I love living in Mineral Wells...even though it has a terrible reputation for being a loser town, with a bad drug problem and depressed economy. I admit, when I meet someone who moved here (without ties to the community), I'm always surprised and ask them WHY? What brought them HERE? Because it is a town that has seen better days, has a bad drug problem and a depressed economy. So why do I love it?
I've always known Mineral Wells. My mom grew up here. I spent almost all of my childhood holidays here. As soon as I turned 18 and was ready to be independent, I moved here. I could be "on my own", but still have the safety net of my grandparents and several aunts and uncles and cousins. At that time, it was VERY cheap to live here. The Baker Hotel had died and the air force base had been shut down, so there was nothing to bring people here. Housing was dirt cheap. Even though the employment opportunities weren't great, I was able to find a job in a relatively short time. I lived with Granny and Granddaddy until I had saved up enough to get my own apartment; and then I lived here until just before Dennis and I married...about a year. However, when my family tried to talk us into settling down here, I told them, "No way will we ever live in Mineral Wells!" Dennis was a forester and there were no forests in this part of Texas!
Skip ahead 28 years. Dennis had been starved out of the forestry profession and was working for the post office. Our kids were about grown. We were tired of living in East Texas. Mom's health was failing rapidly, and I really needed to be closer to help out. So guess what...we moved to Mineral Wells. (Never say never!) It was no longer cheap to live here (because of the Barnett Shale boom), but it was cheaper than any other place this side of Ft. Worth. Weatherford was growing TOO fast and becoming just a suburb of FW. We wanted to find a place in the country, but real estate prices were prohibitive. So we opted for this small town. We can be anywhere in town in 10 minutes or less...our most visited locations in 5 minutes. We don't have traffic jams or long lines at Walmart. It is quiet. People are friendly and polite. And in spite of its problems, there is a lot of HEART in this town. People in this community are quick to give of their time and resources to help one another.
What brought this up today? I was out on my morning walk. The weather was perfect...in the 50's with a beautiful blue sky accented with some puffy white clouds. We have a great neighborhood for walking! The streets aren't very busy and there are a lot of shade trees lining the roads. Two separate gentlemen, who were out in their front yards enjoying the gorgeous morning, spoke to me as I walked past. I'm not talking about just a "hello", but actually addressed me. ("Hi! How are you? Beautiful day we're having! I'm ____, what's your name?") Where does that happen other than small towns? And these weren't isolated incidents. People here are "comfortable". It is easy to engage in casual conversation with folks that you run into going about your day. We had some great conversations with folks when we had our yard sale! People were excited to hear about Sheila's adoption plans and wished her well. There is a strong sense of "community".
Yes, we have our problems. Yes, there are things that I'd love to see improved. But at the end of the day, I've very thankful to be living in this small town. And I hope to live out the rest of my life here.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016
A very productive and inspirational weekend
What a weekend! Sheila and Jessica came over Friday night to help get everything sorted and priced for the yard sale. It was great having both of my girls here again...it has been too long! After Jessica left and Sheila went to bed, I stayed up working on my computer. I had just received my new computer that day and was trying to get everything downloaded and transferred from my old one. (My old computer had been acting "glitchy". I was thinking I'd had it a couple of years, but when I remembered that I had bought it right after becoming a CASA, I realized that I had had it 4 years. The salesman, when I had bought it, told me to expect it to last a year or two..it was one of the early 2-in-one's on the market.) Finally around midnight, I decided I had better go to bed! Of course, when I did, my mind wouldn't turn off. I tossed and turned all night...getting just short snatches of sleep...until my alarm went off at 6. (Why is it when you need the rest the most, your body won't cooperate?!)
We ate a quick breakfast and then started carrying everything outside. The weather cooperated, other than being VERY muggy that morning. There was moisture on everything...things were trying to slide off the tables! There were the inevitable early birds who showed up with their flashlights wanting to get ahead of the crowds. By start time (8:00), we were already VERY BUSY! It didn't slow down much until around noon. We had everything priced to sale, so we got rid of most of the stuff. By 3:00, business had dried up, so we closed down. We boxed up clothing and kid stuff to carry to the shelter. Then we boxed up household items to take to a local "junktique" dealer here in town. The rest of the stuff...a couple of tables, a lamp and a picture...were left on the curb and were eventually picked up. SO nice to get rid of everything and get our garage back! We ended up with a profit of $299.98. (If I'd known that ahead of time, I'd have put in an extra 2 cents!) Not bad for Mineral Wells.
After the girls left, I cleaned up and CRASHED! I had gotten really hot when we were packing everything up and putting up tables, and I was exhausted from lack of sleep. So other than cooking a pan of cornbread (I had put on some beans to cook the night before.), and then cleaning up the kitchen, I spent the rest of the evening sitting and resting! It was a good opportunity to finish getting my new computer all set up, though. I'm really happy with how it is working, although Windows 10 is taking some getting used to!
Yesterday was a wonderful Lord's Day! Ron gave a great lesson (and a very emotional one) on using time. He really gave us a lot to think about. The guys had their afternoon business meeting/lunch, so I came home and pondered what he'd talked about and worked on making some changes in my "time management". Then James did a great job on his chapter study of 1 Tim. 4...focusing primarily on the last 4 verses, which really tied in well with the morning's lesson. Such a good day of spiritual feasting!
Dennis is making good progress on Shepherd's gift. It is a pretty complicated project, but I'm very happy with how it is turning out. I can't wait until "the reveal"!
This week is going to be pretty full with CASA stuff. I had a visit to observe today, court tomorrow, a "mixer" on Wednesday and another visit to observe on Friday. I think I will probably start my baking for our October meeting, too. Last year (since we were on vacation for the 3 weeks prior to the meeting), I did all of my baking early and froze it. That worked out SO well!!! So I'm going to do the same this time (especially since we'll be in Arkansas the weekend before our meeting for 4 days). I'm not sure when we'll get back to finishing our tilework in the kitchen. I'm hoping Dennis will finish this other project this week, so we can start back next week. We now have the rest of the tile. It won't take long to put up what it left, then start on the grouting and trim.
Well, laundry is calling my name, so I'd better get going. I hope you all have a great week and use your time wisely!
We ate a quick breakfast and then started carrying everything outside. The weather cooperated, other than being VERY muggy that morning. There was moisture on everything...things were trying to slide off the tables! There were the inevitable early birds who showed up with their flashlights wanting to get ahead of the crowds. By start time (8:00), we were already VERY BUSY! It didn't slow down much until around noon. We had everything priced to sale, so we got rid of most of the stuff. By 3:00, business had dried up, so we closed down. We boxed up clothing and kid stuff to carry to the shelter. Then we boxed up household items to take to a local "junktique" dealer here in town. The rest of the stuff...a couple of tables, a lamp and a picture...were left on the curb and were eventually picked up. SO nice to get rid of everything and get our garage back! We ended up with a profit of $299.98. (If I'd known that ahead of time, I'd have put in an extra 2 cents!) Not bad for Mineral Wells.
After the girls left, I cleaned up and CRASHED! I had gotten really hot when we were packing everything up and putting up tables, and I was exhausted from lack of sleep. So other than cooking a pan of cornbread (I had put on some beans to cook the night before.), and then cleaning up the kitchen, I spent the rest of the evening sitting and resting! It was a good opportunity to finish getting my new computer all set up, though. I'm really happy with how it is working, although Windows 10 is taking some getting used to!
Yesterday was a wonderful Lord's Day! Ron gave a great lesson (and a very emotional one) on using time. He really gave us a lot to think about. The guys had their afternoon business meeting/lunch, so I came home and pondered what he'd talked about and worked on making some changes in my "time management". Then James did a great job on his chapter study of 1 Tim. 4...focusing primarily on the last 4 verses, which really tied in well with the morning's lesson. Such a good day of spiritual feasting!
Dennis is making good progress on Shepherd's gift. It is a pretty complicated project, but I'm very happy with how it is turning out. I can't wait until "the reveal"!
This week is going to be pretty full with CASA stuff. I had a visit to observe today, court tomorrow, a "mixer" on Wednesday and another visit to observe on Friday. I think I will probably start my baking for our October meeting, too. Last year (since we were on vacation for the 3 weeks prior to the meeting), I did all of my baking early and froze it. That worked out SO well!!! So I'm going to do the same this time (especially since we'll be in Arkansas the weekend before our meeting for 4 days). I'm not sure when we'll get back to finishing our tilework in the kitchen. I'm hoping Dennis will finish this other project this week, so we can start back next week. We now have the rest of the tile. It won't take long to put up what it left, then start on the grouting and trim.
Well, laundry is calling my name, so I'd better get going. I hope you all have a great week and use your time wisely!
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
New project, new case and yard sale prep
Things have been going slow, as far as working on the kitchen. Dennis is busy with a new project right now. Shepherd's 2nd birthday is coming up...his first since he's been home...and Dennis is building a special gift for him. I'll let you see a picture after he's finished and we've given it to Shepherd. I'm loving how it is turning out!
I had a CASA case close on the 1st of the month and received a new case the same day. So last week was spent trying to "get up to snuff" on that case. I visited my new young'un, read the case file and observed a visit...plus spent a LOT of time on the phone talking to people involved in the case. The early part of a case is the busiest, by far. There is normally less than 2 months between the Adversary Hearing (which took place 3 days before I was appointed to the case) and the Status Hearing (which is when the first court report is due). Since our court reports have to be turned in 10 days before the hearing, that doesn't leave a lot of time to get to know all of the facts of the case, meet everyone and be able to explain the particulars of the case and participants for the judge.
I've also been getting ready for our yard sale to raise money for Sheila's adoption. We have had a TON of stuff donated! I've been trying to sort through and organize and price things. It is looking like it may rain Saturday (80% chance), so I may have to postpone the sale until the next Saturday. The only problem with that is I had already put an ad in the paper for this weekend! I guess we'll just do what we have to do. The t-shirt sale fundraiser has been very successful! I'm excited to get my shirt and start to see all of the pictures posted from others who have purchased one. The money raised will be a big help to Sheila with all of the expenses she is facing!
We did start on the backsplash in the kitchen last week. We got all of the tile put up that we have...but we ran out and had to order more. I actually enjoyed doing the tilework. I'm not very helpful when it comes to carpentry work. But I could do this! It kind of reminded me of icing and decorating baked goods. Ha! We are waiting to do the grouting until we have all the tile up. We went last night and bought the trim (or some of it...they didn't have enough for the whole job). I think it is really going to look nice once we get it all up!
I had a CASA case close on the 1st of the month and received a new case the same day. So last week was spent trying to "get up to snuff" on that case. I visited my new young'un, read the case file and observed a visit...plus spent a LOT of time on the phone talking to people involved in the case. The early part of a case is the busiest, by far. There is normally less than 2 months between the Adversary Hearing (which took place 3 days before I was appointed to the case) and the Status Hearing (which is when the first court report is due). Since our court reports have to be turned in 10 days before the hearing, that doesn't leave a lot of time to get to know all of the facts of the case, meet everyone and be able to explain the particulars of the case and participants for the judge.
I've also been getting ready for our yard sale to raise money for Sheila's adoption. We have had a TON of stuff donated! I've been trying to sort through and organize and price things. It is looking like it may rain Saturday (80% chance), so I may have to postpone the sale until the next Saturday. The only problem with that is I had already put an ad in the paper for this weekend! I guess we'll just do what we have to do. The t-shirt sale fundraiser has been very successful! I'm excited to get my shirt and start to see all of the pictures posted from others who have purchased one. The money raised will be a big help to Sheila with all of the expenses she is facing!
We did start on the backsplash in the kitchen last week. We got all of the tile put up that we have...but we ran out and had to order more. I actually enjoyed doing the tilework. I'm not very helpful when it comes to carpentry work. But I could do this! It kind of reminded me of icing and decorating baked goods. Ha! We are waiting to do the grouting until we have all the tile up. We went last night and bought the trim (or some of it...they didn't have enough for the whole job). I think it is really going to look nice once we get it all up!
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| This is where we ran out of tile. This "window" also has to be faced before we can finish the tile around it. |
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| This is what it will look like with the trim (with gray grout, also).
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Monday, September 5, 2016
40 Years of Fun and Fellowship
First of all, I have to apologize...we didn't take any pictures this year at the annual Labor Day Gathering. Dennis didn't take his camera, and I never took mine out of my purse...too busy visiting! The only picture I took all weekend was with my phone, of sweet little Bellamy while I was holding her. Sorry, everyone!
That being said, it was a wonderful weekend, as always! We normally don't make it for the Friday night dinner, but we did this year. Chicken and waffles was the menu item. This was our first time to experience this odd combination, but I thought it was quite tasty. (I didn't eat it like Teddy and Kay though...piling everything on top of each other and topping it off with hot sauce!) There were about 30 or so that evening. Most folks were still on the road and hadn't arrived yet. Wallace and Linda made it this year, which was a treat for all! Labor Day just isn't the same without them! Friday night reminded me of the "old days" when we'd stay over Sunday night at Verlie's. Most of the people had left, so we had a smaller, more intimate group. That was when some of our best conversations were held...and some of our funniest moments. Everyone was more relaxed, feeling great from all of the good times had, and a little giddy from lack of sleep. Some of my favorite memories are from those days!
The crowd about doubled on Saturday. We did wraps for lunch, which worked very well. Everyone brought all of the meats and cheeses and toppings, and then we just built our own. After lunch, most of the guys and kiddos went to the archery range for the afternoon. I spent a large part of that time hogging, I mean holding, Bellamy! Leslie and a few of the other young ladies went shopping, and I was glad to tend to that little sweetie. She is such a good baby! The only time you hear a peep out of her is when she is hungry. So she and I sat and watched a friendly game of Train. Finally everyone started returning from their various activities in order to start preparing for supper. Quite a few of the youngsters had caught "bow fever" and were begging their parents to buy them one of their own! Teddy did take some great pictures of their activity and has them posted on his Facebook page.
Supper this year was street tacos. That went over VERY well! There were three kinds of meat, with all of the trimmings you could think of. Teddy also introduced us to "street corn"...corn served in a cup and topped with butter, Parmesan cheese and lime juice (and hot sauce for the more adventurous). It was pretty good! Then came clean up time and more visiting...and singing! There are always plenty of great voices in the group. Whether sitting off in the corner participating, or being scattered around the room engaged in other activities, there were people joining in the songs of praise and worship all over!
We had a full house on Sunday at the assembly! Jensen Porter was our morning speaker. He gave an engaging lesson on "Walking Barefoot", aka the Duct Tape Lesson. I always enjoy hearing Jensen speak. He is such a breath of fresh air! He really works at pushing people out of their comfort zones when it comes to helping others and spreading the gospel. After a wonderful potluck dinner, we then were treated to a lesson by Richard Newhart. He spoke on The Good Samaritan...with a twist. Rather than placing us, as is normally done, in the place of the Samaritan, he placed us in the role of the injured man...and used the parable as a study in the life of a Christian, with Jesus being our good Samaritan. Very interesting! After the assembly, I reluctantly said my good-byes and headed home. Dennis wasn't able to go with me for the Lord's Day, because he had to stay at Highway to speak. We've always taken Labor Day weekend "off" and traveled to the get-together, so it was his turn to "stay home" this time.
I always really love this special time with friends and family! We've been attending this gathering for 16 years (having only missed a couple). This was the 40th consecutive year that the Young family has hosted the event, albeit in different settings. It is such a wonderful time of refreshing! There's not a lot of "entertainment"...just hours upon hours of good fellowship and lots of tasty food. There is always a "corner" of people gathering to sing together at some point also. Just good ole fashioned fun times! One of my favorite parts is watching all of the kids (of all ages) making new friends and having such a good time together. Some of my kids' best friendships developed at these gatherings...as well as some of my own! Here's looking forward to the next 40 years!
That being said, it was a wonderful weekend, as always! We normally don't make it for the Friday night dinner, but we did this year. Chicken and waffles was the menu item. This was our first time to experience this odd combination, but I thought it was quite tasty. (I didn't eat it like Teddy and Kay though...piling everything on top of each other and topping it off with hot sauce!) There were about 30 or so that evening. Most folks were still on the road and hadn't arrived yet. Wallace and Linda made it this year, which was a treat for all! Labor Day just isn't the same without them! Friday night reminded me of the "old days" when we'd stay over Sunday night at Verlie's. Most of the people had left, so we had a smaller, more intimate group. That was when some of our best conversations were held...and some of our funniest moments. Everyone was more relaxed, feeling great from all of the good times had, and a little giddy from lack of sleep. Some of my favorite memories are from those days!
The crowd about doubled on Saturday. We did wraps for lunch, which worked very well. Everyone brought all of the meats and cheeses and toppings, and then we just built our own. After lunch, most of the guys and kiddos went to the archery range for the afternoon. I spent a large part of that time hogging, I mean holding, Bellamy! Leslie and a few of the other young ladies went shopping, and I was glad to tend to that little sweetie. She is such a good baby! The only time you hear a peep out of her is when she is hungry. So she and I sat and watched a friendly game of Train. Finally everyone started returning from their various activities in order to start preparing for supper. Quite a few of the youngsters had caught "bow fever" and were begging their parents to buy them one of their own! Teddy did take some great pictures of their activity and has them posted on his Facebook page.
Supper this year was street tacos. That went over VERY well! There were three kinds of meat, with all of the trimmings you could think of. Teddy also introduced us to "street corn"...corn served in a cup and topped with butter, Parmesan cheese and lime juice (and hot sauce for the more adventurous). It was pretty good! Then came clean up time and more visiting...and singing! There are always plenty of great voices in the group. Whether sitting off in the corner participating, or being scattered around the room engaged in other activities, there were people joining in the songs of praise and worship all over!
We had a full house on Sunday at the assembly! Jensen Porter was our morning speaker. He gave an engaging lesson on "Walking Barefoot", aka the Duct Tape Lesson. I always enjoy hearing Jensen speak. He is such a breath of fresh air! He really works at pushing people out of their comfort zones when it comes to helping others and spreading the gospel. After a wonderful potluck dinner, we then were treated to a lesson by Richard Newhart. He spoke on The Good Samaritan...with a twist. Rather than placing us, as is normally done, in the place of the Samaritan, he placed us in the role of the injured man...and used the parable as a study in the life of a Christian, with Jesus being our good Samaritan. Very interesting! After the assembly, I reluctantly said my good-byes and headed home. Dennis wasn't able to go with me for the Lord's Day, because he had to stay at Highway to speak. We've always taken Labor Day weekend "off" and traveled to the get-together, so it was his turn to "stay home" this time.
I always really love this special time with friends and family! We've been attending this gathering for 16 years (having only missed a couple). This was the 40th consecutive year that the Young family has hosted the event, albeit in different settings. It is such a wonderful time of refreshing! There's not a lot of "entertainment"...just hours upon hours of good fellowship and lots of tasty food. There is always a "corner" of people gathering to sing together at some point also. Just good ole fashioned fun times! One of my favorite parts is watching all of the kids (of all ages) making new friends and having such a good time together. Some of my kids' best friendships developed at these gatherings...as well as some of my own! Here's looking forward to the next 40 years!
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