The Ghost of Christmas Past

This is a true story. Nothing has been changed. This happened to me today.
Last night Bre and I did some major Christmas shopping. I had a rather large purchase that took up the back of my car. I came home to find Mr. Scrooge, aka husband, on the assumed position of the couch. He was not so enthusiastic about hiding Christmas presents and broke the news to me that I would be going somewhere in the morning to hide the large purchase. So I left out at 6:30 am to run and hide a present. I called Mikey Fresh and he said he thought I should take the gift to my childhood home that no one really lives in. My childhood home is a little spooky. It was built in the 1900's and has a bit of a history. My dad's grandfather raised 3 boys and 1 daughter in that house. He was a farmer and Kent Dairy Farm was started there in that house. When I was little, I asked my mom if I could move my bedroom in the front bedroom. Mother quickly told me, "you don't want to sleep in there, PaPaw Kent died in there." Nice. He really did die there and my mother would tell me that frequently. Needless to say, that room really spooked me.
So after a good run at the gym, I was at my childhood home pushing what felt like a 400lb present through my old dining room. This house stays pretty closed up but is full of furniture and looks like it is still lived in. There is even a cat still at the location. Mikey Fresh told me to put the present in the front room which required me to slide this load a long way. When I approached the room where I can see the front bedroom, I notice it is set up like a office. There is a desk with a big leather chair. About that time, I notice a man sitting in the chair with
a red shirt on and a big straw hat. His back is to me and I can not see his face. I drop the present, wet my pants and freeze. I felt the breathe leave my body. It is Papaw Kent. A man I never met and a man I always knew about. I ran so fast out of that house. I locked the door and by the time I got in my car I was crying. I quickly call Mikey Fresh and I tell him. "Daddy, I just saw Papaw Kent. He is in that front room. The room he died in. He is sitting in that leather chair. He has on a red shirt and straw hat. He has come back to his house." Mikey Fresh, "Lulu, that is a mannequin. We got that at an estate sale. He is our secretary." I informed him the present was where I left it and then hung up on him. Unbelievable. A mannequin. My workout watch was still on and my heart rate was at 182. 182 for a mannequin. Needless to say, Husband will be going to get the present for Christmas. I will not be joining him.

Happy Birthday KristI Johnsey

Happy Birthday KristI Johnsey.

Yoda's New Do

Yoda's first big boy haircut.

Sick babies

Finally we have neighborhood friends and everyone has little dogs. Yoda even has friends. The other day all these kids, their 2 dogs and my 3 dogs were all in my house. It was an event.

But today no one can come play. I am at home with 2 sick babies. Daughter has the croup and Son has walking pneumonia. I knew son was sick last night and we left AWANA early with him running a fever. Daughter was bouncing of the wall and went to bed singing. During the night I heard the familiar croup cough. I went to son's run to find him sleeping peacefully and then I heard that the croup was coming from daughter. We went to see our favorite Dr. and both got antibiotics and daughter got a steroid. Yeah for mommy. If anyone wants to adopt daughter while she is on a steroid, please feel free. It makes her bounce of the wall and talk 90 miles a minute. It does give her an appetite and for that mother will be glad. Son weighed 52 pounds today and daughter weighed 32. They are really growing up fast. Son is most sad that he is missing the Thanksgiving lunch at school today. GROSS. I told him he will get a much better one next week.

Happy 85th Grandmother

I have been blessed in the grandparent department. I was 25 before I lost a grandparent to death. And I still have two grandmothers alive and both in good health and living independently. I call my maternal grandmother, "Grandmother." She calls herself Bess short for Bessie. She may be short and stature but she makes up for it in personality. I just want to share a few of her favorite things which make up why I love her so much.
1.Girl can dress: For as long as I can remember, she has been a dresser. Head to toe: she matched. Shoes and jewelry are her thing. She has a size 4 shoe size and she can wear a heel but loves a boot.
2. Girl can dance: She and my granddaddy were square dancers so I spent nights at her house cutting a rug. I can remember her and granddaddy twirling my sister and I around in the den floor.
3. Girl loves sports: She loves the Atlanta Braves. She is a devoted fan. If they are playing a late game, she will take a nap in the afternoon so she won't fall asleep during it! I have had to go to her house numerous times to find where the braves are when the cable company would change the channels.
4. Girl loves some candy: I have shared this story before but she is a sweet eater. Just ask daughter, she can show you all her hiding place for candy, snacks and little sweets.
5. Girl invented the to go bag: I have never been out to eat with her when she did not wrap the bread in a napkin and put it in her purse. Go to her house and you will find butter, jelly, ketchup, salt, pepper, etc from local food establishments.
6. Girl likes to have fun: Every childhood vacation she and granddaddy went on with us. She would play Uno with me forever and once let me brush her hair all the way to Disney World. She has a contagious laugh that can light up a room. Mother says she would never discipline Uncle Don because she couldn't stop laughing. One time, Uncle Don hung her up on a hook on a door to keep from getting in trouble.
7. Girl can tell a story: My favorite story that she tells of her childhood is when she and her friends went to her teacher's house at night. They turned over her teacher's outhouse! She also tells another story of walking the railroad tracks and smoking cigarettes but I won't tell that one!
8. Girl can love: She loves without condition. My children are as close to her as I was at there age. Anyone who has ever met her always tells me, "I love your grandmother." People that know her love her because she loves them. She still to this day will let me lay across her Craftmatic and cry with me and then give me a Dr.Pepper and chocolate. She always has treated me and my sister like we were her own. I never remember her ever disciplining me (although I am sure she did) but I always remember her loving me.
Friday night we went to a women's event at our church and 250 ladies sang Happy Birthday to My Grandmother. I am a very blessed girl. I only hope that this girl has some of that girl in her.

P.S. This is a picture of my real mother with clothes on.

Stubborn runs deep

Mikey Fresh came out with just a pacemaker and no blockages. We were very thankful. He was not. He was not a good patient and was probably the only patient that on the way to get a pacemaker had a CHEW in his mouth and had drank coffee at 4:30 am. He came out of surgery asking for his CHEW and was mad when sister and I made him eat first. What ever they gave him caused him to tell the truth. If you have ever heard me talk of my daddy you know he calls and talks one minute and then will say, "Daddy loves you." Sister and I never really talk to him. He gives little in the conversation department. Today, he was full of drug induced conversation. When we were alone and I thought he was asleep, he said, "Lulu, daddy loves you." Always in third person even when you are right beside him. But stubborn he is. I tried to feed him lunch. He had to lay flat and not sit up, one arm was tied across his chest, but he did not like the way I was feeding him and he insisted on doing it himself. He kept asking for his clothes so he could leave. He insisted on us giving him his CHEW and chapstick. But we had a good laugh when the hospital was full and he was put in Labor and Delivery. So now after a day with dealing with my stubborn daddy, I can see that stubborn may run deep in my family. I mean have you met my daughter? Husband is chocking that I did not say myself but I am too stubborn for that . . .

Mikey Fresh

Our dad is having a pace maker put in the morning. Please pray everything goes well. This was the family last Christmas. I can't believe how much they have changed.