So Much To Do, So Little Time

I promised yesterday that I'd have a picture of the things in my give-a-way that was won by Twisted FencePost. I mentioned that 'Twisted' won my prize, and the person I was talking to said,'you know someone named 'Twisted'? Yep that's me. I have a friend named Twisted. Without further adeiu, here is the picture. 'Twisted' will be receiving this when she sends me her mailing address.

I thought the birdhouse would remind us that soon the birds will be looking for homes in which to raise their babies. The green tea towels are for St. Patrick's Day, the little floral notepad is to list all those projects you want to finish, and the picture is one of my favorite scriptures,"Faith...Is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see".

Now it's on to my next project. Actually, I have three in mind. One is a little quilting project. It will be a wall hanging. Then, I've started a smocking project for The Banty Hen. She loves pink, so this pattern from AS&E issue 83 called Paisley something should look really cute on her. The top will be the pattern, and the pants will be solid(wonder how they'll look after she sits in a mud puddle in them?) The third thing is a sun dress from Kari Mecca's 'Sewing With Whimsy'. It has flowers made from rick rack, and I've been wanting to make something with it since I got it last year. Can you tell it takes me a while to make up my mind about projects? Oh, and I have to be in the right mood.

I hope you are having a great day today. Pray for those who are hungry and have no place to rest. Love one another.

My Give-A-Way

During the month of February, I posted that I was having a Give-A-Way. When I first announced it, I wasn't sure what would be in it. Especially since I was still working on the pageant dress, and didn't know if I'd have time to do something handmade or just some things I like that I thought a blogger might like as well.

I did get the pageant dress finished on Saturday. Even though it looks pink, it is snow white. Her mother will put the bling on the bodice this week. You'll notice it is in two pieces. That seems to be the fashion today. If you go to a rental shop, you can pick the bodice and the skirt separately and get exactly what you want.

I know you are much more interested in the winner of the give-a-way than the dress, but, had to throw in a couple of pics anyway.

I had 65 comments left on my blog during the month of February, and each comment was given a number. Since I couldn't find my random number generator, I asked my co-worker down the hall to pick a number between 1 and 65. If you know anything about racing, then you will know who her favorite driver is when I tell you she picked 29. In case you aren't a race fan(like me), you wouldn't know that is Kevin Harvick's Nascar Number. On my spreadsheet with everyone's name, the number 29 was Twisted FencePost. Congratulations Twisted. If you would send an email to shirleysmith@astate.edu with your mailing address, I'll get your gift in the mail. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. I've been a bit scatterbrained lately, should have had a picture for today, but I keep blaming everything on that pageant dress(that I know you are tired of hearing me complain about).

The future Miss America's pageant is Saturday. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures of her in the dress next week.

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday. Pray for Chile. Love one another.

Do You Hit The Floor Running?

Are you a morning person? Do you only get up early because if you didn't, you'd lose the roof from above your head? Are you sluggish, do you feel rundown, do you poop out at parties? Then you need Vitamitavegamin. Oh, wait part of that is a Lucy sketch.
What I'm wondering is if you get up early, do you immediately get started, or does it take you a while, once you are vertical, to actually get moving?
This is the problem I'm having. I've been getting up between 5 and 6 for the last 15 years. I've always gotten up early, but for the past 5 years, I've had to be up by at least 6 just to get to work on time. The ten years before that, I had to get up at 5.
And I get up about the same time seven days a week. It doesn't matter if it's the weekend or a holiday, I still get up at the same time. I'm beginning to think my internal clock is stuck, and since not much else works in the old body, why should the clock.
I get up, but instead of jumping in the shower, starting a load of laundry, picking up dirty clothes or anything else, I just go sit! It's irratating, because before I know it, I have only a short time to get ready for work. I so wish I was one of those people who 'hit the ground running'. Then at least I might get a few things done before work, and then would enjoy coming home more.
So, ok, I need a diagnosis. Is there something wrong with me, or am I just lazy?
I'm so glad it's Friday. I have a pageant dress to finish this weekend, so I'd better get an early start tomorrow. That is if I can drag my body off the couch.
I hope you have had a great week. Pray for couch potatoes everywhere. Love one another.

I'm On A Fruit Kick!

I have gone through two large bags of oranges in the last couple of weeks. This is something I never do. I like oranges, but the way I've been eating them, you'd think I loved them. I've eaten several bananas too, but not as many as oranges.

I kow you are saying,'This is good. This is healthy. Good for you.' But what you don't understand unless you know me very well, is that generally I'm not a fruit person. NOTE:Before the daughters make a comment here, I will admit I am a bit fruity, just not a fruit eating person. Can usually go without fruit. Not particularly in love with juice. It just isn't me. I'm more of a meat(preferrably pork) and potatoes/pasta person. But today when I realized I had only one banana left and no oranges, I was not a happy camper.

Then yesterday I saw a post about the proper way to cut up fresh pineapple, and now I want that too. So, when I get off work, I'm heading to Sam's and hopefully get another bag of oranges, a pineapple or two, and maybe even a box of strawberries. They are in season in South Texas, so we should have some here.

Like so many other things in my life, this may be just a phase, but, I'm hoping it isn't.

Have you gone through any phases lately?

I hope you had a great day today. Happy birthdy to my BFF Carolyn. Pray for her, she's in LasVegas spending her husband's money. Love one another.

What You Will Do For GrandChildren!!

A long, long time ago(about 31 to be exact)while I was expecting Daughter#2, I made a crib quilt. I took a piece of green and white baby check fabric, hand appliqued a white satin butterfly in one corner, put it together with a batting and lining, and hand quilted it using the checks as my guide. I didn't do a very good job, It wasn't a perfect retangle, but it worked. I don't remember D#2 being overly fond of the little quilt, and it eventually got passed down to her nephews.

They used it some and at some point the white satin butterfly came off from wear, leaving only the outer embroidery that held it in place. It got put in the closet at some point and forgotten for some years, and I don't know if P#1 used it or not, but P#2 fell in love with it and began calling it her snugley. She doesn't carry it everywhere she goes, but she sleeps with it every night.

At some point, it had to have some mending done, and I fixed a three cornered tear and reattached the binding, but I never took the time to repair the quilting that had come out, thinking it just wasn't worth the time it would take. WRONG!!!

P#2 brought said quilt(alias snugley) with her Friday night and after we ate, she insisted I fix it. I had been giving some thought to what I was going to do to fix it since the batting was in shreds, and you could put both the top and bottom together and still read newsprint through it. There's a scripture about putting new cloth in an old garment. Well, this just didn't seem worth any effort. Then I had what I thought would be a brilliant idea. At least in my mind it was brilliant.

First I set about taking the quilt apart. Didn't take much since most of the sewing had come out already. P#2 sat by my side and as I pulled out threads she would ask,'you aren't hurting it are you Memaw?'. I assured her I wasn't and took it completely apart by bedtime. She slept with the two pieces.

Saturday morning I dug around in my fabric stash and found some fabric and a baby quilt batting. I took the top and laid it face down on my bed, then I put a piece of yellow plisse`(spelling?) and laid it on top of the old top. Next I put a layer of batting, then a piece of white plisse` on top of that and finally the old lining which I could not get her to part with. Then I pinned the back up like it was before, and sewed all around. By the way, basting spray is a wonderful thing. It kept the quilt sandwich from moving around. As I sewed around the edge, P#2 removed the pins. Needless to say, this took a while.

Remember I told you about the butterfly. The white satin is long gone, but the outline remains. I used the free-motion embroidery foot, and sewed around it. Aren't you proud of me? I think, since you can't get too close to it, that it looks pretty good.

That helped get my courage up so I put a section of the quilt into one of my machine embroidery hoops and did some free-motion quilting. Again, since you can't examine it too closely, it looks pretty good.
She allowed me to do one more small spot before she pried it from my hands and went to the couch with it. As you can see, the quilt will live a while longer. Had she not taken it, I would probably have done a lot more. She says next time she comes, I can do more on it.

She said she'll keep bringing it for me to fix forever. I asked if she was planning to take it on her honeymoon, but she said she'd probably leave it at home. Below is one of the patches I put on. She picked the material and rickrack and was most impressed with my ability to fix it.
Isn't it wonderful they think you are sooooo smart when they are little. And who knows, her first child may love it as much as she does.

I hope you have a wonderful day. Pray for your loved ones. Love one another.

My Friday Night Is Already Planned!!

Superhero and Princess#2 are spending the night with me Friday night. I'll pick them up after work and off to memaw's house we'll go. These two cousins are both 6 years old. Both in Kindergarden and play really well together.

I think I'm going to see if I can find some GO Fish cards. I think I can whip em. Hope they bring cash.

I always enjoy them being at my house. I know too well that in not too many years, they'll have outgrown me, and I won't hear the giggles of 6 year olds in my house anymore.

I've told you before that my goal in life right now(besides trying to be a good Christian)is for my grandchildren to have good memories of me. The oldest one is now 25, and he occasionally does a 'remember when we did _____ Grandma'. Of six grandchildren, he's the only one who calls me that. The rest all call me memaw.

I hope you have wonderful plans for the weekend. Pray for those who are hungry. Love one another.

I Think I Know Why!

I've been mulling this quilting thing over in my mind for a couple of weeks. And I think I have figured out why I can't get started(other than the pageant dress has to be done first thing). I am afraid of color. I'm not the greatest at putting colors together. I know what I like after I see it, but I don't want to spend hours cutting, sewing, etc only to decide that what I've done is ugly.

I'm posting pictures of three quilts. I don't know who made them, but I think one is really ugly(which is what mine will probably be), one is busy and one is very pretty. If you made one of these quilts, I apologize if you think the ugly one is yours.

If you are a quilter, does this plague you as well? Does this type of delima nag you in your sleep at night? Do you have blocks that once you did them you decided they were awful and pitched them aside? I have a desire to use up my stash of scraps, not start another one of projects gone bad.

So, needless to say, you don't have to worry about getting anything quilted in my give-a-way(shameless plug!)

But what I think I will do is do a couple of small wall hangings. This should either get me really excited, or kill any desire to do more.

I think I've worried about this enough for one day. I need to get crackin on that pageant dress and ignore my scrap box for another day. Maybe by the time I get the dress finished, I'll have decided what I want to do.

I hope you are having a great day(sun is shining here). Pray for people looking for work. Love one another.

I Want To Learn To Quilt!

I have always wanted to learn to quilt. I remember my mother having a quilt frame that hung from the ceiling. She would let it down, work on it, and then draw it back up near the ceiling to get it out of the way. I have her quilt frames. I don't know if daddy made them, or if she bought them somewhere. I've had a couple of opportunities to learn, but have let those slip through my fingers. And with the quilting machines, it is just too easy to take your tops and have them done quickly. There is also a group of ladies at the Methodist church who quilt on Tuesdays. They have told me I welcome to be a Methodist on Tuesdays if I would like to learn to quilt. They put up a quilt and hand quilt it. The money they make goes to support the work of the church.

But with working full time, I'm unable to be a Tuesday Methodist, so I guess I'm going to just have to do the best I can. I joined a group that is doing strip projects. I haven't done any yet. I keep planning to and I've even cut some strips, but I think I just need someone to take me by the hand and help me decide how to get started. I want to do pretty quilts. I don't want to make something that the colors scream at you. I want them to say thank you for putting me next to these other pieces.

However, first, I have a pageant dress to make. Then I desperately need to clean my sewing room, then maybe I'll be able to work on a quilt of some type.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Pray for those who are hungry. Love one another.

Happy Valentines Day--Early!

Since I don't usually post on the weekends, I thought I'd wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day--early. I don't have a significant or insignificant(whichever the case may be) other, I don't get anything much for this day. My children usually buy for their persons of interest, but I just let it pass by. I think the kids were all having parties at school today, and will all come home with lots of Spiderman, Hanna Montana, Tinkerbell and Handy Manny valentines.

I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid, but we didn't have all the special valentines. Ours were just hearts that smiled, or ducks that smiled, or squirrels that smiled(you get my drift here)that said 'Be mine Valentine'. We decorated our boxes with crepe paper and cutout's. My mom was really good at helping us do that. Our boxes were usually red, and she would make hearts with cutouts like snowflakes and we would glue them to the box. I remember one time she made roses out of crepe paper. And my brothers and I proudly carried them to school only to bring them home filled with cards from our class. We always had cupcakes and cookies for our parties too. Those are good memories.

I hope you make some memories on Sunday, and that you have lots of good memories of Valentine Days past.

Have a great day today. Pray for those who won't get to enjoy valentines day. Love one another.

Two of the Four Christmas Dresses

These are the dresses I made for the girls for Christmas. Since I had four to make and didn't have time to do picture smocking on each, I did the base smocking and put buttons on for decorations.

Princess #2 in the green had Santa's on her dress. P#1 had candy canes. The Banty Hen(not pictured here)had snowflakes on hers, and if I remember the great niece had elfs on hers. They were all different colors and I thought turned out pretty well.

The dresses are all made of 32nd check gingham, and will be something they can wear this summer by simply changing or removing the buttons. I suggested they wear them for Easter.

I won't be making Easter dresses this year since I have a pageant dress to make for P#2, and I only have a few weeks to get it done, and with me working every day, I'll be burning the midnight oil to finish it now. I love sewing for the girls and would do much more if I were retired, but someone has to make me a living and since I haven't won the lottery, I guess I'll just have to keep working.

Hope you are in out of the snow today. Pray for those who are cold. Love one another.

Princess #1 Has A Great Teacher!

Princess #1 enjoys school. She loves to read and learn. For this we are very thankful. We are also very much aware that she has a great teacher. P#1 is in first grade. She had a wonderful teacher last year for kindergarden too.

This year her teacher is going over and above what is required of her. The picture at the left is of my granddaughter working on a piece of embroidery. On days that it is raining or too cold to go outside, she takes the girls who want to learn, and they work on their projects. P#1 is working on a sitting dog. I don't know what the rest of the design is, but you can see she is working on a leg, and is doing a very nice job. I don't know if the teacher furnished the hoops, needles, cloth and designs or if the girls took some money to buy a kit she had put together for them.

Being a person who does all types of needlework, I am thrilled that she is working with them in this area. I think it will encourage these little ones to learn other types of handwork and crafts. So much of this seems to be a dieing art(You just don't see too many embroidered pillowcases and table scarves any more). I don't know what she plans to do with her finished project, but whatever it is, I will help with it if she wants me to. Don't guess you can tell that I'm a very proud Memaw.

Hope you are having a great day. Pray for those without power. Love one another.

Two Princesses

These are the Princess Sisters. They look nothing alike, but are indeed sisters who are 16 months apart. Their mom took this pictures before the Father/Daughter banquet at church. They got new dresses(which you can't see for their sweaters, but are really pretty), daddy put on his best suit and off they went. They had a great time. They also had little wrist corsages and daddy had a rose in his lapel. They felt quite grown up.

The other picture is my trees in front of the house. The reason you keep seeing these trees is that I don't have to get off the front porch to snap them. We got another 6 inches of snow during the afternoon yesterday and last night. We're off again today because what has melted a bit is now freezing on the roads making driving hazardous. Sometime soon, we'll have a spring thaw and be able to get back to work. That's not to say I'm not enjoying staying home. But I'm afraid if we continue to miss school, the kids may not get a Spring Break, and we all know how they look forward to that.

Don't forget my GIVEAWAY on March 1st.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Pray for those who are hurting. Love one another.

Post 400 WooHoo!!!

Today is a momentous day. First I didn't have to go to work today because when I got up this morning, we had this beautiful snow on the ground. We are supposed to get another 2 or 4 inches starting around lunch time. I work for a University and because of this snow, it is closed today as are all the schools in the area. We had eight fogs in August, this is our 5th snow. Looks like we are due 3 more before winter is over. This is a picture of one of my oak trees in the front yard. I took it from my front porch as you can see by the overhang in the upper right corner.

Second this is my 400th post. I'm thinking that is a milestone in itself. And with such a milestone comes some responsibility. I think I should have a GIVEAWAY. If you leave a comment on one of my posts during February, you are automatically entered in my drawing. I will draw on March 1st. Since I'm starting a week into February, I will also use previous comments this month as entries.

I know you are wondering what the prize will be. I don't know yet. I just had this idea about 10 minutes ago, so I've got to do some thinking. It will most likely be something I make. I've got to give that some thought. But when I decide, I'll let you know. I'll remind you each day in my post to enter.

In the meantime, I've got to start working on a pageant dress for Princess #2.

I hope you enjoy your day. Pray for those who are hurting. Love one another.

I was reading this morning on The Cotton Wife's blog(http://thecottonwife.com ) that some obviously misguided magazine editor made the comment that she wrote too much about her children. Duh! Evidently this editor doesn't understand the reason for blogs. In my opinion, if you are writing a blog to hone your skills, you are probably in the wrong place. I think this is the place you share your small corner of the world with other people and learn about theirs.

I have made lots of new friends in this blog community, hopefully encouraged some folks and talked endlessly about my children and grandchildren and read about others. If anyone thinks I talk too much about my family, close my blog, remove it from your favorites list, and move on with your life. I probably won't know about it, and I very possibly won't care much.

I started my blog to keep a record of the things my grandchildren did, and my thoughts for two reasons. When I get old and senile, I can look back at my blog and be reminded of things, and in between wiping drool from my face, my grandchildren can read about the thoughts and feelings I had for them. I'm a firm believer that my grandchildren should have wonderful memories of me, not just the shell that sits in a chair playing with a sock monkey and calling it baby.

Of course there's also the possibility my children may use it against me in a sanity hearing when they decide they want all my money. I guess I should give that some thought as well.

Why did you start your blog?

I hope you are planning a great weekend. Pray for misguided people. Love one another.

A Question about Sphagetti!

You thought I was going to ask about some of the herbs and spices in the sauce, or maybe whether you use jarred or homemade. Well, my question is much more basic than that.

Do you break your sphagetti before you put it in the pot of boiling water? And why or why not?

This question has bothered me ever since I made my sphagetti last night. But while we're on the subject, you might as well tell me if you prefer store bought or homemade. And do you like yours with meat in the sauce, or how about lumps of veggies ie tomatoes and mushrooms?

I know the world won't stop turning if I don't get the answers to these life changing questions, but hey, they kinda stick in your mind if you don't know ask.

I hope you are having a great day(drizzling here). Pray for sphagetti eaters everywhere. Love one another.

Princess #2 is almost Six!

This little gem of a girl will be six on February 5th. Her party isn't until the following Saturday. My grandchildren are all growing up. That's what they're supposed to do I know, but it's hard watching them spread their little wings and fly off to school and parties and stuff. The pictures are all Princess #2. She's about a year old in the white dress, and probably 2 1/2 or 3 in the pink hiding her eyes. She's 4 in the third picture and the last one was taken upon the loss of her first tooth late last summer. She doesn't look like a baby(although, she acts like one sometimes). She's all into dressing up and loves to change clothes often.

I got her a swim suit for her birthday even though it's only February. Her mom says she'll wear it every day until summer. I also got her a sun dress. I'm thinking her mom will put it up until she's ready to wear it, but maybe not.

She's a smart funny little girl. Gets her smarts from her daddy(my sil). I love all my grandchildren equally, but this one looks like her mother-my daughter. Her sister looks like her dad's side of the family. That might make her just a little bit special. Will I get kicked out of the grandmother's union for admitting that?

I hopeyou are having a great day and the sun is shining in your corner of the world. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Diamonds in the Daylight!

If you live any where in North America, you know that the mid-south was hit with a monster trouble making weather system. It extended from Saline, KS down to San Antonio, TX and all points east.

In NE Arknasas, we started out with sleet(this I know for I was out in it), changed to freezing rain, then back to sleet and about 5am Friday morning, it began to snow and it snowed all day Saturday.

The campus where I work closed Friday, and after I got inside my house Thursday night, I didn't even stick so much as my nose out until this morning. I did, however manage to open a door and take the picture on the left side of the page. If you look at the uppermost part of the picture, you can see how the sun was making the ice on the limbs sparkle. From my vantage point(not that you can see it that well in my photo), it looked like there were huge diamonds hanging all over the tree. It was nothing short of beautiful.
But it's back to work today. Got to catching up to do since we missed Friday.

Hope you are able to get out and about today. Pray for our country. Love one another.

What Snow?

They showed the Panic-o-meter on the news last night. The one that shows when you should get eggs, bread and milk or if they expect a lot of snow, it goes over to the sled and boots. We are officially in the eggs, bread and milk area of the meter.

Unfortunately, what usually happens when we get all built up for a big round of bad weather is that it misses us and we get nothing but a big let down.

However, it has been a year since the big freeze that left our area looking like a war zone and this is still very fresh in the minds of everyone in this area. They promise this will be nothing near that scale, but that we will have some ice and maybe 5 to 10 inches of snow. It's wierd that everytime I try to type 'snow', I type 'snot'.

If it snows, school will dismiss, and the campus here will probably close. That means a day off for us. We are just hoping the power stays on. But just in case it doesn't, I have the heater shown in the picture. My son, The Contractor, installed it for me after Christmas. And, I've been using it to heat my house. I set my central unit down to 50, and have been allowing this little gem to keep me snug and warm. I have closed all the bedroom doors, and open mine about an hour before I go to bed.

So I say, Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

What are you waiting anxiously for today?

I hope everyone has a great day. Pray for snow, Love one another.

Spring Oh Spring, Where Art Thou!

I've gotten two seed catalogs recently. There's nothing I enjoy more than looking through these catalogs thinking of all the things I'd like to plant. I think about how good those tomatoes will taste not only during the summer months, but this next winter in canned tomatoes. How much I'll love making that fresh summer salad with cucumbers, onions, oil and vinegar. And some fresh corn. There's nothing like fresh corn. Oh, and do I want to plant hot peppers or sweet peppers, or maybe both. I had no idea there were so many varieties of peppers.
I remember my mother ordering her seeds and getting the package back with everything in it. The box would be much smaller than a shoe box, but would produce an acre of fresh food which wasn't allowed to go to waste. Aside from what we ate, she canned everything she grew in that garden.
I can't say I've ever been as good as she was when it came to waste. She believed in the old proverb, 'waste not, want not', and we never went a winter without good food. She even shared with family and friends who had not laid by in store as she had.
Then I get to thinking about all the hard work it takes to make that garden and how hot it will be when it's time to gather everything and all the late nights required to can and preserve everything. That makes me tired.
I end up not planting anything, and hoping that someone takes pity on me and gives me a few fresh tomatoes and maybe a mess of okra.
I know I sound much more like the grasshopper than the ant. I used to be the ant, but not anymore.
I hope your garden plans turn out better than mine will. Tell me how you plan for your garden to grow.
Have a great day. Pray for those less fortunate. Love one another.

School Reunions

We have a school reunion every 5 years, and it's that time again. The school in our community is a consolidated school, and is called Riverside. When I was in school, it was just plain Lake City. We didn't have other schools among us. We were pure.

We now gather to remember that school, see old friends and classmates, and spend time thinking about how much everyone else has aged. Our school came into existence in 1929 with a graduating class of 9, and in the year 1985 had it's final graduation of 24. That's not very large classes considering some schools graduate hundreds each year, but we are very proud of our graduates.

We have lost most of those from the early classes. If you graduated in the first class and were seventeen, you would now be 108. When we met yesterday, we determined the oldest living graduate is from the class of 1942. He is 85. Our last graduating class is now 40. Our group is aging and eventually there won't be anyone left who remembers the Alma Mater, or that we were proud to be the mighty, mighty Catfish. Which brings up another point. We were one of two schools in the US that had unusual mascots. Why, you ask, would anyone want to be a fish that is the bottom feeding scavenger of the river? Well, our town is built on the banks of the St.Francis river, and we are known for producing some of the best catfish in the tri-state area. I don't know who picked the mascot. Maybe the child of a fisherman from that first class of 1929. Who knows. But we were proud to be called catfish and many of us own license plates that have our beloved mascot on it displayed on the front of our vehicles.

Those who met yesterday have a lot of work ahead, geting letters out, working on the program, finding entertainment, planning the meal, making sure everything is in place so that everyone who comes will have a great time.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. Pray for our troups. Love one another.

This is What I Should Be Doing Today!

See this photo. I finally got my new light fixture put up. Unfortunately it wasn't as long as the old one, so as you can see, I have some work to do.
And that white strip to the right of the light, there's another one just like it on the other side. First, I'll have to use my scraper and get some old paint and wall paper remnants off. Then I'll have to prime it, and paint it.

And it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so this will be an all day event. That and I have a place around one of my ceiling vents in one of the bedrooms that used to sweat and mildewed. The Contractor took care of the sweating problem, but now I have to prime that area and repaint it. You know it won't look exactly like it did when it was first painted. Fortunately, I didn't paint the ceiling white. I painted it and the trim an off white, some of which I still have, so maybe it won't be so bad.
The work involved in maintaining a house is never-ending. It just keeps eating at my pocketbook.

Hope you are having a great Saturday. Stay Warm. Love one another.

Way Too Much TV!!!

All my friends and family know that I watch entirely too much tv. In the summer, I'm pretty much hooked on Cardinal's baseball. The rest of the year, it's Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, Three and a Half Men, Dog the Bounty Hunter, White Collar, Burn Notice, any John Wayne movie. The list goes on and on.

With the programs I love, there also comes commercials. You either love them or hate them, and I have both. I hate the Sonic commercials. I hate the Geico commercials, I hate the ones with the cavemen, and the new ones with the perky girl selling all kinds of insurance.

On the other hand, there are some that I love. The capitol one commercials with the vikings are favorites. There used to be one about a car where a bird was trying to hit it with bird droppings, and in the process hit the garage wall. But my newest favorite, and this one won't be seen all over the country is one about a car dealership in the Little Rock, AR area. When I see it, I stop and laugh--sometimes outloud. It's a man and his two grown sons all three dressed in nice business suits. The dad is sitting and the boys are standing like they are about to get a portrait painted. The dad starts off, and blows his line. Then he says he's starting again, and about the time he starts one of the sons begins to fiddle with his cell phone. To which the dad says, 'put your phone up', and he starts again. He manages to say his line, but then the other son forgets his. They all end up laughing.

I think this is a perfect commercial. You get to see the fun they had making it, and see them as real people. Personally, if I were in the market for a car, would definitely go see these fellows. I bet they have a great time at work.

What programs are you hooked on? Which commercials do you dislike and which ones do you like?

Hope you are having a wonderful Friday. Pray for all the people involved in the Haitian relief effort. Love one another.

Superhero and the Principal!

Superhero, that handsome young man who just turned 6 a few days ago, had to visit the principal's office yesterday. He was in music when, as his side of the story goes, another kid jumped on his back, and he was just trying to get him off. The teacher saw the disturbance, and sent both to the office.

His story continued that he didn't get into trouble, but the other boy did. We're finding that a bit hard to believe since he's known to embellish stories of his feats of daring do.

Funny thing is he told his other memaw that he only had to tell one person and since he'd told her, he didn't have to tell his parents. When she pointed out to him that he would have to tell them since they'd find out anyway, he said then he'd get in trouble at school for telling more than one person. We are either raising a con artist or a policitian. Guess we need to start working on a legal defense/campaign fund soon.

But in his defense, he's made it over half the year without any problems, so I'm not terribly worried. In fact, I think it's kinda funny until I begin remembering some of the stunts his father pulled when he was in school.

I hope everyone is having a great day. Keep Haiti in your prayers. Love one another.

A New Adventure!

As you get older, how do you feel about new adventures? I don't mean a vacation, or a new hobby. I mean a new life adventure. I've noticed as I get older(61 now), I am not much in favor of new life adventures. I'm not interested in starting a new job, or moving to another city or even a different house. I just pretty much want to keep the status quo(whatever that means).

My 84 year old neighbor lady has lived in the house behind me for 40 years. She was married to a minister and in the early years of raising five girls, they moved several times. But her husband decided to go into public work and they bought the house in which she lives.

Time is catching up with her, and she had pneumonia twice last winter and has had it already this winter. Each time she seems to grow weaker and after this episode her daughters set up nursing visits and physical therapists to come in and check on her and work with her. Of the five daughters, only one lives within 30 miles. Three live 2 and 1/2 hours away, and one lives in Colorado. So the bulk of caring for their mother falls to the one living nearest.

I knew last week something was in the works because this daughter came and spent a day working on business affairs with her mother, and Saturday she came and took her mother to look at assisted living apartments. She will be moving into one the first week of February.

This neighbor lady is good spirited, kind and would never offer a complaint about much of anything, but she did tell me last night she's having some mixed emotions about this move. I encoraged her to look at it as a new adventure. We talked a while about the good and exciting things that will come with the move(being close to the daughter is the main one). Since I live alone, I know this may also happen to me some day. I already wish I lived closer to my children, and they are only 20 to 30 minutes away, but I would like for it to be 5 or 10.

I know she will do just fine, but it will be hard looking toward her house and knowing she no longer lives there and never will again.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for the Haitian people. Help if you can. Love one another.

It's Monday and the Sun is Shining!

We've had some nasty weather here in our little corner of the world lately. First it was almost unbearably cold, then it warmed up and rained part of Saturday and Sunday.

However, on the way to church yesterday, as I drove west, there was a faint rainbow in the western sky. That told me it wasn't going to rain much longer, and when I got out of church, sure enough the sun was shining.

It's supposed to get up to 60 today and is at 57 now. Unfortunately, I'm stuck inside but I do have a window that allows me to look outside.

I appreciate the comforting comments about my grandson moving away. I know I'm not the first to feel this loss, and it helps to know others have survived.

When my husband and I first married, we lived in a small mobile home attached to his grandparent's house. While we lived there, we had our first child, who happens to be the mother of the grandchild who just moved away. I was a stupid young girl when this child was born, and gave not a second thought to moving away from this older couple who had fallen in love with our baby.

I'm sure they knew we wouldn't always live in a trailer attached to their house, but they certainly weren't ready to see us move. I later learned from another relative, how upset this grandmother was when we moved 30 minutes away. That same grandmother also told me often that you pay for the things you do on this earth before you ever leave it, and I am now paying for taking that precious great grandchild away from her. It's true, what goes around, comes around.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for the people of Haiti. Love one another.

Spreading Our Wings

My oldest grandson is grown, and has decided to try his wings. He'll be 25 in a few days, and this past Sunday morning, he put all his earthly possessions into his small car and pointed it southeast. He has transferred with his job to somewhere in Florida. It's 2 miles north of Orlando. He will stay with a friend until he finds an apartment, and he's planning to go to school there.

He has always lived with his mother, and I guess we just assumed he would continue to do so. But about a year ago, he began making rumblings about moving south. It has taken this long for everything to be in place the way he wanted it before he moved. I guess I should be thankful he is a patient person and didn't just jump in his car and go there with no plans, no job or money.

He has always been a good kid, and he'd better continue to be since none of us can afford to go there and bail him out of jail. He spent a lot of time with me when he was little. His mom and dad divorced when he was very small. He can't even remember them ever living together. So on the weekends when he wasn't with his dad, he would come to my house. I literally dragged him everywhere. I took him on a float trip with my office buddies once, and we used to go to the local wrestling matches(we prounce it 'rasslin', but I was afraid no one would know what that was). Then there was the time when he was little that I forgot he was at the house. I decided to go to the store, got in the car and was driving down the road when I remembered I had forgotten him. I turned around, went back and took him with me.

He eventually outgrew me as grandchildren are prone to do, and I got used to not seeing him except on special occasions, but I knew he was just a few miles away.

He is my firstborn grandchild, and for about 8 years, he was the only grandchild, so he is exceptionally special to me. I know he will make it fine in his new adventure, but I'm sure going to miss him.

I know others have sent their grandchildren off in different directions...to other states, to other countries, to war, and I know it is hard regardless if they are 2 or 22 or even 52. So to all of us with that separation anxiety, I say, let's all say a special prayer, and hope we see them soon.

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

Super Hero is Six!

Six years ago today, I was in a hospital in NW Arkansas looking at my precious newborn grandchild. The first for my only son, we were all excited.

He is a good natured loving little guy, and handsome to boot. He started Kindergarten this year and is loving it. We all worried that my son would pay for his raising with this little boy, and that my daughter-in-law would have to pay for my son's raising as well. However, he has been a relatively easy child to raise. I realize he's not grown yet, and if I remember correctly, my son was a good little boy too.

Super Hero loves to laugh and play. He comes to spend the night with me as often as we can make arrangements, and I get to go to his house and keep him and his little sister sometimes. They only live about 20 minutes away now, so I get to see them often. He is going to Karate this afternoon, and if she doesn't forget, his mom is going to let him call and tell me how it went. That way I can wish him a Happy Birthday. His party isn't until Saturday, but everyone should be remembered on the actual day.

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

New Year's Lunch

I started a new tradition last year. I cook lunch New Year's Day. I cook the usual southern fare for New Year's, including black-eyed peas, hog jowl and cornbread. I also usually make some type of potatoes and greens.

This year, I fried the potatoes in some of the hog jowl grease, and I made creamed collards. I had never cooked collards before, but I had seen Pat and Gina make them on their cooking show so I thought I'd try them. Let me tell you, they got rave reviews. One of the fellows at the table went back for 3rds and I think everyone went back for 2nds.

If you are interested in the recipe, you can go to this link and follow their directions to the letter and you will have a dish you will love. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/creamed-collard-greens-recipe/index.html.

I hope you had a great New Year's. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Another Day Older!

I'm thinking maybe one of the reasons I'm not too fond of the holidays might just be that soon after, I turn another year older. Yes, I've had my 61st birthday. It happened back on the 3rd. My kids took me out to breakfast after church. They gave me two new skillets. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to 'whop' with them. But I'm using them already. They are very heavy Calphalon, and should last me the rest of my natural life.

The following Tuesday, we celebrated my birthday at work. I had two cakes. One of the girls brought an Italiam Cream cake and another brought a Mandarin Orange cake. That night 'the girls' took me to a movie and then gave me gifts. I got some of the best smelling body butter by Arbonne(Ginger Citrus) and another cake, I got a throw and a new wallet, I got a bottle of Cherry Blossom lotion from Bath and Body Works(My all time favorite) and some candles. I got some chocolate, and trivet with my initial on it.

By the end of the day, I'd had three good birthday celebrations and three wonderful cakes. How blessed am I?

Hope you've had a good day today. Pray for our country. Love one another.

The Holidays are Over, Back to the Grind

I get two weeks off at Christmas. It's one of the perks from working at a University. We save up our small holidays, and then use 2 or 3 days leave and have wonderful time to finish shopping, do some baking, go carolling, decorate the house and put up the tree, re-learn the words to all the favorite songs, spend time with family, and all that other wonderful stuff I like to do during the holidays-----NOT!!!!! except the spending time with family. I do enjoy doing that.

My middle name should have been Scrooge. Its not that I'm tight. I'm just not a festive Christmas person. Christmas has never been a fun filled holiday for me. I always put up a tree, and did all the baking and stuff when the kids were at home. I tried very hard not to let my feelings about the holidays influence them.

But now that I don't have kids at home, I don't have to do all that stuff. I didn't put up a tree, I didn't do a lot of baking, I did no shopping(actually, I managed to wrangle the girls into doing what little I needed done) And basically, I stayed home and denned up like an old bear and enjoyed my time off. I did make 4 dresses, 3 sets of pajamas, 2 cowboy vests and a Santa Suit for Super Hero. I called the little ones Christmas morning to see what Santa brought and then settled back and took a nap.

Now I'm back at work and looking forward to Spring.

I do hope everyone had the Christmas they wanted, and are looking forward to a bright new year.

Pray for our country. Love one another.

Four Christmas Dresses, Three Pairs of PJ's, Etc.

I have 4 of these dresses almost completed. They are all made alike, smocked the same, just different buttons. Rather than do the picture smocking and put however many snowmen, santa faces and other Christmas prints on these dresses and make them only for a few wears, we opted to use buttons that could be changed. The dresses are made of 32nd check gingham, and can be worn all next summer.

This is the oldest pictured here. Her dress is light blue with peppermint suckers, her younger sisters is mint green also with the red trim and has Santa faces on it, and The Banty Hen's is hunter green with green ribbon(the red and white didn't look good on it) with big white sparkly snowflakes. The forth dress will be for my great neice who is celebrating her first birthday today. It is sewn together, and the smocking almost done. We are putting elfs on hers. Hopefully sometime over Christmas we can get a group picture.

This picture is of the PJ's to which I alluded in my feeble atempt to sound like the 12 days of Christmas in my title. I saw some really bold pj's online that were an animal print with big(huge actually) pink flowers and were so cute. They were 34 dollars a pair, so I started looking for fabric to make them. I didn't find what I was looking for, but did find this gorgeous piece of cotton knit that had the best hand to it, and I bought all of it for 14 bucks. It's going to be a bit interesting to get one for The Banty Hen out of what I have left, but I think with a bit of work, it will happen.

Then it's on to Superhero. He wants a cowhide vest(I just happen to have a piece of fabric that will work nicely for that) and he wants a santa suit. So I've decided to make him one out of fleece that he can sleep in and he'll have a new set of pj's too.

I was also planning to make the 3 girls a pair each of pink and white flannel camo pj's and make Superhero a regular color pair of flannel camo pj's. I can find plenty of pink and white, but none for him. And I've been looking for quite a while. I guess I'll have to rethink that idea.

I have figured out the problem with my camera. It isn't my camera, but the software on my pc at work. When I unplugged it in mid transfer, the program became confused(I think unstable is the correct term)and thinks it's still in transfer mode. I've got to take my software to work and reload. Then I think I'll be in good shape.

Thanks for your suggestions. I have to keep that camera working since getting a new one is out of the question.

I hope you are having a great Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

What's Wrong With My Camera?

I was uploading some very important photos the other day and I unplugged my camera (silly me) from my computer before it finished. Why did I do that, you say? I don't know. I had unplugged it before I even thought about it not being finished.

Now I can see the pictures I take, but when I upload them to the pc using a cord, not the base, I get damaged files that won't open. This makes me very unhappy. I've had this camera about 5 or so years, and I don't use it nearly as much as I should. And now it doesn't matter how many pictures I take, I can't upload them to my pc.

The one thing I haven't tried is to upload at home where I have the base. They may work from there, and if that's the case, I may just need to reload my photo program here at work.

If anyone has ever had this happen, let me know what you did to fix it, please. I took the battery and the card out for a while thinking it would reset itself when I put them back in, but that didn't work. I've been working on dresses for the granddaughters and wanted to put some pics for you to see, but haven't been able to yet.

I hope you are having a good day. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Outside My Window!

What's going on outside your window today? Here in good old NE Arkansas, it's raining. It's been raining since sometime last night, and is supposed to rain most of tonight. It's that cold rain with big drops that might have a little ice in it later.

We had a heavy frost yesterday morning. When I first went outside, I though it had snowed, then I realized it was just frost. But is was really pretty.

It's that chili weather that makes you want to stay inside by the fire with a blanket wrapped around you with a good book and time to take a nap. But alas, I'm not in front of the fire, wrapped up warm and I certainly can't take a nap. At least my boss wouldn't appreciate it if I were snoring and distrubing other workers down the hall.

The radio station that I listen to at work is playing only Christmas songs right now, and some of them I'm a little tired of, but others I can listen to all day. They are playing a lot of songs by the Carpenters. Karen sure had a wonderful voice. Occasionally they throw in one by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby or Dean Martin. The oldies are certainly goodies, but my new favorite is the one that Faith Hill sings and it is in the Grinch. It's called 'Where Are You Christmas' and it's just so pretty, least in my book that is.

My friend has a new grandson. He came into this world weighing 10' 10". I think they are going to let him drive home. What what I can hear, they are all doing well. Congratulations Mona.

I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

November - A Distant Memory

It's December 1st. November is gone. Thanksgiving is over. As I told you in an earlier post, I would participate in a total of three thanksgiving meals, which I did. The first at work. The second was with my step-parents and part of the extended family. The third was my children, grandchildren, myself and my brother and his wife.

The food was wonderful at each one. I think the lunch we had at work was the best we've ever had. My step-mother is a great cook, and my family all pitched in and did a joint effort that was really good. We had turkey, ham(oldest daughter brought), dressing(which my youngest daughter made and it was really good), sweet potato casserole(my sister-in-law made, really good also), green bean bundles(made by my daughter-in-law, sooo good), glazed carrots(also made by youngest daughter), potatoes, gravy, rolls, cheddar biscuits(recipe I stole from Chickens in the Road). I made a pecan pie from a cookbook I got in my wedding shower in 1965, and a pumpkin-cream cheese pie that I sorta made up. My sister-in-law made a banana pudding.

Let me tell you about the pumpkin pie. I love a good pumpkin pie if the pumpkin flavor isn't too strong, so I usually try to mellow it out a bit. I used Libby 15 oz can of pumpkin and followed the recipe with these exceptions. Where it called for evaporated milk, I used sweetened condensed milk, and cut the sugar out, and added an 8 oz pkg of cream cheese. It completely filled a deep dish pie pan, but I didn't bake it much longer than the recipe on the can called for. Everyone that ate it said it was really good.

I hope you enjoyed your holiday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

One Thanksgiving Meal Down!

We live in a land of plenty. Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving meal here in the office. Guess what I made? I know, you guessed it--Crockpot dressing. One of the guys here in the office always fries turkeys for us. He fried 3 yesterday. The were moist and delicious. We had all the things that go with a feast, and we all ate until we were miserable. In fact, I saved my dessert until this morning with my coffee.

Before November rolls to a close, I will have participated in at least two more Thanksgiving meals. And yes, I have already ordered some new slacks in a bigger size. I'm beginning to think I should just start wearing spandex. That would be the clothes that keep on giving. I tried to make a joke, but I don't hear anyone laughing.

The foodbank here has been having food drives this week. Our office had two boxes full yesterday to take to the donation drop-off. Our church sent home grocery sacks with a list of things to put in them. The church will purchase a turkey for each filled bag, and on Saturday, the teenagers and young married couples will deliver them to the families whose names have been given to us.

I know several other churches in the area are doing the same thing. I hope everyone who wants to have a Thanksgiving meal will have that opportunity this holiday season.

I've decided that starting today through the holidays I'm going to begin a list of things I should be thankful for. I'm going to add something each day, and incorporate them in my prayers. I think the first thing on the list is that Jesus died for my sins so I will have the promise of eternal life in Heaven.

I hope you are having a good Friday and are looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I love cheesecake. Any kind except chocolate, but then I eat very little chocolate anyway. Last year I got the bright idea to make a pumpkin cheesecake. I usually make pumpkin pies since they are my oldest grandson's favorite.

I went through several recipes and finally came up with what I thought would be a good one. I made it and it was good, but not fantastic good, which is what I want. So my hunt has continued.

Today, I found one in a newsletter I get each day, and it looks so good that I'm going to try it. If it turns out, I'll post pictures of it here and will let you know if it's good. I am going to go ahead and share the recipe in case you may think it also sounds good. Here goes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cookie Crust:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and egg. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon then add to creamed mixture, beating until well blended. Gather up dough, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press cookie crust dough into bottom and two thirds up sides of a 10 x 2 1/2 inch springform pan.

Filling:
3 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp cake flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy then beat in sugar. Sift together flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg, add to cream cheese mixture, beating on low to combine. Beat in vanilla and heavy cream. Whisk eggs into pumpkin and add to batter. Mix on low speed, scraping down sides of bowl, until well combined. Pour filling into crust in pan and bake 45 minutes. Turn oven off, leave oven door slightly ajar, and let rest for 15 minutes. Open door completely and let cake rest inside for 1 hour. Remove pan from oven and cool completely.

Topping:
4 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup dark raisins
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Topping: Mix cornstarch and water until smooth. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add maple syrup and cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat then stir in raisins and pecans. Cool to lukewarm then spoon topping over cheesecake. Refrigerate overnight before removing sides of pan.

I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

LOSS

We all have Loss in our lives. Today my friend is suffering loss in her life. On this wet chilly November morning, her husband of over 40 years lost his battle with cancer.

When you marry, the Bible says that two become one. Therefore, when one is gone, the other is no longer whole. It will take some time before she will be able to move as one person again. Over 40 years of being connected will be difficult to disconnect.

Then it's time to reflect. I've known my friend since 1st grade. I've known her husband since 7th grade. My friend is my age. Her husband a bit older. My family lived down a dusty country road from his. He was one of 10 children whose family were cotton farmers. He had his share of difficulties with a bone disease that caused him to walk on crutches for a couple of years. But he survived that. Just after he graduated from high school, he was in an automobile accident that almost took his life. He survived that also.

What do we have here? We have a couple of country farm kids who basically started with just each other. They brought 3 children into this world, who are now grown, educated, successful people with families of their own. They weathered over forty years of hard work. They had difficult times, but they continued to labor together. These days that is a mark of great commitment. His struggles are over. He is in a better place. His family already looks forward to the day they can be with him again.

Please pray for this family, that they may make it through the next few days, and that God holds them in his hand and gives them the strength to endure.

I hope you are having a good Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Just Ramblin

I have no specific topic today. So I'm just going to ramble a bit. It's been a good week, other than my youngest daughter thought she might have mono, but turned out it wasn't. The youngest granddaughter is potty training and doing really well. She's two. I picked the older two granddaughters up after school yesterday and brought them back to work til their mother could pick them up. I have new art work!

Note to self: pick up a couple of coloring books and some colors. I don't like for them to use the dry erase markers I have here in the office. I don't think it would come out if they got it on their clothes.

I played cards last night. Didn't win, but had fun. We have one gal who plays with us that keeps you in stitches. She can take the silliest thing and tell it in a way that doubles you up laughing. What a stress reliever that one night a month is for all of us. The hostess' husband made a pot of potato soup for us, and she had sandwiches, chicken salad, bacon tomato dip, cheeseball, and salad. Then for dessert, she had pecan pie, pralines, and pecans dipped in white chocolate. I was really good, I didn't eat any pie.

We're trying something new here in the office this week. I bought a bottle of sublingual B-12. We've each been taking one after lunch to see if it makes us any perkier(is that a word?). You put them under your tongue(thus sublingual) and let them dissolve. They taste sort of like a sweet tart. I don't know for sure, but we think they may be working. We went to a meeting the other afternoon. Three of the four people in the meeting had taken the B-12. The person who didn't, yawned all through the meeting.

I have three dresses to cut out and get ready to smock this weekend. Then there'll be a 4th one as soon as I can meet my sister-in-law to pick out fabric for her granddaughter. We are making bishop dresses with geometric design, and adding christmas themed buttons around the yoke. Then after christmas, the buttons can come off, and they can continue to wear them til they no longer fit.

And Megan from Little Rock, welcome into my little corner of the world.

That's it for a ramblin Friday. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Bacon, Tomato Dip

A friend introduced me to this dip. She calls it bacon, tomato dip, and it tastes like a blt, only richer. I've been making it for some years now, and brought it to work today for a co-worker's birthday:

Bacon, Tomato Dip

1 pkg bacon fried crisp (I use the 12 oz pkg)
1 tomato, peeled, seeds removed
16 oz mayonnaise - not miracle whip
16 oz sour cream
1 round pkg King's Hawaiian Bread

I put the tomato and bacon in my food processer and pulse it till it's chopped pretty finely. You can crumble and chop if you want to.

Add to the mayo and sour cream. Mix well.

Chill mixture.

To serve, cut bread into cubes to use for dipping.

If you don't like the bread(#1daughter), use whatever chips you like.

This dip is finger lickin good. And it's so easy to make.

I hope you are having a good Veteran's Day. If you know one, be sure to tell him/her how much you appreciate what they did for us. Pray for our country. Love one another.

I Need a Cooking Dictionary!

I was looking at some recipes this morning in an email I get every day. It has lots of good recipes in it, and whether I ever make them or not, I like to read them. But today I got to wondering about something and I'll see if anyone can get me straight on my conundrum.

What is the difference in soup and stew? Is there a particular ingredient that is in one that isn't in the other? Does the stew have to do with the way the meat is cut? Or is it that there are certain veggies that is 'allowed' in one and a 'no no' in the other?

When I make beef stew for example, I use stew meat that I buy at the store cut into chunks, or I buy a cheap cut of beef and cut it up myself. I usually add onion, potatoes, tomato juice and some salt and pepper. But if I make the same thing except I use ground beef that I brown in the place of the chunks, we call it beef soup. I also usually add corn and carrots to the beef soup. Is that what makes it different?

Oh, and I just had another thought. How does chowder, goulash and gumbo come into this mix. I've always been told that gumbo must have okra in it to be called gumbo, so that makes a little sense as to why it's called something else.

You know the saying,'you can't tell the players without a program'? Well, I'm beginning to think the same about cooking.

And Tipper at Blind Pig and the Acorn was right when she said people thought polenta was a gourmet dish, when it was basically what sustained a lot of people who had very little else to eat.

Have you made your Thanksgiving plans yet? What about a menu? What dish is your speciality that you always make for special occasions?

Hope you are having a great Tuesday. Pray for our country(we saw a group from the 875th leave for Afghanistan this morning). Love one another.

I'm Disappointed in my Pecan Tree

The pecans are beginning to fall here on campus. We've been having warm days and windy nights, and lots of leaves have fallen. Some of the people here in the office go at lunch and pick up pecans. There's probably 40 or 50 trees here, and they aren't the big papershell, they are what we call 'Stewarts', about as big as your thumb and have a very tasty nut inside.

I haven't been going with them to pick up nuts because I have a tree in my back yard. So on Saturday, a beautiful fall day, I might add, I took a container and headed into the back yard. What did I find when I got there? Well, there was one thing I definitely did not find--PECANS! No not nary a one. I immediately think, 'those darn squirrels', but when I look up in the tree, I realize that the poor squirrels are going to be hungry this winter. There aren't even any burrs on the limbs where any nuts have fallen. I've lived in my house for 10 years, and this is the second time there have been no nuts.

Needless to say, I was disappointed. I was looking forward to using my nutcracker to bust them, and then sitting and watching tv while I picked out the nuts. Guess I'll have to find something else to fill my time.

I have 3 and possibly 4 dresses to smock for Christmas, and I'm planning to make pj's for the kids, so I guess it's time I got started on that.

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

America, Why I Love Her!

Anyone who knows me, know that I am a dyed in the wool, die hard, true blue John Wayne fan. He is the epitome of the great American. I know he had his faults, but he never failed to stand up for this country.

After hearing about the shooting in Fort Hood, my heart went out to all those families who are affected by this tragedy and for some reason, this poem spoken by John Wayne came to my mind. Regardless of what happens, how bad we think things are, or how corrupt we feel our government is, we still live in the greatest land on the planet.

Here is a link to the reading of this great poem:
http://sagebrushpatriot.com/america.htm

What is your favorite John Wayne movie?

Did you like his westerns or military films best?

Have you ever noticed that regardless of the film, there is at least one fight--many times in a bar?

Have you ever noticed that the same people were in his films time and again, and even when those people were no longer around, their children were?

Did you know there is at least one movie where he is a singing cowboy? It's a B movie, but it's out there.

Did you know his film company Batjack was the name of a ship in one of his earliest films?

Oh, and this last picture is of my hero, my dad who served in WWII, and who has been gone for several years now.

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

Crock Pot Dressing

I have been asked to post this recipe again. For anyone who may have missed it or didn't try it before, it's the best dressing recipe I've ever found, and the easiest. I would consider it definitely the southern style of dressing.

Crockpot Dressing.

1 – 8” pan cooked cornbread- don’t use jiffy mix, it has a sweet taste to it.
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 to add the eggs 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.

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

I Guess I know Who My Friends Are!

I wrote my post yesterday simply to complain about the fact that my oven doesn't heat properly. Thinking all along, I'd get a bit of sympathy, but no, I got accused of trying to get out of cooking the thanksgiving turkey. And #1 daughter(that's #1 traitor from now on) jumped right on that bandwagon.

Actually, I got quite a laugh about it, and I'd have tried it before if I thought it would have gotten me out of cooking(I do so much of it). But we'll be having our thanksgiving at #2 daughter's house, and I'll carry the turkey there to be cooked.

And Laura, I personally have never had a crockpot to die, and I have one that is about 30 years old, but I have a friend whose 'high' setting went out, so she can only cook things that take 8 or more hours to cook, but sounds like you have worn yours out.

And on the subject of crockpots: Have you tried the liners? They are to die for. Clean up is simply throwing out the bag. No stuck food to the sides, no scrapping, just gather up the corners of the bag and pitch it in the trash.

I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

I Promise, It's My Oven

I don't cook nearly as much as I used to. Now I haven't worn out too many stoves. Although I’ve used some that were worn out. And there was a time when I could put a fairly tasty meal on the table. Even back in the beans, fried potatoes and cornbread days.

But for some time now, it seemed everything I put in the oven had to cook a bit longer than the directions/recipe said. And strange part is, I bought a new range less than two years ago. It's gas, but has a digital panel to set the time and temp so I thought I was all set.

The most puzzling thing was that a cake mix in two pans seemed to bake fine, but let me try to make a bundt cake with or without a cake mix in the ingredients and it would always flop. At first I thought it was my ingredients. Since I don’t bake as much as I used to, I figured my baking powder was old. Or some other ingredient wasn’t good. So I even bought all new ingredients. Still flopped.

Then a few days ago, I was reading a blog that had a recipe. The person had made some comments about how their recipe had turned out, and had mentioned it was very important that the temperature be at the exact setting as shown on the recipe. This person even went on to say you should never trust your oven settings. They could be ‘off’. DUH! Do you think? I put an oven thermometer in my oven, and sure enough, it’s off between 40 and 50 degrees depending on what the setting.

I was making cheese biscuits. The recipe said 45o, so that’s where I set my oven. When it beeped, I checked the temp and it was only 350. I thought I’d give it a few minutes, and it eventually got to 400 and that’s where it stopped. It wasn’t until I set the temp on 500 that it finally got to 450. Who would have thought?

So now, I’ve got to dig out my papers on the stove and hope it’s still under some type of warranty and regardless of whether it is or not, have it checked out. Surely there’s a way to adjust the burner in the oven, but my son said he’d never heard of having to do that. And I have to give him credit, he’s the one who suggested contacting the company.

Well with that startling revelation about stoves, I hope you’ve had a great Tuesday and that all your baking has been perfect. Pray for our country. Love one another.

SomeWhere Over The Rainbow

This rainbow was what we got to see all the way home Friday afternoon. We discussed God's promise to never flood the earth again, even though it was beginning to look as if He had renigged.

I picked up these three little girls Friday afternoon. My two granddaughters and their little friend. They spent the night at 'Memaw's house. They giggled, they ate, they watched movies, they played, and then suddenly it was bedtime. The next morning, I made the picture of the three of them in pj's doing the 'Hear No Evil, Speak no Evil and See No Evil'. I thought it was quite cute. They ate breakfast, got dressed and went outside to play, which gives us the picture of them in the tree.

They later did a dress up thing in some of their mother's dresses, and was picked up by said mothers about 11 that morning. I enjoyed having them, and I think they all had a good time. I guess we'll find out if their friend had a good time if she ever wants to come back.

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