PART 4 ~A WHOLE NEW WAY OF LIVING~

**originally posted 9-20-2006
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3

~~~Around Easter of 1988 Jim and my father in law went ahead to Reno to find a house and for jobs. The girls and I stayed behind with my mother in law. I had been married for almost 5 years and this was the first time I had been away from Jim for to long of a period. Harvey (my father in law) came back to get us sometime around July(I think) to move to Reno. Telling my mama goodbye was so hard! I remember driving off and having to stop around the curve cause I was crying so hard I couldn’t see.

We packed up the Uhaul and set off for Reno, with 2 babies. WHEW! That was a trip I’ll never forget. It doesn’t take kids long to get bored with riding. We stopped in Albuquerque for the night to sleep and got up early the next morning. I vaguely remember Kelly throwing a fit in Arizona at the place we stopped to eat. I’m sure she got a spanking although I don’t remember. That was a long trip and I was so happy to see Reno.

When we got to Reno Jim was at work and when he came home things seemed “different”. He had been in Reno for months more or less living the single life and catching up with old friends. (He grew up in Reno) I felt so alone but was determined to make our marriage work. We had a rough few months or so and I almost went home so many times but we worked it out.

We got our own place and was paying 600.00 dollars a month for a 2 bedroom apartment…they said condo but it was an apartment! Remember this is 1988 and we left Arkansas paying like 250.00 dollars for a 2 bedroom house! Nikki started kindergarten and Kelly and I would walk her to and from school every day. This was the first time Kelly and I actually had some one on one time and I was enjoying it.

Jim got hurt while we lived in Reno and had to have back surgery. We stayed in Reno for 3 years with a brief trip back to Arkansas for a few months. We finally moved back to Arkansas for good in 1991. I remember getting back home and mama had 2 little puppies waiting on the girls when we pulled up. They named them Cocoa and Pepper.

I have so many memories of the girls it is hard to decide which ones to share. I remember one where we had a swing from the Oak tree, it was just rope and a board to sit on. It was Nikki’s turn to swing and Kelly slung the swing at her and busted her eye BAD! I was so scared the school would think she was being abused and call SCAN. Nikki heard me telling mama this and when she came home from school the next day she said “ Mama don’t worry, I told the teacher you didn’t hit me in the eye with the swing.” Now did that sound like she was coached or what?

Kelly was always hardheaded! It got her into more trouble than any one child ought to get into! I have actually had to put cold water on her face to calm her screaming down. It was so loud and it cut through you like a knife. One time I put her in her bedroom for not minding and she screamed for so long and so loud. My brother ask me if I was gonna check on her and I told him NO, I’m scared her head will be spinning around and around!!!!!

Nikki almost never got in to trouble and usually if she did it was because she’d tell on herself. One time I heard a blood curling scream from Kelly and ran to see what was wrong. When I got in there Nikki looked at me terrified and said “mama I didn’t hit her in the head with that baby doll!” pointing at the doll. I knew exactly what had happened.

There’s a lot more stories when they got older but I’ll save them for later.

It’s around October of 1992, the girls are in school, Jim’s fighting for social security disability and life seems to be going on….

Stay tuned for ~ The Beginning of the End ~

HOLD ON! HERE COMES KELLY. (part 3)

*originally posted 09-19-2006* Read PART 1 and PART 2

~~1985, We moved so much that year, Back and forth between Rison, Pine Bluff and Sheridan. This is the year we decided to have another baby. We didn’t care what we had but we knew it was gonna be named Kelly either way. I still have the notebook(found it the other day) where Jim and I laid in bed and was trying to figure out names . You can see in the notebook where we decided on Kelly Lee-Ann but wasn’t sure on the spelling.

I remember the day of February 22, 1986, Jim, Nikki and I went to Nan’s and visited. I think Nikki went to sleep or something and Jim and I went riding around on the tractor. Oh what fun you have in Rison!! Well that ride must have upset the baby because she decided to come into the world that night, about 2 weeks early. I was glad! That child stayed on my rib for months!! This delivery was so different than the first. I got so paranoid with the epidural and just knew the hospital was gonna catch fire. I figured since I was dead from the waist down I’d be left in there! Funny how medication can affect you in different ways.

Jim was in the room when she was born also, Everyone said he came out and said “I got a white one this time!” Kelly was a little over 7 lbs. with light skin and blonde hair. She was also most beautiful! I always wanted two kids and now I had them. Kelly was not only different in skin and hair coloring than Nikki but they were totally different in every way.

It’s hard to think of memories of Kelly by herself because she always had Nikki. I do know she was always one up on Nikki, Kelly had her bluff in at an early age. She’s a very strong willed person even to this day. I don’t know if I’ve ever told her but I admire her for that. She can also be very passionate and loving.

I remember when she was around 2 she was eating a cookie and got choked, I was at work, Jim shook her til her color came back and the cookie flew across the floor. He then called Nan to come get her cause it scared him so bad. I had to go get her after I got home. She had long blonde hair on the sides and the back of her head and bald on top. LOL She looked like a little old man, bald mouth and head!!

Well were up to around late 1987, We were living in Rison and thinking about moving to Reno…

Stay tuned for ~A whole new way of living ~

Well were up to around late 1987, We were living in Rison and thinking about moving to Reno…

Stay tuned for ~A whole new way of living ~

Remember when youTHOUGHT you were grown? (PART 1)

Jim and I 08-15-1982
Dad in the background



This is a re-post for all my old friends. I wanted to post it again for my new friends. It was originally posted 09-17-06 on Yahoo 360, anyone remember that ghost/friend?

When I was around 9 years old my mom and “real” dad got a divorce. I remember coming home from school and all of our stuff was packed up. Mama said Nolan (my “real” dad, I’ll be using his first name) was going to help my grandparents and we were going to her mamas…my memaws. At the time I felt like my world had crashed down around me. I now know it was the right thing for mama to do and she never said anything bad about Nolan to us, we learned all the bad on our own.

For about three years it was just mama, me and the boys. We went through a lot of hard times but learned from them and I thought and still think my mama was Superwoman! In 1979 my mama met the man who she’s married to now. He is the dad you would hand pick for yourself if you could, we were lucky! We also gained a brother and a sister when they got married.

Around March of 1980 we moved to Rison. (Mama says that’s the armpit of Arkansas) I hated Rison School with a passion. I felt like I had been picked up and dropped in Hell! In Rison is also where I met my daughter’s father. We lived down this little gravel road and my brothers and I was walking down the road and ran into Jim. I remember telling my sister that same night I was going to marry him when I grew up. I was 13 years old and thought I was grown of course! Jim ask me “to go” with him a month or so later and I didn’t hate Rison so much any more.

Jim and I argued a lot! When I was 15 he started acting different and I had a friend take me to his house he wasn’t there. We went to some apartments where I knew he had friends and his car was there. I looked in the car and it had boxes of girls stuff in it,he had moved this chick in with him! I went ahead and knocked on the door and when he came to it I just gave him his promise ring back. We talked on the balcony for awhile and decided we could be friends. (Yeah right) I wanted to push him off that balcony so bad!

Well in a few weeks Jim started calling me a lot. Him and ***** were fighting and they broke up. I was sneaking behind mamas back to go see him. I had walked through the woods one day to meet him down at the store and while we were sitting there mama drove up! She told Jim to go home and told me to walk home and she’d deal with me when she got home. She was so mad and we were so scared! (You know you were Jim!)

I remember sitting at home waiting for mama to get home and wishing she would hurry up and get it over with and at the same time hoping she wouldn’t get there any time soon. When she walked in she looked at me and said “If you think I’m such a monster with horns, you can marry that boy and see if he can make you happy!”

That was August 8, 1980 we were married August 15^th and I had just turned 16 on the 4^th of the month.

I never thought my mama was a monster with horns!

Part 2 is coming...just scroll

A week in the life....

This has been one of those weeks! I haven't gotten to work on my piesafe/ciffrobe at all this week and I even bought myself a sander! It's the first major tool purchase just for me and I haven't had a chance to use it.

The weather has turned off cold...where did cool go? I bet we have a cold cold winter this year....with the size of our bugs...mainly the mosquitos we need a cold winter. My DH finally lit the furnace tonight, I love how it smells the first time you use it for the year. It's chili time!
Anne Pressly
1982-2008

There's been so much sad things happening this past week. People have no value on life any more...or so it seems. One of our local anchor ladies was beaten in her home last Monday night, she lost her fight for life Saturday night, she was only 26 years old. There has been no arrest yet, I sure hope they get this person/or people.
Today there was a shooting at one of the colleges. 2 people were killed there. It's scary times to me now days.
Ok sorry about the sad depressing talk. Sometimes you have to get the blues out and blogging is how I do it. Only I normally do it at my other blog.
The bathroom should be warmed up wnough to take a shower so I'm out of here....til next time remember to always have a smile handy.