I have to wonder if that's even how you spell Huzzy. It's definitely how you pronounce it!

Well, today I have spent reflecting. Depending upon your age, you may be familiar with the name Rue McClanahan.

If you grew up in Ardmore when I did, you may also know that she is the red-headed actress from the show Golden Girls.

Well, I have always been sort of fascinated with her. Love the red hair, the sass, the role she played on Golden Girls, the fact she was a hometown gal. She passed not long ago. And I  have a story to share with you. She grew up in the house I currently live in. Her father was a home-builder. Built many of the homes in and around Ardmore. And my house (formerly where she grew up), is a fascinating older home. It winds around in quite the artistic fashion.

When we first bought this home, a dear friend of mine was helping us move in....my children were very small. And as we would carry boxes in, my friend would talk to me in first person, as if he were the house, saying things like, "I'm so excited! Little kids!! That means birthday parties! And crayons! And playing in the yard!!"  He was pointing out (in his quirky way), that it had been a really long time since kids had lived here! Rue and her sister grew up here (from around middle school age on), as did Rue's son for much of his life, but since then, there had only been one other family, and they didn't have any children at home. So, when we moved in, my children may have been the very first small children to have lived here.

A few days later, as we began to settle into our new home, I plugged in a television for my children. We didn't have the cable turned on yet, so I hooked up the VCR and just pushed play. And, I almost fell over from what I heard: Rue McClanahan's voice, from the movie Annabelle's Wish, saying something like, "It's been a long time since we've had a young'un here in the barnyard!"   in her ever-so-syrupy southern fashion! I had no idea that movie was in the VCR, nor did I have ANY idea she even did one of the voices in that movie (I hadn't watched it). It was, still to this day, one of the strangest things that I have evr witnessed!

Not long ago, a couple of years or so, Rue wrote a book. It's called "My First Five Husbands (and the ones that got away)" One of my friends called me the day it came out and told me, "You have to go get the book! It talks about your house all through it!" And she started reading excerpts to me. I couldn't believe it! It was filled with interesting tidbits, like "where daddy used to hide his moonshine" (hidey-hole still there, by the way). When her son was born, her water broke standing at my kitchen counter. Photos from one of her weddings, when the reception was held in my dining room....those types of things. Made me love my old house even more.

The entire upstairs floor is bird's eye maple. And three of the four walls upstairs are almost solid windows. Sort of a photographer's dream. I've never really desired to do indoor work, but the more I tinker upstairs....well, let's just say I'd be out of my mind not to utilize the space. So, as the days pass, I will be posting photos of the progress upstairs, as we turn that space into something surprising, with soft light and bird's eye maple floors. Something that would have made Rue's father proud..... to see the home he 'created' for his family being loved so much by us, and the spin on his artistry in home-building used in a different artform. 

I had the chance to meet her before she passed. We even almost made a real estate deal. She considered buying this house from me. At the time, it felt like a good idea, but now I'm so glad I  still own it. If I had sold to her, who knows who would live here now that she's gone. And, I just feel like this house is supposed to be inhabited by a red-headed huzzy! ;)   .........an artist, trying to make her way!

About a year ago, I went to a garage sale a street over and there in the driveway sat this pastel chalk drawing of Rue's face, framed. The kind like people used to have done. I was like, "uhhhh, how much for this?" and the lady began telling me that she bought a street over at an estate sale, from the McClanahan estate. She even told me what wall it used to hang on. So I bought it and brought it back home. And hung her in the hall where she belongs :)

okay, so a friend just asked me if I know what the word hussie means, after she read my blog! hahaha! I DO know. I guess I should take into consideration that many peoople who will read this don't know me, therefore, won't understand my humor.........soo, disclaimer (I'm not really a hussie, in case you were worried)  ;)     Maybe I should have called us both "Golden Girls" instead.