Katy's Happenings....

I know it's been a while since I have written in here. Just been busy surviving the pandemic. I think it's nearing the end. James and I both got our vaccinations and are doing fine. I will write more of an update later. Right now I would like to focus on the book that I just read. As some of you might know, I am an avid reader. Each year, I have a Reading Challenge that I do on Good Reads. This year I am reading 75 books. In the years past, I haven''t read that much because I was in school. However, since I have been out of school since 2012, I have averaged at least 50 books a year.     My Mom was a very strong reader and would read probably 3 to 4 novels a week easy. In the last few years of her life she actually owned a Used Book Store which she enjoyed having to go everyday.  Here is a link to Frieda McFadden's author page:  Home (freidamcfadden.com) Fast forward to 2 days ago, I got an email from Frieda McFadden about her newest novel called: "The Locked D...

 When I was a teenager, I babysat and that gave me some spending money. Back then, I was only making 50 cents an hour to babysit. Parents had cheap labor back then.  I remember one Summer when I was 14 I had a job and would take care of two little kids all day long. I don’t remember how much I actually made. At the end of the Summer, I remember buying a wooden tennis racket for 50.00 and that was a big deal for me. I was proud of it and back then the tennis rackets were expensive.  The next Summer, I went out of town with a family and was the Nanny for the two little girls for two weeks. I received free tennis lessons from a pro tennis player when we stayed at Lakeway in Austin. I learned how to play Hearts that Summer from the girls. When I was twenty-five years old, I had never held a full-time job. My parents in their infinite wisdom, thought they were helping me by not allowing me to get a job when i was in school.  I do appreciate what my parents did for me. I k...

 My Blessing Jar has been around for 3 years now. I started this jar back in 2018. I wrote down anything and everything. This included if a celebr8ty died even. However, 2020 was a difficult year. I didn't have very many things written down for 2020 when I finally looked into my jar. I had two pieces of paper having to do with our daughter, Krisina and that she was safe. I had one about Justin getting into law school as well as graduating College of Charleston for last year. That was a biggy. Thanks to the pandemic there was no graduation ceremony Also, he had decided that he didn't want to go through graduation anyway. I told him that was fine for now. However, when he graduates with his law degree in 4 years. I'm going to be there to watch him go across and he better do it! hehe Other slips of paper that I had in my jar had to do with the pandemic. I mentioned that they closed the state down the first of March and opened it back up in May. It wasn't completely opened ...

 GOODBYE 2020 I was so happy when the clock stuck 12:01 on New Year's Eve and 2020 was over. That year is up there with 2016 as being one of the worst years. 2020: We have been dealing with the pandemic and being isolated from everyone. For months we couldn't go out to restaurants or the mall. Finally, we have been able to go to the restaurant but some are still limited as to how many people can be in the restaurant at a time. Some places are only using the drive-thru. This is our new normal. Everyone is wearing a face mask. If you don't have on a face mask then you are not served.  2016: Was by far the worst year for me. In March we lost our Dad. Then April of 2016 is when I had my first of 5 surgeries. The first surgery was to remove the tumor that was pressing on my balance and facial area. This left me with Bells Palsy on the right side of my face. I had to go to rehab for 3 weeks to get my balance back to normal. Then other surgeries followed because I had a spinal flu...

Not as strong as first thought Fragile like glass shattering to the floor Hurts and failed dreams Not sure how to make it better Good news, God's still in control Let him have everything He can make them fade away. Picture from FanArt Review, jodiedikun

I go to the mall to try to find some shoes to wear with my dress. I plan on wearing my red dress with a bare back.  I am going on a date with my favorite person. I spot the ones I want. They are shiny red high heels with a strap that goes in the back. I look at the price. Oh my! As much as I love them, I just can't see buying the shoes for that much money. I look around to see where the salesperson is to see if they are on sale.  She sees me and comes to see if I need anything. "Do you have these in a size 8 1/2?"  "Let me go in the back and see if we do.”  I look at the shoes again and shake my head. I just can't buy them for 95.00 dollars. I have never bought a pair of shoes for that much. I’m in school and only have a part-time job. The salesperson comes back and says, "Yes, we do have a size 8 1/2."  She gets one out of the box for me to try on. The shoe looks wonderful on my foot. I try the other shoe to get the full effe...

                                   This is a picture of James and myself at the Singles Retreat. This was before we had even dated. People at the retreat kept asking us if we were brother and sister. hehe Someone sent this picture to me anonymously. I never found out who sent it but I have an idea. "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match...." Peggy hummed the little tune as she wrote down the names of two people she knew from church on her yellow pad. She loved being able to put two people together that didn't seem like they would even like each other. Peggy thought of Katy and her husband James. She managed to get those two together, and it wasn't easy. James was very stubborn when it came to be willing to be matched. James was known for not having much to do with women. It was, actually, his son Jeremy that helped to get Katy and James together. This all began at one of the largest B...

Right now, I am substituting in a Spanish class in a high school close to me. The Spanish teacher left a DVD for the students to watch while he was gone. Normally, teachers leave movies that are entertainment. This dvd that we watched was very interesting and made me think: "What kind of impact have I made in this world?" People that live in the US are so spoiled when it comes to how rich they truly are living. I watched this dvd four times today and each time I found something else that I didn't see before. You can take a glimpse of this story on YouTube at: Living on One Dollar a day for 56 days You can see the full documentary on NetFlix. I can't even imagine living on a dollar a day. Can you? What luxuries would you miss? I think having clean water and being able to take a shower would be a biggy for me. I was in Mexico twice in the 1980's for Mission Trips for a week each. I saw some of the poverty they have there. However, it doesn't even comp...

Today, I helped Kristina aka Koalie move out of her now, ex-boyfriend's place. Thankfully, she didn't have any actual furniture. She has a lot of clothes, boxes and odds and ends. She moved a lot of her boxes, etc. to our extra room that we have. She is going to be staying with her brother, Justin and his girlfriend, Kylie for a while. They just moved into a house in downtown Charleston about two months ago. Kylie's  Dad took an old house and renovated it for her. It's gorgeous. It has three levels. The bottom level is the kitchen, living room and a patio where she has her plant collection. Second level has their bedroom, and two small rooms. Kristina will be renting one of the rooms and the other room is rented out by one of Kylie's best friends.  Then the top level is Kylie's Art Studio. Each level has balcony's that have wonderful furniture to sit on. Kylie has been working on decorating it during her off time. I need to get her over my house and get her ...

This particular day, my Mom had to substitute teach at the middle school and wasn't home yet. I had once again lost my house key. However, instead of just sitting on the porch waiting for my Mom to come to unlock the door. I decided to go in through the window on the porch. It was easy, I just used the top of the porch section by the window to easy up onto the window and hop in. The window lock hadn't worked in years so it was no problem getting the window open. We lived on a dead-end street close to the woods in a little bitty town. No one came down to our end of the street unless they were coming to see us or our neighbors. We knew all of our neighbors and most of the people that would come see them. We were always aware if a strange car came down to our section of the street.  Anyway, I hopped into the house and used my Mom's antique table to help me get down to the ground. Unfortunately, the table didn't fare so well. I had managed to break the table leg. It ...

One of my friends, Rick, he would share his food with me freely. I got used to getting whatever I wanted on his plate and visa versa.   Then he and I gradually went our separate ways. He moved to Austin, Texas and met my good friend at the time Carla Black. They started dating and eventually got married. I have no idea if they are still married but I hope they are. They got married about two weeks after James and I got married in May of 1990. When James and I started dating, well, let’s just say, he wasn’t too keen on me getting a bite of whatever he had on his plate. He nearly stabbed me in the hand one time because I tried to get something off his plate. I laugh now. However, I learned quickly, not to get anything off his plate unless I had   permission. Since that time, he has gotten a lot better about sharing. He says I taught him to share. I hope that is true. James has gotten much better at sharing the past 30 years. :)

My 21st birthday remembered My 21st birthday was on the 21st of May in 1982 (I think it was). I was still at home and going to Jr. College. I considered it a big deal to have my birthday on the same number as my birthday. I ended up not celebrating my birthday on my actual birthday. That year my sister had her son, Andy on the 18th of May. So my parents took a trip out of town to see the new baby. I wasn't able to celebrate my birthday until the next day. Somehow, it wasn't the same. My Dad said I could pick out what I wanted from the jewelry store that year. I had picked out an emerald and diamond necklace that would go with my emerald ring my Dad gave me for my 18th birthday. I remember bringing it home for my Dad and Mom to see what I had wanted to get. My Mom saw it and nixed the idea of me getting the necklace before I could even show my Dad.

  In 2005, I was in a program for Teachers. It was called PACE, which means Palmetto Alternative Certification   Education. I was in this program for two of the three years. I was getting my teaching certification from this program. I was to teach for three years in my specialty and take three graduate courses during the time. Plus whatever else the district wanted me to take. This program was for Critical Needs Subjects. I was getting certified in Special Education and specifically with students that were diagnosed with emotional problems. The school that I was at was exclusively for students with emotional and behavioral issues. We dealt with the behavior problems more than actually teaching the academics. I didn't understand this until I had already been in the classroom for a semester. Looking back, I see that it was a big mistake working for Charleston County and for the Principal, Stephanie White. I see now that she really didn't want me there, but I was too desp...

One of the websites I read had something about her bucket list. So I decided to write my bucket list down and share it. 1. Visit Hawaii 2. Visit Yellowstone Done: 1978 3. Visit Alaska.  4. Visit Mexico Done: 1983 and 1984 5. Go on a Cruise 6. Visit Germany and see where James was born                                                                                  7. Leave a server a $100 tip. 8. Reach my goal weight and stay there for at least 2 years. 9. Learn CPR. Done when I was 24 10. Learn the basics of self-defense. Done: 24 11. Learn how to load, unload, and shoot a gun. Working on it. 12. Post at least one photo on Instagram every single day for a year. 13. Establish a daily reading habit. Working on it. 14. Complete levels 1 – 5 ...

Shannon was excited to be going to her 10-year reunion for high school, in Las Vegas, Nevada. She hadn't been back since she left high school. So no one had seen her transformation. Shannon was thin and tall as well as having curly blonde hair, and a heart-shaped face.   She was actually a brunette. However, she dyed her hair after high school and lost about 75 pounds. Now she had blonde hair, her brown eyes showed up better.   Plus the fact that blondes are supposed to be dumb added to her image she was trying to have as her disguise at work. The truth is, blondes are anything but stupid, they do have more fun, though, as she has found out in her lifetime. It was really going to be fun to see the faces of the guys that she had crushes on and didn't even know she was alive back in high school. Boy, was she going to show them! They also didn't know about her occupation. She kept it quiet and on the down low most of the time. There were only a few trusted friends th...

This is the continuation of Revenge is Sweet . Kara answered the door after hearing two hard knocks. “Oh, Shannon! It’s been way too long! I’m so glad to see you!” “Kara, it’s great to see you too. What have you been doing?” “Let’s go get a drink in the kitchen and catch up. Later, I will show you what I have been working on in the garage.” Kara walked to the kitchen and motioned for Shannon to sit down on one chair at the dining table. She then got them some tea. “You have me curious what it could be? Aren’t you like a scientist now or something? I remember you were such a brainiac in school.” “Yes, you can now call me, Dr. Kara Jamison.” Kara laughed . “You must have a wonderful creation on the workbench of yours. Is it something I can use?” “I’m not so sure you can use it. However, you will enjoy it. I can’t stand it, I have to show you. Let’s go into the garage. Kara stood up and went toward the garage door in the kitchen. She opened it and wai...