OH THE JOYS OF CHRISTMAS BREAK

I finished work on Friday and have started what should be three weeks of R and R. I know before I know it the Christmas break will be over and it will be back to the grind stone again, but in the mean time I am going to try to pack all I can into the days off.

As you can see I am not the most decorative person when it comes to getting ready for Christmas, but I wanted to at least have up a Christmas tree. Sarah, Cody and the kids will be leaving on the 26TH headed for Washington state. He will be stationed there for the next two or three years. Anyway they were not able to put up a Christmas this year because of the move and Luke and Charlotte are a little disappointed. When they get here on Wednesday they should be excited to see our little tree. John set out the Nativity set and I pulled out a few Christmas dishes. I'm sure the kids will think its all ready for Santa.

The first thing planned for my time off was cataract surgery which I had Monday. Surprisingly enough there was no pain involved and I felt fine this morning so Paige, John and I spent most of the day doing some last minute shopping. Hopefully I didn't over do it. It is already amazing how the much clearer my sight is. For the last few months it has been like looking through wax paper. Images are so much sharper and clearer now. It was totally worth the surgery.

We have spent the evening going through old picture. Paige is looking for pictures to create a slide show for the wedding coming up in June. Man when I look at the pictures of when all the kids were home it gives me a feeling between sadness and humor. Sadness because the time went so fast and humor to see how we all looked and how much we have changed. When you look at your babies coming home from the hospital, to toddlers, to starting school, finishing school, to having babies of their own and becoming young adults then older adults it takes takes your breath away. ( It makes me think of the song that says " Life's not the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away").

Sometimes in the next two weeks all the children will be home. As I said earlier Sarah will be here for Christmas with her family. Mark and Paige, Johnny, Tracy and the kids will all be here for Christmas also. Sondra and Jonathan and the boys will be getting in for New Year's and so will Monica, Tim and their boys. We have the fishing lodge rented again this New Year's and our family and the Krieger family will be spending four days up there. We had such a wonderful time last year, we decided to go there again this year. It will be four days of screaming kids running up and down the hall. Karaoke from most of us who can't carry a tune in a tow sack. Everyone laughing, talking and reminiscing. This is our favorite time of the whole year.

This year neither family has anyone deployed at this time. Last year Charlie was in Iraq. Cody will deploy again sometimes in 2011. Jonathan is home for now. We are just thankful to have them all home for the Holidays.

I haven't posted anything in a few weeks. It always gets hectic this time of the year. School is coming to a fast and furious end on December the 18Th. Mid terms are in progress right now and all the students are anxious to get their test over with and get the heck out of Dodge for three weeks. We have a million things going on at Sodexo with all the Christmas parties, graduation and the NCAA Championship game that will be played on Saturday.

It never ceases to amaze me how everything is crammed into the last week of the semester. On Friday we will be feeding the teams that are in town to play for the Championship. I think they are Delta State and Duluth Minnesota. If I'm wrong it because I not a big football fan. Anyway there will be 344 players and personnel whom we will serve lunch to. Then we will go directly into the reception for graduation. We are planning on 450 for this event. Then there are a few other small parties scattered in throughout the day. By the time we get through Friday night we will dragging our hinnies. Then for a few it will be back to work bright and early on Saturday morning for the President's box and the Press box for the big game. Poor Denise I don't know how she keeps up with it all.

To top it all off we are under a winter storm watch. It is suppose to start sleeting, snowing and freezing rain tonight. I'm afraid to say if it is nasty in the morning I won't be going in to work. You really can't tell about Alabama weather, it may be sixty degrees tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see.

Opps!! I just looked at the clock. It is 8:00 o'clock and I have to go watch Biggest Loser.

REUNION A SUCCESS

A group picture of our Class of 1960. Brenda Holden had to leave before we took the picture. Left to right Diane Rickard, Penny Duffy, Judy McMurtrey, Douglas Harvey, Linda Garret, Pat Oldham,Patricia Lemay Charlene Lanier, Johnny McGee, Wayne Lanier. Back rowJerry Tank, Gaylord Ashby, Mary Ann Crow, Sondra Littrell, Ralph Jackson, Shirley Herston in the bottom group picture with the magenta cape on.



John mingling and taking a few pictures.




Roger Hamner (Mary Ann Crow) and Mary Mcgee (Johnny Mcgee) spouses of class members.

A.L Haygood (Sondra Littrell) and Mary Ann (Crow) Hamner

Gaylord Ashby, Johnny McGee, Ralph Jackson and Jerry Tank.

Best friends all through school Judy (McMurtrey) Love, Sondra (Littrell) Haygood and Pat (Oldham) Sundquist.

Another group picture.

Celebrate with a cake.


We had lots of people that RSVP ed but still didn't come. It seemed that everyone that did come had a great time and it was good to see old friends from the past. Hopefully we will get together again in the next few years. Loved seeing everyone.

GREAT TRIP TO COLORADO

John, Charles and Sandra

Charles and John

Chapel

Spiral staircase

Spiral staircase

Birds and Prairie Dogs

Sondra and Jonathan ready for their night out.

Jonathan and Sondra.

The Cripple Creek side of the Mountains.

Daniel and I at Cheyenne Mountain Park

Fall in all its glory.

Wide open spaces.

John and David.

Looking out at Pike's Peak.

We have been back from our trip to Colorado for a week now. I have been trying to make time to post some pictures and write a little about our trip, but it has been busy at work and the recliner looks to darn good when I get home in the evening.

We drove out with Sandra and Charles and had a really nice trip. It was fun traveling with friends. We left on Friday afternoon after I got off work and drove to Memphis. Monica had a nice dinner waiting. (Chili, dips, chips and all sorts of goodies). We turned in pretty early and had a good nights sleep then headed out again about 6:00 Saturday morning. We drove across Arkansas, Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle and into NM. We finally stopped at a motel around 9:30 when we reached Albuquerque. We were worn smack dabbed out. We all fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. We were back on the road by 7:30 Sunday morning. We drove over to Charles' aunts house and visited with her for a while. She is 83 years old but insisted we go to the casino and have lunch and play the slots for a while. Charles won $400.00, his aunt won $200.00 and his cousin won a couple of hundred. We had a great time and we all had a day that once again left up exhausted.

On Monday we got up early and headed on up to Colorado. We stopped along the way and saw the Church of the Sisters of Loretta and saw the miraculous spiral staircase attributed to St. Joseph. The church was beautiful and serene.

While we were in Santa Fe we went into a few shops and stopped at a couple of street vendors. Sandra go a White Buffalo (white turquoise) ring and I got a pair of white earrings.

We had a wonderful week visiting with the grand kids and taking a few side trip in the area. I took a heck of a cold while I was there, so I felt a little crappy most of the week. Daniel has just learned to walk, so he was toddling around everywhere. He is always smiling a really laid back. David is in kindergarten and knows more than I did when I graduated from high school. He is reading and writing and constantly asking questions trying to learn more. He amazes me.

I had to be back to work on Monday, so Sondra got me a ticket to fly back home on Sunday. I was a little nervous because it was the first time I had flown by myself. I had a great flight and it took me about 5 hours to get home. Luckily the storms that went through came the day after I got home. John, Charles and Sandra got in on Tuesday evening after traveling two days. We all had a wonderful visit and it was good seeing the kids and grand kids. I think we will rest up for a while before we take off again. By the way, we just found out that Sarah and Cody will soon be moving to Washington state in a few months. Can we get there from here?

John and I with Daniel and David

OCTOBER IS HERE ALREADY

Well this is the 9TH of October already. Time seems to be on a race horse course to the end of the year. It seems that it was only a few weeks ago that the new year was beginning and I had dozens of things I had hoped to accomplish this time around. But it seems that I have got caught up in the old day to day stuff and my to do list has not gotten any shorter. As always it is "I owe, I owe so its off to work I go". I am in the figuring out stage about work, should I continue working or retire. In my case it would not be retiring, it would quitting because there will no retirement benefits. (One reason to quit). I still just don't know if I want to stay at home all the time.

The weather has cooled down somewhat and there is a hint of fall in the air. Cool mornings and evening and warm days. Fall and Spring are my favorite times of the year. Makes you want to get outside and do things. With the leaves starting to fall I'm sure there will be plenty of outside work before long.

John went down to FL to sit with Luke and Charlotte for a few days while Sarah took some classes over in Foley. I really would have liked to go and visit with the kids, but couldn't ask off at this time. ( That is another good reason to quit work).

We were in Memphis last weekend. We had not been able to see Andrew play PW football and the season is getting shorter all the time. He did really well and got his name called on the speaker several time for making tackles. ( Missing out on the kids activities is another reason to quit). Matthew and Aaron had a great time playing with John Pearson and Emily. We ate to much stayed up to late.

It is back to Memphis this weekend to attend Mark and Paige's engagement party. I will probably ride up with Johnny and John Pearson since my car is acting up and I don't want to end up on the side of the road somewhere near Walnut MS. John will be getting home from FL about the same time I'm leaving for MS. He will be too tired to make the drive to MS. I'm sure.

In another week we will be going out to Colorado to visit Sondra, Jonathan, David and Daniel. We are all getting excited about making our cross country adventure. We will probably stop over in Albuquerque NM to visit some of Charles' family. John and I have never been there and we are looking forward to that. I hope to get lots of pictures to post. This is where you really start praying for nice weather.

I guess I had better finish getting the house work done ( one good reason to keep working, John keeps the house running better than I do) and start packing. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

WENT TO AN AUCTION TODAY.

Rag Rug Purses

Blue Angel- Fat Albert

Pictures from some one's past

Coo-Coo clock

1954-1955 Union Pacific calendars

WWI leggings

John and I went up to Loretto Tn. where they were having an auction at an old church building. It was great being inside sense it was raining pretty hard when we first got out this morning. We were really happy to get some rain because it was starting to look like a dust bowl around here.

There were a lot of interesting items up for auction. A lot of them we didn't even try to bid on because things were selling rather high. There were a lot of WWI items and John bid and won a pair of leather leggings. We have a picture of his grand father wearing a pair just like them when he was in the army. That was kind of a sentimental purchase.

We bought a stack of old pictures of some one's family that we didn't know, but it is fun to see all those faces from the past and try to imagine how life was back in the days of black and white and tin type. A couple of Union Pacific calendars from 1954 and 1955. Man I was just 9 years old then. It is kind of weird to think we are separated from those times by just one year, one day, one hour, one minute, and one second at a time. It's not like time stopped somewhere between now and then. It just keeps going on. I think that is why we like old stuff. It keeps us in touch with the past.

We found four old year books, the Diorama from Florence State Teachers College, which is now the University of North Alabama. They are the years 52, 53, 54 and 1958. The 1952 copy has pictures of Harlon Hill who went on to play professional football, Yolande Bethbeze from Mobile who was crowned Miss America in 1951 and George (Goober) Lindsey from the Andy Griffith Mayberry RFD show, in his football playing days.

I purchased a Coo Coo clock. It seems to be working and keeping perfect time. The kids hate it when they come home and our other clock starts Coo-Cooing. Can you imagine how they will like having two going off at the same time. Actually we will probably sell most of the things we bought today, but we can enjoy them for a while.

There were a few other pictures, one was for John Pearson if he wants it. It is a picture of the Blue Angel Airline- Fat Albert plane. It is signed by the Blue Angel pilots in 1999. He likes military things so if he has a place left on his wall, I guess that will be his.

My rag rug weaving has been moving right along. I have woven five for purses and just have to make a lining for each of them. The black and orange one is for Emily. Those are Brook's school colors. I guess I need to figure out what I'm going to do with them or else take the purses apart and make rug for the living room. Seems like the older I get the more things I want to try to do. Hopefully this will be the year that I sign up for the pottery making class at UNA. Any one need a cup, bowl, jug.....??

KILLEN ELEMENTERY 9TH GRADE FIFTY YEAR REUNION

Judy McMurtry, Johnny Mcgee and Pat Oldham

Judy McMurtrey, Patricia LeMay, and Pat Oldham

We had our annual gathering of our ninth grade class at the Killen founders day celebration. There was a grand total of three there this time. Not that we are the only three left, but we were the only three that showed up this year. We did manage to get a picture of Johnny McGee before we left. He wasn't there for the planning of the 50Th year reunion of our ninth grade class but I'm sure we will put him to work doing something.

Judy is going to be in charge of contacting our classmates. She must have the phone number and the address of every person she has ever met in her entire life. When we had our 30Th reunion she ran up an enormous phone bill. She doesn't just call and give you the details, she calls and catches up on everything that has happened in the last 50 years. That is why we love her so much, she keeps up with people and things that has happened over the years that everyone else has forgotten years ago.

Patricia is taking care of finding a place to meet. As of right now she is looking at the community room at the Center Star bank. We had a reunion there once before and had lots of space and the plenty of kitchen room. Patricia has the business sense to pull all that together.

I will be in charge of the food. I guess because I work in food service they thought I knew what I was doing in this department. If anyone has any suggestions please contact me.

I am hoping classmates will find this by googling other classmates so I'm listing a few names. Linda Garrett, Meryle Fulks, Gaylord Ashby, Ted Wiley, Linda Miller, Clora Gautney, Beverly Hice, Mary Ann Crow, Sondra Littrell, Jerry Tank.

The date we are shooting for is November the 6Th. This will be on a Saturday. We are hoping for a nice turn out. We are planning on lots of 50's-60's music, good food and catching up with old friends. I'm sure it will be interesting to see how much everyone has changed over the last 50 years. If anyone has stayed the same you will have made medical history and the rest of us will be looking for an explanation. Hope to see you in November

GOD BLESS AMERICIA

I think these words say it all. May we always remember the lives lost on 9/1/1.

America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,Melody by Samuel Ward

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress. A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for halcyon skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the enameled plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till souls wax fair as earth and air And music-hearted sea! O beautiful for pilgrims feet, Whose stem impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought By pilgrim foot and knee! O beautiful for glory-tale Of liberating strife When once and twice, for man's avail Men lavished precious life! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till selfish gain no longer stain The banner of the free! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till nobler men keep once again Thy whiter jubilee!

BACK TO WORK

It is starting to feel a little like fall here in Alabama. The days are still extremely warm, but the morning and evenings are starting to get that crisp feeling that makes you know that pretty soon you will be missing the warm days of summer.

We are two weeks into the first semester and this looks like it is shaping up to be a real busy year. All the changes we thought we would have ready by the time school started have not taken place yet. So it was back to the same old same old. The Rice Box should be coming in by October and the Sub connection by January and a lot of other changes will be fazed in over the next few years. In the meantime we just keep trying to keep enough coming in to feed all these starving college students. I can see why the kids gain the freshmen 15.

This has been a rough two weeks for me. When we left Niceville after spending the last week of my summer break there. I developed a summer cold. I am still trying to completely kick it, but it is hanging on just enough to make me feel crappy. You would think a shot and a round of antibiotics would work faster than this. I shouldn't complain though, it has been years since I had a bug of any kind.

There is lots of things going on right now. JP and Andrew are playing football. JP on the junior varsity and Andrew on St Francis Pee Wee team. We have not made to to Memphis to see Andrew's game yet but will make it in the next few weeks. Emily is cheer leading and we have not made it to either of her games, but the season is young.

Mother just celebrated her 90Th birthday and we will be having a get together for her tomorrow. I think it is a surprise. At least I have not mentioned it to her. It seems strange to think of a parent being 90 years old. Other than the fact that she has a harder time getting around and moves a little slower, she still acts the same. It seems that age just comes out of nowhere and kind of surrounds you. At this point in my life it is easy to see what is in store for me in the next 20-25 years. I guess age is something that can only be disguised for so long and then boom it gets you. In the mean time I just keep trying to stay one step ahead but I can feel age breathing down my neck.

We hopefully will be taking a trip to Colorado with friends in October. When we were a lot younger we would talk about when the kids grew up and got out of the house, that we would travel and take really neat vacations just the four of us. That has not happened. Seems you have as much responsibility as a grand parent as a parent. Between working and watching grand kids, we have as of yet not been anywhere together. So October will be the first trip the four of us have taken since John, Charles and Sandra have retired. Who knows traveling together could be the end of a very long friendship:)

Oh well I know I am boring you. Nothing much has happend to blog about. Maybe the next time will be a little more entertaining.

Last trip of the Summer

A sign of the times. How sad.

Saying good by to Mawmaw and Grandaddy.

Annie's in Luverne AL

Sun sinking slowly in the west.

Striking a pose.

Goofy man!

ballerina girl.

Mark's baptism

We have made of final trip of the Summer. We got in last night from FL.. We had a really good visit with Sarah and the kids. It was one of the hottest weeks I think we have had so far. It rained a little each day and that made the weather not only hot but extremely humid.

Luke was in school, but Charlotte and Little Man (Mark) kept us busy during the day. Mark learned to crawl while we were there and we had the thrill of seeing him do the army crawl all over the place. The first place he headed was to the toy room where he tumbled off the little stoop between the two rooms. He cried like he had fallen off a building. Then he tried to do it all over again.

Charlotte started ballet lessons and loved it. She looked so cute in her ballet outfit. Everyday she would ask if she had a ballet lesson. I think she is going to do well at this.

We tried to find some treasures at the local thrift stores, but didn't find a thing while we were there. We had a hard time finding a seafood place to eat cat, but finally found a place called Dewey Destins. It was a real whole in the wall place or maybe I should call it a cork in the bay place. It was built on a pier over the water with just picnic tables outside on the dock. The shrimp and scallops were delicious, but it was one of those places if I driven up to it by myself, I would have turned around and left. Good thing John, Sarah and the kids and I were all there together.

I took a picture of the sign above at one of the thrift stores we stopped at. "Obama does not consider us a Christian nation." This makes me sad. One of these days I hope our leaders wake up and rethink some of their ideas.

It is always hard to leave after spending time with any of the grand kids. The picture of Luke standing in the driveway when we left almost made me cry. I'm sure the kids ran in the house and didn't think of us again.

We took the long way home up Hwy 331 to Montogomery. We stopped at a little cafe in Luverne AL and had some of the best seafood I have ever had. The place was called Annie's and we finally found some great seafood. The shrimp and oysters were yummy, so I posted a picture of the sign. If you are ever down in Luverne stop and eat at Annie's

The sunset picture was on the way from Cullman to Moulton AL. It was so pretty and came out nicely on the camera. Later as we got closer to home we saw one of the most brilliant lightening shows that I've seen in a while. About 30 minutes after we got home the bottom fell out and we had a huge electrical storm. The power went out for a couple of hours and there was complete silence and I went off to sleep and never realized when the power came back on.

Summer is winding down for me and it was back to work this morning. It was nice to get back a see all my co-workers. Wednesday all the students will be in class and the work will begin in earnest. So I guess it is time to take a deep breath, get the nose to the grind stone and move into another school year.