The Mind of a 3 year old.....

As I watch my dear sweet grand daughter grow my mind often wanders back to when my own children were growing up and how fascinating it is to watch them, grow, learn, explore and discover a whole big world surrounding them. Sometimes I wonder just what is going on in that ever expanding mind of those little one's. One thing I know for sure they cling to your every word and action and are learning by watching and listening.



We had Vacation Bible School recently and I had the honor of teaching the 3-5 year old class and believe you me you've got to keep those little minds busy every single minute, or total chaos erupts and then you are in real trouble. Other than the crafts, which by the way they love, love, love to paint, was story time and it amazed me so how they actually soaked in the Bible story and could remember the details of it the next night while reviewing it. One story in particular really grabbed their attention and that was the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes and how there was still so much leftover. They enjoyed making their own fishing poles and "pretend" fishing to help Jesus out. I'm thinking perhaps in their little minds they were truly fishing and bringing in the "big" catch. Such joy.




Then my grand daughter had her first recital. She was so cute in her little costume and when she spotted us in the crowd...such a big smile and little waves galore. I'm sure for that night, in her mind, she was the princess of gymnastics/dance and no other could compare.




This takes me back to my own children and when they were 3, Joshua the oldest loved watching King Arthur and one day after watching it for the 100th time he came to me and asked.."Momma is hail a bad word"...hmmm I thought about it for a minute then I explained to him there were several definitions for this word. I preceded to explain there was "Hail" like praising a King, then there was "hail" that fell from the sky like ice, then there was "Hell" like where the devil lived. Not bad at all I thought to myself...he was satisfied and off to watch King Arthur again for the 101st time. Then much to my surprise one day while his daddy was driving in awful traffic, out of the mouth of my sweet little 3 year old came, "what the hell King Arthur is going on around here". So much for that one!

Then my next son, Adam was fascinated with Super Man, and for the entire 3rd year of his life he dressed in his Super Man p.j.'s with his blankie tied around his neck, and I even had to slick his hair back with the curvy thing going on right down the middle of his forehead! In that little 3 year old mind...HE WAS...Superman!

Cory, the last one to come into my life was indeed a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, right down to the costume and the spiked hair, and every picture for that year he was in that costume and poised just like his little mind remembered the famous Turtle's.

Now we're down to the "grand". Finally after all the boys we have a precious little girl, and her 3 year old mind is now filled with princess's and castles. Not to long ago during one of her stays with Mima and Papa, while I was getting showered and dressed she was sitting at my make-up table playing with her brushes while getting her own "makeup" on, then without me knowing and much to my surprise she squeals and says, "Look....I look just like Mima"!!!!




Papa laughs and I think....hmmmm perhaps, Mima needs to go back to beauty school 101!!

I pray...Lord help me to be a better influence for all those around me.

This Is A True Story....

This picture is what I looked like heading to my garden spot with Hoe,seeds and a great anticipation of what I was getting ready to plant, watch and tend while waiting for the grand harvest.



This is hubby plowing our garden spot...

I walk down to supervise his tilling when it hits me and I express my surprise to him, knowing he can't hear a word I'm saying but he knows by the movement of my hands,"This thing is really big", he just smiles...hmmm wonder what he's thinking...

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Back to the work at hand..

As I headed down to the garden a couple of days ago I wasn't thinking about how I hadn't really had any physical exercise much over the long cold winter, I was just thinking how good I was feeling about playing in the dirt.

Three hours later, I stand back upright and think...oooo my back and thighs are tingly, I'd better go up to the house and hit the Advil! Hubby gets home that afternoon and looks at me and asked "did you get the seeds planted" sure I did. So I head off for a meeting at church still feeling quite proud of my work. A little later, I come home and state hmmmm "my back and legs are achy" his response, that smile again!!

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I woke up and feet hit the floor as always and I head to the bathroom, ouch this really hurts, I mean really really hurts to walk...think Tim Conway steps...very small, slow steps, can I make it....oh no this walking thing hurts! I make it to the toilet...ouch out loud...it hurt's to sit! Oh man, can I even get up? I have to use muscles they are hurting, I pull myself up and head for the Advil! I manage to make it through the morning, pain and all, it even hurts to sit at the computer!! Good grief!!

I head to town to try and run a couple of quick errands and just getting down the steps from the deck to the garage was a major effort but I made it! Drive to town do my business then stop at the drug store to pick up a few things...oh my, I can't get out of the car...you know it takes muscles!! I pull myself out get what I need, then thinks I got to get home this whole moving thing is a "pain".

I remember I've got to get the grand this afternoon...which means, got to get back in the car, get out, walk to door, open door and get a great big ball of energy who loves to run and play....a lot, hey I'm having trouble just moving!! Ok I made it, and I look out and little girl and Papa are having a grand ole time swinging, sliding, running and lot's of things that involve using muscles!! Papa is always coming up with lot's of neat and fun things to do, like riding around on a dolly!!



"Hey guys can I ride? I'm hurting and I'm having a very hard time walking."

"What about it Papa, should we let Mima ride"

There's that smile again!!

Once they come inside for supper Papa makes the comment with that smile, " I believe the garden whopped ole Mima".......if looks could kill he would be a dead man!!

This morning, get up again, still slow painful movements, but moving. Get in the shower and remember this is Friday, better shave my legs someone might drop by over the weekend. Try to bend over to shave and OH MY, DEAR SWEET HEAVENLY LORD I can't do it, gotta do it, company might come, there's men in my front yard with chain saws cutting trees if I can't get up will they hear my cries of anguish, will they come to my rescue? Wait a minute, they have chain saws never mind...I can and will do this.

So I pray "Lord give me strength"

And this my friends is a true story!!

The End

I'm Still Here.....

Yes I know my posts are getting pretty far and in between, but hopefully I can get back in my groove and post more than what I've been doing. This past winter was unusually cold and gray and at times it had me pretty gray myself, but Spring has sprung and my energy level is picking up as well. Here's a snapshot of what's been going on here in the Hollow the last few months. As you know from my last post we had a snow storm early March and in between I kept myself busy doing things that just could not be put off any longer.

Things lurk behind closed doors and I've a fond motto "If I can't see it, surely it's not there" until one day you open one of those doors and boom it happens and you just have to do something about it right then and there! That's exactly what happened when I opened this door that houses our old VCR tapes, DVD's etc. a total mess completely out of control that poured out like an avalanche. GEE WHIZ now I've got to clean this up!



So from that total mess to this....



Whew, glad that one's over. Now to move on to the next mess hiding...our last child at home, well kinda sorta, he's been in college and has always been in and out but this past year he flew the coup, moved out of State and came home during the holidays and got the rest of the stuff he wanted. Ahem!! Left the rest for us. So I got busy and turned that room into a sewing, reading or doing what you want room. A few wood crates and this is what happened.



Not bad if I do say so myself. Now for the Tupperware cabinet!! For you women out there I don't know about you but with a grand baby who is only allowed in that cabinet things had gotten well out of hand. Now tell me, how in the world can I have so many bowls with no lids?? Well I finally got this one done and low and behold I found a birdcage stuck in there last night! Bad bad bird! I'm sure a certain 3 year old angel had her hand in that one.



Well, the next project is my closet, quick close your eyes...not to worry the door is still closed and I can't see it for now..until... I open it again. Arggg!! Oh well it'll happen soon enough, after all I've got to switch out my Winter clothes for Summer.

For now I'll walk outside in the fresh warmth of Spring, raise my face to the "Son" and give thanks for my day...Gray or bright!

There's A Battle Going On......

At least that's the way I see it. Old Man Winter and Miss Spring are fighting for their position, and neither one want's to give in!





I'm thinking that the season's of the year are not that much different than us humans. Just like us they each have their own personalities.

Old Man Winter, who can be a very grumpy old man, and then other times can be just as mellow as he can be. When he's in a bad mood he like's to blow a lot of cold wind around making us very uncomfortable, trying his best to make us as grumpy as he is. With all the gray skies, bitter cold, rain, sleet, freezing rain, he's doing a pretty good job of it. Then again he does enjoy at times seeing us play in the snow, making snowmen, snow angels and a good old warm cup of hot chocolate.

Then there's Miss Spring who likes to be very, very prissy, flying around like a Fairy, painting everything in sight with bright and vivid colors. Who at times can be very temperamental and likes to pitch a bit of a tantrum by creating havoc with her storms. Overall, loves to make us smile again with her sunshine and the bursting forth of blooms everywhere.

Summer, who is a matronly woman with a little tom-boyish left in her, loves to have fun rolling in the green grass, climbing trees, enjoying life. She can at times have a violent temper and feels she has earned her right to display it with bolts of lightning and throwing thunder around. Being her matronly self though she enjoys seeing the gardens bring forth their bounty, and families enjoying time together as the warmth of summer takes them on much needed together times.

Ahhhh....Fall, a gentle man who enjoys sharing his warm colors, smells of fallen leaves and crisp winds. He likes to blanket us with warmth during the day and let's us bask in the chill of the evening. Giving us those wonderful pumpkins for cooking and carving jack-o-lanterns and bringing us together during a time of Thanksgiving. I'm guessing he's preparing us for his brother that will be coming and could be very grumpy!

Then there is their Mother...Mother Nature, who tries with all her might to keep all of her children in line, without too much fussing and fighting, after all she answers to no one other than The Father, The Creator.

Right now I'm thinking that Mother Nature is trying very hard to calm her son Old Man Winter who's been grumpier than usual this year and has played and played until he's now, down right ornery and really needs to take a nap! In the mean time Miss Prissy Spring has awaken from her nap and is jumping up and down saying "It's my turn, it's my turn, make him go to sleep so I can have a turn" I can just imagine what Mother Nature is saying to herself as she throws out her hands and look's up "Father give me patience"!!

Back to Normal???

During Christmas while out shopping one day, Hubby and I saw this really cool water filter for our kitchen, but since we were buying for others at the time and the price was rather high for our budget, we decided to write the name brand down and do some research on the computer for the same filter perhaps through the manufacturer without the retail markup. We buy a lot of distilled water for drinking, making tea and cooking, not that we don't trust our water company but....we wanted pure water without the chemicals. BINGO, found the water filter and the company linked you to where you could buy, on line as well as the retailers. Well, I decided to order on line with free shipping and a much better price, so I let my fingers do the ordering. At last the second week after Christmas my package arrived!!!! Now I just love seeing my mail lady pull up to my front door, as well as the UPS man, and the FedEx man, because that means we have a prize!! Even though I know what's in the box, I still get the thrill of a child seeing that box.



As I took our prize from the mail lady...rattle, rattle is the sound I hear, hmmmm this can't be good...I tear in the box that is labeled, damaged when received, etc., etc., oh my what is this???? A bunch of hoses, a stainless steel water bottle and a self filtering bottle for when you are on the go....huh, what...where is the invoice??? Crumpled up in the bottom is the invoice, for a dear woman from Hawaii!!!! I look at the box again, no, my name and address is on the box, but what in the world!!! Her invoice and my invoice were one digit off, and after all it was mailed on New Year's Eve.....party anyone???

I contact Customer Service and once again I begin the wait for my package. Low and behold in just a few days I see the mail lady pulling in my driveway again....yeah, my filter is here!!!! Sure enough it was indeed my filter, in one piece surprisingly if you had seen the box!!

I'm thinking I'll surprise Hubby when he gets home by having it all installed and filtering water away, after all how hard can this be!!! Unscrew this, screw this back and bingo....filtered water!!!! Well I did all the unscrewing and screwing just as the instructions said, turned on the water and waaaaa-laaaaaa, I had an explosion of water coming from the kitchen sink!!! Oops lets try this again, re-read the instructions (what's this about an O ring) unscrew, screw, turn the water back on....NOT!!!! Oh well, perhaps it's a man's world after all, so I'll leave this for my man!! I'm doing plenty of "woman's work" by cleaning up all this water!!

Hubby arrives home and our conversation goes like this:

Me: Our water filter came.

Hubby: Good, oh I see you already have it hooked up.

Me: Well, not quite, it kept squirting water everywhere.

Hubby: Did you put the O ring in? (there's that O ring thing again)

Me: I didn't see an O ring, do we have to have one?

Hubby: Yes.

Me: Do we have one?

Hubby: No, I'll have to go to the hardware store, but there should be one there already.

Me: Maybe, I just didn't screw it tight enough.

Hubby: Let me eat my lunch...then I'll take a look.

Hubby: (While looking up in the faucet)There's an O ring already there. (Screw the blasted thing back)!

Ok, now we're ready.....turn the water on and...oh no, water coming from everywhere this time!!!!

Pull out the instructions AGAIN!!!! It reads if leaking occurs (you call this leaking) tighten screws and valves which may become loose during shipping. Ok unscrew whole contraption tighten screw, valves and everything in between put it all back together, hook back up to the faucet and finally......nice filtered pure water!!!



I sure hope the lady in Hawaii had an easier time with her converter kit, from switching from above counter filter to under the sink. The company did send me a self addressed, postage paid box to send her order back.

Yep, I guess things are getting back to normal here in the Hollow after all the festivities. Oh and by the way, I did get the Christmas Wreath off the front door today and the icicle lights down for another year!!

A New Year and Decade!!!!

2009 has gone, and along came 2010 and with it a new decade!!! How exciting, but with the new year and new decade we had to finish up the last with lots of fun!!



Christmas brought each one of the boy's and their significant other and family in, along with our sweet, sweet grand daughter and the thrill and wonder only seen through the eye's of a child!! Lot's of wrapping, decorating, and of course cooking going on around here in the last month!! Then alas, the big day Santa came and brought lots of gifts for young and old, but most important the gift of a baby born in a manager to save and free us all, just for the asking!! Oh boy we had a grand ole time, and I will keep these memories as all of us mother's do deep within my
heart.



One thing I did take note of is the unnecessary things that went on around here!! I'm sure most of you reading this will relate!! I have decided to write a list and tuck it in my Christmas decorations so next year when I start pulling it all out I will remember and remember well!!

1) Do not put up so many decoration's!!! You only have to take them all down when you're exhausted!! After all Jesus was born in a lowly stable, and I'm guessing there were not decorations all over the yard, much less 2 or 3 trees in the house and every corner decorated with Santa's!

2) Do not cook an 8 pound ham when you only need a 4 pound!! You'll only end up eating ham until you feel like oinking!!! After all every one will be so tired by the time they get to your house another piece of pork will gag them!! Not to mention the huge pot of Shrimp and grit's...let's go with just a little ham and biscuits!! Somehow I don't remember a feast in the manger scene.

3) And now the gifts...give one thing that's really meaningful, not all the frills and such, a gift from the heart. Jesus didn't get his first gift until he was, what 2 or 3 years old when the wise men arrived.

Yes we had a wonderful Christmas, and now the new year has arrived along with hopes and wishes and notes from the previous year to learn by.

I pray that God will lead me, as well as each and every one of you reading this in the way he would have us to go in this upcoming year and decade and that we will open our hearts to the way he would have us to go!!

Happy New Year and God Bless each and every one of you, for he has already blessed me beyond belief and still has a lot in store!!!!

DECEMBER...WHAT???? ALREADY????

Where in the world did September, October and November go? December slipped in like a bolt of lightning, boom...and there it is.

Don't get me wrong I love December and all that it brings, but what I don't like is the panicky feeling of rushing around trying to get everything done! Things are picking up here in the Hollow, Decorating, Christmas programs, Caroling, Parties, Drop-in's, Dinners etc.,but what I haven't got going on yet is the shopping!!! Of course I have a few things for the grand, but there is still plenty to be done and the "mood" just hasn't hit me yet!! Perhaps the fact that money is tight is part of the reason, but I'm trying to stay focused on "it's the thought that counts" and not how much or big the gift is, but most of all I'm concentrating on the "Reason" for this beautiful season!!!



While decorating, I always make a special place for our nativity scene, after all it should be the focus of the whole theme of "Christmas" so of course I placed it under the tree, the first present of the holiday our gift from God, our Savior, and as of right now, it's the only and most important present placed beneath that tree!!



This past weekend one of our biggest parties of the season, our precious grand daughters 3rd birthday. We had her party here at the Hollow, and that little girl was so excited over it being "her" day, she couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry!!! She was indeed the Princess of the day. I can only imagine her upcoming excitement brought with the arrival of Christmas morning!!!



So while I get down to the business of shopping, I'm gonna keep in mind that I have a legacy to leave for my children and grandchildren, that while we enjoy our parties and all of the other festivities of this wonderful time of year, while we bake our cookies, watch our favorite Christmas movies, eat all the goodies that are coming our way, making our own traditions to be handed down, the real "Reason" we are celebrating and the most "important" gift that we have already received, free and right before our eye's just for the asking!!