Starting the New Year Off Right

As Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home" and we were happy to get to ours after a week of Christmas in Baton Rouge.  Amelia came back with us to spend a week.  Let me say to start with that she gets more fun and easier to see after every time she's here.  She spent Saturday night with her Aunt Ashley and cousins, Avery and Madison.  This gave Bubba and me a chance to buy some badly needed groceries and get a good night's sleep.  Ashley returned her to us Sunday afternoon and Amelia enjoyed playing with her toys for the rest of the afternoon.

The weather was dreary and cold so we didn't even attempt a camping trip this time.  Monday we went to Mexico Beach because Amelia has always enjoyed feeding the sea gulls every since she was a little thing.  The beach was so serene and calm even though the skies were gray.

She still enjoys the swing her Paw-Paw made her.  She always wants to go higher.










Tuesday, New Year's Eve, started with lunch at Golden Corral.  We chose that restaurant because she would have a choice of mac and cheese, pizza, anything she might be willing to eat.  She chose a roll and plain rice.  She ate only the roll and then was eager to try out the chocolate fountain.  She dipped marshmallows in chocolate, a brownie in chocolate, and a Christmas tree cookie in chocolate.  She was a very happy little girl.

Then we went to see Frozen.  Bubba claims to "hate" animated films, but I think we all enjoyed the movie.  We also visited Party America where Amelia picked out some items for celebrating the New Year later that night.  She had plans to stay up until the count down and the ball drop in New York City.

Our New Year's Eve party started out with a "rock and roll dance party".  We had to say our names into the microphone.  Bubba was "Mirror Man" (shiny hat), I was "Purple Feather" and she was "Star Light".

Bubba thought he looked like Abraham Lincoln in his hat.  I was a little sceptical.

Amelia used the karaoke microphone to announce our activities as they took place. My dance put my pacemaker to the test.  For refreshments we had chocolate cookies, peanuts, popcorn and hot chocolate.  My dance really put my pacemaker to the test, but Amelia said I was the best Nana ever because I danced with her.   It was going to be a miracle if all three of us made it to the eastern time zone new year, but we had horns to blow and we were ready.

She made it to 10:00.  We tried to wake her up to  blow her horn when it was time, but she wouldn't wake up.

I was afraid that Amelia would be disappointed the next morning when she realized that she did not make it to the new year, but it didn't seem to bother her.  After all, you can blow horns anytime.  It was fun.  It's funny, but we spent $28.00 on our Party America purchases which is the grand total of all money spent on New Year's Eve celebrations over the past 47 years. 

Note:  Amelia is covered up with a princess quilt which was made by a lady I worked with.  I bought it when she was just a few months old.  She was admiring it and said, "It's so pretty.  I wish I could needle."

Amelia loved her hat and it was well worth the $10.99 spent on it.

The celebration concluded with pancakes for breakfast.

Amy came on Friday to visit for the weekend and pick Amelia up.  We had a good visit and I even persuaded her to go through some of her boxes from high school and college.  We were able to clear three boxes which gives me a little extra storage space in that closet. 

The holidays have been great.  This is the first year that I haven't really cooked for either one.  I missed it, but I enjoyed it even more.  We are very grateful for the time we had with Amelia and look forward to next time.

Christmas 2013 Plus a Correction

Sunday, December 22, was predicted by all the weather forecasters to be a dreary day with lots of rain; however, I assured Bubba after a great deal of study that we would be travelling west while the weather would be moving east which would mean that for the most part we would have good weather for travelling to Baton Rouge.  Boy, was I wrong and I was reminded of that several times before we reached our destination.  It didn't just rain on us, it poured!!!  Several times the rain was so heavy that the traffic was barely moving on I-10.  We were able to get a break around Gulfport to do some shopping at an outlet mall, but it started up again and didn't improve until we were almost in Baton Rouge.

Amy and Amelia attended "The Nutcracker" that afternoon and they arrived shortly after we did.  Amelia was very inspired and entertained us with a lot of expressive dancing that evening.

At my request, Darryl had prepared a beef brisket for supper.  The next day he bought a bag of oysters which delighted Bubba.  Amy and I passed on the raw oysters and enjoyed a delicious meal at an Italian restaurant.

Tuesday we left Amy making a huge batch of cinnamon rolls that she wanted to give to friends on Christmas Eve and took Amelia to her favorite place, Chuck-E-Cheese.  We arrived just as Chuck-E-Cheese was throwing out free tickets and Amelia was able to collect quite a few.  After eating pizza, she played games.  One game yielded such a large number of tickets that she ran across the room with the string of tickets flying behind her to show me what she had done.  Of course, the tickets were traded in for some fine prizes like a plastic star ring and a foam rocket shooter.

We also had time to hit the produce stand and bought some delicious Louisiana naval oranges and some sweet potatoes.  And of course we spent a lot of time at home watching Amy cook and spending time with Amelia.

Christmas Eve was busy with dinner preparations for that evening and Christmas day.  Darryl smoked a ham for Christmas Eve.  Amy finished up all her cinnamon rolls and she and Amelia delivered them.  I helped Amelia "decorate" some sugar cookies for Santa and then later that evening just before bedtime, she scattered food for Santa's reindeer on the front lawn.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun.  Amelia always acts so excited about everything she gets.  

My cousin Vicky sent Amelia an Elsa doll from Frozen and a Frozen jacket.  Both were very popular gifts.  Good job, Bebe (Amelia's name for her).  

The Elsa doll sings and her hands light up when she does.  (She is motion activated.)  This is a picture of Darryl trying to figure out how to turn her off.

Amelia loved her princess guitar from her cousins and the Elsa costume from Santa.

The costume came with a lovely necklace and long earrings.

We had requested permission to get Amelia a karaoke machine for Christmas and finally Amy and Darryl agreed.  She loves to sing so much that we thought she would really enjoy it and she has.

It was a fun Christmas Day and concluded with a delicious dinner of Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding, Asparagus, and Potato Casserole followed by Chocolate Cake and Pecan Pie.  As delicious as all the meals were, Amy declared that there would be no more cooking so we ate a couple of meals out the day after Christmas.  Amy and I went to shop the after Christmas sales, but neither one of us found a bargain that we needed,  In fact the stores were not even crowded which I thought was unusual.

Friday we headed for home and were fortunate to have Amelia come with us to spend the next week.  We stopped in Mobile for a quick visit with Joe and Judy and their family at the Meaher State Park which was right on Mobile Bay.  This is a place we will have to visit with our camper in the future.

We had a great Christmas visit and were excited about the prospect of having Amelia visit for a week.

Note:  I forgot a couple of important facts in the telling of our Christmas visit.

1)  Not only did we watch Amy cook all week, we ate with gusto everything she prepared.  The cinnamon rolls were melt in your mouth delicious.  I could have eaten a whole pan all by myself.  The Yorkshire pudding was new to me and I loved it.  I have never cooked fresh asparagus, but hers was delicious.  The potato casserole was out of this world and the sweets.......OMG they were wonderful.  I did not cook a thing the whole week and I thoroughly enjoyed being on the receiving end.
2)  Darryl does a wonderful job with the meat he prepares on the green egg.  I am especially a fan of his beef brisket and now I am a lover of his prime rib.
3)  While Amy and I shopped the day after Christmas and enjoyed a mother/daughter lunch, Bubba entertained Amelia by "helping" her put together a Lego cruise ship she received from Santa.  After diligently following 50 pages of instructions, he relinquished his job to Darryl who helped her complete it.  (Bubba wants to know what happened to Lincoln Logs.)

It's Up to Me

Amy had told me several cute things Amelia has said/done recently.  I guess it's up to me to write about them.  I'm hoping Amy will have time to blog again soon.

Amelia attends an Episcopal school and at the beginning of the year parents are asked to indicate their preferences about their child taking communion.  Amy and Darryl want Amelia to wait until she understands what it is all about so they asked that she not participate.  Well apparently Amelia decided on her own to participate.  That afternoon she told her mom that her teacher told her not to take the bread next time.  Then she whined, "But Mom, I really like that bread."

Her school had a Christmas store where the children could shop for presents for their parents.  Parents set a limit on how much they can spend.  Amy picked Amelia up from school and Amelia reached into her backpack and put a lady bug cap on her head.  When they got to the car, Amy asked Amelia if she had bought something for herself at the store and she replied that she had bought herself a few things.  Then she started to pull other things from her bag that she had bought for Amy and Darryl.  Amy suggested that she keep them in the bag so that it would be surprise.  Amelia said, "All right, but I got you some real nice soap that you can use to bathe me with."

Yesterday she asked her mom if she was going to get married again.  Amy explained that she wasn't that marriage was something that should last forever.  Then Amelia asked, "If you marry someone and they are mean, can you just switch them out?"

I'm sure that I didn't tell this as good as Amy could, but for now it is up to me to save these kinds of stories for posterity.

A Typical Week?

This was the first week that Bubba and I were completely retired and home all week.  Of course I've already talked about the fishing trip on Monday that was so much fun, but let's take a look at the rest of the week.

Tuesday we both got hair cuts and then we returned home where Bubba worked hard in the yard and I made a project of turning all the living room furniture upside down and vacuuming all the spider webs from underneath.  I took a picture but I don't think everyone needs to know how bad it was.  I had planned to mop and dust and a lot of other household chores, but I was exhausted after the living room upside down project so I called it quits for the day.  (I can do that now.)

Wednesday Bubba continued his work in the yard and I had a lunch date with a dear friend/former boss (Mary Ellen).  We had wanted to get together for so long to just have a good visit and we finally made the time for it.  We were at the restaurant for three hours and it was so much fun -- not to mention there was some good fried chicken and meatloaf.

Christmas shopping was the order of the day on Thursday and we managed to pick up the last couple of things we needed.  Most of our Christmas purchases were made online.  That is much less stressful.

Friday Bubba and his brother Joe went oystering and I worked around the house.  I also cooked a good supper.  Since I've retired it's usually Bubba who cooks the really good suppers.

The rain on Saturday made everything look so dreary.  I had two goals for the day -- wrap Christmas presents and make cheese balls.  I accomplished both.  Bubba fried oysters and mullet for supper.

Maybe I don't have high expectations, but it was a pretty satisfying week for me.  I love waking up and enjoying my coffee while I look out the window.  I like stopping a job in the middle because I can always finish it tomorrow.  So far I'm not seeing the downside to being retired.  I know that we will probably have some dreary days ahead but I think it's going to be just fine.

Fishing on Monday

Another benefit of being retired is that you can go fishing whenever you want to.  Bubba and I woke up this morning to what appeared to be a foggy, dreary day.  We decided to go fishing anyway and set out around 8:00.

One thing about fishing I have never understood is why you have to go a long way from where you start to fish.  If you fish from the hill, you try to throw out as far as you can.  If you fish from a boat, you try to throw as close to the hill as you can.  It just doesn't make sense, but that is what we have to do.  We rode down the river and went way back into a slough.

I caught the first fish that was big enough to keep.

But I have to admit that Bubba caught the biggest fish.

We fished until about noon catching nineteen bream and a catfish.

When we got home Bubba cleaned up the boat and cleaned the fish while I worked on making him a fruit cake I had been promising him.  For supper we had fried fish, potato salad and hushpuppies.  You can't beat that for a good day.

Retirees Acting on Impulse

What do you do when you go somewhere for a week and come home with your trailer still packed with food?  You go in and wash some clothes and then go somewhere else.  That way you don't have to unload the food.  That was our strategy for the week after Thanksgiving.  We headed for St. George Island State Park for a couple more days of fun.  By now the weather was warmer and being out in the warm sunshine sounded like a good plan.  We camped at site #59 which is our favorite location.

After getting set up we headed down to the beach where we found a mermaid sculpted in the sand.  Amelia loves mermaids and I hope next time we're at the beach together maybe we can make one ourselves.

We tried surf fishing again with no luck, but it was nice just sitting out on a beautiful day and enjoying the weather.

We had planned on eating at The Hut Restaurant our first night there; however, we soon discovered that they were closed. We had just about decided to pick up a pizza on the island when we ran across Bayside Burgers.  We really didn't want a hamburger, but it was getting late and the parking lot was pretty full so we decided to give it a try.  To our delight, they had a full menu with a lot of seafood selections so we were able to get the fried shrimp that we were wanting.

The next day we tried our luck at fishing off the old bridge across Apalachicola Bay.  Once again we had no luck but enjoyed making the effort.  My goal is to catch a flounder on a rod and reel.  

The next day we decided to take a long walk on the beach.  When we came across this starfish, I asked Bubba to put it back in the water.  I told him that it reminded me of The Starfish Story.  He had never heard it so I had to tell it to him.

Later that afternoon we decided to head for home.  We had managed to eat most of our groceries.  We sat out in our recliners and read a lot.  (We get no tv at St. George Island most of the time.)  We slept with the windows open listening to the sound of the surf.  We talked and walked.  It was a good trip.

On Friday we spent the day trying to buy groceries and a few Christmas gifts.  We were both exhausted by the time we returned home.  We're looking forward to a river fishing trip next week.  They are supposed to be biting.  I am ready to do some catching!

It's Not About the Food

Days are going by much faster now that I'm retired.  We had planned to spend Thanksgiving week at Frank Jackson State Park in Opp, Alabama, several months ago. Bubba's brother Joe lives close to the park so it is always a good place to visit. Our original plan was to go on Tuesday, but after watching the weather we decided to speed up our preparations and travel up on Monday.  Thankfully we did the right thing.  It started raining and blowing Monday evening and this foul weather continued on through Tuesday when it started turning cold.

I usually make the comment that it is not all about the food, but this time was certainly centered around the food.  Tuesday afternoon I watched Judy make three cakes - chocolate, German chocolate, and carrot.  She says that I helped, but I only stirred one time.

By the time we got to their house on Wednesday morning, Judy had already made a coconut pie, a pecan pie, dressing, dumplings and sweet potato casserole.  You may be wondering how many people were going to devour this feast - probably thirty right?  No, just seven.

The cold weather continued and made it seem like the perfect Thanksgiving.  Joe and Judy's son Jody, his wife Melissa, and son John came to join us for dinner.  Everything was delicious and you can rest assured that I did my part in sampling all this delicious food.

That evening Jody and Melissa went home leaving John with his grandparents for the rest of the week which made us all happy.  He is a sweet little boy and is a pleasure to have around.

On Friday Joe got Bubba to go with him over close to Birmingham to buy a boat he had seen advertised.  Of course they had to have a flat tire on the trailer on the way back, but eventually they made it.  Judy and I visited and enjoyed John and I have to admit that I returned to the trailer for a much needed nap.

Saturday included a little shopping in Opp and watching the Auburn/Alabama football game.  Even though I'm not a football fan, I  recognized that last play that won the game as being one that would be talked about for a long time afterwards.  We were with Auburn fans and they were very excited about the win. 

After the game we went to the Old Barn Restaurant in Goshen, Alabama, to celebrate my 65th birthday.  I had a delicious fork tender ribeye steak.  This is a great restaurant, but it is about a 45 minute drive from Opp.  By the time the football game was over and we drove there and ate it was pretty late especially for Bubba and me.  We haven't quite given up our early bedtime yet although we are working on it.  After all you're only 65 once.

It was a good week.  We enjoyed our time with family.  It was good to be off without having to worry about who I could get to take my place at work.  By the way, Bubba has retired from his one day a week job so we are both free and it feels great.

Meanwhile back in Baton Rouge, Darryl, Amy and Amelia celebrated Thanksgiving with their friends, Damien and Rebecca.  Amelia considers Damien and Rebecca part of her family and she had made Pilgrim and Indian "hats" to commemorate the first Thanksgiving.  Damien and Rebecca were good sports.  We missed seeing them for the holiday, but we have another coming soon and we're looking forward to it.

From Secretary to Queen for a Day

Tuesday, October 29, I was honored with a Retirement Luncheon at my place of employment.  At first I nixed the idea of having anything "in my honor" because I've just been a secretary for as long as I can remember, but my young co-workers and boss insisted and finally I gave in.  I've got to admit that I'm so glad I did.

A delicious meal of Fried Mullet, Cheese Grits, and Baked Beans was served along with an incredible, irresistable table of desserts.  There were people there from all departments along with a group from the former prison I worked at before coming back to my present location.  There were a couple who came out of retirement to attend and some came who I worked with when I first started.  I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and appreciation extended to me.  And as if that wasn't enough, there were gifts and a plaque.  I will never forget that day or the wonderful people I have worked with through the years.  They were like family and I loved them all.

Pictured here are Richard (retired assistant warden), me, Mary Ellen (retired warden), Walt (now a warden), and Steve (currently a captain).  We all worked together at one time.  I called it "Camelot" because everything was so perfect when we worked together.

Pictured are Shawn (another warden's secretary from Lake Butler), Me, and Mary Ellen.  Shawn and her husband Ben (colonel) drove several hours to surprise me.  Shawn worked with me for about a year and was such a dear friend.  She has the sweetest family and I have missed them so much.
Mary Ellen was a wonderful boss.  Instead of a gift just on Secretary's Day, she declared that it was "Secretary's Week" and had a gift/card/lunch out every day of the week.  She also insisted that I take several weeks off when Amelia was born to enjoy being a grandmother.

This is a picture of my current warden, James, presenting me with a plaque and other gifts.  The black officer in the "trooper" hat is one that I'm especially fond of.  He stands for good things and works hard to make a difference.  The young man in the green shirt, Scott, (currently an assistant warden) is one of the young men that I started out with and I'm very proud of him.  He had just made sergeant when I started.

Getting presents is always fun.

Of course I can't begin to tell you who all these people are, but I am so fortunate to have known them and worked with them.  The most important one is right next to me (Bubba).  He kept the things at home (cooking, cleaning, etc.)  for the past seven years so that I had the energy and enthusiasm I needed at work and could enjoy any time I had off without having to worry about housework.

My wish would be for everyone to enjoy their jobs as much as I did mine.  This was a wonderful occasion and I'm very grateful for the experience.  I wish them all much happiness in the years ahead.

"Rocks in My Ears"

Before I retired, Darryl called me one day to ask if we would consider keeping Amelia in November so that he could take Amy to New York City for her 40th birthday.  This is one of the reasons I wanted to retire.  It was nice to be able to say yes without consulting the calendar and figuring out who could sub for me at work.  So on November 6 we headed out for Baton Rouge.  

We arrived at their home around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon.  Darryl was working at home when he received a call from Amelia's school telling him that she was telling them that she had rocks in her ears.  They reported that she was not in any pain and Darryl asked if we would pick her up.  When we got there, I went in to get her and found that she was already back on the playground.  When I located her she was laughing and playing with some other children on the slide.  She continued to say that she had rocks in her ears but "don't worry, they don't hurt."  She didn't really mention this any more, but that night Darryl really checked her ears with a bright light and didn't see anything.

The first item on our agenda was joining Amelia for lunch at her school.  The lunches are catered by Picadilly and Amelia said, "They're really good, but I don't eat them."  Oh well, she carried her lunch and we ate the school lunch which was actually pretty good for a school lunch.  She was so excited to have us visit.  We met her teacher who was very nice and she asked about the rocks in Amelia's ears.  We told her that she appeared to be fine but said that she "couldn't remember" how she got the rocks in her ears.  The teacher said, "Oh, that means she did it."

When she got out of school on Thursday, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese which is what Amelia always says that she wants to do when we visit.  She came home with a new library book, "The Night Before Thanksgiving".  We read it at bedtime.  It was a story about children rescuing the turkeys from the farmer's axe by stuffing them under their shirts and taking them home.  I think we can give up any hope of Amelia eating turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving.  She was definitely sympathetic to the turkeys in the story.  We read it every night we were there.

By Saturday Bubba was getting a little restless so he decided to help Darryl out by raking some leaves.  Amelia was going with me to the grocery store until she spied Bubba working in the yard.  Then she announced that she wanted to stay home and help Paw-Paw and that she did.

Later Amelia wanted to "play" soccer so she and Bubba ran around in the yard kicking the ball.  She asked me if I wanted to play, but told me I would need to have on tennis shoes.  I told her that I didn't have any tennis shoes and she asked, "Because you're too old, Nana?"  I quickly explained to her that I had tennis shoes at home and I didn't think I was too old yet to wear tennis shoes.  She loved playing in the back yard.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I think we all enjoyed being outside.

That evening Amelia asked me to make her an Indian costume.  I remembered that she had made one in preschool the year before and I thought I might could copy that idea so I took a brown Cracker Barrel sack and went to work.  First I cut the headband and feathers out of the bag.  Amelia decorated them.  She wanted her Indian name to be "Horse Riding Lady".  Then I cut the vest out of the sack.  She decorated that and we put fringe on the bottom.  Lastly she threaded yarn through some pasta pieces for her necklace.

The next day was more of the same with a lot of time spent outside.  Amelia dressed herself that morning and located her bow and arrow so she was back to being an Indian again.

That morning I was inspired by Amy's new cookbook on Louisiana cooking to try making red beans and rice.  I had tried this one time before but it was way too spicy and we threw it out.  This recipe was more basic and I was sure it was going to be delicious.

I simmered my concoction all day long, but when we sat down to eat it was just okay -- not worth the trouble.  (Bubba suffered all night from eating it.)  Maybe we just aren't the cajun type of people.

Amelia's birthday is on November 12 so we decided to go ahead and give her the Legos set we had gotten her for one of her birthday presents and Bubba could help her put it together.

Look at all these pieces.  Didn't the box say it was for ages 6 - 12?  Anyway after determining that he had to follow the instructions, Bubba went to work and Amelia stayed by his side for the whole three hours it took to assemble this horse farm.

She was very pleased with the finished product.  She says that "horsies" are her favorite animals.

Amy and Darryl came in late Sunday night and Amelia was very happy to see them when she woke up Monday morning.  That evening we planned a "family" birthday party so we could celebrate with her before returning home.  Of course, she picked Chuck-E-Cheese again and her mom had a small birthday cake for the celebration.  

The next morning which was actually her birthday, we had hot doughnuts for breakfast.  She was excited about going to school because she was going to get a birthday visor, a pencil, and some stickers from her teacher.  Amy was taking cupcakes to school for her class and it was going to be a big day.

This is our sweet six year old.  It's hard to believe how fast she is growing up.  She has added so much joy to our lives.  I love it when she throws her arms around me and says, "Nana, I just love you so much."  Rest assured the feeling is mutual.

Note:  On Thursday evening while Amelia and I were watching tv, she reached up to her ear and pulled out a little rock.  After that I kept asking her if she could feel any more rocks in her ears.  Finally she said, "Can we just take a break from talking about that?"  So I will.