Country Living Southern Style II

One of the bridesmaids from my wedding almost 40 years ago found me on FB. I hadn’t seen her since her daughter was a baby.  Her daughter is 38 years old now. My friend sent me a friend request. I was so happy to hear from her. She asked me out to lunch. We went on December 5th, and had a great time catching up. During our conversation, I told her about my mental illness. She said, “I wasn’t going to say anything about this.  I just wanted to spend time with you and catch up, but since you brought it up, I have something to share with you.” She started telling me about her daughter and how bad off she after the birth of her second child due to hormonal changes, and how her daughter hid it from both her husband and her. Her daughter had a friend who sold Plexus and had begged her for a whole year to try the products.  She finally gave in.  She has been on the products now since July, and she says they have changed her life. She has lost 30 pounds sinc...

I'm so excited! After not having insurance for 5 years after I had to quit my job because my new boss did not understand my illness and was always writing me up and my Hubby being laid off for 18 months, he finally landed a job with insurance! It will kick in within 30 days and I will FINALLY be able to have the MRI to prove or disprove the MS diagnosis once and for all! It's been a long 5 years living with an illness without treatment! Not only did he get A job, he got a job with the pay where we needed it to be AND a great benefit package, plus it is the first job in our 34-year marriage he works 1st shift hours and gets the weekends off! God is soooooooooooooo good! Thanks to all who have been helping me pray for these needs!

Nugget is a tortoiseshell kitten someone just threw away like she was a piece of garbage.  They put her out at my sister-in-law’s house.  They didn’t want her and were looking for a home for her when my Hubby came home and told me someone had put a kitten out that looked a lot like our cat Prissie who died from cardiomyopathy in July 2007.  I had to go see her.  As soon as I saw her and heard her purring, I knew I just had to have her.  I lost my Simba Kitty, a male Tabby, the Sunday morning before Halloween 2012.  He had hyperthyroidism.  I knew before I even saw this kitten in person I was going to name her Nugget.  A voice just spoke to me and said, “Her name will be Nugget.”  When I saw her, I knew it was a perfect name for her because she has an orange spot between her ears on top of her head that looks like a gold nugget.  I only got to keep her for a couple of days and then my daughter took her.  Her long-haire...

Do you know people who say they hate Christmas?   I do and it makes me sad for them.   Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holidays.   Autumn is my favorite time of year.   To me, it is the most wonderful time of the year.   It is a time to give thanks for all we have been blessed with, a time to remember what and who is important to us.   My family hasn’t been able to have “Christmas” as we have been accustomed for about six years now, but I am not bitter nor angry.   I still find reasons to be thankful and grateful.   I am thankful that my children are old enough now to understand why they don’t have gifts under the tree, but I am most thankful that I raised them to appreciate life and what they can do for others.   Tears come to my eyes as I think about things they have said or done over the years.   I remember one Christmas when my son was about 8 years old, it looked like we were not going to have much of a Christ...

I guess my biggest regret for the last couple of years is losing friends.  One never likes to lose friends.  I am a fixer and the more I try to fix, I really tend to mess things up.  I really need to learn this lesson:  Let go and let God!  It is so hard for me to let go of people.  No matter how badly things might go between us, I tend to want to hang on and take their abuse (and sometimes dish out mine as well, I am no saint).  I tend to let my anger get the best of me sometimes. I never used to be so angry, but it seems the older I get and especially after some of my medical diagnoses, the anger came, the depression came, the pain came.  I really kind of went off the deep end for a bit and while I still don't feel like my old sweet kind humble self, I am beginning to feel some better.  I give that credit to a great doctor and my Heavenly Father, not necessarily in that order. I think one of the biggest lessons I have had to learn as o...

This is my entry for the Community Photo Challenge (http://communityphotochallenge.blogspot.com/).  The challenge actually calls for tulips, but since I don't have any, I will use my valentine rose, my Hubby brought me on Valentine's Day.  My Mom always says, "One rose means I Love You."  So, I guess he loves me. :)

The latest Community Photo Challenge is Perspective.  I took this photo of a friend's daughter, Brittany, standing up on a brick wall over her.