It's another year of Winter weather.

Drag out the old Winter clothes and put up the Summer ones.

I have done that. 

Now eliminate the ones that you no longer wear!!  OK, I can handle that.....

How about this nice green pant suit.  Man, I look good in that!  (Well, perhaps I "looked" good in it.)  It is tailored.  Pleated pants that go to the waist. The jacket is long enough to cover any widened hip flaws.  I'll think about giving this away because it is lined and hot and my office is TOO hot.

Okay, here's another lovely suit.  The jacket is a little shorter but it still covers most hip problems.  Pants also go to the waist and have belt loops for me to hang my phone.  But it is very old and perhaps should go?  Here's a gray suit.  I liked it too but it was sans belt loop pants. 

Looky!!  My favorite Liz jacket, covers the hips, long sleeves with definite tailored look.  And here's my Jones New York one!!  You know, even though they were on sale I paid quite a bit for them.  With this global warming and my heightened body temperature I may not get to wear them again so should they go?

What about this one?  Skirt and weskit!  Weskit?  Is that a word anymore?  Used to be. Oh, I loved this outfit.  What?  Size 10?  10?  When was I a 10?  I'll lose weight and wear it again possibly.

My Liz shiny sweater!!!  It had to be worn at Christmas or parties back before everyone wore glitter every day of the week.  Hey!!  I may be able to wear it now as an everyday sweater!

#$%#&$$#!!!  That's it.  I cannot part with any of these things this year!  I'll just go sneak some of my husband's old clothes out and get rid of them and I'll have room to keep these outfits for a few more years. He'll never miss them because he has too many and never gives anthing away.

Great solution, Mrs. Duncan!!!!

My very favorite coat of all times is>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. WAS.....: (

Gosh, I wish I had not given that away.  It was lightweight, had a faux fur collar so that when I wore it to New York to NAR convention, no one spit on me.  Wait!  That may have been before fur brought out nasty comments and expressions........Anyway, that was a good lesson.  Don't give away your favorite things! 

Very good solution, Ms. Barbara!!

A friend of mine, eons ago, was preparing to move and had a lot of things to throw away.  Being a scavenger, I claimed some of it.  One thing she had was several pictures and floorplans of houses in Searcy that had been designed and built by her husband.  I guess they were built probably in the 40's and 50's. The houses were not fancy.  I kept the pictures in my car for a long time and tried to find which ones they were because they were not addressed.

Here's one of the old pictures.

 And here's the way it looks today.  Anyone remember it?  Interesting to compare, isn't it?

I made a trip to Columbus Georgia over the past few days and missed out on a lot of Activerain, I'm sure. Withdrawal pain was pretty severe but I made it.

Making a tour of the city which is alongside the Chattahoochee River, my daughter pointed out this sculpture as her favorite and is now my favorite also. 

I love the sculpture because she's a young artist just sitting and drawing on her sketch pad.  Her purse has just been laid down beside her, her socks are wrinkled and her sweater is oversized.  She appears to be so natural.

Below her we saw this. Notice the water has risen above the walking and seating area.  It's raging while our artist keeps her cool.

I wrote this blog on 1-23-2008 and it is still bringing in comments.  It proves that the blogs live on.  A search pulls them up and another questioning comment may come in.  I'm redoing it to see if any new answers might develop. If you wish to read comments from almost two years ago, they're there.

I went to two closes last year where the spouse was left off the mortgage. We sat there and the couple signed all the papers.

The spouses had to sign the mortgage giving up their dowrer rights but they were not held responsible for the loan by signing a note for the amount of money.

Then the deed was brought out and the left-out spouse was on the deed. The mortgage companies were actually letting the person be part owner but not responsible.

The first time it happened the man spouse was shaking his head and acting offended that he was left out. Seems the lady was able to get a lower interest rate without him!

The second time it happened the man-spouse was self-employed and the lady had a salaried position. Naturally they like the salary person and the loan becomes easier with less paperwork. Once again he was not responsible for the loan but he was put on the deed.

Today a spouse was telling me that because his wife had so many debts, bills, etc., they were going to leave her off the note but put her on the title! There it is again!! What is going on!? If some of you mortgage people can explain this, I'd appreciate it. My question is this......if the spouses get divorced, are they both responsible for the mortgage? If one spouse gets into financial trouble or legal trouble does it attach to the house?

Looking through the new listings today on our MLS hotsheet I saw this house that looked interesting.  It was around $220000 in a great area. 

What do we do first?

We look through the 15 pictures.   Right?  That's what I did. 

That's what a buyer is going to do when it goes out into the wild blue yonder called the internet.

I saw two pictures of the front, with photographer moved over about 10' before snapping the second shot. 

I saw about 4 pictures of bedroom sets that might be for sale. (Well, why else would they be featured?)  I saw the bathrooms, the entry about 3 times BUT I never saw a swimming pool or the back of the house where the pool might be!

The only reason I discovered it might have a pool was reading below when the features are pushed in comments.  I couldn't believe it!  A pool!  Some folks would jump-up-and-down-and-scream for a pool.  I would pass on if it had a pool because I don't want one. 

But either way, a pool is a BIG feature. 

My head is getting weary from being shaken in dismay so often while looking at MLS pictures.  That may be the reason my neck hurts.

His name was Elco.  He came from a family that was so large they ran out of names.  His only name was Elco.

Where Elco as a name came from, I don't know.  At least it was better than some brothers who were just named initials like J. B. or O.  B.

My dad was called for duty during WWII.  I can barely remember it but I do remember my mother being sorta scared in those old houses in the country with his being gone.

Once he came home on what is called a furlough and he drove up to the house and put on this gas mask that was handed out in service.  That mask scared me to death.  I can still remember the fright.  Everyone thought it was funny except me.

Mainly I remember how he was saved from going overseas because the war ended.  It was one happy bunch of people when that news came over the radio.  He was at a base near the water waiting to be shipped out.

I also remember how he treasured this photo of himself.  It is a posed one in uniform with hand tinting.  That was pretty darned fancy in those days.  He always wanted to make sure no one destroyed this picture. 

There were so many GI's who had these pictures made and sent back to family.  I now treasure it just as he did.  It hangs on my wall, framed, and in this quick shot as a memorial blog, there are glass reflections.  God bless our country today and every day.

Driving through old Searcy Arkansas, which is being restored and revived, I notice the tall old buildings with the little chimneys on the side.  Nearly always the building is taller in the front and slants down toward the back and these little chimneys are at intervals. 

This old building has been restored with an architectural firm and a law firm having done the makeover.  The  brick squares above the store fronts look almost like they could have been ventilation. Then we have the two rounded filled-in brick spots on the side.  Explain away if you can.

The one on the right has been restored nicely and it also has the slanted roof and chimneys.  The building that says auction has also, I think, now got a new front which I need to photograph.

 Here's a closeup of the brick architecture on the front of the two buldings.  Nice, isn't it?

Advertising was big when this thing was published just as it is today.  We might even pass these things out as ad gifts if times hadn't changed.

Hotels were featured here.  In Little Rock, Arkansas check out the Grady Manning, The Marion, The Albert Pike and The Lafayette.

You youngsters give up?  I found this in a stack of old stuff and it brought back memories.  On the back of this advertisement, which is slick and attractive on the front, there is a very porous paper which was used to blot ink!! 

I hate to admit that I can remember when ball point pens were "discovered."  Before that you either used a pencil or an ink pen.  The ink pen could be the kind you dipped in an ink bottle or it could be a fountain pen.  Either way it had to be blotted.  These little conveniences were found everywhere.  Not too many are found today so perhaps this is a collectible!

Pioneer Village, a part of the White County Historical Society, held an open house today.  I attended.  It was delightful and brought back so many memories.  Here's the main house that is NOT for sale.

And here are few shots of the rooms inside it.

An amazing thing about this house was how many bed spaces it found.  There must have been enough bedspaces (can't call them rooms) for 5 or more kids to have a sleeping spot.  Here's a picture of one of the least favorable things from yesteryear....the out-house.  But who ever heard of a log out-house?

Pioneer Village is located on Higginson Street in Searcy Arkansas.  It contains a post office, general store, school house, blacksmith shop, a depot, smokehouse, barn and an old jailhouse in addition to this period house that is called the Gordon House.  It is an on-going project with members of the Master Gardeners taking care of the grounds. 

Today costumed members were greeting visitors and demonstrating crafts, arts, and everyday life from the past.  One lady had a fire going with a pot of stew cooking.  Walking through it, entering the buildings and visiting with the hosts made for a very enjoyable afternoon outing. 

Sobering old photos!  These pictures are sorta continuing the story we started a few days ago regarding the house on Arch Street in Searcy Arkansas that has been changed so much.

These are what we need when we are feeling as if times are awfully tough.  Blogging buddy Anita supplied these photos of possibly some of her relatives, definitely at her home on Arch Street in Searcy.

The question is whether this man is absolutely worn out from working, whether the car hit the tree, or whether he is just doing what he usually does everyday.  If he'd had air-conditioning and TVs as we have today, he'd not be doing the nap at this place!

Another question here.  Is she exasperated because of the man's behavior under the tree?  Is she just showing off her legs? 

I can remember hanging clothes on a clothes line.  If you had children and diapers it took a lot of hanging.  Once we got a clothes dryer and my husband made the observation that he sure missed the smell of sheets hung outside to dry and perhaps it would be nice to use a clothes line again I didn't speak to him for days!  And I said dirty words under my breath.