Getting Exercise

Well I did it again today - I got up and walked.  We are trying so hard to be healthy.  I realize that as I approach 50 - being healthy takes a lot more energy than it did when I was younger.  I do take more medicine, I try to eat right and limit my wine intake to somewhere around two glasses a day.  (I use large wine glasses).  

What do you do to stay fit?  How do you motivate your body to exercise?  Help !!!!

College Football

Today is a day that I have been looking forward to for a long time.  The beginning of the 2012 College Football Season.  I have been planning for this evening for quite some time.  Ray and I are having Frito Chili Pie and watching the game.  South Carolina and Tennessee start the season tonight.  I have planned the entire Labor Day weekend around the College Football Schedule. 

There is nothing quite like College Football.  There is pageantry, spirit, team loyalty, tailgating, and excitement.  No matter the ranking of a team, you can never always predict the outcome in college football.  Years of rivalry can change the BCS rankings on any given Monday.  An upset on Saturday afternoon can spur a team to bowl game before the season is over.   I am a proud supporter of my Baylor Bears but I love watching Big 12 and SEC football teams as they dual to the final play of the game.  The fans and supporters are always ready for the next game regardless of the outcome.

So here's to college football.  Let the season begin!

New Hair

I  love going to the salon and having my hair cut and colored.  I can't think of anything else that can make you feel like a new person in such a short amount of time.  I love laying back with my head in the bowl while Jeannie scrubs and massages my scalp.  That warm water cascading over my head puts me into a whole new relaxing world.  The smell of great shampoo is just so relaxing to the senses.

Tonight was my turn with Jeannie.  She is so delightful.  She knows when I want to visit and when I just need to be still.  She knows what I like and I trust her instincts when I want to change something.  The salon is professional - not a gossip mill but staffed with real professionals who abide by a dress code and work together as a team.

I think the other reason that the salon is so relaxing is that I can't use my cell phone at all while I am at the salon.  I can't text, check emails or talk on my phone.  The whole time I am there is all about making me feel prettier.  What a treat today was at the salon!

Placemats

I was raised by a woman who believed in setting the table.  I think that is why I am so fascinated with placemats and napkins.  I love to see a table set and how pretty the plates are on a beautiful placemat.  

I think the food tastes better and is not gobbled down when it is presented in a lovely setting.  I know I enjoy eating more when I am seated at a table and have the opportunity to enjoy the company that I am with and the food that is before me.  

Garden Ridge has a great selection of placemats that are not expensive if you are looking to start a collection.  I have fall, spring, Christmas, Valentine, and pretty much a set for any occasion.  I love to find a  set on a sale with matching napkins that goes with any of my dishes.  Next time you want to really enjoy a meal, start by setting your table with a set of placemats and matching napkins!

Exercise

I would love to say that I exercise regularly. I am even a member at a gym - where I never go!!!  But today I am changing.  Today I started to exercise.  Today I walked in my neighborhood with my friend - Jburd.  This is my plan for the next six weeks.  I will get up and walk four mornings a week.

They say it takes 21 days to make a habit.  So for the next six weeks - I plan to exercise for four days per week.  So by my 50th birthday I can say that I regularly exercise. Check by in with me then and I'll let you know if I stuck to my goal.

It was nice to be able to tell the doctor this today that I exercise.  I mean that I have exercised today.  That is a shade of truth and not really a bold face exaggeration of the truth.  I have made day one of exercise.........hoping I get up and make it again on Tuesday.

Rib Rub

Sunday afternoon was a rib cooking afternoon.  My sweet, Rhett, loves ribs, and since he was visiting this past weekend, I wanted to cook his favorite foods.  Ribs sound difficult but really are very easy to cook.  The key is to get the seasoning (rub) just right and to smoke them consistently over a 250 degree fire.  You can't just put them on and leave them.  It requires you to constantly check the fire to keep it at the right temperature.

My rib rub is really good.  You would think it was this amazing concoction of many spices but I really only use three things in my rib rub.  A few people have been privy to my rib rub but for the time being I plan on keeping a secret.  I am considering marketing it someday under the name of Ray's Rib Rub.  Catchy huh?  

I tell you what......if you can help me come up with a great name for my Rib Rub, I'll share the secret with you!  

Family Meals

I have had the best time this weekend with my nephew, Rhett, and his sweetie, Rachel.  He is so grown up and really a lot of fun to be around.  Friday night we had the most wonderful dinner and sat around the table eating and visiting.  He is so appreciative of whatever you cook and always compliments the meal.  Plus he eats everything.  It is such a pleasure cooking for him.

He is such a kind young man. We spent Saturday in town doing a bit of shopping and touring the downtown area.  Saturday night was spent watching the movie Bernie. Great and funny show to watch.  I feel like I knew the folks in the movie. 

I have had such a great weekend enjoying family and cooking for Rhett, Rachel and Ray.  Life is fun when you have family and friends to enrich your life.

Mills County General Store

On Friday afternoon, I rode with Ray to Goldthwaite to  the General Store there to pick up a gun he wanted to purchase.  This is a gun that is hard to find but we found it at the General Store for sale.  Of course I always enjoy a General Store because of the neat cooking items they often stock. 

Ray had a great time "shopping" while purchasing his gun.  He found plenty of  great dove hunting stuff for he and Blair to play with on the dove lease.  His great purchase was a battery operated dove whose wings spin around.  According to Ray, these fake doves whose wings spin are perfect for attracting dove to the area.   I like looking at the dove in my backyard so I may just borrow it after dove season and see how many I can get to flock to my patio. 

The General Store had an amazing cooking section too.  I bought an old fashioned cornbread mini stick iron skillet.  My Grannie had one that was a little bigger but I love this mini one.  It makes the cornbread sticks with lots of crust - just the way Ray likes cornbread.  I also purchased a tortilla warmer but for the purpose of cooking corn on the cob in the microwave.  It is awesome!  

General stores have so many wonderful things to view and purchase.  I can't wait to go back and spend some time browsing again.

I love to host a great party.  I always enjoy having friends and family around my kitchen while I'm cooking and then delight in pleasing them with the prepared meal.  Saturday night was just such a night.  I had planned to grill some steaks but thankfully the Lord blessed us with a rain shower that was heaven sent.  

I had to cook the steaks in the house and have learned how to do so in the oven.  They are as good as you would put on a grill and even more tender.  You must start with a thick tenderloin or porterhouse steak.  You will also need an iron griddle.  You can use a an iron skillet if there are only two of you for dinner.  I have a big iron griddle that I use to cook 8-10 steaks.

You start with great meat.  Trim it up and let it get to room temperature.  Then heat your oven to 500 degrees and put the iron skillet/griddle in the oven to fire up.  I then remove the skillet/griddle and place it over the open flame on my stove and sear one side of the meat.  When you flip the meat, it's time to put it back in the oven and cook it for 4 to 9 minutes at 350 degrees.  You do about four minutes if you want it rare.  Five for medium rare and seven for medium.  Nine to ten minutes will get you a well done steak.   

It's so easy to cook and takes less than 15 minutes.  Why not buy some big juicy steaks and invite some friends over for dinner this week.

Birthday

Tomorrow is my Mother's birthday.  We will all gather at her house to celebrate.  I can't believe she is another year older.  She sure doesn't look it or act like it.  She still mows her yard, washes her windows twice a year, and wipes down her baseboards every month.  I've always said that if cleanliness is next to godliness, Mother will be sitting in Jesus' lap.  

It's funny too that when I was a kid - I hated to clean.  I still don't much care for it but her values of a neat home inspire me today.  I don't like to go to bed at night with my kitchen a mess.  I make my bed up every morning (unless Ray is still in it!).  I don't mind getting rid of clutter.......I'm great with a big garbage sack!  I am even trying to do better at keeping up with the laundry.

You know they say that you do become your mother.  Boy I hope so!  She is one amazing, beautiful woman.  I hope that I have her strength, beauty (inner and outer) and zeal for life.  She is fearless and protective yet gentle and compassionate.  She sets high expectations not only for herself but for all of around.  Happy Birthday, Mom!  Thanks for making sure I had the best Mother ever!

Lillies

I am just not a great gardener.  I can whip up a meal in no time flat.  I can set a beautiful table.  I can speak to a group of a thousand with little or no preparation.  But growing things from the ground-not so much.  

I was delighted this year when my lilies that I planted last year sprouted up again this year.  They are slow growing and I was not really even sure if it was a flower or just a weed in that sprang up.  I trusted my gut and didn't' pull it.  Boy, was I ever glad that I did not do that.  


I began to see little buds forming at the top.  I knew my gut was right and that it was not a weed.  As the weeks went by, I realized that my beautiful plant was a lily.  Last week, I am pleased to report that they bloomed to their fullest in the most brilliant hue of fushia.  My Mother was in town and was able to enjoy them as well.  


I may make a gardener yet!

Chicken Salad for Andrea

My sweet neice, Andrea Blair, was looking for a chicken salad recipe one day.  You know I think a recipe is really just a list of ingriedients but here goes. 

1 chicken  - boiled and deboned (or you can use two large cans of chunk white chicken drained)
2 stalks of celery (chopped finely)
1 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt
1 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp sweet pickle relish
1/4 c. slivered almonds
Mayonaise to blend it all together ( I use real mayo - not Mirace Whip)

Now my good friend, Doc, would say it is not chicken salad unless you add some onion (well lots of onion) and maybe some olives.  He loves onions and olives.  So there are a couple of added ingriedents just in case you like onions or olives.

Chance Meetings

Last Saturday I traveled from Austin after a conference. Feeling a little tired, I pulled into the town of Italy where I lived some 25 years ago when I attended Baylor Law school. The town is still very much the same – some rundown buildings, the trailer park where I lived and some even more run down trailers. Out by the interstate are some new businesses – some fast food restaurants, gas stations and even a beer and wine store. After I toured the little town of Italy, I had hoped to stop in to the Uptown Cafe for a piece of pie and to visit old friends who used to run the place. Unfortunately, it was closed which is just as well because I don’t really need the pie.

I did however stop in to the Texas Best Smokehouse where there is a Sonic to get my signature glass of iced tea. Surprisingly, I ran into an old classmate from Baylor Law School – who was returning to Dallas from Waco where he had helped his daughter move into her new apartment. As I continue on this journey called life, my trip down memory lane has brought back so many fond memories. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me and my family.

Spaghetti

I love it.  I love to make it.  Mine is not real Italian spaghetti.  It's Texas Meat sauce over Noodles.  It's chunky and not saucy.  I admit that I do use a jar of sauce as a base but I do add my own touch to flavor the sauce.  I brown my meat with onions, bell peppers, celery and mushrooms.  Then I add a bunch of cheap Italian seasoning I get at the Dollar Store.  Finally I add a big can of diced Italian tomatoes, sauce, tomato paste.  Sometimes I even add mushroom soup.  I know its not real spaghetti because I would just as soon eat it over rice.  Go figure.   I don't even know how to make real Italian Spaghetti!  Leave a comment with your suggestions.

Living

One year ago today when I woke, I knew it would be a difficult day.  I knew that this was the day that I laid my Daddy to rest at the cemetery.  There would be a big lunch with lots of family and friends, followed by the visitation, the funeral and finally the cemetery.  I knew that today would change my life forever.  It did.  My Daddy's funeral was not sad.  It was the culmination of a man who lived his life to the fullest.  It was the celebration of all of his many accomplishments.  It was the recognition of his love for God, his family and friends. 

The church was overflowing.  The service was not only a celebration of my Daddy's life but also of the life he built with my Mother.  She has got to be the strongest most amazing woman I have ever known.  She is still sad sometimes and daily misses my Daddy but she and Daddy have always had the attitude that life is for the living. It's that attitude that she has instilled in me.  We choose to continue to live life, not sit around in sackcloth and morn, nor have a daily pity party.  I choose to be happy.  I have also chosen to surround myself with positive people.  Life is meant to be lived.  Let's start living!!!

The Last Year

One year ago Monday I lost my beloved Daddy. On that day on June 4, 2011, the phone rang. I missed the call as the phone was charging in the other room. My Daddy had been trying to call me. I tried to call him back several times but we were never able to connect. Unfortunately, at 9:40 that night, I received a call from my Mother telling me that Daddy had died walking through the gate at the farm from feeding the goats. She could not reach Carolyn or Jake but it was time to come home.

I always wondered what my Daddy and I would have said had we talked together those last few hours before he died. I often wondered if he knew that Saturday, June 4th would be the last day of his life. Today as I write this I am saddened that I shall never see him on this earth again. I’ve cried some over the week but more than anything I have reflected on the fact that I had an amazing childhood and a long adulthood where I developed a great friendship with my Daddy. I am blessed to still have my mother. So this past weekend, instead of mourning my Daddy, I celebrated that I still have one amazing parent left on this earth.

Publix and Piggly Wiggly

What an exciting adventure this past week.  I traveled with friends to Hilton Head Island, SC to spend a few days enjoying some R&R in a wonderful resort.  As always when we arrive at a condo, we make a grocery store run.  You always need to some wine, coffee, diet coke, cheese, crackers, fruit and breakfast foods.  So naturally you get on your iPhone and locate the nearest grocery store. 

What a surprise when I discovered that there was an actual Piggly Wiggly and a Publix nearby.  Publix is a great market - clean, upscale and wonderful selection of cheeses, wines, fruit and coffee.  My first experience with a Publix was last year when we traveled to Florida.  Publix must be our Texas version of HEB.  It is sad when you look forward to a great grocery store.

However, to my great surprise was that there was a Piggly Wiggly on the island.  It has been in the same family since 1969.  There was a Piggly Wiggly in my hometown growing up.  I loved going to Hiram's store.  He (and later his son David) had a wonderful grocery store.  Steve was the butcher and always selected the best cuts of meat.  They always carried your bags (paper of course) to your car no matter how many or how few groceries you had.  And there was a always the pig you could ride in the front of the store.  Mr. Hiram was generous too.  He gave away turkeys at Thanksgiving. 

This was a great trip down memory lane.  We are so spoiled to fantastic supermarkets that we forget how important personal service is in the retail business.  I'm glad I grew up in a town where there was a Piggly Wiggly!

Help

Most of the time I am pretty free with giving advice and tips. But one of the things I learned many moons ago is that you are never too old to learn anything new.  So I pose the question to those who read my blog and eagerly await your responses.

What I want to know and learn is about tips and tricks for organizing and decluttering my kitchen.  I have cleaned it out, downsized, moved things around and trashed old stuff and appliances I never use.  I have made a point of not buying too many "pantry items" or perishable goods so that I don't waste food.  Although my kitchen is where I feel the most at home and so very comfortable, I still feel like it is cluttered.

So, help me out.......give me some tricks, tips and hints to make my space more user friendly and less congested.

Relaxing

I decided Sunday afternoon was a great day to lounge by the pool.  I love sitting out and looking at the plants. I love my palm trees and banana plants as it just makes the backyard look tropical.  I so enjoy listening to the waterfall and seeing all the birds I regularly feed.   It has taken me a while to learn that some of life's best moments are in the still and quiet of your own backyard.

The Kentucky Derby

Every year I look forward to the Kentucky Derby.  I am not really a horse racing fan but after having been to the Derby once time, I love the history and traditions of the race.  I love the hats, the singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" and of course, the mint juleps.

In 2008 we attended the Derby with two special couples, Doc and Patty & Hoyt and Bev.  It was a great trip.  We have so many wonderful memories from that trip.   I hope I can attend again just one more time in my life.  The following year, I hosted a Kentucky Derby Party.  The array of hats was just divine.  Janice won best hat.  I think it may be time next year to revisit Louisville during the race weekend.  Let me know if you plan to join us !!!!!

Fresh Flowers

There is nothing quite like getting fresh cut flowers.  Most women would never admit but they love to have a bouquet of fresh flowers in their kitchen.  I have always admired friends who could do grow flowers and make arrangements from their own gardens.   I have never had a green thumb at all. 

Since I moved behind the gates, I have been inspired by my two neighbors Patty and Janice.  Janice always could take anything from the yard and arrange it into something wonderful.  Patty could grow anything.  She has the greenest thumb of anyone I know.  I aspire to learn to love to dig in the dirt like she does.  I'm not there but I'm learning.

Over the past three years, I have been planting a little here and there.  Lulane recently gave me some gardening gloves as a little sussy - so I have put them to use today.  I repotted two plants that were root bound that I had not killed last winter.  One was a plant called Texas blue belles that I grew from seeds.  They are beautiful annuals that can withstand our Texas heat.  The other was a big ole fern that my son Jake gave me for Mother's Day before he left for Alaska last year.  

As I was finishing up, I decided to snip some magnolia blooms and hydrangeas to put on my kitchen windowsill.  They are beautiful.  They remind me that you can do anything you set your mind to doing - even gardening.  I have real fresh flowers that I grew in my yard in my house for the first time ever.  I only wish my Grannie Lester were still here to see how beautiful my hydrangeas are!  I am sure she is looking down from the heavens smiling today!

I am heading back out to yard to clip some more fresh blooms to take to my friend, Patty, to remind her of her great influence on me as a gardener.  

Trees

I have really do love trees.  Part of the reason we bought the house we live in today is that there are an abundance of beautiful palm trees around the pool.  The other reason are the three gorgeous magnolia trees.  I have always loved magnolia trees.  I have tried to grow them in every house I have ever lived in since I have been on my own.  I have never been successful. 

When we moved into this house, I didn't realize the sprinkler system was not turned on to water the trees. Daddy kept telling me that I would lose those big magnolia's if I did not water them.  I kept assuring him it was just summer and it was hot but I had them on a sprinkler system.  Fortunately, I figured it out and did not lose them and today they are just full of blooms.  I smile every time I see those three trees loaded with Magnolia's as I am reminded of the silly argument with my Daddy about watering those trees.

See I never figured Daddy for much of tree man because he loved to trim trees.  It was always a joke at our house growing up because when Daddy got his chain saw out, the trees in the year always looked like  they had been to barbershop.  He would rip up Mother's favorite weeping willow tree until it just stood straight up in the air with very little "weeping willows" left.  She would fuss at him every year for doing it and he would kill a few from time to time.  He would always promise he would not do it again.  And then next year rolled around.

Yesterday I walked over to my dear neighbor's, The Taylor's.  Patty is a master gardener and selected some delightful plants to plant in the shade of her trees in her back yard.  To her horror she walked out to find that Doc had "trimmed" the trees.  All her hard work will be in vain shortly as those plants will just blister in the hot sun.  I had to chuckle to myself as I was reminded of how my Daddy used to love to trim the trees.  Maybe its a generational thing, but it sure brought back some fond memories of Daddy and his obsession for tree trimming!

Hydrangeas

My Grannie Lester was a delightful woman.  I spent many hours at her house sitting on her porch.  On the north side of the porch, Grannie had the most beautiful hydrangea bushes.  They were always plentiful with big bluish purple blooms.  The memories of these beautiful flowers will forever be embedded in my memory.

When we bought our house in Cleburne, I was so excited that I had this amazing hydrangea bush.  We have lived there for four years now and never had a bloom - until this year.  I actually have blooms on the plant this year.  I am hopeful that they will be big and purple but I'll take the pink ones too.  I am told it has to do with the acidity of the soil.  That may be a project for next year, but for this year, I am just so excited to have blooms on my hydrangea.

I'll post more pics as soon as it blooms.  Isn't it amazing  how the little things in life can make us so very happy.

My "Pot" Garden

My Daddy always had a garden.  My grandparents always had a garden as did my aunts and uncles.  As my Daddy got older, he would inquire if we were coming home to help "shell" peas, "shuck" corn, "dig" potatoes, or "cut" okra.  I always seemed to find an excuse to be working, out of town or just not up to the trip home for those events.

As I look back I now realize how much I truly enjoyed the bounty from these gardens my family grew each year.  Last year when Daddy died in June, he and his friend, Joe, had planted five (5) acres of purple hull peas.  Daddy was not really able to get out and work the garden and Joe was so kind to help him.  But Daddy loved peppers, tomatoes, and other things that grew in the garden.  Since he was not able to walk very far, he gathered up some tacky tubs, huge pots, and even hung some upside down strawberries (as seen on TV - and given to him for his birthday by Rhett) in a corner in the back yard.  It was really a sight to behold and he kept telling Mother not to worry that his "Pot Garden" would yield some of the best vegetables ever and they would be right out the back door.

We as you can imagine, he died in early June leaving Mama with that "tacky" Pot Garden to tend, water, and harvest.  By the way, it was nearly impossible to mow around so it was by no means manicured.  And of course, he left Joe with that five acres of peas to pick and leaving Mama to help shell peas all summer long.  We have all had a few words to say about that as we each had to come in pretty often to help wind up Daddy's affairs and always got roped into pea shelling.



Well I miss my Daddy's garden almost as much as I miss him.  So this year, I have planted my own little "Pot Garden".  I have two tomato plants, green and red bell pepper, banana pepper, onions and cucumbers.  I hope he is smiling up there in heaven watching me "tend" my little garden.  I plan to enjoy the bounty this year in hopes he has passed on his green thumb to me.

And by the way---Joe only planted two acres of peas this year!  I do hope he will share.  I don't think I would even mind shelling a few - just to remember the good ole days!

Dying

Daddy's birthday this week reminded me of the loss I suffered when he went to heaven last June.  This past week I have also experienced loss again.  Miss Ann, as she was affectionately known, has suffered so since her surgery and her family made the decision to honor her wishes in her living will.  Another family is losing one of its core members.

Miss Ann's situation has brought forth so many good memories in spite of the tragedy of this situation.  Last night as Kim and I talked we were recalling the things from our past about her Mother that were good memories.  I wanted to focus on some of things and the lessons that I learned from them.

When I was in the 9th grade and tried out for majorette, Miss Ann was my twirling teacher.  We discovered too late that she was gifted in that area and didn't really put much effort into trying out.  But the thing I learned from Miss Ann was to try harder.  And I did.  And I won the next year.

When Kim was a but a little girl and times were hard for school teachers, Miss Ann cooked four pieces of fish for the family.  Kim assumed they were having a fish fry and invited our whole family for dinner.  Much to our family's surprise, there was but four pieces of fish.  Miss Ann cobbled together some other stuff from the fridge and we all ate together as if we were having a big ole southern' fish fry.  I learned that you are gracious as a hostess no matter what and that you are gracious as a guest - no matter what is served.

I will never forget the night before Jacob was born.   My Mother was playing bridge, my Daddy was home with me and Kenny was traveling from Dallas.  I went to Miss Ann's and burst into tears exclaiming that I was not ready to be a mother.  She assured me that I was and that it was really too late to change my mind.  A week later when I brought Jake home from the hospital and everyone had gone back to work, she came over when I panicked about bathing him.  She assured me that Dial soap and water would not kill him and that he was a pretty sturdy little guy.  I learned alot about not stressing over the little things from her in those early months and years of Jake's life.  She and my Mother taught me that kids can eat rice cereal before the pediatrician tells you they can, Dial soap will not rot the baby's skin off, and boys are going to get cuts, bruises and scrapes as they go through life.

She raised a lot of kids at "Miss Ann's Day Care" and I am sure there are so many others that can share a life lesson learned from Miss Ann.  As she approaches the final days of her life, lets not dwell on the sadness but on the memories of great things that we learned from our Southern friend - Miss Ann!