Kelly, Sharon's friend from way back....about 6th grade...called the other day and wanted to know when I was taking the kids to see their mom. I told her Sunday, the 12th and she wanted to know if she could go and if so, she'd drive. I said OK, but I would help pay for the gas.

She called me late Sat. evening and said that Alex, her husband, wanted to go too. But, she said she didn't really want him to go so she'd try to talk him out of it. No such luck. When she got here Sunday morning, he was driving.

However, once the kids got acquainted with him, they really had a good time and enjoyed his corny jokes. And, he also liked to stop in every town to try their drink machines and buy lottery tickets. He won on about every scratch ticket he bought. And on the way home when we stopped to eat, he gave them the remains of his bag of quarters to put in those machines they have everywhere. You know, the kinds that have balls and other junk stuff.

Sharon looked real pretty. Her hair has really grown from the short layered "do" she had in the spring. Now it's touching her shoulders. She had bought picture tickets, so they had two pics made. One with her, Kelly, Rebecca and Tommy and one with her, Kelly and Alex. I stayed at the table to watch our drinks. I really don't like getting my picture made....there or anywhere else.

The other times we went on Sunday, there wasn't much traffic on the road, but yesterday there was a lot. And it rained all the way up and about halfway back. One funny thing. When we got there, Alex was gonna stay in the car and wait and I told him he could go in, too. So he filled out his paper and somewhere on there, it asks if you've ever been arrested and why. So, he says yes and explains that when he was 16 or 17, he and a bunch of other boys were throwing rocks at a passing train and got caught. They were all arrested and had to pay fines and Alex said, "And my rock didn't even hit the train!" Anyway, the governor pardoned the whole bunch of them in '81, so it's not on his record anymore. The nice man who took care of us last time let him go on in; taking his word that he had been pardoned.

We stopped in Altavista at a KFC to eat supper cause while we bought food for Sharon...hot, spicy chicken sandwich, pork skins, Milky Way bars, we only had a drink, so we were hungry after an hour on the road. They have machines and a microwave in a lil room off the visiting area and they have all kinds of goodies that the inmates don't get except at visiting time. So we try to take enough change...silver only...no bills or pennies, so we can feed her all the "good" stuff she doesn't normally have. Tommy is real good at picking out food and nuking it for his mama.

Well, that's the trip; we had fun!

Today was the annual Christmas Bazaar at the Community Market. Seems it gets earlier every year. When it first started a few years ago, it was actually in December and table rental was $15. Now it's before Thanksgiving and table rental is $35.

Our Wesleyan Women always rent a table and we cook stuff and try to make money to support our mission projects, which now include, in addition to foreign missions; Salvation Army, Lifesaving crew, Doves, Homeless shelter, and Little Life.

We were doing this before we merged and you would think that since we merged, we would have more participants. Sad to say, except for a couple of ladies, the former Emmanuel ladies still do all the work.

Today started out pretty cool, so we thought we'd do well with soup to go with our other stuff. I made potato soup and Margaret made vegetable soup. We also had fried pies, cakes, pies, truffles, candy apples, bread, ham, sausage and cheese biscuits. We also had sausage gravy and biscuits. I'm glad to report that every bit of food was sold and if we'd had more soup, fried pies and ham biscuits, we could have sold a lot more. But it's really hard to cook and cook and then get it all to the market along with crock pots to keep stuff hot.

It was supposed to start at 8AM and we got there to set up at 7:30. All the regulars were already there and ready to go. I sold the cake I made before I even got the table ready for the food. Richard and Tommy came by here and helped me load the car and then went to the market and helped to unload me and then when Margaret came they helped her unload.

One funny thing, this nice looking young man came by and looked at the sausage gravy and biscuits and really wanted some. He told me that his wife had him on a strict diet and if he ate one bowl, he'd want some more. I assured him that I wouldn't sell him but one bowl. He thought it over and said he'd come back later and have some potato soup. However, when he came back all the soup was gone. Later at the grocery store I saw him again and he recognized me and I helped him pick out some rolls for his wife. He was having a problem finding what his wife called "finger rolls". I showed him the tiny rolls that would work, so he was happy.

Well, I'm going to play bookworm or spores for a few minutes and then go to bed. Good Night...........

Haven't written in a while, so I'll try to catch up. Thanksgiving was a memorable day........Cindy and Charlie came up, Ashley and her friend Kristin and Kristin's dog, Nismo were also here. Rebecca and Tommy had come on Monday before T. day. Richard and Tommy S. came by and Bobby, Teresa and Rachel came to eat. Oh, Tommy's son Joey and his wife and little boy also came by. All in all, a good crowd.

Our annual Christmas bazaar at the Community Market was the Sat. before Thanksgiving. Our church always has a table and we sell stuff......mostly food. Since we merged it seems as if we would have more participants and more stuff, but that didn't happen. The same five did most of the cooking and provided the stuff to be sold. I spent the Friday before cooking....fried pies, cake, truffles, chicken salad, pimiento cheese, biscuits, and potato soup. Margaret did the same, only ham and sausage biscuits, regular pies, cake,and vegetable soup. A couple of other ladies brought candied apples, loaves of bread and oatmeal cookies. We sold everything long before closing time and could have sold a lot more. All in all, a good day.

I had some apples left, so today I decided to make some more pies for the funeral home since I didn't have time to make their pies before. I made about 36/37 in all and Ryland at the funeral home bought most of them. Bobby assured me tonight that if I wanted to make some money for Christmas that Tim, the hair person would sell all I could make in his shop. Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how you look at it)I'm all out of apples and sweet potatoes.

The other day I picked up Sarah at school because Susan was in class and she was in the backseat with Brittany. She was telling me that black girls were racist, too and explained that in gym she accidently brushed against the water fountain, although she didn't actually touch the part the water comes out. The black girl said she'd never drink out of that fountain again. Before I could say anything, Brittany said,"Sawah, why didn't you kick her in de balls?" Sarah calmly replied, "Brittany, girls don't have balls."

One other thing.......what's with the price of gas these days? Last Monday it was $1.99 a gallon, Wed, it was $2.14. And it's still going up. I don't think it's any thing to do with international stuff. I just think the gas companies are racking up.

Today I had a visit from Fara, my niece, and her friend, Mrs. Mother. Actually, her name is Bea and she is a fascinating lady. Her parents immigrated from Germany in '38 when she was a young child and she grew up in New York City.I would like to spend at least a whole day listening to her talk about growing up in New York.

Fara had asked last week if Tuesday would be a good day to visit and go out to lunch, and it was, so we did. We went to eat at Burners which is sorta like a small town version of Cracker Barrel. It's a fairly new restaurant here and I'd never been before(I don't go out to eat often), but the food, especially the cornbread, was good. Also, it wasn't crowded so no long wait for a table.

After we got back to my house I made coffee, which was soooooooooo bitter. The packet said one pack makes 8 to 10 cups. Well, I used a little over 1/2 a pack and put in 9 cups of water, but it was still bitter. Next time I'll use 1/4 of a pack with 10 cups water and it ought to be perfect.

When they got here and I was introduced to Bea, Fara started bringing in stuff. Mostly food kind of stuff. The kind from Ukrops....already cooked. Just ready for reheating in the microwave. Most of the containers fed four and she got doubles of some that were "hits" last time. I didn't really get a good look at them until after they left this afternoon and when I did, I decided that somebody was gonna have to help me eat some of it. So, I invited Richard and his friend Tommy. I also fixed plates for Kerri and Chad. It was so good and we did a pretty good job of finishing off most of it. I still have some left I didn't reheat. That's for Wed. and Thursday.

In addition to that food, she brought flavored peanut butter from The Peasnut Company which is out of this world. Also jars of snacky stuff and a planter of beautiful yellow and purple pansies. Speaking of which, I've never had pansies in my life. I had some violas which look like a tiny pansy, but these are my first pansies. I hope I don't kill them with kindness as I'm prone to do with some flowers.

I'm hoping that when they come back, and they're supposed to when the days are longer, that everybody who missed seeing them will be able to. Richard and Kerri were particularly sorry they didn't get to see Fara, so I hope next time they can stay longer. Keister did come over and they reminisced about the day Elvis died and going to Roses in Portsmouth to buy his latest album "Moody Blue".

Well, where to start? I went to Bobby's house last Sat. night, the 9th, for a Christmas get together.Everything was decorated so beautifully, inside and out. The table was full of food and the kitchen also had hot food. Everything was delicious, but the cutest thing was a cheese ball made to look like a snowman. He had round crackers stacked on his head to look like a top hat, pretzel arms and the tip end of a carrot for a nose. Much too cute to eat!

Bobby and Teresa have a lil black poodle named.....guess what? Blackie!! He was in and out prancing around on his hind feet begging for scraps. Finally, Bobby picked up a piece of cracker and said, "Play the piano, Blackie". The doggy hopped up on the piano bench, but immediately hopped back down. Bobby showed him the cracker and told him to play the piano again. This time Blackie hopped up on the bench and hit the keys 3 or 4 times with his paw and then hopped down and looked expectantly at Bobby as if to say, "There, I've done my part. Where's the cracker"? He was so cute!!!!!!

Last Friday night, Richard had his Christmas gathering. He has about 20 trees up in his house, including one in the bathroom decorated with old clip on earrings. Some rooms had more than one tree, but all were beautiful. He, too, had quite a spread. All kinds of food, cake and candy.

Saturday night was the church Christmas dinner at the fellowship hall of the church. Margaret and I along with a few others are the fellowship committee, so we decided to go early and take some decorations. When we got there the door was locked and we had to call the preacher and he in turn called a man who lives near the church and he came over to let us in. Good thing, too. The tables hadn't been put up so we drug them out and set them up and decorated them to look Christmasy. Got through just in time for the first arrivals.

The preacher had announced every time it was mentioned that the church would supply the meat and drinks and we all had to bring covered dishes. Well, when he came in, I didn't see any drinks so I asked him about them and he said."I said the church would provide them. I didn't say I was going to get them. Same for the meat. A nice man in our church did go get drinks, but we had a vegetable Christmas dinner. Oh, well. Everybody had fun anyway.

Sunday evening the three northside presbyterian churches had a Christmas cantata and Margaret and I went to that. The church looked so pretty and the singing was great. Then they invited us to the reception following the singing and we got to eat again. Now I know why people put on extra pounds at Christmas time. That food is just too inviting!