We made it up to Indiana safe and sound. I did not begin journaling until the 3rd . Rhett woke up around 6:30 am. He got too hot because no one else got sick from his momma's cooking. LOL Or he probably got too excited from playing Guitar Hero with his step-nephew Austin. He said he had a lot of gas. Don had cut the big fan off early in the morning. I did not know it was set by a timer. Rhett woke me up to cut the ceiling fan on over his bed. He felt really hot then. Later he threw up again on the stairs. Poor baby.
We went to Bass Pro after I paid one of my Sears' bill with my my temporary checks. Luckily they accepted it. Then Don went to Harbor Freight while Rhett & I went to Hobby Lobby where I got a key stamp on sale for $1.99, 3 small sponge daubers, another distress ink pad, but this time in antique linen and a Heidi Swapp edge distresser for 99 cents. I think I wasted my money on the last item. I tried it out in the truck, but I prefer tearing paper then distressing it with an ink pad. Maybe I wasn't doing it correctly. I can always use the shape of it as a Pac Man template. LOL I had not worked on any art work or cards since my brother-in-law Alan's idea on Sunday where he suggested crumpling paper, using the distress ink which I did as well as a dark brown marker. He said it reminded him of a road map. I told him I would call it "Alan's Road Map". So now my artwork has become a family affair. My two sisters-in-law, Kim and Peggy were having a field day Sunday afternoon finding all sorts of objects in my art; even some I had not seen. Alan picked at me a lot about it.
6/4/08
Today we went to the lumber plant where our neice Yvonne works. Next to it is the Forest Discovery Center in Starlight, Indiana. I forgot the name of the web site for it. Sorry. We took a tour of it for free thanks to Yvonne. Must remember to send her a thank you note. It was very interesting. We learned how Louisville slugger bats, pencils and paper were made via mini films. We played some computer games with very hard questions. I had to ask my father-in-law, Everett for help. I scored a 9 which made me a tree. Rhett got an 8. He was a sapling. We went inside the factory itself on a 30 foot high cat walk that was wide enough for a wheel chair they provided for Grandma.
I talked with a lady who does wood working artistry there. She told me she had no degree for it. She just lucked up on the job. I told her how we may move up there some day and this time around I would like to do something in the artistic field. She asked what kind of art I did and I told her. She seemed really interested. Maybe I could get a job there. LOL
In the wood gift shop, I found a magnet of the place, two pencils shaped shaped like a tree with the bark still on them. One is for Steph if Elisa didn't already buy her one when they took the tour last month. Mine is a bit bent giving it character. I also got two large colored pencils also shaped like trees complete with bark. One is a smokey blue color which I did not have in my collection and light pea green color with more yellow in it than the pea green one I have already. I got plenty of postcards so this made it feel like a real vacation to me. Who knew we would have an actual vacation in Indiana? LOL
I traced some leaf patterns there which ws really fun for me. They all knew it was something I would want to do. They know me too well. Now I cannot find the papers where I traced them. I had overlapped two similar leaves. I'll have to write Yvonne to ask her if she could trace them for me. I must remember to tell her to put the red cedar next to the other leaf similar to it. I remember handing the papers to Rhett. Surely I did not leave them lying in the gift shop
From there we went to Joe Huber's restaurant. Rhett and I both got chicken and dumplings, but they were not that great. I can make better dumplings than those! I ordered fried green tomatoes also, but they were breaded with spicey seasonings and served with horseradish. It was expensive too. Needless to say I was running to the bathroom before we left. I bought more souvenirs at their gift shop. I got a silver stretchey bracelet with a neat design, a pink elastic bracelet that says "Rebecca" because they didn't have one with Becky on it. It has lots of inspiring words on it like the word "dream", etc.
I took photos inside the Joe Huber gift shop as well as outside where there was a BIG rooster. We stopped at a post office in Pekin so I could purchase postcard stamps for my postcards. Then we stopped at few places back in town in Salem like Rite Aid for Grandma's medicine and a tractor place for Grandpa only they didn't have his part in yet.
Once home I began writing my postcards. This is what I do. I put a papaya stamp on my friend Genie's postcard because she loved that fruit when they were stationed in Hawaii and I stayed with her for 12 days while Patrick was in Korea for a month. I like to match things up with what people like. That's just the way I am.
Whenever I called mom to check on Uncle Frank's progress, I would have to stand out in the yard, almost to the field to get reception. I even called my friend Cheryl to get her address so I could send her a post card so I spoiled the surprise for her.
We went to church Wed nite. The lady that taught Rhett had to come tell me what a joy he was to have in class. She said he was such a delight. It brought tears to my eyes. She said he contributed in class. I told her I thought he might be shy, but obviously he was not! It made me feel good.
Alan, Kim & Dominique came by. We were having leftovers. I took pics of Rhett & Dom. I showed Alan the 1st "road map" I attempted, but was not really happy with it. Kim
thinks it looks like a tree with moss. I turned it and did see a tree trunk. Need to take a photo of it as is for "Alan's Road Map" before I work on it any more.
Rhett and I slept on the couch in order to be under the air conditioner. When Everett got up around 7:30 Thursday morning, turned the tv on in the kitchen so we went upstairs and tried to sleep some more. It was hard returning to slumberland with the early morning sunlight flooding through the bottom of the the open windows. As well as due to the cacophony of barnyard sounds forming their own symphony. A rooster crowing to my left, the other neighbor's geese squaking across the street to my right ear, a moo here, sheep, billy goats and rams ba-a-ing there and the rooster crowing again, but we slept until I had to go to the bathroom.
I woke up burping bad eggs and had eaten none! My tummy was upset. I slept a long while on the couch. We ate a late lunch. I had mac n cheese and a few of the strawberries I had bought at Joe Huber's. We were going to a new family restaurant in Salem tonight. I was hoping I would feel ike going and did. Rhett and I split a hamburger steak.
We forgot to mail my postcards in the daily mail, but Don said we could mail them in town. The bad thing is they will be postmarked Louisville, KY rather than Salem, IN which I did not like.
When we returned from the restaurant, there was nothing on tv since they don't get cable. I went into the kitchen, wadded up a piece of beige paper and proceeded to make another "road map" only it was not really that. It was more like a stone wall of rocks with lots of designs. Of course it has "things" in it as does all my artwork. There is a a lion's face, lots of eyes, a few hearts, etc. It did have a lovely woman's face with a rather long neck, but I just couldn't leave it alone. I just had to keep adding more and more distress to it. I don't know when to stop and leave well enough alone. Haven't I learned by now that less is more? I could not find her at 3:30 am as I wrote those words in my journal.
I'd woken up remembering that Don said I needed to charge the battery for my camera because we were going to cemetaries which I quickly agreed to real fast. Too bad it wasn't raining so I might could get that foggy effect as I once did with my Minolta years ago.
Rhett had to make his own attempt at a "road map" before bed. I crumpled it up for him, showed him how to use the new antique linen stamp pad on the rumpled edges. There were so many of them, he soon tired of it. He really wanted to use the brown marker. He did the most prominent lines and quit. I realized his looked more like a "road map" than mine did. Bugger!
Now I had really, really, really loved mine to begin with, thinking it was one of my best pieces of work. That is until I saw Rhett's. Don asked what it was. Rhett said it was "just another abstract", but it is not. It is another piece of me, cracks and all. I think we should call mine "Stonewall" perhaps because of my stubborness. LOL It reminds me of the stone walkway and the buildings at Lake Houston's. I think we should call Rhett's "Uncle Alan's Road Map". Then I decided to neatly write "Voyles' Rd" on his. It would make a great gift to Alan from Rhett and I. I was able to go to sleep after that. Rhett was sleeping so soundly on the couch while I was a restless spirit who will feel like a zombie in the morning.
6/6/08
We went to graveyard and I took pics of Voyle's tombstones. I got a little sun on my arms, a lot of tangles in my hair from the 4-wheeler trek to the nearby cemetary around the corner from the house and the gusty winds. Took photos of the current restoration of Beck's Mill. Should have gotten a close up of the sign but did not. Oh, well, next time....
We went to Jason's house in Canton. Kristina was getting ready for a craft fair in Campbellsburg tomorrow. She had lots of neat stuff. The name of her company is "Chubbie Cheeks". Jason actualy came up with the name of it. A lady on line designed her price tags. She could have used Kim's granddaughter Kaylee as the model for the chubby cheeks. We viewed the photos I'd taken on Jason' computer. One of them was another beautiful sunset taken from Jason's front yard again. Got home at midnight.
I dreamed for the 1st time in a long time. Maybe because we'd seen baby Dharma Jean's grave yesterday. It must have had an impact on me or triggered hidden memories. I dreamed I received a bill for the baby I miscarried. When I say someone "lost their baby", Rhett takes it literally and doesn't understand. I couldn't decifer this bill. Some of it was in Spanish so I had to call an 800 number. A Spanish person answered. I was able to translate some Spanish words in my dream. She told me I did not owe anything.
The "You do not owe anything" was such a relief to me. It was like the voice of God. As if He were saying, "You do not owe anything because I paid the price for your sins." It was kinda awesome. I had another dream, but I cannot remember it as I do this one.
6/8/08
Nightmare # _________
We arrived back home safely, but late as usual for us. I had a nightmare for the 1st time in a long time which isn't surprising with all that has transpired in our lives lately. I dreamed someone stole Rhett! I woke up screaming but my scream did not wake Don nor Rhett. I turned on the lights, went to check on Rhett only to find him sleeping. Then I went back to bed with a racing heart and actually went back to sleep. I woke up feeling as tired as I was when I went to bed. It wasn't until later that night as I was emailing my closest friends about this nightmare, I realized I am currently reading a book about a baby stolen from a hospital. AND we constantly talked about our recent robbery while in Indy.
We went to see Uncle Frank after evening services at church because I had a strong need for a nap after lunch at church. He answered the door! He was walking and talking like normal. It is hard to believe he had brain surgery less than a week ago. Tomorrow is his 74th birthday. We are so very thankful to be celebrating it with him but I will have to go back to work. Two of Uncle Waldo's step-children, Willie and Merrilee will be coming to see him. I haven't seen Merrilee since 1974! Don said I think more of them than I do my own blood cousins. That did not make me feel bad at all.
Bills to pay tomorrow after work. My checks did not arrive. I will post photos later...
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