CONVERSATION WITH NAAMAN

My brother and his family are in town visiting. Here is a conversation I had on the phone with my nephew Naaman just a while ago...

Naaman: Hello
LL: Hey
Naaman: Hey
LL: What are you doing?
Naaman: Huh?
LL: What are you doing?
Naaman: Good.
LL: Naaman this is aunt Laura, I didn't ask how you were doing I asked what you are doing.
silence
LL: Naaman?
Naaman: Watching TV
LL: What are you watching?
Naaman: Huh?
LL: What are you watching?
Naaman: Disney...(something something I couldn't make out)
LL: Well, let me talk to your Grandmother.
Naaman: Who?
LL: Your grandmother.
Naaman: Who?
LL: GRANDMOTHER POLLY
Naaman: Oh, (yells) POLLY! TELEPHONE.
Naaman: she is coming
LL: OK
Naaman: She is almost here
Naaman: Here she is
Polly: "HELLO"

July 4, 2008

These pictures are from July 4 this year. There are Jenfer and Tim. I am posting this, one - because we had a great time and two - to see if Tim reads this blog. he swears he doesn't because he thinks it is stupid, but he will be pissed if he sees his picture out here, so "THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS ONLY A TEST....BLEEP....BLEEP.....BLEEP". (remember for the national weather emergency something or other on the tv?).

Oh, and finally had to break down and put my ugly mug on here. Good picture of Jimmy, and really good picture of the chicken. After grilling he doused it in white sauce - (did I spell doused right?). It was yummy! Thanks for the photos Beth....I told you to send me one of you too!

Sorry I haven't learned how to layout correctly with pictures.

Audi -vs- Audio

Have you ever wondered why the car Audi is pronounced like oudi with the a sounding like the ou in out and Audio has the a sound like in laud. I think the car should be pronounced like awdee...and that is all I have to say about that.

Good Deed for the Day

Have you done a good deed today? I have. I was in the lobby of our building about to go get something to eat. As usual, someone came in looking for the Social Security Office. It has moved from Bradford to behind Colonial Plaza on that street back there between Colonial Plaza and the mall. Well, it is hard to tell people how to get there. This girl about 30 was trying to take her father there. He came in all sweating ( I guess no air in the car) saying he had no idea where they were or where to go. I drew her a map and showed her how to cut through colonial and the building would be across the street from the end of their parking lot. He was dying to go to the restroom ("because I have to take pills for inflamation") so I showed him the restroom and waited on him while she went back to their car. While I was walking out with the man it dawned on me (since I wasn't sure they really understood where to go), why don't I just go there and they can follow me? So I did....there you have it....they were so greatful. Kinda made me feel good too!

Meet Cockeye

Hello Cockeye. We all love this kitty. We thought it was a stray because it hangs out with us all the time in the garden and on the car port. But, it ends up he belongs to one of my neighbors. His right eye is messed up hence the name Cockeye. He loves to play with us while we are trying to weed or pick veggies. Have I mentioned I love cats? I think I might have. Jenfer has the cutest baby calico named Lucy. I am glad she saw her first because I might have made Spike and Sally tolerate a sister she is sooooo cute.

Later

Thursday Night Work

Here we are working in our garden. We have had lots of delicious bounty this summer. See the watermelon? We are most proud of those. Miss Polly is working in the squash. Tim and Jenfer are over there looking at something. After we finished last night all of the corn (the tall dead brown stuff to the right of the picture) was gone. We are getting ready to sow our fall veggies! I know for sure we will plant collard greens! Yum yum. Jenfer is working hard pulling the wheel barrel. I want you all to know that I worked hard too. I didn't just stand around taking pictures.

Sausage Ball heaven

I said I was not going to post food for a while, but I could not let this image pass. These are sausage balls, and believe it or not, some people have never even heard of them. I baked these delicious things last night and brought them to work today for breakfast. A person from New Mexico was visiting and had never had them. It is always nice to share food with others! Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Spike in Action (not)

Good morning Spike! Believe it or not, I was able to get some pictures of Spike being still this morning. Spike sleeps with me everynight...like I mean in my bed, under the covers. We have our same morning ritual every day. I get up (after hitting snooze the maximum number of times I can....don't know why I don't just set my alarm later, but that is another blog!). He goes out back to pee and when I let him back in he runs straight to my bed and lays with his head on my pillow. Yes I said ON MY PILLOW. I tried to get a shot of that this morning, but he does not stay there long. When I get in the shower he goes to his favorite spot in the living room on the couch. He lays there getting hair on my beautiful pillows. If he hears something he can look out the window (see above). This morning he was tired of being the center of attention so he stretched and left. Have I told you that I love that dog.

That's not a bugger

No, that is not a bugger on the outside of Rachel's nose....it is a sparkling reminder that my child is 18 and does not have to have my permission to obtain piercings anymore. Nor does she have to obtain my permission to tatoo her body (but let's not remind her of that). Most of you, if you have children, still have parental control over these things because of your child's age. There will come a day when that is gone.....Wait, please stop crying.....I didn't mean to make you cry! It is not that bad. (did I mention that my baby is leaving me in less than an month?)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Rachel. Prom night 2008. There is something about her smile....is she happy? is she sad? There is something mysterious about her in this picture. Rachel always seems to take the prettiest pictures. My baby is leaving in less than a month...I am beginning to have problems with that!

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (not the movie)

My friend Jenfer can fry anything. She is the best fryer in the world. See, I am a little jealous. I can't fry a potato and it come out right. Her and my mom even tried to help me once. I was frying pork chops. They were right there beside me every step of the way....and all of the breading just fell right off in the skillet. It was like, "Oh well, Laura Leigh, you have many other talents!" I haven't been right since.

Jenfer uses this big old cast iron skillet and is just an artist in the way she works. We had these lovely beauties tonight. It was my favorite thing served. Thank you Jenfer for all of the wonderful meals you have cooked me in the past.

BIG REDS

Just look at these.....juicy, succulent, acidic. Just perfect! We grew these! There is nothing better than a home grown tomato. We have been trying hard this summer to ensure that ours would turn out good...and they did!

It almost brings a tear to my eye.

WE ARE PIGS!

Yes, we are pigs. Just look at this plate....makes you jealous doesn't it! All of this but the corn meal was grown in the garden. Jenfer was nice enough to use her unbelievable frying skills to cook us squash, green tomatoes and okra. I made cornbread and corn on the cob, and we also had sliced juicy, yummy acidic red tomatoes. Jenfer, T and me were pigs! Oh, I forgot the lima beans (probably the only thing that was good for you). We had such a nice time. Thanks again Jenfer.

I also forgot. T brought brownies.

Exhaustion

Well, it is official.....we are registered for college! We had a wonderful trip, quite tiring, but wonderful. The campus is really beautiful and the university seems so organized. We had mostly good classes, a few boring. The kids had a great time. They got to stay in the dorms. I was going to, but I got to my room and there was NOTHING in it. I mean NOTHING! No lamp, no TV, no radio. NOTHING. I left and went to a hotel. (imagine that) We got back around 12:00 today, and then I had to go to work. Got in 6 hours though. I am tired - will post more this weekend.

Better than......

This cake is heavenly as you can tell by its name. It has german chocolate cake smothered in sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce, then topped with Cool Whip and to top it all off CRUSHED BUTTERFINGERS! Yum yum. I brought it to work today and everyone loved it.

I won't be able to post for a couple of days. Rachel and I are going to college orientation! I might cry!

I saw this beautiful tree on the way to the store. It is in my vet's parking lot. Just wanted to share the beauty of it with you. The crape myrtle trees are blooming all over the city. Did you know that our city tried to be the crape myrtle capital of the world? Don't know why they did not succeed. Anyway, notice all the beautiful trees as you go about your day. -LL

SUNDAY SALAD

Cute Cat






Long Sally Bathing Sally Sweet Face Sally










Sally with my foot "Stop that Sally!"



(I tried to get the captions to stay under the right picture but can't figure out how. I bet you can figure out what caption goes with what pic).

I bet you were expecting a redipe! Have I mentioned that I love my cat. I love my dog too, but Spike operates at warp speed so he is hard to capture in pictures. Sally always follows me to the mailbox and then lays in the driveway for some attention.

I will try to get some good pics of Spike. Might have to be of him sleeping! Have a good week.

I was just thinking.....when Sally is sitting on my car (like in the picture I posted earlier) I am going to refer to her as Salibu. Get it? Sally on my Malibu....I thought it was quite ingenious. I also must be very bored (aka lazy) to be sitting around here on Saturday thinking of yet another name to call the cat.

Oh yeah, Rachel told me this morning I forgot to list Whammie as one of Sally's alter egos. That is Rachel's personal favorite.

Labor of Love

We have a garden this summer. It has been fun but lots of work. We have been eating squash (lots and lots of squash!), cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and yummy delicious corn. As a result of being such good gardeners (ha) we have had a lot of yield. We have been coming up with various ways of preserving our yummy veggies. That means I have canned a lot. Pickling is a labor of love. Today I did squash again. Above it is simmering in its yummy sticky pickle juice.

Here is the fruit of my labor.....

I know, just 5 pints right. That is why I call it a labor of love. Come Thanksgiving, when I pull out a jar of these delicious, crunchy, sweet squash pickles everyone will LOVE me. You can see evidence of other weekend work in the back. I bet Paula Dean is jealous!

This is Sally Mae Jefferson Jackson Johnson Washington....Or Salad, or Wombat, or Wombaticus, or Evil Zlid (when she is bad), or TinkTink, or really just Sally. She has lots of personalities like most cats. I love cats. I have pretty much always have had and always will have a cat in my house. When we got Sally we also got her brother Jack. He was hit by a car at about 7 months old. We miss him. It is always fun to get cats in twos. That way you can watch them play together. Sally and Spike have lots of fun playing together as you can imagine. Well, now I have introduced all the main characters....more to come later.

This is Spike's favorite position. Right next to Jimmy on the couch. By the way, Jimmy is my Boyfriend or significant other or love of my life. I don't really like to refer to him as my boyfriend because we have been together for 12 long years and "boyfriend" just doesn't really explain that. I know it sounds weird, but "boyfriend" just doesn't really describe someone that has been around that long. Jimmy is very special to Rachel and I and has always done a lot to help us. He takes care of us. Anyway, here are two of my four loves kicking back and having a beer (Jimmy, not Spike). Oh, and don't look at the mess in the chair.....HEY, I said don't look.

LOVE

Meet Spike! I love this dog! He is so fun, hyper, loving and so ugly he is cute. We spend a lot of time together mostly on the couch. He is a wonderful companion. I am sure I will depend on him for company when Rachel goes to college (gasp! in about a month). We adopted Spike from The Ark (an animal shelter). I totally believe in getting your pets from the Humane Society or other organizations. He is the best dog - truly woman's best friend! Oh, and don't look at the mess on the table behind him. HEY, I said don't look!

This is my beautiful daughter Rachel. She can be a handful at times, but most of the time she is the epitome of a wonderful daughter. I am so proud of her and love her to death! We recently went to Italy and Greece for vacation. Rachel is standing in front of Julius Caesar's burial pyre (is that the right word for where they burned his body?). You know I will be posting more pictures from Europe soon. Just trying to give you pictures of the list of characters.

Welcome

Welcome to my crazy life! We have a lot of fun around here on the quiet little street of Pennylane. There are four main characters: myself, daughter Rachel, cat Sally, and dog Spike. We all can get into a lot of trouble no matter where we roam. We always try to be happy and have a good time. This blog will help us remember some of those times, and be able to share them with our family and friends. Wish me luck.