January 30th

           You know I am Garth Brooks' biggest fan.  I guess he has a few more fans ... this is what I just read on Yahoo.....January 30, 2014  Garth brooks sold almost a quarter of a million tickets in just 90 minutes this morning, completely selling out three dates in Croke Park.  The total of 240,000 tickets means just under one admission was sold for every 25 people in Ireland, including the North.
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          Phil Collins, Dick Cheney, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Christian Bale and Aunt Betsy
were born on this day.
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          It warmed up a bit, sun was out, and I had a great time with my daughters driving around this afternoon looking at big old two story houses with big porches in the old "original town" area of Amarillo.  There are not that many here.  I love old houses with big porches.
        My oldest daughter brought Thai food for our lunch before we went for out.  Oh, this is too funny --- on the way to the an antique store my daughter wanted to visit we saw an estate sale sign.  Well, I love estate sales, garage sales etc. so we stopped.  My daughter was hoping to find a lamp and I can usually find some kind of treasure but we left with nothing.  We looked through things in two bedrooms, the living room and then we got to the kitchen.  This is the funny part ...  The people holding the estate sale had a shelf of things --- all with what we thought was quite a high price, considering --- and the shelf contained a 1/4 of a bottle of dish soap, a liquid hand soap container with a smidgen in the bottom, a half empty bottle of PineSol, a sandwich bag with some matches in it.  An entire shelf of cleaning products and kitchen items like that, mostly used up.  My daughters thought that was a hoot.  When we got in the car they said we should have looked in the fridge ... probably would have found an almost empty container of milk and maybe an egg or two priced to sell!!!  They promised me when I go they will throw away or take home any dabs of liquid hand soap and dish washing soap I have.
        We had planned to do some other things but that was enough to just wear me out.  I just got my strength back from that nasty flu and now I have caught a cold, sore throat, ear ache, general crud and have the biggest fever blister ever on my lip.  I look like I have been in a boxing ring and lost! 
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The Blue Fugates of Kentucky & The Best Book of the Month

        This month I read mostly cozy mysteries except for one bio, The World's Strongest Librarian. Cozy mysteries are about as "deep" as my brain can handle most of the time, and especially the past few weeks. This week I also read some inspirational fiction that I loved and I plan to get more books by their authors.  The Promise of Lumby and Dearest Dorothy, Are We There Yet? were really good.  I cared about the characters and I wanted to live in their little towns.  I seldom read inspirational books but I am so glad I found these.  I can hardly wait to get more in their series.
       A day or two ago I finished reading Poisoned Prose by Ellery Adams.  It is the fifth in her Books by the Bay series.  On Goodreads I gave it 4 stars.  I am going to give it "the best of the bunch for the month."  Ellery Adams never disappoints me. 

       It really is a good read, but for me it was especially interesting because it involves a group of storytellers.  It brought back fond memories of when I was able to attend Tejas Storytelling Festival in Denton, Texas many years ago, and the numerous times I attended storytelling events at WTAMU in Canyon, Texas down the road from home.  Last night I dreamt about being back at my old job and telling stories to a group of kids at the library.  It was a very pleasant dream. 

       What was really interesting in Poisoned Prose, and something I had never heard of, was a condition one of the characters in the book had called Methemoglobinemia.  The woman in the book, Violet, had skin the color of a rotten plum, a blue/purple.   

        Since I had never heard of this disorder I googled it and discovered it is a real thing. I found it fascinating.  If you have this genetic disorder your blood is the color of chocolate and your skin will be a shade of blue or purple.  Not just occasionally but permanently.   
       When I did a search on this disorder numerous articles on the Fugate family popped up.  The disorder has been passed through 6 generations of the Fugate's in a small area of Kentucky.  The following is from one of the internet articles: "They're known simply as the "blue people" in the hills and hollows around Troublesome and Ball Creeks. Most lived to their 80s and 90s without serious illness associated with the skin discoloration. For some, though, there was a pain not seen in lab tests. That was the pain of being blue in a world that is mostly shades of white to black."
         I thought about those last two sentences for quite a while. 
       

No Where To Go ~ 60 Minutes ~ 26 January 2014

Sen. Creigh Deeds

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     Sunday night I watched 60 Minutes.  One report was an interview with Senator Creigh Deeds.  My heart goes out to him.  Last year Senator Deeds was stabbed 10 times by his son, Gus.  

     Gus's friends said he idolized his father, was a loving soul, kind, big hearted.  Senator Deeds has said Gus was a perfect son, loving, musically brilliant, a successful college student on the Dean's List, and bi-polar. 

   The interview gives you a glimpse of how the Senator tried to get help for his son on that day. If you missed it, and are interested, you can see a little clip and read the transcript here http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mentally-ill-youth-in-crisis/

     On November 19, 2013 Gus was obviously in trouble, but as the case with many ill people, Gus did not want help.  He could not understand that he was sick. His father was able to get a court order, a 6 hour court order, to get help for his son and deputies took Gus to the ER.  There was no bed available in those 6 hours so he was sent home.  

      Hours after being in the ER Gus attempted to kill his father.  The physical scars left on Senator Deeds body are the least of it.  Gus died from his mental illness that day.  The system failed him.  

      I know someone with a little experience with ER's and trying to get help for children.  Three of her children suffer with a mental illness, as does she. The kids were all teenagers at the same time.  They looked perfectly normal but they were ill.  Try dealing with that.  Thank goodness she had psychiatrists and a hospital to help.  She felt like she was in the battle of her life, and theirs, for years.  If a state Senator, a man with power AND money could not get help for his son what chance do regular people have?

     Know your child is in trouble and needs to be hospitalized?  Well, don't go up to a mental hospital's door and say please let us in.  It does not work that way.  I know, she tried that.  

     Go to the ER ... if you can get your child there.  When those with a mental illness need help the most they think they don't need help at all --- you must be the one who needs help because they are just fine.  

      Back to the ER ... Sit in the waiting room full of other people for hours and hours ... if you can get your child to do that.  Mentally ill people typically don't want to be in a room with lots of other people who are coughing, sneezing, bleeding, moaning ... especially if they think it is stupid to be there in the first place.  Ever try to get a teenager to do something they didn't want to do? Now imagine if they were mentally ill on top of that.

    Finally your child will be seen by someone and your child will need to tell them they are suicidal and be able to describe their "suicide plan" ... if they will talk to medical personnel, or they can not be admitted to a mental hospital. At least where we live, and I think that is fairly typical.  

    Think you will just skip the ER and call your child's psychiatrist directly to get them admitted because they know how ill your child is?  Nope, the office will say go to the ER.  I know, she tried that.  

     Get real lucky and you make it through the ER and there is a bed available in a mental hospital and your child is going to get help?  Well, there have been budget cuts. The Dr's, nurses, therapists, staff want so desperately to help your child but funding is gone.  They will do the best they can. Insurance companies will pay for a patient to stay just long enough to get past the current suicidal thoughts.  Usually up to 3 days max.  Suicidal thoughts have passed?  Ok you can go .... never mind that you still have the mental health issues that brought on the suicidal thoughts in the first place.

      Don't have a psychiatrist?  Well, good luck there.  It can take months and months to get in with one in most places.  Expect at least a 3 to 6 month wait in most areas, if not longer.  

     Need help before then?  Go to the ER.  See steps listed above.  Plan on being there awhile.  I hope you ate your Wheaties because you will need all the mental and physical strength you can find to get through this experience of trying to get your child some help during this one ER visit.
     And if your child is over 18, you are in deep trouble unless they want help, and a bed is available.   Senator Deeds can tell you about that.

     Think this topic does not apply to you?  What if Gus had not attacked his father but instead had entered an elementary school, like Sandy Hook?
      Please write your political representatives and tell them to please cut out ridiculous spending and use that money for important things like caring for veterans, the elderly, hungry kids, and the mentally ill. 

Weird Little Idiosyncrasies

    I do some things now that in my 20's and 30's I would have not even  considered.  I would have said oh, please, NO!  But then I did some things in my 20's and 30's that I would not even consider now so I guess it all works out!  Before you get a picture of a wild child, no, I just have weird little idiosyncrasies.
     The weird thing I do that I am thinking of today is how I drink water.  My sister would say my favorite drink is Coke.  Or Dr Pepper.  Or Pepsi.  But really it is very icy cold water. The weird thing is I go through cycles in which I have to have a certain glass.
      For a long time I thought water just tasted better and colder in a blue glass. Had to be glass, not plastic, and blue.
     Then for along time I only drank water out of a clear Libbey's stemmed glass.  I think it was a wine glass but I am not sure.  I have never had wine. Wal-Mart has the stemmed glasses, 4 in a box for like $4.99 or something and for years that is what I had at home for my glass of water.  I liked how it felt to hold the glass.
      Next it was a Coca-Cola glass.  One year McDonald's gave them away if you bought some kind of hamburger meal but my local McDonald's would also let you buy them for a dollar.  They had them in green, blue and plum.  I really don't remember how many I had, but let's say I had 12 of them, 4 of each color.  I loved my Coca-Cola glasses.  I thought I was in high cotton.  One time my son's mother-in-law came to my house for a family meal -- I believe it was the Thanksgiving I moved into my very own single wide trailer in 2009 (she did not live in a trailer house) -- and when I served water in those Coca-Cola glasses she said "my, you've eaten a few hamburgers."  I guess now would be an appropriate time to tell you I grew up dirt poor in New Mexico. Having matching glasses of any kind from any source would have been a la-te-da thing.  And I do like hamburgers.
     My Coca-Cola glasses have all gotten broken except for two and I still really like them, but now -- and here comes the thing I would have wanted the floor to open up and swallow me if I ever thought of doing in my 20's and 30's --  I drink out of a quart Mason jar.    Yes, I do.  (My 20 year old self is dying of embarrassment).  Well, I wouldn't in front of anyone but my kids, or strangers in a parking lot when I am thirsty and need a drink.
      See, I need water.  My body likes to be hydrated so I drink 12 glasses a day.  A quart is the same as 4 - 8 oz glasses, right? So I fix 3 quarts of tap water, add a tray of ice to each one and put them in the fridge, because I can only drink icy cold water.  If I drink my 3 jars I know I drank plenty of water for the day.  No trying to keep up with the count of glass refills needed.  If my water is not fixed (and had time to get very cold) then I will get thirsty, grab a cold canned coke to quench my thirst and never drink water.
    If I am going to "town" (Wal-Mart, Kohls, the grocery store, my kids' homes) I know I will be thirsty as soon as my house is in my rear view mirror so I take my jar so 1) maybe I won't buy a coke and 2) because the Mason jar lid keeps it from spilling.  Of course, on hot days I have to sit it in an insulated cooler.  I leave it in the car, except at my son's home.  He has well water and I don't like the taste of it (and I don't like the taste of bottled water).  The other day my son told me that he hopes I don't take that jar in everywhere I go because it looks weird.  I said why, does it looks like white lightnin'?
   Do you have a favorite glass, cup or container?

7 Word Sunday 26 Jan 2014

This week I was grateful for:
Heat
Porch light
Library card
Lotion
Tylenol
Skype
Scriptures

I Feel Grateful For That Huge Electric Bill

      I often wake up in the wee hours of the morning and if I can't get back to sleep I get up and get on the computer.  I know, totally wrong thing to do, but I do it.  It is currently 7 degrees outside but since we always have wind it feels like -8, according to my local news website.  I haven't opened the door to see what that feels like but when one of my dogs went out and came back inside the doggy door in just a minute her fur was freezing cold.
     I am grateful for a working heater.  I am even grateful for the enormous electric bill I received for December because it means I was toasty warm through a very cold month.  I am even more grateful that I am hot natured and am comfy with the thermostat set at 67 degrees or that electric bill would have been really, really bad.
     I have been thinking a lot about things I am grateful for this week.  Of course I am grateful for my most important blessings like my kids, grandkids, dogs, sister, nieces, Heavenly Father.  This week it has popped into my head numerous times that I need to say thank you Lord for some other things that make my life better.
     I am seldom out after dark.  I can't see well to drive safely ~ mostly I see glare from the streetlights.  Sunday I had a chance to visit with my grandkids and I left their home a little late.  By the time I got to my house it was dark outside.  I always park in my driveway, then walk along the 50 feet of sidewalk next to my trailer house to get to the back door.  Even in the dark I feel perfectly safe since I have a 6 foot chain link fence surrounding the back yard, and a couple of Dobermans next door that watch me through the fence until I get inside.  I feel safe because of the porch light which lights up most of my back yard. I was grateful when the motion sensor on the porch light turned it on for me so I could see to unlock the door before I got too cold. I was grateful that I just bought a replacement light bulb for the porch light last week.  I had done without a porch light for a while.  You know how I hate to pay retail for anything and when it burned out recently I was waiting for a sale since those big bulbs are pricy.
      I am so extremely grateful for a library card and a wonderful library.  My daughter came for dinner last night and on her way through town she picked up a bag full of library books for me.  I honestly don't know what I would do without a library card.  I read more than anything else, especially when it is too cold to get outside.
     I think on Sundays I will post 7 words.  7 things I found myself grateful for during the week.  Other than the important things -- family most likely -- what do you find yourself feeling grateful for?
     

Elsie's Banana Pudding

      This is not the most attractive photo but I promise this is a really good banana pudding dessert.     
   My favorite banana pudding is one in which you make the pudding from scratch and cook it.  I like that one because I like to eat the banana pudding warm ... ah, comfort food ... but this recipe is a lot easier and really, really delicious.

    I'm posting it today because my sister lost her recipe and asked for it so I decided to share it with all of y'all too.   Especially since I don't have anything else to post about today.  :)

     The recipe came from the cook and owner of a little diner in a village in New Mexico.

Elsie's Banana Pudding
3 small boxes Instant vanilla pudding
4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1-9oz carton regular cool whip
box of vanilla wafers
lots of bananas
Mix the pudding, milk and vanilla until well mixed. Stir in sour cream and cool whip.
Make layers of pudding,  sliced bananas and vanilla wafers. Repeat. Repeat again if you still have ingredients.  Cover. Refrigerate. Just enjoy and don't worry about calories.

Me Too

     A few days ago I posted a long post about my mental illness.  I deleted it because I decided it was too depressing, TMI, and too long (have you noticed it takes me a lot of words to say anything? LOL! That is one reason why I haven't considered tweeting. And I am working on shorter blog posts). 
    I would rather my blog be positive, happy, uplifting but at the time I was really struggling with depression.  At that moment I needed to express that. Thank you to those of you who left me a comment or emailed me.  I needed you.  You are part of my support group.  Kind words are important and I thank you for them.   
     Maybe that post was "too much" but I have never hidden my mental illness because maybe I could help someone like many people have helped me.  When I worked at the library at different times two co-workers committed suicide.  I decided that maybe if they had known I struggled with the same sort of things maybe they could have talked to me and maybe things would have been different. 
    I will never, ever, never commit suicide.  I just think of my family .... children, grandchildren, sister, nieces. I would not do that to them.
    I think one of our purposes here on this earth is to help each other.  Today I read these words below on a blog I read ... Hands Free Mama ... and they had special meaning for me. I am going to add her link below but if you don't click on the link for her excellent post at least read these words of hers:
    
"Speak your difficult truths.
Invite someone in on your struggles.
Admit things are not as easy as they look.
And if someone admits a mistake, a fear, or a failure, offer up an honest, “Me too.”
To reveal who you truly are gives someone else the permission to do the same. And when two people meet in the loving light of realness, that camaraderie becomes a protective shield—one that can keep you standing even when life’s harshest attacks try to knock you down."

      Today I am feeling better.  I am looking at what I need to do to keep on the "feel better" path.  I am a strong woman and I plan to live to a 100.  Oh, did you see the cute little 94 year old woman on The Today Show this morning?  I will find it for you.  She is amazing but I am not going to try eating her favorite things.  The hosts on Today Show all tried her favorite foods and I thought they were all going to puke!
    Another thing that has really helped me is listening to a message about mental illness by Jeffrey R. Holland.  I cut and pasted his quote from Pinterest ... that is it up there at the beginning of this post.  His message has been like the balm of Gilead for me.  His tender, sweet, kind words have given me a rope to hang on to.
    Here are the three links that touched me.  I hope you have time for them and find them helpful as well. 
here is Olga, the 94 year old...   http://www.today.com/health/what-makes-olga-run-lessons-94-year-old-track-star-2D11947816
 
Hands Free Mama's excellent post
http://www.handsfreemama.com/2014/01/20/one-bold-move-two-healing-words/

 A Broken Vessel ... Jeffrey R. Holland speaks about MDD (Major Depressive Disorder) which is my diagnosis.  Elder Holland is a leader in my church and this is a Christian message.
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/like-a-broken-vessel?lang=eng&query=

and lastly, my favorite quote that I try to live by .... it is at the bottom of my email messages ...

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Plato
Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)

And Heaven to Betsy, this is another long post .... evidently I can't write a short post for anything.
Thank you for coming here.  Thank you for being my friend.  If you are a blogger let me know where to read your posts.  Have a wonderful day!

Never Know What Will Make Me Cry

      At a towing company here there was a terrible accident. The newspaper said it was a front end loader and pickup, someone else said it was a tow truck & front end loader...but anyway 2 employees of a towing company here were trying to work on a vehicle (pickup or truck) that was attached to and held up by the front end loader. Well, it fell and killed one man and sent another employee to hospital in critical condition. The man was only 39. 
     Today i was going to Walmart and saw a police car block traffic at a corner for a funeral procession so I pulled over and stopped with everyone else for the funeral cars to pass. I was a few cars back from a corner where the procession turned. I just cried when it became obvious whose funeral procession it was. 
      First was a police car escort, then the hearse, then the family limo and then.... what must have been every tow truck in town, washed and polished like a new penny, truck after truck after truck .... huge tow trucks and smaller ones ... came around that corner, then the cars with the other mourners. I thought our tow truck people must be a pretty special bunch to do this. It was just so touching to see this company's competition show respect that way and I just sat there and cried.

Roverdose

I will actually write a post again someday but until then this tickled my funny bone...

Amarillo-Panhandle Humane Society added a new photo.

This Made Me Smile

Moving On

     My daughter -- the one with the husband who wanted a divorce for Christmas -- is moving into a duplex on Wednesday so I probably won't be here for a few days.  She needs help packing and she has some painting to do.  She is going to need some help.

     The photos of the cute little duplex that she saw online showed milk chocolate walls with white baseboards and trim.  When she actually went to see it the current tenant had painted the living room green, the kitchen purple, one bedroom orange, and my daughter was so blinded by color she can't remember what shade the bigger bedroom was, other than it was awful. The landlord was agreeable to her request of painting it back to neutral colors as long as he didn't have to provide paint or labor.  He had it professionally cleaned, but painting, no.  Sigh.  

     The rent is what my daughter could afford, the neighborhood isn't scary, but mainly it is the only place in her price range that would let her have her big dog, a lab mix. I don't know how much Simmons weighs but a lot more than the 20 lb limit most apartments have for pets. He is a big ol' baby, and he thinks he is a little dog.  We know he is spoiled rotten. He is family to her and her boys, and he will make her feel safe so I am glad she found some place that would let Simmons move with her.

 
 I'm really, really glad because if she had not been able to find a place that would take him Simmons would have ended up with me.  I could not have added hurt to my grandsons by saying no, I won't take in your dog. 
   Snatch this place before someone else gets it, I advised my daughter.  It will be cute once it is painted.   That's my story.

A Day Late and A Dollar Short!

    Dang it! I messed up!  You know I have been recovering from the flu, making me even more ditzy than normal, and I forgot that Wednesday was New Year's Day.  I didn't watch the Rose Bowl Parade and I did not eat my black eyed peas.  I had sense enough to wish y'all happy new year yesterday ( I think it was close to midnight when I posted that) but did not have enough sense to make the connection and remember the parade or peas.  LOL! I know black eyed peas don't have a thing to do with any good luck in 2014 but it is a southern thing.  I thought about eating them today but I didn't. That made me think of the old saying "a day late & a dollar short" ~~~ something my momma said I have always been.  Yeah, well, I am more than a day late on something besides black eyed peas.

       This is the first year since 1989 that I have not had a flu shot by October.  Did I get the flu? Why, yes, I did.  My daughter had her flu shot. Did she get sick even though she was daily around  many family members with the flu? NO. If my momma were alive she would be fussing at me about not getting that shot and being "a day late & a dollar short" if I was thinking about getting one now.  I don't even have a good excuse, other than I just didn't get one.  I was seriously suffering with depression during the fall and depressed people don't get things done. 

     In my last post I mentioned how in the old days there were full service gas stations.  One of my blogger friends mentioned that she thought there was a market for that now, especially for us baby boomers that might not mind spending a few extra cents a gallon for gas for full service. My response to her was: "You know, even living on Social Security and having to pinch pennies like mad, I would pay a little more for gas if I could have some help with my vehicle." I had my oil changed at Wal-Mart in December. They had a $19.99 special. When I picked my van up I asked if the automatic transmission fluid was ok (I have an old van and it leaks everything). She told my they did not check it because I got the $19.99 oil change special. I asked if I could have it checked please and was shocked when she said that she would have to then change my charge to the $29.99 oil change. Yep, $10 to check my auto transmission fluid.   It did NOT get checked!!!

In case I already told you about that, because you know my memory is crazy -- every day is a brand new day to me -- I apologize for any stories I repeat on this blog.

I guess I should add a disclaimer **Wal-Mart did not pay me to promote their $19.99 oil special or to tell you that they won't check the auto transmission fluid for an old lady who is standing there with a basket full of items purchased from said store while they changed my oil and mistakenly thought they could pull the rod out and see if there was any evidence of auto transmission fluid, which I would have then also purchased from them had I needed any (& most likely did need, but I don't know because I can't get the hood open and it still hasn't been checked).**

    Question of the day is would you be willing to pay, let's say 5 cents a gallon more for gas to have someone pump it, wash your windshield, check all the fluids under the hood, check your tire pressure & air them up if needed, take your money and bring the change to you, still sitting in your car not smelling like gas?  (I hear that new cars tell you when your tires are low... alas, my old van only tells me when I have left my blinker on far too long ...that hearing impairment thing.... and when the gas tank is all but empty). 

     Back to that question. I would.  I think I have a 20 gallon tank so at 5 cents that would just be a dollar extra. Maybe not every fill up but at least once a month I would appreciate help with my vehicle. For sure sometimes when it is snowy, or the wind is blowing 75 mph, or it is 17 degrees like earlier today, or it is 104 degrees outside and you burn your hand just touching the outside of your car.  Don't I live in Texas, you ask? Why, yes, I do.   Okay, every fill up.  If it is just a dollar or so extra.

Happy New Year!

     Happy New Year! I am on the mend and I am going to be rid of this dadgum illness in the next day or two.  I think, hope, pray 2014 is going to be a great year.  I am just going to MAKE it be a good one.  Way back a couple of decades ago when Good Morning America first started broadcasting one of the original hosts, David Hartman, use to end by saying "go out and make it a good day."  He never said "have a good day."  I liked that, and I think of it often ~ "make it a good day."
     December was not a good month for me and for several people I love.  Physically we were ill, and emotionally we were battered, just battered, but we will be ok.  My biggest heartache is that I am no longer babysitting my granddaughter and feel like the most of my heart has been ripped from my chest but I just keep telling myself to think you never know what is just around the corner.  I knew in the fall the time was coming, I just preferred to not believe it, and it was actually what nudged me to start this blog.  I have been blessed by those of you who leave comments.  I feel like I have friends. Thank you.

     December books....the best of the bunch were these two...The Modern Magi that I have already told you about and The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg.  I grew to love Fannie Flagg back in the late 60's, early 70's when my mom and I use to enjoy her when she would be a guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. She was so funny, down to earth, interesting, and friendly --- like you would just love to be her neighbor and sit on her porch or yours and visit. 
 Here is the link to Amazon where you can read the review from Booklist.  As of today 530 readers have given it 4 & 1/2 stars. 
http://www.amazon.com/All-Girl-Filling-Stations-Last-Reunion/dp/1400065941/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388647103&sr=8-1&keywords=all-girl+filling+station
      Even if this book weren't written by Fannie Flagg I would have picked it up because my Uncle Jim had a Phillips 66 Station that looked remarkably close to the one on the cover.  When I was a teenager my dad ran a Chevron station and I pumped a lot of gas and hand washed more cars than I care to remember.  That was back in the day when you pulled your car up to the pumps, someone came out and filled your car with gas, washed the windshield, checked the oil & tires and sometimes even gave you something free, like S & H Trading Stamps or an ice tea glass. 
     I also would have picked this book up because it was about strong women.  The women in this story saved the family business when the dad becomes ill and then became pilots during a time when women just didn't do that kind of thing.  More importantly, they became WASPS - Women Airforce Service Pilots. They ferried plans for the Air Force during WWII.  While this book is fiction you can learn a little about  the real women who became WASPS here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots and here http://waspmuseum.org/.    I love that photo of the women attending the 70th year reunion on this site.  :)
     Years ago I knew a woman who had been a WASP and then one of the country's first female air traffic controllers.  Being a teenager I didn't have enough sense to ask her to write down her stories for me.  She passed away a long time ago.  Now I would just love to sit down for long chats with her.
     If you know someone with a story to tell, and we all do, get them to write it down for you while you can.  Maybe interview them and write it for them.  And all of y'all go out and make it a good day!