I'm a Welder's Wife - 39 Plus Years of Marriage - God and Country Music!

 Hello out there! Yesterday's weather report - the temp stayed in the 80s and we were blessed with rain! Today the high is supposed to reach 97 but the following four days should not be as hot and we have chances of rain mixed in! This report could change by this afternoon...but as of 11:24 am (CST) my weather news for today and into the coming week - looks great!

I am a welder's wife - a self-employed, contract welder's wife. We are a team. He does all the hard work/labor and I keep the books. Jim has been welding for forty-seven years. He has been self-employed for thirty-two plus years out of the forty-seven. We have been married for thirty-nine plus years. Booms and busts - we've been through it all. Lay-offs, cut in wages, cut in hours, were something we dealt with during the first seven years of our marriage. In January 1990 we decided that it was time to take a leap of faith and go out on our own. Jim talked to some companies about being a contract welder and I made phone calls and found out about business cards, liability ins. and met with someone about book keeping. Jim drove a 1978 Single Cab Chevrolet Step Side Truck. He had a trailer with a Lincoln Welder he bought from his dad right after we were married. We started our business with a twelve year old truck, a used trailer, and a used welding machine. Our children were still young; our daughter had just turned five, our youngest son had just turned six, and Jim's oldest son (whom I love as my own) was thirteen. We set up a business account at the bank, purchased business cards, and liability insurance. Jim worked, I kept the books and we learned so much along the way. We still went through the booms and busts of the oilfield industry but Jim would always find work. The tough times brought us closer, not only were we husband and wife, we worked together, we were a team. We thanked God for everything. And when work would slow down, the tough times brought us closer to God as well. 

 Yesterday I was doing book work in my home office and Jim was working on a job out in his shop. My phone rang and it was Jim. He needed me to go and pick up a piece of metal for him. My response was something like, when I'm through with what I'm working on. My phone rang again, it was Jim. Did I remember to send in a copy of a bid in? "Yes, I did." The phone rang again, "Hurry, come outside, I need to show you something." I go outside and Jim tells me to look over the pecan tree at the flag pole. Right on top of the cross Jim welded up there, sits a beautiful red-tailed hawk. There is an angry Mockingbird flying all around the hawk. The hawk stretched out its wings and flew off. It was a beautiful sight. I go back to my office and finish my work. Jim comes in for lunch. It's a left overs kind of day. He's already eating and I'm heating up my lunch. He tells me that his phone is charging and to answer it if it rings. I tell him that I'm on my lunch break and I'm not answering the phone! I sit down in my favorite chair and enjoy my lunch. The craziest memory comes to me. I think of the Carol Burnet Show. Yes, a long time ago! One of the funniest skits she and Tim Conway did was an office skit. He was the boss and she was the secretary. Her name was Miss Swiggins and Tim Conway pronounced it,  SSssswiggins! They never got through that skit without laughing. Yep, sometimes my life is like that crazy skit and I wouldn't want it to be any other way! 

A wedding is a day. A marriage is a lifetime. The vows we made to each other in front of God, our family and friends - they meant something - they were not just simply words. I'm so thankful we have been blessed with thirty-nine plus years of memories and I pray we are blessed with many, many more! 

The following is one of my many favorite memories!

Monday, May 8, 2017

Cheap Wine on Ice, Old Country Music, and Dancing on the Back Porch

Hello, hello to all of you out there! I have been blessed with so much joy this
weekend. A birthday party, a baby shower, and a faith based painting party at
a friend's house was only part of my Saturday! The really special part of
my day was Saturday night when I got home....
Jim and I will be married thirty-four years in June. We have really been looking
back lately, reminiscing. We spent yesterday morning together before all of my
other activities took place. We prayed the rosary together, went and voted, and
then we went out to eat breakfast at our favorite little Mexican restaurant. Jim had
a small job to take care of in the courtyard at our parish so I tagged along. While
he worked, I watered all the potted plants. We came home and I quickly got ready
because I was already late to our great-niece's birthday party. Jim happily stayed
home to work in the yard! I enjoyed spending time with all of our family and
seeing all of the precious children from the toddlers to the late teens!
I went straight from the birthday party to the baby shower and had a wonderful
time visiting with everyone there as well. I dropped by a benefit bake sale on
the way home. I dashed in the door, said hi to Jim, washed a few dishes, said
goodbye to Jim, took out the trash and headed to the paint party on the other
side of town. The party was held at one of my friend's homes and was a faith
filled environment, each one of us painting a picture we chose. I really enjoyed
the evening. I will post my picture at the bottom. I left her home at 8:10 p.m.
and called Jim and told him that I was on my way home. He asked me to stop
and pick up some chicken. It was nine o'clock by the time I walked in the door.
I put the chicken on the bar and walked out onto our back porch. Jim had the
radio station turned to a Country and Western channel that plays the "oldies but
goldies" songs on Saturday nights. I looked at all the work he had done and just
shook my head. A good song came on and we two-stepped around our small back
porch, both of us wearing flip-flops! I came inside, put ice in a wine glass and
poured some wine over it. Llano Blush, $6.95 a bottle, is my favorite wine. I know
that if you are a real wine connoisseur you are probably appalled that not only do
I drink such cheap wine, but I water it down with ice! Oh well, what can I say?
That is how I like it. Jim was drinking a Lone Start beer, and I'm sure that beer
connoisseurs are not impressed either! He loved my painting! He is going to
make a frame for it out of some old fence posts and we are going to hang it on
the back porch. We sat on the porch with our two dogs and one of our cats close
by. We could see the sheep in the field next to our yard. We talked about the
old times, we laughed and we danced every time one of our favorite songs
was played. We listened to songs by Willie Nelson, John Anderson, Johnny Cash,
Shania Twain, George Strait, Dolly Parton and a bunch more. We should have
recorded me singing along with Johnny Cash and John Anderson, my Texas
Twang came out loud and proud. I started humming the tune to a song I
remembered and started singing some of the words/lyrics that sounded right.
Jim laughed because I was making up the words and he told me that I was thinking
about an old rock and roll song from a long time ago. Before we knew it, more than
two hours had passed and it was 11:30 p.m. We came inside, ate a little bit of the
chicken and watched part of a crazy show on television. We both fell asleep on the
couch and woke up about 1:00 a.m. and went to bed. On Sunday morning that song
was still stuck in my head so I tried to find it on YouTube and finally came across
it. My lyrics were kind of right. Anyway, I ran outside and got Jim and he
followed me into my office and I played the song. It was sung by the band, Edison
Lighthouse and was popular in the late sixties, early seventies and the title is.....
"Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" and it just has a great beat. Please
don't tell me the lyrics really mean something awful, just let me believe that it really
is what it sounds like, a guy who is in love with a girl who doesn't have any
money, her clothes fit kind of funny, and her hair is long and wild. That song is
stuck in my head now and I'm going to have to listen to some more John Anderson
and start singing, "Her momma was in the kitchen cuttin chicken up to fry" again.
Now for those of you who know me, I know you can just hear me singing with
my Texas Twang at the top of my lungs - Jim was laughing really hard at that point!
I also like the lyrics from Shania Twain that go, "Even when I'm ugly he still better
love me" and from Johnny Cash, "I hear the train a coming!"

Jim and I had such a good time Saturday night. Just the two of us (and our assorted
animals) sitting on the back porch, listening to some old songs, dancing and
laughing, and just being downright thankful that God brought the two of us together!
May you be blessed with love and laughter this week! Go out and make some
great memories with your loved ones!
                                                                                     Bye for now, Sharla

We still sit on the back porch and listen to country music and we even dance to some of our favorite songs. Jim drinks Lone Star Beer and I like White Zinfandel now - still on ice! And sometimes you can hear my twangy voice singing along to an old country song! We thank God for another day and all of our many blessings! Through it all - God has has been with us, He is our guide! 

And as always,

Peace and blessings to you and yours, 

near and far, wherever you are!

Bye for now, Sharla