HOME

O my goodness! I have let my blog go, I have been so busy, my daughter had a wreck in her car so I have been driving her to work and Jackson to school then back to school to pick him up and on good days we hang out at the park playground til time to pick my daughter up and then we get home about 7:30pm and get there just in time to feed Jackson and go to bed and start all over the next day!!

It was so good to come HOME on those days, I was weary and so were Ash and Jackson. I don't know how people do it that do this on a daily basis and this is just the way thier lives are. Thank God that we are blessed with more than one car "most" of the time.

It was always good to see the lights of home as we came home everyday , to eat and rest. On the days that I remembered to put something in the crock pot we had nice soup or something similar to eat when we got home. Soup was so good on those cold blustery days.

We could smell the soup cooking as we came through the door, all three of us would sigh and the business of the day fell away. David would show up and we could all eat and then speak of the days events.

For Ashley it was her new job and all that it entailed, for David it was the same plus errand or things he would ask me to do, and for Jackson it would be what happened on the play ground and what did he have for lunch that day. For me , I was content to set and listen to my family talk and share the day with each other.

Our home is warm, safe, clean and dry. Our pets wait for us at the door, we have enough food and drink to satisfy our hunger and thirst. We have each other to Love and laugh with and sometimes cry with. Our Home, a place to lay our tired bodies and rest to say our prayers and speak to God, a place to gather and just to be HOME.

I hope that all of you are Home, wheter it be in your heart, or in a physical place, God bless.


And speaking of Home, I was in a swap called The Glass House Swap, Tina of Paper Cowgirl.blogspot.com sponsered it and put the swap together. There were 10 of us that agreed to participate. This was a soldered glass house , we cut and soldered a collage that said home to us. Some were funny, some were sweet, some were pretty. They were all Homes though. Here is my little house/home. I chose to to make my collage with pictures of our family, the little boy you see pictured is Jackson my grandson, who is our Hope for the future, David's Grandparents who Loved and were married and endured the depression and hard times, through it all they remained steadfast, and endured for each other and thier family. The Butterfly is for Faith, it seems so fleeting sometimes, something beyond our controll happens and our faith may waver and seem fragile, but as we turn our eyes to God, our faith is shored up and it enables us to rise above, as a butterfly lightly and beautifully flies above what would bring us down and destroy our family. These are things that our Home is made of, Hope,Faith,and Love

Dedicated to the One I Love..........

This post is dedicated to the One I Love, David Ray Yarbrough, dearest man. I have loved this man for 36 years, we have been married for 34... time flys when you are married to the one you love.
You see this picture of him, here,
this is how I always think of him, you can't see his face, because he is busy doing what he likes to do. He is always doing something for someone else... carrying someone else. It is only one of the things I love about him.

We met years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday, he was young, and I was even younger, my Mother wanted me to come over to the drugstore and talk to her a minute. I had been out in the yard helping my dad, I didn't want to get cleaned up, I wanted to get back to what I was helping my dad with...she had told me to clean up. I should have listened to my Mother! I went over in cut off jean shorts and a halter top I had made in Homemaking class!! LOL
There was this Man standing behind the counter( I say Man because he was, he was never a boy to me though I called him that :) anyway there was this man standing behind the Pharmacy counter busy filling prescriptions, working away. My Mother said "David come over here I want you to meet my daughter Jeanie" O MY GOSH I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE!!! Just let the floor open up and swallow me!!! I was hot,tired and sweaty and the clothes I had on, O the clothes I had on, or didn't' have as my Mother said. I was just barely 17 and tall and thin and had no makeup on, really, I mean I was helping my Dad in the yard!!! David was very nice and smiled and came around and said Hi and asked me about myself. I don't remember talking to him or what I said, I was too busy thinking how to get out of there without making a total complete idiot of myself and plotting about how to get back at my mother!!! LOL
He tells me now, now that, that day is well behind us that he remembers thinking I was the hottest thing! LOL, O how memories can be kinder than we deserve!

We went out and then we started to date, he didn't realize how old I was, I didn't think it mattered. Turns out it didn't really. He was one of the sweetest men I knew, he wasn't pushy, or loud or obnoxious the way some younger guys can seem sometimes. We dated for two years before we got married, and we have gone through some rough times together, but nothing that we wanted to give up on or call it quits. I am sure sometimes he felt like he was raising me, at times I was sure he was. But we got through it by the Grace of God.

I listen to the song sung by Alan Jackson "Remember When" and think that is us. We have lasted and plan to last a longer time still. We still hold hands, and still love to do things together. He still makes me laugh,and still makes me cry. I love to watch him when he doesn't know it, and sometimes when he is asleep. I never think "where has the time gone" I know exactly where it has gone, and it is locked away in my heart. I look into his eyes and see myself reflected back at me, but the reflection in his eyes is so much better than what I am ,I thank God for that.

This is dedicated to the One I Love, David Ray Yarbrough, dearest man.

May I Have A Drum Roll Please!!!!!

Well As promised I got Jackson to draw a name from all those that had posted to my blog!
I waited til evening to have Jackson draw out the name for me. What was I thinking! Perhaps some of you might relate to this..... Jackson is a sweet little boy, he is into shooting things as in using inanimate objects as a gun. He will use a clothes pin, his finger, a spoon he happens to be eating with, he even used the dogs tail this evening. :\ What can I say, there wasn't anything else at hand right then and there. Cody,(Codiac the Mainac, or Codyody, the poor dog answers to all of these)........happened to be standing there in the same space and time as Jackson. Jackson was trying to talk to me, Cody wanted my attention too and they both ganged up on me. Cody was barking and Jackson was gibbering something about an ice cream sandwich and I was trying to get supper on the table, Ashley was at work(if your wondering where his mother was) this was very frustrating to a little boy of five who happened to be hungry and was vying with a big dog for his La La's attention. So whilst Cody's back was turned to him , Jackson grabbed his tail and all the sudden the tail became a weapon! he turned Cody's own tail on him and just up and shot him! Jackson said "now then, I guess you'll be quiet while I am talking". I didn't know whether to laugh or be dismayed! Cody was offended and slunk off to my room. Having opposable thumbs is definitely an advantage.
Supper(as we call it here at our house) was finally ready, everyone ate and those who finished their supper and could show a good amount of empty plate to prove it, got an ice cream sandwich. Full tummies and chocolate faces and hands then needed to head up to the bath for clean up and teeth brushing and hair combing (sorta) No P.Js tonight though, it was too warm for this little one. He decided to just sleep in his "underwears" so off he goes to watch a Ben 10 dvd while his Mother takes a bath and LaLa's speaks with Poppy for a few minutes. So Poppy asks who won the snowman plate? I said "What?, ...snowman plate..... !!!! SHOOT!!!" so off I run up the stairs( what a sight glad you weren't here) grab the camera and zip into Ash's room and get Jackson to pull a paper strip out with a name on it for the drawing. By this time he is into Ben 10 and wants nothing to do with the drawing.... Jackson PAALLEEEZZEEE ..... he gives me this sideways glance out of his eyes and very quietly but fast pulls out a strip. Now he is all giggly and I have to take his picture while he fidgets in the bed but finally I get him to show me the name on the strip and I snap a pic. The drawing is done, the winner is.......VICKI!!!! YaY VICKI!!! Thank you for taking the time to visit and post to me about it :) I'll be sending you your snowman tray right away! I wonder if Ed McMahon and the Publisher's Clearing House had this much trouble with their drawing?

Shamless promotion

Shameless promotion of my blog by begging people to visit my site and dangling a prize before them like a carrot!! Hey I admit it! But there is a difference between Shameless promoting your blog and bragging. BRAGGING !! O my gosh, if my Mother were alive I would get a lecture! You know when we were kids my mom never told us we were pretty, too smart, to fast, to anything, lest it go to our heads and turn us into obnoxious people. We were never to boast lest we embarrass our parents and get stern disapproving looks and THEN a lecture on how we should not boast, brag or say anything about how good we were at anything. If you were any of those things other people would naturally notice, you were not to call attention to it yourself!

I didn't have a lot to brag about when I was younger. I was NOT pretty. I had reddish brown hair and freckles, chubby cheeks and blue eyes. I was not a brilliant child either, nor was I a good athlete. I was just an average little girl. I grew up to hate it when attention was called to myself by anything I did particularly well, I was shy and quiet. But! Inside there was a character, a funny person , a smart alleck waiting to get out, and there were moments it escaped and ran rampant!

In the 3rd grade I broke out my teeth in the front, one tooth I broke in half straight across. The other front tooth was broken at an angle like a triangle. I could make faces like a beaver and did every chance I got. The dentist also put these big silver temporary caps on them until the white porcelin caps were ready. Wow! Little Kids think things like that are neat. I milked it for all it was worth.

The end of 3rd grade approached and so did the talent show. It was the era of leather mini skirts and knee boots. I had them both. My mother made sure of it. Inside she was a Diva too. I told my mother I wanted to be in the Talent show and she was sure I would chicken out or worse bomb. I don't know who was sicker at their stomach that day me or my mom. I chose to sing a song. A very IN song at the time. Not a child's song. The song was........wait for it, wait for it......"THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING" Can you believe!? My Mom helped me learn it and practice on it. My Mother told my Father it was his fault,because he listened to country stations while working on cars in the garage and I spent all the time I could with him out there.

I was told later that my teachers were astounded by my wanting to sing. We did not know about channeling in those days, but surely they would have thought this was the case if they had. I learned how to strut across that stage for all my 8 year old self was worth and sing to everybody that these boots I had on were made for walking and that's just what they would do,..... I remember nothing of it from the actual day....I was terrified. I won the talent for my grade. If I had known how to faint I probably would have done that too, but I didn't even know what that was.

There were other things later on in life that would fall just short of bragging or boasting,,,never that! But I will always remember that Talent show in the 3rd grad me with my freckles , chubby cheeks and those awful silver caps singing for all I was worth, in my leather mini dress, and white leather boots. Yep those boots were made for walking and that's just what they did, all over that stage. My Mother was proud of me, and neither one of us threw up. It was a good day.

So I am not bragging nor boasting but I am shamelessly promoting my blog and trying to get people to notice me and what I am doing here. And in that vein I am offering something that I painted. I will put all the names in a hat that come and leave a comment on my blog between yesterday and this weekend and draw out a name. So if you like to get stuff in the mail besides bills , leave me a comment! BTW, this item that I painted (above at the beginning of the post) is not the best in the world, but it's decent, lest anyone think I am boastful or bragging.........Mother would be proud of me.

New Shoes! Mama's gotta have some shoes!!

Well I do! I love shoes, but I can rarely make up my mind what kind I want so more often than not I go home with out shoes. :( Are any of you like that out there? FESS UP! You drive the shoe salesman crazy just like me.

I am not the worst however, that would be reserved for my daughter Ashley :) She is a shoe feind. Not just nice shoes , she likes those "Catch me if you can" shoes, you know the ones, the ones that the woman in the movie wears? The one that is being chased by some Murderous feind that has a knife or is just plain creepy, nightmare creepy! She runs looking back , IN HIGH HEELS!!!!!!!

Who does that!? Men write these scripts I know it. I mean it wouldn't do for the delectable morsel to actually get away would it? NO! So she runs forward , looking backward, in high heels that make her stumble and fall etc.... I yell at the movies, (you do too, do not deny it!) TAKE OFF THE SHOES AND RUN!!!!!!!!! Throw them away and RUN! don't carry them with you! If the monster gets you , you can't wear them anyway!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course Ashley would be one of those women running , WITH the high heels ON. If she took them off she would carry them with her or put them in her pockets(she never carries a purse) If the Monster caught her she would then turn and beat him to a bloody pulp with the high heels , thus making him rue the day he chose to chase her ,in her spiffy high heels. She would. Hmmmmmmm... maybe I'll wear high heels more often. They do make your legs look good....

O well here are some high heels I made for a Tea. They were so cute and I had seen them made up and was just dying to make some. My sister Sandra gave me the perfect excuse. The Christmas Tea!! Here is a picture of them. Not a good picture I know. I will do better in future blogginess I promise, for now suffer and just look at the picture.

Here is where you will find the pattern for these little paper shoes,http://ellenhutson.typepad.com/ellen_hutson_simple_dream/2007/08/witches-shoe-te.html There are a lot more examples out there , most using her pattern but I will let you find the links yourself, you'll have fun searching and looking :) Hey I can't do all the work for you!

Fill these little elf size shoes up with candy/chocolates etc... for a girls get together, young or old. I sat them at the place settings filled with candies for our tea.

They were a big hit with the table of ladies setting next to us in the tea room, one of the ladies especially like them, so we handed one over to her , and she was delighted. Sorry ladies that I didn't have enough to go around. I have a feeling I would have been handing them out all over the tea room if that had been the case.

There is a delightful shoe using this pattern that is made with velum and looks like Cinderella's shoe , so cute!!!! Witches shoes made in black, etc.... I'm tellin ya, you need to make these. O and wedding shower favors! The list goes on and on...............

I found that card stock is the best for the outside and then to line them if you must use a patterned paper, it doesn't have to be thick. I used my tape runner and bits of ribbon to match the papers I had and whatever thingamabobs I had already on hand to accent them with. FUN FUN FUN. So if you like shoes try these out, design to your hearts content and save your real money for you know unfun stuff, like electric bills, gas bills, school tuition *sigh*

A good way to live out your shoe fantasies! :)

And so it begins..............

See the little guy above? He is one of the ornaments that I made for a friend by the name of Cathy, she has a blog and she is so industrious and just gets more accomplished in a day than I can in a month. Here is a link to her blog so you can see what I mean.

http://hazelruthes.blogspot.com/ You should jump over there and read and see the things she does and the things she collects and the NEW DONKEY they aquired for Christmas :)

BUT NOT YET!!!!!! Stay here and finish reading MY BLOG first , you silly!

Anyway as I was saying before I got sidetracked with Cathy's stupendous blog............. I made the little mouse above from a pattern that I aquired here, http://www.patternmart.com/pattern/5234/Rat+FinksPMRT

the designer has a lot of really cute patterns, check them out and Patternmart.

This little mouse reminds me of the season and the anticipation of the season and the year to come. Who doesn't enjoy the anticipation of a good snowball fight and the fun that it involves? That is what I feel like now , the anticipation and the fun ahead, the unkown, a chance to score better marks and team up with friends and family to accomplish and win against problems that may arrise. The anticipation of a clean slate, and the memories of this year are sometimes bittersweet, happy, sad, ..........a different emotion for almost everyday of the year.

I can leave behind the fustrations of things not finished and resolve to finish future projects, things left unsaid to loved ones. This year I resolve to TELL people I love them , not to just think that they MUST know. Sometimes doing things for people is not enough , they don't realize we love them, we are in such a habbit of assuming.............Don't assume! Tell someone you love, that you love them TODAY, THIS HOUR, THIS MINUTE! We don't have time, we only have the here and now. A blink of the eye, the turn of a wheel, life is made up of seconds. Don't save it up, spend it, TIME does not accrue , it doesn't draw interest, when it's gone it's gone. It is more precious than all the riches we have in this world. I so wish that I had told some of my loved ones that I loved them One more time, held thier hand one more time, listened while they talked one more time......I'm not going to let that get away today, now, this hour, this minute, this second. I am going to get right off this computer now and tell Jackson I love him, to squeeze him till he says "LaLa" Your squeezing my breakfast! :) I'm going to tell my David how much I appreciate how hard he works for our family and how much I enjoy the times we spend together,the things we do together and the struggles we get through together. I am going to tell my daughter Ashley how important she is to me and how much I love her when she comes home to day. To tell her I am proud of the woman she is becoming, being, is. I am going to get down on my knees and Thank God for all his blessings , big and small, asked for and unasked for.

I am going to tell myself, that I am proud of me. That I am an ok person, that will be better and will go FORWARD and learn from the things behind me. I am not going to drag the bad things behind me and let them slow me down, I am going to travel lightly into the new year and embrace the changes ahead...............well ok not the grey hair, I just refuse to embrace that! I mean come on now........lets don't go crazy.

Happy New Year and God Bless Us Everyone!

Happy 4th of JULY!!

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