Musings of a Middle-Aged Mom

New Year's Eve - Gumbo and Goodies

2012-02-13T18:13:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness - I love our friends. I feel like we are the most blessed people in the world when I think about our friends. Surely Mark and I are rich - not in money, but in the love of friends. We've been having a gumbo party for years now. I honestly can't remember when we first started the party. It was always on the Friday before Christmas and it was to be a casual, fun and restful evening for our friends. Last year, we moved the party to New Year's Eve because of the wedding and my job and a million other reasons - I just couldn't get everything done. We enjoyed having it on New Year's Eve so we did it again this year - we may have a new tradition.

I make a ginormous pot of gumbo (ginormous is my new favorite word). I always make a pot of some other kind of soup in case there is someone who can't eat shrimp, etc. Some years I have made cornbread but this year, we had hushpuppies. Some folks bring an appetizer, some bring wine or beer and some bring a dessert and we provide a few of those kinds of food also so it is a huge spread.

People rotate through the kitchen, den and dining room and visit with each other through the evening. We can't seem to make it until midnight though. Actually, Mark and Becky and I finished cleaning up the kitchen at 11:45 and I said, "everybody sit down. We are not going to bed until midnight!!" And lo and behold, they minded me!!

The conversation is always good. We solve some of the problems of the world. We talk about a few people. I didn't really type that, did I? We say only nice things. Really!!

Every year, I always have a picture of Mark with a pretty woman friend. This is our friend, Terrie and she is pretty!! Her son just got engaged so she will be a mother-in-law soon!!

Scott and Bonnie were babysitting and they brought sweet Grayson with them. I don't know where the post is but back in May of 2010, we hosted a baby shower for this pretty baby girl and it was a pink explosion!! I think she is eating a hushpuppy!!!

Kay and Lynn have such pretty smiles!!

If you look at the first picture and then look at this one, you can see how people have changed around this table. I love that part of the evening - catching up - hearing about other Christmas celebrations - hearing about kids that we've watched as they have grown up.

I cannot think of a better way to ring in the new year (or almost since we can't stay up until midnight - we've got to try harder next year!!) than to spend it with friends.

Family - how I love thee!

2012-02-09T09:26:00.000-06:00

I love our time together as a family. As our kids grow up and move out and away . . .those times become less and less. When we are all together is special time. This first picture isn't very "good" but it shows grandmother's ginormous (sp?) sofa and how we all tend to gather in that room. At times, the sofa and every chair has a body and there are usually two or three sprawled out in the floor. When you spread a few boys (men!!) who are six feet tall or taller over a floor . . .they take up a lot of space. Grandmother's den adjoins her kitchen so it is a nice way for us all to be together while some folks are cooking . . .without crowding the cook.

For the last several years, we've been trying to get pictures of all of us together . .. anytime we are all together. I don't mean this to sound morbid (and I'm not thinking morbid thoughts) but I've come to realize that we really don't know what tomorrow might bring. We need to celebrate life!!! By the time that I was 25 (like Glenn and Laura) . . .both my parents were dead. So here we all are . . .the back row -- Mark, Lisa (me!) and Susie -- row in front of us -- Bob (married to Susie) - Grandmother in the blue, Alice and George (don't you just love that hat? Evidently some of the other men in their supper club have one . . .. ) -- front and center - B - i - double L (that is what Mark calls him - Bill). Look at all those stockings hanging on that fireplace.

Here is the next generation -- Lauren and Glenn standing on the back and then Laura and Grace sitting in the chair. Ben is on the left (he is studying at Vanderbilt and will begin applying to medical school soon!!) and Paul is in the middle (he is in law school at the University of Richmond) and Thomas is on the right -- he is in high school still.

We are family - we love each other - we irritate each other - we come together to celebrate!!

Christmas morning

2012-01-30T06:42:00.000-06:00

I added lots of pictures to my blog site yesterday so . . .maybe I will remember to write some posts. I have to report to the courthouse tomorrow morning at 8:30 . . .my first time to possibly serve as a juror. I'm not sure I want to go . . .but I'll have my Iphone at least and a book . . .

Total change of subject . . . here is our christmas tree. I thought that our tree was beautiful. We've been buying our tree for years from the Boy Scout troop near our house. I purchased some tinsel this year for use in a project and afterwards I decided to put it on the tree. Reminded me of my childhood!! I had some great wrapping paper. I love buying the good wrapping paper from one of the school kids.

Glenn gave us a good list this year . . .here he is opening one of his presents. We make gift lists in our family and if you don't make a good list . . .you get really random presents. Glenn made a good list.

This was our first Christmas morning . . .with Lauren!! She is a wonderful addition to our family!! I've heard horror stories about other daughter-in-laws . . .I'm glad that Lauren is our daughter-in-law!! She made a good list also!!

It seems like we have one really fun and quirky gift every year. Laura wanted a pink snorkel . . .can you tell that she made a list??

and pink flippers!!! Aren't they cute?

I'm not sure what Mark is opening but I love the look on his face!!

I feel so blessed!!

Christmas decorations 2011

2012-01-25T20:56:00.000-06:00

I know this is a silly post . . lots of mine are . . .but this is a "point of reference" post for me. Next year I will try to remember what decorations I used and I won't be able to remember so . . ..photos sure come in handy!!

This was new this year . . .as our family grows, I can't get all of the stockings to stay on the mantle. Last year all of the decorations fell off because of the weight. I was very thankful that my sister and I were standing there and we caught it!! This worked really well!!

I loved the front door decorations. When I was in Fairhope, all of the shops had this wonderful "screenlike" wide "ribbon" - I loved using it on the front door.

We spray painted the containers for our little trees. They were white and they just didn't look that great. It always amazes me what a can of spray paint can accomplish.

Why did it take me a year to figure out this one?

2012-01-21T16:24:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe that we have been meeting with these young adults for almost two years. The time has flown.

I'm a list maker and so I have no idea why it took me so long to think of this . . .but after a whole year, I made an excel spreadsheet of menus for our Tuesday night group. The menu even includes a grocery list for each time. This is one of their favorite menus . . .chicken fingers and homemade mac and cheese and green beans and salad. YUMMY!

Here are just a few pics of the group. Nathan and Kendall are engaged now . . .so they will be moving on to another small group after October. I'm happy and sad.

These sweet girls joined us this past fall and I've enjoyed getting to know them.

Laura and Dustin were actually making faces at me so I can't believe I caught Laura with a regular smile on her face.

Here are some of our other girls.

Why lookey there . . .what is that in our yard???

2012-01-15T17:37:00.000-06:00

Just in case you didn't know this . . .I am married to a hunter. He was a hunter when I met him . . .and he is still a hunter 29 or 30 years later!! His family has a farm that is about an hour and a half away and he has spent many Friday nights and Saturdays at that farm. (funny true story - he arrived to take me on a date . . .and we had not been dating long . . .and his car smelled HORRIBLE. I couldn't imagine what the smell could be. He told me that it was SKUNK (yes, I did indeed say SKUNK) scent . . and they had to use skunk scent to mask the human smell. Thank goodness, they don't do that anymore - now they have clothes with charcoal in them that has to be heat activated in order to remove the human smell!! I was so in love that I overlooked that skunk scent. I fell head over heels for him!! I remember telling my step-mom about how he went hunting every weekend and she said, "at least he is not out in some bar somewhere!!" Perspective!! (wonder if she remembers telling me that!!)

Back to the present . . .Mark went hunting during one of the first weekends of December. I was here alone and was cooking and messing around in the kitchen. I was standing at the kitchen sink and looked out the window and there was a deer in the yard. My immediate thought was that Jance (our next door neighbor - also a hunter) had put a target deer out there and was shooting at it. I even thought to myself, "surely he would not be shooting toward our house." About that time, she moved.

I realized that she was R.E.A.L. and in our yard. We live in the middle of a neighborhood and we are surrounded by other neighborhoods. When we moved here, that was not the case. There were woods all around us. There are still some woods behind us - but you have to go through two yards and cross a major road.

I thought to myself, "oh my gosh. I've got to take a picture and I need the camera." I wasn't sure my I-phone would be good enough. I ran through the house and grabbed the camera and then ran out onto the deck - in my pajamas with my hair sticking out all over my heard (and I didn't care!) I snapped several pictures but by then she was in our backyard neighbor's yard. I have blown up the picture so you can see her so the picture quality is not very good. The whole time I was thinking, "I can't believe that Mark has driven an hour and 45 minutes to kill a deer and there is one in our yard."

I was so excited to show the picture to him that night and I said something about "he" and "little." Mark said "he" is a "she" and "she" is a "big" deer.

It was so exciting to see "her" in our yard!!

Three birthday celebrations in one . . .used to be two -- now three!

2012-01-14T09:19:00.000-06:00

I am slowly moving forward with our end of the year pictures -- you would think that a middle aged mom would have plenty of time to blog but I think I am busier than I have ever been!!

Glenn and Laura both have November birthdays and now we have three!! Lauren's birthday is also in November. I love "three-in-one" celebrations. We already do that in August for Mark and George and Bill and and we do it in July (if we get to see Susie) for Grandmother, Paul and Susie and we get to do it in March for Rebecca and Ben and Thomas. That is amazing!!

Our birthday celebration was small this year because we celebrated while Glenn and Lauren were home and George and Alice and Grace were already out of town. The number of people might have been small but the number of cakes was large. Grandmother baked a German Chocolate cake for Lauren and a pound cake with icing for Glenn. Laura wanted a funfetti cake so I baked it. (because grandmother would never bake a cake using a cake mix!!) The first cake is Laura's cake.

This is Glenn's cake.

This is Lauren's cake (which also happens to be my favorite!!) You have never had German Chocolate Cake until you have had Mark's mom's. It is unbelievable.

We had enough folks to fill up the dining room table which is always nice. I love celebrating in that room. Laura's friend, Dustin joined us for dinner and the celebration.

We have purchased lots of meat and steaks from Costco over the years and it has always been delicious. We purchased steaks for the celebration and they were horrible. They were tough and chewy - not good at all. We were so disappointed and it is a little embarrassing when you serve something to "company" that isn't up to par. We were telling our friends about the steaks and they had purchased steaks at Costco in Montgomery during the same week and theirs were not good either. I think that Costco must have purchased a tough old cow or two that week.

I love pictures of folks blowing out their birthday candles . . .so here is one of Laura blowing out her candles.

Lauren was admiring her cake and candles!
Glenn and his cake.

Here is the stack of presents. The big box is an ice cream freezer - one of Glenn's gifts. The girls both received purses from Aunt Susie that she bought while in Spain this fall.

Two of the presents were from Mark. He bought two Auburn Championship knives -- one for Laura and one for Glenn & Lauren. He warned everyone that the knives were incredibly sharp. Dustin was trying to help Laura separate the blades in the display case . . .and he sliced his finger open. It was a big cut!!!! Yes, I actually said, "don't bleed on the tablecloth" but I also showed much compassion and helped search for bandages, etc. Laura got out her trusty first aid kit that she takes on her bike and had most all of the supplies needed. It took a while for it to stop bleeding. Always excitement at a birthday dinner :-)

I think it was a good celebration and I think all three felt our love. I can't believe that I am old enough to have "children" who are a quarter of a century old. I'm still pondering that one!!

This is the Dispatcher for the Citrus County Sheriff's Department . . .

2012-01-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

Many of you have already heard this story . . .but I want to write it down so that I won't forget!!

Laura has a new hobby. She has been riding her bike for long distances. Over the Christmas break, she and her friend, Dustin (pictures are courtesy of Dustin) drove to Ocala, Florida and then rode their bikes for about 180 miles (rails to trails) to St. Petersburg, Florida. This is my girly girl daughter . . .who is now camping (primitive!!) and sweating and even falling and getting scraped up. I'm proud of her.

On Sunday night, January 1, I was sound asleep. I had stayed up late the night before (will post about that at some point!!) because it was New Year's Eve. I had served communion and taught Sunday School and been to visit an aunt and uncle and I was tired. We all went to bed around 10:00 that night. Becky was still visiting with us. Around 11:30 p.m. our phone rang. In my sleepy stupor, I answered the phone, "hello." The voice on the other end of the line said, "This is the dispatcher for the citrus county sheriff's department. We are calling about a car that is registered to Laura Elliott at this address." (or something like that) I don't know how I had enough sense, but I said to the lady, "I was sound asleep. Let me walk around just a moment and get a piece of paper and a pen." I have no idea why I said that but I did. Actually, that did give me just a moment to wake up. Let me just tell you . . .that is not the kind of phone call anyone would ever want to get in the middle of the night. Scared me half to death. The dispatcher then proceeded to tell me that my daughter's car had been parked in an unusual location all week and the sheriff was at her car right then and he wanted to make sure that she had not been abducted and/or he wanted to verify that her car had not been stolen and deserted.

Luckily (or maybe I need to say, "Thank God") I had texted with Laura earlier in the evening and I knew that it was Laura that I was texting with - not someone who had her phone, etc. We had only really talked to Laura once during the week and at that time she had told me that the park/trail ranger had told her to move her car from the original parking place to this second location because of safety. The dispatcher had given me the Citrus County Sheriff's department number and she wanted me to get in touch with Laura and have her call them so that they could verify that she was indeed alright. I'm thinking to myself that she probably won't answer her phone and then we wouldn't know for sure if she was ok. Just as an aside . . .Mark is still asleep as is my sister, Becky. :-) I'm the only one up in the middle of the night talking to the sheriff's department. I told the dispatcher about the text from earlier in the evening and I also explained what Laura had told me about moving the car. The Dispatcher wasn't sure that was good enough so she patched the actual sheriff who was at Laura's car into our conversation. I had to go through the whole story again and finally the Sheriff decided that she was probably ok. He did specifically ask me when she would be picking up her car (the next day) and he said that he would check on his rounds the next night to make sure she had arrived back safely. As soon as I hung up the house phone, I grabbed up my cell phone and sent a text to Laura. She answered immediately (which is a miracle in and of itself). I felt much better after texting with her.

Our phone call turned out fine but there are many middle of the night phone calls that aren't good. I am so thankful that the Citrus County Sheriff's Department cared enough to get in touch with us and that they were patrolling and doing their job. I am even more thankful that my baby girl made it home safely from her latest biking expedition.

Thought I would throw in a couple of pictures just so you could see --

Oh - I never did wake up Mark or Becky. We all had to get up at 4:45 on Monday morning because I had to take Becky to the airport to catch her flight home. I figured that some of us should at least get some sleep. It took me a long time to go back to sleep that night . . .so I was very thankful to have a holiday on Monday . . .and time for a nap.

Thanksgiving . . .

2012-01-08T18:53:00.000-06:00

Heck, I'm further behind that I thought!! I was looking in my picture folders and realized that I haven't written about Thanksgiving or about Glenn & Lauren and Laura's birthday celebration . . .and of course, Christmas!! I love Thanksgiving. I think it is my favorite holiday. I love the food - turkey and dressing and gravy - one of my all time favorite meals. I love the decorations. I love the fellowship of family and friends without all of the craziness of gift giving. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. This is our table. I love pilgrims. My friend, Donna Nelson gave me one of the big sets several years ago. Mark's mom brought one set from the Amish "country" in the Pennsylvania area. I have purchased several other sets. The deal with Pilgrims is this. If you want some and IF you see some, you have to buy them right then. You can't think about it. They will be gone. So many people want to rush the holiday season and decorate for Christmas at Thanksgiving (if you do that, it is ok with me . . .but it is not for me). I used brown burlap as a runner.

I love the turkey! He is actually supposed to hang on the front door but his wooden feet continually bang on the door every time the wind blows . . .so this year, he had a home in the dining room. Isn't he cute????

I love pinterest. Yes, I know that my thought processes are all over the board tonight. I found this turkey vegetable tray on pinterest and just had to make it. It was so easy and looked so cute.

I know this is a weird picture but we love olives and I wanted y'all to see these gadgets. Behind the can, there is a white thing-a-ma-jig. It is a jar opener!! The little silver spoon is an olive spoon. My mother-in-law has some of the coolest serving pieces and as I was putting the olives on the tray, she handed the spoon to me! Too cute!!

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a nicely browned turkey.

These cute turkeys were at everyone's place on the dining room table.

Here is a picture of Mark's mom's table. You thought that I had a lot of stuff!!! She has tons of stuff. Look on the server behind the table . . .more decorations. We have to eat dinner rather than lunch because she wants to light the candles :-)

This was the year for George and Alice and Grace to be with Alice's family. We understand but we are always sad because that leaves so few of us. This year was great thought. Glenn and Lauren were home so Lauren's mom came over to eat with us. Laura's friend, Dustin, didn't want to travel to his home state so he was with us. We ended up having a nice table full of folks. We always end up telling old tales. Mark's stories have become my stories because I've heard them so many times that now I can tell them. I think it is so funny that we laugh so hard at stories we have heard so many times.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving celebration and we have much for which to be thankful!!!

A new year . . .

2012-01-02T07:39:00.000-06:00

I am so far behind in my posting. I will have to go back and catch up some from the end of the year . . .because those posts about our family and the mundane stuff are for me. Someday my memory may be shot and I want to look back and "see" what we did and who was at our house and I want to remember how much fun we have had.

So the new year sneaked up on me (is that correct - "sneaked up on me"???). For the last few years, I have experienced this strange phenomenon. We have a day off for Labor Day and I blink and it is the new year. Does that happen to anyone else? It seems like the time from the first of September through the end of December FLIES by. We went on our annual "friends" beach trip in September (much fun) and then this year I went to Austin in October for work. Mark and I went to Nashville for a wedding in October. Then we celebrated three birthdays - Glenn, Laura and Lauren - and we celebrated Thanksgiving. The parties started in December and boom - the year is over. Mix in some every day life - going to work, preparing a Sunday School lesson and a Tuesday night lesson and meal, spending time with friends, supper club once a month - and the time just flew by.

Now it is time for the new year. Do you make resolutions? I haven't even thought of them until this morning. I got up at 4:45 to take my sister to the airport and didn't go back to bed when I got home so I was sitting here in the totally quiet house thinking . . .thinking about all sorts of things.

A friend of mine chooses a "word" for each year . . .like "joy" or "embrace." This year she has chosen "order." As I was reading her blog, I started to think about my own life. What word would I choose? Maybe "do." Do more things . . .like a bucket list. I want to see the Harlem Globetrotters. They are coming to Birmingham soon. Seeing the Harlem Globetrotters is on my bucket list. Why? I don't know except that I have always thought they are sooo cool! Maybe I need to "do" it - order the tickets. Do - Maybe I just need to "do it" and lose some weight. Instead of talking about it, "do it." There are all sorts of things that could be added to a "do" list - do something about my desire to learn more about photography, do something once a month with an individual friend . . .

Another good word would be (actually it is two words - a phrase!!) - "Be still." You know the scripture - be still and know that I am God. I'm always on the go (which I love) but maybe I need to take more time to "be still." Be still and spend time in prayer and study each day. Be still and really listen when others are talking to me. Be still (and quiet) when others are talking and don't interrupt.

I also like Mo's word - order. Order in my office, order in my scrapbook room, order in my Sunday School teaching - plan it out for the year (what a novel idea!!). Order for Tuesday nights. I already have a menu on a spreadsheet - in addition, I could plan out what we are going to study on Tuesday night. Order in my weight loss and exercise (that goes back to "do it" also).

"Joy" or "fun" would be good words. I love to laugh and spend time with friends. I could spend more time doing that!! Joy is that deep feeling that goes so much deeper than happy.

So maybe I need to lump it all together. Maybe for 2012, I need to "Be still" and spend more time with God. Maybe I need to "do" more - especially in the area of taking care of myself - and increase "order" in my life. Woven through all of that would be a thread of joy and stitches of fun.

So . . .I know there are only a handful of folks that read my blog . ..but if you are reading, I would love to hear from you. Does the last quarter of the year fly by for you? What are your plans for the new year? Do you make resolutions? If you could choose a word (or two or three) for the new year, what would it be? And why?

Happy new year to each of you!!!

The first birthday celebration . . .

2011-12-21T22:02:00.000-06:00

Our "children" have picked such wonderful friends. Mark and I enjoy spending time with them and feel so blessed that they allow us to spend time with them!!! Laura celebrated her birthday with us a day early (so that she could celebrate "out and about" on the actual night of her birthday). We went to Sumo and I had never been there before and we all really enjoyed the evening.

Laura invited Taylor and Julie and Anna to go out to dinner with us.

In these restaurants, the chef makes or breaks the dinner! Our chef was great. He was funny and personable. A mother and daughter came in and joined us at our table.

Mark ordered sushi . . . .because he likes it . . .and I think he was the only one who ate it. I must say that the arrangement was quite pretty!! I think that sushi must be an acquired taste. I just can't get over the fact that it is raw fish . . .and I've seen Mark clean too many fish.

Our chef made a mickey mouse with the fried rice!

And he made an onion volcano which was really cool!

When Mark and I arrived at the restaurant, we mentioned that it was Laura's birthday. The hostess said "you pay $5 extra and get personal chopsticks and dessert." So we did. Not only did Laura receive a pair of her very own chopsticks but she also received a fresh fruit cake. We had ordered a caramel cake from Pastry Arts. As always, the cake did not disappoint. YUMMY!

I don't know if I just happened to catch her with her eyes closed . . .or if she was making a wish!

No birthday is complete without the blowing out of candles.

Sitting there watching Laura and her friends and listening to their conversation . . .made me think. I can't believe that just a few short years ago we were planning birthday parties with crafts and paint and jumpy things. How did 25 years pass so quickly? How could I possibly be old enough to have a 25 year old daughter and son? People would always tell me to slow down and enjoy them. How do you slow down when life is running full speed ahead. We did try to slow down as often as possible. One year, they could each pick one after school activity. ONLY ONE. That year was so special. They played outside when the weather was nice. We went to church on Wednesday nights and Sundays. It was a slower time. I still can't believe how fast the years have flown by.

Well, those years have flown by and I am a middle-aged mom and I feel so blessed to be a part of our "children's" lives.

The Flea Market in Mobile

2011-12-20T13:05:00.000-06:00

Who knew? I love the flea market. If you had asked me a year ago if I would enjoy a flea market . . .I would have said, "nah. . .I don't think so." But I actually love going to this one. Maybe it is because I get to go with Glenn and Lauren. Maybe it is because it is a PRIME people watching spot. We saw one girl who had on "ripped" jeans . . .her whole butt cheek was hanging out! (I didn't take her picture - I just stared with my mouth hanging open!) There are all sorts of people at this flea market. All sorts. Really. People sure are interesting.

I also really like the fact that they have animals at this flea market. I could buy a chicken or a goat or a bird or a dog . . .all sorts of animals!!

I also love the book seller at this flea market. (Not the actual person . . . but the book stall) Oh my goodness, I think I could spend several hours just looking at the titles. I made this picture extra large so you could see the precarious perching of books and wires! I will admit that there are spots where I wonder how in the world are the shelves standing. What is amazing, is that there is actually some semblance of order!!

Oh, I forgot . . .I could even buy a piglet if I wanted to do so!!!

This picture has nothing to do with the flea market . . .but I love this tree! It is in the hotel parking lot and I wanted to get a book and go sit underneath this tree (but I didn't).

This post is about nothing much . . .just some random pictures that I had uploaded. I need to catch up!! It seems like the faster I move forward, the more behind I become!

choot 'em

2011-12-17T21:18:00.000-06:00

Have you ever seen the TV show about alligator hunters? It is one of Mark's favorites. The name of the show is Swamp People. Name should tell you something! Anyway . . .one of Mark's favorite characters on the show is Troy and he always says, "Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em." Except when he says that in his Cajun accent, it sounds more like "Choot 'em." Our friend, Jason, who has been undergoing chemo treatments from Hell also enjoys this TV show. When I was in Mobile . . .in a SHOE store . . .I found a rack of these shirts! I bought one for Jason. I thought it might bring a smile to his face!!

By the way, Troy is on the right in the picture below . . .this picture is on the back of the shirt. Troy even autographed the shirt! Hopefully, the shirt provided a little chuckle for Jason!

Oh my goodness - it is soooo big!!

2011-12-08T11:19:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I went to visit Glenn and Lauren. I had three lovely nights in a local hotel and spent as much time as possible with the two of them. It was a great visit. We went to the Flea Market on Saturday morning (more pictures in another post) and they had these giant Chinese Grapefruits . . .not from China - just the name. I had to buy one just to try it.

I took a picture with a roll of paper towels and a big box of cereal so you could get an idea of how big this thing really was. It was the size of a small kickball.

Gorgeous pink color . . .look at how large each half is. That is my knife with the longest blade and it is a very long blade!!

This one section is on the "bowl" of my grapefruit spoon. Each section was huge!! Not only was it beautiful but it was delicious. It was sweeter than a regular grapefruit. I think I need to buy several the next time I go to visit!!

I found this info on the internet:
The Chinese grapefruit, also known as the pomelo, Bali lemon, pummelo, pamplemousse, Limau besar, or Shaddock, is the largest of all edible citrus fruits. Native to Southeast Asia, the Chinese grapefruit has been cultivated for centuries in tropical and subtropical regions as a source of food. The flesh of the fruit is somewhat sweeter than a grapefruit, with a tangy undertaste in some varieties. Some grocers carry Chinese grapefruits in their produce sections when they are in season, and they can be grown in USDA zones 10 and warmer.

If allowed free reign, the Chinese grapefruit can grow larger than a basketball, with an extremely thick rind covering a segmented fruit. The skin can be green to yellow, with yellow to rosy flesh inside. As a general rule, the pinkish fleshed Chinese grapefruits tend to be more sweet, while the yellow flesh is more acidic and it can be dry. The fruits are eaten out of hand, just like many other citrus fruits, and they can also be juiced, added to preserves, and included in desserts. In some parts of Asia, the skin is candied as a treat

God's coloring book

2011-12-07T14:31:00.000-06:00

I am so blessed to live high up on a hill . . .the sun rises directly in front of our house and I get to see the sunrise every morning. Sometimes the blinds are still closed and I can see the white blinds as they get a pink tint and I know I need to go look out the window. If I'm really lucky, I get to see the incredible sunset each day as I drive home. This was my view of the sunrise from the front porch a few weeks ago.

I've always loved to "color" in a coloring book and when I saw these incredible shades of pink and blue and purple, it was as if God was "coloring" that morning.

As the sun rises over the front of the house, I can watch the light patterns shift and change in the back yard.

The leaves were bright orange and luscious gold and when the sunlight hit them it was magnificent.

I'm so glad that our God loves color!!

Halloween Part Two

2011-11-19T19:42:00.000-06:00

Smither and Mabel . ..those are not their real names but what my husband calls these two. Long funny story to be told another day! They were our first trick or treaters in the church office.

She was having a red sucker before 9:00 in the morning . . .and she had on a white coat . . .and she sure was enjoying it!!

This is another friend's little boy - he is such a cute cowboy, isn't he?? Our daycare has a great Halloween parade. I didn't go down to the parade this year but handed my camera to Kristi and said, "please take some pictures!!"

Isn't she the sweetest bride?

We also have a special class at Trinity. This class provides such a wonderful start for these children. Here is the blurb from our webpage: "A Special Place is a Kindergarten class for 3 and 4 year olds with special needs. The class meets Monday-Thursday, from 8:30AM to 1:00PM. Special Place staff includes a teacher, assistants, speech therapist and an occupational therapist. The class participates with other kindergarten classes for chapel, playtime, story time and special events. Limited enrollment. A Special Place has been an important mission of the church for decades." The Special Place children paraded through the office and did a little "trick or treating."

I love Halloween and I loved seeing all the cute costumes!! We only had four trick or treaters at our house so I was so glad that I got to see lots of cute costumes at work!!

Prayer

2011-11-16T15:27:00.000-06:00

The photos in this post are not good . . .but this post is about much more than photos. This post is about prayer. I am so thankful that I believe in the power of prayer. I am so thankful that I believe in God who answers prayers. I do know that sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes the answer is no and sometimes the answer is wait a while. I also know that sometimes when I pray, God weeps with me. That is so comforting. I've mentioned before that I love my job. I have a love/hate relationship with part of my job . . .the prayer ministry for our church. I love it because God hears and answers prayer. I hate it (only sometimes) because I hear about all the sick people and little kids who have cancer and people who are getting a divorce and all of those things that make up our messy lives. . . .yet I also love that I have the awesome privilege to pray for these needs. See, it really is a love/hate relationship.

On this day back at the end of October, I was able to see prayer in action. October is our stewardship month and early in the morning on the day before our big "Celebration Sunday" about forty of us gathered in our sanctuary. Rev. Suzanne talked to us for a minute and shared some ways that we could pray and then she opened our time with prayer. We then spread out over the sanctuary and through the building to Wesley Hall (where our contemporary service is held). We "laid hands" on each pew and we prayed for those who would be sitting there on Sunday morning. Then we wrote something like, "I prayed for you" on a sticky note and stuck it to the pew. We prayed that those sitting there on Sunday would experience God's blessings. We prayed for their families and their spouses. We prayed for our church and that we would indeed be about God's business. There were enough of us that people were able to pray up in the choir loft and people prayed over the "preacher's chair." Oh my goodness . . .when you have 40 or 50 people praying in a room . . .God's spirit is present. As I moved through the balcony, I prayed for my mother-in-law and for Mark's Uncle John who sit in the same pew each week. I prayed for others by name as I pictured them in my mind. You know that most of us are such creatures of habit that we sit in the same general area of the sanctuary each week.

God is at work at Trinity UMC. Yes, HE is. Our pledge campaign is successful . . . commitment cards are still trickling in (if you are reading this and haven't turned in your card, please do so!! haha! I couldn't resist that "commercial") We are in ministry here at Trinity - along with many of you in your home churches - we are doing God's work.

Here is a picture of our senior minister and his wife kneeling at the altar praying for the congregation. I think that is important for folks to know - in a church of over 3,000 members, the senior minister takes the time from his busy schedule to get on his knees. (I apologize for the picture - I was trying to be discreet - no flash, etc.) (and yes, Dawn has on orange and blue - War Eagle)

Here is a picture of the sanctuary as folks are praying.

On days like that Saturday . . .I am so thankful to be a part of the prayer ministry at Trinity. I am so thankful to be a part of a church family who believes in the power of prayer. I am so thankful to be a part of Trinity UMC!!

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-04T09:31:00.001-05:00

One thing this middle-aged mom has really missed is being able to truly "celebrate" some of the different holidays. When our kids went away to college, I didn't decorate if they weren't coming home. As a matter of fact, I remember the first Halloween that they were away . . .I was sad.

Well, this year I was able to decorate to my heart's content because Laura wanted to have a Halloween party. She was in charge of the food and I was in charge of the decorations.

Here is the banner that I made using my Silhouette machine. I tried to post this picture to pinterest and I cannot make my computer do it!!! I think it turned out well. There are three people who live in our house -- Laura and I are two of them . . .the other person placed all the pumpkins in the fireplace for me - didn't that person do a great job arranging them?

Funny story about the food - Laura decided to make Oreo balls. Now I've never made them but several friends told us how easy they were to make. Laura and her friend, Taylor spent two whole nights making those things. Laura said they were truly a labor of love . . and that she wasn't so sure about entertaining if it was so much work!! I, on the other hand, love having them in the kitchen. I loved their chatter and their laughter - those are two other things that I missed much while they were away at college!!!

I had planned to make some ghosts to use on the dining room table and I went to JoAnn's Fabrics to buy dowels and round Styrofoam balls and white muslin. They had these yard ghosts on sale for about 75% off - I think I paid $6 for each one. I couldn't buy the materials to make them for that. So for the table, I removed the big bamboo pole and crammed the small pole down into a block of Styrofoam.

I made these bats on my silhouette machine. The girls used fishing line and hung them for me and I loved how they fluttered around.

I had to work on the night of Laura's party but everyone was still there when I got home. I was so excited to see all of the costumes. Let me introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Scarecrow . . .actually Gabe and Allison. Gabe has now moved to Denver and we sure are going to miss him!!! These scarecrow costumes are some of the cutest and most creative I have ever seen.

Laura's costume was also cute. She was a bumble bee. She wanted to be something else and she bought the material and the pattern and the zipper and I cut out the fabric . . .and sat down at my trusty, very old Elna . . .and my machine would not sew. Actually, that is not the truth - you can't get it to stop sewing. From the moment you turn it on, the pressure foot is moving up and down. I can't decide whether to try to get it fixed or ask for a new one. I already can't get bobbins for it anymore . . .not even on E-bay. They don't make them so I've known for quite some time that as soon as I use the last one . . .anyway, I love that machine. I have sewed soooo many things on that machine!! The point of all that is that we ran to party city and bought the last wings, etc. a few nights before Halloween.

This is a funny picture . . .Amy's eyes are closed. She was a flapper. Nathan was a gypsy and so was his girlfriend, Kendall. We kept asking them if we needed to count the china and silver . . . .I'm still finding red feathers all over my house.

Lamar brought his girlfriend, Marianne, whom we had never met. She seems very sweet. Lamar was a gangster/mob guy and she was a flapper. I loved her dress and it looked so cute on her.

This picture makes me laugh. Christie was "the pregnant woman who recently ran a marathon." In this picture, you can see a corner of her pillow . . but she actually looked pregnant. Dustin is sitting on the couch . . .he was the young man who rides his bike around and goes door to door.

I guess Evan was a doctor??? and Kendall was our other gypsy. She looked cute!!

Here is Taylor . . .she was sous chef (helped Laura make Oreo balls) and decorator's assistant (helped me hang things that I couldn't reach!!) and movie provider - we watched old movies while they worked - Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins. On this night, she was a classic old movie star. She looked great!!!! Her "cigarette" is a dry erase board marker. I laughed and laughed when I realized that!!

You can see Claire in this picture - she has on her mother's wedding dress . .. which was made of polyester . . .and she was the bride of Frankenstein or a zombie bride??? In the corner on the right. . .can you see Austin Powers? He belongs to Glenn and he is voice activated. We haven't had Austin out in a while and he was quite funny!! He can actually scare the living daylights out of me!!

Mark was "allowed" to stay at the party and he enjoyed himself immensely! Here he is with Ed. Ed is Amy's boyfriend and I think he was a boot-legger.

Halloween was a good time for this middle-aged mom. I enjoyed it immensely even though we only had four trick-or-treaters. Two of the four were soooo cute - one was dressed as a hamburger and the other was a princess. All in all, it was a GREAT Halloween!!

Goin' to a wedding . . Anna Claire's gonna get married . . .

2011-10-30T20:16:00.000-05:00

Why do I stay so behind on my blogging? I think one reason is because we have been studying James in Sunday School and on Tuesday nights . . .without a "book" . . .using just the Bible and about 6 commentaries . . .so I've been spending a lot of time in the scripture . . .which is a good thing . . .but it doesn't leave much time for writing. Yes, I realize that was one incredibly long sentence with lots of . . . 's.

So what is the post about anyway? Anna Claire and Stuart's wedding!!! The McKaskles moved to Birmingham several years ago and we became fast friends (as you can see from the recent beach post). They have twin daughters who are a year or so older than our twins. After spending several years in Alabama, they moved back to Nashville (and we miss them so much!).

We were invited to attend the wedding of Anna Claire (one of their twin daughters) and Stuart Day. We were excited that Guy and Phella were also invited because we could all travel together. As an aside . ..it was a really good thing that we were travelling with them. Mark had a little heart scare that week and so it was wonderful that Phella drove and that our doctor was in the car with us. Mark is fine - cardiologist said that he has at least 30 more years on this heart!! Ok - back to the story.

Phella drove the rest of us to Nashville and we checked into our hotel. We were greeted with goody bags full of snack crackers and bottled water and chocolate and a cute little book with info about the wedding and places to go. Mark was greeted by a HUGE picture from our recent trip to the beach. Hayden and Guy buried Mark in an Auburn chair . .with an empty beer can propped on the mound of sand on his chest. I didn't have my camera because the battery was charging but Jan had her phone on the beach that day. She had the picture blown up into a 16 X 20 photo and left it at the front desk. It was quite funny.

After checking into the hotel, we hurried into the hotel and freshened up and left for the wedding. I think we "cleaned up" quite well. It was a 7:00 wedding so we were dressed a little more formally than normal.

The wedding was held at Wightman Chapel at the Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville. The architecture in this place is amazing.

After the wedding, we drove to the reception . . .and I left my camera in the car. I wore new high (high for me) heels and I swear . . .I thought my feet were going to fall off before the night was over. I found this picture of the venue on the internet. A full orchestra played Big Band music for the reception. They also had a margarita machine!! (this picture is not pretty like the reception - the decorations were lovely!!) There was also an artist sitting in a corner and she painted the reception . . .during the reception. After the reception, we had to walk a block or so back to the parking deck . . .my feet hurt so much that I walked barefoot on the nasty Nashville downtown street!!

After the reception, we went back to our hotel and crashed. It had been a long day for all of us. We had planned to "sleep in" on Saturday morning, but there was construction going on next door and they began at 6:00 a.m. The "beeping" sounded like an alarm clock. I thought it was a garbage truck but the noise never stopped!! We got up and got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. Mark loves breakfast and rarely gets to eat a big breakfast. He once again had an omelet on top of his waffles.

After breakfast, we drove over to Hayden and Jan's house. Isn't it cute???

This is a picture of one of the wreaths that was on the door to the chapel. So pretty.

Grandmother had baked cookies for Ben. Since we were right there in Nashville and he is a student at Vanderbilt . . and he knows Hayden and Jan . . .he met us at their house for a cookie drop. I snapped a quick picture of Ben and Uncle Mark.

Lisa Hapgood and Mike and Cammie Quinn were also invited to the wedding and we all went over to Hayden and Jan's house on Saturday morning. (the wedding was on Friday night) Jan has a red kitchen table which I love!!

This is just a picture of some of the cool architectural details on their house.

I realize that this is a random post . . jumping all over the place!! I guess that is ok since I'm a middle aged mom :-) I feel so blessed to have been able to spend time with our good friends!!

do we really have to go home???

2011-10-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

On Sunday morning, there were just four of us left . . .and we are all early risers. The lights were still turned on down on the pier. Isn't it lovely?

The sun was not up yet . . .

Sea oats in the morning light . . .on a cold and gray winter day, I need to be able to bring this picture to mind

The sun was beginning to rise and there was a warm glow of light on the beach.

Mark had to fish just a little more so that on his own cold and gray days, he can close his eyes and remember. Ah - that is probably not true. Do guys do that?

I know that you aren't supposed to stare at the sun . . .so I didn't . . .I just held my camera up in the air and snapped away.

I was just playing with the camera and different settings in the early morning light.

This plant with pretty flowers was growing through the metal fence around the pool . . .look at that early morning dew.

Memories until next time . . .

Day three of the beach . . .there were no pictures on day two!!

2011-10-19T20:32:00.000-05:00

We arrived at the beach on Thursday . . .and for some reason, I did not take enough pictures this year. I think I was too busy talking and visiting. Hayden and Jan had to drive back to Panama City on Saturday night to catch an early flight back to Nashville . . .because their daughter was getting married (and is now married) in just two short weeks. So they packed up and we all put on our nicest beach clothes and headed outside for some group picture taking. At one point, we had taken so many pictures and Mark said, "what is this? a wedding? why are we taking so many pictures?" Of course, we just kept taking pictures. Here we are crammed into the elevator . . .

Hayden and Jan were loading their car and I snapped a cute picture of Guy and Phella. I always love their pictures as a couple.

Here is the whole crew - year five - we are all in our 50's now . . .and we are a pretty fun group. I hope we will still be taking a group picture at the beach . . . in September . . .when we are in our 70's . . . and maybe even 80's!! When Mark had his arteriogram last week, the doctor told him that his heart has at least 30 more years . . .he is the oldest in the group . . .so hopefully, we will still be going to the beach in our 80's. (that was a weird thought process - sorry!!)

Yes, we were trying to make sure that sailboat was in the picture. We were acting pretty silly.

I love this picture of Hayden and Jan . . .except I think Hayden's eyes are closed. Wonder if I could photoshop in some open eyes!!

Here we are and I have no idea what Mark is saying . . .this could be the "what are we doing? Are we in a wedding?" comment time.

ok - there is a story behind this picture. On Friday night, Jan and Phella and I went to the outlet mall. We left the "boys" at the condo. When we returned . . .I kid you not . . .we found all three guys sitting on the sofa in the condo . . .watching the Shopping Channel. Now . . . .we think that it was staged, like the picture below, but we don't know for sure. They were actually able to tell us what the product was on the tv screen . . . .I was honestly so shocked that I didn't even think to grab the camera!! So here they are - recreating the moment for us.

I love this picture - the sun is setting and the glow is hitting their faces . . .I think this was a staged picture also!!

Yes, Mark is standing "IN" the big fishing net . . .and yes, we were acting like a bunch of fools with a camera.

The girls . . .I think this is a pretty good picture of the three of us. There is such joy on our faces.

The sun . . .needs no words. God's beauty.

Mark's eyes are closed in this one . . .see that pretty sun in the background.

I love the beach!! I love this time of laughter and fun!!

day one - fall beach trip 2011

2011-10-16T20:45:00.000-05:00

We love our fall beach trip!! This year was year five and we are already looking forward to next year!! We always leave early in the morningn so that we can arrive in time for a late lunch at the Original Oyster House. When we pulled into town, the bottom fell out of the sky. It was raining so hard!! We all ran into the restaurant and began the "catching up" portion of the week-end . . . which actually continued all week-end!! After lunch, we picked up our keys and stopped by the store for a few items. I had told everyone that I had made homemade pimento cheese but didn't bring crackers . . .so Jan politely borrowed a few from the basket at the restaurant. If you know me . . you know that I'm LOUD . . .and while we were in Walmart, I yelled down the aisle at Jan - "Hey - do we need any more crackers other than the ones you stole!!" Then we all laughed hysterically. I guess you had to be there with us for it to be funny!! When we arrived at the condo, we unloaded everything and decided to go sit on the beach even though the skies were gray.

Mark found this "thing" on the beach . . .we still don't know what it is . . .sea snake? I need to google it!

He played with it and "pondered" about the origin of his "snake."

I, on the other hand, buried my toes in the sand and began the process of relaxing!!

Guy and Phella and Hayden and Jan went for a really long walk. The waves were gorgeous!!

I tried to take my own picture - not too successful!!

Mark had also begun the process of relaxation!!

I think this picture was actually taken on a different day . . .Mark has been trying to kill the beavers that are destroying the trees at the farm . . .We wrote our names on our cups . . and Jan wrote "Beaver Killer" on Mark's cup. He seems pleased.

Since we had eaten a large lunch, we had pimento cheese and crackers and hummus and pita chips and apple slices and cheese slices . . .and margaritas!!!

Lots of pink for baby girl shower

2011-10-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

We are having a baby girl boom at work!! First . . . .let's see - David's wife, Tina, had a baby girl . . .then Kristi had a baby girl . . .then Jeanne had a baby girl . . .and Amy and Karen are both expecting baby girls! Isn't that amazing? These pictures are from Jeanne's baby shower. Baby Ellen has now arrived so I'm a little late posting these pictures. Ann's (our boss!) daughter made the baby cake.

I made the pink puff balls.

Kristi picked up the balloons and the pink paper plates and stuff.

Let's see . . there is Julie on the left and we sure do miss her. She is no longer working with us. Robert, our wonderful intern, is standing in the back. Karen has on stripes. Kristi - with no face - is beside Karen and Amy is in the front. I love working with all of these folks!!

Donna is on the left and she brought the fun pink punch - I think it was pink lemonade which was yummy!!

Here are our three who were pregnant at that time -- Jeanne on the left (baby Ellen has arrived), Amy in the middle (her baby girl is going to be named Cora) and Karen on the right (I don't think she has told us her baby girl's name yet).

Jeanne received some fun gifts!! Hopefully, they are practical and useful, too!

These are our guys who attended (besides Robert in that first picture) -- Scott is standing and Drew is sitting and that is Amy L. talking to Scott.

It is so wonderful to work with all these folks and it is so neat that so many baby girls are arriving!!

We didn't have to sit home on Saturday night!!

2011-10-14T09:03:00.001-05:00

Mark and I love spending time with friends!! Dean and Donna invited us over for a wonderful dinner of shrimp and lemony pasta - delish!! I only snapped two photos all night -- this one of Mark and Donna. I do believe that Mark has his mouth open about to say something :-)

The only other picture that I snapped is of their kitchen table . . .because I love this table. I don't covet it . . .not much anyway . ..but I love it!!

It is such a cool old farmhouse table. I wonder how many folks would fit around that table??? Look over to the left . . .there is an antique high chair - isn't it cute??? Good food and good conversation equals a good night.

recipe for poppyseed chicken for a crowd

2011-10-13T11:03:00.001-05:00

I know that I've shared several recipes lately but that seems to be "where I am" right now. This middle-aged momma has been doing some major cooking lately. I've written about our Tuesday night study before so I won't bore you with details about all of that but I've had a problem. I'm cooking for 25-30 people each week and sometimes I find it hard to quadruple a recipe. Do you quadruple the spices? I've worked out the proportions for one of my favorite recipes and thought I would share . . .just in case someone else needs to make poppyseed chicken for a lot of people!!

First thing is to cook a lot of chicken. I usually use boneless chicken breasts and I buy them when they are on sale or either I buy a couple of gigantic bags at Costco. I always cook one whole bag and almost the whole second bag. I usually save about 4 breasts to cook for my family at a later date. I simply fill up my two huge stock pots with chicken breasts and add water to cover. I add lots of pepper and a good bit of salt. I usually add some Cavender's seasoning also and a little garlic salt just for flavor. When the chicken is done, I remove from the boiling water and place in one of my disposable pans and let it cool enough to handle. I turn the burner back onto high and let the broth cook down at this point to use later. After all the chicken is chopped or shredded into bite sized pieces, I start assembling the casseroles. I use the 1/2 steam table pans which I buy in a big pack at Costco.

I mix up one pan at a time. I've tried it the other way and believe me, this works much better. It is hard to stir all the ingredients if you mix it all together. So for each steam table pan, you will need:
24 ounces sour cream
1 big can of cream of chicken soup
1 regular can of cream of chicken soup
Spray pan with Pam and then add sour cream and soup and gently mix together in the pan.

Then I add the chopped chicken on top of the sour cream/soup mixture.

How much chicken? Well, I use my glass four cup measuring cup and I fill it to the top. I would assume that is at least five cups chicken. Next time, I am going to add another one to two cups of chicken to each pan. It was a little bit soupier than I like after I baked it.

Now gently mix the chicken and soup and sour cream together in the pan.

For the top of each casserole, melt one stick real butter. I don't even buy margarine anymore - just butter. You can see that I'm using that same four cup glass measuring cup. I use it a lot when I'm cooking. Melt the stick of butter. I zap it in the microwave for about a minute or so.

Then I use the tools that God gave me - my hands - and I crumble the Ritz Crackers . . while still in the sleeve. WORD OF WARNING - if you crumble the crackers too vigorously, you will have a mess because the end of the sleeve will open and crackers will fly all over your kitchen. Yes, I know from experience.

Add the crackers to the melted butter and add a couple of tablespoons of poppy seed to the mixture.

Spread all over the top of the casserole. The topping is really good so you do not want to skimp on this step. Add more crackers if necessary.

At this point, you can cover with foil and slip into a two gallon freezer bag and freeze until needed or you can preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour. If you freeze the casseroles, place in refrigerator the day before needed. Preheat oven to 350 and cook for a very long time (unless it is totally thawed before you begin baking). I usually get home at 3:00 and put the casseroles in the oven and take them out around 6:00 p.m. If you are making multiple casseroles, repeat the above steps. I usually make three casseroles to feed 25 - 30 people. That means that you would need:

2 giant bags of boneless chicken breasts from Costco

3 steam table pans

Pam

3 - 24 ounce containers of sour cream (or nine 8 ounce containers)

3 big cans of cream of chicken soup

3 regular cans of cream of chicken soup

6 tablespoons poppy seed

3 sticks butter

3 rolls Ritz Crackers (I think I ended up using all four rolls for my three casseroles)

Happy cooking!!

Cute, easy and inexpensive baby shower decorations

2011-10-06T14:13:00.000-05:00

I saw some decorations like this a few years ago at an event we had at our church and I loved them. Since we are on a "girl" roll in our office, (three office mates have given birth to girls and there are two more girlies on the way!!!) I decided that we needed some fun pink decorations. Supplies for each one cost one dollar and a few cents!! - Can't beat that!!

Butch's recipe for chicken noodle soup - yummy!!

2011-10-02T21:28:00.000-05:00

This recipe is from my friend, Butch Smith. She willingly shared her recipe with me . . . of course, this is not exactly the way she shared it - this is the way that I made the soup and it worked and it was delicious. (you can cook your own chicken if you prefer and then use that broth as your chicken broth)

CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

8 chicken breasts halves (bone in is best) (I used three large cans of white chicken breast)
2 (10 1/2oz) soup cans chicken broth (I used 2 cans of chicken broth from the store)
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1-2 cups little green peas (I added the whole can - drained - but add the amount that you prefer)
1 stick butter
3 cups water
6 tablespoons flour
1 8 oz. package egg noodles
1 1/2 cups milk

Spray pot with pam. Brown chopped onions. Pour canned chicken broth and chicken in pot and add carrots and bring to boil. Add salt. Boil 25 minutes or until carrots are fork tender. Add water and bring to boil and then add noodles and cook 10 minutes. Prepare cream sauce: melt butter and blend in flour. Gradually add milk, stirring until mixture thickens. Add hot cream to soup, whisking constantly, until well blended. Add chicken and cook on very low heat, stirring often, until soup is slightly thickened and heated thoroughly.

This soup is yummy. It tastes like chicken pot pie without the crust. I think I will be cooking this soup often this winter!!!

rag wreath

2011-09-30T08:35:00.000-05:00

I love to do "crafty" things. All of these years, I've been thinking that when my kids were grown, I would have hours upon hours of time to "craft". What a joke!! I think I am as busy or busier now than I've ever been. One reason is that I work . . .in an office . ..every day but Friday. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE my job and the folks I work with every day BUT I need some craft time.

The point of all of that talking about needing some craft time is this - I started this wreath weeks ago and still haven't finished it and I don't foresee(Kristi - are you laughing about me using the word "foresee"?) having time to complete it this weekend. It is going to be so cute though. You start with at least two colors of fabric and a metal wreath form.

You begin by tearing (don't cut yet) the fabric into strips that are about an inch wide. Now you can cut the long strips into pieces about 10 inches long.

This wreath is so simple to make because after tearing and cutting, you simply tie the fabric onto the wreath form. I did tie each piece with a double knot.

This wreath is going to be so cute. Maybe when I finally finish it, I will post a completed picture.

Oh, by the way, if you are like me and HAVE NOT been lifting weights or doing other arm exercises . . .expect your arms to sore from all of the pulling as you tear the fabric. I think I've discovered a new "upper arm firmer" exercise!!

dream house

2011-09-29T10:25:00.000-05:00

While riding around on Lake Tuscaloosa, we spotted this home. Oh my goodness - I love it. We have a small private lake in another part of the state and I would love to build something like this on that little lake. I actually made about 25 pictures of the house and pier but did not think y'all would want to see the house from every single angle. So I'm only going to bore you with about five pictures.

Yes, this is indeed a "glass house." Windows on all sides - isn't it amazing? I don't think you can see it in any of these photos, (actually, if you look closely, you can see it in the right front window!!) but there was a round mattress propped against one of the windows. Where do you even buy a round mattress? I know that I could google it and find one but I just wanted to ask that question. Do you know anyone who owns a round mattress?

The house was all by itself so no neighbors peeking in the windows . . only folks like us who drive slowly around the property peeking along the way!!

I can just imagine having a party with folks all over the boat dock/pier area and burgers cooking on the grill.

I want one of these houses . . please and thank you!

These guys ARE NOT old!!

2011-09-28T16:42:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, we were invited to spend the day with our good friends at their lake house. As soon as we arrived, the two hubbies were out on the deck looking at the fishing poles.

The day was one of those spectacular days - the sky was blue, the air was warm yet had a hint of fall.

We spent time riding in the boat and the sun and fresh air felt wonderful.

Mark decided that he needed to ski . . .he usually only gets to ski once a summer and this was his time. He has to make sure that he is not old yet!!

I was pretty impressed!!

Then Guy had to ski also. He is not an old man . . .he is younger than both of us!!

I love this picture of Phella driving the boat with her hair flying in the breeze.

Guy definitely does not look like an old man in this picture - look at that - he was crossing the wake and he is in the air!!

What a wonderful day - we had so much fun and give thanks for good friends, sunshine, laughter and a day at the lake!! (oh and Mark gives thanks that he is not too old to ski!! - good thing he doesn't read my blog!)

pulled pork for a crowd

2011-09-17T15:02:00.000-05:00

I learned how to cook something new!! A few weeks ago, I wanted to make "homemade BBQ" for our Tuesday night group. I needed to make enough to feed at least 25 people. I called my mother-in-law, the one who can cook anything, and said, "how do you cook pork in the crockpot to make BBQ?" I had already looked at numerous websites and had an idea of what I wanted to do. She told me something totally different!! I did it and it worked beautifully. I had purchased a couple of packages of pork roasts at costco. There were two in each package and they each looked a little like a giant pork tenderloin. Each piece of meat had a thin layer of fat on one side. She told me to put those pork roasts in my crockpot and cover them with water. Yes, I said cover them with water!! I also added some onions. Next time, I'm going to add a little more spice. I turned the crockpots on low and let the meat cook all night. Two or three times during the night, I awakened and thought to myself, "mmmm something smells yummy!!" When I got up the next morning, I removed the meat from the crockpota. During the night, all of that fat had cooked off the meat. My mother-in-law told me that is called "rendering the fat" . . .who knew? Obviously, I didn't!! I then placed the meat (with NO fat!!) into one of those giant disposable pans and I used two forks to "pull" the pork apart . . .once again, that is why it is called "pulled" pork. I love learning something new!! I added three different kinds of BBQ sauce - one for sweetness, one for spiciness and one just because I liked the label. I then placed the meat back into the crockpot. It took two crockpots to cook all that meat but it all fit nicely back into one crockpot. See?

Since it all fit into one crockpot, the other crockpot was available for the baked beans!! I put the liner from the crockpot with the meat in it into the refrigerator and left the beans cooking all day in the other one. When I got home from work, I put the liner of meat back into the crockpot and turned it on high. By the time the young adults arrived at six p.m., the meat had heated through. It was delicious!! The "recipe" was very easy but a little time consuming. It took me about an hour and a half to pull all that pork from four roasts.

This picture has nothing to do with the pulled pork and baked beans . . .except for the fact that I've been using these jars as centerpieces . . .a lot!! I've changed the ribbons three times to match the tablecloth and dropped some new candles down in the jar.

So . . .if you need to cook pulled pork for a crowd, this is a great way to do it!!

Help - I have to escape - they won't let me goooooo!!

2011-09-14T16:44:00.000-05:00

This post needs very few words . . .but since it is my blog, I'll add a few!! You may remember way back when, and old man cat adopted us. His name is snuggles bonesaw elliott . . .don't ask. We call him Snugs or Mr. Snug or snugger bugger or all sorts of things. He really is an old man and this summer he got very sick and almost died . . .and so now, he has to stay inside. He can't take the heat. I'm not kidding. It was really pitiful. He had to have an IV and everything and we felt like really horrible cat parents. You would think that he would like to stay inside but that darn cat is determined to spend as much time outside as possible. Did I mention that in order for him to stay inside more, I have to take two allergy shots a week? Yes, we love this cat. So . . .what story do these pictures tell?

Well, Snugman knows how to knock on the blinds when he wants to go outside. Our blinds are nice expensive wooden blinds and we don't want him knocking quite so often. We have built all sorts of "fort like" devices trying to keep his inside.

Have I mentioned that he is an extremely LARGE cat? I don't know how long he is from nose to tip of tail . . .but I know that he is very long and he weighs about 12 and a half pounds. He jumped up on the chair, which is bar stool height, so that he could reach the blinds . . .so that he could knock. He is knocking fairly politely at this point. I imagine he is thinking, "they know I want out. I always get my way. She will open this door any moment." But instead I grabbed the camera.

I obviously didn't get up fast enough . . .I was trying to take his picture - what can I say? He is knocking more vigorously at this point. Now his thoughts are probably something like, "I want to go outside - NOW!!" Don't you love our attractive blocking device? We do move it when "company" comes over.

In this picture, I imagine he is thinking, "HEY people - where are you? I want out!!! You are not moving fast enough!!!" He stretched out to his full length/height (?) and knocked again. It looks like he is even trying to jiggle the door knob. But alas, he had to stay inside. Such a hard life for an old man kitty cat!!!

I L.O.V.E. Sumatanga!!

2011-09-13T13:22:00.001-05:00

Are there places where you can go and feel as if all is right in the world? Are there places where you can go and feel close to God? I know of several places like that and one of those places is Camp Sumatanga. Camp Sumantaga is the camp for the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. As a kid, I was not into camp very much. I remember going to Cook Springs (a Baptist camp) when I was a kid and I remember how home sick I was (I actually still get homesick :-) ) I've been to Camp Sumatanga many times as an adult and I love that place. From the moment I drive through the sign posts at Sumatanga, I feel God's presence - whether I'm there for an Emmaus weekend or a "business meeting."

A few weeks ago, we had our fall staff retreat at Sumatanga. We didn't stay overnight so I didn't have to worry about getting homesick. Isn't that silly? Several of us rode on the church van and I really enjoyed the conversations that day. It is fun to get to know others better.

We arrived and immediately went to work. Andy opened our meeting with a short Bible study and prayer and then we dug in. Andy had asked for some numbers about our congregation and I learned a new skill - how to make pie charts and bar graphs using excel. I think it is cool that I'm a middle-aged mom and I can still learn new things!! We learned some interesting things about our congregation of 3,000 plus members. 27% of our congregation are young adults in their 20's and 30's. 25% of our congregation is under the age of 18. I think the average age of a United Methodist member nationwide is about 57 . . .and look at our amazing statistic. The other really interesting thing is that over half of our congregation does not live in the immediate area surrounding our church. Folks (like us!!) are driving several miles to church. I was a little bit (ok - really a lot!!!) intimidated when Andy asked me for all of these reports but it ended up being a fun (not really fun but interesting) project.

Ok - back to Sumatanga - sorry I got kind of side tracked there. We walked over to the dining room to eat lunch and there was a tractor sitting on the grassy area and this hat was just perched there on top . . .and I thought it would make a fun picture. It didn't turn out quite as fun as I thought!!

As we were walking back from lunch, I coerced some of the girls into climbing up on the rock . . .so I could take their picture!! (do you say take or make a picture? - I've always said "take" but that could be because I'm from Tarrant City!!) See these smiling faces - I am so lucky that I get to work with such wonderful folks. Haley, Karen, Jeanne and Linda are just four of the special folks that are on staff at Trinity!! Some of the staff was not with us and they are all special!! I remember when I was young and working in the corporate world and I remember working with folks who weren't nice so it really means a lot to me to work with all of these wonderful friends.

We all wrote our names on a piece of paper and Andy shuffled them and then we all picked a name. We then were charged with the task of writing a letter of affirmation to that person before day's end. When we came back from lunch, Scott was already hard at work on his letter. I guess that was what he was doing!! Maybe he was writing a new song for the tuba??? Just in case you didn't know - Scott is our minister of music and he plays the TUBA!!

It was a good and productive day and this middle-aged momma is so thankful to be on staff at this wonderful church!!

You're how old???

2011-09-12T18:16:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it? Another birthday post???? This one is for our dear friend, Guy . . .and it was a very special birthday . . .one of those monumental ones that require a party . . .and balloons . . .and fun!!

We gathered in a back room at a new restaurant here in town. The name of the restaurant is Frio en La Paz and I loved their big signs that look like a giant stencil!! Phella told Guy that Mark and I wanted to try out this new restaurant and that they were going to meet us there. Tricky, isn't she?

Mark and I were the first to arrive (which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows us!!) but we actually had a reason for arriving early. We (actually I) had the balloons. I swear that the ladies at the dollar tree know me by name. I have bought a million balloons there in the last few months!! Yes . . .we were the first to arrive and I was the first one to order a margarita. This restaurant has really good margaritas - both on the rocks and frozen. How would I know that you ask? I had one of each - yes, I did!! I enjoyed them very much.

I was trying to snap some photos before the birthday boy arrived. Here is one of Mark and Dave. They look enough alike to be brothers. That is a little freaky - especially since Dave was born on Mark's actual due date. That doesn't make sense, does it? Mark was a preemie identical twin born in August. Their actual due date was in October . . .Dave's birthday to be exact . . .and they look alot alike. That is sweet little Kim between them.

I'm just an irritant with the camera but we are going to remember all these fun times by looking at the pictures when we are old and can't remember any more!! Here is a cute picture of Laura and Dona. Thank goodness they love me and will allow me to snap away!!

Here is one of Laura and Dona and Kim . . .and you can see that I am not the only person drinking margaritas that night!!

Our guest of honor arrives - he looks surprised! He did tell us that the hostess said, "Oh Y'ALL are in the back" and he became suspicious at that moment!!

Guy had to greet everyone and everyone had to wish him a happy birthday. There was lots of laughter!!

Lots of hugs and handshakes!!

Here is a picture of our whole group!! This is our supper club - all 12 of us were able to be present for this special occasion.

Isn't the back room a cute little room? The only problem is that there is not an air conditioner vent in the room . . .the owners might have to address that problem before 100 degree days next summer.

Here is the group from the other end of the room. I love those orange lights over the table!!

Here is a cute picture of the birthday boy and his lovely wife - two of my favorite people in the entire world!!

Last but not least, isn't this so cute? He tried to give her a kiss and she turned and laughed at that exact moment so it looks like he is whispering "sweet nothings" into her ear!!

Happy birthday to you, Guy! May your next 50 years be filled with joy and happiness!!

Three birthdays . . .three cakes

2011-09-05T14:16:00.000-05:00

Finally . . .the last post from the three birthdays :-) Mark requested a German Chocolate Cake (which just happens to be my favorite also!!) It is a multi-step cake and Mark's momma says it is the hardest . . . or maybe most labor intensive cake she makes.

Here is the view of her dining room table that day . . .German Chocolate on the left, caramel pecan in the middle and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on the right. She spoils her boys, doesn't she?

Mark had many birthday celebrations this year. We celebrated at home with fresh veggies from the farmer's market. We celebrated at Hot and Hot with a divine meal. We celebrated at his momma's house on Sunday.

Happy birthday to you, Mark!!

is this mark??

2011-09-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

No . . .this is not Mark . . .this is George, his identical twin brother. We weren't celebrating just Bill's birthday (if you read yesterday's post). We also had other birthdays to celebrate.

Remember my mother-in-law . . .mother to both Bill and George (and of course, Mark) . . .made a caramel pecan cake for Bill. Look at George's cake. George chose carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Neither of these cakes is from a box, folks. She makes them from scratch.

It was a fun Sunday lunch full of laughter and love!!

Can you see under the cake? There is a birthday napkin . . .we go all out for everyone's birthday - not matter how old you are. We have cake and ice cream and sometimes she (she is my mother-in-law) cooks our favorite lunch (yes, we eat with her every Sunday after church . . .and yes, you are right . . .she is not young!). Sometimes we have balloons and ribbons and birthday napkins. Each life in this family is celebrated. We usually laugh a lot and eat way too much!!

Bill . . .what more can I say?

2011-09-03T09:27:00.000-05:00

Mark has three siblings. Of course, he has an identical twin brother whose name is George. Mark and George are the oldest. Then they have a brother whose name is Bill . . he is three years younger. They also have a sister whose name is Susie . . .but alas, she lives far far away. . .and she is the baby of the family. All three boys have a birthday in August and we celebrated all three birthdays on the same day. Bill has Parkinson's so Mark is always quick to do the things that require a steady hand. . . like lighting the candles. Mark has also always been known as the brother who liked to play with fire when they were kids . . .in fact, he and George burned down a shed in a neighbor's yard when they were just five years old . . .and they had to talk to the Fire Chief!!

You will read more about this in another post . . .but Bill's choice of cake was caramel pecan. Of course, this cake was made by their momma. . . who is not young. Just wanted to make sure that you understood that.

Bill is getting ready to blow out the candles. I'm sure that we were singing our very off key rendition of Happy Birthday. We really sing it worse than any other family :-)

I love owning a camera that is fast enought to catch someone in "mid blow" - that sounds weird . . .but you know what I mean. Our old little digital camera would take so long that the candles were out, the smoke was gone, etc. In this picture, you can even see that some of the candles are still glowing!! Oops - sorry this is a post about Bill . . .not about my camera.

The next two pictures are so funny to me. Mark's momma also made homemade icecream . . .the kind where you cook the custard . . .and remember she is not young. Anyway, the Elliott family eats the largest bowls of ice cream that I have ever seen in my life. I would say that their average bowl of ice cream is probably four scoops!! Mark served Bill's ice cream and had it delivered to him with a gigantic serving spoon instead of a regular spoon. Mark is such a jokester . . . our kids call him, "Jerk Benny." So what does Bill do? He starts to eat from the giant spoon.

He doesn't just start to eat with the giant spoon. He is able to get that whole spoon into his mouth!!! We were all laughing so hard!! Way to go, Uncle Bill!!

The difference in men and women . . .and how they spend birthday money

2011-08-31T20:38:00.000-05:00

Men and women are just different. In lots of ways. Some that are obvious. Some that we won't discuss. I think men and women are different in the way they shop. Mark hates to shop. He detests shopping for clothes or gifts. I think he enjoys shopping at Bass Pro Shop for toys. For his birthday, he received a check from his momma . . . and I gave him two gift cards to Bass Pro Shop. On Saturday, he came in from working in the yard and got dressed and said, "I'm going shopping." Imagine my jaw dropping to the floor!!! He was gone for quite a while and when he returned, he had purchased something he had been wanting for a long time.

Mark bought a white river fly fishing rod and an Orvis reel.

I don't know about you, but when I purchase a new toy - some scrapbooking materials or some new fabric, I come home and begin to "play" with my purchase. Mark did the very same thing. I realized he wasn't in the house . . .and I walked out on the deck and found him backyard fishing again.

He was enjoying his new purchase!!

Look at his determination and concentration!!

The church with the red door

2011-08-29T19:07:00.000-05:00

We were sitting in our living room on Friday night and Mark said, "I want to go to the Pita Stop." I said, "let's go tomorrow night." I sent a text message to Dona and asked if she and Gary wanted to meet us. Her response was, "sounds like a plan."

The Pita Stop is a restaurant that is practically on the UAB campus. They have the best hummus in town. They have shrimp kabobs that are to die for. They serve them in a giant Pyrex dish with fresh fruit and Greek salad and hummus and pita bread. Really yummy!!

Cute picture of Dona . . .the guys are already chatting and we can't seem to move from the sidewalk. You can't see in the window behind Dona . . .but if you could, you would see a conference room table with a "dead as a doornail" cactus on the table. I believe that the office was the office of a corrupt politician . . .who has been "put away" for a while. This is an excerpt from the article in the newspaper a couple of years ago: accused of using a local charity's coffers as his own "personal piggy bank,"So and so was led away in handcuffs by two deputy U.S. marshals after a federal jury in Birmingham found him guilty Wednesday of 97 counts of mail and wire fraud." I think he is in jail for about 20 years . . .it looks like no one has been in his conference room since he was sentenced back in 2009. I've never seen a plant quite as dead!! (this had nothing at all to do with this post . . .)

There is a church across the street that I love. I've never been inside but I love the red door!!! As we were leaving home, I grabbed my camera so I could practice a little.

The church looks really small from the outside. I'm not even sure of the denomination . . .maybe Episcopal? I think it would be neat to say, "I go to the church with the red doors." (just looked up info about the church on google - it is indeed Episcopal - St. Andrew's Episcopal . . .here is a statement from their webpage - made me laugh!! - "We are a liturgical, high church (smells and bells!)" -- I had heard that said about a church before but never heard a church say it about themselves!!)

We really have some beautiful old buildings around town but I've lived here for my whole life and so often, I just don't even think to "look." One of our young adults moved here from another state and he is always going to our tourist attractions . . .and I always realize that I've never been to that attraction before. I've been trying to look around with new eyes!!

A brilliant idea . . .if I do say so!!

2011-08-28T19:57:00.000-05:00

First of all, I'm not sure if these "rolls" are carried all over the country or just in the south. These are Sister Schubert's blueberry rolls and Sister Schubert is actually from Alabama! She made rolls for an event at her church and then started making more and more rolls and now she is famous!!

We just finished a study of the seven deadly sins in our Sunday School class and we have a guest speaker next Sunday so I needed a "stand alone" kind of lesson for today. Years ago, we played Bible trivia one Sunday and it was quite funny. I decided it was time to do that again. So I decided I had better feed folks, too! We stopped at the Pig in Bluff Park last night on the way home from dinner and purchased three pans of Sister Schubert's rolls - one pan of blueberry and two pans of "pigs" (little sausages inside a roll). I got up this morning and popped them into the oven while I was getting ready for church. We leave home around 8:00 a.m. and church starts at 8:45 and then Sunday School is at 10:00. Everytime we have taken food, I find it so hard to keep the food warm. I've used my pyrex carriers with the heated pads but I needed some way to transport three pans.

I had a brilliant idea. The moment that I removed each pan of rolls from the oven, I quickly wrapped the pan securely with foil. Then I slid the first pan down into the bottom of my crockpot. Perfect fit!! I wrapped the other two pans tightly in foil and slipped them on top. I put the blueberry ones on top since they have icing and I didn't want the weight of two pans of "pigs" on top smushing the icing to the foil.

Look at that - three pans of rolls - perfect fit!!

I popped the top on the crockpot and Mark carried it to the car. When we got to the church, we plugged the crockpot in and turned it on low. After church, I removed the first pan and it burned my fingers!!! Perfect!! They were as hot as if they had just been removed from the oven. I actually chuckled to myself thinking of how many times I've carried Sister Schubert's rolls and tried to keep them warm . . . and it was as simple as one, two, three!!

Preachers? Celebrate life? Yes!!

2011-08-26T09:24:00.000-05:00

Just in case you haven't noticed or for some reason you don't know this about me . . .I love a party. I love a celebration. I love to laugh. I love to eat. We were talking at work the other day and felt like we needed to celebrate something (which of course, is actually just an excuse to take a longer lunch break and eat some good food - hee hee). I said that I would send out an email to all the staff and as I was typing the email, I realized that three of our preachers had a birthday in August (or maybe even four of them). One of our preachers just finished all her treatments for breast cancer and is cancer free!! One of our preachers just returned from three weeks out of the country. Those all sound like reasons to celebrate to me!! So we planned a celebration.

Our celebration was held in the Holy Grounds Cafe area which is in our youth building. It is just the right size for all of us to gather and we have an ice machine and serving tables, etc. The Dollar Tree has the best deal on balloons and I pre-ordered 15 smiley face balloons - they just scream celebration, don't they? When I stopped on the way to work to pick up those balloons, they also had some that said, "Today is your day" or something like that so I bought one for each of the ministers.

Let's see . . .who is waiting in line for the food? That is Haley on the left. She is our Communications Coordinator and she does such an awesome job. Haley is talking to Jeanne (our Assistant Children's Director) whose baby is due in about six weeks (I think we might need to celebrate again!!) and Karen, who is also pregnant (she is our director of lay involvement). Ann is next. Ann is my "boss" and she is also the business administrator.

Here are three of our ministers - from the back. I was having a hard time getting photos of folks. Suzanne is on the left - she still has on her wig in this picture but this week has been coming to work wigless and she looks so cute. She has little short dark hair all over her head. We are so very happy that she is cancer free. She is an amazing minister with a heart of gold . . .and more importantly, a heart for God!! Drew is in the middle - his birthday is in August and if you check out a previous post, you can see him at my house celebrating with Mark. Drew is our minister over evanglism and young adults. I work directly with Drew and am enjoying getting to know him better and better. Our church is his first major appointment out of seminary and I think we are doing a good job of teaching him about ministry in a large church. Listen to me saying "we are doing a good job" - but in reality I guess that is true!! On the right is Bobby and I do believe his birthday is this coming Monday!! Bobby is our minister of visitation. He calls and visits all of our shut-ins and those who live in retirment homes and nursing homes. He is only in the office about three days a week but all of those folks really love him. He brightens many days for many folks!! His wife's name is Twink and I think that is the cutest name ever. She is just as cute and matches her name well!!

Here is Mack. He is our minister of administration (or something like that - I should know since I work there!!) He is over our maintenance crew and our kitchen among other things. He and Bobby are both retired United Methodist ministers who are serving part time on our staff. Here is a picture of the front of Suzanne. Isn't she beautiful? God's light just shines through her in amazing ways!!

Our maintenance crew was all over in one corner. That is David sitting in the back and Fred toward the front. Fred is in charge of all of the maintenance operations at Trinity. He recently repaired my air conditioner in my office and has made me a much happier middle-aged woman. Some folks think that you could hang meat in my office now because it is so cold . . .but I'm LOVING it! David is sitting up on a platform so that is why he looks so much higher/taller than Fred.

You know I couldn't write a post about a celebration with talking about the food. We ordered our BBQ from Moe's BBQ and it was delicious. A church member is part owner and we do love to support our church members. I made oriental brocoli slaw and Ann brought baked beans and two different folks brought potato salad. We had (and ate!!) the biggest platter of deviled eggs you have ever seen!! We also had chips and dip and desserts. The food was yummy and I had fun taking this photograph. I told several folks yesterday that I would love to be a food photographer.

So far, this post has been all about the celebration and just some "fun facts to know and tell" about our staff. I also just want to say that I think our church is such a wonderful place to worship God and to serve in His name and to grow in His grace. Not only can I say those things as a long time member, but I can say them as a staff member also. We offer something for every age and stage of life. I truly cannot imagine my life without my church family. Back when our kids were small, Mark was offered a job opportunity out of town. After much prayer and thought, we actually turned it down because we could not imagine leaving our church family. This middle-aged mom loves God and loves her church and her church family and even loves her job working in that same church!!

let the celebrations begin!!

2011-08-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

Mark's birthday was on Sunday . . .but we started celebrating last Tuesday. I made a huge cake for our Tuesday night group. I had the 'bright' idea to make two chocolate layers and two yellow layers because we were going to celebrate not only Mark's birthday but Drew's birthday also. Mark loves chocolate and Drew loves yellow/white cake. I used two 9" pans and two 8" pans . . ."thinking" that it would make this really cool cake. My mother-in-law has since informed me that there needs to be several inches difference in the pan . . .I had already figured that one out!! I made a 9" chocolate and a 9" yellow and repeated in the 8 inch pans. So this cake was actually two whole cakes. I layered them and put cream cheese frosting in between the layers. It was one of the ugliest cakes I have ever made yet I was strangely proud of the cake!!

We needed balloons for our celebration. I love balloons!!

We also needed lots of candles!!

I had to convince our birthday boys that they did indeed need to blow out the candles!!

This cake might have been the ugliest cake ever but it was evidently delicious because our group ate the entire cake!!!

Our celebrations continued throughout the week. On Thursday night, we had reservations at Hot and Hot Fish Club. We had never eaten there before but had heard wonderful things about the restaurant. We even took Mark's momma to celebrate with us. The restaurant is known for their tomato salad. It is made with three slices of heirloom tomatoes and a wonderful aioli and black eye peas and corn and fried okra. Sounds like a weird conversation but oh my goodness, it is wonderful. I wanted to take some photos but I only had my big camera and I thought it would be obnoxious. For our entree, I had a fillet that was to do for!! The sauce was spectacular. Mark had duck and stone ground grits and figs. He said that it was the best meal he had ever eaten in a restaurant. Mark's momma had red snapper. On Friday night, I cooked a wonderful meal of fresh veggies that I purchased at the local farmer's market. We had stir fried squash and zucchini and I cooked boiled okra for Mark (no, I do not eat okra cooked that way!!). Mark said that he didn't want me to make another dessert so I bought coconut Popsicle for him. We continued the celebration into the weekend . . .but I left my camera at my mother-in-law's house so that post will have to wait!!

two new yummy recipes!!

2011-08-22T20:38:00.000-05:00

I've made two new recipes this month . . . and both are "party foods." My friend, Kristi, shared this recipe with me. Her husband is the salsa maker at their house. Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, made up the recipe. Then Kristi's husband made it. Kristi doesn't make anything with more than five ingredients. Right???? She told me about the recipe and I stopped and bought the ingredients on the way home. I, too, love cilantro so I added a lot . . .and I loved it . . .but those who don't like cilantro thought it was yucky! Can you believe it? Here is my bowl of salsa at supper club . . .here is the link for Ree's recipe (I feel like I know her so surely I can call her by her first name.) Maybe some day I'll figure out how to type, "see the recipe HERE" and you can click on here and go straight to the link but for now this will have to do:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/restaurant-style-salsa/

I also cut a recipe out of the local newspaper. I think the name of the recipe is savory pull apart . . .or something like that. It is incredible. I made it for the teacher's snackroom during VBS and they told me it was good. I made it for our supper club and oh my goodness, it is so good.

You buy a loaf of sour dough bread. The recipe seems to work best if you can find a round loaf that is sort of tall. Use a good bread knife and make "slices" about every inch or so but don't cut through the bottom crust. After cutting in one direction, make slices across the bread in the other direction. Place thinly sliced sharp cheddar cheese in each of the "cuts" going both directions. Use a good cheese - don't buy plain old singles. Then open a 3 ounce package of "real" bacon bits (not the fake ones) and sprinkle in all of the "cuts" - pulling them gently apart as necessary. Now melt a stick of butter (use the real thing) and add one tablespoon of dry ranch salad dressing mix. Pour slowly over the top so that the butter runs down in those same "cuts." Wrap tightly in foil and heat in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Serve on a tray and "pull apart" each piece. Our group of 10 ate a whole one . . and loved it!!!!!!

Dreaming . . .and coveting????

2011-08-21T19:06:00.000-05:00

If you know me, you know that I love to cook and entertain. I have a functional kitchen but I would love a HUGE kitchen with an island and granite countertops and one of these stoves . . .in red!! Isn't it wonderful? My stove would match my mixer!! Look at the picture - they even have a dutch oven . . .and it is red!!

I found the picture with the red stove on pinterest . . .so it is a "dreaming" picture . ..but look at this picture. This is my friend, Kim's, new kitchen. Isn't it beautiful? She has the stove . . .but it is not red!! When I see the picture from pinterest, I dream. Seeing this kitchen in real life makes me covet . . .which is a dadgum sin! I'm actually thrilled for Kim - so glad that she has this dream kitchen (see more pics below) but I want one, too!! I could just blow the back off my house and gut my kitchen and make it bigger and better and I could make the family room larger and on top of all that, we could add a bathroom upstairs for Becky!! Did you see how quickly I switched from coveting to dreaming????

Look at the island . .. it is 12 feet long . . .ahhhh! I can seat 20 at my kitchen table and dining room table. Imagine (I'm dreaming!) if I had this kitchen and family room. I love dreaming! It is kind of fun!!

remember those grocery sacks full of groceries?

2011-08-20T10:24:00.001-05:00

Dinner on a Tuesday night includes dessert . . .of course, we start with the best part first! Some nights, Mark eats only dessert because he loves his sweets so much!! This dessert was incredible. One was blueberry cobbler and the reason it looks like it does . . .it decided to slide and leak in my car . . .blueberries and juice . . .on the seat . . .in the crack of the seat . . .in the floorboard behind the seat . ..but enough was left in the pan for some yumminess. Angela made the cobblers - one blueberry and one cherry. This was a different recipe. The "crust" tasted like sugar cookie dough. I emailed and asked for the recipe. You will never guess the main ingredient in the crust in a million years. I will tell you that it was delicious. Oh - you want to know about the crust? It is white bread. Yes, you read that correctly. This crust is made of white loaf bread and it is wonderful. Just white bread? No, of course not. White bread and an unbelievable amount of sugar and some butter. Lots of sugar and butter.

We serve buffet style every week - right from the pots on the stove and from platters and bowls on the counter. I realize that this is not the prettiest way to serve but it is the easiest. Our menu included grilled chicken, fresh purple hull peas and a mashed potato casserole that will make you slap yo' mama! We always have salad and rolls (with most meals).

Mark was (and always is!) our grillmaster for the evening (and he always does a great job!) To grill chicken breasts for 20-30 people requires two grills. He had this many on the gas grill.

And he had this many on the charcoal grill. Our friends, Hayden and Jan, moved out of town and left their grill in our basement . . .sure has come in handy!!

Now you know why my grocery cart was so full of groceries!! If we cook at home, we can feed everyone for $125 or so a week. If we order out, it is more like $200. We usually cook because most of these young adults can order in or eat in a restaurant any time and so they really appreciate a home-cooked meal and also because we want to be good stewards. We sure do love hanging out with these young adults every Tuesday night and this middle-aged momma loves feeding them. There is just something so satisfying about cooking a meal and having folks eat the food and enjoy the meal.

If you don't stop making me laugh, I'm going to wet my pants!!

2011-08-15T14:55:00.002-05:00

I've been out of high school for 35 years - how could that be possible? Surely it has not been that long!! Inside I still feel young . . .but goodness gracious, how could it have been 35 years ago? (since the title of my blog is "musings of a middle-aged mom" . . .guess that is a clue that it has indeed been that long!!) Our class had a 10 year reunion back in 1986 and I was very pregnant with twins and we had a 15 year reunion and I attended that one - actually helped plan it. On Saturday night, there was a multi-class reunion and I decided to attend. I actually didn't mail my money until the day after the deadline because I just couldn't decide whether I wanted to go or not. I was smart . . .I emailed and sent facebook messages to two friends and said, "I'll go if y'all will go . . and let's not take husbands." Smart choice!! I hate to go to those things by myself and I didn't want to make Mark go - to me, that kind of social setting is so awkward because you want to talk to your old friends but you can't leave your spouse just sitting there! (actually, there were a lot of spouses sitting at the tables by themselves!!) I drove to Kaye's house and we all rode together. I think my driving probably scared them half to death . . .and I'm usually a good driver.

Within moments of entering the lobby, our friend Ann arrived. Ann and Kaye and Faye and I all went to church and school together. We also "caught up" with one of our teachers - she taught us all how to type!!

We had several other class members who were present that night but they had slipped out the door before we had our class picture taken. You have to understand that it was 10 p.m. when they started the pictures . . .and well, some of us are old.

Here we all are milling around waiting on our orders from the photographer and we were still trying to locate a few other class members in the crowded "party room."

I don't know what I'm telling Ann back there but I sure am talking - are you surprised?

Who knows what Faye and I were laughing about but we laughed all night. You can see the tears in Faye's eyes and the "sweat" (or should that be "glow") on my brow - that is what happens when you are our age. Faye even brought a fan in her purse.

The food was actually good but they gave us the tiniest plates I have ever seen. They were cute little clear six inch rectangle plates. I put three tortilla chips on my plate and those three chips covered half the plate. It was probably a really good thing because that way I didn't overeat!!

The music was good - we had a couple (or maybe three?) live bands. Terry is the lead singer in one of the bands and he was diagnosed with cancer four years ago and this was his first time to be back with them. He sounded amazing. Ray is a member in one of the other bands and I grew up spending so much time at his family's house. They were all good.

It was amazing to me - though I don't know why it was amazing . . .the folks who were warm and friendly in high school, were the same warm and friendly folks 35 years later. Then there are those who weren't warm and friendly 35 years ago . . .and I'll let you fill in the blank.

Some of us had a hard time remembering folks. Yes, we had on nametags but they should have printed them in a HUGE font :-) I think that one of the younger classes printed the nametags . . .they must not need reading glasses yet!! One person came up to Kaye and said, "do you remember me?" Kaye stood there for a second and then said, "remind me!" I just kept saying that there sure were a lot of "strangers" in the room (and there were since it was a multi-class reunion). Kaye and Faye are identical twins and Kaye was talking to one old friend who called her by name. She said, "how did you know which one I am?" He replied, "I read your nametag." Now I know these aren't that funny to a reader . . .but I want to remember . . .and if I don't write it down I'll forget. I'm laughing as I type these words!!

Toward the end of the evening, several of us started laughing (again!!) and we were trying to talk over the band and we laughed harder and harder because we couldn't understand each other. You know that you are either hanging out with young pregnant women (which we aren't) or middle-aged women when someone says, "stop making me laugh - I'm going to wet my pants!!"

It was a good night with good friends and lots of laughter!!

no wonder my back hurts on Friday night!

2011-08-13T14:01:00.000-05:00

Does anyone else fill up a grocery cart like I do? Look at that! All of the sacks wouldn't fit back in the cart so I tied them onto the handle. The young man who was my "checker" was amazed at my ingenuity.

Since we feed all of those young adults on Tuesday nights, my cart is always full . . .and for a middle-aged momma that is actually a nice feeling. I love feeding people.

I did actually have a couple of extra things this week - a couple of big Rubbermaid (or some other brand?) tubs but that worked out just fine because I stacked lots of groceries into the tubs.

This is a random silly post and for that I apologize but I was looking through my most recent pictures and saw these!!

The Seven Deadly Sins

2011-08-08T18:16:00.000-05:00

Did you know that I belong the a United Methodist Church? Well, I do . . .and our Bishop for the North Alabama Conference is Will Willimon. We have been studying one of his books.

We've talked about pride and envy and anger and we've talked about sloth and greed. All of those have been fairly interesting but yesterday's lesson was about Gluttony. I started the lesson by telling the class that I was much more qualified to teach the lesson than the bishop because gluttony is a sin that I commit every day. It was actually a very hard lesson for me to teach . . .standing in front of that group of folks who could look at me and see how overweight I am . . .but I firmly believe that God uses me and speaks through me and I think that is the only way that I was able to talk about gluttony. To be honest, when I first read the lesson, I wanted to cry. I also must admit that I haven't exhibited any gluttonous eating since I read the chapter.

The Bishop pointed out some interesting things about gluttony. He said that it is not just overeating. Gluttony also encompasses anorexia and bulimia because of the focus on food. Too much focus on anything can be gluttony. Too much tv. Too much entertainment. Too much alcohol. Too much spending. He said that little word, "too" is the difference. In gluttony, it is the excessiveness that is the sin – excessive consumption of A.L.L. things as well as excessive attentiveness to food.

The true face of the sin of gluttony is that we can desire something more than we desire God. Food and entertainment become more valuable and more important to us than spending time with God. According to Willimon, most Christians spend seven times more time on entertainment than they do in reading the Bible and attending church. I'm actually surprised that number is not higher.

The list of seven deadly sins was composed a long, long time ago. But our culture has shaped how we think of overweight individuals today. Willimon says this, "“For most of us, the repulsive thing that gets us about Gluttony is not the sin but the fat, that blobulous bane of middle-aged existence, that to which Americans are succumbing in alarming numbers. Gluttony is an outrage against our ideal body image, not infidelity against God. For most of us, the “sin” in Gluttony is in the resulting ugliness and possibly ill health, but mostly ugliness. Little there is in the Christian faith that makes ugliness a matter of sin."

My friend, Amy posted a picture on facebook the other day. One picture showed the organs of a woman at an ideal weight. The other picture showed the organs of an overweight woman. It was not a pretty picture. Gluttony - the food kind - is not a good thing. Don't you hate it when you teach some sort of lesson and the lesson is just for you? That is how I feel about this lesson and seeing that picture on facebook. But even more importantly, I must admit that the lesson helped me in lots of ways . . .to see that Gluttony is much more than just overeating.

Here is the picture of the overweight person . . .not a pretty picture.

This middle-aged overweight momma has a lot to think about . . . .

Yummy!!

2011-08-06T08:26:00.000-05:00

Last year I received a gift from my friend, Lynn. It was an unusual gift (which I love!). She gave a jar of these to me!

I am actually trying to remember if she brought me the jar of these first or if she brought it to my house as an appetizer and then my family had such a fit over the deliciousness of the appetizer, that she then brought me my own jar. (that was a horrible sentence but it is too early on a Saturday morning to correct it!)

The appetizer is simple. Open an 8 ounce package of cream cheese. Pour about half this jar over the top (I like to chop them up a little). Serve with crackers or chips. Mark and Laura (and I think Becky and Matt, too - when they were visiting) have been known to just get a little cream cheese and put it on a plate and put some jalapenos on top and have their OWN personal appetizer. The recipe is simple. The problem is that you can only purchase these candied jalapenos in Texas . . . .at only certain Buc-ee's stores. (what is buc-ee's, you ask? This is from their website: Buc-ee’s is the theme park of gas stations — not just for its size but because there’s something for everyone, and you’ll all leave happy. Another person wrote on their website that Buc-ee's is the Oz of gas stations. You can obviously fill up your gas tank, buy food, buy souvenirs, buy clothing, get your car washed and buy candied jalapenos all in one location - why have I never been to a Buc-ee's?)

My friend Lynn just went to Texas . . .and she brought two jars to me. We are set for a while. My family will be happy. Thanks Lynn. (yes - my sister, Becky lives in Texas and lives near a Buc-ee's . . .her store doesn't carry them - you have to go to a BIGGER Buc-ee's . . . she is going to have to come and visit us in Alabama to get some :-)

shrimp boil

2011-07-31T18:22:00.013-05:00

I love shrimp. Have I ever told you that? I really love shrimp. I like shrimp boiled. I like it fried. I like it broiled. I like shrimp blackened. I like it dipped in cocktail sauce with a lot of horseradish. I like shrimp on top of grits or with french fries. I love shrimp and hushpuppies. I also like a good shrimp boil and have been privileged to eat yummy food from a shrimp boil two different times this summer.

A couple of weeks ago, we drove out to our friend's house that is about 45 minutes away. We arrived to a big tub of ice filled with various drinks. I had been to my photography class that morning so I was practicing fun shots - I think this one was pretty cool! The shrimp boil was delicious - filled with yummy potatoes and little tiny bites of corn. We had oriental slaw as a side. I have never seen anything like what happened though - you know when you are eating outdoors, you usually have to fight off a few flies . . . .but on this night, every single time we uncovered the food, a horde of flies descended. Not just a few would arrive, but hundreds. I'm surprised you can't see someone's arm fanning the food in this picture!!

During the evening, some backyard fishing occurred. If you look really hard and squint your eyes and use your imagination, you can actually see the lake that is behind their house. But these guys weren't lake fishing, they were backyard fishin'! Mark asked Jason to give him some fly fishing lessons. Actually, I think he asked him to critique his fly fishing technique. Mark started whipping that line back and forth and Jason said, "Mark, you are doing it right. I don't think you need any more instruction."

If you look closely in this one, you can see the lake through the trees on the right side of the picture - look closely now.

It was a hot night, but they had ceiling fans underneath the deck. The fans kept a nice gentle breeze blowing but I do remember having some sweat running down the middle of my back!

Here is a picture of Jason in "instructor mode" - fly fisherman extraordinaire!

Jason was a like a magnet for the men that night. They all had to talk about it and discuss it.

Jason is giving some major instructions in this one. He is pointing that finger!!

We all participated in the dinner that night. Mark made his momma's homemade ice cream - the kind where you cook the custard on top of the stove and then chill the mixture overnight and then freeze it in the White Mountain ice cream freezer. He did a great job and it was delicious. Phella made a peach and blueberry cobbler which was also yummy. Nothing says summer like a cobbler with fresh fruit and homemade ice cream! We also had a yummy buffalo chicken dip that Bonnie prepared for our appetizer (it is ALL gone in the pictures!)

This was another of my practice shots with my camera. I think it turned out really cool, too. Donna had seen the Mason jars with candles in a magazine. She added the colored marbles around the base of the candle. I loved the idea so much that I went out and bought some jars (couldn't find Mason - had to buy Ball jars!) and used them last week and I am using them again this week for our centerpieces for our Tuesday night dinner.

While we were sitting outside talking, I could remember being a little kid and sitting on my granny and grandpa Walls screened in front porch. It would be hot like it was on this night. The adults would be talking about all sorts of things - I'm sure they were talking about things that I didn't understand. On this night we sat outside in the heat, slapped at a few mosquitoes, enjoyed the glow of candlelight and the whisper of the ceiling fans and we talked . . .and talked . . .and talked. We laughed a lot, too!! We could hear the cicadas in the woods just like when I was a little girl. What a special night with special friends.

Did you change your shirt?

2011-07-30T11:31:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, we were invited to our friend's house to celebrate a birthday dinner with them. Mark and Gary have a tendency to dress alike on Sunday mornings . . .and lo and behold, we showed up and Mark and Gary were dressed alike again!! At some point during the evening, Gary came out of their bedroom with a different shirt on . . .he said that he spilled something on it :-) Such good friends. This picture just makes me feel good!!
Gary and Dona's island in the kitchen is the perfect place for serving food. It was fun being there with all of their family and also a few other friends. We've been friends since maybe 2004 and we feel like family. Dona would not allow me to bring a single thing for dinner that night. They had barbecue and baked beans and potato salad. They made homemade fresh salsa and they had chips for dippin'. Jan (Dona's daughter) made tomato and cucumber salad . . .man, I love that stuff. Everything was delicious.

This was the main reason for the celebration. Dona's mother and Dona's daughter both have birthdays right together. This was a multi-generational party!! There were four generations of women from Dona's family there that night. I just can't imagine what it would be like to still have a momma and daddy. I just love being invited to celebrate with them . . .it gives me just a taste of what it would be like to have my parents still living. Momma died when I was a sophomore in high school . . .and I can't really remember celebrating any of her birthdays. I wonder if she had to bake her own cake. Daddy lived until I was 25 . . .and I'll have to think really hard to see if I can remember any of his celebrations. I have a vague memory floating around . . .seems like Glenine (my oldest sister) bought him a bright yellow grill one time. I don't remember my dad ever cooking anything on a grill . . .I'll have to ask my sisters. (Becky - are you reading?) Dona's little daddy is sitting between the two birthday girls. He is so cute. His picture was actually in a National Geographic Magazine during World War II (I think that is right). He and his twin (yes, more twins - we are surrounded by twins) brother both flew airplanes . . .One of Dona's parents doesn't see well and the other one doesn't hear well . . what a team!! Jan and her husband and kids had spent the day in their boat . . .and Jan is brown as a berry!!

It was a fun night filled with good conversation, lots of laughter and really good food. It sure is nice to be included as "family."

You are special! Yes, you are!!

2011-07-27T20:55:00.008-05:00

I was looking back through picture folders and saw two different birthday celebrations . . .on Tuesday nights!! Kelly's mom sent a beautiful cake for Kelly's birthday and we had balloons and we sang Happy Birthday!!

Then just recently, Amy celebrated her birthday. Lynn and Emma were our bakers for the week and they had provided cupcakes - perfect for my cupcake holder. I found the cutest long skinny funky candles.

Amy and I are alike in the fact that we both love balloons. They make us happy!!

Happy birthday Kelly and Amy! You are both special to us!!

Say Cheese . . .Act natural . . .what setting?

2011-07-24T18:16:00.008-05:00

I have a camera with me almost all the time (I guess you can tell that by the number of pictures on my blog). I know it irritates folks . . .but after attending the funeral of Bill F., a man who was just a few years older than I, I decided that I was going to "amp up" the picture taking. I want to remember all of these life events - both big and small. What might seem insignificant to others might be important to me.

So last year, I bought my trusty Canon Rebel T1i and I love it. I've never taken a photography class in my life and I've just been winging it (and yes, I know my lack of expertise shows!!). My friend Kevin graciously gave some coupons to a series of photography classes to me. The classes started last weekend. The first class was just so-so. The presenter was fine but not excellent. He was personable and knowledgeable about cameras.
This Saturday was the second class. It was photography 101 and the guy above was the instructor and he was fantastic. He was funny and knowledgeable and a great presenter. We actively participated in the class. We were working on continual focus in the picture above. He also had the class participants line up in two lines and focus our cameras on each other . . .walking forward and backward to see the differences. I feel like I learned a lot. He taught us all sorts of things to make our photographs better. I made lots and lots of notes. My problem is that when I go to take a picture, I can't remember everything. I think that might be a problem with middle-aged minds! He also taught us about the rule of thirds in photography and about "framing" our photos using natural elements or windows, etc. The class was interesting and the two hours early on a Saturday morning flew by.

I took quite a few pictures on Saturday afternoon and evening. This is in our little flower bed in front of the house. I like this picture. I "sort of" got the thirds - the right tip of the butterfly wing and the outside left edge of the flower. I was trying to take the picture with his wings open . . .

I finally got the picture but the handrail on the steps is visible. But just look at that butterfly. Look at the exquisite detail. I'm so glad that God not only created all of the animals and insects but that he took the time to make many of them so beautiful.

I really like this photo. Not sure that I got any of the techniques right in this one but I like it anyway!

We have two more classes and the last class will be taught by this same man and I'm really looking forward to what I can learn. We actually have homework this week! I need to get busy. Actually, there is a reason why I took copious notes . . .I've already forgotten the details of the assignment. I remember that it is to take 10 pictures of something . . .but I can't remember the details!! Thank goodness for notes!!

free give away!!

2011-07-22T10:06:00.003-05:00

Look at this print!! It is so cute and it makes me smile and I would love to win one!! Check it out at http://amyrenepowell.blogspot.com/2011/07/psssst-its-give-away.html?showComment=1311347147478#c9160928930962757409 . . .and you can register to win also~!

Celebrate L.I.F.E.!!

2011-07-21T20:19:00.012-05:00

My sweet mother-in-law's birthday was on Monday. We usually celebrate ALL family birthdays on Sunday but decided to celebrate on the actual day this year. George and Alice offered to host and Alice planned a great menu. She bought a honey baked turkey and I made a "baked potato salad." I wasn't sure it was going to be good but it was actually delicious. The recipe was in our church cookbook. Alice also made a salad that was lettuce and a chopped granny smith apple and walnuts and feta cheese. It was yummy!! I bought a caramel cake at the Pig (which was the cake she wanted!). I decorated it with lots of pecan halves.

I snapped a few photos before dinner while everyone was sitting around chatting. I was practicing some of the techniques that I learned in my photography class last Saturday - like using the right settings on the camera :-) I think this one is wonderful of Grandmother (that is what I call my mother-in-law) and Grace (my niece).
This was the crew sitting around in the living room. Starting on the left - grandmother and Grace and then George and Uncle John and Mark and Laura.

I used the "close-up" setting to take the photo of the candles.

Grandmother was a good sport about blowing out the candles!!

Blow!!

Alice made a pretty centerpiece. I love those sunflowers.

The birthday girl had lots of presents!

Bill and Rebecca watched grandmother open her gifts.

Look at that cool lamp behind Alice. I think it is so unique. Alice has lots of neat pieces of furniture and fun decorations that she has "inherited" from her family.

What a great day! Another year celebrated in the life of a wonderful southern lady. I hear many of my friends complain about their mother-in-laws - as a matter of fact, I've even heard about the "mother-in-law from hell." I'm not saying that I NEVER complain about grandmother because I do . . .because that is just life . . .BUT I think that Alice and Rebecca and Bob and I have one of the best mother-in-laws around.

Such a Holy Place

2011-07-14T07:40:00.005-05:00

We are having our Summer Week of Prayer at Trinity United Methodist Church. We have emailed a prayer a day to the congregation. Our staff members have prayed some incredible prayers!! Our chapel is always open for prayer and our prayer list is sent to the prayer warriors twice a week. But for this special week, we borrowed a portable labyrinth from another large UMC in our area and it is set up in our gym for the entire week. (I have to give Mark a lot of love on the set up - he crawled on his hands and knees on that hard gym floor to put the whole thing together for me on Saturday - such a good husband!)(I have to tell you that I had on a black skirt and nice top yesterday and layed on my belly on the nasty gym floor to take these pictures . . .I was so hoping that no one would come in while I was lying there!!!)

So you might wonder, "What is a labyrinth?" "Is that a Christian thing to do?" Well, a labyrinth is a series of winding paths - a long walkway that finally leads you to the center. You pray (so yes - it is very Christian - labyrinths have been used for a couple of thousand years!!) as you walk "in" and as you pray, you release those sins that hold you back. You can actually pray anything you want - there are no rules. Yesterday as I walked "in," I prayed for my family. I prayed for a teaching job for Laura. I prayed for Glenn and Lauren to find a home church in their new town and for them to find a group of Christian friends. I prayed for our young adults on Tuesday night. I prayed for forgiveness of my sins. I prayed for the John Wesley class and I prayed that God would use me as teacher and facilitator. I spent a lot of time with God talking about all sorts of things. When I reached the middle . . .which is a place that kind of represents a moment of grace from God (those are my words - not a true definition) I cannot describe the sense of peace that I felt.

As you walk back out, you pray for God to prepare you for the world - to be his hands and feet. You can pray for him to lead your steps (I always have to pray something like this, "Lord lead me instead of allowing me to rush through my day dragging you along behind me.")

Yesterday was one of the times that I was "working" the labyrinth (the staff person sitting down there with it so the candles don't catch anything on fire). A young man came and walked the labyrinth while I was working and as he made his way toward the center, I felt as if the "air" in the gym changed - I can't put it in words exactly. When he got to the center, he sat down cross-legged in the middle with his back to me. At that moment, our gym was transformed into one of the most holy places on this earth. As I've retold that story this morning, I have chill bumps all over. I actually picked up my laptop and stepped outside the gym because it was obvious that he was having some important time with God and it was even more obvious that God was with him. I've been a Christian pretty much all my life and God still amazes me. It is amazing that a dirty old gym (actually ours is pretty decent!) with a piece of canvas on the floor and a few candles can be the holiest place on earth for a few moments.

The labyrinth will be in place through Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. We have to whisk it away at that time because our Vacation Bible School starts early the next morning. I'm working again on Sunday night from five until eight . . .and I can't wait to see what God has in store for those who come . . . .and maybe for me. (if you live anywhere close by, come on over - we would love for you to walk the labyrinth)

one of my favorite "toys"

2011-07-11T21:37:00.004-05:00

Two years ago Mark (with my help!) bought one of my all-time favorite birthday presents. I wish I had more time to use this wonderful machine but it seems like my time is running away :-) The silhouette SD is a "cutter." I have a program in my laptop and I open a new document much like you do in Microsoft word or other similar programs. I can then add all sorts of designs which I have already downloaded into my own library or I can purchase a new design for about $1 from a website and immediately download (or is that upload?) it and use a new design. Technically, I think I can even design my own but the odds of that happening are slim to none! Last weekend I was determined to use my machine to make thank you cards for several folks. I've used the machine for making baby shower invitations (which were cut into the shape of a "onesie") and I have made lingerie shower invitations which were cut into the shape of bustiers (I had to look up how to spell that and I typed in "how to spell bustier" and the first hit was so funny - someone had written, "how do you spell booost-tee-aye" - found my answer and I was right all along!). I made the invitations for the Baby Recognition Sunday at church on my machine last year. I've used the silhouette SD for scrapbooking (which was the use for which the machine was originally purchased) but I can't seem to find the time to scrapbook anymore.

These cards weren't my very best efforts simply due to time . . .but the red one on the far right has fireworks and the top green one has a giant pink cupcake. The yellow one has a place setting thanking Drew for taking me to lunch for my birthday. The one to the right of the yellow one has a bright sun - thanking Mollie and Roger for a wonderful day at the lake. I tried to make most of the cards "fit" the reason for the thank you note. Karen's just has yellow circles left over from the inside of the suns. Hers was the last one I made and it wasn't fancy.

I know why hand-made things always cost so much. Even with a machine to do the cutting and even using simple designs, I worked all of Saturday afternoon into the evening making these. Now I must admit that I derived much much pleasure from the time spent creating so it wasn't a "chore" at all but as I was working I was thinking about how much "fancy" greeting cards cost. Mine weren't "fancy" but they were from the heart.

I love writing and I love receiving thank you notes - that definitely sounds like the musings of a middle-aged mom!!

Fourth of July Fun

2011-07-11T21:22:00.013-05:00

Thanks to Mark's first cousin Mollie and her husband, Roger, we always spend the Fourth of July on Lake Mitchell. Mark's immediate family and Mollie's family have always been close. When they were all growing up, they lived on the same street. We are always together on Christmas Day night for dinner (along with a few other folks) and then Mollie always invites us for the Fourth. Mark and I are almost always the first to arrive. This year, I helped for a few minutes in the kitchen when we first arrived and then went outside to sun bathe!! We all play for a while and then come in to eat a feast. Everyone brings something so we have a ton of food.

That is Nancy on the left (Mollie's sister - also I am married to Mark because Nancy invited him on a canoe trip many many years ago - I knew Nancy before I knew Mark!!) Mark is serving something onto his plate. You can see Mollie on his right. Grace is in the background and George is sort of blurry. Laura's friend Dustin was invited this year. Mollie is always so gracious to let us bring folks along.

I love getting together because it is so multi-generational. At this gathering, Grace was the youngest (she is in middle school) and I guess Aunt Mary is the oldest. Aunt Mary and Susie (my mother-in-law whom I call "grandmother") are sister-in-laws. Aunt Mary was married to Susie's brother, Uncle Billy. Just last week, someone was asking me to tell them once again how we are all related.

Nancy's three girls always bake some fun treats. I loved their cupcakes made into a flag. They did a great job.

I think I caught Aunt Mary with food in her mouth but I still think this is a sweet picture of the sister-in-laws. They both have on their red, white and blue.

There is a great sunroom where many of us spend time. There is a ceiling fan so when you get too hot outside, you can come in and cool off a little. The older ones (not in this picture) usually sit in this room because they can see all of us down on the water and they have the pretty view.

These girls are so much alike - Laura and Lydia. They like a lot of the same things and even though quite a few years separate them, they have always had a sweet friendship in addition to being related!!

I walked out on the boathouse and saw Laura and Dustin reading. Laura is reading The Hobbit which I find really interesting. The Hobbit is not usually the kind of book she reads. Maybe Dustin is broadening her horizons.

They have built this wonderful screened in porch on top of the boathouse. We had not been outside playing but an hour or so and Laura came in bleeding. When they were little there was no screened in porch and it was a right of passage for everyone to jump off the top of the boathouse - even I have jumped off - ONCE - but I've done it!! Laura was going to jump and there is just a tiny tin ledge and she was perched out there and George came up behind her like he was going to push her in and she jumped . . .and caught her foot on that corrugated tin and sliced it open. Since we were surrounded by medical folks (two doctors and a nurse), she was in good hands. They determined that she didn't need stitches but she did have to get a tetanus shot on Tuesday.

Later in the day, I was sun bathing and a horse fly landed on my leg and bit me . . .and my skin reacted in a weird way. It made a huge red raised place on my leg (that has not totally cleared up). I was going to the dermatologist anyway last week so I asked him to look at it and he gave me some prescription steroid cream samples which helped tremendously. I was sitting in a beach chair on the little pier reading a book when he bit me. As I slapped him away, he pulled off my leg and blood ran down my leg. Nancy (nurse) was in the water on a noodle and she yelled, "Put your diet coke on it." I even questioned this. I said, "Put my diet coke on it?" She said, "Yes." So I opened my diet coke and poured some on my leg and she started laughing. She said, "No. I meant put the cold can against the bite!!" I said, "Well, I thought that sounded weird to pour Diet Coke on a sting/bite but I thought that you would know what to do since you are a nurse." When I told the story to Laura, she said, "And people wonder why I am the way I am." I know this is not nearly as funny to you as it was to me but even typing it, I am chuckling again.

I thought that since we didn't have any little kids . . .no one would need band-aids and first aid. Wrong!

I came on back home with Laura and Dustin but Mark stayed a few hours longer. He just felt that Mollie had done so much work to get ready for us that he needed to stay with his family. We had beautiful weather all day at the lake, but while we were driving home it started raining and rained all the way. When Laura and Dustin dropped me off, I took a quick shower and changed clothes and drove to our friend's house. We ate dinner together - wonderful grilled burgers and all sorts of sides and dessert (I took the dessert that is made with ice cream sandwiches and cool whip and chocolate syrup and caramel syrup). Then we all walked up to the crest to watch Thunder on the Mountain - the local fireworks show. It had rained a good bit that afternoon but it stopped just in time for the fireworks. I don't know why . . .but I love fireworks.

The Fourth of July was spent with family and good friends and it was such a great day. I am happy to live in a country where we are free to live and worship and I am thankful for the men and women who have fought for that freedom. My daddy was a SeaBee and I am thankful for him and wish I could tell him!!

Here is a picture of the fireworks and you can see the little (though he is really big) statue of Vulcan just to the left.

It was a good day!!

Click! Whirr! Spin really fast! Beep! Beep! Beep! Unlevel - the machine or me? or both?

2011-07-11T06:40:00.006-05:00

Our washing machine died a couple of weeks ago. It was such a good machine. I think it lasted 19 years. Before shopping, I sent out a plea on facebook - should I buy a front loader or not. The responses were amazing. A few folks liked them but more folks hated them . . .and the ones that hated the front loaders had some good feedback. So we went to Sears and I went to the cheapest ones. I had been looking on Consumer Reports and had just decided to get an cheapie. Well, Mark was with me and he said, "Let's buy a more expensive one than that." So we bought the Whirlpool Cabrio. It cleans and operates very similarly to a front-loader but the top doesn't "seal" so there is not supposed to be a problem with that mildew smell. So far so good!

I'm having to really re-think the way I do laundry. You can see my paper plate signs beside the washer. Clean out all pockets and do not overload. You also have to "sort" more - I've always mixed towels and sheets but this machine does better if you really separate stuff. As a matter of fact, I washed a t-shirt in with some towels the other day and it didn't do too well.
When you put the clothes in and pick all the settings and push start, the machine squirts a little water into the tub and then you hear "click" . . .and the top has locked. I did figure out how to stop it and open it to add something this weekend. This washing machine makes all sorts of interesting noises while it runs. When it spins, it SPINS so fast! At the end of the cycle, it beeps several times to get your attention. This machine is supposed to be energy efficient and it is supposed to use way less water. That is one of the things that I'm having just a little bit of a hard time getting used to. Yesterday, Mark wanted to wash his dirty farm clothes from Saturday. In my old machine, I would have made sure the water level was over the clothes. You can't pick the water level in this machine . . .you just have to trust!! They seem to be clean.

This morning, I was washing our sheets and a blanket before work. The blanket drifted over to one side and the machine started rocking . . .and then stopped. I walked into the laundry room (I didn't take a picture of this) and where that 17 is in the above picture . . .instead of a number, there were letters - "U L" . . .I guess this means unlevel (by this time it was after 8:00 and I needed to be at work by 8:30 so I didn't have time to find the manual and look up U L) . . .and the machine had stopped. I had to take the time to open the lid and spread everything back out and start again.

My day has been a little "U L" . . .unlevel . . .I kept hitting the snooze button this morning and so after getting up 30 minutes later than normal, I didn't have time to read my Bible and pray. I sent three BIG work emails from home (by remote access) and I did a load of laundry and I started the dishwasher and I got ready for work . . .but I didn't take that time with God. So my day has been "unlevel." I've found myself irritable and a little grumpy and so I've stayed in my office quite a bit :-) When I get home, I need to take a few minutes and spend them with God . . .and adjust my load. He is willing to help. . . .maybe tomorrow I'll even take the time to walk the prayer labyrinth.

Girl's Night Out

2011-07-10T16:37:00.004-05:00

While we were at the beach, my friend Lynn called (actually I think she sent me a text message)and asked if I would like to go to Brio the next week for dinner to celebrate my birthday Since Mark doesn't like Italian food, I love to go to Brio with girlfriends!! I know that they have all sorts of things that don't have marinara sauce or Alfredo sauce - he hates both of those sauces and is not particularly fond of pasta. We had been married for years before he told me that. He always ate whatever I put in front of him. Such a good husband. He will go to Brio if everyone else in the group picks that restaurant but it is definitely not his favorite. I, on the other hand, love it!! Lynn posted the "event" on facebook and announced it in Sunday School. We ended up with a nice group of girls. We've had girl's night out several times but it is usually a movie night - chick flick!! We always end up with about the same number of folks each time but not the same people. We belong to a huge class so it is nice to do things in smaller groups sometimes.

So here we are waiting at our table. Even though it was a weeknight, the restaurant was still fairly crowded. We had a long table and Brio is a fairly noisy restaurant . . .so unless you got up and walked around the table, you were only able to chat with those sitting on either side of you. On my left was Angela (and she isn't in the picture!) and then Frances and Phella and Laura and Kim. Lynn and Dona and Jan and Donna N. were all on the other side of the table . . .did I take another picture of the other side of the table? No - I guess I put the camera down and started talking . . .or maybe the peach Bellini made me forget to take pictures!!

I kept asking everyone, "What are you ordering?" I changed my mind numerous times so it was probably a good thing that it took us a long time to place the order. The problem was that I wanted a salad and an entree' and most everyone else was getting just a salad or just an entree'. Since we were celebrating my birthday, I decided to go for it and I ordered my favorite . . .the lettuce wedge salad. I remember going on a cruise when I was about 20 years old and I remember that Hub Lane ordered a lettuce wedge salad quite often and I couldn't understand why anyone would order a "hunk" of iceberg lettuce. Well, maybe it is because I'm old now . . .or maybe it is because Brio is a nice restaurant . . .who knows why . . .but I love lettuce wedge salad. It is so crisp when you cut and bite. The flavors mix together so well!! I ordered an entree' too but for the life of me, I can't remember what I ate!!

We asked our waiter to take our picture. I handed the camera to him and showed him how to take the picture. Simple, right? Well, it flashed three times and I was thinking to myself - good job - now we will have several to pick from . . .not so. I turned to Angela and pressed the button so we could view the picture . . .and there was a picture of goats - yes, old goats - not a group of beautiful women (hee hee!) but old goats. What a trick. How did he do that? He didn't . . .for some reason, there were no new pictures on the camera. I think he only pushed the button halfway which focuses but doesn't snap the picture. So Jan (Dona's daughter who came to celebrate with us) took our lovely picture. I ran around to the other end of the table so she could get everyone into the frame . . .and ta-dah!! We have a picture of everyone minus Jan.

We had so much fun that we are thinking of going out to dinner once a month to celebrate birthdays of the month.

What I did on Summer Vacation by Lisa . ..

2011-07-07T20:03:00.012-05:00

Do you remember having to write those papers on the first day of school? Alright, class - one full page please describing what you did on your summer vacation. There is a funny family story about my sister-in-law, Susie. In May way back when (she was maybe in kindergarten or first grade I would think), the local newspaper interviewed children and asked what they planned to do on summer vacation. Some of the children said they were going to Disney World. Some of the children said they were going to the beach or the mountains or some other fun location. When they asked Susie, she replied, "We are going to Wadley, AL." Wadley is where the farm is located - where the guys in the family go to hunt and plant fields for the deer and sweat and fish. Susie had no plans to go to Wadley but I guess that was what popped into her head. I think my poor mother-in-law was mortified when that quote made the newspaper! So what did I do on my summer vacation. You know that Mark fished . . .and you know that we ate fish . . .

The very first thing we did was stop at Durbin's in Clanton. We've been stopping there for as long as I can remember. I always buy tomatoes for sandwiches at the beach and this year we bought a cantaloupe. We usually buy peaches but on this Saturday morning, they just didn't look that great yet. They also have a very nice bathroom so we have our bathroom stop #1 and I of course, have to get a diet coke (they don't have Pepsi products, can you believe that??) which will make us have to have bathroom stop #2. :-)

When our kids were younger, our second bathroom stop would be at Priester's in Fort Deposit where they could also sample candy. When Mark and I travel alone, we don't stop at Priester's on the way down to the beach. . . .and for several years, we have been joking about stopping at the Casino in Atmore. This year, we did more than joke. We stopped!!

This was about 10:00 or maybe 10:30 in the morning - before lunch. The parking lot was quite full. We parked and walked across the lot to the door and opened the door and oh my gosh - y'all know that I LOVE air conditioning but it was like an arctic breeze hit us when we opened the door. I'll be that it was maybe 60 degrees inside the casino. There were lots of people there putting money in those machines - that early in the morning!!! Mark handed me a $5 bill and I walked over to a machine and lost it in about 90 seconds. Oh well. So we went to the bathroom. This is a perfect bathroom stop for grown ups. Very very clean and there was even an attendant. We also got a free diet Pepsi (way to go - they had Pepsi products!!). So Mark gave me a little more money and he disappeared to some other machine and we played the slot machines for about 15 minutes and then left. We left the casino with a profit of $2.88 (we are such big spenders and gamblers! hahaha!), a free diet Pepsi and a great bathroom break. I think that will become one of our regular stops from now on!

Our tradition is that we get up and leave home by 8:00 so that we can arrive in Gulf Shores in time for a late lunch at our favorite restaurant. . . .the Original Oyster House. This is the best way to start our vacation because we immediately feel like we are on vacation and it feels like we get an extra day of vacation. After we ate, we headed on down to the condo and got unloaded (it is amazing how much stuff two people need - or think they need - for a week at the beach). This was one of the things that I did during our week - watch Mark and George mess with their fishing tackle! I usually had a book in my lap and read while we sat around. There was also a big flat screen tv in this room and one night I watched Despicable me with Alice and Grace - cute movie.

I went to 2nd and Charles before our trip and bought enough books for at least a book a day. I just about met my goal - I probably read 5 or 6 books at least at the beach. On this day, these were my selections in my bag. I must admit that I read mostly cozy mysteries all week - I had my serious reading but there is just something about laying (or is that lying?) in a beach chair that makes me want to read stuff that doesn't have to stay in my brain!!

I spent the early mornings by the pool. I usually had it to myself for at least 30 minutes because other people tend to sleep in on vacation. Why can't I sleep in? One reason is that I might miss something!! I was usually joined by a couple from Georgia that came out every morning and we chatted (you know me - if someone is out there, I'm going to be talking to them). There was also a big group of people - some related and some not - from Arkansas. They were there at the same time last year and one of the young mom's and I talked. She used Afro Sheen as her "tanning" agent - rather than sunscreen. She said it would give you an incredibly dark tan. After her first day of using it . . .I didn't see her the next day . . .because she was so FRIED!! Ok - don't you want to know how I know all this? Well the first day she was spraying herself with a can that looked like hairspray and I said, "Excuse me - I hate to be rude but I just have to ask. Are you spraying hairspray on your legs?" She then told me about the Afro Sheen. Then when I didn't see her the next day . . .I asked on day three - "so . .how is that Afro sheen working for you?" I was never bold enough to ask how they all went together - someone in the family (her grandmother, I think) owns a condo there. I think the young mom was there with her child and then there was a man there with his son (I know he was divorced so maybe they were dating yet he looked way too old for her and they didn't seem like a couple - can you tell I spent a lot of time trying to figure them out?) and then there were some other folks too.

Your mind runs away with you like that when you get to be middle-aged!!! In the afternoons, we sat on the beach. You can get up under the pier when it is too hot. I think I had my camera set on some funky setting so this is a weird picture but I thought this was so neat. Look behind the vehicle - between the two concrete poles. This is a guy practicing his "tight rope walking." Yes, I had to ask him. That is the beauty of getting older. I can ask young adults things and they usually answer out of respect (because we live in the south) and after I walk off, I'm sure they all say something like, "nosey old #*##*" but I have my information at that point :-) When rock climbers are stuck in camp because of things like rain, they string up all their paraphernalia. One day some rock climber saw his ropes and stuff hanging between two trees and said, "I think I'll try walking on this." Well, it was good for balance, which I'm sure you need in rock climbing so lots of folks started tight rope walking (but I'll bet they call it something different). Now it has become a sub-sport of rock climbing. I think that is how the young man said it. He was so good. He walked and walked and walked and balanced and would almost fall and regain his balance. Good entertainment during happy hour on the beach.

So this is how a middle-aged mom (with no kids present) spends her week of vacation. I must admit it is pretty nice - nice indeed!!

This is what it takes to make this man HAPPY!

2011-07-03T15:45:00.009-05:00

This man loves to fish. I've told y'all that before. He really really does. Mark and George got up at midnight every night we were at the beach (on vacation!!) and went out to the pier and fished until about 3:00 a.m. I just can't imagine doing that. I've been trying to think if there is anything I love enough to get up every single night of vacation and stay up from midnight to three a.m. I'm not sure there is. I surely can't imagine blogging or scrapbooking or sewing or even eating from midnight until three. I have set my clock and awakened in the middle of the night to pray for various things over the years but that is about it. Of course, when our kids were small we were up MANY times during the night. So one morning, Mark said, "would you take the camera out to the pier. I want some pictures of this fish I caught." My early morning reply was probably, "Can I drink a diet pepsi first?" So out to the pier we walked.
I was reading on Mo's blog about colors in photos. She was right. Orange and blue go so well together in photos. No wonder I love Auburn colors so much!! Look how that orange shirt pops against that blue sky. Oh wait a minute . . .I'm supposed to be talking about that beautiful fish. Isn't he lovely?

Look at that mouth . . .who knew that fish had tongues. That probably isn't really a tongue but it sure looks like it. Look at those teeth . . .my what big teeth he has!! You see that Mark is holding his mouth open with a rag of some sort or other. You learn all sorts of interesting things when you are married to a fisherman.

The pier is so nice - they even provide a cutting board. There are sinks with running water so that you can clean your fish on the pier and get them right into the ice.

There is a water hose so that you can clean up after yourself!!

I think I told y'all this in one of my posts last year. When our nephew, Thomas was a wee little boy he was fascinated with all things going on the pier. Mark and George would "clean" the fish and Thomas thought they were giving the fish a bath and returning them to their fish daddies over the side. I still chuckle about that.

They didn't catch as many fish this year as some of the years in the past. Since the last big hurricane, the fishing hasn't been as good because the water is more shallow under the pier. Time and mother nature will eventually take care of that. They did catch plenty of fish for us to eat and it was delicious!! (look at the orange shirt against that blue water - looks great!!) He is one happy man in these pictures! Is there any hobby, etc. (nothing x-rated please) for which you would wake up at midnight and stay up until three a.m.? He loves his fishing!!

a perfect birthday dinner

2011-06-30T20:25:00.006-05:00

We were at the beach on my birthday and you know how much I love the sun and the beach. . .so you know that it was the perfect way to spend my birthday!! I was at the pool bright and early and read for a couple of hours. Then we went in and took a shower and drove up to the original oyster house for lunch. One of my favorite desserts is peanut butter pie and I never order dessert in a restaurant but since it was my birthday . ..guess what? I did!! The waitress and Mark sang happy birthday. Look at that pie - it is so tall!! Mark even ate a few bites - he liked the chocolate crust. We went back out to the beach in the afternoon and then I rented "The King's Speech" and watched it in our bedroom while the rest of the group prepared supper - I felt so spoiled!!

They prepared a wonderful dinner. We had a shrimp boil. The potatoes and corn were grown in the garden of one of Vivia's friends. George added the spice and it was spicy! It was good. Our lips were burning and we kept laughing because they were burning so much!!

Mark had purchased an ice cream cake from publix and so we had our cake and ice cream all in one. It was actually very good! Vivia and Alice both had presents for me and they all worked so hard to make my birthday special . . .and it worked!! What a special day!!

Fish Four different ways!!

2011-06-29T21:29:00.006-05:00

When we are at the beach, we cook some of our meals in the condo. Mark and George get in that kitchen and whip up some amazing food. I'm not a huge fan of fish but there is something about fish that was caught on the same day that you cook and eat it. It tastes really good. Mark and George caught speckled trout and flounder . . .but to catch it they set their alarms for midnight and went outside and walked down the pier and fished until about 3:00 a.m. They told us that they saw some pretty amazing things at that time of night . . .evidently there were "cougars" walking on the beach and families with small children and mamas with babies . . walking on the beach in the middle of the night!!

So this year we ate fresh fish several times. Mark and George are our fish "chefs." Mark packed his deep fryer so he was ready!! Glenn registered for this same fryer and he and Lauren received one from Mr. and Mrs. McKay as a wedding gift . . .and Mark just had to have one of his own!!

I am not sure what they are doing in this picture. I said, "Let me take a picture of the cooks" and they posed this way!! They had been drinking cold beverages :-)

The fish on the right are my favorite. Mark uses potato flakes (like you use to make instant mashed potatoes - yes, you read that right!!) instead of cornmeal. Oh my goodness - they are the best fried fish EVER!! I'm usually a "one small piece of fish for me, please" kind of girl but I can actually eat several pieces of the fish cooked this way!!

Isn't this amazing? We had fried fish and baked whole flounder and broiled fish. We also had a delicious salad and cheese grits. There is not a restaurant in town that can prepare and serve a meal more tasty than this one!! Good job, guys!!

Roosters, Chickens and Goats oh my!

2011-06-26T17:06:00.006-05:00

Glenn and Lauren have been telling us about this amazing flea market in Mobile. They love going there on the weekends. They've been buying their fresh produce from some farmers who have booths at the flea market. We needed to spend the night in Mobile after the wedding/reception/dinner/play day so we stayed at the nice Hampton Inn. On Sunday morning, Mark and I got up and got dressed and went to the lobby for breakfast. Mark loves breakfast and rarely gets a cooked breakfast (he eats raisin bran almost every day of his life!). He really loves waffles . . .and yes, there was a waffle iron in the lobby of the Hampton Inn. Mark made a waffle and when he came to the table . . .he had not only a waffle, but an omelette on top of his waffle . . .with syrup. He said it was good but since I'm not a breakfast in the morning kind of person (I'm happy with a grilled cheese sandwich!) it did not look appealing to me. He said it was delicious. (by the way, I do like breakfast for dinner!! . . .and I did eat some sausage and part of an omelette and some fruit at the hotel - proud of myself!) Then Glenn and Lauren picked us up and drove us to the flea market. It was indeed a unique place. I would like to go back and explore some more! Here is one of the buildings (yes, I said one of the buildings - there are multiple buildings). There were some interesting folks walking around . . .glad I had the camera! There were booths with t-shirts and booths with purses and booths with glasses (both drinking and reading). There were booths with dog clothes and cat carriers. There was this one really large booth (I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it!!) of something that I really love - books!! There were really tall shelves filled with books and just enough space to wind around. It was really cool. We kept walking and came to some really interesting stuff . . . There were booths with live animals . . .look at the price tag - $15.00 each. I didn't ask but I've been wondering . . .do you think these are being sold to be eaten . . .for lunch . . . or do you think they are being sold as pets?????

Look at this one!! He is actually somewhat cute! He is probably thinking, "get me out of here!!"

This was the most unusual. There were goats for sale. Once again, I'm wondering if they were for sale for pet purposes or what???? They were kind of sad tied up in the back of this truck. I guess they weren't sad but it made me sad! It was really hot that day. Yes . . .if you are wondering . . .all those little black pellets are exactly what they look like they are.

What an interesting way to spend our last morning of vacation! We loved spending time with Glenn and Lauren and walking through the flea market. Lauren and I even let the guy selling some kind of natural "straight from Africa" butter for the skin spread some on our arm. They dropped us at the hotel and we started our drive home. The flea market was fun!

Yummy!!

2011-06-26T15:43:00.011-05:00

We left the reception and went back to the hotel and showered and changed clothes (no way could we stay that sweaty!!). Glenn and Lauren and the rest of the gang had to stay until the bride and groom left which was around 5:30 (and it is a 30 minute drive back to the area of Mobile where they live). All of them (not sure how many!!) grabbed a quick shower also. Mark and I wanted to take all of them to dinner and we wanted to go somewhere "Mobile" . . .so this is where we met them. The Shed . . .has been on food network!!

Such a cool restaurant. Lights hanging from the ceiling. All sorts of things like bicycles and ventriloquist dummies hanging from the ceiling - really!! Here is our group - on the right - Levi and Mark and Kaylor and Jerel and on the left is Lauren and Glenn and Jamie's girlfriend (I have to find out her name!) and Jamie. There was a band on the stage and they kept warming up and then they left!

Look at all those tags . . .they were on almost every surface!! Yes, those are rolls of paper towels on the table . . . brown paper towels . . .no napkins in this place!

Look at this table. It is a red door. I LOVE it! I want one. Of course, I don't have a place to put it.

Look at all the stuff hanging from the ceiling!!

I think the cow was one of my favorite things. I have no idea whose signatures are all over the cow but he is cool.

Can you believe that I have made it this far into a post about a restaurant and haven't talked about the food yet???? The restaurant was just so interesting. The food was good. I have a BBQ Pork Baked Potato. The problem is that we have a Saw's BBQ restaurant right down the street from the church and their BBQ Pork Baker is so phenomenal . . that this restaurant didn't have a chance!! I tasted Mark's beans (I always say that I'm a baked bean connoisseur because I love baked beans!). They were good. The BBQ Pork on my potato was tasty and tender. Lauren and Mark both got brisket. Lauren was excited to be in a restaurant where they served brisket. That is the kind of BBQ that she grew up eating. (I always laugh when I read about folks in other parts of the country . . .they say they are having a barbecue . . .and they cook hamburgers and hotdogs . . .Not barbecue).

The Shed was a fun place to gather and eat and we enjoyed the food and the fellowship AND even more importantly, we were able to eat and get to the theater on time!!

I'm going to be mad if we drove all this way and miss the wedding

2011-06-25T15:23:00.014-05:00

Mark is always on time. Come hell or high water . . .he is on time. We drove over to Mobile after spending a week in Orange Beach. Our hotel room wasn't ready so we drove to a nearby restaurant and had lunch and then we were able to check in. The hotel (Hampton Inn on Providence) was really nice and clean and the folks working at the desk were so nice and helpful!! (they are not paying me to say that!!) We were afraid that we wouldn't be able to check in before the wedding so we had showered, etc. at the condo in Orange Beach and we were ready to change in the hotel lobby bathroom if necessary. I'm glad we didn't have to do that!!

Lauren, our sweet daughter-in-law, called and said that she and Levi would like to go with us to the wedding. This was exciting to me because I want a close relationship with her so for her to initiate riding together made me feel really good!! Glenn was already at Bellingrath Gardens since he was in the wedding. Levi was staying with them. Well, evidently Levi had bought a new book and wouldn't stop reading. They were supposed to meet us at the hotel around one. Mark was in the car . . .it was cranked and ready to go . . .air conditioner on high . . .and they weren't there. Lauren and I were texting and she was telling me that Levi was making them late. You have to understand what I told you earlier. Mark is NEVER late. He kept saying, "Glenn said the wedding was only going to last about 10 minutes. If we drove all the way over here and got a hotel room and miss the wedding . . . " He never would finish the sentence. For some reason (maybe because I had an ativan earlier for motion sickness) I was calm and collected. I kept trying to get him to calm down. They rolled into the parking lot at 1:10 and Mark literally pulled his car in behind theirs in the parking lot WAITING! We've been married a long time and I knew he was irritated but I didn't want them to know (they know now because we laughed about it later). I was chattering up a storm. I said things like, "Hey Levi. How was teaching this year? Are you going to teach at the same school next year? Do you have a girlfriend?" As we got closer to Bellingrath Gardens, Mark relaxed a little but not much. As a matter of fact, we whirled into the parking lot and everyone jumped out of the car and took off at a trot. I have short legs and am overweight . . .and was huffing and puffing behind. Sweet Jerel slowed down and walked with me!!

So we walked all the way to the back of the gardens . . .and there were about 12 chairs in the shade . . .and there were people sitting in them already. You can tell by the lighting in this photo that we were in direct sunlight. We were thrilled to be able to sit with some of our favorite folks (who didn't make us late after all). As a matter of fact, if we had been any earlier we would have just been standing out in the heat!! Look at all those big sunglasses! You can see part of the gorgeous house (that unbelievable house was a fishing camp originally!! - Mark loved that fact) behind them.

I handed the camera to Jerel and said, "take our picture for proof that we were here" or something equally as stupid!! We are only glowing at this point. We clean up pretty nice, don't we?

We had front row seats. The bride and groom were on one side of this fountain and we were on the other side!!

This wedding was very different from any other wedding that I have ever attended. We are very active in our church and try hard to walk the walk (of course, we fail miserably multiple times a day but keep asking for forgiveness and keep trying again) and most of our friends live pretty much the same way we do. All that said, everyone we know has been married by a minister . . .there has been a prayer . . . .usually a blessing of the rings . . .Scott is a Christian - grew up in a great youth group in a United Methodist Church in North Alabama . . .went to Wesley at Auburn. I don't know the story but all I know is that Brittany isn't "religious." She didn't want anything even remotely religious in the wedding ceremony. The ceremony was performed by a judge. No prayers. No blessing. Different. At the end of the wedding, instead of prayers they made wishes. First the bride and groom threw pennies into the fountain. (I think this photo is cool because the camera was fast enough to catch the drops of water - I told you that we were sitting really close!!)

Then each bridesmaid came from one side and met a groomsman in the middle and they each threw a penny into the fountain. I'm so proud of Glenn. . . just because!! (I get to say that because I'm his momma right?) Look at the rest of this picture - it was a gorgeous day and a gorgeous venue. Look at the blue sky and the water beyond.

After the wedding was over, we were invited to walk over to the white tent for the reception but we were so hot that we walked over to the shade and we walked around for a few minutes admiring the location. I leaned over one of the ponds of water and took this picture and I love how you can see the shadow of the trees. The water looks so blue and the lily pad (or water plant?) looks so green.

This is the front of the home (the fishing camp!!). We didn't go in the house. I would love to go back and tour it also. I'll be they decorate inside the house for Christmas like they decorate the gardens. I'll have to google that and see!! You can see the Spanish moss hanging in the trees. Beautiful.
These are the stairs from the wedding site (we were at the top for the wedding) and there is a fountain running between the stairs all the way down to the lake. So peaceful and so wonderfully shady!!

Mark was able to relax at the reception and he enjoyed hanging out with all of the young adults and we weren't late and everything was good!!

It was a lovely wedding and I know something very important. God was there even though HIS name was never mentioned. Isn't that amazing? He and His creation - such a gorgeous place - are truly amazing!!