To My Blogger Friends

Wishing all of you….

But let’s not forget….

See you in the New Year!

A Life Well Lived

Life can sure be filled with surprises…some good, some bad.  We never really know what is around the corner.  Sometimes we turn the corner, and we are confronted with something beautiful, something wonderful, something we are so happy to be a part of.  Other times we encounter something unpleasant, something frightening, something we wish we didn’t have to face.  Two weeks ago I turned that proverbial corner to be faced with the loss of a long-time friend.

Nancy and I began our friendship years ago when we taught together…I taught second grade and she taught third.  I was always so glad when she got some of my students the next year because I knew they would be in great and very capable hands.  Years later she became my asst. principal, principal, and finally superintendent.  She was a strong and formidable leader, one of the strongest women I’ve ever known.  Some people mistook that strength for aloofness and perhaps even hard-heartedness, but those of us who really knew her knew she had a very tender heart.

Nancy found out she had a very aggressive cancer only 5 or 6 weeks before we lost her.  At first I grieved over the fact that she went so quickly, but after thinking about it I knew that Nancy would never have wanted to linger and be without the strength she had always had.  She retired only three years ago and was so happy having much more time to spend with her son, daughter, and grandchildren.  She had been divorced for many years, and her family was her number one priority.

Another good friend and co-worker gave Nancy’s eulogy, and I just have to share this…partly because it’s such a funny story but mostly so I will have it written down where I won’t forget it.  One day Nancy and a co-worker from her office were driving down the interstate when they were flashed by a naked man riding in a bus of some sort.  He didn’t “moon” them…he flashed in full glory!!!  Nancy and her friend took down the tag number and called it in to the police.  The man was caught and Nancy was called in to “identify” the guy.  While being asked this in the police station, Nancy promptly told the detective, “I wasn’t really looking at his face but if you show me a full frontal view I can definitely pick it out!”  You would have to know Nancy to really get the full effect of this story, but take my word for it….you would have laughed really hard if you had been there!

So, to my friend, principal, and superintendent Nancy…you always made me want to be a better teacher.  You made me want to give 100% because you were always giving 110!  Thank you for the times you visited my room to watch me teach and then left me a little note patting me on the back…no other principal I ever had did that!  Thank you for caring about the children of our community and for working hard to be a good leader.  Rest in peace, dear Nancy…job well done!

 

And even though my heart has been sad over this loss, this week my heart was filled with joy because one of my former students who I still love dearly and am still close to became a daddy for the first time to TWIN BOYS.  After a rough pregnancy with a few scares, both boys were born strong and healthy.  God is good…all the time.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Is it really almost Christmas 2018???  Seems like just yesterday we were enjoying soaking up the rays and listening to the ocean waves at the beach.  It’s amazing how quickly the days go by (and the years too)!  But I’m about ready for the BIG DAY…decorating is all done and most of the shopping is finished.  I am NOT a procrastinator.  I like to get finished with the preparations & shopping early so I won’t be rushed and stressed.  I do NOT work well under pressure😊  Most of the shopping was done online…or either I bought it all through the year.  So do you want to see what I’ve been up to???

The kitchen is my favorite room to decorate.  Each year I use a gingerbread theme.  The tree is filled with ginger boys & girls, apples, and my antique cookie cutters.  I am very particular about my gingers though…their face has to be just right! 

 This little red rocking chair was a Christmas gift to my husband on his first Christmas.  My ginger dollies love to sit here every year.

The table is set and ready for Christmas morning breakfast with my small family.

 Ginger boys & girls everywhere!

The side porch gets decorated with gingers too.

And I just had to have a "little red truck" this year...it will be helping the grandkids and me count down the days.  (This came from Dollar General.)

 This is my snowman themed tree at the far end of the den.  I had received so many snowman ornaments from students I decided to dedicate a whole tree to them.  Granddaughter M decorated it all by herself...and did a great job.

My husband’s office also has a small tree decorated with hunting-related ornaments.  Even the deer get dressed up!

                           (Note:  These are NOT Santa’s reindeer:)

And then there is the BIG tree…filled with all the ornaments I have collected through the years.  The first to go on the tree are some balls & bells that I bought for our 1^st Christmas together.  We were in college and poor as church mice, and I was thrilled to find these ornaments at a great bargain at a fire sale!!!  After 48  Christmases they are looking a little tired, but they will always be very special to me.  There are ornaments found on trips, gifts from friends and students, and (of course) those made by my children in grade school.  I only use ornaments that I love and that have special meanings.

The fireplace is ready for our first fire…the weather is getting really chilly so maybe we’ll have one burning soon.

The hall tree belonged to my husband's grandmother.  He would sit on the bench every Christmas & open his gifts from her.  We hang the grandkids' stockings here...because they are SO big!

And here is the outside....

I couldn’t have gotten all this done in record time this year without the help of this sweet granddaughter who L-0-V-E-S Christmas and wants to keep the tree in her room up all year! 

She even helped with preparing Thanksgiving dishes to take to my husband’s BIG family gathering at his sister’s. 

So….have you decorated?  Is the shopping done?  Are you ready for “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” and “Jack Frost” to nip at your nose?  Hope you are all enjoying the preparations and getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus…the REAL reason for the season.

AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Preface:  Excuse the crazy spacing…Blogger and I don’t seem to agree on where my words should go...and it's driving me NUTS!!!

I have SO MANY things to be thankful for!  Do I have everything I want?  Well, no.  Do I have everything I need?  Most definitely.  Do I have as many or as nice or as expensive material things as others I know?  Yes and no…not as much as some but SO MUCH more than others and certainly more than I could ever possibly deserve.  Each day I thank God for my blessings of family, friends, home, etc.  But I also try to name 3 specific things…blessings I’ve received recently that may not occur every single day.

I just saw something on Pinterest that gave me the idea for this post.  I’m not sure who originated it or even who pinned it, so I can’t give credit where credit is due…hope that person doesn’t mind me borrowing it!  The title of this activity is 30 DAYS OF GRATITUDE

and you are to answer one question per day.  However, I’m going to use just a few of the questions and answer them here….you might want to borrow the questions yourself for a blog post or just food for thought😊

1.  What smell are you grateful for?

          My answer:  either the smell of bread baking in the oven or those yummy looking

and wonderful smelling cinnamon rolls at CINNABON (I’ve never eaten one but they sure do smell awesome!)

2.  What sound are you grateful for?

          My answer:  the voices of my grandchildren saying, “I love you, Cheri.”

3.  What place are you most grateful for?

          My answer:  definitely my home but also my church

4.  What abilities are you grateful for?

          My answer:  Of course, I am thankful to have the ability to see, hear, etc. but I am SO very grateful for the ability to teach.  I was in public education for 40 ½ years and I also often teach Sunday School.  My journey into teaching is a long story but once I became a teacher I had no doubt that it was what God wanted me to do.  I’ll have to tell you that story some other time😊

5.  What touch are you grateful for?

          My answer:  the touch of my husband's hand when he gives me a big hug (and

maybe a kiss too:) and tells me he loves me….SO very thankful I have a soul mate who tells me he loves me every single day!

6.  What tradition are you grateful for?

          My answer:  I’m big on tradition but one of my very favorites is THE PICKLE PRESENT that I do with my grandchildren every Christmas.  It is something they both look forward to every single year.  I wrote a post about it quite awhile back and you can read about it at https://cherischatter.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-pickle.html

7.  Other than your family which person in your life are you grateful for?

          My answer:  This is a tough one because there are many that I could name.  Two very special people that made a big difference in my life were my first grade teacher Miss Roberta Champion and my third grade teacher Mrs. Katherine Baggarley.  They both instilled in me a love of reading and of school in general.  School was a place of refuge and joy for me as a child, and Miss Champion’s and Mrs. Baggarley’s love for education and for their students shaped me in many ways.  Miss Champion lived to be in her 90s I believe and never married.  Mrs. Baggarley is now in her 80s and we exchange Christmas letters every year.  How I love both of these beautiful women and marvelous teachers.

8.  What texture are you grateful for?

          My answer:  This one’s easy….. my blankie.  Yep, I have a security blanket:) It is soooo soft and I love snuggling with it by the fire on a cold winter night or a really lovely rainy day.

9.  What knowledge are you grateful for?

          My answer: I have to give two answers for this one!  First (and foremost) is the knowledge of the birth, death, and resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Without my Lord, I would be lost.  My second answer would be reading. I learned to read rather quickly as a first grader under the wonderful instruction of Miss Champion…I was in the Redbird group (we were the best readers in the class!!!:)  Reading is one of the joys of my life and I am so thankful for this ability.

10.  What piece of art are you grateful for?

          My answer:  Well, I don’t own a Picasso or a Rembrandt but I have some very,

          very special pieces of art that were created by my children and my grandchildren!

          To me, they are priceless.

years  gone  by

Thanksgiving will be here soon (even though the stores are already filled with Christmas

decorations!) At least for the month of November, most of us are counting our

blessings….and hopefully we all remember to be thankful every single day! 

Now….TAG, you’re it!  What are you most thankful for?

PS:  I am thankful for anyone who finds their way to my little piece of Blog Land and stops in for a chat.  Please come back anytime!

PSS:  Also very thankful for these 2 who fill my life with joy...and so much craziness:)

HOLY Shirts & DEMONIC Shoes

 Bet that title got your attention!!!   Well, let’s get started cause I got a lot of 'splainin to do!

    Remember when Desi would say that to Lucy?  (Showing my age!)

Let’s start with my HOLE-y SHIRTS.  A couple of years ago I began to notice that some of my shirts & sweaters (mostly shirts) had 2-5 tiny holes…and they were always in the same general area around my belly button.  At first I was just aggravated but then as I found more and more hole-y  shirts I also became flabbergasted.  What in the world was going on?  Before I knew it I had had to discard more than a few very good shirts and two or three sweaters. 

I began to research (via Google) to try and solve this mystery.  Lo & behold!  I found that I was only one among MANY that had the same problem but yet no one could come up with a conclusive cause or a solution.  At least I wasn’t in the boat by myself! I also found 2 friends and a niece were having the same problem!

Some of the many thoughts about this “hole” situation were:

*abrasion from car seat belt

         BUT!  I had traded cars and still discovered new holes

*rough place on counter top or sink area

         BUT!  I went over every surface where I knew I leaned against it…and

         I mean I went over it like a detective looking for clues to a serial

        murderer….and found nothing

*a mysterious little bug that….warning! this is yucky!...liked the smell of your belly button

         BUT!  I keep my belly button clean and dust bunny free

*moths

         BUT!  do you really think a group of moths would all get together &

         say, “Now let’s eat holes in this gal’s clothes but let’s only go for the

         belly-button area”???????  I don’t think so!  And besides…I took

         everything out of that closet & washed or dry cleaned EVERYTHING…

         and also fumigated the room (just in case)!

*cheap fabrics

          BUT!  I had it to happen with some rather expensive items

Absolutely nothing seemed to fix the problem.  Well, after discarding at least 20 (if not more) perfectly good shirts & sweaters (both expensive brands like from Talbots and less expensive from places like Old Navy), I thought my problem was solved😊  For the past few months, NO NEW HOLES!  I was elated!  But this week the wind was taken out of my sails because I found holes in two basically new shirts.  One I bought recently from Old Navy; the other earlier in the summer from TJMaxx.  And by the way…why doesn’t my husband get holes in his shirts????

Evidently I like stripes A LOT!

As I was researching solutions yet again today I came across an article you can read here: http://www.cleverly.me/t-shirt-holes/ .  (sorry but I can't get the link to work!)   It basically gives 5 different possible reasons for the #@$#% holes, but I’m not really buying any of them because of the exact reasons I gave in the earlier part of this post.  I’m just still not convinced. 

I also came across a product that is “supposed” to be the cure-all for the problem, but I’m not buying it…literally or figuratively.  It’s these button covers called HOLE' (hole-ay) that you are supposed to put over your buttons/snaps on jeans & pant fronts.  (Reviews say they are hard to get on & off.)  But... (yes another BUT!), I have had holes in tops that I wear only with pants that are slip-ons…no buttons or snaps in sight. 

https://holebuttoncover.com/

I don’t really know what I can do about this problem, but if anyone discovers a cure-all I’ll be first in line to buy it. 

                                    

                             * * * * * * *

NOW….on to those demonic  shoes!  Well, that’s just my term for them because they too have given me the devil in the past year.  

A better term would be crumbling shoes.  Have you ever been walking down the street or in the mall (or in my friend’s case the airport) and you look down and see all these little black pieces of “something” following you like Hansel & Gretel’s trail of crumbs????  If so, you have had crumbling shoes.  (As if crumbled potato chips or crumbled cookies aren’t bad enough!)  

*Disclaimer:  these are not my shoes...borrowed from internet!

Or have you gotten all dressed, ready to go, but have to quickly put on matching shoes before running out the door….only to pull the shoes out of the box and realize they have disintegrated???  

Yep!  I’ve had both situations happen…not pleasant. 

Again let me say I have had this problem with both expensive brands and less expensive ones.  And I’m not in this boat alone either.  GOOGLE “crumbling shoes” or “disintegrating shoes” and you’ll see what I mean!  Many folks have dealt with gooey, delaminating, or cracked shoe bottoms including Clarks, Crocs, and other "comfort" shoes.

But there is an explanation for this phenomenon…just no real solution!!!!

The basic culprit is polyurethane that is inside the soles & heels of shoes (and sometimes upper parts).  The polyurethane degrades through a process known as hydrolysis.  It also seems that storing shoes for a long period of time aids the process.  I have for years stored my shoes in plastic shoeboxes (all nicely labeled, thank you😊)  but now I’m wondering if that is the best thing to do.  (They sure look nice & neat all stacked on my shelves though!!)

One of the main (maybe only) solutions to the issue of crumbling shoes is to WEAR THEM FREQUENTLY.  Seems that wearing them squeezes all the chemicals in there together & this slows down the breaking-down process.  However, I have read in several places that many shoe manufacturers say we should only expect 4 to 5 years of wear!  Are you kidding me???  I still have my BE-BOPS (saddle oxfords) from high school and that was….well, more than a few years ago!  My problem is I have sooooo many pairs of shoes, by the time I get around to wearing all of them the first ones will have disintergrated!!!  (But my shoe inventory is a post for another day.)

A good article to read about the shoe problem is here:

https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/consumer/want-your-comfort-shoes-to-last-1310918  

I love clothes & shoes in particular, but it sure is disheartening to go to your closet to look for a favorite shirt or just-the-right pair of shoes for an outfit only to find they are no longer wearable.  I’m beginning to think it’s true what we often hear:  They just don’t make things like they used to.  After all, right now in my closet I have 2 pairs of my 90-year-old mother’s high heels that she wore many, many years ago and they look like they just came from the store!

So….have you had either of these problems?  I’d love to hear about it if you have.  And if you find a long-term solution for either situation, bottle & sell it cause you'll end up with more money than if you'd hit that billion dollar lottery...and I'll be your first customer:)