Day Ninety

Elijah Man wasn't feeling good today. Got a little bug and running a fever. So he stayed at my house most of the day instead of going to pre-school. We watched Scooby Doo cartoons and movies, of course. But his favorite thing is to go upstairs and play with the toys his mom used to play with when she was his age. His most favorite thing to play is ball. I pitch and he bats.

He felt okay enough to get in some good hits this afternoon. Amazingly, we haven't broken anything yet.

Day Eighty Nine

A rare weekday lunch with my two daughters--a treat for me and Neil. We ended up at Wendy's. Some drink switching and sandwich rearranging happening here. The four of us actually shared that chocolate Frosty. Now that's quality family time, my friends.

Day Eighty Eight

My mom turned 88 years old on March 26. We had a birthday party for her today. I love it that today is Day 88 in 365. Too cool! Here are her candles on the Jell-O cupcakes my sister Jane made for her (taken in the negative setting: check out http://kaykel.blogspot.com/ ) And here she is with most of her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. She enjoyed her day and always hates to see us leave. Love you, Mom!!

Day Eighty Seven

My daughter Kelly came in today from Murfreesboro to visit and treated her dad and me to a coffee and cheesecake at the Dolce Cafe in the old Maddux building on the square. I forgot to bring my cell phone for picture taking and told her to take some pictures so I'd have something to post here today. She started taking some cool pictures and suddenly discovered the negative picture setting. It was like eating potato chips--once she started, she couldn't stop. When we got home, I grabbed my cell phone and we drove all over the neighborhood, snapping pictures in the negative and marvelling at how cool they look. I said, We should start a blog with these pictures. So we did. It's called Positively Negative (at least for the time being) http://kaykel.blogspot.com/ The picture here was one of the only "normal" ones I took all day, looking down Hudgens Street at Spark's Grocery store and just across the street from where the old Cookeville water tower once stood beside Capshaw School. We had the best time today taking pictures.

Day Eighty Six

The Nashville Flea Market has been my little piece of heaven once a month since 2004. I like old stuff. (Insert joke about hubby Neil here) I'm a junker and a collector. Anyone who has been to my house can attest to that. There's just something about rust and peeling paint that appeals to me. I guess I was born out of my time. Today, Neil found some beautiful plants for our yard--these blue and pink hydrangeas and some ferns. The Fiesta ware lady is always there with her colorful dishes. And see that crock sitting on top of that great pie safe? It's mine now. You can find literally anything for sale at the flea market. From vintage clothing to brand new fishing poles. And of course the proverbial tube socks. Lots of practical and plenty of weird. I highly recommend a visit to this flea market. You don't have to like old stuff. It's just fun. http://www.tennesseestatefair.org/FleaMarket.htm

Day Eighty Five

This is my mother, who turned 88 years old today. Happy Birthday, Mom!!! We've got a party planned for her this Sunday. Today, my sisters--that's Jane at the wheel and a shout out to Ann, who was in the back seat--took Mom to a long overdue eye doctor appointment, where it was discovered that she has better eyesight than any of her children! She didn't even need a new prescription, just picked out some new hip frames. Way to go, Ma! You da best! Love you always and forever!!! (can't add enough exclamation points on that one)

Day Eighty Four

I can't seem to escape the call of holiday candy. I always have to have something chocolate anyway. When I ran out of my pretty pastel M&M's the other day, I naturally jumped in the car and drove to K-Mart, the nearest M&M's store, and trolled the Easter candy displays for those irresistible little chocolate calories, only to realize they didn't have any (no big surprise there), but I did find a big bag of gourmet jelly beans. Like my Lindor truffles, gourmet jelly beans are a seasonal treat for me. Last Easter candy time was the last time I'd had a jelly bean. So I bought them. And a bag of regular colors M&M's (got to have the chocolate fix!). I'm not afraid to mix the gourmet flavors. But the licorice jelly beans must be banished first. I don't do licorice in any shape or form, no offense to you licorice people out there in candy land. These made a pretty little pile on my desk. Now they're gone. Just these. There are still some in the bag. Tomorrow is another day.

Day Eighty Three

I said, "Hey, Holly, turn around so I can take a picture of you heading back to work." She turned around and I clicked. Then she posed and I clicked again. And off to work she went after our lunch together with Neil, Shelby and Elijah. Good times. Cool daughter! Love you, Holly!!

Day Eighty Two

Spring has sprung in my backyard. The cherry and redbud trees are blooming, along with the forsythia. The tulips can't be too far behind. I have three flag poles at various spots around the yard and hang fun flags to suit the season. This one is my favorite. I love the blue and yellow. It has seen better days, though, and needs replacing. Maybe I can find one just like it at the flea market this Friday (if we don't get rained out!)

Day Eighty One

Sunday after church at El Tapatio with Neil, my sister Jane Foy, and her two daughters (and my awesome nieces!) Sarah and Julia. El Tapatio is, in our humble opinion, the best Mexican restaurant on the planet! The cheese dip alone is worth the trip and the chicken chimichangas are to die for. Really.

Day Eighty

The wait is over! Finally got my copy of the Twilight DVD. Had to settle for the single disc version, as I didn't pre-order from anywhere, and Wal-Mart was sold out by the time I got over there today. No matter. Neil and I watched it and enjoyed it all over again.

Day Seventy Nine

Hello, Spring! This doorknocker hangs on our bedroom door.

Day Seventy Eight

Lunch at the D.Q. on Spring Street in Cookeville. On the left side of the pic: hubby Neil, and nieces Julia and Sarah Foy. Holding down the right side of the pic also from front to back are sister Jane Foy, daughter Holly Myers, grandson Elijah Myers, daughter Kelly Kimbrough, and grand daughter Shelby Myers. It's always a treat for me to get to be with family and share a lunch and just talk and laugh. Kelly was in town to visit, then take the girls back home with her to Murfreesboro to hang out and at midnight Friday, head to Books A Million to join other "Twilight" movie fans to pick up the new double disk DVD. Hope they have fun! http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?ad=OVBKSBAMM

Day Seventy Seven

Neil and I were sitting in the D.Q. today at lunch and I got out my cell phone to take a picture (for the day) and I realized I had color settings on there I'd never noticed before. Besides the normal, there's vivid, negative (I took a couple of weird pictures of Neil and the ice cream cone with that one) and sepia and black and white and one called solari. While my chocolate covered ice cream cone slowly melted, it posed for a snapshot in the solari setting, which turned out pretty cool. A whole new world of photography with my cell phone opened up for me today. What fun! Someday I'll show you those weird negative pics.

Day Seventy Six

Couldn't resist posting more than one picture today. It's Spring Break for schools here. We all descended upon our mom's residence at the assisted living home where she lives and had a good time together. The top picture is my brother Ken, my sisters Ann and Jane, Jane's daughters Sarah and Julia, and my grand kiddos Shelby and Elijah hanging out in our mom's room. She recently moved to this new room, so we hung her pictures and arranged stuff on her new cork board.

The middle picture is Ann, Sarah, Julia, Shelby and Elijah soaking up the sunshine down by the pond where they threw some rocks in the water and made wreaths for our hair from the willow tree branches.

The bottom picture is Jane and Mom, also soaking up that sunshine and watching the kids play (that includes Ann!) and the geese diving for good eats in the pond.

We had a good afternoon together. What more can we ask for? Life is good!

Had to share this

Day Seventy Five

The old Cookeville water tower came down today. By Tuesday, it will be a fond memory for those of us who played in its shadow at Capshaw school the past five or six decades. It was a true small town icon and as I've noted before a distinctive part of my backyard landscape. Yes, it was rusty and covered in grafitti. But I miss it already.

Day Seventy Four

Shelby and Elijah picked a bouquet of buttercups in my backyard last week to give to their mom. But they ended up leaving it here. It was a touch of spring in the house and sat on the coffee table until today when I finally conceded that it had seen better days and was time to go. Oh well. Spring will really be here very soon. Definitely something to look forward to.

Day Seventy Three

Rain-soaked lunch time. The golden arches beckon on a Saturday in Cookeville. Southern style chicken sandwiches and diet Coke. Burgers at fast food places are starting to gross me out. Is it really beef? Is it cardboard? Maybe compressed sawdust? I just don't know any more.

Day Seventy Two

The stairs at Granny's house are a big draw for Elijah. Always have been. The first thing he did when he learned to crawl was head for the stairs. At that point, I had to block them off with a big poster frame across one of the lower steps. These days, he loves to throw or roll stuff down the stairs (then tells me to go get it!). So upstairs downstairs we go. Great kid. Fun stuff.

Day Seventy One

Today is my little sister Ann's 50th birthday. Here she is back in 1959 with me holding her. I had just turned six years old and was thrilled to have a baby sister. We've shared lots of good times and hard times through the years. Here's wishing you a happy day and a happy life! Love you much!!

Day Seventy

Here's my Partner in Pain--my sister, Jane. We've been doing aerobics for twenty years now. She has no trouble weilding those ten pounders. I'm stuck on the six pounders. We attend Cardio-Sculpt class Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:15 to 5:15. She's much more dedicated than I am. I don't need much of an excuse to ditch class, but she keeps me going when I'd just as soon hang up my six pounders and call it quits. Hang in there, sis! I will, too.

Day Sixty Nine

Here we are, me and Mom. We had a nice little visit today. She had just finished lunch. I got her signed up to have her phone service transfered to her new digs and left a message for the handy man to do some stuff he should have done last week, like hang her new corkboard. You'd think it was government work or something. She wanted to know if everybody was OK and I assured her that we all are, far as I know. I left her sitting on her bed, sipping a Boost. (When she saw this picture, she said she looked like she was a hundred years old.)

Day Sixty Eight

Monday is chore day. Always laundry. Sometimes I actually dust! Here is my trusty feather duster I got from Flylady. And who is Flylady? Well, if you're finding your home dissolving into total chaos from all the clutter and disorganization, you need to check out http://www.flylady.net/ She will take care of you! And teach you some useful ways to get your clutter under control. Check it out.

Day Sixty Seven

Sunday March 8 2009 - the dreaded switch over day to Daylight Savings Time. Dreaded for me, anyway. Everyone else seems to look forward to it and relish it. I absolutely loathe the loss of my hour. By the time my inner clock adjusts to this assault, it will be time to change it back again. That's always the best part! I always say that whoever came up with this bad idea should have to come to my house and reset all of my clocks. I have a grand total of 28 timepieces in my house, which vary from digital to wind up, and they all must be adjusted. Enjoy your "extra" daylight, good people. As for me, I still live on real time. In spirit, anyway.

Let me tell you what I do

Each day is a bit different because I'm a Domestic Goddess and don't "have" to get up and go anywhere. I was always a stay at home mom and now I'm a stay at home granny who takes care of her grandkids after school and when they're out of school, usually every other day, as I share duties with their other grandmother, God bless her! Once daily chores and obligations are out of the way, I'm usually on the computer doing something I enjoy, whether it be checking email or Facebook or Twitter or working with photo files and Photoshop. I'm into digital scrapbooking and now I've started a blog called Three Sixty Five, a picture a day for a year, where I post one picture from that day and do a bit of journaling about it. My days can range from running around busy to silent and laid back. It's a nice balance and I really have no complaints.

Day Sixty Six

Today turned out to be a gorgeous blue sky seventy degree Saturday for Neil to get some much needed yard work started. He's looking into his wheelbarrow and thinking, Where am I going to dump this mess?! I'll be so glad when everything greens out again. We've got a lot of Buttercups blooming. And the Tulips are starting to sprout. Tulips are my Spring time favorite.

Day Sixty Five

Here we are, Shelby, Elijah and Granny Kay on our way home from lunch at KFC with Grandpa Neil on Friday, March 6th. I usually just have Elijah on Friday, but school is out here today and again Monday because of all the illness spreading around. So Shelby joined us today. These two have been sick, too. Elijah has an ear infection and a bad cough. He didn't eat any chicken, only chocolate pudding and yellow Jello. His cough meds apparently make him sleepy. It didn't take him long to zonk out on the way back to the house. Of course, we usually drive around a bit after lunch on Fridays so he'll fall asleep and take a nap. I'm so bad. I took this with my cell phone over my shoulder while driving north on Jefferson Avenue. Actually, we were stopped at a red light. Honest! I just noticed that Shelby's green sweater matches Elijah's sippy cup. Great kids. Fun stuff.

Day Sixty Four

I'm thinkin'....Burger King. We eat so poorly. But notice we did leave most of the fries.

Day Sixty Three

Tools of torture in Cardio-Sculpt class: The Big Pink Ball, the little pink ball, six pound weights and other dreaded stuff not shown. My sister Jane and I have been doing aerobics classes for about twenty years now, and we prefer to believe we are better off for our efforts. I hope we are. Because my knees and shoulders hate me now.

Day Sixty Two

My sister Ann and my brother Ken got in some exercise Tuesday. Our mom is a resident in an assisted living home here, and we try to eat lunch with her once a week. This week, she was being moved from one room to another, and we were there to do the supervising and most of the moving. Exercise is led each day by one of the residents. Ann and Ken joined in before we got started on the furniture moving. You go!

Day Sixty One

Monday is always laundry day.

Day Sixty

Snow greeted Sunday morning March 1st. It was gone by afternoon.

Day Fifty Nine Goodbye February 2009!

Neil turned 58 Saturday February 28 and got a little help from Elijah blowing out his candles. Tammy, a good friend of Holly's, made the airplane-shaped cakes using a pan Holly found on e-bay. Her cakes are a real treat. And of course Neil got his white cake, white icing, vanilla ice cream birthday.

Day Fifty Eight

A rainy Friday on the square in Cookeville just after lunch. On my way to Super D drugstore to pick up prescriptions. I usually avoid the square if at all possible. Sometimes there's just no way around it. I was following a straight line along Jefferson Avenue to get from point A to point B. Whatever.

Day Fifty Seven

Thursday after school, watching Spongebob, eating Jello Pudding Pops.

Day Fifty Six

A Lindor Truffle treat on a Wednesday afternoon when I probably should have been in aerobics class. This one has tiny chunks of chocolate. It was delicious.