Just A Little Like Christmas

Sunday, November 28 – Saturday, December 4, 2010

Sunday, November 28

Happy Birthday today to Barbara Colwell Little!!! Question: What do Barbara Little and the Mother Road (that famous east-west highway) have in common? Answer: They’re both 66!

Barbara: Carol and I were up and stirring fairly early since Connie Sue was to come over at 8:00 to get her mother packed up and ready to head back to New Mexico. Carol went down to bring some breakfast back to the room as I continued to play the part of a lady of leisure! I knew Jim and I would eat an early lunch so I had decided to forego the morning meal. After checking that Carol hadn’t forgotten anything, we sat down to await her ride. Only problem was…Connie forgot to wake up! However, after a little prompting through the phone, she made it over to the hotel only about 30 minutes later than expected. Since they (Carol, Connie, Tonya, and Tamara) were headed back to Gary’s to say their good-byes to them and get the rest of their passengers, I took a couple of quick photos and waved my farewell.

Then, it was back to the room to play a couple of rounds of Wheel on facebook, write some emails, and accept some birthday wishes phone calls as I awaited the arrival of Jim.

Jim: I was up fairly early this morning to make sure everything in the house was ready for Sophie to come and spend time with Mother.

Sophie arrived at 8:30 and by 9:00 I had the car packed and was on the way to Shreveport and Bossier City for a birthday edition of Date Day with Barbara. After a couple of stops here in town, I hit the road, taking U.S. 80 east to Gladewater and then cutting down to I-20 for the rest of the trip, and finally arriving at the SpringHill Suites at Louisiana Downs.

I met up with Barbara and we went over to Harrah’s to play for a bit before taking in a great buffet, one in which I was able to eat all the “peel and eat” shrimp I could handle…I also sampled some great Cajun gumbo and prime rib, but the shrimp definitely made the meal!

After eating, we decided we’d go to downtown Shreveport for a while. We tried to call Gary, Carol’s son, to see about dropping by for a short visit, but no one answered the phone, so we went down to the Horseshoe to enjoy the entertainment there for a couple of hours before returning to Harrah’s and then the SpringHill Suites for the evening.

Monday, November 29

We took our time getting up and around this morning. While Barbara was going through her morning routine, I took advantage of the hotel’s complimentary breakfast buffet to get my morning nourishment. I always enjoy eating there…lots of good food and no reason to rush through it.

Once we checked out, we drove back down to the Horseshoe to play some more. Our enjoyment was greatly enhanced when Barbara hit for a nearly $800 jackpot on a penny machine, allowing us a little more time to play, but leaving us with enough of our senses to get the heck out of there while we were far ahead.

We got away from Shreveport around 12:30, stopped for gas and lunch along the way, and then drove through a stretch of bad rain for a bit before hitting clear skies and dry pavement for the rest of the trip back to Mineola. We arrived at the house just a few minutes before 3:00, visited with Sophie for a few minutes before she went home, and then began unpacking and putting things away.

Barbara: One of the first things I noticed when we walked into Edith’s was that there was a chocolate pie sitting on the kitchen bar…I had told TJ that I’d love to have a chocolate pie for my birthday since her pies taste exactly like I remember my mother making! They are sooooooo yummy! Boy, we could sure drag out this birthday thing! While Jim was taking a pic of me and my pie, he also took another one of me in my Emergency Numbers shirt from Carol. What an awesome 66th I had!

Jim: This evening we started digging out Christmas decorations and spent some time working on the Thanksgiving week edition of the journal…nothing at all exciting, but that was fine with us.

Tuesday, November 30

I got up early this morning to go to prayer meeting out at Yantis. Mother woke up about the same time I did, so I helped her get set up for the morning…propped in bed with coffee, newspaper, and the TV remote.

I was hoping to work around Big V for two or three hours after prayer meeting, but it was 39 degrees out and the wind was blowing, so I decided I’d just have to wait until another day to work outside. I took time to do some measurements for my next project and then returned to Mineola, where I found Barbara moving Christmas decorations into the house.

We spent several hours combing through all the decorations and deciding what we could use and where we could use it. By the time we got through, we had the living room and dining room tastefully decorated…nothing that was in-your-face Christmas, but enough set out and arranged that we were very comfortable with our efforts.

This evening we went to Walmart to do some shopping and a little shop-looking. While we were there, we checked in the electronics department and noticed that the Vizio 32” flat-screen TVs were reduced in price. They were still higher than the TVs we looked at last Friday morning, but I had a chance to compare the two models side-by-side, and there was a lot more contrast than comparison; there was no doubt that the Vizio, even at a slightly higher price, had a far superior picture…well worth the difference in costs.

We debated whether to go ahead and buy a set tonight. After all, there were quite a few of that model on the racks, and we could surely come back next week and get one. We walked around for a bit and looked at other items before I said that we might ought to go ahead and get the TV we wanted for Mother instead of taking any chances. So, I got another cart, loaded the TV into it, and we finished our looking and shopping and headed home.

Once we got back to the house, we decided that it was foolish to hide the TV in the garage for the next 25 days when Mother could be enjoying it, so we called TJ and invited her to a special Christmas brunch for Mother tomorrow morning. That would give us tonight to unpack the set and figure out how it worked.

When we got Mother settled in for the evening, we disconnected the little TV in the living room, moved it to the garage, moved the new set into the living room, unpacked it, and then started the hookup process. Even following the directions, it took longer than I thought it would to figure out how to get the CD/DVD player hooked up, and all the different functions figured out. Once we did, though, we were just blown away by the quality of the picture and sound…there was no doubt in our minds that Mother was going to love this thing!

We spent the rest of the evening working at our computers and watching the new TV (and trying to figure out how we were going to hide it from Mother and TJ tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, December 1

Today was the First Day of Christmas, at least at Mother’s house. We got up fairly early and started to work on the day’s agenda.

While Barbara started gathering the ingredients for her sausage quiche, I made a quick Walmart run to get a few things we needed for groceries and a set of component cables to finish the hookup of the new TV.

Once back at the house, I hid the new TV behind one of the couches and put the old one back in place and then went to the kitchen to help Barbara get breakfast ready.

TJ came over around 9:30 and we sat down to a delightful brunch of Italian sweet sausage quiche, fresh grapes, and toasted homemade Russian rye bread…you can believe us when we say that no one waddled away hungry!

When the meal was finished and the table cleared, we walked Mother and TJ into the living room and had them sit down. Then, we told them to close their eyes until we told them to open them. While Barbara watched to make sure no one cheated, I went behind the couch, took the little TV down from the table, and replaced it with the new TV. Barbara then read a little poem we had written earlier in the morning and told Mother and TJ to open their eyes and picture the new TV in Mother’s room…to say that Mother and TJ were surprised would be an understatement.

We ran through some of the channels to see what a great picture Mother would be receiving, and then TJ had to leave to go to a doctor appointment. We had already told Mother that we would be watching Forrest Gump this morning…just didn’t tell her that we would be watching it on a new TV.

Mother told us she had never seen Forrest Gump, (we were lucky enough to borrow a copy of it from Becky when we were in New Mexico) so this morning we just sat in the living room, closed the blinds to keep out the glare of the bright sun, and enjoyed ourselves as we watched the show. Mother enjoyed the movie and Barbara and I were amazed at how much of the movie we had forgotten.

After the movie, we got Mother back to the recliner in her room and we set about removing the old TV (which seemed to weigh about 900 pounds today) and replacing it with her new TV. Since I had already hooked all the components together (and because the new TV weighs only 20 pounds), it didn’t take long until we had Mother’s entertainment center up and running for her viewing pleasure.

We then left Mother to enjoy the new TV while we moved the old one to the living room, switched out a couple of tables so their would be a large enough base for Mother’s old unit, and hooked in the cable box and DVD player. Now we have a TV that we can actually watch in the living room…how exciting!

Kendra, Mother’s nurse from At-Home Healthcare, came to the house a little after 1:00 and spent about an hour visiting with Mother while we tried to clean up and straighten all the little messes we made throughout the day.

Later in the afternoon I went to the vet’s office to get pet meds for the puppies and a case of canned dog food for Spike. Since moving in with Mother last January, we’ve learned that a lot of what we do revolves around fixed routines…for example, Spike and Bonita each take a pill and have a flea and tick medication rubbed into their necks once a month…those days are marked on the calendar and we follow them about as religiously as possible. To add to the routine, I change out the furnace/air conditioner filter once a month, so we’ve established the 1st of each month as the day to do all that.

To top it all off, since today is Wednesday and the garbage man will come tomorrow, we went through our regular Wednesday routine of gathering and bagging all the trash and setting it out on the front sidewalk for pickup early tomorrow morning. Whew…doctor the puppies, change the filter, bag and take out the trash…how much more fulfilling could our lives be?!!!

TJ came over this evening with a couple of boxes of Christmas ornaments that have been in the family since I was very young. Most of them are showing their age and are worn from as many as sixty years of hangings, packings, and unpackings, but still have a special beauty about them, surely the result of “memory sheen.” We selected quite a few of them and Barbara organized them in a basket so that now the indoor decorations reflect everything from the very old memories to the very new hopes and dreams.

Thursday, December 2

Jim: I had an appointment with the dermatologist this morning. Luckily, I was able to get this appointment in Quitman, saving the hassle of driving to and through Tyler. In case our constant readers haven’t figured it out, we do not like going to Tyler or driving through it and will avoid those activities whenever possible. So, instead of a half day of misery, I had only to drive ten minutes to the office in Quitman where Mr. Gautier, the PA for Dermatology Associates of Tyler, examined my face and scalp, picked up his magic freezing machine, and hit me with about 15 shots of liquid nitrogen (or whatever he is now using to inflict great pain on a small area). After that treatment, Mr. Gautier declared me good to go and said he’d see me in another six months.

When I was finished at the clinic, I drove to Yantis to get the MP3 player and Lisa’s presentation from yesterday’s Bible study, visited with Pastor David and Missy, our church secretary, for a few minutes, went across the street and bought another large box of sweet potatoes to carry us through the next month or so, swung by Holiday Villages to get some things that Barbara needed from Big V, and then returned to the house in Mineola to “start” the day.

I got home to find that Barbara had already tackled the morning chores…getting Mother up and around, fixing breakfast, starting the laundry, straightening the kitchen, etc. There’s always something that needs doing around here, especially in the mornings, and fortunately for me, Barbara had nearly all of it handled by the time I arrived.

After we had a chance to talk a bit and I filled Barbara in on what Mr. Gautier had done and said, we went to Walmart to see what we could find in the way of outdoor Christmas decorations. We’d been told by the neighbors that our neighborhood really dresses itself up for Christmas and we didn’t want to be the only Grinch House on the block.

We had already decided that outdoor lights on the house were out of the question for this year, but we did find some things to add color and Christmas decoration to the front porch and took them back to the house to see what we could do with them. Barbara, who has a much finer eye for decorations than I do, worked her magic with some odds and ends she found in the old boxes of decorations, and soon we had the porch looking a lot like Christmas…new flower arrangements in the hanging pots, and the new decorations placed just the way we wanted. As with the inside, we wanted sense of the season without a full-blown, in-your-face shout-out.

Satisfied with what we had accomplished, we had Mother come outside to see what we had done with her house and then, when TJ arrived, we all sat down to lunch and conversation.

We spent the afternoon and evening doing not much of anything significant…just reading, watching a little TV, and listening to seasonal background music…just a nice, quiet time at home with the three of us.

Friday, December 3

Today was another quiet day around the place. We got the usual morning chores and activities out of the way and then Barbara started “building” a pot of sweet potato soup for lunch. It’s a recipe that takes several hours, but is worth every minute of the time it takes.

While Barbara was slaving in the kitchen, I went to Walmart to find one more outdoor decoration to balance the display on the porch. On the way back to the house, I stopped at the pharmacy to visit with an insurance representative to see if there might be a better prescription plan for Mother for next year. Mother is now in that infamous “Donut Hole” in her prescription plan and with the number of high-dollar meds she takes for Parkinsonism, the last two months have added some interesting expenses.

I visited with Dennis, the representative, for a few minutes, explained Mother’s situation and gave him a list of her meds, and then set an appointment for 11:00 tomorrow morning to come back and see if, like Ford Motor Company, he had a better idea.

Back at the house we waited for the sweet potato soup to finish cooking while Barbara tackled the monthly bills and I did some odd jobs around the place. TJ came over and joined us for a late lunch…soup and grilled cheese sandwiches made with my homemade Russian rye bread.

We had another quiet evening. Since the sun goes down so early now, we seem to be settled down by 6:00, watching TV, playing or working at the computers, or tackling the odd chores that we missed during the day.

Saturday, December 4

Happy Birthday to Susie Francis in Hobbs, New Mexico!!!

As Saturdays go, this was a fairly quiet one for us. Mother woke up at 5:00 this morning, but went back to sleep, so we were a little slower than usual getting the morning activities accomplished.

While Barbara took care of the laundry chores, I went back to the pharmacy to visit with the prescription insurance representative. Unfortunately for Mother, Barbara’s work was much more successful than mine. The rep told me that he had checked everything as carefully as he could and decided that as much as he’d like to sell us a plan, he couldn’t do any better than what Mother already has…so, we’ll just continue with the plan and hope that drug costs will somehow decrease next year.

During lunch we listened to part of the webcast of Artesia’s football game with Aztec. When we finished eating and I got Mother up from the table to go back to her room, she surprised us by going to the living room and saying that she wanted to sit and listen to the game. So, we just sat here with the computer feeding us the audio (because it was a championship game there wasn’t a video feed) and cheering on our hometown Bulldogs.

Artesia held a narrow 23 – 21 lead at halftime and the game remained nip and tuck until Aztec made a couple of mistakes, turning the ball over to the Bulldogs, but still fighting hard to the end. When the game was finished, Artesia had outscored the Tigers and earned their 27th New Mexico High School Activities Association state football championship…what a game…what a victory…and what a record!

I was an eighth grader at Artesia Junior High when the Bulldogs won their first ever football state championship in 1957 and after that, it became a local tradition to spend most Thanksgiving days at a championship game. Times have changed and the playoffs have extended past the Thanksgiving holidays, but the tradition of excellence has continued since one of the sons of our high school football coach took over the reins years ago.

This afternoon Barbara started another large pot of sweet potato soup for us to take to the church Christmas dinner tomorrow. While that was going, we finished labeling and packaging this week’s Bible study lesson on Psalm 23. We’ll take the discs to church tomorrow morning for distribution.

This evening we had Sophie come over and watch Mother for a couple of hours while we went to Holiday Villages for the monthly bingo night. Tonight we sat at a table with our neighbors, Bubba and Margaret, Preacher Elton and his wife Wanda (Elton conducts the non-denominational worship service in the clubhouse each Sunday morning), and Joan, another neighbor. This was the first time for all of us to sit together as a group, and we found that we kept each other in stitches all night. Sandy, the caller, wondered what was so funny at our table that we weren’t focusing on the games. I even got so caught up in what we were laughing about that I almost missed seeing that I won a game, and barely had time to yell, “Bingo!” before Sandy called the next number. It was a fun way to finish out the week, and we even got a $10.00 Walmart card out of the deal because of my win. (Bubba & Margaret in bottom 2 photos while Elton and Wanda are on the bottom right) Somehow we missed Joan’s pic…that will be a must for next time!

We returned to Mineola after bingo and took care of the nighttime business of getting Mother ready for bed, putting away the sweet potato soup that had been cooking all evening, and doing another of the Saturday “routine” chores, sorting out all of Mother’s meds for next week and putting them in the meds box compartments.

John surprised us pleasantly this week by sending us a photo of granddaughter Randi on her 16th birthday which meant of course that we have to include it…this is a grandparent rule one learns early…display those grandkids any time you can!

"If you can put yourself in other people's shoes and wish other people the shoes that you like best yourself, we have a recipe for better relationships with each other." - Zlata Filipovic’, author of Stolen Voices: Young Peoples’ War Diaries from WWI to Iraq

From Mineola with love,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

More Than a Little Thankful!

Sunday, November 21 – Saturday, November 27, 2010

Sunday, November 21

Happy Birthday to Fred Epperly, our illustrious Sunday school teacher!!!

Sophie got here early enough this morning that we had time to feed Mother and still run by Big V to drop off some things and then get to the church in time for the fellowship breakfast. We haven’t been to the breakfast for several weeks and have missed getting to eat and visit with our friends out there, so this was a real bonus.

At the start of Sunday school, the class started singing Happy Birthday to Fred before we got the muffin, candle, card, and camera ready, so we staged a second “surprise” greeting for him.

David delivered one of the best Thanksgiving sermons I’ve ever heard, a very clear and concise description of thanksgiving based on Psalm 100. If a person couldn’t find a reason to be thankful after hearing that message, he or she will just have to remain an ungrateful grump!

When the service was over, Barbara and I drove back to Holiday Villages for the afternoon, stopping first at the clubhouse to see if we could meet with a family that has recently moved to the park from Artesia. They contacted us through a Facebook posting that we had shared with the Holiday Villages staff and Barbara sent a note back that we would probably be in the clubhouse for lunch today if they had time to come meet us. I recognized the family name, but don’t know yet whether they are from the same tribe that I knew growing up in Artesia.

The family wasn’t there, but we did get to visit with Josh and Jackie a bit and get caught up on some of the latest news out there. Since nearly all of our time is spent in Mineola now, we are well behind the learning curve at the park.

After taking a brief nap in Big V, I got out and started clearing more briar vines. We haven’t been out there enough since January to stay on top of the “vine harvest,” so it was slow going to get some of them out of the trees. Still, it wasn’t as difficult as the first clearing efforts last year.

When Barbara got up, she got out the leaf blower and tackled the job of cleaning out around Big V. Even with the south side enclosed, we are getting a lot of leaves blowing through from the front to the back of the covered area, so the cleaning will be a constant job as long as leaves are still falling and the wind continues to blow.

Around 3:30 Barbara went back to the clubhouse and ordered lunch for us and I began putting tools away and getting myself cleaned up. By the time Barbara got back, I was showered and dressed in my church clothes, ready to eat and then return to Yantis for choir practice and another inspiring message delivered by David.

Monday, November 22

Today was just a basic workday around the house. After having breakfast and getting Mother settled in for her daily routine, I did yard work (mowing, trimming, raking, etc. while Barbara tackled the garage, doing some cleaning and straightening. It’s getting close to time to do something with Christmas decorations, and we will need some space to go through them before bringing them inside.

We spent time going over the menu for Wednesday’s family feast (Thanksgiving for the local family will be Wednesday since Cousin Angela has to work at the hospital on Thursday and intends to do some serious shopping on Friday).

After checking the list, we made another list of things we needed to complete the meal and trundled off to Walmart for our daily dose of painful experience. We could get the same amount of discomfort and frustration by staying home and shooting staples into our legs, but then we’d still have to go to Walmart for bandages (and they’d still be out of them), so we just suck it up and join the throngs to try to find what we need.

Tuesday, November 23

A week or so ago Alexander called us to as if we could attend the Grandparents Day program at his and Heather’s school in Dallas today. We checked the calendar and saw that it is clear, and told him we’d be happy to be there.

Heather explained that it would be a music program, with each grade level and the specialty choirs singing one selection each, with an hour or so allotted to the whole program.

So, we set about planning the trip, even to the point of dropping hints to Mother that it sure would be a nice surprise for Abby and Alexander if she came along to see them. After all, it’s only an hour or so over there and would get her out of the house for a bit.

After lots of hints and suggestions over several days, Mother and TJ both said they would join us for the excursion. We told Heather what we were planning and asked that she not tell Alexander and Abby so it would be a surprise when we all showed up together.

TJ’s wrist is still giving her fits, so she begged off yesterday to stay home and bake a couple of pies for tomorrow’s feast. She said we could take her car so Mother would be more comfortable, but we said we’d just take the Vibe because it’s much easier to get the wheelchair in and out of it. Besides, for that short a trip, the Vibe was comfortable enough.

We set the alarm and got up at 5:00 this morning, got ourselves ready and then got Mother dressed and ready to go by 7:15. All went smoothly for the first six blocks. It was then that Mother asked if anyone had picked up her purse, Evidently none of us had gotten the purse, so I turned around and went back to the house, got the purse, and we started off again.

The traffic was not nearly as bad as we had expected and we made good time, arriving at Heather’s the Lakehill Preparatory School a little after 8:30. Thank goodness for Barbara’s set of driving instructions from Mapquest and our new GPS!

Once we were inside, Heather and Abby met us in the auditorium where she had reserved seats for us. Abby was beside herself at seeing us, especially since Granny was along. We spent most of the time until 9:30 entertaining and being entertained by Abby. Abby is no stranger to cameras, so we got a lot of good shots of her; and, she even took some of us…another thing she likes to do when she’s with Grams and Gramps.

At 9:30 all was quiet in the auditorium as the program began and we began listening to each of the choirs perform. Now, I’ve got to say (and this may seem like sacrilege) that I’ve never been a big fan of concerts or programs that included everyone in the school, but this was undoubtedly the best rehearsed and behaved group of groups that we’ve ever seen or heard. Each grade level or specialty choir moved quickly to the stage, performed their song admirably, and then left the stage while the next group came up. When the kindergarten classes sang their number, Abby let us know that next year SHE would be up there singing. It was an absolute delight to hear the groups performing, especially knowing from our 35+ years of doing that sort of thing. The high school choirs just blew me away…they were better than most high school choirs I’ve heard or worked with…what a pleasure to watch those young people performing such marvelous music for their parents, grandparents, and classmates!

Of course, we have to admit that the choir we most admired was the first grade group with grandson Alexander. Alexander was all decked out in his concert finery and did a beautiful job of singing and presenting choreography as his group sang, “Super Turkey,” complete with hand motions and lots of expressions!

When the program was over, Heather gave us a short tour of the building, taking us to Alexander’s classroom to pick him up and then to her office, where she serves as the college admissions counselor for the high school.

We then drove to a restaurant and met Heather and the kids for lunch before they returned home to finish packing for a family trip to Boston for the holidays and we started our return trip to Mineola.

All went well and we were cruising right along until about a mile outside of Terrell when I noticed a group of people picking up something around a truck that was parked in the breakdown lane. About the time I saw them, I heard a terrible noise from under the car…never did see anything on the pavement, but whatever I ran over sure bounced around under the car for a couple of seconds.

As we got into town I noticed that the car was handling strange, so I pulled into a parking lot and got out to find that one of my brand new rear tires was quickly losing all its air. I had thoughts of trying to drive a block or so back to Walmart on it, but before I could finish the thought, the tire was completely flat.

There was nothing for Barbara and me to do except pull the wheelchair out of the back of the Vibe, uncover the compartment that holds the jack, tire iron, and the “donut” spare tire. I jacked the car up beside the flat tire and was working on the third lug nut when one of the store employees came out with a much better lug wrench and offered to finish the job. Within a few minutes we had the flat tire and wheelchair back in the car and the donut on the ground. The spare was way low, but that was to be expected…this was the first time since we bought the car in late 2004 that we had even opened that compartment.

As we looked around, we spotted a tire store right across the street, so we drove over there and ended up purchasing a used tire at a good price to get us back to Mineola, where I could return the damaged tire to the store where I purchased it. The folks at the tire store were wonderful, assisting me with getting everything out of and then back in the Vibe, mounting the spare tire, checking all the other tires for possible damage and air pressure, and then getting us back on the road, all under 30 minutes. The man who helped me said that they tried to do their best and I told him that if he did any better, I’d have to nominate him for sainthood!

The rest of the trip was uneventful, thank goodness, and we returned to the house around 4:00, happy that we went to see the kids, but very glad to be back home where we could rest and relax for the evening.

Wednesday, November 24

Today was family Thanksgiving Day at our place. We decided a couple of months ago that it would be much easier on everyone if we hosted the dinner here and prepared the turkey and ham and everyone else could bring some side dishes or desserts. We were prepared to have a sit down meal in the garage if enough people showed up, but when it was obvious that the count would max out at 9, we decided to just crowd around the table for the feast part of the day.

Barbara and I were up early this morning to get things underway for the 3:00 pm meal. While Barbara put together a schedule of when we would start each of our dishes, I put together the ingredients for a loaf of jalapeno bread and got the trusty bread maker fired up.

Our assembly line approach to cooking and baking worked beautifully, giving us enough time between dishes that we were also able to scrub the bathroom, dust the living room and hallway furniture, vacuum the living room, and sweep and mop the kitchen and dining room (a couple of times, as it turned out).

Barbara is great at planning this sort of event. She suggested that we set up a serving table for all the food, and another little table for dishes and silverware, leaving the tabletop for “eatin’ dishes.” The only thing wrong with the ideas was that there were so many serving dishes that there wasn’t room for all of them in the table, so some went on top of the kitchen bar, along with the desserts. Now understand, that was not a complaint…it became very obvious very soon that this family had a lot to be thankful for this year!

Our guests started arriving around 2:30. Joining us this year were Aunt TJ, Cousins Ladd and Angela and their daughter Madelyn and son Logan who was home on leave from the U.S. Air Force, and our delightful next door neighbor, Addie, who is an honorary family member.

Angela’s family had deliberately coordinated their attire so that Barbara could take a photo of them that they will use on their Christmas cards this year. So…taking a break from the kitchen duties, Barbara took the Thompson’s to Edith’s backyard where this photo was taken. Barbara was very honored to be asked to take the family photo. Ladd, Angela, Logan, and Madelyn are naturally photogenic and we’ve enjoyed taking casual pictures of them in different settings, so it was nice that they put their confidence in Barbara for their annual Christmas portrait.

Since we didn’t have a centerpiece for the table, Barbara decided to scatter Scrabble pieces in the center and after each person filled their plate, they spelled out something they were thankful for…it was a simple way to focus our attention on the things we had to be thankful for. Initially, there were some basic rules, like no repetitions, but there was so much confusion as we moved through the line and found our places, that we just forgot the rules and enjoyed expressing our gratitude in this unique way.

With 9 of us crowded around the dining room table and food all around us, we enjoyed a culinary bounty along with multiple conversations about what is going on in everyone’s lives. And, with no football games on tap for the afternoon, we were able to focus on each other the entire time.

The worst part of this kind of gathering is usually the cleanup, but Angela and Madelyn jumped right in and helped rinse dishes and get them ready for the dishwasher while Ladd and Logan helped sort out the different foods so they could carry all the cold things back to their house. We kept all the things that needed to be reheated here so that when we do this all over again tomorrow, no one will have to carry hot dishes…we’ll have them all cooked and ready to serve.

By 5:30 we had the kitchen and dining room all cleaned and straightened and were emptying the dishwasher and preparing to put another load in it (there would be yet another load later tonight).

With the kitchen back in order and our guests gone, we settled in for a quiet evening, weary with well-doing, but with warm hearts from sharing a special day with family and friends.

Thursday, November 25

Happy Birthday to son Jimmy Clint Colwell in Lubbock, Texas!!!

Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Carol Colwell in San Antonio, Texas!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, One and All!!!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with Gladness; come before Him with Joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” – Psalm 100, a psalm for giving thanks

For us, this was Thanksgiving II, The Sequel. The difference was that we didn’t have a whole lot to do this morning, just do a little minor cleaning and straightening, but for the most part we just took it easy…had a good breakfast around mid-morning and then Barbara and I worked on getting the latest blog/journal ready for posting. Believe it or not, we are almost caught up after being so far behind for so long. Now that’s something to be thankful about!

Believe it or not, I’ve never been a fan of parades, so we didn’t turn the TV on until after noon, and then just to find a channel with some good background music.

We started putting dishes in the oven at 1:00 to slowly get them heated to a serving temperature without drying them out and by 2:30 we were ready to start the feast all over again.

We had only seven in the group today…Angela was on duty birthing babies at Trinity Saint Francis Hospital in Tyler and Addie went to Quitman today to have Thanksgiving with her cousin. The rest of us decided we could take up the slack and that was important, because one look at the serving table showed that we had hardly made a dent in all the food that was prepared for yesterday!

Again we spent an hour or so just enjoying each other’s company, sharing stories about various family members, and chowing down on delicious food…much of what Thanksgiving is all about.

The cleanup went smoothly as we divided up all the food and sent some home with each person. It had been good both times, but it was definitely time to get as much of it out of the house and spread the joy.

By 5:00 the house was cleared out and cleaned up and once again we spent an evening doing mostly nothing. Barbara played computer games and I watched football games…neither of us interested in doing anything of consequence.

Friday, November 26

Happy Birthday to son Mike Little in Richmond, Virginia!!!

We started our day by doing one of the dumbest things we’ve ever done (and have already promised ourselves that we’ll never even consider doing it again). We set the alarm for 4:15 and then drove over to Walmart to see what the Black Friday bit was all about.

In a little town like Mineola, I thought there might be 20 – 25 cars in the lot at 4:30. Imagine our surprise and dismay when we arrive to find a packed parking lot and long lines just inside the store.

Our goal was to get one of the 32” flat screen TVs that were advertised for Black Friday. Well, the line for the electronics department was wrapped all the way around the store and it was obvious that if even 5 % of the people wanted a TV, there would be no way that one would be available when we moved forward.

Barbara did a little scouting farther up the line and heard one of the store employees say that she didn’t understand why all those people were in line when they were already out of the Television specials. A couple of minutes later someone made the official announcement that the televisions were indeed, all gone (it didn’t make much sense at the time because the sale hadn’t even started, but the numbers did tell the story…6-8 TV sets and 400 people wanting them…I’d say it was a classic “bait and switch” deal, but there wasn’t much bait and there wasn’t anything to switch to.

We walked over to the electronics section just to see if anything else might grab our attention, but there wasn’t anything we even wanted to look closely at, so we returned to the car and drove back home, stopping first at the donut shop for a couple of fresh, hot apple fritters for breakfast.

We ate our breakfast and then napped until Mother woke and we officially started our day, ginning around to get all the “morning things” taken care of.

Sophie came over around 10:00 to stay with Mother and Barbara and I drove to Longview to look at a new bed for Mother. We’ve talked for quite a while about finding a bed that has electronic controls to raise and lower the head and foot sections. We had talked to Mother about how this could be much more comfortable for her than the 30-year old bed she’s now sleeping in. Another consideration is that with a new bed, I won’t have to strain my back to pick her up to get her seated correctly when she wants to sit in bed and enjoy her morning coffee and newspaper. We had explained that we got a flyer in one of the newspapers and just wanted to get information, and she said that was a good idea.

We drove straight to The Mattress Firm in Longview and were warmly greeted by their employees (actually, by one of the owners, we later found) who gave us the grand tour of the selection of beds. We explained about Mother’s age and the Parkinsonism, and then took a close look at one of the Temper-Pedic double beds. (She has to have a double bed so there’s room for the puppies to sleep with her!) We were told to lie down on the bed and the lady ran it through it’s range of positions…it wasn’t long before we were sold on it. I wanted to give it a 24-hour sleep test right then and there, but we had other things on the agenda.

After getting the full spiel, we asked the price and were pleasantly surprised that the mattress setup, bed frame, pads, sheets, and pillows were about half the price we expected. We called TJ (who just happened to be at Mother’s house at the time) and told her about the deal. She quickly conferred with Mother and then told us to seal the deal, which we did as soon as possible. It will take a week to ten days to get everything in and delivered, but we feel certain Mother is going to be enjoying a wonderful new sleep experience!

TJ told us later that she mentioned to Mother that not only would this be much more comfortable for her, but it would also help save Jim’s back, to which Mother replied, “Well, he’s not going to be sleeping in it!”

When we left the store, I drove Barbara to one of the I-20 exits to Longview and dropped her off to join her sister Carol and Connie, one of Carols’ daughters. Carol came to Shreveport for the holidays since her son Gary and his family live there. She and Barbara decided that by Friday, Carol could leave all the kids (bunches of hers came to LA, too) and take advantage of a free room at the SpringHill Suites and enjoy a sister’s weekend. We switched all of Barbara’s things to Connie’s car, said our hellos and goodbyes all around, and then I returned to Mineola while the girls headed east to Shreveport and Bossier City.

For my part, I spent the evening working on the journal, watching a little TV, and taking care of a few basic housecleaning chores until it was time for Mother to go to bed and me to call it a night.

Barbara: The trip to Louisiana with Carol and Connie was really great because we found lots of things to talk about and the time just flew by!

Once in Bossier City, Connie drove us to Gary’s where I grabbed my trusty camera and began shooting away. The first collage I made shows Gary and Tish and their family. The little one in the middle photo is their granddaughter, Lexy.

Once I captured that group, I tried rounding up the family members who had also driven in from New Mexico…just in separate cars than Carol and Connie. While I was doing that, Carol was packing her bags for what she’d need at the motel. Well…that was the general idea…just didn’t turn out that way. Because later we found that she left her medicine (very important for a diabetic and she had to return to get it.)

Once everything was in the car, Connie Sue took us over to the motel where I went inside to check in. However, I found that they had put us on the 3rd floor far away from the elevators; but when I explained that my sister had a hard time walking, the girl graciously found us a room on the 1st floor right by the side door. Now, how nice was that!

After unpacking the car and claiming our territory in the room and a little photo taking, the 3 of us decided to go over to the casino to try our luck for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes of play, one can get tickets for a free buffet which sounded like a deal to us since we were going to play anyway.

After the buffet and stuffing ourselves with the various selections, Carol left to take Connie back to Gary’s and to pick up her medicine while I ventured back to the casino until she returned.

Eventually, we called it an early night and went to the room to kick back, check email, etc., etc., etc.

Saturday, November 27

Jim: For my part, this was a pretty lazy day. I started by getting out all the ingredients for a loaf of homemade Russian rye bread. I’ve been planning for today’s lunch – grilled beer brats on dark rye bread…my mouth has been watering all week just thinking about it!

Once the mixture was in the machine and churning around, I started in with some minor cleaning. The house was in good shape, so it didn’t take much to touch it up for the weekend.

When the cleaning and straightening were done, I spent an hour or so shaping up my part of this edition of the journal/blog. Since Barbara would have to fill in with her activities for yesterday and today, I knew this wouldn’t be the week that we got totally caught up on our production schedule, but I wanted to be as close as possible.

About 1:45 I fired up the grill and when the coals were just right, I set the brats out to slowly smoke and simmer…what a great aroma! While the brats were grilling, I heated up a batch of red beans that TJ brought over this morning…added in some chunks of ham left over from Thanksgiving dinner…wow, we were going to eat like royalty today!

TJ came over a little after 3:00 and before we got Mother to the kitchen we watched al little of the webcast of the Artesia Bulldogs and Goddard Rockets semi-final playoff football game. Goddard has knocked Artesia out of the playoffs the past two years and was heavily favored to win today’s game and the state championship game next week, but someone forgot to tell the Bulldogs that their season was over. After playing to a 21-21 tie at the half, Artesia came out with a fired-up defense and a hot offense and ended up beating the so far undefeated Rockets to earn a home field advantage for the New Mexico AAAA state championship game next week against Aztec.

Unfortunately, the weekend was not so kind to our other orange and white teams as Texas went down with a resounding thud and the local Mineola Yellowjackets took a thumping from New Boston, ending their playoff run.

After lunch, I got the kitchen leaned up and then settled in for an afternoon and evening of football on TV until it was time to get Mother ready for bed and then go iron some shirts and slacks in preparation for my trip to Shreveport tomorrow morning.

Barbara: Carol and I were both stunned to find that we slept til 8 AM this morning, even though we had gone to sleep around 9:30 the night before. Go figure…we must have been tired! Anyway, neither one of us were in a hurry to get moving though we did want to make it to breakfast before it shut down. Also, Carol wanted to do some laundry so while she headed to the wash room, I stood in line to fix our waffles. This place does a stunning business and no one wants to miss out on their waffles, sausage, eggs, etc., etc., etc. breakfast. Just about the time I made it to the waffle machines and poured in our batter, Carol joined me which was great since trying to fight the crowd with two plates could be hazardous!

After breakfast, we both took turns handling the camera…Carol had given me a shirt for my birthday tomorrow that I absolutely love…it’s emergency numbers to call when one is feeling a certain way. For example, “If you are worried…call John: 14.”

Finally around 11:30 or so (time really meant nothing to us today…except…that we had to be at Sierra’s birthday party at 3:00), we were ready to go out into the wide, wide world. We had decided that since another casino sent me free buffet coupons, we would go there to play and then have lunch before going shopping.

After eating, we headed for the car and the store so we could find Gary’s youngest, Sierra, who turned 5 in the middle of the month, a birthday gift. Sierra informed everyone in her family that they would celebrate her birthday this year during Thanksgiving when Grandma (Carol) and all of her NM family were there!

When we arrived at the house at 3:00, we found that Sierra had been confined to her room until all party preparations could be handled.

But…finally the big moment arrived...So…that’s exactly what we did. Celebrate… complete with gifts, cake, piñata, and cook-out.

Eventually, I gave up the ghost and asked Connie to take me back to the room where I could play on the computer, talk with Jim and rest a while.

Before calling it a night though, Connie, Carol and I once again tried our hand at the games. Since they were leaving tomorrow morning though, we once again called it an early night.

“There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus (baking soda) biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. ... Thanksgiving Day ... is the one day that is purely American." - O. Henry, American writer, quoted for Thanksgiving in the U.S., Nov. 25, 2010

Hoping that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

Just Another Little Week in Mineola

Sunday, November 14 – Saturday, November 20, 2010

Sunday, November 14

Today was a little out of the ordinary for us. Barbara stayed at home with Mother while I went to Sunday school and church. It has been a week since we spent time with Mother and Barbara felt it was time to give some personal attention to her.

This was the weekend for Disciple Now for our church youth, and the enthusiasm of the youth group spread throughout the congregation. I counted 31 youth group members wearing the Disciple Now t-shirt and several others who were present with them…what an exciting time of growth and ministry for our church!

When I left, I drove to Sulphur Springs to get the lumber I needed to complete the window frame project for Big V’s cover. Luckily, Lowe’s in Sulphur Springs had everything I needed plus a saw and someone to run it so my boards could be cut to the right length.

We had lunch when I got back and then took a much-needed nap. We were still wrung out from the driving yesterday and just didn’t have the umph to tackle any important chores.

Just after we woke up from our nap we got a phone call from a family friend, Nancy Wilcox White, who was in Tyler and would be passing through Mineola late this afternoon. Nancy is one of five children of Mother’s best friend when we boys were growing up in Artesia and she makes the trip to Tyler a couple of times each year, each time stopping to visit Mother for a while.

Nancy and her friend Diane had been here in May, but I was out fishing with Ryan and his family that day and didn’t get to see them. Today was a bit of a reunion, although neither of us remembered the last time we had seen each other, but it had to be a l-o-n-g time ago.

When they came into the house, Nancy and Diane had a gorgeous basket of pansies for Mother. They never visit without bringing a beautiful and thoughtful gift. We talked for about an hour and then our visitors had to leave to go to Durant, Oklahoma, to see Nancy’s sister, Freida.

Choir practice at church was cancelled tonight because our fearless leaders were both ill, and since our visitors were here until nearly 6:00, Barbara and I voted that we would beg off of the drive to Yantis for the church service tonight. Instead, we made a quick trip to Holiday Villages to check out the progress of the work that is going on next door to us.

Our neighbors, Wes and Linda, have put a cover over their motor home slab and now are having a double-wide mobile home set on the back part of one of their lots. After a delay of nearly a year, Wes and Linda will be joining our community fulltime very soon, and we agree that the work they are having done really spruces up our “neighborhood.”

Monday, November 15

I drove Mother to Quitman this morning to meet with her attorney, Mr. Roberts, about changes to her will. We never know how long that sort of thing will take, but Mr. Roberts and his folks had everything under control when we got there and we were out of the office and headed back home by 11:00.

While Mother and I were gone, Barbara decided that the kitchen needed to be cleaned and reorganized so things could be stored in more logical and convenient areas. Nearly all the work had been done when we got back, so Barbara was able to show me the new hiding places for packaged and canned goods and kitchen implements.

This afternoon we spent our time working on journals (we had a lot to catch up on), downloading and organizing a couple of weeks worth of photographs, paying bills, and catching up on other matters that are the stuff of everyday life.

Tonight I turned the garage back into a woodshop as I completed the final three window frames for Big V’s cover. While I had a pretty good system going, it still took more time than I thought, but by 8:30 I had finished the last frame, had all three loaded in the back of the Vibe, and was well underway with the cleanup. Finally, the garage looks like a garage again!

Tuesday, November 16

Happy Birthday to Son-in-law Ryan McQuitty in Liberal, Kansas!!!

Happy Birthday to sister-in-law Billee Little in Harrison, Arkansas!!!

This morning I drove out to Yantis for the weekly prayer meeting at the church and then went to Our Little Lot to install the new window frames. I wasn’t sure if I had used the correct measurements when I cut the 2 X 4s, but each frame fit the way it was supposed to. I still haven’t decided how I’m going to secure the frames to the steel supports, but for now they fit closely enough that a good bead of caulk is hold them firmly in place.

After setting the frames, I got out the lawn mower and cut the grass on the front and back sides of Big V. The growing season has probably ended and I wanted to get the tall grass knocked down before it dies.

After cleaning up my mess, I packed away my tools, shut down Big V, and returned to Mineola to find that Barbara was continuing her redecorating and reorganization of Mother’s kitchen and dining room. She’s been very busy with that project and I have to admit that things are now a lot easier to find than they were before.

We had Sophie come over to stay with Mother for a couple of hours this evening as Barbara took me to Big V to work while she went on to the church for the Bridge group. As a reminder, the Bridge group isn’t about ladies playing cards…it’s an opportunity for ladies of all ages in the church to meet together and “bridge” the gaps in their ages as they help each other grow spiritually.

Wednesday, November 17

Happy Birthday to granddaughter Randi Colwell in San Antonio, Texas, who turns sweet 16 this day!!!

Happy Birthday to niece Brandi Boley in Cleburne, Texas!!!

Today was Barbara’s Bible study group at Yantis FBC. The ladies are doing an in-depth study of Psalm 23 and, after burning the CDs of each session, I’ve come to find that there is a lot more there than one would ever imagine.

While Barbara was at church, I tackled some long-neglected house cleaning chores. Something we rarely think about when cleaning the rooms is the ceiling fan in each area. We take them for granted, but when we take closer looks, we find that they are highly efficient dust and grime collectors. This morning, after I dusted all the woodwork and furniture in the kitchen and dining room, I noticed that the white blades on the fan were more of a grey-black shade, so I pulled out the trusty step-stool and tackled that little job…it seems like there is always something to be done.

This evening Barbara worked on sorting out photos and making collages for the journal entries that we are trying to catch up on. With all the photos we have taken lately, it is a time-consuming and mind-boggling job!

Our thoughts and prayers go out today to our friends Bob and Mary Royar and their son, John. John’s wife passed away after a bout with cancer.

Thursday, November 18

Today was a mixed bag of activities for both of us, with a lot going on, but nothing of much significance.

We have been cleaning out our closets both at Mother’s house and at Big V and setting aside clothes that we either can’t or won’t wear anymore. Today we got all those clothes together, cataloged them for tax purposes, and, while Barbara was waiting at the beauty shop to get a haircut, I delivered them to the Kindness Kottage, a local non-profit business that resells or donates items to those who need them.

When I returned to the beauty shop, I found that Barbara was still waiting for Leslie to return from an errand. Since there wouldn’t be time for a haircut before Leslie’s next appointment, Barbara and I decided we’d go across the street to Brookshire’s to do some shopping for specialty foods…those that Walmart doesn’t carry or meats that we think are better quality than Walmart’s.

After purchasing a few things we returned to the house and I started putting things away while Barbara returned to the beauty shop and go her ears lowered and her hair restyled with a very fashionable cut.

This evening we spent more time working on the journal/blog. We’re still behind, but are slowly creeping up after getting so far behind the last few weeks. Who knows, maybe one of these days we’ll publish a journal/blog right on schedule…it doesn’t hurt to dream.

Friday, November 19

While Barbara stayed home to cook and clean this morning, I made a trip out to Our Little Lot to secure the new window frames to the steel posts that are the skeleton. Yesterday afternoon I found the fasteners I wanted at a local hardware store, so armed with my trusty straight-edge and power drill, I set to work marking spots, drilling, and power-driving lag bolts through the 2 X 4s and into the steel posts.

Most of the work went fairly smoothly and in about an hour and a half all seven window frames were securely set in the frames. Now the south side of the cover looks as if we really did know what we were doing, instead of appearing that we ran out of money and couldn’t afford to finish the siding!

When I got back to the house, I found that Barbara had dragged out the leaf blower and extension cord and had cleared all the leaves out of the garage. Unlike most of our neighbors, we keep the garage door open nearly all the time, and the recent winds and falling leaves have caused a lot of seasonal clutter.

I baked a loaf of bread to go along with a bowl of roast salad that Barbara had made this morning and this afternoon we drove to Alba to deliver them to John Royar. We found that Bob and Mary had arrived just ahead of us and they introduced us to John and one of his daughters. We paid our condolences on their loss and visited for a few minutes, then drove across Lake Fork to Holiday Villages to check on Big V and see the progress on Wes and Linda’s lot next door to us. The men who are building the porch and ramps for the front of the house are doing such a great job that we are considering having them come build the deck we want when we are ready for that expansion.

Barbara: While I was busy taking pics of Linda and Wes’s new place next door, Jim just couldn’t resist going to the gully and pulling up a couple more vines or something. He certainly didn’t want to waste a moment; so I documented his efforts though I was quite far away!

Jim: On the way back to Mineola we stopped at Sonic in Quitman to treat ourselves to a late afternoon drink. While we were waiting, I walked across the street to pick up mail from Gene and Michelle’s box at the post office. Since they are back in Kansas for a while, we check their mail for them and then forward the good stuff.

Tonight was just a quiet time around the house. There weren’t any ballgames of consequence on TV and the Artesia Bulldogs have a Saturday game scheduled for this week, so we just focused on a little writing for the journal/blog and some computer game time. Barbara has really enjoyed playing Wheel of Fortune with her Facebook friends. I don’t understand all of it, but she is having a good time, and that’s a good thing. (If he doesn’t understand it, then why is he able to bail me out so many times when I’m stuck. That’s my question!)

Saturday, November 20

Earlier in the week Barbara had an inspiration for rearranging part of Mother’s room since she feels it’s not conducive to healthy living. We discussed it and I thought that maybe if she took a couple of Tylenol and a nap, the inspiration might pass. But, today the thought was still there, so we set to work early to transform the “office/entertainment corner of the master bedroom.

When Ernie, Billee, Barbara, and I moved Mother into the house in July, 2008, we didn’t have much time to envision what might be the best setup for all pieces of furniture, and we certainly didn’t have time to experiment. Our readers need to understand that Mother has not only her 87-year accumulation of treasures, but also family heirlooms that go back a couple of generations beyond hers.

Our goal at the time was to get everything where it fit, but not necessarily where it fit the best for how Mother was going to use the room. The regular bedroom furniture was no problem, her things fit beautifully in that area. However, there was an extension of the room that was obviously meant to serve as a little office/study.

With six bookcases, and easy chair, and a desk, it didn’t take much time to fill the space; and, we didn’t use much imagination in doing it…just had to make sure that there was a good line of sight from the bed and the easy chair to the television, which was set on top of one of the bookcases.

Constant readers also need to understand that among Mother’s treasures are enough books to furnish a small-town library. In fact, she has so many books that we had to make some decisions about which would be displayed and which would be boxed up again and stored in the garage and attic.

The arrangement has worked for the last two years, but while it was practical (in an unimaginative way), it was much less aesthetic, no matter which angle one might use to look at it.

After talking it over, Barbara and I decided on a general plan of a new arrangement, not knowing how well it would work once all the big pieces were moved. According to the tape measure, we could do what we wanted, but we wouldn’t know for sure until everything was moved to a new spot.

With that said, we tore into the job, knowing that it was an all or nothing event…whatever we started would have to be finished today so Mother could have her room back. For her part, Mother stayed in her bed and watched the TV while we moved things around.

Our first chore was to empty all but one of the bookcases…leaving stacks of books piled all over the place. We did box up a 20-year collection of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books that had occupied the bookcase under the television so we would have some space to be a little more imaginative.

As we pulled furniture away from the walls, we did some heavy duty dusting and vacuuming to remove a couple years of cobwebs and collected dirt. For the first time since Mother moved in, we were able to open the blinds on the west wall and wash the windows, bringing new light to the room.

After cleaning along the floorboards, we moved the bookcases and desk to new locations, making sure everything would fit the way we thought it should. A couple of our calculations were a little off, but we were able to make some minute adjustments that made the whole arrangement work.

With everything in its new place, we began rearranging all the books so they made some kind of sense (at least to us), and Barbara redecorated the tops of the bookcases with some of the treasures that we found along the way.

We had everything almost done (we thought) when I noticed that the ceiling fans and light fixtures were covered with dust and grime, so I got out the step stool, grabbed a couple of dust rags and a can of Pledge, and remedied that situation. The light globes hadn’t been cleaned since before Mother moved in, so I took them out and gave them a good washing.

After picking up all the big pieces of trash and vacuuming the carpet a couple of times, we called the job finished…what we intended as a rearrangement of the room actually turned into a major transformation. Mother now has an area in which she can comfortably sit and watch her television and also look around at her books and many of her other treasures. All that was left for us to do was to put away the cleaning supplies and take a couple of Aleve tablets to stave off the aches and pains that were sure to come from all the lifting and moving of the day (and it WAS a full day).

After Barbara spent some time relaxing, she had another inspiration and grabbed the flowers that Nancy had brought and headed back to Mother’s room. She knew the perfect place for them. And, with minimum effort (and thankfully, none of mine), Mother is able to look over and think of Nancy and her kindness.

Tonight we just kicked back and relaxed, basking in the glow of what we considered to be a job well done in Mother’s room. It is so nice to be able to walk in there and see that corner well-organized and straight, and Mother even commented that it was nice to be able to see her books and decorations without all the extra clutter.

I realized when we finally finished that we had missed the internet telecast of the Artesia Bulldogs football playoff game with the Farmington Scorpions, but did find out later from Jean that our ‘Dogs won by a decisive margin and will host Roswell Goddard, the district nemesis, next week in a state semi-final game.

It turned out to be a good weekend for Orange and White as not only did the Bulldogs win their game, but our Mineola Yellowjackets (who, for some reason have orange and white as their school colors) won their first district title in 44 years, and even my beloved Texas Longhorns, who exist primarily to break my heart, won their game against Florida Atlantic University – okay, so it wasn’t a major game, but this season any win is a good one for the guys from Austin.

“We take the laughter and the tears however they come, and let our God of reality make sense of it all.” – Susan Lenzkes, author of Life Is Like Licking Honey of a Thorn

Enjoying the fall season in Mineola,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

A Little Week Away

Sunday, November 7 – Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sunday, November 7

We were up early this morning, making our lists and checking them twice. We got the car loaded with everything necessary for the trip (plus a few extras), had a last minute meeting with Mother and Sophie to go over the menus, schedules, etc. and to answer any questions for clarification. Then, it was off to Yantis where we enjoyed the morning Sunday school class and church service.

Since I was doing the special music this morning, I spent less time in the Sunday school class than usual as I needed to get in a few extra minutes of practice with Lisa, our outstanding pianist. We declared the arrangement good to go after a few run-throughs, and then Lisa suggested that I join the praise band in the pre-service music to play, “When the Saints Go Marching In.” We gave that selection a lick or two and then decided that I would also stick around to join the band in a rendition of. “Happy Birthday/Happy Anniversary to You” to recognize all those in the congregation who are celebrating birthdays or anniversaries this month. (Barbara: As a side note, it was special for Jim to play on the happy birthday since I celebrate my 66th this month! He's never played happy birthday for me before!) 

Barbara: I captured some special moments and people before church with my trusty camera. Top left is Mike who runs the sound equipment and makes the best omelets at our church breakfast! Staying on the left, the center pic is David trying to get himself “wired” for the morning service; and, of course, the bottom left is Jim belting out a tune!

On the top right is Jim with choir director Danette and her husband Aaron who sometimes leads the choir. Both are awesome singers! Middle one is our one and only pianist, Lisa, who can make that piano talk as well as she does!

Jim: All in all, the morning went quite well…the choir sang beautifully, David preached masterfully, and I played the trumpet for a medley of praise hymns.

When the service was over, Barbara and I put all our church stuff back in the car and began the long drive toward Lubbock by way of Knox City (that is, after Barbara called Zeke and Amanda Duke in Knox City to see if they were available to see us for a while tonight…they were available and excited for us to come visit, so that’s the way we headed.

Zeke is a doctor in Knox City…has been for several years now, but we’ve never been able to connect with the family when we traveled through the area. Tonight was the exception, and we had a wonderful time reconnecting with the boys, Daniel and Jonah, who gave us the grand tour of their house.

After the tour, we settled down for an hour of so of conversation and good food. Amanda had whipped up a great salad and Zeke was cooking hamburgers and oven-baked sweet potato French fries…great food and a wonderful visit with a beautiful young family!

Zeke and Amanda invited us to stay the night with them, but our plans called for a very early departure tomorrow morning, so we left the house and made our way to the local motel, a renovated and very clean and comfortable (and inexpensive) place on the main drag.

As we got back into the car, we noticed that we had left the camera on the seat…one of the few times in our travels that we didn’t take the camera inside for photo sessions. That was especially disappointing because it has been so long since we last saw Daniel and Jonah and they are growing so rapidly. Oh well, we’ll just have to depend on using a facebook photo we swiped for this journal entry and on Amanda to forward us some pictures of special occasions later.

We wound down from a day of travel and an evening of visiting by checking out the TV channels (lots of channels, but nothing of interest on tonight), checking our email, and reading until we fell asleep (which didn’t take long).

Monday, November 8

With a couple of hours of driving still ahead of us before we could get to Lubbock, we got a very early start (well before the sun came up) after pulling in at the local convenience store for some coffee and something to eat along the way.

When we got to Lubbock we spent until noon helping Jimmy Clint out with some chores and some business that needed to be taken care of. Jimmy is still struggling with the blood pressure problems, but he was having a pretty good day today and we enjoyed the visit with him, short though it was.

When we were finished with our Lubbock business we headed west to Artesia, arriving at Jean’s house well before she got off from work at the funeral home. We unloaded the car and made ourselves at home until Jean finally arrived at the house with the announcement that we would be joining Jerry, Nancy, and Becky for dinner at La Fonda, this evening. In the meantime, we sat and talked, trying to get caught up on what has been going on with whomever.

Jerry, Nancy, and Becky came over around 6:30 and we all drove to town in Jean’s car to enjoy a wonderful Mexican meal and lots and lots of talking. Even though we talk on the phone regularly and email each other quite a bit, it isn’t the same as having good old-fashioned table conversation.

I have made it my goal to give Becky as much grief as I can, and tonight provided plenty of opportunities. I do have to be careful though, because Becky has learned to give as good as she gets, so I know there will be paybacks before we leave at the end of the week!

Tuesday, November 9

Today was probably one of the laziest days we’ve spent in a long time. Jean took the day off from work and we spent the entire morning just lazing around the house and visiting, I gave a thought or two to going outside to work in the yard, but the wind was blowing dust all over the place, so I decided I could just stay inside and read and visit.

At 11:00 I took the Vibe downtown to Forrest Tires to have them check a tire that I had bought there a couple of years ago. It seems that when I had the car serviced at the Mineola GMC shop a couple of weeks ago they found a nail in the right front tire; they even marked it with a little chalked arrow. The problem was that they never wrote it up or told me about it. I found the arrow and the nail quite by accident. Since I was in town and I’ve bought several tires at Forrest, I thought I’d just see how they handled it.

The folks at Forrest were very friendly, as they always are, and got to the car as soon as they could. Since there were others ahead of me, I had to wait about an hour. Finally, the young man who met me when I came in called and said he had the keys and I was ready to go. When I asked how much it would be, he just smiled and said, “No charge…you’ve been waiting too long.”

Now THAT’S service…and with a smile even!

After lunch and a brief nap (we were worn out after all that sitting and talking), Jean, Barbara, and I drove to town to look for a few things at Fenn’s Grocery Store and Walmart. Luckily we found most of what we needed for some planned recipes and Barbara and I even found some of the spices we need for our Puerto Rican dishes. We’ve looked through all both stores in Mineola and have even driven to Lindale, Tyler, and Sulphur Springs to find the spices, but no one there stocks them or will order them for us. So, we stocked up on several boxes of what we could find in Artesia.

Jerry grilled chicken tonight and everyone else put together specialty dishes for a great spread at the Terpening home. With a huge platter of chicken accompanied by Barbara’s fried squash, Jean’s apple salad, and our sweet potato fries (which we learned from Amanda the other night!), there was more than enough on the table to satisfy our hungry crew.

When dinner was over and the dishes were put in the dishwasher, we settled around the table for a vicious game of Chickenfoot. Now, Chickenfoot can probably be a fun diversion for a family gathering, but when Becky and I get involved, it becomes a cutthroat contest. I don’t remember now who won the game, but the important thing was that I ranked higher than Becky when all was said and done, and that was the important thing! And, Barbara was solidly in last place!

Wednesday, November 10

Happy Birthday today to James Francis in Hobbs, New Mexico!!!

Jean had to go to work at the funeral home today, but all that work going on by others didn’t phase Barbara and me one bit…we just took up where we left off yesterday, relaxing and not doing much of anything else.

We did enjoy some time on the front deck of Jean’s house just admiring and soaking in the New Mexico skies. Trees are nice but there’s just nothing like being able to see for miles in any direction!

Around 11:00 or so we drove into town to check out one of the stores for used books…they didn’t have any that I was interested in, but Barbara found the perfect item for Mother; that is, until we saw the price tag. Sitting on the sidewalk outside the store was an old-fashioned Price’s Creamery wooden milk delivery box, the kind that Daddy hauled daily when he was the manager and a route man for Price’s Creamery. We thought it would be a perfect complement to some of mother’s other treasures, but the marked price ($45) immediately took it out of our consideration. Maybe the next time we are in town the price will have come down…we can always hope!

We were also impressed with the beauty of the trees that line downtown Artesia as they were decked out in their fall attire.

We left the downtown area and went out to Walmart to look for a few things and then just killed time until we wandered back across town to join the family for the weekly Chaos lunch. Susie was over from Hobbs and we haven’t seen her in what seems like forever, so we had a good time getting caught up with her activities. She and James are doing a major remodeling of their house and that has consumed all of their time. After Susie explained all that they were doing, I asked if it wouldn’t have been easier and cheaper to just paint the walls, but that query went over like a lead balloon.

After lunch we returned to Jean’s house and whiled away the afternoon until the others got off work. When Jean got home we whipped up some apple dumpling dew for tonight’s dessert.

Dinner tonight was leftovers from last night’s meal, along with a few other bits and pieces of dishes that we all thought would be tasty. When we were finished eating, Becky got out the Chickenfoot game for a rematch and, while neither of us won the game, I managed to edge out Becky on the final hand of the game, so it was another fun and successful evening! (with Barbara once again bringing up the rear)

Thursday, November 11

Today is Veterans Day in the United States of America. It is one of the few “holidays” that is actually recognized and celebrated on the day for which it was originally named, Armistice Day.

Today I send out my appreciation to all brothers and sisters in arms who gave, and those who currently give, honorably of their time and service to protect our country and the ideals upon which it was founded. Many came home wounded in body and spirit and some were shunned and even despised by those whose freedom to express hateful and dissenting opinions was guaranteed by the selfless actions of our military personnel stationed around the globe, far from their family and friends.


I encourage all today to remember the freedoms that you enjoy and quietly offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for the men and women of our uniformed services, past and present who answered the call to service for their country.

May God continue to bless America and protect our men and women of the armed forces.

With the Terpening family all tied up with work today, we took advantage of the proximity of Artesia to Roswell to drive to Roswell for a few hours to take care of some business and visit family members who live there.

The first order of business was to get out to Happy Jack’s Used Books to replenish our dwindling supply of reading material. We have a used book store in Mineola, but the supply of titles isn’t particularly to our liking, and the prices are kind of outrageous when one considers the condition of most of the books. So, whenever we are in the Roswell neighborhood, we like to look through the stacks at Happy Jack’s to either fill in titles from authors we like to read, or discover new authors.

When we finished at the bookstore, we dove across town for a few minutes of shop-looking at Dollar Tree (Barbara) and JC Penney (me). Barbara found a couple of things she liked, but I struck out in looking for some new dress shirts…maybe another time and another place.

We arrived at Jerry and Jane’s house at 11:30 and got our visit underway. After a little talking, Jerry and I left Jane and Barbara to visit while we drove to What-a-Burger for burgers and fries for lunch. Then, we returned to the house to eat, talk, and generally get caught up on what has been going on in our lives since the last time we visited back in March.

We had a really nice visit with Jerry and Jane, but had to call it quits a little before 2 so we could get back across town to visit with Carol, Barbara’s sister. Carol had been working all morning, so we arranged our visitation time to see her during the afternoon.

While we were talking to Carol, Tonya, one of Carol’s granddaughters, came in for a bit before going to work and visited with us. Then, Carol asked if I would mind going with her to pick up a rental truck that her daughter, Lynnette, had used to move from Alamogordo to Roswell. I said I’d be glad to help, and while I did that, Barbara took the Vibe to Sam’s Club (since she could use Carol's card) to fill it with gas.

We all met back at Carol’s house for some more chit-chat. Then Carol realized that today was payday! She now works out of a senior citizen center as an elementary school aide which means she gets a stipend as well as the opportunity to choose her days and her hours of work. Plus, it keeps her off the streets! Anyway, I digress…she and Barbara headed over to the center for Carol to pick up her check before we left to go to Arby’s to see Lynnette, one of Carol’s daughters, for a few minutes before returning to Artesia.

Tonight we went to Kwan Den for some outstanding Chinese food with Jerry, Nancy, Becky, and Jean. Then, we returned to Jerry and Nancy’s house to visit. We had planned to play more board games, but everyone was worn out from the day’s work and activities, so we got caught up on as much talk as possible and then we returned to Jean’s house to call it a night.

Friday, November 12

I got up early this morning to join Jerry Terpening at the Methodist Men’s weekly prayer breakfast. That was an activity I always enjoyed when we were living in Artesia, and it was especially nice to tell the group how much we have appreciated their prayers during the last few months.

When I got back to the house, Barbara and I finished our packing and got the car loaded for yet another trip. We said our goodbye’s to Jean and headed off toward Hobbs to spend an hour or so with Susie and get the grand tour of the remodeling process in her home.

Susie had told us on Wednesday that the house was a mess, and that definitely wasn’t an understatement. They’ve been without some of the rooms for eight months now and it will probably be after the first of the year before everything is completed. It really will be a beautiful place when the job is done and we’re very happy for them.

When we left Hobbs, we set our course for Abilene, passing through Seminole, Lamesa (where we stopped at Dairy Queen for a chocolate malt for me and a blizzard for Barbara), Big Spring, Sweetwater, and then into Abilene where we drove to our friend Dandy’s house to spend the night.

After unloading our things for the night, I left Barbara and Dandy to get caught up with each other and drove across town to a military surplus store to do some shop-looking. There were some things I wanted to purchase, but the place is a real mess due to a pending move to a larger facility down the street, so I finally gave up and returned to the house for dinner and an evening of conversation and computer time.

Barbara: It was so nice to get to Abilene early (around 3) which meant that Dandy and I actually got to visit and enjoy each other’s company. While Jim was gone, I bonded as well as I could with Candy (Dandy’s feline friend) by telling her I was going to take her picture. Once I did, she curled up as though to say enough is enough!

Since Dandy and I are both of facebook now, I showed her how she could play Wheel of Fortune. Little did I know that I was creating a Wheel monster. That girl has surpassed me and is solving those puzzles like they were kids’ play. It was really a fun afternoon and evening!

Saturday, November 13

We got up early this morning and ginned around, trying to get the car repacked, get in all our goodbyes, and hit the road at an early enough hour that we could get back to Mineola by 3:00.

We knew we wanted to stop at the Tangier Outlet Mall in Terrell, so after saying goodbye to Dandy, we put the pedal to the metal and drove across Texas a fast as the law would allow.

For once, I was excited about shopping at the outlet center, but struck out in every store I visited…guess it just wasn’t my day. However, Barbara found some great buys in shoes for herself, so the effort to get there and the time it took for her to look was well worth it.

From Terrell we barreled across East Texas to Lindale, where we stopped at Lowe’s to buy some more lumber to finish the window project for Big V. My shopping luck for the day held up…I found the 2 X 4s I needed, but the saw was broken today, so I couldn’t get the boards cut to fit in the car. I decided that was probably a sign that I wouldn’t have time to work on the frames tonight anyway and we left, stopping at Sonic for a bite to eat before driving the final 14 miles to Mother’s house.

When we got back to the house, we checked in with Mother, told Sophie she could leave, and we started unpacking and putting everything away.

Tonight we just kicked back and relaxed after a hard day of driving. It was great to get away for a few days to visit family and friends, but it was very nice to be back home in our familiar surroundings!

Once again we pirated facebook to find this photo of Little Jimmy. Is he not the cutest little guy?

“A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America for an amount of up to and including my life.’ That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.” – Unknown

Back at Mother’s house in Mineola,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams