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 |  A Journal of our Adventures in Country Living.... |
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"Home is where the heart is" and this is the continuing story of our life on the farm....where our heart is and where we make our home. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I want to thank janieruthryals for this wonderful Merit Badge: ![Merit Badge in Nature
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For the wonderful visit to your farm, all through the words in your blog.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Nature-1125.gif) |
| I really want to apologize for not commenting to all my favorite bloggers out there... I do read them everyday, but with the Christmas rush coming to a head, I just haven't had time to sit down and respond. My mother is heading home the day after Christmas, and I should be able to get back to my routine and start commenting to all these wonderful entries from my friends then!! We found out that David's son and his girlfriend are coming over on Saturday along with David's daughter, her boyfriend and his daughter. So we will have our Christmas dinner then. I had to go out and stock up my cubboards since I will be cooking everything. I have a 15lb Turkey sitting in my fridge thawing. I have the makings for pumpkin pie and banana pudding (David's two favorite desserts) and also stuffage to make some delicious candy. I found a new fudge recipe I want to try. I love trying new recipes, but am really disappointed when they don't turn out like I expected them to. This one is for a Blueberry Cheesecake fudge. I have never heard of this type of fudge before and have always made the traditional chocolate and/or peanutbutter fudge and vanilla fudge. I am going to try this and see if it as good as it sounds and looks. Along with the turkey we will have the good old southern cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, sweet potato casserole, fruit salad and some fried corn. I am also going to make my own sweet dinner rolls this year. Usually I buy those already made in a package and all you have to do is stick them in the oven and warm them up. But I love a good sweet dinner roll and found a recipe I want to try. The first phase of mixing and letting rise can be done in my bread machine with will make it somewhat easier to do. If any of you have a tried and true recipe for a really good sweet dinner roll, let me know in case this one doesn't pan out. Ok, my mom is in the kitchen trying to make chicken and dumplings. She is a good cook and can set a mean table full of southern delights (she is from Missouri). She can also cook some of the more northern dishes like corned beef and boiled potatoes or saurkraut and polish sausage (learned from my fathers mother). But I need to go in and help her out a bit, her arms get tired from stirring and lifting bowls and pots. lol... and I finely chopped up some celery leaves and parsley and put in the broth. My mom is trying to dip them all out, she thinks they are the brown stuff that comes out of the chicken bones. Ever since she arrived she has been wanting to cook David a pot of chicken and dumplings, so tonight she got her wish!! I did go out and buy a Christmas tree and put it up yesterday. My mom and I had it all decorated by the time David got home. It's been a battle with the cats though.... especially lil' shit..... that's how she got her name... she is always getting herself in trouble. This morning I had about a half a dozen ornaments scattered all over the livingroom floor. The lights were dragging the floor and candycanes were knocked off - and who was under the tree with this wicked look in her eyes.... lil'shit!! My mom also bought David and I our Christmas present today while we were out shopping. I told her not to get us anything, but she insisted. David hasn't seen it yet, and he will be jumping for joy when he does find it. I am going to go ahead and give it to him now, so he can have it all hooked up when his kids come for dinner on Saturday. He will have to tell you what it is in his blog! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and that all your Holiday wishes come true for you. Y'all be safe in your travels. God Bless and take care! |
| As a lot of you know, my mother is spending the Christmas Holidays with us. She is a young 87 years old and pretty healthy except for arthritic knees that prevent her from moving real fast. We have spent the last week just sitting around the house and reminencing.... sometimes we reminence the same thing over and over again. But I don't mind at all. I am so glad to still have her with us. I know that her time here on Earth is almost over.... as Tor stated in his blog yesterday, her trip down the river has almost reached the Gulf.... but for now, we will enjoy the time she has left. My mother was raised on a farm in southern Missouri. The men... her father and brothers... would work hard out in the field all day long while the women folk stayed back and took care of the household. They tended the garden, watched over the chicken coop, made the soap, boiled the laundry to get it white and cooked and cared for the men. Key statement here: cared for the men!! When she married my father and started having babies, she stayed home to nurture and care for the family while my father trudged off to work every day. They always kissed each other at the door every morning when he left, and every afternoon when he returned. She never wore pants when I was young. She always had on the prettiest flowered dresses. She called them house dresses; form fitted bodices that buttoned with a full collar and with a gathered and flowing skirt that fell below her knee line! It wasn't until the late 70's that we finally convinced her to wear a pant suit. Now this is where that 'key statement' comes into play. My mother has always doted on the men in her life. Once my father entered the door, my mother was there to take care of him. She waited on him hand and foot. My father was not the only one to be on the recieving end of my mothers 'keeping', but my brother also benefited from the effects!! They had their plates of food fixed for them, their clothes layed out for them, their messes picked up after them. Oh, she loved us girls also... don't get me wrong!! But we were taught to stand on our own and to take care of ourselves. This never bothered me at all, I enjoyed fixing my own plate and deciding what I was going to wear every day, but my poor sister would get so mad (of course my brother egging her on and making faces at her when my mom would pick up his dirty plate and not hers didn't help the situation at all)! But that was just the way my mother was.... and she is still like that today. David loves it!!! When I fix dinner, she will sit there and wait for David to fill his plate first, before she helps herself. She wants to make sure that David gets what he wants, and that he has first choice before she helps herself. She does ask me, while I am cooking, if I am going to fix David's plate for him!! Now don't laugh, but I am a lot like my mother. I do have a tendency to dote on the man in my life. In fact, most of the time I DO fix David's plate for him!!! Then I take it to him and ask him if he wants anything else before I help myself. But I enjoy doing it. This is all done out of love. My mother did it out of love and respect for the men in her life and so do I. But David gets a kick out of it, none-the-less. My mom gets a chuckle out of David and I. We are always picking on each other, teasing and laughing and my mother enjoys this banter between us. David and I will be sitting there playing X-Box and he will be hollering at me to do something or getting after me because I got him killed in the game, and I will give it right back to him teasing him about his lack of game skills. My mom will sit there and laugh and laugh at us. David and I also do a lot of spontanious hugging and kissing. For no reason at all, one of us will reach out and kiss the other. My mother loves this show of affection!! She thinks it is the greatest thing!! It is so nice to have her here. I do wish she would move down here with us, but she won't. She lives with my sister in southern Missouri...near where she was born and raised. Her one wish was to be able to move back to Missouri to be close to her family and she got her chance when my sister and her husband decided to buy a small farm there. I did notice that her short-term memory has gotten real bad. She will ask me the same question over and over again, such as: "How long am I staying with you? or "What time of year is it?" The warmer weather here in Texas has her real confused!! But she can remember the details of when she was a little girl, or back when I was growing up. In fact, sometimes she remembers to much!!!!! hehehe It is nice to have her here with us for Christmas. I don't know how many more Christmases we will be able to enjoy with her, so I relish every one I can get. ***************************** I just want to let y'all know that I am reading your blogs every day... I just haven't taken the time to comment.. sorry!! I will try to do better... I promise!!!! Y'all have a Very Merry Christmas.. be safe and have fun!!! |
| For three months I have been running all over tarnation putting in resumes and filling out job applications. Either I never hear back from these businesses or I get a polite post card in the mail telling me they are not considering my application! I have put applications in a dozen local businesses plus half a dozen that are up to 50 miles away. Nothing, zilch, nil..... So when my sister called yesterday to see if I could take my mom for the Christmas holiday, I said sure... I would love to do it. My mother use to live with me, but when I moved to Texas she went to live with my sister in Missouri. I told her she was welcome to come on down here to live with us, but she was comfortable and didn't want to uproot again. Even though my mother is a healthy 88 years young, she cannot really be left alone. Her eyesight is failing and she has arthritis in her knees...other than that, she still cooks and reads and can take care of herself. We are just afraid of her falling... which she has in the past. Plus she has been scared to be alone for as long as I can remember. She was assaulted walking home from work when she was about 20 years old, and has never felt safe being alone. As she got older, her fears of being alone increased both for health reasons and for safety. It is about a 10 hour drive up to my sisters so she said she would meet me half way (which would make our meeting point around Little Rock, Arkansas) this Saturday. Then I will bring my mother back to Livingston and she will stay with us for 2 weeks. Then we will repeat the half-way thing after Christmas so my mom can head back home. Once our plans were in place, my sister and her husband went ahead and made their plans to go to Florida over the Holidays to visit his family. It takes them about 20 hours to drive it, and that's just to hard on my mother.. plus they would be moving around staying with different relatives for the two weeks, and my mom just didn't want to do it. So all plans have been made. Everyone is happy. Then I get a phone call this evening.... from the Livingston School District wanting me to work.... as a sub... starting tomorrow!!! This would be in the custodial department... I also applied for a secretarial position but they are filled from a sub list... and there are about 150 on the list already. So I knew I would have a better chance in the custodial dept. I will go up and talk to the Operations Manager tomorrow and explain my situation to them. I am sure they will let me sign on, and just not make me available until Dec 27... the day after I take my mom back. Or... I may be able to work half days...and schedule my work hours when Tor will be home. I will find out tomorrow. ******************************** I happen to glance over to the left while writing this blog and saw my link to 'GenForum Genealogy'. I use this forum quite often seeking information on my ancestors. I have done quite an extensive research on my mothers side of the family and have broken through to a line of royalty. Once you do that, you can usually go way back.... I actually worked the line back into the year 112. That's the secret... breaking through to royalty as their ancestory was well recorded. All the other lines faded out and I could only go back to the 1500's and a few 1400's, but that one line gave me a break. I have been working on my father's ancestory now and have gotten back to 1589 France so far. The Mormom Church has a huge data base of geneology and besides GenForum, that is the other place I have gotten most of my information http://www.familysearch.org/ The hardest part is getting everything verified if you want to make it official. But I will pursue that later. Now I have tried to do Tor's.... but that's a might difficult as all his ancestors were either kicked out of someplace or running from the law for some reason and didn't want to be found!!! I'm not kidding.... the one line that I finally was able to trace back ended in 1756 with a note that they think the McClain that I was trying to find ran away from a private school in England and jumped aboard a ship headed to the new America. He never told anyone where he was from as he didn't want his family coming after him... he was only 14 years old at the time. I found that researching my genealogy was really addicting. There was one point where I had about a dozen of my ancestors all showing up in the same area. At first I thought "how weird is that"!! But then I realized the date..... It was in the early 1600's and there were not that many settlements in America yet... of course they were running into each other!!!!! One of my relatives came over on the Mayflower and I do have that documented. It is a great history lesson, to go back and see where your ancestors came from, to read about their lives and to see the trials and tribulations they went through. I have a copy of an old tax record from when my great grandmother and grandfather moved from Kentucky to Missouri. It list all their belongings and their value, from the family bible worth $1.50, their beds and bedsheets, their farm implements and their stock, their household items and personal belongings. Included in this list were 3 black slaves... a woman and her two children ages 7 and 12. My mother said that she can remember 'Aunt Sucky'...(that is what they called her) and that she was treated like a member of their family. Her children had grown and had gone their own ways by the time my mother came along... but she does remember Sucky!!! She helped my grandmother with the household chores and eventually left to live with one of her sons. I have a hand written note from 'Sucky' describing the death of my great grandfather who died by a 'fallen tree'! I treasure these notes from the pass and will hand them over to my son when the time is right. I want to make sure that he and his wife will relish and treasure them as I do, and not let them get lost and thrown out like a lot of family history does. I also have a shoe box full of old deeds and trust notes written back in the early 1800's. They were my grandfathers and his fathers before him. They have no value to anyone... just memorabilia of days gone by. The hand writing is amazing on these legal papers....beautiful sweeping letters of the alphabet written with real ink. Very elegant. If only people would write so nice these days!!!! I might try to scan a few things and post them in my portfolio! Ok, I have rambled on enough. OH...OH.... I can't forget this..... I opened up my email today and Sultry had made this for me.....it is beautiful!!! I use to train and show Morgan Horses.... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** THANK YOU SULTRY... I LOVE IT!!! |
| After reading a few blogs that told of Christmas memories, and doing my blog yesterday about some of my childhood Chrismas's, I have to post a few more. I hope you guys don't get tired of traveling down memory lane for a bit!!!! Tis the season for memories. Some of us have wonderful memories of Christmas past, some not so good. I am one of the fortunate ones in that most of my memories are full of wonder and love. But there were a few odd moments thrown in. One of these moments happened back in the 90's. I was a single parent and working a full time job with the school system and training a few horses on the side. It was a snowy winter which I loved. We had a good foot or more of snow on the ground and more was expected to fall. If you are going to have snow... by golly, then lets have SNOW!!! I uncovered my car early that morning and slipped and slid down the road to the barn where I was working horses. It was a quiet morning, the sound of horses rustling around in the stalls could be heard throughout the barn, a soft neigh or heavy sigh emitted once in while. I was cleaning tack and taking inventory of medications when I heard this little garbled voice behind me; "excuse me, can I ask you a question?" I turned around and there stood this eloquent older lady, dressed in a magnificent fur coat, hat to match and expensive wool gloves. She held a Christian Dion Saddle handbag in one hand and a empty Wal-Mart bag in the other. "What can I do for you?" I asked politely. "Do you sell horse manure?" she asked. "No, we don't sell it, but if you want some, you are welcome to pull around back and shovel your own. You can take all you want" I answered. "Well, you see, that's the problem" she said. "I don't want a lot...just this small bag full." She was holding out the Wal-Mart bag. "Well I can take care of that for you. I've got some real old aged stuff right out here, it will be good for your plants" I told her. "No" she said, "That's why there is another problem... I don't want old stuff... I need fresh stuff... the fresher the better! I need those little clumps, I think you call them apples... a whole bag full of them!" I must have looked startled because she went on to explain. "I have four wonderful grandchildren who are spending Christmas with us this year. They have told me that they don't believe in Santa Clause anymore so I am going to take this bag of fresh horse manure and spread it around in the yard.... and they will think the reindeer have really been to our house!!!!!" She was so excited with her plan, her eyes twinkled as she told me about it. I could do nothing but laugh as I strolled down the aisleway looking for a freshly laid pile of manure to pick from. I managed to fill her Wal-Mart bag with some of the best 'roadapples' I had and sent her on her way. The last I saw of her was her car slipping and sliding down the driveway, her little bag sitting beside her. I often wondered if she fooled her grandchildren into thinking the reindeer had visited during the night. There was another time when my son was about 12 or 13 years old. We had this old decrepit artificial Christmas tree that we put up year after year. About two weeks before Christmas, I told Richard that we had to drag that box down from the attic and get things set up. "Please mom, can we have a real tree this year?" he asked. "I don't know honey, they are awful expensive," I replied. "We will see." The next day I was in town and stopped by the Salvation Army tree lot to see just how much trees were selling for. OMG... the cheapest one I could find was this little puny thing and they wanted $30 for it!!! I walked away with a tear in my eye.... how could I afford $30 for a little bit of a tree just to be thrown out in two weeks? The next day my son asked me again about a real tree. I just said we would wait and see. About a week before Christmas, I had just about made up my mind that I would have to take money out of my bill budget and go out and buy a real tree this year. I missed a real tree and Richard wanted one so bad. These are memories we are creating, I told myself, it is worth the money. About that time, Richard came busting in the door. "Mom... Mom... I found us a tree" he yelled out. I walked outside and there was the most beautiful Christmas tree I had ever seen. It was perfect. The limbs were full and symmetrical, no bare spots, no shagginess. It was bright and green and had a heavenly pine smell to it. "Where in the world did you find this tree?" I asked him. "I was out in the woods over by the old trestle and there were a couple of these trees growing there. I picked out this one because it was the smallest" he replied. I was skeptical, but there were some pines scattered throughout the woods that surrounded us, but I had never seen any this nice. I went up in the attic and pulled out the tree stand and we brought the tree in the house. It fit perfectly in the corner, like it was special made for our little house. We spent the evening decorating it with lights and ornaments. I had a bag of cranberries and we strung them along with cinnamon sticks and draped them around the windows behind the tree. All month long, Richard's classroom had been making Christmas pictures for the kids to bring home and we hung them on the walls surrounding the tree. By the time we got done, our living room had a wondrous glow to it. The next morning I was heading out to work. They were in the process of building a new subdivision right above us and my drive took me out the new entranceway they had just put in a few months back. As I slowed to stop at the stop sign, I noticed something that made my mouth drop open in shock. At the entrance they had planted about a dozen real nice pine trees on either side of the road. They were about 5 feet tall, just like the one Richard brought home, and they were all blue spruce, just like the one Richard brought home, and there... smack in the middle was a stump... a missing tree.... !!!!!! Needles to say, when I got home from work, the first thing I did was question Richard. He finally admitted that he had snuck up there and cut one of the trees. His reasoning was that they wouldn't miss it!!! "How can they NOT miss it?" I asked. Of course I lectured him on stealing and told him that he would have to buy a replacement tree and plant it in the Spring when we could dig a hole. We went ahead and enjoyed our little stolen Christmas tree that year and Richard saved his money all winter so that he could buy a replacement tree. Spring finally came and we went to the nursery to find a Blue Spruce. The only one Richard could afford was a small 3 foot tall one. He bought it and planted it that weekend. It flourished and grew and to this day, when you pull into this posh new subdivision, you will notice that one tree is a bit shorter then all the rest. It is a reminder of the Christmas we ended up with a real tree for our little house!!! |
| I love the Christmas season and the memories that it brings forth. I sit here alone after Tor leaves for work, the house quiet, the animals all napping. I have Christmas music playing on the radio. All I need is a gentle snow falling outside my window. Christmas was always celebrated in my house with glee. My father and mother would wrap us kids up in our coats, scarves, hats and mittens and we would head on out to find our Christmas tree. There was a place in town that sold them and we would pile out of the car and start looking for that special tree, that tree that would come live in our home for the celebration of Christmas. Snow would be falling and our boots would crunch across the lot as we trampled around. My brother, sister and I would have contest to see how far we could blow our frozen breath out. The proprietor always had a large bon fire burning in the middle of the lot and we would take time out of our search to go warm our bodies. Then back we would go, my father spotting a tree and holding it at arms length turning it around and around. My mother would comment on what bare spots where showing, or how branches weren't right for hanging ornaments on or how it wasn't tall enough or that it was to big to fit in our living room. On to the next tree we would march until that one special tree would reach out to us and present itself for our inspection. My father would turn it and study it. My mother would stand back, her one hand up by her chin and the other on her hip and finally she would say it..... "I think this is the one!!" We would gather OUR tree up and take it over to the lot owner and he would remark on how we had such good taste and how we managed to find the best tree on the lot. My father would pay him and then tie the tree to the top of the car. Once home my father and brother were in charge of getting the tree in its special spot in our living room. My father would trim the trunk and set it in the base. My brother would have a small bucket of water ready. Together they would place the tree in the spot that my mother had all ready. Our living room was small, and this entailed moving furniture around and crowding a few chairs together to make room for the tree. Then they ran fishing line from the tree to two little brads in the wall to keep it from being knocked over. We always had a house full of critters, so this was just a precaution!! My father and brother would string the lights on the tree for us. My mother was always there guiding them, pointing out spots that were in need of a few lights. Then the business of decorating was turned over to us women. We had only been spectators till this point. After all the lights were in place, we hung the ornaments. One by one we would gently take these delicately decorated globes and hang them in just the right spots. They had to hang freely. They could not be resting on or against another branch. They all had their own little bit of air space to shine and reflect the multicolor lights all around them. They were hung deep in the tree and also on the outer edges. Every few minutes my mother would stop and stand back to study the tree to see if there were any empty spaces that needed a globe. Once all the delicate glass ornaments were in place, then we had decorative wooden ones and ones made of plastic. These were cute and my favorites ones. They depicted Santa Clause going down chimneys, snowmen with gleeful smiles, reindeer decked out in red-ribbon harness and snowflakes in many sizes. Then the tinsel would be brought out. I hated putting on the tinsel. If were left up to me, I would have just taken bunches of the stuff and placed it where ever. But my mother loved tinsel. Strand by strand she would patiently pull it out of the package and drape it over the very tips of the branches. Usually after a few minutes, my sister and I would back away and sit down and just watch. Strand by strand, one long piece at a time went onto the tree. I must say that when my mother got done, the tree would be gorgeous. There would be just the right amount of tinsel, enough to sparkle and glitter in the reflection of the lights of the tree. A few candy canes were placed in strategic places and then we would all gather around while my father reached in the box to retrieve the wondrous Angel that would top the tree. She would stand like a sentinel with her golden wings spread out, her gowns draping around her sandaled covered feet and her arms reaching out to encompass our lovely home. Our Angel was about 14 inches high and was surrounded by golden lights. Once placed on the top of the tree, my mother would turn off all the houses lights, and we stood in awe of our Christmas Tree!!! Christmas music would be playing quietly in the background, and the scent of pine mixed in with the spicy aroma of potpourri filled the house. This was always the most special time of all, the time that I became humble and respectful of this period in history and all that it represented. Then the lights would come back on, and we would clean up our mess packing away the boxes to be used when we took our tree down after the holidays. Our tree usually went up a week before Christmas and came down the day after New Years. Presents would quietly make their way under our tree and every day I would pick them up and see who they were for, rattling and shaking, trying to figure out what was in them. My presents for my brother, sister, mom and dad would be there as would be theirs for me. It was such a joyous affair with the house always filled with glee and Christmas Spirit!! We always went to the midnight mass on Christmas Eve. I loved this time. The church carried a special feeling for me then. Instead of being so filled with people that they spilled out the doors onto the stairs outside, it was quiet and reverent. Instead of sunlight streaming through the huge, beautiful stained glass windows that surrounded the church, it was dark and mysterious. It gave me a feeling of modesty, of a humility or meekness that I never felt before. I felt like I was invited to a special viewing, a special celebration of the birth of Christ and was privileged to be there. After church, we would make our way home and get ready for bed. Although there were presents under the tree for us, we knew that Santa, in his own celebration of the birth of Christ, would leave us presents also. I always told my mom that I was not going to sleep that night, that I would lay awake and wait for Santa. We had put out some cookies and milk for him, and a few carrots for his reindeer. I was bound and determined to get a peek at this robust guy when he came with his gifts. Of course, that never happened, although my mom said that on several occasions they had to wait half the night for me to finally fall asleep so they could put the rest of the presents under the tree. She said that one time she woke with a start, the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, when she remembered that they hadn't fixed the cookies and milk to make it look like Santa had eaten them. She quietly tiptoed into the living room and did the dirty deed. Once back in bed, it wasn't but 10 minutes later that I woke up and started the day!!! I was the youngest of the kids, my sister being 7 years older and my brother 10 years older than me. I would wake up bright and early and stumble out into the living room, my eyes wide with excitement. I would check to make sure that Santa had eaten his cookies and drank his milk and that the carrots were gone. Then I would run into my mom and dads bedroom and jump on them yelling at them to wake up.... "SANTA'S COME". Of course they would make a few remarks of how the dog had barked in the middle of the night and how my dad almost got the shotgun out because he though he heard someone climbing down the chimney. But I didn't hear it, I was off and running to wake up my sister and brother. Being older than me, and knowing about Santa, they weren't near as enthused as I was about getting up at the break of dawn to see what Santa had brought. But after a few threats from my mom, they would finally come straggling out of their bedrooms. Presents were passed out and wrapping paper gathered in piles all over the living room floor. Ohhs and Ahhs were heard all morning as we torn into our gifts. Even the dog had a few plastic squeaky toys wrapped up that he enjoyed opening up. After we all settled down with our gifts, my dad would say a prayer reminding us why we celebrate this day. My mother would head into the kitchen to start the oven to baking and the food to cooking. It was truly a beautiful time of year for us, one that will remain in my memory for as long as I live. I look back now, and wonder how my parents always managed to pull it off. There were times when money was really tight... although as kids, we didn't realize this. My father worked for Great Lakes Steel and one time he was laid off for 16 months. He managed to work odd jobs the whole time, but it must have been really hard for them. But my father was of the old school, and hard work never stopped him from obtaining his goals, to provide for his family and to make the celebration of Christmas special for all of us. |
| Today is a beautiful day. I have always loved the day before Thanksgiving. I am standing at the stove sautéing the mixture of onion, celery, apple and sausage for my cornbread dressing. The rays of sun are streaming through the window, stroking the sink and dancing on the kitchen floor. The cats are stretched lazily across sofas, chairs and floors. Mollie is doing her duty of chief floor cleaner. As I drop bits and pieces of holiday feast, she is right there to pick it up. The bird is singing and chirping in the holiday spirit. The smell of Thanksgiving is starting to permeate the house. It will hang around for the next few days before finally fading away until Christmas when it will visit once again. I love cooking for the holidays. I have the fruit salad put together and tucked away in the fridge. The buns are ready to go in the oven tomorrow and the dressing ... well the dressing is getting dressed right as we speak. I can hear it sizzling.... hang on a moment while I go give it a stir. The cornbread is browning nicely. All I have to do is put it all together, find it a home in the fridge and then I will start on the pies. My only problem will be keeping Tor out of the food tonight when he gets home. He will want to get a early start on these Thanksgiving preparations, and I will have to keep my baseball bat handy. Oh, by the way, I am ignoring Tor's remarks in his blog yesterday. When I entered into this marriage, I held the Christmas Spirit in high esteem. I loved Christmas. I loved playing Christmas music, I loved decorating the house both inside and out, I loved hanging Christmas cards on the wall, I loved making Christmas candy and cookies. But I was kind enough to let go of my Christmas Spirit. Tor HATED Christmas.... not Christmas itself, but the days leading up to Christmas. And I told him I understood... I mean he has to stand there with a dancing Santa and a singing Snowman by his side all day long. He sings Jingle Bells in his sleep, he can name all the reindeer, he unconsciously hums "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth , and he can growl "Merry Christmas" with the best of them. I mean the man is going bonkers!!! So I quietly passed through the days with quiet esteem. No Christmas lights, No Christmas music, No Christmas tree. I got use to it after four years. It was kind of nice not to have to worry about having to decorate... maybe I just became lazy. We enjoyed a hearty meal on Christmas day and said our prayers thanking God for allowing his one and only son to join us here on Earth on this day. I mean, I know Tor works his butt off, especially during the holiday season. The people are relentless and most of them carry a grudge of some sort and Tor hears and sees it all. To have to stand there eight hours a day, wishing every man, woman and child... and what ever else that crawls through the doors of Wal-Mart, a Merry Christmas... and getting a growl,a frown and even a few cuss words back in return.... is not fun. So, me being the dutiful little (well maybe not so little) wife that I am, I am honor bound to make my husband a happy camper when he comes home to the safety of his loving wife. Well, now he has changed the rules. He comes home and the first thing he bellows is "Where's the Christmas music? Where's the lights? Where's the Christmas cheer? Where the hell is the Christmas spirit in this house?" <sigh> I just ignore him. I know what he is doing. I know this man inside and out. He is just trying to get me all flustered and in a tizzy.... AND I DON'T FLUSTER AND TIZZY EASY! He should know me by now... and this just proves to me that he has not paid attention to me these past four years. He is in DEEP DOODOO now. He does not know me at all. hehehe (I love it when no matter what he does, he always ends up the one in trouble) (Us wimmins know how to flip things around so well, I mean we flip mattresses all the time so why not husbands?) Anyways..... like I was saying.... I am just ignoring this recent outburst of flagrant flappage from frugal flingage of Christmas spirit!!!! And it is driving his crazy. You see, he thought he would gain the upper hand this holiday season. He thought he would prevail, be dominate, wear the breeches this year. 'HA... YEAH RIGHT' Ladies.... if your man tries this at home.... use the ignore button.... it works so well!!!!!! Anyways, back to the day before Thanksgiving..... all is coming around well. I have finished with the dressing and it has found a spot in the fridge to hide. Now I will start on the pumpkins pies. I have found a new recipe for a sweet potato casserole that sounds scrumptious that I may try this year. You cook the potatoes, mix them up with some brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, heavy cream and butter. They are put in a baking dish and topped with a oatmeal streusel and baked. Then at the last moment, you toss a few marshmallows on top and let them melt..........yummmmmy!!!! Ok, I am heading back into the kitchen to do my pies. You all have a wonderful Thanksgiving... at least those of you on this side of the pond. All you others have a good day tomorrow, and I wish you could all come on over for dinner!!!!! One last thing... I love Christmas music, especially all the traditional songs that have been around for ages. But sometimes a cute little jingle will come across the radio that makes me smile and chuckle. This is one of them. Joe Diffie first did it back in 1995, and every Christmas season I wait for it. ******************* Well, you've all heard about Rudolph and his nose, But I'll tell you a Christmas tale that never has been told. Well, you may think you've heard it all but you ain't heard yet. About that crazy Christmas that the North pole can't forget. Rudolph was under the weather, he had to call in sick. So he got on the horn to his cousin Leroy, who lived out in the sticks. He said: "Santa's really counting on me and I hate to pass the buck." Leroy said "Hey I'm on my way," and he jumped in his pick-up truck. When Leroy got to the North Pole all the reindeer snickered and laughed. They'd never seen a deer in overalls and a John Deere Tractor hat. But Santa stepped in and said: "Just calm down cause we've all got a job to do. "And like it or not, Leroy's in charge, and he's gonna be leading you." And it was Leroy, the red neck reindeer, Hooked to the front of the sleigh. Delivering toys to all the good ole boys and girls along the way. He's just a down home party animal, two-stepping across the sky. He mixed jingle bells with a rebel yell, and made history that night. Before that night was over, Leroy had changed their tune. He had them scootin' a hoof on every single roof, by the light of a neon moon. Santa wrapped his bag with a Dixie flag, he was having the time of his life. And you can hear him call Merry Christmas y'all, and to all of y'all a good night. And it was Leroy, the red neck reindeer, Hooked to the front of the sleigh. Delivering toys to all the good ole boys and girls along the way. He's just a down home party animal, two-stepping across the sky. He mixed jingle bells with a rebel yell, and made history that night. He mixed jingle bells with a rebel yell, and made history that night. ******************** I don't know if this link will work, but it is the actual song being sung by Joe Diffie. I am going to post it, if it doesn't work... sorry! It is a wave file, so for those of you that have dial up... it may take a while to load. http://www.rienzihills.com/ChristmasSing/wav/Leroy%20the%20Redneck%20Reindeer-Jo... If that doesn't work, go here and try it. http://www.rienzihills.com/ChristmasSing/leroytheredneckreindeer.htm But I have to tell you that this song has caused a controversy around these parts of the country. A mom here made national news because she said that the song was racist. The children were going to sing this song in the Christmas play at school and she threw a fit. They ended up not having the play at all because of all the trouble over this one song. The mom said that because "Santa wrapped his bag in a Dixie flag and was having the time of his life" showed that he didn't like blacks!!!!!!! Oh, and Santa also yelled the "rebel" yell..... that also showed he was racist!!!! Can you believe it????????????????????? Oh well.......... Y'ALL HAVE A HAPPY DAY TOMORROW, YA HEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| I was getting dressed the other morning and for some odd reason, the fact that I usually follow a daily routine became apparent to me. I had never thought about it before, but as I keep track of my day to day activities, I do see that there is a routine that guides my way. It starts with my alarm going off at 5am. I reach over and turn it off and push Mollie out of bed. She hates to get out of her warm spot on a cool morning. Hell, so do I. I throw on my robe and trudge into the bathroom to take care of the full bladder. From there I trip over four hungry cats as I make my way to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, I start the coffee brewing, let Mollie out and throw some dry cat food in the dish so I can quiet the chorus of meows serenading my morning fogginess. From the kitchen I make my way into the living room and turn on lights. I stumble through Mollies doggie toys that she keeps scattered around the floor and to the computer desk. The computer gets turned on and while it is whirling and whizzing to life, I turn on the morning news to see if the world is still in existence. By this time, Mollie has taken care of her bladder and is scratching at the door. I head back into the kitchen and put some kibble in Mollie's bowl. I open the door and she rushes pass me to scarf down her breakfast. I retrace my steps back to the computer and open up WDC to see what has taken place while we slept. I see that our friends on the other side of the pond have posted blogs and I read them quickly. I also check out I-Town, our local message board to see what is going on. By now it is 5:30 and it is time to wake up sleeping beauty!! I walk into the bedroom and softly sit down on the edge of the bed. I lean over and gently shake Tor as I say, "good morning sunshine." He groggily answers 'good morning sweetie' and tries to open his eyes. It usually takes him several attempts to get his eyes fully open. I then warn him that I am turning on the light, and his eyes shut once again. I leave him on his own to fight the reopening of his eyes, and head back into the living room to watch the news while he stumbles around getting dressed and finishing the waking up process. He reads WDC and comments to those who have posted a blog, then its time for him to head on out the door. The rest of my day is pretty mundane. Usually I clean house, do laundry, walk Mollie and check WDC for more blogs. I also work on Tor's stories and do a lot of researching on publishing. I have found a few forums that focus on self publishing, giving the pros and cons, what experiences they have, and the problems they have run into. They also talk about the different companies out there and what you get for your money. It is interesting, but confusing as well. Then Tor comes home and I start dinner while he writes his blog and checks out other blogs and comments to them. Then we spend the rest of the evening quietly watching TV and enjoying our time together. But other than a daily routine..... I have discovered that we also have personal mini-routines. Take for instance getting dressed. In what manner do you get dressed? Is it the same every morning? Are we really creatures of habit? I started paying attention to this and I do have a lot of personal routines that I follow on a daily basis. When getting dressed I put on underpants first, then socks (left one first), then bra, then jeans then blouse. I have purposely changed this routine, and even though I end up fully dressed every time, it just feels weird! Early mornings in the bathroom also find me stuck in a rut. After washing my face and putting on moisturizer, I apply foundation and mascara. Then I brush my teeth. Finally I am ready for lipstick. How do we fall into such habits? I have made it a point to brush my teeth before washing my face, but after a few days, I find myself right back into my old ways, apply my makeup first, then the teeth. I have watched myself over the last few weeks, and I have found out that I have many, many mini-routines in doing my normal day to day routine. Showering finds me doing the same thing all the time. I shower first, then shave... then do a final second rinse off!!! Cooking: I always fill the sink up with hot soapy water first thing. Then I grab all the ingredients that I need for whatever it is I am cooking. As I use an ingredient, I put it away. As I dirty up a spoon or bowl I wash it and put it in the drainer to dry. By the time dinner is ready, my kitchen is clean. The only thing left to wash are our plates and silverware. There are many more of these little hidden routines that I am coming across. I was never aware of them, but they have managed to take over my life. Maybe routines are a good thing. They keep us on track, give our brains a rest so that more important decisions can be made, like what to write our blog about today!! I may just have a backwards day tomorrow and see how it turns out. Tor may come home from work and find me sitting in the middle of the floor rocking back and forth talking baby talk, if I fall out of my niche with routines. I may not be able to cope!!!!!! hehehe I don't know what got me started on routines. I guess that I am just bored. Tor had been kind enough to share this flu bug with me. Although I haven't gotten the full blown flu like he did, it has me suffering from sinus upset real bad!!! My head is killing me, my sinuses are running a mile a minute and I feel like I could sleep forever. I told him he didn't have to share everything with me, but he insisted!! He is such the sweetheart!!! I do feel guilty since I can go back to bed after leaves for work. He has been terribly sick.... I mean down bad with this crap, but he trudges off to work every morning. He looks like shit when he gets home. I do wish he could just turn over and go back to sleep in the mornings and not have to go in. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving week. What is everyone doing? Unfortunately.... or maybe that should be fortunately.... Tor and I will be home alone, a quiet day all to ourselves. I am cooking a turkey breast, since neither he nor I like the dark meat. Of course I am cooking all the goodies that go along with the turkey. Candied sweet potatoes, fruit salad, homemade dressing , greenbean casserole, mashed potatoes and rich giblet gravy, hot rolls, pumpkin pie with whipped topping and maybe a banana pudding (Tor's favorite dessert). Wal-Mart has been kind to Tor this year and they have given him the day off. But there is a catch... there is always a catch when Wal-Mart does something nice like this.... he has to work Friday, his normal day off, and he has got to be at work at 5am... so that means he will leave the house at 4:30... so will have to be up by 3:45. The Friday after Thanksgiving is BLITZ day... the day they offer special items at a huge savings. They start the blitz at 5am, and it will be a madhouse all day long. I sure hope he is feeling better by then!!!! |
| The other day, plannerdan mentioned a 'close encounter' in his blog. It reminded me of an incident that happened to me about 24 years ago that I will never forget. A very good friend of mine ran a riding/training stable about 4 miles down the road from me. I would run over there in the evenings and help her give riding lessons. We usually put the horses to bed and closed the barn doors around midnight. My son was about 2 years old, and I would drop him off at the house for her teenage daughter to watch while I was with the horses. She would play with him and then put him to bed. I would walk up to the house after all the work was done and we would sit there and talk for another hour before I scooped up Richard and carried him, draped across my shoulder sound asleep, out to the car. The drive home was quiet and peaceful, traveling down dirt roads through the country side passing ghostly silos and barns silhouetted against the night sky. One night, we had a few mares to get bred before closing up the barn. It was well after 1am when we finally made the 50 yard walk back to the house. We sat for a few minutes before I retrieved my son and headed back across the yard to the barn where my car was parked. The stars were brilliant in the dark sky. The night was exceptionally quiet and the wind was calm. As I turned the corner of the barn towards my car, I couldn't help but to notice this LARGE white light hanging in the western sky over the far off woods. My first thoughts were that it was an plane with its landing lights on. I stood for a moment and looked at this curious light that wasn't moving. The light seem to radiat a iridescenct or a luminescenct brightness that made me a bit uncomfortable. I stood there at the corner of the barn with my son sound asleep in my arms for 5 minutes or more just watching this light. I was actually afraid to step out from the shadow of the barn into the open driveway. I looked back across the large expanse of yard that seperated the barn from the house and wasn't looking forward to crossing that area either. I just stood, transfixed, staring at this light that still hadn't moved. I listened..... there was no noise. I tried to see if the light was moving towards me, as that might make it look as if it was standing still.... but based on reference points I had picked out.... it was not moving at all. I was frozen. I could not move. If I had not had my son in my arms, I would not have been scared. In fact, I would have been intrigued by this light. But I had my son with me. Whatever decision I made would affect him also. As I stood trying to figure out what my next move would be, the light went out. POOF.... out!!! In its place were a series of flashing lights. They seem to be circling around the perimeter of an object. Then the object slowly moved off in a southernly direction. Ok, I have to go north... this is it... this is the moment I can make a break for it. I ran to my car, threw open the door, put my son in his car seat, jumped in the drivers seat and headed home. Whew...... I don't know what it was that I saw, but I am safely headed home now!!!! Now let me back up a bit here. I had NEVER-EVER had trouble with my car. It was a newer model and had given me no problems at all. Ok, back to my travels home. I was about a half mile down the dirt road when I came to a stop sign. As I slowed down to stop, my car lights dimmed (I'm not lying... I thought the same thing.... "Close Encounters"). My dashboard lights dimmed, my headlights dimmed and my engine was trying to stall. Fear gripped me. I have never lost control before, but I did that moment. I was so scared I was even afraid to look up.. I just knew I would see this huge UFO hanging over my car!!! I stared straight ahead and just gunned my car. Gravel flew for several feet as I sped through the stop sign and made my way down the dirt roads at 40 miles an hour. I don't think I hit any holes as I was going to fast, I just skipped over them. The drive to my house took me across open corn fields and I just knew that if something was after me, it would get me there. My foot put more pressure on the accelerator and the spedometer hit 50!! Finally I turned into my driveway. I jumped out, grabbed my son and ran into my house without even one glance up into the starlit sky! I was shaking so bad I couldn't hardly take my jacket off. I pulled all the blinds in the house, and finally crawled into bed for a fitful nights sleep. I was awakened at 7am by my mother who was calling me, telling me to quickly turn on the local news channel. As I sat in bed watching, the news anchor was talking about all the UFO sightings that had come in the night before from the area I live in!!!! To this day, I do not know what it was that I saw. It was probably just a helicopter out searching for someone or something. At least that's what I keep telling myself!!! I never had trouble with my car after that one night... but it did cost me $200 to have all the shocks replaced. My mechanic chastised me and told me I need to slow down on these dirt roads around here!! |
| I know there are some people out there who say that we animal lovers attach human emotions to our pets, emotions that animals are not capable of. But I disagree with that statement. Sure, I do think that we go a bit overboard sometimes... but I have seen animals exhibit emotions that so closely resemble human emotions, that I am a believer that animals grieve and cry for each other. As most of you know, we lost our beloved Rottweiler yesterday. Crockett had been with us for a year when Mollie, a young black lab mix puppy found her way to our doorstep. We took her in and Crockett adopted her as a pesky lil sister right away. And pester she did, poor Crockett would cringe and jump up on the couch to get away from her wild flinging of her rope toy in his face. But he always relented, and would climb down from his fortress and play with her. And play they did. They chased each other through the house, bouncing off furniture and crumpling rugs along the way. They played tug-a-war with their ropes and shared nylon bones and kongs (a big indestructible chew toy). They each had their own ends of the couch that they enjoyed laying on, and each slept on our bed, Mollie next to me and Crockett next to David. The night that Crockett became ill, I stayed up with him. Mollie never left our side. Crockett finally decided that he was most comfortable in our spare bedroom, laying in bed with his nose next to the open window. I lay next to him and Mollie layed on the other side of me with her head resting on my stomach watching Crockett with an intenseness I had not seen in her before. She acted very concerned and worried that something was 'not right'. Her eyes showed a fear and she was trembling. That morning, I took Crockett for his last ride in the car. He died while being examined at the vets office. Mollie has moped around the house ever since. She is not her exhuberant self. She eats, but not with the gusto that she usually has for food. She is our 'food whore'... if it's edible, it will be scarfed down by Mollie. Now she eats like it doesn't really taste good, one little bite at a time. When David is eating dinner, he usually sits at the desk and reads blogs. Mollie lays right by his feet, her head resting on the chair between David's legs... this way she catches any crumbs that might fall her way. Today, she never even bothered to get off the couch while David ate. She was not interested in crumbs, or leftovers. She does not want to go outside, I had to make her go out this morning, and usually she is the first to run to the door, tail wagging body twisting with excitement. Not today. She is pacing the house, walks from one room to another, then stands there and looks so forlorn and sad. Just watching her makes me cry. I put her outside this afternoon, and she ran out to the middle of the yard... a bit of excitement showing in her body.... but then she looked around, hung her head, did her business and came right back in. Like us, she will get over it. She misses her buddy, her playmate, her big brother that she could pester and tease into playing a game of tug with her. We will probably end up getting another dog. I will wait and that right one will come along... either a puppy that I will buy, or like Crockett... that right one will just show up on our door one day. I want to thank everyone for their cNotes, cards and thoughts. They were all very much appreciated. Love you all.... Mel |
| I know I haven't been around lately. When I sit down and open my blog page, there is nothing there. My mind is just as blank as the blog space is. I try to write something, but it is so forced, that is feels artifical and I end up deleting it. But I will post today. The good news is that I went in for my second interview for the WalMart Distribution Center. It seemed to go real well. I had two fellows asking me all kinds of hypothitical questions that I had to answer using my past work experience. There were about 7 questions in all... detailed questions that required detailed answers. I felt real confident, and the men seemed to be receptive to my answers. They told me that their results would be turned over to the reviewing board, and they would call me in for a third interview if they felt I qualified. I will know something, whether good or bad, within 7 to 10 days. I hope this pans out, I really need to get back into the work field soon. I have heard nothing back from the University. Now for the Bad News............ We lost Crockett this morning. Crockett was our beloved Rottweiler, Tor's favorite buddy. He was approximately 4 or 5 years old, and should have had a long and healthy life ahead of him. Crockett showed up on our door stop about 3 years ago, beaten and starved. He had open bleeding gashes across his shoulders, and every rib was showing. If you raised your hand to fast to pet him, he would cower down.... so I knew he had been beaten, badly at one time. He did not know how to play. If you picked up a stick or a ball, he would cower down to his stomach waiting to be hit. It took several months but over time, he came to love us, and knew we would never lay a hand on him. In return, he protected our home with his whole heart. He was a friendly dog to everyone, and would lick you to death... but he would not let anyone in the door, without an invitation from us. Once he knew you were welcome, he became a big baby wanting your hand on him for petting all the time. He also had a high gaurd instint in him. If I hung David's lunch on the door, Crockett would lay there and guard it from the cats with his life. I would hear him laying there next to the door just a growling at the cats. He never would hurt them, in fact Smoke, our big fluffy gray cat would always call Crockett's bluff... and walk right up to him and rub himself in Crocketts face. Crockett would just look at us and roll his eyes!! Last night, Crockett ate about half his dinner. That's wasn't all that unusual. He was not a voracious eater like Mollie was. He would pick at his food, eating it slowly and carefully. Sometimes he would eat half, then walk away and I would put the rest of it up for later. He would eat it before going to bed later that night. But last night, he didn't want it. He turned away from it. Then about 3am, I heard him laying at the foot of our bed coughing and hacking. I got up and took him outside for a bit. The cool fresh air seemed to help. But once back inside, the coughing and hacking got worse. He acted like he has something stuck in his throat. He drank some water and jumped up on the couch with me. We sat there for an hour before he jumped down and went into the spare bedroom and jumped up on the bed. I had the window open a bit, and the cold air was blowing in. I laid down with him, my arm over his shoulder. The coughing stopped, but his breathing was hard and labored. I knew it didn't look good. I had also noticed that there were drops of bloody urine dripping from him. Our vets didn't open until 8am, and I took right up there. By this time, Crockett was so weak, he couldn't walk by himself, and I had to carry him into the examination room. The vet helped me lay him up on the table and started checking him out. He could find no lung sounds in parts of his lungs, and was in the process of pulling blood when Crockett took his last breath. Blood and saliva poured from his mouth as his body went limp. The vet continued examining him and said that he thought Crockett's death was caused by an embolism to the lungs, or multiple embolisms or blot clots that hit the lung area. All the symptoms lead to that diagnosis, but without an autopsy, we wouldn't know for sure. He did say that it was not caused by heartworm or poisoning. I declined an autopsy... it would have cost approximately $200, and for what reason... our beloved Crockett was dead, it was not going to help us at all. I then had to come home and tell David that we had lost his buddy, his partner in crime. We hugged each other and cried. Mollie, our black lab knows... she has been sticking right next to us, trying to crawl up in our laps and she is just shaking. Even though I have lost many members of my pet family over the ages, it never gets easier. Whether they die suddenly and unexpectedly like Crockett, or if I have to have them put down do to old age finally getting them down.... it is hard. Ok, I hope to get back into the blogs today and read and comment to them all. I miss you, my friends... You all take care now, |
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