Grand Hodgepodge

1. Next Sunday is Grandparent's Day. Share a favorite memory, photo, recipe, or something you learned from a grandparent. 

My paternal grandparents lived in the same town where I grew up and I remember going to their home for dinner with extended family. After dinner, everyone would adjourn to the front porch which was screened in. I was the youngest grandchild (next oldest was 8 years older), so I had to stay on the porch with the adults. I remember the creak of the chain of the swing, the song of the cicadas, and the whisper of adults trying to talk where my little ears couldn't hear. I remember holidays at their house, too. The counters and tables would be covered in food items - chicken and dressing (made together in one pan), celery stuffed with pimento cheese, deviled eggs.

My mother's mother lived a "Sunday drive" away. In reality, it wasn't that far but there was no interstate to her home at that time. An aside - our home today is only a few miles from where that grandmother lived. Granny George lived in a run-down shack in the woods without indoor plumbing. She was the cutest little thing. She was very poor and I remember seeing my daddy slip some money into her pocket. We were NOT wealthy so that money in her pocket was probably a sacrifice that my daddy chose to make. When we went to my fraternal grandparents home, food was plentiful. When we went to Granny George's home, her snack of choice was saltine crackers. I still love saltine crackers!!

This is Granny George. I don't
have many photos of my dad's parents.
I defintely don't have any on my computer.

2. What's a quote from a book (besides The Bible) that has stayed with you? 

Denver Moore in Same Kind of Different as Me: “I found out everybody’s different – the same kind of different as me. We’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless – just workin our way toward home.”

I didn't read this book, but I've always loved this quote by Hunter Thompson: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

3. What's your number one food pet peeve? 

I hate to hear other people chew!!! Does that count as a food pet peeve? 

4. What's one thing about you that is still the same as it was when you were young? 

My smile is still the same!

5. September is National Preparedness Month...does your family have an emergency plan? Do you have some sort of preparedness kit you keep on hand? If so, tell us one thing that's kept there. 

We do not have a preparedness kit, but we do have a box of important papers. Our son, on the night our home burned, said, "Mom! Where is the box? You need to get the box." We got the box. 

We live in a place where we have tornadoes often (sometimes even hurricanes even though we are four hours from the coast). During a tornado, we have two spaces to hunker down - our pantry which is under our stairwell and a powder room. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

One of the classes I'm taking this fall is Parenting. Let me just say that according to what I'm learning, I did a horrible job of raising our kids. I swatted them with a wooden spoon (just a couple of times and it was recommended by James Dobson) and I washed both of their mouths out with soap one time. Both of those are considered child abuse today. Our son and our daughter are far better parents to their girls than I was to them.