tbt...

these were taken on June 28th, 1980...

that's me, my uncle Jimmy and my ex...

the wedding day...

Uncle Jimmy married us...

family group photo #1...

my grandpa, grandma, me, ex, mom, my brother...

family group photo #2...

my grandpa, grandma, me, ex, dad and brother...

the quality is not very good and they are fading pretty bad...

but it is what it is...

oh, to be that thin again...

;0)

amazing what you find when you clean!

and a tiny sneak preview on tomorrow's post...

thank you...

for all your sweet words...

for all your thoughts this way...

but mostly, for your prayers...

such sadness has draped over these little towns...

the tears are far from being shed...

but I know that God has each and every one covered...

in grace...

I am pretty sure that they got the beans in last night...

we are in the 80s with the air on...

the dust is flying and they are spraying like crazy...

a friend of mine asked if I wanted this...

;)

it has mattresses for it, too...

going on the deck tomorrow...

vintage and very heavy...

and it was free...

along with 2 desk chairs, 2 lamps for my bedroom and a back massage...

she even threw in a couple of hugs...

she is clearing out like we are...

and we are swapping these pieces for older versions that needed to go...

taking her my large tubs that we replaced with smaller, more manageable ones...

;)

summer is here...

and its time to get things together outside...

in between the thunderstorms over the next week or two...

the roof will be going on soon, too...

so ready to be done with that...

have good days...

warm days...

sunshiny days...

;0)

such a tragedy...

I am asking for prayers this morning for our community...

yesterday afternoon, amid the graduation parties going on...

a car of our local teenagers were involved in a really bad car accident...

the car left the road and rolled many times across a field...

Amberlyn was dead at the scene...

Carlito died later at the hospital...

and Lexi is in the hospital and expected to recover...

they did not have their seatbelts on and were all ejected...

they say it was horrific...

they were not seniors...

(graduation was Saturday night)

but we are a small town...

officially, school is out...

but the staff is opening the school today for any students who need someone to talk to or if they just don't want to be alone today...

pray for the families...

the friends...

especially the one that survived...

she lost her best friend and her boyfriend...

pray for the community as we come together to help those who need it most...

and to heal...

its going to be a hard week...

do you have that one thing?

the thing that can take you right back to when you were 7 years old?

this is mine...

inside of a large red candy tin with a rose on the lid...

hides some of the world's greatest treasure...

or so I thought...

this red tin sat on top of my grandma's dresser in their back bedroom...

grandma's bedroom and the room I slept in when I spent the night...

mom and I would stop by grandma and grandpa's a lot...

so they could talk and catch up on the goings on of neighbors and work...

kids and relatives...

and when I got bored listening...

I would head for the back bedroom, grab this tin off the top of the dresser...

and plop my butt in the hallway floor in front of the full length mirror...

because it was my height...

and would try on every piece in that tin...

sometimes all of them at once...

I could even try on the ear rings...

grandma had never had her ears pieced like mom had...

so her ear rings were clip ons...

and fit my little ears, too...

most of the time...

and I can remember her wearing every single piece of it...

because she liked to get gussied up on Saturday night...

and her and grandpa would kick up a heal at the local Moose Lodge...

they did a lot of square dancing and polkas...

;o)

and the waltzes...

they sure moved well together...

and I learned to dance standing on grandpa's toes...

yep, every time I open this tin, I am 7 years old again...

;o)

amazing what you find when you clean out your closet...

everything is all over the place still...

but going back in this morning...

except for this tin...

its time it sat on the top of my dresser for awhile...

;o)

have a wonderful Sunday...

finally, a day of sun...

 mostly sun, anyway...

corn is coming up...

still working on the closet...

and will be for another week...

sorting, shredding, purging...

gardening will have to wait...

our tower of babble...

they put it up last fall and it was supposed to be finished and running in 8 months...

still waiting on Verizon to complete the cell tower...

got the furnace on again this morning...

but the long range forecast is calling for 80s next week...

and we are to warm up a little every day until then...

been running the shredder until it overheats...

have to find something else to do while it cools down...

then back to it again...

keeping records for 7 years...

but the rest can go...

got a million and one things on our to do list...

some things are easy going and some things have to wait for other things to happen...

need to grab some more of the smaller clear totes...

we are doing this right this time...

so we don't have to do it again...

oh, found the Sorry game!

I wonder what else is in there?

and doing all this with babies running amuck...

I figure by the time we finish with the bedroom, roof and all that fun...

the babies will be ready to find their homes...

;o)

and people here are planning the fourth of July stuff...

I am like----

wait a cotton pickin' minute there...

I am not ready for that!

;o)

have good days!