The year in review.

Here we are at the end of the year again.  I have been here 71  times and it never ceases to amaze me how many people are off and running to the party.  Not me.  I can not stay awake that long.  I will put on a big pot of black eyed peas so I can eat them tomorrow because that will bring me good luck.  Or so I hear and the way my luck runs, I do not want to take any chances!  Actually, my life is pretty good.  Few bumps here and there, but nothing insurmountable. 
January started out with a bang.   My dear friend Sherman was told his cancer had become active and invaded  his spine.  This would set my course for the rest of the year, if not the rest of my life.  His friend, Libby, who was his office manager when he had his business in Denver, came to act as his liaison with the medical community.  She and I became very close friends over the next few months and remain so today.
His very good friend, Mark, came from St. Louis and stayed for 3 weeks while he was in radiation.  Mark and I became good friends and like Libby, it remains so.
I lost him on July 13, which just happened to be Friday the 13th.  I think he might have done that on purpose.  He just had that kind of sense of humor about him.
I met his family and keep in touch with them.  I plan on going to St. Louis this next year.  I have never been there.  Bret has.  The Babylock company is there so that is where he attends classes.  Maybe I will take the train.  That is my plan.  Stop in Hutch.  Stop in St. Louis.  Finish in Dallas, and then reverse the whole thing.  Sounds like a dream come true.  I will probably sleep all the way through the trip.
I "self" published my novel Chapter One...Loose Ends and was able to place a copy in Sherman's hands before he passed away.  That was a shining moment for both of us.  And while I have not sold nearly enough copies to pay the publishing costs, it has been very gratifying.  I am working on a story line now that he and his brother requested.  It is purely fantasy and is what "could have been."  That can be read here.  Some of the descriptions will be real and the basic story line covers some of our time together and how we met.  I think it will be fun.
I did remain active in SCAP through the year and we had luncheon every second Tuesday of the month and several cookouts in the park.  Attended the movies once.  Played miniature golf.  You know, just fun stuff to escape the harsh realities of life.  World AIDS Day was observed at the Hoag Library on December 1.  Great turnout.
We had the Weavers Sale at the Vail Hotel, the craft show at church and the Jingle Bell boutique.  All those were in November.  I made enough money from those to pay the house insurance and part of the taxes.  I missed my vacation this year. 
I sold some stuff and managed to come up with almost enough money to rip out my carpet and put in wood laminate floors on the main level.  I am busy now trying to empty those three rooms and paint.  You got to remember that I have ceilings that are 14 feet high (at least on one end) so painting is a major undertaking.  Old women and ladders are not conducive to anything good happening so I am looking for children who love me, or a windfall to pay a painter!  Neither one has happened yet.  My only hope, Dan, is busy moving his mother and brother up from Arkansas, so I am open to any suggestion that does not entail doing it myself!
As I reflect back on the past year, I think it was a good one.  The part about Sherman was very sad, but for the most part it was a good year.  I made lots of friends through Sherman and we had some good times.  While I miss him I am keeping busy and carrying on just like I had good sense.  And as for the painting thing...I started this blog early today and about 2  my friend Lyn showed up and now everything is painted except the tall wall, and that is coming tomorrow evening when I have her and her husband to supper.  Life indeed is good!

Happy New Year to you and yours!!

 

Today fur shall fly!

Hey, I got me a helper coming this morning.  I am so excited.  I got 2 bookcases full of books up into my bedroom.  Got the little desk Sherman gave me up there, also.  One corner empty, one old lady worn out.  Took the day off yesterday and just chilled.  Well, took the kids to lunch, met a fellow at the library to help him with his computer, came home and emptied, or nearly emptied, the top of the china cabinet.  Then I took a bunch of pictures for eBay and then wove about 8 inches on my towels.  They are going to be absolutely beautiful.
Last night the phone rang and who do you think was on the other end?  Grandson Mikey!  Mom said grandma needed some help and he was just hanging out so he could sure come and give me a hand if I wanted him to!  So I got to get out of the pj's a little early today.  Oh, yeah, and the guy is coming for my furnace inspection so today is going to be pretty busy. 
I picked a color to paint and I think it is going to be alright.  Bedroom is purple, bathroom is pink, office is aqua, and the main level will be something called desert straw, unless I go with the chenille.  Either way, all the stuff has to come off the walls.  Seems like a never ending job here.  Really makes me long for the good old days back in Nickerson, when mother was in charge!
I do want to tell you about my Christmas's there.  Seems like the first one in that house was when Jake broke it to me that there was no such animal as "you know who" (in case some one is reading this to a little kid!).  Seems that was the first year that mom and dad let him have the job of bringing in the stuff and putting it on top of the pieces of paper with our names on them.  We needed our socks, man!  Could not be hanging those up for some fat guy to shove stuff in and stretching them out of shape.  Many years later I did have a stocking, but it was no big deal by that time.
I heard him sneaking back to his little bed in the middle of the night and asked where he had been.  So he told me.  And it seemed that he had proof.  I was getting a tin doll house that held tiny people and tiny furniture.  That was hard to believe because that seemed like something a rich kid would have gotten  I learned later why.  Seemed my dear Aunt Helen Lang had taken pity on us that year and wanted to make our Christmas special.  She sure did!  Aunt Helen would pop in from time to time in our lives and when she went away there was always wonderful stuff left behind.  Once she enrolled me in Brownie, which is the really beginning of Girl Scouts.  Even bought me a Brownie uniform.  I was so cool!  I had a little brown beanie for my head.  Do they still have Brownie's?  I need to research that. 
The next Christmas that I remember I did not fare nearly as well.  Seems there was a book of children's poems, a red rubber ball and an orange, oh, and that godawful candy that was dry powdered sugar and something and then dipped in chocolate or something that was meant to be chocolate.  The candy I liked was the ribbon candy that tasted like licorice.  It seemed that we always made the trip to Grandma Haas's in Plevna every Christmas.  It was a very long ways.  I think 23 miles.  And it seemed the car always over heated.
Any way we always had a Christmas tree.  The reason we had one was because at school every room had a Christmas tree and when school was over for the year, the tree went home with some one poor who needed it and with at least 4 kids in school there, one of us was bound to luck out.  And here we would go down the road with our poor little tree with a few strands of tinsel clinging to the branches as if we were the proudest people in the town. 
I would like to interject here, that I do not regret growing up in poverty.  At that time we were not the only poor people at the school.  Everyone was poor.  It was right after the depression and the war had just ended.  We did what we could and we all hung together.  That is how things were done in those days.  The best we could hope for was that the rich girls would get new clothes so we could have their old ones.  Jake fared the worst because boys wore their clothes until they fell to pieces so he never got any new "old" clothes.
I have yet to have a Christmas when I do not remember back to Nickerson.  Seems we always go back to our roots and no matter how far away I roam,  I am still "from Nickerson." There is probably no one living in Nickerson today that remembers those Bartholomew kids. I probably would not know them, because I am still remembering the people who were there when I was.
My poor little jumbled mind is ready for bed, so "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!"

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannaka, and HO! HO! HO!

Just want to throw the seasons greetings out to all my readers who ever and where ever you are!  I will be spending this evening in my church.  Tomorrow will be very informal as I am having lunch at the nursing home with a lady friend and her father .  After I will stop and visit Penny and Cathy, then the Mercer family and then home to pack belonging and move them out to the garage.  I want to be ready to start painting my main level by about Thursday.  Then rip out carpet and wait for the floor installers to come after the first week in January.  This has been a long time coming and I am excited.

So to all my friends out there in the real world, I send you the best of the best for this holiday season and the upcoming New Year that we all hope will bring peace and posterity! 

 

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Do not be confused by the title. Chapter One simply means this is my first book. There may never be another, or there may be many more. I am very proud of this endeavor and guarantee you will enjoy the book in it's entirety. Lou Mercer

From the back cover

Chapter One...Loose Ends
Lou Mercer

Meg Parker led a simple life.  She was a widow of three years and lived on a chicken farm at the foot of the mighty Rockie Mountains.  Life was good and her little store on eBay made her extra spending money.  But snow and wildlife were not the only things lurking in the forest above her house.  Nor did it stay in the forest for long.

Marshall Purcell came home a wounded veteran from vietnam.  He still had his dreams, but they were of an incestuous past that threatened to consume him.

When Meg and Marshall met it seemed an inconsequential meeting, but it changed both their lives forever.  And change is not always a good thing.

This is adult fiction at its best without all the sex.  Well, maybe just a little bit. 

About the author.  Lou Mercer was born in Nickerson, Kansas. She came to Pueblo, Colorado in 1977 and is now a product of the majestic Rockie Mountains

December 23, 1983

Thirty years ago Kenneth was putting a drive line in a tandem dump truck.  Gene Baugh was helping him.  The temperature was -15 degrees.  They went to Pueblo Brake and Clutch to pick up the repaired drive line and the place was closed.  What to do now?  We had discussed marriage for the past year, so he sent Gene home and turned to me and said, "Well, let's get this shittin' mess over with!"
Now what girl could resist a proposal like that?  While he jumped in the shower, I donned my wedding apparel.  I dug out my new jeans, a gingham shirt with flowers on the yoke, my white cowboy(girl) boots and we were off to Canon City.  Buying the license took about 3 minutes and then we were given a list of ministers who would do the deed.  We chose one in the assisted living facility just up the street.  We could not meet with him until 4  o'clock so we went to the doughnut shop  and had our wedding supper.  He had a plain raised doughnut and I chose a chocolate covered one.  Coffee was our beverage of choice!
We arrived promptly at the 3rd floor suite at 4 P.M.  The minister signed the license and pronounced us man and wife, then went in search of witnesses.  His wife was bedridden so we stuck our heads around the corner and she smiled at us.  That was one.  He stepped into the hall, waved someone down and we never laid eyes on number 2.  Kenneth paid the man and we came home.  At home we found a cheap bottle of wine in the center of the table.  Seems Gene knew our plans.  We did not open the wine for over six months and then only to get rid of it.  That took three or 4 tries!  But thanks any way, Gene!
Now thirty years later, I can still remember the temperature on that day!  It is going to get up to 51 today.  That is alright.  Kenny has been gone almost ten years, but I do not think his memory has faded at all.  I still hear him.  I still see him.  His ashes are still beside my bed.  While everything has changed, it has still stayed the same.

Happy 30th Anniversary

Kenneth and Louella Mercer!

 

Well now what?

Just got up and started checking eBay for ending listings.  Got those taken care of and got my second cup of coffee.  Just setting here planning my day at 5:30 AM and realized that today is the day the world ends.  Damn!  I wonder what time that is going to happen?  I want to shower, but I am not going to get naked and have the world suddenly end and there I stand in front of God and everybody dripping wet in a birthday suit that sorely needs ironed!  And say I do that real quick and make it back out.  What about breakfast?  That is the most important meal of the day, you know.  Can I be expected to go flying across the universe on an empty stomach?  Will there be signs pointing us in the right direction?
In all seriousness, some one posted a picture of a Mayan Calendar and an Oreo cookie on facebook the other day.  I thought there was an amazing resemblance except that the Oreo cookie was chocolate!  Oh, just thought of something else!  If the world has ended, wouldn't my Internet be down?  Oh, and I just had an email from Google that says if I want some one to be notified that I used their name in my blog I should put a mark before their name.  I digress but let me just try that here. +Stephen Smalley .  Now, dear cousin, let me know if that worked!
Back to this end of the world thing.  I did not bother getting ready for this one just like I never bothered the other umpteen times.  I hold firm to the Bible and the part where it says "No man shall know the day nor the hour....".  Oh, and trust me on this, there are a whole lot of other parts that I hold fast, also.  So now that the world seems secure for just a little longer, I will get back to planning my day.
I am gathering up a box full of soap that I made and I am going to take that and a bunch of lotion and body butters out to Los Pabros, the migrant center east of town.  I want the women out there to have something nice for Christmas.  I am not going to wrap it, but rather just have Sister pass it out with the food stuffs.  I was visiting with her the other day and they are sorely in need of men's clothes, so when you are cleaning and tossing any time, think of them.  I know it is easy to drop them off at the ARC or the Goodwill and those are very worthy causes, but so is Los Pabros.  If you will give me a call, I will be most happy to pick items up and deliver them out there.  The things we take for granted are luxuries at the center.  And needs are not limited to men.  There are lots of women and lots of kids of all ages. 
If you ever feel moved to do something, just leave me a comment at the end of my post and a way to get in touch with you.  Or visit my profile and I think my contact info is in that.  For now, I am off to brighten my little corner of the world while it is still here!
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www.shop.loumercer3.com
 

Happy Birthday, Sonny!

Today you turn 21!

 

I know you think that this is the pinnacle, but you are so wrong.  Now you can drink legally.  You are the age of majority.  21!  Off to Cripple Creek?  Have fun.  I would like to say my work here is done, but that is not the case.

I have yet to be "done" raising any of them.  You were just the last one.  Now it is up to you to go out into the world and make a mark that will tell the world that your momma did a good job.  Tell them that you hold the same values today that I instilled in you for the last 21 years.  True I was not your mother all those years, but I was always there.  Just around the corner and a phone call away.

I was there when you grew pot in your room.  There when you skipped school.  There when you made the merit roll, and when you didn't.

And now you are living out on your own, paying your own way,  with your own girlfriend, your own dogs and whatever else, but try to remember that momma is still here.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. BRET A. MERCER!!!



 

 

Off and running!

Going to be a rather fun day today.  First I am meeting my friend Jeanne at Starbucks for coffee.  Been neglecting some of my friends and that has to stop.  Then it is off to church and after that coffee with Dan in all probability.  Got to run by Office Max and pick up some labels and packing supplies.  Then home to figure out just how to pack this spinning wheel to mail through UPS.  Do not want it damaged.  Course I have yet to figure out how to get it in the car!

  Oh, and some where in that I need to stop by Lowe's and check the price on my floors.  Would be much easier if Staples had not ticked me off cause it is right by Lowe's, but they did.  Guess Deven is not going to church with me this morning.  That is alright because I long ago learned to travel on my own.

And let's see, I need to talk to the kids and see what the plan is for Christmas.  And I am going to plot my little vacation next summer.  Surely someone wants to see me!  Anyway, this is just a note to let you know that tomorrow or Tuesday I should be back to the good old days. 

See you then.
 

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Do not be confused by the title. Chapter One simply means this is my first book. There may never be another, or there may be many more. I am very proud of this endeavor and guarantee you will enjoy the book in it's entirety. Lou Mercer
               

                                                           

From the back cover

Chapter One...Loose Ends
Lou Mercer

Meg Parker led a simple life.  She was a widow of three years and lived on a chicken farm at the foot of the mighty Rockie Mountains.  Life was good and her little store on eBay made her extra spending money.  But snow and wildlife were not the only things lurking in the forest above her house.  Nor did it stay in the forest for long.

Marshall Purcell came home a wounded veteran from vietnam.  He still had his dreams, but they were of an incestuous past that threatened to consume him.

When Meg and Marshall met it seemed an inconsequential meeting, but it changed both their lives forever.  And change is not always a good thing.

This is adult fiction at its best without all the sex.  Well, maybe just a little bit. 

About the author.  Lou Mercer was born in Nickerson, Kansas. She came to Pueblo, Colorado in 1977 and is now a product of the majestic Rocky Mountains