Meatloaf Snob

I think I'm a meatloaf snob. I'm not comparing myself to self acclaimed 'food snobs', but I really am particular about my meatloaf.

When I was growing up, my mother would take 1 lb of ground beef, and make it a meal for five. She did this by adding oats along with whatever other seasonings she normally used and made this incredible meatloaf. It was always moist and tasted great, and it didn't fall apart when you sliced it. So I guess that is what I compare all meatloaves to.

There are three criteria for my meatloaf.
1. Taste - of course
2. Must be moist, but sliceable
3. How hard it is to make(time)

Unfortunately I didn't get her recipe(if she had one) so I have been in search of the perfect meatloaf ever since. I have a friend named Charlene who makes a good meatloaf, and on the meatloaf scale, I'd probably give it a seven. It has a good taste and is pretty easy to make except it calls for slices of bacon to be placed on it, and I've never decided why that is necessary, and the slice of bread you soak in liquid and then wring out. How do you wring out a piece of bread without making a ball out of it? And I always thought the bread/oats/crackers were put in the meatloaf to soak up some of the liquid generated by the cooking of the meat anyway.

My friend Sara has a good meatloaf recipe, and I would probably give it an eight. I've made it a couple of times. It has a good flavor, holds together and is pretty easy to make.

Last week, I ran across a recipe for SouthWest Meatloaf. It sounded good so I printed a copy and gathered the ingredients. The first thing I noticed was the difficulty in getting all the ingredients. It called for both red and green bell pepper. It also called for Chipolte peppers in adobo sauce. Not easy to find in some supermarkets. And it used a lot of garlic which I thought I'd be able to taste in the finished product but didn't.

But the kicker was that you had to make Chipolte BBQ sause to not only go on top of the meatloaf, but in it. This lovely sauce was made up of a cup of vinegar, a cup of catsup, 1/2 cup honey, worshestershire sauce, and dry mustard along with red and green bell pepper, onion and garlic which then had to be cooked until it had reduced in volume and gotten thicker.

This took some time, and my house smelled of vinegar. I finally had to light a candle to get rid of the smell.

I got the meatloaf made and in the oven. The recipe said to make two meatloaves, but since I am by myself, I decided to make 6 small meatloaves so I could freeze some of them. I took them out of the oven and let them rest for a bit. Then I transferred them to a plate. When I thought it was the perfect time to eat one, I did.

I gave it a four on my meatloaf scale. It was ok, no better than any others I'd made, the texture wasn't the greatest, and the amount of work to make it was seriously not worth the time. I had taken some pictures of the sauce, and of the finished meatloaves, but didn't want to post anything I didn't think was worth making again.

I did find a recipe in a Taste of Home magazine that I'm going to try. It has onions rolled up in the middle of it. Sounds interesting.

So there you have it, I'm still on a quest. What is something you are out there hunting?

Hope it's a great Monday for you. Pray for our country. Love one another.

My Great Bargain

I have been looking for new dishes for a while now. I look at dish sets and think I don't really need everything in the box, since I don't need the cups and saucers. I really only want plates, salad plates and what I call cereal bowls. To buy most any dishes by the piece is pretty expensive. So it seemed cheaper to buy a set than to buy by the piece. So I would look and not buy, and later look again and not buy.

I wanted something plain that I could use with anything. I'm really, really tired of the blue geese dishes that I've been using for years. How out of date are they?

The other day I was in TJMaxx looking for a collander, when on the mark down isle I spotted some plates I really liked and there were 8 of them and they were 3 dollars each. What a deal! They are Lennox, Butler's Pantry. The pattern is Fruitier I knew they had to be a discontinued pattern or they wouldn't have been on the clearance isle of TJMaxx. There were also 4 salad plates but they were also 3 dollars each and I thought that was a bit much since they weren't as big as the plates, so I didn't get them.

I knew they had to be good dishes because they are Lennox. So when I got home, I searched the internet and found that similar plates of the Butler's Pantry persuasion and similar in design and color were 25 dollars per plate. So I decided I'd gotten a good deal. That was when I decided to go back and get the salad plates if they were still there, and they were.

I looked at some of the websites with replacement pieces, and to get more salad plates, I'd have to pay 14 each and the bowls I would like to have are also 14 each. So for now, I'm totally satisfied with what I have, and can add other interesting bowls to my set. I kinda like having an ecclectic set. Actually, I'm pretty ecclectic about most everything anyway.

I'm all about good deals, and I have a friend at work who is the queen of good deals. She's always finding them, and I'm usually really jealous.

What good deal have you found lately? Was it something you've been looking for a long time, or just something you ran across and couldn't pass up.

Hope you are having a warm Friday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Brrr! Baby It's Cold Outside

I know there are lots of people living in this country who are dealing with negative numbers on their outdoor thermometer. And to them I say, 'What are you thinking? Living in such cold places.'


We are at the high of 18 degrees today. I just about froze my backside off just coming into work from my vehicle. That is a total of about 25 or 30 steps. Plus, we are having a hard time getting our offices warm. I have a little heater under my desk to supplement the heat in the building. We have our thermostat set at 80, and we are at 69.

Needless to say, we continue to go about our business, just as those do in the colder climes. I would much rather be sitting in my recliner, wrapped up in a throw or maybe one of those backwards fleece things with sleeves.

I was just trying to think of a time I could remember when it got really cold and stayed that way for a while. When my kids were young, one winter it got cold enough and stayed cold long enough that the river froze. People played on it, and someone even drove a VW bug out onto it.

We had snow along with that cold, and lots of people used the levee as a hill on which to sled. You have to remember we don't have too many hills, and since the levee ends up in the river, it would definitely need to be frozen to keep anyone from sliding right into the water.

Then six or seven years ago South Arkansas was hit by an ice storm much like the one Oklahoma had last year. It looked like a war zone with all the downed trees and broken limbs.

Do you have fun winter memories? Maybe being frozen in, or being able to get out and play in the snow with friends?

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

MEME

If I understand this right. You should copy this list, and bold those you have done. Then post it to your blog.

This list makes you realize, at least it did me, that you haven't done much and haven't been many places. Kinda makes you want to start a Bucket List.

I think one of the first things I'd put on my list would be to go to Alaska. My dad talked about it often. He was there when he was in military service before Pearl Harbor.

What would be the first think on your Bucket List?

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/ world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisioning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving/ snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served in a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood/ platelets
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Been to the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Hope you are having a warm Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Superhero's Five Today

Superhero is five years old today. I called him on the way to school and sang Happy Birthday to him. I asked what he was taking to school, and he said cupcakes. He sounded excited. His mother said I could come by the party at 11:00 for a few minutes.

Now on to what I want to post about today. The news this morning spent a good bit of time talking about how history will remember George W. Bush. This made me start thinking about how history will remember me. Now I know I won't be remembered on the same scale as George, but at least for a while, there will be a few people who remember me. And how do I want to be remembered? I've said for years that as I get older I'm going to get cranky, hateful and say whatever I want to. But that isn't really true.

We don't always have a great deal of control over what people think of us, or what they say about us. There are some who never have anything good to say about anybody, and choose only to remember any bad things we ever did. We've all heard that phrase that goes something like this, "Yes, they may be doing good now, but don't you remember when they............." and you can fill in the blanks. It may have been 5o years ago, but we are often remembered for what we have done in the past no matter what wonderful things we have done lately.

So let me tell you how I want to be remembered here on this earth after I'm gone. I want to be remembered as a Christian mother, grandmother and friend. I don't think my children will forget me, and I want my friends to remember me for the happy times we've had together.

But I especially want my grandchildren to have wonderful memories of me. When my oldest grandson was little, he was the only grandchild. I was in better health then,(he's in his 20's now) and he spent a lot of time with me. I used to say that I dragged him all over creation, and I honestly believe he would have gone anywhere with me.

Now when we are together, sometimes he'll say, "Grandma, remembr when we did this or that? That was pretty cool." Those are the type of memories I want all my grandchildren to have. I always tell them I love them, and how pretty or handsome I think they are. I want them to think each of them is the most special to me. I try to spend one on one time with them. I like to read to them, and let them cook, but mostly I like to be in their presence.

Hopefully, I won't ever be that old grandmother that no one wants to go see because my house smells like an old person, or because all I do is fuss at them for making noise or something. I hope they always give me a kiss or a hug when they come and go because they want to rather than because mom or dad insists they do.

How do you want history to remember you?

Have a bright Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

A New Week

I always dislike Mondays. They remind me that the weekend's aren't long enough. I think we should have three day weekends. I should think that a 4 day workweek should be enough to get everything done, don't you?

That would also shorten the school week to 4 days too, which since I have no small children at home, would not be a problem.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I spent the night at my son's house. I babysat so my son and wonderful dil could celebrate her birthday. Superhero had gone home with his other grandmother so I only had the smallest princess and we had fun. She ate a good supper, and after we played, she let me rock her to sleep and then slept all night.

Saturday morning, I cooked breakfast and went home. I stopped to visit the other two princesses and played with them for a bit. I did very little else on Saturday except for buying a box of crackers for the chili we were to eat at the friends group on Sunday.

Went to church on Sunday, took a nap in the afternoon, and went back to church Sunday night. Afterwards, we had our chili supper. It was very good, and we had fun.

But alas!, it's back to the daily grind on Monday.

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

Starting Off Right

Has your body ever rebeled, mutineed, revolted? As you can see by my picture, I an not a little girl. I have been overweight for many years. But like most folks who diet, I would lose weight, then ultimately gain back what I'd lost and more.

Then there was the stress thing. Each time I started a new job--20 lbs! Zapp, Zing, Zowee. It just magically appeared. Seldom did I manage to get any of that off. So here I am, 60 and shopping at Omar's Tent and Awning store for my clothes. I know you thought I would tell you how much I weighed--not going to happen, but let's just say I don't go to the ladies department, I go to the womens.

I've had lots of health care professionals tell me I'd be much better off if I'd lose some weight. I would always ask about my thyroid. I think dr's thought women saw the thyroid as a way to either blame for the weight, or as maybe a way to lose weight. Blood would be drawn and I would be told the numbers were within normal limits. But for years, I had no problems. My blood pressure was perfect, my cholesterol was perfect, and I saw no reason to make any life style changes when I was disgustingly healthy.

First time I was ever really sick was 6 years ago when I had to have major surgery. Got over that like gang busters, but as a result of the illness, would be on blood pressure meds the rest of my life. No amount of healthy living would change that. So I soldiered on.

After a 6 month ordeal with a sinus infection, I was sent to an ear nose and throat dr who as a matter of routine, checked my neck. He found, not one, but two tumors on my thyroid, one on each side. He wanted to jerk it out. I said no, and after seeing a specialist, we decided to wait and see if it had changed in 6 months. I go back in February to see if anything has changed.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes in a regular health screening. I ignored it for a while, but then decided I could no longer do that. After all, I'm a reasonably intelligent person, so why was I being so muleheaded about this. Even then, I only half-heartedly worked on it. I took a pill at night, checked my blood sugar occasionally and ate whatever, whenever, however I wanted to.

About 4 months ago, I began feeling like I had been pulled through a knot hole backwards. Nothing seemed to make me feel any better. I began checking my blood pressure thinking maybe my meds needed to be changed. It was higher on top than usual, but it still didn't seem to be enough to make me feel that lousy. But I called and made an appt to see the dr anyway.

In the meantime, I began checking my blood sugar, and pretty much found the culprit. It was running around 200 consistently.

My dr gave me a good going over, changed the diabetes meds and sent me home to work on it. We discussed all the levels I needed to look out for, but by this time it was Thanksgiving and then soon after Christmas. How could I possibly leave all that good food alone. It just wasn't going to happen. But the numbers on my monitor weren't changing for the better. I was staying below 200, but that was the new med, not what I was contributing to the effort.

Now I'm not much on making New Year's resolutions, but I made up my mind that it was time to change and I started not on 1/1, but on 12/29.

I write down every bite that goes into my mouth, and list the calories, carbs, protien, fat and sodium if I know it. If I cook it from scratch, I just make sure it fits inline with what I'm supposed to have. I know that carbs and sodium are my worst enemies of these 5 items, but calories must be watched also.

I check my blood sugar each morning, and I weigh each morning. Since 12/29th, I have gotten my blood sugar down to under 125,(yesterday it was 115), and I have lost abut 7 lbs. I can tell you all day long that weight loss is not my goal, but it just stands to reason that if I control the blood sugar and eat about a third of what I had been eating that I will lose weight. And I'd be lying through my teeth if I told you I didn't want to lose weight. No one in their right mind wants to be fat.

So as you can see, my body has and continues to rebel, mutiny, and revolt. So, I'm trying to respond to the call and do better. After all what better time to start than when you have just turned 60?

I hope you have a great Friday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Virus, Virus Everywhere!

When we got to work this morning, we couldn't access the internet. Much of our work is done through network connections. So we were in a real pickle.

Evidently there was a virus that was sent out world wide. If you weren't hit, consider yourself lucky. It happened early last night, and our network gurus worked on it all night. We are finally back in business as of about noon eastern time.

We don't realize how dependant on the internet we've become. I not only couldn't work, I couldn't update my blog, I couldn't check my checking account balance, I couldn't look up an address I needed and I couldn't schedule a payment on a utility bill. Basically, I felt like my hands were tied behind me.

How could we possibly allow something like the internet to be so entwined in our lives? I can remember when we didn't even have the darn thing. How did we ever survive?

I can't even cook anymore without looking up a recipe online. And I certainly can't keep up with my new friends without it.

But if you had to choose between the internet and something else to which you really are attached(besides family), which would you choose?

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

Middle of the Week

It's Wednesday, which means for those of us fortunate enough to be off the entire Christmas/NewYears Holiday that we are on our way to completing half the week of being back at work.

I'm like Maynard G Crebbs of Dobie Gillis fame, it's hard to say the word 'work' without my voice going up an octave or two. I also just gave away my age by knowing who Dobie Gillis was(like you didn't already know what it is).

Needless to say, it's been hard to get myself to work. Oh, I continued to get up at the usual time, I was just able to sit in my robe to drink my coffee and watch the morning news, then the next news program, then--you get my drift. I did a lot of tv watching while I was off. You need to understand that there are always tv's on in my house when I'm home. I may not always be paying attention to what is on, but it is on anyway. There are times that what I do is done during the commercials. Did you know you can actually take a shower while commercials are on and not miss any of the action in the program you are watching?


I went out to see the two princesses for a few minutes yesterday. They got a dachshund(weenie dog)for Christmas. He's about a year old. They are in the process of adopting him from one of the animal rescue programs here in town. He is a really sweet dog and liked me right off the bat. The girls like to lie in the floor on a blanket with him between while they draw and color. They have found that he likes to chew on crayons, so they are learning to keep them picked up and accounted for. This is a good lesson for them in caring for a pet and in keeping things picked up. He likes both girls, but is especially attached to the oldest one. His name is Skittles.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday. The sun is shining here this morning(a welcome change) and it's supposed to get to 50 today.

Please pray for our country. Love one another.

My Surprise Birthday Party

I only mentioned my surprise birthday party in yesterday's post since I try not to make a big issue of my 'declining years'. However, in not giving some detail, I offended my youngest daughter, so I told her I would give more details today.

My son, whose truck had burned on Christmas Eve morning had borrowed my vehicle since I had no place I had to be for several days. He told me he was taking me out on Friday night to repay me for the use of said vehicle and for my birthday. He then found out that his wife would be unable to join us because she had to work late that night.

I had kept his son, and one of the other granddaughters Thursday night and all day Friday, then thinking it would be just the two of us to keep up with a 5 year old, a 4 year old and an 18 month old, I tried to get him to change til Saturday night, but he wouldn't. Did this raise a red flag as it should have--no, not with my old dense self. So off we went.

I did think it a bit strange that he didn't let me pick the place to eat, but knowing how he loves fish, I wasn't surprised that he headed for Ron's Catfish. We waited in line to pay, and while doing so, I began scoping out a place to sit. And as luck would have it, I saw a table for 4 that would be just perfect for us. Heading off in front of me, he said he'd rather sit in the back. I followed.

The first person I saw was my sister-in-law's mother and dad. Didn't think too much about that. They live near and I occassionally run into them. Then I saw my sister-in-law and was about to say, 'you just thought you could come to our area and not let me know you were here'. Then I saw my other sister-in-law and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd been had!!

We had surprised my brother when he turned 60, but since nobody had mentioned my birthday, I thought I was sliding by. They hadn't mentioned it because they were plotting and planning behind my back. I told you yesterday they were devious.

All together, I had 23 family members and friends. Both my brothers live out of state, so I don't get to see them often, but I was certainly glad they were there. My oldest brother lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and my younger brother lives in Brandon, Mississippi. My step-brother and his family and my step-parents all live in Jonesboro. I was blessed they were all there.

We ate, I opened presents, and then we had birthday cake. We visited and pretty much closed up the restaurant. I got a gift card, some money, some really smell good stuff including a bottle of my favorite cologne, and a basket from my younger brother and his wife, and I know she's the one who went to all the trouble. He just got to put his name on the card. It had one of the new cards that you can load 50 pictures on to carry with you, a lotion, shower gel and stuff to use on your hands from Bath and Body works that smells like cotton, an album of pictures of my grandson at Disney World, some candy and the cutest little thing to hang your glasses on(I should have taken a picture). It a ceramic nose. I've never seen one of them before. I also got a really soft scarf and gloves. The kids did a framed picture of my grandchildren. It is a frame for three pictures, and they did each set of grandchidren in black and white which I think I'm going to hang it in my office.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed a birthday so much. They weren't big deals when I was growing up. We got our favorite meal cooked and our favorite cake. Which for poor folks like us was a pretty big deal in the grand scheme of things.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. It's 34 degrees and raining here today. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Back to the Grind!

I am back at the grind. I know you may have wondered why I haven't been posting regularly over the holidays. Let me explain. I work for a university as a computer programmer/analyst. I literally sit in front of a computer(actually two)screens for 8 hours every day. When I get an opportunity to get away from them, I take it. Sitting in front of a computer screen while on vacation would be like a busman's holiday. I didn't post, I didn't work, I didn't surf, I didn't play solitaire, I literally stayed away from my computer.

But now it's back to work, and all the other things I normally do. I just finished wading through about 200 emails. Most of them junk. A few from friends, but few for work, since everyone else was off too.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that each of you have a wonderful New Year. I stayed denned up like an old bear for most of the time between the two holidays. My son had my vehicle since his met with an unfortunate demise Christmas Eve morning, so I didn't have too many options of any place to go.

My friend Jan came the 19th, and stayed til the 23rd. We had a great visit. Ran around a lot. And just had a wonderful time. I intended to make some pictures, but didn't even accomplish that. I'm planning to go see her in the spring, and I'm taking another friend that Jan has gotten acquainted with through me. Jan lives in the Smokey Mountains so spring should be absolutely beautiful.

We spent the Saturday night before Christmas with my step-parents. The Tuesday night before Christmas I spent with my children and their children. Then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was spent watching tv and enjoying the quiet.

As much as I love people, I could totally live on a mountain away from everyone. And I say that knowing it's not going to happen and I can see my family any time I want to.

I also passed a milestone. I was 60 on the 3rd. My family gave me a surprise birthday party. We had about 30 family members and friends there. Got some good loot. Found out how devious my children are, and had a great time.

But now it's back to work, back in harness, back to the grindstone. And I'm already looking forward to the next holiday. Yes, that's me, just looking forward to time off and eventually maybe retirement. As much as I joke about work, I am thankful for my job. I know there are many people who have lost their jobs or are unable to work due to illness. My job is a blessing.

Hope you are having a great Monday. Have you counted your blessing today? Pray for our country. Love one another.

Getting Off Early Today!!

We have officially been notified that the university will close at 3:00. I'm officially excited. This gives me a little time to pick up some groceries for the weekend.

I think we'll stay in tonight since Jan will have been on the road since 10 this morning and it's a 6 hour drive, and then run around the rest of the weekend and Monday.

I don't have to go back to work until Jan 5th, 2009.

Some of this time is going to be spent doing absolutely nothing. Except probaby babysitting some. My kids will have to work some, and I will most likely keep the grandchildren. And while they are tearing my house apart, I'm going to do nothing.

Hope your Friday is going great. Mine is. Pray for our country. Love one another.

My Friend Is Coming For A Visit!

My friend from Crossville, Tn is coming to spend a few days with me. I am so excited, I can hardly sit still.

I haven't seen her in a while, and we have a lot of catching up to do. We have a lot of places to go and a lot of people to see while she's here.

Maybe I can get someone to take a picture of us together, and with her permission, I'll post it.

Let me tell you a little bit about how I came to have this wonderful friend.

For a few years a company called AIA, American International Airways from Yipsalanti, Mi came to the Blytheville airbase and set up camp for about 4 months, and got everything ready to move Christmas mail for about 2 weeks with the program ending with the last of the mail going out Christmas Eve.

In 1994, I had just graduated from the university, and was looking for a job. They held a job fair on campus, and I signed up. In Octover, I went to work for the Blytheville operation and worked as secretary/personal assistant/general flunky to the ramp manager.

During this time, the ramp manager and others took applications, interviewed and processed the people who would eventually fill all the positions to make this event come off with as few hitches as possible. As these people were hired, part of my job was to work with, via phone, the HR people in Michigan. I got to know Jan and Amy quite well as we spoke on the phone several times daily.

They and several others came to work on site the last two or three weeks of the project. It was as if I had known these two gals all my life. We became instant friends and had a lot of fun together.

When the day came to go home, everyone packed up and headed back to Michigan. Jan and her husband(he also worked on the project) took their camper they'd been living in and went back home. They also adopted a cat they took back with them. Amy left a piece of her heart here when she left. She was falling in love with one of the crew managers.

In January, the crew manager called me one day and asked if I wanted to go to Michigan. He didn't have to ask twice. We loaded up and off we went. I stayed with Jan, her husband and all the pets, while the above mentioned crew manager spent time with Amy and her family.

Next thing I know, there's been a wedding date set and it's back to Michigan for the ceremony. I flew this time and Jan and her hubby picked me up at the airport and I spent the weekend with them and we all went to the wedding.

Gee that was a long time ago. A lot has happened. A year or two later, Jan stayed with me while she worked on the Blytheville mail project. They actually called it C-Net. The next year they put her up in base housing, but we spent as much time as we could together, and my grandson and I went home with her for a few days. By this time, she and her family including in-laws had moved to Crossville, Tn.

The years have flown, and we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like, but, she's coming, and if nothing happens, will be at my house when I get home. Sure hope she has supper ready.

This is the time of year to think about people far away. It's time to remember friends and relatives we don't see often. It's time to be thankful.

Who would you like to spend some time with for the Holiday Season?

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

Hello World!

Please say hello to my new great-neice(I'm a great-aunt, how about that?).

Her name is Claire Elizabeth. She was born December 15th, weighing in at 7'15" and 20 and 1/2 inches long.

She lives about 7 hours away, so I won't get to see her as often as I'd like, but I'm sure her grandparents(my brother and sister-in-law) will keep those pictures coming right along.

Of course, I'd love to kiss those chubby little cheeks til they were almost raw, but I'll have to save that for now.

She has the shape of her daddy's head, but I'm not quite sure who she looks like. I just know that this little girl will rule the roost at her house and at both sets of her grandparent's houses.

Congratulations to all involved, and I know Claire's daddy is happy she came before her due date in order to get that 2008 tax exemption.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday(we're still thawing out). Pray for our country. Love one another.

Last Ice Storm of 2008???

This is what it looks like out my back door. That isn't snow. It's ice. It fell in buckets in the form of sleet and freezing rain. It beat against my north window last night.

Fortunately, it was more sleet than freezing rain. The sleet falls to the ground. The freezing rain lands on the trees and power lines. Then they break. Notice how dark it is. It's well after daybreak, but there is no sun and lots of clouds.

Then there's the front yard. It looks worse than the back. My drive is competely covered with about an inch of sleet. Needless to say, I'm not getting out today. The university where I work closed yesterday at 3:00 pm, and is closed today. If they need me to do anything, it will be from home.

Since the outside is so dreary, I thought I'd throw in a pic of my nativity scene. My friend Carolyn sent it to me for Christmas last year. It's Willow Tree. I'm thinking I should get an estimate from the contractor about building a stable. He doesn't work cheap, so I don't know if I can affort it, but I think it would be really neat for him to build it.


What does it look like out your back door this morning? I know some of you have a lot more precip than I do, but this is Arkansas, and we don't usually have this, at least not until about February.

Hope you have a warm cozy Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Freezing Rain and Mondays

What a combo. It isn't actually freezing rain here yet, but the temp is down to about 28, and there's definitely something coming our direction. Some of the schools to the north and west of where I work have closed for the day. They want to get the little kiddies home before the roads get slick, and that's a good idea.

There's a possibility that we'll get sent home before the day is over. I can live with that. I'd like to be able to stay home all day tomorrow, but that may not happen either.

I still have some cleaning and straightening to do at my house. I cleaned the bedroom my friend will be using when she gets here this weekend. She has clean sheets, and I cleaned the baseboards and over the doors and windows. Then I spied some dust on the ceiling fan, so I cleaned the blades and the lamps on it. It is ready for company, but that doesn't mean the rest of the house is.

When you get old and decrepit, you can't jump in and clean like you did when you were 25, which is all the more reason to keep things clean, but with me, that just isn't going to happen. So I clean a little, and rest, and clean a little and rest. Are you beginning to get the picture?

I went to church yesterday. We have such a wonderful ladies class. I always leave it feeling uplifted and like I'm a better Christian than when I first got there. We have about 30 on average, and we have all become close. There are several of us who have been in this class since our church first started meeting about 3 1/2 years ago.

What did you do this weekend?

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

Superhero the Chef!

I mentioned a few days ago that Superhero and I were making Crockpot Taco Soup. And I also told you I'd post the recipe along with some pics of the main chef for this project.

The first requirement for this soup is, of course, a crockpot. Let me also tell you that I'm not cheap, but I'm easy. If you haven't heard of or used these liners, you don't know what you are missing. I always hated cleaning up the crockpot, but with these babies, clean up is a snap. Just gather that liner up and pitch it into the trash. Your mess is pretty much cleaned up at this point. Believe me it's worth the cost of the liners. And they aren't really that expensive.

Next is the ingredients. Since I started attempting to copy the way a certain blogger shows all the necessaries, I have found that I like doing this whether I'm working on a photo op for my blog or not. By gathering everything you will need(right down to the can opener), you know up front if you have all the ingredients(no surprises).

As you can see, there's lots of cans to this recipe. That's one of the secrets to the speed with which you can make it, that is unless you have Superhero helping. Then it takes a while no matter what. Complete recipe to follow.

The first thing was to open all the cans. I intended to open all of them and then let him empty them into the crock pot. NOT! As quickly as I could get them open, he was dumping(shaking) them into the pot. This added a bit to the cleanup.

He even got the hang of digging any that were stuck out of the can.

Next came the onions. I chopped them into big chuncks and let him use the mini food chopper to dice them up. He really likes working with 'power tools'.

Being the brave memaw that I am, I even allowed him to dump the onions into the skillet so we could saute them. Isn't he doing a great job?

He stirred them a while, but notice how far back and how long the handle is on that spoon. Didn't want the fire department knocking on the back door. You may also notice the Spiderman pj's he has on.

Next came the ground beef. I got it going really well, and then let him stir. He wanted to be involved in every aspect of this project.

But the final thing he did best was to sample. By this time he was pretty hungry even though I'd fed him a snack when we got home. He saved room for a bowl, then as soon as he was finished, off to bed he went.

Next morning, I made a pan of cornbread and took the pot, some fritos, cheese and all the other things they would need to eat in the middle of a move to the new house. The pot was full, and they had enough to eat two meals and feed a stray dog.

I promised you the recipe. Here it is. Hope you make it on a cold day and get all warm and toasty inside. And remember, this is a very versatile soup. Leave out anything you don't like and throw in some things you do. Personalize it.

Taco Soup in the Crockpot

2 pounds ground beef
2 cups diced onions
2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans pinto beans
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can pink kidney beans
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomatoes with chiles
2 (4 1/2-ounce) cans diced green chiles
1 (4.6-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced, optional
1/2 cup green olives, sliced, optional
1 (1 1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (1-ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix
Corn chips, for serving
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheese, for garnish
Chopped green onions, for garnish
Pickled jalapenos, for garnish
Directions
Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.

Princess #2's Christmas Program

We went to see P#2 perform last night. The theme was a Cowboy Christmas, so she looked wonderful in her pink cowgirl boots, denim jeans and red shirt. She was supposed to wear a western hat, but her mom had put her hair up in dog ears and her hat wouldn't fit over it.

Her mother will eventually post some pictures here http://taramomto2girls.typepad.com/taras_new_rambling_place/, but for now you just have to take my word for the fact that she was absolutely adorable. And she was the only child without a hat.

I mentioned that to someone this morning and told them if anyone asked which child was ours, we could say, 'the one without the hat'. We would like to say the most beautiful child on stage, but that would probably offend other people who had children performing.

I took Superhero so he could see his cousin perform also. He told his dad that she was going to be the only one singing. I corrected that and said that all the children in her class would be there. Then when we got to the place where the program would be, he asked why there were so many cars, and I told him they were there for the program. He said,'they all came to hear Maddie sing?' I thought it was so cute that he thought the whole program revolved around his cousin. Which, of course, it did for us, just not everyone else.

Just gotta love those grandchildren.

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

Mary's Cheese Ball

I shared this recipe with Robbin at Cedar Chests of Dreams this morning, and thought I'd share it with everyone else.

I still have to post the Taco Soup Recipe, but there are pictures with it and since I'm having problems with my pc at home, I've got to remember to bring the pictures on my flashee thingee and post them from work.

But in the meantime, here's the cheese ball recipe that my friend Mary makes for any and every event involving food, and after you make it you will understand why it's always a welcome addition to the food table. We absolutely can't imagine a get-to-gether without it.

Mary's Cheese Ball

2 pkgs cream cheese softened
1 jar dried beef chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1 small can black olives chopped
Dash of season salt
Dash of garlic salt, or 1 small clove garlic finely chopped
1 Tbsp mayonnaise

Mix everything together.

You can make it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill
Or
You can make it into a ball, roll it in pecans, wrap it and chill
Or
You can make it into a ball, wrap it and chill it, then when you get ready to
serve it, roll it in paprika.

Serve with any type of crackers.

Note to everyone. I basically throw everything into my food processer
and let it do all the chopping--I'm lazy that way.

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

Superhero is So Funny!

Superhero and I were taking a crockpot full of soup to his mom and dad for lunch. When I talked to his mother, she said they weren't there yet, but to use the garage code and we could get in.

She told me what it was and I commented to Superhero that the code must be his mother's month and year of birth.

He asked if he was born then and I told him no. He asked if he were in Heaven. I asked was that where you stayed until you were born, and he very matter-of-factly said yes, there or K-Mart.

It was hard for me to not laugh out loud. He never ceases to amaze me with the things he says.

Enjoy your Tuesday. It's wet here. The wind howled yesterday and last night and it has rained all day, but has stopped for right now.

Pray for our country. Love one another.

Fridays Are Such Good Days

The thing I love about Fridays is that there are two 'stay home' days just ahead. 'Stay home' days are what my grandchildren call any day they don't have to go to school.

My son and family are moving into their new almost finished house this weekend so I'll be helping out by babysitting. Superhero is going home with me this afternoon and spending the night. This is a little guy who is excited about life. And he wants to tell you everything he's excited about. It takes very little to make him happy, and he's in a good mood 99.9% of the time.

His cousin plays his last intramural basketball game in the morning at 10:30, and we are going. But on the way, we are going to stop at the new house and drop off some food. The dropping off food thing is no big deal in itself, except that Superhero is going to help me make it tonight. He loves to help, and will take great pride in knowing that he helped make it.

We are going to make a crockpot of Taco Soup, and a pecan pie tonight, and a pan of cornbread in the morning. I also got chips and cheese to go in it. It's cold here and won't warm up much tomorrow, so I thought something hot to eat would hit the spot.

Then, if I'm not too pooped, I think we are going to put out my Nativity tonight as well. My friend Carolyn gave it to me for Christmas last year or the year before and I love it.

I'll take both grandchildren to worship on Sunday and we'll take a long nap in the afternoon.

What are you planning for the weekend?

Have a wonderful Friday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Do You Have Patience?

In our Bible class on Wednesday night and Sunday morning, we are using a book titled,'How
Shall I Be Remembered'. The chapter we are working on at the present time is 'Patience'. The first thing the teacher asked us was are we patient? Then we discussed that the one we should be most patient with is God, since he's the most patient with us.

I think we are all guilty in our prayer life of asking God to do things in our time frame and then saying Your will not mine, as an after thought. Let's face it--when I want something, I really want it now, not when God sees fit to bless me with it.

We talked about God's patience with the children of Israel. And how His patience finally wore out. We know what will happen when it wears out next time! Won't be water or captivity we have to endure. We talked about Noah's patience, and how he was allowed to live because of it.

Needless to say, it got me to thinking about my lack of patience. I had always considered myself a patient person, unless maybe it was when my kids or grandkids took their own sweet time about doing something I had told them to do. But I realized the patience I have with people doesn't aways extend to God. Definitely got to work on that one.

Are you patient?

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

Comment by Blogger Got Me Thinking

It takes a lot to get me thinking these days. Daughter#1 says I have Mad Cow like Denny Crane on Boston Legal. And a comment by someone may take 24 hours before I have a response.

But one of the blogs I read had a comment about being banned from a site. She had been commenting on the site and even ordering from them, but suddenly she was blocked.

So I got to trying to remember if I'd ever been banned from anyplace or asked to leave for any reason.

I couldn't remember ever being thrown out of anyplace, but while I was pondering this, I had another one of those memory triggers about an incident that happened when Daughter#1 was about 10, so we're talking many years ago, but I thought I'd share it with you. Maybe it will trigger a similar memory from your past or at least bring a smile to your face.

I was getting Daughter#1 ready to go to camp. I had taken her and one of her friends to a fabric store to buy material to make her some shorty pajamas to take on the trip. The fabric store was a fairly large one, and was quite busy. The girls stayed with me until we picked the pj material, and then left my side to do their own thing.

I have no idea what caused them to get tickled, but they did. They weren't being loud, and were actually trying to supress it, but try as they may, they just couldn't. I soon realized that the giggles I was hearing was indeed coming from my girls, and as I waited to get my fabric cut and paid for, I began shushing them. As you can imagine with two girls, this only made matters worse.

But the funny thing was that slowly but surely, everyone in the store began to laugh and giggle as well. I think since the girls weren't overly loud or obnoxious, they simply infected everyone in the store with their laughter and fun.

The more I thought about it as we left the store, the funnier it got to me as well. We laughed about it all the way home.

When I was in the store the next time, the owner said that was the cutest thing she'd seen in a while. She commented about how everyone was in such a good mood after we left. That touched me that the girls had touched them. Indeed, laughter is infectious.

Have you got any memories that you think about once in a blue moon? If so, share them.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Pray for our Country. Love one another.

PS. My friend Mary is doing much better this morning. I spoke with her a few minutes ago, and she is already wanting to go home. Thanks for your prayers.

Now You See Me

I've finally added a picture to my blog. I know everyone has been interested in seeing just how much I actually look like an actress, and I know you will all be envious of my beautiful slim, trim, toned body.

Yeah, right!!! Believe me when I tell you that at no time in my life have I ever been told I look even remotely like any actress. And not since the birth of my 1st child have I ever felt slim, trim or toned.

Now that I'm getting older(ugh!), I'm finding that it is very important to at least attempt to watch what you eat and how much exercise you get.

We are doing a 'maintain, don't gain' thing here at work, so some of us went over and weighed in before the Thanksgiving holiday, and then we weigh again after we come back on the 5th of January. We are supposed to not gain more than TWO pounds. I don't know if we win anything or not, but if we can at least maintain, we will ultimately have won.

One of my best friends in the whole wide world is going to surgery today. She's a breast cancer survivor from about 2002. A recent mammogram showed it had returned. She had planned to have both breasts removed after Christmas because of the genetic predisposition her family has to this horrible disease, but decided to go ahead now. She had the initial procedure done before Thanksgiving and everything seemed to be going along fine. Don't tell her I said this, but she usually has the constitution of a plow horse. However, this time, she has gotten an infection and had to go back to the hospital. About 10:30 or so, they are going in to clean out one of the incisions where the infection has decided to take up residence.

When you read this, please say a little prayer for Mary. She is such a dear sweet friend, who actually likes to boss me around.

Who likes to be your boss--the one who doesn't get paid to be?

Please enjoy this day. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Falling Off The Radar

Talk about falling off of something, I guess I have. I was off all last week, and barely touched the computer. Not only did I not post, I didn't even read any blogs.

I spent last week doing nothing part of the time, playing with grandchildren part of the time, and cooking the rest, oh and eating too, I might add.

I heard from some of my blog friends that the Crockpot dressing turned out really well. My family would probably refuse to eat anything else - at least at my house.

I fed my oldest daughter and her oldest son on Thursday. Made his pumpkin pie that he took home with him. And then fed all three children and almost all of their families on Saturday. Here's what we had to eat: Turkey, cp dressing, PW's cranberry sauce and the regular canned stuff, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans with tomatoes and onions. I didn't cook quite as much as usual. I think I'm trimming down the trimmings. I didn't make a single casserole this year. I did make a yummy pumpkin cheesecake and a pecan pie. My crust on the cheesecake wasn't as good as I would have liked, but I know why, so I won't do that again. I'll do it right next time. I need to learn that my kitchen is not a test laboratory.

The smartest thing I did was to buy some of those throw-a-way food containers and sent leftovers home with everyone. That way, I don't have a fridg full of food to eat myself.

But then it was back to work this morning. Fortunately, we get off two weeks at Christmas. I'm looking forward to that. Maybe during that time, I'll get my sewing room straightened out, and the fridg I bought from my kids moved in and my bathroom repainted and a lot of other things I need to get done.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was truly blessed.

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

Crockpot Dressing

I have had a couple of folks ask for the crockpot dressing recipe. And just who am I not to share. Here it is with no pictures, no frills, just the recipe. Hope, if you make it, you enjoy it as much as my family does. I even gave it to my daughter's mother-in-law and now she's the official dressing officionado in their family. Wonder, if since it came from Ryan's magazine, I should call it Ryan's Crockpot Dressing--naa, think I'll take credit.

Shirley's Crockpot Dressing.

1 – 8” pan cooked cornbread
8 slices day old bread
4 eggs
1 medium onion chopped
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth
1 ½ Tablespoons sage
1 Teaspoon salt
½ Teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons butter.

Crumble breads and add all ingredients except margarine. Pour into crockpot and dot with butter. Cook on high 3 hours or low 3 to 4 hours. Stir half way through.

If I cook a chicken to put in it, I use 32 ounces of my chicken broth. I also heat the broth. It seems to help with the mixing of the breads. If I use hot broth, I wait until I’ve put in the other ingredients so as not to cook them.

I also cook my onion in my cornbread. My bunch doesn’t like to find pieces of onion, and if they cook in the cornbread and then a bit more in the dressing, you can’t find them.

Sometimes, I boil 3 or 4 eggs and cut them up in the dressing.

I also splurge and buy those crockpot cooking bags. Makes cleanup a snap.

I also think if you wanted to, you could put this dressing in the oven and bake it for an hour or so at 350 degrees. It makes a very moist dressing, and everyone that has eaten it likes it.

The other thing I made this weekend is Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread. It was delish. It's on her blog. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/recipe-file/

Memory Triggers

Isn't it interesting what will trigger a memory? I have had one this morning and thought I'd tell you about it.

But first I thought I'd show you who 'spended the night' last night with his Memaw. Superhero is supposed to get school pictures made today, so I took this one so his mother would know he looked good when I left him this morning. And don't pay attention to the things on the couch. Daughter #1 has already commented about the clutter.

Back to my memory trigger.

I have been making crockpot dressing for several years--seven or eight. I use this one recipe that is in a Rural Arkansas magazine. I was a Rural electric customer for several years and thought this magazine to be one I had gotten over that period of time.

I brought the magazine to work to type it into an email for a friend, and just happened to look at the date(wondering just how long I had it). The date was December 2000.

But that wasn't the strangest thing or did that in itself trigger a memory. It was the name and address of the person on the front.

First, it was the name of a young man I worked with at the time, which is the puzzle. How or why did I get this magazine from him?

I immediately went down the hall to the other gal that I worked with at the time. We had a good laugh. She couldn't imagine why I would have something with his name on it either. Needless to say, we talked about him and wondered where he is or what he's doing.

He was our famous Coon Hunter, and even took some of the guys in the office on a coon hunt. He raised champion coon dogs, and was always going off somewhere to a competition. It wasn't unusual for him to come in the morning with no sleep because his dog had treed and wouldn't leave, or he would lose the dog and spend hours looking for it.

This young man was young enough to be my son. But even though I was the old woman in the group, he was very good to me and treated me as an equal. His name is Ryan, and he will always hold a special place in my heart.

Who has come to your mind lately that you haven't thought about in a long time? Someone you haven't see or heard from or may never hear from again. People come and go in our lives. Some burrow deep into your heart, then move on. They don't leave a scar on your heart when they leave, just a soft spot.

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

Out of the Mood!

Yes, I am out of the mood. I'm out of the mood to sew. I'm out of the mood to smock. I'm out of the mood to cook. I'm out of the mood to clean. Do you see a pattern here?

Actually what I'd really like to do is sleep. Yes, that's what I really want to do. Unfortunately, that's not possible. My employer just doesn't think I should sleep on company time.

My friend Mary is having surgery today. I'd really like to be with her, but she didn't want anyone there except immediate family, and I'm respecting her wishes. She said I could come see her when she gets home on Friday. And you can bet I'll do just that.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Attend Bible study tonight. Pray for our country, and by all means, love one another.

Home From The Hills

Five of us left Friday at noon for the weekend. Mary, Linda, Mona, Ellen and Shirley. We stopped at a Squat & Gobble on the way. Isn't that a cute way to say we had a potty break and got a bite to eat? We arrived at our destination about 4:30 just as it was beginning to get dark.

We unloaded, decided where we were going to sleep, and started our evening meal. Then it was on to serious business---Shanghi!! Funny thing was, we knew just enough of the rules to be dangerous. Like that had ever stopped us before. I think every hand had at least one rule change. But that was ok. We had fun. We ate Taco soup, PW's olive cheese bread, spinach dip, pimento cheese, dried beef cheese ball and a another dip that was really good, but I don't know the name of it.
But then trouble set in on Saturday morning. When we turned on the coffee pot, something popped near the furnace, and our electricity came and went, dimmed and got bright.
The picture at the left is of Ellen. She is the coldest natured one of the group. She got cold in a hurry. She has on pajamas, a fleece hooded housecoat, her gloves and has a quilt wrapped around her. And as you will notice, no amount of cold could keep her from playing cards.

After a call to an Electric company, we were told that the problem was with the Power company. We called them. When they came they told us it wasn't the power company's side that was causing the problem, it was the meter box. Mary and Linda went to Lowe's or Home Depot, boughtt what we needed, and the man from the power company fixed it.
While the problem was being fixed, we gals went to Colton's to eat, and several stores for some heavy shopping.

As you can see by the pictures, the color was pretty much gone from the landscape, but we didn't really care. We got back between 5 and 6 last night. It did us all a world of good to get away for a couple of days. It would have been nice if it had been longer.

Oh, and a special thanks to Laura from my cuttings. They were between the door and storm door when I got home last night. They were still good and wet from the toweling and the foil keep the tube from getting wet.

I put them down in a fruit jar about half full of water, and left them sitting on the counter this morning, but I'll put a check in the mail this afternoon for postage and handling.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Have go wonderful Monday, Pray for our country. Love one another.

A Mid November Friday

It's Friday, it's Fall, and I have a great weekend planned. There's nothing more relaxing that being on the lake in the fall. The weather is crisp, the summer campers have put away their gear and are back home playing basketball. The trees are absolutely gorgeous and the wind rustles the drying leaves.

I love this time of year. Partly because of the fall colors, but mostly because I can go outside and not immediately break into a sweat. You thought I was going to say something profound didn't you? Not today. The fall is all about me and my creature comforts.

But what you really want to hear about is the Conasta party last night. First things first--the food was excellent--Jennifer, you outdid yourself. We had taco soup, taco salads, salsa, cheese dip, pecan pie(still warm, I might add-thank you Karen,) pralines, brownies and two types of cake.

Of course we ate until we were past miserable. Then on to playing cards. Now we've been playing cards for 20 some odd years. So you think we'd have learned by now how to read a tally card. Well, I've got news for you. We all had problems figuring out what table we were supposed to play at, and who our partner was supposed to be. And you know, the longer it took us to figure that out, the funnier it got. We decided that once we get to the nursing home, the aids that roll us to the card table will figure it out for us.

The funny thing is the conversations. When we first played it was about having our babies, midnight feedings, and colic. Then we moved on to teething, walking and talking. Soon we were on to pre-school. Next school and all that went with grades, teachers, social events, etc. Now it's what aches and pains we have. What illness we've developed and what medicine we are taking and how it affects us. We've all gotten bigger around the middle so diets or lack therof is also a topic of conversation.

But the most important now is grandchildren. We only have one gal who got a late start having her children, that doesn't have grandchildren. She has two in college, so she's got a while yet. And what a topic that is. One thing I noticed last night, Jennifer has a strong sense of family. And one table in particular has always held pictures of her dad, mom and grandparents. Lots of old pictures. Not any more. Those have all been changed and now hold baby pictures. She has 5, the oldest being in pre-K or 1st grade down to one that is only about a year old. We all love us some grandbabies.

We had a great time as usual. The best part is the fellowship and catching up with each other. I only get to see some of the gals once a month, so it's good to hear about what is going on in everyone's family.

I hope you have a great weekend planned. If you've got something special going on, share it with me.

Have a wonderful Friday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Thursday Ramblings

These three beautiful quilts are being given away over at The Old Red Barn Go over and visit and get in the giveaway. I'm entering. The deadline is November 17th. Go get your name in the pot.

We had rain here all day yesterday. Not a downpour, nor a need for a boat, just a slow steady drizzle that looked really cold from your window, but in fact was fairly warm. I wore a light jacket at lunch, and when I got back I was warm enough that I turned on my little fan here in my office.

Then after church some dry air had moved in and it was like walking into the twilight zone. I think you could have cut it with a knife. The funny think I noticed was that even though you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you, when you looked up, you could see the moon. Eerie indeed.

We have a saying here in Arkansas, 'If you don't like the weather, stay around for a few hours and it will change'. It may be freezing one day, and warm enough to run aruond in your shirt sleeves the next. Snow never last more than a few days, and a road can be so covered in ice that you can't get to work, and by noon the roads be clear.

We rarely see a white Christmas, with most of our really cold weather coming in January and February.

I've begun to notice that people are decorating for Christmas already. My neighbor two doors up have their porch posts decked out with multi color lights. The radio station is playing carols. I heard that Santa will make his arrival at the mall on Friday. Guess I need to go get my picture made with him, and tell him what I want. Only problem is, that if I sat on his lap, he would probably be crushed. Oh well, it's a short list anyway, maybe I could just hover.

It's that time of the month again. You know when we play canasta. I am already thinking about what we will have to eat. We're playing at Jennifer's house, and she always has a nice spread for us to eat. If her husband is home, he'll get in on the fixins. He's a good cook too, so we always look forward to what he has made.

Then tomorrow afternoon, a group of us gals are going to the lake for the weekend. A girl's get-a-way. It's supposed to be pretty. There is supposed to be a nip in the air, but that will be fine. I'm taking my camera so I should have some pictures of our trip.

What great plans do you have for the weekend?

Hope you have a great Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Veteran's Day

Today is a day we give special thanks to the men and women who have helped to keep our country free. We all take freedom for granted, just as we take so many things for granted, but then that's a subject for another post.

I have added pictures of my two favorite veterans. My dad, William Lawrence Alumbaugh, joined the army about 1939, and was building a runway in Alaska when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Soon after, he was shipped out to France. He has 4 bronze stars for the 4 major campaigns in which he was involved, and in the picture here he has another medal of some sort that I don't recognize. If anyone does know what it is, I'd love for you to share. In fact, I don't know what the buttons on the lapel are for either. He knew of course, but he didn't talk about his service much as so many didn't. I do know he was in an engineering batalion and much of their job was to go in and rebuild. He did talk about building bridges, hospitals and schools. He talked about the kids they saw everywhere. He was wounded somewhere in Germany, but never recieved a purple heart. I don't think he felt he deserved it.

He came home from the war, married my mother, raised three children and died in his late 70's from the asbestos he was exposed to during all the re-building they did.

The second veteran of whom I'm so proud is my mother's dad. Edward Franklin Zeiger. I don't know a lot about his service. He also saw action in Germany, and was wounded. His wounds were severe enough that he had what he called a 'service connected disability', and raised 9 children with the money he received each month during the Depression(that and the moon shine he made).

Like my dad he didn't talk about the carnage, but when the two of them were together, they talked about the country and the places they saw. I always thought it interesting that they were in several of the same places.

It gives me chills to think about the horrible things they saw, the death and destruction. I think about how it could have made them crazy if they thought about it very much. But they were tough. They didn't leave easy lives when they went to war. Neither of them grew up in the lap of luxury. I know very little of my grandfather's childhood, except that they lived off the land they had been given. Land that was in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Land that had more rocks than dirt, and was difficult to make a living from.

My dad, on the other hand was left at the age of 15 with a mother and 4 siblings to care for when his father died. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corp to earn money as soon as he was old enough, with the next step being joining the army.

These two men went from one hard life experience to another, and made the best of what they had. Both were respected in their communities, and are today sharing those stories in Heaven while they look down on us as we salute them for all they gave to us through their service to our country.

I hope you remember the veterans in your life today, and that you are also proud of the service men and women who are watching out for us in foreign fields today.

Have a great Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

It's Monday and It's Going to Rain

We had a cool, but beautiful weekend. I even vacuumed my vehicle on the inside and washed the inside of the windshield. I also took the two 4 year old grandchildren to watch their 11 year old cousin play basketball. After that it was nap time.

Then of course, it was time to come back to work on this Monday morning. Cloudy and overcast make 40 degrees feel much colder than 40 and sunshine. We've already had a couple of frosts and as you can imagine, the trees have been beautiful. I really had good intentions of taking some pictures of some of them, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

I don't know if it's the weather or if I slept wrong last night, but my head has hurt all day, and when I move my neck just right, it pops. Guess the chiropractor will fix that today when I go in. He has helped my back tremendously, which is the reason I was able to clean up my vehicle Saturday.

What did you accomplish this weekend?

Hope everyone is having a great Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

What Do You Watch On TV?

I've had a rude awakening this week. Well, maybe not rude, but interesting. I got a call a couple of weeks ago from the Nielson TV Ratings group asking me if I watched TV and how many TV's I had in my house.

After politely answering their questions, they asked if I would keep a diary for each TV, and I said yes. I got them in the mail, and kept track of what I watched.

If TV is supposed to be entertaining, I'm in the right place. If it is supposed to be informative, I'm really behind. If it is supposed to be educational, I've fallen into a pit I can't get out of.

One thing I noticed is that I watch none of the new programs on TV, with the exception of Huckabee on Fox. I do watch Fox and Friends while I'm getting ready for work, but the rest of the time, I watch things that have no value. Most of what I watch are either TV Land stuff, like Mash, The Beverly Hillbillies, 3rd Rock from Sun.

My other favorite channel is AMC, where I get my John Wayne fix every week. And I get a few movies on USA.

I really thought I was deeper than that, or maybe I just find that I don't have to see so much sex and naked bodies in the old programs. Except for Dancing with the Stars. I can remember when my mother wouldn't let us watch Red Skelton(I'm dating myself here) because his show was 'dirty'. By today's standards, he's clean as a whistle.

How do you lean on programming. Do you watch things that have to have words bleeped to be on. Or do you go with the safer programs on TVLand?

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

A New Era

We as Americans have made history. Regardless of who you voted for-or against, a new chapter is now being written. We will soon install our first African American President.

It is now time to unite and work toward the common good. Our first and foremost thing to do is to begin to pray. Pray for our leaders, pray for our country and it's citizens. Pray for those who are trying to do good, and especially pray for the change of heart of any who would cause harm. Harm in a financial way, harm in a physical way.

In the coming days you will see and hear people who will be the voice of gloom and doom and will probably have lots of ugly things to say about the new administration. To those people, please say that even if you don't respect the people, respect the offices they hold. Please don't spew hatred and discontent or allow others to do so.

More than ever, we have to band together. There were things I didn't like about either candidate. I would have been worried about what will transpire in the next four years if either man had been elected. But we as Christians need to work especially hard to fight the good fight and to keep the faith.

I've been thinking lately about the Children of Israel. Over and over they turned away from God or grumbled at what He did for them. They wandered in the wilderness 40 years, and in such a small area of the world, you'd think someone would have found the way out, or that someone would have thought to bring a map. But then it wouldn't have made a difference since God wanted them to wander as punishment.

Then there was the Babylonian captivity which lasted about 500 years-punishment. And finally the twelve tribes were scattered throughout the world- again punishment.

I may be wrong, but I don't remember anyplace in the Bible that says God won't punish us for turning our backs on him. And isn't that what we've done? We've allowed Him to be removed from our schools. We've allowed him to be removed from our government buildings. If we don't do something, our motto 'In God We Trust' will soon be removed from our currency.

Let's just say, for argument's sake, that He does turn away from us for all the things that are transpiring, can you imagine what the future will be like? What if He were to leave us for 40 years, or 500 as punishment? What a terribly frightening thought is that?

I don't really think God will turn His back on those of us trying to live according to His will. That's the reason Jesus died on the cross. But I worry that we as Christians are not fighting hard enough to keep others from infringing on our Christian values and rights.

Are we doing all we can? Are we doing the best we can in His name?

Hope you are having a great Wednesday. Pray for our country. Pray for our soldiers. Pray for peace. Love one another.

Huckabee and Richard Dreyfuss

I watched Mike Huckabee's program last night. He had Richard Dreyfuss on and I'm not sure I agree with everything he had to say last night, however; what he had to say about what people know about our government and how it is set up and runs made a lot of sense.

I know for a fact I don't know enough about who does what. I know that in the event something happens to the president, the vice president takes over. If something happens to the vice president, then the speaker of the house is next in line.

I know there are 100 US senators, 2 from each state, and the house representatives are determined by populations of states.

But we need to know more. It may have been Huckabee that said our people don't know what makes our government run, but other countries do and that's the reason they want to come here. I had one year of government in high school. I've forgotten much of it.

We all take for granted what we have here. Perhaps we should not only study our government, but we should also study the governments of other countries. Then we might have more respect for ours and the advantages and liberties we have.

By the grace of God we born Americans are here. We have no idea the struggles others have endured to make it to our shores.

We should all find, purchase and read a book about the workings of our judicial system.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Hope you are having a good Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Today our nation will make history. It is expected that the largest number of registered voters in our history will turn out to vote. Possibly tomorrow, we will have a new president. The news says it may be a few days before we know, and my brother thinks it may be the end of the year before we know.

I voted almost two weeks ago and thought then I could stop listening to all the politics on TV. Not so. If anything, I've gotten even deeper in. I can't just turn on the TV without watching Fox, CNBC, CNN and anyother piece of news I can find about what is happening.

Will we have our first African American President, or will we have a new Republican President? I fear some of what each of them have to say.


What happens if we have four more years of Republican rule. I realize the President in most cases is just the fellow who signs or rejects legislation. If Obama is elected with a democratically controlled house, most things may be signed into law. If McCain is elected it will continually be a fight to get anything passed.

What do we do? Do we vote for one of these two men, or do we vote against one of them. My ballot is cast, and I have to say I voted against one of the candidates. Whether my vote will count for much, I can't say, but at least I have the opportunity to vote. This is something not everyone has.

If you haven't voted already, I encourage each of you--challenge each of you to get out and vote your conscience. It's one of our privileges.

Happy Halloween

Halloween Bowling Try this little game if you have time and your boss doesn't catch you.


Hope your day if filled with spooks, goblins and ghosts. Hope you have plenty of candy to give to your little trick-or-treaters. Hope you don't get any tricks played on you.

This is one of my little spooks. She doesn't much like having anything on her head, but her mama said she left it on this morning. I'd love to go by the daycare and see them all. I know they are cute.

I'm still trying to get over a sinus infection, so I think I'm going to go home, have some chicken soup, turn out all the lights and go to bed. I do believe I am some better, it's just that with me they tend to hang on for months instead of days. My last one started last November and stayed with me until June.

Have a good day, remember it's Friday. Pray for our country and the outcome of this election, and love one another.