I was thinking about my mom's mother the other day and was wishing my kids could have known her. All her grandkids called her Banny Hall because the oldest of her grandchildren couldn't say granny. It came out Banny and so it was thus for nigh on to 40 years.

She was a little thin lady who wore button up boots, always a dress (and an apron at home), and her long gray hair in a bun on the back of her head. She had a black 'handbag' that went every where with her and was filled with any thing you might possibly need if an emergency arose.

She walked every where. If she needed a certain size needle for some needlework she was doing, she would take off her apron, get her handbag and walk to downtown Danville. Didn't matter if it was hot, cold, snowing, raining or icing, she was off like a flash. Once she decided to take a walk out the newly opened highway (58), and ended up at what was then a restaurant called the Ranch. (Now Crane Tire Co.) After being driven home by the manager, she told her daughters about the nice girl who came out and brought her a bowl of soup and a nice cold drink when she sat down to rest a minute. This was when she was 85 years old.

She told the best ghost stories and on a summer day if a storm came up, would have all the kids on the street seated on the porch around her while she told stories so real that you could hear the chains rattle and see the blood stained floors. She also knew countless long poems and could recite for hours without repeating herself. But I never saw her read anything but the newspaper.

The summer she turned 86, her daughters, Lillie and Effie who lived with her down on Riverside Dr. decided that since she had started wandering more than usual, that she ought to have somebody stay with her while they worked. I was elected to be the 'babysitter' at the princely sum of $10 a week. My duties were just to fix her some breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and make sure she didn't take off by herself.

I think I was about 11 when the summer started and was really pleased to be making some money. After a couple of weeks, I branched out and started cooking her lunch. I made my first vegetable soup there. And it WAS vegetable. I didn't know that soup needed a little meat or at least some kind of grease. But she ate it and Lillie and Effie ate some when they came home from work. And really bragged about how good it was. I guess after an 8 hour shift at Dan River, weaving, anything you didn't have to cook would taste good.

I also made my first cake while sitting with Banny. Of course, she wiped the frosting off as fast as I could put it on! I don't think she liked things that were too sweet.

My mom told us that her mama hated to wear underwear and once when she was waiting to catch the bus to go to Lynchburg for a few days, right there in the Grayhound bus station, somehow she slipped out of her 'drawers' and tucked them in her handbag. Without anybody seeing her but my mama!

Ever since my Toyota died October 31, 2004, I've been driving my brother Richard's 89 Buick Skylark.It's been pretty dependable; once Chad had to tighten down the battery cause it sorta slipped and the car wouldn't start. He fixed it so it wouldn't do that again and also tuned it up and later put a new heater coil in.

Right before Christmas Richard told me that if Santa didn't bring me a car, he would sign his over to me. That would be nice and he wouldn't have to pay the insurance or get it inspected. But, even if it was mine, I would need to have a new headliner put in because the current one sorta lays on the top of the heads of anyone in the back seat. Also, it really needs a paint job and I would still not have a car to drive to see Sharon. Somehow, I don't trust it to go that far. Nor does Richard! It's good for running around town and going to church but I wouldn't drive it that far. So, what do I do? Do I tell him I'll take it or just keep on driving it and try to pay the insurance for him? What to do? What to do?

Friday I only had Anna, so after I fed her breakfast and cleaned up a little and got us both ready, we went out to the car to go to the grocery store. Guess what?? A flat tire! I came back in and thought about it for a minute and called O'Brien's, the car repair place on the corner of Baugh and No. Main. He said he'd be over with his air tank and blow it up and take it to the station and fix it. Well, at 5PM, he still hadn't come and when Tommy called about something I told him about the tire and in about 15 minutes, he was here with his air tank, filled the tire and took it to Car Care to get it repaired. Richard also left me his Ford Tempo to drive today and to church tomorrow.(In case the tire goes flat again)!

Today I went grocery shopping and got a lot of stuff at Old Dutch's "big can sale". I came home and made soup, which turned out to be more like stew, but it tastes pretty good.

Kaitlyn was here last week and forgot her coat, so she called about the time the soup was ready and said she was in Greensboro and would be here soon. We had talked about soup when she was here and when she and her friend Shannon got here, they ate grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. Imagine my surprise when Shannon told me her grandparents used to teach at G.W. and when she told me their names, her Grandma turned out to be my PE teacher in the 11th and 12th grades. Small world, huh?

This evening before church I was listening to the radio and the weather guy said we'd have fog after midnight. I had a meeting at 6:45, so I left a little early and when I started across Union St. bridge, I noticed the fog rising off the river.

I got to church and when it was over and I went out into the parking lot, it was really foggy.

Coming back down Memorial Drive, it was kind of like riding in a dream. Every thing looked so fuzzy and different.

When I got to the "wee bump" at Market Garden, it was like the road ended and just dropped off into nothingness. Like being on the edge of the world. It was really a strange sensation. I don't think I like fog very much!!!

Well, I guess the main thing last week was getting my utility bill and discovering that my 'equal pay' of $185 a month is now going up to $361 a month. Almost double!!! That and my rent, Adelphia and my phone pretty well takes care of my SS check. Good thing I have babies that pay me enought to buy a few groceries and pay on my Sears bill!

The thing is, I added what I had used and what I had paid and averaged it and it wasn't close to what they want me to pay. So, then I subtracted the difference in what I had used and what I had paid and divided that between 12 months and it's still not what they're asking. I wonder how they really decide the new amount?

When Chad last worked on Richard's car the end of Nov. I bought 2 new tires for the front because they were really worn and paid for the heater coil and the fluids that had to be replaced that had leaked out when the coil went. Today Richard came and got the car and had it inspected and doggone if the brakes on the front didn't have to be replaced. Oh well, at least they tightened the lug nuts up when they fixed it. Always something!!

Gotta go. Somebody is creeping around my downstairs and I have 2 babies sleeping that I don't want woke up!

Today I only had Savannah and Brittany cause April didn't have to teach today. They were very good, no fussing or quarreling, really playing good together.

Ron brought Emily down so I could trim her hair and while he was here decided to look at my slow running drain in the downstairs bathroom. Of course both of the girls had to go to the bathroom to watch.

He got his snake going and one of them asked, "what dat?' and he said it was a snake. Of course they both laughed and told him that it wasn't a snake. Then Brittany said something to Savannah about being arrested and Ron told her that she didn't know anything about arresting somebody and she said, "My daddy is a 'bad boy' and he arrests people and takes them to jail!"

I have some divided plastic plates that they use for lunch and while I have 2 white and 2 red, I only have one blue one. And of course, they all want to eat out of the blue one. Friday it was Brittany's turn and I told them that Anna was the next one to use it. Today when I was fixing lunch, Savannah told me that since Anna wasn't here it was her turn to eat off "de blue one". They don't forget a thing!!

Last week Anna told me that her cat Audrey was throwing up but, she didn't think she had dirina.(diarrhea)They took the cat to a vet in Greensboro last Friday, but I haven't heard an update on her condition.

Friday I only had Savannah although Rebecca and Tommy were here. Since it was a pretty day I decided to take Tommy and Savannah to the store. We went to K Mart first and then went to Big Lots.

We looked at all the toy stuff and then I pushed the buggy, containing Savannah, up to look at the electronic stuff. I had just stopped the buggy to look for something when Savannah sighed and said,"Maxine, I'm soo bored." Imagine, a just turned 3 year old being bored!!!

Monday when Anna got here from pre school, she started eating and ate everything in sight until her mom got here to pick her up. She was in the living room laying on a pillow on the floor and April asked her something and I replied that she had been eating ever since she got here and kiddingly asked April if she didn't feed her over the weekend. April said 'Of course I did. Didn't I Anna'? Anna looked over her shoulder with a sly little grin on her face and said, 'NO'!

Today I was looking at the grocery store ads and Brittany pointed to a picture of mushrooms and said she liked mushrooms. I said,"How do you like your mushrooms, Brittany?" She said,"Myakos". Evidently she eats at the Japanese restaurant a lot!

Tonight Ava rode with me to church and Emily went to the youth meeting. After it was over we went out to the car and when I tried to put the key in the ignition, it absolutely wouldn't go in!! The preacher came over, by then every one else was gone, and he tried and tried and he couldn't get it in either. I called Richard, but he didn't have any helpful hints on how to get the key in, so the preacher gave me a ride home and Kerri's Chad is going over to the church parking lot tomorrow evening and try to fix it. I thought maybe since it usually sat under the underhang where the icy wind couldn't get to it, that maybe it just got too cold out in the cold parking lot. What?????

Thursday morning, early, Richard called and said that he'd called O.F. Newman, the locksmith, to look at the car. I'd already made plans for Chad to look at it, but Richard said that Newman could look at it and call somebody if it was something he couldn't handle.

Well, it seems that a tiny little sliver off the key had gotten caught in the ignition some way and was messing up the tumblers. He said he could fix it so it would work, but it might do the same thing again. He recommended a new ignition switch.

I don't know who fixed it, but when I got to church last night, with my new key, it worked fine. I hope nothing else happens to Richard's car while I'm driving it.....it's getting kinda expensive for him!

On the subject of cars, today a lady called trading post with a 96 Toyota Camry that she said was in real good condition and she only wanted $1500 for it. I wrote her number down and called it after the show went off,I wanted to ask about the mileage,etc. but I got a recorded message saying the number was out of order. Evidently she or the guy on trading post gave the wrong number. Linda said that some guy called the station and told the host that the number was not working and asked her to call him. Maybe she'll call back next week with the correct number.

Looks like the only thing I have to write about is things that break. Tonight it was a little cool when I sat down in my recliner to watch TV. I reached over and turned on my old faithful Vornado heater and while the light came on, nothing else happened.

Ever since I got my utility bill, I've been trying not to turn on the gas heat cause that is so much and I'd been using my little Vornado to heat the living room. It was working fine last night, now it won't!

Tami brought me a nice new model when she came last time, but it wouldn't work at all. It looked like it had been dropped in shipment--the box was sorta dented in on the corner. It was the new, improved model. In white, no less. Real pretty, but no good.

So, before it gets cold again, I have to get some kind of heater for my living room. Any suggestions???