I WON A GIVEAWAY!

Lookie-lookie! See what I got in the mail last week???  I won a wonderful GIVEAWAY from Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage!  If you know her, you'll know that it's a fabulous prize!

What do you think it is?  You'll have to guess! You'll NEVER guess!

It's very foo-foo! Now do you know what it is???

Still don't know, do you?  Whatever it is, it's PINK - very PINK!

SEE WHAT I WON FROM MISS SANDY'S GIVEAWAY?  One of her wonderful, outstanding, amazingly beautiful and sassy High Heeled Shoes!!!  All decked out in wonderful hot pink and black doo-dads, lovely old photograph, some vintage-y gift tags, decorator crepe ribbons and trims, a little black bird (just cuz) and everything cutesy and girly-girly!

Are you just so jealous?  And I know the perfect place for all this lusciousness!

In the PINK room at the farmhouse!!!

Isn't it absolutely perfect here on this vanity??? I think so, too!

Thank you SO much Miss Sandy, at Quill Cottage!  You MUST go check out her blog!  She does all this beautiful paper art - she is multi-talented. She writes inspirationally, too, and most of all she is a dear Christian lady.  I feel so lucky to win her giveaway, but more importantly to be her friend!!!

The Lord's Prayer

 (DISCLAIMER) This picture has nothing to do at all with my post...

http://god-gives-us-strength.blogspot.com/2009/12/lords-prayer.html

If you've never heard Andrea Bocelli sing The Lord's Prayer, you have to go listen to this. He sings with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir ~~~ Pretty heavenly!

Sorry I've been MIA the last few days. My mother in law has not been feeling well, and now she's in the hospital with severe anemia. Please keep her in your prayers.

I've been working my tail off this week, too, trying to get ready for a foreclosure sale of all the tenants who are not paying their storage rents (I manage 2 self-storage facilities).  Recession even hits self-storage! We usually stay about 95-98% full, but our numbers are down and the number of foreclosures is UP.  I hate to see people lose their stuff cuz they can't pay, but I tend to be a softy, and try to work with people to help them get caught up, and I usually wind up losing money on them. 

I've learned to be tough. I've been working here for 7 1/2 years and I've heard it all.  I've always been so gullible & always believed everything people told me (still do), but I've had to become a bit cynical.  Looking back, there have actually been very few people that have had extenuating circumstances that they couldn't pay.  I've always believed the best in people and believed all the hard luck stories, but this is a business and we are not running a charity here. If you can afford nice cars, gold teeth, diamonds on your acrylic nails, designer purses, and bling-bling on your state of the art cellphones - you can afford to pay your self-storage bill.

There have been a few times that I've had a person die, or someone has gone to the hospital, or something like that and I've tried very hard to work with that person or their family and help them get caught up and move out.  Most people, unfortunately, give me the runaround and self-storage is way down on their list of priorities & bills to pay.

It seems that the people who can least afford self-storage are the ones who wind up getting it. Yes, there are good reasons for self-storage - , divorce, when you're building a house and need a place to stash your stuff, of course moving, putting a loved one in a nursing home and needing storage until you decide what to do with their things.  I've even had a couple of people go to jail and leave their things in storage while they're incarcerated. Oh yeah, I've got a couple of people in the armed services that leave their belongings here while they're being deployed. But for the most part, people think they can just get a storage unit and keep extra "stuff" in it, and they get behind ONE month, and never catch up.  And they come in here and give me some cockamamie hard-luck story that I'm supposed to believe.

I've heard EVERYTHING why people need a storage.  I've had a couple of women that came here running away from abusive situations at home with their children and they don't want their husband/boyfriend to know they've got a storage (which is against the law for me to disclose that anyway). I've had people come in here to my office crying. It's really sad.  I try to help as best as I can. I feel like I'm a counselor sometimes because people are running away or bereaved & I guess I have a friendly face.

It's been interesting to say the least. I have a huge dumpster outside on the parking lot that I check regularly to see what people are throwing away.  You wouldn't believe what I've seen. I have to make sure there are no chemicals, tires, paint, etc., in there.  But people throw away some great stuff.  I got an old antique floor lamp out of there to put in the farmhouse, had the wiring checked and found an old shade with little dingle-dangles on it at a garage sale for it.  I found an antique accordian in the trash AND an old silver plated clarinet.  I also found an old oil painting print of a big red barn and horse and buggy that I re-framed and put in  my bedroom at the farmhouse. All for free!

I'm always digging old books out and just this week somebody put a bunch of old tin plates with flowerdy designs that I've never seen before.  There were some old pitcher crocks and a beautiful old vintage green and pink cookie jar that somebody dropped in there and it was broken into about 5 pieces. Made me so MAD!!!  I wanted it bad. But it was too far gone.  I also found some pretty little green and yellow square ceramic salad plates (I guess) that were really old, too.

The funniest thing was one time when this couple got a divorce, and the wife dumped all her husband's small tools and electic tools into the trash cuz she was mad at him.  I dug an electric sander and a whole bunch of other small tools and packages of sandpaper & other carpentry stuff, etc., and took them  home to my husband.  Two decent lawn chairs, ummmm, let me see....Oh yeah - one time I had to cut a lock on a storage that we were about to foreclose on, and when I opened up the door, there was a lifesize Elvis Presley dummy in there - standing up!  Scared the pee-diddle out of me!

Oh, and you should see what goes on sale at a foreclosure sale - if you've never been to a storage foreclosure sale, you should check it out.  They're published in the newspaper usually in the public notice section.  Sometimes you can get some NICE stuff CHEAP! We sell the entire contents of a storage for one price.  They can be broken down, but it's too time consuming.  I've got my eye on one of the storages here that's got two beautiful leather couches and a nice sized generator in it.  I imagine the people will redeem their property and come pay their past due account but Man, wouldn't that be nice!  Sometimes it's just junk but you never know.  One man  said a friend of his bought a storage unit at a FC sale and when he went through everything he found an antique brooch that he sold for $10,000.  It had genuine diamonds and gemstones in it.  People will use their storages to hide stuff that they don't want anyone to find - like a few thousand dollars that somebody hid in a dresser. OR, a body that somebody hid in a plastic garbage can and duck-taped the lid on. (that wasn't at MY storage)

Ok, there you have the skinny on the self-storage industry.  I have an office that has bars across the customer window.  I guess I'm safe enough but I don't wear jewelry  cuz you just never know what kind of people are gonna come in here. Well, I guess that's all for today. I'll be scant around this weekend - I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time at the hospital. So ya'll have a good one & go check out those storage foreclosure sales - and keep your gown down!

It's Gopher Season!!!

Got my first one of the season!  Just thought ya'll might like to know... Watch my gopher count on the side bar and see how we do this year. I got 16 during the summer/fall of 2009. I'm setting it back to 1, and note to self, Feb. 21, season opens. Stay tuned...

Suspected Church Arsonists in East Texas CAUGHT!

Posted: Feb 21, 2010 5:49 PM CST

The following was released by the Texas Department of Public Safety:

EAST TEXAS - Authorities have charged and arrested two men in connection with one of the 10 church arson fires that occurred in East Texas beginning on Jan. 1, 2010. Three other churches were targets of attempted break-ins, and investigators believe those and the remaining nine burned churches are also connected to these men. The investigations are ongoing.

The two men arrested are Jason Robert Bourque, 19, of Lindale and Daniel George McAllister, 21, of Ben Wheeler. They had attended the First Baptist Church in Ben Wheeler together. Bourque was arrested without incident in Van Zandt County and transported to Smith County and McAllister was arrested without incident by Texas Rangers in San Antonio and also transported to Smith County.

"By working closely with our local and federal partners, we brought tremendous resources to this investigation, working around the clock, and culminating in these arrests. The arsons of these houses of worship were despicable and cowardly acts, and Texas won't stand for this kind of criminal activity," said Steven C. McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

"Clearly this effort shows that Texas law enforcement has mastered the art and science of working together, sharing information, and dedicating the necessary resources to bring cases such as these to a successful resolution, and these officers are to be commended," McCraw said.

The men were arrested by the task force created to find these individuals and stop these arsons. The task force includes hundreds of local law enforcement officers, more than 200 personnel from the DPS, including Texas Rangers, Highway Patrol troopers and Criminal Investigation Division agents, fixed-wing and helicopter aviation assets and the DPS Communications and Fusion Centers, and numerous FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents and specialists. A call to a task force tip line alerted investigators to the two men.

Agencies involved in the arrests included the DPS; FBI; ATF; Tyler Police Department, Henderson County Sheriff's Office and Fire Department; Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office and Fire Department; Wills Point Police Department; Smith County Sheriff's Office, Fire Department and Fire Marshal's Office; Athens Police Department; and the Canton Police Department.

The task force was formed on Jan. 20, and investigators worked cases in a three-county area covering 2,648 square miles and an estimated 713 churches. Investigators from numerous agencies worked together to develop leads, and local agencies assisted with nightly patrols of churches in the area to prevent additional arsons.

Dates and locations of arsons:

01-01-2010, 9:02 AM – Little Hope Baptist Church – Canton, TX;
01-01-2010, 11:05 AM – Faith Baptist Church – Athens, TX;
01-11-2010, 10:40 PM – Grace Community Church, Athens, TX;
01-12-2010, 12:09 AM – Lake Athens Baptist Church, Athens, TX;
01-16-2010, 6:30 PM – Tyland Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
01-17-2010, 6:33 PM – First Church of Christ Scientist, Tyler, TX;
01-20-2010, 7:37 AM – Prairie Creek Fellowship, Lindale, TX;
02-04-2010, 5:23 AM – Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, Wills Point, TX;
02-08-2010, 8:47 PM – Dover Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
02-08-2010, 9:44 PM – Clear Springs Missionary Baptist Church, Lindale, TX.

In addition to the arsons at the above listed churches, there were attempted break-ins at the following churches:

02-07-2010, 12:19 AM, Heritage Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
02-08-2010, 9:19 PM, Clearview Church, Tyler, TX;
02-08-2010, 9:39 PM, Pine Brook Baptist Church, Tyler, TX.

This is what we've been dealing with here in Tyler, and the East Texas area for the last couple of months.  Area churches have been beefing up security and installing cameras, hiring security guards, and using church members as volunteer security.  We haven't heard the whole story behind the reasons for the arson yet.  But I'm glad they've been caught. One of my sons attends the University of Texas at Tyler and I understand that one of these guys does, too.  It was said that they were arrested at their homes without incident, so it appears that they have the right guys.  Our communities have rallied together and been an involved and united front against this attack on God's people.  Our farm is about 8 miles from one of the fires. There is STILL one man on the loose they are looking for. There were 3.
 
I hope they catch this last guy & that that's the end of it.  I was touched by the Sheriff's office statement on TV. After thanking all those involved in the capture, the officer said "most of all, thanks be to God." There are several of these congregations that lost their entire church. But as people of God, they are undaunted. They will re-build. After, the church is NOT a building - it's the family of Christians that worship there. 

Just stuff...

Aunt Amelia has got me all stirred up to change my blog banner.  You never know what that gal is gonna to have on her banner from day to day.  So.... I decided to change mine. I'm tired of lookin' at dead grass and bare trees.  Let's have some flowers and leaves and birds and grass to mow and stuff!

I'm feelin' so much better - thank ya'll for your well wishes. Almost back to normal.  I don't have my bucket with me at work anymore - a simple "slurp" is takin' care of the drainage problem at the present time and I expect the waterworks to dry up just anytime now!

Well, let's see. Daughter is comin' home this weekend, so that'll be nice. Of course, she's bringin' the RAT with her.   Adam is in Hershey, PA, for a gig, then down to Florida, and back through Georgia before they head back to Nashville.  Hope that all goes well and I pray always for safe travel for all.

Remember my little cabbages and broccoli plants I told you I set out?  I'm thinkin', yeah, they're cool/cold weather plants and it gets so stinkin' hot around here so early. So I go ahead and plant 'em.  THEN, comes the hugest snowstorm East Texas has had in 30+ years.  Well, I got all worried about my little plants so here's what I came up with - "make do or do without" type idea.

Can ya see what I did?  I had two rows, so I turned some of my yard chairs upside down to make a top, and covered all my little babies with painters dropcloths and anchored them on the edges with rocks.  I was still worried about 'em with the weight of the snow, but after I kinda shoveled the snow back, they could see daylight again. Those cheap plastic chairs (which I'd like to throw in the dumpster) tore thru the plastic with the heavy snow, but still protected the plants.  I checked on 'em yesterday, and pulled all the plastic and chairs off of 'em, and they were all standin' up just fine and ready to see some sunshine!

You probably can't see 'em but they're there. Ya know, they don't cost much, but I figger, if there's somethin' little I can do to keep 'em from dying, why not? So I did.  I hope they are grateful that I saved their lives.

Well, it's been a struggle to find something to post today, and that's about all I can come up with, so I guess I'll close.  Ya'll keep your dress down and I'll see ya next time!