November Thankful Day 27

If you are in the doldrums nothing lifts your spirit like cooking or baking.

27. November 27-  I am thankful for my ability to cook, but most of all bake.

I will tell a story, I am sorry if I have shared it with you before.  When I first met Jeff he wanted to Wow me with his prowess.....in the kitchen.  So he would make biscuits and gravy.  His biscuits were the Pillsbury Grands, and since I didn't like gravy, he would make me scrambled eggs.  At least one weekend a month.  One weekend he wanted biscuits and gravy and realized he forgot to buy biscuits.  I searched through the cupboards, pulled out 4 ingredients and said I can do this.  So I baked up biscuits for him.  Now Jeff had some horror stories regarding biscuits.  What his mother made tasted like baking soda, someone else had gorgeous biscuits but they were like biting into a hockey puck, so imagine his surprise when my biscuits came out of the oven looking all tall, buttery and delicious?

After a few minutes he turned to me and said, "How long have you known how to make biscuits?"  My answer, "About 35 years."
Jeff-  "You let me make canned biscuits for like 2 years and you could have been making these for me all along?"
Me--"Yep, a girl can't show all her tricks at once.  She has to come up with a surprise every now and then."

Jeff loved to tell that story about how he suffered through canned biscuits for a couple of years and I could have been making him gorgeous, fluffy, buttery, melt in your mouth biscuits all that time.  

26.  November 26-  Kindness  Today I sort of did a good deed.  Jeff had a best friend that he had known since he was 13.  The man was about 22, he was in the middle of a divorce, his wife took their daughter and wouldn't allow him to see her.  Jeff and Eric became fast friends.  Jeff loved cars and so did Eric and they spent many hours fixing them to go mudding.

Seven years ago Eric died in his sleep on his 53 birthday.  Eric's widow--the woman he had the daughter with, and now had a teenage son with had nothing.  Jeff helped the best he could money toward the funeral as well as buying things from her instead of allowing her to throw them away.  One of the things Jeff purchased was a vintage 1969-1971 Chevrolet C/K 3/4 ton truck.  It has been sitting in our barn as long as I had known Jeff.

Not too long before Jeff died I asked him if he would like to refurbish that truck.  I had been setting money aside --I called it Jeff's unknown mad money stash.  I would pull it out and give it to him to buy something he wanted, like having his tractor engine resleeved.  Anyway I told him I had several thousand dollars set aside, if he would like to start working on the truck there were funds.

Jeff answered, "Nope.  I don't want to fix it.  It has sentimental value, Eric and I worked on it building it from the chassis up, from parts we found in junk yards....well you know the drill."
 I asked. "Well what are you going to do with it?"
He said, "Hang on to it, and let it rot into the ground. It would ride and drive like a brick.   I don't want to put it on a new chassis, but I don't want to sell it or scrap it."  

Recently I had put the word out that I was ready to sell that truck.  I had no sentimental attachment to it, and so I did my research, and the truck in the condition it was in would be between $3,000-$5,000.

Imagine my surprise when Eric's wife contacted me.  Eric's son wanted to buy the truck back.  I told her the value of the truck was about $5,000 but I would sell it to her son for $3,000.  Crickets.

I talked to another of Jeff's friends and some other people and I prayed about it and thought I don't think Jeff would expect me to give it away, he wouldn't want me to be taken advantage of either.

Eric's wife came back and said well the $3000 is a lot of money.  I explained that is what a parts truck is going for.  But after some consideration I would sell it to them for $750. 

I got well you know that I am a widow, and Matt doesn't have much money, and it would mean a lot to me and Eric if you would reconsider.  I said well the way I look at it the $750 will help me as a widow pay for my lawyer since Jeff's family is continuously dragging me into court.    Her answer to me was well I don't know what Jeff's family is doing but you know Eric put a lot of work into that truck and it would give Matt something of his father's, that his father worked on......and then she started sending me pictures. 

OK here is how I am feeling about the situation.  I felt like Jeff reached out and helped her when she was in need.  But when I expressed my need as a widow I was basically told I don't care. No empathy at all and was kind of hurt.  So I prayed for direction.

Friday morning, they asked to come see the truck.  I had been praying about it.  I figured if I was wrong God would let me know or it was just not meant to be.  The young man came, looked at it.  Smiled, and said how do I get it out of the barn? 

His mother then took me aside and apologized profusely.  She was embarrassed and ashamed at what she had done, and I guess her son had taken her to task.  That Jeff had helped pay for his dad's funeral.  Jeff hadn't blinked an eye no matter what price she said she wanted for something.  That he understood why Jeff loved me, I had done my research and the truck as is was at least worth $3000-$5000.  She confirmed that I was indeed being drug into court constantly.  She said she didn't realize how truly awful that things had been and continue to be, and she was so very disappointed in Jeff's family,and all the ugly things which had been done along the way. 

Her son then came up and asked how much I wanted for the truck.  I told him you know I could sell that truck all day long for $3000 and it could possibly be worth $5000 for the right buyer.  But I made the offer of $750 and I am going to stick by that offer.  He said yep I know you were right on the money for the price, and the fact that you had thought to offer it to me first means more than I can tell you.  I would be willing to give you more.  I told him nope.  I am going to give it to you for $750, in honor of Jeff's love for your dad.  He smiled and said you know.  When I was little my mom didn't allow me to be out in the barn with Jeff and dad often.  But there were a couple of times that I remember having my lunch sitting in that truck on the passenger side with my sandwich, chips, juice box eating off of the open glove compartment door, and watching my dad or dad and Jeff and I cannot even begin to tell you how much this means.  My mom sold all of my dad's classic cars and stuff and this give me something of my dad's back. 

So I figure win/win.  After they were gone I looked up in the sky and said, " Jeff, I hope you are not too terribly disappointed in me, and what I charged the boy?"  All of a sudden a breeze blew in and started spinning the yard spinner I had bought after Jeff died.  I felt like he was saying I did good, and he was proud.

Sorry no pictures of the truck or the boy/man.  But I will say I got to giggling because he was creating a video of where the truck had been sitting, how he had pulled it out of the barn, the buildings he had to maneuver around.  His mom says she is sure he will be creating a YouTube of the truck all along the way.

This is kind of what it looked like.  At least the body style.

25.  November 25-  Cell phones, and the ability to call long distance
24. November 24 Quilt designers that share QAL, SAL, and mystery quilts. Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

23.  November 23-  I am thankful for Jeff

Jeff never had any biological children of his own, but oh he loved little ones.  This is Jeff and Finn hanging together.

22.  November 22-  I am thankful for chickens

21.  November 21-  I am thankful for Family

Jeff and my mother canning fresh tuna at the beach. 

 20.  November 20-  I am thankful for my Heritage

19.  November 19-  I am thankful for flowers

Now I didn't plant these, but I did prevent Jeff from tearing them out.  There are lilac bushes that run along the lot between my house and the Great Aunt and Uncle's house, which are about 15 feet high.  I love them they buffer some of the noise from the road. 


18.  November 18-  I am thankful for blogging and the friends I have made

17.  November 17-  I am thankful for quilting

16.  November 16-  I am thankful for Calder's Dairy and Egg nogg

15.  November 15-  I am thankful for my options to worship

14.  November 14-  I am thankful for my Kindle and all the books that I have the opportunity to read, and the local library.  I can listen to my Kindle while sewing.  I have read over 140 books so far this year. 

This book was passed from LeeAnna from Not Afraid of Color to Nancy of Pug Mom Quilts, to me.  There is a whole series.  I am on the 2nd one and when I am done it will then be passed on again.  Thanks for sharing ladies.


13.  November 13.  I am thankful for Lucy the cat.

I bought Lucy a bed of her own.  I think she likes it and it is much more comfortable than squeezing into Bobbin's tiny bed.

12.  November 12--I am thankful for Bobbin



11.  November 11  I am thankful for my tenacious character to get things done.


10.  November 10--I am thankful for fall.

9.  November 9 I am thankful for saved items.  Maybe I should call them hoarded items.

Jeff found this....in the pit.  It is by the back steps and I usually plant lettuce and romaine in it. 

8.  November 8--I am thankful for music.

Jeff said this song reminded him of me whenever he heard it.  To him it was special. 

7.  November 7-- I am thankful for the Boy Scout organization.


6.  November 6--I am thankful that I can shop online.

I found these on sale.  One may go into the On Ringo Lake quilt, a couple may find their way into Jeff's quilt and one is definitely a backing. 

5.  November 5--I am thankful that I could get new doors in my home to add more light.

4.  November 4.   I am thankful for coffee.

3.  November 3.  I am thankful for the roof over my head.  I love falling asleep to the rain on the standing seam steel roof which is over 150 years old.

2.  November 2.    I am thankful for the fact my feet hit the floor every morning, whether I want to get out of bed or not.

1.  November 1.  I am thankful for every morning I wake up--too many people don't get to see the light of another day.  Thinks about it how would you act if you knew that today was your last day on Earth?  Today is a gift.  Tomorrow is not promised.