Happy Birthday to Me

1970

6 years old

Well another year has come. The big 44. I would like to say that I was always like the little lady I was seen in the left pic but deep in my heart I was a tomboy. Really can't see the bruises & scabs on my knee's & legs here but they are there. The right side pic is really me...the mouth always open, talking & laughing. Ask any of my family! Well you better not you could find out more than you want too.

I had just turned 6 (in 1970) in the photo's & my mom took me out to have my hair done & get a new dress. I felt so pretty, prim & proper. I don't remember much of the day. Just feeling special is all. Later in the day she took me back to my dad's studio to have a photo shoot. My dad was a photographer & owned the photo studio up town & I was always having my picture took but this time I was cleaned & spit shined.

Years have gone by, many years, things have changed, the studio & my dad are gone, the dress long gone, but the little girl & smile are still with me. Many many happy memories remain. That is what is important.

My mom even had my photo make it in a magazine.

How sweet is that?

Mind of a six year old

About one of my favorite jokes of all time!

One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of the

Three Little Pigs to her class.

She came to the part of the story where the first pig was trying to

accumulate the building materials for his home.

She read, "...And so the pig went up to the man with the wheelbarrow

full of straw and said, 'Pardon me sir, but may I have some

of that straw to build my house?'"

The teacher paused then asked the class,

"And what do you think that man said?"

One little boy raised his hand and said,

"I think he said 'Holy moley! A talking pig!'"

The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

Humane Society

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” Mahatma Gandhi
Just had to let you know of another volunteer opportunity I have found. Here in the Tupelo area we have a Lee County Humane Society. About 2 years ago I was asked if I would foster animals that came into the shelter. I ask a few questions & brought my first cat home to keep her until she delivered her kittens. It did not go well. She had miscarried but the kittens stayed in her body & she developed an infection & had to be put to sleep. Wow, not the way I thought that would go. Immediatly I fostered a little pregnant feist dog. (All this time I had my 2 big dogs & a cat of my own.) She (Becky) proceeded along & got HUGE. Late one night she delivered 6 beautiful pups. We kept them until they were weaned & they were handed back over to the shelter. Sad moment. The last I heard is mom & pups were all adopted out to good homes. Too much was going on here at home & I didn't do any more fostering after that. I am the type person that has to be busy or I go crazy here at home.......remember----I don't like housework.

I still had the shelter heavy on my mind. I called to see what else I could do. Numerous things I was told. Yesterday (Thursday) I went to the shelter & took about 20 of the puppies outside for exercise. Not at one time. I am not that brave. I had so much fun. The shelter has a large fenced lot in back. While I had the pups outside to run around it gave the workers inside a chance to clean the one room & cages. I have promised the shelter I will come back at least once a week & take the pups out to play. If you have a shelter in your town.....call them. You would not believe the help they need.

Tomorrow is to be a fun day. Tractor Supply Company is letting the shelter set up to adopt dogs & cats out. It should be a great event. The shelter changed management in the last year or so & the euthanasia of animals has dropped dramatically. Please I will now turn into an AD. "Please have your pets spayed or neutered."

I will let you know how adoptions went.

http://tupelo-leehumane.org/

Our Blessing

I keep promising to put our blessing on here about how we came about our land we bought a little over a year ago.

Well....we had been praying for quite some time to move out of the subdivision life. When our daughter was home & was the only child, living in subdivisions seem to fit our lifestyle then. Having 2 boys at home now we have wanted to give our children a bit of the country life. They have 4-wheelers, bows & arrows, sling shots, 22 rifles, shotguns & a few other things. Well walking out in your front yard in a subdivision with your 22 rifle or sling shot is not real possible. Little boys with guns & neighbors windows should not be used in the same sentence. Trying to find a house with land could be done but nothing just grabbed us. We would have to sell our house then hope the one we found would not sell in the mean time.

A year ago last Christmas my husband picked up the Sunday paper after church, read through the real estate section & found an ad for land. In bold black letters read "60 ACRES" with a description of the land (on a 55 acre lake front). Well we had thought of maybe 10 to 15 acres but not 60. That is an awful lot of land. All we can hear ringing in our ears is the sound a cash register makes. You know, cha ching, cha ching, cha ching. Land around the Tupelo area has jumped in price to the millions due to the Toyota Plant coming in the next county over. Well my husband called on it anyway & it sounded pretty good. He went the next day on Monday to look at lunch time, called me & said I had to see it. I looked & fell in love. We put a contract & money down on it on that Wednesday & closed with an attorney a week & a half later. How did we do it? We didn't! The Lord did it. We had prayed so much for something to happen. What seemed like an eternity at times. Are we building yet? No. Not yet. We have to sell our house first. There is always a reason for everything. God's timing is well....his timing. At times I want to scream "come on move me already". He will. I started wondering just how specific was I in my prayer. Maybe I should have mentioned I want to live on that land. Anyways he knows. We may never get to live there but for now he has us where we need to be.

Please, when you are saying your prayers be sure to include in them to send us a buyer for our house. We hope to get it back on the market next week.

Be sure & visit my YouTube page to see the video's I have shot of the land.

http://www.youtube.com/KPPatty

Food to sick

You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others - something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.

Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)
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Well school starts back again tomorrow from Easter break. I am not heartbroken. Sorry but I can only take so much of my 2 loud boys at home for so long.
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After a quick trip to Wally World to pick up a few things I am headed home to cook up some things for someone in my Sunday School Class. Just one of the many things about my class I love is when someone needs care our class is there to help. We have a great group of ladies.

Who are you meme?

I have been tagged by my neice Denise over at http://shortybearsplace.blogspot.com/ for the who are you meme.
Here are the rules:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player than tags 5 people and posts their names, then leaves a comment on those five blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? Living in Georgia outside of Atlanta
2) Five Things on my to-do list today. Do some laundry, do some fix-it things around the house, sell my house
3) Five Snacks I enjoy - popcorn, chocolate, nutty bars, chocolate, cheese sticks, chocolate
4) Five Things I would do if I were a billionaire - Travel & live in Paris part of the time, donate to charities, my church, & do some secret donating to surprise people
5) Five of my bad habits - I bite/chew my nails & tend to yell when I get reallllly angry
6) Five places I have lived - Martinsville, VA & Kinston & Lumberton, NC & Newnan, GA & Scottsboro, AL
7) Five Jobs that I have had- Sewn in a plant, Real Estate agent, Insurance Agent, Production Scheduler for window Company, Temp employee, mother

I tag anyone who would like to do this meme.

Happy Easter 2008

I hope everyone had a great Easter. We went to church for great services & came home to see if the Easter bunny left any eggs. He has gone plastic these days. I guess he seen it takes alot of time boiling, dying, drying & keeping them hid until the next day. Plus having dye to have to wear off for the fingers & hands for a few days. Not that I would know that. ;-)

The boys wore their Easter outfits without alot of fussing this morning. They look pretty handsome all spiffed up. The crazy weather here in the south has had it turn cold today. Pretty outside but cold here in Mississippi.

Stupid Cat

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat. ~Ellen Perry Berkeley

In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this. ~Terry Pratchett

What would you go through for a family pet?


My whole time outside I am repeating to myself "stupid cat stupid cat stupid cat". We have been so busy getting the house spruced up to get it back on the market to sell. I had been out back on the patio pressure washing. Being in & out of the house I had left the patio door open. Well I should have known my old cat would want to venture out (again). Bad weather was coming through last night & I was out for about 2 1/2 hours yelling kitty kitty kitty, kitty kitty kitty. I looked at all his usual places he likes to get outside. Now this is no spring chicken of a cat. He will celebrate his 16th b'day next month. He is a Long Haired Silver Shaded Persian. My husband really now has a great hatred of this cat since he has ruined so much of our furniture. The cat's nickname is D.C. (damn cat). But lo & behold he is also out walking the yard yelling for this cat. We have had him since he was 6 months old. A part of our family. Well the thunder clouds that had rolled in let lose, the rain started & so did the thunder & lightening. My poor cat. Out in the elements. This time is sure to get him. After much looking being tired got the best of me. I went to bed. Around 1:30 after tossing & turning I got up looked on the patio & guess who was sitting at the side cleaning himself. D.C. Stupid cat stupid cat stupid cat. I was worried sick. Just a joy night for him. I brought him in, dried him off, gave him lots of kisses & gave him a good talking to & he promised to never do it again. Right. Listen for me to be out again yelling in the night for him. Why do we love our pets so much?


After scolding one's cat one looks into its face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word. And has filed it for reference. ~Charlotte Gray

Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later. ~Mary Bly

Play Time

Usually our family play time consist of driving to our land. My husband took "The Boys", aka our kids, fishing today. They are seen waiting patiently while he ready's the rod & reels. After trolling around a bit, getting a few nibbles & Chris catching one pretty big bass they headed for shore for "The Boys" to do what they came for.......

Get down & dirty......It ain't real 4 wheeling if you don't get a bit of mud on ya'...

Sunny Sunday

"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious."

- Brendan Gill

What do you do on a gorgous sunny Sunday afternoon?

Go to your land & play. Here is a few pictures of our great day. The first thing that went up was a tire swing after we first bought. The best outside activity. Throwing snowballs in the back yard one day & playing in long sleeve shirts the next. Great southern weather.

Yes, the grown up on the swing is me & pushing is my husband. The secret to life is to stay young & have lots of fun.

SNOW IN MISSISSIPPI

Well it is snowing here in north Mississippi. The forecast predicts 1 to 2 inches. If it is snowing in Mississippi/The South then "H E double hockey sticks" must have frozen over or because Ex-President Bill Clinton is in Tupelo tonight. The south does not get snow. My mom is convinced the world is coming to an end because of all the freaky things that happen (not Bill). It sure is pretty coming down but my boys are about to have heart attacks if we do not get to go to the movies tonight. My husband is out of town so I have dates with the 2 most handsome boys on earth. "My boys". After we moved from VA several years ago we got rid of ALL the snow equipment. So if we get snowed in come look for me in a few days if I am not heard from...... ;-(

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Checked my e-mail & had this in my box. I have always loved this poem.

The Poem

I knelt to pray but not for long, I had too much to do.

I had to hurry and get to work For bills would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer, And jumped up off my knees.

My Christian duty was now done My soul could rest at ease.....

All day long I had no time To spread a word of cheer

No time to speak of Christ to friends, They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

No time, no time, too much to do, That was my constant cry,

No time to give to souls in need

But at last the time, the time to die

I went before the Lord, I came, I stood with downcast eyes.

For in his hands God! held a book; It was the book of life.

God looked into his book and said 'Your name I cannot find

I once was going to write it down... But never found the time!

Do you love doing housework?

Do you love doing housework? I DON'T.


I would rather be outside doing something, playing at our land we own, volunteering somewhere, at a friends house helping them with Internet/computer, being at bible study on Wednesday mornings, or planning my craft & mission lesson for the kindergartners that I teach on Wednesday nights. Well I did all the above & my house is still a wreck. I hate housework. Did I mention that already? Isn't there something about idle hands in the Bible? Well I don't have them.


Last week I was at the courthouse serving for our church Courthouse Ministry. Being out of the house, serving coffee & cookies & getting to talk about my God to people. Wow, that ministry is made for me. Hey is that why they picked me? I believe so. I serve with a great group of people. P.T. got me started & she has been a great encouragement. Something we all need when things seem to get us down.


I bought a new toy for myself. The picture is here to the side. I am a tomboy at heart. A southern girl with a chainsaw. I told my chainsaw story at the courthouse. It is hard to believe when I am standing there dressed somewhat nice, nails & hair done & makeup on that I love my new chainsaw. Since the leaves are off the trees & the weather was somewhat nice I took advantage of that & went out through our woods cutting a walking trail & making the boys a new 4 wheeler trail. My mom hates for me to be back in the woods by myself but would you mess with a sweaty lady with a chain saw in her hand? I think not.



I went to a friends house a couple of days ago to help her get her computer back up running right. She is really new at it but doing great. Everyone needs encouragement. I love helping people figure things out. I have been there & I know how it is. Thank goodness for jobs I have had with computers involved. That helps a great deal. I am no expert but the basics I can handle. My 63 year old mother got a computer & now she is like a pro. She doesn't know everything but enough to keep her up to date with the computer age. I am real proud of her. I love you mommie. She even has a digital camera that she sleeps with....just kidding but she does take it everywhere. She is just a little shooting pro now.



I just finished my latest bible study this morning. "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp. That guy is great. Now my kids will be perfect angels. If you believe that I have a bridge I want to sell you in Africa. But in all seriousness he is a great man. He had lots of useful info to try & do. How to really "talk" to your kids & make it stick. How to build a foundation for your children to carry them into adulthood. A must read. My next study starts after Spring break. A Beth Moore study called "Stepping Up" A Journey through the Psalms of Ascent. I can hardly wait. I have never took one of hers that I disliked. She has a true gift from God to teach. Her blog is terrific. http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/ Such a funny lady. I am so blessed to have such a devoted church that really reaches out to its members & the community. Rather intimidating to some from the road but if only they would walk through our doors....wow. Always smiling faces to greet them & help them get to where they need to be in our hallways.



Well finally to finish off my blog entry. My Wednesday night kindergartners. I had an Easter craft project tonight that I thought may be over their heads but it was great. An Easter pop up card. We had a piece of paper with the words "He Has Risen" on it. I asked the general question "Could anyone read it"? Some came close but the risen word got most of them. The next question "What does it mean"? Well one little 6 year old spoke up & said it means Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified. Tears in my eyes........it was MY 6 year old. The child that came from my body. Wow...such a proud moment. Wow... could this church thing be getting through to them.....YOU BET. He has such an understanding for Christ & will make a Godly man. I can see how these little 5 & 6 year old seem a bit wild at times but all of a sudden they answer with the correct words. Not just guessing but actually knowing. I am totally amazed at the things they know. To lay my head down at night & know where my children's eternity home will be.



That is amazing. Those are God moments.

Well another southern day tomorrow. Will I do housework? We'll see. Well maybe....my husband will be back from a business trip & I have to let him think how hard I worked for days on end here. Our secret.... ;-)