Happy Valentines Day everyone

Linda with box of chocolates from Archie


Our Project Directors had a nice Valentines Party for us on our “Games Night” on Valentines Day. The plan was for each of us to share about a person, place or thing that we “LOVE”. John brought photos of his cars and said a few words about them, and also Darren’s pickup. When this idea first came up, I had to laugh when Verna looked right at me and said, “Woof woof!!”. So I had to tell everyone I am a pet lover and told them about my pets. And threw in a bit about the grandkids… Of course, that goes without saying!

I had a wonderful Valentines Day. Not only did I receive the largest heart-shaped box of candy I have ever received in my life from my new friend, Archie, but my dear husband came through with one of the jumbo cards from the corner store that I had requested. 16” x 24” no less! But not after he had baited me again, first giving me the old piece of cardboard saying “Money is tight and times are hard, here's your loving Valentine card – You are Mine, I am Yours”!! He got a bit of mileage out of that at the party... And he DID have me going there for a bit – at least two other men on our “block” got their wives these gigantic cards and I really wanted one!!!

We just finished our second week of work on our projects in February. John and Gerry finished boarding Leroy’s house, and we started taping. I helped tape, and so did Len, Gerry, Georgia and Nettie. By Thursday, John and Len had most of the finishing done. There is a bit to complete on Monday and then John will texture the ceilings and it should be ready for sanding depending on how it drys. The forecast for the weekend is not great for drying. They are forecasting “severe weather” which includes tornadoes for north of us, and 3 inches of rain for the southern Gulf Coast.

Len and Maurice and four of the ladies finished off the wheelchair ramp and spindle railing (over 400 spindles). What a beautiful work of art it is!

The rest of our volunteers went over and completed the insulation on the ceiling of the fourth project, and started boarding the ceilings. There were people tripping over each other there, as the crew from Cameron was also doing some work on the house this week. It was rather frustrating for our volunteers. I think this is the last week the Cameron group will be working at this house – they are turning it over to us to complete.

Last weekend, we traveled to Ragley, LA, to hear the Hackberry Bluegrass Gospel Band. This group had entertained our MDS volunteers weekly when they were building a home in Hackberry for one of their relatives, and Don Buller told me several times that we just HAD to hear this group – they were so good., And Kathleen does have the voice of an angel.

So we were really pleased to be able to go to hear them. It rather reminded me of the Gulf Coast Opry last year which we really enjoyed. A bunch from Newton, Texas, came and met us there. Some of them had worked at Hackberry last year, and also worked with some of our people. We had a great time. Kathleen and Shayne, the lead singers, were very happy to meet all of us. One of their musicians plays base guitar with an old-fashioned washtub!

One night this week, the wind blew fiercely ALL NIGHT. It rained some in the evening, but the rain didn’t continue, just the wind, until we were praying that it would quit already. It made for a sleepless night.

Bruce is a great one for coming up with nicknames. He has nicknamed me “Miss Beads” (because of the collection of Mardi Gras beads I have and wear) or “The Papparazzi” because I am responsible for photos for the website. Martha and Maretta are lovingly referred to as “the M & M’s”. They usually work together. We call Paul “Mr. Clean”, as if there was a competition as to which MDS unit has the cleanest vehicles, thanks to Paul, it would be ours, hands down.

We were happy to learn that Jughead’s father, Fuzz, was not lost in the fire that destroyed our friends’ home. I had been wondering about that.

We had a few problems with our RV that John wanted to clear up with the place we bought it from. We made a trip to see them and were very happy that they bent over backwards to be sure he left happy. So now, he has several T.V. channels because they gave him a new cable, in addition to some other switches and everything else he needed.

Shari is having a big birthday on Feb. 15th. She turns 30, home alone except for the mutts and Giz. Hopefully she’ll be too busy to be lonesome!

I got to spend a few hours in the Vidor Flea Market last weekend. Didn’t find that much, but it was interesting to go through and see what was there. I still didn’t see it all. . .

Well, that’s my news for this week.

We wish you all a Happy Valentines Day. Try not to freeze up there… and you guys down south where it's warmer than here, keep your hats on so you don't get sunburn!