Goodbye, Summer

School starts Monday. I have mixed emotions about that. And mixed involvement. The girl is going to be homeschooled again. The boy is starting high school. For a number of different reasons, we have decided to send him to school this year. I have a number of different emotions about that, but most of them are positive. I hope this will be a good year for all of us.

We didn't do any vacationing this summer, so we headed out to the beach Tuesday.

I'm not much of a beach person, but we have to make our annual pilgrimage. We went to Surfside again this year.

Our beaches are not pristine. Too much run off from the mighty, muddy Mississippi. But they are our beaches and we love them.

We have plenty of wildlife to enjoy. We have a healthy population of brown pelicans.

We also saw Ridley sea turtles, dolphins, sea gulls, sandpipers, hermit crabs, and a lot of little fish. Don't know what they were.


Sandcastles were made. Holes were dug. And there was sand on everything. Like I said, I'm not much of a beach person.

But it gave my baby girl a chance to fish with her daddy. Something I always loved.

And it gave my boy and me a chance to walk along the beach together. We looked for shells. He showed off for me. We talked. Just a little. He's not much into serious conversations right now. I will brave all the sun and sand for the chance to let us just hang out a little before he takes on this great adventure called high school. Life will be next. I know I will blink and he will be grown.

We came home with a sunburn, a slight case of heat exhaustion, and a lot of sand to clean up. Oh, and the memory of my enormous baby boy showing off in the waves trying to make his mommy laugh. Why does that make me cry?

Check This Out

Everyone on my block is moving lately. Don't know what the deal is, but they are.

The across the street lady just moved to Florida. She said she had always wanted to live on the beach, wasn't getting any younger, and decided it was time to get it out of her system. She's a widow with a very spoiled Golden Retriever.

As evidence of that I show you the case of dog food that she gave us. Not sure why she didn't take it with her, but the offered it to us and we took it. Our dogs are eating high on the hog for awhile. Check this out:
In case you can't read that, it says duck and sweet potato.

On the side of the case is this:

Nice to know that if I get stumped for dinner I can just crack open a can of this and we are good to go.

What?

I'm one of the last of the red hot bargain hunters. Seriously, I'm legendary. 9.99 is my favorite number. As such, I scout out different sites around the web of the wide world looking for great deals.

I regularly stop by the Today's Deal at Amazon. (Incidently, the deals are seldom great enough, but I have to check!) Friday's deal, which was apparently a good one because it sold out so quickly, had this description:

Panasonic ES8228S Linear Vortex Nano Arc Foil Shaving System

Seriously? What is a linear vortex nano arc? And what separates a shaving system from a razor? I'm clearly living in the dark ages of hair removal.

The Time of Reading

I like to read. OK, I love to read. But I don't do it all the time. I am an episodic reader. I go through these spurts when I read a lot of books. Then I won't read anything but magazines and blogs for the longest time and then, back to reading books. I can't explain it. It's just a pattern I've noticed.

Right now I'm in one of my Times of Reading. I have read 3 books since the new year turned and am on my 4th. Of course, that means my knitting is suffering, but I'm really enjoying it. Here's what I've read so far.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

I loved this book. It was written from the perspective a 14-year-old Will Tweedy. That's what everyone called him, too. Will Tweedy. Even his grandpa called him Will Tweedy. It's set in rural Georgia around the turn of the century. The dialogue is all written in the vernacular of the area which really messed with my head, but was endearing just the same. Being the good Southern girl that I am, I enjoyed peeking in the windows of people who very easily could have been members of my family just a couple of generations ago. I highly recommend this book.


Back home Again by Melody Carlson

This is the first book in a series called Tales From Grace Chapel Inn. It's a sweet book and a quick read. It's about 3 sisters who have grown up very differently who are drawn back together by the death of their father and their subsequent inheritance of his aging Victorian home. I enjoyed it because it touched on dreams of my own.


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and AnnieBarrows

Again, I loved this book. It's historical fiction. I love historical fiction. It is set in the days after World War II. It's a novel, but it's written as letters between all the characters of the book. And what characters they are. They are the heart of this book and what make it so hard to put down. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

What I'm reading now, you can't read for another week. I'm special. I won an advanced copy of Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini. (Thanks, Susan!!) Look, it's so cool.


I don't know if you can see across the top of the cover, but it reads "Uncorrected Proof for Limited Distribution." How cool is that?

I've only just cracked the cover, but I'm already enjoying it. There are a lot of food references in it, so you know I'm going to enjoy that.

I'm looking for other good books to read before this passes. Any recommendations?

I prefer hurricanes.

So, we are bracing ourselves for more wild weather here in SE Texas. Our lovely sub-tropical climate will be host to temperatures in the teens over the next couple of days. Brrr.

It is not quite the new year at my house as my dining room table is still filled with red bows, so I will leave the blogging to some others. Here are some links to entertain you until I get back at it.

God Must Be Laughing - thoughts on our lovely weather

Four Warm, Cozy Soups - because this weather calls for soup and the Pioneer Woman never disappoints

Your Daily Dose of Cute - OK, this was from back in November, but cute is cute.

Christmas Miracle - because who can't use a good miracle now and then.

What a Fun Weekend

Not only did we get snow, but I finished the last of the 29 properties I had to decorate this year!

Most were pretty ribbons and bows.


We did a few wreaths, but only a couple of new ones.

And not only did we get snow and I finished all the properties, but I got to meet me a gen-u-ine celebrity. I had to sit in the frozen food section of a grocery store for 3 hours to do it, but here we are.


Do you recognize her? I'm the one on the left who looks half asleep. I have no excuse other than I was probably half asleep. The lovely, photogenic one on the right is none other than The Pioneer Woman herself, Ree Drummond. She was in town to sign her cookbook.

This woman is a complete pro. As gracious as the day is long. Smiles and thanks for everyone. Really seemed very genuine and sincere.

Sitting in the frozen food section of Georgia's Market for 3 hours netted me 2 new bloggy friends and a freshly knitted scarf.

Here are the friends. This is Jenna from Newlyweds.

She was there with her mom taking a break from her twins boys (: O) to meet Ree. She was just as sweet as she can be and cute as a bug. She helped the time go quickly.

As did Denise.

She is from Kopecki Korner. She is a very newly wed, just this summer, and a laugh riot. Her husband works for Blue Bell, so I'm pretty much going to make sure we are friends for life.

It was fun. It was almost relaxing. And I have a little piece of bloggy history on my kitchen shelf.

Even though it's 70+ degrees outside...

...I have been snowed under. The last couple of weeks have been beyond crazy. I'll try to get back to it in a day or so. And though I can never be completely Wordless, I will leave you with this Wednesday pic. Because a Barbie Musketeer should brighten everyone's day.

Remembering

Today, with many others, I am remembering.

I remember feeling vulnerable in a way that I had never felt. Like a collective vulnerability. I am also thinking of those who feel that way every day.

I am remembering those who lost loved ones that day and continue to feel that loss every day.

I live near downtown and for a long time I could actually visualize planes crashing into our buildings every time I looked a them. But time has softened that fear. Too much, I think.

I’m glad for the opportunity to feel that way again. It makes the peace that occupies most of my days that much sweeter.

I am also remembering that then as now, God is in control. He is on His throne and He is here with me.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Psalm 46:1-3

Hummers

Do you have them? We do...in spades. And what fun they are to watch!

We have one feeder in the front and one in the back. Each feeder is "owned" by a very territorial little dude who sits in a nearby tree and waits for someone to try to drink from his fountain. If anyone dares, he swoops in and shoos them away.

Here is the front porch resident.

Can you see his tiny self there? He sits in that pecan tree when he's not feeding and waits.

I copied a few of these hummingbird facts from World of Hummingbirds. This is only a sampling of my favorites. There are many more. Go read them all.

• Hummingbirds can see ultraviolet light.


• Hummingbirds have no sense of smell.


• A hummingbird will use its tongue to lap up nectar from flowers and feeders.


• A hummingbird's tongue is grooved like the shape of a "W".


• Hummingbirds have tiny hairs on the tip of the tongue to help lap up nectar.


• Hummingbirds do not drink though their beaks like a straw. They lap up nectar with their tongues.


• Hummingbirds have very weak feet and can barely walk. They prefer to fly.


• Hummingbirds like to perch.


• A hummingbird can weigh anywhere between 2 and 20 grams.


• A penny weighs 2.5 grams


• A hummingbird baby is about the size of a penny.


• Females will lay a clutch of two eggs.


• Hummingbirds can live for more than 10 years.


• Male hummingbirds are very aggressive and will chase another male hummingbird out of its territory.


• A hummingbird wings will beat about 70 times per second.


• Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly both forward and backwards.


• Hummingbirds can also hover in mid-air, fly sideways and even upside-down.


• A hummingbird's wings will rotate in a full circle.


• Hummingbirds need to eat on average 7 times per hour for about 30-60 seconds.


• A hummingbird will visit an average of 1,000 flowers per day for nectar.


• Hummingbirds eat small soft bugs for protein.


• Hummingbirds pollinate flowers by rubbing their forehead and face in each flower as they get the nectar.


• Many plants depend on hummingbirds for pollination.

Cool, huh? Tell me your hummingbird stories.

I Read a Book!

Sadly, it doesn't happen as often as it should.

Thanks go to sweet Lacy over at Razor Family Farms who had a giveaway that I won!! The prize was this delightful little book.

I thought it was going to be a novel, but it was actually a collection of memories of growing up in the Depression. It blessed my simple-living heart. I'm sure I romanticized it in my brain that so longs for life in the country, but I was continually touched by the simple, hard-working, family-oriented life she led.

One anecdote that I just loved was one she told of when she was grown and all citified. Her two year old son swallowed a bobby pin. As the doctors mulled over the possibility of surgery to remove the pin that was slowly losing its plastic tips, the only things preventing the child's insides from being shredded, Mildred called her elderly aunt. I won't share what happened, but you can bet her aunt's idea was a lot less invasive and equally effective.

It was also a great book for me to read during this particularly busy time as I could read a chapter, put it down, and not be lost whenever I got the chance to pick it up again. Each chapter focused on a different aspect of their life.

This really is a charming little book that I highly recommend. It was a hard life during a hard time. She could have walked away from it wishing never to look back. Yet she shares her memories with a sweetness and even fondness that proves to me that we have gotten too far away from how it really should be, even if it was hard. Hard can be good.

Happy New Year

I have been in a cloud since before Christmas. I think I am ready for my New Year to start.

I also think my time in the kitchen is done. Well, the church kitchen. To say I am glad it is over is an understatement. While I did enjoy it, there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything both here and there. I did learn a few things though.

• Cooking for 80 people at a time is not really as bad as it sounds. It's not that much different than cooking for just a few. Sometimes it is even easier. However, cleaning up after 80 people is every bit as daunting as it sounds. Even with awesome commercial kitchen equipment, there are still dishes and pots and pans and they still need to be washed.

• I do not want to own a restaurant. I used to think it would be so much fun. I love to cook for people. I love to have people over and visit. How much fun would it be to just do that for a living? Well, it would only be fun if it was all I wanted to do. I think I can cross that off my "wouldn't it be fun" list.

• Bad habits are easy to acquire, especially when you are overworked and overtired. I can't tell you how many sodas I had while I was working there. I can't tell you how many milk jugs that I would have recycled if I had been home that I just threw out because that is just how they do things there. I can't tell you, well, you get the idea. Easy is just so . . . easy.

• I really like being at home. OK, I knew that. But every once in awhile it is nice to be reminded that you are where you are supposed to be. And I am.
  

Hopefully, things should start returning to normal around here soon. Whatever normal is. The biggest "hopefully" is that our house will sell quickly. It officially goes on the market tomorrow. Our neighborhood is not always in step with the rest of the city/world. Prices and sales have continued to remain strong with only the slightest dip. So far.

Bottom line, if God wants us to move He will provide a buyer. If He does, I hope it's soon.

New Year, New Look...

...whether I like it or not.

As much as I love and appreciate The Cutest Blog on the Block, they have apparently ditched my before Christmas design. I liked it. *sniff*

So, I have been playing around with a few different choices and I, quick frankly, am tired of it. What is here won't be here long, but I'm tired of messing with it right now.

*****

I'm sorry I have been so scarce lately. First, there was the whole removing Christmas here and abroad mess. Now, I am filling in for the new cook at the day school who doesn't start until February. It is going to take me awhile to get into a groove, what with adding 6 hours to my schedule every day. I'm not in that groove yet. I'm guessing that about the time I find that groove I will be finished. Such is life.

*****

I am feeling like, what we call around here, a poo-poo face. I think I am just tired. And the boy is being difficult. And Beloved Nephew and his wife are leaving tomorrow. And I'm tired. And my blog template is gone. And I'm tired.

I think I will just go now. Back to your lives, Citizens.

Do you think Jesus would understand?

You know how sometimes your birthday falls in the middle of the week and you celebrate with friends and family the following weekend? Jesus' birthday falls on a Thursday this year. Do you think He would mind terribly if we celebrated on Saturday? It would really help me out a lot.

You gotta love Houston.

They say if you don't like the weather in Houston, stay a few days. I took a look at this forecast and had to share it with you. Today is miserable. Cold and rainy with a possible frost tonight. We will be in the 70's by the weekend. Typical.

Say it wth me now....

....Woo-Hoo!



Now, this is at Kroger. If you have one of their little cards, you get 3 cents off that price. If you have spent over $100 on groceries the month before, you get 10 cents off. That makes it $1.64.

What are you paying for gas now?

Scenes from a Dining Room Table

It's that time again!

You may recall from last year that I do exterior Christmas decorations for a property management company. Yes, I'm the one hanging all those wreaths and ribbons on the wrought iron gates around town. Well, one of them. I only have about 27 properties that I do. But I have started this year's decorations. My dining room table is covered in red velvet bows. BIG red velvet bows. This will occupy most of my time and all available space on the first floor for the next couple of weeks. I really would like to be done by Thanksgiving. Really.

I'll let you know how it is going.

You Can't Take Me Anywhere

Really, It's true. I want to be all chic and gracious and lovely and all that, but on a regular day, it's just not happening.

Take today, for example. My lovely sister has a birthday in October. Her very generous husband always gives her tickets to the Nutcracker Market. But not just any tickets. No, he gets the ones that allow her to get priority admission and enjoy the fashion show and luncheon. But wait! There's more!! He also buys tickets for me, my other sister, and my mother! We have a major girls' day at one of the shopping events of the year. How fun is that? I should have no trouble being chic in such circumstances. Well, let me tell you.

My sister came to get me bright and early. I was all ready to go. We were to meet my other sister and my mother at the Market. I hop in and we hit the road. Just a few blocks from the house she says, "Did I step in poop?" No, of course, she didn't. I did!

I live on a very narrow street. She had parked in the vacant lot across the street when she came to get me. Everyone in the neighborhood who walks their dog walks it over there because they don't have to clean up after them. I know it is a minefield, but I was excited and in a hurry and not paying attention. She turns around and heads back to my house.

I shoot the hose at my foot and purse because OF COURSE I put my foot by my purse and the enormous gooshy mess got on it, too.

OK, my foot is clean, but my pants are wet. I guess I'll just go change.

I am now wearing jeans instead of my nice, brown pants. We're running a little late, but we are rolling again and everything is cool.

We arrive and breeze past the huddled masses waiting for the official opening. We peruse the aisles of glittery gorgeousness. At one booth, while I am waiting for my sister who is buying an engraved ornament, I switch my purse from one hand to the other. I look down in horror and realize that the handle to my purse has dried poop on it. Poop. Dried. On the handle. Yes, the handle that my hand has been holding. Time to go to the bathroom.

I scrub my purse in the sink as best I can with paper towels and soap and water. Then I scrub my hands feverishly.

Can we be done with the poop now!?

The rest of the day was comparatively uneventful and really quite lovely, but I think I am scarred for life.

*sigh*

I bet it was the bulldog.

I don't usually get into this sort of stuff, but....

this just speaks volumes to me.

See what you think.

********

From a CBS news reporter:

Behind the scenes, where the public is not allowed, there are other differences.

Obama's campaign schedule is fuller, more hectic and seemingly improvisational. The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it's all for security reasons.

If so, I would love to have someone from Obama's campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours. Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is broadcast. I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn't be accomodated as in the days of yore. Even if it's true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night.

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

The other day in Albuquerque, N.M., the reporters were given almost no time to file their reports after McCain spoke. It was an important, aggressive speech, lambasting Obama's past associations. When we asked for more time to write up his remarks and prepare our reports, the campaign readily agreed to it. They understood.

Similar requests are often denied or ignored by the Obama campaign aides, apparently terrified that the candidate may have to wait 20 minutes to allow reporters to chronicle what he's just said. It's made all the more maddening when we are rushed to our buses only to sit and wait for 30 minutes or more because nobody seems to know when Obama is actually on the move.

Maybe none of this means much. Maybe a front-running campaign like Obama's that is focused solely on victory doesn't have the time to do the mundane things like print up schedules or attend to the needs of reporters.

But in politics, everything that goes around comes around.

*********

You can read the entire article here. And tell me what you think.

Home Again

We are back. More about our trip later. First, a few observations after being gone from a hurricane ravaged city for 5 days.

Things that have changed:

• My mother finally has power at her house. (So glad not to have to beg her to come over every time we talk on the phone.)

• Most of the schools have reopened.

• The grocery stores have both refrigerated and frozen items stocked again.

Things that have not changed:

• Our library is still closed.
  

• Most of the traffic lights are still flashing.

• The streets are still lined with dead trees and limbs.

We have already retrieved Aunt Sarah from her friend's house. Her building now has power, but the elevators were damaged and are still not operational. They have no hot water. There is also the small matter of water soaked carpet that hasn't been dealt with yet. The common areas of the building are all stripped to the concrete sub-floor.

As a city, we still have a long road ahead of us to get back to normal, but there is evidence that we are getting there. However slowly it seems.

Distracted

In case you live under a rock some place (and that is the only safe place to be right now!) we are expecting a hurricane 'round these here parts. Being about 60 miles inland, we don't have the trouble that people closer to the coast have, but we do need to prepare.

The kids and I have been out in the yard this morning securing some of the things that might become airborne and decide to be uninvited guests in our neighbor's living rooms. Well, they were helping until they found some frogs and toads hiding under some boards.


*sigh* At least, the toads will survive Ike.