Tammie is really in Italy in this photo. See how happy she is standing next to her friends? --Tim

boy was I wrong!

Tim's not going to use my Cadallic for fishing anymore because he has it sitting in front of the house with a for sale sign on it....boy am I glad I bought my ticket to Italy! This boy is accumulating too many toys...How can one person drive a Porsche, a pick-up truck, a motorcycle AND an airplane at one time? I give...I'll never be able to catch up with him....I can't even keep up now...

Mama and Papa Mutt are finally moved!

Well, I spent Monday night and all day Tuesday of this week in Corinth unpacking boxes at Mama and Papa Mutt's new apartment. It was fun being with Diana and Robin and Cheryl...Diana was beginning to think that her name was "Mama" because we all kept asking her what we should do about this or that. I hated leaving them on Tuesday night before it was all finished, but I had to get back for Wednesday. Cheryl made wonderful chicken noodle soup for us on Tuesday night for dinner, then I left and came home leaving Diana and Robin to finish up by themselves. Mama and Papa Mutt had been in Ponotoc with his nephew, Wallace, since Sunday afternoon. He brought them to the apartment on Wednesday afternoon. They are adjusting, I guess, but it's different from a three bedroom house to move into a one bedroom apartment. The neighbors are all really friendly though. They all came over and met us while we were unpacking and they seem very welcoming and nice so maybe Mama and Papa Mutt will be happy there. They've already found their way to WalMart and Papa Mutt has found a doctor so that's good.

I had a phone call from the past tonight. My second cousin, Debra Skelton Skipper, called. She has moved to Southhaven. We grew up around the road from each other and spent a lot of time together but we haven't seen in other in a long time so maybe now we'll reconnect. For your info, Beckie, she's Anne Skelton's niece.

Tim and I had a nice anniversary dinner on last night at Paulette's. I took a walk on the wild side and instead of my regular desert, i ordered a fresh peach crepe...I was not disappointed! And then we went over to the Studio on the Square to see "Little Miss Sunshine." It was a really funny movie; however, I didn't realize that it was a R rated movie and the language was terrible, but it was really good otherwise. We were going to leave town and we told everyone that was what we were going to do, but then we just stayed home and it has been really nice...I think the phone has only rang 3 times all day long...Tim did go do some dental work today...He traded some implants for a small pick-up truck!
So now, we are really vehicle poor! OH, WELL, GIVES HIM SOMETHING TO GO FISHING IN INSTEAD OF MY CADALLIAC!

A Fun Family Weekend?

I got together will all my siblings and their spouses and some of the children this weekend at my mom's house. Ordinarily, this would have been a very fun weekend; however, we spent the weekend packing up and sorting out and throwing away and garage selling to get Mama and Mutt ready to move to Corinth. They only have a one bedroom apartment available right now so we had to decide what would go in storage and what would go to the apartment. Poor Mama with her Alzheimers wasn't sure what was going on, only that we were moving her somewhere and she kept going around and picking stuff up that we had put out for sale and putting it back in the cabinets and Mutt didn't sell very much at the yard sale because everything was too special for him to sell very cheaply so we ended up at the end of the day putting most of it out on the street and most of it was gone the next morning.

Saturday night, we went to visitation for Aunt Dorothy Skelton. She was a very special sweet lady who had a heart attack on Thursday night. She had been sick for some time and her husband and children all said that it was time for her to go. I saw so many people at the funeral home that I had not seen in forever and of course since I walked in with Mama and Diana, they all knew me and I had no clue who most of them were until I studied their faces for a while. Then I could figure most of them out. I was really proud of my Joe (even though he got really ticked off at me calling him "my Joe"). He went with us to the funeral home and to the funeral on Sunday and was very cordial to everyone. Uncle Ray and Aunt Dorothy have a son named
Donnie Joe who named his son Donnie Joe and they call him "Joey"...Does that sound like someone else you know who named their kid Joe after his dad and was called Joey? Donnie's Joey is only 15 so he still tolerates being called Joey.

At 7:00 Sunday morning, we were back at Mama's packing again until time to get ready for church and then we went to church and they had a lunch for Mama and Mutt and Diana to say goodbye. Several of our cousins from Mama's side came from out of town to be with us. It was great to see all of them, but sad that it had to be so short! They were having a "turn-around service" as they called it and were going to be finished for the day. The preacher joked and said he hoped they wouldn't get labeled "liberal" for doing that...But we all left and went to the funeral.

Then Tim and Joe and I flew home. We landed just as the bottom fell out and we unloaded the plane in the rain. It stormed all night here last night and is still overcast today. I told Laura that she should have brought John down to Mississippi this weekend...He would have really gotten initiated into the family!

Weekend with John and Laura

Laura and John rented a tuck and drove down this past weekend to pick up a bedroom suite and sewing machine from my sister, Diana. She has moved from Indianola to Corinth, well, actually, Burnsville, but even I have never heard of Burnsville...they had been sleeping on a futon so I'm sure they are glad to get a bed but the light in Laura's eyes when she saw the sewing machine and it's chest and all the attachments was priceless...no telling what wonderful creations her imagination will come up with...she just might become a fashion designer after all...at least for herself.

I went to Indianola on Monday to help Mama and Mutt pack up...What an experience that was...I found church bullentins from the 60's and 70's stuffed in sacks in the cabinet...I had to throw them away when Mama wasn't looking...I also found a box of letters from Ma and Pa Horis written to each other...those I did NOT throw away. That's one reason it takes so long to pack because you have to go through things and read and remember and wonder...I think Mama has every plastic butter dish and empty jelly jar and avon bottle she ever bought...They had a garage sale on Saturday, but we're going to have another on this "Saturday and pray that we'll get rid of more stuff! I did find Laura's "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang" Cup that she loved to drink out of when she was little and got it for her. How do you condense a life time of memories and two households from two 2 bedroom houses into one two bedroom apartment? It's not an easy thing to do physically or emotionally. Pray for us all!

I Don't Want To Get Old

I spent last night and this morning taking care of my sweet little mother. She has Alzeheimer's and she is so much like a child. I don't want to get old like that. She had a tooth ache and Diana brought her up here yesterday for her to spend the night and for me to take her to see her Alzeheimer's doctor this morning. Tim went ahead and pulled the tooth last night because it was so decayed and she was in pain. Several years ago she read some article that said if you drink vinegar that it will help you lose weight so she started drinking it everyday and it killed her teeth...ate the enamel off and made it all every soft so it has been a challenge to help her keep her teeth at all. (Translation: Even if you want to loose weight really bad...DO NOT DRINK VINEGAR...IT WILL RUIN YOUR TEETH!!!) But she couldn't get to sleep last night because she was hurting where the tooth had been pulled. We didn't want to give her too much pain medicine becuase we didn't want her to be hung over today, but to get her to sleep, she was hung over today and I had to cancel her appointment with Dr. Burns and reschedule it for next week. I got her up and dressed this morning and everytime she got still, she fell asleep again so I didn't figure her trip to the doctor would be very productive. I have to take my turn going down there sometime soon to help pack up the house because they have sold it and will be moving to Corinth in a few weeks so I'll go down next week and spend a day packing and bring her back on Tuesday for her appointment with Dr. Burns and then Tamara Lynn who has a dental appointment with her Uncle Tim on Tuesday afternoon will take her home. It makes me know that I want to make the most of every day that I have now and not put off having fun and being with my friends because who knows when Alzeheimer's is going to strike...Even now one of our friends that we went to Harding with is fighting with it....so live each day to the fullest! It's time for me to stop obssessing over this silly MFT Board and just study and do the best I can and give my children (all 3 of them) over to God and stop obssessing over their salvation and do my best to live so that Jesus shines through me....Leanne sent me this wonderful website this morning( http://www.rbc.org/ourDailyBread/devotional.aspx?s=ourDailyBread&id=49162). You should go there and look! It is most inspirational and after I left Mama with Bill and Papa Mutt, I went around to the Christian book store in the factory outlet mall....I could have gone crazy in there, but I didn't go too crazy...but I did enjoy looking in there....I bought a book about the Sister Chicks in Italy! Can't wait to read that! Only I think they are in Venice and my sister chicks and I are going to be much further south...but it will still be great! Thank you, Lord, for sister chicks and family and friends!

Oh, one more thing! I was so glad to see Buddy Jones at church yesterday...I just about got over my Buddy Jones hug deprivation....but it will take a few more times of him being there to cure it all...He has this silly 3 second rule...that you can't hug for longer than 3 seconds....It's gonna take a lot of 3 second hugs to make up for all the months I haven't seen him!

And Pam Cox Womack was at Sycamore View yesterday. It was so good to see her! I think she is just waht Harding Academy needs (She's the new president.) and I can't wait to spend more time with her. I hope she'll land at Sycamore View, but then, of course, I don't think there's any place better!

I Knew Almost All the Answers!

I just spent 2 hours with Dr. Flatt quizzing me and three others who are getting ready for the MTF Exam. I knew the answer to nearly every question he asked...I just don't get it....I told him I knew all the theories and thier "fathers" and the buzz words for each...it's just when they put them in questions and make the answers so close to each other that you have to pick the one that is the most right, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do that. He assures me that by the time we finish that I will be avble to do it. Jusst keep praying for me!

Dr. Flatt will be at the APA next weekend so we won't have supervision next week which will be good becuase Laura and John will be here so I will get to spend more time with them.

Have a great weekend!