She's 8 Years Old! (And a Mountain Side Trip)

Amelia is growing up so fast.  It's hard to believe that she is already eight years old.  Her birthday was November 12 and we went up on the 13th to celebrate with her.

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Amy who wanted to go to Shipwreck Island.  We really didn't want to go so we bribed her with a guinea pig, which she really wanted, not to go.  This year Amy and Darryl offered Amelia cash in exchange for giving up the big birthday party and she went for it.  I thought she might regret the decision later, but she didn't.

Instead we went to see the Peanuts movie and invited two of Amelia's friends to go with us.  Amy got tickets for us to go to the really nice theater that has recliner type seats and tray tables for our popcorn and drink.  I can't recommend this movie because I slept through most of it, but the girls 
appeared to have a good time.

We returned to the house for pizza, birthday cake and ice cream.  Then I rode with Amy to take the girls home and it was over.

We gave Amelia a set of Legos for her birthday.  It was called Emma's House and had over 700 little pieces.  She put it together by herself before we left to go to the mountains on Tuesday.

Sunday afternoon we got to see Amelia play in her last two soccer games.  The first goal of the season was scored in the first one and then they scored again in the second game.  Amelia was playing the goalie position and stopped the ball from going in.  She got a medal for that game and then the team all received trophies since it was the end of the season.  Amelia was excited about her first trophy.  We think she is going to need a shelf for future trophies.

After the soccer game, we met Vicky and Robert for dinner at a local restaurant. They seemed properly impressed with Amelia's medal and trophy which she carried into the restaurant to show them.

Monday evening Bubba played babysitter and allowed Amy and me to attend the musical, Jeckyll and Hyde, at her high school.  I could not believe the talent and maturity exhibited by these high school students. The young man who played the title role performed a song where he would switch back and forth between Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.  He was so good in the dual role.  You could identify which character he was portraying by the change in his voice and demeanor.  I'm so glad that Amelia is growing up in a school system that still gives opportunity to develop talent in the fine arts.  She is in the chorus already at her school and also the drama club.  I predict that one day I'll be there to see her perform in a musical production.

The plan for this trip included a trip into North Carolina to see the fall foliage.  As usual we stopped at Jaemore Farms for our fried peach pie and homemade peach ice cream.  As we traveled farther north we realized that we were too late.  The trees were nearly bare.  We were going through Highlands, NC to Cashiers, NC, and planned to spend two nights there.

We stopped in Highlands for lunch at the Ugly Dog Pub, a place my cousin had recommended.  Bubba got a bowl of soup which he enjoyed, but I was adventuresome and ordered the 1/4 pound hot dog with pimento cheese and had bleu cheese cole slaw with it.  It was delicious!  AND that was the highlight of the trip.  

We stayed at a really nice Hampton Inn in Cashiers, but cancelled our second night upon arrival due to the lack of fall leaves and a bad weather forecast.

Wednesday we arrived back at Amy's which was a surprise for Amelia.  Bless her heart, she always acts glad to see us.  It was cold, windy, and raining.  Amy was spearheading a meal for a family in her church small group so we stayed with Amelia and fixed spaghetti for supper.

We were so happy to be home Thursday.  We had a day to rest and then we began preparations for spending Thanksgiving in Opp.  It's nice to be on the move again after a few weeks at home.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Our beautiful daughter, Amy, is going to be 42 years old Tuesday.  It doesn't seem possible.  When did the years start flying by so swiftly?  I feel like breaking out with a feeble rendition of "Sunrise, Sunset".

I'll never forget the day she was born.  We were really expecting a boy.  There were no tests to determine the sex in 1973.  We went by things nurses, doctors, and relatives told us.  Things like carrying low and a slower heart beat meant a boy. A lack of morning sickness was another indicator of a male child.  We had picked Willis as a boy's name after my grandfather and on the off chance that we had a girl, we selected Amy which meant "beloved".  Joe and Judy threw us a little party with a cake inscribed, "Welcome Wee Willie Waldorff!"  Even after an x-ray (not nearly as telling as today's ultrasounds), the nurse proclaimed that I was having a big old boy.

Six Weeks Old

Imagine my surprise when I awakened after delivery to discover that I was the mother of a beautiful baby girl.  We had our Amy and it was love at first sight.  She had a head full of beautiful dark hair and her little fingers were so long and beautiful that I could immediately see a future which held those beautiful hands gracefully gliding over the keys of a grand piano.  Bubba and I loved her so much.  One of the most hurtful things ever said to us one time was, "I bet you wish it had been a boy."  We never wished that.  Maybe we always sensed the immeasurable blessings that would be ours through our precious little daughter.

We brought Amy home to our two story house that we had at the time.  The bedroom, which was huge, was upstairs.  Unlike many fathers of that era, Bubba was a great help to me.  When Amy woke up at night, he would go down the stairs, heat the bottle and bring it back up for her.  When she would not go to sleep, he would walk the floor bouncing her in his arms singing, "She's so sweet. She's so pretty.  She's Daddy's little girl.  Then he would get up before daylight to go to work at the paper mill.

Amy never liked to sleep.  Most newborns spend more time sleeping than awake, but Amy was not like that.  She was hard to put down after being rocked.  Much of that was because during those days, you were supposed to put the sleeping baby on her stomach.  Trying to turn her over would wake her up and we would have to start the process all over again.  By the time she was five months old, she was sleeping through the night.  Then we made the mistake of disrupting her schedule by travelling to Atlanta to introduce her to my grandmother and aunt.  I am pretty sure she was a teenager before she slept through the night again.

When Amy was one year old we moved into our new house in a small town closer to Bubba's work.  I quit my job when I got pregnant and became the housewife and stay at home mom I had always wanted to be.  We were convinced that this was best for our family.  We always watched our money closely.  We had everything we needed, but not necessarily all our "wants". Bubba was sacrificial in that he never purchased a lot of the toys other men considered necessities like new trucks, guns, boats and motors.  He always put the needs and wants of Amy and me first.

I learned to sew and made many of my and Amy's clothes.  I thought my clothes were pitiful because I was never good enough to alter patterns so that they fit me right, but Amy's clothes were pretty and she always received compliments on what she was wearing.

We became active in a local Baptist church and made new friends.  Amy loved everything about church. Many a time we listened to a missionary speaker that we didn't particularly enjoy because Amy wanted to attend the mission activity that was scheduled for the children.  When she was nine, she told me that she had asked Jesus into her heart and wanted to be baptized.

As she finished kindergarten, we began to realize that not only was she adorable; she was also very smart.  She excelled in school and graduated in the top five of her class from high school.  Poor thing just did not have any athletic ability.  I felt her pain.  I was that kind of person when I was in school.  She survived her teen years in spite of that weakness.

Kindergarten

She was always so good.  She was never in trouble at school or at home.  In fact, if she sensed that we were displeased with her for some reason she would nearly cry.

Dorothy Hamill Haircut

As an only child, she learned to amuse herself for hours on end.  She loved playing with dolls.  She especially enjoyed doll weddings.  These required lots of planning and showers prior to the big event.  When one wedding finished, the work for the next one would begin.

Amy's grandfather (my dad) died when she was eight years old.  He adored her and the feeling was mutual.  I was so proud of her when I heard her tell a friend on the phone, "We don't have to have the funeral for Papa to go to heaven.  He's already there."

Fourth Grade?

Right after his death, Amy was in her first piano recital.  That began an incredible journey for us all when she exhibited such natural talent as a pianist. Even before she got her driver's license at sixteen, she became the church pianist.  For five years she played for Sunday services, revivals, choir practice on Wednesday nights and any special events that needed piano accompaniment.  The congregation loved and appreciated her.  None more than her dad and I.  We spent a lot of money on piano lessons, but were blessed many times over by her talent, her faithfulness and her spiritual maturity.


Amy also excelled as a writer.  She attended a creative writing course at the college while she was in middle school and received a lot of praise from her instructor.  She also won several contests with her essays.

High School Senior Year

She won a musical scholarship at the local junior college and played for the college ensemble.  She made good grades in college while she worked with the college ensemble and also at the local electric cooperative.  We had never planned on Amy leaving home to attend college, but she really wanted to attend Samford University in Birmingham.  Bubba and I spent a lot of time sitting on the swing and talking trying to determine if we could possibly afford the cost associated with attending a private university. We always felt that it was our responsibility to see that she got a college education and a profession so that she would always be a strong independent woman.  I remember driving home from Birmingham after leaving her in a dorm.  Bubba and I looked at each other and almost simultaneously said, "What have we done?!"

We missed her terribly.  One day I found Bubba outside trimming the hedge and he had tears in his eyes.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I just miss Amy so much."  Amy excelled at Samford.  She made friends and learned how to live on her own.  She learned how to manage her money.  She selected English as her major and never faltered in that decision.  It was as if she sensed we had sacrificed for her to be there and she didn't want to cost us any more than necessary.  We probably visited her more than she would have liked, but she never made us feel like she wasn't glad to see us.  Back on the home front we did things like turning off the air conditioner and heat when possible, eating in for most meals, buying some ugly clothes because they were cheap and even rolling quarters a time or two for extra money.

In summer 1996, Amy became the musician for a summer evangelistic mission trip sponsored by the Florida Baptist Convention in conjunction with the Montana Baptist Convention.  She and two other college students traveled from church to church in the small towns of Montana sharing the gospel through word and music.  People came to know the Lord through their mission work that summer. This was another time we had to let her go and just trust God to take care of her.

Her master's degree was earned at University of West Florida in Pensacola in 1997.  She worked as an adjunct instructor while there.  After she received her degree (again with honors), she began to look for a position with a university.  We traveled to Kentucky for an interview one time.  She was offered that position and after considerable thought, she turned it down.  It began to look as though nothing was going to come through for her when she received a call from LSU offering a position in their English Department.  She accepted that position and in no time at all was situated in an apartment in Baton Rouge, LA, where she did not know a soul.  That was another time when we had to drive away and leave her - still not an easy thing to do.  During this time she became engaged to Darryl and they planned to marry in spring of 1999.

Master's Degree - University of West Florida

She was a beautiful bride and had a beautiful wedding.  They chose to have communion as part of the service.  The pastor said that he asked them why because he did not want to do that to just be doing it.  Darryl answered him, "We want to start our married life putting God first."  And I am pleased to say that except for a brief period when they returned to Baton Rouge for the second time, they have been involved in church even accepting "jobs" in various areas.

March 27, 1999

Eventually Amy and Darryl made their home in a suburb of Atlanta, GA.  Amy became a high school English teacher.  I wish that I could see her in action as a teacher-college or high school.  You see, she was always so shy especially as a child; even then she had no problem with acting in a play or playing the piano in front of large groups of people.  My theory is that she assumes the "role" of a teacher every day. I believe that she is an excellent teacher.  I know that she looks for things all the time to make her classes better.  She seems to change her lesson plans/syllabus every year.  I'm thinking (possibly wrong) that a teacher just getting by would study the same literature, the same way year after year.  Grading papers is a huge part of her life.  She takes time to comment and correct giving the information a student could use to improve their writing.  If they don't improve it's because they just don't care, not because she doesn't.

A Favorite Class

In spring of 2007 we learned that Amy was pregnant.  She and Darryl had been married eight years and found it necessary to consult a fertility specialist when Amy did not conceive.  She had some minor surgery to correct a problem she had.  Anyone who knows what a doctor phobia Amy has understands how badly she wanted a baby.  Amelia was born on November 12, 2007.

Love this picture!

Amy was a great mother from the very beginning.  She accomplished what I could not as a mother by getting Amelia to sleep through the night in her own bed. She balances her profession as a high school teacher with her responsibilities at home.  She is an attentive mom without smothering Amelia's independence.  She gives her opportunities to try a variety of activities and places a great deal of importance on spending time with her.

Mother and Daughter share a love for chocolate.

In the past few years Amy has assumed the role of a daughter with aging parents.  When I had meningitis in 2012, one of my most cherished memories was rousing from sleep in my hospital bed and seeing Amy sitting nearby watching over me.  Several times she has invited me to attend special events with her knowing that I would enjoy them.  Recently she and Darryl presented the idea to us that we celebrate our 50th anniversary by traveling to Yellowstone National Park as a family.  The best part is that they are planning it which is good because I really don't think we can handle it on our own.

Amy and Darryl headed for a night out.

I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.  We have a beautiful intelligent daughter who is another year older.  It is important that she know how much she is loved by her parents who are incredibly proud of her and the woman she has become.  She needs to know that she had blessed our lives beyond measure.  She needs to know that we are always there for her no matter what.    

Happy Birthday, Amy!  May the next year and all the years to come bring fruition to all the hopes and dreams you have for yourself and your family.  Just know that Mama and Daddy love you!

Mad Men and the 60's

I admit it.  I've watched the complete series of Mad Men on Netflix.  You can go here to get a brief synopsis of the show which aired on AMC from 2007 - 2015.  Although the handsome main character, Don Draper, is a womanizer, a liar, a functioning alcoholic (most of the time), a heavy smoker, and much more, you can't help but root for things to turn out well for him in the end.  One of the attractions of the show was seeing the 60's play out in front of me.  I had forgotten a lot about that decade in my life and Mad Men brought it all back to me.

Since I'm learning faster than I would like that memories tend to fade the older you get, I thought I would post about some of the things I got to thinking about while watching Mad Men.

1) FASHION
Women used to wear dresses, hats and gloves to church, to most sit down restaurants, to plays, to musicals, to movies and to many social events.  One of my aunts had a luncheon for me before I got married and everyone who attended wore a dress, a hat and gloves.  I'm pretty sure that was the last time I wore a hat.  I used to wear a dress to work at Boyd Brothers in Panama City.  Of course, under the dress you wore either a garter belt with stockings or a girdle with stockings.  Can you imagine how miserable that was? In the late sixties women characters in Mad Men were trying out the latest thing for women, panty hose, so that they could help with the advertising for them.  I didn't try them until many years after that.  In the early 70's, pant suits came out and we were told that we could wear them to work; however, it had to be a suit, not just pants and a shirt.

Men also wore suits and sports coats for more functions then.  Bubba and I just spent the day celebrating our 49th Wedding Anniversary by eating lunch and dinner out and seeing a movie.  He wore jeans and I wore capri pants.  Our first anniversary he wore a sports coat and tie and I wore a dress and heels to spend the day basically the same.  Men in the business world usually wore white shirts and neck ties and many times, sports coats or suits.

2) SMOKING AND DRINKING
The actors in Mad Men usually had a smoking cigarette in their hand and usually an alcoholic beverage of some kind.  They drank and smoked all through the work day.  The advertising world was certainly different from my experience as far as drinking, but the smoking was portrayed as I remembered it.  It was during the 60's that smoking was determined to be detrimental to your health.  That premise was fought by the ad agencies for a long time before it actually appeared as a warning to the public.  Women continued to smoke and drink during pregnancy.  No one knew then about the dangers to the unborn child.

3)  WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
It used to be thought that the only reason a woman would choose to work was to secure a husband.  I guess that was true for many.  It was very hard for a woman to advance in the workplace.  The sexual harassment was at its peak.  Secretaries were referred to as the boss's girl.  They were expected to take care of the boss at work, just like the wife did at home.  Many were exposed to crude jokes and demeaning names like "sugar", "sweetie" or "gorgeous".  Things have really changed in that regard.  I never attended a meeting at the prison without sexual harassment being on the agenda.  It had to be reported whether you experienced it or just witnessed it.

4)  WOMEN AT HOME
Most women did not work outside the home.  For many years I was a housewife and that was what all I ever wanted to be.  My mother worked in a business with my dad and I was left with a maid all day.  I envied my friends who had mothers who were home with them.  My friend Mari's mother sewed all her clothes and they were beautiful.  That was what I wanted.  The woman who stayed home was responsible for everything in the house.  She cooked and cleaned.  She washed and ironed all the clothes.  She raised the children.  Dad  took care of the outside chores.

When we first moved to this small town, the majority of the young mothers did not work outside the home.  There was a group of us who met regularly for Bible study, recipe exchange, etc.  There was a book that came out in 1973 called The Total Woman by Marabel Morgan that pretty much stated that the role of the woman was to please her man.  Although that book didn't come out until the 70's, I can remember as a young housewife I looked forward to the arrival of my man each evening.  I can remember freshening up, putting on make up and styling my hair so I would be pretty when my stinky husband from the paper mill stepped through the door.

5) RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
As I stated earlier, I was pretty much raised by Nancy, a black maid that worked for my family from the time I was a toddler until several years after I got married.  She was good to me.  I allowed her to wait on me as though I was a little princess.  I can look back now and see that as much a part of our family as she was, she was treated differently.  She never shared a meal with us.  She always sat on a chair in the kitchen and waited for us to finish our meal.  Then she would clean up and Daddy would take her home.  We used to visit relatives in Atlanta on a regular basis and since Nancy had family in Abbeville, we would drop her off on the way.  We usually started the trip by eating breakfast at the Circle Grill in Graceville.  (My gosh, it's still in business!)  Nancy had to remain in the car while we went in to eat because they didn't serve "colored" people.  When Bubba and I married, Nancy was at the church.  She placed the train of my dress in place before I entered on Daddy's arm, but she was not allowed to take a seat in the church like everybody else.  And that was a church!!

When Bubba went to work at the paper mill, the same discrimination was present.  Blacks had their own locker rooms, bathrooms and even water fountains.  Most were assigned to the nastiest, hottest jobs in the mill.

My Aunt Grace was private secretary to the Editor/Publisher of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, Ralph McGill.  He was considered to be a liberal journalist at the time receiving many death threats for his stance on segregation.  You can imagine the heated exchanges that took place at the family dinner table when Aunt Grace came to visit.

I like the line from MLK's speech about a day coming when we will judge others not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  I'm proud to say that my little granddaughter already understands that.

6)  INTOLERANCE

Mad Men had a storyline that involved a man who was gay but not openly so.  He was a creative genius and of great value to the ad agency; however, when the higher ups learned that he was gay he was fired.  That's just not right, but I had better close that can of worms before it gets opened.  I never knew anything about homosexuals growing up.  After I was married I saw two men holding hands walking down the street in Atlanta and that was my first exposure.

7)  HISTORICAL EVENTS

John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960.  I would have been eleven years old.  This was the first presidential election that I was interested in.  Of course I was for Richard M. Nixon because my grandmother (Meme) said that if Kennedy was elected that the Pope would be running the United States of America.

The Freedom Riders and the Civil Rights Movement were all a part of my teen years.  I didn't understand at the time any of it.  I know that we had five blacks start at my high school the year I graduated.  They looked so scared.  I don't guess I ever spoke to any of them and I wish I had.

Marilyn Monroe died during the 60's.  I remember she sang to JFK on his birthday.  Back then you didn't know all the little secrets politicians kept in their closet.  

I vaguely remember the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Mad Men portrayed it as a time of near panic as people feared a nuclear end.  All I remember is that President Kennedy was on tv making a speech.  I wonder if Mama and Daddy were afraid then.  I never asked them about it.  Bubba was in the navy at that time.  He said he knew that we were in real trouble.

John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963.  I was in English class and there was an announcement over the intercom.  For days afterward, much like the characters on Mad Men, I was glued to the television screen.  I didn't cry, but I saw people crying.  He was so handsome.  She was so beautiful.  His children were so young.  By this time I had come to the realization that the Pope was not running the US.  

Mad Men's Don Draper is able to obtain tickets to the first Beatles concert in New York City and his daughter is thrilled.  Who doesn't remember the Beatles? I liked their songs. Their hair was "so long".  People couldn't get over their long hair.  They just didn't know what long hair was, I guess, because men continued to grow their hair longer and longer.  I understand now that many references are made to drugs in their songs.  I didn't get it then and probably not even now.  But I also never heard "satan" on records that were played backwards either.

The Vietnam War was escalating by the end of the 60's.  I didn't appreciate the seriousness of what was happening there.  Movies, tv shows, and reading material have enlightened me about the war.  I was always patriotic and could not stand that everyone didn't appreciate the service of our military.  Bubba was out of the Navy before the escalation and I was glad.  His brother, Joe, received a draft notice and had to go for a physical, but was turned down for some health issues he had.  We were all thankful for that.  

Martin Luther King's death was a big news story.  I remember watching a lot of news coverage on it.  Unlike Kennedy's death, I don't remember exactly where I was at the time.  At the time I saw him as an instigator of a lot of trouble.  Now that I have aged and seen what real trouble can look like, I think he did teach peaceful protesting.  Folks would accomplish more that way if they would try it.

Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969.  I was baking chocolate chip cookies at the time.  I even remember which cookbook contained the recipe I was using.  The whole world was watching and Americans were proud.  And the cookies were good!

8)  HIPPIES, DRUGS, COMMUNES
I can't think of anyone I ever knew that was a "hippie".  The closest thing to it would have been my cousin, Vicky, when she lived in Atlanta and attended college. She had long hair and wore faded jeans and smock type shirts with clogs.  (That would have been in the early 70's.)  She was a free thinker and had a poster with marijuana on the wall in her apartment.  (I think that was mainly to annoy her mother and it worked!)

Fourteenth Street in Atlanta became a mecca for hippies and since we visited my grandmother and aunt on Tenth Street we would see them hanging around on street corners and sitting out stoned on the porches of houses in that area.

This is a picture from a news story in an Atlanta paper.

This picture was taken at Piedmont Park
 which was right behind my aunt's apartment building.
 It appeared in the newspaper at the time.

I have never been exposed to drugs of any kind.  In high school a lot of kids were smokers and many talked of their drunken escapades, but that was it.
My first wiff of marijuana occurred at a Willie Nelson concert I attended with Amy not long ago.

No one I knew joined a commune or any type of cult.  That was just something I saw on the news or read about in magazines.  I did see some different cult types in robes with shaved heads in Atlanta on a street corner collecting money one time but that was it. 

I wished that I had made notes as I watched this series.  It brought back memories of that decade that I had put in the back of my mind. Maybe one day Amelia will read this post and learn a little more about the olden days when her Nana was just a girl.  But, Amelia, if you ever read this, please wait until you're at least thirty years old to watch Mad Men!

My Day of Kale

Friday night we had friends over for a fish fry.  Bubba and Charles had been fishing on the river earlier in the week and had caught enough bream for a nice meal.  Charles, as usual, brought something from his garden.  Earlier in the week he had given us some lemons, one of which was in a lemon pie I made for desert.  This time he brought more lemons and a bag full of kale, which we had never tried before and certainly weren't sure what to do with it.  Charles enjoys trying new things in his garden and usually has great success with whatever he plants.

Kale is washed and ready to use.

Today (Sunday) I didn't feel like going to church so while Bubba went to Sunday School, I surfed the internet looking for information on what to do with kale.  I washed it very gently getting off any grit and trimmed the stems.  I laid it in a big pan in between layers of paper towels and proceeded to try the following with my newfound healthy vegetable.

Salad:
I didn't think it was going to be that great raw so I just layered kale and tomatoes in a salad bowl and we ate it with ranch dressing. We liked it like this.  I would definitely use it as a salad green again.

This was a simple salad, but it was tasty.

Sauteed Kale with Garlic:
A lot of kale turned into two small servings as I added garlic to olive oil and gently wilted the kale.  This had potential.  It was very chewy and after going back and looking at the recipe again, I realize that I should have allowed it to steam for a longer period of time.  It tastes very much like spinach.  Next time I have a recipe that calls for red pepper flakes in addition to the garlic and I'll cook it longer.

Apparently, this needed to cook longer.  Also the stems
even though they are small and thin, didn't get tender.

Baked Kale Chips:
I was really excited about this recipe.  In my mind this was going to produce something akin to potato chips and I would keep bags of it on hand for a snack when the cravings for something crispy and salty set in.
It was interesting, but I probably would not do this again.  I had two pans full and would have been baking all afternoon if I planned on filling up bags.  One bite and they disintegrate into nothing.  Nope, they won't be replacing potato chips any time soon.  This was an Ina Garten recipe so I was surprised that I didn't love it.

Before

After

I can't wait to tell Farmer Charles that I have properly tried his latest vegetable.

I'm more excited about making a Lemon Cheese Cake using the lemons he gave me.  This is not really a cheese cake.  It has no cheese of any kind in it.  It is a very light cake with a wonderful cooked lemon filling.  I remember this cake from when I was a little girl.  There was an old fashioned bakery close to where we lived and they always had a Lemon Cheese Cake in the bakery case.  Mama would occasionally get one for dessert when we had company and it was delicious.  Of course, I'm eating right again so I may only get a tiny taste but I'm looking forward to trying something new that isn't a healthy vegetable.

Looks good, doesn't it?

More About the Willie Nelson Weekend

As I said in my earlier post about the Willie Nelson concert, I wanted to make the trip by myself.  No, I wasn’t mad at Bubba but I just like to prove to myself that I can do things on my own if the need arises.  Besides that, I had so many wreaths that I was taking to Atlanta with me; I just didn’t have room for Bubba.  I had wreaths everywhere in the car.  The bad thing about these wreaths is that you really can’t stack them easily or let them touch or it’s almost like Velcro pulling them apart.  I had my one little duffel bag and a tote bag up front with me.

I had an easy trip.  I stopped at a Dunkin’ Donut in Dothan because it is my belief that if you wear good underwear, shave your legs, and have something fattening in your stomach, you will experience safe travels.  (It doesn’t hurt to leave your house clean either, but I don’t want to go overboard with my superstitions.) 

I'm waiting in line at Dunkin' Donuts.

Traffic was light.  The sky was overcast but no rain.  I listened to a book most of the way and everything went smoothly.  I stopped at a Cracker Barrel in LaGrange for lunch and I was fortified to head into the Atlanta traffic, which wasn’t bad at all.  I believe in getting in one lane and staying there, but I was able to easily change lanes when needed. While I was driving to Atlanta, Bubba and Joe were kayaking in Econfina Creek.  I'm glad he was occupied so he didn't have time to worry about me.

I went straight to Amelia’s school to pick her up for Amy, who had some extra teacher chores going on that evening.  Darryl had just arrived home when we got there and he took us out to eat and we had a nice visit just the three of us.  Poor Amy didn’t arrive home until after 10:00.  I don’t know how she does it.

The next morning I lazed around the house with Amelia’s puppy, Billy, and then met my cousin, Vicky, for lunch.  We usually meet at a pretty nice restaurant for lunch, but this time I suggested Five Guys when I heard that she had never eaten there.  I really like their hamburgers and fries plus I knew that it was not as noisy as the place we usually eat.  I'm sad to say that I have a hearing problem in restaurants where there is a lot of background noise.  Vicky seemed to enjoy her lunch and I was glad to get to introduce her to Five Guys.  We had a nice visit catching up on all the family news and I returned home to prepare for that night’s Willie Nelson concert.

Saturday was dreary and rainy.  There was no way I was going to stand out in the rain trying to sell my wreaths.  Amy suggested that we take pictures of them and post them on Facebook.  We did, but I did not sell a single wreath.  We loaded up and went to Another Broken Egg for breakfast and I had my first blackberry grits.  As we pulled out to go eat, the people across the way were setting out some patio furniture and tools that I assumed they were going to try to sell.  When I saw the tools, I made the comment, “Bubba would be in heaven with all those tools.”  Poor Amelia misunderstood what I meant and said, “Bubba is in heaven and nobody tolded me….”  She screwed up her face and was ready to cry.  I quickly assured her that Paw-Paw was fine.  He was not in heaven and that was just an expression that meant he would be really, really happy looking at those tools just like people who are in heaven are happy.

Blackberry Grits

Amelia had beignets and has powdered sugar around her mouth.

Amy, Amelia and I went shopping for Amelia some cold weather clothing that afternoon.  She has outgrown her jeans from last year and she was in dire need.  I promised that I would buy her the Junior Monopoly game and her mom had promised a Harry Potter book if she would be a happy shopper with us and she was.  Saturday night Darryl grilled steaks and as always they were delicious.

The next day (Sunday) after they all went to church, we went out to eat and then we finished up the shopping by getting Amelia a new pair of shoes.  The mall had a big Lego display which she enjoyed.  They had replicas of the White House, the Capitol Building, Independence Hall, and the Statue of Liberty. 

We got the new shoes and stopped by Barnes and Noble to pick up the Harry Potter book for Amelia.  She read  much of the first chapter on the ride home.  

When we got home, I played Junior Monopoly with Amelia and two imaginary friends for about 1 ½ hours.  Sadly the winner of the game was an imaginary friend and not Amelia or me.  She had planned to read a little more of the Harry Potter book before she went to bed, but we couldn’t find it anywhere.  When we did our prayers, she asked me to pray that we would find her book and I did.  After I tucked her in for the night, I went downstairs and Amy had found the book.  It was in plain sight on the coffee table.  Interesting, isn’t it?

Amy and I worked on her Halloween decorations over the weekend.  The houses in her subdivision go all out with decorations for every holiday.  We got the deco mesh garland around her front door and the witch wreath hung.  In addition, she got up some spider web lights on her front window and seated a skeleton at the table on her porch.  She fixed her mantle inside and still has some decorations to set out in the house.  Her small group from the church is going to meet there on Wednesday before Halloween.  She wasn’t finished by the time I left, but was well on the way.

Amelia enjoyed doing the limbo under the garland
 I was making for Amy's front door.

Door is ready for Halloween.

Garland for the front door for fall.

Amy and I both inherited my mother’s gene for decorating.  Amy has a better eye for what looks good than I do, but I do enjoy changing out some of my décor for the seasons and holidays.  The sad thing for me is that I no longer entertain people at home as we did when I worked at the church.  Most of the time no one sees it but Bubba and me, but as I always tell Bubba, “We’re worth it.”

I waited until after 9:00 on Monday morning to start my drive home.  I came all the way in a light rain which thankfully never got too heavy.  I had just started out when the tire light came on in the car.  I knew that everything had been checked when Bubba took the car in the week before, but I pulled off the interstate and the first thing I saw was a Goodyear Tire Store.  I asked them if they could check my tires, which they did.  They said the tires had too much air in them.  They let some out of each tire, reset the light, and it never came back on.  There was no charge for doing this, but I gave the young man $10 and told him my peace of mind was worth way more than that.

I had a great weekend, but it was good to be home.  Bubba had fixed pork chop casserole and a pot of peas for supper and it was really good.  He hasn’t lost his touch in the kitchen although he doesn’t get in there as much as I would like.

The next day (Monday) I saw the dentist and decided to go ahead with the dental implant.  It is very expensive and I will still be missing a tooth for a couple of months, but at least I will eventually have one in that spot.  I found places to store my wreaths.  Some of them will replace ones that I have used for years.  I sure enjoyed making them.  I guess I need to find something that I enjoy doing that doesn’t take up as much space.  Warning:  Deco Mesh can be addicting!!

This is my souvenir... $20.

Pinterest Goes to Opp

Hitch itch set in and we called Joe and Judy to see if our camping up there for a few days would interfere with anything they had planned and of course they assured us that it wouldn’t.  We arrived on a Wednesday and Judy had prepared a delicious “diet friendly” lunch for us.  Following lunch, I brought in some wreaths that I was working on and she pulled out some stuff she had bought for making the deco mesh and grapevine wreaths.Judy’s front door was big enough to accommodate the big fall wreath I made and she seemed pleased to get it.  We soon discovered that we did not have nearly enough embellishments for our projects so we planned a trip to Dothan the next day.  Bubba and Joe enthusiastically agreed to accompany us – mainly for lunch, I think.

Judy and I loaded up on wreath making supplies and prepared to mass produce wreaths over the next couple of days. We went to Sam's while we were there; Joe and I decided that we would take advantage of their free hearing tests.  (We really know how to have fun, don't we?)  Joe's took so long that I decided to wait until next time.

 Judy caught on quickly and we were turning out wreaths right and left.  She has a better eye for what to add to embellish them than I.  By Saturday, we realized that we needed still more stuff to go on wreaths and we went to WalMart in Andalusia.  We couldn’t believe that WalMart was the only place that did not have their Christmas decorations out.  We ended up at a Dollar Tree that had some cute things we could use so we headed back to finish up the projects we started. We worked at a frantic pace and I had six new wreaths to carry home with me.  About this time Bubba asked where I was going to put all these wreaths.  I told him not to worry because I was going to sell them at the subdivision yard sale in Atlanta and would be making him a rich man.  He was very happy to hear that because by now he had figured out that I had a couple of hundred dollars invested in my new hobby.

Sunday night as I brushed my teeth, I bumped my gum and it hurt.  I pulled up my lip to take a look and I bumped my tooth and it moved.  You guessed it, it was the tooth that has the bad root canal and this was not looking good for its “self-healing” that the dentist had optimistically mentioned to me.  The next day I was able to get right in and discovered that the bad tooth was getting worse not better.  I had some infection to deal with and then had to make a decision on getting a dental implant or a bridge of some kind.  For me, losing a tooth that shows is not an option.  Bummer!!

Pinterest Started It! Lunch with Amelia at School and More(September 2015)

A while back I logged in on the Pinterest site to see what it was all about.  At the time I was mostly interested in diet recipes, American Girl doll patterns to sew, and fun things to do with kids.  I found all that and more. Eventually I saw a tutorial for making a wreath out of the deco mesh that has become so popular.  It looked easy enough and it wasn’t long before I had saved “to my board” a number of wreath ideas and a lot of “how to” instructions for the deco mesh wreaths.  My goal was to make Amy a Halloween wreath. (You’ve seen them.  It looks like the witch smashed against the wall.)  Since the parts needed for that wreath were kind of expensive, I thought I would get the items needed for a fall wreath and try that as my first one.  Of course, I was confident I could do it and I also bought everything needed for the witch wreath at the same time which I would not have done if I lived close enough to the stores to run pick up what I needed when I needed it.   As I started on the fall wreath following the directions I was watching on the iPad, I felt like I was doing great and even sent Judy pictures of just the side I was working on.  I won’t go into a lot of detail but suffice it to say getting the mesh on the frame was easy enough and as I went along I discovered tricks that made it even easier.  The mesh is the easiest part.  You can cover the frame with mesh in about fifteen minutes.  It is the embellishments that take the most time.  Choosing them is one thing.  Choosing the right thing is another.  Anyway I had found a new hobby that created a better mood for me than sewing and I was consumed by deco mesh fever and eager to spread it to others.  It was always simmering in my mind, but we had an opportunity to visit the family in Atlanta and I put wreath making on the back burner of my mind.

Amelia’s school was observing Grandparent’s Day by inviting grandparents to have lunch with their grandchildren any day during the week of September 7 – 11.  So we jumped at the chance to go.  The trip to Atlanta was uneventful.  On a Thursday morning, Bubba went with Darryl and Amelia to a Dad’s Breakfast at the school which was so well attended that there were dads and their kids sitting on the floor of the gym.  (I don’t believe the schools where we live would have that kind of participation.)  They had a guest speaker and although it was well attended, I don’t think Darryl or Bubba got that much out of it.  I saw a picture of Amelia that looked like she was taking a nap.

At lunch time we went back to the school.  After living in a small town for so many years and a graduating class of 50 – 80, I could not comprehend how big Amelia’s school really is.  Her school has grades 2 – 5.  Each grade lunches together one at a time and second grade completely filled the cafeteria.  That’s a lot of second graders!   Amelia seemed happy to see us, but now I understand why she seldom eats her lunch.  She prefers to socialize.  As she munched on some cheese and crackers, she was busy speaking to her friends and acquaintances with a lot of high fives and hugs.  She had twenty minutes to eat (the same amount of time as inmates).  They were allowed to get an ice cream for $1.00 with  one section of the cafeteria allowed to go at a time.  We gave Amelia a dollar and she stood in a line for ice cream, which she was unable to finish before it was time for her class to go.  

We went to Jaemore Farms where we enjoyed our usual fried pie and homemade ice cream.  They had peaches still, but they came from somewhere else and were not as good as the ones we had bought earlier in the year.  We got some good mountain tomatoes at a good price, some yellow squash  and a bag of apples.  I just love a good produce stand!

I carried a couple of wreaths for Amy to see.  The Halloween wreath that I made for her front door was way too big as was the big fall wreath; however, I had a small fall wreath that she really liked.  I pulled everything off the witch wreath, bought a smaller frame and made a smaller version of it which I actually like better and I think she did too.  I told her that when I came back for the Willie Nelson concert I wanted to bring wreaths to see if I could sell them at her neighborhood yard sale.  She seemed to think that was a good idea.

We finished up the week by celebrating Bubba’s 72nd birthday on Saturday.  Amelia whispered to me that they ordered Paw-Paw a cake.  I asked what kind and she replied, “Chocolate, my favorite!”  Amy started the day by preparing Belgium waffles with bacon for breakfast.    She later fixed some delicious finger foods for everyone to enjoy while watching football games and we had birthday cake and ice cream as well.  For dinner Darryl grilled ribeye steaks which he does better than anyone I know.  Then there was more cake and ice cream.

The next morning we were on the road home, stopping along the way for a Cracker Barrel breakfast compliments of Amelia who had selected a Cracker Barrel gift card as Paw-Paw’s birthday gift from her.  I wish that she had been with us.  That girl can eat some Cracker Barrel pancakes!

We stopped for some Popeye’s Fried Chicken in Marianna and for supper we both had a big slab of birthday cake with two scoops of ice cream.  Can you say nightmares and weight gain?  Wow, that was a crazy thing to do.  Bubba socked the headboard in his nightmare, bruising his hand.  I stepped on the scale and almost passed out.  Well, we won’t do that again!

The most exciting thing about this weekend was the surprise Amy and Darryl sprung on us to celebrate our 50th anniversary next summer....We're all going to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.  They are going to provide our plane tickets and we will all leave Atlanta on June 4 for Jackson Hole, WY.  They are making all the plans and securing all the reservations.  Darryl has already sent some options to choose from for Yellowstone.  We're going to spend one night in the park.  He is getting us a condo in Jackson Hole for all the other nights.  We already know that we are going to ride covered wagons into the wilderness for a steak dinner with all the fixins', including cowboy songs around the campfire.  Darryl is going to do all the driving which relieves Bubba of a lot of stress and I will not have to be the navigator which relieves me of stress.  We're looking forward to it.  This is going to be a very special anniversary thanks to them.  I wonder what we'll do for our 60th?