The Times Dispatch Blogs

Earlier this year while shopping at a Walnut Ridge grocery store, I was treated horribly when they thought the $20 bill I was paying with was fake.

I had to go to the Police Department and they sent the money to the crime lab to be tested. David Burnside from the Walnut Ridge Police Department called me today to let me know that the money had been real after all. I can go claim it tomorrow.

Officer Burnside said the bill had been printed in 1950, which was before the recent safety measures to prevent counterfeiting. In my opinion, the store should better train their cashiers on how to spot counterfeit money.

If their safety precautions don’t apply to bills printed prior to a certain time, they should know that and use another method of testing. At the very least, they should make sure that all of their customers are treated respectfully.

I know a little extra effort on the store’s part would have saved me a lot of embarrassment.

I’m very happy to be getting my $20 back. This, however, has been an experience I won’t soon forget.

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I recently wrote about the doctor finding a lump in my breast. After a mammogram and ultrasound, it was determined that I needed to have a biopsy. I went to UAMS in Little Rock on Friday. I wasn’t really sure what to expect once I got there, but the doctors were amazing.

They looked at the films I had brought them and decided to go ahead and remove the entire lump and then test it… I could either schedule a day to come in and be asleep during the procedure, or they could do it that day and use a local anesthetic.

I chose to go ahead and get it over with. The doctor used a “mammotome” to remove the lump. The procedure didn’t take long and went really well. I had some pain in the area on Friday night and over the weekend. If I do a lot with my left arm, it starts to hurt. All-in-all, though, it wasn’t bad.

I heard from the doctor today, and my results showed no sign of malignancy. While I never doubted that would be the outcome, it was nice to actually hear it and it will be a relief for the rest of my family and friends!

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My son, Briar, officially became a teenager on Aug. 24. I no longer see a baby when I look at him. I see a clever young man full of laughter and mischief trying to find his way in this world.

I realized this week exactly how much of a teenager he has become when I asked if he needed me to go over his algebra homework and he replied, “No, I don’t think you’ll know how to do it anyway.”

I was also told that I wasn’t the computer whiz he thought I was, while he was doing his computer technology homework. This one really hit home. While I don’t claim to be a computer whiz, I definitely know my way around a computer. After all … it’s my job.

Although I have seen some changes in his attitude, and he now thinks he is smarter than I am, one thing remains constant… his kindness and compassion for others. He is an exceptional young man and I’m very proud of him.

I know that he will continue to spread his wings. I hope that I have and continue to set a good example for him.

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On Aug. 31 Hoxie and Walnut Ridge will face off for the last time on the football field. I will admit that I have mixed feelings about it. This unique cross-town rivalry, that you have to be a part of to understand, got way out of hand, at times. It has also provided MANY amazing memories.

My family moved to Hoxie from Walnut Ridge when I was in the sixth grade. The adjustment from Bobcat to Mustang wasn’t an easy one; however, it was absolute. I bleed green!

Both of my brothers played football for Hoxie. A lot of talk and a lot of pranks led up to a huge battle that played out before our eyes. It didn’t matter how the rest of our season went… whether we lost every other game or went to state… we wanted to be able to say we beat the Bobcats!

Since most of my cousins were Bobcats, the stakes were a little bit higher. We wanted to be the ones with the bragging rights.

So… as the battle unfolds for the last time, I’ll have only one thing to say…

Go, Mustangs!!!

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I, like most people, hate to go to the doctor. I don’t go for routine checkups, but if I’m sick, I will go. During a recent visit, my doctor read me the riot act for not taking better care of myself and scheduled me for all the routine exams I’d been neglecting.

I was relieved that I had five more years to wait before I had to start routine mammograms. Relief was short-lived when a lump was found during my exam. I went today and had my first mammogram. It wasn’t as bad as I believed it would be. Yes, it was uncomfortable, but not painful.

Since I had a problem, there was a doctor on hand waiting to read my results so that I could have further testing if need be. I had to have an ultrasound done of the “suspicious area.”

The doctor talked to me and assured me that he doesn’t think I have cancer, but the area is solid and I should have a biopsy to be on the safe side.

I’m sure this scare will turn out to be nothing, but it did serve as a wake-up call. I will no longer neglect checkups or routine exams. I hope you don’t either.

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Like so many other parents, I’m trying to get my kids ready to go back to school. Tuesday night, Brad, Drake (my nephew) and I went to open house. Brad will be in the new building at Hoxie this year and is excited about that.

The classrooms are really nice and seem to be somewhat bigger than what he has had before. There is also a science lab in the building. Brad loves experimenting, so I hope they are able to use it often throughout the year.

Briar had football practice and wasn’t able to attend with us. Brad, Drake and I visited his classes without him.

Although they both say they aren’t ready for school to start, they seem excited about it. I’m not sure I’m ready for the hectic schedule that the school year will bring. Not only will they start back to school on Monday, Briar has his first football game that night.

Ready or not…

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Saturday my family and my brothers’ families took a trip to the Wild River Country Water Park in Little Rock.

When we first arrived, Briar, Brad, Tim, Rodney, Blake, Drake and I went down what we called the “toilet bowl.” I don’t know what the real name is, but you go down a long tube into a bowl type portion where you are swished around before being shot out the bottom into the pool. It was everyone’s favorite slide.

While we were doing that, Georgetta, Jarah, Grace and Kylie rode a four person raft slide that sends you through the dark around lots of curves and then sprays you with water before the ride ends. I enjoyed this ride with Blake, Jarah and Grace before I got a little bit sick.

I spent some time with Kylie in the pool. Then we all went to the wave pool before having a picnic lunch in the shade outside the park.

We spent a lot of the afternoon in the wave pool. Tim and I floated around the “lazy river” in tubes while the others went down slides or played in the wave pool.

We had a great time! I hope to make the trip again next year.

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Briar and Brad spend a lot of time on either my mom’s computer or our computer at home. I have Brad set up as a separate user because he likes to change the background and put shortcuts on the desktop. Briar likes to browse the Internet, but doesn’t care what kind of wallpaper, etc. he has.

Briar does however, like to try and figure out Brad’s password. He doesn’t really want to login as Brad and use the computer, he just wants to make him mad. I just changed the password Monday, but Briar is getting close again and by the end of the week, I’ll be doing it again.

Brad also wanted to have his own webpage. I had told him that I’d sit down with him on a Saturday when we had some time and work on one with him. He has very little patience, though, and had to have something right then.

I have a Yahoo account, so I set him up a Geocities site. Right now it isn’t much, but on Saturday we are going to add more things to it. As of now, he has had 64 visitors and his guestbook is on the second page of entries.

If anyone is interested in visiting it, go to www.geocities.com/skimahorn_99 and leave us a message!

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I’ve never really paid much attention to counterfeit money reports. I don’t normally carry cash, and when I do have cash it comes from the bank’s ATM machine. The bank checks their money, so it can’t be counterfeit, right? WRONG!!!!

My husband got some money out of the ATM machine Sunday morning. Later in the day, he handed me $30, a 20 and 10, so I could make a quick trip to the grocery store. After paying with the money that came from the bank’s ATM machine, I got funny looks from the cashier and she took off to the office. The lady in the office called more people in and they all stared and whispered about me. Finally, the cashier came back and informed me that my $20 bill was not good. It was counterfeit.

I called my husband and the store called the police to come in and check things out. I wrote a check for my groceries, although the lady in the office didn’t seem to like that very much, either. When I went with the bag boy to put my groceries in the car, I thought the two left in the office, who were watching my every move, were going to have a stroke because I walked out of the store.

I had to wait about five minutes for the police to arrive. When the officer got there, he took a statement from the lady in the office and then came to talk to me. I had to go to the police station to do some paper work and make a formal statement.

My husband arrived about the time I was leaving to go to the police station. He went with me and filled out a form saying where the money came from and that he had been the one to give it to me.

While the officer was very nice and assured me that he didn’t think I was producing counterfeit money, those at the store were another story. I know the store has a procedure they have to follow, but I was just as innocent in this as they were. I won’t be shopping there again.

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While I was growing up, my family always celebrated Christmas Eve and New Years Eve with my Uncle Donnie, Aunt Vicki, Jennifer, Ashley and Cody. We also spent many summer days swimming and barbecuing together and sometimes going to Liberty Land.

On the Fourth of July we enjoyed lunch and swimming at Ashley’s house. Uncle Donnie, Aunt Vicky and Cody were also there. It was a nice way to spend the day and catch up with everyone. It’s also nice to see our kids play together. We don’t get to visit as much as we used to, but we still have fun when we get together.

I was also pleasantly surprised the other day to receive an e-mail from Jennifer, who lives in Minnesota. The e-mail contained a slide show featuring her daughter’s senior pictures and a few family photos! It doesn’t seem possible that she has a daughter graduating high school.
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