Month: October 2008

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Throwing a Halloween bash

We’re having a Halloween bash!!  The place is all decorated in spooky stuff, have a hay ride through a spook trail, bobbing for apples, and a best costume contest to boot.  It all starts at dark and the whole community is invited.  Well most of it anyway.

I’m Scarlet O’Hara of course, Grace is a clown, Celeste is Snow White and Little Joe is one of the seven dwarfs, Happy!!  He’s always smiling so Happy fits him perfect.  All the adults have to bring a big bag of candy to help with the candy we give out to the kids that come by Trick-or-Treating and other than that, the party is free.

Hey, if you’re in the mountains of North Carolina, stop by and see us.  I promise you’ll have a blast.  Don’t forget to come in a costume!!!

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Now I understand

It all became too clear this weekend why Celeste took Little Joe and left home.  Her father found out where she was, got drunk and came beating on my door last night.  I could smell the liquor on his breath as soon as I opened the door.  He demanded to see his daughter and I told him that he was not welcome here and to leave.  That didn’t go over very well.

This crazy man shoved me out of the way and started up the stairs yelling for Celeste to come down right that minute.  Celeste locked herself in her room with Little Joe and Grace, my faithful friend and help around the house called 911 as soon as she heard what was going on.  By the time the deputy sheriff got there, he was trying to break down Celeste’s door and I had my shot gun on him asking him to stop or I would shoot.

They got him cuffed and as they were taking him out of the house, he yelled to Celeste that she was not taking HIS grandson from him.  He then called her every kind of low person you can imagine for having a baby as young as she was and not married.  She was not only abused physically by her father but he was also abusing her emotionally.  My heart stopped when it hit me.  I went to the sheriff’s department and took a restraining order against him so he can’t come back.

Now to help Celeste and Little Joe never have to go back to that crazy man again.  After a lot of tears and some talking, I told Celeste that I would take her to a lawyer and get custody of both her and Little Joe if that’s what she wanted so she would not have to go back there again.  So we have an appointment with my lawyer today to see what we have to do to protect them.

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It’s been 10 days

Well it’s been 10 days since Celeste and Little Joe showed up on my porch and knocked on my door.  I can honestly say that they have been nothing but pure pleasure around here.  Celeste works her rear off when she’s scheduled to work.  She goes to school every day and studies hard when she gets home.  She is a great mother to Little Joe.  She’s just an all around good kid.

I have to admit that Little Joe has stolen my heart.  That child has brought so much joy into this house that I didn’t realize was missing until the two of them moved in.  I never got the chance to be a mother and now I have found myself mothering Celeste and Little Joe.  He calls me “NaNa April.”  My heart just melts when he says it because he says April so cute.  I never knew what I was missing until now.

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I love these animals

I grew up in the city and had absolutely no idea that I would love these animals but I do.  They have become great pets and have also brought in a lot of people just to see them.  Now that the gas is flowing again and the prices are coming down, people are starting to just come up to see the leaves turning and stopping by to see if I have any openings or just to see the animals.

Oh the animals haven’t MADE me any money yet but it does look promissing.  I figured it would take me at least a year to see any profit from them and until then, they’re more for pleasure than profit.  When they start bringing in profit, that’s all the better.  You got to keep your establishment enjoyable in order to bring in more people and the animals add a little more enjoyment factor in other ways than we already had.  Glad I thought of it……….well glad I let someone talk me into it. 😉

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Celeste

Late Friday night, there was a knock on my door.  When I opened the door, there stood a young woman with a little boy.  She said her name was Celeste and her little boys name was Joe.  She didn’t have anywhere to go because her family had thrown her out that evening and she wondered if maybe I had a job she could do to pay for a room tonight and some food for her and Joe.

This is a 17 year old young woman with a 15 month old beautiful little boy.  I invited her in and got her and Joe something to eat.  I sat with her and talked to see what I was dealing with here.  I sure didn’t need a teenager that was on drugs here but I didn’t see any signs of anything like that.  All I saw that she had a bruise across her cheek that she had tried to hide with makeup but didn’t do a very good job of it.

She said her father was bad to get drunk and take everything out on her and her mother and she just couldn’t take it anymore.  He had gotten angry about nothing and threw her out.  She said she was still in high school and had someone that kept Joe for her to be able to go to school.  She really wanted to stay around here so she could finish school and then hopefully go to college so she could take care of Joe and herself.

My heart almost broke as I listened to this beautiful young woman talk.  I made a deal with her.  I told her that she could clean the rooms and help with the other chores around there and she would have a place to live as long as she stayed in school and took care of her son herself.  No male visitors to her room and no drugs or drinking.  When I saw the tears swelling up in her eyes, I knew this was not a bad kid.  Just a kid that had made a few mistakes and was trying to do right by them.  I guess I now have somewhat of a daughter and grandson if all works out like I think it will.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

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Fall Festival

Well with fall finally here, to kick off the weekend, we always have a fall festival here at the bed and breakfast.  Friday night starts off with a ‘pig pickin’ which is where we have a whole 75 pound pig barbecued and then there’s the usual fixins which are barbecue slaw, potato salad, baked beans and banana puddin’.  Some of the local musicians (and there are a lot of them in these hills) stop by for some pickin and grinnin.  I guess you could call it a mini fiddlers convention.

Then Saturday, some of the locals bring their arts and crafts for a craft fair here on the grounds.  We have everything from handmade quilts, home made jellies and preserves, fresh vegetables, and some of the most amazing paintings and crafts you have ever seen.  Anyone is welcome and many come from all around just to spend the day if I’m booked up which I usually am for this weekend.  This year wasn’t any different which surprised me.  There weren’t quite as many here just for the day as there usually are but that’s the only difference.

Today, we had a good old fashioned gospel singing.  There were choirs from several different churches here and again some locals just got up and sang solo.  The air was just crisp enough that I made hot spiced apple cider for everyone.  The whole weekend was a complete success not only in fun but financially for me and several in the community too with the arts and craft fair.  It’s one of my favorite weekends throughout the year.