Good for you Phoenix !!!
if you have gotten this far with the odd ciggy and a brandy it cant be that bad !
this one should be easier 

Received those Lovelly Flowers that You sent me.
 Thank You so very much.

Val, I think this story will please you.

"The yellow shirt  had long sleeves, four extra-large pockets trimmed in black thread and
snaps up the front.  It was faded from years of wear, but still in decent shape.  I found it
in 1963 when I was home from college on Christmas break, rummaging through bags of clothes
Mom intended to give away.  'You're not taking that old thing, are you?' Mom said when she
saw me packing the yellow shirt.  'I wore that when I was pregnant with your brother in
1954!'


'It's just the thing to wear over my clothes during art class,

Mom.  Thanks!'  I slipped it into my suitcase before she could object. The yellow shirt be
came a part of my college wardrobe.  I loved it. After graduation, I wore the shirt the day
I moved into my new apartment and on Saturday mornings when I cleaned.

The next year, I married.  When I became pregnant, I wore the yellow shirt during big-belly
days.  I missed Mom and the rest of my family, since we were in Colorado and they were in
Illinois   But that shirt helped.  I smiled, remembering that Mother had worn it when she
was pregnant, 15 years earlier.

That Christmas, mindful of the warm feelings the shirt had given me, I patched one elbow,
wrapped it in holiday paper and sent it to Mom.  When Mom wrote to thank me for her 'real'
gifts, she said the yellow shirt was lovely.  She never mentioned it again.


The next year, my husband, daughter and I stopped at Mom and Dad's to pick up some
furniture.  Days later, when we uncrated the kitchen table, I noticed something yellow taped
to its bottom.  The shirt!

And so the pattern was set.

On our next visit home, I secretly placed the shirt under Mom and Dad's mattress.  I don't
know how long it took for her to find it, but almost two years passed before I discovered it
under the base of our living-room floor lamp.  The yellow shirt was just what I needed now
while refinishing furniture.  The walnut stains added character.

In 1975 my husband and I divorced.  With my three children, I prepared to move back to
Illinois .  As I packed, a deep depression overtook me. I wondered if I could make it on my
own.   I wondered if I would find a job. I paged through the Bible, looking for comfort.  In
Ephesians, I read, 'So use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy whenever he
attacks, and when it is all over, you will be standing up.'

I tried to picture myself wearing God's armor, but all I saw was the stained yellow shirt.
Slowly, it dawned on me.  Wasn't my mother's love a piece of God's armor?  My courage was
renewed.

Unpacking in our new home, I knew I had to get the shirt back to Mother. The next time I
visited her, I tucked it in her bottom dresser drawer.

Meanwhile, I found a good job at a radio station.  A year later I discovered the yellow
shirt hidden in a rag bag in my cleaning closet.


Something new had been added.  Embroidered in bright green across the breast pocket were the
words 'I BELONG TO PAT.'

Not to be outdone, I got out my own embroidery materials and added an apostrophe and seven
more letters.  Now the shirt proudly proclaimed, 'I BELONG TO PAT'S MOTHER.'  But I didn't
stop there.  I zig-zagged all the frayed seams, then had a friend mail the shirt in a fancy
box to Mom from Arlington , VA.   We enclosed an official looking letter from 'The Institute
for the Destitute,' announcing that she was the recipient of an award for good deeds.  I
would have given anything to see Mom's face when she opened the box.  But, of course, she
never mentioned it.

Two years later, in 1978, I remarried.  The day of our wedding, Harold and I put our car in
a friend's garage to avoid practical jokers. After the wedding, while my husband drove us to
our honeymoon suite, I reached for a pillow in the car to rest my head.  It felt lumpy.  I
unzipped the case and found, wrapped in wedding paper, the yellow shirt.  Inside a pocket
was a note:  'Read John 14:27-29.  I love you both, Mother.'

That night I paged through the Bible in a hotel room and found the verses: 'I am leaving you
with a gift: peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the
world gives.  So don't be troubled or afraid.  Remember what I told you: I am going away,
but I will come back to you again.  If you really love me, you will be very happy for me,
for now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things
before they happen so that when they do, you will believe in me.'

The shirt was Mother's final gift.  She had known for three months that she had terminal Lou
Gehrig's disease.  Mother died the following year at age
57.

I was tempted to send the yellow shirt with her to her grave.  But I'm glad I didn't,
because it is a vivid reminder of the love-filled game she and I played for 16 years.
Besides, my older daughter is in college now, majoring in art.  And every art student needs
a baggy yellow shirt with big pockets."

If you spent £40 every week for the last 5 weeks at MORRISONS you are entitled to £20 worth of food unpon showing your receipts.
I duly did all this and today went to get my £20 worth of food,...........wrong receipts,they want the receipt with the goods listed not the other one............so no £20 !!!!!!!!
It ruined my day,I felt cheated.

I have calmed down a bit now chris lol

How did I miss this? I think its wonderful, hmm I might start something similar with my daughter. Thank you Teri,   I've already stitched her her own fairy to carry with her, I've told her its my love and protection and she'll know I'm always with her.

I was livid Val
I felt cheated,and like I was after something for nothing,they embarrased me,saying I should have read the small print ha,I can even see the small print !
but in the end I guess it was my own fault I just saved the wrong receipt not the listed one !......wont happen again.