Friends are so great to have. Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold! Charlie Flowers is gold. Sid had been working at Delta Chevrolet since 1976 and Charlie started in 1982. Sid would come home from work and talk about his friend "Maynard" and finally I got to meet "Maynard"! Ha, don't know where in the world that came from but Maynard was Charlie and we stopped by Charlie's house in Winona. Or, should I say where Charlie's house was going to be? Charlie and Patty lived in a tiny little camper on the lot where they were building their house. When I say tiny, I mean minuscule! It made Jon's camper seem like a mansion in comparison. We had not been married very long, but Charlie and Patty had been married 3 years. They got married when he was 19 and she was 16. Charlie was in the Air Force and Patty was still in high school. They lived on base in Arkansas until Charlie's term was up and then they moved back to Winona where they were both from. Charlie worked on building loads for the helicopters to drop and they used a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood, which they cut off part of it to use for the loads. Charlie saved the scraps, and eventually used them on his house. Patty drew up the plans for the house and Charlie built it himself. The more we were around them the more we liked them. We would go out almost every weekend to eat somewhere and hang out at each others' homes. WE had the first child and Charlie fell in love with liz. He and Sid built a back porch on our house just in time for her first birthday and we had the party right there on the porch. He built her a toy box and a cute little bench with hearts cut in it. Jon came along next and I remember going to Pancho's and eating tons of their hot salsa. Charlie and Patty were there! WE were there when CJ was born! CJ and Jon grew up together and are still best friends to this day. CJ is a lot like his dad in that he would give you the shirt off his back and help you in any way possible. As life happened and our lives grew busier, we still are great friends, but don't see each other as much. Charlie and CJ stopped by this afternoon to pick up some parts that Jon ordered for him. They found Sid and Jon down at Sid's mother's house cutting up firewood. Charlie grabbed a saw and went to cutting and CJ grabbed the maul and went to splitting. Patrick and I stacked wood, Jon split wood with the splitter and Sid cut up a log with another saw. Even though he had worked all day, he stopped and helped us and Sid would do the same for Charlie. Charlie Flowers is indeed gold.

guess what we had for dessert?????? YES! Sugar free Java Chillers! WE made them with espresso and blue bell low fat sugar free vanilla ice cream. Patrick put chocolate and caramel syrup in his. It was yummy! I cooked a pork loin with sweet potatoes and mustard greens for supper. The boys finally finished cutting wood for today. Or, should I say, they ran out of daylight? Sid is off this week and traditionally this is his annual woodcutting week. Since we heat with wood, we have to have plenty for the winter. We got a little rain today, supposed to have a little more tonight. MC told me today that the fire that we saw on the hill east of town a couple of weeks ago burned down a couple of barns. That was pre-burn ban.

Patrick got his first 9 weeks report card yesterday. All A's! Quite an accomplishment especially for his honors classes. I am so glad that he does well in school and CARES! He even brought up his band grade to an "A"! His tuning slide was stuck tight and we could not get the thing loose. We soaked the trumpet in warm water for an hour, used penetrating oil. Carefully tapped it with a hammer. Still wouldn't budge. I even went to Dollar General and bought some PB Blaster. Jon said if that wouldn't budge it, nothing would. About the time Sid and I were playing tug of war with it, CJ called for Jon and Sid asked if he had ever had a similar problem with his horn. CJ said he remembered Charlie and a hammer! SCARY! Well, Sid wouldn't let CJ talk to Jon until he talked to Charlie first. Charlie told Sid what he did. He took a block of wood and set it on the slide bar and hit the wood block with the hammer. It finally budged. We got that booger out and Patrick slicked it up and regreased it. This particular slide doesn't move much. Only when you tune the horn, so We decided that it would be a good thing to clean and grease it a little more regularly.

Last week was crazy busy. Homecoming week which is always so much fun had us going in many different directions. Had a blast! Have really enjoyed seeing Patrick march with the high school band. They have gotten better and better every week. I am so proud of them.

I was remiss in my walking last week. Last night I walked while the P-man was at "I am Second". It really felt good. I meant to go again tonight, but it rained! Oh well, there's always tomorrow after church.

Went to First Baptist's judgment house Sunday night. I really thought it was good. There were 59 professions of faith Sunday night alone. I hope they were all sincere..... It was all worth it.

Tomorrow I am cooking chicken and dumplings, sweet and sour green beans, cornbread and caramel cake! Hope it turns out good. We have been so slow this week. I am supposed to mark the grocery list online through sams tomorrow. I've never done it, so this should be interesting. Betty said she would be in Salt Lake City tomorrow and would call me. wow.

Well, I must go for now. Poor sid is in the bed. Poor baby got up with me this morning and has been working steadily all day.

weird science

Today I am experimenting. My friend Pam's birthday is this Thursday and she like a lot of us are watching carbs! So...... I decided to try to make a sugar free peanut butter cheesecake. I used fat free philly cream cheese, smuckers all natural peanut butter, eggs, and truvia for sweetness. The batter wasn't as runny as my regular cheesecake, but the sugar tends to melt the cream cheese for some reason. I tasted the batter and it tasted pretty good. Not as sweet as a regular cheesecake, but then again, no sugar. It is in the oven now, so I hope that it will come out alright. If it works, I may branch out and try other flavors. Wish me luck!

AS soon as that cheesecake comes out of the oven, I am going for a walk. I have to be back by 7:00 because NCIS is coming on and it is the only show that I love. Oh, I guess I'd better cook something for supper, too! I came in from getting Patrick and cooked myself a couple of eggs. I was so hungry and I had to have something. I have ground chuck thawed, but Patrick ate a burger this afternoon for a snack. He hates meatloaf, so that's out. Maybe hamburger steak. Sounds pretty good to me. I still have lima beans and string beans in the fridge or I could bake them a potato. Jon is helping his friend Anthony by welding something for him. motor mounts?

Liz called and was hyper! She was on her way to work and had to tell me a little about their bachelorette weekend in NOLA. She said NOLA was very neat and there were lots of shops to go in and lots to see. Of course she did mention Pat O'Brien's, too! LOL I've never been there, but she seems to think that Sid and I would enjoy a weekend there sometime.

had to water my poor mustard greens this afternoon. I managed to get them up, but there has been absolutely no rain in weeks so I have been sprinkling them. I am ready to eat a mess of greens and sweet potatoes!

Beautiful day, loving the cooler temps. It was 34 this morning!

What a great weekend

It was a great weekend. Even though I had to work, it was great. the weather was cooler and we were prepared for Pilgrimage. Friday didn't go as smoothly as Saturday, but then again, Mary Courtney wasn't there due to a fever blister on her cornea. OOH, how painful that must be. She was able to come on Saturday and it was great. The only thing we ran out of was Taco soup. I thought 5 gallons would be enough, but next year, we must do 10! Our Bible verse for the weekend was 1 Peter 4:9, "offer hospitality to one another without grumbling"! Great verse!

Friday night the poor Tigers were just annihilated by Aberdeen. It was pitiful. The last home game before homecoming. Next week is Mooreville at Mooreville. The band has contest on Saturday 10/9 in Grenada. I am looking forward to watching them perform their most awesome halftime show. Hope they get a superior rating!

Have been walking as much as possible. Tonight the boys and I went a couple of miles. Jon ran 1 and walked 1. Patrick ran 2 and I walked 2. Poor Jon was pitiful! I thought we were going to have to go get the truck and come back for him!

I had the day off today. It was absolutely wonderful. I slept late, went to the grocery store and spent time with Sidney. Last sunday afternoon we went riding, just the 2 of us! fun.

Not much else new happening here, just same old grind. staying busy keeping up with Patrick's activities, church, work, and whatever.

Loving this fall weather. Looking forward to the weekend, Hoping for good cool weather to sit around the fire pit!