My early childhood bedroom was also the bedroom adjacent to Mom and Dad's. I shared it with Gloria. At times, we would scratch each other's back. I remember I always got to scratch hers first which meant that usually my back didn't get scratched because I went to sleep while scratching hers. When I was too talkative, she would threaten to tell ghost stories and scare me to get me to be quiet. We slept in a single bed which I remember calling it Gloria's new suite. It had a reddish finish with four short posts. The dresser was just a single with 3 drawers. I remember it well because the mirror rotated back and forward on bolts. When Ben was small, he used the dresser and later, I think I painted it white with yellow drawers. Later, Hannah used just the mirror in her room. The beige bookcase bedroom suite (Margaret's), well, Rick and I used it when we got married for the first year.

In my teen years in Edenton, the view from my window was the railroad track during the day and the airport search light in the sky at night. Both of these sight were very unique to me, even though the train only traveled on this track when it was going to unload Cotton Mill freight.

Later years, in my upstairs bedroom in Tyner, the sights from the windows were limited. I don't remember looking out during the daylight hours much, but I do remember looking up at the stars, especially in the summer. Occasionally I would climb out onto the kitchen roof and catch a few rays. I always remember curtains or blinds on the windows. During the winter, this bedroom was heated. There was a hole in the floor where Dad installed about a 12"x 12" grate which was over the den heater. Each night the vent was open about an hour before bedtime and then closed in the morning, which was quite toasty as I remember. Since this bedroom was upstairs and out of sight, I painted it lavender and wrote my friend's name creatively on the wall!

Joyce, I'll sign up for potato salad, string beans and a dessert for the 11th. The reason my last blog was so late is because I went to sleep at 9:00 on the sofa, Rick watched TV till 1:00 and when I got in bed four hours later (at 1:00), I was wide awake, so I blogged.

Ed

Ed is having a barium xray today and he feels certain that he is facing some kind of surgery for a blockage. He is so private and did not want me to put this on but you know me. Please pray for us. Will call and let you know what and when we know.

Cathy has also decided to pursue having a knot taken off her neck which has been there for awhile but the doctor said her insurance would probably not pay because it would be considered cosmetic surgery. I'm glad that she is having it done. She goes to the doctor today but feels sure that they won't do the surgery today.

Yes, we're praying things will have settled down over there before Chris goes. Yes, we're looking forward to both families being her for Thanksgiving. We were suppose to go to Howie and Lol's but Gene begged them to come here. He knew I could decorate the tree by myself and he knew he didn't want to do it, so he said the thought they should all come here and decorate the tree at that time. I just hope I can get my house back together by then. Right now we have no bathroom downstairs, but that is going well and should be finished by then, I told him it had to be with 11 people here. Upstairs is another matter. Everything from our room is in the other bedrooms, for our room to be painted. There was moisture in the wall and ceiling. Had a plumber out and determined that it was not a plumbing problem but a roof problem. So far we have not found anyone who can do it in time. We can't paint without it being ruined if it rains, and I do not want to put the room back together and then start all over again. I have some catching up to do on the blog, yes I do remember the new bedroom suite, did not remember that it was mine, but I do remember it. Childhood bedroom, when Bertha was born and was a baby, there was a small bedroom right next to Mama and Dads, on the back of the house. We had two double beds in there and there was very limited space between them. Joyce, Gloria and I slept in that room and believe me, it was too close to Mama and Dads, if you know what I mean. But the closet next to it was large, walk-in, but what a mess it was. There always seemed to be clothes on the floor. Don't remember when we moved to bedroom upstairs, but maybe when we got the new bedroom suite. I'm not sure if we did all of the time, but there were times that Joyce, Gloria and I all slept in the double bed upstairs, maybe in the winter so we could stay warm. None of our bedrooms were heated. I also remember when we had our first bathroom put in. Some of you probably didn't know that Joyce, Gloria and I were that old - we had a outhouse out back. I also remember one Christmas, when we took Bertha, as a baby, maybe two or so, to sleep with us on Christmas Eve, so we could bring her down on Christmas morning. She was such a cute kid, I remember when she took her first steps. She was in the yard to the right of the kitchen. Mother was at work. I also remember ironing her cute dresses. I was twelve when she was born so I guess I was around 13 when she walked. I guess I was a little "Mother" to her because of Mother working. Don't remember about the school year, but during the summer, I (I guess with help from sisters) did all the laundry, which was definitly more than just dropping them in the washer and dryer. We had a wringer type. Each piece had to be put through the wringer to get excess water out and they went from the washer to two tubs of water. In other words, they were rinsed twice, which meant each piece was fed into the ringer three times and then hung on the line outside. Oh, Bertha, you forgot one of your other nicknames. I know that you remember, but I won't list it as I'm sure you don't want others to call you that now. I thought I might get to bed at a decent time, but did not know I was going to write a book.

Birth Years

Joyce,
Chris' birthyear- 1994
Cortlyn's " " -1996
Mandi's " "- 1998
Yeah, the joke was that every time there was a winter Olympics, Chelle was pregnant.

Christmas

Well, folks, it looks like I may be able to do Christmas with my immediate family (even if it is at a hotel room at Ft Stewart), but I'll more than likely miss the Byrum family again this year. Don't know if it made it in the papers up y'alls way, but as of 11am Sun, 07 Nov 04, our brigade has officially received the "Alert Order" from Washington and will be activated early next month. We will then head down to Ft Stewart either that day or the next where we'll be getting whatever equipment we're missing and train up for Iraq. Currently we have a weapons range scheduled for 23 December. We head to California to train either March or April and will leave for overseas some time after that. Don't worry, it'll be okay just like last time, but my living conditions should be a little better. Anyway, just wanted to keep the family up to date on what's going on. Love everybody and will keep ya' posted as things develop. We plan on being at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving. Love y'all.
Chris

birth years

Could we please have the birth years of everyone under 18? It's kinda hard looking for Christmas gifts when you're not sure how old everyone is. Thanks.

Daddy

Talked to Daddy this morning and asked him about his pastimes as a boy. He said he remembers that he enjoyed doing jobs where he could make a little money, like picking strawberries for 15-20 cents. He said he and Aunt Carrie had rabbit boxes and they always checked them every morning before going to school. They would sell the rabbits for 75cents. 75 cents seems like a lot for a rabbit to me even today but what do I know. One of Cathy's favorite stories was hearing Daddy talk about how he would play tag as a boy and someone would grab his sweater and because of the material that it was made of, it would stretch way to his knees and stay there. When Mama and Daddy came up here for her Grandparents Day, she tried to get him to tell her class that story and of course because of his "John Dinkish" ways, he wouldn't but Mama did.

Daddy was called Bud by his family and still is. Of course everyone knows his nickname now is "Cecil Bud"

Question

This week's question is: Describe your childhood bedroom. What was the view from your window?

There's only one word to describe our childhood bedroom and that is JUNKY. We didn't know we were poor but we must have been. I don't remember anybody else's bedroom without curtains except ours. Anybody remember when Margaret got the beige bookcase bedroom suite. That's the only new bedroom furniture I remember us ever getting. Boy, were we proud. Funny how neither of my kids ever got new bedroom furniture either. But they turned out okay and so did all of us. I'm okay and you're okay.

I don't ever remember enjoying the view from our bedroom window. Probably because we didn't have any curtains and who wants to walk up and look out the window when there are no curtains.

I would respond, but it's too late, maybe tomorrow. I haven't been able to get my internet connection for a few days. Margaret