Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Hodgepodge 253...


1.. Share a winter memory from your childhood. 
Gosh... I was about 4 or 5 and we lived at the farm in Roselle, IL.  I remember it snowed all night and the next morning, my brother Tom told me to go look out the front door at the snow.  I ran to the door and opened it and there was nothing but snow.  It had drifted on to the porch and totally covered the door.  It scared me to death and of course my dear brother egged it on by telling me we were trapped alive.  Dad mad him help him go out the back door and shovel around to the front and clean the drift off the porch.  He was always doing things like that to me.

2. What was on your blog this time last year? (Besides the Hodgepodge of course!) If you weren't blogging, what in the world were you doing with all that free time? 

I shared a song, and a post on Thankful Thursday's, and of course the Hodgepodge.  Actually last January I did better posting that this January.  It has been a busy month!

3. Ellen Goodman is quoted as saying, 'We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential.' 

Do you see more flaws or more potential in your life at the start of a new year? Have you done anything specific this month to address either one? Does the new year truly begin for you on January 1, or is there some other month of the year that feels like a fresh start and new beginning?

I really haven't thought about it.  I am more in tune when Spring starts, then I start looking for changes that need to be made.  Spring always reminds me of new beginnings!

4. Who's an athlete you admire or respect and why?

 To tell you the truth there is no one.  I am not a big sports fan...I know un-American.  But it bothers me that athletes make so much money and so many people get so excited about them and look up to them, but the One Who did more for them than anyone else- a lot of people do not even acknowledge.  Sad Situation!  Thank you Jesus!

5. Do you like cream in your coffee? Whipped cream on your pumpkin pie? Cream cheese on a bagel? Sour cream on a baked potato? Cream of wheat for breakfast? Have you ever had a scone with clotted cream? Of all the creamy foods mentioned, which one sounds most appealing to you right this very minute?
I am not a coffee drinker, have to have whipped cream on the pumpkin pie, cream cheese on the bagel, sour cream on the baked potato, the rest not so much!   An ice cream sundae with whipped cream, a little chocolate and a few nuts, yep that sounds good! I know that is not on the list but it is my answers...


6. Where were you last kept waiting for 'hours on end'? Or for what felt like hours on end? How well did you cope?

Gee, I can't remember.  I am a pretty patient person so it takes a lot for me to feel like I have been waiting forever.

7. Believe it or not, when next week's Hodgepodge rolls around it will be February.Huh?!? Bid adieu here to January in seven words or less.

Farewell January, you were good to us!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

As you can tell from the last answer January was a fun month.  We flew to Salt Lake City UT for a week.  We had a fabulous time.  Stan's granddaughter got married. And as an added bonus his great granddaughter was blessed at church.  One of his daughters lives there and his other daughter Donna and her hubby flew in from Iowa.  We had a wonderful time!  It was so good to spend time with his family!  Here are a few pictures.
Beautiful!
Stanley and his great granddaughter Hailey Renee.
4 Generations 
Happy Dad and His two daughters & Hailey
The Happy Couple!
Hailey Renee in her beautiful dress
How can anyone not believe in God?
 Have a great week!

until next time...nel

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Happy Birthday Dad!

It is hard to believe it has been 18 years today since Dad went to Heaven. Tomorrow he would of been 98 years old. Sometimes it feels like yesterday.

He was very quiet and laid back unless you made him mad or crossed his path. I don’t remember ever getting a spanking from my Daddy, I do remember asking for him to just spank me. The spankings wouldn’t of hurt near as long as those lectures did. One of my fondest memories is when we lived at the farm; he would get up before daylight to go to work. And mom always made him breakfast and I would get up and eat with him. He would drink his coffee and I would drink my iced tea and we would enjoy our breakfast. After I was older, teen years, when he would get home from work we would sit at the picnic table while mom would fix supper. He would always ask me how my day was, if anything exciting happened. 

He loved his family more than life, he may not of said it, but he showed it. He worked hard his whole life right up until he couldn’t work anymore. Then he took over the household chores while mom continued to work.

After mom retired, they moved back to Arkansas, and they were inseparable, when you seen one of them the other was close by. They enjoyed several years just running the roads, enjoying the outdoors with Aunt Maxine and Uncle Doyle. They loved to go eat pizza at Ken’s Pizza in Russellville with Dad’s niece and Mom’s nephew, Bonnie & Franklin. They watched Janice for me while I worked and I remember one particular day. When I walked in there was my Dad in his rocking chair with Janice in his lap. He was reading to her, something I never remembered him doing. Then as we got ready to leave she reached up and hugged him and kissed him on the cheek and told him she loved him, his reply was “I love you too!” So many wonderful memories. 

Then Dad got sicker and eventually had to go to the nursing home. He had Senile Dementia and did not know what he was doing, leaving bruises on Mom’s arms at times. It is an awful disease, a painful disease. Mom was at the nursing home everyday as long as she was able…that is love! I remember stopping by after work or on Saturday morning and Mom would ask him, ‘Olan, do you know who that is?’ And you could see the confusion on his face, I would always pipe up and say, ‘Of course he does, I am his favorite daughter.’ And usually after a few moments he would chuckle and say, ‘only because you are the only one I have.’ Even during the hardest of times there are still good memories.

Hug your Dad a little tighter tonight for me…cause I sure am missing mine!

until next time...nel
Mom & Dad probably right around 1939
James, Dad, Nel


Tom, Nel, Mom & Dad at farmhouse

Dad
Nel, Dad, Mom - Kathy's Apt.

Mom & Dad at Nursing Home

until next time...nel

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year!


until next time...nel