salt & pepper shakers and a gravy boat. Naturally, K-Mart never had them again, but I learned that many people had matching pieces on EBay. This is my first year with the stemmed goblets, and I live in fear of breaking one. I have seen them on EBay several times and wanted them, but wasn't willing to pay the asking price of $8 each (plus shipping). A couple of months ago, someone had 12 of them for about $3 each (including shipping) and I couldn't resist. I have many other matching pieces that are not on the table, including flatware, but I decided this year to use the gold flatware my mother-in-law gave me.

There's a funny story about the bowls in the picture. I was at a local store here called Ames and saw a woman trying to return two sets of bowls. When they told her the bowls didn't come from Ames and she would have to return them to wherever they came from, I approached her and offered to buy them from her. I think at first she thought I was a little strange, but when I explained that I had several sets of dishes that matched her bowls, she was happy to sell them. They had been a gift to her and she had nothing else to go with them.

I bid on napkin rings several times and stopped when the price got too high. Then one day, I misspelled "poinsetta" and found a whole new bunch of auctions where hardly anyone was bidding. Since then, I have typed in both versions whenever I search.

Christmas Decorations

I've been completely blown away by some of the decorations on the Tour of Homes that one of my daughter, Jen's, friends has on her blog. I don't know how to do the fancy links to other blogs, but this should get you to hers - http://boomama.net/2008/12/15/christmas-tour-of-homes-2008/ There are over 900 homes on the list, so enjoy yourself if you go there and look at some of them. Meantime, I decided to put a picture of my pitiful little tree on here. In the past, we have put up our 6 ft. white tree with all blue lights and blue/silver decorations, or with all red lights and red/gold decorations. This year, we put up a little 4 ft green tree with very few lights or decorations. We just weren't in the mood to decorate for some reason. I did insist on having an angel, but ours were all too big for this tree, so I got this little one at WalMart on sale the other day (then almost cut her off in the picture).






I got really ambitious the other day and took pictures of all my napkins, placemats, and table cloths. I'm sure right now you are thinking I have too much time on my hands. Actually, I was looking for my blue napkins, and didn't realize how many sets I had, so I decided to organize a little better. I made a folder on my computer and put pictures of all the ones I have so next time I decide to decorate the table, I'll have a good idea of what I have hidden under that china cabinet. Anyway, here are the blue napkins with some placemats that I forgot I had!! I used those blue candles and snowflake candle holders last year with some different placemats. That little plate of cookies in the center is actually a plate of tarts for a tart burner. They smell so good, but look so pretty I couldn't bring myself to melt them.

Tonight, this blue stuff is going back in the china cabinet to make way for my Christmas dishes. I'm going to put the leaf in the table and get it ready for Christmas Eve dinner. In the past we have done Mexican food for our Christmas Eve meal. One year we had chicken fried steak (special request from Todd). This year I'm planning an Italian feast. I'll post pictures of the Christmas dishes tomorrow.

Are you Ready to Wrap??

These are my special Christmas gift wrapping scissors. They always make me smile. I was thinking this morning about some of the things I have learned over the years about gift wrapping and started making this list.

1. Obviously, you want to buy all your supplies at after Christmas sales. I store bags and boxes flat in a plastic storage container and wrapping paper in a tall kitchen trash can in the back of my closet. Tissue paper is kept in a gift bag stored in the container. Tape, scissors, name tags, and pens are all in a shoe box in the storage container.

2. My Mom taught me years ago that the ironing board makes a great place to wrap gifts. It's a good flat surface and the height is easy on your back.

3. I've tried several methods for saving pretty gift boxes. First of all, I never tape them shut. That just ruins a perfectly good box. I tried putting the tags on the bottom one year to save the pretty tops, but it was hard to sort gifts when you had to turn them all over to see who they went to. When I got them out the next year, I had the same problem of old tags that couldn't be pulled off without tearing the box (even if it was on the bottom it looked tacky). Then I had a great idea. The first year I use a box, I use the smallest gift tag I can. Every year, I reuse the box by putting a larger tag over the smaller one. After the third tag, it's usually time to trash the box anyway, but tags do come in all shapes and sizes.

4. I love gift bags. For one thing, I sometimes have to peek to remember what gift is in which package, and bags stuffed with tissue make this sooooo easy. But, I had the same problem as with tags on boxes. When you try to remove one, it often ruins the bag. The first time I use a bag, I use the tag that's attached to the handle. If its a folded tag, you can write on one half the first year, then cut that off and write on the other half the second year. On some bags I used the smaller to larger tags method for a while. Finally, I realized I could put the name tag on the tissue sticking out of the bag and the bag itself remains like new.

5. Be creative with your tags. Years ago my family started giving gifts to each other with tags that said it was from a movie star or someone famous. Kurt Russell gets me something every year. I know that's why Goldie won't marry him. He always leaves it with my sister. Just once I wish he would deliver it in person!!

6. As pretty as bows are, I've stopped using them. I like to stack boxes and you just can't do it with bows on them because it messes up the bow. But for packages that I'm taking to someone else, I sometimes attach a bow just before I deliver it. The bow is fresh, and my packages can still be stacked in my bedroom until I need them.

7. I've already talked about my spreadsheet gift list in an earlier post this year, but I'm mentioning it here to add one thing I didn't mention before. I write ideas for gifts on my spreadsheet. This really helps when I see something on TV but I can't actually go shopping right then. If I don't write it down, I forget about it. Some are eventually bought and some are not. When something is bought, I use a highlighter so I can tell with a glance who I still need to shop for.

Can you tell I spent years working in a law office??? I think I enjoy organizing my gift stuff almost as much as I enjoy buying and wrapping the gifts. Anybody have some tips they want to share? I always appreciate a great new idea.

This is our new cat, Oreo. She's a long haired kitten about 4 months old. She's mostly white, but has a few black spots and a black tail. Her most unusual feature is the little black "beard" she has. It's just a small round black spot right on her chin. Her name comes from the fact that she's black on both ends and white in the middle. As you can tell, she barely gets enough to eat!!

This is Oreo helping me wrap packages. She prepares the tissue paper for me to use in gift bags. Actually, by the time she finishes, her tissue paper is more useful for confetti.

This morning I woke up to find this in my bathroom. Apparently, toilet paper resembles tissue paper to her, so she prepared a big pile for me to use in wrapping packages. Thank you, Oreo. Actually, every cat I've ever had used a litter box, but Oreo is the first to use toilet paper. I'm glad it wasn't a full roll.

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

I love that song from Sound of Music. The past 10 days have been so filled with things I love. To begin with, I had a birthday, and since our AT&T cell phone contract ended the same week, I was able to get a new iPhone!! This thing is so amazing. Todd has had one for a long time and I have wanted one, but I wasn't willing to pay the price for one until I was eligible to upgrade. Because we are on the road all the time, we are especially impressed with the GPS feature that shows us as a little blue ball going down the highway. Today I was able to track our progress as we made our way to a customer in Ohio and it was so amazing.



Another of my favorite things is visiting with my son and his family. We got to spend the night with them, which is very rare because (even though we go to Texas about twice a week) we seldom go through that part of Texas. And, even better, we got there the night his twins had their Christmas choir concert. They did some really cute songs and we enjoyed it so much. We got to deliver their Christmas presents (saving a ton of money compared to mailing them). And we also delivered their Christmas yard art that we made for them. All the reindeer riding in the sleigh looked so adorable in their front yard.

Of course, no week is perfect without some shopping. We spent some time at a mall one day while we were waiting for a load, and we found lots of last minute gifts. I always find the perfect gift after I have already bought something for someone. So, they either get two gifts, or I keep the first one for myself. I guess that's sort of the opposite of re-gifting. If you only get one package this year, you'll just have to wonder what that other one would have been!!!

Then, on our way to Ohio, we ran into a blizzard. There was about 6 inches of snow and the roads were terrible. Believe it or not, it happened in Louisiana!! We were so surprised to see all that snow that far south. But we eventually got into Mississippi and it was just rain after that. Check out these pictures that I took with my iPhone while we were sitting in traffic waiting for a truck to be pulled out of the median. That's Interstate 55 but you can't see the road at all in the second picture.

SNOW!!

It started snowing about 30 minutes ago and the ground and road in front of the house are already covered. I tried to take a picture and I was fascinated by the way the flash reflected off the snow flakes. In this picture it looks like stars in outer space.

I love the snow as long as I don't have to go anywhere. I'm glad it wasn't snowing earlier today when we had to take the cat to the vet. My oldest cat (about 12 years old) has been losing weight lately even though she eats all the time. I finally decided to take her to the vet. The office visit was $35. They charged $20 to draw blood. Then they charged $75 to run blood tests. The only thing they found was high levels of liver enzymes, which indicated a thyroid problem. The thyroid test was another $40. Now my cat has to take a thyroid pill every morning. Believe it or not, 30 days of thyroid pills was only $7. If I could get them at WalMart they would probably only be $4.

I just hope she doesn't have any side effects from the pills. I can't believe we're putting a cat on daily medication.


While we were at the vet, two different people came in to pick up their dogs after boarding them for a week. I guess they were out of town for Thanksgiving or something. Anyway, both of them paid nearly $400 for their dog to stay at the vet for a week. My only thought was that I've rented a condo in Myrtle Beach for less than $400 a week, and I know those dogs didn't have an ocean view.

Frosty the Snowman

I forgot I was supposed to put the finished Frosty on here. Isn't he cute??

Black Friday

Since many of you know how much I love to shop, you probably realize the day after Thanksgiving is right up there on my list of favorite days. After combing through pages and pages of sales (thanks for saving them for me, Mom) there were only two things that I wanted, an XBox game and a quilt.

I should have gone sooner, but 5:30 am seemed pretty early to me. I arrived at the local WalMart and I was shocked by the number of cars in the parking lot. I've done Black Friday before, and it was always crowded, but this morning was beyond anything I had ever seen. I found a place to park, and luckily, someone was leaving a buggy just as I got out of my car, so I took it in the store with me. I didn't get 10 feet inside the store when I abandoned my buggy. There was such a wall of people I couldn't get the buggy through them. I was only looking for an XBox game that was advertised at half price, so I pushed my way to electronics and got in line. After an hour in line, I got to the register and learned that they were sold out of Madden '09. I bought a car racing game just so I didn't leave empty handed and headed to Goody's.

Goody's had advertised an assortment of quilts for $17.88. The one I wanted was the one they had pictured in their ad (a winter scene with snowmen). Again, I was amazed by the number of people who were attempting to walk around in Goody's. I saw the quilts on a roll around shelf in the middle of the aisle and worked my way around to them. Alas, no snowmen. I looked through what they had just to make sure there wasn't something else I wanted. Then I overheard someone say that there was another shelf of quilts near the dressing rooms. After pushing and shoving my way in that direction, I was rewarded with this.

It was not the same one they had in their ad, but it is winter and it does have snowmen. Even better, they had a King size quilt with Regular size shams. I have a queen size bed, but the full/queen quilts never quite fit. But when I get the King quilt, they usually have King shams. I don't like those King size shams.

So, I'm pretty happy with my early morning of shopping. I came home, took a short nap, had some breakfast, and I'm off again. Maybe I'll go to Magic Mart this afternoon. I'm not sure I can stand to go back to WalMart today.

Christmas Yard Art Anyone?

A couple of years ago we made these singing mice for Jen and Jake, when Bailey was a baby.

We never did make one for Maverick, and as most of you know, they will need a fifth one next Christmas. So we decided while we were home for Thanksgiving we would buy some plywood and get Maverick's mouse done.

Here's how my dining room table looked last night. Do those look like mice to you?? No!! These deer are a completely different project that we started after we got home.

Then Kirby wanted to make another new pattern and cut it out. So here's Frosty ready to be painted. And you can probably see Santa standing beside him.

Late last night while I was finishing up some of the red on Santa's suit I reminded him that we still didn't have a mouse for Maverick. Check back tomorrow and I'll post pictures of the finished Frosty and (I HOPE) a singing Maverick mouse!!

Doing my Patriotic Duty

In the last couple of weeks, I have been overwhelmed by doing my duty to my country. Of course, veteran's day was this month. I have not served in the military, but many members of my family have and still do. I made my annual donation to the Viet Nam Vets organization that I support. They send me address labels that, thanks to online banking, I never use, and I send them a small token of my appreciation for their service.

Of course, we also had an election in November. No matter which candidate you were supporting, or which one you voted for, we can all be proud of the fact that elections in America go pretty smoothly. Can you imagine living in a country where the government is taken over periodically by a military coup? And then everybody who supported the other guy is rounded up and re-educated?? We are far from perfect, but I thank God that I live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

As if that wasn't enough patriotism, I got a jury notice in the mail. I had to appear on Nov. 10 for jury instructions and to get my juror number. I'm number 78 of about 120 people who (in the words of the last paragraph) were rounded up for re-education on their duty to serve the community. All I've had to do so far is call every friday evening to see if my number has been chosen to actually serve at a trial. Thankfully, my number has not come up!! Nor has anyone else's for that matter. There have been no jury trials in Logan County this month, and I don't have to call again until Dec. 5.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I got a notice in the mail from the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Since I have a Class A CDL license with a HazMat endorsement, I am now required to have a background check done before I can renew said license. This involves filling out an application online, paying $89, and going to their office in Charleston to be fingerprinted!! The fingerprint part was kind of interesting. The whole thing is done by computer, not the old ink and paper. You put each finger on this glass plate and it scans the print onto the computer screen. You still have to roll the finger just like the ink and paper days, but at least it's not messy. I say that like I've been fingerprinted so many times!! The only time I remember being fingerprinted was when Todd did a science fair project on fingerprints. Anyway, you will be happy to know that the TSA has determined that I currently pose no security threat under Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

45 days til Christmas!!!

I love Christmas. I guess most people do, but I love knowing that it wouldn't matter if we spent $5,000 or $5 on gifts, my family would be happy. I've heard so many people talk about how hectic it is and how hard it is to shop for some people, but I just love every minute of it. My kids have gotten everything from bottles of shampoo (in bad years) to TVs (in good years), and they still love me just the same. I'm sure I've given gifts that were not appreciated, and I've received gifts that I didn't care for, but I still love the idea of giving gifts. I love the music and the smells and the colors and the decorated trees. People complain that stores put their Christmas stuff out too early, but I would look at it all year long!! They say Christmas has become too commercial, but I love the fact that, even though some don't mean to, people everywhere are celebrating the birth of my Saviour.

With that in mind, today I decided that I need to get serious about getting ready for Christmas. Usually I do a lot of my shopping during our Oct. trip to the beach. I did some this year, but not nearly as much as I usually do. Part of the problem was that we took my Mother's car on our trip this year. Her Buick is very nice and comfortable, but she just doesn't have the space that I have in my Dodge Caravan. Everything I looked at I found myself wondering where we would put it on the way home. But, to be honest, I just wasn't in the Christmas shopping mood for some reason.

This afternoon, I printed out my shopping list spreadsheet. What?? Doesn't everyone have a spreadsheet to keep track of who is buying what for whom?? See, I told you I was serious about getting ready for Christmas. I may be letting a big secret out of the bag here, but I'm pretty sure everyone in my family knows that I buy all the gifts. So Grandma, whatever you got from the grandkids, they probably wouldn't recognize it if you showed it to them. And Kids, surely you knew that I was buying and wrapping what you gave each other. Rusty gives nice gifts to everyone in the family every year, and everything Rusty gets from all the other members of the family is usually bought and wrapped at the same time.

So, as you can see, if you want to make sure that everyone gets a gift from everyone else, a spreadsheet is the way to go. On the side I list everyone who needs to get a gift and at the top I list everyone who needs to give a gift. Then I fill in the columns as I shop.

Tonight I got into my closet to start wrapping some of the gifts that I have bought, and found some things that I had forgotten about. That was a pleasant surprise. I checked off a couple of people on the spreadsheet, and the cat and I fought over some wrapping paper. I won, but the gift has teeth marks on it.

I know you're probably thinking - "It isn't even Thanksgiving, yet!" But when you have 22 people down and 5 across on the spreadsheet, there's no time like the present!! Was that a pun??

Happy Halloween!!

We got home in time for Halloween, and we were pretty happy about that. We always like seeing all the kids and their costumes. We usually have about 100 kids when the weather is nice. Tonight it was about 50 degrees. A little cool, but clear and dry, so we saw lots of little trick or treaters. I think I counted about 60 or 70 kids. We saw the Hulk, Spiderman, several witches, an angel, a caveman, Cleopatra, a ninja, a pirate, and Elmo, to name a few.

Kirby decorated the front porch with some of our yard art. We made these a few years ago. He cut the patterns out of plywood and then we spent lots of time painting them and getting them to look just right.

The Boos Brothers are my favorite. When I first saw the pattern I loved it. They are really easy to make, too, because they are pretty much just black and white.

Kirby's other passion for Halloween is painting our son, Rusty!! He has been made up many times over the years, and even though he is now too old for trick or treating, he got painted up again this year. On the way to show off his make-up to Grandma, who lives a couple of blocks away, he somehow managed to fill half a pillow case with candy!! I don't know who was more excited, him or his Dad. I guess boys never really grow up.

You should have seen us trying to get that black make-up off his eyebrows!! And the glue from the horns was pretty fun too. I had to use Goo Gone on him. The funniest part was that after we got the make-up off, I found out his Dad had used a ball point pen to draw the pattern on him. Make-up remover didn't help, so we tried soap and water, but it wasn't very effective, either. Maybe those pen marks will wear off in a day or two!!

Too busy to blog!!

I just realized it has been three weeks since I put anything on here. Right after my last blog we went out on the road for two weeks and I didn't get a chance to get online. Then when we got home, I immediately left for a vacation at the beach. My sister Claudia, my mother, and I rented a condo at North Myrtle Beach and spent a wonderful week shopping, eating, visiting with my sister Veda and her family, and relaxing. The week is always too short, and now we are home again and I'm going back to work.

My mother was determined to get oysters while we were there, so we ate at Prestons, which is a great buffet with all kinds of good home cooking as well as seafood. The shrimp and oysters were good, and so was the roast beef. Another evening we drove down to the Sea Captain's House, which I'm pretty sure used to be somebody's house. It's right on the beach and while we were waiting for our table, we sat in their backyard and watched the waves and the sea gulls. It was a beautiful evening for sitting outside, followed by some of the best flounder and scallops ever.

Even though we tried to find shoes at every store we went in, we had very little success. They either didn't have what we wanted, or didn't have it in our size. We did, however, all find new purses. Claudia and I bought ours one day while Mom was in the room reading a new Betty Neels novel. Then the next day, Mom found the exact same purse that I bought in a different color and bought one for herself.

The Betty Neels book and the search for Barnes & Noble is the most interesting story of our trip. Four new Betty Neels books are released every 4 or 5 months and we found out on one of our trips to the beach that we could get them at Barnes & Noble. So we stopped to pick up the latest ones and learned from a sign in the window that the B&N had moved to Market Common. I'd never heard of Market Common and didn't know where it was, so we went back to the condo and did some research. I called B&N and got directions to their store. We followed the directions, which took us on some strange backroads at the Myrtle Beach airport, but eventually brought us to the back side of some buildings, and a back entrance to the B&N. After looking around and finally purchasing our books, we decided to exit the front door and see what Market Common was all about.

Claudia and I both described the experience as feeling like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when she wakes up in the land of Oz. It was like the world was suddenly in color!! We were fascinated by the beautiful, perfectly landscaped, little village we walked out into. I don't know when they built all this, but they have been busy, and are still building. Check it out here:

http://www.myrtlebeach.cc/MarketCommon.html

Guess that's all for this time.

Do You Remember 8-Track Tapes??

Today I was in my Dad's shop and I decided to listen to some music while I was out there. Daddy started out recording on reel to reel tapes, then he went to 8-Tracks, and finally to cassette tapes. He mostly recorded church services or gospel groups who sang at our church. Here's a picture of his old 8-Track recorder/player, along with stacks of tapes. Some of these he recorded, and some he bought.

You probably can't tell from the picture, but I'm listening to Chester & Lester. If you didn't grow up in my house with my dad, you might not know that's Chet Atkins and Les Paul. Ironically, Kirby and I drove from Columbus, Georgia north on I-185 this week, and that highway is called the "Chet Atkins Parkway."

Behind all the 8-Track tapes are stacks of reel to reel tapes (some brand new and never recorded on). I picked one up just to keep it from falling when I moved some of the tapes in front of it and it was marked "Nixon Resigns." I guess I should go through all those tapes and see what other historic moments Daddy might have captured.

Speaking of historic, here's Todd in 1973 enjoying Grandpa's reel to reel tape player. Wonder if he's listening to Chester & Lester??

Hurricane Ike, Yikes!!

Kirby and I have driven through Houston twice since the hurricane hit and we were amazed and happy that the damage in the areas we travel pretty often wasn't as bad as we expected. Today we had a chance to spend the day with his Mom and step-Dad in League City. Here's a picture she took of Kirby helping clear a limb from their huge tree in the front yard. Believe me, getting him up there was a lot easier than getting him down!!








Before we came to town, they had already spent three long days cleaning up limbs from the yard and setting them on the curb for the trash people to pick up. Their neighborhood is looking pretty good except for all the fences that are down. We helped them go through all the privacy fence panels out back and salvage any boards they could reuse when they replace the fence. Other than the fence and the tree out front, they didn't have any significant damage. All day we talked about how blessed they were compared to the people of Galveston. That area was really devastated.



We spent the afternoon driving around looking at some of the damage in other neighborhoods and saw mostly the same thing - downed trees and privacy fences. Then we drove over to Kemah. It's a tourist area on the water with lots and lots of boats, restaurants, outdoor bands that play in a boardwalk area, and carnival type rides. What a mess!!! Boats blown around like toys, and mud and trash everywhere. One of the long time restaurants, T-Bone Tom's, had a sign that said "Open Someday." Another place had a sign that said "What Surge?" in reference to the 20 foot wall of water that caused so much flooding. Most businesses had their furniture sitting in the parking lot while they tried to clean up the water damage inside, and they were doing this without electricity.



As we drove home, Kirby's Mom said again how blessed they were to not have anywhere near the damage other people had. So, if you read this, pray for the residents of the Texas gulf. They still have a long way to go before they get back to normal.

I sure miss the babies!!!

I'm back home from El Paso, and I sure miss those boys. They were so much fun while I was there. They both think Grammy is fun because she doesn't have anything to do except play with them all day and read to them all night. And Grammy watches Noggin all day, too, without complaining. Grammy never turns on a boring ball game or news show (at least not while they are in the room). Grammy hardly ever says no. And when you get really fussy, Grammy takes you to McDonalds to play instead of making you take a nap.

I am so proud of Bailey because he has done really great with his potty training. I know after the way he acted the first day, Jen and Jake were amazed at how much he improved over the next few days. His biggest problem seems to be not knowing that all potties are the same. He uses the one at home just fine, but when we took him to the potty at a restaurant or the mall, he threw a fit and refused to even try sitting on them. He did do one funny thing last night. He wanted to go outside to play in the backyard, but we told him he needed to go potty first. Of course, he said he didn't need to go potty. So, I told him I'd take the little potty chair outside so he could use it when he needed it. That was OK with him. He went outside and after less than 5 minutes, he was pulling his pants down. But instead of sitting on the potty chair, he just peed in the grass. Jen and I were just glad they have a nice 5 foot stone privacy fence!!

Maverick is the cutest little thing you ever saw, but he is an eating and drinking machine!! He will eat 24/7 if you let him. And when you give him a sippy cup of juice, he drains it everytime. He doesn't understand the concept of "sippy". He sucks it down as fast as he can and then asks for more, along with "fish" (the cheesy cracker shaped ones) and "bar" (the granola kind, which he doesn't really want, but that's the only word he knows that gets the pantry opened so he can point to something else).

Here are some pictures I took while I was there. This is Bailey and Maverick after they'd just had a bath, turning out the lights trying to scare Jen and me. I was taking these pictures because Pop sent them some new pajamas, but as you will see, we never got them to stand still long enough to get a good picture.

You'll be gone how long???

As many of you know, I am staying with Bailey & Maverick for the weekend while Jen & Jake take a trip to Phoenix. Here is what my daughter thinks is a fun weekend for Grammy. First, Maverick is cutting teeth and subsequently has diarrhea. Then she suggests "we" begin potty training Bailey while I'm here! The first day "we" potty trained, she went to work. The second day "we" potty trained, she went to Phoenix. Are you seeing some kind of pattern here??

Yesterday, Bailey was very resistant to wearing the underwear. But after we finally ignored all his attempts to get us to put a diaper on him, he finally gave up and let us put the underwear on him. Maverick thought wearing the underwear was lots of fun. He wet two pair in a span of 10 minutes and his potty training days were over. Bailey was able to go for about an hour before he had an accident, and after rushing him to the potty chair several times, he finally got the idea. I felt like Anne Sullivan with Helen Keller. Remember that great scene in the movie where Helen finally understands what's going on? I danced and sang and Bailey laughed and we clapped and hugged and made a big deal out of his success. He did it two more times before the day was over.

I'm sleeping in the bed with Bailey, so naturally, my daughter asked him if he wanted to sleep in his underwear or a diaper. The same kid who threw a fit for a diaper that morning chose to sleep with Grammy in underwear. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Thankfully the bed has a plastic sheet under the regular sheet. Grammy, however, has no plastic night gowns with her. Bailey actually made it through most of the night before I felt something very warm and damp under me. I just went back to sleep until he woke up. I'm sure it's not the first wet bed I've slept in.

This morning, it was like a different kid got out of that bed. He refused to sit on the potty chair no matter what I tried. He wet several pair of underwear and actually seemed to be doing it on purpose. After several hours of playing outside, then giving them a bath (they are like giving an octopus a bath - when you grab something out of one hand, they are pouring a cup of water on you with the other hand), then playing in Bailey's room (where you are forced to watch Monsters, Inc. over and over and over and over again), I had to get out of here. I said, "Bailey, let's go to McDonalds." Of course, he was all for it and started putting his shoes on. So I said, "We can't go until you use the potty." Keep in mind, he has been violently resisting the potty for several hours. He pulled his pants down, sat on the potty and peed, pulled them up, and said "I'm ready!" Does anybody think he has been toying with me all day??

Tonight we had the dreaded bowel movement in the underwear. The look on his face was priceless. I put him on the potty chair, even though it was too late. I rinsed those out and added them to the other five pair in the laundry. Good thing we bought another package of underwear.

So, if you need someone to keep your teething, sick, children who need to be potty trained, for a weekend, while you go to a fabulous resort to relax and enjoy yourself, just give me a call. I'm sure I can make some kind of arrangements to be busy that weekend.

Anyone who knows me, knows this post is an attempt to be funny. I have enjoyed every single minute with these two boys, even the screeming fits and the dirty diapers, because I know I get to go home next week, but Jen has to stay here and carry on.

ONE MORE DAY!!!

Just one more day and I'll be flying to El Paso to spend a week with my two favorite little boys. I can hardly wait!! I've already bought them some new pajamas and some other new outfits. Now I just have to pack a few toys. Then I have to figure out how to get my stuff in the suitcase that is full of their stuff. I love them dearly, but I'm not paying to take an extra bag on the plane!!

Here are the pictures I was trying to download the other day. Bailey playing his computer game and Maverick showing off his hair.

And speaking of that blond hair, my mother found this picture of my father when he was 2 years old and I was so excited to see his pale blond hair. You can't tell it in the picture, but he had blue eyes, too, just like little Maverick. This picture was taken about 1922. Maybe someday Maverick's great-grandson will look back at the pictures we took and he'll say he get's his blond hair and blue eyes and good looks from his great-grandpa, Maverick. How time flies!!

Little Einsteins

I've been trying to upload some pictures this morning, but my connection is not very good, so things are not working out for the pictures. We stopped in El Paso Saturday and spent most of the day with Jen & Jake and the boys. I have some pictures of Bailey playing a computer game and some of Maverick showing us where his hair and ears and nose are. I'm sure everyone thinks their grandchildren are smart and beautiful, but mine really are exceptional. I almost hate blogging about them because I know it must give other parents and grandparents a complex or something when they see Bailey and Maverick, but I just can't help myself.

Watching three year old Bailey point, click and drag things with a mouse on a computer is so funny because I think about my sister telling me about a woman she trained with who picked up the mouse and pointed it at the computer screen. Kids today have no idea how much things have changed in the past 50 years. Or even the past 10 years for that matter. But when it came time for bed, Bailey wanted me to get in his bed with him and read (from a plain old book) "Horton Hatches an Egg." I guess some things never change (thank goodness).

Maverick has started learning his nose and ears and hair. He has no idea at this age how beautiful his blond hair and blue eyes are. He just likes to see us clap and laugh when he points to the right parts. I think he's going to be some kind of mechanical engineer when he grows up. He carried a vacuum cleaner extension tube around all day, and when we stripped their muddy clothes off at the back door and sent them up the stairs to take a bath, he carried the tube with him. When he got in the bath tub with it, he immediately put it under the water faucet, allowing the water to run through the tube onto the floor of the bathroom. You may not agree, but I think it takes some kind of genius to figure that out when you are only 19 months old.

Bling at Beijing!!

Did anyone watch that opening ceremony?? It was awesome!! I didn't expect to see it but we just happened to get home last night and since I'm a night owl, I started watching it about 2 am or so (in high def) and at 6 am I was still glued to the TV. I was fascinated by several sets of over two thousand people being able to move in such perfect unison. The drummers, the dancers, the tai chi exercises, those boxes moving up and down, the green people all lit up, the fire works, those paddles with the boats painted on them, the huge electronic scroll, and on and on. Then when all the countries started marching into the stadium, I loved all the different outfits and colors. I thought China's red and yellow outfits were the best. I was disappointed with the US's blue blazers. Too boring. I loved Australia's outfits that faded from top to bottom, white to dark blue. Some wore the traditional dress from their countries and others wore sedate gray suits. I heard the names of at least 10 or 15 countries I'd never heard of. I was so proud when the US team was applauded. I really don't follow sports, and probably won't watch much of what is televised from China, but I was totally caught up in the ceremonies last night.
GO USA!!!

Don't Throw that Away!!

This post will undoubtedly please my daughter, who has trouble throwing things away. My sister found this in a drawer she was cleaning out and we have been reading over it like it was the rosetta stone or something. You may not be able to tell, but it is a tourist map of St. Augustine, Florida. It has a list of all the sights you might want to visit and shows where they are located. The larger red print says "You May Have this Map with our Compliments."

But the part we are so fascinated with is on the back. My mother wrote down the dates and travel times from our home in WV to a number of cities along the way, and finally to St. Augustine.

We left home at 4:15 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 1956. I was 2 1/2 years old. My three sisters would have been about 8, 10 and 13 years old. According to Mom's records, my dad drove non-stop for 17 hours and 5 minutes. She should work for an airline with arrival times that exact.

My favorite part was the record of gas they bought. They filled up 5 times for a total of $16.23. I'll just bet they were complaining about the high price of gas during the summer vacation months, too.

Did I mention that I'm a truck driver??

I know this is a long post, so if you don't have time to read it all, at least read the blue part.

Last summer we had our family reunion in Myrtle Beach and as part of the "entertainment" several of us talked about our jobs and how we ended up in that field. Kirby and I were talking about the speech I made the other day and I realized several people who read my blog didn't get to hear me talk about truck driving, so here's the speech my family heard last year.

When Kirby and I moved to WV, the job he had lined up didn't work out, so when he had an opportunity to attend a truck driving school I encouraged him to do it. He was convinced that he would never be able to learn all the information required to pass the written tests, but I promised I would help him study. He passed everything and after the 4 week course, he got a job driving for a tanker company out of Charleston. It wasn't long before he started seeing a lot of husband and wife teams on the road and he got the idea that I should get my license. After several months of discussing the pros and cons, I enrolled in the same school that he had attended.

The first week of the 4 week course consists of classroom work, reading handbooks, and taking written tests. I ended up taking a written test for general knowledge, air brakes, combination vehicles, tankers, and hazardous materials, as well as memorizing the 50 or so items that you have to check on a pre-trip inspection. I was not the least bit worried abou all this because I have been a straight A student all my life, and besides, I had just learned all of this information when I helped Kirby study for the same tests the year before.

Week 2 of the course is the beginning of actually driving the truck. Now I'm getting worried. I knew how to drive a standard transmission car, but the truck has 10 gears and you have to double clutch to change gears. In other words, you have to push in the clutch, pull the shifter to take the truck out of gear, release the clutch, then push in the clutch again, put the truck in the next gear, then release the clutch again. I spent a few sleepless nights wondering if I had made a big mistake signing up for truck driving.

During the time that I was in driving school, I was also doing a Bible study in the book of Psalms. I know you don't know where this is going, but hang in there, it is relevant. On the Monday morning of my first day behind the wheel of a big truck, when I was worried sick about double clutching (see above paragraph if you skipped to the blue part), the Bible study verses were in Psalm 121. The first verse of Psalms 121 says:
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help."
The second verse says:
"My help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."
So far, I'm just reading along, and it's pretty typical praise language for the book of Psalms. Then I read verse three. I don't even know how this verse got in there. It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of this Psalm, but isn't it just like a loving God to throw in a message written thousands of years ago that became so timely on that Monday morning? Verse three says:
"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber."
If that isn't a promise about double clutching, then you don't know how to read the Bible.

Needless to say, I learned to drive the truck, and we've been driving together for 10 years. It isn't all fun, but some of it is. We've been to all 48 contiguous states, and more WalMarts than I can count. We've been to Disneyland and many other landmarks over the years. We get to visit family members who live thousands of miles away on a fairly regular basis. And we've eaten at more dives than Guy Fieri.

Most people consider the CB radio as a "must have" for truck drivers. We got our first radio shortly after we started driving, and when you talk to other drivers, they always ask who you are. Every driver has a "handle" or name they use on the CB. We were talking to some people at a truck stop and they asked Kirby what his CB handle was. He had told me several times that he was calling himself the dragonfly because our truck drags up hill and flies down hill. After he told them his handle I could tell the guy was turning to me to ask me what my handle was. I almost never talk on the CB, but I didn't want to ruin their image of truck drivers and CB talk, so I said the first thing that came to mind when he asked me my handle, without missing a beat, I said, "They call me the flyswatter."

So, the next time you're doing double nickel on the five & dime out in shakey town and you're dodging gators with a smokey on your back door, praying that chicken coop is locked up, and you get your doors blown off by a blue and white pipeline on wheels, put your ears on and say hey to the dragonfly, but he's gonna have to catch you on the flip side cause he's got the hammer down, he's got mama riding shotgun, and he's gone.

And just in case you are tempted to get yourself a CB, the term "good buddy" is no longer used by truckers because for some reason it now refers to a gay man.

My Favorite Little Boys!!

Here they are - my two little grandboys! We were eating lunch with them in El Paso on Thursday and I couldn't resist taking a few photos. Aren't they the most beautiful little things you ever saw?

This is Maverick giving me a silly grin. Pop had so much fun helping him climb up the jungle gym and come down the slide, while carrying a beach ball. Maverick was determined to have the ball go with him when he slid down. And with Pop's help, he was able to do it. He is so sweet to hug and kiss on. Even if he's trying to get away while you do it.

This is Bailey being his silly self. He loves getting behind Grammy and putting his head under my shirt. I walk around saying "Where's Bailey?" to which he laughs and laughs. On this trip, he took my sandals off my feet and put them on. I chased him around trying to get them back, which he loved. Then he hid them under the chair in the living room. He had Jen and me both looking for them under the covers on the bed and in the closet, all the while knowing they were in the living room. He only has two speeds - a mile a minute or sound asleep!

It sure was nice to get to see them for a little while. Jen and Jake, too. Hope another west coast load comes up soon so we can pass through El Paso again.

To Texas and Back

I've been to Austin visiting with my son all week and we had a great time. All four of my step-grandkids were there for the whole week. We made chicken fried rice and chicken fried steak (not on the same day). We also made some fabulous beef & chicken quesadillas, which I'd never made before, but will definitely do again. And I showed my grandson Brandon how to explode a marshmallow in the microwave (on a smore). He was quite impressed.

We went to the Alamo Draft House to watch "Get Smart" and eat their amazing food, which they serve while you are watching the movie!! They removed every other row of seats from the theater and put a long wooden bar in their place so you can eat while you enjoy the show. Then they come and take your order and deliver your food just like a real restaurant. And speaking of shows, if you haven't seen "Get Smart" it's really good. I was such a fan of the old TV show and I was very glad that they retained so much of the original craziness and slap stick, but also added new updated special effects.

We celebrated the 14th birthday of the twins, Joy & Josi, with a slumber party. If your 14 year old twins want to invite more 14 year old friends over to spend the night, just say "NO!" Trust me on this. Actually, they weren't so bad once we got past the drama of who was dating whom. Plus, I wasn't the one who had to stay up until 5 a.m. to chaperone.

So, we stayed up too late and slept too late and played Apples to Apples and I finished reading three Lawrence Block novels from Half Price Books. We watched every episode of "Sports Night" (all two seasons worth) and decried the fact that such a wonderfully written and acted program was cancelled. We watched "Elizabeth" and "the Other Boleyn Sister" with Kayla and had no end of discussions about life in 16th Century England and the general mistreatment of women. We watched about a thousand episodes of "Sponge Bob." How many times a day does this show come on???

On Saturday, Todd and I made a trip to Waco and hooked up with some friends that I worked with over 20 years ago. Freddie and Pat were two of my employees when I managed a movie theater in Waco in the early 80's. They were part-time movie projectionists, part-time popcorn and/or ticket salesmen, and part-time baby sitters for Todd & Jen. What a fun time we had reminiscing.

Then I had to come back home, which means I had to fly from Austin to Houston, which is never a good thing. We were delayed for an hour and a half in Austin because the weather in Houston was so bad nobody could fly in or out. Thankfully, that meant that my connecting flight from Houston to Charleston, WV, was also delayed, so it was still there when I got there. I still had to walk 25 miles to the gate, and ride a bus part of the way, but at least I didn't miss the plane, which they said would leave at 10:15 p.m. from gate 60, but which actually left at 8:45 p.m. from gate 64. Never turn your back on those TV monitors because they change by the minute.

Alas, here I am back at home and back at my computer. Maybe my next trip will be to El Paso to see the little grandboys!! I miss all of you in Austin and Waco, and all of you in El Paso. Here are some hugs and kisses from Grammy - xoxoxoxo

Family Reunion

We had our 10th annual "C.D. & Bertha Curry Mullins" family reunion tonight. We usually have a big dinner and play games on Friday night, then have lots of activities and food and entertainment on Saturday night. Several family members dress up like famous people and lipsync to their songs. We've had Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, the Judds, the Dixie Chicks, Patsy Cline, the Blues Brothers, the Soggy Bottom Boys, and many others over the years. We always have a good time and great food. This year, because of two recent deaths in the family, we scaled things back and simply had a pot luck dinner at the church fellowship hall. Of course, simple just isn't in the Mullins family vocabulary. We had baked ham, chicken & dumplings, lemon chicken, mac & cheese, green beans, corn casserole, layer salad, pasta salad, potato salad, mashed potatoes, corn bread, rolls, apple pie, coconut cream cake, brownies, bread pudding, and chocolate cupcakes. Am I making you hungry yet? We played a white elephant gift game and, believe it or not, I won a cookbook! I missed having my daughter and her family there, and my son and his family. But bright and early tomorrow morning I'll be on a plane heading to Austin to visit my son and his bunch. I wish I could spend part of the week in El Paso, but I don't think my daughter will be home anyway since this is her week to go to camp.

Here's a picture of my mother and my aunt, Nona, showing off some giant cupcakes that one of my cousins baked. Unfortunately, both of them had pieces cut out and while Mom's is just leaning, Nona's fell over just as I took the picture.

Genealogy Madness!!

This week I have been taking advantage of a 14 day free trial on Ancestry.com. This stuff is so addictive! I started out just looking for some information about my husband's grandparents. We took pictures of their graves a few years ago and that got us interested in some other Rhodes graves in the same cemetery. Little did I know that would lead to an obsession with reading census records for hours at a time going all the way back to the 1800's.

There is a website which lists all the gravestones in their little cemetery in Brushy Creek, Texas, with all the information on the stones. That helped in looking through census records to find the names of other family members and how they were related. Then I started working on his grandmother. The women are much harder to trace because usually only birth records list their maiden names. Then I started looking for my ex-husband's family since they are the ancestors of my children and grandchildren. His mother's maiden name was Smith!!! Try searching for that on a census record. I knew she had a brother, but that wasn't much help either, since his name was Bill Smith.

The funny thing is, after you go back and read about people, you get more and more excited every time you find them again on the next census. I've read WWI and WWII draft registration cards and made notes about who had blue eyes and how tall they were and how much they weighed, as if there's going to be a test.

Today I got the biggest thrill since I started this. I was looking for my grandmother, Mary, in the 1900 census. I knew she was born on Feb. 14, 1900, so I wasn't sure she would be on there. Sure enough, when I found her family in the Wayne Co., WV census, there she was listed as being 3 months old. But the thrill came when I moved to the top of the page to make a note of the date of the census. There on the very first line of that page was a six year old boy named Willie Elkins. That may not mean anything to you, but I knew as soon as I saw it that I had found my grandfather!! They must have grown up a few houses from each other because the census takers went from house to house taking down the information about who lived in each household.

It makes me cry now thinking of the two of them as kids growing up. I'm sure they never dreamed back then that someday their granddaughter would read about them on a census report and be so excited she would both laugh and cry over it.

I've got to go, now. I only have a few days left to find out everything I can about Willie and Mary Ann, or else I'll have to break down and pay the annual fee!!

Ten Things aka Ten Fathers

My daughter does Ten Things Tuesday and lists (oddly enough) ten things she is thankful for on her blog every Tuesday. I have been thinking about a Father's day blog and kept thinking of different fathers that I am thankful for, so I decided a Ten Things type blog was in order.



1. My Heavenly Father. God has richly blessed me and my family. He is my strength, my friend, my comforter, my shoulder to cry on, my redeemer, my protector, my peace . . . well you get the idea. He is my everything and words are not enough to thank Him for who and what he is to me.



2. My Husband, Kirby. He is not my father, nor is he the father of my two children, but he is the man who would move mountains and swim oceans for me and my kids. He constantly urges me to spend time (and money) on my children and grandchildren. Some blended families have jealousy problems, but he usually treats my kids better than he treats his own! And don't even get him started talking about those beautiful, genius grandbabies, Bailey & Maverick!! I'm so glad you came into my life, Babe.

3. & 4. My Dad, Sponcil and my step-dad, Bennie. I did a post on April 17 if you want to read about these two great men. I'll just repeat here that I was very blessed to have them in my life. I'll see you both again someday in that land where we'll never grow old and there will be no sickness or death.

5. My father-in-law, Ed. Kirby and I are so excited every time we get to spend time with his mom and her husband in Texas. We always have so much fun together and Ed always gives us a hug when we leave even though everyone says he isn't one to show his feelings or be very affectionate. We can discuss everything from the Bible to the next door neighbors and anything in between, and Ed always has something funny to say. Thanks for always making time for us, Ed. Happy Father's Day.

6. My son, Todd. My son is a step-dad to four kids, and he is amazing to me. If you spend time with them, you can see the love and respect and trust they have in him. I truly believe that he found his calling in life because these four wonderful kids just needed a foundation to grow on, and he's definitely built for that job!! I love you, son!! Happy Father's day. Can't wait to see you all when I come to Texas.

7. My son in law, Jake. What can I say? He is the father of the two most adorable, most handsome, most brilliant, most incredible little boys you ever saw. I know every grandmother thinks her grandchildren are the best, but I'm not kidding. These boys are not like any other grandchildren!! They really are better looking and smarter. And I've been around a lot of babies in my life. Seriously. Thanks, Jake. Happy Father's day.

8. My ex-husband, Jerry. I know. Weird that I would mention him. I admit he has his short comings (but then who doesn't). I only bring him up because he is the father of my two kids. So I'm giving credit where credit is due. He's still part of their lives and I apreciate what he has done for them over the years.

9. George Washington. Hey, he's the father of our country, isn't he? I've been reading a little about our history lately, and if you haven't read about our founding fathers, you are missing an exciting and fascinating look at some brave and brilliant men. I know, it's not politically correct any more to give any credit to a bunch of "rich, white men" but what they did is nothing short of miraculous. I'm thankful to live in a country where I'm free to think and say what I want, and openly worship God. At least for now. We need to pray for this country and it's leaders or we could lose everything the founding fathers built.

10. Which brings me to our Military dads (like Jake). Thank you for the sacrifices you make for our freedom. Happy Father's day to all you dads who are serving in the military. May God bless you and protect you wherever you are today.

Blogging Blues!!

I've had a really hard time blogging lately. I just can't get in the mood. It seems like so many things are going on, but I just don't feel like writing about it. I guess it's sort of writer's block or something. I've been reading a series of books by Lawrence Block about a thief/crime solver named Bernie Rhodenbarr. I've read several and have a couple more that I bought at the flea market in Myrtle Beach. Between reading, I've been doing some research on Kirby's family tree. His brother being here helping with Rusty has us talking about their Rhodes family grandparents and other people they remember. Then I found a web site where someone had gone to the cemetery in Palestine, TX and made a list of every headstone. That got us looking into who some of the other Rhodes headstones belonged to. I can see why people get so caught up in tracing their ancestry. I'm fascinated by some of the things I have found and these people aren't even my ancestors. The really funny thing is to look at census records. They have so many mistakes in them, but I guess that is to be expected when you are writing down names and ages of people who don't read or write themselves. One of their relatives is listed as Paul in 1910, Paris in 1920, and Pariah in 1930. But he has the same wife and children each time, so it must be the same person. In between reading old census reports, I've finished the wallpaper in my kitchen and pulled off enough of the paper in the hallway to make a big mess. The bad thing is, I haven't picked out any paper for the hallway, so the mess I have will be there until I decide what I'm putting up in its place. Meanwhile, I printed some pictures for scrapbooking (like I really have time to work on that).

Old Project (still not finished)

Here are pictures of the plate racks I have been working on hanging up in my kitchen for about 3 months. Jen and I bought some plates at Pier 1, but I wasn't really happy with the way they fit in the racks. They were a little too big. But I'm using the 4 solid color ones along with 4 decorated ones I found at Marshalls. What I want now is something to put in the middle of these plates. As I said, the square plates are too large to sit next to each other, but the small ones are too small to look good in the rack. Oh the crazy things that I get into when I try to decorate.

10 days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home

tonight. I think in the song it might have been 6 days. I can't believe it's been 10 days since I was here. I guess I should say the fish from my last post were delicious. We bought some fish fry coating that was Louisiana brand and it was so good. I don't know what kind of spices they used in it but I'll certainly buy it again. They've been fishing once since then and didn't get anything.


Today I am all about getting a new cell phone. Our old phone fell or was dropped and the top broke off so we get a signal sometimes and other times we can't get one. We have to wiggle the broken piece and then hold the phone with both hands to keep the top from moving while we are trying to talk. It reminds me of the old days when we had an antenna on the TV and we would try so hard to get a good picture. One of my friends in high school told me she used to sit behind the TV and watch it with a mirror her dad put on a chair in front of it so that she could keep her hand on the antenna and wiggle one of the old tubes. I'm sure most of you don't have any idea what a "tube" looked like. It was a glass dome about the size of a drinking glass with metal plugs coming out the bottom. Several different kinds were plugged into the back of the TV to make it work. I remember my father spending hours replacing tubes when I was growing up. The invention of the transistor is still changing our lives today, but look at how big the first one was!!! Imagine a computer with a few dozen of these inside it. Can anyone say HUGE!!! Forget a laptop. It would have squashed you like a bug.


So, I will appreciate my new cell phone all the more for thinking about how big things used to be!!

Something smells fishy!!

Guess where Kirby, Rusty, and Charles spent the afternoon!! I hope I have some tartar sauce in the fridge!!

Views from the Condo

Our creek at Whitman just doesn't compare to this view of the ocean. Too bad we have to go home tomorrow.

Bike Week with no Bikes!!! Yikes!!!

We have been planning our trip to Myrtle Beach for Bike Week for months, but at the last minute, our plans had to be changed. Kirby's biker buddy had a doctor's appointment and some medical tests that he could not miss and they scheduled them for this week. So, Kirby decided to stay at home with his buddy and his brother and his son. They were supposed to go camping and fishing, however, the weather hasn't been very co-operative. WV has had a lot of rain this week. Since we already had the condo rented, my sister, Claudia, and I came to the beach without any bikers or bikes!! It seems strange to be here for bike week and not have a trailer or bikes to worry about. Of course, it's been one long shopping trip for us, broken up by a few hours of working jigsaw puzzles or reading mystery novels. Veda came down today and went to Hamricks with us. We all took a bunch of clothes to the dressing room and actually ended up buying a couple of things. It was fun to model for each other and help each other decide on which outfits looked good. Everything that didn't fit was pronounced "too big."

Every condo we've ever rented has been nice. This one is no exception. Here's a picture from the living room that shows the table, bar and kitchen. Tomorrow I'll take some pictures of the beach from our balcony. We're on the 9th floor, so the view is great.


The two bathrooms both have unusual wallpaper. Claudia's is pink and blue fish as you can see in this picture. Whoever did this paper did a good job of covering the medicine cabinet and matching the fish pattern.

My bathroom is even crazier with seashells of all kinds. It almost makes me dizzy to go in there.

Can you see the medicine cabinet?? It took me two days to notice it.

OH, CANADA!!

Kirby and I used to go to Calgary pretty regularly when we worked for a different company, but for the last 4 1/2 years, we haven't been to Canada at all. This week, we got a load going to Creighton, Saskatchewan. We picked up the load in Baton Rouge, LA. We had no idea where Creighton was located until we got our handy road atlas out, and then we got quite a shock. Creighton is about 600 miles north of the US border. We immediately went to weather.com to see if we were going to have a problem with winter driving conditions (otherwise known as snow). The forecast said Monday's temperature would go from 2 up to 8 degrees. Thank goodness that was celcius. Several celcius to fahrenheit converters are available on the internet, so we ran the numbers and felt much more comfortable with a temperature range of 35 up to 46 degrees. The weather forecast actually called for snow on Monday morning, turning to rain, but thankfully, it was only cloudy while we were there.

Off we went, crossing the border from North Dakota into Manitoba with no problems. Our paperwork had a bar code on it and the Canadian border person scanned it and asked us a few questions, then sent us on our way. We had a little snow as we drove through Winnipeg, but nothing sticking to the ground, so we were just enjoying the scenery and heading north (or nord as the Canadian signs say).

It took a while before we realized that the scenery for the past hundred miles or so hadn't changed from a two lane road with no shoulder, lined on both sides with pine trees. Apparently, Canadians have very large bladders because they don't seem to realize that people appreciate a rest area every once in a while. We went through two or three small villages during the next 500 miles, but none had room for a truck to pull over to get food or fuel. Lucky for us, we always carry some sandwich fixings and lots of bottles of water. Unfortunately, we don't carry extra fuel for the truck.

The good news is, the farther north you go, the more frozen lakes you get to see. That sort of breaks up the monotony of a two lane road with no shoulder, lined on both sides with pine trees. Until about the 25th frozen lake, then that becomes the new monotony.

By the time we arrived in Creighton, we were down to about 1/4 tank of fuel. We can usually go about 150 miles on that much fuel, but we were 600 miles from the border!! It was a bit of a dilemma. At one point we thought about simply settling down in Creighton, because not only can you not get fuel in Canada, you can't get a cell phone signal to call for help either!!!

Then things really got bad. We saw a service station that had diesel fuel, so we pulled in. But we learned that you had to be a member of the co-op to fuel there. No one in Canada was being co-operative. On top of learning that we could not get fuel, we were also told that the sand plant to which we were supposed to deliver our load was actually not in Creighton, but another 80 kilometers north (that's 50 more miles!!!). Now we're thinking "this is not funny anymore."

We travel the extra 50 miles. Our turn off was clearly marked. We made the turn. Now we are on a dirt road. I am not kidding. It was 10 more miles on a dirt road. We arrived about midnight, so we got into our cozy sleeper to spend the night and wait to deliver our load. However, being low on fuel, we didn't want to leave the truck running for 8 hours. Remember that weather forecast?? It gets cold in that bunk when the outside temperature is 2 (even if you keep telling yourself it really is 35). I think that's the first time I ever saw Kirby sleep with a jacket on. Finally, the sun comes up and we check in and we deliver our load. We're almost as good as the post office - "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

We have just enough fuel to get back to Creighton, but now we have new information about a place where we can actually get fuel with American money. Armed with a credit card and directions to Petro-Canada, we squeeze into the station with our big truck. But wait, how many liters of fuel does it take to go 600 miles at 7.5 miles to the gallon??? We're back in algebra class only it's metric!! We must have made a pretty good guess at the fuel, because our low fuel warning light came on as we crossed back into the US.

It was quite an interesting trip. I'm sure we would do it again, now that we know what to expect. I did take some pictures with a disposable camera, but I haven't had them developed yet. If they turn out OK, I'll post one. More than one isn't necessary, because they are all alike. It's a two lane road with no shoulder, lined on both sides with pine trees, and occasionally you get to see another frozen lake.