Thursday, July 19, 2018

Goodbye 2015! Hello New Year!

Goodbye 2015! Hello New Year!


Wow! It has been a whole year since I last wrote on this blog! Where has the time gone? It has definitely been an eventful year. As always, some were really good things, some were really...not so good!

January:  My mama turned 77. My 'adopted daughter' Grace turned 25. I went with "man friend", Lindon, to see Georgia's Little Grand Canyon (beautiful!). Great uncle Thomas Junior Knight passed away.




February:  Amber and Chris celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. Chris turned 38. We got our first 'ice' of the year in Metro Atlanta.

March:  Greyson turned 4; we celebrated with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party at the park in Auburn. I turned 54. Jess turned 25. And I bought a house!

















April:  I usually go south for Easter, to spend with my daughter, Amber, and her family at 'Aunt Joy's' house, but this Easter I was moving into my new home. Thankfully, all my reliable family and friends swooped in and moved me in one day! A slip down the back steps of the porch really put a cramp in my rear, literally. I am very lucky I didn't break something that day. I still have residual pain from that fall.

May:  This was an eye opening month. After much thought about signals my body was giving me, I went to the doctor for a stress test. I failed it miserably. My stress test was on a Thursday, the following Monday I was getting a heart cath and received a stent to open a almost totally blocked artery. Was out of work for one week. The doctor told me I was basically a heart attack waiting to happen. I have been dealing with high blood pressure and terribly high cholesterol for several years. But continuing pain in my shoulder and arm, shortness of breath, lack of energy, and tingling/cold fingers pushed me to get the stress test I'd been putting off for a very long time.

A couple of weeks after my surgery, I went on a hike with Lindon at a park in Panola Mountain and Arabia Mountain. It was an interesting place to visit and walk, but felt like I over did it some. I could definitely feel the winds of change coming at this time too.












June:  I went on vacation with Amber and Chris and the boys to St. Simon's Island. Again, this was with Chris' job and is a blessing for me, for without it I would not have had a true vacation this year. We really enjoyed the beach, exploring the little town, eating at all different places for dinner. and just relaxing.

Upon returning from vacation, I knew it was time to end one chapter of my life, and that was with my relationship with my male friend. One of the last things my ex-husband said to me, was that I always expected him to be perfect, and he couldn't be perfect. I never felt I expected that. I do, however, hold people, especially those I am in a relationship with, to high standards. And if that person can't live up those, then I am sorry, but I can't stoop. And that is all I have to say about that.

July:  I truly cannot recall anything notable happening in the month of July. Except, I got a molar pulled. Ugh. I went to the dentist with horrendous tooth pain and thought I would be getting a root canal. But the tooth cracked half in two and had to be removed. I know this isn't much to some people, but to me it was very traumatic!
















August:  Abel's birthday is not until September, but we celebrated a little early at the end of August, with a Minion Party at my house! Greyson started Kindergarten. Amber is homeschooling him with My Father's World program. He is doing great, and so is Abel, as he can do a lot of the lessons also!
September: Abel turned 3!!!! And this month started the year's Wedding season for me...first, there were two Bridal showers, one for Grace, one for cousin Alicia. Then, the end of the month brought my step-sister Cathy's wedding. Bonus: Got to see a cousin and Aunt at that wedding that I rarely get to see!

October:  It was time for more weddings! First, Grace and Nick got married in a barn out in Covington. It was rustic and plain old fun! It was Abel and Greyson's first wedding, and we were a bit nervous, but they were good boys. And they enjoyed kicking up their heels on the dancefloor.

Then, cousin Alicia and her honey, Matt, were married right here in Winder, at the Community Center. They transformed the place into a cool 50's cafe complete with old vinyl records! It was so much fun dressing up in retro clothes and dancing and being with family!

I had a little Halloween fun...dressing up like a 60's Hippy Chick. My grandsons were the cutest little Pirates you ever did see!


November:  I spent Thanksgiving with my daughter, Amber, and her family down south. We were once again invited to Chris' cousin's house and we were surrounded by the big, loving, family and tons of delicious food!

December:  This month is always busy! The first Saturday of December is Granny's Girls Christmas Party, it was lots of fun as we wore our PJ's and had breakfast for dinner! I took a trip to the North Georgia Mountains with Amber, Chris and the boys. We hiked up to see Anna Ruby Falls. It was breathtaking!  Then we celebrated my extended family Christmas at my brother, Bo's, house. We did Santa at my house for my Grandsons and then, to throw us for a curve ball for Christmas, my daughter, Amber, has to get her gallbladder out the day before Christmas Eve! She did great and I spent Christmas at their house.

All and all, this has been a pretty good year! My daughter, Jessica, announced she was starting a new job in January. Greyson has had a great year in school so far (and Abel is learning too!). I am in better health, mentally and physically. I can't wait to see what 2016 brings for all of us!




Warriors in the Making

Great Warriors






My grandsons...are boys. All boy.




They like snakes. They like lizards. Worms. Dogs. Chickens. Dirt. Mud holes.




They enjoy turning over rocks and finding slugs, bugs and other 'icky' stuff.


Climbing trees, sitting for hours in deer stands, riding bikes, chasing dogs and each other are fun activities for them.












They may or may not enjoy fighting, but either way, they do a lot of it. And they are small, they cry when they get hurt. But before the tears there are raised voices, gnashing of teeth, balled up fists, punches, scratches, hair pulling, kicking. Then come the tears.




My heart lurches when I get a message from my daughter...now don't get excited Mama...with that lead in, I know its going to be pretty serious. (A deer stand fell on Greyson's head...we are at the Emergency Room.)






I have to steal my nerves when my son-in-law posts a picture of the latest battle scar. (A smiling Greyson with a huge road rash on his forehead...the results of doing 'tricks' on his scooter.)




I grit my teeth and squinch up my eyes when I hear my daughter describe how she picks ticks off the boys...including off their privates. Just the other night, Abel woke Amber up during the middle of the night saying he needed to 'check his pee-pee'. Sure enough, there was a huge tick on his private area. So at 2:00 a.m. she was pulling a fat tick off. AAAGGGHHHH!!!!






My grandsons...are boys. All boy. And boys will be boys.




At a funeral this week, the preacher described the gentleman who had passed as a great husband, father, and grandfather. Such a great grandfather was he, that he often took his small grandson hunting. And not just any old hunting, but bear hunting!!!! I was astonished, shocked and awe-struck!




And then the preacher went on to say that the man's wife, the grandmother to this boy, was a good cook. She HAD to be a good cook, because she had to cook up bear! (I am sitting there with my mouth hanging open!) He stated that she had served up many a bear lunch or supper...sometimes just in the form of a peanut butter sandwich, but "bear", none-the-less!




The preacher's point was that this grandfather was very good with this rambunctious little boy. Boys will be boys. He stated that boys NEED to be boys...with all the energy, roughness, excitement, fights, and hair-raising things that boys do, because without all this...how can they grow up to be Great Warriors in life?


































So now on, I will encourage my grandsons to catch bugs, lizards, worms, and fish. I won't complain if they track in dirt, leaves, sticks and other debris. I'll try not to stroke out when I get that call...Greyson bumped his head on (insert object here)....Abel has another tick on his (insert body part here).....We are on our way to the E.R....well, THAT one will always get me stressed out!








I will encourage these 'bitty boys' to grow up fearless of creatures found under rocks, of nerf bullets being shot at their face by their brother, to be a 'big boy' when their cousin accidentally whacks him in the face with a shovel while they are digging to China. Great Warriors endure things like this on a daily basis.


My last visit to see these little rascals found me having to go into the darkened hallway to switch on lights for the smallest of the two to go find a toy in his bedroom. Hey! I guess even Great Warriors can be afraid of the dark!!!