Don’t send a man to the grocery store….

Carlene sent me this video, I’m sitting here just absolutely cracking up, clutching my sides, laughing, oh this is hysterical….

Things I don’t do anymore…

I was reading a blog today, they were talking about what they don’t do anymore, it inspired me, so here’s my list…

• Use hairspray.  For the first time since I can remember, no spray.  This is a huge deal for me.
• Follow the herd.  John taught me to break away.  I take a different route instead of sitting in traffic, I go to alternate cash registers in stores, I don’t blindly follow what others do, I make my own path,  it’s very freeing.
• Do what is expected of me instead of what I want.  I’m getting old, it’s my time to do what makes me happy.
• Expect things of people.  I’ve learned to be grateful and not expect anything, then when you receive, it’s a gift.
• Take friendships for granted.  I cherish the wonderful women in my life, they are hugely important to me.  It’s a sisterhood, my girlfriends are my family.
• Chew gum, I gave it up, people my age look silly chewing gum, well they do!
• Watch stupid television shows, I rarely watch tv, nothing interests me.  I would much rather read or be on the computer, so that’s what I do.
• Take life too seriously.  I really don’t.  If it isn’t catastrophic, I just go with the flow.  Well, most of the time I do.
• Filter my thoughts, which I was reminded recently by my son that I should do.  It’s not gonna happen, I’m a mouthy old broad, my offspring will just have to roll their eyes and deal with it…
• Have phony friends, I absolutely detest people who are fake.  Best quote ever, “I Yam what I Yam, says Popeye the Sailor Man.”  That’s my mantra, I live by it, and my friends do too!!!

Things I still do, but want to change...

• Stop being a slave to my Blackberry.  I don’t have to check email or messages every time those silly little tunes alert me that I have updates.
• Let my hair go gray.  Oh, I shudder at even typing the words.  I really would like to, but I just can’t.  I have a buddy with beautifully graying hair, I just know mine would be an icky color..
• Procrastinate.  It’s in my genes, I’m afraid there is no hope of ever being organized.  I just don’t have an organized mind, and I’m not going to get one at this age.
• Analyze every bite that goes into my mouth, Weight Watchers Points are forever imbedded in my brain when I look at food.
• Stay away from the jewelry counters.  I’ve got enough silver jewelry now to sell for scrap metal, why do I feel the need to buy more.  Okay, so I really don’t want to stay away from the jewelry counter, but I should, seriously! Oh, btw, I got this pair of awesome earrings last week… *evil grin*
• I’m a compulsive hair twirler, I have always done it, except when my hair was short and there was nothing to twirl,  but now that my hair has grown out, I’m back to twirling.  Short of shaving my head, I don’t know how to stop.  I mostly do it when I read.  Go figure…
• Open mouth, insert foot.  ‘nuf said…

And that’s the way it is, Saturday, August 29, 2007….

All About Steve

I really enjoyed Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, her new movie, All About Steve, comes out September 4th.  Looks a little cheesy, but I’ll check it out anyway…

A card table playhouse, how cute is this….

Anything to do with a little girl is naturally going to get my attention. 

I was reading Amy’s blog this morning, she featured this felt playhouse, for sale at Etsy.  Is this the cutest thing, ever?  

Oh my goodness….

It’s Dilly’s birthday!!!!

 

 

This is Lindsay’s last birthday before baby… 

Next year she will have an almost one year old to share her cake with…

 Happy Birthday, sweet daughter-in-law, enjoy your day!!!

~XOXOXO~

Such a simple thing that triggered a long forgotten memory…

It was another picture perfect day in Heavensville and hubby and I had an impromptu picnic in the park.  This is the view from where I sat, captured with my Blackberry…  It was shady and warm, a soft breeze was blowing, there were ducks nearby, and I was enjoying the moment, when a kerthunk startled me.  I looked down at the ground and a squirrel on a limb overhead had shook a branch and a black walnut fell by my foot.

I had a total flashback to being a little girl again, a time when we regularly ate from the land as a means of survival.  Mother and I would gather black walnuts, pecans, walnuts and hickory nuts in the early fall.  She would sit in the living room in the evenings, listening to the Crosley Radio, and using a nut cracker, with her head bent, she would shell the nuts and dig the goodies out with a pick.  A quart Ball fruit jar would be sitting nearby, and she would plunk the nutmeats  into the jar to save for winter baking.

The black walnuts were the messiest, the hulls would stain your skin, and if you’ve never eaten them, it’s definitely a love/hate kind of food. 

I happen to be a fan, Mother’s  black walnut divinity was just the most wonderful thing…  It’s a strong flavor, really distinct, some people don’t care for, but I’ve always loved the taste.

Of all the nuts we gathered, by far, the hardest to shell, the smallest nut of all, and naturally the one that yielded the best flavor was the hickory nut.  Oh my, they were so hard to crack, and it was impossible to get the nut out in one piece, but like most things in life, whatever requires the most work yields the best rewards.

She would always save the hickory nuts until Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She made the most wonderful hickory nut cake, and hickory nut fudge, neither of which recipe I have, unfortunately.  I did find this recipe for hickory nut cake online, it’s a butter cake, that seems to be similar to hers, with it’s brown sugar frosting and hickory nut garnish.

Pecans were the easiest to gather and pluck from the shell.  We would go in the country to an area where there were pecan trees.  The farmer that owned the land would bump the trees with a tractor, so that the nuts would fall to the ground,  and then would usher you thru a gate to pick the pecans off the ground.  On the way out, your filled containers would be weighed and you were charged for the nuts.  Of course I don’t remember how much it cost, but I’m sure it wasn’t very much money.  It was always something we looked forward to every year, gathering pecans, and we would usually have a car full of women and kids off to the woods on a cool fall day.

What fond memories that squirrel triggered for me today.  I hadn’t thought of  this for years. Now if I could just get my hands on some hickory nuts to make that cake for Thanksgiving…

What is it about fall???

Hooterville sent me this picture a few days ago.  It’s from our fall picnic last year.  We’re all eager for a repeat, soon.

There is just something about sweatshirt weather, the smell of a crackling fire, burnt weiners and marshmallows that makes me long for fall.

I’m a huge fan of burnt marshmallows, I can forgo the chocolate and graham crackers after just a few bites, but I can eat those toasted marshmallows all afternoon.  I never have the patience to toast them golden brown, instead I catch them on fire, blow out the blaze, and suck down those carcinogens like they’re good for me…

It’s more like late September than late August this week in Heavensville.  It really gets me in the mood… 

But it won’t be long , we’ll load up the Smokey Joe, grab the dawgs and burger, and head out for a day in the woods…

I’m ready now!  Why do we have to wait for fall…