Names with faces

J'sCochins · Names with faces

I would love it if everyone that was willing could post a picture of themselves so we could have faces with names. So I thought I would start. And if I'm willing to show 63 years of wrinkles then you younguns can show your beautiful and handsome faces! Wink

This was taken this year at my 63rd birthday because my kids were always griping that they didn't have a picture of me. I'm alway the one behind the camera

Cheri

oh hush! I don't see no wrinkles! Im going to post a different one here.

This is my entire family. All 5 of us. The one in the middle of the kids is Sephiroth. Believe it or not she had a broken back at the time. We cheated the boys held her up. The one in blue is the one with the 49 yo girlfriend. (Im only 44)

I look like such a dork! My kids say I have chinky eyes. LOL! Noticed my hubs shirt? Chelsea aka Sephiroth bought that for him. He has been there dad for only 7 years but you wouldn't know it.

J'sCochins

That is one nice looking family. I don't have a space big enough to get them all together!!!

Cheri

That is just the goodwin family. If I were to put the Roy and Elizabeth Webb family together.........well........lets just say the pic would be very small to fit on here.

Grandma had 7 kids, 5 in laws
29 Grandchildren
40+ great-grandchildren
9 great-great-grandchildren

Bombbuzzy

7 years and counting , some times it feels like 100. Wouldn't change much if I could. Love them all, even when they do stupid avoidable stuff [ just like I did ]

Cheri

Oh you know you are just a big softie where they are concerned. Especially Chelsea. Laughing

Birdhill

Okay, guys, but just remember what my grand mother always said:

Beauty is skin deep
Ugly is to the bone
Beauty falls off
Ugly hangs on
Last day working 12/31//06

Cheri

I like that pic Birdhill!!

Missi

..Ugly hangs on...

LOL, that is too funny!

Birdhill · Garden Picture

You blow it up, put it in the garden, crow and squirrels will not enter. The only thing not effected are the blind caterpillars. Wink

Everyone has purpose in life, I am a stand in for scarycrows.

But my girls love me.

Cheri

LOL!!

judymae

That was too funny Birdhill!!! Thanks needed that this morning. Love the pic of your girls. They are so pretty. By the way what kind of flowers are those in the background? Are they cannas by chance? Are they bulbs? I'm looking for more bulbs to plant. I love stuff that comes up on it's own and looks good for a long time. I have cannas and their leaves look like those but my flowers look a little different.

Birdhill · Yes Mis Judy

I have yellow, purple and orange and I will share. I also have water hythicians (sp) that grow well in barrels and bloom like crazy. Of course, the chickens eat them in the ponds. While on the subjects, I have gobbs of a wild butterfly plants and mucho seeds, they have tiny red blooms all over them. Found them at an old home site up by Lufkin, you can find the best plants at those kind of places if you don't get shot. The seeds are free but you have to talk to God about the butterfly. I will post some pics and everyone can have some seeds if they send a self address stamped envelope. And for $5.00 I will include one of my special prayer cloths that will raise the dead, heal the sick, never mind that another site.

judymae

I actually read an article (don't remember where now) about a lady that saves plants, flowers, bushes and small trees from homes that are being torn down. She relocates the plants so they are not wasted.

My cannas were actually given to me while my youngest was in the hospital. He was a preemie and had to be in the hospital for 4 weeks. A neighbor cleaned out his flower beds and put some cannas in a black trash bag and told me to plant them whenever I got the chance. Well since my baby was in the hospital it had to wait for over a month. I planted them and they came up immediately! I was so happy. Now they are so thick that I will dig them up and seperate them and replant. They just really need to be thinned out.

I'll be looking to see when you post some pics of your flowers! I'm getting my envelopes addressed and ready to go out!!!

Cheri

I have a 20ft Crepe Myrtle that I took from my mom's yard. I have lotsa plants that I have recieved from peoples yards.

Birdhill · Buying Plants

I hardly ever buy plants because I am so tight, I will block a freeway to pick up a penny. Actually, most plants that you buy have been raised in a greenhouse enviroment and quickly fade in the real world. I have quiet a few plants but my favorites are those with history. I love plants, they are people too. Most of my tomatoes are hertiage, the old varities, been saving the seeds for years and replanting. They are tougher and although they may not be the perfect looking fruit as the cloned hybrids, they taste so much better. My 94 year old aunt in Whitehouse, Tx. gave me some weed looking plants that she calls summer poinsettes(sp), I ask her where she got them and she said about 50 or 60 years ago she found them at an old collective farm that a religious order had in the area during the 30's.(Burning Bush Society) I took cutting off her Confederate rose, it is a double bloom, now I have two almost trees and they are beautiful, they bloom early in the morning a beautiful white bloom, light pink by noon and then by dark the blooms are a bright rose color. She said her bush was probably 40 years old and her mom used the blooms to make a quilt pattern. I love plants with a history. I have a yellow lantana bush that I got a cutting from my grandmother's yard in 1971 before she passed into the next world. I remember she told me, she got that plant started from some traveling gypies in the 40's when she fed them supper. So, when I look at some of my plants, I see their beauty but they remind me of my link to the past and the great stories behind them. Remember this, you plant your garden for yourself, the earth and God, if someone else happens to see your garden and enjoy it, that is just an added bonus. And that my friends, is the ramblings of an old man.

Cheri

I had a double-bloom confederate rose tree. It died. I got it from my grandmothers yard who got it from my ex-stepmom's yard so the next time I go to Elkhart I will get another cutting. I also have a wild rose that my husbands mom brought back from Louisana. It was at my sister in laws house and has made lots of little wild rose bushes in my yard.

Birdhill · Wild Rose

Okay Cheri, that your trade for eggs, you have to bring me a wild rose.

J'sCochins

Birdhill. This ol' woman loves your ol' man ramblings! Laughing

I love plants with a history. I have some wild mountain iris here at the riverhouse which came from my Grandparents and Mom's mountains in NM by way of a 20 year detour to my yard in Missouri then to Phoenix and now here. So I understand what you mean. History in the ground!!
Jacie

Cheri

You got a deal!!

Birdhill · Thanks Jacie

I think we are about the same age, i just look older because it hard on me living with the devil's sister for all these years. She is sitting over here quilting a really ugly quilt that one of the kids will get for Christmas. She been smiling at me ever since lunch so I have to go dig some garlic.
Actually, she quilts really good, she belongs to a club here in Coldspring and they meet twice a month to mainly eat and gossip and talk about what wonderful husbands they have. I really love her, she is the only thing I ever invested in that really grew. If the stock market don't stop dropping, I will be the new greeter at the local WalMart.

I need to order one of those eggs for her for Christmas, she slobbered all over the computer looking at them. I am building her a new kitchen island and have already got her a set of China with a neat rooster pattern. (that is set number

She has 44' of kitchen counter top already, 18 kitchen drawers, a pantry, two cook tops (10 burners) and two convection ovens and a regular oven and there is this pressing need to have more drawers and counter top. Our house is a restore 1932 farm house plus two more bedrooms and a huge bath. I needed places to hide.

should look like this

J'sCochins

Oh Wow!! That cabinet is beautiful. And your house sounds wonderful.

I don't mind telling my age. It's 63 and it's better that the alternative!!

But now my hubby is much much older than me. (65) Laughing

I would love to see your restored house. Being an antiquer I love stuff like that!!

Our riverhouse is only 2 years old but lots of old stuff in it (besides us)
Here's our riverhouse

http://www.carebearjake.com/rh/HOUSE.HTML

We went from 3500 sq ft to right at 2000. We wanted to play and work outside more that inside. Like with the chickens which I am having sooo much fun with now!!

Get some more pictures of your place. I'm sure we would all love to see all of it. And your lovely lady also. She has to be a sweet person and I admire anybody who has the patience to quilt!

And let me know about the egg. I'll give you a good deal.

Jacie

judymae

I absolutely love your house Jacie!!! It is beautiful!

Birdhill we have a close friend that lives in Whitehouse! Small world!

J'sCochins

Hi JudyMae. Thank you so much.

You know it's strange and I don't mean this as bragging but over the years we have been blessed to have some beautiful big homes. That's due to God's Blessings and my hubby's hard work, but our goal was to do away with a lot and go into retirement without a mortgage. So we started a little early. Took a couple of years to find just the right property and did our thing in a very small town in a beautiful spot of Arizona.

And I have never been more at peace than I am on this little 1+ acre!!!!

The only thing that will make it perfect is when Ty finally retires in 13 months and will be here with me full time and not just for long weekends!!! We still have a small house in Phoenix where he stays when working and I have to force myself to go down every other week and take care of it but I hate! going back to Phoenix.

The other thing that would make it even more perfect is if Henry the Roo and Ty the hubby would ever get along but I don't think that's ever going to happen!
Laughing

Birdhill · Retirement

Jacie I love your place, it is beautiful and peaceful. You have great taste in putting things together. Maybe you could come help us.

Our place, Birdhill, is just comfortable, not elegant or anything to brag about but it is ours. We have not had a mortage since the 80's. We spent way to much money on restoration and additions but it is almost maintenance free. We bought it from an older couple in 1995. We have just under 5 acres and no close neigbors. The kids named it Birdhill because I have 40+ birdhouses scattered around. Spring is an exciting time around here.

Our Houston home was much bigger and nicer and we had all the rooms you never use, foramal dining room, sitting room and they were great for collecting dust. I maintained a swimming pool that nobody used for years after the kids grew up. Who needs it, retirement is about being comfortable. As long as it is clean and keep us dry, warm or cool, it just fine. My days of trying to make a good impression are over, my chicken people don't care if I comb my few hairs or shave as long as they get some corn. By the way Jacie, I am 62 1/2, that looks funny only kids say the 1/2.

I graduated from Whitehouse in 1963, the population was 610. There was 18 folks in my class and most of us had been together for the whole 12 years. I wish my grand kids could experience the America I grew up in and loved, a violent crime was going skinny dipping in the lake. My first car was a 1957 Studebaker which fit perfectly on the railroad tracks if you let some of the air out of the tires, it was like riding on a cloud. Dang it, I use to hate it when old people started talking like that, I guess it true, "you become what you condemn".

J'sCochins

I love the name Birdhill. Our kids named this the "Riverhouse" And your right. When you get our age things take on a whole new perspective. The mad rush is over. Time to just enjoy!!

I for one would not want to be raising kids in this day and age although I did for 5 years. 2 of my grandkids who lived with us with there Dad. They have a new Mom now and she is great with them so I got to go back to being just a Grandma or Nini as they call me.

We traveled all the time for 30 years (all 50 states, Mexico and Canada) and now I just want to sit and be with my hubby, the 4 legged creatures and my chickens!! Laughing

The birdhouses sound wonderful!!!! And I bet spring is just great around your place with all the wonderful music coming from them.

There are things like that that Ty is looking forward to doing when he's here full time like some more bird houses. He's even contemplating building an outhouse out by the cabin but of course due to "laws" about those kind of things it will be strictly ornamental.

Isn't is amazing how we got along just fine (back in the days)living with outhouses, woodburning stoves, etc etc!? When we first got the ranch in Wyoming we had both an outhouse (a fancy 2 holer!) and a big hugh woodburning cook stove (food never tasted better than cooked on that thing) for quite a while and my sister and I took our bath at night in the middle of the kitchen floor in a horse trough with water heated from the stove. "The Good Ol' Days"

I'm sure you house is wonderful and I would love to see some more pictures of inside and out so take some time to get some pictures please and get them up here!

I can tell by just that cabinet that it has to be beautiful!

Take Care
Jacie

P.S. I sure hope we're not driving all you youngsters away with all this talk! All I can tell you is enjoy your life. Live it to the fullest and make the most of each day. Laughing

judymae

Okay now ya'll made me go and take pics!!! I want to share too. We love our house. We had it built 9 years ago on 5 acres. The living is open to the dining which is open to the kitchen. I love the open feel. But I am going to add a breakfast bar to the opening of the kitchen. It feels to open in there now that we have lived in it for 9 years! Hubby says I'm just itching to do something expensive!! LOL!

Here goes:

THis was taken standing at the front door.

I took this standing in the dining room.

I was standing in the living room looking at the dining room. We like it unformal like it is. Perfect for the kids to mess up!!

I love my kitchen. It is the main reason we picked out this floor plan. When the kids were younger we had a little tykes table in the middle of the kitchen with plenty of room to move around. Made clean up time so much easier.

J'sCochins

Oh Judy Mae! It's lovely!!! I love the floors and I love the gray accents.
Don't you just love the openess. It's so great for us when all the kids and grandkids are here. They actually talk to each other and visit more. That is when their not all outside doing something.

You home is very very pretty. Great for raising kids.

Jacie

P.S. Have you thought of a big cabinet chopping block in the kitchen? That would look very nice and they are so functional. But a bar cabinet would be nice also.

judymae

Thanks Jacie!! I really want to do something with the kitchen. I was thinking a breakfast bar coming from the cabinets against the wall to about 2/3rds the way across the opening into the kitchen. My grandfather is a great carpenter. (he made his living with a cabinet shop for over 40 yrs) He offered to build it for us. But right now he is in the middle of selling his cabinet shop and buying their retirement home. So I told him to wait until spring when everything has slowed down. I can't wait. I can feed the kiddos at it and make it even easier on me.

I'll take pics of the front of the house and the deck out back in just a little while. My landscaping is nothing like yours! I only wish. We had a basketball tournament with our oldest so today has been kinda rush rush!

J'sCochins

judymae

Okay here is the outside. I love my deck. We had it built last summer. It really has been like an extra room. I just sprayed it down so it looks all wet. We live off a white rock road and it gets dusty everywhere. Somehow it even gets in my car!!!

J'sCochins

Oh Judy Mae. Your house is just wonderful and I LOVE!! the deck.
We had to screen ours in sides and bottom because we live out there!!! and we have a lot of flying creatures! And some of them are real scary looking!! Evil

But anyway your house is beautiful inside and out!!

Jacie

judymae

Thank you Jacie!! We are trying to do one thing at a time to the house to make it more comfortable for us. We had the deck put in last year. Had the wood/laminate floors laid this year and next spring we want to add the breakfast bar. With 3 kids it's really hard to find the extra money to add to the house but we try! I really want to landscape more. That will be something else I work on next spring. I love looking at other people's houses. You learn so much about their personality. I hope more folks need to post some pics of their homes.

J'sCochins

When your young and raising a family like you are that's the way to do it. A step at a time so you don't get bogged down in debt. You all are being very smart.

Jacie

Birdhill · Nice Place Judymae

Looks like you don't have to worry about close neighbors and that is a good thing from my standpoint. I just need to ship you some trees.\

judymae

Birdhill you are so right!! I really need some trees. I have a little 4 footer that doesn't look to good. Just a stick now. It's a burred oak? Then I have a little silver leaf maple that is only 2 feet tall at the most. I found it just growing in my flower bed so I replanted it out in the yard. It looks good just soooo tiny. Then a friend gave me a mulberry tree that is only 8 inches tall. It is so cute but still in a pot!

We do have some neighbors on each side of us that are about an acre away. Too close for me. In front of us is 100s of acres that no one lives on. I like it that way!

I still need to put flooring in the bedrooms. I got a wild hair one day and ripped out all the carpets. We are walking on grey cement!! Very cold in winter! I think I may put down the same flooring that we have in the living and dining. I love the wood/laminate. Just have to catch it on sale again!!

Birdhill · Trees

I am just hung up over trees, the sun never fully hits the house here, at noon I get about 1/4 sun on the roof, more in the winter. But when there are storms, you wonder if one will come down so there are draw backs also. Right now my yard is ankle deep in leaves and pine straw but i will mulch them when most have fallen.

Anyway, Mulberry and Mable grow fast, at least here so you will have some noticable trees before long.

I am with you, we are not carpet people, we had some friends in Houston that stained thier concerete slab floor and it looked really good. Our whole house has natural pine flooring and after 11 years we still love it. Of course mama has rugs everywhere but you can take then up and clean them. We also like ceramic tile and that mostly what we have had in the past. Wood and tile are easy to clean and when you are finished, you know they are clean.

Cheri

Oh Judy! I love your house! Birdhill, I am crazy for trees also. I am going to move in 4 years and will be looking for a property with trees.

judymae

Thanks Cheri!!

I hope my trees grow fast. The maple is actually cute. It only stands about 2 ft tall and branches out in two places. Look like a mini big tree.

I thought about staining the concrete in the bedrooms. It's that or find more wood/laminate flooring. It costs alot so I have to wait for a sale!

Birdhill you're lucky you can put rugs down. I have a chihuahua that never pottys on the floor unless it sees a rug!!

Birdhill · Birdhill, Tx.

I finally got around to taking some pictures. Did anyone say trees, and i love them all, fallen leaves and limbs.

The piano is 1898, upright grand, only a few made but I don't think it that valuable except to me. It not really that dark, just poor photo.

The sign over the gate was a present from the kids about 10 years ago.

The house is only about 2200 sq. ft. - mama said i could not take pic inside unless i gave it a good cleaning first, she is sewing, so that why you don't see any pictures. I called the spouse abuse hotline, they hung up.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone and remember:
The best sermons are lived, not preached.

J'sCochins

Birdhill: It looks beautiful!! And I do love the trees.

2200 sq feet is enough I think. I don't want to spend the rest of my life cleaning house! Laughing

judymae

I love all the trees!!!! I am so jealous. Your place looks so peaceful!

J'sCochins

Birdhill · It real quiet

Thanks for the kind words
It is very peaceful and in all the (10) years we used it for weekends only, nothing was ever distrubed. You have to know it is here, you can't see it from the hwy for the TREES. The door are hardly ever locked, dumb I know but we just don't think about it. Sometimes it to peaceful for Ms. Birdhill, she needs people and our kids can't come up that often. So, she volunteers one day a week at the hospital, making people sick, and belongs to two sewing clubs. Me, I am perfectly happy not to talk to anyone but the chicken, guianes and sweet little Queeny, or dog. It has gotten that I need an answering service taking calls from folks who what Birdhill eggs. I sell all they make and eat the rest.

If i could, i would give you a couple of the big sweet gum trees in back that overshade my garden but I just don't have the heart to cut them down. I grew some birdhouse gourds (surprise) on one of them this year.

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

Names with faces

Garden Picture

Yes Mis Judy

Buying Plants

Wild Rose

Thanks Jacie

Retirement

Nice Place Judymae

Trees

Birdhill, Tx.

It real quiet