NANA NOTES

2013 CROP CELEBRATION SCRAPPING TRIP

The Scrapping Sisters always look forward to our trip to Hammond for the Crisis Pregnancy Center Crop.  All the money they make goes for a good cause and we have a great time.  The caterers are always wonderful, and we don't have to leave the building except to sleep if we so choose.  This year we had a group of eleven; the Scrapping Sisters were well represented!! We were all laughing at something except Tara who was in another world at the time!! Can you guess who she is??  She's posing but MIA!! Gotta love that Tara!!  These two Pack and Plays are full of items that we carried to donate for the Pregnancy Center.  The more items you donate, the more tickets you get for the grand prize.  I got four tickets.  This year there was only one grand prize.  In the past you've been able to purchase more tickets and scatter them out on several prizes. More later on that!  Susan has a new job at a nursing home.  She has gotten involved with the activities director and was making "kids" for Tacky Day.  She's going to make a wonderful new employee for the nursing home. She loves scrapping!!  Nice to see her work on something besides Disney!! This is a picture of some of the other scrappers.  These just happen to be our friends the Louisiana Scrappin' Sisters. We love these girls. Our sweet vender friends--Melanie from Baton Rouge, Lenore from Foley, AL and Gina from Foley, AL. We're always seated close to them and enjoy visiting with them. Love these girls very much!!  We enjoyed visiting with friends, taking classes and scrapping for three days.  We usually don't get to stay till it's over because we have to get back to get ready for church on Sunday with Pat being choir leader. I gave Susan my tickets to hold "just in case" I should win.  You see, I've won a major door price for the last two years.  There were several to win and I just got lucky!!  Knowing I had no chance to win this year with there being only one, I just asked Susan to hold them for me.  We'd been gone about an hour and a half when I got this picture on my cell phone with a message.  Hmmmmm, looks like you won something!!!   All three of us riding together just started laughing.  We couldn't believe it!!  I called Susan and she said, "yes, you really did win!"  They didn't have room in their car but another friend has it.  I'll get it next weekend when we get together.  I can't wait.  Now do you know why we love that crop so much!!  We're already looking forward to next year!!

TWO IN ONE NIGHT!!

A few days of R & R at the condo before treatment--this is what I did. 

Plumbing!!

 
Cleaning and Organizing the Pantry!!

Cleaning and Organizing the Laundry Room!!

Of course there was shopping, movie going, eating out, sleeping late, shopping and ice cream--but I didn't take pictures of that!!

2012 Girls Trip

We finally made it to October!! That means Gatlinburg!! Libby, Deb and I took off and made it in two days!! Lots of laughter on the way.  That was the first color we saw. A man from a car dealership saw us taking pictures and came over and took this one.  We did lots of walking before the rain set in. Then we drove and walked in the rain!! The traditional pancake breakfast and trip to the outlet mall.  On Halloween afternoon there were all sorts of folks out trick or treating.  This was a couple I ran into.   Meet Shrek and Fiona!!   And don't forget the Good Witch!! That's her with the hat on (in case you have a problem with identification!). As if by magic, the next day most of the fall decorations were down and Christmas was up.   During our drive one afternoon we saw a drove of wild turkeys.  I realize that's pretty normal for us that live in the country, but I never tire of seeing animals in the woods. I get excited just like I'd never seen them before.  On that same drive we saw beautiful leaf color.  And YES! We saw SNOW!!  We rounded a curve and it was snowing! We were like children.  That night it snowed over 10 inches.  When we left this is what it looked like at the Tennessee/North Carolina State Line.

  

 

 

On our way to Atlanta, we stopped at Babyland General Hospital--home of the Cabbage Patch Kids. That's all I can say about that!!  Well, it was an awesome adventure too!  I've always wanted to go there.  We spent a couple of nights with my Aunt Net and came home.  It's always fun to travel but coming home was good too!! Thanks Deb, for inviting me!!

SECOND RIDE THE ROCKIES

I'm skipping several posts to start giving you updates on Ed and Josh. They are riding the 500 mile "Ride the Rockies" this week while I'm at soggy OB.  It rained 4 inches yesterday and is still raining. Hopefully they are having better weather.  Their flight left NO at 6:30 AM on Friday and was direct to Denver where they picked up a gorgeous motor home that sleeps 10.  There are eight guys going together.  I'm supposed to get updates from them regularly.  Today was the first ride. Last night they stayed at the Palisades Senior Citizens RV Park.  They let Josh in because he had three senior citizens with him!  When Ed called he said they were going out to eat.  I told him to be sure and ask for the senior citizen discount!! :)  

The guys survived the ride and had a great time. They all finished and made it home safely.  I made a scrapbook for Ed commemorating his trip and he loved it.

Girlfriends Week!

Three weeks ago five of us escaped to the beach. There were three conditions for going--you could only take pajamas and movies and one outfit to wear out to eat for a celebration! The weather kept changing so we didn't know what to take anyway. Piper went with us an we loaded up to go. We left at 10:00 AM and got there in time for the AL/LSU game! Did I mention stopping at every Michaels and Hobby Lobby on the way? It rained all day Tuesday--very hard and then the cold came in. Not a problem for us--remember--pjs and movies! We had wonderful homemade bread, soups and salads--every meal a gourmets delight. In all we watched 12 movies, stayed up late, laughed until we cried and celebrated a birthday. Four of the five are cancer survivors, two have lost their husbands and we are all Christian ladies. Three of us go to the same church and are related (by marriage or by blood); the other two go to church together. Two of us have the same mother--we just don't know which one (figure that one out!!) we are all sisters in love and have a great time together. Until I find my camera I can't show you the girls but I can show you some of the food.  We bought cupcakes on the way down to have for dessert that night for the game.  I will entice you with the names--top to bottom, left to right:  lemon cream, strawberry, red velvet with vanilla buttercream, chocolate with salted caramel, carrot with cream cheese, and pound cake with vanilla buttercream. Good doesn't even begin to describe them!!     This is the wonderful tomato bisque that Pat makes.  The salad is my baby greens with pears, caramalized nuts and sweet tea vinagrette.  We enjoyed turnip green soup and corn bread one night. On Charlotte's birthday we went out to eat and I had Fried Green Tomatoes with crawfish sauce!!   They were better than delicious.  The movie "Joyful Noise" followed that meal and we ended with salad and baked potatoes for dinner.  I will not mention the Black Jack Cherry Frozen Yogurt we had several times during the week!!  Piper took good care of us during the week.  She loved posing in her new PINK halter.  She loves the beach because she gets to ride the elevator.  I still haven't found my camera.  I haven't been back to the beach and have attended two weekend scrapbook events. Talk about moaning!  I really hope it's at the condo!!

The girls had a great time and look forward to going back again soon. I look forward to blogging about my LAST weekly chemo treatment tomorrow!!  Talk to you soon.

 

FED US PHEASANT!!

Ed and Jody went to South Dakota several weeks ago on a pheasant hunt.  You can see that they did well.  Jody had cooked some before and told us how to cook them.  Ed went shopping for all the supplies and fixed them for the Herring Bicycle Team.  Being prepped for the grill.  Peppers, onions, tomatoes, bacon, pheasant, pepperjack cheese and Italian dressing. Finished dish!!  They were "Phabulous"!!  None left to snack on the next day!!

Footnote:

Dr's visit went well.  Counts were up a little and CAT scan is planned for Monday. Dr. visit on Tuesday.  He considers me to be "stable". When we see the results of the CAT scan, he will decide on treatment changes if any.  I get next week off--yea!!

Please pray for Libby's mom, Eunice Norton.  She will be having hip replacement surgery on Wednesday of next week.  She is one of my "other mothers".  :)

For the last few days we've been driving in the mountains sightseeing and enjoying the wonderful colors of the leaves.  All of a sudden we've gone from short sleeves and flip flops to sweaters, coats and uggs!! Rain and cold weather moved in fast. We wished for a fire place and some wood!  Of course that was the day we chose to shop.  We drove to a lovely little shopping area in Pigeon Forge.  The most interesting shop for me was one with a 30 year old embroidery machine that a man used to do monograms by hand.  It was amazing to stand there and watch him form the letters freehand since I just program my machine and it creates the letters for me.  It doesn't take much to entertain me I guess. In this picture he was monogramming "Nana" on my watermelon colored sweatshirt. I love it!  We came back to the Apple Barn and had a late lunch and went to find apples.  We met a very sweet man on the side of the road who was selling apples out of the back of his truck. He said they were picked that morning. The apples are delicious and we bought a lot!! He grew the apples in his orchard. They still had leaves on them.  Don't these just look delicious??? I'm thinking fried apple pies!!  This was made the morning before we left for home.  We made one more round of shopping to see if we needed anything else to fill the car! Notice that I did not mention how many times we stopped for fudge or show pictures of dessert.  In the whole time we were gone we only had dessert twice--because we had fudge everyday!!  Ask us if we like the pumpkin!! Three crazy ladies turned loose in the Smokies; we had a wonderful, memorable, terrific time together. I am so blessed to have sweet friends.

2011 GATLINBURG TRIP CONTINUED

 

We left off at Cades Cove and I don't think we went to be any night before midnight.  I had to watch an episode of "Chopped" in order to get to sleep!! :)  The following day we drove up to Clingmans Dome. The colors were just as beautiful or maybe more so.  I haven't enhanced these photos either!!

The mountains were beautiful but I loved driving through the roads looking at the trees and streams.  We still had short sleeve weather on this day. The rain was supposed to come in the next day. I saw evidence of bears but because of some people's sensitivity I will refrain from putting that picture up!! :) Yes, I took a picture!  During one of our outings we were "sort of" lost in the mountains. We rounded a curve and at least 20 turkeys were feeding on the side of the road.  I started screaming, "stop, stop, I've got to take a picture." People were honking for us to move so we did, but I got one on my phone so I could send it to Ed and a couple with my camera.  You know how I love my turkeys!! 





Every time we drove through Pigeon Forge I kept telling Ed I saw the Titanic. He'd say, "Barbara, the Titanic can't be there, it sank." (That's a joke with us--when the movie came out--long story.) Finally, I got pictures.

Tomorrow--rain and cold weather moves in. To be continued---

2011 TRIP TO GATLINBURG WITH THE GIRLS

I don't think I've ever been away from home for ten days without family!!  Deb invited Libby and me to go to Gatlinburg to stay in her family's timeshare there.  I think it was even before I got sick--I immediately said "yes"!!  It's been a very long time since I've been to the mountains.  We left last Thursday and just got back tonight.  We all took our computers but something was wrong with the internet connections there and we couldn't get online. Did I mention withdrawals??  I mostly wanted to blog each day since I hadn't been doing any blogs lately.  I finally had something to blog about and couldn't.  Ed took our picture the afternoon we left. He bought us these hats in Orange Beach. We truly are the "Joyful ladies".  We drove to Tuscaloosa and spent the night. Then on to Gatlinburg. This was the front of the building and by the entrance to our room.   

 

 

                The next morning we walked down the street and had pancakes!! 
The pancakes were wonderful.  We ate in the "SEC" section!! 

My black walnut pancakes were delicious. I have to say that I ate every bite!! I am not ashamed!! I have now confessed!!  After breakfast it was off to the Craft Fair at the convention center.  We enjoyed that.  The next day it was off to Cades Cove where the leaves were beautiful.  We visited the Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church where the tombstones in the cemetery dated back to the late 1700's. Neither Libby nor I got a picture of the church.  I sent Ed a picture made with my phone of me sitting on a boulder in the middle of a beautiful stream like this. Glad I didn't fall in.  Libby was so sweet to drive most of the time. Ed had told them not to let me drive and make me rest. This is where I spent my time in the car.  I have to say that I could get used to it--I actually let someone help me.
This is going on way too long--so I'll write some more tomorrow.  You can't do a ten day trip in one blog!  to be continued.....................................

TIME GOES BY SO FAST!

Here it is almost September and I've only blogged once in August.  That's terrible.  Surely I've done something worthy of posting. The time seems to get by me so fast these days.  Having a new puppy and raising two deer take a lot of my time.

Lulu (aka Morgan) is on the left; Lacy is in the house.  They have grown considerably since this picture was taken. 

Ms Piper has learned to climb the stairs and today she climbed down them--with a little coaxing from Graham and me. She will be 3 months old on the 30th.

We took a few days off to the beach and had a good time doing almost nothing.  We did take the boat out one day; first time in a long time. Had a good time and went to LULU's for appetizers.

Ed was our Captain!!  Deb, Libby and I enjoyed the trip.  Good food and great atmosphere!

I have been doing some things for the Toad House. Really need to get busy but my "idea well" is a little dry.  I have these note pads in there now. They are inexpensive and make a cute happy for someone.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an apron I finished for Jennifer today. I learned that I don't do ruffles!!  Hope she likes it! The picture was made with my phone . 

JOLLY JINGLES JOURNEY

 

On Saturday a group of friends wandered down to Gonzales, LA to a shopping market called Jolly Jingles.  It was a very small version of Handworks or Mistletoe and we had a fun time. After shopping we had lunch and made a stop at our next best friend--Hobby Lobby.  It was a nice change of pace to spend time with the girlfriends.  We missed having Libby with us. Maybe next time. Lunch at Mike Andersons was delicious!! Was that a huge crawfish or what???  Always keep your girlfriends close!!  They can lift you up when no one else can! I thank God for my "sister girls"!

Meet the newest member of our family

Little Miss Piper has come to live with us!!  Her grandfather was a champion Scottie from England.  Long story short, Ed found her and the lady who owned the dogs insisted that she meet us and approve of us before letting us get the puppy!!  Quite frankly I think Piper has hit paydirt here!!  She's the lucky one! Before she even got here she had a new "Martha Stewart" bed and toys with a new collar. On the way home she got a new harness and name tags. Who's spoiled???  She will never replace Dooley or Sadie but she will have her own place in our hearts!  And like them both, she has an attitude!! 

This is Ms Diane with Fiona, Piper's mother. Fiona wasn't sure she wanted to let Piper go with Ed.

These two are part of Ms Diane's family of Scotties.  She has 13 grown dogs. I would be guessing if I told you who they were. They looked so sweet as they sat together. 

Ms Piper sleeping in her new bed in the floorboard of the car (where my feet should have been!). She had it made.  * right now she is laid out between me and Ed on the bed sound asleep!!  Lucky girl!

ON THEIR WAY!

Ed woke me up at 3:17 this morning--thinking it was3:47!!  I got up and started the bacon and cinnamon toast with fresh pineapple.  The guys got up and dressed and were ready to eat in minutes. They ate and were out the door in no time. They let me grab a quick snap before they left.  And poor Sadie--she really wanted to go with Papa.

I hope the next picture has a huge buck in it to go with his brothers'!  Good luck Ben!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!

Wasn't it just yesterday that we celebrated Ben's 11th birthday? All the grandchildren seem to be growing up so fast! Today is Ben's 12th birthday and he got the surprise of his life. Ed has taken the boys on their 13th birthday to West Texas to mule deer hunt. He surprised Ben a year early and is taking him tomorrow!!  He's only flown once and has never seen any landscape like he will see when he gets to Texas. Both Ryan and Graham killed a mule deer (and so did I!!). He's outfitted and ready to go.  He's spending the night and I'm fixing him breakfast in the morning at 4:30 AM before they leave.  That's love,Ben! I don't get up at 4:30 AM!!  Here he is clowning tonight with his brother in his new Brees jersey.

I pray for a safe trip and a fun time with memories made with his few days with his Papa one on one.  Get a big one, Ben!  Happy Birthday! 
 

WHAT MY GUYS ARE DOING!

While I have been working on the MUMC bazaar "stuff" two of my guys have been in North Dakota pheasant hunting. They left home with 80 something degree weather only to be greeted by 28 degrees and three feet of snow!!  How awesome is that???

Each time I've heard from them they've reported reaching the limit for the day and having a wonderful time. Jody's the "real" hunter of the family but I believe Ed is having a great time as well.  They had pheasant the other night for dinner but Ed wasn't terribly impressed with it.  I think they are bringing some home so we'll cook some and see how we like it.  Here are some pictures they sent me.   

   

I have a couple of just Ed and Jody but for some reason I can't get them to save in my file. Maybe I can work on that and you can see them soon.

Looks like they had a pretty good time and made lots of memories!! 
 

 

MY GUYS (at least some of them)

I had an early wake up this morning due to the fact that some of the guys were going on a little trip. Josh left to go to a race and Ed and Ryan went to look at cattle.  They all were like excited little boys--couldn't wait to get loaded up and get on the road. They did "pose" for me before they left!

 
 
I gave them my usual "be safe, buckle up, don't drive fast, be careful" speech and let them go. I'm sure they will let me hear from them later.

SADIE GETS A BURGER!

After having spent a relaxing weekend at the beach Ed, Libby, Sadie and I were traveling home today. We had a very good "beach breakfast" and left the beautiful beach headed home.  I drove while Ed and Sadie held down the back seats. Libby sat up front with me and finished her book.  We usually stop in Hattiesburg at Back Yard Burger cause we're ready for "junk food" (and I really love BYB's!). We walked Sadie and watered her.  We all went in for our food and as we finished Ed said he thought he would get Sadie a burger. She has strange travel habits--she doesn't eat or drink much when she travels.  We went on to the car (which had been left running and locked so she wouldn't get overheated!!)and out Ed comes with her bag. He starts breaking off pieces of burger feeding it to her piece at a time.  My camera was in the back of the car but my phone would work.  Here is Sadie with her burger!! 

She loved her burger and slept all the way home.  And for the record--BYB is NOT "junk food"!!

CROP CONNECTION SCRAPPING RETREAT WITH FRIENDS

We've waited a year for this weekend and it finally came. Even the snow didn't keep us from going and having a good time.  There were eight of us from the Meadville area and six others that we met up with from other towns.  Thirty six or more hours of continuous scrapbooking with a little sleep thrown in, lots of laughing and talking, a little shopping for supplies with the venders and some eating thrown in.  The ladies that put on the event surprised us with a "Bops Ice Cream Party" on Saturday night.  Talk about good!!  Here are some pictures of the event.  

 We didn't have anyone to take a picture of the six of us so I took this one. Pat, Beth, Sharon, Cookie and Libby.  Sharon made the sign for us to display.

 Look at all the "stuff"!!  A room full of happy "scrapping" women! And we loaded and unloaded it all!   

Silent auction to benefit the Ronald McDonald House--everybody got a door prize but there was some fierce bidding on the auction items.

 Aren't we a good looking bunch of "scrappers"?  I wish I had a count of all the pages that we all did while we were there.  We all donated items to the Ronald McDonald House and some of us made cards for the military. The scraps of paper we had left over were left for the school students to use in their art projects.  Nothing was wasted this weekend.    

Anna Bess Simmons is a wonderful scrapbooker and sweet friend. She taught a quick "make and take" class on Sunday afternoon and several of us took it.    

 Cute little Valentine embellishment--I made one for Tammy. I didn't have any change and she loaned me a dollar!  :)  I think that's the story!!
   

COON DOG CEMETERY IN ALABAMA

Ok, I didn't have time to post this before the wedding and didn't think I should post the two things on the same day!  Ashley would not be pleased!!  Libby and I took a little road trip to Alabama to pick up my new "toy" [which will be posted later when I learn to operate it] and saw a sign on the highway. My curiosity got the better of me and on the way back we detoured!! 

It was seven miles up a curvy, winding road in the red hills of Alabama.  That was after we'd gone about twenty four miles off the main highway!!  

Libby and I thought this was kind of funny until we got there.  It was a beautiful place with a pavillion and a statue that paid tribute to coon hunting.  The sign above is posted when you first arrive--serious business! 

 


 

Some of the headstones were elaborate; some were simply rocks or crosses made of wood. The one that touched me the most was the one that had the dog collar on the cross. 

 If you know coon hunters, you know their dogs are precious to them.  People come from far away to bury their dogs in this cemetery and have to make application to do so.  The dog has to be a certified coon dog and cannot have trailed deer or other animals.  Key Underwood was the person who started the cemetery.  Herein lies the rub--Tammy Underwood Torrey's dad and my mom went to school together in North MS. We were talking at Ashley's wedding and have it figured that Key Underwood is a relative of hers [has to be!!].  This is someplace that you just have to go visit to be able to appreciate.  

Every Labor Day they have a big festival at the cemetery and have dinner on the grounds with music and speakers.  That's what my aunt told me when I mentioned that all the graves had flowers on them.  It's kind of like our Memorial Day.  Kind of neat, don't you think?
 
 

ROAD TRIP!!

Libby and I left today to travel to Alabama to pick up my new toy. I'll share more about that when I get it but for now I want to share something we saw today going through North Jackson.  I grew up in North Jackson and you just didn't see things like this when I lived there.  We seemed to be more "refined". These scenes were more for country living--like Franklin County--my home now!  I was actually talking to Ed on the phone when we spotted it and he laughed at us trying to catch up with the truck to see the size.  It's a "country thing"!! 

 The funniest part was Libby trying to get the pictures as I was speeding along catching up with him.  We'd make good "paparazzi"!

Tomorrow we're going to pick up my new toy and go to the "Coon Dog Cemetary" outside of Florence, AL.  It's supposed to be a popular place for top notch deceased coon dogs.  I'll let you know. :)