I got to spend a nice couple of days with my sisters. 

We had planned on taking our husbands and finishing up in the garages.  So even though it was darn cold, we got busy and got quite a bit done. 

We had planned for a dumpster to be delivered so we could clean out some junk, but they set it clear down the street!  So the guys hooked a chain to it and drug it where we wanted it!  Ha! It was like nails on the chalkboard times 100! 

Then the guys loaded up Dennis's truck with all the metal we could find...and there was a lot!  I was glad there were 3 of them to get that heavy tub out to the truck!  Kelley and Rick had quite the time getting it out of the bathroom and out onto the patio.  Soooo heavy and awkward!   

We found a few real 'interesting' items... I won't go into details, but just say that Kelley and Dennis played a little trick on Leslie...( it was pretty funny...and after talking to her yesterday, realized that she hadn't even found the item in the back seat of her car till we pointed it out!  Ha!  She thought it was funny too)

 Perfect fit

Teina made a big pot of soup and rolls for us and that really tasted good on that cold day. 

 There is still so much beauty in the yard...pretty purple bunches of chrysanthemum and the holly hocks are still blooming too. Lilys in the pond are amazingly huge and beautiful...big white blooms with the bright orange fish poking their  heads up in the open areas.

 While we were sitting there at the table,  a big colorful pheasant came strolling by like he owned the place.  Faith said the deer have come back already too.  It feels like a sanctuary there to me...so peaceful and quiet and still so beautiful.

We called Mardene while we were all together to see what she was thinking about buying the place.  She said they had had two other oral surgeons move into the area they lived in so she didn't think they would be able to sell his business right now.  She said with the economy the way it is, it might be years before they would be able to retire, so they had to say no.

Oh boy...that was disappointing.  We were thinking from the way she talked that that was a pretty sure thing.  Now we were back to square one.

We talked again about Teina trying to buy it, but they are not in a position right now to do that either.

We also found out that Faith and Aaron will be moving out after this semester is over.  They are going to come home and take some courses online, then go back next fall and live on campus.  It's been nice to have them there to keep and eye on things and keep the house looking like it's being lived in.

Sure appreciate them....I think it's been good for everybody. 

 Just the girls went up on Monday. 

We sat down together and chatted about things we needed to do and threw out some different options on what to do with the house.  We were hoping maybe Phil and Stacey would want to stay there since her parents were coming home from their mission and they would need to move out of their house.

Brenda was going to ask them.  I guess we will put a for sale sign out front and see what happens with that too.

We got to thinking about all the pots in the green house and hated to just throw them away, so we called up to Rudy's to see if their greenhouse could use them.  They said yes!  So we headed out to the green house to sort them out so they could come pick them up.  It was still pretty cold, so I got mums old coat and wore it all day...it still smelled like her and when I put it on, I was warmed all the way through...almost felt like a big hug from her that lasted all day.

I  just couldn't really believe how many pots there were....but when you think about it, it was a lifetime of planting seeds and buying little six packs of plants and transplanting into bigger pots, and planting geranium starts to use in the spring.

They would gather seeds from flowers in the fall and keep them in envelopes...then about the end of February, daddy would get the flats ready and mum would plant the little seeds and keep them all warm and happy in the greenhouse.  Then when they grew a little, mum would thin them out and put them in bigger pots till they were big enough to plant outside.

Mums sun hat...In some ways it seemed like she could have been in there yesterday...all her trowels, gloves, snipers were right where she left them.

 I saw this sign I hadn't really noticed before...one they would have put out to welcome people to the garden show.  The different little towns around would have a garden show every year and people would come to see all the different yards and flowers and gardens.  Mum and daddy were always involved and won many honors and awards for their beautiful yard.

 The roof and much of the glass has broken on the greenhouse and it hardly keeps the rain out anymore...Leslie and I found some pieces of the roof and put them back where they belong...first wind will blow them off again...but for a minute, it has a roof again.

 Then we went in the house and went down in the north bedroom downstairs.   This is where mum kept all her  holiday decorations.  It was so fun and really stirred up the memories to dig these things out and reminisce about our memories of the different decorations.  We found these old stockings that I don't think have been used since  we were teenagers.  Let me see, how can I explain this name... veen is a derivative of bean, which was my nick name when I was younger due to the fact that I had the shape of a bean pole.  The veen comes from the waah language which was totally made up and ridiculous, but we can all understand and speak it fluently.  Mine isn't even the best name...I wish I would have taken a picture of all the stockings!  Teina is Twan, or Twano...Brenda is Swan, or Swano and Leslie is Doobee or Dwabs if your speaking waah. 
 We used to watch Romper room with Miss Julie every day.  And every day at the end of the show she would look through her magic mirror  and sing this song ...Romper stomper , bomper boo....tell me tell me tell me do...have all my friends had fun at play?  OOOOh I can see... ( then she would name off several different names...we would wait on the edge of our little seats for her to mention our names)  and they have been very good today!    Then she would sing another song about being a doo bee...do be a dooo beeee! If you were a doo bee, you were trying to do what was right. I remember daddy calling Leslie his little doo bee and the name stuck and now even to this day, the name really fits. She is about the sweetest, most genuinely kind person I know...I think a good way to describe her is to say she is without guile...always looks for and finds  the good in everyone.

 Mum had lots of cute crochet decorations and things given to her...We could just picture who of her club ladies had made each of those things.  ...There were lots of little gifts... things that we had never even seen before...some still in the boxes...I don't think she had room to put everything out!  She was loved by many...

I did adopt a few new snow people to add to our family.  These will be extra special to me though.  How many Christmas's did we have the light up sparkly snowman and woman on top of the TV?  As long as I can remember.

Found a few things I had made for mum and daddy for Christmas too.  It was nice to think about the many years of love, and happy Christmas days we have shared.

We found a box up on the shelf in the closet.  It had Bruce's name on top.  It was filled with special things from his life.  Baby book, journals, pictures he had taken...then the front page newspaper article with his picture and a picture of what was left of the plane him and Mike Earl were flying in.
Wow, that brought back a flood of memories and feelings from that terrible time.   I was only 12 years old, but remember it like it was yesterday. So many tears, so much heart ache for my parents.
 There was a whole box full of notes and cards from friends and family giving their condolences.  His funeral was recorded on reel to reel.  I brought it home in hopes of having Larry transfer it to cd for us. 

When I think of Christmas at home, I remember the gold tinsel around the mantle and the crochet door hangers...the gold sparkly candle holder and the jingle bells that used to hang on the front door that made it sound like Santa was coming every time you opened and shut it.  All these things and so much more filled our minds and hearts all day... before we knew it, it was 6:30!  And we still needed to load everything up and clean up!  We didn't get on our way till almost dark. 
We stopped at Aunt Sherry's to see if she had any grapes...we didn't really think she would, but there was enough for us each to get a half bucket full.  Sherry's health isn't that good anymore either.  She  carries around an oxygen tank with her now.  Kind of weird to see these family members who always seemed so strong and sturdy getting old.  But then I guess I'm getting older right along with them!
Anyway, we had a wonderful day together...love my sisters!