Six Going on Sixteen

It doesn’t seem possible but Emerson is turning six years old today.

It won’t be long before he will be getting his drivers license and asking to borrow the family car to go out with his buddies.  That will be the end of Erik.  He will have to be put in a home somewhere.  Veronica will probably jump in the car and go with Emerson, to make sure he and his buddies are doing something educational.

When you get your license Emerson, drive by the Old Folks Home every now and then.  Come visit your Grandma and Grandpa Stalker, and your Daddy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMERSON

The Barn Raising

From the looks of the pictures I received there must have been a lot of work done in Mt. Sterling this past weekend.

As usual, Jim is working in every shot, Luci shows up when there is food in the picture and Michelle is no where to be found (there was WORK going on.)

Maybe Luci and Michelle can tell us a little about it in the comments.

Luci’s Dilemma

Well, every girl has a secret fantasy, like Fabio riding up on a white horse and sweeping them away to a land with no teenage boys and no grouchy, hateful, middle-aged men to growl and complain constantly.   Ok, I have got off the story … 

Like Juanita ( Luci’s friend) wanting to go to Savannah, Luci and I have always wanted a 10% discount at Walmart and Lowes. With Jim’s new job he has a 10% off card for any purchases at Lowes.  Luci and I had to break it in.  We went in and everything Luci saw she said, “Boy, with 10% off that would be this amount.” She was a mathematical Jethro on the 10% prices. 

We were going along and we got to the appliances and she said, "Well, when I get ready for a washer and dryer I will come here and buy them from Jim so he can get the commission on them."

I said, “Ok, that would be nice, but if you do that ... YOU CAN’T USE HIS 10% OFF CARD!”

The fantasy was over.  I am sure that I will be coming to Mt Sterling with the card, and not her buying them here and hauling them to Mt Sterling so Jim can get a commission.

10% Discount

Commission for Jim

Michelle

Suggestions for Jennifer

Hey Jennifer, I know this is the first birthday that Shawn has had since you and him got hitched.  Not being familiar with Shawn’s family traditions you are probably wondering what to do for his birthday.  For example, what kind of cake should you fix?  I bet if you have asked him he probably said something like, “Ahhh now, you don’t hafta fix no cake fer me.  Jus git me a few blueberries and I’ll be as happy as a tick on a sleepin’ hound dog.”

Well, he is just trying to go easy on you because you’re newlyweds.  I’ll tell you about our family traditions and what he really wants. 

First off, he wants a birthday cake with a train on it and a candle for each year.  That’ll be twenty nine candles this year.  This is a tradition that goes back to when he was very young.

  

Next, he will want to invite all his family in for a big steak dinner with all the fixin’s.   This is a tradition that he picked up when he stayed with Michelle and Jim for a while.

Of course he will want you to do all the work while he lies around doing nothing.  This is a tradition that was started when he stayed with his Aunt Luci.  We refer to it as being “Stuck in a Riley Hole.”

Finally, he will want to make absolutely sure to get his Uncle Clyde there for the birthday cake and the steak dinner.  This is a new tradition we can start this year.

I hope these suggestions help.  Oh, and one more thing, tell him the StalkerClan said…

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWN !

More Stalker Wisdom

I went to a garden show in Lexington on Saturday with friends. We were allowed to tour several elaborate gardens in the back yards of some very nice homes. I wrote down the names of a few plants that were impressive. One of the flowers I listed in my notes was Beard Tongue. It was a tall plant with masses of tiny lavender bell shaped blooms at the top. Amazingly when I turned up Road Creek on Sunday, there it was growing on the hillside for about a mile. I couldn’t resist digging some up. It was like a special gift from God. Sometimes you really have to be looking for them.

I had a very nice visit with Mom, Dad, Sherry & Carlos. Mom came back home with me on Wednesday. That afternoon, we shopped at all the little stores that sell Penney’s damaged goods and then went to Big Lots. When we got home, Dad called to tell me that Jennie was maybe going to come with Clyde and him to get Mom so they probably wouldn’t be there until Saturday. I thought, “Great that will give me plenty of time to put away all the stuff I brought home from the Meaner Mart and go to the grocery to get food for Dad and Clyde.” Exhausted I went to bed. Thursday Mom and I got up early and headed to Lexington. We went to Lowe’s to get Dad’s Father’s Day present and look for seeds, then headed to the shoe stores. Mom tried on shoe after shoe. At lunch time, we drove around and around trying to find a place that sounded good to Grandma and would cost under $10 bucks. She didn’t want to have the same old thing she usually had but when I asked what she was in the mood for Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Mongolian, Subway, Seafood, on – on – on nothing sounded good. She wanted home cooked food. When I suggested Cracker Barrel as the only place I knew of for home style food, she said they were much tooooo expensive. The only thing she didn’t rule out was a hamburger. I asked if she liked the kind of hamburgers that taste smoky. She said “Yes.” I pulled into the Steak and Shake even though it’s not one of my favorite places to eat. When the waitress came to take our order, she ordered the Fish Sandwich special and I ordered a salad. Both turned out to be horrible and by the time we left a tip our total cost went over the $10 price limit. Mom said, “We should have gone to Wendy’s.” The hunt for shoes continued. Just when I had given up on ever finding anything to suit her we hit the jackpot at GB Shoes and she bought five pairs. Even though it looked the same as all the others to me, she declared that it was the only decent shoe store in Lexington.

On the way home Mom asked what we were going to have for dinner. Exhausted again, I said that we would stop at Cracker Barrel. She insisted that she could cook dinner. I couldn’t face the embarrassment of her telling everyone in Pike County that she had to cook dinner and insisted that even if I had to take out a loan to pay for it we were stopping at Cracker Barrel for a home cooked meal. Mom ordered soup beans and greens. They were both full of ham. She tried to pick it out but complained through the whole meal about having to eat hog meat and finally said “We should have gone to Wendy’s.” (Lessons learned - The only two places to eat out are the Senior Center and Wendy’s. You might as well forget about anything else. Don’t think that you can outshop Grandma. She can still run me into the ground and still be ready to cook dinner.) I was exhausted when we got home and climbed into the tub to soak for a while. Just as my butt hit the water the phone rang. It was Clyde, they were on the by-pass, would be here in 5 min. and Dad wanted to know if dinner was ready. I told them that I knew it was ready at Cracker Barrel because Mom and I had just left there. Dad said “No way Cracker Barrel is toooooo expensive.” I climbed out of the tub and took a look in the frig to see what I could fix the guys for dinner. They ended up with egg sandwiches. The next morning I fixed breakfast. Dad gave me $50 to buy groceries. He and Clyde headed out to fish. Mom and I did the dishes, got ready and went to Wal-Mart. We got home at about 10:00 am and as I was unloading the groceries the phone rang, “Is dinner ready?” He got another egg sandwich. (Lesson learned – Egg sandwiches can get expensive. I can just hear him telling everyone at the center that he gave me $50 and got egg sandwiches.)

Sometime during the visit, Dad and I were talking. He amazed me with his memory of the date he acquired each gun he owns and his detailed accounts of each and every squirrel he shot with each one. After he had talked for a while I asked if he remembered my birthday and he said, “Are you kidding? Gert keeps up with that stuff.” With some coaxing and a few hints he was able to remember that Clyde was born in 1949 and Jeff was born on Christmas Day but beyond that he drew a blank. (Lesson learned – Don’t clutter your mind with insignificant details, just remember the important stuff.)

 

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Later I was given the benefit of some more of the wisdom Dad has acquired in his 84 years, “In the Bible it says ‘Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can eat today.’”

Luci

MICHELLE'S 2008-2009 PRE-SCHOOL REPORT

Did it get better than last years?

1. First day, the students came to school with a surprise of a pair of scissors, glue sticks and a 24 box of crayons in their cubby holes. They got to share up to four packs of 500 sheets of drawing paper. (better)
   


2. Halloween, the students had a surprised collapsible pumpkin baskets to take home and use for trick or treating. (same)
   


3. Thanksgiven, the students got a pre-Thanksgiving gift of a blanket after they returned to school after their Thanksgiving vacation. (better)
   


4. Christmas, the student got a Christmas stocking and hat with their names printed on each one of them. They also got a hand Christmas puppet in their stocking with its head sticking out of it. (better)
   


5. Valentines Day, the students received cards and pink watches. The girls were the only ones that had the nerve to wear their watches to school. I guess the boys gave theirs to their sister or mother one.(better)
   


6. Easter, the student received collapsible Easter baskets with grass and plastic eggs in them.(better)
   


7. Pizza, I gave Michelle enough box tops to win the pizza for the classroom!!! Hurray!!! (better)
   


8. Last day, the students are going to get to take home the box of crayons, glue sticks and scissors they used during this past school year. Michelle said she was going to give each one of them a Wal-Mart bag to put the stuff into and she was going to give them some Play Doh, and books they she had accumulated during the year. (better)

Stay tuned for the 2009-2010 report coming up soon.

Sherry