Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sunday At The Lake

Jayce, after bath time, getting ready to either shoot a hoop or bean memaw with the ball, it's hard to tell.
Jayce and mom, this was taken by Jordan with a little help from memaw.
Is someone getting very, very sleepy, just after bath time?
Jordan and Jayce in the big tub, with all the dishes and junk memaw brought with her, they had fun pouring water into cups and pouring it out. They are both little ducks.
Jordan in the playroom, top of the slide saying, "Cheese".
Jordan being the little daredevil he is, had just vaulted over the back and was now nicely sitting with a big smile.
Oh no, the car is going to run over me, his little Tikes car had kind of backed over him.
Jordan and Jayce with their older cousin, Justin OQuinn, they just love their cousins, Justin and Jamen, put them all together and what a pack of rough and tumble boys they are. Justin has been a close buddy of mine since he was very little, he used to come over to the house and we played dinosaurs together, he was only a little guy and could name all the different type of dinosaurs. Justin will always be special to me.


I worked overnight on Saturday, and after I got up, around 2-230pm, I didn't want to just sit at the house, so Pete and I went down to Laura and Jared's for a couple of hours. I had not seen the boys in 2 weeks, so I was really missing them. Danny was at work, so we sneaked off and stopped on the way to get them each a grape and orange slushy from Sonic. We had a fun time, just playing and helping with bath time. As usual, Jayce had to stand at the doorway of the garage yelling Goodbye, until he could no longer see us, it's required of Memaw to yell back through her open window and of course Pete cringes, think that all the neighbors in their gated community, know the rednecks are leaving. Oh well, one of these days he won't want me to do this anymore and he too will cringe at Memaw giving him kisses and screeching goodbye from a car window, but believe me I am doing it as long as I can get a way with it. We had a sweet night and I am re-energized to start a new week. Love to you all!!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Old School, Conway Homecoming 2009

Jimmy and I at homecoming, yeah Susi was there too, we had some fun reminiscing about the "good old days" when everything seemed bigger, especially the seats and the cafeteria.
Heather, right hand side in front, cheering for the varsity boys.
Heather and boyfriend Alex, acting goofy
The winners, Katie Clanton and Larry Deckard, both very nice kids!!
Heather and her escort during the line-up for the candidates to walk.
Heather an her escort
Heather and escort walk down the line
The boys huddle up, ready to play.

Tiffany and Kayla's little girl.
Tiffany with Kayla's baby
Heather, putting her shoes on, cool effects right
Conway High School had it's homecoming tonight, and I decided to go. I hadn't been since Pete graduated from school. I thought it might be a fun way to spend a Friday night. I called Susi and told her to save me a seat and we had a great time talking and laughing and trying to watch the game. Heather is a freshman and a cheerleader, so it was great to watch her out on the floor, she does a super job. It was good to see Tiff and Matt up from Branson for the weekend, also. Homecoming court was held and a beautiful young lady was crowned homecoming queen 2009. I saw lots of people I knew and chatted with a few, tried to get a snack in the alumni room, but it was too crowded and took several pix for your enjoyment. It was hot and stuffy but very exciting in a crazy sort of way. Hooray for the big girls, we won one tonight!!! Love to you all.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Mamaw Is Starting A Quilt....to be continued



About Christmas time I decided to make a quilt for either Jayce or Jordan. It's called a rag quilt due to the fraying of the unfinished edges. It is made with flannel material and is so cute when finished. It didn't look too difficult so I started buying material to attempt this quilt. I bought my first hunk of material at the FM store on Sunshine, a very old, used to be 5 and dime, but now they only carry gads of material. I bought a beautiful blue print with bucking horses and cowboys, I decided to carry on with the western theme by buying a few yards of blue plaid, red plaid, horses running, grizzly bears and Indian blanket style. I started cutting right after Christmas, but with work and my 2 blogs, time to work on it has been little to none. Tonight I decided to start sewing, I completed 11 blocks, I need about 80-90 to make a nice size quilt. I am going to try and work on it as much as I can, I also want to make one for Jordan and Kayley, I am going to incorporate one square from Grandma Long's cotton blouses, which I saved and have made into quilt squares. I also save all the buttons for other projects. I hope to get these done somewhere in the future, maybe 2020??? I am not much of a sewer, but I am giving it a good try. Wish me luck, Love to you all!!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Phillipsburg From My Camera, 1974

The old store on the corner, at the time of this picture, it was owned and operated by the Lindley's. She was a mean and hateful old lady who thought she could paint. I did not like her at all. When Helen and Francis Massey owned it, us kids really liked Helen because she was so nice and patient with us little visitors who were bored and had no money to spend at the rival store. Every Christmas when Helen and Frances owned it, they always had a beautiful window display, in the right, first window, a silver aluminum tree with the revolving disc light of colors and wonderful gifts under the tree for sale. One year she had a little set of cardboard suitcases, bright orange and hot pink and I really wanted at least one, I got it and still have it now. I still love that little case. The post office was in the immediate back towards the highway and we made trips down to the box to check the mail for the day and visit with Felix Marshall, who was a really nice guy and very kind to us kids.
My brother and his cool car, with Bob Allen leaning over the top, this was in front of mom and dad's store and Greasy's barber shop.
The old road district building where dad worked and tried to keep the road grader going and in one piece. You can barely see, but Susi and Ethel Bunch are standing in the front of the building. There was an old well to the back of this building, it's a wonder us kids didn't get injured with all the snooping we did.
Taken from the front of the old grocery store, a view to the northeast, railroad tracks and in the distance, Silver Lake Mills and millpond, again it's a wonder we all didn't get killed or drowned from ice sliding on the frozen pond and creeping around an empty mill building.

The old canning factory, straight across the tracks from mom and dad's store, when there was an additional crossing there. The old building, as far as I know was used for canning produce, especially tomatoes, to send off on the train and also the workers could can for their own home us. I would be curious if this was used for anything else in it's earlier state. It is long gone now, along with the Chaffin's home that sat next to it and was a hotel for train travelers when Phillipsburg had a layover and a depot. I was an active resident of Phillipsburg from the age of 6 until 16, so believe me I crawled all over that town and road miles and miles on my Apache boys bike.

Proof


Okay here is actual proof that Stephanie can be grouchy in the morning.

4 More For Steph

Taken in October 1978, a quick weekend trip to North Dakota, wasn't she cute.
I wrote this on the back of the photo, " What a ham. I had to act like I was taking her picture while she posed. She had been drinking kool-aid. October 1978. Taken at Minot Air Force Base in Minot, ND, Her sweatshirt had been one of Susi's that mom had saved when Susi was a little girl, it had Charlie Brown and Lucy on it, I wish it were still around for Kayley to wear,
I had written on the back of the photo, which is evidence that she actually has woken up grouchy all of her life. " Stephanie, right after she got up. Looks kind of grouchy. October 1978." I will actually scan the back of the picture so you can see.
Stephanie at 6 months.

I found some more old photos in an album in the bottom of my cedar chest, thought I would post for fun.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Two For Stephanie

Okay, in 1978, when I was 16 we decided to go to North Dakota to see Steve, Rhonda and Steph. I was madly in love with my boyfriend and really didn't want to go, but I wanted to see our baby Neffie, so I bought a ton of things for her birthday and left my boyfriend behind. This picture was taken at a rest area, after they had traveled down to meet us, I'm not sure where, but of course Stephanie loaded up with us and we had a very good time on the drive into the their home. This was pre-car seat and of course none of us wore seat belts either. Stephanie usually stood in between mom and dad in the front seat, but turned around so she could torment me and Susi, or maybe the other way, we tormented her, it usually ended with "Girls, stop teasing her", meaning the little girl in the front seat, not the 2 bored teenagers in the back, all hot and sticking to the seat, cause Grandpa did not believe in using A/C, with our hot pants and Susie with her tube socks to her knees. Back to the picture, Stephanie is a busy little girl playing in the gravel and look in the phone booth, no it is not Superman, it was me calling Danny, of course this was also pre-cell phones and I called him at every rest stop across the several states we traveled. Thank goodness I was a waitress and had saved my change for weeks to make the calls.
Oh my, Stephanie a few weeks old, we were so proud of her, we just wanted to hug her and squeeze her and call her George! Look at us, we were both holding her little hands. You can tell it was July by our good tans, mine came from picking blackberries for weeks, Rhonda also picked along side me, it's a wonder Steph didn't turn out sun tanned or with blue fingers from all the picking her mom did. Susie and I were so excited to see you arrive, well me more than Susie, I thought you were the cutest baby on the earth.

Check Me Out!

Actually my Grandma Opal Davis Stevens, in this picture she was probably getting close to 40, maybe 37 or 38 years old. This is where I get my body shape, just look at her chicken legs, just like mine, exactly, look at her Davis gut, her round belly, really the only thing big on her except her height. She was a tall woman, I also have her arms, mine don't have a lot of fat on them. I guess I am proud to look like her, she was a very good, kind, patient and hardworking woman. I will keep everything else as long as I can get rid of the Davis gut.
Oh boy, I am 18, newly married, thought I had the world by the tail. Just check out that groovy Toni Tenielle, form the Captain and Tenielle, you know Muskrat Love and Love will Keep Us Together group, haircut and what about that camel toe with my very tight shorts. I remember this trip, mom and dad had just gotten a new Volare' and all of us went on a road trip, mom, dad, Danny, me, Susi and her stinky boyfriend Jimmy, we down into Arkansas and it was hot! Dad wouldn't use the A/C so I was wringing out a washcloth from the cold water in the ice chest.
Susie and I at the Laclede County Fair, we were probably 15 and 13, while I don't look fat, I sure felt huge. I had sewn patches to bottom of my jeans and look at the tennis shoes, blue swede with white stripes, right on!
I was probably around 5 years old, I think this was pre-store, I think we had been over to Buffalo to the fairgrounds with Wanda, Tommy and Phillip, to only find nothing was open, I remember mom getting a pot holder from a gas company and we got an umbrella and a tiny plastic poodle, I'm guessing from a vendor willing to open during the day. I think Susie either wet herself or threw up and our day ended.
I should have saved this for my birthday entry, but it is too cute to resist, wasn't I a very cute baby, YES I WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

One Of The Two Cutest Babies On Earth!!!

I took this photograph about a year ago of Jordan. Laura, Jared and Jayce decided to go watch basketball in Springfield and left him with me for a Saturday afternoon. He was such a good baby, I decided to make some meatball soup and I brought him with me into he kitchen. He looks very interested in helping if he could only get the spoon into the bowl. Oh, they grow up too quickly, just last night he learned how to say Pete, so we heard it many times, he is a little mockingbird right now and wants to do everything his big brother does. I had just found this while looking for Danny's photos and wanted to show off my little grandguy, Jordy. Love you all!

Danny Hillhouse, Circa 1960 And Beyond

Two crazy kids who fell in love in 1978!
Danny with Jordan, whom he traveled to Columbia with and stayed with at NIC, isolette side with Jared to make sure his little guy was taken care of.
Just look at us cuties, this was our 25th wedding anniversary pictures, taken by Krysta.
The Hoo-Haa Gang rides again, Danny with his brothers Dwane and David, all members of the Missouri 5th, a Civil War group.
Danny and Pete fishing, a picture tells a thousand word, just look at that little boy smile.
Danny, paramedic for St. John's Hospital.
Danny with Jayce, our first little Grandson, what a happy day that was!
Great white hunter, he was proud of that buck, I think the antlers are still hanging around here somewhere, sorry PETA.

I first meet Danny in the early spring of 1979, he was working with the Sheriffs department and would drive to Phillipsburg and cruise around the empty buildings and Nickerson Farms Restaurant where I worked. The first time I knew about him, me and a couple of my friends thought he was breaking into Nickerson's because he drove around the back of the building and didn't come out for a while, we reported him, only to find out he was one of them. We figured he was old and ugly anyway, probably married with 4 or 5 kids. Later we found out he wasn't old, ugly or married and one of my friends decided she wanted to go out with him , which she promptly did. I really wasn't that interested, for one thing he was too short and I wanted to date a taller guy. Well, he only dated my friend a couple of times, then she moved on to other prospects, he started hanging around waiting for me to get off work, waiting by my car and pestering me to go out with him. I finally said yes and we went to the Queen City Drive-In movie. I guess we had a good time because we continued dating the rest of the summer. We were married the next May, I was getting ready to graduate from high school and back then, you either got married or went to college, and since I was not college material and my folks had no money to send me even if I was, I decided to get married. We were poor as church mice and thankfully borrowed his mom's furniture, as she just had went on the road with Wal-Mart, setting new stores with the management team and had needed to store her stuff anyway. By fall we both worked at Nickerson's, me as a cook/waitress and he started on their management program. We ended up living in St. James, Missouri, Newton, Iowa and Edwardsville, Illinois. We were both so homesick and very poor that we moved back home. Danny has always been such a good provider and family man, while he is not perfect he has tried really hard to make things better and easier for all of us. Many years he did without a lot of things, just so his kids could have, like the year he sold his compound bow so the kids could have a new Nintendo set like all their friends. He has driven piece of crap vehicles and held them together with gum and baling twine when others had brand new trucks. He can fix or repair anything, and I mean anything, from swimming pool pumps, to tractor engines, to any part on a car, boat, tiller, mower, or toy. If he can't fix it, toss it cause it is not repairable. He looks for good in others, doesn't gripe or complain much and hardly ever speaks bad of anyone or anything. He has had spinal meningitis, several motorcycle wrecks, ruptured appendix, back surgery with ruptured discs, several heart attacks, with double by-pass and stent placements, just to name a few. He still works and works putting in loads of overtime each pay period. He just started college classes to bridge to RN, because I wanted him to, well he wanted to also but I want him in a safe dry hospital in a controlled environment instead of a blistering hot day on a busy highway working a wreck or a icy and slick February day trying to unwedge a 500 pound woman suffering from a panic attack and shortness of breath from her 1972 single wide trailer in the back woods of Dallas county, I'm kinda selfish like that I guess. We are now working towards retirement, we have almost successfully raised 2 beautiful daughters and one son into adulthood, 2 are done and the 3rd is about half-baked :) He loves hamburgers, steak, anything sweet, fried potatoes, ice cream and coffee with sugar and cream. He doesn't care for anything green or weird. He will dance with me if I ask him to, he will act silly sometimes out of the blue, which always makes my day, he tries to sing, but can;t really carry a tune but he can play a mean Alley Cat on the piano without any effort. I can't imagine life without him, we have been together 30 years now, married almost 29, longer than I was in my father's home, longer than I have been with anyone else, we know each other so well, we still get aggravated at each other over silly things, it's hard for us to paint or wallpaper together as we will be yelling at each other. I support him in all he has or will ever do unconditionally and I know he will always have my back, front, sides and everything else. Happy Birthday my wonderful husband, I hope we have many, many more together. Love you all!!!!