Let Me Tell You About Bobs the Cat!

Bobs The Cat

Bobs the cat is a gray, tabby, female, bobtail cat.  Bobs came to my daughter, Brandy, as a very small, wild stray kitten.  Brandy,  previously lived in a mobile home close to the highway, which made her a target for “drop offs”.   We think that someone abandoned Bobs beside the highway and she made her way to Brandy’s house.  Brandy had some other kittens at the time(more strays) and Bobs just moved in with them.  Bobs so tiny and cute, no more than 6 weeks old when she was abandoned, but boy was she was WILD! 

I’d never met a cat that I couldn’t conquer, but I wasn’t having any luck with Bobs!  The whole family tried and tried to get close to Bobs, without any luck.  Brandy’s husband, Clint,  did actually get close enough to get his hands on Bobs once, but Bobs “tore him up” and he quickly let go!  We couldn’t even get close enough to see if the cat was a he or a she, so Brandy just nicknamed the cat “Bobs” since it didn’t have a tail. 

Bobs is a bit odd looking, she resembles a real wild bobcat in a lot of ways, her coloring and her behavior at times!  She climbs trees like no other cat that I’ve ever seen–it’s surreal– she just walks straight up the side of them with no effort.   

After several months, Brandy and family decided to move just down the road and  next door to us(in our previous house).  We weren’t sure what was going to happen to Bobs since nobody had been able to get their hands on Bobs–with the exception of poor Clint that one time!   Believe me, we all tried!   We even tried to trap her.  Brandy and family moved, along with the other tame cats, but left Bobs behind. 

As I said before, I’d never met a cat that I couldn’t handle, until Bobs.  I decided I’d take my large dog crate up to the trailer and put some food inside–and wait.  I waited a while and Bobs must’ve been very hungry, because she FINALLY went inside of the crate to get the food.  When she did, I made my move and shut the door.  When I shut that door, Bobs went ballistic!  She bounced around the inside of that crate like something WILD!  I’ve never seen anything like it!  Clint happened to drive by at just that moment and happened to have a pair of leather work gloves, which he used to pick up that crate!  Bobs was captured!  We took cat and crate to their its new home.  Long story short, by the next day, Bobs was back at the old house down the road!

Well, I wasn’t about to let this cat out do me, so I began to go back to the trailer and leave food and water for Bobs every afternoon.  I’d sit on the steps of the porch and make Bobs come and eat while I watched.  By that time, I’d gotten a close enough look to discover that Bobs was a female.  After a few days of feeding Bobs and talking to her while she ate, a very strange thing happened…Bobs let me touch her!  That was a miracle, if I’ve ever seen one!  Pretty soon Bobs would be waiting for me– every day, and she just got friendlier each day…then I noticed that Bobs was getting fat!  Yep, you probably guessed it!  Bobs had gotten herself pregnant!

Isn’t that the way life goes…I had a dozen and a half very fat, spoiled, yard cats at my house already–all of them spade and neutered–and here I was befriending a wild stray cat that turns up pregnant!  Trust me the story only gets deeper…stay tuned for part two tomorrow…

Tuesday’s Blog Hop…Three Things Parents MUST Teach Kids

Me and the children in the courtyard of an old Jeckyl Island, GA mansion...cir. 1986

When I saw the topic for today’s blog hop, I thought…Oh Boy!  Now that my own children are grown when I reflect, I can see a lot of mistakes that we made.  Hind sight is 20/20 you know.  Each child brings their own set of unique challenges, and when things don’t go according to our plan, it sometimes makes us question ourselves–what could I or should I have done different?  The following 3 things will be the most important things that you ever teach your child… 

Being a christian, the first thing that I believe that we have to teach our children is that THERE IS A GOD( and  that there is a devil).   Unfortunately, we are living in a world where more and more people do not believe this.  World morality is declining at an alarming rate.  The colleges are full of professors brain washing our young people into believing that there is no God.  Elementary schools and high schools can’t pray or even  mention the word God anymore–no more Easter parties or Christmas parties because they are a  reference to God!    Many of the teachers that our children spend the majority of their time with are not christians, some claim to be christians, but have no morals.  God is steadily being removed from any and everything possible.  If we fail to teach our children to stand up for and believe in (GOD),  they will be at risk of falling for ANYTHING.  Oh,  the devil makes his world look so tempting and wonderful–“if it feels good–do it” seems to be today’s motto.

The second thing that we should teach our children is that God has left us His Word, His guide for how we are to conduct ourselves and lead our lives…it’s called THE BIBLE.   Anything that you have a question about is covered somewhere in the BIBLE.  You may not always like it, or agree with it, but it’s God’s word–HE SAYS IT, and we should OBEY IT.  Read it, memorize it, make yourself very familiar with it.  I love the book of Proverbs–words to live by.

The third thing that we must teach our children is to attend church regularly.  I will admit that this is a weak point in my own life, but  as christians, we should go to church regularly to worship God and to fellowship with other believers.  In addition to worshipping God in church, we will LEARN and GROW as christians.  It’s a time to listen, sing, and be joyful.  Also, we need to teach our children that God’s House is special and needs to be respected because of this.  We need to be on our best behavior in God’s House!

None of us is perfect, and we will all make mistakes.  We stray or stumble and fall, but God is a wonderful and loving God,  He will forgive us and love us anyway.   While it’s wonderful to have unconditional love and guidance from our parents, our parents will grow old and die one day.  God’s love is unconditional, and eternal.  His guidance and presence in our lives is forever.

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links…

Special thanks to Shoplet.com-Purell Hand Sanitizers for sponsoring this blog hop.

Not Me, Monday

Before getting started with my Not Me, Monday post…I would like to proudly announce that the winner of the Favorite Fall Memories Giveaway is….Audrey from http://www.acountrymomma.blogspot.com   Audrey is a blogging friend, faithful reader, and a beautiful person…She leaves the sweetest comments.  Congratulations to you, Audrey!  I’ll get your prize in the mail today.  

And now for my weekly dose of Not Me, Monday therapy…. 

No, I didn’t spent the ENTIRE past week sick as a dog, no, not me.  I did not spend most of the week either in bed or on the couch.   Thankfully, I feel much better today…now to face a house that has been uncleaned in a week…

No, my house is not a complete and total wreck…I do not have princess dolls standing on their heads in my bowl of apples that sits on the coffee table–Madison’s creative work!  Two of my rooms do not look like I am getting ready to have a yard sale–but I am not!

No, I did not finally sweep the pine straw off the porch, only to have a storm come through last night and completely cover the entire porch with straw again…along with a tree branch!

No, I did not hear the pitter patter of little foot steps coming down the hall Friday morning at 6:45 as Madison came to tell us goodbye before leaving for her trip to Disneyworld…a little early morning lovin’…No, I was not sad to see them go…

No, the place has not been terribly quiet for the past two days…No it is not sad to look over at the quiet, abandoned house…No, I do not miss seeing Madison playing around in the yard…

No, I did not receive my new order from Bath and Body Works, which was delivered to my son’s  house by mistake… only to discover that one of my two jar candles was broken…darn….

No, I did not find– quite by accident–a set of living room furnitre  that I truly love… wait 3 weeks for it to go on sale–then miss the sale!  I did not call the store to inquire about the sale, which I was told I had missed…only to be offered a great deal on the set anyway!  I did not excitedly tell my husband of my incredible fortune, only to have him dash my hopes with his lack of interest or willingness to purchase this furniture….I am not a happy woman right now….

No, my husband did not spend the entire weekend outside–in the yard.  No, he was not watching a fire burn for most of an entire afternoon…How exciting can it be to sit and watch a fire burn for hours and hours?  No, I did not decide that my husband and I do not find pleasure in the same types of things…My husband did not come in from watching the fire and complain that he was tired…It must be hard work watching that fire burn!  MY fire is burning as I write this…thinking about someone else buying that living room set…

That’s it for my Monday.  What have you not done lately?  Hop on over to Mckmama’s place at http://www.mycharmingkids.net to see what she and others have NOT been up to.  Thanks so much for stoppin by!

Six Word Saturday…

It’s time for Six Word Saturday again.  You know…where you have to describe your life in six words.  After you read my six words, hop on over to Cate’s place at http://www.showmyface.com and read more Six Word Saturday posts.  Join in yourself, you might like it. 

Now for my six words:  Almost everyone here has been sick!

Yes, it’s true!  The cold/flu season is here.  We’ve all had this illness that causes a sore throat, laryngitis, cough,  fever, and fatigue.  No fun!  My son caught it, then my grandaughter, then my son-in-law, then I caught it, now my daughter has it…That just leaves my husband out..of course he’s been nursing a broken  wrist for 5 weeks!

Don’t forget to leave a comment(about your favorite fall memory) if you would like to be entered in my weekend gift bag giveaway.  See Friday’s post for details…

Favorite Fall Fun Memories…

Daughter, Brandy and oldest son, Brett cir. 1984

I love this time of the year.  I like the cool nights and warm days.  I even enjoy the falling leaves, as long as I don’t have to rake them!  The leaf colors are so pretty to look at, and I love to see how everyone decorates their yards for the fall season.  I enjoy decorating my own yard, as well, even though I live back in the woods and nobody ever sees it!

Thinking back to my childhood days, I used to love to dress up and go trick-or-treating.  It was a simpler, more innocent time back then.  No devil worshiping stigma associated with Halloween and we didn’t have to worry about having our candy x-rayed.  We never got “store-bought” costumes, we just dressed as hobos or wore a sheet and pretended to be a ghost.  It sure was fun, though!

When my own children were small, we continued the tradition of dressing up and trick-or-treating.  I made most all of my children’s costumes myself.  It was usually a month long ordeal to decide what they would be and get the costumes finished.  We’d dress them all up and go by their grandparents’ houses first, then go to a few houses in my parents’ neighborhood.  It was always fun, except  for one Halloween when my husband had jury duty and didn’t get home in time to go…when he finally got home, he had a migraine headache!  He said some people on the jury just kept arguing while he kept thinking, come on, people!   I’m missing my kids’ trick-or-treat night… 

I also love the fall festivals that the schools have.  I love the pick up the ducks game and the fish pond.  Those have been favorites for years.  I also enjoy a good cake walk, but don’t care for the haunted house!  A  good costume contest is fun, as well.

When I was in charge of the youth at our church, we had what we called “Hallelujah Night”.  I made several games and adapted them to tie in with the Bible.  For instance, one of the games was called “Let Your Light Shine”.  The kids had to try to shoot the flame of a burning candle out with a water gun.  The kids came dressed up as Bible characters, played games for prizes, ate hotdogs, even went on a hay ride.  We had fun–even the adults dressed up.  One year a child actually came dressed as the Bible!  I always enjoyed “Hallelujah Night”.

The fair comes to a large nearby county every year in October.  We used to take our children every year.  I enjoyed the exhibits, the children enjoyed the rides and the food!  Oh I loved those candied apples, too.  I used to enjoy the rides until I developed motion sickness.  No more rides for me, except maybe the ferris wheel!  I still love a candied apple when I can get one!

Those are my favorite fall fun memories.  What is your favorite fall fun memory?   Leave your answer in the form of a comment.  Just scroll down past McLinky until you see comments. 

Just for commenting, I will enter your name for a chance to win this little fall gift bag that I made. This weeks bag contains a dish towel, a magnetic memo pad, and the cutest little set of salt and pepper shakers that look like acorns with tiny leaves on top!

Contents of the Fall Gift Bag

  This give away will end at midnight EST on Sunday, 9/27/09.  I will draw a winner on Monday and announce who won.  Come on, share your memories…have some fun!  Thanks for stopping by!

Click here to see the entire Blog Hop List….

Tribute To My Grandmother…One Fine Lady

Grandma on her 77th birthday in 1980

 When I think of what a lady is, I think of grandma.  She didn’t have an easy life, but she handled everything that life threw at her with dignity and grace.  She’s always been my role model.   Grandma always said, “Pretty is, as pretty does” and I knew what she meant.

I don’t know a lot about my grandma’s background before she was married, but she was only 13 when she married  my grandaddy.  My grandaddy was an alcoholic.  He apparently wasn’t a very nice man when he drank.  Luckily, he’d stopped drinking before I was born, so I never knew him during his drinking days.  Even though grandaddy stopped drinking, he was still “set in his ways” and probably not the easiest man to live with, but grandma did it, and loved him very much.

Grandma and Grandaddy had 5 children–4 daughters and a son.  The oldest and youngest daughters were alcoholics.  The oldest daughter died when she was just middle aged, due to alcohol abuse.  She was found dead in her tiny apartment.  The youngest daughter, my mother, actually lived to be 70, but spent much of her mid to later years battling alcholism, depression, and prescription drug abuse.  Due to all of this, my mother spent the final 8 years of her life living in a nursing home facility, in poor health.

  Now, that I am older myself, I can only imagine the heartache that grandma must’ve suffered because of those two troubled daughters.  She took both of them, as well as my daddy, who was also an alcoholic,  into her home many times in an effort to “dry them out” and get them back on the right track.  How her heart must’ve ached to watch them continue to struggle and make the same mistakes over and over. 

Grandma always had a bad limp as long as I can remember.  I believe she hurt her leg as a young girl, seems like she had a pin in her leg.  Around 1964, she and grandaddy were involved in a head on collision that killed the young boy in the other car, who was drag  racing at the time.  Grandma suffered a broken leg and was bed-ridden for 6 months due to the wreck, so her limp grew a lot worse.  Grandaddy wasn’t visibly hurt bad, but suffered a hard blow to the head, after which he began to decline mentally for the next 4 years, until he died.  Grandma lived another 17 years after he died.  To make matters worse after the accident, the young boy’s parents, tried to sue (unsuccessfully) my grandparents, claiming that the accident was their fault.   

My grandma was a christian lady, but grandaddy didn’t go to church much that I can remember.  I don’t know if they attended church in the past, but he didn’t when I was growing up.  Grandma didn’t drive, so she only went where grandaddy took her, and church wasn’t one of those places.  However, after my grandaddy passed away, my grandma was able to go to church, and was faithful to attend as long as she could hitch a ride and her health allowed.

In the early years, before they moved, I remember my grandma cooking in her tiny kitchen that had the only running water in the house–and it was cold!  Her kitchen was about the size of today’s bathrooms, yet she’d stand in it and cook a full meal every day of her life–rain or shine, hot or cold!  Her meals consisted of a meat, several vegetables, rice, and a bread.  She made some of the best bread pudding and  fried fruit tarts that I’ve ever eaten, for occasional desserts.

Grandma loved to sew and she sewed on her pedal-type sewing machine.  I remember her making aprons a lot.  She always wore an apron with a bib on it to protect her dresses.  I loved to watch her pedal that sewing machine as she sewed the cloth that mostly came from flour sacks.  Once she made 2 doll dresses for my dolls.  I was so thrilled, I kept those dresses for many many years.  After my mama passed away, I inherited my grandma’s pedal-type sewing machine, which I still have today.

Grandma loved to can and freeze fresh fruits and vegetables, too.  I used to love to watch her peel and core ripe tomatoes.  At the end of summer, she’d have rows of beautiful jars filled with fruits, pickles, preserves, and vegetables–enough to last the entire winter.  Even after she got too old to can and freeze for herself, she loved to “get in on a good pea shellin’!  We’d  go and pick her up, then all sit around and talk while we shelled the peas or beans by hand.

Grandma lived by herself for a long time after grandaddy passed away, but eventually she had to live in a nursing home.  She had several  good years, before she suffered a massive stroke which left her bed-ridden, unable to communicate or even chew.  It was over three long years after that stroke,  before my grandmother passed away.

I still love her and miss her today.  I think of  her everytime that I do something that she loved to do, like sewing or canning vegetables, but especially when I’m crocheting!  She loved to crochet, and I was amazed by the things that she could make.  It took me many attempts( because I am a lefty), but I finally learned the art of crocheting–right handed!   My grandmother always be remembered in my heart as one fine lady….

More About Those School Days…

While Brandy’s first years of school were up and down, both of my boys had quite the opposite experience.  Neither boy was shy, they always had great teachers, and excelled scholastically.

Brad was reading quite well in kindergarten.  I really don’t know how he picked it up so fast and easy, it was like he always knew how to read.  Brad was given the gifted test in first grade and passed.  Brett scored 100% on his math and reading CRCT in the first grade, but failed to pass the “gifted” test.  When he scored 100% on the ITBS in the 2nd  grade, he was automatically placed in the gifted class.    

When Brad got to the second grade the school day consisted of a lot of “center time” which is another word for “play time”.  I compared his school work with the work that his older brother did in the second grade, and I wasn’t happy.  I knew that he shoud be doing more work, less play.   

In the  meantime, Brett, the older son, was doing great in his classes, but I was getting concerned about his social life.  It seems that 1982 must’ve been the year more girls were born than boys.  There just were not that many boys in that grade, and the ones that Brett liked to  hang around with, were not my friends of choice for him.

Brandy was in the eighth grade and would be going to the high school the following year.  Our county had just consolidated and built one large high school in the middle of the county that year.  There was some rivalry going on between the students from different towns, plus the high school was much larger than what we were used to in the past.  I just wasn’t sure how Brandy would fare in a larger school, with larger classes.

All of these factors played a part in our family’s decision to move our children out of the public school system and into a private christian school.  I can honestly say, that was one of the toughest decisions that we’ve ever had to make, but when we weighed our options, it seemed like the best thing to do for our children.  It was a sacrifice, to say the least.  It required almost my entire salary to pay monthly tuition/bus fee for three children.  Looking back, I know that we did the best thing for Brandy, and probably for Brett, too.  He would’ve done fine academically, anywhere, but he would’ve never had the experience of playing basketball on a team that was runner-up for the State Championship in our public high school–he did at PCA. 

Brandy's class her first year at PCA(she's marked with a sticker)

We transferred the children for the 93/94 school year.  Brandy was in the 9th grade, Brett was in the 6th grade, and Brad was in the 3rd grade.  It was a whole new world for them.  I know that it was toughest for Brandy.  High school is tough for anyone, but to leave behind everyone that you know makes it ten times worse.  Brandy became friends with a couple of other new girls, but they moved after that first year.  She was devastated.  She and her long-time boyfriend, also broke up that year.  Tenth grade was awful, she cried off and on most of the year.  Finally, by the eleventh grade, things were looking up and the last two years were a whole lot better than the first two!  All’s well that ends well???  I know that we did the right thing for Brandy, educationally, even though it was tough emotionally.

The thing about private schools is they eat, sleep, and breathe sports…Brandy doesn’t have an athletic bone in her body, so sports didn’t interest her.  Brett only liked basketball, but he worked hard and eventually excelled at it.  Brad was sort of like Brandy, but he did try basketball a little while, but lost interest.  One out of  our three liked sports–but only one sport!  We became a traveling, basketball-watching  family.  The games were held all over the state of Georgia!

Brett's class the first year at PCA (he's marked with a sticker)

Brandy and Brett graduated from private school.  After they graduated, Brad just wasn’t  happy anymore.  He begged to transfer to the public high school in the ninth grade.  We refused.  It was a rough year, he wasn’t happy and didn’t apply himself.  Finally, we made another tough decision to let him transfer to public school for the tenth grade.

Brad's class the first year at PCA (he's marked with a sticker)

We were very unsure of our decision, but it turned out to be the best decision that we could make for Brad.  He got reinstated in the gifted/galaxy program.  Because of that, he was eligible for an internship– take classes part of the day/work in a local bank part of the day.  He did that for over 2 years, and retained his job at the bank after high school.  He also was eligible to take a college english course in high school to “jump start” his college education.  None of those opportunities were available at the private school. 

I’m very proud of all three of my children and of the education that they have received.  Both boys were honor graduates.  All three children,  qualified for our state’s HOPE scholarship(B or better) for college upon graduation from high school.  Brett received a full scholarship for his first year of college.  Both boys earned college degrees.  Brad earned his 4 year accounting degree while holding down a full-time job.  Brandy attended college for a while, but decided that college wasn’t for her.  She’s had several interesting jobs in hospital-related work,  but is currently working at her most challenging job yet,  being a stay-at-home mom.

Tuesday Blog Hop–Why You Should Read My Blog…

Hello there…readers!

Recently,  I discovered the wonderful world of blogging!  Actually, I discovered it quite by accident–through joining Twitter!  One thing led to another and  I decided I’d write some of the most interesting experiences of my life–in the form of a blog.  I figured my family might enjoy reading them one of these days, after I am dead and gone… 

I thought about keeping my blog private, but then I thought that others might enjoy reading and learning from my life experiences, so I made it public.  I named the blog “Reflections” because as I write my memories, I like to reflect and think about what I’d do different if I could go back… armed with today’s knowledge.   The picture on my blog header even shows a reflecting pond …with water flowing under a bridge….just like my life is flowing by…one day at a time…

I’ve discovered that older folks have a wealth of information that they’ve gained through their life experiences!!!  If you’d told me that fifty years ago, I’d have laughed!  Now that I am older myself, I realize just how true it is.  If you take the time to listen, everyone has interesting stories to tell.  It’s my wish, that my readers will take time to read and enjoy some of my interesting stories..perhaps even take away a bit of wisdom when they go…READ, ENJOY, and LEARN!

If those three reasons don’t keep you coming over here to my blog, how about my weekend giveaway/contests?  A lot of people have giveaways, but mine are different!  They come from my heart.   I started about a month ago having a giveaway every weekend.  It’s my way of doing something special for my readers, to say thank you for stopping by…  I make these little gift bags with various goodies in them.  It may be kitchen soap and a dish towel, or bath gel and a poof.  Each week is different!  Each contest runs from Friday morning  thru Sunday at midnight EST.  On Monday, I draw a winner, then  mail them their gift!  Check it out!!!  To all of my readers, thanks to each one of you…I really appreciate you!

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links…

Not Me, Monday…

Let me begin my post by announcing the winner of my weekend contest/giveaway…the winner is Ruth @ daretobeused.blogspot.  Congratulations!  I’ll get your prize in the mail ASAP.  I hope you enjoy your gift…

This blog carnival was created by mckmama, over at http://www.mycharmingkids.net.  If you enjoy reading my Not Me, Monday, confessions…then hop on over there and read a few more…

No, I did not decide last weekend, while vacationing at the beach, that I wanted to have a Halloween Party.  My husband and I did not have a Halloween Party for all ages,  about 25 years ago, and we enjoyed it very much…

After not deciding to have a Halloween Party, I did not begin to buy decorations for the party that I am not going to have… I did not buy an assortment of severed body parts, squishy gummy insects, and fuzzy spiders.  I did not come home with three tombstones…  I do not have a flying ghoul in the trunk of my car as I write this!

I did not buy a mask called a “hooded hag” which is really an old lady with a really bad make job–blue eye shadow and red lipstick, plus orange hair…I did not walk out wearing it on Saturday night while some of our kids were visiting…I did not cause quite a commotion!  Grandaughter Maddie, did not take one look and begin crying…I think my grown son had thoughts of doing the same thing!!!

I did not tell my grown children that we were having a Halloween Party, to which my oldest son said “I’m coming as the invisible man!”….I did not get it at first!  Then, I GOT IT! (you know, he wouldn’t be here..)  He’s funny like that!  The other son did not tell me that, “It’ll have to be after the GA/FLA football game before I come”…Duh, I do have a television in the living room…boys can be such party poopers.

I did not find costumes for my husband and myself…we will not be dressed up as Mustard and Ketchup!  I did not tell him that he can be mustard, because everyone knows that I LOVE ketchup!!!  Hummmm….maybe he should be ketchup….

At our last Halloween Party 25 years ago, my daddy did not come dressed as a woman!!!  And my mama came dressed as a man!!!  Of course they won the prize for the best dressed…and we all had a big laugh!!!  My daddy sure did make an ugly woman, but my mama made an even uglier man!!!  If I could find a picture, I’d show you…my best friend came as a black cat–she even died her blonde hair black to complete the look!!!  My husband was a pirate…arghhhh…

I’m going to go now and leave you with those thoughts…I hope you have a great Monday…I am just glad to be up and moving after spending the entire day in bed yesterday….Have a great one!

Six Word Saturday…

I’ve begun to look forward to Six Word Saturdays…it’s a little blog hop that I’ve found that only requires me to describe my life in six words!  I love it!  After I post my six words,  then I link up with other Six Word Saturday participants.  I look forward to seeing what everyone says…Here goes…

Feelin’ lazy on this cloudy Saturday!

Wow, I feel better now!  Now I’ll hop on over to http://www.showmyface.com and see what others are doing.