Losing Time

Not to be confused with wasting time. I do that way too much, but yesterday I lost an hour. It was really strange the way it happened. I have a VCR in my bedroom that has a lighted front with the time showing. I use this lit clock during the night when I wake up. I can just look at it and know what time it is without having to turn on a light and disturb anyone else(oh wait! there isn't anyone else).

When I went to bed Monday night, I noticed that my battery operated alarm clock had the wrong time. Sometimes when it gets dropped, it resets itself, so I set the time and alarm by the clock on the VCR.

Tuesday morning, I got up, got ready for work and left at what I thought was 7:15. When I got to work, I was a bit puzzled because I'm usually one of the first at work, but everyone was here. When I looked at the clock on my computer, I realized I was an hour late. I told everyone that it was 7:15 when I left home but almost 9 when I arrived at work and I only stopped at SuperD for a minute. I must have gone through a time warp.

It is the funniest feeling to know something in your own mind, but something else to be true. I think I know how people with alzhiemers and dementia feel. My friend Carolyn suggested I might need some Aricept(thanks for that vote of confidence CP). But I felt funny all day. The worst part of this whole thing is that there is one clock in every room of my house, and some have two. Did I look at any of them while I was getting ready? Evidently not. In my defense, however, unless I looked closely or at a digital clock, I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference since I was exactly 1 hour off.

I blame this not noticing the position of the hour hand on the fact that I was in about the 7th grade before I could tell time anyway. Being the youngest child in my class didn't necessarily help back then.

However, as I was discussing this with one of my co-workers this morning, it dawned on us about the same time that the VCR has a function that adjusts for Daylight Savings
Time and resets itself. If I'm not mistaken, we were supposed to have made that change last weekend, but it got put off. I suddenly felt better. And now all is right with the world--well, maybe not all, but some.

Has anything almost unexplainable happened to you lately? If so share.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Attend Bible Study tonight. Pray for our country and love one another.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Does thinking about times, places, events and just about anything else trigger a line from a song? As I though about how cold it is here this morning, the line from a song immediately came to mind.

It is cold here this morning. We had a freeze warning last night. I don't know if it actually got that cold, but I did hear my heat kick on a time or two during the night. The temperature all around us is in the 30's, and the high is supposed to hit 64. A cold front now means put on more clothes where as a month or so ago it meant there might be a cool breeze for a change.

If you are going out today, be sure to at least put on a sweater. As for myself, I have a sinus infection(seems to be the story of my life)so I'm staying home today. I started on anti-biotics Friday, and hopefully, they'll kick in soon. The last one I had lasted almost 5 months, with at least that many rounds of medicine, and finally a trip to an ear nose and throat dr who put me on Leviquin for 3 weeks. I've felt pretty good all summer, but looks like it's going to start up again. I don't know if this is just something I'm prone to do, or if my resistance is low. I've also started on Ester-C and vitamins again. When I feel good, I tend to forget about them.

I think I'm going back to bed for a while.

Hope you are having a great Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Nights in Rodanthe

I told you yesterday I was going to the movie last night to see Nights in Rodanthe. And I also told you I'd give my opinion here.

I read this book probably 2 maybe 3 years ago and absolutely loved it. I thought it was a good story plot and very well written. I am a big fan of Nicholas Sparks and have most of his books. The other books that have been made into movies(Message In a Bottle, The Notebook, The Wedding and A Walk to Remember) have all been great, and I thought stayed true to the book. I understand you have to have some fill in stuff, like memories of things that happened to bring the character to this point in life, and that's ok.

I also thought that by now, Sparks had made enough money that he wouldn't allow anyone to re-write his characters, along with where and how they fit into the story line. Obviously, I was wrong. Some of the people are missing, others have been added. The story line changed, not for the better.

My friend to my left had just re-read the book, so she was up on all the twists and turns. She immediately began pointing out the differences in the book and the movie. I won't tell you about the plot changes in the event you haven't read the book, and are planning to see the movie.

I'll allow you to read the book so you can spot the changes for yourself. It left me feeling sad for what had been done to such a good book. It was still a chick flick, girl loses boy, boy wants to come back, girl finds new boy, yada, yada, yada.

I found many of the scenes awkard with no flow, rhyme or reason. Oh yeah, and the beach house reminded me of the houses in Popeye. Everytime I saw the house, the song to Popeye came into mind.

There was some really good music in the movie. Diane Lane has had better material(Remember, Under The Tuscan Sun? and Unfaithful, the movie she was in with Richard Gere where she was an unfaithful wife?)

She was also in Lonesome Dove, which I'd totally forgotten about until I googled her.

And with that I will end my diatribe and move on.

Have you read any of Mary Kay Andrews' books? I'm reading my third one--Savannah Blues, I've read Itty Bitty Lies and Savannah Breeze. They take some pretty interesting twists and are funny at the same time.

What have you looked forward to for some time, and then was disappointed about? Happens to me all the time. Like the Pumpkin Patch, and other things that I think will be fun for the kids or me, only to be let down.

I am looking forward to spending the weekend with he gang up at the lake in a few weeks. The tourists will be gone and we'll have the place to ourselves. One of the girls and her family owns it. Thing is, I know I won't be disappointed when we go, we always have a good time when we're together.

Hope you are having the Friday you wished for. Pray for our country, and love one another.

It's Raining, It's Pouring and I Wish I was Snoring!

Oh, how I wished I could have stayed home in bed this morning. When I got up, I could hear the rain on the vent pipe for the water heater in the laundry room.

I opened the front door and saw it was raining that slow rain that we love to have in the summer, but it looked cold, like it does in the winter. I think the high today will be in the upper 50's. The rain is supposed to move out around lunch.

When I look at the rain, I wonder what kind of winter we will have. I hate wearing coats, and fortunately I only walk a few steps to the building in which I work, so a heavy coat is usually not necessary. And in this part of the country, it may be pretty cold in the morning, but by noon, you have to start shedding some of those warm clothes.

It's unusual for me to even wear turtlenecks with long sleeves. But, I look forward to the cold nights when I can bundle up, turn the heat down and snuggle under the covers with a good book.

We are going to see 'Night's in Rodanthe' tonight in honor of Janet's 60th birthday. I've read the book and will offer a review of how I think the movie compares to the book. I absolutely loved the book. But then I'm a fan of Nicholas Sparks(The Notebook, Bend In the Road, Message in a Bottle)

How is your day going? Did you have to get up and go to work or get to stay home and have coffee?

Have a fab Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Pumpkin Butter

I read several other blogs. Many of them have recipes with step by step instructions. While I'm sitting at my desk at work, I think how much fun it would be to make some of them at home. This is not withstanding the fact that by the time I get home, I'm pretty tired and the most strenuous activity I want to do is to eat and hold down my recliner while channel surfing(which, by the way, should be an olympic event) . At any rate, a week or so ago, Suzanne

from Chickens in the Road had been making Pumpkin Butter. Not to be outdone by her, I decided that I, too could make Pumpkin Butter. As you can see by the first picture, I used 4 pie pumpkins. The second picture after they had baked until fork tender.

They weren't too hard to cut into slices, and remove the seeds(which I saved for roasting--more on that later), then after they were fork tender, I removed the peelings, and pureed the fruit. I put it in my big Vison's Dutch Oven(don't have one of those fancy ones Pioneer Woman gives away) added all the ingredients and cooked it for 30 minutes stirring constantly(someone needs to invent a self-stirring pot). By the time I finished this task, my back was hurting and my arms were very tired.

And I ended up with 9 half pints of the butter(you only see 8 in the picture, by the time I made the picture, I'd already given one jar away, it was still warm). By the time I had filled each jar, all I had left was some on the spoon, so I licked that off. I decided it had a bit too much cloves for my taste, but I may feel different when I put it along with some butter on a hot biscuit. I have given two jars away, and have another one in a birthday gift for my friend Janet who turned 60 on Monday(I'm sure she'll just love knowing I've told the whole world how old she is).

I don't think I'll make any more. Although I did think about makeing some Sweet Potato Butter, using the same recipe except substituting sweet potatoes for the pumpkin, but then I really need those for Thanksgiving, and I might not be given any more.

My pumpkin butter was expensive to make. I paid over $6 for a dozen jars with lids. My pumpkins along with the apple cider ran a bit over $9, and I used sugar along with the spices which I aleady had. So, I probably won't make it again, unless sometime this winter I open a jar and fall head over heels in love with the stuff.

Oh and those seeds I roasted. I coated them in extra virgin olive oil, spread them on a cookie sheet and sprinkled them with just a bit of salt. Roasted them til they were a pretty shade of brown, let them cool, and they were awful. I trashed them.

I did save a few to plant in the event we have a garden next year. I should have access to a freezer, and can make Pumpkin Puree so we can have pumpkin pie next year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My oldest grandson loves pumpkin pie.

Do you try recipes only to find them either too difficult or they take too much time. Even I know the only real 30 minute meal is a sandwich and some chips. Isn't life a lot like trying new recipes. Often new things take longer than we feel we have time to devote, or they are just too much trouble. We tend to fall back to things that are familiar and easy. Just don't want to get out of that comfort zone.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Don't forget Bible Study tonight, and pray for our country. Don't forget to vote. But most of all, love one another.

Riley's Birthday Dress

Princess #2, aka Riley was six on October 11th, but due to circumstances I couldn't controll, didn't get to have her birthday party until this past Saturday. This is the corduroy jumper that I made for her. I would never have made it up trimmed in black, but that's what her mother wanted, so that's what I did, being the wonderful grandmother than I am. It turned out much better than I thought it would. Smocking on corduroy is difficult. I don't like using thimbles, so I have to do it in bits, so it took a while to get it done. I got her a black roundneck longsleeve pullover to wear under it. I hope it fits and she gets to wear it a lot. I put a lot of work into it, making the piping for everything takes a lot of time and then putting it in takes more. But it really adds to the dress. Happy 6th birthday Princess. I know you had a good time.

Friendship Questionnaire

As you can see on my left sidebar, I have a new award. It was given me by LisaJ at http://mynewthingtodo.blogspot.com/

It also has some friendship questions for me to answer. Here they are:

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood? I have 4 of my childhood friends that I'm very close to, Carolyn, Mary, Janet and Mona. We grew up together, raised children together, and are sharing grandchildren stories together now.


2. What do you value most about your friends? They love me warts and all and I them. They've seen me through some pretty tough times. Divorce, and a near death illness. We travel together, play games together, but most of all we laugh a lot--and I mean a lot.


3. Are your friends your sounding boards? Yes, I vent to them, and I try to be their sounding board as well. You can't live as long as we have and not had some burdens to bear, and we try to help each other carry them.


4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends? Just being together. We are all comfortable together. We don't judge each other, and we can truly be ourselves together. We also like playing Uno with the crazy machine that spits cards out at you.

I read the questions above to all fall along with the first one, that being childhood friends. However, they are not my only friends. We all have friends who come and go. The love you have for them lasts a lifetime; they leave a footprint on your heart. But I have a lot of friends with whom I'm close to at this time in my life.

There's Pat and Ellen who have become part of the 'gang'. We've all been on some crazy trips together. It was with these two that we played our first game of Uno Attack at a small house we rented on the lake a few years back. That was such fun. I think of the times we spent digging through antique stores in Hardy, and how much fun that was. The cruise we took one year just a couple of weeks before Christmas. The trips we've made to So Texas to see Carolyn. Needless to say, the seven of us have had a great time.

I have friends at church, Jamie is the first to come to mind. We've known each other a long time, but we love to sit together and visit(oops there's that talking problem again). She keeps me up on who is sick(she knows tons more people than I do) and what is going on. The ladies in our class, I don't have a personal relationship with, but I feel that I can tell them anything and along with our work, we have a great time.

Here at work there are friends too. Sara, Tonya, Deanna, Teresa--what can I say, I couldn't get through the day without them. They are smart, funny and caring. We help each other(ok, so they help me more than I help them). We laugh together, vent to each other and make being at work much more pleasant.

I am also blessed with two sisters-in-law that I can also call friends, Katherine and Joni. They are sweet precious people with whom I always have great times. We all share a sense of humor especially about our family that is great.

And don't let me forget all my blog friends. Naming them would be impossible and you all know who you are. I love reading about your families, although, I must confess, I get some of them confused. They are like visiting relatives at a family reunion. You can't remember which kids belong to which cousin. But I love you all.

A special thanks to LisaJ for the award. These qustions help remind me of how blessed I am to have so many people who have touched my life in such good ways.

Who has blessed you by being your friend for a day, a year or a lifetime? Tell me about a special friend you have, just try not to make me cry. It makes the people at work think something is wrong when they see me sitting at my desk crying.

I Proved It Yesterday

Yes, blog friends, I proved yesterday that I can say more about nothing than anyone you've ever seen.

I've always been a talker. I'm the youngest of my graduating class. I started to school when I was 5 and we didn't have kindergarten. You might think I did this because I was so smart, ha! Let me set the record straight on that one right here and now. I wasn't any smarter than the average 5 year old.

I have known for some time why my mother started me to school at the tender young age of 5. It was because she was tired of listening to me talk all the time. I also think that was probably the thing I got into trouble for most at school.

When I was a little girl between the third and fourth grade(probably 8), my family(mom, dad, my older brother and my new baby brother and my dad's sister's family) all went to see one of dad's uncles and aunt. They lived about a hundred miles and we all made the trip and stayed three or four days. It was quite exciting to take this trip. One of the things was that my older brother and I had to ride in the back of the truck all the way as did my cousins in the other truck, but I digress.

When we got there, other family members began to gather in. There were cousins I'd never seen before, and evidently we had a lot of lost time to make up. The first night we all went to bed--all us kids were on pallets on the floor, and I was so excited to find these long lost relatives that I just couldn't stop talking. My dad finally got up, took me outside and spanked me. I guess that was a mood breaker, because we all went to sleep.

Many years later, I had taken my children to the lake not too far from where these relatives lived, so one afternoon, we drove over and visited. I'll never forget one thing my great-uncle said when we visited that day. He said he'd never known one little girl could talk so much. I didn't take offense. I thought it was funny, and in truth, if he hadn't relayed the story, I couldn't have told it here, because I didn't really remember it all. Oh, I remembered the trip, and I remember the spanking--which probably hurt my pride much more than my behind, but I didn't remember that it all was because of my inability to shut my mouth.

Well guess what. I still find it hard to shut my mouth. I talk a lot(probably dominate conversations even though I don't mean to) and I'll absolutely talk to anyone. I even talked to a young man walking down the isle at Target today. Most people will talk to you if you start the conversation. Oh, and my son is just like me, maybe even more so. We can go into a restaurant in a town we've never been before, and before we leave, you really think he knew the people around us and was just catching up. He does this a lot with older people, and they all seem to love it.

Have you struck up a conversation with a stranger lately? You know we entertain angels unaware. I challenge you to do just that. While you are standing in line, or walking beside a stranger on the street, see if you can engage them in conversation. You may be the only person whose been kind enough to speak to them today. And it's fun, believe me. Try it and come back to this post and tell me about it. Betcha you'll feel better afterward.

Have a great Thursday. Pray for our country. But most of all, love one another.

Can't Find Anything To Say

If you read my blog, you may have noticed that I haven't posted in a few days. That's because I have absolutely nothing to say of any importance. I'd like to rant and rave about the political scene, but refuse to go there in this place.

Nothing of any consequence on TV to discuss, so that's out. Haven't been to a good movie lately, so nothing new to report there, so I'm just out of anything to talk about.

I seldom have an original thought or idea. So nothing new there--duh!

I will have a picture of the jumper I'm making for Princess #1 when I get it finished. I've worked on it like a mad woman, and I think I've made a big mistake on it, but I'm not going to tell you what it is and see if you can guess when you see it. Actually, I know I made one mistake and have remedied that, but the other, P#1 will just have to live with. Her birthday party is Saturday, and I only have Thursday night to finish it. I'm keeping Princess #3 Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday, so no sewing then. I may have a contest to see who can figure out my mistake.

When I used to point out my sewing mistakes to my first husband's grandmother, she would say one of two things: 1. Who will notice on a galloping horse(she knew my children could never be still)? or 2. Who'll remember a hundred years from now? She was a wise woman.

Oh yes, and I did make Chickens in the Road's Pumpkin butter Saturday morning. It turned out pretty good, but I probably won't make it again unless someone gives me pumpkins. Plus that cooking and stirring takes too long for the amount you end up with. I'm thinking about making Sweet potato butter since I do have a box full of them, just to see what happens with that.

Someone brought two grocery bags of peppers--hot peppers to the breakroom here at work. If there's any left this afternoon, I may try some hot pepper jelly.

What mistake have you made lately that you are having to live with? Did you hold onto that stock just one more day and then the market crashed? Tell me about it. I won't judge.

For someone who has little to say, I've said quite enough.

Have a great Wednesday. Pray for our country. Attend Bible Study tonight, and most importantly, love one another.

PS. Add Robbin with two B's http://cedarchestofdreams.blogspot.com/ to your prayer list. She's courageously trying to finish up chemo, and needs all our help and support.

And A Good Time Was Had By All

My Conasta group played cards last night. I think we had a better time last night than we have had in quite some time.

All but one of our group are grandmothers. We've got one late bloomer in the bunch. I'm going to tell you about our group. First and foremost we are all Christian women. We have two Methodist, two Church of Christ, and the rest are Baptist. Some of us have been playing for 24 years. We've lost some and we've picked up others along the way.

Mary has two children and four grandchildren. She works part time at several jobs. In the fall of the year she works at the gin, and she also keeps books for her son's farming operation and one of the law firms in town.

Pam has two boys and three grandchildren. She's been a farmer's wife all her married life and also now works at the Dr's office in town.

Carolyn has two girls and four grandchildren. She lost her husband about two years ago, and recently retired from the State Revenue Office.

Karen has two children, but no grandchildren yet. Her son is still in high school and her daughter is in college. She works at the bank in town.

Jennifer has three children and four grandchildren. She works for the University near where we live.

Janet has three children and four grandchildren. She works in a drug store in the next town near where we live.

Diane has one daughter and three grandchildren. She is a bookkeeper for a fellow who has several businesses in the next town near where we live.

Margaret has three children and three grandchildren. She works for the University near where we live.

Ellen has one daughter and two grandchildren. She is retired from the Social Security Administration.

Pat has two children and her daughter is expecting twins any minute. She is retired from a bank in the next town near where we live.

Finally there's me, who most of you have already heard enough about my children know I have three children and six grandchildren. I work for the University near where we live.

Back to card club last night. We played at Ellen's. She had her house beautifully decorated for fall and we enjoyed pork loin, potato casserolle, rolls and layered salad. For desert, we had fried chocolate pies, peanut butter fudge and decadent chocolate brownies. Let me tell you, it was great. In fact, I think we scrapped up every bite. We're old ok, not ladylike and delicate any more. We eat until we're miserable.

Then we played cards. Now to some people(who will not be named in this post and are unimportant since they don't play with us any more anyway)playing cards is a very serious game and they are 'out for blood'. You'd think the $25 prize was what they were going to have to live on for the next month. Honey, that ain't us. We laugh, we play, we talk, we even giggle. One thing for sure...we have fun.

You also have to remember that for some of us, this is the only time we see each other. Now all those Baptist gals see each other three times a week, but we Methodist and Church of Christ may not see some of them from one month to the next, so we have a lot of catching up to do.

What I'm trying to get across here is that playing cards is the pretext for us to get together and have a good time. We've grown up with each other over the years. We've raised our kids together and now we are raising our grandchildren. We compare notes, tell funny stories, and get to know this next generation through the eyes of someone who loves them unconditionally.

I wish all of you could have been there.

What pretext do you use to get a bunch of friends together? It could be a card group, maybe bunko, maybe Tuesday quilting, Thursday lunch for the retirees you worked with, ladies night at the local bingo parlor(do they still have those?) or a ladies Bible class/luncheon at church.

It is important that we do some of these type of things. Even though all the gals I listed above have families, there are people who don't have family near enough or mayby just don't have any family that need to be involved in activities outside the home.

Hope you are having a gorgeous fall Friday. Love one another and remember to pray for our country during these dire times.

Sometimes I Feel Like I've Fed the 5,000

We feed the college kids from the church and anyone they want to bring with them on Wednesday nights. Normally we feed 15 to 17. But last night we fed 24. I know that doesn't seem like a it would make much difference, but it acutally does.

We try to make a home cooked type meal. Last night was breakfast. Jennifer does all the work of deciding what to have and getting it together and hauling it to the church kitchen. She's a stay at home mom with two girls who are in school. Since I work, I just show up and help get everything ready for serving. They go through the line buffet style and we get their drinks for them.

The thing we like to do for them is to make it as much like home as possible since so many of them live in dorms or apartments. One of the ways we like to do that is to use real plates, glasses and tableware. So when they are finished, all the plates and glasses go into a commercial dishwasher which takes about 5 minutes to actually wash the dishes. We hand wash the tableware and any pots and pans or bowls we use.

They are usually very hungry, and make it through the line quickly. They get to eat at one or two big tables and have fellowship. Once they finish eating they don't linger too long since the first ones to go to class get to sit on the sofa's in their classroom. And they bring their dishes to the sink(don't know if they do that at home, but we're trying to train them as best we can). My job is to spray the dishes and load them into trays and put them in the dishwasher. This is where the most of the work is. We run each load twice. While I do that, Jennifer is putting away what is left of the food, and I start washing the tableware and the pots and pans.

We try to get this all finished before class starts. She teaches 4 year olds, and I attend a ladies bible class. Last night we were a bit behind schedule. The casseroles didn't want to get finished, and since eggs were involved in one of them, we had to wait. This pushed us cleaning up. Needless to say the perspiration was dripping off the back of my hair.

Normally we get everything finished before the 7:00 bell, but not last night. After class while everyone was in the auditorium for devotional, I finished cleaning up. I know Jennifer was surprised. She had to leave about 10 to 7 since she was teaching, so she didn't know how much I got finished before hand.

By the time I get home on Wednesday night, this old woman is ready to hit the sack. But I enjoy the kids. It's good to hear the laughter and see the friendship they have for each other. Some of them only see each other at church, so they are all eager to catch up on the week.

Tonight is Conasta. I'm anxious to see everyone. I don't see all these gals through the month, and we always have a lot of catching up to do. I'll report what we ate and if I won in my post tomorrow.

Talking about not seeing people regularly. Are there people you only see occasionally who are important to you--people you wish you saw more often? How do you keep in touch with those people? Tell me about those people in your life you'd like to see more often.

Have a great beautiful fall Thursday. Pray for our country, more than ever right now. Love one another.

The Cotton Has Been Picked

These are just three random pictures of the cotton being picked across the street from me. I had been having a pretty busy Saturday morning, and had sat down to rest. I drifted off only to be awakened by this loud roaring noise(yes these things are noisey). I knew

immediately what the noise was. I jumped up, grabbed by camera and headed outside. I got these three pictures, and went back inside. He seemed to have a bit of a problem navigating around the tree that belongs to the house on the right which you cannot see. But he made it around quite nicely. The next step in the process is to cut the stalks. This has to be done by sometime in February. Many farmers go ahead and cut them as they pick, and go over the field with the bedding equipment and then it's almost ready next spring. They don't spend as much time turning the dirt over as they used to, what with gas prices what they are.

Speaking of which, I heard on the radio that gas was 2.95 at the stations in Caruthersville, MO this morning. Here in NE Arkansas, it's still about 3.29.

Did anyone see the debate last night. Wasn't that a joke. I don't think one of the specially selected questions got a decent answer from either candidate. Who won? That's always a big question. I don't think anyone was a clear winner, but of course the Dems think Obama did and the Reps think McCain did. Thank goodness we only have about another month of this, and when it's all over the loser will vow his undying commitment to the new administration. Let's be clear here, I hold a grudge longer than that. If I were the loser, I would simply say You win, and go off somewhere and cry.

Too bad we couldn't have been with all those AIG folks who went off to the 400,000. spa after taking a chunk of tax payer money to keep them afloat.

I've rambled enough this morning. Hope you have a great Wednesday. Attend Bible Study tonight, Love one another and please pray God Bless America! I think we need all the help we can get.

Falling Down On My Blog!

I'm behind on my blog once again. For this I am truly sorry. Things have been busy in my neck of the woods. We took Superhero to Pumpkin Hollow Saturday night. The contractor said that if anyone had told him he would ever pay money to walk around in someone's corn field, he'd have said they were crazy.

But he did anyway, and the evening not counting the gas to get us there cost him about 70 dollars. There was the cost to get in, the cost for the hayride and visiting the friendly forest, and two pumpkins. We had burgers before we got there, which is included in the 70.

But Superhero had a great time. He went through the friendly forest, then a small maze and wanted to do it again, but it was time to ride back to the starting place and home.

This next weekend there will be a petting zoo at the campus farm. It's FREE, so we're going to take the kids out to that also.

Hope you are having a great Tuesday. God Bless America! Love one another.

Wonderful Wednesday

It has been a beautifully, wonderfully, excitingly, gorgeous day here in NE Arkansas. I wish you were here and we were all outside enjoying it. There isn't a cloud in the sky. There's a light breeze blowing and it would be absolutely grand to be in a hammock somewhere between two trees.

At night, the temperature has been cool enough that you can sleep with your windows open. You get to hear all the night sounds(and where's that mockingbird when you want to listen to him sing?) We've had a lot of what we call dry flies singing lately too. They are just a constant high pitched buzz. I noticed one had bitten the dust this morning as I left for work. He was lying belly up on my front porch.

I failed to rise and shine as early as usual this morning. Slept right up until that alarm went off. I knew as soon as I woke up there was something I was going to do before work this morning, but couldn't think what it was(what else is new?)

I did make it to work though, and it has been a busy day. Meetings this morning and a hectic afternoon in view of the fact that I couldn't find my sick list I was supposed to update for class tonight. But that's what I get for procrastinating. If I had attempted to take care of it on Monday, I'd have realized that I don't have my Bible, and that I needed to make a concentrated effort to find it.

I didn't find it in my car. I drove home and it wasn't there. I went to the church building and it wasn't there, so with the help of a friend, we worked on the old one, and hopefully got it up to date enough that we can use it. Maybe by Sunday I will have found the old one and my Bible, and can have a more useful one by then.

What have you procrastinated on this week? Maybe something you should have done last week?

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Love one another. Don't forget Bible Study tonight.

My Tribute To Paul Newman

I received the following storey via email one day. I can't possibly know if it's true, but even if it isn't, those of us who have adored those blue eyes for so long can relate to the lady's delimma in the following story.

A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing in a small New England town where Paul Newman and his family often visited.

one Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take a long walk. After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone.

She hopped in the car, drove to the center of the village and went straight to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor.

There was only one other patron in the store: Paul Newman, sitting at the counter having a doughnut and coffee.

The woman's heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact with those famous baby-blue eyes. The actor nodded graciously and the star struck woman smiled demurely.

Pull yourself together! she chides herself. You're a happily married woman with three children, you're forty-five years old, not a teenager!

The clerk filled her order and she took the double-dip chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the other. Then she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in Paul's direction.

When she reached her car, she realized that she had a handful of change but her other hand was empty.

Where's my ice cream cone? Did I leave it in the store? Back into the shop she went, expecting to see the cone still in the clerk's hand or in a holder on the counter or something! However, no ice cream cone was in sight.

With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman.

His face broke into his familiar, warm, friendly grin and he said to the woman, "You put it in your purse."

He was a great actor, but a better Philanthropist. He went about his life helping others with his good fortune. He said one time it was sad that his salad dressing made more money than his movies. But he even gave that away.

We could all do more for those less fortunate than we. I'm going to try to be better about that. How about you?

Hope you are having a great Tuesday. Love one another.

Images of Cotton

The best I remember, these were the first pictures of the cotton growing in front of my house. It had started to bloom in this picture.

This picture was taken a short time later when the bolls had begun to form.

The next picture was taken a few days after it was sprayed. Since the days of mechanical pickers, cotton has been defoliated to get the leaves off so as not to end up in the bales of cotton.

I thought that now days, they also mixed a chemical with the defoliant that caused the bolls to open so the cotton could all be picked at one time. My friend Sherry and I were discussing this the other day. Her husband is also a cotton farmer. She said it was put on in two different applications. I don't know if the second application has been done in this picture, but the cotton has opened a lot in about a week.



This picture was taken the same day as the last one. You can see there are still some bolls to open. I think Ms Sherry knows a heap about farming operations. I'm just a city dweller these days and often assume I know more than I do. It won't be long until this cotton will be history. They will pick it(maybe they'll do it on a Saturday so I can get some pictures) put it into modules and the retriever truck will come and haul it away.

There is a passage in the Bible talking about going out and converting people, and it mentions that the harvest is white. Do you think it referred to cotton as we know it? We do know there is Egyptian cotton. I have a set of sheets that are Egyptian. Do you think they raised it in Jesus' day?

I know that reaching out to people is very hard for most of us. Reaching out to grab those cotton bolls is hard too, which you know if you've ever picked any cotton. Maybe there's a comparison there, or maybe I'm reaching a bit.

We all need to reach out. If not to help someone become a Christian, then maybe just to be a friend or to give someone a helping hand.

Have you reached out to anyone lately? Share it with me.

Hope you are having a great Monday. Mine has been busy. Love one another.

What's on Your Agenda Today?

Many of us have places to go, things to do, and are very busy. What about you? What are you doing today?

For me, it's Friday, and I'm working today. We've already gotten the important decision of the day made and that's to go to Shorty Small's for lunch. I talked with one of my co-workers who is off today, and she is taking her cat to the vet, and then she and her mom are cleaning house.

But I don't know what the rest of you will do, so leave me a short(or long) comment and tell me what your day will include. Doesn't have to be anything exciting or earth shattering(like those trying to decide on the bail out plan in DC). And if you have any thoughts on the bail out plan, you can voice them here. I watched Fox news last night for about 4 hours, and the whole thing scares me a lot.

Hope it's a great Friday where you are. Love one another.

The Great Exercise Machine

Let me tell you about this little rock and roll machine. And if you watch this video, that's me on the stepper--yes you know I'm lying through my teeth.

It is sitting in my living room, and I have used it about 5 times. I can't stay on it more than about 2 minutes, but maybe I can work up to 5. I got on it this morning and watched the time so I would be sure to stay at least 2 minutes. By the time I got off of it, my legs were rubbery. I'm still holding on most of the time for balance. When I get brave enough to turn loose and do other things, I may be rubbery all over.

I'm certainly not promoting this product, at least not yet. If it works, I may make my own video and put it on Utube. Maybe I should start that now. Video me now and then in a few weeks and then when I'm slim, trim and buff. Well, so maybe never buff, but at least not so out of breath all the time.

I think next week, I'm going to bring it to work one day and let everyone here try it. I've been telling them about my new toy. They'd have to sign something saying I'm not liable if they hurt themselves on it, but I think it would be fun for them to try it.

As for the South Beach Diet, I did have the book, and I looked at it. I just don't know if I can live without carbs. I do love them so, especially rice and sphagetti, and just about any other type of pasta and the veggies that I love most are on the Do Not Eat These list.

Oh, and by the way, I woke up this morning thinking it was Friday. How disappointing!

Have you been disappointed lately? If so, tell me about it. Maybe I should start an advice blog. I have a lot to give, just not too much anyone wants to take.

Hope you are having a great Friday--oops I mean Thursday. Love one another.

Exercise--YUK!!!

As many of you know, I'm an exercise junkie. I know--you are in the floor rolling holding your sides while you die laughing. Actually, if you know me, you know that I have avoided exercise like the plague.

Last year, I signed up to work with a personal trainer here on campus. The exercise science students needed live bodies, so I thought, knowing there is someone depending on my showing up might be the motivation I needed to exercise. And I did. I missed one meeting with her, and I let her know I wasn't coming.

I had gotten to where I could do several crunches, I could walk for 15 minutes without stopping, and I had gotten to feeling better. Not winded all the time, and had more energy. But when the session was over, did I continue to walk and exercise? The resounding answer to that question is a big FAT NO I did not. And now I'm right back where I started from.

I keep saying I'm going to get started back, but I don't. A week or so ago, I was watching QVC. We all know how dangerous that is, but I watched it anyway. Tony Little was hawking an exercise machine that is small enough to hide in the closet. Just the thing for me, I thought. If I don't like it, I can hide it since it's much smaller than say a treadmill, or a bicycle, or a stepper. All this thing involves is a thing that is a half circle with foot treads. You stand on it and rock from side to side. You are supposed to walk on it no longer than 5 minutes, 2 or 3 days a week.

It came day before yesterday. I opened it when I got home yesterday, put on my walking shoes, brought a chair in so I would have some support(I fully expected to kill myself on it) and began rocking from side to side. Remember 5 minutes is the max when you first start. I don't think I even made it 2. The top of my upper thighs began burning, really burning. And by the time the 2 minutes were up, sweat was pouring off my head.

I left it in the middle of the living room floor. I can do that since I live along, and besides I thought that if a burglar came in, he'd trip over it(It's obviously multi-functional) This morning before I started getting ready for work, I got on it again. I was a little steadier, but held onto the chair for balance anyway. And I probably made it 2 minutes. I took it slow and easy, but realized I had jus a bit of soreness where my legs had burned the day before.

As God as my witness, I'm going to continue to use this thing. I'll watch the videos too and work out a plan.

I also read yesterday that the South Beach Diet is good for you if you have GERD. And since I have a complete library of diet books, I have plucked it from the shelf and am hoping to get started on that.

I'm not very good at keeping commitments I make to myself, especially when there's work involved. Maybe by sharing with my very best friends, I'll stick to it.

Have you made any personal commitments lately? If you have and need someone to crack the whip and make you stick to them, just tell all your friends about it here. And we'll do our very best to keep you on track.

Have a wonderful Wednesday. Attend Bible Study tonight. Love one another.

Do You Crave Food?

I guess the people who crave certain foods are usually pregnant women. Although I can't remember ever craving any specific foods. Never wanted pickles and ice cream, or anything like that. And never in the middle of the night. In our small town nothing was open after 6:00pm anyway, so you were pretty much out of luck for strange concotions.

Well yesterday I got up wanting Captain D's fish, and until around 10:30 I fully intended to go there for lunch. Then I got to wanting a baked potato from McAlisters and that was what I ended up eating. The other thing was Spanish Rice. I haven't made that in years, but it sounded really good and since I had everything at home to make it, I was going to do that as soon as I got home. Then as I was reading a few of my favorite blogs, chicken and dumplings were discussed. So, that's what I had when I got home last night, and I brought some for lunch today. They weren't the greatest dumplings I've ever had. They had no chicken in them, just canned chicken broth, but they were ok. They weren't like those my children't great-grandmother used to make. Hers were light, fluffy and tasted like a slice of Heaven. Let me tell you that lady could cook.

I'm not quite sure what is going on with me. I don't usually think about specific foods, I just usually think about all foods. But this is really strange. Now I know for a fact that I'm not pregnant--that is unless Jesus is planning to make his way back to earth again, and we know that's not going to happen. I just can't explain it. And I certainly don't need to start something new. Heaven knows I don't need any more reasons to eat. In fact, I need to be cutting food out of my diet. I need to lose weight rather than gain it, which is what I do most of the time.

Have you had any cravings lately? I guess they could be most anything, not just food. I used to tell my grandson(Superhero) that I was hungry to see him. I wonder if he thought I was going to eat him?

Have a great Tuesday. Love one another.

First Day of Fall

It's the first day of fall, and you can already tell a difference. We may still have some hot weather, but I think we are finished with the 99+ temps. The nights are getting cooler, and we had some rain this weekend.

I'm definitely ready for cooler weather. I don't like the intense heat of the South, and think I should have been born an eskimo.

Today I have a question. I don't express my political views on this blog or much of anywhere else. I really don't feel qualified to try to sway anyone to my way of thinking. I just pray for the best outcome for our country. But my question is this:

If you are old enough and registered to vote, are you going to exercise that right?

I've heard a few people make the statement that they either don't like or trust the candidates, or have genuine concerns about them, and since they can't seem to decide who would be best, they just aren't going to vote.

I hope you are having a happy Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Another Child's Birthday

Forty Two years ago today my first child was born. She came into this world about 9:30a.m. She weighed 9lbs 3 ozs and was 21 inches long. After posting pictures of her younger sister, she warned me that if I posted pictures of her, I would be headed straight for Greene Acres(that's the nursing home she constantly threatens me with). She didn’t really want any acknowledgement of her birthday, so after you read this, it will self-destruct.

She was a good baby, easy to take care of, and always pleasant. I was blessed with three babies that soon slept through the night and the first two never had colic or any of the things that so many babies have.

I was very young when I had her, so I think we grew up together. She was two when her baby brother came along, and I grew up with both of them.

She had fun in school, was a cheerleader, played basketball and softball, and had three friends with whom she seemed to be joined at the hip. They even took a truck on a joy ride when they were about 14. She was the driver. I don’t know if she’d ever driven before, but she and her three friends went to the store one Sunday afternoon to get some candy, and on the way home met the local policeman. When they met him, she(the driver) ducked and he met a vehicle that seemed to have no driver.

I don’t even remember if he stopped them, followed them home or what, but they got into trouble. Fortunately, there was no jail time involved, and no damage done to their permanent records. Just a little trouble sitting for a while.

We lived in a small town during a time when the kids were free to roam around town and not have to worry about them getting hurt, kidnapped or shot. You know, kids just didn’t shoot kids back then. I think about To Kill A Mockingbird when I think about the times my children grew up in. It was a much simpler time back then. I grew up on a farm and roamed the entire width and length of it, and the woods beyond it. And even though my children grew up in town, they were pretty much free to roam the width and length of it.

They knew that if they did anything wrong, I’d hear about it. Someone would rat them out, and they’d get in trouble. They rode bikes, played in the park and probably did a lot of things I didn’t know about, and still don’t want to know about.

She now has two boys of her own. One is over 21, and the other is 11. She is and has always been a good mother. I love the child she was and the woman she has become(except that find a death thing she does on the internet) That’s a little weird.

What kind of freedom did you have as a child that is gone with the wind? Wouldn’t it be nice to go back to those days?

Enjoy your Friday. Love one another.

Work of Love

The pictures today are the ones I meant to post yesterday, but didn't get them transferred from my home pc to work, so I'm posting the better ones today.

I also crocheted the little bonnet you see with the daygown. The pattern was in an old Leisure Arts magazine I have.


Will from Teensy and the Boys and Spoon by Spoon asked yesterday if I had made the daygown. Yes, I did. From start to finish. I smocked for my youngest daughter and am now smocking for my three grandchildren and family members. I've been sewing since I was about 10. My mother started me sewing by allowing me to hem flour sack dishtowels.

I also have a smocking machine, called a pleater. Couldn't get by without it.
This is my nephew and wife who we got to spend some time with last night. They are a really sweet young couple and we have embraced Amanda into our family.

They didn't know we planned the small family shower, so it was a surprise. We ordered our food, and while we waited, they opened their gifts. They say timing is everything, and just as they opened the last gift our food came.

We had great fried catfish(no place but in the south can you find such good catfish). And this place is noted for their hush puppies. They are the best I've ever tasted.

They also have pickled green tomatoes on the menu and they are really good too. We were all full and happy when we left. We probably won't get to see them again before the baby is born, but we'll see them in the spring for sure.

PS. I heard Ryan, Eric's younger brother and about to be grad from college, got his hair cut. We had teased him about it when we saw him in May. He said he would have to get it cut before he started looking for a job, so he was going to let it grow while he could.

Have you had a good time with family recently? If so, share with me.

Have a good Thursday. Love one another.

Visiting with Relatives

I don't know about you, but I get really excited about seeing most of my relatives. You noticed that 'most' in the first sentence. And there are some more special to me than others.

Today, we will have dinner with my nephew and his sweet wife who are visiting from Kentucky. They are expecting their first child in January. In fact on my birthday which is on the 3rd, in case I haven't ever, ever told you. They of course for tax purposes would like the blessed event to happen prior to midnight December 31, but who knows, maybe, just maybe she'll come on the 3rd of January-did I say that was my birthday? In that event, we will have a special bond, just pray she doesn't look like me.

I have been working on a special daygown for her, and this is the picture of the back. It's not very clear, I actually had better, but was trying to get them uploaded from home this morning and accidentally hit the same two pictures twice.


The next one is a picture of the bottom. I put a lot of work into this little gown because I know she will appreciate it, and because the baby may be born on my birthday. I also have a crocheted baby cap/bonnet for her too. It is made from bedspread cotton, and probably shouldn't be worn with the daygown, because the whites are different. I'll post a picture of that tomorrow.

As you can see, I put quite a bit of embroidery around the bottom also. The work that looks like rick-rack isn't. It's a technique that uses some of your embroidery thread. You hem the bottom on the machine using a longer stitch than usual, and you work the embroidery thread in and out of the stitches. My children's great grandmother did this to all the dresses she made my children. I wish I had kept some of them even though they were worn out. She didn't smock though. She didn't have time. She put tucks in the yokes for fullness, which I have seen on some heirloom patterns. It gave fullness to the bottom without having to gather anything either.

The kids all called her Cotton. Her last name was Carpenter, and some of the first grandchildren attempted to call her grandma Carpenter, and it came out grandma Cotton. Then over the years it got shortened to mama Cotton. Then my kids shortened it to just Cotton. Whatever they called her, she was one of the most wonderful women I have ever known. When asked what woman/women made a profound difference in my life, she is always right there on top.

I've digressed from my original post about the kids coming tonight. We are all looking forward to seeing them. Kentucky is quite a ways from Arkansas, so we don't get to spend much time with them. But we'll have fun tonight--I'll try to take some pictures.

I hope you are seeing someone special tonight. If so, tell me about it.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Attend Bible study. Love one another.

Fall Is In The Air

Yesterday morning I turned on the heater in my vehicle for a few minutes. I needed to this morning, but didn't. I woke up to 50 degree weather outside, and at some point last night turned off the fan over my bed.

Fall is definitely in the air. I love the fall with all the bright colors. I love going up in the mountains where the foilage is so colorful. I've planted some mums and pansies in my pots, aren't you proud of me? I dumped all the soil out of the pots since it had so much fertilizer in it and started over. So far they are doing well. My son, took my fertilizer away from me. He treats me like I'm four, but then I guess I act that way some time.

I need to clear up something for daughter #2 about the rock in the picture with the zucchini bread. I have a collection of rocks-sorta. First let me clarify, it is my understanding that it is a rock when it's in its natural habitat. Once it is removed, it becomes a stone. I have a rock(stone) that my friend and I picked up in Savannah. Actually, we nudged it out of the street there and carried it around for a couple of hours before putting it into my suitcase and bringing it home.

Then I have the stone that was in the picture that I picked up on a business trip(sightseeing on top of a mountain). I have another friend who brought me a Petoskey stone from the Lake Michigan area. I have a stone I picked up on Skyline Drive in Virginia, and a couple of stones from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Tennessee.

My co-worker brought me a stone from Seattle, WA while visiting her neice, and my daughter-in-law brought me one from Yellowstone National Park on their trip to Wyoming. Some of these stones are relatively small. You can hold them in the palm of your hand, while others are a bit larger and even though you can hold them with one hand, they are bigger than the palm. The largest of my stones are those I got in Virginia and Tennessee.

It's strange how collections begin. This collection has evolved slowly and probably only became a collection of sorts in the last year or so. I also have a collection of crystal/glass bells. It has taken me years to collect them. I also consider my assortment of crystal/glass to be a collection. None of these are worth a great deal of money, but I like to look at them, and use them whenever I can. Most pieces have some sort of story that goes with them. Some just stuff I've picked up. But it's something I enjoy.

I think the thing I have collected the most of is friends. Sometimes I think I don't have but maybe one or two, but just mentioning how I acquired the stones showed that I have several friends. During an illness several years ago, I realized I had a lot of friends. This is my most treasured collection. You can hug a stone or a piece of glass, but both are cold and can't hug you back, but a friend--not only can you get a warm loving hug, but you can give one as well.

What do you collect? I would really like to know.

Have a wonderful Tuesday. Love one another.

Back To The Grind

It's back to work today and about a ca-zillion emails that had to be addressed. A lot were junk. Some were funny, and a few of them actually pertained to work. Sometimes it takes at least a half a day just to wade through.

I had checked my email up through Wednesday, so the ca-zillion was a bit of a stretch, but from Wednesday to this morning, there were 96. That is almost a ca-zillion, right? Anyway, I have worked through them and am on to better things.

I got a lot of housework done last week, had fun with friends and acted like a zombie Friday. We went out for Daughter#2's birthday and ate Chinese. I brought Princess#2 home with me, and we pretty much crashed.

Saturday morning after I cooked her favorite 'eggies' as she calls them, we started watching cartoons. Around 9ish Superhero came to play with P#2. You know, it's actually easier to keep two than one? When I just had one, I was necessary. After Superhero came, they entertained each other and I returned to being a zombie. They only needed me when they were hungry, which was twice. The rest of the time they played and were very well behaved.

I had cleaned up the room where the toys are kept, and before they left, they were required to pick up everything they had gotten out and put it up--and they did.

After they left, I returned to my altered state until time to get ready for the Senior Appreciation Banquet at church. I don't consider myself to be a senior since I'm only 59--even though AARP does, but I had invited the lady I've been taking to church so we left about 5:00 for that. We had a wonderful meal prepared by the ladies, and served entirely by the jr high school kids. We wanted for nothing. They were sweet, polite and johnny on the spot.

The entertainment was a group of young adults who calls themselves Soul's Anchor'. They sang old songs and a couple of new ones. They were very good. Then the kids who had served, sang a couple of songs. We each had a favor to take home with us. My little lady really enjoyed herself and got to see some people she hadn't seen in a while.

As Ike made his way through our area during the night, several places were without electricity, and even though ours was on, we didn't know if there would be power at church. We got there right about 9, and the power came on as we approached the building. The early service went on without power. We have some windows that are long and narrow and are made of glass blocks that allow in light but not anything else. They moved everyone to one side and continued. We only have about 150 to 175 for first service, so they fit nicely along the wall.

We were very fortunate to have so few problems from Ike. He certainly made a mess of the Texas coast. My heart goes out to all those who lost loved ones, homes and property.

So what is your opinion of all these hurricanes? Do you think God is trying to give us a wake up call? I hear people say that. What is your opinion.

Hope you are having a great Monday. Love one another.

My Vacation Is Almost Over--Boo Hoo!

I've been on vacation all week, and I hated to see Friday come. When I'm at work, it can't come fast enough, but not this week.

I spent the week doing my favorite thing--cleaning, deep cleaning. And yes, that was a joke, not the cleaning part, but it being my favorite thing. But it's done, and I can enjoy having a clean house for a while. The sad part is, my body is paying for it. When I got up this morning, I was stiff as a board, and my hands and feet were swollen something awful.

We played cards here last night-now you know the reason for the cleaning- and even though I did most of my cooking ahead, I still had a lot of last minute things to do. One of those was to make zucchini bread. Recipe at the bottom.

A friend from work brought me a very large zucchini. I was a bit worried that it was too big and wouldn't make good bread. So I decided to peel it and remove the seeds to see what I had.

Here are the results. I needed 2 cups loosely packed, and I ended up with 7 and 1/2 cups. I put the rest into ziplock bags, marked them and froze them.

This is my list of ingredients. I've learned to gather everything together rather than to get them as I need them. It sure makes it handier(is that a word?) than having to constantly go fetch what I need. It also helps me make sure I have everything before I start. Notice the clock in the upper left. It says 6:30, and it was 6:30 AM. You may also notice the rock on the left side. A friend and I were in Palm Desert, CA a few years ago and I picked it up on a mountain we rode a tram to reach the top. I collect rocks, some a bit larger than that one, and some much smaller.

The recipe makes two loaves, and here's how they looked just before going into the oven.

And here they are out of the pans. Don't they look yummy? Believe me they are, and I have an almost empty plate to prove it. I froze one for later.

My fear of the zucchini being too big to use was groundless. They turned out just fine, and the texture and taste were wonderful.

Here's the recipe I used. I found it on the internet, and as I gathered up my ingredients, I noticed there are no spices in this recipe. I think the next time I make it, I may pour half the batter in one pan, then add some cinnamon, or something else in the remaining batter to see if I like one better than the other.

Zucchini Bread.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded zucchini - loosely packed
1 cup chopped walnuts(black walnuts are my preference), I think you could use pecans too.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and oil. Stir in eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition(I cheat here, I put them in all at once and where the recipe says 'stir', I use the lowest setting on my mixer), stir in vanilla. Blend this misture into the flour mixture, adding in the sour cream; stir just to combine. Fold in the zucchini and nuts. Mix all together(I did use a spoon to do this)

Pour evenly into pans, bake in a preheated oven for 80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Mine baked up just fine in about 60 minutes.

I let them set for a few minutes in the pan, then turned them out onto a wire rack. I put them into gallon zip lock bags.

Even though I've worked hard on my house this week, I've enjoyed being home. But it will be back to the grind on Monday.

Have you tried a new recipe this lately? I also made two sausage, egg recipes to go along with my other food for my get-together last night. I'll post those soon, and Oh Christina, they were both very good. I've had a couple of calls from the girls who were here last night telling me how good the food was. I think every one had a good time, and they all went home with a jar of my peach preserves. And thanks to Mary for making the chocolate gravy. It was quite a hit as well.

Hope you are having a great Friday. Love one another.

Lest We Forget

Today is a day none of us want to remember, unless it's your birthday, or wedding anniversary, but we who are living can all remember where we were and what we were doing on this day. It is as the FDR said when Pearl Harbor was bombed, 'A day that will live in infamy'.

I was at work, the fellow in the cube across from me came over and sat down in a chair in my cube and with a voice that was breaking told me what had happened. His wife had called and told him. I stared at him in disbelief for what seemed like minutes, but was only seconds and tears began to run down my face. I was terrified that life as we knew it was probably over. As the days and weeks wore on, it was our only topic of conversation.

Troublesome times are here, filling men's hearts with fear, freedoms we all hold dear, now are at stake....it ends with....Christians Awake. This is part of a song we sing and even though it pertains to our souls and salvation, it seems very fitting. I woke up with this in my head this morning.

Then I watched the Today show(remember, I'm on vacation this week--hooray for me!), and one of the segments was 'What's wrong with our public schools'. Well, let me tell you, I know the answer that question. So if you want to hear my opinion, read on, else, go see if Suzanne got any milk from Clover this morning, or if maybe her chickens laid any eggs, and I'm not belittling her blog, cause I never miss it, it's just that her daily stuff is so cute and fun.

I digress. What's wrong with our public schools? Let me go back a generation or two. If you are a baby boomer(and I am), and if you grew up in a middle class or lower family(and I did), at least one of your parents and maybe both didn't have an opportunity to finish or maybe even to go school. My mother finished 8th grade, which is as far as her school went, and my dad made it part way through the 5th. He and the teacher had a falling out(which means he probably got in trouble) and didn't go back.

That's not to say my parents weren't intelligent, they just didn't have the opportunities most of the rest of us had. Schoolin' and book larnin' just wasn't terribly necessary to farm 40 acres and as long as my mother could read a recipe, a dress pattern, milk a cow and gather eggs, that was all she needed.

Probably the single most intelligent person I have ever known was my first husband's grandfather. If these people had half the opportunities we have, there is not limit to what they could have done.

Many people were able to go on to finish educations, and we can look around and see their accomplishments.

With that bit of history, let me tell you that the one thing my dad pounded--no beat into our heads--my two brothers and myself, was that we not only needed all the education we could get, he was going to make sure we at least had a 12th grade diploma. And he was very proud that we all did that. Being the middle child, I think he probably wondered about my ability, but I hung in there and finished.

And that was the thing. Our parents wanted us to have what they didn't. They wanted us to know more, do more, be more and yes, have more.

But then along comes the seeds of complacency. We did get on that big yellow bus and go to school, we did participate in the programs the school offered, and our parents were involved as much as possible. Then what happened to us, we just didn't see quite the importance our parents did, then our children just didn't see quite the importance that we did, and so on and so forth down the line.

Before long we began to lose sight of why and how this country was founded. We began to lose sight of the blood that was and is still being shed that we can continue to go to school, to be free to make the choices about what college or university we want to attend. We don't look at it as a privilege, but just something that's out there and some one owes it to us.

I'm not a world traveler, and I don't know a lot about third world countrys first hand, but I have been to Mexico a few times and what I notice is that the children who are being educated are being done so privately. No money--no education. That's for those of privilege. What if it were that way here. How many of you reading this post today would have a high school diploma or a batchelor's degree or maybe even a masters or doctorate? I know I probably wouldn't.

We are allowing children under the age of 18 to rule our schools. We as parents don't allow them to be disciplined. Let me address that for a second. If we(mostly me) got into trouble at school, and if we should happen to get a paddling, then when my dad found out about it, we got another one. And believe me the first one may have been humiliating, but the second one was very painful. How many kids have that fear today. I don't believe in beating anyone, child or adult, but the Bible says,'spare the rod and spoil the child'. And that is what is happening.

If you are over the age of 50, how many spoiled children did you grow up with? I dare say not too many. If you have children or grandchildren under the age of 18, how many spoiled children do you know? I dare say you probably know a lot. We need to unspoil these children, teach them to accept some responsibilty and become viable human beings as they go out into the world. And hoping they will do better when they are grown just 'ain't gonna happen'. Instead, we are going to need about 50 more Dr Phil shows.

It's time for me to get off my soap box. You may not agree with me, but that's ok, I love you anyway. And it's time for me to go back to enjoying my vacation(gotta go see if Clover gave any milk today)--hooray for me.

Have you got an opinion about schools? If so, share it here. I'd love to hear it(I think).

PS. Thanks Will from Teensy and The Boys for those kind words about me on your blog.

Have a wonderful Thursday. Love one another.

She's How Old?

First things first. I promised cotton pictures today. As you can see, it is beginning to change colors and the bolls are beginning to open. They sprayed a chemical that defoliates and opens the bolls about a week ago. The gins will soon begin to run, and in just a few weeks, the harvest will be complete. I noticed yesterday and last night several big trucks going past my house. This, I decided, is corn being hauled. Either they are emptying the bins for this years harvest or they are hauling it out as they cut it. Either way, that won’t take long either.


As of 9:00PM last night, my youngest daughter was the big 3 0. She took offense to the fact that I failed to mention it on my blog yesterday, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about her this morning.

There are several years between she and her older siblings. She came home from school one day and asked if she was an accident. I told her she was the best accident I had ever had. I still feel that way today. She was a joy as a little girl and was almost never in trouble. In fact as I’ve been writing this, I really can’t remember her getting into trouble.

She did have a principal at school that also went to church with us, and he managed to call her to the office every day and measure the length of her shorts. It was only when she refused to go to the class he taught on Sunday morning that she finally told me. I had a chat with our minister, who decided it was time for him to teach the teenagers for a while.

Had I known about this when it began, I’d have measured him a time or two, but she wouldn’t let me make a fuss about it

She got herself up every day and got ready for school(and no, I wasn’t a lush who couldn’t do that). I bought her an alarm clock when she started to school. I worked 3rd shift and it was necessary for her to get up and around because I got home just in time to take her to school. By the time she started to school, her older sister was a senior in high school and her brother was in 10th grade. Being the responsible children they were and the fact that grandma lived next door, I put them to bed and went to work.

I never had to make her go to bed, she usually went around 8:30, and she always did her homework without having to be nagged about it and she graduated with honors.

She is now married and has the two princesses of which I speak often.

I love you Tara, and hope we can celebrate your 40th birthday together. BTW, in case your hubby didn’t tell you, we’ve decided to go out for your birthday Friday night. You get to choose the restaurant.

There’s also a picture of my house. Notice anything blooming? That’s because there isn’t anything. My son took my fertilizer away yesterday and told me to pick up some potting soil and some pansies to put into my pots. Sounds like a good idea to me.

There’s a line that says, ’Bloom where you are planted’ . Sometimes, I can do that, but sometimes I feel like I’ve poured the fertilizer on so much so that I’m burned beyond recognition-even to myself.

Are you blooming where you are planted? If not, are you courageous enough to re-plant yourself somewhere else? Not many of us are. We are pretty much afraid of the unknown. I know I am.

Have a blooming Wednesday. Attend Bible Study tonight. Love one another.

I'm Baaaaack!

For those of you who read my blog, you've noticed my absence. Thanks LisaJ for checking on me. Actually, I have no good reason for not posting. Unless being lazy is a good reason. Things have been a little crazy around here, but crazy happens to everyone.

I have a friend who is always using the excuse, 'I've been a little busy'. Well, haven't we all. You are no different, so I'm not going to use that excuse.

Please just forgive me and I promise to try to do better. I have been a little depressed when I see all the wonderful flower photography on so many blogs. I have a confession. I killed all mine. Please don't send the flower police to arrest me. All I had was a bunch of pots on my front porch with some lantana, petunias, and some other things. I fertilized them with Weed and Feed, and I got too much on them. They turned brown overnight and there was no saving them.

I don't have a garden either, and I feel that my family is fresh food deprived. But since the contractor has moved close to home, I'm hoping he'll come till up a spot next year and I can at least have some tomatoes and squash and peppers and okra. But we'll just have to wait and see. I don't have any baby goats to photograph and I don't live on a ranch. I'm just so deprived. See, why I'm depressed?

Ok, I went and got some cheese to go with my whine, and now I'm better.

Today, I'm going to go across the road and take some pictures of the cotton that is changing color and beginning to open. When this begins to happen, I realize that fall is in the air. I like fall, I like Halloween, and I like winter. We had 6 fogs in August, so I'm planning to count how many snows we have this winter to see it that old prognostication is correct. I'll keep you posted on that.

We will play Conasta here at the house on Thursday night. I've talked about our group on my blog before. So as you may remember, we've been playing about 25 years. The hostess gets to decide whether to serve finger foods or a full meal. I ususally serve a full meal and I used to always make lasagna, salad, rolls and desert. Last year I had roast and all the stuff that goes with that. This year, we're having breakfast.

I'm going to make two breakfast casseroles(thank you Christina for those great recipes) biscuits, bacon, eggs, milk gravy and chocolate gravy. I'm also doing a fruit tray since most of the breakfast foods I'm serving are slightly heavy. I also think I'm going to make a fruti punch to drink.

Hey, I know, when I'm cooking my casseroles, I'll atempt to make some pictures so it'll look like I'm a good blogger.

What's on your agenda today? As for me, I'm cleaning. Can't have my card playing friends think I'm not a good housekeeper. Actually, I think I'm a full blown packrat. Gotta go clean!!!

Hope you are having a great Tuesday. Love one another.

How Do You Spell Hiatus?

I haven't really felt that I've had anything productive to say or write about the last few days, so I guess you could say I've been on Hiatus.

We had a lazy Labor day. I did sandwich stuff for Sunday lunch and we ate left overs for lunch on Monday. And then, of course, there was the coming back to work on Tuesday thing.

Now we are getting the remnants of Hurricane Gustav and it is raining. Supposed to rain all day and into the night, with possible strong storms.

I have two birthday girls this month. Both my daughters have birthday's. One on the 9th, the other on the 19th. One will be 30 while the other will be 42.

What to do for them for their birthday? This is a question that gets harder to answer as they get older. I may just ignore their birthdays and be done with it.

I may just go out and spend part of their inheritance, after I hock it that is.

Have a great Wednesday. Love one another.