A HAPPY LIFE!

 I am so grateful that so much has been going on in MY LIFE!!

It just makes me HAPPY!

So grateful I can say that, and so HAPPY for just simple things.

Simple things like going to work...

 As you can see from the school announcements clip,
I've returned to work after being out for 7 months!
 

Most students remembered me.
I received flowers and cakes and so many get well wishes.

Makes me so HAPPY!

I am quite the celebrity now, especially with the PK kids.
I don't teach this age, but they know the Art Teacher.
Everyday, while I was away, one of  the PK classes sang,
"We Wish You Well!"

How sweet is that??!!

 
One little one yelled excitedly, "She's in the building!!!"
I have been so touched by the care and love everyone
at school has sent my way!!

I am HAPPY to be back in my art room!!!

************************************************
A few more things that have made me HAPPY lately...

Walking the Survivors Walk at Relay For Life... hand and hand with my best friend and husband.

Notice my hair is finally coming in, but very slowly!
This makes me HAPPY too!


Both of us are cancer survivors!

HAPPY!


Three of my cousins honored me with luminaries.

HAPPY!

Amazing how HAPPY a bag or cup with your name on it can make you feel!
 

**********************************************************************************

Our son, Jared, is coming home this summer!

He sent me
a Facebook message
a few days ago saying
he had his plane ticket, and he would be heading home soon. This mama can barely keep from shouting from the rooftops!

HAPPY,
HAPPY,
 HAPPY!!!!

***********************************************************************************

I was so HAPPY with all the excitement on my porch!
Life was happening out there and a Mama Wren was
gleefully announcing it daily.
Everyday I got to watch the Mama Wren in action as she swooped in,
through the pet door,
to feed and nurture her babies...
happiness turned to sadness though.

Baby Wrens that were born on our
screened porch,
in an old watering can, tried to spread their wings and fly.
Out of 3 only one lived and is experiencing life outside the porch.

Here is the mother and one of the babies.
A snake was later found near the watering can,  probably looking forward to a Wren supper.

Not HAPPY that a snake was on
my porch!!

Made me HAPPY to see the babies trying so hard to find their freedom.

Here is another baby holding on to our
stained glass window...
I think this is the one still out there in the trees somewhere.

Mama Wren is unaware
at least 2 of her babies are not going to survive.

She built her nest just above the porch sofa
where the cats sleep most of the time.

What was she thinking??!!

When I discovered they were flying off,
Sophie had one baby in her mouth,
but I think she stole it from the cats.

It was a three ring circus for a while on the porch
and I guess the snake was under the sofa
watching the entire time...life at our zoo!

I am HAPPY one baby made it off the porch.

******************************************************************************
I went back to work just in time for summer break, and yes after a month of working just 1/2 days I am ready!!

And...

I am

HAPPY!

**************************************************************************

Please pray for the people in Oklahoma. My friend, Tricia's daughter lives in Moore, OK. Her children attend the school that was damaged, where 7 children died. The world is so small, our lives in GA are touched by sadness for our GA friends in OK.
I am HAPPY to say that as far as we know now, Kelly and her babies are safe!



HAPPY!

Vicki

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Mama as a little girl.

Mama was the oldest in a family of 6 children, there was almost 20 years between her and the youngest one.

Most of her life was spent being
raised by her mama deep in the country.
She was very poor growing up,
but always said they never realized it. 

When she was 10 years old her
daddy died.
She had to run through fields, and around the rural area to alert family and friends of his death. 

He was a junk dealer and ice man, and she loved him!
(See junkins' in my blood?)

 

Back then big blocks of ice
were sold door to door.
In Georgia that had to have been
one of the hottest, coolest jobs around.

Mama had a somewhat rocky
growing up, and start to her younger years.
She married a boy who lived down their dirt road,
but he went off to war.
She decided that the marriage was not for her...
it was a very, very short one. 

We saw her first husband once,
leaning against the door of the Piggly Wiggly.
I was probably 14 or 15.

She rushed me on and started laughing.

I think it was more of a nervous laugh
than a something funny laugh.
Mama spoke to  him, and he nodded.
I'm not sure he knew her that day. 

However, many years later, to Mama's disgust,
he showed up at our house. 
My daddy, bless his heart, was so innocent to it all.
He just continued working in the yard and left my Mama,
her sister and that old husband to visit.
Think my Aunt had pulled a fast one on my Mama.

Mama and Daddy were married 47 years,
so I guess by then their marriage was weighted by trust.
Daddy wasn't worried.

Mama met my daddy at a dance and he said right off
she was the one he'd marry.

She was and he did!

Mama lived to be 80 years old.
She had a severe stroke at 65 and came to live with us.
I cared for her, with Daddy's help, until his death.
Yes, she out lived him, by 8 years.
They said she would be a vegetable and not live very long,
but they didn't know Mama.
She lived the last 15 years of her life,
never touching food again.
She had a quick mind,
though there were times I wished,
doggone it,
she'd forget SOMETHING!

Mama always had it all together, though you sometimes had to look through a whirlwind.
She was creative, she loved to read and to cook.
She would line her kitchen counters with
cakes for family and friends.
The backdoor to our house was like a revolving door.
Most would show up around meal time.

She gave us all a childhood full of memories,
meant only for her babies.

Memories like having batteries explode in our oven
because she read that would recharge them.

Something for Pinterest,  I guess.
Boy, would she be a Pinterest addict with us!
My sweetest memories are of her rubbing
my back until I went to sleep.
She even showed up late one night
when I was so sick with her first grand boy.
She was scared of bad weather.
It always confused me that she would load us up,
right in the middle of the storm,
and head to my Granny's house.

Mama was more like Lucy, than Jackie O, I guess.
She loved us dearly though,
and would always say,

"I love you back."

I love you back too, Mama!