Rain - Shopping

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Much needed rain came this afternoon by way of thunder storms. Our electricity went out for an hour or so. It has blinked off and on since. I hope it stays on. It would be hard getting to sleep with it so warm. How did I ever make it through most of my childhood without air conditioning! I am a spoiled child :-)

I did go with Frank to Wal* Mart this morning. The shopping was not bad. The buggy only squeaked a little. It was not pleasant standing in the checkout line. We were in the 20 items or less lane and of course it was slower than a hound dog in August. While waiting someone did announce that another register was opening up... I think it was #21. We are at register #3. Just not worth the walk over there and be the same number in line. I think it was about 8 am that we were checking out.

The trap was tolerated better today. I made it until 5:30 pm :-) No I will not talk about anything and everything in my blog... just some things :-)

Tomorrow will be laundry day and I'll see how much of it or any of it I can do. I did fold some laundry one-handed the other day. Some things I know I won't be able to fold.

One day I'll do something exciting again... so hang in there with me.

Shopping

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Before taking you shopping... I'm doing a couple of paragraphs to vent on everyday life that you can skip.

I'm a bit tired of going to doctor offices. Thursday I had the nerve conduction and EMG tests. Those needles hurt a bit going into my muscles. I go Friday to the orthopedist for the results. We each have a doctor's appointment on Friday. We want to go somewhere and explore... just have fun! I know it will all happen in due time :-)

Yesterday I went to Mama's doctor appointment. Mainly because I haven't seen her since Christmas. I talk to her once or twice a week, but it just is not the same as seeing her. She looks so much tireder and frailer than I last saw her. She has to increase her water pills for a few days and she has to start watching her salt intake. She is in a lot of pain still and will go in a couple of weeks for an injection in her back to hopefully reduce the pain.

After my tests on Thursday I went over to the mall to shop. Did I mention that I hate shopping? We had all ready looked at WalMart, KMart and Target for a pocketbook for me. I use a string wallet most all the time. It holds the basics. I just can't carry all that weight around. I usually have a pocket book that will hold the wallet plus meds, tissue, comb, lipstick, lip balm and bandaids... a basic first aid kit :-) The pocketbook is mainly used for day trips... for travel and stays in the truck. The last one, made of nylon lasted for five or six years.

I started my shopping journey at Sears. Oh My! I could not believe the bags I saw. They were so gaudy and looked something like the bags from the late 60's into the 70's. A colorful print would be fine with me, but not these gaudy prints and none were the size I needed... I didn't need a large tote size.

Then I dropped into Pic N Pay and Shoes for Less... nothing any better. Then I went into Dillards. Pricey even gaudier pocketbooks there. One was priced $99 dollars and honestly, I would not even have bought it if it were .99¢

Then I went to J C Penney. They usually have a good selection. There bags looked a bit better, but didn't have all the pockets I wanted to keep everything sorted. My last stop was Belk's. They too had the gaudy pricey pocketbooks. Then I noticed the ones that were on the clearance shelves. Some were quilted and looked nice and had several pockets. Then I spotted a canvas one. It had lots of pockets. The original price was $48 and the mark-down price was $23.99. Not bad... a bit more than the quilted pocketbooks, but it appeared to be sturdier. I decided to get it especially since an additional 50% would be taken off at the register. For $11.99 I got a pocketbook that should last for years.



Of course I had to look at the clothing to see what was on special. I found a couple of pair of capri pants for $14.99 each... I would never pay the original $30 price.


Before taxes the total was $41.97. I saved $66.03. To hate shopping so much I think I did well :-)


I do like to browse through antique, junk and thrift shops... that is totally different than shopping for something that is a necessity :-)


As I composed this I kept trying to use the words purse and handbag, but from my Southern upbringing comes the word pocketbook and so that is what my fingers typed :-)

Mama's Birthday

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Today Mama celebrates he 81rst birthday. Mama is the tenth child of 11 children. Only one of those children did not make it to adulthood. Grandma had Mama when she was 39 years old and Mama's sister, Lucille, when she was 42 years old. Lucille was born with Downs Syndrome. Mama took care of Lucille most of the time when they were children. After Mama married Daddy in 1945 Mama would take Lucille for a month at a time ever once in a while to give Grandma a break. After Grandma died in 1972 Mama became Lucille's guardian. Lucille passed away in 1997.

Mama lived in Rebecca Georgia when she met Daddy. Daddy lived in Amboy, a small nearby community. At one time Rebecca was a booming town with a couple of grocery stores and a drug store. Now it has a couple of convenience stores. There isn't much to say that Amboy is a community any more... just the remains of an old country store. Daddy used to ride a mule to Rebecca in his teen years. I'm not sure if he had other transportation when he courted Mama.

Here is a picture of Mama with her sister, Laura, taken a few months before Aunt Laura passed away at almost the age of 99. I always thought that Aunt Laura beautiful inside and out. She had a memory like an elephant.



This is Mama and Daddy soon after their marriage. The photographer wasn't very good, I cleaned the picture up the best I could.




This is a picture of Mama when she was maybe 16 years old or so. Since it says "Love always, Clora" it was probably a picture she gave Daddy before he went off to war.

My middle name is Clora after Mama. Mama was named after her grandmother, Clora Aurora Hogan. Mama's full christian name is Clora Annie Jane. Annie after her mother and Jane after her other grandmother, Martha Jane Swain.



Mama's school... if I remember correctly... only went to the eleventh grade. This is her graduating class. The lady on the left is her teacher.


Mama and Daddy had five children together. The boys in order of age are Zoral, Zane and Zarone. Then comes me and my sister, Zawanda.... we were known as the Five Zees.

Mama reads her scriptures daily. She taught us to love God; to trust in Him. Mama has made many sacrifices in her life. She is a wonderful caring, mother. I love her dearly.

Happy Birthday Mama!

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Last week the bathroom sink was running slowly so I used drain cleaner.... it still ran slowly... so more drain cleaner. It seemed to improve. This morning I was running the water to get it somewhere near warm so I could have warm, clean hands to check around Frank's drain tube. The water stopped draining and I had a sink full of water. I tried the plunger to no avail.

Frank... with me protesting... took the the pea trap off. No, nothing in there!.. at least not enough to keep the water from draining. Houston we have a problem! Frank had no idea where his snake was... you know that contraption used to unstop drains. So he called his Dad to borrow his and his Dad didn't have one. So he got his Dad to go to Lowes and buy one.... hoping all the while that his Dad got the correct size. He did get the right size. He finally got the drain cleared.... of course I get blamed because they found a long hair in there.

That was not the end (can you see me rolling my eyes). His Dad put the pea trap back on. Ran water to make sure he had everything tightened. The pea trap has a small hole in it! Frank says some of the gunk in there probably blocked the small hole before. Frank always keeps plumbing supplies on hand, but of course he didn't have the right size. So his Dad had to make another trip to Lowe's. Finally everything gets put back together and nothing leaking. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful father-in-law.

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I went to Sam's Club again this afternoon. I went to the ATM machine before hand. I got in the line with the lady with the hand-held scanner and she didn't run off to do anything else :-) The cashier had problems counting the number of items I got, but the third time is a charm :-) Traffic was a little heavy on the way back home. I prefer shopping in the early hours when there are fewer people and less traffic. Tomorrow I'll tackle Wal*Mart.

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No one in the world can take the place of your mother. Right or wrong, from her viewpoint you are always right. She may scold you for little things, but never for the big ones. -- Harry Truman