The day the lights went out on Christmas Day

If you were to ask me what my most special Christmas memory would be, it would NOT be for Christmas 2009.

My mother, husband and I were to meet my beloved Aunt Bill, cousin Abby and 2nd cousin Camille at a local diner (yes I said diner as in Mabels) just down from where my mother lives for "brunch".

Ron and I had both gotten up around 7am and actually had a wee bit of breakfast and then went about doing things until the "appointed time" to go and collect mom. I had noticed that the wind seemed to be blowing quite hardy and was very thankful that the electricity hadn't gone out...OOPS! Spoke too soon! Just as Ron and I were getting ready to head over to mothers, the power went out...sigh..."NO MABELS!" I said...Ron agreed...

We collected mother and drove down to Mabels. Abby popped out of her Jeep and came over to tell us she'd already confirmed what I prophesied "Mabel's doesn't have any electricity and are not serving food." She then ask Mom if she would like to go over with them (they have power over in Summersville (different power company...NOT AEP) and I highly recommended she go (otherwise, she'd be just sitting around with no TV, no records/DVDs to play and NO radio or lights for that matter. Fortunately she agreed.

Ron and I ran an errand and made it back home around noon. He looked at me and said "Honeybunch...what's for lunch?" I proceeded to go raid the fridge and came back with bread, velveeta cheese (he can eat that easiest) and peanut butter and jelly. So we feasted on sammiches (my name for sandwiches), some Christmas cookies our neighbor gave us and I indulged in a really tastie naval orange. Then we did a BIG no no! We took a nap (we had nothing else to do remember!).

Around 3pm, Mom called to have us come and collect her and take her home. "Mom, there still is NO power, are you sure you don't want me to bring you some things so you can just stay over there?" "NO, I want to come home now"...oooook

We went and collected mom, got her back home and by the time we got home, it was just getting dark...no other option left, we went to bed...it was 6pm.

Oh and the electricity did come back on around 8pm...Merry Christmas...It is my hope that New Years goes WAYYYYY better...lol

T'was the night before Christmas...

Well...we have made it to Christmas Eve.

Had a really nice day actually. The only thing we did on the house was to drop by Lowes this afternoon and purchase outlet boxes and ceiling boxes for Ron to run the wiring into when he gets time.

We had a really wonderful time at our friend's Christmas Eve Brunch/Yankee Swap party. I feel I did rather well. Ended up with a mixing bowl set from Swiss Colony and a topsy turvy planter. Can't complain about getting another mixing bowl NOR another planter!

Ron and I then took my mother into "town" for a couple of hours and overall, had a good time. We made it back home and haven't amounted to a hill of beans since...hehehe...I love Christmas...

Who needs turkey?!?! Bring on the PB&J!

Apparently I don't.

Well, at least not this year. Mom is feasting down at my brothers and Ron and I are going to enjoy a nice couple of days at home (hopefully). Then off I go to meet up with my brother somewhere around Knoxville, TN and collect my Mom.

This will be the first year I have spent w/o mother/John at Thanksgiving. I am SOOO thankful I have my husband! But I did have to chuckle last night when my mother had the dawn of realization hit that there prolly won't be any turkey on the table down at my brothers (psst...they are all veggies but my brother WILL eat turkey) so I had to promise Mother that I would cook a BIG turkey when she gets home so we can have our "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner...lol

Well, not sure what Ron and I will eat tomorrow...but I think I can almost guarantee you that it won't be turkey...:) Oh and don't feel bad for us, a very, VERY dear friend has invited us over for dinner (turkey no less) but, quite honestly, I think I would just as well stay home. I am on the go so much that I truly love love love staying home.

Hope you and yours have a most wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hi Ho Hi Ho, tis today the day I must mow

Yeah I know...lame but gimme a break. I have mowed my entire 1.87 acres plus went to my mothers and cut "multiflora rose" brambles and wild black berry brambles plus mowed up some leaves for her. Oh and removed all the "bird seed that grew into whatever it was" weeds and moved her bird feeder.

My beloved husband was covered up with paper work so no workie on "the manor" today much to our friends chagrin. They really enjoy helping and we love having them help! lol

Overall, I've had a glorious day. I love making memories with mom. I know with her getting ready to hit the big 8-O that our time together is getting shorter so I try to make the most of our times together.

Hopefully my next post will expound all the new updates that we've been able to do...but until next time...patience is needed.

Too Busy to blog

Yep that's my excuse as to why I've not blogged about what we've been doing at THM.

Actually I wish it was that easy but in all honesty, since my last post, it HAS been rather hectic however, there is not a single thought that comes to mind why I couldn't have posted SOMETHING! Sheesh!

Anyways, the good news is, my husband and his friend have managed to get us "insulated" for this winter. Now we're working on drywall...see? Didn't miss much huh? lol

I promise I will try to do better...hopefully!

And if by chance, I fail for another 3 months...Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years...<3

Post Labor Day memories

Hard to believe that Labor Day has come and gone.

Same can be said of my cousin Kristie. Kristie took matters into her own hands and decided on August 22 to leave this world. She was in such a state that she never told a soul (that the family is aware of) WHY. So sad was this situation that even her daddy's pastor, who held the memorial service commented that most of the time in times as this, people look to the clergy to make sense of it all. However, he was in the same boat as the rest of us. Kristie simply kept all her secrets with her and as many said "Only God knows why" she took her life. Her Daddy made a very touching eulogy to his daughter. He commented that he was there when she was born and also when she drew her last breath. Made me think of the email that commented on the dash between the birth/death dates on tombstones. Her hubby Al also shared his feelings of great loss. Oh why do people do things like this? Can't they see beyond their hurts and pains and get a glimpse of what agony their leaving will do to those that love them so? I don't think so or else we would seldom have incidents like this.

During this time of great suffering for my family, my beloved hubby diligently kept working on our house. Even had some relates that wanted to see the progress and I brought them by after the memorial service. What I wasn't aware of was, DH and his buddy had very carefully removed the old floor of the "old porch/lean-to" and there was a decent section of new floor that was also using the old section for support. Needless to say, if you have 6 people stand in an area that is not very well supported, it WILL collapse! Thank the Lord it only went down perhaps a foot at most. I will forever be a fan of "joist hangers" since they did their job and kept all of us from becoming seriously injured. Loved the comment from my cousin Rosemarie..."now I know what it feels to be in a earthquake"...ok...but I still think an earthquake would be several times worse! To each their own!

So my DH spent the biggest part of the rest of the weekend getting that poor little floor back into place. Now you could race elephants on it and it would hold (j/k...truely, don't try this...EVER!)

On an amusing note, my beloved friend Donna has been coming with her hubby to help us and she decided this weekend that she was curious as to what all was "upstairs". Mind you we don't have anyway to get upstairs except via a ladder which the guys had been using all day on Monday. They'd been carefully removing the old metal roof off the old house and went up and down effortlessly so Donna decided the time had come for her to see what was up there. She first approached her husband to help her and was turned down (he knew better) then turned to MY husband (who is a sucker to any female asking for his help) and ended up helping her get up there...then promptly split to go where his buddy was...good job dear!!! Poor Donna about had a panic attack because she didn't realize that there aren't any "walls" built, it's only open wall studs and from her eye level to where I was down below...a good 15+ feet...YIKES!!! She then settles down and proclaims "I cannot come down on my own" So I did the only thing a good friend who is even more terrified of heights than she is could do. I tossed a broom, dustpan and roll of heavy duty trash bags and hollered "well since you can't come down, can you tidy things up there some?" What would you do? I somehow don't believe she was impressed, but she didn't want to just sit up there so off she went about sweeping up sawdust and wood chunks and then when she had a trash bag full, proceed to drop the darn thing down to me to deal with...lol I just love her to pieces...she's a good egg! Oh and eventually my poor hubby did come over and help her get started back down to the main level.

Yep this Labor Day went by rather quickly...

It's a good day

It's always a good day when you can get "stuff done". Today is my "friday" although it's only Thursday. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day but I won't care one bit...tomorrow is my day off and I need it badly!

So, with that said, I've managed to get a good bit accomplished at my day job and get to go home and deal with a mountain of stuff that needs done at home plus take my adorable little mother to see her family doc and go and see if our church school can afford to print a cookbook.

Thank you Lord for a good day! Can I have another one tomorrow too please?!?! ;)

No more porch

What am I referring to you are no doubt wondering.

Up until yesterday, we (my hubby and I) had a porch within our house. He and a friend tore it off so he can finish putting in the floor in our house. For those of you that think that sounds totally absurd, put aside your normal way of thinking and take a little trip with me.

Three years ago, my husband began building our new house. While this sounds wonderfully exciting, it does have it's interesting twists and turns. Mainly because he is building our new house...around our old house. And up until yesterday, I have had a porch in what will eventually become my living room! (to see photo's of what I'm talking about, after tonight (hopefully) I will post some "before" and "after" photo's and they will be over at http://toadhillmanor.fotopic.net )

So, now instead of having a lovely porch in my house, I have (for a while) a fairly large hole where my livingroom will be.

I personally could NOT be more pleased! I honestly didn't think this day was even in sight until next year so I've been "hampster danc'n" all last evening and still feeling it (the happiness) this morning!

OSB and Dining Room Studs

Ok...thought I'd title this something that would grab your attention...did it? The "studs" part mebbe? lol

Sorry...what it SHOULD have said was "DH finished laying the new OSB plywood subfloor and starting putting up the Dinning Room Studs"...now seriously would you have even give this post a 2nd look if that was what I put in the subject line? Doubtful! lol

Anyways, we had a very good weekend and got a fair amount accomplished. However, I am just a wee bit busy right now and can only direct you to go view the photo's I've posted on my photo site: http://toadhillmanor.fotopic.net

You might want to give them a while tho. The good folks at Fotopic hadn't "approved" them yet but hopefully an an hour or so, they will be there for your view pleasure!

Insurance and Assurance

My church's basement has been flooded three times since May. We did file a claim with the insurance carrier that our conference has signed up with and the adjuster has been to the church to view the "damage" but that was right after the first flooding.


We discovered that we got hit the 2nd time around the 19th of June, this was the first weekend of our conference's Camp Meeting but there was little point in contacting the insurance since we already had a claim on file and the damage was pretty much the same as before (just more of it cos there was a hearty deluge of rain that came in). Then our last episode was a couple weeks ago (around the July 4 holiday I believe). Same old, same old...water, water everywhere (and some mud and grit...yucky!)


Those of us that are trying to gear up for our VBS program the end of July have been querying my DH as to when (or if) we are to get our claim approved so we can get cracking on ripping up the old damaged/soiled flooring and installing new AND fixing the drainage problems that seem to be at the root of this problem. My DH had tried several times to contact the adjuster and see if he could tell him anything and never got a call back.

Oh and the damage location? Where the babies and toddlers will be hanging out. See why we've been trying to get something moving on this?

So I decided to "grab the bull by the horns" so to speak and contacted our conference treasurer (who hooked us up with the new insurance company). He advised we contact the main office of the insurance carrier and gave me their info. I gave all this to my DH and he also spoke with the gentleman that has been working on getting the drainage issues resolved outside the church.

DH then contacts insurance company and finds out they cut a check back in June! I was aghast! All this time...sigh...seemingly WASTED when we could have been fixing the problem in a timely fashion...DOUBLE SIGH...


After some further checking, seems conference "secretary" types didn't know "what do with that" (check) and just put it in the treasurer's inbox...RIGHT. They've never seen a check for an insurance claim! I would be curious to find out if it didn't have some kind of identifying mark on it pointing it our particular church location.


It really kind of irks me (being that I is one of those "secretary types" in my working profession) that the clerical staff always gets sacrificed when the (ahem) "professionals" are in the hot seat! I know both these ladies and they are sharp cookies! I know one of them would let this guy know in a heartbeat what her thoughts were concerning his pointing towards the clerical staff in this manner.

So now with barely little over a week, we begin to get ready for VBS...please pray for our little group and that we can get this behind us and have a totally fantasticly wonderful VBS!

Hebrews 6:11, 12
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end. That you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Listening to HDRadio

My mother loves me. For this I am very blessed. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed when I try to be her caregiver because sometimes taking care of older parents can be horrendous.

My mother suffers with "age related" macular degeneration and basically has lost all but 11% of the vision in her left eye but still has 20/30 vision in her right eye. Technically her retina specialist says she could drive but she hasn't decided if that is a challenge she's ready for yet. To which I secretly rejoice because I would prolly have already died a 1000 deaths just knowing she's "out and about" on Rt. 19 (major highway we must travel to get from "here" to "there"). So she relies on me to take her places and I have NO problem with that.

She still has a car, pays insurance on it, never drives it. Complains EVERY winter that the battery MUST be shot because, the car won't start...sigh...so last year my husband and I decided to see if she'd let me drive her car (when gas was over $4/gal, this car still gets amazing mileage to be a 1995 model!) to work. She was elated! She did want our mechanic to look it over just in case there was a problem, didn't want me getting stranded (told ya I was very blessed!). That was accomplished so I go ahead and dropped my minivan off and got into this "low to the ground" Mazda 626 that is painted the most hidious colour of green I've ever seen (it's so old the clear coat finish has peeled off the hood).

I drove that little car all over the place last summer and it didn't take me very long to realize that my beloved daddy had worn out the radio. Honestly I think I could have sat directly next to a radio antenna and gotten static! And with building a house, we had no money for a new radio. Thankfully I did have an "XM" satellite radio I could use but even that got old, I wanted to listen to my "morning commute" FM station and missed it terribly.

So this spring when the topic came up ( and yes Mom just knew the battery was shot and would have to be replaced (it didn't)) and Mom ask if I was going to drive her car this summer (can't drive it in the winter, roads demand AWD or 4WD) I settled into my "XM" routine. I became an avid "Oprah Radio" fan during the month of May and most of June. But I still really, REALLY missed my morning FM station.

One day, I did something totally out of the ordinary, I actually perused a "buy.com" email and found a HDRadio WITH ANTENNAs for under $40!!! I immediately shot an email to my hubby asking if we could at all possible swing this expense and knowing how desperate I had been for my FM station (that btw, had converted to HDRadio) he said we could.

Today, with the help of coworkers, I hooked that little radio in and...am in FM heaven...

I can't WAIT til tomorrow morning...

Watching the grass grow

Today I decided it was time to blog about "liv'n at the Manor".

As I pulled into our driveway, I was greeted with decently high grass that screamed to be mowed. However, I had already spoke to my husband (aren't cell phones wonderful?!?!) and he will be stuck in front of his computer working his little hiney off all evening. I have the dubious task of putting the trash together for him to take out in the morning PLUS putting away about 4 loads of clothes...yay me! So, alas, our grass will have to grow another day (more likely 2 or 3 more days) before either of us can get to it.

DH has been working very hard on replacing the flooring in our home building project. This was due to the initial "osb" he put down was before we had a roof overhead and it endured nearly 2 years of rain/snow/sun/etc and deteriorated to the point it needed to be replaced. He had hoped to finish the rest of it tonight but is stuck doing his "other" job.

So here I is...watching the grass grow...and blogging about it! :)