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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Beary Treasures

Well, let's see......  In my last post,  I wrote about the wonderful time we had celebrating my 84 yr. old father-in-laws birthday.    Today, since most of you will never be able to come to my home...I will continue to take you on a virtual tour so I can share with you my treasures.  How many of you are collectors of something?  OK...exclude the dust bunnies that we ALL collect!!  There is nothing unique about them except that they are free of charge and increase faster than most other collections....LOL

I would LOVE to know what you like to surround yourself with...what brings an extra measure of happy to you.    Please....DO SHARE!!


TEDDIES.....I absolutely  ADORE stuffed bears!!!  Not just any bear.....it has to have personality or a special "squishiness" to it!!   It has to grab at my heart. 

A few years ago, I had a pretty large collection of them.  Then I got to thinking ( oh how I wish I would not think so much!! ) that I was too old to be having such a childish array of "stuffies".  So I began to give them away....mostly to teenage girls.  My little darling 1950's "Build - A - Bear" in her pink poodle skirt, white blouse, pink sweater with white pearl buttons, complete with a pink scarf tied around her neck.  OH!!  and her saddle shoes and socks!!    I miss her and just might see if I can "build" another one like her.  The idea is sounding pretty good to me.....hmmmmm

I did keep a few that have sentimental meaning to me and I have started to add to this favorite collection again.    AGE!!  Pfffftttt.....I no longer care.  LOL   They are precious to me with their sweetness and I will admit that in moments of deep despair I have been known to cuddle with one of them......and was much comforted.  TMI ~ (too much information)?????    I hope not.  I love this girly, feminine side of me....just sayin'.......


4 1/2 years ago, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. During that time, my sweetheart of a husband went to "Build - A - Bear"...can you tell I love that place??... LOL...and bought this bear for my birthday.   At first, I thought it was a weird gift from him, but then I saw the thoughtfulness of what he had done....pink to represent breast cancer and to comfort me through my ordeal.  Needless to say, this one is precious to my heart and will be with me forever.


I am the "extremely proud" Nana to 10 wonderful grandchildren.  Well, my first grandchild, Morgan, will be 18 next month so I may need to consider not thinking of her as a child anymore!!!  LOL   But, she was a precious 10 year old when she gave this sweet little man to me as a Christmas gift.  She was so proud of herself.....#1 ~ because she had gotten me a gift that she knew I would love and  #2 ~ because she had found it at a garage sale....for $1.00!!!   When I opened the gift, she gave me all the particulars about how she obtained it.  She was immediately "sshhh'd" by parents....but I loved it!!!  She was proud of herself and I let her know what a good shopper I thought she was.  Her smiles and her happiness of giving this gift to her Nana, who she adored!!,  will never leave my mind....and the bear will never leave me.  :)


What a sweet story goes with this little one!!!  I began my computer journey in 2000...knowing absolutely nothing about how to use one.  As I began to learn to use it, I knew that what I wanted more than anything was to find good people who I could have conversations with....laugh together and just share our day to day lives with one another.  I was very lonely at that time and I figured a few "cyber pals" would be great.  I started out by going to "pen pal" sites...but OH MY!!!....there were 1000's of names on the lists!!  How in the world was I going to be able to find that special someone that I was looking for??  Well, God hears even the smallest of prayers  :)   I sat at the computer one day and I prayed.  I told the Lord what I was wanting, a friend who would share with me, laugh with me and have alot of the same interests as myself.  And then I began looking at names again.  There she was!!!  I just knew...there she was!!!  So, our of all those names, I picked one and I sent her a small email asking her if she would be interested in seeing if we would enjoy becoming "cyber friends".  She wrote back saying that she would like that......and 12 years later we are the best of friends!!!  But here is the best part.....

6 months or so after we began writing to each other, we just knew that we wanted to meet each other in real life.  BUT.....I live in Texas....she lives in Pennsylvania.  So so far from each other.  We finally came up with the idea of meeting half-way.  That half-way place was in Shelbyville, Tennessee.  Just to be on the safe side, we had our husbands come with us.  We stayed for a weekend at the Cinnamon Ridge Bed and Breakfast in Shelbyville.



Whew!!  I have digressed and gotten away from my beary treasures.....but I just had to share with you the wonderfulness of meeting Vee Ann Claar...who I call Doodie.  We had a wonderful weekend together...but it did not end there!!!  For my 50th birthday, I flew to Pennsylvania and spent a week with her!!  She took me all over PA, letting me see the Amish, the Mennonites....the beautiful countryside.  It was just a fabulous experience.  And then, she was able to come to Texas and spend a week with me!!  It was dreams come true for both of us...because I had never been to PA...she had never been to Texas.  

Soooooo, back to the yellow bear....LOL   When I went to visit her, we spent alot of time shopping.  She bought this bright, sunny bear as my birthday gift......my little Pennsylvania cuddler, a "keeper" for sure!!


Now, is there anything so cute as teddies in clothes!!  These young ladies are adorable and I especially love the face on the smaller one....and check out that headband!!  Tooooo cute!!


I have enjoyed sharing my beary sweet treasures with you and hope that you enjoyed them too.   As time goes on, I will surely find other dear teddies to add and will bring them here as well.  I would love for you to share something you love to collect with me.  PLEASE....post your comments below, where it says "comments" instead of on FB.  That way I can always see what you have to say here.  If you cannot figure out how to post below, then just go ahead and leave your comments on FB and I will transfer them to this blog so we can all stay together.  Also, you are more than welcome to click on "follow".  


         ~ Till the next blog....wishing you a *beary* wonderful day ~ 


*HUGS*



Sunday, February 12, 2012

Storing Memories


Jack...............................father-in-law
Dottie............................mother-in-law
Gary..............................husband
Naomi...........................Gary's sister
Tim...............................Naomi's husband
Jackson.........................Tim and Naomi's son
Denise...........................our daughter
Lloyd.............................Denise's husband

I am starting this off with a "cast of characters" so that you will know who I am talking about.

My father-in-laws 84th birthday was this week, Feb. 9th.   Jack is such an amazing man.  Gary and I will be married 42 yrs. this Monday, Feb. 13th.  I have been so blessed to be able to have Jack for my father.  Recently, I told him how much I appreciated him for being such a wonderful christian example to our family.   I told him that I appreciated him for welcoming me into his family.....for putting up with me while I was still "growing up".  He actually gained another child because I was only 18 years old!!! I let him know how much I loved him.  



In September of 2011 ( I think this is correct ), Jack was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma.  He has gone through chemo....his last treatment will be on March 2nd.  On that day, he gets to "ring the bell".  That will be his way of saying  "I have made it!!....I am done!!....I am out of here!!"

He shows no signs of cancer right now.  We are so thankful to God and to the medical team that has taken care of him.....so thankful that we still have him with us.  Certainly this has been a great trial for him, but he has done well.  Having had cancer myself and knowing what it is like to go through chemo treatments, I am able to appreciate what he has suffered and for what lies ahead for him.

He has lost alot of weight....he is frail and unsteady.  Hopefully, he will soon begin to get a better appetite and put some weight on his body.  I know that the strength does not return fast.  I am 4 1/2 years cancer free and am still struggling with the tiredness and low energy levels.  But I can also see a great improvement from how I was feeling these past 4 1/2 years.  I pray that God will be merciful to Jack due to his age and bless him with renewed strength before long so that he will be able to enjoy what time he has left.

As a birthday gift to himself, Jack wanted to be able to come to Tyler, which is about 3 to 3 1/2 hours from where they live, to see his 8 great-grandchildren......and hopefully, the rest of us......LOL   We (Lloyd, Denise, their 8 children, Gary and I) live on 11 acres in the piney woods of East Texas.  Gary and I live across the driveway from our daughters family.  Lucky us!!!  We love being able to watch our grandchildren growing up.  For that matter, we even like watching Denise and Lloyd growing up!!  :)  Living here with them is such a blessing and we appreciate so much that they asked us to move here on their land with them.




So today Tim, Naomi, their son Jackson, Jack and Dottie came to Tyler for a fish fry.  This was planned during the week when the weather was cool..not cold...but just nice.  Wouldn't you know that a cold front blew in and it was miserably cold today!!!  Low 30's, with a breeze that made the chill factor in the 20's....brrrr.   We ladies were very thankful that it was the men standing outside frying that fish!!!  If it had been left to us, it would have been done on the stove instead of in the deep fryer...LOL


Tim, Gary and Adam braving the cold!!


Gary and Jackson



















1st Batch in....

















We finally were able to sit down to a wonderful meal of fried fish, hush puppies, hashbrown casserole, deviled eggs and a delicious succotash.







Is there anything more special than spending time with those you love???



Our oldest granddaughter, Morgan, is an awesome cook and baker.  She served us a divine Hershey Candy Bar Cake....OH MY WORD!!!!   That cake was so wonderful we were all talking about it....lots of  "mmm..." sounds being uttered.



2 year old Anna loved it so much that she even licked her plate!!!  LOL  She wanted to make certain that she got every last bit of that wonderfulness!!




Ella Grace was so happy that she finally got her piece of cake  :)



Heather, our "almost" 16 yr. old granddaughter, blessed us with her piano playing.  Watching and listening to her play made my heart feel like it was filled with tears of joy......I am just so proud of her talents and the way that shes uses them.

Heather blessing us with her music

Morgan, Heather  &  Me
These 2 darlings are my pride and joy!!!


















The day ended with us sitting around playing the "do you remember" game....telling about some of our "devilish moments" when we were younger and just laughing and laughing.

Mother and Son sharing a special moment


















Jack was able to go home a happy man.  He was weak....but he was content to sit and listen to the stories and the laughter of those he loves.  I think for many of us the specialness of this day will remain with us...now and forever.




"FAMILY ~ where Life begins and Love never ends"