NANA NOTES

I CAN DO THIS. . .

Growing violets may not be a great accomplishment to you, but for me these are wonderful.

My mother and Ed always say something like, "Who had a death wish for that plant?", or "I wonder how long it will take you to kill that one!" And it was usually true.  My mother was a great African Violet grower.  She had lots and they were beautiful.  She would let me "borrow" them and when they'd almost be dead, I'd take them back to her and swap them for more.  Her patience with me and violets was more than should have been.  The one on the left is a trailing violet given to me by Joyce Robinson who came here when Katrina hit New Orleans. She stayed at MUMC and then at Mom's house for a while.  I've had it almost a year!!!  The one with the purple blooms is one that I won at bridge.  I have NOT killed it.  The small one in the little pot in front has a couple of buds on it.  It just keeps blooming and blooming.  It's pink.  So I don't jinx myself, I will just say. . .I think I can grow violets!!

Jennifer and Ryan have mono.  I've been trying hard not to let this get me down---I don't like for my children and grandchildren to be sick.  This is Jennifer's second time (she had it in high school.)  Ryan has had it all summer (now that we KNOW he has it, we look back and recognize the symptoms and all feel like *&%@ for not seeing it).  I'm praying that they both heal quickly.  Jennifer has a new job at the school and Ryan is starting high school. Jennifer's favorite Bible verse is Phil. 4:13---right now it sounds pretty good to me too.

CITY MOUSE; COUNTRY MOUSE. . .

I mean COUSINS.  I had a delightful visit with "our cousins" this afternoon.  Melody came with her son and daughter-in-law and her beautiful grandson Jack.  She said she never gets to show him off and she wanted to visit the farm.   John and Cynthia live in California and don't get home very often.  Isn't Jack a doll?  We had "sweet tea" and warm oatmeal cookies (a treat for Jack since he doesn't get sweets very often).  He played with Sam's toys while we visited and then we went to see the baby deer. I feed him a bottle of milk and did my usual duties as a "deer mother".

To tell you all about that would be TMI--let's just say that the city cousins were fascinated by all that takes place and said that they always left Mississippi with tidbits of "new information".  Jack should visit with all the boys are here.  He'd really be in culture shock! Thanks guys, for coming to see your "country cousins."  Come back soon.

SHARON'S CLOCK. . .

Sharon's gone on vacation and I stole her clock!! It was plain. It was dusty. It needed a make over. Since I'm in my "clock mode" I decided I could fix it!  What do you think? I think it's colorful and I really hope she likes it!!  We'll know next week when she comes back.

The Best Part of Waking Up. . .

We have been lucky enough to spend a few days at the beach.  Saturday Ed and Howard went fishing.  Myra took Howard to the boat and called to be sure Ed was awake--before 7:00 am!! I was then awake.  She said she was going to Walmart and did I want to go.  Was I breathing? Of course, I wanted to go.  When she picked me up we decided we needed breakfast.  I suggested Starbucks. We drove directly there and had muffins and coffee (frappuchino for me since I am NOT old enough for hot coffee!).  We had driven by the NEW Target and saw that it would open at 8:00 am. Guess where we headed next?

You guessed it--from 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock we browsed the isles of the most wonderful new Target that had just opened the day before.  No time limit--no stress--no nothing but SHOP TILL YOU WANT TO GO HOME.  We kept thinking of things we "needed".  Finally, Myra said we had to leave.  When we checked out, she said we could not come back till next year.  Our debit cards couldn't stand it. LOL

We spent the rest of the day playing cards and lounging on the beach with Nell and Nona and had a great day.  They were just getting up and noon and didn't even fuss about not getting in on our wonderful trip.  Starbucks and Target--what a way to start your day! It doesn't take much to entertain me.

TIME'S A WASTIN'. . .

I am so into these clocks! 

I am working on them for a special project.  Everything I look at these days has "clock" somewhere in the background of my mind.  How and why do I get into something like that??  We've even ordered some numbers to use on them.  So far I've been very tame with them--I want to use some wild colors.  These have chip board and acryllic numbers and an acryllic flower in the center.  I love the delicate pink and green paper.  Cute for a little girl's room, don't  ya think?

ANTICIPATION IS THE BEST PART. . .

Waiting for two months to go to see Paula Deen was certainly exciting.   I've watched her cooking shows for as long as they've been on the Food TV Channel. I have three of her cookbooks and even subscribe to her magazine. Being trampled by 2000 crazy people trying to get to free ice cream was not the best part--one we chose to escape by going to our seats (which happen to be on the SECOND row).  I'm not sure what I thought I would see--the kitchen set up was very good--thanks to Viking Corp.--who wouldn't love that?!  And the roses--hundred of red, pink and white roses done in big beautiful arrangements.  Out comes Barbi Basset, who introduced the president of Brookshires (in mismatched suit and tie--Stacy and I decided that his wife packed for him and he got the outfits mixed up) who introduced---you guessed it--PAULA DEEN. She came out and talked with the audience for about an hour and a half. She cooked very little. That disappointed me!   She chewed gum all night!!  I thought that was rude. All I could think about was if Ed was sponsoring someone to stand in front of that many people, he'd not be a happy camper if they were smacking gum (even if it was because they were quitting smoking and it was Nicorette!)   She brought her husband with her and he was dry witted and sweet.    Don't you think he looks like Santa Claus?  Well, Debbie, Stacy and I had a good time.  We laughed a lot.  And now I'm going to be like Shelly.  I'll watch Rachel Ray!

# 17

on the 100 things about me was "I love eggplant".  And I do.  And I can grow it.  And I do.  Lots of it.  More of it than my family would like for me to grow. I didn't go to my little garden yesterday and today I got a half bushel basket full of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and EGGPLANT!!  That beautiful, rich purple vegetable that is so versatile and good for you.  Fried is good but I think I see Ms Beverly's Eggplant and Rice Casserole coming from this batch.  Get ready family!!

IT WAS AMAZING. . .

I can't tell you how long it's been since I have made a "real" peach pie--or any other fruit pie except a cobbler--for that matter.  Today I was "having a good day" in the kitchen and cooked a HUGE lunch--pork chops, rice and gravy, fresh creamed corn, green butterbeans, okra and tomatoes and awesome cornbread with cold, fresh sliced home-grown tomatoes [from my garden].  Jennifer had brought over some peaches last night and I had the idea of the pie.  Oh, my gosh--- After we had finished our lunch, I showed Ed the pie.  He said it looked like it should be in a magazine it was so pretty.  Of course I jumped up and ran to get the trusty camera. "BLOG!"  The picture doesn't do it justice.  We cut into the warm pie and the aroma was to die for.  It begged for homemade ice cream.  Since we're never without it, Ed got it out of the freezer and we were off.  I cut and he dipped!  Talk about heaven.  I don't brag about my cooking but those warm, sweet, delicious peaches and that rich buttery crust with Nana's famous homemade ice cream just about put us over the edge.  I had to work out in the yard this afternoon just to work off the guilt!! Email me Stacy and I'll tell you the secret!!  You won't believe how easy it was.  Your boys will love it.

ONE LESS PECAN TREE. . .

I hate to see trees cut.  Around here you can't stand still because you never know if you're going to be moved or bulldozed.  We have lots of huge, old pecan trees that have quite a history on the farm.  For what seems to be no reason at all, one just up and died.  It was right in the middle of our rock garden better known as the "beautiful drainage ditch" flower bed.  It really is pretty.  It started out as a drainage ditch and wound up a three section bed of beautiful blooming flowers and trees with two sprinkler heads included.  Who could ask for a better environment?  At any rate, the dead tree had to come down--that happened this morning.  I looked out the window and tree limbs were falling everywhere.  A guy was in the tree with power saw in hand.  The boys picked up the limbs to earn some "baseball card money" and Exal is going to cut the tree up for firewood.  He assures me that the flower bed is not hurt too badly.  I guess I'll have fun deciding what kind of tree to plant in the bed--maybe something that blooms--that would be nice.

UPCOMING WEEK. . .

This is going to be a week that I take lemons and make lemonade!  Both of my housekeepers are off on vacation.  Before you accuse me of whining, remember how many people we feed here most days and how many people come in and out of our home on a daily basis.  I NEED THEM!  I wanted to go to the beach and forget it all but Papa said that wasn't possible.  Here's the lemonade part.  I will get up each day, do my chores, and enjoy scrapping in the peace and quiet of my home without distraction. Cookie and Debra will come over on Wednesday and we can play with our stamps.   I can do my treadmill and garden projects without feeling guilty--like I should be inside helping.   Our house may not be as clean as I'd like it to be but I'll be happy and we won't miss a meal (and they'll be good, too!).  At night we'll watch the Tour de France and play with the cat.  I have something to look forward to on Saturday and when the Cowarts get back from the beach, Papa better pack his bag!!

After two years of work on the church directory--we're starting over!!  I took this picture of Jody's family today.  Aren't they a good looking bunch?

SCRAPPING AND STAMPING...

Lately I've been pretty worthless--more than usual my family might say.  I've spent some time upstairs in my "studio" scrapping and stamping.  I'd love to do more but the creative juices have come to a crawl.  I guess I'm trying to rejuvenate them.  Cookie and Debra B. came over on Wednesday and we worked some.  This LO is one I finished.

I did the card last week with one of Cookie's background stamps (that I just HAD to purchase for myself).  I wouldn't have believed it was so pretty if I hadn't used it.  I spend hours looking through Scrapbook magazines marking pages.  My intentions are good.  Maybe I'm just addicted to the "stuff".  After all a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

TARGET PRACTICE

Ben wants to go hunting evey year but when it comes time to shoot, he freezes.  The other day he said he wanted his Uncle Tommy to take him to shoot his gun.  Today they went.  I came in from feeding the baby and he proudly showed me his target sheet!  I kidded him about Uncle Tommy shooting the target and he said, "nope, I did it myself!"  He had a huge grin on his face and looked so proud.  I gave him a big hug and told him I must have a picture.  His Mom will probably be mad at me for blogging it before she even knows about it but he's my beautiful blue-eyed boy and he's growing up right before my eyes.  Check out those holes in that target--he did it himself!

A Year Older

   HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Whatever you're doing today, enjoy it!  Enjoy it because someone somewhere has fought for the freedom that we're taking for granted.  Say grace with your family, snuggle with your children, soak up some sunshine, thank God for the rain, and ENJOY life in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!