Tuesday's Can you guess what this is?

“A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.”
~ Howard Thurman

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it, and Virtue is doing it”
~ David Starr Jordan

"If you don't want anyone to know it. don't do it!" ~ Chinese Proverb


Hi Friends and everyone else who might be here sneaking around! Today is Tuesday and I wonder if you can tell me what My picture is of today? Can you tell me what it is called? Can you tell me what it is used for? Do you have one of these?

I don't have one myself but I enjoyed the one my Mama had when I was a little girl. I didn't know what it was.. but I was sure that it was something special.. It is made of clear glass and has holes in it. I would set my Bright colored cat eye marbles on it to display my favorite ones. It was the perfect size for the small sample lipsticks that the Watkins woman would sometimes give to us from the trunk of her car when she came to sell flavoring and spices to Mama. I would stand them in the holes and sit it on my dresser until I used all of the tiny lipsticks. Reuben would use it as a paper weight in our closet office to hold down important papers that he kept straight for me. We didn't know what it was back then.. we didn't know what it was for.. We would hold it up to the sunlight and squint as the rainbow colors burst from the holes.. We didn't know what it was..but it was a wonderful thing.. what ever it was.. I tried wearing it around my neck with a red ribbon pulled through one of the holes but that soon made my neck tired and I took it off and put it back into my office for safe keeping. I'm not sure when the wonderful glass beauty got away from me. I guess when I got married it got left behind in my room. I saw it at Mama's house many times over the years... She told me what it really was and what it was used for.. But it was hers and she wouldn't give it to me... I'm pretty sure it belonged to her Mother before her... I would love to know where Mama's are now.... They aren't where she thought they were.. She actually had two of them.. the one that I kept hidden for years and the other one... a smaller one... Maybe some of my siblings has it now and don't realize that it should be here with me... I still have marbles to display and important papers to hold down... I gave up on lipstick years ago but I think I might be able to wear it on a new red ribbon at least for a little while. I could hold it up to the sun and Mason and I could squint as the rainbow of colors burst from the holes... I might even use it for what it really is intended to be used for..

It is NOT a marble display stand.. Nor a paper weight... It is NOT a glass bench for a Barbie doll Nor a thing to be worn about the neck with a red ribbon.. It was NEVER meant to hold Lipsticks in bold colors and it was never any of the million things Reuben and I pretended it was.
It is actually a simple and useful thing. Maybe YOU know what it is.. Maybe you know what it is called.. Maybe you even know where Mama's are? Please give it a guess.. Maybe you can be the one to Know what today's item is! Please leave me a comment with your guess and I'll comment tomorrow with the correct answer... I'll bet someone out there knows what it is... Is that someone you??? Have a great day!
Patsy

Friday's Advice for the "Kids"!

"We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." ~ Elwyn Brooks White

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." ~ John Benfield

“Words– so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them!”
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Happy Day to you! Today is Friday once again and I will be giving some advice to the "kids" ...
Of course I have been told that everyone just has the best time laughing at my advice.. I am happy that you get a chuckle from my words of wisdom.. If they make you laugh you will remember them.. Hopefully you will recall my words when you need them most!

1:) Find something you really enjoy doing and stick with it. Learn everything you can about it.. and after ten years or so you can't help but become good at it and will be proud of yourself for it! ~
Life isn't all about work and earning money.. find time to do things you enjoy doing just for the fun of it.. then teach yourself all there is to know about it so that even if you do take a hundred years to actually become good at it you will at least look smart when you are talking about it to those who had a natural talent for it all along...

2:) Never wear polka dot underwear under white shorts!~ also never wear a black bra under a white blouse and NO! a sports bra does not count as a shirt~ not in this town ever and if it counts where you came from then you should hurry back there right way.... And please don't argue with old ladies about this bra thing either.. we were wearing a bra before you were a gleam in your Daddy's evil eye... we most likely have a couple just like the one you are trying to pass off as a shirt... so go put on a shirt and hush...

3:) Adults will ask you questions that you would be better off not answering! They will throw them out like candy when they are angry.. Just allow them to rant and rave.. Bite your tongue if you have too.. ~ One of my favorites was "Do I look stupid?" or " Do you think I am crazy?" Another one that was hard not to ever answer was " Do you think I lost my mind?" Thankfully my cousin Sheron warned me about these questions when I was real young. I never ever said out loud... "actually ranting like that you don't look all that smart.." I think we kinda loose ourselves when we get old and mad at the same time.. It doesn't pay to piss off old people.. We will get to Heaven first and everyone knows that the first one to tell their story has an advantage! Even though I tell on them every night in my prayers....I am keeping a notebook with all the things my kids have done wrote down so when I get there I won't have forgotten anything... Now??? Where did I put my notebook?!

4:) Do not ask me or anyone else " Does this make me look fat?"~ You know if something makes you look fat. If you have to ask that then go in yonder and take that ugly frock off and put on something that fits.. It will only make you look fat if you are FAT! If you ask me that I am going to hurt your feelings and tell you that Yes it does indeed make you look fat..
If you think you need to ask that then you know that it doesn't look good on you.. Unless of course you are fishing for compliments.... Don't try that with me either.. If you weigh ninety pounds soaking wet and just want to hear me say that you are skinny then you better try again..
I once told a girl no you aren't fat but you are ugly in that ugly dress.. Try your clothes on before you pay your hard earned money for them.. then put them on and brush your hair and let's go already.. If I have to coach you on what makes you look fat we'll never get to where ever we are going on time.. I hate to be late...

5:) Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.~ Fresh air is good for you.. If it's raining run through a puddle.. Make a splash.. Go for a walk looking for natures beauties. Look in places you wouldn't expect to see a miracle. Dave recently found a tiny birds nest woven through a broken flower pot that we had left laying in an old shopping cart..

~Yes! I have a shopping cart.. in fact I have two.. NO! I didn't steal them from the supermarket. One of Mine is an antque one that I actually found in the woods along with an antique wooden wine barrel and Paid my son a dollar to push it home along the smooth side of the road while I walked home through the woods. I was afraid the barrel would fall oand get messed up unless it was pushed along a smooth surface... I had to call a banker and ask for his junk that we found plundering in his woods.. I certainly didn't want my Barrel to get broken Now did I??~

Finally I have this posting done.. we had a storm that didn't think I should be on-line tonight... But I see that I am more stubborn than a thunderstorm.. I hope today was a good day for you!
Take time everyday to enjoy yourself.. let anger go.. Life is too short to waste even a minute of it... Have a great day!!
Patsy

It's Thursday! Today you get three!

"Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river." ~ Cordell Hull

"He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses." ~ Horace, 65 - 8 BC

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

1:) ~ a thought~ a memory~~~ Happy Thursday! At least I hope today brought you happiness. It has been extremely hot here today. You know that sweltering kind of hot that makes you want to find a slow moving; deep; Icy cold river and jump in head first. Then after a loud squeal that says.." Man this water is cold!!!"... Just relax and float along with the current for a while until you cool off. You will need a few things to do this though.. an inner tube if you can't swim... something to drink.. a six pack of coke ties just fine to the inner tube... something to eat if you plan to stay very long or if you are bringing the young uns. You might want some towels too and in some cases even a change of clothes. It Pays to have at least one Gator watcher.. That is the guy that stands on the shore and watches to be sure no alligators come your way...

~Dave and used to take turns pulling Gator watching duty when the kids were little. We'd pack up the kids and the fishing poles and a lunch... That was usually some sandwiches and what ever we had to drink in the fridge.. we might have some cheese puffs and some home made cookies or even a pound cake to take along too. The guys would dig bait out by the barn while me and Jenny got the food together.. Her job was to empty all the ice trays into the big old cooler while I poured cool-aid into empty drink bottles... We'd make everyone a couple of sandwiches and pack up towels for everyone.. Emily would get cold and shiver till her teeth chattered so she also had to have dry clothes and a shirt with long sleeves..


Pulling in to Little Hell I always scanned the crowd. We knew most of the folks there. They had all been there since sometime the night before.. Some even stayed down there almost every week-end during the summer... they even left their tents up the whole week sometimes... Lots of times someone would offer us a meal down there... I ate the best catfish stew I ever tasted down there on the bank of little hell..

~ But back to where I scanned the crowd ~ I was always on the look out for someone that was just a little too drunk or maybe a tiny bit ticked off. I didn't want to see anyone get hurt.. I had kids with me... Me and Dave almost always had at least one kid along.. They all loved Little Hell.... We would pick us out a spot and set the cooler down.. I would set myself down with some crochet and take the first watch for Gators. Dave would swim out to tread water under the big tree.. He would wait there under that big old leaning tree treading water and standing ( or treading) Gator watch while our children joined in the long line waiting to take their turn on the rope... Cooper was always the first to go... he'd walk up the tree trunk as far out as he could and then reach way out with his skinny little arms and swing and sway out over the water hanging on for dear life.. sometimes he would make three swings over Dave before he would let go.. he was always way out in the river and Dave would swim out and meet him as Cooper swam to him.. Emily was next and she would yell for Dave on her way down.. It was almost as if she just jumped from the tree... she would let go of the rope and yell "DAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE" as soon as her feet left the board nailed to the jumping off point! David would make a decent swing.. He didn't need Dave he told us once but we didn't listen and Dave was always there when he fell into the water.. Jenny would swing a few times and then come and sit by me.. I remember the day I realized she was growing up.. and yes... even away from me and her Daddy.... I think she was about thirteen then and so pretty....

I reckon it's the sweltering heat that makes one remember things like swimming in the river.. drinking from the flowing well there and not even caring if the icy water is clean.... I hope my children realize how lucky they were that we carried them to the river and that they had me watching for snakes and Gators and Dave there to catch them all as they fell... I realize that he and I were also Lucky to have them to share it with.. If not for them we might have been one of the ones people steered clear of.. the ones I looked for when I scanned the crowd.... The ones the Gators wouldn't eat... I am thankful for those times.. I might pack me up some cool-aid and a baloney sandwich and head down to the river any day now!

2:) a Haiku~ read carefully and think.. let me know what you think is going on in this haiku...
and No a Shepherd does not carry a WHITE CANE!

Summer Storm

white cane thump; thumping
he tries to outrun the rain~
I roll up my hose

written By: Patricia Sawyer
6-4-2009


3:) A Picture that I love!!!
























As I walked along behind Dave and His Only Aunt.... Aunt Ruth... I couldn't help but think how wonderfully Lucky I am to have a big family.. Dave hadn't seen Aunt Ruth in many many years and yet just look how alike they are.. Both with their hands shoved down in their pockets... walking in step.. talking quietly together as I tagged along behind them making secret pictures..

There ya go three things I have shared with you today.. three for Thursday! I hope you have enjoyed today's blog! I hope you had a great Thursday! Blessings to all!
Patsy

Wow I won an Award!

Wow I wasn't expecting to be awarded.. Thanks to
the Boomers from Ask Cherlock.com I am awed.
The rules for this award say that I should tell seven things I love
and then pass this award to seven Creative bloggers..
Here goes my seven things..

1:) Books- I have then everywhere.. I have shelves full and stacks in almost every room. I have read all of these I really need some new books!

2:) Animals~ I really love animals from my chickens and dogs to fish and wild creatures in the zoo. It's time for a trip to the zoo..

3:)Camping~ I really like camping. Most people think they might like to try it.. I love it.. I have even camped in my own home town park when the kids were younger. They love camping too.
Dave and I have both been itching for a camping trip.

4:) Music~ I love all music.. I have evn been known to dance a step or two if it's real good music.

5:) the Beach ~ I love to see the waves break across the sand. I love to search through the broken shells hoping to find the very perfect one....

6:) Coffee ~ I love coffee I drink it from morning till very late at night.. sometimes I carry a cup with me to bed!

7:) My family! I love my family.. my kids.. My husband.. My Mom... My siblings.. I love them all.. I can't even imagine life without one of them..

Now for the seven bloggers I am passing this on too... I have chosen the following people because I visit their blogs and love them too!

1~ http://margieandednasbasement.blogspot.com/
2~http://www.otilius.blogspot.com/
3~http://www.myheartvoice.com/
4~http://pjtangel.blogspot.com/
5~http://www.lisa-lisgoldsmemoirs.blogspot.com/
6~http://chillyscookin.blogspot.com/
7~http://hereandnow4angel.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for this award! I will try to always be Kreative!
Patsy

Welcome to Wednesday~ a day for Weirdness!

"Many people hear voices when no-one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing." ~ Meg Chittenden

"Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills." ~ Catherine of Siena

"The devil's voice is sweet to hear." ~Stephen King

Welcome to another batch of weird questions for Wednesday. I actually had to dig for these since the regular weird sight hasn't been up-dated today. It's kinda weird; they usually have plenty of questions.. some too weird even for me. I hope you enjoy today's weird questions and my equally weird answers.

1:) You are in the Witness Protection Program and must invent a new first, last, and middle name. What’s your new name? ~ Wow. can't I just use one of my old names.. No one knows My middle name anyway. How about I use the name I used to sign into clubs with when I was single? I like my name. I don't want a new name. Why am I hiding anyway. Did I see something at the hotel that I shouldn't have seen? Can I take my kids and Grand kids into hiding too? Is Dave allowed to go?I don't think I'm going either.. what if I don't like it where ever y'all put me? Wait now, can I have chickens there? OK.. OK.. OK.. alright already.. My new name is Emily Ann Cooper.. but I still don't want to go!

2:) You can press a button that will make any one person you choose explode. Who are you going to blow up? What a loaded question... just one person huh? I have a list that I will have to look over.. yes I actually have a list.. It's my @sh cutting list... it's pretty short too... I used to just jump right in.. But there was this promise I made to my Daddy about one of my children being an adult before I might have to go to jail.. All my children are grown now though.. Hmmm.. Just one person huh? Can I tie two together or three? Maybe I can lure the others close to the boom! Hurt their ears a little at least? I'll be honest with you.. I looked over the list and honestly I decided that blowing any of these people up would be way to kind and quick.. I'm weird that way I reckon.. I'd rather just keep their name on my list and one day when they cross me in just the right place and the right time.. I'll be on them like stink on a pile... They will wish I had blown them up... then again maybe I'll just leave them alone.. Daddy said what goes around comes around and if that's true I might even feel sorry for them some day.. in fact looking over the list I sorta feel sorry for them already.. But now if I can tie them all together somehow.. then the BOOM will be on!

3:) You meet a wizard in downtown Chicago. The wizard tells you he can make you more attractive if you pay him money. When you ask how the process works, the wizard points to a random stranger. The wizard says, “I will now make them a dollar more attractive.” He waves his magic wand. Ostensibly, this person does not change at all; as far as you can tell, nothing it different. But – somehow – this person is suddenly a little more appealing. The tangible difference is invisible to the naked eye, but you can’t deny that this person is vaguely sexier. This wizard has a weird rule, though – you can only pay him once. You can’t keep giving him money until you are satisfied. You can only pay him one lump sum up front. How much cash do you give the wizard?
~ This question is just weird.. Why am I in Chicago? Did I get stranded there again while flying somewhere? Am I sure this is a real wizard and not some street freak stealing my money? And anyway why would I think some stranger is sexier? Did I find him or her sexy to begin with? Who thinks up these questions? Can I just walk away from the wizard or will he then take away all my own "sexy?" Can I run from the wizard or will he wave his wand and bring me right back? I'm going to give the wizard five dollars.. That is enough to get him a drink if he is a street freak without breaking my pocket book and I'm already sexy enough.. much more and I'll be so sexy no one would dare to approach me.. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm in Chicago.... Maybe the wizard will just send me back home for free!

4:)Would you rather be able to hear any conversation or take back anything you say? ~First of all, I never speak without thinking. I learned a long time ago that you can't call back words. I try not to say hurtful and mean things. Only a very few times have I let something mean slip out and that was usually when some idiot made me madder than a hornet quicker than my mind could keep up. That doesn't happen to me often. I can say some things that people think is meant to hurt.. if the truth hurts then I am sorry that you were hurt.. Maybe you should work to change the truth.. I have seen people talking and thought to myself and sometimes even said to others; " I'd like to be a fly on that wall!" I wouldn't want to hear all conversations.. I don't think what others think of me is really any of my business. They are entitled to dislike me if they so choose. I won't care if they don't like me. I'm weird like that! I guess if I have to choose one I'd like to hear any conversation.. I sure hope I don't have to listen to boring stuff or worse; weird sexual conversations.. I'm looking for ear plugs right now!!! On second thought~ (are second thoughts allowed?) Maybe I'll just choose take back what ever I say.

5:) Have you ever played naked twister? ~I am sitting here in from of My own personal computer and just shivered at the thought of seeing anyone play twister naked... When I was ten I got a twister game for Christmas from "Uncle J" ( not his real name of course!). He gave us all games that year... Well except Jimmy... he gave Jimmy Lincoln Logs... He was too old for Lincoln logs I guess... Jimmy cursed and carried on.. anyway back to twister.. We all gathered in the living room... us kids and the grown ups and His fancy kids too. We were going to play twister. We spun the little thing and it said left foot green. and by the time it got to me and right foot blue there were foots and hands on every single dot. "Uncle J" said just stack them up and that's when My Daddy said .." that's enough of that twisting and stretching and rubbing and stacking up stuff.".. I looked at daddy and he was frowning over his glasses and I quickly folded up the dotted mat and put it and the spinner back in the box. I ran to my room and shoved the game on the closet shelf where it stayed until I got married. I left it there on that shelf and if someone else didn't take it then it was most likely still there when they pulled that trailer away a few years ago. When I got divorced I went to a party once and out came the twister game.. they weren't naked while I was there but they were making the game into something that made me want a shower..I'm pretty sure they got naked after I left.. Nope I have never played naked twister.. Don't you think it would be weird? Wouldn't stuff that isn't meant to be twisted get in the way? Wasn't twister designed for kids? Why is it that some people want to play a kids game naked.. there are so many weird people in the world!

Well there are five more weird questions for you to laugh at and enjoy with their weird answers too. I used to think that the world was a bright ans Sunny place.... the truth is that there are a lot of weird people in the world and almost all of us have some weird habits... yes even me! At least I don't play naked twister... I guess I shouldn't knock it without trying it so maybe I'll try to find a group to play at my house next week.... See I can be weird too.. I can just see me telling my kids I played naked twister.. I wonder if they have played.. I'm going to email them all and ask.. Now see what you have done with that weird question!!! Now I'm acting all weird and stuff.. That naked twister thing is going to cause me to have nightmares tonight! I'm thinking I'll go for a midnight swim and practice some of my twister moves in water.. Now how weird is that?? I hope you have enjoyed tonight's weird questions.. Have a wonderful weird Wednesday!
Patsy

Tuesday?! Ok What is it???

"Truth maybe stranger than fiction, but fiction is truer."
~ Frederic Raphael

"I write fiction because it's a way of making statements I can disown."
~ Tom Stoppard

"Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything."
~ Ivana Trump

"Get you facts first, and then you can distort 'em as much as you please. "
~ Mark Twain

Today's riddle is more of a why is it than a what is it. As you can see, it is a tree with a brick wall built inside of it. It is a live Oak tree. It is just one of many trees that have brick walls inside of them.
When my children first saw them they were frightened of them. Walking along you can see some that come to the ground like the ones pictured here and others that might be way up high in a tree. They really are a little scary to see being that they are all in the cemetery of some very old Church ruins. It also doesn't help that vandals tried to open all the above ground vaults many years ago and damaged most of them. So to be walking around and spot these trees near Vaults with tilted and broken tops is indeed the stuff you might expect to see in an old Horror film or read about in a murder in the dark mystery book. Cooper and his Friend even knocked and called out is anybody home on one of our stops there. We Love this place.. We have to pass it on our way to the beach. It's a good spot to stop and stretch your legs for a minute and maybe have a cool drink from the hand pump. I have been going there ever since I was a child. My children have been going there for a long time too. Dave doesn't mind stopping there for a few minutes and even agreed to stand by the tree for me but he really isn't interested in being anywhere near this place at night he says..

I would have loved to have seen this Church in her early years. Even as Ruins it is a peaceful and touching place. There are many rumors of ghosts here. I haven't seen one that I was certain was a ghost. I did see what I thought was a Mennonite woman there a few years ago standing by a child's grave. She appeared to be doing the same thing I was and just reading the headstones. She stood there a long time with her head down and I honestly thought she was saying a prayer. It was only after she walked through the gate and was gone that I remembered that there were no cars parked outside the gate. I hurried to the gate and peered up and down the long road.. Nothing!!! She was gone!! One of the ghost stories goes that a young woman is often seen at the grave of her child.. She will leave through the gate and disappear. She is also supposed to wear a brown dress. I can't for the life of me remember rather the Woman I saw was wearing brown or some other dreary drab color. Was she a ghost? I would like to say YES!! but I can't swear it was a ghost. It could have been a fast walking in an ugly long dress Mennonite woman who had a car hidden somewhere outside the gate..... Spooky Huh?!

These pictures were made at a place called Old Sheldon Church! It is the ruins of a Church that was first burned during the revolutionary War and then burned again By Sherman on his Trek to the sea. The walls refused to fall and to this day still stand. Many people choose this spot for weddings and other celebration and it isn't rare to ride by and see people picnicking here.

Today's questions is not what it is; it isn't where is it either. Today's question if you would like to offer a guess is Why are these trees bricked up? What purpose does it serve to have bricks laid in the hollow of a tree? Does anyone know? Do you think there are boogies bricked up inside these trees? Did someone with a stack of bricks and some spare time just get bored? I'd like to hear your response to these questions.. Tell me what you think.. Cooper and Emily used to think there were boogies bricked up there . I'm pretty sure their older brother told them that. I'm also almost sure that I might have told Anthony that so I guess it's all my fault.. I have actually looked into the reasons for there being bricks in the trees. There are a couple of reasons in fact. Do you have any idea why this was done? would you like to make a guess? Please leave me a comment with your answer. And I will leave a comment tomorrow with the reasons I was able to find! Who knows; Maybe there really are boogies bricked up in those trees! Have a great day!
Patsy

For the "Kids" Friday!

"Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn."
~ John Updike

"Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold." ~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

"Everything has its limit - iron ore cannot be educated into gold." ~ Mark Twain

"Gold that's put to use more gold begets."
~ William Shakespeare

Wow is it Friday already? This week has flown by. I would love to tell you of the adventures I have been on this week~ But I actually don't think I went on any. I spent last week end entertaining and that even carried over into this week some too.. I think I have had company every day this week.. Right now it is silent here except for the Thunder rolling across a distant sky. Silence is golden.

You will notice that all of the quotes today are about gold too. I chose them because first of all I liked them all.. secondly they each tie in with something wise I plan to share with the "children" today. Maybe some of my words will actually help someone someday. If not at least I can give a few people a pretty good reason to laugh on Friday! I hope you enjoy today's words of wisdom for the kids!

1:) Yes I know how much junk I have in my house! ~ I know how much it's worth too... Most of it is stuff that you or one of the other "children" left here... I am taking good care of it. I plan to leave it to you when I die instead of money! I will pull out your old report cards and share them with your babies when they get older... I will embarrass you when ever I like by showing everyone the naked picture of you brushing your teeth. I will Ooh and Aah over your gold plated baby shoes~ (that gold is fake so no need to try and pawn that after I'm gone! ) and your Graduation pictures. I will think of one you every time I dust this junk. I will plot ways to make you ashamed. I will search every time I think about it for something else that might just might be buried around here that you wouldn't want your friends or your wife to see.. Maybe I'll frame those pictures of the beautiful blue smocked dresses that my boys wore as infants. That should do the trick... and if Not then maybe we can sell all this junk on EBAY!

2:) A lie does not sound more convincing with an I love you Mom attached! ~ An I swear doesn't help either.... Don't you know that I watched as you struggled to tell me the first lie and I have learned how to tell them from the truth.. The best lies always have just a smidgen of truth in them but I hate lies.. Each of my "Children" know this. As bad as the truth can be I would rather hear it than some half cocked lie you made up on the way home from where ever it was that you did whatever you just lied about. Next time say.. "I love you Mom and I hope you don't kill me when I tell you the truth!" Another answer that works after you are eighteen is "Mom I'd really rather not say!" (or Aunt Patsy or Miss Patsy or whatever it is that you might call me!) I'm really easy to get along with.. I won't kill you but once.... If I asked you a question and you are planning to lie.. Don't I already knew the truth before I asked.. I'd be a great detective! Actually I might pinch you.. I used to hit kids but they say it's against the law to hit the little heathens now.. No body told my Daddy he couldn't spank us.. Man why did they wait till I was a parent to change that law?

3:) Don't make love by the garden gate~ Love is blind but the neighbors ain't! ~ Please do not be doing anything that the neighbors are going to tell on you for.... I will be really ticked if the crazy people I live by have a reason to complain about you! I promise that they are looking this way every time you do something stupid. I Know this because I have climbed on top of my house to see what all the racket was; coming from next door. I have crawled through the darkness to be sure no one was being killed by a crazy drunk neighbor man. Neighbors watch.. then they tell their half witted friends and everyone else that my kids are bad.. Do not make me......... You will not like it!

~By the way you can see quiet a long way from the top of my car port. I even saw one my own kids misbehaving once.. You did, of course, try to lie about it.. but at least you didn't hang the I love you on the end of your lie.. Instead you hung an "I would never ever ever do that!" on the end!

4:) Be all that YOU can be! Notice I said :"YOU"! You can't be what ever I might like for you to be.. I can't be the perfect Mom you wanted. I have done my best with what I was given. There were many times I wanted to give in and give up... I didn't. Now I think you should be the best that you can. Use your own talents to become what it is meant for you to be..That doesn't mean that each of you will reach the same heights.. You will not.. Each person is different... we can only accept each other for who we are... Even that is not easy to do. We as humans always think we know what is best for others. We do not... we each must march to the beat of the drums our own drummers play.. Mine plays a kinda jazzy; upbeat; half crazy: flowery; tune. With a few rooster crows tossed in for good measure. Even my shadow dances along with the wild beat sometimes!

5:) Dogs can smell meanness. ~ This is something that my Daddy always said and now I am sharing it with you. It is not simply an old wives tale. I have found it to be true. Over the years I have often had dogs that simply didn't like certain people. One example I can give you was Buddy and a kid we all called Little John.. every time Little John ever came here Buddy would growl at him. As kids go, I couldn't tell where John was any meaner than any other kid that came here. In fact compared to a lot of them he was a good kid. He never gave me any trouble.. never sassed back or did anything wrong that I could catch him at.. finally knowing that he was up to something no good because buddy growled at him all the time.. I made a new rule and began to tell all of them that they had to empty their pockets when they came here to spend the night.. The first night I lined them all up and Little John somehow made it to the back of the line... He was dragging his feet by the time it got his turn to empty his pockets... It didn't take me long to see why.. Man was that kid loaded.. he had three or four knives and a few other illegal things as well.. He said he didn't know who the drugs belonged to or how they got in his pocket... I smiled as he emptied his pockets and when Buddy lay down by his feet and quit growling I knew the kid was clean... I promised that I would return his weapons when he was leaving my house.. I told him since the other stuff wasn't his anyway, I'd just get rid of it for him.. I actually gave it to his uncle who called me and claimed it was his own.. He said the kid had stolen it... I felt sorry for any kid in that situation... He wasn't the only child I ever caught with things they shouldn't have had.. I just used him for an example... I also changed his name! (You didn't really think I would shame one of my "children" like that did you???) Over the years I have found many things in the pockets of kids who didn't need to have them.. from dip and cigarettes to switch blades and knives of all kinds.. I always returned to them what their parents allowed them to have and what was not illegal. If you are mean enough to bring contraband into my house I am mean enough to take it from you!!!! I keep dogs all the time.. If my dog doesn't like you.. I will watch you like a hawk... I will figure out why my dog doesn't trust you.. I won't trust you if my dog doesn't... And please don't kick or hit my dog when he is trying to tell on you.. You will not like the crazy me you see if you hit or kick one of my animals...I might even bite you and I have not had my rabies shots!

~ Tonight I have shared a few more bits of wisdom with the "kids". There are so many things I would like to tell my "children". My own and my step-kids and my nieces and nephews.. their little ones and the list goes on and on. I Have always had children around me from the very earliest days I can remember in my life. First was Reuben, (my baby brother) then Martha,
( My baby sister) and of course there were the foster siblings and the gazillion nursery children that Mama and later me and Trudy too kept in day care.. I will always love children... I will expect certain things from them. I will not hesitate to show them where time out is in my house even if they are just visiting.... Children must be kinda like dogs and have a sense that allows them to know that I am mean.. they behave here.. they don't dare me.... They almost always love coming to my house! Have a great Friday Night!!!

Patsy