Secrets Found

We've all known them. Some of us have even had the privilege to work beside them. Who am I talking about? You know ....... the Great Ones!



The really good cooks!



The ones that when you're at a potluck supper, their food is always the first to disappear. Or the ladies at church socials that everyone keeps asking, "What did you bring?" "Which one is yours?" Although, you rarely have to ask, because like I said, they're food is always taken first.



The ones that you worry if you're too close to the end of the line, there won't be any of their dish left. My mother was one of "them". Her cooking was out of this world! In fact, to this day, I'm pretty sure that is why Mike married me. I think he thought that I might cook like her. Wrong! But guess what? Just look what I found:






I'm still going through boxes of photos and all kinds of interesting family stuff. And I found these. Here, take a closer look:





These are some of her cookbooks. And guess what??? They're marked!

I love the way she marked her recipes.

With paper clips and little scraps of note papers.





But here's the best part:

Her own little editing of all those marked recipes.

The little tweaking and adjusting of recipes, some ever so slightly, but still they're her adjustments. Maybe this is what made her food just a little better than all others!

I can hardly wait to try some of these. Maybe, just maybe, they'll taste at least half as good as hers!

How Do People See You?

A couple of years ago, Jennifer gave this to me for Christmas. It may look like a basket full of river rocks with some words on them, but it's much more! You see, she had asked friends and family to describe me in just a couple of words.

Let me share with you some of them. Do you see the one that says "organized"? Well, my son-in-law, Nathan, said I was organized. That made me feel wonderful! I love organization! Everything has to have a place and it has to be put in the right place the CORRECT way. I'm a little OCD, do you think????? If only he could see in all my closets and drawers, he would know I'm not near as organized as I would like to be. But some day when I have retired and have all sorts of 'free time', then I really will be organized!!! I'm sure Nathan can hardly wait 'til that day!


There's also one in the basket that says "childhood tattletale". Can you guess which one of my sweet brothers said that about me? Actually it could have been any of them. I was so bad about that, but they all owe me there lives! You see, had I not tattled on them, I really believe they would not have lived to adulthood. Heck, they may not have even made it to their teens! They were wild, WILD I tell you. Oh the things they did! And not just to me. In fact, really they were pretty good and protective of me. When they were young we had a boy that lived down the street from us that really had an anger management problem! I think my mother was always a little worried about him. Anyway, my brothers came up with this great plan. Jimmy had on his blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He put ketchup on his shirt and then laid down in a vacant lot. David went running into the house and told our mother that the neighbor, Charles, had shot Jimmy. Mother went running out of the house and there was Jimmy not moving a muscle! She just about passed out, until he opened one eye and started grinning. Now, isn't that the meanest, cruelest joke a child could pull on their own mother???? So, you see, without me tattling on my brothers, they probably wouldn't even be alive today. Their wives and children all have me to thank for that!

There's also one in there that says, "mine". When Jennifer asked Kaylee, who was two at the time, what granna was, she simply said: Mine! Now, that just warms my heart! I hope she always thinks that I'm 100% hers!

Isn't that sweet? It just warms my heart to look at all these great little words and realize they are what my family think of little old me.

SOUTHERN WOMEN

Southern women appreciate their natural assets:

Clean skin.

A winning smile.

That unforgettable Southern drawl.

Southern women know their manners:

'Yes, ma'am.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Why, no, Billy!'

Southern women have a distinct way with fond expressions:

'Y'all come back'

'Well, bless your heart.'

'Drop by when you can.'

'How's your Momma?'

Southern women know their summer weather report:

Humidity

Humidity

Humidity

Southern women know their vacation spots:

The beach

The rivuh

The crick

Southern women know the joys of June, July, and August:

Colorful hi-heel sandals

Strapless sun dresses

Iced sweet tea with mint

Straw hats and big sunglasses

Southern women know everybody's first name:

Honey

Darlin'

Shugah

Southern women know the movies that speak to their hearts:

Fried Green Tomatoes

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Steel Magnolias

Gone With the Wind

Southern women know their religions:

Baptist

Methodist

Football

Southern women know their country breakfasts:

Red-eye gravy

Grits

Eggs

Country ham

Mother-watering homemade biscuits with momma's homemade jelly

Southern women know their cities dripping with Southern charm:

Chawl'stn

S'vanah

Foat Wuth

N'awlins

Addlanna

Southern women know their elegant gentlemen:

Men in uniform

Men in tuxedos

Rhett Butler

Southern girls know their prime real estate:

The Mall

The Country Club

The Beauty Salon

Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins:

Having bad hair and nails

Having bad manners

Cooking bad food

******************************************

Fun With Pictures

Nikki over at Blah, Blah, Blah, Blog shared with us on how to make these pictures. I took this picture of the entrance of my home and loved the way it turned out! I think it's such a unique way to do your pictures! I'm going to try to do this with more of my rooms and see how they turn out. Hope you're having a good Sunday. It's still raining here, which makes for some great Sunday afternoon lounging around the house!



*Note* Okay, this picture looked much more unique at the photobucket site. I'm going to have to figure out what I'm doing wrong while uploading it to blogger.

Have You Ever Seen the Rain???

It's times like this that I wish I had music playing on my site. Then I could be playing CCR's song in the background. But it really doesn't have much to do with this post except for the fact that I was awaken this morning at 5:00 AM with a large clap of thunder and rain hitting the roof. And a little 4 pound dog trying to get me up out of bed to take her out to potty. Rainy, Saturday mornings can be the best sleeping weather, and trust me, in Texas this doesn't happen very often. But, Snickers had other things on her mind. After a lot of persistence, she got us up out of bed. So .... I made Mike some breakfast.



Ree at Pioneer Woman posted this recipe a while back. It's called eggs in a hole. I've made it a couple of times and Mike really likes them. If you haven't checked out her site lately, then hurry over there and catch up with her. She has some great photography tips, some great recipes and a great true love story, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. I'm making her shredded pork tomorrow.



Doesn't that look delicious? Jennifer had a friend who made it this week and her husband said it was one of her best meals. So..... I've got to try it!

Cherry Crunch Cake

Looking for a good, quick and easy dessert? Why not try this cherry crunch cake tonight???? All you need are just a few simple ingredients that you probably have on hand.

One can crushed pineapple, with juice; one can cherry pie filling, one yellow cake mix, chopped pecans and butter. How simple is that?????









Pour pineapple with juice into a 9" X 13" baking dish, spreading evenly over bottom of the dish. Spoon pie filling evenly over pineapple.




Sprinkle dry cake mix over pie filling. Even it all out with your fingers or a fork if you have to.



If you haven't already done so, chop your pecans up.

And go ahead and start melting your butter.

Wait a minute, did you notice that handy dandy cutting tool I was using on the pecans? That's called a ulu (pronounce OO-loo) knife. Jennifer brought that back for me on one of her trips to Alaska. I have to be extremely careful when I'm using this thing, because it is sooooo sharp!! You can read all about these here. Okay, back to cooking.



Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the dry cake mix.



Now, drizzle the melted butter over the pecans and cake mix.



Put in oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until browned and bubbly.

Ummm, doesn't that look good? Can you smell it? Here, go ahead and sit down while I dish you up a bowl.



How about some ice cream with that? Now, catch me up on all your latest news. Here, have another bowl. I promise there's not too many calories in this dish!




Cherry Crunch Cake

1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple with juice
1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Pour pineapple with the juice into a 9" X 13" baking dish, spreading evenly over the bottom of dish. Spoon pie filling evenly over pineapple. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pie filling; level with a fork. Sprinkle pecans evenly over cake mix; drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

Vicksburg

Eighteen years ago we went through Vicksburg, MS on the way to Disney World. We quickly went through the Battlefield and vowed to return some day when we had more time to visit. Trying to decide where we would spend a week this summer, we decided to head to Vicksburg, then do the Natchez Trace Parkway, go to Huntsville and go to the space museum, on up to Lynchburg, TN and go through the Jack Daniels Distillery, and finish up in Nashville.

When we left, gas was still around $4.00 a gallon and our motor home gets about 7 miles per gallon. But never the less, I still would rather RV it than stay in hotels. Here is a little virtual vacation tour for those who were unable to leave their homes because of the high price of gas.

While visiting the Vicksburg National Military Park, we watched a cannon detachment load and fire this Civil War cannon. They used a reproduction Napoleon cannon, which is an exact duplicate of a cannon manufactured in 1862.

This is the Illinois State Monument. It is made out of Georgia white marble. There are forty-seven steps in the long stairway, one for each day of the Siege of Vicksburg. The Illinois Memorial is modeled after the Roman Pantheon. Sixty unique bronze tablets line the interior walls and name all 36,325 Illinois soldiers who participated in the Vicksburg Campaign. The monument stands sixty two feet in height. It originally cost $194,423.92 and was paid by the state of Illinois.




This quote by US Grant is above the door of the Illinois Monument: "We have but little to do to preserve peace, happiness and prosperity at home and the respect of other nations. Our experience ought to teach us the necessity of the first, our power secures the latter."



The cemetery encompasses 117.85 acres and includes over 18,000 interments. Graves of Civil War soldiers total 17,077, of which 12,909 are unknown.



Mike really enjoyed seeing this ironclad gunboat, the Cairo. This boat was sunk on December 12, 1862. It was discovered in 1956 and it wasn't until 1964 that they were able to bring it up out of the Mississippi River.

While in Vicksburg, we also went to the Old Courthouse Museum. The Old Court House, built in 1858, stands today as Vicksburg’s most historic structure and has hosted such guests and speakers as Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Booker T. Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, and William McKinley. It also had this on display:


The minie ball is displayed with a long caption describing what happened. In battle, it whizzed right through a young Confederate soldier who was standing next (probably REALLY closely next) to a flower of Southern maidenhood. It (the minie ball) went through his private parts and kept going, right into the flower of Southern womanhood. Miraculously (miracle one), he lived. Miracle two (considering heat of a bullet in flight), she became pregnant. He, honorable southern gentleman that he was, married her. *Now, I'm not saying this story was true, but that this was on display at the musuem. You can believe whatever you want to believe.

Hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of Vicksburg, MS.

Old Fashioned Meatloaf

There's nothing like a good old fashioned meatloaf to make you appreciate good home cooking! I have several different ways I make meatloaf, but this is just a simple, basic recipe. I didn't take any pictures making it, so you'll just have to view the finished product. I made some fresh green beans and new potatoes (yes, in my electric pressure cooker) and sliced tomatoes. You can't get any simpler than that.






Old Fashioned Meatloaf

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten
8 oz. canned diced tomatoes, with juice
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

Topping:
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Preheat oven to 375°

Mix all meatloaf ingredients well and shape into a loaf. Place in baking dish. Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake for 1 hour.

Got Tea???

We Texan's like our tea!

There are two traditional iced teas in the United States. The only variation between them is sugar. Southerners swear by their traditional sweet iced tea and drink it by the gallons. In the South, ice tea is not just a summertime drink, it is served year round with most meals. When people order tea in a Southern restaurant, chances are they will get sweet ice tea.


Now, let me introduce you to something really good:

We have a man from England that work's with us and he's been making a pitcher of this tea everyday for about a month. This is WITHOUT A DOUBT the best tea I have ever tasted! Hands Down!!!!! The UPS man even times his deliveries and pick ups so that he can have a tall glass of this tea.

The box states that PG Tips is the number one tea in England. It also says that the pyramid tea bag gives the tea leaves 50% more room to move around than a flat conventional tea bag. So the tea bag works like a miniature tea pot. I don't know if that's why or if it's because of the blends of teas they use, but you've really got to try it.

Trust me, that Englishman knows his tea!!!! Now, go buy some for yourself and have a nice cuppa!

?????AUGUST?????

WOW! Where did July go? Did I just totally sleep through a whole month??
No, I know what happened, I went on vacation. I was gone one week, so what happened to the rest of the month??? You know, you try with all your might to get caught up at work, so you can enjoy your vacation. Then you come back and work, work, work to try to get caught up again. And the whole time you're thinking, "is it worth it?" Well, duh, of course it is. Throw a holiday in that same month and you really get behind!

So, let's start with the Fourth of July! We had a great time at the lake. I've never seen fireworks as great!!!! Here's one of the pictures:




Okay, now keep in mind that I'm on a boat on the lake, so it's very difficult to keep the camera perfectly still so as to take a good picture of the fireworks.

It was so pretty on the lake:



That's Zoe, Chelsey and me enjoying the sunset.



Mike has always enjoyed the water.




Captain Ron making sure everything checks out.



Brandon (who had a little toooo much sun) and Levi just kicking back, waiting for the fireworks.



Kellie, spoiling little Reagan.



Lindsay, Levi's fiance, who will become a member of our family in November.

We also spent a lot of time watching these



and more of these:



Overall, we had a great Fourth of July holiday. Sorry, I'm so late in getting this posted. Stick around, I'll share some vacation pictures later, I've got some catching up to do!