There's Within My Heart A Melody!

It's Wednesday night (okay, technically it's the wee-hours of Thursday morning...but to me it's Wednesday night --until daylight on Thursday). Bex and I got home from choir practice a bit after 9 pm tonight. Choir? Yes, choir. (More about that later.) When we got home, I changed clothes, ate the last bowl of homemade soup, chatted a few minutes with Mr. Fix-It, fussed at Bex to get off the computer and go to bed, then went to bed myself.

Not sure what woke me up, it must have been the rain. Or it could have been dumb Boomer barking at the wind blowing. Nevertheless, I'm awake now because this crazy blog post was floating around in my head and I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I figured I'd just as well get up and type it out so that I could go back to sleep.

As I was laying there, I realized "church" is not something I've really talked about here. Sure, I've given my testimony, mentioned a connection with Women's Ministry, but I haven't said much about our church. I started to put "the church we attend"...but then I realized its not JUST the church we attend...its OUR church! We're a part of it, however small. We're a part of all the people in our church. They're our family...even the weird ones...and they KNOW who they are! (Just kidding. They probably don't know who they are! LOL!)

Anywho (that's for Kelley), since the purpose of my meanderings on this blog is for my future grandchildren's history lesson, I thought I should tell you a little about our church and some of our activities there because it is a big part of our life. Being mindful of the fact that a few folks (like Ms. Naggy) from our church occasionally drop by The Pine, I still want to be a bit transparent and hope it doesn't come back and bite me somewhere in the nether regions.

We've been members of our church since 2000. It's the biggest church I've ever been a member of. In size, it's probably in the top 10 of all churches here in Tallytown. We didn't set out to join a big church. Being a small town girl who grew up in a small church --in a Youth group of 2-- BIG, wasn't really on my radar. I'll leave out the essay about how we came about joining this wonderful fellowship of believers (Careful, I can hear the Hallelujahs!), but there is no doubt in my mind that God put us where we are for His purposes.

We have three services each Sunday morning and two full Sunday Schools. "Our" service is the earliest at 8:15 AM. I know you're rolling your eyes thinking there is absolutely no way on earth that Meggy-girl is in church barely after sunrise each Lord's Day, but I promise...it IS THE TRUTH! Blame it on Mr. Fix-It and him being an old man who likes to get up early in the morning even though his wife and daughter are NOT morning people.

All of this to tell you about the choir. Since long before we joined, our church has been known for its fabulous music program. This was an important part of what drew us to the church in the first place. The tradition has continued and our choir is fantastic! Our church is so blessed with amazingly talented musicians and vocalists.

I love to sing. After my dad got saved when I was about 8, he was quite zealous. So we had a little family group that sang in church. My mom would play the piano and Dad, me and my three brothers would sing. I'll never forget:

Life is like a mountain railway,
With an engineer that's brave;
We must make the run successful,
From the cradle to the grave;
Watch the curves, the fills, the tunnels;
Never falter, never quail;
Keep your hands upon the throttle,
And your eyes upon the rail.

The "group" didn't last long, because my mom didn't like to play the piano in public. Later, when we moved to Bronson, my grandmother was the choir director at our tiny church and nobody could sing bad enough not to be enlisted in the choir! Singing was a HUGE part of my teen years in high school; I sang as a choir member or soloist at 4-H events, churches, and civic events. I actually sang a song as part of my Valedictory address at my high school graduation. Believe it, I have it on video!!!

Before Bex was born, I sang to her. When she was tiny, tiny, the only thing that would soothe her croupy crying was singing "Jesus Loves Me." When I get to Heaven, I'm planning to ask God how many verses I've sung of that song, surely its close to a million...most of it within three months with terribly loooooonnnnnng nights! When Bex was a toddler we sang ALLLLLLLL the time, I (and she) loved it.

Even now, we sing all the time. But since I'm only a passable singer, over the past 10 years or so, I haven't been part of the choir or any organized group for a variety of reasons. I did sing in the choir for a few months after joining our church, but God made it pretty clear to me that this wasn't His plan for me.

I know you're asking why that is... I'm not sure why, probably because my heart wasn't right...or I needed instruction elsewhere...I'll get a clear answer on that one day, too, but for now, I'm content to know that He wanted my heart in Women's Ministry,which is where I've served for quite some time. But now, He's released me back to the choir for a time along WITH my work in WM.

Our Minister of Music, Jason, is a young, whipper-snapper kid from Daytona Beach. He's not even 30, for goodness sake!!! (He's also an anonymous blog stalker that stops by The Pine on occasion, but never leaves a comment, so I have to tread carefully here....) When our search committee first met and interviewed him, their glowing report back to the church was that he was very, very young...BUT! Well, I'm happy to say there's an immeasurable bunch of love for the Lord and love of music contained in that BUT. We are so blessed to have him lead us in worship each Sunday and Wednesday.

Now back to choir. Jason has been bugging me and Bex to sing with the choir for over a year (they'll take anybody! LOL!!). Even though his sweet wife thinks nobody can say "No" to him, I did! I said no for over a year and I had good reasons...I'm a Sunday School teacher and a WM leader, a homeschool mom, a volleyball team mom and Mr. Fix-It's secretary and bookkeeper. Oh, wait! I'm also supposed to be a WIFE!!! somewhere in there, too! Mr. Fix-It has only so much patience with my extra-curricular activities. But this year, with all the changes in our lives and Bex in college, God seemed to call me back to music ministry. In Henry Blackaby's book, Experiencing God, he says that God speaks to us through prayer, His Word AND other people. Of course, having 10 people every Sunday morning harass me about joining the choir had absolutely NOTHING to do with it! So, after talking it over with Mr. Fix-It, Bex and I joined the choir at the beginning of January so we could sing with the choir at 8:15.

It's been a great experience so far. Even though Jason is just a kid (sorry, Jason...its true!) he still picks a wonderful variety of great music for us to sing (with the exception of a few we won't talk about here...can you say Handel?). He also does a terrific job of running choir practice. He keeps things moving and orderly so you don't feel like you're wasting your time sitting there while Miss Suzie (made up name...) chatters away. He also keeps things fun. His enthusiasm is quite contagious! Now, as we work on Easter music, Jason always shares the scripture behind the words...makes it even more meaningful as we sing.

Our choir special last Sunday was "Bow The Knee," one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. God sent a fabulous soloist from Atlanta to us to make it even more wonderful! It was such a joy to be a part of the presentation.

Bex is really enjoying it, too! She got a great start in her elementary years singing several years with the WaterOak Children's Ensemble. The director for WaterOak was very good at training children's voices and teaching them proper enunciation and breathing. She has a much more beautiful voice than her mom, so it makes my heart sing when I listen to her.

With my homeschooling days pretty much behind me, I'm thankful God has given us a chance to share our love of singing together. So, look out! Here comes another season of my life...

Stay tuned.

Drive-By Blogging, Spook and My BIG God!

How are things in Bloggy-World? I really need to catch up on all my favorite haunts and see what other folks are doing. Surely I will find life more interesting elsewhere. Not more blessed...but more interesting!

Now, if you want to know what is happening on FaceBook--then I'm your girl! I've been spending WAYYYYYYYY too much time there. I know now why folks are addicted...cause I'M ADDICTED!!! Don't ask me why its so cool, I couldn't really tell you. But it IS fun! It's kind of like the shortened version of blogging. I know, I know...you can't believe I would LIKE the shortened version due to my lack of brevity right here! But I do like it. You don't have to really have a topic. It's kind of like "drive-by" blogging --- or "hit and run" blogging. For those FB'ers, you know what I mean.

Over the past few weeks, (in addition to FaceBook) we've been busy "getting back to normal." Remember normal? We're starting to get there.

Nothing much out of the ordinary going on around here, but we've centered a lot of our attention on the new puppy. Remember him. He's about 5 months old now...1/2 Australian/1/2 German Shepherd. He's growing like Bahia grass! (For any of you that don't know, Bahia {say: buh-hay-a} grows FASTER than weeds!)

He is just the sweetest dog and a real attention hound. When he lays around, he just wants to be touching you...his head laid on your foot, his foot across your foot, your hand on him *anywhere*, or anywhere in the vicinity of Bex. He's absolutely greedy when it comes to attention.

He has a doghouse, but instead of going in...he'll sit right in front of the door, out in the cold and rain. What's up with that? He's so smart about everything else, we don't understand his problem with the house. We even went to the trouble of trading one house (that he wouldn't use) for another house our other dogs love. But he won't use that one either! I feel so sorry for him when its raining, but figure he must just like the water.

Over the past week we've had such cold weather he's been spoiled and allowed in the house overnight. When he's in the house--after the initial excitement--he's the perfect gentlemen and mostly sleeps beside Bex's bed. The only "accident" he's ever had was his first night here. Since then, he hasn't had any problems.

He loves the kitty. Squeaky, the kitty doesn't particularly like being 'loved' by the dog, but he doesn't make him stop. Spook's favorite thing is to lay down beside the cat and lay his front paw over the cat's back--holding him down--while he licks him and grooms him. We keep telling Squeaky to pop Spook in the face, or bow up at him, but Squeaky just lays there and takes it.

Here's a picture with Squeaky UNDER Spook. When I first walked in, all you could see was Squeaky's head poking out from underneath the dog...but when we went for the camera, he let Squeaky move away.

He's turning into a beautiful dog. His puppy "fuzz" is giving way to beautiful, shiny, wavy hair.

Yesterday, Bex was walking home from down the road with Spook. Our neighbor's gate was open and all FOUR of her nearly grown dogs came running and all jumped on Spook. Our neighbor was right there and pulled her dogs off, but not before Spook got a few gashes and BIG trauma. (Our neighbor was horrified too!) Anyway, after cleaning up the cuts and putting some medicine on them, he and Bex are pretty much "back to normal" today.

I'll also be spending time working on our 6th Annual Women's Retreat. I can't spill the beans here about all the fun, exciting, relaxing, wonderful, things we will be doing until AFTER the retreat...because some of the crazies ladies who read my blog will be going to the retreat...and we want all the fun to be a pleasant surprise. As of today, we have 92 ladies going...but I know several more turned in their registrations today... Whew! It's gonna be interesting.

Life is good at The Pine, God continues to bless us so good (yes, I know it should be "well"...) I can't praise Him enough! I'm reading a Beth Moore book, studying the life of King David. In her commentary on David facing Goliath (1 Samuel 17), she notes that we should let David remind us to

"Measure the size of your obstacles against the size of your God."

I've taken that to heart....really.

Stay tuned.

Contumacious, That's Me!

con·tu·ma·cious
adj. Obstinately disobedient or rebellious; insubordinate.

I'm feeling this towards all the folks on television that tell us that Mr. Obama is the savior of the world; and as such, we must all fall into line and be good little cows and follow the herd mentality for the "good of the country." I refuse to leave my brain at the door, as so many seem to have done already. I prefer to check facts, compare history, and look at the BIGGER picture rather than just what will make ME feel better.

Perhaps it's wrong to feel so contumacious...but this is my new word and I'm sticking to it. I plan to use it quite regularly for the next few years, so you'll need to learn it.

Although no one would ever make the mistake of thinking I have even a nodding acquaintance with fashion, I also disagree with all the talking heads and fashionistas on television this morning. Personally, I thought Michelle Obama's dress (for the inauguration) looked like it was made out of drapery material. My mom used to have curtains like that. With limitless money, her good figure, and all the colors of the rainbow. She chose that? Ummmmmm....

Now that I've had the audacity to disagree with the news media and this world's savior, I'll be expecting the Secret Service on my doorstep by nightfall...they'll have to come through the puppy poop...hope they wipe their feet...but that's another story altogether...

Okay...I've let it out...I HAD to say something...I'm done.

I'll try to be less contumacious at The Pine. I'm working on choosing only to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and are of good report like Paul told the Philippians in Chapter 4...it's a constant battle...guess I need to quit watching television altogether...

Stay tuned.

No Pictures Today!

Hopefully, dear readers, you'll forgive me for the lack of pictures today. It has been a good day, but I refuse to archive it with photographs. That may be breaking Bloggy-World rules...but I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination today.

This morning I rousted Bex out of bed about 6:30am so that we could go to the dentist in a town about 50 miles away. Our appointments were at 9am. We were both a bit nervous. I hadn't had much dental "work" since teen braces --and Bex had NEVER had a cavity filled. So we were a bit out of our comfort zones.

Even knowing that I was a bit nervous, my dear sweet Bex SLEPT nearly the entire trip over... Wow! Thanks so much for helping me keep my mind off things, Bex! Then when she finally woke up --she had the audacity to make fun of my "music." Yes, they were oldies...but definitely goodies.

We arrived on time and looked forward to checking out some of the cool magazines (since I don't subscribe to ANY!) In fact, they didn't give us any time at all to change our minds! I hardly set my purse down in a chair before the nurse was calling my name to "Come on back!" They took Bex in within a few minutes, also. Did I mention this is a GREAT dentist?

It was kind of interesting, actually. The new partner (his daughter) worked on Bex, and the old guy (the dad) worked on me. He came in, sat down and started talking to me. He applied the topical anesthetic and continued to sit and talk to me while he waited for it to work...then gave me the shots and continued to talk to me. I'm used the dentist coming in, leaving, checking, leaving, etc. I enjoyed it.

We had an interesting conversation about solar water heaters, his dream of building a monolithic dome house so he could live completely "off the grid." Hmmm...very interesting. He also tried to sell me his 4-bedroom house in Gainesville right down the road from my brother. He bought it for his daughter to live in while attending school at UF...and hasn't been able to sell it since she graduated and moved out in May. I also heard about his trips to Alaska to have clinics for the natives.

Ah, yes. I knew you would be interested...LOL!!

Anywho, (I hate it when people say that...but..) we made it through the ordeal. In fact, I felt so good on the way home, I didn't bother stopping to get the prescription for pain meds filled. The dentist said he didn't think I would need to have it filled and that Ibuprofen would probably be enough... Au contrair! After arriving home and taking a short nap --the anesthetic wore off!!! How do you spell...EEEEYYYYYEEEEEOWWWWWWW!!!! Needless to say, about 4pm I was headed back to town to get some DRUGS, baby! Not to be mistaken for baby drugs! I wanted the full-blown grown-up ones!!!

Now, as I write this I'm mellowed out and the pain is controlled down to a low roar, if you know what I mean. So I thought I would share this with all of Bloggy-World since some of you have been hearing me whine for too long about this terrible tooth --that is GONE, GONE, GONE! Hallelujah!

Stay tuned.

Getting Old, A Bad Tooth and Some Fun Memories

Getting old is not fun. My teeth are falling apart. Yes, I remember my mom warning me about chewing ice...but that was supposed to be a problem when I'm OLD!!! Now I have a HUGE pain in my mouth. It's a molar that broke in half last year after losing a big filling the year before. I've alternately writhed in pain and been perfectly fine since then. Over the past week, it has leaned much more to the pain side. So I'm "biting the bullet" so to speak and have a dentist's appointment in the morning for the extraction. I would appreciate any prayers you might feel like offering up around 9:30 am eastern time.

That said, I'll post a few more pictures from our Christmas Eve festivities. First, though, let me say our "festivities" were a bit subdued this year--and I'm really lamenting that fact. (Must be the tooth pain making me so melancholy.) I've come to the conclusion that it was subdued because we only have ONE little one these days. Our Christmas Eve's used to be so lively and L*O*U*D!!!! with 13 grandchildren running around. But with the oldest being 30 and the youngest being a 9-year old, things are more sedate and (might I add...) B*O*R*I*N*G!!! But we had a good time anyway. With such great food, it surely can't be too bad! Next year, I think we're going to have to import some kids. Any of you want to offer yours?


This monkey was hanging out in a tree looking for Santa and his reindeer. Yes, monkey's can climb trees in flip-flops!

The monkey also celebrated her 9th birthday on the 23rd. So, Christmas Eve was just a continuation.

























As it so often is after church, it seems we spent more time "leaving" than we did "staying."

This is my youngest brother (26 and SINGLE!), Beau. He was hamming for the camera and didn't believe I would be bold enough to post this lovely picture for all the world to see. Beau...NEVER, EVER dare your sister!













My dad and step-mother listening to all the "after-party" discussions, stories and lies. We were all "leaving"...remember?
















Most of you don't know my almost youngest brother, Alan. (He WAS my youngest brother as we were growing up...but then Beau happened. So, now he's my almost little brother.) If you did know him, you would have absolutely no trouble figuring out he is telling a story...probably full of lies...but always entertaining!















This is Sable (Alan's 2nd daughter) and her latest beau, Austin. You might remember him from Thanksgiving...standing on the fringes of the crowd...wondering how he got himself into this mess. Believe it or not, he came back for more!!!












Bex and Mr. Fix-It were enjoying the stories, too! Like I said, they are ALWAYS entertaining!


















Here is an inside picture of my sister Mandy and her husband, Erik. It was a rare treat to have them at Christmas Eve because they are with the traveling nurse program and have been in California, Texas, Alaska, or other faraway places over the last 6 years.






Since I was talking about my teeth before... just a little FYI.

Do you know how we know that a country, redneck invented the toothbrush?

(Here's where you say, "No, I didn't...How do we know that?")

Because if it wasn't a redneck...it would have been called a "TEETH-brush!"



Stay tuned--it could be worse!

A Few Christmas Surprises

Just a quick post... trying to keep to my resolution of posting at least three times per week. Today, I'll reminisce about a few surprises at Christmas 2008.

This big guy started off our Christmas surprises.


Meet the newest member of our family ...

~~SPOOK~~

He's actually only 4 months old...we're hoping he'll be HUGE! That's his main purpose in our family --to be scary.

His mom is an Australian Shepherd and his dad is a German Shepherd.




Spook doesn't look particularly scary here. But when he's bigger, we're hoping he makes "shoppers" think twice before lifting things from our home or property.

Look at those feet!













Notice a particularly fuzzy ornament? It's right in the middle of the tree.














For some reason this little kitten liked sleeping in the branches of my brother/sister-in-law's tree. He was so cute!










We were surprised on the day after Christmas to have my uncle and aunt from Illinois breeze through. Aunt Barb (in the middle) is my mom's oldest sister. When she's around, I'm so reminded of my mom's mannerisms.

The squirrel hunters on the right and left. Maria Elena cooked the squirrel...but if you'll notice...the bucket of KFC was quite popular!

Another surprise, not quite so pleasant, was the mild December weather. Most of the kids were in shorts and flip-flops or barefooted. Not very "Christmasy" if you ask me!



The biggest SURPRISE at Christmas (although it really didn't surprise many of us) was my niece, Tiffany's, engagement ring!

She and her boyfriend Jake --who have been dating for 8 years --decided to get engaged!
Auntie M says "It's about time!"








Tiffany and Jake... the night BEFORE!

See! He's still smiling. After two weeks of "wedding" talk, he's not smiling quite as big. Heeheeheee!




Stay tuned for more Christmas memories.

Back to Normal? Not likely.

Since ringing in the New Year last Thursday, I've been contemplating life getting back to "normal." It was during this serious contemplation that I realized that I have absolutely no idea what "normal" should look like around here!

What does "normal" look like for you? Maybe you can give me some pointers.

Well, whatever "normal" is, life around The Pine has taken on a small semblance of routine, at least. Mom and Dad are back at work, Bex will be back in school starting Thursday. Routine feels a bit more "normal," doesn't it?

We have some new "normals" too! For example, the last three nights we've been able to eat dinner around the dining room table. Does that sound exciting to you? Well, I can tell you I've been absolutely THRILLED about it!!! (MamaWeso asked me if I "finally cleaned the table off!") NOT!!!

You see, I've been living post-business for FIVE years! This means, when we closed our automotive business in December of 2003, we moved all the office stuff into my dining room. That means computer desk, filing cabinets, boxes of files, etc. took over MY space. In order to do that, the dining table had to be moved out. So, we've been eating on TV trays --OR if we had company-- a card table in the middle of the living room or on the deck-- for the past 5 years!

At first, it was no big deal...kind of fun...convenient. But as the years have gone by, I've lamented over the lack of a central eating spot. So, before Christmas, me and Bex got busy re-arranging that area --she wanted a REAL Christmas tree--and that seemed to be the best place for it. I kept in mind that with all the changes --when the tree was gone, my table could come back! Wahoo!

Before supper last night, I asked Bex to "set the table." She remembered plates but forgot that we need silverware set out, too! How can I blame her when her training has been so lacking over her teen years? Hopefully, these things will come back to her very quickly. We did have some really fancy-folded napkins, though. (She learned how to fold napkins at Camp Charis...Thanks, Mr. Craig!)

So now that we have a table, I have much more gumption to cook--we can actually sit down together as a family. I've actually cooked two nights in a row...and tonight makes THREE!! (So, for the person (I don't know who it was) who was worried about Mr. Fix-It losing weight...let me assure you -- IT AIN'T MY FAULT!!! I've been keeping him in Raisin Bread for awhile now.)

Many other things will probably come closer to "normal" in the next few weeks. Bex and I are still adjusting to both of us having vehicles, me having a job, and dealing with the new puppy. With our annual Women's Retreat coming up next month, I'm sure January won't "settle in" to "normal"...but I'm not worried. Like Mark Lowry, one of my favorite Bible passages is "And it came to pass..." Yep, that's my favorite part...IT WILL PASS! So, as I look forward to what God has in store for The Pine in 2009, I'm sure of only one thing...It will be interesting!!!

Stay tuned!

Weekend Adventures...Away from the Pine

Oh, my goodness! It's already been five days since I posted. That is so hard to believe. I guess I've been busy. I have to go to work sometime today, so I better type fast!!!

Since we last talked, I've put nearly 1,000 miles on this old body. Thankfully, it's been mostly riding/driving in a car.

Wednesday afternoon we headed back to Chiefland to my brother's home for New Year's Eve festivities. We enjoyed some of the BEST oysters EVER that night. Here's a picture of me enjoying one...

My brothers and husband were very sweet to do the work shucking so that I could enjoy. We had them straight out of the shell and roasted over the fire.

This picture shows (from L-R) my little brother Alan on the left with the hat, my SIL Jeannie waving at the camera, Mr. Fix-It just above her head, CJ and Bex over on the swing, me sucking down an oyster, and my oldest brother Chuck. All of the men were busy shucking oysters...this takes much concentration.


We must be getting old, because we barely made it to the New Year awake! Folks started heading home about 10pm...so by midnight, we were all stretched out on the couches in front of the television trying to stay awake long enough to see the ball drop in Times Square and the guy jump his motorcycle up on a building in Las Vegas. Oh, the excitement! LOL!!

After a wonderful lunch on New Year's Day and me SMASHING the other gals in Tri-Ominoes, we headed back to Tallytown arriving home about 11pm.

On Friday, I re-packed my clothes and headed back south to Chiefland alone. When I got to the Suwannee River I decided I had better fill up with gas. My fuel gage wasn't showing that I was really low on fuel, but for some reason it seemed important to fill up before getting to Chiefland. So, I'm figuring it took me from 5-8 minutes to accomplish this. (Yes, I know you're wondering why I'm going into such detail...just hang on...I'll tell you!)

After filling up, I headed on down the road towards Chiefland. As I came to the first traffic light (where I usually turn to go to my brother's home) there seemed to be dozens of flashing lights --from police cars, fire engines, and ambulances. The traffic was stopped on both sides of the 4-lane highway. The emergency vehicles were still arriving at what appeared to be a serious car accident. Whew! It was quite a sight.

I called my SIL to help me re-route around the accident which was fairly easy. But as I was driving through the very dark night to their home, it occurred to me that had I not stopped for gas, I could very well have been in that intersection and involved in the accident 5-10 minutes earlier. Have I said, "God is Good!"? I'm convinced it was His urging that had me stopping for gas that night.

After arriving at my brother's home, we had wonderful grilled hamburgers and I gave my SIL a re-match in Tri-Ominoes. I beat her AGAIN! Wahoo! This is extremely rare, because she usually trounces me.

After my victory, I headed to my dad's home in Bronson. I was going to stay with him so that we could leave for S. Carolina at 7am on Saturday. We were headed to a memorial service for a cousin who died on Christmas morning.

The fog was so dense on Saturday morning, my dad woke me up early so that we could leave earlier. The fog was like pea soup in some places, so I'm glad we weren't feeling rushed!

We made it to Beaufort, SC just in time for the visitation time. I met several cousins for the first time. It was the first time in many years that I had seen my great-aunt, who will be 90 years old this year. It was her daughter, Carolyn, who died after a long battle with Alzheimers. At 89, my aunt has a clear mind and is quite spry for her age. It was a delight to have the opportunity to talk with her --even at such a hard time for her.

After the memorial service, at noon, we headed back towards Florida. My dad doesn't believe in letting any grass grow while he's away! LOL!! We spent about 10 hours together with nobody else to interrupt us --except for a few cell phone calls. It was wonderful! At 71, I'm thrilled to be able to spend time with him.

We made it back to Bronson about 7:30. By 9pm, I was sacked out in the bed! Why does 'riding' make you tired? I surely don't know.

After a terrific breakfast of cheese toast and hot chocolate, I headed back to Tallytown...just in time for my Sunday afternoon nap.

It was pretty upsetting to me that Bex and Mr. Fix-It seemed to do just fine without me! What's the deal there? Friday night, Bex cooked a nice supper of BBQ chicken, smashed taters and green beans. Why doesn't she do that when Mom is home? When I arrived on Sunday afternoon, they had just returned from church and Bex was cooking pancakes. Hmmmm....I'll have to make a note...she CAN cook when she wants! Me thinks she is going to "want" to cook more often!!

Thus ends my weekend adventures. God is good all the time!

Stay tuned!