This is a picture of my niece Elizabeth. It was taken just one week before we lost her to cancer at the age of 13 in 1996! I guess today being what would have been her 25th birthday she is of course on my mind. Her mother suffers from mental illness so my mamma and myself had alot to do with the raising of her and her sister. Boy let me tell ya' she was an angel with an attitude. LOL We had 3 children of our own but the house was always filled to the brim with extras but Elizabeth and her sister were more like our own. In 1994 when we took a vacation thru California with a stop at Disneyland you can bet they were there too. The girls lived with us the year Elizabeth got sick from 1994-1995. The last year of her life the girls were actually able to go and live with their mamma. I am glad that she got that time to spend with them. Such bittersweet mix of emtotions when you lose someone especially so young and so tragically isnt it? Bitter for us left here on earth to mourn the loss but sweet for those of us who live our lives knowing that when our own journey is done here on earth, the ones who went before us are waiting for us. No sadness, no sickness just eternity spent in perfectness along the side of Our Father and our loved ones eternally! I sure do miss and love my Beth to this day but oh how sweet it will be ~Til next time

I know I have mentioned my folks before but they bring me such joy to be around. I sure feel blessed when I get to go and spend time with them. I think my daddy waited until he was 60 to become a hippie! LOL He raised all 7 of us kids and atleast 1/2 dozen grandkids and then I think he went crazy. HAHHA But honestly I think during the years of raising us there was no time for them personally per se and it is at this point in their lives after almost 46 years that they truley are in love.



Another useless fact is that my parents first met in 4th grade. But there was the stigma of my mamma living on the other side of the tracks But eventually things work out and here I am LOL

Now having grown kids of my own I have been known to call my folks and apologize for the things I put them thru as a teenager.

Boy raising your own will sure bring a new understanding to parenthood wont it I recently called my mamma in tears and apologized and she just simply replied as a mamma would, "Honey that is all water under the bridge"! In 20 years when me and my kids sit and talk while their kids are making them tear their hair out I hope I can be as forgiving as my own parents are!!! ~Til next time

On our trip to Phoenix for Christmas we were unfortunate to break down. Our alternator decided to die. Considering it is only 1.5 years old we were surprised of course. The battery light came on in Moriarty (sp?) NM and my husband being a pretty decent mechanic knew what was going on. He pulled into a truck stop and asked where the nearest Auto Zone was because it was their part. The clerk told him that 7 miles up the road was the only one for miles. We thought how lucky could we be. So we proceed to drive there and actually made it to their parking lot. WOW how exciting that was! We thought. It was about 3 AM (our time, NM was a different time zone OH DEAR) and they open at 8. No sweat! I packed like they tell you to, blankets, water, flashlight etc. We were good to go. LOL My husband had seen some canned drinks in Walmart that you just pop the top and instantly they heat up. He thought how cool would they be for the trip, being cheap like I am I told him they were not a necessity. Come on they were 2 bucks a piece. By 4 AM I would have given my eye teeth for a hot drink. You dont think he mentioned that a few times during the night. LOL At that point I woulda spent alot more than 2 bucks for a hot drink. Off and on during the night he would start the car to heat it up until the battery finally just died. This was about 5 AM or so. We were in a very isolated area and there was ice on the ground from a previous snow storm. Everyone asks, "Did ya all get in the same seat and cuddle, you know use body heat to stay warm?" Well sadly enough no we didn't. I am thinking that he was so busy playing security guard to think otherwise. So he was in the drivers seat and I was in the seat behind him where I had made a bed for the trip. I had never heard that you should cuddle in the buff and it will keep you warmer. My reasoning is to put on more clothes not take them all off to stay warm.....HHHHMM whodanu? I guess I do now! Of course you know if we had done that the police would have been there in a minute. LOL The headlines would have read "Minister and his wife caught naked in the parking lot of auto store"! Not "Minister and his wife found half froze to death rescued in auto store parking lot"! Ok I am rambling. By 6 AM the ice is now forming on the inside of the windows of the car. We are literally starting to freeze to death. By 6:30 we are beginning to no longer get ourselves warm. On a serious note we were pretty sure that this was it. We thought for sure we would just fall asleep and not wake up. Not a bad thing for us but devastating for our loved ones left behind This was Christmas Eve afterall. My husband decides that he should really call 911 even if to just get a squad car out there to let us warm up. He dials the phone~the dispatcher answers the usual ways "911 what is your emergency?" He explains to her the situation and explains to him that this is a non-emergency and gave him the non-emergency number to call. First we think, WHAT? Not an emergency? He then proceeds to call the NON-EMERGENCY number, I kid you not the same lady answers the phone She then proceeds to tell him to hold on and tells him that we are actually in the jurisdiction of the Albuqurque Hiway Patrol! WHAT? They are about 35 miles from us by the time they could get there the store would be open and we were sure we would be dead. We throw our hands up and just pray for the store to open. By the time she gave us the run around we had just about an hour left. Oh the town we were in Edgewood NM. Anyway, my husband later thought maybe he should have told her to just go ahead and send the medical examiner to remove our bodies from the van. By God's grace the employees of Auto Zone showed up a few minutes early and proceeded to let us in took amazingly good care of us! One of the clerks was an EMT and shocked at the 911 operators reaction. But as far as the van goes the manager proceeded to take over and had us on the road by 10 AM. The treatment from the Auto Zone employees was such a blessing that the positive of that far superceded the negative treatment from the 911 operator. I am posting some pics I took that night of the inside windows of the van. As you can see the ice is on the inside as much as it was on the outside. The rest of the trip well it was absolutely amazing and we felt lucky to be around to enjoy them with our families. ~Til next time







As you can see on the side window I was able to take my finger and wipe the ice from the inside. The other two shots you can actually see the ice crystals forming from inside the van. Yep really glad to be around to tell the story!

While in Phoenix for the holidays my mother in law mentioned this to me. Said she had heard it on the news. I have yet to try it myself. I did find it quite interesting though. Anyone tried it themselves? If so let me know what you thought! Just thought it interesting enough to share. ~Til next time

VICKS VAPORUB
When we had a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us
how the foot soles can absorb oils.
Their example was:
Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it.
Some of us have used Vicks Vaporub for years for everything
from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in
between. But I've never heard of this.

And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time although
the scientists at the Canada Research council
(who discovered it) aren't sure why.

To stop night time coughing in a child (or even an adult as
we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously
on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks.
Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes
and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief.

Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than
even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is
extremely soothing and comforting,
and they will sleep soundly.

I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe
these findings on the part of their scientists when they were
investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription
cough medicines in children as compared to alternative
therapies like acupressure.

Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this
guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do
more harm than good due to the chemical makeup
of these strong drugs so I listened.

It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective
than prescribed medicines for children at
bedtime! In addition it was found to have a soothing
and calming effect on sick children who then went on to
sleep soundly. Polly tried it on herself when she had a
very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks
ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm
blanket had enveloped her, the coughing stopped in a few
minutes, and believe me, this was a deep, incredibly annoying
every few seconds, and uncontrollable type of cough!
She slept cough free for hours every night that she used it.

If you have grandchildren, pass it on.
If you end up sick, try it yourself.. you will be absolutely
amazed by the effect.

WOW has it really been since September since I have posted? Where does the time go? I started working on Christmas gifts in August thinking that I would not get pushed for time....well I rushed all the way up to the last minute. I have five sisters and was wanting to put together the 12 days of Christmas packages for them. I wanted to only put into their packages things that I made myself. I think I ended up with well past a dozen gifts but plans changed along the way and every one of us girls were to join up in Phoenix and surprise my parents with all 6 of us girls for the holidays. I was supposed to ride out with a sister from Tennessee but was blessed to have my husband drive me out there. Along the way we picked up our son who was doing missionary work on the indian reservation in Utah. Of course there is always wrench thrown into any good plans and we broke down. Oh yeah as I was getting ready to pack, I had already arranged for someone to take care of the cat and the dog was going with us, I sat my suitcase on the bed, walked out of the room and when I came back this is what I found and just had to grab my camera~


Isnt that funny She was letting me know that I was not going to go without her! What a hoot.

Well, I will continue as I can because just five days ago I was unfortunate enough to take a spill and break two ribs. Hey atleast the doc said they were clean breaks. I do feel blessed enough that I waited until I was 45 before I broke any bones. Boy I sure hope it isnt downhill from here LOL
~Til next time