Happy New Year

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

(I'm already thinking flowers)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS BLOGGING BUDDIES!

I Won!

I won a give-a-way! I had been anticipating the arrival of the package from afar. I was thrilled to open my mail box and saw this package that said Royal Mail. Well I felt special. Royal Mail. Diane made this beautiful jewelry. That makes it even more special that she made this. I love your creation. I will wear it proudly. Diane has an awesome blog - one I really enjoy. During the winter months they live in the UK and during the summer in France. How neat is that. Go and check her blog out and tell her I said Hi.

http://lifeincharente.blogspot.com/

 

Sorry about the blur, but you get the picture.

Hope you all have a great weekend and some nice weather for shopping.

Some Blooms

These are the last of any blooms. I caught these over the weekend. They are all gone now except the first photo. The cold has come to our stretch of the gulf coast.

I love this double blooming azalea. This one blooms twice a year.

Have a bloomin good Wednesday.

Wreath's I Made

I enjoyed doing these wreaths this weekend. So easy and inexpensive. The main expense is the balls  and the wreath. I picked this one up at the Goodwill. It cost me about $7.00 to make.

This one was fun as well. I bought the wreath at the Dollar Store for about $3.00. This one is smaller than the blue one so it was a little less expensive. Total cost $5.00.

We have heard the 'S' word in our weather forecast this morning. But it isn't and hasn't snowed yet today. It is warming up into the mid 40's today so that is not likely. But I am hoping for some white stuff again this year. Here in the south along the Gulf Coast it is a holiday if we get snow.

Check out the blooms in the next post. Probably the last till spring.

Hope you all have a wonderful day.



Seven Years Later

How do I start this off today? It's hard to talk about this and I haven't written about it but once before. This is the first time I have shared this incident. I mentioned it last year in a post but this is my first writing of it. I am feeling very anxious today. Not anxious because something is about to happen but because it already did happen. It happened 7 years ago tonight at 1:35 in the morning. I was raped.

The day was Monday. Work was as usual that day. I lived alone in a house at a dead end street. I was the last house. Located next to the interstate made me feel safer. Why - I don't know. I was not safe on this night. The wind was blowing and getting colder that day - much like today. After work I raced home to stay in on this cold night. I immediately walk my dog "Trip". While walking him I noticed a car stopped at the stop sign and then they kinda stayed there. I turned around to go inside right away. But I was not frightened. I always lived my life like nothing could happen to me and didn't want to ever live in fear. Later into the evening Trip barked. I thought nothing of it since the wind was blowing. It must be the limbs breaking outside making noise. Trip continued to bark off and on. I still didn't think anything of it. Even after we went to bed he barked some. I woke up to his barking around 1:00 and he was non stop. There were neighbor dogs and they were barking too. I kept fussing at him to shut up. Around 1:35 I heard a noise at the window next to my bed. At the time I turned to look there was his silouette in the darkness of night and the street light shining behind him - he was on my window sill and jumped on me. It was so horrible. Excuse me as I tear up.

I screamed loudly and he pressed a knife to my throat and a hand over my mouth. I stopped screaming and prayed. I prayed and prayed some more. Out loud I prayed and did just as I was told. I was robbed first and then raped. The worst part was thinking I was going to die. I prayed for my grandkids - that they didn't have to lose their grandma. Thank you Jesus that I am here today. (His next victim was burned up in her home) Come to find out this 18 year old stupid person spent the evening in my yard and in my car - tearing it to hell and back.

Three years later he pleaded guilty in my case and was sentenced to life. He stood trial in the murder and was sentenced to life without parole.

Time - time makes a difference. At the time I thought I'd never be alright again and that fear would keep me from being who I was. Time makes a difference. To anyone who is going through something difficult - time makes a difference. Unfortunately we can't rush time. I am still very cautious but I do not live in fear. I do pay attention when my dog is barking. Thankfully Buddy doesn't bark all the time - only when he needs to. My family has been very supportive and they were there for me when I needed them and I did need them.

How I've changed since this happened. I am more cautious than ever before. I pay close attention to things going on around me. I don't get caught up in crowds. I avoid them. I keep weapons handy. I never shop after dark. All of these things are just precautions and make me feel better and more active with regards to my safety. There are many things though that are the same as it was then. I still have a small dog. I live alone and in a house and I am at the end of the road. I have a window unit in my bedroom window. All of these things that are the same - I had to come to grips with them and go on living. Putting the window unit in last year was the biggest step for me.

Be careful out there when you are shopping. Always be aware of who and what is going on around you. I have a contraption on my key chain that opens up as scissors and I walk with it in my hand. Have your keys in your hand before you walk out of the stores. Notice on purpose the inside of your car before you attempt to get in. Looking around you as you get into the car. Ladies just be careful. You never know who might want to hurt you.

(I love you April)

My Christmas Tree

Have a wonderful day.

Cyber Monday

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had a good one with my family. Now I'm ready to spend some money on Christmas. I'm looking forward to the holiday.

I decorated my tree and house. The header is a wreath I made last year and thankfully it stored well.

I was wondering. I watch the news regular and especially on weekends I tune to Fox News. I have been hearing how well the Black Friday was economically and that more people are spending and spending more than last year. I was wondering about you. Will you be spending more. I do plan to spend a tad bit more this year. I feel like I am in better shape financially than I was 2 years ago.

How bout that Somali guy trying to blow up a holiday celebration in Portland. That was a close call. I hate the thought of going through the airport security systems now but man why are there so many home-grown terrorist. Why live here all your life and then want to blow up your neighbors. I don't get it - but then who gets terrorism.

Well I'm ready to get to work for a little and I'll be around to visit you today.

Have a wonderful Cyber Monday and good luck to everybody in their shopping. I am seeing some really good deals out there today.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our blessings even if we are thankful the rest of the year. Thanksgiving is special time for families. After all it is the most traveled holiday of the year.

I will be spending the day with my mom and the rest of the family that lives here. We are looking forward to a good day of family and fellowship. Some of the things we'll be serving - turkey, cornbread chicken dressing, sweet pot, 3 diff casseroles and chicken dumplins and fruit salad.

I am so thankful that mom is doing better now. Hopefully she'll be back on her feet in no time. I also am feeling better and will be watching my dinner plate very carefully this year.

Hope you have a blessed day filled with family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving

(What's on your menu?)

Updates and Some Pretties

Where do I start today.

I had another episode of sickness Sunday night and Monday - all day. It was the same as it has been for the past more than a year now. Excuse me - vomiting and diahrea and horrible pain. I thought having my gall bladder removed almost 2 weeks ago would make me feel better. This is the second episode since my surgery. This morning I had some blood work done. I'll be seeing the doctor on Thur.

Mom is beginning to recover. Last week was a bad week. After surgery and for 5 days she was on another planet. She knew who we were but she wasn't with us. Her sugar kept dropping in the night and she come near dying on Sunday morning. Sugar dropped to 20. It took them 3 hours to get her stable. It's a wonder she didn't go into a coma. After this happened I went to the hospital and put down my foot and made some changes to her schedule with the nurses and doctors. I got things changed. She called me this morning to check on me and I can't tell you what it meant to hear my moms voice calling me. I cried and said thank you Jesus she is going to be OK now. Now we can begin to focus on the hip healing. The hip will be a breeze compared to what it's been like. She is doing well now.

You all know the hospitals have the best gift shops. I love to visit a gift shop. Look what I found. I love Santa Claus. These were adorable.

Thought I'd share some pretties with you today. The gardens still have some blooms for a little while longer. I haven't raked yet so the leaves are everywhere and running over the garden beds.

 Milkweed still hanging around. I cut it all down but 3 stems and they are taller than me.



Hope you all have a blessed day. I am trying to get around to visit you all this week. I have missed blog world and my friends.

Update on Mom

An update on mom. She had the hip surgery on Wed afternoon and a pin was placed in the bone. She is actually doing very well from the surgery so far. She has been confused and disoriented I think from the anesthesia. The doctor and nurses were thinking that is isn't the lingering effects of the anesthesia. I think they are wrong. I spent the night with her last night and she seemed a bit better this morning. We'll have to see. I'll be there again tonight to watch over her. Pop needs this break as he is old and can't do what he's been used to.

I am feeling much better.

Seems like a lot going on these days. To add to the mix Pops grandson broke his arm on Monday as well and required surgery. The grandson's mom (Pops daughter) passed away last year so it is up to Pop to look after these boys. It's a lot.



Thanks to all of you have prayed for Mom and the family. Prayer makes a difference.

Hope you all have a lovely and blessed weekend.

Mom Fell

My mom fell this morning and broke her hip. She is going to require surgery. Don't have the word yet if it'll be this afternoon or in the morning. I am in the office for a couple of hours and will be going back to the hospital. I only worked about 8 hrs last week since I had surgery last Tue. And I have to miss a half a day tomorrow to have my staples removed. By the way staples in the abdomen is very annoying. Thank goodness I am feeling better. Anyway I have a monstrous amout of work to catch up on. Stress is about to kick in. Keep my mom in your prayers please. I won't be around much this week either to visit. I'll catch up with you as soon as things quiet down a little and I get back in the office regular. I'll post an update as soon as I can.

UPDATE Pray for missing boy

Just got word that the boss's son is missing. He is 4 years old. He has been missing for about an hour. Pray.

He has been found. He walked down the road into the woods and was found by the creek. Could have been bad. Thank the good Lord he is OK and only has a few scratches he was showing off.

Visiting Turkeys

I finally had that dreaded gall bladder surgery. I got sick again on Sat night and it was horrible. On Sunday evening I had to make a trip to the ER. I was admitted and the doctors removed my gall bladder on Tue. Still a little weak and don't plan to be at work but a couple of hours. I have 13 staples in my abdomen.

Anyway glad to have it behind me. Look what I saw on Wed while lounging in my chair. Neighbor counted a dozen turkey's. I've never seen a turkey but at a good distance in the woods before so I was thrilled to see them come out to visit. I don't have a gun so I can't shoot one but I expect to eat their brother on Thanksgiving. LOL

Winter has arrived here in my area. Temps dipping into the mid 30's tonight. Brrrr!

Keeping it short today. Ya'll have a blessed and fun weekend. I'll be back to visit ya on Monday.

Happy Halloween

On Sunday this is what came my way. It was the first rainfall in at least 7 weeks at my place. It came with the wind as you can see but it was good. On Monday the storms brought some tornados to the area. We don't have many tornados in our area but one touched in the city knocking a few business out for a day or two. Nothing too severe.

After the rainfall has left the area it was beautiful to see this sunset yesterday while blowing in some colder temps.

Hope you all have a blessed day.

PS my in the ground nest of yellow jackets have been gased. They looked like an ant bed swarming. There were so many down in the hole. I so wanted to get a photo but I was not getting close enough to the swarming varmints. Glad to have them gone. I bet they had some monstrous living quarters like high rises.

My baby will turn 34 on Sunday too. Happy Birthday Jimmy.

Blooms and Bees

This hole started as a small hole in the ground and has grown to this size. It has been slowly getting bigger over the past 3-4 months. I had noticed bugs flying in and out all the time it seemed but really thought that it was something harmless since I haven't been bothered by any flying bugs. Finally I got my camera and got a closer look at what is going on since the hole has grown so big. There are bees and they have built 'condominiums' in the ground. I assume it is honeybees. Have you ever seen bees build in the ground? I am going to contact the Agriculture Dept for them to tell me what to do about them. I don't want to kill them - they are such a vital part our food chain.

NOTE: I called the Alabama Cooperative Extension and they said there is no way this could be bees. They think yellow jackets. I will have to kill one to see what this is. I still say it is bees.



Cleome still blooming.

The rest of the photos are a little blur. Sorry.

Mums blooming their heart out. The bees don't have to worry about not having enough nectar in my yard.

 I have volunteer zinnias coming up all over the gardens. In the spring I'll have to thin them out but for now not much else is blooming in this little garden.



Hope you all have a blessed day.

This and That

Sorry guys - but I'm complaining about blogger this morning. Got to load all photos at one time - can't add any more after that. sucks. A couple got deleted. Oh well. That's life.

I had a good weekend. Got out of town for a change. And the change was good. Headed up north to Cleveland MS. My dad lives there and I went up to see my dad and step mother.

The trip up was boring as heck. We were in the Delta area. I learned that this road runs along the MS River and is nothing but flatlands. For the entire 107 miles that we drove this road nothing but flatlands. Boring.

I saw mostly open fields of nothing but dry dirt. The farmers can't plant due to the draught conditions we are experiencing here in the south. However there were tractors stirring up the dry dirt along the way.

Little Buddy did really well for the 5 1/2 hour drive. He mostly rested in his riding bed but sat up now and then to look around.

My dad and me.

We decided to take a less boring route into Jackson MS and rode the Natchez Trace. This was my first trip on the Trace and you couldn't ask for better weather for traveling. The bluest skies and temps of maybe 78. One day I'm gonna take the Trace to Natchez or start there. Natchez is a place I want to visit. It's on my bucket list.

Here we got on the Trace.

This is the first marker we saw.  

We saw only a few vehicles on the Trace. Ended up passing the only 3 vehicles 3 different times on the way.

 

We stopped at this park and walked part of the trail.

The view at the park.

The trail was open and well maintained. Buddy enjoyed getting out too.

Along the paths were mostly the Beautyberry that someone identified on my blog from my yard. Correct me if I'm wrong.

There was very little color which I found surprising. Guess it's not far enough north. However this was pretty.

We passed the resevoir. Forgot the name of it. The sun sparkled on the water as the sun hit it just right.

It's always a joy to see the grands, daughter and husband.

Gavin is taking guitar and piano lessons. Gavin is the oldest - going on 13. He is strumming me a tune.

Ben is in the middle. He is into martial arts and is showing me his routine for his next belt. The boy is good. (have I said I hate blogger sometime)

Luci is the youngest just turned 6. Luci decided that she wanted to take karate/tai kwon do too and she is doing very well. Last year she was in dance and I hope that she will resume dance along with the martial arts. Martial arts teaches the children self control and coordination among other things. (Could it be too late for me - I could use some self control and coordination. just kidding ya'll. I think something would break)

April and Luci and me. (have I said I hate blogger sometime)

The SIL Brian with Ben.

Gavin.

On Sunday I decided to fix a seasonal meal. Baked Tilapia with fresh basil, parsley, lemon, butter and paprika for color. Also baked sweet potatos and cooked yellow saffron rice and baked apples for dessert.



Baked apples was on the menu.

I make this stuff up as I go along here.

Apples with the first ingredient - honey.

Blogger didn't load right so they are out of order. Ready for the oven. Believe it or not what you see is two apples.

These are the ingredients for the apples. I love honey on just about anything. Except for all the butter I use, it is a somewhat healthy baked apples. I use a lot of butter/margarine on lots of things. Could I be related to Paula Deen? Just asking.

I have been wanting to learn quilting for sometime now and just haven't taken the plunge. Well my step mother set me up here with this Quilting Bible. And a quilt starter piece (under the book-blogger wouldn't load the photo). I need to get me a little Singer sewing machine and begin making some quilts. Can't wait to get started.

For the past few weeks - everyone who sees Buddy has commented that he has gotten so fat. I guess I didn't really notice that he had gained weight. The vet didn't say anything when we were last in for a visit. He weighed 22 pounds 4 months ago.

This is Buddy's cabinet filled with dog treats. I had been leaving his food on the floor and filling the bowl whenever it gets empty. Plus I love passing treats out to my little companion. He kinda ate when he wanted but - I'll tell you - Buddy eats when I am present and only if we are in the same room and he has to be sure I'm not doing anything with food. Funny dog.

Buddy loves his treats and I love to pass them out.

I decided to begin picking up the food bowl and putting it down for him only once a day now. He is focusing on his food now. After he eats good I'll give him a treat. I think this will help the little fat fellow.

Look at this sweet rolley-polley. He loves his momma and loves mommas chair.



Hope I haven't bored you too much.

Hope you all have a blessed day.