Big Empty Space!

Today I found myself pacing the floors. The last time I had paced the floors was the night my best friend and husband did not return home from work. I thought of it when I found myself pacing again today. It must be what I do when I know that my life is about to change forever.

You see at three this afternoon my dear sweet Gretchen left for Kentucky. She no longer will be living out here on the North Forty and now I feel like I have a big hole in my heart.  

We said our goodbyes with lots of tears getting in the way. Just in short time this young lady brought so much into my life out here that my heart feels like it is breaking as I try to write this post.

She will be coming back to Texas but not to live out here. About four months ago she met a young man in acting class and has fallen in love. After Gretchen takes care of her mom in Kentucky for three months she will move to Austin where he lives.

Wednesday night my brother Billy and sister-in-law Linda came over to say their goodbyes to Gretchen. If you read the post about us putting the For Rent sign in my brothers yard as a prank well this is the brother.

He never came up with anything to get her back for it. He told her he rented his house and was moving in six weeks but she did not fall for it. lol

In the next picture you can see how Gretchen always is the little actress and is cutting up with Billy.

She captured their hearts too while she lived here on the North Forty.

Friends are the best and I will miss this one terribly.

While I am here tonight I want to thank Julia for her Blogazine post. If you have not read about Julia just keep scrolling down til the next post and read about another good friend of mine.

Sending you good wishes for a happy weekend. I hope that you enjoy some cooler weather. Do something fun and know this ole Texas Yellowhair Grandma sends love to all

Maggie

Welcome Julia of Petals and Wool!

Please welcome my sweet friend Julia from Of Petals and Wool! She is one busy lady and went to a lot of trouble to write this great story for my Blogazine post.

It seems like just saying Thank You is not enough but I do appreciate all of you and Julia for doing these wonderful stories.  So please sit back and enjoy Julia!

Maggie, what an honor for me to be asked to do a story for your Blogazine so this evening I'm all alone and no excuse to put it off any longer, but where do I start?I guess I'll condense my life as briefly as possible so bear with me.  Here is a recent bad self photo of me. 

I was born in November 1946, third child to what was going to be a very large family of 17 kids,10 boys and 7 girls, My mom got married at 16 to her sweetheart, my dad... Our house was small and always crowded but mom's motto was "There's always room for one more". We lived a sustainable life off the land in the country, with plenty of wild berries in the summer, apples and nuts, fresh fish and wild meat and vegetable garden. My mom baked fresh bread every day. We lived freely and there was never any fear of having someone who would hurt us. We were always outside, either playing ball over the roof top, skating on ponds in winter or swimming in the deep end of brook.

At 16 I left home to get away from a very jealous boyfriend who didn't want to accept that I didn't want to continue the relationship because of his insane jealousy and I came to Fredericton where I found a job the next day, baby-siting the 5 years old girl of an aunt of my aunt and looking after meals and laundry for  the rest of the family while the mother went away on business for a few weeks. She kept me on for 9 months as a maid until her older daughters returned home from school in another town. I fell in love with Fredericton, a clean, beautiful and quiet government and University city. 

In 1966, at 19 years old, 5 months pregnant  I got married to the man of whom I declared that "I wouldn't marry him if he was the last man on earth". He hadn't made the right impression on first sight.

Not having much money at the time I settled for a beautiful new wedding gown that was on sale for $45.00 because they were out of style. The new fashion wedding gowns were plain was and it wasn't for me. I was happy with my purchase.

The day before my wedding, we picked up the brand new car, got our hair done at the hair dresser, picked up the three tier cake, the flowers and other necessities and were on our way to deliver it to the church hall in another town  when the weather turned violent and snow was coming down heavily, there were snow drifts and white outs. The roads became impassable and we had to return home.

 Half way home we hit an abandoned white car on the road and smashed the grill of the brand new car. No one was hurt as my soon to be husband was driving very slow but I tasted the cake when my face hit the first tier and my sister in law who was in the back seat with my mom had a few flowers broken. Our hair all got wet by the time we returned home and had to put back our hair in curlers. My brother in law fixed the cake by taking the third tier off and he also fixed the bouquets of flowers. We were thankful that no one was hurt. All that mattered to me was that I was going to get married to the man I love... Nothing else mattered...

The next morning my husband got up at 5:00 am to plow the lane all the way to the main road and we made it to the church in the city and although not all the guests could make it, the important people were there. As we came out of the church, the wind had calmed down and the sun was shining and the sky was blue.

Since the reception was cancelled as well as the photographer, we had the reception at the big farm house and what a party that was... Lots of food, booze and good music, lots of gifts and lots of dancing till the wee hours of the morning. My youngest brother in law took some pictures. 

From 1966 to 1974, I gave birth to 4 kids, three girls and one boy, and I delighted in sewing all their cloths, making preserves and keeping house. My oldest daughter is 45,  a Dr. of Anthropology and teaches and lectures in Scotland and travels the world and does mountain climbing and hiking , my second daughter, 47 lives in Fredericton and has 4 kids and  is a master weaver and teaches at the NB College of Craft &Design, my son, 39,  is the herdsman on the farm and lives neighbor to us and has one teenage daughter and my youngest daughter, 37, is a Dr. of Chemistry and has an 8 month old baby and lives in Ottawa.

In 1977, we moved in our new house that we built with pine lumber cut on the farm land.  My brothers help with the building and I pounded nails and painted.  In 1983 I started teaching Hobby Ceramics in my basement for 10 years and then bought a large Ceramic business who was in financial difficulty because of mismanagement and I went into manufacturing greenware and bisque and selling supplies wholesale and retail. I had a registered business and had two employees.I was successful but very over worked. I did this for 10 years and decided that that I needed to slow down. Working all day in a basement wasn't good for my health.

We have been through a litigation  with my husband's youngest brother who wanted to have the farm and  he did all he could to make our life miserable and in the end his father settled to let him go and the company bought his shares  and when my husband's older brother retired he wanted to sell the farm but my husband wasn't ready to stop farming so this too went to expensive litigation. It's a good thing we live a simple and frugal life and had money put aside as lawyers are super expensive.

I intended to go back into ceramic later on as more of a hobby, selling finished decorative pieces as there was still a good market for this in our area. I was encouraged to go on a spiritual journey called The St Ignatius Spiritual Exercises that took me two and a half year to complete with a spiritual adviser and a lot of travel.My husband took the Exercise as well. I even travelled while on chemo every week to be with my spiritual advisor.  Then my faith was very strong. I did a lot of inner healing while on the Exercises. 

Then in mid December 2002 I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and told that I would probably die from it. I had a radical mastectomy and had  aggressive chemo  treatments  and then radiation.  My immune system was destroyed so it was either a bone marrow transplant or very expensive medicines that I would have to learn to inject myself.  Every  1 cc. of  Eprex  cost $800. and my hand would shake because I was so afraid to mess up and waste the med. The Nupogen was injected for 5 days and if I remember correctly, cost $96 a shot. These were given to built up my red and white blood cells 48 hours following every chemo treatments for 6 months. Even with my private health insurance that paid 80% of the cost, my out of pocket expenses were a lot.    Then My radiation required me to travel to another city for treatments. 

Having gone through the Spiritual Exercises had prepared  me for this difficult journey. Because I was in a god place spiritually, I had accepted that I was ready to die if it was the will of God and ready to live if this was His will.  When I surrendered to Jesus, I was filled with a peace that is hard to describe. I was ready to live fully each day that I was given. I enjoyed even the smallest thing people did for me. I had a lot of support from family, friends and my church community. They donated some money and had fund raiser for me. Even my own family who lives in another part of the province raised money for me. We couldn't have gone through the expenses on our own and we couldn't apply for assistance because we were self employed. 

In the spring of 2009 we had a devastating flood and our cattle had to be evacuated to another farm an hour drive away so twice a day it was two hour drive to go and come back to milk the cows. The stress on the cows was evident and their production went down a lot. We lost lots of our hay and silage. Lots of damage to equipments and buildings, erosions of road and land.  The government compensated a small amount and our real  lost was great.We had hay donated  from generous farmers as far as Ontario.

Personally I lost about $30,000.00 in ceramics molds, shelves and equipments that were in the basement. Luckily because the water  level was one inch below the window sill, the insurance paid. If the water would have entered through the window, they would have not paid a cent. 

On January 31, 2010 one of our bedding barn collapsed under the weight of snow and trapped 70 of our milking cows. They had been milked that morning and had returned to the bedding area.  My husband had returned to the barn and found the rafters coming out through the windows. The 911 call was made and also to me and my son and one other farmer. Within minutes there was help from the fire department, the farmers in our area, reporters, curious bystanders. We only lost 3 cows in the mishap. The media were constantly looking for a story. We were not in the mood for being on TV or the newspaper and radio. But they were relentless. We were in shock.

 It took only two months in February and March to rebuilt the new barn with the help of volunteers. Even with the red tape of demolition and building permits and and engineers, every thing went like clock work. An amazing show of support carried us through this difficult time. Every day I fed the workers and never knew how many would show up but somehow neighbors and the community brought food at just the right time and we never once ran out of food. Some days there were 15, the next 6, another 20, another 3 and so on. We were grateful beyond measure for all the assistance we got. 

I wasn't very brave when it came to cows but I was called out of my deep sleep at 5:00 am one morning by my husband who needed me to care for a frost bitten calf that was born in the cold pole barn in  February. The mother had given birth  before her due date. The calf had dropped behind the gate and she couldn't reach her to lick her clean and keep it warm. The wet calf quickly was covered with white frost. I cared for it and  it survived  and she is now pregnant.  It happened another time and again  I was awaken at 5:00 am but that calf died. I was devastated. I started to care for the calves and since I did such a good job, I was hired. I'm still caring for the calves, small one and big ones.I clean at the farm and clean the pens, I paint walls, I do office work, like filing, opening mail, online banking, payroll deductions, bank deposits, write cheques, calculate the HST tax refund every three months, housework, yard work like gardening and mowing the lawn, meals, laundry, grocery and as if that wasn't enough I started a blog to challenge myself. My blog is called Of Petals and Wool because I like to garden and design and hook wool rugs.

My life is very challenging but never boring. I hope I didn't bored you with this long story.   JB

Thank you honey for writing such a wonderful story for all of my friends to enjoy. I have to say I learned a lot about you today that I did not know. Like you owning a ceramic shop for ten years. Wow I use to own one too and loved it.

Isn't it great to learn about our fellow blogging buddies. Julia always inspires me to do more when I visit her site beccause she never slows down. She is like that pink bunny in the battery commercials during the holidays. She just goes and goes and goes. What an amazing woman and friend!

If you want to be the next guest on here please send me your story to grandmayellowhair@gmail.com. If for some reason you have already sent me a story and have not heard from me please let me know because sometimes this happens and I feel bad about it. So don't think I am not publishing your story it's because I don't have it.  Remember everyone has a story to tell so send me yours.

This has been a tiring week for me. My renters are moving out of my home in town so I am dealing with that and then Gretchen leaves Friday afternoon from here so l am already crying over her leaving.

I have  tried to visit the Round Top/Warrenton show several times with friends but my back just would not let me browse a whole lot. I did take a few pictures that I hope to share with you soon.

Saturday I did get to see my darling family over the weekend and oh how I laughed with those two grandbabies. What a hoot they are! God really blessed us when he gave us grandbabies.

Sending you lots of good wishes and love
Maggie

Three Generations of Brothers and Sisters!

Today I am joining our sweet friend Donna at Brynwood Needleworks  for Memory Lane Mondays. On my way home last night from visiting with my three children, daughter-in-law and grandbabies I thought of how much I love my family.

Since it is almost a two hour drive to my home from theirs it gave me plenty of time for reflections of memories. I thought of how lucky I was to have grown up with four brothers. Yet I promise you it took me a very very long time to be grateful for having four brothers. I mean lets face it being the only girl in the family was not easy. I washed so many dishes and ironed so many blue jeans I still have night mares. lol

 Oh and the trips to see my grandparents in the back seat with these four trying to plant a knuckle sandwich in each other over me was quite the experience.

Even though we fought and squabbled over silly unimportant things growing up I have good memories like the time they posed with me in a stage coach while visiting New Mexico. Or the picture above where I am with two of my brothers Doy and Billy!

Or being there for me when my son Clint was married.

Or the birthdays we celebrate with our friends the Olivers!

Here you find me and my four brothers on the left and the Oliver girls with their brother Oscar on the right.  Our beautiful moms front and center and their dad Harvey!

Thinking of my brothers of course made me think of how close my children are to each other.

Here Chad,my mom, Christi, Clint, me and the idiot are all together for Clints graduation from college.

No my hair did not stick out like that the whole time the wind was blowing. lol

A couple of years later Clint married and his big brother Chad and sister Christi along with their mom showed up for the happy occasions.

They even go to other weddings with each other!

They show up to help their mom when she is suffering a loss and needs their presence!

Last but not least I thought of the two brothers and sisters who bring new joy to all of us!

Kaci and Bailey in a pumpkin patch!

They even hunt strawberries with their grandmayellowhair!

I hope my post today brings back happy family memories to you my friend!

Love to all

Maggie

My High School Reunion!

Hello and how are you this beautiful September day. The first thing I have to mention is have you read my previous Blogazine post. If not scroll down and meet Cathy. Thanks Cathy for doing your story for me. Who is next? Don't be shy send your story to grandmayellowhair@yahoo.com

As most of you know I attended my class reunion over the weekend. For some crazy reason they greeted us at the door of the ball room with name tags that showed us at 17 years old. Here is my Senior picture they had me wear around my neck Saturday night so everyone would know who I was. hahaha.... Silly that they would think I had change so much that no one would recognize me.

Ten minutes into the party I realized these organizers knew what they were doing because I kept thinking who are all of these old people. Am I at the wrong reunion? 

Thank goodness I went to this with the Oliver sisters that I grew up with because other wise it would have been a long night.

About three times a year I have a girly weekend with three sisters I grew up with in La Porte so I suggested to them we rent a room and attend our High School Reunion. 

In the hotel room I made them pose for a picture! I have to tell you the best part of my weekend was spent in this room laughing with these three. We laughed ourselves silly until way into the night.

.

Ok girls I have to take a picture of you before the big party!

Left to right my life long friends and sisters Ruby, Bonnie and Linda.

Well maybe two pictures!

After the meal my class of 1966 had to pose for a picture together.

Not very many attended from our class. That's me on the right with a black top and long skirt. 

Remember last week Gretchen came over and I was trying on outfits to wear to this thing and she loved this black and white skirt that Christi and I had bought a few weeks ago at Stein Mart.

You all know how crazy Gretchen is and when I tried this on she kept saying Oh Yeah Maggie this is so sexy on you. This is what you have to wear. Being the crazy young girl she is she said, "OMG your going to get laid wearing that outfit!" Can you imagine being told that especially from a  young 30 year old woman. hahaha....Anyway about twenty minutes ago she texted me the question...."Well did you...Well did you?" Of course I knew what she was asking so I wrote her back the truth.

"Honey the only thing that got laid was the cards we played when we got back to our hotel room!"

Gretchen of course Texted back "LOL"

It was a strange night seeing kids I had went to school with now in their early 60's. Most of these I had not seen since graduation night.

Here is a picture of me and Mike Edgmond. Mike and I attended the same college after high school so we were happy to see each other. In college I introduced him to a girlfriend of mine and they were pretty crazy about each other.  Guess you know WHO we chatted about the short time we visited!  Our mutual friend of course. Can't wait to call her today and tell her about Mike.

Great picture of the sisters and another friend of ours Bonnie who grew up next door to us. She had not changed a bit. Friendly and lovely as ever.

This is a few of my class mates that gathered later in the evening at our table.

I know some of you wanted me to meet a Handsome prince there and bring him back to the north forty with me but not to be.  

One female classmate came and sat down beside me and said she was hiding from her hubby because he loved to dance and she did not want to. I wanted to shake that woman and tell her to get back to her husband and enjoy the night dancing. Strange how we never appreciate what we have!

Would love to keep chatting but if you could see my house you would understand the need to get off of here and get busy.

It is Warrenton/Round Top Antique week too and you know where to find me after today. lol

Love to all

Maggie

Cathy from The Frazzled Homemaker!

I have to tell you this ole grandma has missed being on here visiting with you. Where did this week go? It seems like the last few weeks have been a blurr since they have flew past me.

Gretchen and I have been together a lot this week. It has been good for my soul to have her walk over after she gets off work and we cook dinner together. Nothing better than spending time with someone that makes you laugh.  Since she is moving by the lst it is nice that she has time for me.

My high school reunion is this Saturday and I had to try on everything in my closet for Gretchen so she could help me decide what to wear. She begged me to let her dye my hair pink and I wear leather pants. OMG I told her the three life time friends I am going with would leave me in the hotel room. hahaha

One day next week I hope to share a good time story with you. I am praying it will be a good time.
It will be strange seeing the kids I went to school with as old men and women. 

I was excited this morning when Cathy sent me an email this morning with her Blogazine story. She had previously sent it a few weeks ago and for some reason I did not get it. Thank goodness she wrote me and ask if I had received it because we would of missed out on getting to know Cathy better.

After reading her story tonight I realized how much I enjoy doing these post. I love learning things about you that I don't know. It just seems to bring us all closer which is the whole purpose of my blog. Friends connecting with friends.

Be sure and welcome Cathy and don't forget to hop over to her site. While your there you will see why I ask Cathy to be my guest.  Also please think about sending me your story too. I truly enjoy getting to know you better. Now heres Cathy.......


Hi all,
My name is Cathy Bendzunas and I have about 40+ sites but my main site is at http://thefrazzledhomemaker.com/

I'm a big fan of Maggie's as I'm sure you all are too. A few months ago Maggie stopped by my blog and asked if I'd be interested in writing a post on her blog. I was interested but had no idea what to write about.
Then I saw she had started up the Blogazine Guest posts again so decided I'd tell you my story of how I came to be "happily unemployed."
I was always the black sheep of the family. I felt like I never quite fit in and I also felt like no matter what I did, I disappointed my parents. That's a whole another story though.
Being that I was the offspring of 2 college educated professionals, it was assumed that I would go to college too and become a professional. There was one problem with that. Professional what? I really wasn't interested in any one profession.
I loved drawing and art and wanted to be a fashion illustrator but even with an art school degree, those jobs were few and far between.
I kind of enjoyed writing and my English college professor told me I had a knack for it but what could I do with that? I didn't have the drive to be a reporter.
I guess I could always have gotten my teaching degree in Art or English and taught that but I knew without a doubt I was not teacher material. I would have hated it. And so would the students.
So, as I seemed to do with so much in my life, I disappointed my parents and dropped out of college. I got a job as an accounting clerk. The official title was "Reconciliation Analyst". Fancy title, huh? Really what I did was play detective and figure out what the trouble was when clients had problems with their account. I actually liked that job because you really did have to be a sleuth. But the company did away with that job and I was moved into processing incoming mail. Very boring.
I had other jobs over the years too such as payroll clerk, computer operator, dog groomer and kennel attendant. I liked some things about each of those jobs but none of them were "my Calling". Although I excelled at every job I had, and was a very hard worker, I really hated working. It was so hard to keep my mouth shut when I would see some of the idiotic things managers would do. And even though a tiny part of me liked the structure of a job, most of me hated it with a passion. I would wake up depressed knowing I had to go to work AGAIN. Can I get a witness?
I figured everyone felt that way and jobs were just something we as humans have to endure. There was something in my spirit that just cried out for freedom and just screamed in my head that this was wrong. I was not meant for to work a typical job. Of course my parents thought I was nuts for feeling this way. And I was afraid they were right.
Altogether I worked for over 30 years. There were times when I would just work part time when my children were young, but I never stopped working altogether.
Until 2008. It was a tough time in my life. My oldest daughter got into some legal trouble. My husband also got several DUI's and ended up in jail for a few months. I found out he was cheating on me. That destroyed my marriage although it was never a good marriage to begin with. Both of my parents became ill and disabled and my father died in the summer of 2008, leaving the care of my mother solely to me. Yep, it was a tough year.
The one good thing that happened was that I was laid off from my job in the Spring of that year. When it happened, I felt a mixture of fear, hurt and apprehension for the future. But mostly I felt relief. I was so grateful that I was out of there. I felt like my spirit had been set free. 
It's been 3 years since then and I still have not found another job. That's because I haven't looked for another job. I educated myself and learned how to build websites, do affiliate marketing and search engine optimization. I'm doing what I love. I absolutely love the internet and computers. I get to write and I get to design. What could be better?
I am hardly rich, but I'm making it on my own and I could not be happier. Sometimes I'm asked if I feel scared about the insecurity of not knowing what I'm going to make every month. But the way the economy is, I think I would be more afraid to have a job that could end at any moment.
Would I suggest to others to quit their job and work for themselves? Not necessarily. I don't think I would have ever done it if the decision hadn't been made for me. But if you do feel you should be working for yourself, make some plans now while you still have a job.
Save as much as you can. Learn to live on less. Pay off as much debt as you can. And start your business part time now, while you still have a job. Build it up so that it can sustain you if you ever do quit, or like me, lose your job.


Cathy Bendzunas
http://thefrazzledhomemaker.com/
http://www.cathyscreations.com/


Great story honey. I appreciate you sharing this with us. I am curious who will be next.

Remember Love Well, Laugh Often and Love Much!

Love to all
Maggie

We Must Always Remember!

God Bless America!

John Vigiano Sr. is a retired New York City firefighter whose two sons followed him into service—John Jr. was a firefighter, too, and Joe was a police detective. On September 11, 2001, both Vigiano brothers responded to the call from the World Trade Center, and both were killed while saving others. Here, John Sr. remembers his sons and reflects on coping with his tremendous loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfWa9gI-Bks

Sorry I tried and tried to put this on here the right way but for the life of me could not figure it out.

Sending my love to all of you

Maggie

Too Much Fun!

Good morning! Where oh where did this week go! Already Friday morning and my to do list for the week is half scratched off. Well half is exaggerating somewhat. 

I promised you a funny tale of what Gretchen, Christi and I got ourselves into this week so sit back and be silly with us.

As most of you know Gretchen moved out to the North Forty last year at this time and being a actor and writer she and I have connected in so many ways even though she younger than my daughter Christi.

Not only have I fallen in love with her so has my family. Especially my older brother Billy Joe. Immediately Gretchen hit it off with Billy and the two together is quite entertaining to say the least. At times I wonder who is crazier.

Since Gretchen is leaving us for Kentucky at the end of this month she has been playing pranks on Billy Joe to irritate the fool out of him until her move. She thinks she has nothing to loose since she will be in Kentucky for the next three months.

Well now to my part of these pranks. I hesitate to write this story because I know sometimes Billy's wife Linda reads my post. So Linda if you read this Please do not give me up to Billy.

Tuesday night Gretchen came over for dinner. Christi had come to my home for the Labor Day weekend and ended up staying the week instead. How great is that? Well she fixed oven fried pork chops with new potaoes and corn on the cob for dinner. We had a glass of wine on the front porch catching up on what Gretchen has been doing with her writing and screen plays. Then we got to laughing about her and Billy Joe.

The next thing I knew we were in the barn looking for a For Rent Sign and then driving to town to Billy and Linda's house on main street. They live in a big beautiful house in town and Christi came up with the idea of putting this For Rent Sign in their yard after dark.

We drive past their house several times either trying to make sure the coast was clear or just being silly who can remember. Of course I am driving. I pull over close to their neighbors driveway and Gretchen gets out takes the big sign and is trying to put in the hard ground. No sooner than she is doing this a big pick up truck drives right up to her and is asking her directions. hahaha

Christi and I are laughing so hard in the car because we just know that Billy is going to catch her standing there with a sign in her hand because this truck will not go on. I am thinking they are asking her about the house but when we see her hands going here and there we realize she is trying to direct them. That makes us laugh even harder because Gretchen in the year she has been here uses her GPS to navigate her way around.

Finally I shoo Christi out of the car and tell her to go help Gretchen. Mean while I am laughing so hard I thought I was going to choke. That's how hard I was laughing.

Okay they finally get back into the car and we drive to a near by Ice Cream Parlor to plot our next move.

Nothing like ice cream to get the ole brain going!

Somehow we come up with the idea for Gretchen to change her voice and call Billy's and ask about the house. Well she changes her voice to a really funny character and my sister-in-law Linda answers the phone and Gretchen is asking all kinds of questions and Linda keeps insisting they don't have any property for rent. Finally I guess my sweet Linda gets tired of Gretchen and hangs up on her. The whole time Christi and I are laughing so hard because I have to tell you the voice Gretchen used is one out of the old world or some world. Not sure what accent it was. hahaha

Thirty minutes later Christi gets a girlfriend of hers to call and this time Billy answers the phone. Billy actually was very nice to Christi's friend but kept telling her they had nothing to rent. Since this was the second phone call he ask her where she had gotten his phone number. We did not want them to know about the sign yet so she told him Craig's List.

I know you are thinking OMG these girls are terrible. We were having to much fun to think of how bad we were being. The third call was made by Gretchen's boyfriend from his apt. in Austin. He too being an actor disquised his voice and put on quite the script for Linda. Again Linda ended up hanging up on him. They both said it was not like a slamming ugly hang up but a real quiet one. hahahaha

By now we have drove back home but not without laughing our fool heads off the whole time. Silly silly we can be some times.

Gretchen goes home and Christi and I get to thinking about us leaving the sign in the yard and she is one bedroom laughing and I in the other. Hearing her laughing in bed only made me laugh even harder.

Well about 6am the next morning I woke up thinking maybe I should slip into town and remove the sign before too many people see it and start calling.

Then I change my mind and wait for the consequences of our actions. The three of us wait all day to hear something from Linda or Billy. No word all day. We get one of my other brothers to call Billy and he claims Billy never mentioned the sign. Strange really strange. The longer times goes by without hearing anything we are thinking Oh No he is Mad. hahaha

The next morning I talk to Linda on the phone and she starts telling me about the phone calls and then their finding the sign while picking up limbs.

You have to know Billy's personality to know how worried we were over his reaction. The whole time Linda is telling me this I am playing totally dumb and innocent. She said Billy figured immediately it was Gretchen and he is plotting his revenge. OMG poor Gretchen!

Here is crazy Billy last year around Christmas time! He could not resist putting on one of my hats hanging near by on a coat rack.

Silly Gretchen came over last night and wanted to go to town and play another joke on them. We talked her into waiting. hahahaha

Sorry for the long drawn out story. I even left out parts but I have to tell you it is fun sometimes to be a kid again.

Love to all

Maggie

Maine In April

Since my last post about sleep walking I showed my friend your concerns about her hubby and he has agreed to go see his doctor. Now if he will just keep the appointment and get the help for this problem.

When I told Christi about my phone conversation about his episodes it was just as I expected. She has one of those laughs that is contagious. I am ashamed at how hard we laughed

If  you found that story funny just wait until my next post about what Gretchen, Christi and I got into last night. Would tell you tonight but can't make it public for a day or two. Oh my gosh it is hilarious..

This has been a fun and busy week for me because Christi is still here. She came for the weekend and has stayed to help me paint a bedroom set that belonged to my grandmother. It is going to be really pretty when we finish. I will share some pictures later.

Now for some really awesome news. It seems I always have bad news to pass on but not this time. Christi has to be in Portland, Maine in April and guess who gets to fly there with her. She flies a lot with her work so she had frequent flier miles and bought me my ticket. Am I excited! I can not begin to tell you how much.

You see as far back as I can remember I have wanted to visit the East Coast. Especially Maine and Vermont. As a kid I was obsessed with Maine so much that I use to think I was adopted and my real parents were from Maine. I know I have been crazy that long.

I would love for this trip to be in the fall but beggars can't be choosy. We bought a travel book about Maine and I could not sleep the other night after browsing the pages.

So now of course I am hoping that you have been to Portland area and can give us all the advice we need for having a great time. Also is April still considered part of winter there? I am worried it may be still to cold to enjoy.

Would love to hear your suggestions and about your trip there. Also need neat places to stay and visit.

As most of you know Texas has had some really horrific wild fires that have caused not only loss in lives but homes. Since Sunday evening I have been smelling smoke from some of these fires. The first time I smelled it I freaked out thinking the North Forty was burning. Scared the you know what out of me because these old 100 year old house out here would go up in minutes.

I do want to express my deepest sympathy for all who have suffered this week during these fires. There are so many of them the fire fighters just can not get them under control and just north of me over 600 houses burned in a short time.

What scares me living so close to a main highway like I do that some idiot will carelessly throw a ciggerette out their car window and the end result could be tragic just like these other situations.

Please keep praying for rain in Texas. I have lived in Texas all my life but this is the worst drought that I can remember.

Then some of you need for us to pray for sunshine. One thing for sure mother nature does her own thing when and where she has a mind too.

Well I must close for now but wanted to say hello and to check on you. You are always in my thoughts.

Love to all
Maggie

Not Even I Could Make This Up!

There is no way to prepare someone for what I am about to share with you. Even I could not make this up and you know my imgination. It is so bad I am not even sure I should share it. I mean there are some of you that have already dropped me because you think I could be as Gretchen likes to say about the actors she works with.....Bat Sh** Crazy! I swear to you a woman I use to work with years ago phoned me and told me this about her hubby.

 

Somehow we got on the subject of sleep walking. I think it started with me mentioning to her that I was up all night and was hoping to go to bed early tonight. She then tells me she is a little worried about her husband because he has been sleep walking. What makes this story even funnier is the way she tells it. I mean she is so serious and never once changes the tone of her voice. It was like we talking about something as unimportant as going to get our nails done.

Well hang on to your coffee cups because when I tell you what she told me about her husband and sleep walking you are going to probably spit your coffee all over your screen. I would give up cookies and Dr Pepper for a wekk if I could just tell this to you the way it was told to me.

It seems for a while now her husband gets up in his sleep looking for something to eat. She started finding things half eaten in their kitchen or laying on the counter and could not figure out why. The very first thing she found was a empty package of cat treats. Now I kid you not when she told me that she ask him why all the cat treats were gone he got a real funny look on his face and told her she must of left them there. She swore to me that she knew dang well she had not given their cat a full bag of treats and then left the empty bag on the counter.

I laughed so hard that I embarrassed myself. I can just see her skinny husband standing there a sleep eating cat treats.

Oh believe me it gets even better. She has found cat food and dog food out along with other things in her cabinets. Then she said one morning she went into the bathroom and her deorderant was on the floor with a big bite out of it. She said when she confronted him with this of course he denied it all.

I have to tell you even now typing this I can not see the key board for tears falling down my face laughing so hard. You read it right he supposedly took a bite of her deorderant. I was laughing to hard to ask her if he ate it. Seems like she mentioned something else odd was eaten in the bathroom.

After the deorderant incident she said she started worrying about him because he is totally unaware of doing this. They think he even drank some of her liquid dish washing.

By now I am laughing so hard that my sides are hurting. It has been a while since I have had a laugh like this.

For the last six months she has been calling me about the fear of him cheating on her. He has been staying out late and not coming home after work and other things. Well you know me I got mad hearing some of things she told me these last few months so when she told me this today I told her its a good thing I wasn't married to him because with him walking in his sleep drinking and eating all kinds of things I could just picture some dishes I would have sitting around for him.

Of course this made her laugh but then she continued to tell me that one night she got up and checked on him and he was peeing in her dryer. I knew then I could not hear anymore. She said she screamed so loud when she found him doing this that it startled him so bad that she thought he was going to have a heart attack.

Oh she also told me that he has banged his head so hard walking into something in his sleep that he has cuts and even one time woke up with a black eye.

If this had come from any other woman besides her I don't know if I could believe all these stories. But she is a shy quite type that would never make up fabrications especially of this nature. By now try to picture her so serious on one end of the phone and me absolutely uncontrollable on the opposite end. I mean seriously how can one prepare theirself for a conversation like the one I had with her.

Even now I can't hardly repeat it without loosing it. Could you tell someone these stories about your hubby?

Then she tells me that he is like 58 and she is worried that this is only the beginning of her life with him in his old age. I can tell you right now Ms Pearl would not allow the man to reach old age. Not if he pees anywhere but the commode in the bathroom. No Way!

Good thing I never see this couple and that we don't live close because I am telling you I don't think I can ever look at the man the same again.

I hope I did not offend her by laughing so loud I woke up everything napping out here on the North Forty but to think of a grown man walking around eating cat treats or deorderant sticks is a little too much for me to not loose it over.

I told her to give me time to recoop from this phone call and to please stay in touch because here lately I have needed a good laugh.

Christi is coming today to spend the weekend and I can't wait til we are face to face so I can repeat this story. Christi has a laugh that makes the world laugh with her so I can just see how she will react to this.

Do you sleep walk?

I told her maybe thats why I have gained so much weight because I don't eat that much during the day maybe I am doing the same thing but just neat about it and not leave the evidence lying around on the counter tops.

Hope you come back soon because I love you visiting with me.

Love to all

Maggie

Good Morning!

Good morning......it is 3am and I am wide awake. Tossed and turned kicked Tinkerbell once or twice so I decided to get up and check on you. Hope you are sound a sleep and having sweet dreams.

Of course my friends in England like Sybil might be having their morning coffee.

Who knows why I have these nights where I just can not sleep to save my life. Goodness knows I am going to regret it about noon today.

From the looks of this picture of Tinkerbell she is already regretting that we got out of bed. I caught her yawning really big. Goodness I can almost see her tonsils.

First in my thoughts this morning to you is thank you for coming by and saying hello to Kathy from Creative Home Expressions. Also of course I want Kathy to know I appreciate her doing her story for all of us to enjoy and to help me start my Blogazine Guest post again. I truly have missed these.

Now Tinkerbell is running around in circles like she is chasing something or something is chasing her. Kind of spooky to see her doing this in the middle of the night. I hope she is not chasing my ghost. That's all I need is to have to deal with that right now. lol

Hope you have had a good week. Mine has been one of those where running away keeps entering my mind.

My renter phoned me Sunday after church and told me there was water running into the front bedroom. He thought the water heater was leaking.

Of course you know me I thought OH No I can't handle this right now. Well my older brother Billy and I go over to my home in town and yep there is water linking into the bedroom but you could barely see it for all the clothes and toys that were scattered everywhere. I managed to mop up what I could and we went and bought a water heater that surprised me for being close to four hundred dollars. Geeeezzzz when did they get so high. lol

Thanks to my brother by three that afternoon they have their water back on and I am home trying to figure out if I will have to replace the floor where the water came flooded on it. I prayed I would not but I know now I will have too.

Well not long after I get back to the North Forty they call again and said water was going in there again.

Being a Sunday evening I knew that I could not find a plumber to help me so I go back over turn their water off and they spend the night with one of thier parents.

Then for five hours I am with a plumber and he is trying to figure out where the water is leaking when the renter tells him that the bathtub did not drain yesterday either. Oh great so he starts working on it and I am  walking around looking at my house and crying. Like the other renters I have dealt with my house is horrible. The bathrooms looked like the tub and shower had not been cleaned since they moved in. My brick floor in the den in kitchen is suppose to be off white but it is black. Unreal how it looks.

I walked out in the back yard and my yard had been dug up by a dog. After the last renters I had said no dogs because her dogs had destroyed my yard. Well surprise I am bending over looking at a whole big enough to have a small swimming pool when out of know where here comes running and jumping on me but this big black Lab. First thought was where in the heck did he come from and then OMG does he bite.

All I could think about was trying to get back to my sun room door and safety. Turns out he just wanted attention.

Well back to the leak. The plumber finds water running from the AC so he unstops it and the bathtub and 600 hundred dollars later I go back home.

I am home crying over my house and how it is destroyed again when the phone rings again. It is the renter again telling me water is coming in the room again. I tell him to turn the water off and I would call the plumber. It is 8 pm by now and the plumber says he will go back over there. My renter calls and tells me they are not going to wait on him that I will have to come to town.

They left and I go back over and mop the room again. The plumber can not get into the attic where he needs to look so we decide to meet the next morning.

Turns out my pipes are so bad in the attic that I am going to have to have new ones. Joy Joy Joy!!!!

He is working up an estimate now for me. He did manage to fix it good enough for the present but who knows how long they will be ok.

Needless to say the renters are suppose to be looking for a new place and be out by the lst of Oct. I have no idea what to do with it now because I have had really bad luck with renters.

Well Tinkerbell has calmed down a little but she is sitting on the back of the sofa slapping the back of my head with her furry paw so who knows what she wants. hahaha At this hour of the morning I am hoping she is trying to tell me to go back to bed.

I know your tired of reading about my leaks and renters so I will stop for now.

Hope you have a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend. Be careful on the highways their always so packed around here on holidays.

Thanks for stopping by and if you missed my previous post about Kathy be sure and read her story.

Love to all

Maggie

Enjoy Kathy at Creative Home Expressions.

This is aa exciting post for me today because it is the first time in a long time that I have had a Blogazine Guest on here. I am also linking up with Donna at Brynwood Needleworks today for her Memory Lane Monday's.

I know some of you are thinking now Maggie how does having a Blogazine Guest fall under Donna's Memory Lane Monday. Well here is how I feel I can get by with it. Due to the length of time it has been since my last Blogazine Guest post it is now a happy memory of a time in my life that I looked forward to having guest on this site. Does that make sense to you?

Actually I thought I could get by with this too because Donna is the one that named my post Blogazine Guest.. Cleaver aren't I.

Anyhoo last year I was trying to figure out how to get you better aquainted with each other so I thought of having guest on here from other blogs to come tell their story so we all could get to know them better. What fun I had doing this and then it seems after my accident I just kind of let this part of my blog slide like I did my Temptation Mondays. But my sweet friend Kathy over at Creative Home Expressions agreed to help me start this back up again.

You see Kathy is one of those friends out here in our world of blogging that knows how Maggie so needs some fun in her life right now so she kindly sent this to me.

So enjoy Kathy's story like I did and if you have not already been by her creative site you are missing out on lots of clever and unique projects. Besides that your missing out on what really matters a new friend.

Then go by  Donna's and see who else linked up to her Memory Lane Mondays and read their stories.  I did and I enjoyed it very much.

Now I have run out of words so my newest Blogazine Guest Kathy takes over ,,,,,,,isn't she beautiful. 

Hi Maggie ~

Without getting long-winded.  I've been married for 26 years this year and we were both 21 when we got married,  first house at 22, first child at 23 and second child at 26.  As you and many others have read, we are native New Yorkers moving to Ohio and my daughter, her husband and my granddaughter are moving with us.  It is an opportunity not just for the hubster and I, but also for my daughter and her family to get a home and an affordable way of life.  We are hoping my son will join us once he finishes his schooling for physical therapist.

I graduated high school at 17 and went right to work.  At 19 I started interior design school but dropped out.  I then went on to receive my paralegal certificate, an Associates Degree in Applied Science {for criminal justice} and coming full circle back to interior decorating completing a course when I turned 40 and swore I would have no regrets in life.  Up until then, my only regret had been dropping out of interior design school.  

I love interior decorating and have done it for several years part-time in addition to a job as an office manager in a law firm.  I figured part-time was better than nothing!  Now that we are moving to Ohio, I am hoping to be able to take interior decorating appointments at my leisure.  Other than that, I will enjoy spending time with my granddaughter and family and also enjoy discovering Ohio.

Trying to make the world prettier one project at a time!

Thanks, Maggie!  I hope this was okay.

Kathy

Not only was this OKay Kathy I thought it was great. Your pictures are just lovely too. Thank you for doing this for us.

Now I will be checking my email box at grandmayellowhair@gmail.com to see who is going to volunteer to be next. Please don't make Ms. Pearl come looking for you. Just do it! Get it over with and you won't have to worry about ok when is she coming after me to do this. Sometimes fear is our worst enemy.

Life is too short not to tell your story on Just Between Me and You!

Love to all

Maggie