Weekend Update:

Friday Evening: We went to the visitation of a dear friend and an icon in the Vichy Community, Bernice James. Bernice and her husband, Paul ran a Mom and Pop store for years. I feel sad my children were not able to grow up knowing this type of establishment, the friendly, caring atmosphere and visiting with neighbors and customers. Chad and Todd were old enough to remember a lot of the visits there but Paul and Bernice sold the store when April was small so she was not able to experience the comrade of a family business. It seemed like a social occasion when going to the store. And as a stay at home Mom, it was a lot of my "social outings". It was a sad occasion, but nice to visit with the James' children as they live far away and we do not see them often. It was good to catch up on each of our lives and visit with the many people of the Vichy Community out to pay their respects.

Saturday: The day started off nice. Dwayne, April and I watched an action packed movie about crocodiles. If any of you have watched Jaws, that was tame compared to the gore of this movie. Not actually my type of movie,but I enjoyed watching it. (Even though I covered my face with a pillow for many of the scenes). In the afternoon I decided to work in the yard. I started out by cleaning out flower beds. I love to pull out dead leaves and use my hands to clean the beds. My sister, Kate always reminds me to wear gloves as I run across spiders and even the occasional scorpion. I thought of this as I used my bare hands but thought, oh, well I won't run across any. I did see one spider but I pulled off my sandal and killed it and I saw a small scorpion under one of the rocks. Well I was scooting around on the grass (that needed cut) as I went down the row cleaning the flower bed and all of a sudden I felt a sharp sting on my leg. Didn't think too much about it even though it hurt. Finished up the row and as I got up I felt another sharp sting lower on my leg. I noticed a couple of red spots but thought maybe a spider vein had popped as I had heard that could hurt quite a bit. Not to be deterred, I went on to mow the grass. The pain was still there but I thought I was being a wimp and finished mowing. After I took my shower the pain continued. I then when to Kate's and we watched a movie, Men Say Yes. I usually don't get cold too easily anymore but I started chilling and my leg started throbbing and feeling a little numb and heavy up my thigh. Kate propped my leg up and I finished watching the movie, feeling a little worse as time went on. After the movie, I went home and told Dwayne I thought we should go to the dreaded Emergency Room. Luckily, we were in and out within an hour and a half. We still aren't sure if they were spider bites or the scorpion I saw. The doctor looked at the marks that had now swelled approx. one inch around each spot and was very tender to the touch. He said it sounded like scorpion stings as the scorpion soreness usually runs up the extremity of the limb and as my numbness and heavy sensation had traveled up almost to my upper thigh, he was sure that was what it was. He said it may make me sick and even affect me neurologically for a short time. (But according to my family, I'm a little goofy anyway so what else was new! They just love me!! Ha!) They gave me pain medicine and steroids. If you have ever taken steroids, the first couple days they keep you awake and wired to the max!!

Sunday: At 6 a.m. Sunday morning, I was still WIDE awake!! Not to mention that the whole leg started itching tremendously through the night, so much so I thought I was going to scratch my leg raw!! Luckily, I fell asleep around 6:30 a.m. and slept until around 1:30 p.m. So much for going to church, I slept through the time line! I felt great when I woke up. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing around the house. Read a book, fixed supper for the kids. We have now made Sunday evening family supper night. If the kids can come over, fine, if they have plans, that's okay, too. It's open for whatever time they can get there. We had homemade chicken and noodles, creamed peas, corn and Dwayne made wonderful chocolate chip cookies.
Todd, April and Mike, Dwayne and I ate around 6 p.m. Chad and Desiree were riding horses so they showed up around 7:30 (on horses, go figure for Chad, a normal routine). It was a nice evening visiting with the kids and enjoying being together.

What more can you expect from life than family and togetherness, I am very grateful for the time spent with my family.

Trip to Tuscumbia

When I was a little girl we would drive to Tuscumbia to visit my step-grandma, Edna Johnston. We didn't travel much so this seemed like a long adventure. Grandma lived on the corner of a street not far from the Osage River. There was a hill across the street from her house that we would walk up and then roll down. It was such fun! There were steps leading up the hill to uptown Tuscumbia. The older kids would get to walk to a two story store not far from Grandmas and even up the stairs to town. I could not wait until I was old enough to go, I stayed at the house and it was such fun to go upstairs and play. There was a Mr. Potatoe Head doll and I changed his nose, hats, etc. I had never seen one before and thought it was the neatest thing ever. On the table in the living room, Grandma Edna always kept a candy dish full of Hershey's minatures. I liked the dark chocolate and crispy chocolate. For the trip home, Grandma would fill each of us a small brown paper sack with cherry tomatoes. We didn't have cherry tomotoes at home and we thought only Grandma Edna had them.

Yesterday, I took Mom and Dad to Tuscumbia to look around and then to Mary's Home to visit some friends. The trip back to a childhood memory is not the same as you remember it. The hill across from Grandmas is all grown up with sprouts and does not look near as high as I remembered. The two story store is no longer there but the foundation is (and for sale). The steps up the hill are either hidden by brush or crumbled to nonexitence. As for the town, I was so surprised to see it almost looks like a ghost town. They did build a beautiful new courthouse outside of town. We had planned on eating lunch in Tuscumbia but could not find a restaurant.
We then went to the Rush Cemetery (also know as Jim Henry Cemetery) where Grandma was buried and also my Mom's Grandma and Grandpa Williams. This gravel road goes straight in to Mary's Home. We thought we would find a restaurant there for lunch. Nope, couldn't find one there, either. As I was driving back through I noticed an old store on the corner. I went in planning to buy bread and lunchmeat. Much to my surprise they had dinette tables in there and made sandwiches. I motioned for Mom and Dad to come in and we had an amazing lunch in a friendly atmosphere. Of course, Dad found people to talk to and tell stories of making molasses.
If anyone is ever in the town of Mary's Home, stop in at the Cornerstone Store. It has the old tin ceilings, various antiques, quilts and alot of unique items for sale along with being a "modern" convenience store. The lady is very nice and has a lovely store.

We then went to the Senior Apartments to visit old friends, Mrs. Oliver (Lucille Rush), her brother-in-law, Roscoe Rush, and Lucille's daughter Mary. We had a wonderful afternoon visiting and reminiscing. Oliver and Roscoe used to come to our house years ago to deer hunt. They would arrive around 4 a.m. and Mom and Lucille would fix a huge breakfast for the deer hunters that would show up. I do not know how they "enjoyed" cooking so early every year for the hunters. When I was little I could not say Roscoe, it came out as Ceesco and I wanted to name my dog Roscoe. Needless to say, Ceesco is what the dog was called. We ended the visit by eating a delicious dessert and then fond farewells.

Aprils' boyfriend, Mike, lives in St. Elizabeth. I wanted to show Mom and Dad where he lived, so we took highway 52 back towards Vienna. It was a beautiful drive, especially seeing the Osage River in the distance in a few places.

Overall, we had a great day and I am so grateful to still have my parents with me. We had a wonderful day.

Weekend Update:

What a wonderful weekend.
Friday night I was to go to a movie with my sister, fell asleep on the couch around 8 p.m. and did not go. What a wimp I am!

Saturday was spent with my great-niece Ashlyne helping me wash windows. In the afternoon my nephew, R. J. came down to visit with his 11 month old, Bradley. While he was there my Mom and Dad came down to visit. We had a good time watching Bradley and visiting. In the evening I went to the movies with my sister, Kate. We watched the Time Traveler's Wife. It was okay but not as good as I expected, but a nice evening out with my sister.

Sunday, Dwayne and I went to church and then to visit Maxine Workman. Her family had a 80th Birthday Party for her on Saturday but we were not able to attend. We had a very nice visit with Maxine and her daughter, Pat. We shared favorite memories of growing up together. Pat and I were even baptised on the same day at a church in Rolla when we were younger. Pat has moved home from NV to take care of her Mom. Late in the afternoon we had a barbeque and enjoyed visiting with family. The family there was Todd, April and Mike, Mom and Dad and my sister Kate. Chad was horseback riding and couldn't make it. It takes alot to keep Chad from riding horses. I think he was born in the wrong era. I made homemade cinnamon rolls for dessert, one of my family's favorites. April asked me why I was making them as I usually only make them for someone else as a gift or to take to dinners and the family only gets the leftover end pieces of dough in a small pan. So it was a "treat" for my family for me to actually make a full pan.

The weekend was what weekends are for; family, food, friends, visiting, relaxing. Another reason I am very grateful for the life I have.

Wow! Who knew starting a blog would be so hard!! Actually, April set it all up for me but I had to figure out how to type on it all by myself!!

I want to start a journal of my life happenings and what better way to record than on a personal blog.

To start out, I am very grateful for my family. My first post will be about my maternal family.
I was born to wonderful parents, Arch and Maxine (Williams) Feeler. I was the fourth born child. There is quite a story to my birth. (and if any of you know my Dad, the whole story telling process is a long one). My Mom went into labor on Friday, April 19th of 1957. Late at night Dad was taking Mom to Vienna to Dr. Howard's Clinic. On the way, they had a flat tire. Dad stopped at a neighbor's (Wilbur Ragan) house to get a spare. Wilbur asked where they were going so late at night. Dad told him they were going to Vienna to get a bull calf. The next day Wilbur asked my Dad if he got the bull calf and he said, "No, I got a heifer (be nice here people, he meant a female, not that I would grow up to be a heifer!!) instead. Wilbur did not know they had a baby and was confused as to why Dad would go to buy a bull and buy a heifer instead. Dad then told him about me.
My brother Mark was born a couple years before me. He had a heart condition and only lived two months. He was what people used to call a "blue baby". Mom was so worried the whole time she was pregnant something would be wrong with this baby. Mom said when they were leaving the doctors office, she peeked at me from the front seat and said, "Oh no, Arch, we have another blue baby!" Fortunately for Mom and Dad (and me), they had a blue blanket over me and with the sun shining in it cast a blue shadow on me.
As a little girl I was always told I was a special child. (due to Mom and Dad being so relieved their child was healthy). I believed I was. Little did I know when I started school I was not any more special than all of my classmates!! What a rude awakening!!
I am so fortunate to have grown up in a loving, christian home. I am close to all of my siblings. I do not remember their age or year of birth, but I do know the year each one graduated.
Wayne Edward Feeler Year Graduated: 1965
Judith Ellen (Rowe)Akridge..................... 1967
Russell Doyle Feeler.................................. 1969
Vernon Mark Feeler (born and died 1955)
Mary Kaye (Birdsong)Feeler................... 1987
Well, that is a beginning to the grateful life I live.