Thursday, September 29, 2005

Up and down, down, down (part 2)

Friday morning Bob and I woke up early and refreshed ready to meet the others for a new day. After a wait the others finally came out of their rooms and met us in the motel cafeteria for the "free" breakfast, I was surprised to find that is was more than cereal and bagels. It was no gourmet meal but it was hot and hearty. To my surprise the others were not ready to leave for our drive to Mt. Airy so they went back to their rooms and were to meet us back at the truck after retrieving their purses. Nearly an hour later they finally emerged from their rooms and drove around to meet us. It was a beautiful sunny day and the drive was scenic. We drove past Pilot Mountain with its interesting tree covered granite bump.

Ronnie decided he should pass us just as we arrived at the turn for US 52 business, so of course they missed the turn and didn't answer their cell phones when I called. I was a bit perturbed at this point. Finally they answer their phones and I tell them to meet us at the visitor center. Bob and I arrive there and park out front. We go into the visitor center and find out just what to expect on this Mayberry day, when Ronnie calls Bob's cell phone and says they decided to park at the other end of town and if we could walk in that direction and they would meet us 1/2 way. Ok so by now I'm starting to get a little hot under the collar. We walk down several blocks to find they haven't walked a single block to meet us half way. So now I'm more than hot I'm steaming. Apparently the vacation I scheduled for Bob and I has now become about everyone but us. They were late getting to Winston-Salem, they were late getting to breakfast, didn't follow us as they should have to Mt. Airy and now can't follow a simple direction to meet us at the visitor center nor attempt to meet us half way. At this point I decided that I wasn't going to waste any more of my trip waiting for them. I took Bob by the arm and directed him to the closest attraction on the map.
We walked To the Andy Griffith playhouse and were serenaded by the sounds of budding artists. Well ok serenade and artists both were stretches, but I commend them all for effort. We were headed to see the home Andy grew up in when I realized the map was not exactly to scale. What appeared to be a couple blocks past the playhouse turned out to be many more.... So we took a shortcut back and met up with the others again. We stopped in Floyd's barber shop where Bob dared to get a hair cut.



That wasn't Floyd. Floyd was busy snapping polaroids of the folks that wanted their pictures on his walls. I believe someone said that Floyd had something like 20,000 pictures on his walls of visitors. Patty and Linda stopped in Opies Candy store and though I avoided that one it must have been something extra special cause they spent at least 20 minutes oogling the goods.


Bob and I had our eyes open for interesting souvenier to bring back to the gang. We did finally find something for everyone. Then it was time for lunch and it seemed that no one could decide. We ended up in a restaurant that had some good southern cooking. We then made our way through the emporium that was in the same building as the restaurant and encompassed 3 floors. It had some interesting items and the top floor had a line forming to get autographs from some of Mayberry's actors. James Best whom I recognized from The Dukes of hazard, but apparently had been in Mayberry at some point and Betty Lynn who played Thelma Lou.



Bob and I decided we'd had our fill of "Mayberry" and we let everyone know we were heading back to Winston-Salem. We drove across town and stopped at the old filling station and the courthouse. It was a hoot. Bob pretended to be Otis and locked himself in the jail sell, I have it on video but don't have a clue how to post it here.




It wasn't long before they showed up back at the motel and we decided to go out for dinner. We followed Ronnie and eventually we got to the restaurant which for some reason the name is escaping me at the moment. In the middle of dinner, now mind you this was a late dinner so near 9 pm, I received a phone call from the nursing agency that is responsible for the nursing care my daughter receives. The staffing coordinator calls to say a nurse has cancelled her shift for the next morning and they have no one to take her place. I'm furious! Bob and I don't get away for dinner or a date night because of the difficulties surrounding nursing care for Nickie. These few and far between times we are able to take mean far more than you can imagine.

Free Stuff from MM

Hey, y'all if you have not yet visited MM's site there is no time better than now! MM is giving away free crap! The instructions are simple. If you see something you have to have just pay it forward and tell MM what you will do for it. I think its a fantastic idea. Why don't you check it out? Happy bidding.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Up and down, down, down (part one)

Do you ever get so tired of life that you just want to sleep and never wake up? I feel like that right now. I'm so disgusted with life. I don't know how I can go from being up one week to down the next. Shit just keeps happening that I just can't understand. This should have been one of the happiest weekends for me but it just wasn't to be.

About two months ago I had made plans for Bob and I to travel to Mt. Airy, NC for the Mayberry days festival. I made reservations in Winston-Salem for a 4 day get away. I made all the necessary arrangements for 24 hour nursing care for Nickie. I asked Mom to watch Brandon and Jackie so that Bob and I could have a much needed break. If I haven't mentioned this before having a child that requires nursing care makes it difficult for us to get away for dinner much less 4 days. I made sure to ask the nurses I most trusted to be here for Nickie while we would be away. I was able to get everyone committed to the hours needed and I felt comfortable with the arrangements. To be cont'd

We invited his mom and dad and his sister and her husband to go back in time to the Andy Griffith show. I know it sounds corny but we were looking forward to the trip. I expected to spend one day in Mt. Airy seeing the sights and enjoying the quaint country town. I also wanted to spend a day in Old Salem. Learn about the Moravian culture and take tons of pictures.

We left Thursday stopping along the way for breakfast and snacks and arrived in Winston-Salem around 1 pm. I don't usually see beauty in the city but I really liked what I saw there. We got our selves all settled into our room and decided to take a walk downtown for lunch. It was a sweltering heat and the walk was all up hill yet I thoroughly enjoyed it. We found a nice cafe, Cat's Corner Cafe, and had a wonderful lunch. Bob ordered the Macho Nachos and I had a huge salad. We filled our bellies and decided to walk back to the room. I fell in love with this city.


I've never really cared much about architecture before but so many of the shapes just called to me.

This city just looked so much more beautiful than the one I see everyday.















I really considered moving there. Not such a good idea for Bob as it would mean starting all over with his business. My in-laws all arrived shortly after our walk back to the room.


We all got together at the Alive after Five concert where I was carded at the entry. I was on cloud nine that night after that. I thanked the woman for making my night. I only wish I'd thought to have my picture taken with her. I told her she was my new best friend. The music at the concert didn't really suit our tastes so we decided to walk to 4th street to see what was going on. We found a cabaret singer in a bar that we later decided must have been a gay bar. We laughed and sang along and had a few drinks. The walk back was all down hill and in the coolness of the night much easier than the walk up hill.
(Bob and my brother in-law Ronnie playing the "couple" so as not to be picked up by the others.)
It had been a long day and I was exhausted. It didn't take more than my head hitting the pillow before I was sound asleep.....to be cont'd.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

blog surfing

I wanted to make note of an interesting blog I found my way to this week. Post Secret
I don't know how many of you may have heard about it before but I think it is a fantastic idea. What a great way to be artistic and tell the world your secret anonymously.

While house hunting

Today we saw yet another house that had false advertisement in the MLS listing. This one claimed to have an extra room unfinished to be used as a 4th bedroom or a den. What we found was a ranch style house with a hole in the ceiling for the attic crawl through.... that was the unfinished room, the attic. There was no way to install a stairway to get to it the best you could do was install pull down attic stairs. Now I wouldn't have bothered to drive the 50 minutes to look at this knowing it had only 3 bedrooms and no possibility of a 4th. I'm beginning to hate agents. Even though I am going through the classes now I've decided it isn't the job for me. I can't lie like these people lie and I am not interested in working 24/7 either. Anyhoo, I found this free loader on the property and wanted to share this picture.

Monday, September 12, 2005



Happy Birthday Nickie! I can't believe my baby girl is 15 today. Every birthday is a blessing and Nickie's birthdays are even more so. None of her doctors expected her to live beyond the age of 6. She has more than doubled that expectancy and I have no reason to believe she won't out live us all. That in and of itself brings concerns of who will care for her when I no longer can't. So I take each day as it comes and try not to think about what problems may come in the future. I'm so thankful that Nickie is here and that she was able yesterday to celebrate her Quinceniera. That is her 15th birthday celebration. It is like the sweet 16 that is celebrated here. So Nickie will receive that celebration as well next year. I love you Nickie!

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Challenge

OK! I want to challenge all of you out there. Its been almost 2 weeks since Katrina devastated the gulf coast. I wanted to do this sooner but I had to wait for our paycheck to come in before we could do this ourselves. I mailed out a check to the American Red cross yesterday for $200. It took a chunk of our paycheck taking from our household funds but it is something that we needed to do. We can cut back here for a couple weeks to give to those that lost everything. Now I know to some of you $200 is nothing and to others it is a fortune. Its not about the amount. Its about doing for others in desperate need. So my people, please give to help those in need. Choose the charity that you feel the most comfortable with but please give what you can. Oh, and don't forget prayers they can use everyone of them.

From the mouths of babes.

Second grade humor. I picked Brandon up today from the start of his second week back to school. HeÂ’s so excited about all the things they will be learning this year.

Brandon: Mom how do you say wait in cursive.

Me: What?


Brandon: How do you say wait in cursive.....

Me: Trying not to laugh out loud. Brandon cursive is the way you write the word not the way you say it. Wait is said the same in cursive and in print.

Brandon: Oh! Mom are you laughing at me?

Me: No baby I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing with you.

Brandon: Mom?

Me: Yes son?

Brandon: I'm not laughing.

Me: Well son I am... You are just too cute!


............................................................................................................................

Last week I overheard my nephew Matt talking to his mother ....

Matt.... Mom, I'm never brushing my teeth again.

JoAnn...Why, Matt?

Matt...Cause I want to loose my teeth just like Brandon!

Now how cute is that! Matt started his first day of kindergarten this week! Woo Hoo Matt!




Lillie means...


I snagged this from my friend Patti.



































LILLIE
L is for Lively
I is for Innocent
L is for Luscious
L is for Lively
I is for Ideal
E is for Earnest

OK I don't have a clue why it is posting this way I know there is a huge space above for some reason in preview mode it looks the way I intended it to look and once it is posted it gets all weird.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

My minds been too full....

I've had too many distractions to post here of late. I don't have much to say today but I did want to share some pictures from my morning trip to Maymont Park. The weather was beautiful with a nice breeze and lots of shade along the way to cool us down when we needed it. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed seeing the sights today........
The Italian gardens are still teaming with color and butterflies. This is the location of many local weddings in our area. It is so easy to see why.



The butterflies and the dragonflies danced from place to place. I was mesmerized by them. I only wish they would have sat still long enough that I may have snapped pictures of all the varieties that I had seen.

I was surprised to see the roses flourishing at this late summer date. The final weekend of summer but you certainly can't tell it by the beautiful flowers in bloom here.



The ponds were full of muck yet the flowers on the lily pads didn't seem to mind it much.









The waterfall looked lovely today and this last pond looked surprisingly pristine. I could have taken a nap at that spot.


Can you find the rainbow from one of the pictures of the falls?