Happy Birthday To My Mama

 Hi Everyone,

 Today is my Mama's Birthday. She would have been 91 if she was still living. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her and some days I swear that I think and do some of the exact same things that she did and would shake my head at! Funny how full circle we can come.

 My Mama was a Character. She was a very hard worker. She didn't stop, but it wasn't until I was grown and had a family of my own that I became to appreciate all the things that she did. My dad provided "The Living" as she would say. She had her job raising kids. Oh Mama what a job that you had!
 Our Mothers are special. If your lucky enough to have had a wonderful Mother or have your Mother still, your Blessed.
 Not that my Mother was without her flaws. That would be impossible, but the times were different back then.
 We didn't have all the modern conveniences of today. It wasn't until the mid 70's that my mom ever got her first vacuum cleaner or automatic washer and dryer. Things that we take for granted today would have been deemed frivolous or a waste of money.
 Her first vacuum cleaner was a Kirby. Our first brand new home was a 3 bedroom and 2 bath 14 x 70 Mobil Home. We only had it a few years before a tornado struck and it was lost. Along with the Kirby and the automatic washer and dryer.
 Our next house was a rental in a rinky dinky town and our washing machine was a 2 tubbed and roller style. We filled up one side with hot water that we boiled on the stove and it washed and then we fed the clothes thru the wringer. I still have the scar today where my hand got caught up in the rollers.
 After the clothes were wrung thru the wringer to the next tub we drained the water, used a water hose to fill with cold water and repeated the process. Some times more than once.
 Our dryer... A good old clothes line. Or if it was winter and brittle cold and raining, our clothes line would be chairs, wire strung across the living room and hoped that after 3 days we would have dry clothes.
 I never heard my mama complain tho. Oh she would get aggravated with us. But she never complained about doing the work that she did. Sundays was for Sunday dinner and my word, the food that she made back in those days. Sometimes the table was laden with so much food that today it would be mind boggling. And just thinking of the prep work that she did is also over whelming to me.
 She baked yeast rolls on Sundays for the most part. There was also a pot of beans of some kind going on the back burner, and she always made cornbread even tho we had the rolls. My dad preferred the cornbread so she made it for him and later on at night Mama and I would usually have a bowl of cornbread and sweet milk as she called it.
 The meat was always either Fried Chicken, Fried Pork Chops, or a Roast. On Fridays she would sometimes make Salmon Patties for us. And of course there had to be mashed potatoes and gravy! Corn and Collard Greens too.
 She worked hard in her vegetable garden. I can now appreciate how she would ask us to help her weed and we would of course whine and moan and she would just do it herself. I am so sorry for not helping her more. If I could go back in time, that would be something that I would change.
 But Mama also had a few "Old Fashioned" ideas that I still get a laugh out of.
 For instance, when I had my first baby, she moved in... Lock Stock and Barrel. She would get so mad at me for getting up out of bed, where I was supposed to be for 6 WEEKS... she was adamant that I stayed in bed. Not that I did.
 Jonathan was born June 30th and July 4th we went out to the fireworks! Mama was miffed and said that since I apparently didn't need her help she was going home. But she did go and watch the fire works with us haha! Then we took her home.
 Mama loved her dogs. She loved cats too, but dogs were her favorite. She picked out one puppy, a collie mix right out of the litter from the girl next door. She named her Michelle. Mama loved Michelle so much. Oh she and Michelle were a close set. One followed the other. Mama went into a dark time when Michelle died and even tho I was young, I wondered if she would ever get another dog. Daddy brought home a mutt one day and Mama loved him, but she didn't allow herself to get really close to Peanut like she did Michelle.
 After we had grown up and moved away, Mama got a dog. A mix of German Shepard and who knows what else. His name was Baby Doll. And he was her baby. One winter my dad wasn't working. It was cold that year and it seemed like it rained every day and my dad couldn't work. He worked construction. I knew that they were having it bad. So were my husband and I too as he worked construction as well. I went over and mama was at the stove making water gravy and she had 1 egg that she scrambled. I thought that she was making that meal for herself but no, it was for Baby Doll. She said... I can work for my food. He can't. It broke my heart.
 I made up my mind that the next day I was applying for food stamps. I should have done it a lot sooner than I did. You know how Pride works. We will get by somehow I always said. Well I realized that it might be weeks before the ground was dry enough for my dad and husband went back to work. It was hard for me walking into that office that day. But I kept thinking of my baby and I was pregnant and I knew that not only my family, but my mom and dad needed help too. I got a total of less than a hundred dollars. Probably much less, but I went to the store and then I went back to her house and divided everything that I got. Beans, rice, cabbage. Whatever to make a meal with.
 Mama paid me back a thousand times over. The next day my dad received a check in the mail that his boss had forgotten to give to him and my husband gave up construction to go back to driving a 18 wheeler semi. They gave him a $100.00 advance. He kept $50.00 and gave me the other $50.00.
 My husband left to go over the road driving, It was a Friday and that afternoon Mama and daddy drove up into my drive way. They brought me in 3 bags of groceries that they had bought from the check that daddy had received.
 We all seemed to get up on our feet after that. But I will never forget how she was giving up her meal, perhaps the only meal she would have for days so that Baby Doll wouldn't go hungry.
 Mama never got another dog after Baby Doll died. Instead she just loved our pets. There was for me Lucky and my cats Cleopatra and later on our Duchess. My sister had chows. Blue was her favorite of my sisters dogs. and my other sister had cats. Smokey Joe and Festus and of course my cat Miss Kitty. Yep we were Gun Smoke fans lol.... I am surprised we didn't have a Matt Dillon in there somewhere.
 One thing that I can say about my Mama is that she loved us. No matter how crazy things got, that was the one thing that I knew. She showed her love in a thousand different ways. Maybe I didn't appreciate it all until later on in life, but I wish so badly that I could just go back and say I love you Mama.
 Have a Blessed Day. BB

Depression Hurts!

 Hi everyone,

 I did this page the other day when I was at a very low point. Even being surrounded with family and friends it can strike and leave you feeling alone and lonely. I found myself in this dark place even while I was surrounded with love from my kids and grandkids. In reality these are the Emotions that I was feeling.

 Like every family in the world, ours is not perfect. We all have our faults and we all have things that we need to work on. But with the grandkids here this past week, I found out how much we have to work on.
 While the grandkids are basically good kids, they are little Stinkers....... Laurie is Zoned OUT... she is exhausted and I am not sure what is going on with her. She confided to Karyn that she and David are separated. To me she says that he is just out in California working. I finally confronted her and she said that she doesn't know what is going on with them.
 She is worrying so much about the state of her marriage that she is just zoning the kids and everyone else out. There is more going on but I told her... You gotta get up, You gotta stand up, and You gotta get a handle on these kids.
 They didn't listen to a single word that she had to say. They Ignored her at every turn. Well that set off some deep heated exchanges between me and Nathan and them. They had time outs, they had a totally different experience with their grandmother who has always lavished love and praise on them and instead they saw me angry with them. They were not going to disrespect me and Nathan and I wasn't allowing them to disrespect their mama either. But Laurie got her own lectures.
 Laurie said... I am so tired. I am dealing with 3 kids alone and I feel like I can't deal with anything right now.
 So OK... your here now. You can make a start right now with the help of your family. All I can say at this point that she has to get a grip on everything. I told her that she was not the only woman raising kids alone at this point. Even if she and David work things out she has got to carry on and I know that she is depressed. I see it. I deal with it. I know what it is like. I know what it can do to a person. So whether she wants to or not at this point is irrelevant. She needs to see a doctor.
 She also has chronic pain. Has lived with it for years. I asked her... You have insurance so why haven't you talked to your doctor? She says she has and he blows her off. I said... Find a new doctor.
 Karyn and I are going to make more of an effort to help her but until this past week we didn't know the circumstances. For the last 3 months she has been saying... Everything is fine, when the world was crashing down on her and Laurie is not one to ever ask for help. She didn't have to ask this week. We saw first hand how much she needs help.
 Anyway so this is where I am this week. My depression is better right now. Mainly because I have more to focus on than my own depression right now. I have my outlets, she has none. No car, no money, no way to get back and forth. The kids will be starting school soon and we talked her into moving closer to us. Karyn has set her in motion to get some financial help and put her touch with some programs to help her.
 Personally I would be contacting the Military and let them know what is going on with his check. She is supposed to get an x amount and with 3 kids she is entitled to more than what she is getting. He did say that he would pay their rent but she has to pay everything else. Well gee what a nice guy! I wish that I had 5 minutes with him face to face!
 But right now I have to go. My house is a total disaster and I spent most of the day yesterday hibernating in my room.......... Take care BB

Sunday July 17th

 Hello Everyone.

 I decided when I got up this morning that I wasn't going to do anything until I updated my blog. It has been a Hell Of A Week around here and yesterday was a day that I spent in bed sleeping. I really had some good sleep too.
 So this is a page that I did for a friend. I didn't post it yet because  I wanted to send this one to my friend first. This is her little granddaughter and I just love this photo.
 I haven't been scrapping either. In fact I have really been lazy on the computer. But I came across about 3 new sets of papers from a designer and some masks that I never did. I was looking into one of my folders and went What????? So I started looking and I can't believe that I never did them so I am going to have to get busy and do them this week. She gave me the products so I owe that to her.
 But also she has been very sick herself, and her fiance's grand father has been in and out of the hospital and she has dealt with a lot so that might have been a part of why I didn't do them. We might have been on hold while she was dealing with so much.
 On the other hand I know that I did a set or sets of pages for the masks and I cannot find them anywhere. I even checked out my recycle bin to see if I actually threw them away by accident but they are not there either. I am blaming my computer. I know that it must have eaten them.

 There really isn't much news around here. A few days before the 4th of July my nieces husband was bitten by a snake and spent 24 hours in the hospital. Then the 4th of July another friend (Not close) it has been years that we have seen him, he was bitten by either a water moccasin or a rattle snake. One hospital said the moccasin bit him but he had to be sent via ambulance to Dallas  and they said it was a rattle snake bite. He was in very serious condition.
  They couldn't care flight him because the wind had picked up and was to risky. He barely survived. Then the same niece that her husband was bit went to go some where last week and her little boy 3 actually stepped over a snake. She was able to grab his arm and lift him high and into the house.
 The snakes are bad this year. They are saying that we have had so much flooding this past year that the snakes dens are flooded and they are trying to find new places to move too. Then Nathan my son came in from outside and had stepped on something and it was dark but looked like a snake bite. So we were making a trip to the hospital but what ever got him wasn't poisonous so we were thankful but now we are leary of taking the dogs out.

 I have my new glasses. The good news is that I can see much better. The bad news is that I hate the frames that I picked out. They feel heavy and keep sliding down my nose. I am going to have to take them back and have them readjusted. I really wish that I had kept the ones that I had first picked out but I liked these too. Now I wish for the other frames. That's the way that it goes with me. I always wish for something that I changed my mind on.

 Cisco is cuddled under my pillows on the bed. He slept right up against me during the night. I had to keep moving him over. Finally I scooted him to the other side of the bed and I got in the middle so that if I had to move I still had some room to move, which I did several times in the night. But we both had some great sleep and even Foxy was a good girl. She is learning that this is Cisco's domain and when she acts up she gets put in the other part of the house and can't come back in so she has figured out that this is Cisco's house. Finally!

 Time for me to go and do some blog reading and check on a few things here at home. I am just taking advantage of everyone sleeping right now. It is quiet and my coffee is good and I am going to enjoy the morning. This evening is going to be hectic with my grand kids and daughters coming in from a trip back home. Laurie and the kids went to spend the weekend with her dad and Karyn is with Joe and his mom. They have all been cooped up and needed a break. Except Karyn. She has had several weekend trips back home and will be going back to San Antonio next weekend to celebrate her best friends Birthday. Her friend lucked out and got them Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood tickets for a concert.

 Matt and Barbara are planning on moving back to Texas when their lease is up. Matthew just hated flying in and out of Austin for his time off and thought that it would be better since he was stationed in Wisconsin but now they keep him either in Chicago or St. Paul Minnesota so he said that he might as well just fly in to Texas and Barbara can be closer to her family. But they have a while before the lease is up.

 So this is my news for the time I have been away. Going to refill my coffee cup and do some blog reading and then by that time the boys should be up and we are going to do some heavy duty cleaning. I have doctor appointments this week so I want as much done as possible. Have a great week everyone. BB

Sad Sad Post

Rest In Peace Brent Thompson,,,,,,,,,,

Forgive me for being emotional. I would like for you to meet Officer Brent Thompson. He was shot and killed along with 4 more officers Thursday night.
 Brent is from my home town. He was born and raised right there. He and his family and mine went to the same Church. It has been years since I have seen him, but I will never forget him.
 The City Of Dallas brought him home today. They brought him home with a full escort. Many people stood by the roads in the little towns that they passed thru to show their respect. I wish I had gone home yesterday so I could be there.
 Below are some pictures taken from my home town.

 My heart goes out to all of the Dallas Officers that was shot and killed and those that are injured and fighting for their lives. For their families and for their friends. It would be impossible to put all of the photos here in this blog, but my heart is heavy and tears haven't stopped. And from my understanding 2 civilians that were also injured.

 RIP ............. BB

Artsy Papers For Me!

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 Hi Everyone,
 Good morning to you! It is not quiet Friday here yet, still have a few minutes to go but I received these papers from AudrajScraps tonight and I just had to play with them. I have been wanting to do some kind of a wildlife page for a while and found this image that I have been saving and I think that it fits perfectly! Plus this is a brand new kit from Dreaming With Bella that I had not used yet so I had some fun with this page. I love how I can make these papers stand alone or use them as over lays. I have 3 more of this set to do and one more set of blue to use. I will hopefully get my scrapping spirit back.

 I was able to catch up with some dear friends today that I haven't had a chance to speak with in a few days for some and a few weeks with others, so I have been on and off the computer all day. I admit that I am tired but just don't want to go to bed yet!

 I am calming down over the incident with my grand kids. It helped to talk about it with a few of them. I haven't heard how the appointment went. I am sure that I will hear tomorrow. I didn't want to bother my daughter as she has been dealing with so much and she is taking advantage of her husband being home and family time.

 I goofed around reading today too. I am torn between this book and not sure if I like it or not. The sex scenes are so vivid that it borders on just being nasty. I am ok with sex scenes but really.... Not this much detail or information so I ended up just flipping past most of it and realized that 2 chapters were filled with SEX..... I am not a prude but really this is just way too graphic for me. I will not buy from this author again.

 I talked to my sister in law tonight. It has been a few months since I have talked to her so we did a bit of catching up and then I got a surprise phone call from my youngest granddaughter Celeste. She is our Halloween baby. She will be 2 the day before Halloween. Then we decided to do the OooVooo thing which is like Skype. My phone rang during the visit and she was dancing to the ring tone so we played music so she could dance. Her mama looks so tired. We chatted for a bit but ended up calling it a night pretty soon as it is a work day for her tomorrow.

 Jon and Karyn will be coming home tomorrow. Jon called me tonight and I was really surprised to hear from him as he is not one to talk on the phone. He was planning on going to the Alamo tonight and tour it. I took him when he was about 7 but he doesn't really remember the trip and wants to go so I am glad that they are getting to do some fun things. They took a water taxi out on the river last night.

 We waited all day for the fire inspection but they were only checking apartments that had BBQ grills and fire hazards. It is against our lease to have BBQ grills and over the 4th a lot of people were violating the lease agreements. They should have had security out here with all of these crazy people shooting off fireworks in the walking trail and park. I know that the Police Department had their hands full because I could hear the sirens going off close by. Plus the wind had kicked up so we really should not have had to deal with all of that, worrying if something was going to catch on fire. Oh and our poor animals. The dogs were so scared. I love to watch fireworks but only in places designated as a safe place and done by professionals.

 Well Guess what? It is now 12:01 am....... Whooooooo Whooooo I made it to Friday and now i am heading to bed! Have a big day planned for myself so I need to get some sleep and I finally feel like I can fall asleep easily. So I will say Blessed Be for now and you all take care......... BB

Short Post

 Hi Everyone,
 So sorry that I have not posted this past week. I had some family issues to deal with and then I have just not felt well. I haven't done any scrap pages. Just one that I did of little Pogo for the 4th of July.
 I really don't know what is wrong, just feel bad. I have been in bed for the last 2 days so tired that I can not find the energy to get up and go outside or anything really.
 I make something to eat, go to my regular computer stops and then I am ready to lay down. Anyway I dug this one out of my archives from last year. It was one of my favorites. I remember being so small standing on my tip toes looking at the candy and bakery store. Good memories there. I sure miss all of my old kits. I have got to get an external hard drive.
 Ok well I have been putting this off and keeping it to myself for the most part. Discussed with family of course but maybe it will help to talk about it.

 Last week my daughter let her kids go up the block to the deli there. It is a famous one but I will not mention the name here. They live just a few blocks away. No reason that the kids, 7 and 9 cannot go for a soda.  She let them go for their soda and her an iced tea. They forgot to sweeten the tea and my daughter only realized after they were back that she was out of sugar, so she sent them back to get some sugar packets.
 An employee (That barely speaks English) grabbed my grand kids up and threw them into a back room. She jerked my grand daughters arm and taunted them, calling them thieves, said that they were never going to see their mom again. They were going to jail. Well you get the picture. She did other stuff too. Smacking them and so forth.
 My daughter got worried about them. The baby was asleep but she put him in the stroller and took off looking for them. She went to the deli as that is where they were supposed to have gone. She walked in and heard her kids crying so she called out them and they started crying  "Mama help me" and she started yelling for the kids to come to her and the woman refused to let them leave the room.
 She flew into the back room and she was so upset, the kids were shaking, crying hysterically and the woman yelled at my daughter, "Thieves" and so my daughter grabbed her kids and pushed them out into the lobby and called the police.
 I commend my daughter for holding it together as much as she did. I don't think that I would have had the patience but my daughter cussed her out. While Laurie was calling the police the woman called the manager and filed trespassing charges against my daughter.
 What?????????
 Yes you heard right.
 The woman claimed that she was frightened by my daughters actions!!!!!!!!!!
 Never mind that this woman put her hands on minor children, put them in a back room, taunted them and threatened them and smacked them around AND SHE WAS AFRAID?
 Well to make a long story short, the police did not want to issue the trespassing charge against my daughter but he had to.
 All of this because they went to get some sugar packets for a drink that they already bought and paid for.
 My daughter consulted a lawyer and I guess that we will know more after that appointment. Where is the justice in this world? When does it stop? I wish Laurie had pressed child endangerment charges against this woman but she was so scared for her kids and thankful that they were alright that she just said to the cop, "Don't worry about me ever coming back in here." she went home and called the Regional Manager that she knows personally and he promised to get back in touch with her. Of course that never happened.

 I want to say that I have always been open minded about helping refugee's and this woman is a refugee. I will not comment on the country but it has been an eye opener for me that perhaps we should be more aware of who is coming into our country. Maybe it is acceptable in her country to do what she did to my grand kids but it is not acceptable here  and the police should really have done more to help my daughter than to just pacify the manager of the store. She should have been arrested! But no, our justice system worked the other way and it was my daughter that had a trespassing charge against her. It will be dropped but that is not the point.
 Laurie had a lot of time to think about what she Should have done after she got her kids home safe.

 I went on Sunday to see the kids and we went to the store. When we took Laurie home I stayed in the car. The kids were afraid to even come out of the house to the car to tell me goodbye. This broke my heart, but when their mom and dad came out they finally did too. They don't want to leave and ride their bikes. They are afraid that the woman will see them again. They are afraid and this pissssssssses me off.

 I am not sure if this helped me or not. The more that I think about it the madder I get so I will close for now and leave it here but will update when I know more. Love to all and remember to Keep Your Children Close. BB