To all of my dear blogging friends.

I hope you all have a Blessed Easter. I am so thankful to have found such dear friends.

Hugs and Blessings,

Brenda

A New Van !!!!!!!!!

We finally got a newer van today!!! We have been looking the last few days since we finally got part of mom's estate settlement and decided on a 2001 Chevy Venture Van.
It's all white and seems to be in good condition. It is so nice to drive something that feels like it will make it from point A to point B and back! I will try to take a picture tomorrow, if it isn't raining. Thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow.

I think Kevin and I have both finally gotten over the flu/pneumonia. I'm still trying to get my strength back but I know I will get it back sooner or later. I have been going non-stop since I started feeling better. I have to make up for the time I was sick....... So much to do ...so little time ...LOL

I just had to share with all of my dear friends here. Thanks for sticking with me. I feel like things are back on the upswing now and I will be here a lot more!

Hugs and Blessings my friends,
Brenda

Good Monday Afternoon !

We have been having trouble with our wireless internet the last few days. It only stays on for a short time when it feels like it. I hope it straightens itself out soon. I can't really complain too much though..... it was a "free for 5 years" incentive when we rented the apartment!

Kevin and I are both doing ok, still fighting the last few remnants of the flu. I will try and post more tomorrow if the wireless is in a good mood! LOL

Blessings and Hugs,
Brenda

Beautiful Day and I'm Feeling Better!!!!

Today and yesterday were both beautiful days. The first we've seen in a while around here. It was a little warmer yesterday but it was still nice to get out of the apartment for a while today , even if it was just to go to the store for a few things. We had some rain last night and it seems to have helped things green up a little. Elaine, my cousin in KY, has been telling me for days now how green it is and how long the grass is getting. They will be mowing (and raking) as soon as they get the mower fixed.

Elaine has been trying to find a few acres where we could both move to. Elaine and David(her DH) and Kevin(my DH) and I would share the property and each have a home of our own. Elaine and I have plans for chickens, goats and a Jersey milk cow for starters. They raise Registered Black Angus but we want a cow for milking and to make cheese and butter. Elaine and I are so much alike it's scary. We both have the traits of our grandmother as far as living off the land and being self-sufficient and very frugal. We both have a lot of old-fashioned ways of doing things LOL!

Kevin and I were going to move in to an apartment there until we found some property but that would mean moving twice for us, so we are just going to stay here until she finds something. I am starting to sort through things and packing up what we want to take with us that we don't need to use right now. The rest I plan to sell hopefully.

I will be listing a lot of the things I have to sell on my store blog as soon as I can get some pictures taken. The vintage things I just want to go to homes where they will be loved, I'm not trying to make a lot of money from them.

I hope to be able to start adding a few recipes here and there to my Cookbook blog too so keep an eye on that too.

I've got my mind made up to get back to blogging like when I first started. Writing was really helping me and I have missed it so now I am back!!!

I've missed you all and I hope to visit with you all on your blogs soon too...I have a lot of catching up to do!

See you tomorrow,
Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

Just when I thought I was getting better.......

The flu came back as pneumonia last Sunday. The past week has really been hard on me. I am so sore from coughing and my lungs are so congested. I have been getting rid of a some of the congestion thankfully. I usually get this at least once a year but this has been the worst in a long time. I have been taking a decongestant and trying to take it easy, that's hard for me to do.

I have been getting all of the paper work together to file mom's life insurance claims and unclaimed cash claims that I recently found. It is all done now and in the mail. I still can't believe the insurance papers I found while going through moms things (again) recently were still active. She took the policies out in 1960. I'm glad I called Prudential to check before I just threw them out! I even found a policy my parents had taken out on me that year. I am surrendering that policy for the cash amount. Prudential told me to check unclaimed funds in Ohio to see if there might be any dividends that weren't collected and sure enough there were. I filed for those too. Mom is still looking out for me.. thank you Momma! The money we get will give us enough for a down payment for a newer vehicle to drive. Our van is a 1993 Ford :(. It gets me around town to the stores and for that I am thankful.

Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

Arthritis and Fibromyalgia

These are the 2 things that are causing me a great deal of problems in my life...and things are getting worse. I guess, in reality, they have been this bad for a while, I have just been in denial of what has been going on. The truth hit me hard today though.

I have been having a lot more pain and stiffness than usual but have just been blaming the weather, moving the wrong way, or something else for the pain instead of facing the facts. Today I tried to stand at my work table to do the alterations on Kevin's pants and I wasn't able to do it. The pains from just standing there and trying to go through the needed movements were more than I could take. I have a high thresh-hold for pain usually. My days for working on large projects are over. I'm okay if I can sit and do the work, I just can't stand and do it. I kind of had a total meltdown for a little while as reality settled in today.

Kevin has been trying to tell me for sometime now that I was getting worse but I just wouldn't accept the facts. I think I knew deep down he was right but I just couldn't admit it until today. I have fought this battle so long and hard and have refused to believe what was happening to me but I guess I lost this battle. I will not just give up though. I will just have to adjust my way of doing things.

I have pain pills that I can take that do help the pain BUT!! they mess up my mind. I thought I was following in moms footsteps of having Alzheimers until I discovered it was the darn pills. I quit them cold turkey, and after a week or so my mind was clear again. I have a very low tolerance for medication and I'm allergic to a lot of meds. so I will have to deal with this the best way I can.

I know there are many, many of you going through this same thing. I would love to hear from you and hear how you deal with it. Maybe we can support each other through this.

I'm a fighter and I don't give up easy, just ask Kevin LOL he'll tell you how stubborn I am about everything!! LOL I keep a bar stool in my kitchen to sit on when I need a break when cooking or baking. It's not easy to sit on a bar stool and work in the kitchen, especially at the stove!

I think I'm starting to ramble, I'm getting tired.
Talk to you all tomorrow my friends,

Blessings and Hugs,
Brenda

To My Followers....

I just wanted to say thank you for staying with me. I know I haven't been posting and visiting with you all like I would love to be able to do, real life sometimes gets in the way. :>( I hate that. I would much rather spend my days visiting with you.

I wanted you all to know how much I love and appreciate each of you.

Thanks for being a part of my life.....

Hugs and blessings,
Brenda

Time Flies & Good News!

It seems like it was just a couple of days ago that I posted and it has been a week already! Time is just going by way to fast. I just can't seem to get back into the groove of things since I was sick. Kevin and I still aren't feeling that good...just can't seem to get that flu bug out of the apartment. I think our energy went out the door instead of the flu!! LOL

I do have some surprisingly GOOD NEWS! I had found an old insurance policy in moms things that was from 1960. I didn't think it was worth anything but have been holding on to it anyway. I called the insurance company the other day just out of curiosity and couldn't believe what they told me. The policy is still on file and there are actually 2 policies and I can claim them both!!! WooHoo!! The face value is $1000.00 each but it will take them a couple of weeks to figure out the dividends since the polices are so old. I was also told that they had turned a cash compensation over to unclaimed funds for over $1700.00. I still can't believe it.

I started wondering if I had an old policy from that company and I do. I just need to update all my info and then I can surrender the policy for almost $900.00 and I have unclaimed funds for around $600.00 too. I figured as it stands now without knowing the dividend amount it is all worth over $5100.00. It will take about a month to get the money from the insurance company and 3-4 months from unclaimed funds.

Kevin and I are desperately in need of a newer van that is lower to the ground so he is able to ride in it. Our van is a 1993 Ford Aerostar that is high off the ground. Kevin is unable to climb into the van since his fall a couple of years ago and is pretty much housebound and going stir crazy in here. The initial money from the insurance company will give us enough for a down payment on another van. I guess God heard our prayers and led me in the right direction to find this help we so desperately needed. Thank you God for hearing our prayers! I have started the mountain of paperwork that will be involved in all of this!!

I spent the day today trying to work on a couple of pairs of pants that Kevin found on sale in a catalog. He had to get a larger size than he needed to get the sale price, they were out of his size, so I am taking these down a size. The reality of how bad my arthritis and fibromyalgia are getting really hit me hard today, more about that in another post.

I hope you all have a good evening and I will be checking back in and hopefully will be able to sit and catch up on all of your blogs.

Hugs and blessings,
Brenda

Vintage/Antique Cloth Advice Needed Please

I have some vintage/antique tablecloths and handkies. I know for a fact that they are at least 50 years old because they belonged to my great-grandmother and my great-aunt.

The tablecloths have some light stains on them... looks like maybe coffee or tea. The stains are faded probably from washing over the years. My question is "how" or "if" I should try to remove the stains they are few and far between. The tablecloths are mostly linen and damask and are white. I have 1 tablecloth that is all lace in a dark champagne color,it has no stains but a couple of nickle size holes in the lace. It is beautiful and so soft! I plan on putting these on my store site in hopes of selling them.

The handkies have some dark stains like age and from being folded. Do I try to wash the ones that aren't too bad? The others I will probably just toss out or maybe sell very cheap for use as cutter pieces for projects.

I would appreciate any suggestions you have. I have no use for these items and would love to find good homes for them so they would be lovingly cared for.I have enjoyed looking at them for many years and it is now time to share them.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you may have. I will post pictures on the store site when I figure out how to care for these and how to price them.

Blessings and hugs,
Brenda

I'm back and feeling better!

WOW !!!! the last month has been rough for both of us. We just couldn't seem to get the flu out of the apartment. We were taking turns feeling bad LOL!! Things seems to be on the upswing now. Thank you Connie and everyone else who was concerned about us and praying for us. It really helped!!! I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted last!

I am so far behind on reading everyone's blogs I have a lot of catching up to do. I just didn't even feel like getting on here much. I tried to peak in once in a while to check on things and read a little here and there though!!

The last couple of weeks I have been trying to catch up things around the apartment. I hope today I can finish up the rest of that.

I made a huge stockpot of vegetable barley soup a couple of weeks ago and I was able to can 8 pints of that to use for future meals. Tuesday I made a huge pot of an Italian Sausage & Rice dish that I invented and canned 8 pints of that yesterday too. We now have 28 pints of future meals ready to eat counting the 12 pints of chili I made in January. I love seeing the shelves with canned food like that on them. I'm so glad I was finally able to get the parts I needed for my canner so I could get back to canning. It's been way too long since I did any canning but look out now. I will be canning up everything I can find!!!!!

It is really cold out today the temps keep dropping, it's down to 17º now with a 0º wind chill brrrrr. It's been snowing and blowing off and on too. The winds are so strong not much snow is staying on the ground though!!

I just wanted to stop in and let you all know we are ok and I will be back here daily now, God willing.

Take care everyone, I've missed you all so much!!

Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda