The Farm

Over the last several months, I have made mention of the work that Mark has been doing on the farm. This family farm is in a trust and it is located not quite two hours from home. There are places to hunt, a lake to fish in, a front porch to sit on, a couple of window unit air conditioners . . .but it has never been a place where most of the wives wanted to spend much time. Over the 42 years we've been together, I have stayed a few nights with Mark at the farm . . .but not many!

Since Mark has retired, in addition to volunteering two days a week at The Hub, he usually spends two days and one night at the farm and he has been busy!

I have searched through my scrapbooks because I know I have a picture of the farm kitchen pre-reno, but I cannot find it!

Below is his renovated kitchen.

Here is the tiny dining room. This space was so dark. It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint and new floors will do for a house!

As they cleaned out their mother's house of 60 years and their brother and sister-in-law's home of many years, Mark was able to grab a few pieces of furniture. Their brother would be so happy!

Most of the living room furniture came from our house. We bought those Audubon prints in Washington, DC - at the museum (?) and had them rolled into tubes which we carried onto our flight -- 40 years ago!! The sofa and chairs are from Pottery Barn. The little corner shelf is from a local antique store. The table is made with skis from their mom's basement - Mark loved to water ski when he (and we) were younger!

The fireplace mantle is made from wood from our house after the fire, along with wood from several other family members. I told y'all about the painting - his sister painted it for him. That is the lake located on the farm property.

In the photo below, the chair on the right . . .there used to be this giant built-in storage closet that took up so much room and it was dank and dark. They tore it down and re-sheetrocked the wall. It wasn't easy. He told me that multiple times.

Here is his room. There are things from our house, his mom's house, and Bill's house in this room.

In the photo below, you can see one of those window units!!

 There are two other bedrooms - one is his twin brother's room and the other is their cousin, Roger's, room. From what Mark has told me, they don't look great haha! They are on their own if they want to redo those rooms.

The house is a shot-gun house - wide hall that runs from the front door to the back. Mark painted those walls and ceiling this week.

I really need to get down there to see his work! I think I have two weeks without classes between finals in the first week of August and fall semester. Maybe I can go see it then!

I'm really proud of him. He has learned how to lay floors and how to do many other jobs!

A Day Late Hodgepodge

 

This week has been so crazy that I haven't had a single moment to think of the answers to this week's Hodgepodge questions provided by our lovely host, Joyce! I'm jumping in on the fun . . .a day late!

1. "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." Sam Keen

Do you feel less guilty relaxing in July than you do in January? Elaborate. I'm not sure! To be honest, I don't do a whole lot of relaxing in any month. In July or August in Alabama, when it is 9,000 degrees outside, I do think it is ok to sit down a moment to rest haha!

2. What's a telltale sign you're upset? I have two extremes. I either get really quiet or I raise my voice and get louder. I'm not a crier . . .so if I'm crying . . .I'm really upset.

3. July 16th is National AI Day. What are your general thoughts and/or experiences with AI? Have you purposely used it? Does it excite you, scare you, or worry you? What do you see as a benefit? How about something relating to AI you see as a negative? 

I use AI almost every day. At work, we use it to rewrite emails especially if I feel like something I've written needs a kinder tone or if I've typed up instructions on how to do something and I realize that they need to be streamlined. We've used AI to help us write adult Sunday School curriculum. At Samford University, one of my professors told us to plug our entire final study guide into AI and THEN go back and check every answer. It was an effective way to study! My professor last semester said that after we wrote our paper (that step is very important!), we could plug our paper into AI, along with her grading rubric, to see if we missed anything!

I can see how AI could be misused which worries me a little. AI is going to know a lot about all of us which could be a tad scary. Mostly, I'm excited about a new tool.

4. You're invited to a summer pot luck and are asked to bring an appetizer, salad/side, or dessert. Which category do you go for and what are you bringing? I sign up for different things. I love signing up to take a salad/side because I love taking Asian Slaw. Yummy! I made dessert  for something this week and took Brown Sugar Brownies.

5. It wouldn't be summer without long sunny days . . .and afternoon rain showers. It wouldn't be summer without at least a few trips to the neighborhood pool.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I've been working on a presentation for work. In August, we are having an "after church lunch" for our ushers, greeters, representatives from all adult Sunday School classes, and staff which includes a "hospitality workshop" and I am using the best cartoon. This actually happened in our church a long time ago. A new couple sat in an older lady's regular seat and she told them to move! Telling someone they are in your seat is not hospitable -- just saying! 

She is Seven . . .and a little weekend in review

Most of you know that Mark and I are parents to fraternal twins - girl/boy - who are grown-ups now! Our oldest granddaughter is 10 (daughter of our son) and the other two (7 and 2) belong to our daughter. We celebrated that big SEVEN birthday this weekend.

Mark and I packed an overnight bag and headed south on Friday morning. We were pleasantly surprised that the traffic was not HORRIBLE. It usually is. We arrived at our daughter's house around 11:00. She went to run a couple of errands which included picking up McDonald's for her two girls. While she was gone, we tried to play outside. It was a million degrees. Seriously.

After lunch, the little went down for her nap and we let the big SEVEN year old open her gift from us.

The main gift was a new backpack for school. This Gran had to include some fun, so there were two new toys for Milo (birthday kitty) and a sewing project.

We needed a "quiet" activity to do while the little was asleep. She did a great job making the kitty cat.

Look at that cutie pie!

Above she is holding the kitty we sewed . . .

and below she is holding the real Milo!

Laura and I hopped in the car that afternoon to run a couple of quick errands. We stopped by her school so that I could see her room.

Her reading area is so cute! She will be teaching 3rd grade again this year and is excited. She took a one year break by teaching kindergarten, but is ready to be back with 3rd graders!

On Friday night, we headed to a local restaurant - Coach's Corner - and the other set of grandparents met us there.

The restaurant is located on the Coosa River in downtown Wetumpka.

It was still so hot outside.

After dinner, we walked down along the river. I love these sculptures.

Just FYI - there is a really nice park in downtown Wetumpka right along the river.

Mark and I ended up bumming a ride with the other grandparents because our rock star seven year old had gotten a little car sick on the way to the restaurant. They live less than a mile from Laura's house.

Look at this sweet kitty. He is so tiny!

Things didn't work out as originally planned. So our daughter and son-in-law do not have an extra bedroom for us. Last time, I slept with Laura. Mark slept on the bottom bunk bed and Scott slept on the sofa . . .but remember how someone felt carsick . . .she still didn't feel well. She needed to sleep in mommy and daddy's beds and so our sleeping arrangements went south quickly. I called the other grandparents and asked if we could sleep at their house. Let me just say . . we had our own bedroom and bathroom and they live less than a mile away. We headed to their house at bedtime and they were gracious hosts. We may do that again!

The big Pawty (get the kitty reference?) started at 11:00 and at 10:55 . . .the company showed up to deliver the ginormous water bouncy.

Thank goodness that everyone felt fine on Saturday morning!

It was a gorgeous day . . .but hot as you know where!

The birthday girl is third from the left on the back row - surrounded by neighbors and friends. Our sweet 10 year old granddaughter was a real trooper. She was the oldest one there.

We sang happy birthday (oh - we ate Papa John's pizza first!) and she blew out her candles. Laura bought a seven paw print candle but it was nowhere to be found when needed.

She opened her presents.

She thanked everyone and was excited about every gift.

Around 1:15 or so we headed back to Birmingham. We plugged home into Waze and the drive time was ridiculous on I65 North . . .so we wound through the countryside and headed to Highway 280. It is a longer route BUT it would be a rare day for I65 to not become a parking lot. I'm so glad we did the scenic route.

We were tired when we got home. We both rode our stationary bikes. I made waffles and turkey sausage for dinner.

I headed to work on Sunday morning and we only had one car (one in the shop). I was leading the Affirmation of Faith, saying the pastor prayer, and leading the Lord's Prayer at the 11:00 worship service so Mark came just in time for Sunday School and then stayed for the 11:00 service. We saw one of our young adults at the service and invited her to go out to lunch with us. We headed to ZoZo's and enjoyed eating and chatting with her.

After lunch we headed home. I ordered groceries, rode my bike, wrote a paper for my class, and Mark helped me make the Firecracker casseroles for Tuesday night. We both read for a little while and watched one episode of Patience and went to bed.

It was a good weekend! How was your weekend?

 

A Name Is A Name Is A Name . . .What's In A Name?

 

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves! 

Impetua loved a good meme, and enjoyed playing this one. Let's see if you feel the same.

What Is Your ...

1. ROCK STAR NAME (current pet and first car)? Example: If you have a dog named Max and your first car was a Chevy Malibu, your rock star name would be Max Malibu. We don't have a current pet, but our last one was Harvey and my first car was a Mercury Comet. I guess I would be Harvey Comet. Our daughter's family has a new kitten and his name is Milo, so I could borrow that - I would be Milo Comet. Neither name sounds like a girl haha!

2. RACECAR DRIVER NAME (the first names of your grandfathers)? Robert Walter or Walter Robert?

3. SOAP OPERA NAME (your middle name, town you were born in)? Kay Birmingham 

4. WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM NAME (your parents' middle names)? My daddy didn't have a middle name! One of his official documents has "none" has his middle name because whatever person was taking the information (long before computerized forms) . . .they literally wrote "none" when he said he didn't have one! Isn't that crazy?

5. ROMANCE AUTHOR NAME (favorite flower, favorite season/holiday)? Tulip Thanksgiving 

Kay Birmingham and Tulip Thanksgiving are my two favorites!

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

It's a Hodgepodge!

 

I am joining up with Joyce and the gang for Hodgepodge! As always, many thanks to Joyce for our weekly questions!

1. What's something you enjoy now that your younger self would never have appreciated? This is a silly example. I LOVE guacomole as an adult. I didn't like it at all until I was mid-40's! My younger self would have said, "yuck"! Now I am an expert guacamole maker! First photo below is the largest amount I've ever made. I think it was 24 avocados -- we were co-hosting a wedding shower for the son of one of our close friends!

The bowl below was for our young adults on a Tuesday night.

2. What was peaceful about today? I am answering these questions on Monday night -- so what was peaceful today? Our office was really quiet this afternoon and I was able to knock out one of my big projects!

3. It's National Blueberry Day (July 8). Will you celebrate?  You can have one of the following right now-a slice of blueberry pie, a warm blueberry muffin, or a stack of blueberry pancakes...which do you choose? I won't celebrate National Blueberry Day, but I do love blueberries! I'm going to vote for blueberry pancakes made with Kodiak.

This or that-blueberries or raspberries? blueberries or strawberries? Blueberries over raspberries and strawberries over blueberries.

4. Do you need a break? From what? Hmmm. I'm not sure. I actually love my job. I love school (most of the time). Sometime my brain needs a break!

5. What has surprised you most about getting older? Let's see . . .I didn't know that I would still be worrying about our adult children! I also didn't know that people might treat me differently . . .as if I'm old! How dare they? hahaha! I've always said that I don't like old people and now I'm in trouble - I am an old person eek! How did that happen? (if you are old - like me, please don't take this personally - there is some "tongue in cheek" involved)

6. Insert your own random thought here. Summer Semester B starts on Wednesday (when you are reading this!). I am taking a communications class that is a requiremed course for my degree. I am praying that Summer Semester B is easier than Summer Semester A. Whew! Family Law and Public Policy was a killer. For the last 8 days I have been reminding myself that by June of next year . . .I will have graduated with by BA. No more killer June and July 5 week semesters.

Sunday Stealing

 

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Since it's the 4th of July weekend, we're going to keep this simple. On us all! The first question came courtesy of AI.

4th of July Questions

1) If you could attend a 4th of July fireworks display anywhere in the United States, where would you choose? We went to an awesome "Thunder on the Mountain" fireworks show last night. I think it would be cool to see fireworks over any body of water. I just love fireworks!

2) What book are you currently reading? I just finished The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden. The ending surprised me! I am reading The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett now.

3) What have you been listening to? At the moment, our house is so quiet. I can hear the air conditioner running and I can hear the whisper of the refrigerator running and I can hear the white noise app in our bedroom. I haven't been listening to any music lately.

4) What shows or movies have you been watching? We just finished Landman. I watched The Sheep Detectives on Thursday night. We just finished Lincoln Lawyer. We just started watching Patience.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

What's Goin' On?

 I was just looking through my photos because I thought I was so behind on my blog. My favorite things about blogging is when all of you read and comment . . . and I read and comment on your blogs. I love the "community" aspect of blogging, BUT I also blog because I want a record of our lives - maybe not a complete record, but enough to look back on and remember!

There is a local restaurant in town called Pizzeria GM. During the summer, they make a Chilton County Peach and Conecuh Sausage pizza that is divine. If you aren't from Alabama, let me explain. Chilton County peaches are soooo good! We live in Jefferson County and just south of us is Shelby County and then Chilton County. Conecuh is a county further south in Alabama and if you've never had Conecuh Sausage, you should try it soon. 

The top photo below is a photo from Trip Advisor of the actual pizza at GM.

I had told Mark that we were going to attempt to make one of those pizzas. Last Sunday, my sister-in-law told us that they had made one and she shared her recipe (from a cookbook). I, of course, changed it up. I made the two ingredient dough pizza crust (2/3 cup White Lily Self Rising flour and 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt. After mixing together, I placed a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and divided the dough into two round balls. I rolled it out (using my hand in plastic glove) into two pizza crusts. I spritzed with avocado oil and baked at 475 about 10 minutes. Watch it carefully.

The sauce is fat free cottage cheese whirled in the food processor with a sprinkle of dried basil, garlic salt, and black pepper.

I spread the sauce on the dough and added 1/4 cup mozarella and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and the conecuh sausage rings (we cooked the sausage in the electric skillet and then sliced it into thin rings). I popped that back into the oven for a couple of minutes, then pulled out the cookie sheet and added the peaches and popped back into the oven for another 2 minutes.

The top one is mine - less sausage, because let's face it. The sausage is delicious and has lots of fat!

Mark's "personal pan" pizza is prettier. It has lots more sausage!

This was a great at-home substitute pizza!

The original recipe from my sister-in-law said to top with 2 cups arugula. She substituted fresh basil from her yard. We didn't want either of those and it was good without.

Mark went to the farm on Thursday and stayed until Friday. While he was gone, I watched The Sheep Detectives. It was cute. It was not what I was expecting. I don't know what I was expecting. It was cute.

In May of 2025, I graduated from a local Community College and our Tuesday night young adults all went together and purchased a gift card for me for the Ross Bridge Resort Spa. Ross Bridge is only a few minutes away from our house, but I haven't had time. On Wednesday night, I went online and lo and behold . . .they had massage appointments available for Thursday afternoon. Yes! I booked a massage.

We've been to the Ross Bridge neighborhood multiple times to eat at a restaurant located there, but I had never been back to the hotel. It is soooo lovely! The spa is located around in the back and from the moment I stepped out of my car, the experience began. The grounds are lovely.

I had no idea where I was going, but the signage directed me. The spa is lovely and the employees were all so nice. I had a one hour massage, a glass of champagne, and a brief respite in the lovely "spa lounge" area. Afterwards, I shopped in the gift shop with the remainder of my gift card. It was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.

I love our neighborhood pool, but rarely make the time to go. On Thursday morning (this whole post is out of order), I loaded up my beach bag and headed to the pool at 9:00 a.m. I don't think it is really open then, but who cares? I had the pool all to myself for an hour and 15 minutes. It has been so hot here for the last week, that I actually spent most of that time in the water! I had a pre-cancer zapped in my part this week, so I remembered to wear my hat! Between the cancer on my ear back in 2024 and a pre-cancer in my part . . .I am trying to be more careful. I had on 30 sunscreen.

In other interesting news, Mark purchased a new lawn mower. Our yard is very small and he has to roll the lawnmower a short ways down our alley and then around the sidewalk to the front of the house. He has loved Honda lawnmowers for years, so this is new territory. He really likes the new one.

I posted this photo (below) on our neighborhood buy/sale/trade page with the following message - a young man who lives across the street picked it up in 15 minutes. He is in high school and has been cutting grass for years. I'm glad he snagged it! 

Free to a good neighbor! Honda Lawnmower; metal deck; starts on first pull - no longer needed. In our driveway- first to pick up - it's yours!

Back in February at the Mardi Gras neighborhood parade, we won a $50 gift card to Walk On's. We used it on Wednesday night. It was our first time to eat there and it was really good. USA was playing Bosnia-Herzegovina plus they had karaoke night. It was a happening place! I had boom boom shrimp tacos and fruit (I ate the inside of the tacos, but not the flour tortilla).

Mark had Voodoo shrimp and grits -- these shrimp were stuffed with cream cheese and jalapenos and wrapped with bacon. They were also drizzled with a chili glaze. He said it was excellent.

Mark also had a beer. I think our meal was about $52, so we paid that little bit over and gave our sweet server a very generous tip. Who knew? We will actually go back to Walk On's!! A group of guys were in line to be seated right in front of us. They were seated nearby and several in their group proceeded to drink a lot. They were funny to watch.

When we left the restaurant, the traffic was HORRIBLE. Our town was celebrating the "Fourth on the First" and the Met which is just down the road. Thousands of people were trying to get to the stadium. Some friends of ours worked the event and posted photos. They broke a Guinness world record - the most aluminum cans popped open at the same time! The Guiness people were there to record the event. There was actually a thunderstorm that evening so I'm glad we didn't attend.

When I was looking for something in the attic, I found a box with a brand new float inside. I blew it up and took it to the pool!!

I have enjoyed having fresh hydrangeas on our dining room table this year! Our blue ones bloom early and our lime light ones are blooming now.

How is that for a quick (or not-so-quick) recap? Life is good. I just got my final grade for Family Law and I made an A. I thought this was going to be the class that knocked me off my A streak. I think the professor took pity on me haha! It was a really great class - HARD, but great. This class made me wish I was a younger student, because I think I would have really enjoyed a career working with families - educating and advocating. God has used me without a college degree and I am very thankful for where I am . . .BUT . . .I do wonder -- what would I have been if I had graduated from college at a "normal age."