MARK HAYDEN HAS ARRIVED

Mark Hayden was born this morning at 7:51 am. Sarah and Cody got up at 3:30 am to get ready for the trip to the hospital. I thought I was up most of the night waiting for them to get up but I must have fallen into a sound sleep just before time, so Sarah had to awaken me and I had just enough time to hop into my clothes and brush my teeth before we left. I had this bedhead spot in the back of my head all day that made me look a little like a Monk. There was a time when I would never have ventured out of the house like that. That's the beauty of age you don't worry about stuff like bedhead.

Mark Hayden is a beautiful baby with lots of dark hair and a perfectly round head. That is one good thing about a c-section baby, they come into the world with rosy skin and no cone shaped heads. He sucks his fingers already and apparently was born hungry. I took as many pictures as I could, but I am no competition for the other Grandma.

I came back to the house this afternoon so Sarah and Cody could have some time alone with Mark Hayden. Luke and Charlotte are sad that they can't go into the hospital to visit. With flu season in full swing, the hospital doesn't allow anyone under 12 years of age. Hopefully everyone will be home by the weekend. Maybe the snow won't keep them from coming home Saturday.

It is a relief to have No. 10 here and healthy

WAITING ON THE STORK TO ARRIVE

We are still waiting on the arrival of new baby Mark Hayden. I think it may be harder on Maw Maw and Grandaddy waiting on the birth than it is Sarah and Cody. I have had my clothes stacked on the dresser in our bedroom for a couple of weeks now. I would put them in the suitcase, but I would just have to keep digging them out to find something to wear.

Sarah is scheduled to have a c-section on the 28Th, but we were all sure that she would go earlier. I guess we were all wrong, the 28Th is just a week away. I am not the best at the waiting game. I find myself getting more and more nervous. It is like listing to water drip. Your mind gets totally caught up in waiting for the phone to ring, then when it does you about jump out of you skin. We are just getting so excited.

As fate would have it two out of three of the cars we have went kerplunk this week. John spent all of today putting a new radiator on one and the battery went out on the other. If we take the van, we will need a couple of new tires. So while I worry about the birthing process, John is worrying about keeping a car running long enough to get us there. I guess it all goes back to the vow he made with God before we were married.

We will probably be out of pocket for a few days starting next week. When we I get back I will post pictures of Mark Hayden. In the mean time I continue to wait. DRIP..Drip....drip.

GRAND KIDS, THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT

I started back to work Monday. It was great having three weeks off for the holidays. We stayed pretty busy the whole time and actually had all the family home for the New Year's holiday.

Our family is growing with leaps and bounds. Daniel was born in August and Mark Hayden will be here by the end of the month. That will make 10 in all with 8 boys and 2 girls. This is wonderful. Lots of people to take care of us in our old age.

It is funny how all the kids are so different. JP our oldest is still very loving at 13, but you begin to wonder how much longer he is going to want to hang out with the grandparents. Right now he seems very comfortable with us, because at thirteen, he thinks we are a little crazy. Emily is very smart and such a good reader. Emily was our only grand daughter for a long time. She is not as affectionate with us now as she was when she was younger, but is glad to have us available to answer her beck and call, and believe me she can keep us both busy.

Andrew is super smart and will probably have Musial talent. He is into boy scouts and just made the school play. Matthew is probably going to venture off into the wild and become the next Indiana Jones. He is not crazy about school and wants to be grown up before his time. You just want to tell him to slow down and enjoy being a kid. Aaron is a little stand offish with us. It takes him a little longer to warm up to us when we visit, but once he does he lets his hair down. Andrew and Matthew are the ones I have to fuss at the most when they visit, but when they leave they cling to us and the tears flow. Maybe they just love to hear Maw Maw fuss and scold.

David and Daniel are the two grand kids we have spent less time with. David is quite the little man and talks big and tells you everything he can think of and more. Daniel is just 5 months old and is all snugly and smiles. That is a wonderful age to bond with a child. He is a really tall baby. He is average in all his percentile measurements except 25% in weight and 95% in height. I guess he will be tall and thin like his dad.

Luke and Charlotte have been with us the most. Luke has lots of common sense and if you tell him to go move something or carry something, he goes and does it without asking how or why. I guess he has a lot of Nebraska farm boy in his genes. Charlotte is our little miss Pris. She is one of those little girls that is just born with the girlie nature. She likes to dress up, have tea parties and play with dolls. We are now waiting to see what Mark Hayden's personality will be like. Our wait is getting shorter each day. He will be born at the end of the month.

I guess no matter how many you have, there will be a different personality to go along with each one of them.

I HATE WINTER

The weather here in Alabama is extremely cold for the south. We have been holed up in the house for two days now and I am starting to go stir crazy. I know most people would love to have a couple of days to just lay around the house and do nothing but for some reason this really gets to me. It is not that we haven't done anything the last couple of weeks, we spent five days at the group lodge with family and friends. Then when we got back on Sunday and unpacked everything and had a good nights sleep, we left Monday and spent two days in Tunica MS. We usually do this to celebrate our anniversary. This is always my idea, because I love playing the slots. John goes along with the plan because I am easier to live with if I get my way.

We did have a great time and probably needed the time away with just the two of us. We stayed at the Hollywood Casino hotel. They have the deep memory foam beds, so we rested well. We spent a few hours at the Outlet Mall looking around. I found a blouse and John got a new pair of shoes. I'm not much of a shopper. I see thing that looks great on the rack but when I try it on, it looses something in the translation.

We spent a little time at Fitzgrarld's. If you go, head up the escalator. When you get to the top there will be some eletronic games along the wall to the left. They are called Platium something or other. They may be new, because they were paying off. We must have set and played for three or four hours. John would have won pretty well if I hadn't kept asking for money:) We started to stay two more nights, but then decided to come home since the weather was supposed to get bad. We got home about 7:00pm on Wednesday.

Thursday morning we awoke to a dusting of snow. Now I know that sounds like nothing to some parts of the country. But when we have snow here, the roads are not treated with salt and whatever else they put on the roads. It usually rains, then freezes, then a little snow on top of the ice and suddenly it is slick a goose poop. School was out in our whole area. Some work places closed down to keep people off the roads. The temp. this morning was 12 degrees and now at 5:49 PM it is 21 degrees. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day. I will be happy just to go to the grocery store.

John made a few pictures for me. As you can see it is just a cold, gray, miserable day. It makes me long for the nice hot days of summer, with just a touch of persperation glistening on your forehead and a big glass of ice tea sitting next to you while you're lounging in the hammock. AWWW!!!!

IT WAS A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

Since our family has grown so much in the last few years, it is almost impossible to get all the kids and grand kids into our three bedroom house. With five kids, their spouses or significant other and nine grand children it was time to find a bigger place. Luckily we were able to rent a group lodge with thirteen bedrooms and twenty six beds. This was like a dream come true for me. There was a long hall that ran from one end of the building to the other and the little kids were in hog heaven. They must have run a marathon while we were there, all of them racing up and down the hall playing tag and playing with the toys they had available to them.

The weather was really cold while we were there, but the kids managed to get out and do a little fishing, Frisbee football and John Pearson and Andrew even slept out in Andrew's new tent one night. The men watched a lot of football and the women had a little time to catch up on gossip. Sandra and I put out meals for everyone. Lucky for us it had a commercial kitchen so we were able to cook everything quicker. One morning we made about a hundred pancakes with sausage and bacon.

New Year's day we fed forty people for breakfast then that evening we had a traditional New Year's meal of hog jowl, black eyed peas and turnip greens. Just so everyone would be happy we cooked a pork loin, fried okra and Mac and cheese. We decided if anyone went away hungry, it was their own fault.

Our New Year's get to gathers have been taking place for almost forty years now. The Kriegers and Sundquist started the tradition when we had five children between us and we would take turns each year having it at each others house. Then as the kids got older we stopped staying over. Then we back on the road during the holiday and worried about someone having an accident. Now there are twenty of our family and fourteen in theirs so it was time to move on to bigger and better places.

If you want to every entertain a house full of kids let them play bingo. Monica and Suzanne bought a whole mess of gifts from the Dollar Tree and Big Lots and Sandra brought a bingo set including the roller basket and the little ones had a blast. Once they had bingoed they couldn't bingo again until everyone bingoed. You could just see the excitement as they waited for their number to be called.

I don't know how we crammed so much into four days. We even managed to have Daniel baptized after mass on New Year's eve. This is another tradition our families have. We always go to mass on New Year's eve. It gives you a sense of peace to finish the year with your family sitting next to you in church and then get up on New Year's day and have them with you to start the next year. I don't know how many more years the younger members of our families will be interested in these get-to-gethers, but as of right now, I think they are all still enjoying them.

Thank God for another blessed year and we wish for the same in the year to come.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
by Clement Clarke Moore
or Henry Livingston

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."


Take a little time to cozy down with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate and read this story to your children or grand children. Sleep tight.

CHRISTMAS TREATS

TRAIL MIX

PRESS COOKIES

APRICOT CRESCENTS

CHOCOLATE DIPPED PEANUT BUTTER PRETZELS

SNACKS

ORIENTAL TABLE

END TABLE

We finished up this semester of school on Friday, with a reception for about six or seven hundred people. It seemed that everyone turned out for food and refreshments. We had worked for the last two days of school getting ready for this. The reception started at 5:00 and was over around 7:00. We got everything broke down and cleaned up and was out of there by 8:30.

Saturday we kind of laid around the house and watched a couple of movies. For the life of me I can't tell you what we watched. It was just nice to have a little free time to do nothing.

Sunday we went to church and decided to take a short ride afterward. We ended up in Athen's and stopped at a little flea market. I found this really neat Japanese table. It has a peacock and floral design on top and the legs are only about a foot in height. That would eliminate me from eating at this table. I can't imagine trying to gracefully get up after a meal. We also found an end table. I think it was crafted by someone in their home shop. It was different and we both liked it, so that is all that matters. If it doesn't sale I guess one of the kids will get it:)

Today John Pearson and Emily stayed with us since school is out for them too. John Pearson had to go to practice and John and Emily stayed at home while I went into town. Sissy and I worked out at the wellness center at UNA. I know if I miss too many workouts through the holidays it will be hard to get back in the groove when I go back to work.

When I got home I decided I would make some Christmas treats. Right after Christmas the rest of the family will start arriving for the New Year's get together, so I thought I would make some stuff to snack on. I made some press cookies, you know the kind that you squeeze out of the cookie press. Then I made some apricot crescents ( they kind of taste like a little fried pies). I bought some peanut butter filled pretzels and dipped them in chocolate. They kind of taste like a crunchy Reese's cup. I bought bags of nuts, dried fruit and yogurt covered raisins and made a trail mix. Johnny loves the trail mix. John loves the apricot crescents. John Pearson and Emily seemed to like everything. Hopefully there will be some left when everyone else gets here.

Here is just a little note about what not to do when you make cookies:

After beating the dough with you hand mixer, always unplug it. I was trying to get the rest of the dough out of the mixer blades and accidentally hit the on button. I got my thumb caught in the beaters and when I jerked my hand out

I pulled back so quick and hard that my shoulder that has been frozen for the past year moved to fast and too far. I really thought I was going to pass out. I have felt a little woozy the rest of the day. Thank God I didn't do something that dumb at work. I would have been written up big time.

REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS

Christmas is in the air and you can feel, hear and smell it everywhere you go. When we drive into town there are Christmas lights every where you look. You turn you radio on and you get a steady stream of Christmas music, the TV abounds with Christmas specials and in every store, office building or friends house you go to has the smell of cinnamon and fresh cut pine trees. There is just a feel at Christmas that you don't get any other time of the year. Even the jingle of the Salvation Army bell out in front of almost every store, sends a little tingle up your spine. Walking past the Santa's at the mall and seeing the little kids beaming with pure excitement puts a smile on your face and brings backs memories of when you yourself was a child that age.



I can remember sitting on Santa's knee at the old Sears store in town. We would stand in line for what seemed like forever waiting our turn. The closer I would get, the bigger the lump in my throat got. I would keep repeating my list in my head the whole time I stood in line so I wouldn't forget what I wanted. When it came my turn and Santa swept me up into his lap, my mind would go completely blank. I swear all I could remember seeing was the hair in Santa's nostrils and the smell of onions on his breath. I can remember putting my small hand on his beard and patting it ever so lightly, but for some unknown reason I had the urge to yank it just to see if it was real. Poor Santa. I'm sure that happens a lot.

Every year we would get a Sears and Penny's catalog. I would literally spend hours leafing through the pages trying to decide what I wanted Santa to bring. It was almost as exciting looking at the catalogs as it was to wake up on Christmas morning and seeing what you got. Then, like today, a lot of what you got was determined by what your parents could afford. One thing was always for sure. A stocking filled with oranges, stick candy and chocolate drops and for me a doll.



I always got a doll for Christmas. When I was growing up it was popular for girls to get a doll all the way up until they were thirteen and the last one would be a bride doll. I kept all my dolls until I was in my mid teens. One day my younger brother got mad at me about something and when I went into my bedroom there were doll heads and doll stuffing all over my room. So much for the doll collection that I had worked on for thirteen years.



The toys that we played with were much different than the toys now. I remember that when I was about five, I got an iron and little metal ironing board. The difference between now and then was that you actually plugged the iron into an electrical outlet and it actually got hot. I burnt the bejibbies out of my fingers more times than I can count. I felt like I was really ironing when Mother handed me a pile of handkerchiefs to iron and what the heck the burns always healed after a couple of days.



My brother got a BB gun when he was around seven. You know I don't remember anyone telling us "your going to shoot your eye out". I don't remember anyone telling him not to point the gun at you sister. I can remember him telling me if I didn't step over the electric fence he was going to shoot me in the foot. I didn't and he did.



He also got a bow and arrow set one Christmas. This was no mansy pansy toy set. It was the real thing with metal tips and all. We would take it out in the yard and shoot it straight up in the air. It is a thousand wonders we didn't kill each other. John said he and his brother did the same thing. Maybe that is why OSHA had to step in.



My younger brother got a BB gun when he was about six or seven. By this time I was about thirteen. Mother and Daddy had to run into town and left the three of us kids by ourselves. Wayne got out his BB gun and was shooting it out in the front yard. He was always the meanest kid in the world and would do about anything you dared him to do. I told him to put a cigarette in his mouth and I would shoot it out. He put it into his mouth and turned sideways. I promise I had no intentions of actually shooting at him, but when I lifted the gun like I was aiming at him the darn thing went off and I shot him right above his left eye. I thought Daddy was going to ground me for the rest of my life.



When I think back on Christmas when I was a kid, it seems I see it through a sort of a pinkish yellowish glow. Like from the light of a oil lantern. That's probably a little odd sounding but when we would go to my grand parent's house they only had lantern light for a long time. We would have Christmas dinner at their house. The men would eat first and sit around and talk until they were finished with their meal. After the men ate, the women would fix the kids plates and only after we were fed did the women sit down and have their meal. Later if we made it through the meal and afternoon without some of the brothers getting into a huge argument, we would all sit around the living room and the kids would fall asleep on the floor while the adults talked and my Dad and his brothers played music and sang.



Yes Christmas is in the air and it makes me reminisce about Christmases of long ago and most of the time I laugh.

KIDS DO SAY THE DARNEDEST THINGS

We had a nice trip to Memphis this weekend. We haven't seen the kids living in that area for quiet a while. We left Friday evening around 6:00P.M. and drove up. It is a three hour trip, so we made it in around 9:00. The kids are always glad to see us and are usually waiting at the door with a handful of games, books and toys, ready to play with Maw Maw and Grandaddy for a day or two. Since it was as late, Monica made them go to bed shortly after we arrived.

Saturday we got up early and met Mark and Paige at his apartment and drove over to meet Paige's parents. They were very nice and we also met her grand mother Polly who is 90 years old. Paige had to be at work at 2:00 that afternoon so we stopped and had lunch at Back Yard Burger. "Yummy".

We headed back to Monica's house to pick up the boys. We took them shopping for their Christmas presents. I decided it would be better to let them get their gifts and play with it now, then they wouldn't be distracted when Santa comes at Christmas. Andrew got a limited addition Monopoly game, Matthew got a Nerf shotgun and a pair of binoculars and Aaron got a Nut Cracker at the Thrift Store and and set of Hot Wheels and a bag of Christmas cookies at Target. ( Aaron tickles me with his shopping. At five there is no rhyme or reason to his plan. He just picks anything up and puts it in the cart). After we got home he decided he didn't want it because he was afraid he wouldn't get what he had ask Santa for. I kept telling him that the stuff was for him from Maw Maw and Grandaddy that it had nothing to do with Santa, but when we left he had still not played with his presents. Oh well I'm sure Matthew will make use of Aaron's stuff.

Monica and Tim went to a Christmas party Saturday night and we stayed with the kids. Matthew and I decorated a ginger bread house. John played Monopoly with Andrew and Aaron. It was a pretty quiet evening. We got the boys in bed just after 9:30. We got up early this morning and got ready for church. After church we stopped at Perkins to get a bite before we headed back home. They make a double "Yummy" cheeseburger. Man I will have to walk double time on that treadmill to work off this weekend. We got home at 5 minutes til 3 and I headed to the bed for a three hour nap. I was exhausted, but in a nice way.

Just wanted to add a couple of funny things the kids have said the the last couple of weeks. David told Sondra the other day that he wanted to send his cousins a "female". Sondra told him that he must mean an "email" because females were girls. He said, "OK I want to send a "boy female".

When Luke and Charlotte were here for Thanksgiving, we were shopping for their Christmas gifts. I picked up a coloring book with Cinderella and Prince Charming on the cover. I said "look Charlotte who is this"? She replied " That's Cindawella". Luke turned to us and said "That's not Cindawella, its Cindalella." Seems we have a problem with "R's".

This morning in church Andrew was trying to lift my arm to put it around his neck. I whispered to him " That is my frozen shoulder. It want go up that high". He said "Like John McCain"? and I said "Yeah like John McCain".

Kids do say the darnedest things

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is here, so close that you can almost smell the turkey and dressing, and pumpkin and pecan pies cooking in the oven. It seems that this time of year really flies by and once Halloween comes it is just wham bam until Thanksgiving and Christmas have past and we are looking at a whole new year. It is really true what is said about time flying faster as you get older. It seems that I was just cooking Thanksgiving dinner and here it is time to do it again.

I think we all start thinking about the things that we are thankful for around this time of year. I am thankful for my family, friends and the fact that I have lived long enough to have raised my children and am now enjoying watching my grand kids grow. I am thankful that I am still able to work and have a job I enjoy and fellow workmates that make my job more interesting to go to each day. I am thankful that my children have picked wonderful mates that are dependable and hard working and devoted to their families. Most of all I am thankful for the fact that grew up in the time that I did.

I grew up in a time when we not only could but were expected to pray each day before class started and we were expected to say the pledge of allegiance with our hand over our heart and taught how to honor our faith and our flag. I grew up in a time when everyone assumed that God was a man and when we said "Our Father who art in Heaven", we new that we were talking to our heavenly Father. I grew up in a time when we celebrated Christmas and never heard anyone of any faith protesting the fact that a Nativity scene was set up on any one's lawn, or in front of a church or public building. I grew up in a time when we actually Christmas caroled in our neighborhood and was never confronted by any negative comments and when we put up our Christmas tree, it was not a Holiday tree, it went up a few days before Christmas and I still remember how excited we were when we finally screwed enough bulbs to make the whole string of lights come on at once. We should all have that excitement like we had when we were little.

I think we have all become so politically correct that we have forgotten how to just bask in the simple pleasure of the moment. We should trust each other enough to believe we are capable of tolerating our individual differences.

I am thankful for the memories of the past, which seem a little naive, even to myself now. It was nice thinking that our President and other politicians had our best interest in mind. It was nice thinking that a family consisted of a Dad, Mother and children. It was nice thinking that all children were loved and cared for. I am thankful that I grew up in a small town and was able to experience all the things I have written about above. I think if I was a child growing up now I would be a total misfit.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Getting into the Holiday spirit

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We elfed ourselves, then I lost us in a change I tried to make, but I think I have elfed us again. Lord I work so hard trying to figure out some of this stuff. Here I am missing most of Dancing With the Stars, but I think I got it. My George I think I finally got it.

VETERAN'S DAY

Thank you to all our troops serving at home and in foreign countries. Thanks to all the service men and women that have fought in years past. These people have insured the freedom's that we have today.

I am proud to say that I have two son-in-laws that are serving their country now. Both have served in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and many other places. My son served in the navy. My Dad and brother served in the Army and Army reserve. John's brother served in the navy and served in Vietnam. John's Grandfather fought in the trenches during WWI. My uncle was a prisoner of war in WWII and my friend's son is serving in Iraq at this time. They are and were doing a job that most of us could or would not do.

Thanks Again -

AUCTION ON SATURDAY

Wind mill that we will have to assemble

Lawn furniture we will need to repaint

A huge bird house

A globe

A cute little corner cabinet.

This has been the most beautiful weekend we have had in forever. The sun was bright, the sky was perfectly clear and the breeze kept it from being too cool or too hot. My only complaint was that I didn't take a hat or sun screen when we went to the auction on Saturday. So today I have a bright red neck ( that has nothing to do with the fact that I live in Alabama) and a red nose that makes me look sort of like a wino. We spent most of the day sitting out in this little pasture where the auction was being held. We were oblivious to the rays.

When we first got there I didn't think we would find anything worth hanging around for. But if you have ever been to an auction, it doesn't matter how much junk is there, you manage to find a treasure and suddenly your hand is shooting up in air waving wildly to the auctioneer. About an hour into the sale I started looking around for a Porto potty. There was none to be had and the house that was being sold had been unoccupied for a few years. So there was no facility and no relief in sight. After about another 15 minutes I broke down and found the lady that lived in the house next door, and yes, choked on my pride and ask it I could use her bathroom. She was very gracious and I thanked her to the point that I knew I was over doing it a bit. The rest of the day went much better.

We bought a corner cabinet that was probably made back in the 40's. We decided this because of the thickness and the width of the wood. I have it shoved in the corner in the kitchen, but will carry it to Keepers as soon as we get an empty spot. We got the wind mill that will need to be put back together. The blades still turn smoothly and I thought it was cute so up shot the hand.

Next was the bird cage that must be designed for a parrot or some other large bird. I certainly don't have room for it, so it will go to Keepers also, along with the globe. John did bid on something for us. It was a set of lawn furniture, a table with a thick glass top and four chairs . It is heavy as a lead pipe and we like never force all this stuff into the back of the van. We finally got it unloaded this afternoon. I know the neighbors must look out the window and say, "What the heck are they dragging home now".

Our kids just have to be patient with us. We don't smoke, we don't drink, we don't have any other hobbies. We just like to collect junk. We have the satisfaction of knowing that when we die, the kids will have to have an auction to get rid of all this stuff. It's pay back time children:)