Old and New

Any of you that know me at all, probably know that I love ideas. I have crazy ones all the time, mostly about a business to start or an item to market! Now if I just had the wherewithall to carry any of it out to fruition, I'd be rich! :) One of my crazy schemes is to create a picture book of old and new......old pictures of Denton (or wherever) and then current ones from the exact location. Well, I still haven't done it but I thought I'd show you a mini version of my idea. My dad was quite the photographer when he was just a young 'un and this is a picture he took of his sister (my Aunt Foy) in front of their house in Justin, TX back in the late 1930's. She's got on some kind of spirit coveralls from the university that they attended here in Denton. It's UNT now but I'm not sure what it was called then. Now............

Here I am (minus the coveralls) standing in front of the exact house about six months ago. Bob and I went over to Justin to investigate and found the house so that was pretty fun by itself. He took this picture of me standing in front. The steps are different and it was actually being remodeled and was empty at the time so the guy working on it allowed us into the yard.
Here's another shot that won't mean much to anybody that's not familiar with Justin but I thought it was kind of interesting that the street hasn't changed much at all in 70 plus years. The funnest part was pinpointing the exact location and even finding the street. Dad was able to help me a little by phone but Justin isn't that big so it really wasn't hard.

So now that I've told you, you need to keep my secret and don't steal my idea!!!! :) Someday I'll do it, I just know it!!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!

As a tribute to Kaylee's 24th birthday(August 26) I thought of 24 little tidbits about her to share:

1. She's a graduate of Stephen F. Austin University.
2. She’s just like her dad. In fact I call her Bobette sometimes.
3. She’s traveled to Chicago, New York (2x), Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., New Orleans, Portland, Red River, NM, Fort Collins, and Wyoming.
4. Her best friends in high school were three boys, Tyler, Mike, and Allen.
5. She played snare drum and marimba for her high school band.
6. She plays the piano.
7. She has a dog named Thursday
8. She recently ran a 5K
9. She worked for UPS two Christmases ago.
10. She spent one summer as a youth co-minister in Pennsylvania.
11. She played tennis in high school
12. She walked and talked (clearly) at 9 months old
13. When she grows up she wants to be a back up singer!
14. She has a scar on her face where Bobby hit her with a toy gun (she was 8).
15. She designed and made a padded headboard for her bed.
16. She works as a teller at a bank.
17. She would only wear dresses till she was five.
18. She started Facebook when it was just for college students.
19. She recorded a song for her mom last Christmas and played the guitar part.
20. She refused to carry a purse till she was about 21.
21. Her picture was in the newspaper with the mayor when she was four.
22. She played violin in 5th and 6th grades.
23.She knits, crochets, and sews.
24. Her pet names—Kaylee Kaykers (Mom’s) and Shoogs (Dad’s)

Happy Birthday Kaylee! You're a bright light that shines in your dad's and my life every day! Thank you for being the unique, happy, fun, encouraging, creative, smart, talented young woman that you are! WE LOVE YOU!

Sixteen firsts!

Along with about a million other people it was my first day back at school........as a crossing guard! It's the first day of my sixteenth year doing this fun little job at Newton Rayzor Elementary and I've always considered it a blessing. When I started, Kaylee was in fourth grade at Rayzor and the little old man that had been there before was not there that fall. I figured I could probably hold a stop sign up and I was going to be there anyway so I decided to apply. And the rest is history! The picture montage is courtesy of my sister, Linda. She took the picture in October of last year when she was visiting from Idaho. She created this as a page in my dad's annual calendar she makes for him. I think I look very official. :) I've seen lots and lots of kids grow up and move on to middle school and the next thing I know they'll drive by in a car going to high school. A job like this can make you feel old. I figured it out and a first grader the year I started would now be 21! Yikes!! One of the most special moments that I've experienced doing this job is when about 10 or 12 years ago a mom handed me a card with this Helen Keller quote attached:

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief

duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble .

jiggity jog!

Who agrees with me when I say that the best part of a vacation is when you return to and so appreciate home sweet home? But we did enjoy our trip with all the little glitches that went with it. I told you I'd show you our sweet little bird houses so here's the finished product. Can you guess who's is whose?? :) It was so much fun to paint them and it just reinforces how creative Linda is to even think of such a thing.
Here are all of the bird houses that they've collected or visitors have painted. This is their back fence and I should have taken a picture of the whole yard because it's very pretty. The grass is different than we have here and it's very green. They do have to water a lot because it doesn't rain much there in the summer but the Empson's have a sprinkling system so it's not a problem.

We said our goodbyes on Tuesday afternoon and drove our little rental car back to Salt Lake City. We stayed in the coolest little retro hotel in downtown SLC called The Metropolitan Inn. We'd already returned the rent car but were really hungry so we ended up walking a couple of blocks to MacDonald's at 10 p.m. We were REALLY hungry! Just as we cozied down in our beds the alarm rang at 2:15 a.m. (yes, that's what I said) because our train departed at 4 and we were supposed to be there at 3. We were wide eyed and bushy tailed (Can you believe it? Another Momism jumped right out there!) though and enjoyed the whole experience. Our cab driver was a round little bald man (sort of reminded me of Shrek) who was apparently a descendent of General Grant (yep, the Civil War one). Pretty much a great and humorous way to start the day.

The train ride was so much better than the first time. That time was okay except for the not sleeping thing but this one was just overall a better experience. Here are a few samples of our 15 hour jaunt.

Thank you so much for joining us on our journey to Idaho. It was lots of fun to share it with you. Dad's already talking about where he wants to go next so I guess I'd better start saving my energy. Where does he get all of his, by the way?? It's an enigma!

I plan to keep writing if anybody wants to keep reading. I find it very satisfying to just talk about such insignificant little snipits of life! Till next time...........

Ski resorts, museums, and bird houses

Yesterday afternoon we drove up to Pebble Creek Ski Resort near Pocatello and enjoyed the view. First time for Dad to visit one so he was pretty intrigued with the whole ski lift thing. Linda and I explained it as far as our limited knowledge would allow. She's not been skiing and I haven't been since way back in the day. We enjoyed the view.


Here we are painting our bird houses for the fence. You'll have to wait though to see the end result. Glen has to spray them with some sealer so we'll hang them tomorrow. We discovered that we are quite the artists.....well, Suzi and I are. Dad kind of slapped the paint on. But he was a good sport for actually even doing it.
This morning we traveled about 30 minutes to Blackfoot, ID to see the much anticipated potato museum.
Have you ever seen so many potato mashers???
After perusing the museum we hiked around the corner to eat at Rubes and had the most delicious bar-b-que sandwiches and shakes. It was another 50's style diner and very popular. We found out why. Yum!
Dad has won the prize for the funniest quote so far. Yesterday some of us were sitting out on the deck (we do that a lot!) and Dad came out just smiling and said, "I just tried to get on Google Earth and somehow landed on You Tube and there were some kittens walking on a treadmill!" We laughed SOOOOOOOO hard! I guess Dad's never really been to You Tube. He
later said, "There are a lot of crazy videos on You Tube". Good ol' Dad!

It's our last night here. We'll leave sometime tomorrow after lunch, stay in a SLC hotel, catch the train at 4 a.m. and arrive in Denver around 7 p.m. on Wednesday. We're thinking positively about the whole experience and I think we're ready to get home again. Suzi's excited to see the grandkids and to hear all about their first week of school and I'm just ready to see my sweet husband and my creative and encouraging daughter. I may even get to see Bobby this weekend. He graduated today from Sheppard Air Force Tech School today and will be making his way to Tulsa tomorrow to start his two month stint with the base there. He's looking forward to the move and being at his home base. Not sure when I'll be able to post next but maybe from the hotel. So, till then, thanks again for reading!

Chillin' in Chubbuck

The Empson's actually live in a little town called Chubbuck but it's right up next to the larger town of Pocatello. They have allowed us to reload and revitalize while also showing us a good time. There's a Tour of Homes (brand new ones) going on right now so yesterday we went to a few of those. Not much difference in new homes here and in Texas except for the basements. I've always liked the idea of basements. Too bad we aren't able to have them back home. The houses here look kind of small on the outside and then you go in and it's amazing how big they become. And it's so cool in the basement. The house in the following picture LOOKS like it should be on the tour but don't be fooled. It's Linda's and here she is with dad, posing proudly to show it off. And yes, it's just as cute on the inside! Linda could live in a shack and it would be homey and cute!! Their house actually doesn't have a basement and is one of the few here like that. But it was exactly what they were looking for because of Glen's disability. The fewer steps around, the better.
This morning we relaxed at the house but at about 10 a.m we drove up in the mountains to see another open house. $430K!! And it was beautiful! It's fun to see how the other half lives. And how they live here. The house sat pretty much on the side of a mountain. You could walk out you back door and start hiking! Cool! Literally!

Between house tours we drove around Pocatello seeing the sights and learning about the town. Here is Dad posing next to Chief Pocatello's statue.


We've now had lunch of good ol' burgers that good ol' Glen grilled for us. And then we ate on their good ol' back deck and enjoyed the GREAT weather. I've spent a lot of time just sitting in the sun and taking in the cool breezes! It's a lot like May and June in Texas so it's nice to be able to experience that in August! Now, after Dad and Glen watch "This Old House" (something Dad really wanted to do with Glen) we're going to paint little birdhouses to display on The Empson's back fence. There are already several there that previous guests have painted and it's a very cheerful part of their yard. I'll take a picture when ours are up so you can see the cuteness!

Planes, trains, and automobiles!

We made it to Pocatello, ID. After our upscale breakfast at the Marriott we relaxed in the lobby for a bit, drinking coffee and waiting for the Hertz window to open. At 8 a.m our rental transaction went off without a hitch (don't snitch on me, Dave!) and we were on our way. Here's me and our new ride, a Ford Fusion. Leather seats, satellite radio, and a seat warmer!! Woo hoo! You guys down in Texas may faint at the thought of a seat warmer but (don't be jealous now) I've got my sweatshirt on and thinking I should have brought my jeans. Yep, it's nice and sunshiny with a cool (I think it's cold sometimes!) breeze. Lovely!
Here we are about an hour away from Pocatello. We can see our light at the end of a long, tiring tunnel. Speaking of tunnels, we reportedly went through 42 of them on our train ride from Denver to Salt Lake City!
It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Linda's but we made it! We were weary but happy travelers! And what a peaceful, relaxing place to do our unwinding! The Empson's have once again proved to be the ultimate welcoming hosts and we eased right into sitting back and enjoying the visit. Here's Linda and Glen showing Dad the shed that we "toolbox divas" (Glen's name for Linda, Suzi, and me) built a couple of years ago on one of our visits. It was fun to see the final product and that Linda is having such a good time using it for her yard and gardening tools. Look a little to the right and see a portion of Suzi's and my home away from home. We each have our own room and bed so we are quite comfortable in our own little apartment/travel trailer!
What a way to wind down! Sitting on the Empson's new deck, visiting, laughing, generally catching up, and watching the birds do their thing! Ahhhhhhhhhh!
Stay tuned for the rest of our visit and pray for us as we return to Texas the same way we got here. I'm actually not dreading the train trip which is surprising to me. After it's all said and done, the positives of the train outweigh the negatives and we learned so much. It's kind of fun to know that we'll get a 2nd chance to do it better! And as of now, we're not scheduled to have to spend the night. Thanks for reading!

Planes, trains...............

Get your kleenex out because you may be really sad as you read this and experience this LOOOOOONG day with us. It started out innocently enough and we didn't have a clue what was ahead......we should have when our train was originally delayed. But we were positive! We were on a journey! And nothing could daunt our enthusiasm. See, here we are all happy and excited to "all aboard". We were scheduled to depart at 8 a.m. but because of flooding in Iowa, the time had been delayed to 1 p.m. So we made the best of it and had a fun lunch at a restaurant around the corner from the station and ate outside in the beautiful and sunny but cool Denver weather. We even had time to stop off at the trendy used bookstore called "Tattered Cover".

Union Station! What a beautiful building and such a great addition to our railroad experience.

We finally get to board and here is Dad getting his boarding pass checked and our seating assignments.

If you ever plan to ride the rails, be prepared to settle back and enjoy the scenery at a very leisurely pace. Inside the train was quiet and at times it felt like we were just gliding across the ground. The mountains of Colorado were beautiful and constantly changing. Here's Suzi doing what we mostly did!

This part was definitely a highlight of our travel across Colorado--eating in the diner car. It was just like I thought it would be, just like it is on the movies. In fact, Suzi and I almost broke out in the song "Snow" from the movie, White Christmas, except there was no snow! We were joined at our table by a man about my age who didn't fit at the table across the aisle where his family was. They were from Minneapolis and were taking the train on to San Francisco. He entertained us and was quite the dinner companion. In fact, we met so many friendly people. That part was so pleasantly surprising and different from travel in airplanes. We met a young couple from New Zealand taking a month to travel from NY to CA. And we met a fishing tour guide from Wisconsin headed to Grand Junction to fish with some buddies. There was also the elderly lady in yellow whose two husbands had died as well as a boyfriend. Suzi and I told Dad to steer clear from her!

I guess I was pretty dramatic at the beginning of this blog when I told you you'd need your kleenex. Overall, the trip was a success and so much fun but because of the delay, we were destined to spend the night on the train and that wasn't fun for three old people. Being unprepared didn't help either. We didn't take anything to cover up with so we froze and then just couldn't get comfortable. The train finally arrived in Salt Lake City at 5 a.m. and I thought Suzi would jump out before the train even came to a stop. She was pretty done by that point. We all were. We took a taxi to the Marriot Hotel downtown where we were to pick up our rental car and had a delicious and much deserved breakfast at the restaurant there. I'm sure we were a sight after traveling all day and night but we were too tired and hungry to care. And we had one goal in mind: get to Linda's ASAP so we could finally rest!

Planes............

We're here, we're tired, but we're happy! We made the first leg of our journey without a hitch....well, except for we have a habit of stepping into an elevator and just standing there waiting... without pressing a button! Funny, right? Well, it happened THREE times! It gets a little disturbing after the third time! Anyway, we've laughed a lot at ourselves but country has definitely come to the city!!!! This picture shows us riding the moving sidewalk at Love Field in Dallas. Notice we're just standing there? Yeah, when that man behind us started walking and acting a little impatient we realized we needed to actually walk as well as ride!! See what I mean about country??
Okay, this is my dad, the drug mule! At least that's what his overall buckles imply I guess! I think Dad enjoyed the whole experience quite a lot. But we made it through security after they frisked Dad, took my water bottle (it's tiny---I forgot I had it! Really!) and Suzi's knife! Yep, I said knife! She said she forgot! I think she was planning on pulling it on a flight attendant and highjacking the plane! At least that's what I think!

My sweet niece, Emily, met us at the airport in Denver and took us to a joint! A burger joint, that is! It was a 50's style place and the burgers were de-double-icious (wait, that may be another Momism. See, they're just there hidden in the childhood recesses of my mind!) Anyway, I digress.

These are some booties I made for little yet-to-be-born Abby. I gave these to Emily after we ate. Can't wait to see them in December on the baby.

Here's Union Station, the really cool train station in downtown Denver where we'll catch the train tomorrow. We found out our train will be delayed a few hours tomorrow so we're a little disappointed. But it'll take more than that to ruin our trip. There's some kind of high water in Nebraska so we'll be leaving around noon or 1 p.m. as opposed to 8 a.m. But we had fun checking out the digs and learning our way around.

The inside of the station is very retro and original. Notice these cool benches.....holding the cool people!

Here we are in front of the station. You can't see the doors very well but they're huge and the wood was worn and beautiful.

Emily brought us back to our home away from home, the Hampton Inn, and we visited with her for a good long time and it was great to catch up....and laugh. We did a lot of laughing. Dad was regaling us with stories from his childhood. Like the time he was 14 and playing in his yard when two young ladies his age came driving up in a Model T and asked him and his friend to go to a party where they would be playing Spin the Bottle! ? ! ? He didn't get to go! At least that's what he said! He also told us about having to redo 6th grade and how his first 6th grade teacher had a nervous breakdown. Hmmmmmm! I'll let you come to your own conclusions about that.

I probably won't be posting tomorrow because we'll be riding through the mountains on a train!!! Really?????? I've never even been on a train before! What a great dad I have to allow me this fun and interesting opportunity! And with him, to boot! Cool stuff!

Bunco Babes

Well, we're probably more just Bunco Buddies but, hey, it's my blog so I say we're babes! I've been playing Bunco with these ladies for three years and we have a blast eating, rolling dice, eating, keeping score, eating, and winning prizes. Oh, and eating!! They were here tonight and it was so fun to show off my new house. They were all so sweet and really bragged on how it looked. I was proud! And blessed! And grateful! Thanks, ladies, for another fun evening!

Don't forget to check back Friday or Saturday. I'll be blogging about my trip with Dad and my sister, Suzi, to visit my other sister Linda in Pocatello, Idaho. ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!

Momisms

I use Momisms a lot. They're usually useful and always remind me of Mom. Here are a few that come to mind:

*He'll get glad in the same pants he got mad in.

*He flew high and lit on a cow patty (talking about a one night wonder kind of person)

*Who left the gate open? (when there's lots of traffic)

*Hold 'er Newt!

*You're still wet behind the ears.

*Don't put the cart before the horse.

* Don't wish your life away

* If wishes were horses, beggers would ride.

*Dear Gussy!

*Heavens to Betsy!

*Miss Priss (Mom's nickname for me)

*Miss Got Rocks (yep, another nickname....I can't imagine why she called me these things!!!)

*she always liked to call someone acting up a "pill". (Kaylee remembered this one because Mom always called Matthew one!)

These are all I could think of (with Kelly's help--thanks Kel!) so if you can think of anymore Momisms or Grandmaisms I hope you'll comment and remind me of them!

Fun little items

About three weeks ago my dad and I hit a really great estate sale in Whitesboro and I picked up these fun little items, a toothpick dispenser and a jar of buttons. I'm finding that the little drawer on the tootpick dispenser doesn't work that well and the problem appears to be that toothpicks are made smaller these days. Gee, why am I not surprised about that? So the new skinny little toothpicks get caught where they're not supposed to get caught. I'm not too bothered though because it looks so cute and kitchy hanging on my kitchen wall.

These buttons actually came in a cookie jar and, while I kind of obsess over buttons (especially old ones), the cookie jar was my prime target. I think it's really old but since there are no markings, I can't tell. I love how plain it is though and it's such a great size. So the ugly one I got for a wedding present (hmmmm, who gave me that? Hope it wasn't someone reading this!) is going straight into the garage sale box. I never have liked it.

I don't take the time to go garage saling very often at all here at home so when I go to Whitesboro I really enjoy doing that with my dad. So here's the deal: Toothpick dispenser--$1 / Buttons--$8 / hangin' out with my dad--PRICELESS!

jeanne the journalist

Since I’ve started blogging I can’t help but reminisce about my days as a journalist……..in high school……..Whitesboro High School. Oh, I had aspirations, real dreams to become a writer for some big name newspaper. It all started when we lived in the Main Street house in Cleburne when I was about ten. Our neighbor, Cissy Stewart, lived with her mother and mentally handicapped son, and she was a journalist! She wrote for the society section of the Ft. Worth Star Telegram. That didn’t really mean much to me until she traveled to New York on some kind of business trip. When she came back she brought me a stuffed dog that came with a pen so your friends could write their autographs on it. I thought I was truly uptown now that I had this New York dachshund. So from that moment on, if being a journalist meant being able to travel to places like New York then I was in. I actually remember writing little stories even at that age. So now, fast forward five or six years and that puts me on the newspaper staff of the WHS Bearcat newspaper. Good ol' Mr. Sluder! He had such high hopes for me when I succeeded in bringing home trophies for UIL feature writing competition. I had good intentions. In college, I majored in journalism. So what happened, you ask? Well, you probably didn’t ask but I’ll tell you anyway. It starts with a B and ends with a B. Yep, Bob happened. And I’ve never looked back. Oh, I guess I’d have to admit that there have been a couple of times I’ve asked myself, “what if”, but I know deep inside of me that I’ve been able to do exactly what I was meant to do. I still get pure satisfaction from keeping our home and watching our kids become responsible adults. And during the last 30 years I’ve actually spread the most important news of all to lots of children by teaching God’s Word to them. So could I have been a Charles Krauthammer? (might as well shoot for the big time!) Who knows? Maybe! But would I switch places if I could? Nope! So I’ll just assuage my journalistic fervor and blog!