MAY DAYS

I can not believe it is a whole WEEK into May now.  Mother's day has come and the next holiday is Memorial day.  (For me atleast!!).  I don't handle Mother's day very well any more.  My mother died in April of 2005.  For the 5 years previous to her death (and 5 years after my father's death in 2000) I worked for Walmart.  A blessing (it was close to home) and a disaster (frankly I can't stand walmart any more and I rarely shop there ~ only as a last resort). WalMart believes that they are more important than family members, or any one else or anyTHING else.  When Sam Walton was alive they CLOSED for holidays.  Now they are open 24/7/364 days a year.  Christmas day is the only day they are closed !!! (Even NASCAR doesn't race on Mother's Day!!) And frankly I believe that WalMart will in the next 5 years or so be open on Christmas Day.  I was the phone operator at our store.  Worked days 7-4.  According to the WM handbook an employee was supposed to get atleast 1 Sunday a month off.  That's a joke.  Unless you were one of the privileged few that kissed enough ass to have EVERY Sunday off, you ended up working every Sunday.  The first year I worked there I worked every holiday and every Sunday.  Needless to say I am not accomplished at kissing ass (must be the red hair and temper!!) I ended up working every Mother's Day but 1 the last 5 years Mother was alive.  I found out I had to take a vacation day and apply for it months ahead to get that day off.  Don't get me wrong I did not mind working my fair share of holidays.  When I worked at the hospital, I worked every Christmas ( I felt it was only right since I didn't have any children to play Santa to.) I didn't mind rotating the holidays the rest of the time.  But working EVERY holiday just really pissed me off.  I guess it is the guilt of working the last Mother's days my mother was alive and her sitting at home alone while I worked that really puts me in a somber mood on Mother's Day.  I think if I had it do over again, I would have walked out of that job long before I did.  WalMart really does NOT care at all about their employees.  Frankly I think they believe in slave labor (must be why they love China and other similar countries so well and use them to produce their merchandise).  The only reason I go to a walmart any more is because I can not get the merchandise I want or need ANYWHERE else.  period. My motto is "ANYWHERE but there". 
 I hope that all of you that still have your mothers (or the person that acted as your mother) went to see them today if at all possible.  At least call them.  Talk to them.  One day the only way you will get to talk to them is to meet them in heaven. 
Mary

MORE LAST MINUTE

Well the vest is coming along. Today I laid out the red roses (her favorite color and flower) and started the background ribbon and embroidery.

I tried the roses with no extra colors and with yellow and blue flowers. I think I will stick with the red roses and other red flowers and will add some blue beading with the green and red beading. 

















I have done the background embroidery and used straight pins to hold the bulky flowers in place. I will not sew them on until I sew the vest together. I am pretty good at hiding the stitches and not going thru to the lining, so I don't worry about that.

I am holding down the ribbon with green seed beads and using a varigated green embroidery floss and my favorite stitch - the feather stitch to spread out beaded flowers and buds.

I have a collection of embroidery hoops. Some of them my mother and grand mother used 80 years ago.  They are the best, made with strong wood and brass screws.  They may never fall apart, atleast in my life time.  They  weigh more than the newer cheap hoops that fall apart and the rivets fall out that hold the screws.  They (the newer ones) are just chinese garbage. My older ones were made in England and the US back when people made things to last and were proud of their products.  I guess I need to get off of my soap box and get back to work.


Tonight we went to church. We had our Christmas service and communion. It was done in candle light and was so pretty.  It was just a simple service of carols and special music. John Tidwell played his guitar and sang some lovely carols. He has such a beautiful baritone voice and plays classical guitar style. He is a local disc jockey at 97.7 The Peach in Chilton county (our neighbor county).  Chilton is renowned for their peach crops and rival Georgia in production.  He did the music at our wedding last year and brought tears to my eyes when he sang "Annie's Song" by John Denver.  That is such a beautiful love song. Anyway, he always provides beautiful music at our little church. 
After the sevice we gathered in the kitchen and OD'ed on sweets and lots of out of this world food.  We have one lady that has a catering business and she always brings such scrumptious food.  All of the ladies are really good cooks and of course being Baptist we all try to out do each other in a friendly rivalry. As Don says: 'It makes for some fantastic food.' He never wants to miss a meal at church.  I guess this is all for today. I am going to get up in the morning and finish the vest.
PS they are using that 4 letter 'cuss word' that starts with s and ends with a 'w' for Christmas day.  That would really be something.  I have only seen one White Christmas in my life and I had to fly 5000 miles to Alaska for it. 
Merry Christmas to all and don't forget the real reason for the season. Our Lord and Savior's Birth.
Mary