A Country Heart

I love country music! Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Reba, George Strait, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Chris Ledoux - I love it all.  The more country twang the better. Add banjo, fiddle, and steel guitar and I love it even more.

I am sure part of my love of country comes from my family.  Grandpa played guitar (and a few more instruments I'm sure) and Grandma played the banjo.  A couple of my uncles play and one still performs with his band.  I remember riding in the car with Grandma and Grandpa to family reunions listening to  scratchy recordings of some really old time country singers. I think Grandpa recorded them by holding  his cassette recorder to the record player.  As kids we would go to my grandparents house at least once a week and sometimes we would watch "Hee Haw" with them.  On the ride home, my mom always had the radio tuned to a country station, I would close my eyes and just listen. 

I write this post because last night was the CMA awards.  One of my favorite singer's these days is Miranda Lambert.  She was nominated for 9 awards and won 3.  She also had the honor of singing "Coal Miner's Daughter" with Sheryl Crow and one of my all time favorite country ladies, Loretta Lynn.  I missed it on the show because I had to work but caught the clip on You Tube.  I am so sentimental, I became a little choked up.   

Overall, I really enjoyed the show.  Brad Paisley made an excellent host and won "Entertainer of the Year".  George Strait performed, still sounding great, and looking good. The Zac Brown Band performed my current favorite song "As She's Walking Away" with Alan Jackson.  Miranda got a little crazy with "That's The Way That The World Goes Round".  I can say that 'cause even her fiancee Blake Shelton did the finger circle by his head when the camera was on him during her performance. Little Jimmy Dickins made an appearance in snorkeling gear as the Nashville flood warning system. 

I am one lady who will always be a country girl at heart and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Cha-ching!

When I dropped off the red and white hat pictured in my previous post, the lady order 5 more hats and a scarf.  Kids, we are halfway to getting a Wii for Christmas. 

Project Pictures

I am always saying that I will post pictures later.  Well, friends, here are some pictures.  Finally. 

These are some of the projects I have made lately. Excuse the bad photography skills

 I made these afghans for two of my nieces. 

All of them now have one. 

 I made the green slouchy beanie for my son to wear to football games, etc.  The green and white are his school colors.  A woman from church saw him wearing it and wanted one made for her - only a little more feminine. She is a teacher and wanted the burgundy and white to match her school colors.

(The dates on the pictures are wrong.  Someone messed up the date on his camera.)

 

 This is the first ever sweater I made but have yet to wear.  My sister is modeling it because she is smaller and it looks better on her.   She isn't getting it though!

 Towel toppers for the holiday towels I have had in a box for two years.

 I love the colors in this scarf.

I have made more hats in different styles but haven't taken pictures of them yet.  The burgundy and white hat is being dropped off this evening in exchange for some money. Yep.  I actually sold it to her instead of my usual "Sure, I can make you one",  the transaction was made by Austin, "My mom will make you one for 15 bucks." Or something like that.  SOLD!  

No Soliciting

Two guys rang my doorbell this evening while I was in the office working. My son answered the door and since it was snowing outside, he let them in out of the cold.

Who were these men? Door to door salesmen trying to sell me a home security system.

During their spiel they tried to convince me that one of my neighbors had a break in recently and there were four other home break-in’s in my neighborhood in the past few weeks. I live in a cul-de-sac and haven’t heard a thing about this.


I politely refused their services before telling them I had work to do and they needed to leave. I ushered them out of the door, turning the deadbolt as soon as it closed. Then gave me son the “you know better” lecture about letting them in the house, ending with “I don’t care if it’s a freaking blizzard they can darn well freeze to death before you let anyone like that in the house!!”

The truth is these guys freaked me out. I didn’t appreciate them trying to scare me into signing up for a security system. I can’t help but feel like they were casing the joint to see if we were an easy target for a break-in. My mind instantly went to the scenario where they or someone they hire break into my house in order to scare me into getting a security system. I was even afraid of leaving my house to run to the store in case they were waiting for an opening. This led to further home invasion scenario’s running through my mind. I then felt vulnerable seeing as the only “man” in the house is a sixteen year old.

To top off the scary thoughts, the ten o’clock news carried a story about a man who shot and killed a nineteen year old who was attempting to break into his house. It doesn’t look like any charges will be filed against him because he actually caught the kid trying to break the lock on the door.

I don’t like feeling vulnerable. I don’t like people trying to make me feel as though I am in danger. In fact it really, really ticks me off. So tonight, the porch light is on. The gun is loaded but in a safe place. And even though I am single and relatively alone, I still have a way to defend myself. It isn’t a false sense of security but the knowledge that an intruder may have to face the barrel of a loaded .357 will definitely help me sleep a little better tonight. Of course the dog in the back yard helps too.

Tomorrow, I am getting a “no soliciting” sign.

Oh, please keep any anti-gun ownership comments to yourself.  I get it.  Some people don't like them. I do.