Dating 101

If you are in a dating situation here is some advice. After you ask about their relationship with Jesus the next question should be "Are you a Vols fan?" If the answer is no shake their hand, tell them it was nice to meet them and WALK AWAY!!

Funny Quotes

This evening our son just made us laugh so hard! Here is the jest...

Butch: Dad, can you help me with this?
Joe: Yes, but can I get you to do me a favor?
Butch: No, I will not pick your nose or massage your feet!!

Homecoming

This week is an event that I love to see come every year. The Museum of Appalachia is having their Homecoming celebrations this week. With so much going on there I cannot list it all here, but here are a few things you will find:

Cloggers
Singers and musicians
Blacksmiths
Country Crafters
Tatting
Wood workers
Sorghum makers
Homemade soap and lotion makers
Basket weavers
and a whole lot more!

Bubba found someone to play
checkers with a few years ago

Hubby's Reunion

Well, Joe had a gathering of people who graduated from his school in the 90's. It was a big event that was created to be family friendly. I was finally able to see some of the people that he has been telling me about for years. It was an enjoyable evening and I was happy to see some of the people that I already knew, but have not seen in the last couple of years.

Well I thought I would try out the SMS here on blogger. Not sure how much I will use it, but I now have the capability!

Worst Dressed

Personally I enjoy looking at the red carpet pics to see how my opinions and those of whoever these "judges" are that grade them match up. I saw several that I strongly disagreed with and some I completely agreed with. One dress that fell into the latter category was the dress that Victoria Rowell wore. I could see nothing that would make me like this even if it was not Obama. Even a similar dress with Ronald Reagan would still be an 'F' on my grading scale!

Interesting Sideshow

On the PBS tv show, History Detectives, there was an extremely interesting story that I wanted to share. In 1933 at the Chicago World's Fair there was an exhibit called Baby Incubators with living babies. For the two years of the fair the exhibit was used to show the incubators and how they helped the babies survive. It is an extremely interesting show that helps a woman in her quest to learn if she was truely one of the babies on exhibit during this time. Here is a link to watch the episode.

PBS History Detectives Season 7, Episode 4

Holiday

Friday we were blessed by the holiday that Joe had from work and for my Mom who watched our little Otter so we could have some time together. After getting the guys off to school we got the bicycles out. After dusting them off, cleaning the chains and checking the tires we headed off to enjoy the day. We drove to Maryville to ride the greenway out there. Before we left home I looked and estimated the mileage as around 8 miles round trip. We had planned to start in Downtown Maryville, but we ended up starting at the City of Alcoa Municipal Building riding to the Greenbelt Park continuing to Sandy Springs and Pearson Springs Parks. We actually passed Pearson Springs and continued on up to Maryville Intermediate School before turning back. When we finished we came back to eat at my favorite restaurant Puléo's Grille. It was a great day! I told Joe, "Today is brought to you by the letter B and the number 2! Bikes, bottle of water, biking braids, beautiful weather, and my best bud!"

Another Emma

In early 2010 Masterpiece Theatre Classic will be airing the new adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma here in the USA. Here is a press release about the new movie from the BBC site:

Emma is a fresh and witty serial adaptation of Jane Austen's comic masterpiece by award-winning writer Sandy Welch (Jane Eyre, North And South, Our Mutual Friend).

Romola Garai (Atonement, Vanity Fair), plays the "handsome, clever and rich" Emma Woodhouse, a young woman who dominates her small provincial world of Highbury. Misguidedly believing that she is a skilled matchmaker, Emma repeatedly attempts to pair up her friends and acquaintances, often with regrettable consequences.

The cast includes Jonny Lee Miller (Endgame, Melinda And Melinda), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, Cranford), Tamsin Greig (The Diary Of Anne Frank, Green Wing), Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet) and Jodhi May (Einstein And Eddington, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard).

A Bafta-winning writer, Sandy Welch unfolds Austen's compassionate and humorous story of self-deceit and self-discovery in four hour-long episodes, providing a rich insight into one of the author's most complex characters.

Here is a YouTube Video that is somewhat of a trailer. So far it is all I can find.

Back To School

Once again it is time for school. The guys are somewhat happy with returning, but me... I'm ecstatic! Well, that is rather exaggerated, though I do enjoy the one-on-one time with Otter! I was very pleased when Butch came home this week and told me he had made it into advanced math! They gave a test and based off their scores placed the kids in the appropriate math class. I was hoping that he would get in since it will help lead into advanced math in middle school as well. He was very proud, too! It was great to see him so excited and working hard. Bubba is also in advanced math (now that we have his schedule fixed). Band has started for him, too. Once again the clarinet will be heard in our neighborhood! I am just praying that we are all up to the challenges ahead this year.

Rocky Start

Well, I sit here on the balcony looking out at the ocean and enjoying the nice weather here in the shade. I can look over and see the ocean, watch the waves crash, and be thankful that I have not had to drive anywhere today. That is where our vacation troubles have been!

On Saturday we had planned to leave by 9:30ish. Well, nothing was going as planned (should have known that!), but we finally left around 10:30ish. Our first destination was my family reunion in Marion, SC. We get there, all be it at least 30 minutes late. I am thinking at least I will still be able to visit a little after the meal. Nope. People start leaving before I finish my dinner. A redeeming point was when we were able to go to aunt Dora's house to visit with some of her family after the reunion. We leave there and arrive at the beach after 11pm. Then my little girl decided that she did not want to go to sleep until at least 1:30am! Ugghhh!

Next morning we finally get up and moving by 10am. We head down to the van so we can get breakfast only to find a flat tire. UUGGGHHHH! So we get the spare out (by we I mean Joe and Butch). Only after then do we find out that our spare is not a correct size spare for our van. It doesn't work on the front due to brake stuff, so Joe puts the flat back on the front and goes to take the back tire off to use on the front, while placing the spare on the back. While taking the luge nuts off the back tire one of the stems for the luges breaks due to someone putting a incorrect luge on previously, but that is another bowl of chowder for another time! Now poor Joe is getting really frustrated. "We will laugh at this one day" he tells me. "Not today, and probably not next month, but one day. Maybe." We take the van and drop it off to be fixed. There was a Cracker Barrel right beside it and we were able to eat while it was fixed. After a good meal we find the van taken care of with only a loose valve on the tire, whew! Praise the Lord! Go back to the condo for naps and a restart later in the evening.

Monday we head to the beach after breakfast and have an enjoyable time. Joe and I get burnt, but it is all good, right? After lunch and getting Otter and Joe down for a nap I prepare to go the the grocery store to get our food for the week. Huh...now what could possibly happen you might ask? I check the tires...all good! I get in the van and...click, click, click...click, click, click...the van won't start! UGGHHHH! Back upstairs to wait for my poor husband to awaken from his slumber to fix another problem! After the nice man from the office gives us a jump we head to find the Advance Auto. Directions from the locals over the phone have not been extremely good either day, but we find it faster than we did the Sears the previous day. The guy there checks and the diagnosis is a dead battery. Praise the Lord again! Even the $90 for that is better than a bad alternator, etc., right? Finally get to the grocery store to get our food. Come back to have grilled hamburgers, fries, and baked beans for dinner. The boys swim in the pool while Daddy cooks the burgers. It was a good evening.

Today...well, we went to the beach again this morning. The boys got an inflatable boat that they played with. Otter let me sit in the water (only on the edge) without crying (Grandmomma, she liked it until she got into the water yesterday. She doesn't like the waves and the current as the water goes out back out). Luckily there was an area that was almost like a baby pool with hardly any waves and I was able to sit with her in my lap. She was holding onto me and laid her head on my shoulder, but it was an improvement. By the time that the tide started moving in and the waves were a little more on us, she was doing much better. A little while later we were told by the "boss" that she was ready to go back. She was so wore out that she only ate half a banana before she climbed in my lap to fall asleep. So far we have had a good day! Of course we have not gone to the van yet ;), and every time the boys pray it includes "please don't let any thing else bad happen to the van." Oh the stories we will have after this vacation! Hopefully the rest is utterly uneventful!

Interesting Wedding March

A friend of mine posted this and I wanted to share it here. It was such a cute video. I thought having Star Wars music as we marched out of my best friend's wedding was unique, but this takes the cake!

The Yorktown

We boarded the Yorktown and I learned that I was going to be staying in the "Officer's Quarters." It was SO sweet! The room I was initially taken to had four beds. I learned that another member of our group was in a room by herself. She offered to share her room with me. We went and looked and it had only two beds! I like the top bunk best, which was good since she had the lower one. The first evening was rather relaxed. I once again skipped the movie Tora, Tora, Tora! A group of us adults just sat out on the side landing and talked.


The next morning we took a boat ride over to Fort Sumter. This being my fourth trip I did not do much touring around. Butch was part of the flag raising ceremony, though instead of helping raise the flags he was chosen to lead the pledge afterwards.


Later in the afternoon we had free time to tour the ships. Since the Destroyer and Coast Guard Cutter were closed I did not plan to do much touring on the sub and the Yorktown. The boys each caught me and took me on tours on the Yorktown, though. In the evening there was a big celebration at Patriot's Point. There was live music, lots of tents set up with food, and inflatables for the kiddos. After dark we were treated to a wonderful display of fireworks off the deck of the Yorktown. I decided to try out the fireworks setting on my camera. It would have helped if I had my tripod, but I did the best I could. Here is a couple of my favorite shots.

Charleston

On Friday of last week we spent the day in Charleston, SC. We woke early and drove over to E. Bay Street and parked the van. Then we walked all over Charleston! We hit the open market first. Bubba found an alligator head he just had to have! The guys also decided I needed a floppy brimmed hat to wear around, so they found a great hat for me and some sunglasses to match. We're walking...we're walking...then lunchtime at Bubba Gump. We're walking...we're walking...see some churches, stores, and other cool sights. Then we headed to our main destination. Patriots Point and the USS Yorktown! I will talk about that tomorrow. Until then enjoy some of our pics!

Rainbow Row (on E. Bay Street)

Butch and me at the cemetery at
the Circular Congregational Church

Lunch at Bubba Gump.
Joe, Butch & Bubba with the Shrimp

The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon

More Garden News

Our garden continues to do well. Our broccoli was very good! The lettuces are giving us plenty to eat. Both Romaine and Buttercrunch are growing splendidly. We also harvested our cabbage this past week. It was also very good! I cooked the first cabbage head for Joe and Bubba. I, personally, hate cooked cabbage unless it is in an egg roll. Today I planted more things. Watermelon, okra, black beans, and more peanut beans. I am hoping to see all of these doing as well as the others.

Our Garden

I went and got more stuff to plant in our garden today. I got eggplant, zucchini, crookneck squash, tomatoes, green peppers, turkey beans, and cucumbers. I got most of it planted right before a huge downpour hit the area. So I was soaked before I could get under cover, but I did not have to water the plants. God did it for me!

We ate some of the broccoli and lettuce that we had planted a few months ago. It was really good! I am so glad we tried the broccoli!

Happy Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day I hope we all remember those who have fought for the wonderful freedoms we experience everyday.

My Plants

Last night I was working outside and thought I would try to propagate some of the plants I have in the back yard. Here are a couple that I am trying currently:

Common Names: Japanese Rose or Kerria Rose
Latin Name: Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora'

Common Name: Aucuba 'Gold Dust'
Latin name: Aucuba japonica 'Variegata'

Prayer Request

As many of you know I lost an uncle in January. Yesterday I learned that I lost another uncle. This was the husband of my mom's sister, Fannie. Grant has been in declining health for some time and it has been very difficult. Please pray for his family during this time. Thank you!

My Dream Refrigerator/ Freezer

For many years I have known exactly what I would love to have in my dream kitchen as my refrigerator/freezer. I saw it in a store once, but after that it was never out for my viewing pleasure at most appliance stores. Today I found them online and also in a local store. Here it is...Frigidaire makes a full size refrigerator and freezer that are meant to be side by side. Aaahhhh! How wonderful! This is my dream (minus the stainless steel look, it is not for me!). Of course, in my current kitchen it would possibly be overkill!