Monday Morning Musings

Hello Friends!

It's hard to believe summer is officially over with the First Day of School today here in Baton Rouge, LA. I agree with you that August 11 is way too early for summer to end! Especially this year because this year there are still three weeks left in August! The kids will be halfway through the first six weeks before September even starts! I miss the old days when the first day of school was the day after Labor Day and the last day of school was the end of May. And I miss everything about the way we did school when I was a child in the late 60's and early 70's. Thats when school was school. We looked forward to going to school each day for the sake of learning. We sat in our desk, had our own supplies, and the grades we got were the grades we earned based on how hard we worked and studied and listened in class. And if we miss behaved at school, our parents would be upset and disappointd with us, and not angry at the teachers or principal. The parents knew how important it was for their child to listen and behave at school and they put the fear of God into us before we had a chance to missbehave at school. We knew better. As a result, there were very few behavior problems at school. And if a child could not behave, they wouldn't last long at school in the old days. They would be sent home until they could learn to be good. Now fast forward to classrooms today...chaos! The teachers are spending 50% of their time and energy on discipline problems and classroom management. Yes, even in the best classrooms. What happened? I think we know what happened. It is a direct result of the breakdown of the American family. Mothers are working full time and they have important careers, Fathers are absent from the home, families are living farther away from the support of extended family, and many students are sent to school only for the free breakfast and free lunch programs. Can I fix it? No. Do I have to participate in this disaster? No. So this year I am at home on the first day of school. What do I miss about the first day of school? Bright smiling hopeful faces of parents and children, new clothes, new shoes, and school supplies. I love school supplies! I miss colored construction paper, wide-ruled notebooks, freshly sharpened pencils, school boxes, writing your name on everything, and the snapping sound of a three-ring binder. I know there are many excited children and parents today experiencing their first day of the 2014-2015 school year. I wish them all a successful and happy year of learning! Good Luck! 

October 2013

Well, so much for trying to catch up! We are still here in Baton Rouge. I was recently employed for about a month and a half, but quickly discovered it was not the right place for me. Now I'm back at home and once again focusing on organizing and reorganizing...it is a never ending job. What I should do is get rid of everything! But, sadly I cannot. I am emotionally attached to my stuff, and I am still hopeful that one day I will have a place for everything.

It's a beautiful autumn day here and what I should be doing is weeding out the flower beds. So, I'd better "get to it" as Aunt Bea would say!

See ya later!
(I will try to think of something more interesting to add here soon...)

Happy New Year - 2013! (Remember I'm still catching up!)

The new year began quietly for us this year. We were pretty exhausted from Christmas, and if I'm remembering correctly we stayed up to watch the New Year's Rockin' Eve show until 12:00am EST which was 11:00pm here CST, then we went to bed and stayed home all day long on New Year's Day and just really did nothing. Since we are in our 50's, doing nothing is much easier than it used to be! We actually enjoy it!

Each year I choose a Memory Verse to live by, and this year it was no accident that God put in my heart to memorize Philippians 4:6-7

Don't be anxious about anything,

but in everything by prayer and supplication,

with thanksgiving,

make your request known to God.

And the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding,

will guard your heart and your mind

in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Letting go of my adult children has been harder than I ever dreamed it would be! I miss the day to day interaction, and even just week to week, or month to month interaction with them. Most of the time I don't have any idea what their day is like or the troubles they are facing as young adults. I have to let go and just trust God that he will be their stronghold. My prayer is that they will seek the Lord each day and ask him to guide them in their daily lives. I'm still working on it, but I do have confidence and faith that everything is in God's hands and he still reigns over all of his creation. Each day I have to be reminded to make my requests known to God and to rest in his peace. I am so thankful for this. 

Happy New Year!

2013

Christmas 2012

Christmas was a little different this year. We travelled many miles to see as many family members as we could that were within driving distance.

Our first stop was in Ruston, Louisiana to pick up my parents, and then we travelled together to Frisco, Texas just north of Dallas to my sister's house. This was a BIG Gullatt family reunion for us! We were all together for a couple of days. My parents, my sister and her family, and all of my family. That made a total of sixteen people. Here is the list:

Bill and Gloria Gullatt

Rhonda and John Malone

Matt and Meredyth Malone

Meg Malone

Molly Malone and Beau Fleming (engaged)

Pam and Fletcher Scott

Dan and Kim Scott

Jennifer (Scott) and Jarred Horn

Amy Scott

These are all the offspring of Billy and Gloria Gullatt, our parents, who have been married for 60 years!

We had a photographer come and take a few family photos.

Here we are:

Bill and Gloria Gullatt

I love these people!

Left to right
Meredyth, Matt, Beau, Molly, Meg, John, Rhonda, Gloria, Billy, Pam, Fletcher, Amy, Jennifer, Jarred, Kim, and Dan

Christmas Part 2:

After our family time with the Malones in Frisco, TX, we left them to go to Ruston, LA.

On Christmas Eve we always celebrate with the Scott Family.

This year, Jennifer and Jarred could not be there, but Dan and Kim, and Amy were there with us.

Christmas Part 3:
Christmas morning at the Gullatt's house in Ruston with Memaw and Poppy, Dan and Kim, Amy, Fletcher and me.

Christmas was a whirlwind of travel and gifts and visiting. It went by way too fast for me. I like to take things at a slower pace than most people, so it really ended too soon, and before I knew it everyone had returned to their places and we were back in Baton Rouge.

Christmas Part 4:
From Baton Rouge we made a quick trip to Atlanta to empty Amy's storage room there and then we dropped her off at the Atlanta airport for her return flight to NYC. It was cold and dreary that day with freezing rain and sleet falling in the ATL area. That's exactly how we felt too, very sad to say "Good-bye."

Now you can see why this was hard for me to share while it was still fresh. Saying "Good-bye" to our kids and family is always hard. We miss them so much.





You are always on my mind...

It's true! I think about this blog every day. And every day I think to myself what I might share about our family with our friends and family far away. That was my purpose in the beginning, to share photos and family updates with friends and family. Now I have so many things to catch up on that it almost seems impossible. Well, here is an attempt to summarize the last six months in a nutshell. Well, at least I will start where I left off in November 2012:

Thanksgiving:
We spent a fun Thanksgiving in Austin, TX at Jennifer and Jarred's new home! They bought a home last May in Cedar Park which is on the outskirts of Austin.
What a great time we had!

Jarred, Jennifer, and Bella

Dan and Kim

Poppy and Memaw

Amy and Bailey

Rhonda and Me

Fletcher

Rhonda and John



John carving the "Tur-duck-en"

Meg

Fletcher and Me

Jarred had to work on Thanksgiving Day.

Memaw and Poppy

Amy

Our Aggie kids!

Just thinking back on Thanksgiving makes me so thankful for all of our family.

I love each one so much! And I miss them every day. 

Thanks Jennifer and Jarred for such a memorable Thanksgiving weekend.

Gig 'Em!

LSU Game Day!

Saturday we spent the day on the campus of Louisiana State University.

It was the day of the biggest game in college football.

LSU vs. Alabama

It was the ultimate in college football, and ESPN College Gameday was there.

And so were we...

my sister Rhonda and her husband John, and Fletcher...

Fletcher and me...

(I was just about the only one not wearing purple!)

Rhonda and John...

(true LSU fans!)

and over 150,000 other people on campus that day!

(Most wearing purple and gold!)

This was my first LSU tailgating experience and College Game Day.

As a first timer, I had a lot to learn about being an LSU fan.

1. Dress appropriately.

Here are some of the fashion trends I saw on Saturday:

Purple jeans, comfortable shoes, a backpack...

this is "college" afterall.

We saw a lot of ladies wearing gold sandals. This was a

good choice because it was in the 90 degree temperature range!

Shorts were a good choice, and any combination of purple and gold.

I don't know who these guys are, but this was the typical outfit for men tail-gating.

Note: buttons, t-shirts, hats, sunglasses and "extremely relaxed" look.

These ladies did not want to be mistaken for Alabama fans!

I wonder where you can get a set of these overalls?

You could wear yellow jeans!

(With a purple shirt of course.)

And then there was the connection to the upcoming

Presidential Election.

One pre-game tradition at LSU is for the team to walk down the street

and into the Stadium followed by the Tiger Band and Cheerleaders.

The following are a few photos of this event minus the band

because my camera battery "died" before the band got there.

This is where the team will enter the stadium, so we had a front row view.

The Referees arrive first with a police escort.

We thought it was funny that they arrived in a "prisoner transport" vehicle.

The media gathers, and the crowds begin to get restless from waiting...

Our view of the stadium...

waiting...

waiting...

waiting...

The team arrives!

Coach Les Miles leads the way!

Quick! Get a glimpse of the team!

Can you find the quarterback?

He's the tall one in the center.

I can't remember his name, but maybe you do.

And then the cheerleaders...

The Tiger Band followed the cheerleaders into the stadium.

Well, the game didn't turn out the way the LSU Tigers had hoped. Alabama won.

But, there's always next year...

Rhonda made all the dogs an LSU Tiger scarf, so they were

able to participate in our College Game Day too while they stayed at home.

I didn't take any pictures of the actual Tailgate that we attended. I actually didn't think about taking pictures probably because we were busy eating and talking and sweating. I had on long jeans and regular shoes with a little bit of a heel and socks, and a sweater with a shirt under it! Good grief! WHY?? I definitely would not recommend this outfit for tailgating and Game Day activities! Next time I will wear a team t-shirt (even if it's not my team just so I can blend in better) and

tennis shoes for lots of walking and possibly shorts if it's going to be hot.

The LSU campus is really pretty with stately oak trees, and we got to see the new book store on campus. It is two story! We visited the student center and walked all around campus. On game day, there are tailgaters everywhere! The excitment is contagious and there was a brief moment when I actually thought about how much fun it would be to have gone to school at LSU!

We appreciate the friends who invited us to tailgate with them, the food was fantastic, and we had a great time with Rhonda and John as always. I am so thankful to have a sister and brother-in-law that we enjoy so much!

We went home in time to see the kick-off of the game on TV since we didn't actually have tickets to the game.

Tailgating and Game Day at LSU was quite an experience!

I'm glad we went.