Betty’s Week
By Betty Shearer
At Woodland Hills we brought in the New Year with a Watch Night service. About 30 members and guests gathered for fellowship, fun, food and prayer. About eleven thirty three weary travelers got home and stopped by the church for the praying in of the New Year. Becky, Travis and Brian York had been to California for a holiday visit with daughter, Jennifer, and her family. They reported a variety of activities on their trip, including walks on the beach and travels into the mountains where there was snow.
Bro. Ken brought a game, new to all of us, called “Pigs.” You roll these cute little piggys, just like rolling dice and depending on the way the pigs fall you are scored. You are allowed to keep rolling as long as you do not hit the combination that scores zero.
If you’re greedy and this happens you get a zero score for that round. It’s definitely a game of chance, but the chance is against yourself. I didn’t play, but did watch, and I think the winning score was 100. Several times I saw scores in the teens, 20s and even one or two in the 30s, come up with a big goose egg, because the roller was greedy.
We also took down the Christmas tree and this was not an easy feat. Amanda Izzard and Dillion Dickey had put the thing up and they really made sure the lights were not going to come off. About half dozen of us unwrapped strands of lights for what seemed like hours. Everyone dismantling the tree decreed that we’d put it up next year and Amanda and Dillion would get to take it down.
At the Midnight Hour, Bro. Ken prayed, but we were all having such a good time, very few wanted to leave. It was about 12:30 before we were all out the door. I was so wound up that I had to watch a little TV before going to sleep.
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Having been up late, even though I awakened at my usual six o’clock, I decided to sleep in a bit and did go back to sleep. Woke up at 9:30—just in time to get food before watching the Rose Parade. The Parade was beautiful and I really enjoyed it. One float that I found especially interesting was the State of New Mexico’s. It contained so many items that we’ve become accustomed to seeing on our visits out west. Loved the Roadrunner and Cayote. Jim says they’d had an entry for several years, but thinking back I have not seen this parade for many years.
At the conclusion of the parade I decided that I would not go to Mom’s, so I set about housecleaning. First order was to wash clothes and dishes. This took most of the afternoon. Then I checked on my plants. Found them dried out, with a few already dead. Water was really appreciated.
Finished this chore, ate a bowl of soup and some cornbread, plopped in front of the TV and watched some interesting shows for the rest of the night.
Friday morning brought on more housework. I got out the vacuum and attacked the living and dining rooms. I really needed a leaf blower. We’ve been tracking in leaves and sand all fall and it took me hours to pick up the biggest pieces. Even with this, the cleaner kept stopping up. Ed would have thrown the thing out, but I have more patients, so I finally got most of the trash and dirt up. Then it was on to my second favorite chore—dusting. Went through three or four dust cloths and got up about a pound or two of dirt. These room are not clean by any means, but they do look better. At least you can sit and not need dusting when you get up and you can touch a table top and not have go wash your hands.
Late in the afternoon Betty Davis called to see what I was doing. She knows how much I like the vacuum cleaner and dust cloth, so she says, “Want to take a break?” I was game for anything. Her invitation was to go out to Country Catfish for supper. Ludie’s great-nephew, Eric Reed, and his wife, Donna, from the Chicago Area were in town, and Becky and Stan Crow were also going out. Wound up with Stan and Becky picking me up, but I rode home with Al and Betty. This would not have been possible had Ludie been alive. Ludie’s rule was, “You return home with whomever you go out with.” Well, had that been the rule Friday night, I would have ridden to Oxford, then back to the Valley. Stan and Becky had to take a car to park for Michael to go home in, after he returned from the Cotton Bowl. Michael is a member of the Ole Miss Rebel band.
From all the reports I’ve heard, this was an exciting game. I completely forgot it, house-cleaned right through the whole thing. Betty Davis watched it though, and when I asked the score, she says, “I don’t know!” She did know that Ole Miss won, but it took Al to get me the numbers, 47-34, in case you haven’t heard.
Betty had reserved a table and when we got there we sat for a long time before we got in line. The line was very long. Even after our wait, we were probably 30 minutes getting food. It was worth the wait though and we enjoyed the fellowship before and after eating, as well as our time in line.
Guess everyone was tired of holiday fare and wanted catfish.
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Holidays are now behind us and it’s back to business as usual. Next week quarterly and year end reports are due and in just two months business tax reports must be ready (unless you opt for an extension) and then just one month after that we have must have personal reports completed. As Mom says often, “The year’s sure are getting shorter.”
Schools are back in session and I even heard some who were looking forward to this.
In the Valley, the most exciting program of the new year is WV Main Street’s Charrette (a meeting on the order of the old town hall gatherings.) Sounds interesting, so come on out and let’s see what’s being offered. This event will be held next Monday night, January 12, in the 2nd floor courtroom, beginning at 6 p.m.
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When Jim calls he always wants to know what the weather is like. So for our out of town readers, I’ll report rain, rain, and more rain, with roller coaster temps. I’m about to the point that I want to use the little rhyme of our youth, “Rain, rain go away, come again some other day!” However, I’m sure we still need it to bring up our water table, so I’ll just be thankful that the thermometer is staying above the freezing mark.
Stay well, and let’s help make this new year a great one.
