Colorful Friday

I am not fond of doing the Black Friday thing but I did do a bit of online stuff this morning and I may be close to already done!!!!  Just a few gift cards and something for The Hubby!

Yesterday was a pretty wonderful day.  The food was great, the weather was great and the company was great!  We did have a bit of a hiccup though but it was not at our house.  We were all sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and visiting after gorging ourselves when we heard the fire truck sirens running.  We live close to the fire station so wasn't too worried but it kept going and getting louder and louder and more sirens.  We all jumped up and ran through the house and out the front door to see two fire trucks, two ambulances, and two police cars.  They were across the street at our neighbor lady's house. She is in her 90's but is pretty active and I think her son lives there with her.  Very shortly the fire trucks and ambulances left but the police stayed and it was apparent that she had passed away.  After about an hour with the police still there and family members arriving a van pulled up and we knew it was sort of a hearse for the funeral home.  One of our other neighbors said she had been in the hospital a couple of weeks ago.  I really had only met her once but it was very sad.  Kind put a downer on a day of being with family.

Anyway, Sis had asked me to paint her dog Nala and I finally got it done and she was thrilled.  She made sure to remind me to give it to her.   She loves it! 

Today I messed around with an idea.  My mother found this painting in a farmhouse we lived in in Arkansas in the early 60's and it was old then.  It is cracked and some of the paint has fallen off but it's still beautiful.  I had it cleaned and reframed a few years ago from the nicotine from my parents smoking.  It has to be well over 100 years old now. 

So today, I decided I would use it as my reference to tackle it. 

To top off my day today is when I tried to take a nap and just drifted off, DING-DONG...FedX...back to the couch and drifting off yet again when I heard knocking on the front door.  Up I go and as I walked I looked for UPS, no truck, but through the side window I saw a man standing at the edge of the step.  Through the door and glass I asked, "Can I help you." He replied saying something about needing a hard working man.  I said, "No thank you." Then he popped off, "What.  Are you afraid of a black man." OH GOOD GRIEF!  I said, "NO!  GO AWAY!" Kind of scared me to think he was going door to door and possibly just checking who would answer the door, to see who was actually home.  

I never did get that nap.  I did get to see B on the Channel 6 news with Rick Wells and her potholders at Philbrook!  

Neighbors, Part 4, 58th Street House

The 58th Street House -

It's funny that I don't seem to have any pictures of this house, at least on my computer.  I'm going to have to do some scanning I see.  

After 10 years in The Knoxville Home we were bursting at the seams.  We had just had our second girl, A, and it was a tight fit.  Our friend, Gail had gotten her real estate license and she was on the hunt for something for us.  As it turns out she found a beauty down the street from her and Kelly.  We were in heaven as we were always getting together to play cards and hang out as Kelly was The Hubby's best bud.  The house was perfect for me and it had a POOL!  I was ecstatic but The Hubby, not so much but he was a good guy and knew it was best at the time. 

We moved in, down the street from our best friends! 

The day we moved in with moving vans, two children, my mother and exhaustion we were surprised by the young couple that lived next door, Kevin and Kay.  They stopped over and brought us dinner.  I can't for the life of me remember what it was but it was welcomed by the tired and hungry movers.  That was an inkling to the kindness and friendship that began that day.  They had no children then but after a few years I can remember Kay standing in the front yard with me chatting and her announcing they were to be parents.  I was so excited.  We had become so close with them and when they welcomed their first son on July 4 we were one of the first to visit them in the hospital.  Kevin was instrumental in exposing me to the world of computers.  When I didn't have a computer I was able to use theirs for school while they worked during the day.  I watched their son and they watched our girls.  We shared many, many a meal and holiday with them.  Sadly one day they announced they were moving for work.  I thought my world would crumble.  The day they packed up the last of their belongings we all stood out front hugging and crying, even Kevin.  I sobbed and sobbed to see my friend move.  They've moved many times and added a son to their family.  We have remained very close friends to this day.

Across the street was another couple Bob and Kathleen and they had a daughter named Julie. Nice, nerdy couple but the daughter! Julie was about 3 years older than B and there were no other kids around for her to play with so she was always over. Besides, we had a pool! It got to the point though that we kept the garage door down, the front door closed and the curtains pulled and when the doorbell rang we didn't answer. She was a pest for sure. More on this later!

When Kevin and Kay moved they sold their house to an older gentleman named Joe Shelfo.  He was the sweetest man.  He owned a restaurant in Tulsa at one time called Pepe's (sp), a well known Italian restaurant.  He was a severe diabetic but loved his sweets and when we had birthday parties we invited him and he would always bring pies for each of the girls.  He wore lots of gold chains and bracelets and was quite a ladies man.  By his chair in the living room he had stacks of Playboy magazines.  We didn't go there often! 

After 10 years I was ready to move up again.  I was going to miss that pool but I felt that we were bursting again.  So we were on the move again.  We have been very fortunate that when we are ready to move we buy the next house and are able to fix up the old house and sell and usually it is less than a month on the market.  This house was no exception.  We had found our next house and since we were close to closing put the 58th Street House on the market.  It sold quick, like in 2 weeks.  Bad news though as the one we were buying had a problem....continued...