Life in the slow lane

I would like to take today off from talking about me.

I would like to draw your attention to a young lady Kendrasue over at Life in the slow lane, who today is celebrating her 200th post!

What an amazing achievement!

So..If I can implore you to check this lovely girl out, I really don't think you will be sorry.

She is a working mother and wife. She has one of the cutest little guys, I ever did see. I love reading her and I don't see why you wouldn't also.

I was gone from her page for almost two weeks and I must say I was disappointed to see that only a couple of her posts had other folks commenting, like 5 out of 10.

It makes me sad and baffles me that I am the only one leaving comments on half of her posts.

Please folks, lets fix this injustice.

200 posts! That's big and deserves recognition.

Long Lost Brother

I can't believe I forgot to post. I stayed up last night till 3:30 this morning, just reading and reading. I know I read at least sixty posts and it took me 7 hrs!

So...here we go...


First you must know that for a long time it was just me and Daddy. My birth mother had left us when I was 18 months old. We were still very close with her parents and with out them helping dad, we probably wouldn't have made it. I had issues, as I would think most kids who lost a parent (but didn't really loose a parent, they are floating out there in this world somewhere) would have.

I was the only child for the first 8 yrs of my life.

Daddy eventually got remarried and life went on. He and Mom (who was once referred to as the Evil One, is now the ONLY mother I have and love her very much) quickly went about giving me siblings, three of them in 4 yrs.

Life was crazy and I wasn't the best daughter, more like I was the Evil One and had no clue.

Daddy and I would escape to the local Jack-in-the-box or Whataburger for coffee in the evenings (probably about twice a week), just the two of us again. I loved these times.

Once on our nights out, we was walking to our destination and I vaguely remember daddy saying something about me having another brother. I was 14 and really wasn't paying much mind. Knowing me I was probably thinking on how I was going to make it over to my boyfriends house. I know..its sad..that I jumped into adulthood so fast.

This little bit of information daddy revealed to me, did stay in the back of my mind for many years, but yet..was sorta forgotten.

When I was 18, daddy sat me down at the kitchen table and presented me with a picture of a teenage boy. I remember looking at it and then looking up at my father and asking..My brother?
Daddy was surprised!
He asked..How did you know that?
I remember you talking about it a long time ago.

Daddy gave me all the info on getting in touch with him. I used it. It took me awhile though. Like..what do you really say to a person you have never met? At 18 I had no clue. Thank goodness for yall, I grew out of that! LOL!

I wrote and he wrote, back and forth for many years. We will now start calling him Brother D.

Brother D, once sent me a newspaper clipping of what had happened to him and why he was lost. Our birth mother "The Wicked Witch of the East" left him alone tied to his crib and Social Services found him, only after another person in the building called it in, out of concern. He was also 18 months old. I guess she has her age limit!
He was placed into foster care and was adopted out.

I finally got to meet Brother D in the flesh when I was truck driving all over America. We meet at Grampies (birth mothers family) camp on the lake along with other family members.


We had a really good time and (I believe) we did it again a little time later. We still wrote letters occasionally, but it just wasn't the same. He was already into technology and had a email address. I kept it, but of course I never had even sat down in front of a computer.

Two years ago (next month), I got my first computer. A hand me down from hubby's sister. I found him in Myspace and sent him a message saying...I FOUND YOU!!

I feel closer to him now, than I ever did. Love ya, Brother!

Hi, brother D, say something to the lovely peeps. He reads my posts, but never says anything! He's a stalker! LOL!!!

Spin Cycle: Blogging

What makes my blog breathe? I'm not really sure that it breathes, but it definitely helps me keep breathing, thinking, remembering and it really helps having followers who think my words and life are worth reading.

I have always lived in rural areas as an adult and I like it like that. I like being removed from the city and all its noise. Living in rural areas and not having the latest technology always available or sometimes affordable, I was forced to have a phone with no long distance. Most all calls were long distance, like to family and even some of my friends. I would go months on end (sometimes years) without talking to certain people cause of the cost.

Getting a computer changed all that! Sister J had a myspace and so that was the first place I went. I ran across the blog page and from that moment on I was hooked. I began blogging so my friends and those long distance family members could get a glimpse of my world and of me. (I also found it to be a great way to deal with my spelling issues and to get my typing skills a boost from one finger to four, plus it forced me to remember things) They were also a way to let my long lost brother (that is another post) to get to know me.

My Step daughter #1 (who I call daughter, I hate the word step) had a blogger page, that is how I was introduced to it. After myspace started changing things and became more about games and music, lots of my friends and family switched over to Facebook. I followed suit but didn't like the blogging area on facebook and so I decided to start my own blog here on blogger.

Welch Happenings was born! While exploring my new surroundings, I went to the Blog of Note and found Kathryn (From the inside out) and Nancy (f8hasit). I was looking for some bloggers I could possible relate to and who weren't over or under my head. I know that sounds bad, so here's the thing...they do sometimes go over my head, but not bad enough that I can't follow what they are saying. Like you all know..the dictionary is within arms reach and gets used A LOT! But I like that, it challenges me to learn new words and even sometimes how to spell it.

Anyway..I found and received some very dear friends just from starting with those two amazing gals.

Am I staying on topic, probably not. Another one of my issues! LOL!

I have run across a lot of folks who write because:
It is their passion in life.
They just want to be heard.
They need an outlet from their daily lives.
They want to pursue a career as a writer.
Many, many other reasons.

I write cause..I am afraid that when I am older I wont be able to remember a darn thing! Dementia runs in my family and grammie had it real bad. She couldn't hardy remember anything and now all those fabulous stories are lost forever. I don't want that to happen to me or my family. I want a chronicle (or Journal, if you will) of my life.

Having my wonderful new blogging friend enjoy my stories and daily junk, makes it even better! Love and Hugs to you all!



For more great spins go visit Sprite's Keeper.

Stuff Around the House

Yeah, I know. Another blurry pic. My camera and I are not getting along.
But that is not what this post is about.
It's about the piece of paper.
Can ya read it? Can ya believe it?
High Speed is now available in your (my) area!
Woohoo!!!

I have had this flyer hanging around on my desk (tormenting, torturing and teasing me) for about 2 weeks now and talked it over with brother and Sister J (my technical advisers). Asked questions, received questions to ask. Browsed around on the Internet looking to see what others had to say and learned a lot.

I called the company twice to get those answers and was very pleased. It was going to be a total cost of 250 just for the equipment and installation. I was very concerned, that if it didn't work or I didn't like it. I would lose out on all that money. Thankfully it has a 30 guarantee, for a full refund.

I present hubby with all the info and asked if it would be something that he would be willing to save for.

He said...



"You still have the money I asked you to save back from the income tax money, don't ya?"

Yes

"Well, happy birthday!" (my b-day isn't till may)

I love that guy!!

I called the company yesterday and set up an installation for the 23rd.
I am sooooooo excited! I hope it all goes smoothly and I will soon be able to view videos and slide shows, and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to keep up with all of yall's posts. Wouldn't that be nice!

Working Outside and with Whiskers is Dangerous

Well...my plans for this weekend didn't quite go as planned.

My list was:
Mow the yard
Weed eat all around

Paint the shed
Paint hubbies work table

Pull weeds in flower bed
Add fresh soil to flower bed
Get my new plants in the ground
Redo the mulch

Well lets start this with Friday night. I had bought the cats some flea collars. I had never put collars on these cats and knew it was going to be a challenge. I got the first one ready to just slip over the head, so I could quickly get them on. I coax Peach to me and perfectly maneuvered it on, she didn't seen to mind at all. I am very pleased and now more relaxed to do it to Whiskers. I did the same coaxing with Whiskers, but the end result was much different. I held him and started to slip it on and in a flash and a claw, he was gone. Collar still in my hand. I tried coaxing, chasing and cornering. I guess in the chasing part is when "it" happened. It..being, hurt my knee. Bending slightly hurts, walking really hurts.

Saturday..My knee still hurts but not enough to keep me from trying to get my list done. I started with the mowing and halfway through while turning the mower in the opposite direction, I cut my wrist on the fence. So, I had to stop and deal with that.

(Sorry for the blurry pic, it looks like it would if viewing through tears)

The temp was 80 and I was getting hot and super thirsty. I kept having to stop for a rest with shade and plenty of water.

After hours of mowing and resting, I then moved on to pulling weeds/grass (not really sure what it is, just know its not supposed to be there). Those weeds were so thick and deeply rooted. Hercules wouldn't have gotten much farther than I did. I managed to get about 6ft x 6in of area cleared (the bed is 14ft x 3ft). One patch that I was tugging on (with all my body weight) slipped through my hands and made me fall on my arse. I took a break. I went back an hour later and got a tiny bit more done, but then suddenly I felt a burning pain run across my ribs. I think I pulled a muscle instead of the weed.

That was IT, I was done in for the day. Way to many owies for me to handle.

Sunday...Knee still hurts, fence cut looks infected, tooshie tender, rib muscle hurting like crazy and all other muscles are screaming "NO MORE". I took it easy till noon.
I then took the easiest chore..painting the shed and work table.

(The before pic with one side painted)

Instead of taking me about two hours, it took four!


(hubbies work table painted, the unpainted version was 10 kind of ways awful)

Thankfully I didn't add any more injuries to the list, TODAY (there is always tomorrow). I did get some green paint in my hair and shampoo isn't taking it out, I guess I'm covered for St. Patty's Day! LOL!

I am debating on just slapping my plants into larger pots for now,

(No name)

(I forget the name)

(Lantana, purple flowers)

(Various new victims)

(The mums sitting next to the new steps I did)

I don't think I can fight with those weeds just now (they would surely win).

Must drag my aching body to bed now.