Hodgepodge

I'm joining up with Joyce for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. Talking turkey...are you cooking the turkey this year? Does ham belong on a Thanksgiving day menu? When it comes to gravy do you pour it over your whole plate, skip it altogether, or land somewhere in between? Cranberries-homemade or jelled right out of the can? Do you look forward more to the main course, the savory sides, or the desserts? 

"We" are cooking the turkey. I bought it and I'm thawing it. Does that count for anything? Hopefully, Mark is going to smoke it tomorrow IF it isn't pouring rain at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. If it is raining, we may be cooking it in the oven . . .along with everything else.

I do like ham on the Thanksgiving menu. I froze part of the Honeybaked Ham we served a few weeks ago and I hope to have enough to put some on the platter.

I LOVE gravy and I like it on the turkey and the dressing. I usually pass up the cranberry sauce. I bought a can of jellied and a can of whole berry.

I look forward to the dressing and gravy (stuffing for those of you who don't live in the south).

I know there are at least a couple of bloggers who participate here who live outside the US and won't be celebrating Thanksgiving. If that's you feel free to adapt this question to your December (or any) holiday meal.

2. Holiday movies...tell us your favorite and what it is about the film that makes you love it. Is it the film itself or a memory it stirs? 

Our family loves Christmas Vacation. We've watched it so many times. Mark and I also love Four Christmases. We've watched it a lot of times, too. Growing up, I loved the old Rudolph movie.

While I'm cooking, I have on a cute Christmas movie where an American is stranded . . .at a British lodge.

3. A favorite way to give back and help others? We have a ministry center called The Hub that is a part of our church. We feed over 500 families every week by providing groceries. We (the collective we) offer ESL classes on Monday night and we have refugees from over 20 countries -- or maybe speaking 20 languages. We have two "stores" -- one is for clothing and household goods including children's toys and books. The other is a "market" -- people can make appointments and come and shop for groceries. They do not have to pay for any of those. Our Christmas store is being stocked and readied for shopping. Rather than just giving a family a bag of toys, we collect wish lists from many of our families that are served by The Hub. The store will be open for three days in December. Parents will make an appointment and they are allowed to pick five (or six?) toys/items for each child in their family. The ability to shop (event without paying) allows the parents to feel as if they have had more to do with Christmas. Other ways of providing for people throughout the year, and at Christmas, are wonderful - we've just found this works for our church. Mark volunteers at The Hub two days every week. He does food rescue from Publix and helps with the delivery from the Food Bank. There are so many folks who volunteer weekly at this ministry. 

4. Name a place or setting you encountered this month that made you feel grateful. I plan to write more about this, but am not quite ready. My oldest sister died on Tuesday morning. She had been in poor health, but I talked to her on Monday afternoon and had no idea she would be gone in just a few hours. While I'm typing this (lunchtime on Wednesday), Mark is currently sitting at the bedside of his younger brother who is still in ICU. There has been a slight (REALLY TINY) improvement.

5. Knowing what you know today, if you could redo yesterday what would you do differently? I almost want to say that I would bring my sister back . . .but she was so tired of going to dialysis.

6. Spill your own random thought here. We are trying to take deep breaths and be grateful. We do have so much for which we are grateful.

Weekend in Review

On Thursday afternoon, I stayed at work until a little after 5:00 which gave me the time to write our Sunday school lesson. I then jumped in my car and headed downtown/southside to meet Mark and our "out to eat" supper club at The Pita Stop - the original one! I don't think we've eaten there since covid and my food was delicious. They have a farily small menu but they serve in a big way. 

I had a Cosmopolitan and it was quite yummy! I had shrimp kebobs and they didn't disappoint. Look how they serve the food -- in a glass casserole dish! 1/2 the dish is filled with Greek salad and then about 1/4 of the dish has wild rice and the other 1/4 is fresh fruit. There were a few pieces of pita and some hummus. Their hummus is some of my favorite - maybe my local favorite. The kebobs are placed on top.

On Friday morning, I drove 40 minutes to get my hair cut and colored and then I went to Dollar General and bought some "junk." 

I then drove back to our area of town and went to Blink and had my eyebrows threaded and colored. I had to buy gas and pick up prescriptions. We had invited Mark's sister and her husband over for dinner and Mark grilled salmon and halibut. We had a choice of regular baked potato or a sweet potato and shredded cabbage with a choice of John's dressing (a local favorite) or Greek dressing. We kept it simple and ate at the island in the kitchen.

A few hours prior, we had received a family text from our other sister-in-law that Bill's lymphoma is back. A short time later she let us know that his oncologist was admitting him to the hospital. We all offered to help but she said they were good for the night. Before the night was over, he was moved into ICU.

We all went to see him on Saturday. He was on oxygen but was able to talk to us. Before that day was over, we found out that his wife had received a bad diagnosis, too, and she just hadn't had time to tell us. Mark ended up spending Saturday night with him and before that night was over, Bill was intubated and attached to a ventilator. He is still in the hospital and Mark and Susie have been trading out helping Rebecca.

While all of the serious things were going on at the hospital, I feel a little guilty because I was home alone watching the Auburn football game . . .and we won in FOUR OVERTIMES. Our neighbors have season tickets and they were there and she sent photos to me.

I got up early, as usual, on Sunday morning and got ready to go to work. While I was at work, Mark came home from the hospital and tried to get a little sleep. When I got home, we did laundry, put lights in our outside tree, and did other odds and ends.

I worked today and tried to cram a week's worth of work into one day haha! After work, I came home and then walked to a local restaurant to meet one of our young adults for a margarita and chips and queso. She just needed someone to talk to. Being a young adult in today's world can be really hard.

We continue to pray for Bill. We don't know what the coming days will hold.

I would love to hear about your weekend.

Sunday Stealing

What was the last song you listened to? The Fight Song for Auburn - because I'm answering these question on Saturday night and Auburn just scored their second touchdown. They've had a bad year so this is awesome! The lyrics are:

War Eagle, fly down the field
Ever to conquer, never to yield
War Eagle, fearless and true
Fight on, you orange and blue
Go! Go! Go!
On to vict’ry, strike up the band
Give ’em hell, give ’em hell
Stand up and yell, Hey!
War Eagle win for Auburn,
Power of Dixie Land!

What is your favorite thing about the place you live? I feel like I answered this question recently. We live in an amazing neighborhood in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. We have great neighbors. We have to drive about 15 minutes to our church, and we love our church and those folks. Our climate is pretty good most of the year -- it gets hot in the summer and we usually have a lovely spring and fall. We have a very short winter and it would be considered mild by those in the northern U.S. We are only about 4 hours from the Gulf of Mexico. 

What is your earliest childhood memory? I just told someone a really early memory this week but can't remember it at the moment. I do remember when I fell and popped my chin open and they grabbed me up and put me on the kitchen table and taped it back together. I also remember having a nosebleed when I was really young and I can remember my mom sitting by the bed praying. My sister said I was basically hemorrhaging and they had an assembly line going from the sink in the bathroom to my mom who was sitting by me changing the washcloths.

If you could be any animal, what would you be? I would be a well-loved cat who had the run of the house -- much like our Harvey, who we miss so much.

Who do you trust the most in your life? On this earth, I trust Mark. I also am blessed with a friend with whom I can share anything. 

How many languages can you say "hello" in? English and Spanish and French and any other language that basically says "hello." Also, in reference to Auburn football in the first question -- when you pass somone on the street in Auburn, you say "War Eagle" as a greeting -- which is sort of hello!

What is your favorite kind of weather? I like blue skies and sunshine and 70-75 degrees! That is pretty specific. I actually do like it to get warm enough to get in the water (pool or beach) so it would need to get a little warmer sometimes.

How did you discover that Santa wasn't real and how old were you? I am sure that I "sort of" knew he wasn't real and just kept fooling myself. My mom said Santa only visited those who believed! I feel like I was 10 or 12 and a neighbor girl told me. Like I said, I assume I knew deep down that he couldn't be real long before that.

Uncle George (see below) Santa with our
granddaughters (a couple of years ago)

Mark's twin brother dressed as Santa

a few years ago at an event

What is the best feeling in the world? When our granddaughters see me and run to hug me -- pretty great feeling.

What is your favorite color? I have several. I've always loved red. I have touches of red throughout our house and I used to wear red a lot. I really love to wear green, and bright pink, and bright blue.

Is there a language you would love to learn? I took several semesters of Spanish when I was young and I shouldhave kept it up.

How do you feel about reality TV? I like cooking shows. I just googled top reality shows and I watch very few of them. Mark has always enjoyed watching Alone and some of those types of shows. I did like watching Biggest Loser when it was on.

Did you ever skip school when you were a kid? I think I maybe skipped one time when I was in high school. 

What is your least favorite food? Salmon - I recently wrote about not liking salmon. Last night, Mark grilled Salmon for he and his sister and her husband and he grilled Halibut for me.

Do you have a good luck charm? I do not. We did buy a lot of Evil Eyes in Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. We don't believe in it, but it is a cool cultural souvenir. 

It's a Brown Hodgepodge!

I'm joining in with Joyce and friends for the Hodgepodge! How would you answer these questions?

1. What was your favorite part about growing up in your hometown? I grew up in a place called Tarrant City and while I was growing up there, it felt a little like Mayberry. We could walk to school and the library. We even walked to a small grocery store. My mother never got her driver’s license, so we walked to a lot of places. Our church was at the end of our street, so we walked there. It was a very blue-collar town at the time. There were some professionals, of course, but there were more folks who weren’t professionals. It makes me very sad because Tarrant City is no longer a place I would want to live. I loved being able to walk everywhere. I’m sure I complained about it at the time, but in hindsight, that was ideal. We were also able to ride our bikes all over the place and play outside until dark. At one time, there were 17 kids on our street so there was almost always someone available to play kickball or swing together. I loved going to Friday night football games - I loved the smells and the sounds! Here is an old picture from our neighborhood. I'm front row - second from left. The girl to my right died quite a few years ago. Our birthdays were just 7 days apart!

2. Do you prefer 'material' gifts or 'experience' gifts? If you answered experience, tell us about one you've received and truly enjoyed. I prefer experience gifts. We’ve given our granddaughter a “day with Pops” and “a shopping experience at Claire’s” with Gran.

3. Is brown a color featured prominently in your home decor? Your wardrobe? What's a favorite brown thing you own? Of the brown foods listed here which one is your favorite and/or most often consumed... brown sugar, brown rice, pretzels, coffee, dates, cloves, German chocolate cake, whole wheat bread? We have a lot of neutral in our home, but not much brown. I have a few brown things in my wardrobe. We do have “brown” wooden floors in our home and I love those. We also have several antiques and I guess they are “brown” and I love those. Of the brown foods, I do like brown rice but don’t eat it often. I also like pretzels and dates but don’t eat those every day. I don’t eat sweets anymore, but I LOVE German chocolate cake. I made one for our daughter-in-law’s birthday just recently.

This one was prettier -- I don't know why my
icing looks better. Someone said it might
have been the humidity!!

4. Which 'Charlie Brown' character do you relate to most? If you're not sure, you can take a fun quick quiz by clicking here-Which Charlie Brown Character Are You?  or the one found here-Charlie Brown Quiz. I got the same answer on both. I did not get the same answer on both -- The first quiz said I was Sally and the second one said I was Lucy. Oh well! I hope I never move the football when someone is trying to kick it hahaha!

5. What's a favorite item you've purchased this year? I love the Christmas ornaments I purchased in Greece and I am looking forward to hanging them on our tree. I'm trying to remember if we made any major purchases this year -- our recent trip was a major purchase and I loved it PLUS it was an experience!!

6. Insert your own random thought here. Just FYI - I do love Snoopy!

Weekend in Review

Mark had covid last week and by Thursday he was going crazy. He drove down to the farm and I'm so glad he did. The fresh air made him feel so much better.

I ironed the baptismal gown and matching slip. I mentioned the gown in my post yesterday. Mark is an identical twin and his grandmother made two matching baptismal gowns for them to wear. Their siblings wore the gowns when they were baptized. Our children were the oldest in the next generation and it was wonderful to have not just one gown, but two! They were baptized in the gowns as were their first cousins. Our oldest grand was next in line and she wore it for her baptism. Laura attends a different denomination and they don't baptize babies but both of her girls have worn it for their dedication. I love that connection between generations.

Here is our youngest grandgirl wearing the gown. This was on Sunday but added it in with the photos of the gown.

Friday night was supper club at the McCain's house. Mark was back from the farm but wasn't sure if he was still contagious so he stayed home. I went to Aldi earlier in the day and bought the ingredients below plus crackers. I thought my turkey was pretty cute.

Mark tested negative on Saturday morning and I had no symptoms, but tested anyway for our daughter's peace of mind - I was negative, too! It was cold enough we turned on the fire to knock the chill out of the room.

We then drove to our daughter's house which takes about an hour and a half. We picked up lunch for all of us and were able to eat together. I got to feed this one. She has two emotions - totally happy or NOT! haha! She is so cute.

Pops played outside with big sister. He is so creative when it comes to playtime. The weather was gorgeous!

I was helping her fly - her batgirl cape was flying in the breeze.

After playing all day, we headed to Taco Mama for dinner. We had on sweatshirts and were able to sit outside which is always a good thing when you have littles with you. She finished her food and then was so mad that everyone else was eating.

Mark and I had booked a room at the Hampton Inn so after they got the baby to bed and the older one was in the shower, we headed to the hotel. I am usually at work by 7:00 on Sunday mornings so it was so luxurious to sleep in a little. We had to be at the church about 9:45. When we walked in, there sat our son holding the baby. They drove down from Chelsea that morning.

The church had set up a backdrop for family photos. Here they are!

We were able to grab one, too. I may use this on our Christmas card (with some cropping). Actually, there is one where everyone is looking at the camera! I'll use it.

They had to sit on the front row during the service. We were several rows behind. She was peeking over her mom's shoulder.

The photographer took a photo of each family.

And she took one of the group - there were 11 babies.

After church we headed to the in-law's house for lunch. The girls got to sit at a little table in the corner. It was so cute!

Everyone else made their plates and we sat in the dining room. It was nice that the girls were in the same room!

We drove back to Birmingham after lunch and took a nap! Then we picked up our neighbors and drove to Firebirds to celebrate Dave's birthday. I had a really good margarita BUT it was really sweet.

I said, "Let me take your picture." Lu was being really silly!!

I did get a cute one!

We haven't eaten at Firebirds since before Covid. They had an option to get an entree of three sides which is what I chose. I couldn't eat it all! It ordered a stuffed baked potato, roasted (charred?) carrots, and broccoli. I couldn't eat it all!

They brought a fun surprise for Dave! He is easy to celebrate!!

It was a good weekend. How was yours?

 

Sunday Stealing

I'm joining up with the Sunday Stealing gang. Thanks to Bev for stealing our questions!!

When do I feel most authentically myself? I feel most authentically myself when I'm with "our people." 

What I'm thankful for today? I'm thankful for sunshine and the first fire in the fireplace. I'm thankful for family and friends and my faith. I'm thankful for Sweet Tango apples and the upcoming holiday. I'm thankful for granddaughters. I'm thankful for baptismal gowns that have been worn by everyone in Mark's family - handmade by his grandmother over 70 years ago.

A memory I hope I never forget: the day our children were born; our travel memories; so many other things

Other ways I connect with long distant friends: facebook, instagram, text, email

How I reconnect with myself when I feel lost: I'm not sure I have an answer for this prompt. After thinking about it, I'm back . . .so, I love Lauren Daigle and when I've felt out of sorts, I've closed my office door and cranked up her music.

What would be my signature drink if I owned a café? Does this cafe serve liquor? If so, I'm going with diet cranberry juice and vodka with a splash or orange liqueur - similar to a Cosmopolitan! I guess I could keep regular cranberry juice on hand, too. If the cafe doesn't serve liquor, I'm serving pepsi products - diet pepsi for me. Speaking of drinks -- last night I had a greyhound -- grapefruit juice and vodka. I remember my daddy drinking grapefruit juice and vodka, but I didn't know it had a name!

Something I’ve let go of, as I’ve grown older - Something I want to let go as I get older is worrying about what others think of me. I think I've made progress, but Iwonder if that "worry" will ever go totally away.

The things I’m most likely to lie about -- I try not to lie but . . .I'm sure I do. . . about something . . .

What’s something I wish I had more time to learn -- other languages!

Social media trends that puzzle me - the ones where people share TMI - way too much!

Local phrases and terms I use often -Bless her (or his) heart!! People sometimes abbreviate Alabama to bama - I rarely say that. 

If I could only wear only three colors, I’d pick these...pinks, blues, and greens.

Favorite books, music, tv, movies, and media this month -- I just finished reading The Sullivan Island Supper Club series and it was cute! I can't say it was my favorite, but cute.  I don't think I've watched a movie for pleasure this month. We've been watching Shrinking and The Mallorca Files and will be watching the new Yellowstone soon. I watched the new Matlock - about 4 episodes while Mark was at the farm this week. I've been listening to "autumn music" on spotify. 

 

What's Been Happening Lately

We voted.

I stole this picture from Mark's phone -- this was what it looked like when we were climbing down into the pyramid!!

I know -- I told y'all I was finished with our trip, but here and there I might have another nugget or two haha!

I've shown y'all pictures before of my kitchen when it is spotless. I felt the need to show this one to y'all. I was in the middle of making a homemade German Chocolate cake which is multi-step. You make three cake layers (from scratch). You make the filling between the layers. You make a buttercream and sourcream chocolate frosting. Mark was at the farm and our kitchen was a disaster. I got it all cleaned up!!

Last Friday, I had a second surgery on my ear. The dermatologist didn't get all of the cancer the first time. The first was several major incisions with LOTS of stitches. This one was a scraping process but he still had to put the anesthesia in via shots. Shots in the ear hurt.

My passport made it through this trip but as we are beginning to look at our next trip, I had to renew my passport. I shared how the young woman at the security checkpoint had talked about how I look now versus my old photo. Here is proof. I hate that you can't smile/show your teeth anymore on your passport. I have mailed it off to be renewed.

I used one of the glasses we "inherited" from Mark's mom and made a fake cosmopolitan. It was diet cranberry juice and Grey Goose vodka and it was good.

This past Saturday night, we went to Mark's sister's house. She and her husband, Bob, hosted the whole family - there were about 35 of us. There are 12 first cousins including Mark and his three siblings. Two have died and there is one that hasn't been in contact with the family in many years and there is one in poor health on the west coast and there is one in Texas. The remaining 7 and quite of few of the next two generations were in attendance. Our daughter and her family were supposed to be with us, but the girls were both sick all last week. I was sad! I did get to hang out with this cutie - she is our oldest granddaughter - 8 going on 16. Susie Sheep (that is what our kids call Mark's sister) and Bob have a really cool swing on their porch.

Here are some of our folks around the island. We had so much good food. Mark's mother and her sister-in-law always hosted the whole family on Christmas day night. Mark's mother was a teetotaler. We laughed and said this was like the family Christmas party plus alcohol!!

It was a really good night. We were celebrating two engagements -- Susie and Bob's oldest son, Paul, is engaged to Maria and George and Alice's daughter is engaged to another Paul. One wedding will be in May 2025 and one will be in June 2025.

Alice made pimento cheese and guacamole and they were both delicious. Susie smoked a brisket and some other stuff and she had chicken from a local Greek restaurant -- Maria is Greek! Just in case you aren't familiar with the carrot recipe -- that is Copper Pennies. Yum! Yum! Someone brought baked beans and I love baked beans! As with most family gatherings, there was a ton of food.

Susie and Bob bought a big house when they moved to Alabama a couple of years ago. They have several outdoor areas and this is one of the areas. The weather was perfect.

I worked on Sunday morning and taught Sunday School and then I hopped in my car and headed home because we were having the immediate family over for lunch. We started with a number of 21 but then Laura's family was sick which dropped us to 17. Then Bill and Rebecca were unable to come, so we dropped to 15 and Grace's Paul was unable to come so we had 14. I can get 12 at our dining room table. Just FYI - I love fall decorations.

Here is the German Chocolate Cake. You can't see the back . . .but a 1/4 of the top layer fell off while I was trying to put it all together. I didn't eat any but I hope it was good.

We had devilled eggs, Asian slaw, Honeybaked Ham, rolls, green beans, pumpkin casserole with marshmallows on top, and corn casserole. I think it was all good except maybe the cake was dry.

We were supposed to celebrate Lauren, Laura and Glenn's birthdays but since Laura wasn't there . . .we celebrated Glenn and Lauren's November birthdays. Glenn had a GIANT Lil Debbie Oatmeal pie with a candle and Lauren had the German Chocolate cake.

Sunday afternoon, Mark started coughing and his nose was running like crazy. We were supposed to go to our neighborhood supper club. Mark stayed home and I went - which is a big thing for me. I had made a second corn casserole to take to the supper club. The picture below was during happy hour and we were sitting outside - once again, really nice weather.

Here was our table inside. I didn't know the couple in the photo before Sunday night and they were really nice. Even though I dreaded going by myself, I had a good time!

I worked 12 hours on Monday and when I got home, Mark was pretty sick so he slept upstairs. On Tuesday when I left for work, I left a covid test on the bathroom counter . . . he tested positive. He didn't believe it until he tested three different times. He has been pretty sick this week but by Thursday he was tired of being sick, tired of being inside, tired of having to wear a mask when I was home. He headed to the farm. I am praying I don't get it because we are supposed to go see our daughter and her family this weekend. We haven't seen them since Labor Day and I don't think we've ever gone this long between visits. The baby is being dedicated on Sunday.