Stairway to Heaven and Woodpile from Gimli

I wanted you to see pictures of my beautiful stairs and my glorious woodpile. Kaitlin can't wait to take pictures on the stairs and Carl is ready for some chilly weather.

Scrapbooking

I love to scrapbook. Some folks do birth to 18 scrapbooks. They will begin at the birth of a child and go til high school graduation. I have a friend, Kym, that comes to see me every summer from a different state. After she drops her children at camp, she heads to my house. I have a table set up just for her in the den. She brings all her scrapbook stuff. She knows where the scrapbook stores are here in my town. She is the most organized scrapbooker I know. When she gets her pictures developed she does multiply copies depending on who is in the pictures and who will need said pictures in their album. She has a container for each of her 4 children and she puts the pictures as they are developed into their container. When she goes to a scrap booking event or to my house she just gathers what pictures she needs, her supplies and she is ready. WOW. That is not my style.

Another way to scrapbook is to do everyday life. I have a friend , Anne, who says she now sees life as a scrapbook page. They recently attended Andrew's wedding in AUBURN. As they were walking around campus taking pictures they met one of AUBURN's mascots Aubie. They got his picture with them and their children. Anne said that her first thought was " When I scrapbook this page I will call it a War Eagle Day and I will use orange and blue paper etc" I don't do that either.

I event scrapbook. All our stuff is hidden most of the time in drawers and down stairs in the wreck room except when I am working on a project. When I am working I generally start on one table but it oozes off onto the floor and then to the next surface it can find. Right now I have a table set up in the den, some stuff is on the hearth and I have the dining room table covered. This does not include the stuff in the wreck room. I am working on Andrew and Taylor's wedding. I am including pictures from Marian, Elaine, Katie, Marisa, Kaitlin, KimT, Jessica, Jennifer and Tatum. I have the pictures in stacks of the specific activties like bridesmaids luncheon or Thursday supper at Marian's. With some of our activities I picked specific colors to help guide me like red and yellow paper for the rehearsal dinner. I am loving doing this. I am seeing things that went on and people who were there that I was not aware of at the time.

I am on my 97th scrapbook page. 97th! I just counted again because surely that can't be right. It is. I have 17 more to go. I hope to just use two albums. The albums I am making are mine. I have pictures folks took of me with special friends in this one. I did have plans to make one for Taylor. I am now thinking that maybe she can share this one with me. I can have it for six months and then she can. Or maybe I'll make one for her for her 10 or 25 th anniversary- think how special it will be for her to see the pictures then. But what if my other two children get married and think or expect an album too. I think I will tell Carl today we need to add something to our will. I'm leaving this scrapbook to Taylor. She will love it.

Art

I went with Kaitlin to an art exhibit tonight. The exhibit was held in a large hallway- seating area at an Episcopal Church downtown. The art was all printmaking. There were six artists. They each had about six prints. There was a singing duo there. Their cardboard sign in front of them said that they were brothers. One played the guitar and harmonica and the other the banjo. Their sign also said that we could sing along with them but they played no songs I had ever heard.

This is the second art exhibit from her school I have been to with Kaitlin. Such an eclectic group of people. After I leave a group like that I remember what Kaitlin's observations are as she watches folks in the art building at school. They all try to be and look different but they end up all looking alike.

family patterns

Tessa was born today to my brother-in-law Ted and his wife Tina. She joins a group of now 15 first cousins on her daddy 's side. Of the 6 children Grandma has, one has 5 children, one 4, one 3, one 2, one 1 and one 0. There are now 5 granddaughters. Tessa is the only girl born into a family that already has a daughter. Every son had a son first and the only girl had a daughter first. This will probably be the last grandchild born for Grandma. The neatest thing to me is, she was born on the birthday of the first grandchild. How cool is that.

Pain is Interesting

In February of this year I was diagnosed with arthritis in my spine. This is causing spinal canal stenosis . This is a narrowing of the canal. It is in my lower back at L4 andL5 and S1. The manifestation of this is after 15 or 20 minutes of standing or walking my left leg begins going numb just behind my knee. Shortly, this gives way to pain that is intense. I have to sit down. As soon as I sit the facets in my spine open enough to relive the pressure and the pain slowly fades away. After about 15 minutes I have rested enough to go again.

I have learned some interestings things about myself and my environment. I am much more tolerant of those carts in walmart and kroger where the folks drive them around knowing that one day I may be in one. Also, that just because folks are in them doesn't mean they can't walk, it may mean they can't walk for long.

I have learned where all the benches are in Walmart and Kroger. I plan to write them both a letter and suggest they may need a few more if they want me to shop longer.

I am learning all I can do sitting down - read, scrapbook, visit on the computer, blog, write letters, drive, eat lunch with friends, cook with the help of a tall stool,

I do miss the feeling of exercising. I plan to try walking at the athletic club for 15 minute jaunts. I have even read that these shorts bursts are good for you.

My friend, Darrell, spoke at a recent youth retreat on Heaven. He said that Joni Ericson Tada
said that when she gets to Heaven she wants to knit and looks forward to having use of her hands. That really made me realize what I do have and all I can do.

Gimli lives in Roland

When we moved to our house in 1999, we needed firewood. We have a fireplace insert. It keeps the den nice and toasty. KimT recommended Mr Bixler. He charged 55.00 for a pickup truck full. He was quick to tell me that he would just charge me 50.00 if I would load it and unload it my self. I decided early on that that was the best 5.00 I have ever spent. When we started with Mr Bixler , he was old. I'm talking 75 or 80 in 1999. Last year when I called, his wife said that he could only chop wood for his family. I was now on a search for someone new.

At a Wednesday night meal, last November, I was talking in the kitchen with our guest chef, Mike. He said that he had someone who delivers wood for 75.00 a truck load. I called him from the church. Wendell Ray. I don't know if that is his first and middle name or first and last. His dad answered the phone. He said he would have Wendell Ray deliver me some wood on Friday. When Friday came I was stunned when I opened the front door and there stood Gimli. He was about 4'5" tall and the longest beard I have ever seen except for in the movie Gettysburg. He introduced himself as Wendell Ray.

As he loaded the wood it began to rain. When he was finished 1 load, it was pouring. I had ordered 3. He asked could he come back when it was not raining. I said "Yes!" It took awhile because we had lots of rain. I was the only one to see him. I did get my wood and was pleased as we were warm all winter.

Two weeks ago I called Wendell Ray for this year's loads. He was to bring the wood in a few days. Each time he tried to bring it , it began to rain. He waited. I called again to make sure he had not forgotten us. He told me I was on his list and as soon as he could and it was not raining , he would bring it. Needless to say I still don't have firewood. We have had nothing but rain for the last week. This afternoon there was a knock at my front door. Kaitlin answered. It was Wendell Ray. He wanted to come by and tell me about the rain and his attempts. He said that with the drought we have had , he should of brought the wood sooner if bringing wood here makes it rain. I agreed. When Kaitlin closed the front door she said" Mama, he looked just like Gimli" I knew it.

Hair

I am blessed to have a hairdresser that I love. We have such a great time that I am sad when another customer comes in and I have to share her. She loves to laugh and loves sports. She is a razorback fan but a nice one. When something happens in the sports world I text her so she can be in the know.

Last year I took her an SEC schedule that Andrew had made. It is a grid with the names of the teams going down the left side and the dates at the top and in the middle is who plays whom. She put it on her fridge. Her son did very well on his spelling in the fall. She and her husband realized it was because the spelling list was also on the fridge and Gunner spent so much time looking at said schedule he learned his spelling words. I took her a 2007 version today. She was thrilled.

On Kaitlin's 21 birthday we even made a stop into Kristi's shop so she could meet everyone because you know you tell your hairdresser everything and she needed to meet them.

My hair is such that after Kristi fixes my hair, it usually stays that way for a few days. One time I saw her on a Tuesday. The next day I was to HELP in the kitchen for the Wednesday night meal. KimT who I was to HELP got sick and she couldn't be there. Now I was in charge. I did okay deciding to order pizza for about 100. Sandy helped me and we even made salad. I fell apart when I saw all the pizza's that were delivered. Had I ordered enough? Would folks be okay with a change in menu? How would I keep the teenage guys down to two pieces the first go round? Just to name a few concerns. As I stood in the kitchen flipping out my friend, Abbey, just stood and watched. When I stopped to catch my breath she said " Your hair looks good. And I can do most anything if my hair looks good." The wisdom of an 18 year old was what I needed. We even had pizza left over and everyone loved it. I got compliments on my hair too.