Grandpa Would’ve Been 92 Today…

I just couldn’t let today pass without mentioning my father-in-law, otherwise known to our family as “Grandpa”.  Grandpa was born on April 1st, and he always joked that “he was an April fool.”  Grandpa was many things, but he was no fool!

A while back, I found an old school paper that our youngest son, Brad, had written (14 years ago) about his Grandpa.  Brad was twelve at the time, and his assignment was to interview someone in his family, then write about them.  Brad chose to interview his Grandpa.  Below is a copy of what young Brad wrote about his grandpa.  (last names were omitted for privacy reasons)  

W. A.  II

Willie Allen “W. A.” II was born on April 1, 1920 at Beards Creek.  His parents were Willie Allen “W. A.” and Bessie.  W. A. had one brother and four sisters.  He spent his youth on a farm near Beards Creek.  He attended Beards Creek School and was taught by Ms. Jenny and Mr. Homer.  Back then, school was only taught until eighth grade, and there were no lights or bathrooms in the school.  Sadly, W.A.’s mother, Bessie , died on April 14, 1925, when he was only five years old.  His father then married Pearl .  W.A. and Pearl had two sons and three daughters.

In his teenage years, W.A. attended movies and dances with his friends, cane grindings, peanut boils, and barn raisings (when a group of young men built a barn for someone to impress young ladies).  Swimming was one of his favorite summer activities.  For swimwear, boys wore cut-off overalls, while girls wore tee-shirts under their father’s cut-off overalls.  On December 10, 1939, W.A.’s father died.

In 1942, W.A. was drafted into the United States Army to fight in World War II.  He spent thirteen weeks in basic training at Camp Wheeler.  From there, he went to North Africa, then on to Casablanca, where he practiced for, and participated in the invasion of Sicily.  Then it was on to England, where he practiced for the invasion of France.  Then he went to Belgium.  He was in Ouina, Germany when World War II ended.  W.A. was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters (he won the Bronze star three times), the E.T.O. Ribbon, the Combat Infantry Badge, the Good Conduct Medal, and seven Battle Stars.  After the war, W.A. was sent to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.  Then he went to Atlanta, Georgia, where he was discharged.

After he got out of the Army, W. A. returned to Glennville.  In 1945, he met Vivian.  They got married in 1946, and they farmed for a couple of years.  They had five children, Willie Allen III (died at age 3 1/2 ), Edward Ronald, Dale Donald (died age 6 months), Kerry Robin, and Kevin Keith.

W. A. worked as a carpenter at Fort Stewart for 28 years.  He retired when he was 59 years old, and has “sat around” ever since.  He has five grandchildren, Jeremy, Brandy, Brett, April, and Brad.  He attends Beards Creek Primitive Baptist Church.  One of his hobbies is watching “The Price Is Right”.  It seems like an obsession because every day at 11 a.m., no matter where he is or what he is doing, he wants to watch “The Price Is Right”.  W. A. has accomplished a lot in his 78 years.  I hope to achieve such greatness in my life as he has…

I’m so thankful that Brad was able to do this interview with his grandpa.  It brought the two of them closer together, and also provided our family a bit of family history to be preserved.  Grandpa passed away just a few short years after his interview with Brad.

**I have to add a footnote here.  Grandpa was sort of “obsessed” with “The Price Is Right”.  He loved that show, and we all knew it!  He watched it, while cooking lunch, for many, many years.   However, my father-in-law did not spend the majority of his retirement days just “sitting around”!  He was one of  the most “active” retired men I’ve ever known.  He constantly stayed busy working on his farm!

I’ll never forget, how at the age of 70, Grandpa participated, with our church youth, in a “walk-a-thon” to raise money for church camp.  He walked five miles with us, and talked and laughed the entire five miles!  I, on the other hand, was walking with my tongue hanging out!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!  I’ll bet you are busy walking and talking somewhere in Heaven, but  we still miss you down here…

Share It With You Sunday…A Little Holy Humor

A father was approached by his small son who told him proudly, “I know what the Bible means!”

The father smiled and replied, “What do you mean, you know what the Bible means?”

The son replied, “I do know!”

“Okay”, said the father, “What does the Bible mean?”

“That’s easy, Daddy,” the young boy replied excitedly.  “It stands for Basic Information Before Leaving Earth!” 

………………………………………………………………….

One day a gracious lady was mailing  an old family Bible to her brother who lived in another part of the country.

The postal clerk asked her, “Is there anything breakable in here?”

“Only the Ten Commandments”, answered the lady.

……………………………………………………

There are two kinds of people in the world…Those who wake up in the morning and say “Good morning, Lord!”…and those who wake up in the morning and say, “Good Lord!  It’s morning!”

……………………………………………………..

A minister parked his car in a “no-parking” zone in a large city, because he was short of time and he couldn’t find a space with a meter.

The minister put a note on the windshield that read “I have circled the block ten times.  If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment.  Forgive us our trespasses.”

When the minister returned, he found a citation from a police officer, along with this note: “I’ve circled this block for ten years.  If I don’t give you a ticket, I’ll lose my job.  Lead us not into temptation.”

……………………………………………………

There is the story of a pastor who got up one morning and announced to his congregation, “I have good news and bad news…The good news is, we have enough money to pay for our new building program…The bad news is, it’s still out there in your pockets!”

***Thanks to my friend, Cindy,  for sharing this Holy Humor with me.

Share It With You Sunday…Maybe

Maybe we were supposed to meet the wrong person before meeting the right one…so when we finally meet the right person, we’ll know how to be grateful for the gift…

Maybe when the door of happiness closes, another opens, but sometimes we look so long at the closed-door, that we don’t see the new one opening for us…

Maybe it’s true that we don’t know what we have until it’s lost, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives…

Maybe the happiest people don’t have the best of everything, but instead make the best of everything they have…

Maybe the brightest future will be based on a forgotten past,  it’s difficult to go on successfully in life until you let go of your past failures, mistakes, and heartaches…

Maybe you should dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, and be all you want to be, because you only have one life, and one chance to do all these things…

Maybe the best kind of friend is one you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation that you’ve ever had…

Maybe you should do something nice for someone everyday, even if it’s to simply leave them alone…

Maybe you should put yourself in another’s shoes.  If it feels hurtful to you, it will probably feel hurtful to someone else…

Maybe you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy…

Maybe you should live your life to the fullest.  When you were born, you were crying, while everyone else around you was smiling…If you live a full life, when you die, you can be the one smiling, while everyone else around you is crying…

*Thanks to my friend, Cindy, who shared these thoughts with me through an email.

Share It With You Sunday~~My 2nd Blogiversary Giveaway…

A dozen of my favorite things!

I mentioned last week that the second anniversary(April 7th) of this blog is approaching.  It seems like it was just yesterday when I made the decision to start a blog!  I had no idea how to begin to start one, but with the help of my youngest son, Brad, soon I was set up and blogging away!  I love all of the on-line friends that I’ve made, and I love having a place to record and share my thoughts!  It’s the most fun I’ve ever had with a hobby! 

In celebration of this my 2 year “blogiversary”, I’ve decided to have a “give-away”.  Some lucky person is going to win a box filled with some of my favorite things!   The box will include the following items:

1.  A small gift set of  shower gel, body spray, and lotion by B&B (in my favorite scent of Cherry Blossom).

2.  A bottle of B& B Kitchen Lemon antibacterial hand soap (love it for getting that sweet Vidalia onion smell off my hands) 

3.  Pocket-size bottle of B&B hand sanitizer, in Caribbean Escape scent ( ’cause even in spring, there are still germs out there, you know!)

4.   Two small B&B scented candles in Seaside Escape & Island Colada scents (because I love candles, and  I’m thinking about the beach already!)

5.  A wind chime ( I just love the tinkling of chimes in the summer breeze)

6.   3 packages of Spearmint Eclipse gum (my favorite brand/flavor for the past 2 years)

7.  A pad of word finds (great way  to kill time while waiting…for whatever!)

8.  An acid free, non-sticky photo album (because I love photos, and you never should put your photos in a  sticky, magnetic album!–I learned this the hard way!!!)

9.  A pad of post-it-notes (I’m a list maker, and I love post-it-notes, too)

10.  A pair of B&B lounging socks (The best lounging socks ever!  Since I tried these, I won’t wear anything else!) 

11.  A portable sewing kit (because I love to sew, and you never know when you’ll need a needle and thread–or tape measure!)

12.  A set of springtime cookie cutters (I love to bake–and spring is almost here!)

To be eligible to win this giveaway, you must live within the United States, (due to postage and customs).  All you have to do is leave a comment asking to be entered in my “blogiversary giveaway”.  You may enter as often as you wish between now and April 7th.  The deadline for entries is midnight EST on April 6th.  The drawing will be held, and the winner announced on Thursday morning, April 7th.  Good luck–and thanks, in advance,  for sharing this special occasion with me! 

Share It With You Sunday…February 27

I hope you have enjoyed a weekend as beautiful as the one here!  Plenty of bright, beautiful sunshine, gentle breezes, and  temperatures up in the high 70’s!  It just doesn’t get any better!  It’s still early, so the bugs haven’t come around yet, which means–no gnats, flies, or mosquitoes!

My husband and I raked pine straw most of the afternoon yesterday.  Have I mentioned that we have about a million pine trees around us???  We are trying to get some grass to grow in our yard, so we had to rake the straw to give the grass some air and sunshine.  I lost count of the wheelbarrows full of straw that were rolled away(to our daughter’s flowerbeds)…Did I mention that we both have sore backs today?  I have lots of stiff joints, too.

Good news!  Brad was finally able to return to work last week, and he actually had a job to return to!  He wasn’t able to work an entire day all week, due to fatigue, but he’s slowly getting stronger.  Hopefully, this coming week will be even better for him.  He’s been ill the entire month of February!

Ed’s mom had a follow-up doctor’s appointment at the end of the week.  She seems to be retaining fluids, so she’s taking a “water pill” for that.  Her mental state has improved, but she’s still confused at times.  We’re just thankful that she’s able to get up and walk around again!  Brad took her to her doctor’s visit for us, and we are grateful that he did.  I know she enjoyed spending some time with him, too.  He took her to get some ice cream after the doctor’s visit…gotta’ love that!

Some of you have asked about Jennifer.  She’s been doing fine since her last ER visit, several weeks ago.  She is busy working those ridiculously long days at the hospital.  She usually works two days, then gets a day or two off.  Lately, she’s been practicing her cooking skills for Brad on some of her days off!  Way to go Jennifer!

My brother sent me an interesting email a few weeks ago.  It had some historical facts in it, which I found quite interesting.  I thought I’d share a couple of them with you. 

Where did the term “piss poor” come from?  (we hear this a lot in the south)    Way back when, they used urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot, then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery.  If you had to do this to survive, you were “piss poor”…but worse than this were the people who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot!  They didn’t even have a pot to piss in, and were the lowest of the low…

About those wedding bouquets…Way back when,  people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May(really?), so they still smelled pretty good in June.  However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor…Hence, the tradition of  carrying flowers when getting married!

About bath water in the 1500’s…Baths consisted of a tub filled with hot water (they still do).  The man of the house had the privilege of using the nice clean water, then all the other men/sons,  then the women, and finally the children got to use it.  The babies were bathed last (Ewww)  By then the water was so dirty, you could actually lose someone in it! (Ewww)  Hence, the saying “don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!”

I’m glad I didn’t live in those days…How about you?

Share It With You Sunday ~ “Life In The South”…

THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT THE SOUTH   1) A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.   2) There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in the south.   3) There are 10,000 types of spiders.  All 10,000 of them live in the south, plus a couple no one has ever seen before.   4) If it grows, it’ll stick ya.  If it crawls, it’ll bite cha.   5) Onced and twiced are words.   6) It is not a shopping cart, it’s a buggy.   7) Jaw-P: This is a word that means,”Did yall go to the bathroom?”   8) People actually grow and eat okra.   9) Fixinto is one word.  It means, “I’m fixing to do that.”   10) There is no such thing as lunch.  There is only dinner and then there is supper.   11) Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you’re two.  By the way, we do like a little tea with our sugar.   12) Backwards and forwards means I know everything about you.   13) The word jeet is actually a phrase meaning, “Did you eat?”   14) You dont have to wear a watch, because it doesn’t matter what time it is, you work until you’re done or it’s too dark to see.   15) You don’t PUSH buttons, you MASH em.   16) “No, Jew?” is a common response to the question, “Did you bring any beer?”   17) You measure distance in minutes.   18) You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.   19) All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect, or animal.   20) You know what a DAWG is.   21) You carry jumper cables in your car – for your OWN car.   22) You only own five spices: salt, pepper, BBQ sauce , tabasco and ketchup.   23) The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but it require 6 pages for local high school sports and motor sports, and gossip.   24) You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.   25) You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit a bit warm.   26) You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.   27) Going to Walmart is a favorite pastime known as “goin Wal-Martin” or “off to Wally World.”   28) You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chicken stew weather.   29) Fried catfish is the other white meat.   30) We don’t need no dang Driver’s Ed.  If our mama says we can drive, we can drive dag-nabbit.    Yep, after fifty-somethin’ years of livin’ in the south, I’d say that pretty much sums up life here in Dixie…

You Might Be From a Small Town If…

A friend of mine recently sent me this email.  It was so funny and so true, I just had to share it with you.  If you are from a small town, you’ll understand.  If not, you’ll get a glimpse into “Small Town, USA”.  Here are my favorite points.

You might be from a small town if…

*You can name everyone you graduated with.

*You know what 4H is.

*You ever went to parties at a pasture, in a barn, or in the middle of a dirt road.

*You used to cruise the “main drag” on weekends. (our main drag is a section of highway 301)

*You schedule parties around the schedules of different police officers–because you know which ones would bust you and which ones wouldn’t.

*You ever went cow tipping or snipe hunting.

*You could never buy cigarettes because all of the store clerks knew how old you were.

*It was cool to date someone from a neighboring town. (I’m guilty of this.)

*You had senior skip day.

*The whole school went to the same party after graduation.  (pretty much)

*You can’t help but date a friend’s ex girlfriend/boyfriend.  (my girlfriends dated my hubby before I did)

*Your car stays filthy from the dirt roads–and you will never own a dark vehicle for this reason! (true, but I had a temporary lapse in judgement!)

*The town next to yours is considered “trashy” or “snooty”, but it’s actually just like your own. (so true, so true)

*You refer to anyone who owns a house newer than 1980 as “the rich people”. (Ha Ha)

*The people in the city dress funny, then you pick up on the trend two years later. (that’s our town–two years behind on everything!)

*You bragged to your friends because you got pipes on your truck for your birthday.

*Anyone you want can be found at either the Dairy Queen or the feed store.  (or in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot!)

*Directions are given using “the stop light” as a reference. (but actually we have two stop lights!)

*Your letter jacket was worn after your 19th birthday.

*Weekend excitement involves a trip to Wal-mart.  (Yeah, man!)

*Even the ugly people enter beauty pageants. (and win!)

*You decide to walk somewhere for exercise, and five people  pull over and ask if you need a ride.

*Your teachers call you by your older sibling’s names.

*Your teachers remember when they taught your parents.  (been there, done that!)

*You can charge at all the local stores. (this was true when I was young)

*The closest mall is at least an hour away. (small mall, 45 minutes/large mall, 60 minutes)

*You laugh your head off while reading this, because you know it’s all true!

Thanks, Cindy, for this very accurate description of life in “our town”.  LOL

Share It With You Sunday…December 12

Well, its thirteen days until Christmas, and guess what’s going on at our house?  A lot of things!

First of all, my husband looked out of the window this morning, and asked me “What is that box under our car shelter?”  It turned out to be his new mattress, and  it spent the night outside in the rain and cold!  I guess it was delivered yesterday while we were gone, and we didn’t pull the car under the shelter when we came home.  Lucky for us, it was wrapped tightly in plastic, and tucked safely inside of a box.  Notice that box–does it look like it had a rough ride, or what?

It really makes you want to order something this time of the year, doesn’t it?  Especially, when your package is dumped outside in the weather!!! 

Anyway, this mattress is sort of like a temper-pedic mattress–it’s made of memory foam.  I bought one 10 months ago, and it’s the best mattress I’ve ever slept on…Now it’s hubby’s turn to get one–cause he’s the one with the backache all the time now!  As I blog, I’m sitting here watching the mattress expand from the one inch height that it was when we unpacked it, and rolled it out, to the ten inche thickness that it will eventually become.  It’s a very interesting process…it will continue to expand for days, but he can sleep on it tonight!

So with Caden’s birthday party over, I figured that was my signal that it’s time to get the Christmas gifts wrapped!  Before I move on, let me just say how grateful I am that God did not bless me with a baby during the month of December!  To have to plan and host a birthday party during this month is cruel and unusual punishment! 

Caden’s mother has been going crazy trying to decorate for Christmas and get ready for his birthday–plus she’s been making and selling Christmas ornaments!  Wow!  She survived, and the party was a success–and I know she’s glad that it’s behind her… 

And would you believe that today Caden woke up sick?  Yes…when it rains sometimes it pours, doesn’t it?   Poor fellow…sick on his actual birthday–bummer!  He’s a photo of him opening a gift yesterday…

  Speaking of gifts– that’s what we’ve been doing this afternoon–wrapping Christmas gifts!  Oh what fun!  The song “simply having a wonderful Christmas time” was playing in the background and I said to Ed, “I’m not having a simply wonderful Christmas time!”  I’m frustrated because I am in the middle of a Christmas mess, see….

That little person over by the window is Ed.  He’s wrapping his gifts for work–while I run around taking photos.  Now that I’ve stopped doing that, and started blogging, he’s on the couch taking a much-needed nap!   That’s Ed’s billiards table underneath all that Christmas mess…it makes a great “all-purpose” table, too.  That’s my dusty treadmill over in the corner, it gets used about as often as the billiards table does.

While eating lunch today, I heard a thud and a crash on the front porch.  The wind is really blowing here today!  I jumped up, only to discover one of my front porch trees had blown off  its table, and landed on the floor!  Thank goodness for shatter-proof ornaments–but that didn’t help the bowl which broke when the tree pot fell on it.  I re-positioned the tree, added more rocks to the base of the pot, and came back inside–only to hear another crash about ten minutes later!  That stupid tree blew off its table again!  It will be a miracle if the lights on it burn tonight…and let me tell you–that tree’s not looking so pretty at the moment–after hitting the floor twice!

I have one more cute photo and story to share with you before I get back to my gift wrapping.  You know, I told you about how “Buddy” the elf is “traveling” around our granddaughter, Madison’s house at night (with a little help from her dad)?  Well, since I wrote that post, Madison found “Buddy” in her daddy’s Christmas stocking, and here is a photo of his most recent resting place–in the arms of the Minnie Mouse!  We think Buddy is looking for warm spots to rest…

Now doesn’t that photo just warm the cockles of your heart?  I can hardly wait to hear where the little elf lands next!  I think that’s one busy and mischievous elf!  Have a restful Sunday, everyone…I’m going back to wrap more gifts!

In case anyone is interested, I’m posting Caden’s birthday montage at the bottom.  It was a labor of love–and it beautifully captures the past two years with him…

Share It With You Sunday…Good News!

Today’s news is something that I’ve been hoping to share with you for a while now–I just wasn’t sure when it would be…but before I get to that, let me give you a little back ground story!

On Friday evening, our youngest son, Brad, came by.  He was on his way to Savannah to meet Jennifer and her daddy, who had been there doing some shopping earlier in the afternoon.  I heard him enter the combination to our safe, so I knew he was up to something.  He’d been keeping a “little something”  there–waiting for just the right moment. 

On his way out, he asked if he could borrow my camera.  He said he wanted to take Jennifer down to historic River Street, under the pretense of “taking photographs for mama’s blog”.  I gave him my camera, and he went on his way.  In my mind I was thinking, Jennifer’s going to be tired from shopping, and she is not going to want to go to River Street to take blog photographs for me!  (which I totally understand)  I was secretly hoping that she wouldn’t give Brad too hard of a time.

Brad took her out to Olive Garden for dinner.  He said she was quiet throughout dinner–she was probably thinking how much she wasn’t in the mood to go take photographs for me, and about the bedroom furniture that she’d been admiring earlier, but Brad had talked her out of buying. 

Following dinner, they headed down to River Street, explored some of the shops and sights, and took a few photos, which I will now share with you–because they are a part of the story…

I have no idea what this place is, but it’s beautiful.

I believe this is Savannah Sweets, a local candy shop.  Notice the cobblestone street in front of it.  River Street is famous for its cobblestone streets–and for the river, of course.

This is the night view of the river.

After taking a few photographs,  Brad finally got down to his business–the real reason he took Jennifer down to beautiful and romantic River Street–to ask her to become his wife…and

She said “YES”!

Share It With You Sunday…What A Weekend!

We had a busy weekend here in Gooseneck–but it was a good weekend!  Our little granddaughter, Madison, turned four on Saturday.  We spent the weekend celebrating–and I do mean the entire weekend!

Our Birthday Princess...

Now I know that all grandkids are special, but Madison is a wee bit more special to us for several reasons.  First of all, I wanted to be a grandma for five long years before Madison ever arrived.  Then when our daughter and her husband finally decided to try to conceive–it took quite a while (15 months)– and they had to have a little help(fertility drugs).  Once Madison was conceived, it was a problem pregnancy–bed rest almost the entire time–ending with an emergency c-section delivery!  By now I guess you’ve got the idea…Madison didn’t come easy.

Every year on Madison’s birthday, we recall all of the trials and tribulations that we went through to get her here:

…How Brandy had to give up her job due to being on bed rest

…How she and her husband learned to manage on one income

…How they eventually had to move in with my husband and me for the last two months of the pregnancy, after Brandy was hospitalized for several days

…How Brandy was sent to the hospital for an emergency c-section(two weeks early) after going for a routine office visit

…How Brandy’s regular doctor was out-of-town at the time that she was sent to the hospital

…How the attending physician suddenly changed his mind about doing the c-section after the nurses at the hospital convinced him that it wasn’t necessary!

…How I got ugly with the attending doctor(and threatened him) when he told me he was going to send Brandy home

…How the attending doctor agreed to go ahead with a c-section–if an amniocentesis was done showing lung maturity

…How it took Brandy an entire day to get up her nerve to have the amnio done

…How the c-section was scheduled–then cancelled– when the amnio results showed the baby’s lungs weren’t mature

…How finally after five long days of Brandy being  in the hospital–her regular doctor returned(death in family)

…How on the very day that her regular doctor returned–her baby went into distress again but it would take all day to get any relief…

…How finally at 7:40 in the evening an emergency c-section was performed–and little Madison was born, perfect,  healthy, and with mature lungs! (the test was wrong) Her cord was wrapped around her neck,  causing all of the distress

…and last but not least, how I slept on the floor of Brandy’s hospital room most of those five nights–because nobody would give me a cot or a reclining chair–and I wasn’t leaving (it’s well over an hour’s drive home)

Now that I’ve remembered and written all that we experienced trying to get Madison here– I’m tired!  Actually, I am tired from two days of partying and celebrating with her–but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything!  Like the old song says…Thank God for kids–and grandkids!

Me holding Madison for the first time...

I’m including a photograph that was taken of me when I held our precious granddaughter for the very first time…Can you see the look of relief and joy on my face?  What a moment!  I am not ashamed to tell you this– I sat in that hospital chair and held that little bundle of joy the entire night, while her exhausted parents slept.  That was as close to heaven as I’ll ever get here on earth…Happy Birthday, Madison!