Hello, ladies!

I'm still here! We temporarily have dial up Internet...oh, my....it is SO slow. I have missed reading your blogs so much but I can't out here because it takes forever to bring them up since there are graphics and pictures on them. It took a good 5 minutes just to bring this up so I could post something. We should have DSL in a couple of weeks and in the meantime, we're just trying to be patient.

We are completely moved out of the old house. I met our landlady over there today at lunch and she did a walk through and was very happy with how nice it looked. She gave me a check for our deposit and we parted with plans for her to come have dinner with us Friday night. She will be our first guest! She not only was our landlady but is a very dear friend.

My granddaughters are doing well and I plan on going to see them one day this month. I miss not seeing them very much but am grateful for the times I do have with them. Their daddy, my son, will be graduating from seminary in May so we're eagerly awaiting that happy day. Then he is going to rest for a month or so because he has been in intensive training for three years along with working at his job, being a husband, and a daddy. We are praying that he and his family will be able to move closer to us here instead of being over 2 hours away. I'm ready to do some babysitting!

I am not able to come by and visit y'all right now but please know I miss you and will be back in full swing very shortly. I pray you are all well and I will "see" you soon!

Leeann

We made it!

The first night at the farm, that is. Oh, what a time we had yesterday afternoon. I got off work at 6 after chomping at the bit all afternoon because I wanted to go out there, relax on our deck and sip a drink and watch the deer. Instead, at about 8 p.m. or so, I was bathing the back end of our big yellow cat while Sam was holding her front end, trying to avoid her teeth. Seems old yellow cat was none too happy with the trip out there and made her displeasure known by leaving a little gift for me in her carrier then spraying all over herself or something, which left a most unpleasant aroma around her. I have been in the animal business for quite some time but never saw what I say yesterday. Male cats spray, you know. Female cats shake their tails but normally don't spray. Well, when we pulled her out of that carrier, her whole tail and back end was wet!! It was disgusting. So we got that dirty deed done and then I fixed us scrambled eggs while still wearing my scrubs from work and listened to the cats walk around and growl and hiss for the rest of the night. Then we felt so sorry for them and we let them sleep with us last night so they wouldn't be afraid. Not the best idea. Yellow cat is huge and got right between us and wouldn't budge when I turned over and tried to bring the covers with me. Her weight held them down. Then white kitty, beautiful little thing, heard a house fly and that kept her entertained for a good part of the night. So today, Sam and I are grainy-eyed and my poor Sam is bone tired. We are at the old house now and will take a small load out and then I will insist he rest for the remainder of the day. I've got boxes, clothes, household items strewed from one end of that house to the other but we'll do what we can and just take it slow. We're not as young as we used to be and there was a time when I would not have stopped until every single thing was put away and pictures were hung on the walls. Not now. We're lucky to have a bar of soap and clean towel for bathing! It'll get done and until then, we will enjoy the quiet and solitude with our little pets.

I will let you know when I won't be blogging for a time. We won't have Internet access out there until the first or second week of April so after this week, I may be gone for a while. I'll miss you all during that time. Until then, I'll be around and I pray you all have a blessed Easter.

Leeann

Slow moving

And I mean literally. We had hoped to have so much more done by today but poor Sam had to work late every night this week. Seems a couple of co-workers called in sick every day so he was very, very busy and worked 2 or 3 hours over each night. However, his boss gave him Monday off as well as tomorrow so he'll have four days off in a row, for which I am so grateful. Knowing Sam, he'll have everything moved in by tomorrow night! We are both so anxious to be out there and really wanted to spend Easter out there...we'll see. I went out today and took a load and put a new shower curtain up in one of the bathrooms and just piddled. I sat in my rocking chair in the middle of the living room and looked out the front windows while eating a salad for lunch. I had a good country station on the radio and just thoroughly enjoyed that moment.

Yesterday, one of the clients at our clinic brought in a tiny, cream colored poodle and she was identical to my Snow Pea, except my Snow Pea was gray. This little dog just captivated my attention and I thought that if I could find another one like that, I would love to have her because she reminded me so much of my little girl dog. Oh, how I miss her. One of the first orders of business once we're moved is to lay her to rest on the hill behind our house. I thought about her today and wished she was with me, sniffing the floors in our new house and running out in the huge front yard. She would have loved it out there and I wish I could have shared this with her...does that sound silly? I hope not. I'm really not a nut. I know she was a dog, but she was also my tiny friend and I believe she considered me a mother figure of sorts, seeing how she was born in my bedroom laundry basket and started sleeping along side me when she was only 4 weeks old.

I look forward to having breakfast in the morning with a dear friend. She's 87 years old and a delight and marvel. She is so precious to us and I look forward to spending as much time with her as I possibly can. She also happens to be our landlady and the neighbor of son's in-laws. She is sad that we're moving but totally understands our need and desire to have a home of our own. This neighborhood is deteriorating and I believe she will sell this little house we've lived in as well as the one she owns next door. Miss C is one of the most intelligent, kind hearted humans we've ever had the pleasure to know and we clicked from the start. We are each other's confidants and I'm honored to call her my friend.

I will close for now and bid you all a good night. I will keep writing until the last day when we will be without Internet for a short time. Until next time, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite.

Leeann

At the end of the day

Hi, ladies -

I haven't posted anything in a while. Sam and I have been busy moving things to the new place and we're getting closer and closer to being moved. Our goal is to have everything done by next Sat. so we can spend the night. We'll see how long our muscles last us! Sam has had the brunt of it and has worked very, very hard. He's moved so many big, heavy things by himself and we are kinda hoping that between the two of us, we might make the last trip of the biggest things by ourselves. I can lift the end of a couch, loveseat, and desk and also help with the bed. If we could do it without getting help from anyone, that would be great.

We were out there all afternoon yesterday and unpacked boxes. There was a box of what I thought was my mother's china that had been packed away for 15 years and I was most anxious to open it. Well, the dishes on top were the cups to her set, half of which were broken. The rest of it was glassware and for the life of me, I can't recall the pattern. My mom used to call it her crystal but to my thinking, it's too heavy to be crystal. It's clear and has that raised diamond pattern on it. Do y'all know what it is? I will try to figure out how to put a picture on here and show you. I was disappointed but maybe there is another box of her china around that I just haven't seen yet. I did find the china that my mother in law gave us years ago and hasn't been used in about 5 years. I told Sam I want to find a hutch for the dining room and display her china, as it is very delicate and pretty, but I want to use it daily. Why have it if we can't enjoy it? I hand wash my dishes anyway and it would look so pretty on my table and would make me think of her every time we sat down to a meal.

Sam and I were to dog sit for a friend of mine, K. I had never taken care of this little dog as my friend has only had her a few months. She was abused and K has been telling me she would be very shy. Well, she refused to come out of her kennel and even snapped at me when I reached in for her. I took as much time as I could, talking gently to her but she has had a hard life and is so skittish and she wasn't going to come out of there so I decided to leave her in peace. K was understanding and felt bad that we traveled that distance to care for her - she's about 30 min. from us. But we tried and maybe if I'm around her more and more, she'll get used to me.

I talked to youngest son last night and was happy, as always, to have that time with him. He is such a joy and is very easy to talk to. I am incredibly blessed to have the close relationship that I do with him. He told me that he wants to move up here so bad because he wants to be near us and be somewhere that is so pretty. I think he will be coming up shortly and may bring his girl with him and let her see the area. She is close to her family and hasn't traveled far from Texas at all so she is curious to see what it's like here and I think, son may be hoping that she'll love it enough to consider a move. It's very hard for them as he wants to be close to his family and she, hers. Selfishly, I want them here as I've lived away from him for 3 years now and miss him more all the time. We have a very easy relationship and I say that because my relationship with married son isn't quite as easy. We have no problems between us and we love each other deeply but since he has been in training, he sometimes appears to get in a "preachy" mode with his family. He just isn't always himself these days....he's more serious and being surrounded by religious scholars much of the time has subtly changed him. Add that to his being married and a father and naturally, his priorities have changed and his responsibilites are so great that I think he is overwhelmed at times. I just want my boy back sometimes - I miss him. This feeling will pass, I know, and although life changes and he has taken up the mantle of manhood, he is still that wonderful young man that I am very proud of and am grateful to God that I got to be his mom.

I am off to fix Sam some supper and then to rest for the evening. I pray happy weeks for all of you.

Wednesday thoughts

It's early morning and my favorite time of day. I truly love the promise of a new day. I love the way it smells outside and the sounds of the birds. That's one of the things I look forward to the most when we move to our little farm - not having to go to work my first day off and just going outside and being....reveling in God's glory and creation.

I want to thank you ladies for giving me encouragement with regard to my son's in-laws. It really does help knowing that others face the same or similar struggles. I don't know what the future holds but Sam and I have decided that we'll take the higher road and try very hard to behave in a Christian manner, no matter what. Our desire is to glorify God but sometimes it's hard to not do or say what would come naturally to us because we're sinners. All this to say that I ask for prayer that our two families can be harmonious for the sake of our married children and our granddaughters.

The weather here in northern TN. is so beautiful. It's in the 60's and we're starting to see trees bud out. I am very excited to see what pops up at our new place. We were told that somewhere on our property is an apple tree or two which tickles me to no end! We have lots to do out there and it will be an adventure.

I dreamed about my little dog Snow Pea the other night. I had gone outside and she was in the yard next door, limping and disoriented. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and ran to pick her up. Her little eyes were barely open and somehow I knew that she had been traveling a long way to find me and when I held her close to me, she clung to me and wouldn't let me put her down. Strangely, I didn't wake up crying but sadness was my companion for most of the day yesterday. I'm so grateful that I had her.

I hope you ladies have blessed days. I'm off to work now and look forward to my day off tomorrow.

Leeann

my weekend

I will forewarn you that I've had 3 glasses of wine to drink. Does that give you an indication of my weekend?

First of all, the baby girls are beautiful and healthy and it was pure joy to hold them and love on them. They looked like tiny angels in their christening gowns and were very well behaved when they got baptized this morning.

Now, here is the deal. Does anyone out there have issues with their child's in-laws? I sure hope so because I need some help with this particular area of my life. Here is a little bit of background: son's father-in-law is a doctor. Wife is an atypical doctor's wife. She isn't snobbish but basically doesn't pay much attention to me or Sam unless there is a crowd of people around. It's a public show of affection and appears to us to be very artificial. Well, the father-in-law has been very ill with the flu and we didnt' think he would be able to make it for the baptism. He did and we were glad for that because it would have been a disappointment for him to have missed that. Afterwards, we all met at son's house for lunch. Father-in-law, who has a BAD cough, is asked by his wife to carve the ham. The man is coughing into his hands which are then placed on said ham and he starts sawing away at this ham, all the while coughing and/or licking his fingers between slices. Sam notices and calls me aside to warn me not to eat said ham. I agree.

The in-laws are a large group. Daughter-in-law has 3 siblings and her grandparents are still living and they were all there today. There was only me, Sam, and our dear friend who is close to both sides of the family and she sort of acts like a buffer between the two. In-laws keep to themselves and entertain each other with stories and jokes and we are excluded. I got a huge lump in my throat at one point because I started wondering about my granddaughters and thought - "what if they want to be around that side of the family more than us because they are more boisterous and still have teenage kids at home to entertain them"? See where I'm going with this? I realize I am showing you my vulnerabilities here but I have to be honest. I feel jealous of so many things....the other grandma's sewing abilities, their affluence and ability to buy anything anyone in their family desires, etc. You may wonder why I feel so strongly about all of this. Well, I'll tell you. One of daughter-in-law's sisters made a comment about a month ago in front of Sam and me to her sister, our DIL. She said, "Please don't teach the girls to speak with a Southern accent or a twang." It really hurt my feelings and I wish I had spoken up then but I didn't. Their kids were born in Tennessee but the parents are from Ohio and don't have southern accents nor do any of the kids. I truly believe that they equate a southern accent with ignorance. Anyway, the other thing is that this morning, one of these sisters was overheard saying about my Sam - "He's wearing the same tie he wore to wedding". Now this was our son's wedding to their sister which was over a year ago. I was thinking..."how do you remember and why do you care?" It just shows that there is an underlying animosity there and for the life of me, I don't know where it came from. Sam and I are easy to get along with and had a sincere desire to be close to this family but they basically shun us. I don't say anything to our son because I don't want him to be caught in the middle but it's very hurtful.

I'm sorry to unload but that is what's weighing on my mind tonight. I would appreciate any feedback on this and especially if any of you share similar experiences.

I hope you have a restful night and I thank you for listening to me whine yet once again.

Leeann

Friday night

Hi, ladies -

Sam and I just got back from our new place. We took a few boxes out there and will continue to chip away at it until everything is moved. It's so much fun to think about what all I want to do out there. I'm also constantly aware that every thing I take out of a box won't have to go back in a box to move elsewhere, Lord willing. We hope this is our permanent home until we die. That's sobering but comforting at the same time. I told him the other night that we'll remember this time while we're still relatively young and healthy as we are picking up heavy boxes and furnishings and moving around with ease. One day, we'll look at one another and notice that we are moving slower through those rooms and with a degree of difficulty as we age. I pray that is so and that God lets us have a long life together. By the way, there was a big difference in the weather out there than from where we are now. It's pretty mild here...about 50...with no wind. Now, our new place is up higher in the mountains about 20 miles from here. Well, when we got out of our car, the wind was blowing hard and it was about 10 degrees cooler. I hope it stays like that during the summer months. I love it.

I think everything is ready for our trip to see the grandbabies tomorrow. I made baked beans and green beans and some sweet tea to contribute to our lunch and others will bring ham, potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and my son's mother-in-law will be bringing something called Frog Eye Salad. Have y'all heard of that? I never had before and I had some last year at a family gathering. It's got this tiny round pasta that you cook and then add fruit to it and whipped cream/sour cream dressing, I think, and serve it cold. It was very, very good.

I hope you all have a blessed weekend and I'll see you back here Sunday.

Leeann