Friday Finds

My mother-in-law was a pack-rat. She saved and "collected" so many things. Some of the things are worthless and cause us to chuckle, but some are worthwhile. Therein lies the problem!

We've found we must go through every box and stack because one never knows what you'll find! It's slow going so we've agreed to try and do a little each day.

My father-in-law, at 95, is the exact opposite. He will throw away anything that gets in his way of cleaning a counter or shelf. 

Because of this, we have to remove everything from his assisted living apartment that is not needed or necessary to him.

We box it up as fast as we can and have stored it for safe-keeping while we do a little at a time. Here's some interesting things I found while emptying a box...

This Woman's Day from 1965 cost just 15 cents! Mom was crazy about doll's, doll patterns, and books about dolls. She cut parts of magazines out to save for both information and patterns.

The magazine pages included page after page of old dolls in different categories...here's just a few of them.

Also in this box, several books on making various type dolls...

And my favorite...a book on embroidering animals...I'll add this book to my "someday" pile. I love to embroider, but haven't done it for years.

And here's an article on Frontier Doctors from Texas Highways magazine...another piece I'll squirrel away on my Texas Research shelf!

Two sets of fake pearls...or are they real? No telling! We'll have to take the jewelry to someone who can appraise it. 

I'm betting these are not expensive, but there are some family pieces that need an evaluation so we'll take the rest just in case.

Just the other day, due to a conversation, I wanted to re-read The Constitution. As if by magic, a copy was at the top of the first box I opened!

Cheryl, of the blog Cheryl's Frugal Corner, posted the other day about "letting go" by clearing out all the unneeded things we have. She talked about how every piece of clutter represents $$$ spent. So true. 

I agreed with her at the time and still do, but I am finding it interesting seeing what one woman saved from all the things she bought. 

I'm saving some of her things for myself, hoping for a time in the future when I can explore them fully and understand her a little better. 

Hopefully our three daughters will read this post, and they won't have to wonder why I saved some of these things shown in this post today. 

They'll have so many other things to ponder after all! I can hear them now laughing away and asking, "What in the world was she saving THIS thing for?"

Thanks for dropping by!

A "Nothing Is A Coincidence" Moment

I pulled some muscles sitting and sleeping all night in a chair in my mother-in-law's hospital room on June 5th, the day the doctors removed her from all life support equipment. 

Jessie Riding "Shot-Gun" With Me In Better Days

Jessie passed away on June 7th. It was a busy time for us with my 95-year-old father-in-law to comfort and care for, a funeral to arrange, a serious medical issue my husband was faced with along with taking care of Jessie's personal possessions and finances. 

I ignored my sore back and it slowly got much worse!  Last Saturday, I finally went to our doctor's urgent care clinic to get muscle relaxers for my back. Whenever I'm in a stressful situation, my back is my weak point. 

Because the urgent care clinic closes at noon on Saturdays, the doctor printed the prescription instead of faxing it to our pharmacy. Sometimes there's a problem with the machines' interaction and the kind doctor wanted to make sure the prescription got there with no problem.

When I dropped off the prescription, the technician obviously wanted me to leave the store and come back later in the day to pick it up. She said it would be at least an hour before they would have it filled. 

I said that's OK, that I would just look around because my back made it too painful to get in and out of my car. She weakened a little.

I also asked her to put notification in their records that my mother-in-law was recently deceased in case she had prescriptions on automatic renewal. She softened a lot.

Just 10 minutes later, I got a text message from the Pharmacy section that my prescription was ready for pick-up. I headed back across the store and went to the "pick-up" window where another clerk completed my transaction.

I passed the "drop-off" window where the first clerk was talking to a young woman with 2 small children in her shopping cart. Something made me stop and wait to say thank you to the clerk for expediting my prescription.

The young woman, with phone in hand, told the clerk her husband said he could wait until payday for the medicine since the Co-Pay was more than they could afford at $48.

Thinking of my mother-in-law and how drugs had relieved her suffering as she left this world for the next, I asked the woman if she would be able to pay for the medicine if I paid $20 of it? 

She said yes, but that she couldn't accept the money from me.  As I handed the clerk the money, I said to the young woman: "Well it's not from me, it's from my mother-in-law!"  

I told her my mother-in-law's funeral was 4 days before and I was 100% sure she had orchestrated the situation that brought me to that register at just that moment. 

I think an angel was trying to earn her wings that day. Just to make sure she does, I plan to help my mother-in-law earn her wings every chance I get for the next year. I hope you will too! 

And if you do have one of those "nothing is a coincidence" moments too, I hope you'll come back and let me know about it with a comment. I would love to hear about the sweet goodness in the world.

Thanks for dropping by!

Life Happens On The Way To Hallelujah Square

On Thursday, June 7th, my mother-in-law, Jessie, left this world for a better one. 

After 71 years of marriage and at age 95, Raymond has lost his sweetheart. 

Tomorrow we celebrate mom's life with a service centered on a poem she wrote in 1994 called "Hallelujah Square." We will try not to cry for our loss as we share memories of how she touched our lives.

Tomorrow, in her honor, may you hug your loved ones just a little longer, speak just a little kinder, and love with just a little more joy.

Thank you, Jessie, for dropping by my life!

Plants And Flowers Around Town

When we're out and about in Texas, I love to look for garden inspiration in and around the towns we visit.

Around McKinney Texas today lovely flower pots are in bloom...

Most shops have pots full of plants and flowers, but some have flowers planted down in the sidewalk dividers too.

A few years back, one of the shopping centers even created a Long Horn topiary to add some greenery to a bedding area...

The shop called My Favorite Room is one of my favorite stops, not only for the wonderful furniture they sell, but for their potted garden in front of the shop.

 The entry to the shop is on the north side of the building and gets less of the hot summer sun than a west side exposure would get. 

I try to remember that when I want to duplicate their look. When we first bought our house, the builder had planted evergreen trees like the ones potted in these pictures of My Favorite Room's entry.

The evergreens our builder planted were on the east..and sort of south...side of our house (where our entryway is) and that summer was terribly hot. We had lots of days with temperatures over 100 degrees, and those poor trees did not last at all!

I'll take the cue from this shop and maybe try planting some of these type trees on the north side of the house in the future. 

When you're not a good gardener, but love the look, I've finally learned it's best to study and copy the ideas of others who do it better. 

If you are looking for ideas for your garden too, come join the party at Everyday Living's Garden Party here.

Thanks for dropping by!