New Years Eve

Dorothy invited me to ride to Tyler. We went to the mall to see if she could find her a new dress at JC Penney. We didn’t have any luck so we were off to Kohl’s to see what they had .. no luck so then we decided to head over to the salvation army (my place to shop). On our way home Dorothy asked if i had ever eaten at Braum's. I had never heard of the place and we stopped and had double scoop waffle cones for $1.59 ! Wow i was shocked at the price and it was excellent. I had Cherries, pecan vanilla and pumpkin spice. It was very yummy! If you’ve never been to a Braum’s you need to go at least one time. Their a pretty neat store. On one side they are a fast food hamburger and the other side is a ice cream shop. I never tried their burgers but they have delicious ice cream.

We left around 10.30 am and didn’t get home until around 7.30 pm and was i ever exhausted! Tyler is a pretty good size city. It was a great day but i was ready to go home and get my comfy pj’s on and it was an early to bed for me. I didn’t stay up to see the new year come in. In fact i never even made it up to watch the 10 o’clock news .. lol

Where did the week go?

I don’t know exactly where the week went to but it went somewhere … LOL

Monday i got up and got things done and then i went to my new friend Sandy’s home for tea and brunch. I visited with several of the ladies and then in the afternoon i spent the afternoon having tea with Dorothy.

Tuesday - i had brunch at my new friend Dixie home. Once again the day went by with afternoon tea and visiting at Dorothy’s home.

Wednesday - my new friends Sandy and Dixie pulled out to explore new territory. It was wonderful the time we had together getting know each other. I will miss them. Since i hadn’t really done too much work i decided i better get some work done at my own home.

The temps have been a bit on the cool side in the mid 50’s. I’m not complaining but i have to admit i do like it a bit warmer then what it has been.

A Day of Fellowship

Today was a great day compared to 13 yrs ago today when my tragic accident occurred that changed the rest of my life. Today i can think about that day along time ago without feeling anger, sadness, frustration that i couldn’t several years back. Thank you God for finally giving me peace with dealing with my injury/illness.

I got up and got ready for church. I attended West Side Church this morning. It was a very nice country church. The message was excellent and i look forward to attending again. After services since i rode to church with my friends Ron & Dorothy they were going out for lunch and they chose a Mexican. The food was very good. I’m not sure what i had but it was good. My combo meal had a taco that was okay but the dish with the chili, cheese and red sauce on it was very good, esp when i mixed it with the beans and rice. They even had ice cream cones for dessert …. mmmmmm

After lunch we were invited to Martha Dean and Dale’s for afternoon tea. I met Martha Dean and Dale with all the others on Christmas Day at the shelter. We all volunteered together and had a great time. Several brought their musical instruments and once again we sang songs and had great fellowship.

I got home around 5 pm and i have to say i had a blast but I'm exhausted! I spent the evening being lazy in my pj’s watching TV. Hope you all had a great weekend …

Merry Christmas!

Texas

I spent my morning just lazing around enjoying quiet time with hubby. Later our oldest son called and we talked to our grand daughter. Then it was time to get ready to go to the shelter for a potluck lunch. I made a fruit salad to take with the cup cakes. It was great spending Christmas with other whom are dealing with their own circumstance.

I wasn’t sure exactly what today would be like. I received a blessing by being able to witness to a lady who needed comfort. The lady lost her only sibling a little over 6 months ago due to a drug overdose. I know from personal experience about drug overdose and losing a sister.

It’s amazing how in 2 more days it will have been 13 yrs ago that my entire life was turned upside down and had you told me then that my life would be as it today i would never believed it. Today makes me realize that even though I'm going through my own circumstances life could be worse. Not only that but with God’s help I can endure anything through his love.
We had a very nice turn out. The lady over the shelter furnished the ham & turkey and lots of people brought in other dishes to go along. There were lots of different choices and the children were excited about the gifts they got but …..

After the meal we sang Christmas songs and then it was time to clean up. After all the work was done and we had time to play some us spent the afternoon playing games and enjoying fellowship. I got home around 6.30 pm and hubby enjoyed his plate i fixed for him.
I am happy to say it’s been a good Christmas because of others and for that i am deeply grateful. God Bless you all and may you embrace his grace and love this holiday season.
From hubby and I to all of you and until next time ….

Christmas Eve

Last night was quite a night, we had tornado warnings all around us, but luckily for us no severe storms here. It has gotten colder all day long and it’s went between rain and a bit of freezing but no accumulation. I spent the entire day inside and no i didn’t get dressed .. YES i spent the entire day in my flannels .. hehe

I did do something other then play games .. since Ms. Southwind furnace still isn’t fixed i decided to do some baking so that i could use the oven for heat. I baked choc & vanilla cup cakes and decorated them with red icing for Christmas. I kept about 10 cup cakes for us and the rest are for tomorrow. I have 2 of these round pans and each pan has 30 cup cakes for the pot luck I'm attending tomorrow at the shelter. I’m hoping they will go over good with the kids.

After i finished baking i decided i better fix us something to eat. It was hamburgers and French fries tonight. After dinner i got me a shower and just took it easy tonight. It’s very cold here. My weather bug says it’s only 34 degrees! Dang i came to Texas to get away from the cold. It seems the cold and rain follow me no matter where i am. What is it with this cold weather following me?

Tonight i have been thinking about my mom. Today was her birthday. I know she is in heaven and pain free and that gives me comfort. I know that we will meet again in heaven some day and she is enjoying being with my brother Steven and my sister Bobbi Jo.

Speaking of sisters .. I got a wonderful Christmas present this year. I talked to my sister Patty Wednesday morning early and she told me that i had a older sister that we never knew about. She found out that my dad has a daughter that is older then my oldest brother Ronnie. My sister Patty went and met her Tuesday. Her name is Cheryl and she is 52. She is meeting the family Sunday. Unfortunately i will not get to meet her until i return, but I'm so excited and I'm looking forward to getting to know her. Isn’t that a wonderful Christmas gift?

Cell phone and internet is not very good here where we are so if you do not hear from me don’t worry. It’s because i can’t get out. Sometimes the wifi works and other times it doesn’t.

I want to wish you all a Happy Christmas Eve and God Bless you all … until next time ….

A warm rainy day

I woke up sweating last night .. wow been a long time since I've done that!! I did wake up to a beautiful morning and hubby and i decided to take a walk. I”m in T-shirt and shorts .. Yes my kind of weather. Here is Ms. Southwind tucked away in her temp spot.

While we were on our walk it started to rain and so we got a little on the wet side. At least it was a gentle warm rain. Since i checked the weather report and a cool front is moving in i decided to keep my flowers inside so they are in the dash of Ms. Southwind. I don’t want to take a chance of killing my pink blooms. The dogs are not happy as they are having to share their spot.

This church is down the road from where we are parked. Isn’t it beautiful?

Once the rain arrived it rained off and on all day long. Sometimes it was a gentle rain and other times it was a down pour. I’m not complaining because the temps are in the low 70’s and I'm just thankful to be where its warm! It’s nice to be warm and have running water again!

It’s amazing how we take so many things for granted until we have to go without them. Later in the evening i made sloppy joe and mac & cheese for dinner.

There are some big issues being here in this part of Texas. My cell phone doesn’t work very good and wifi is horrible. If you do get connected it doesn’t let you go or do anything.

That’s a hard adjustment for me. Right now I have no other options because we have to get new front tires and an alignment and unfortunately that can’t happen until after the first of the year. We are here until Ms. Southwind can get new wheels and alignment.

Oh well, I'm going to make the best of it and I'm just thankful God was looking out for us and guided us here safely and because of others we are going to have a wonderful Christmas. I don’t have their names to mention them, but i am going to say this. Thank you to those who know whom I'm talking about.

Texas

I got up early and got coffee going and picked up from last night. Once hubby got up and got his coffee and med’s it wasn’t long and we were on the road. In fact we were on the road before 7 am!

Hills and curves both …

There wasn’t much traffic on the road .. maybe because were on a toll road

We took 19 on the Indian National Toll road. cost was $3.50 at both tolls for this road… total cost for Indian National was $7.00

Since it’s cooler i always wear my house shoes when traveling .. hehe when it’s hot, i don’t wear any shoes. Once again the dogs had their spots and were enjoying the trip doing

what they do best .. We finally arrived in Texas!

Here is how Ms. Southwind looks in travel mode.

We finally arrived in Texas around 1 pm and after we stopped we were very lucky that God was looking over us. Yesterday when arriving in Oklahoma after leaving the toll booth they were working on the road and didn’t have any signs we hit a bump pretty hard and apparently knocked us out of line and all the miles we traveled wore the front driver side tire and the wires are showing! Oh my if we’d of had a blow out it’s hard to tell what kind of damage it would of done.

After the first of the year that is first on our list to get new front tires and alignment. Oh i dread what that is going to cost. On the brighter side, it’s so nice and warm here. In the low 70’s!

spending the night in Checotah, OK

Well we finally had things ready and rolled out around 11.40 am from our recent home in Springfield, MO. Got on I-44 West heading to Joplin, Mo.

Here are the dogs all tucked nicely enjoying their nap while traveling down the road.

We arrived at the toll booth and paid our toll fee of $9.50 and once we got to the end we were refunded $4.50 so the Toll cost us $5.00. This Indian statue greeted us after we went through the toll booth. A truck stop sits behind it. There is 5 wifi available but only one is free without a password. I love my hawking dish, it is so nice and keeps me connected when free wifi is available. Without this antenna i would not have free wifi as my wifi on my computer is not strong enough.

We are traveling down the highway and then we arrived at a town. This is different traveling for us as we normally like to travel on interstates when we have a long distance to go. But luckily for us our route is through this highway. I love being able to look around and see all that the towns have to offer.

This train slowed us down as we had to wait almost 10 minutes. I’ve never seen a train this long it wrapped around the road and was as far as you could see.

We then exit off hwy 69 onto US 266 and arrived at the Flying J around 3.40 pm. We filled up with 36 gals of fuel $85.00 worth. We have traveled 201 miles today. It’s amazing how we left Springfield, Mo the temp was 29 degrees and we were in sweatshirts. When we arrived here i had to change into a short sleeve shirt!! Yes, finally warmth! It’s suppose to be almost 70 tomorrow! The low tonight is suppose to be 47 degrees. It’s 56 degrees right now as I'm posting this.

I am posting this blog from inside of Ms.Southwind. We just finished supper which consisted of hot dogs and chips. We have the generator running so that we can watch the local news. Although i have a feeling the generator will be running until bed time … hubby gets 18 channels here! He is in TV heaven!

Luckily we parked over in the corner away from the truckers and anyone else and no I'm not taking a picture as we are over where the trash is! But, we like to be secluded and out of the truckers way. They are driving for a living, we are just living. Another plus is that we can take the dogs out right by Ms. Southwind and not have to worry about traffic coming or going. We are parked near a security light as we do like to be near light so that we can see if need be. Plus it gives me the night light that i need.

Well i hope you all have a great one and until next time …