I AM THANKFUL

Everyday on Facebook, during the month of November, there have been folks saying what they are thankful for. Until today I have not participated, but this being the day of Thanksgiving, I thought I would give it a shot.

The last few days when it has been unnaturally warm, the heater in my car has been working, but this morning when I had to get out and go to the store for cold meds, as cold as it was outside, it didn’t work!

I am thankful I have a car that runs. ( most times!) Some people have to walk.

I am thankful I have shoes.

Some people don’t.

I am thankful that I believe in God. I am thankful for KNOWING that Jesus died on a cross in order to save me. I am thankful that I have God to pray to.. for help for me, my loved ones, and all others.  I am thankful that I know there is a Heaven. I am thankful that I know one sweet day, we will meet our loved ones again there. I am thankful that I know that He is always with me, that He will never leave me.

Some people have never found GOD.  I pray for them too.

I am thankful for Facebook.

I have regained friendships, found loved ones and I do not have to leave my house to be able to talk to someone! I am thankful for all my friends and family on there.

I am thankful for my parents who loved me enough to whoop my butt when I needed it, but would also be just as quick to hug, kiss, and rock me to sleep at night. They also taught me how to respect others and their property.

Some kids have no one who cares that much about them.

I am thankful I was poor when growing up and still poor now.

It makes me have empathy for others who are less fortunate, and also to appreciate what I have.

I am thankful that I finally learned how to ( most times) control my temper, learned how to forgive, and learned how to ‘let go and let GOD’. (It took me a very long time though.)

Some people go through their whole lives carrying old grudges on their backs, chips on their shoulders, and just looking for a fight.

I am thankful for all my nieces and nephews.

They have made me laugh and made me cry, and I love everyone of them with all my heart.

I am thankful that God let me have Danny as a soul mate, best friend and husband for over 35 years.

Some folks don’t get that long with their loved ones.

I am thankful God blessed me with a son and then ten years later; a daughter.

Some will never know the love of a child.

I am thankful that God decided to give me the miracle of grandchildren.

Until you have one, you don’t know known how truly special a grandchild is.

I am thankful I have a special son who will get out in the cold and pick up pecans, crack and shell them to sell…

So that he can buy Christmas for his loved ones.

I am thankful my daughter has prepared a feast for Dan and I, even though she is very much pregnant, has a stent inside of her, and on top of all that, has a cold.

She is a strong woman.

Most of all, I am thankful that God loves and forgives me…

Even when I can’t love or forgive myself.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

GOD DON’T LIKE UGLY

Let me just start off by saying that I am madder than an old wet hornet, as my daddy use to say.

Better yet, let me start off by saying that…

I am Madder Than HELL.

I have various ways of getting mad. Sometimes, I get mad in an instant..those are the times that I have to try my best to hold back on my temper. I think I am successful maybe 75% of the time.

Then, there are the times that I first get mad in an instant and I hold it back, and hold it back and hold it back…until I finally explode.

This is one of those times.

I try very, very hard not to publically state my political opinions.  I feel that the usual lies and unfulfilled promises from either politician are not worth losing friends over.

I also feel that any politician running for office here lately needs to be wearing a lie detector belt 24/7. 

So, that being said, and in the words of a dear friend…

I keep it to myself.

Until today.

I am on Facebook. If you are my friend and you read my ‘about me’ section, you will see this:

Political :

When it comes time to cast my vote...I am not on the left, I am not on the right, I am not a liberal, nor am I a conservative..I am just an American who wants the best for our country.

This pretty much sums me up.

Everyday on Facebook, I read a lot of posts on various walls. Usually it is about what someone fixed for supper, how much we love our kids, grandkids, or someone needing prayer, and I love reading them. Here lately though, some of the posts have had my temper boiling and it has gotten to the exploding point.  Never before in my life have I heard so many derogatory, insulting, and downright horrible remarks about some of our American citizens.

The sad part is , these remarks came from fellow Americans.

I know that our country is in pretty rough shape right now, but talk to your parents and grandparents and they will tell you all about the DEPRESSION…where you had to have a stamp to buy gas, a stamp to buy coffee or sugar and then had to wait in long lines to do so, if you had the money.

And yes, I know that there are a lot of folks who feel that is where we may be heading again, but tearing each other down with these hateful and cruel remarks will not help this nation.

Now listen to this..

When I was 18 years old, I proudly marched myself up town and registered to vote. When you registered, you were asked to choose which political party you preferred.

I chose Democrat.

Yep…you heard me right.

If you ask me why, I would probably tell you that it was all I ever heard anyone talking about here in our little town at the time, which was around the late 60’s and early seventy’s…and also because my daddy was a Democrat. 

Just so you know, truth be told, I do not vote solely Democrat, nor do I vote solely Republican on ANY political race…(go back and read my ‘about me’ Facebook profile.)

So, yes, technically, I am a registered Democrat. You can talk about me all you want. Feel free. You won’t be the first nor the last to do so and I have learned to let most of it roll off my back.

Just don’t talk about my kids, my grandchildren, my mama nor my daddy, because this is where I get madder than hell…

In an instant.

Then I explode.

My daddy, who was a Democrat…

Worked two and three jobs ALL HIS LIFE…even when he was sick and practically near death.

He was not lazy.

He was not stupid.

He was not a low life.

He was not a blood sucking, welfare grabbing s.o.b.

And he sure as hell was not the scum of the earth…as some have chosen to call all Democrats on Facebook, thus including myself and my daddy.

President Lincoln said that ‘a house divided amongst itself can not stand’ and he was right folks.

If you want to know the truth…I did not like some of President Obama’s plans, nor did I like some of Romney’s plans. In the end, I  actually entertained the idea of writing  Honey Boo-Boo in, so that should tell you how I felt about either candidate.  She just wasn’t old enough.  

I do know one thing, no matter which way I vote, nor the outcome of the presidential race, I will not class all Democrats nor all Republicans into one big ball of mire. All Democrats are not ‘deadbeats who roll in welfare handouts’ ( not my words) and all Republicans are not ‘rich egotistical pompous jerks’. (again, not my words, folks)

Life will go on.

This presidency will last four more years and then a new president will come in. Be them Republican or a Democrat, no matter which political party, I just hope it will be SOMEONE who can help heal this great country of ours and help it stay the greatest nation on earth.

Call me naïve, but I still truly believe that we, the American Citizens, are so much more than just mere Democrats and Republicans. The majority of us are God loving, God fearing, good and decent people of all races. When trouble strikes, no matter where at, we have been known to be the most giving and helpful people in the world.

ONE NATION UNDER GOD?

Remember folks; God don’t like ugly.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and WILL HEAL THEIR LAND.”
2 CHRONICLES 7:14

God is trying to tell us something.

Think about it and then maybe we should all get down on our knees and pray about it.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

THANKING GOD AND WARNING A DEMON

First, and foremost, I thank YOU God for being with my sister/ friend today as she underwent surgery. I thank You LORD, with all my heart, for keeping the cancer cells away from her lymph nodes. It will still be a long hard road to her healing, but it will not be quite as rough as it could have been, if she would have had to have chemo.

I thank you Lord for my two nieces, who showed amazing strength and faith as they waited all day for news of their mama’s condition. As much as I would want to brag that they get this super inner strength from their Aunt’lene, in all truth, they get that from her. Even after coming through today’s painful surgery and feeling the nauseating side effects of the anesthesia, there she lay, never uttering a single moan, whereas I would have been kicking and screaming.

I knew she was sick and hurting…I could see it in her eyes. You see,  I have seen her in severe pain, so I know her reactions to it.

I have been through two births with this lady, seeing both my nieces born. She had NO pain medicine during both labors, but I never heard a scream, nor even a whimper, come from her…Although she did grab hold of and lay both of  the side rails of the hospital bed out flat…during each birth. I use to kid her, telling her that the hospital had to buy new bed rails each time she went in labor!

Cancer, you sick, demented demon, how DARE you touch this good and sweet lady… my friend, my sister, my niece’s mom?

I do have a warning for you though. Don’t let her sweet demeanor fool you. You don’t know her like I do.

Honestly, you don’t stand a chance.

She has more quiet determination in her little finger, than most folks have experienced in their whole lives. She will beat you and she will do it quietly and with great dignity.

Because that’s how she rolls. 

Oh……and one more thing….

She never ever gives up.

Thank YOU LORD for for the many, many blessings YOU give us…

And also for the angels You bring into our lives.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

THREE… TWO… ONE…BLAST OFF!

I went to see Amanda and the boys today. I got my big box from UPS yesterday and wanted to take them the goodies that I had ordered for them. I got the boys a down alternative blanket for each of their beds. I also got each of them a pair of footed PJ’s with little monkeys all over them…appropriate huh?!!!

Truth be told,  Mawmaw just couldn’t stand thinking of them being cold this winter. I also got them some Lightning McQueen shoes that the headlights light up on the little car icon on the side of them when they walk. Wyatt’s and William both had feet too big for their shoes! But at least Wyatt’s ended up fitting Will, which means I only have to trade Will’s for a bigger size for Wyatt.

I also got each of them a couple of pair of jeans and two shirts. William got an ELMO shirt and after trying it on, REFUSED to take it back off! Wyatt got Curious George on his and ended up keeping his on too. They each got a brown sweat shirt that says, “If you’re looking for trouble, YOU FOUND IT!”  Soooooooooooo true! heehee!  I got their mama a new maternity blouse and a pair of maternity jeans. Both fit her to a tee, thank goodness!

While busy looking in the box, Wyatt and Will both asked me, “Did you get us a prize Mawmaw?” Now I knew little boys don’t consider blankets or clothes as a prize…and they are use to me having them a prize when they come over to my house. ( I go to the Dollar Tree and buy them a dollar prize that they think is worth millions!! ) I did have them a little snack size bag of marshmallows each. William could eat his weight in marshmallows, but their little snack bags only had about 8 mini size each. As soon as Will caught Wyatt’s back turned, he grabbed his snack bag. I said, “ William give me that bag” and before I knew it, he had opened it and grabbed all the marshmallows and popped them in his little mouth! I couldn’t get mad because it took all I had in me not to laugh! He looked just like a little squirrel with marshmallows in his cheek…and a  HAPPY little squirrel at that!

The box that held all their goodies was huge. So when Wyatt and Will asked me again for a prize, I said, “ look…play with this box. Wyatt,you and Will go get your crayons” and when they both ran off to get them, Amanda got busy cutting a ‘door’ in the side of the box. By the time they got back and had decorated it, they had them a space ship! Amanda even made a little steering wheel for them out of some of the card board she had cut off!

They both got into their space ship by their side door and Wyatt said, “Three, two, one…BLAST OFF!” and our little guys were gone to the moon!  I told Amanda that one day, they just may be astronauts and we would think back to this day! They played with that box…excuse me…spaceship…for over two hours! You know, I think that is what I will get them for Christmas……some huge cardboard boxes!!

We were sitting on the porch swing when I got ready to leave, so I told them to come get in my lap and give me a hug and kiss, because I had to go home. Wyatt said , “Mawmaw, why you got to go? Will Uncle Dan be worried about you?” I told him no, but I had to go by and see my mama. They knew who I was talking about, because they have been to see her a time or two. Wyatt said, “Mawmaw…why her in the hospital..is she sick?”  I said, “no Wyatt, she is just very old and can not stay home by herself anymore…”  

The words he said next shook me up a little. He said,“Mawmaw… what will happen to me when I get old?” I swallowed hard and said, “Well Wyatt, you will have a wife and lots of children and grandchildren”. He said, “Mawmaw, I just want the grandchildren….but they can’t ride on my gator, cause the battery is dead!!”

God bless their little hearts.

I thank You soooooooooo much for my grandbabies God. They never fail to remind me, that we were all put here as innocents...

and once upon a time…

a cardboard box could be our spaceship.

To God be the Glory.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

THE LITTLE GREEN BOX OF MEMORIES

          

I have two recipe boxes. The little green one is from 1971, the year Danny and I married. The blue one came quite a few years later and has bigger and newer recipe card collection.

Going through the green one today to find a certain recipe I needed, was like taking a trip back in time.

The first recipe I came across was for ‘Dump Cake’.  This was the cake that Danny's Aunt Net shared with the family one Christmas. It was such a hit that Danny’s mom got the recipe and every Christmas afterwards, there would be a dump cake on the table.

Then there was the recipe for the Rice Pudding that my mama use to make. The way my mama made it though, was in no way like a pudding. The consistency was more like a sticky cake made in an oblong metal pan. Just seeing that recipe brought the memory of my mama mixing it all together in a white red rimmed bowl on our old table. ( I could even see the well worn red checked oil cloth that was always on it.) I would sit there as a child and watch my mama mixing the left over rice together with the eggs, milk and flour along with sugar and spices. The smell of the cinnamon and vanilla would be a sweet perfume floating around our old kitchen that day.

I found the recipe for Peanut Butter Cake and icing that Danny’s 90 plus year old Big Mama still makes. Years ago, when she found out that I loved that cake because my granny use to make the exact same one, she began making me one as a Christmas gift each Christmas. The whole family loved this cake so much, that Big Mama would actually sneak the cake over to my house as if she was delivering stolen goods! God bless her heart.

My Granny was always making cakes, but she never wrote the recipes down, least not to my knowledge. She just kept them all in her head. So when she passed on, so did the recipes. Once, right after I began working at the BBQ, I mentioned to my boss lady that I wish I had gotten the recipe for my Granny’s nut cake before she passed on. Not long afterwards, my boss came to work with some recipes of her mom’s that she had carefully handwritten down for me. I found those recipes today and I am still in awe that she would take the time to do such a nice thing for me.

The recipe for ‘Peanut Butter Squares’ has a note I had written on the bottom of the stained old index card… ‘Amanda made these on Oct. 16, 1991.’ She was 9 years old and had brought the recipe home from school to make for school work. I can still see her working so hard at our kitchen table. She wanted them to be just right…and they were! They were so good and moist and she was one happy little girl!

I found an old yellowed notebook paper neatly folded and pushed in the far back of the box. I opened it up and found the recipe for baked chicken and rice that I had made up many years ago. Down at the bottom of the page, for some reason, I had signed my name and to the left was where Danny had also signed my name. He would sometimes sit at the table as I prepared our suppers and the memory of him saying that he was going to try to write it just like me came to me like sunlight filtering into a window. Seeing his writing again brought tears to my eyes.

I finally found the recipe that I had been searching for and as I placed the recipe box back in it’s place on the counter, it dawned on me that these were not just recipes.

These were the foods that we all enjoyed together as a family. They were the Christmases, the Thanksgivings, the Easters and the Birthdays which we all celebrated for generations with our loved ones…Some long gone now.

No, they are not just recipes…

They are the precious memories of a life lived.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

WAY BACK WHEN

I picked up a few limbs that were blown down from the huge oak tree in my front yard overnight when I got up this morning. I tossed them across the road where the city truck will pick them up. We were under a tornado watch last night, but I did not hear it raining, nor the wind blowing at all. Guess I slept pretty good…better than I thought!

Later on today, I went out to Tendercare Pharmacy to get Dan’s meds. On the way back home, I had the radio tuned to the Greensboro station. Just as I was passing Lee’s Chinese Restaurant, Chubby Checker began singing ‘Come on baby, let’s do the twist’ and I was instantly transported back in time.

When I was a little kid back in the 60’s, our Movie Theater was the building that now houses Lee’s restaurant. Back in the day, they use to play music before the show on Saturdays and you could dance… if you dared! ‘The Twist’ was one of those songs that played and we would get out there in our socks and twist our little 7 and 8 year old booties off! The Twist was the dance back then and we thought we were something!

Isn’t it amazing that the songs of our youth, the songs of the 50’ and 60’s, are still being played and even enjoyed by our own children and grandchildren? I truly believe that there was something special about that era….Oh sure, we had our problems back then. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and the drills we had at school? But those times sure seemed to be  so much lighter and brighter than now….

Or maybe it is just by looking back that we can actually see it clearly for what it was…an age of innocence.

Back in the 50’s/ 60’s people had only one TV, if they were lucky and that one TV only picked up two or three channels! You used an antenna that was attached to a tall metal pole stuck in the ground outside the window where the TV was. Some had it way up on top of the roof and the picture was still grainy and fuzzy. You were constantly going outside to turn that antenna, hoping to pick up a better signal.  Now days we have a TV in every room with hundreds of crystal clear channels on each one and the TV antennas are a thing of the past.

Some folks still had outdoor toilets and a well in the yard for their water back then. Our well went dry out on Horseshoe Bend, so daddy had to haul water in milk cans from the dairy near by. How we got by on those few milk cans of water..how my mama managed to make it all work out, what with all us children, day by day…is beyond me.

The refrigerators were small and the ice box was just that, a tiny box in the top, with just room enough to put two metal ice trays in. Great clunks of ice would form around it and you had to defrost that little freezer by hand.

Danny and I had one of those refrigerators when we married. If I close my eyes, I can still see it. I was sitting here thinking back and wondering what I did with my meat.. If I had no room for it in that little bitty freezer, where did I keep it?  It soon dawned on me that I didn't cook meat at every meal, but usually only once a week. We mostly lived on beans and potatoes or beans and rice! We did have some fried salt fatback every now and then though.

The washers had wringers and the dryers were outdoor clothes lines. Baby diapers were made of cloth and you sure didn’t throw them away. You rinsed the soiled ones out and then you washed them…preferably in Ivory Snow or Dreft.

For my first baby, Dan, Danny’s Big Mama made me about two or three dozen diapers out of mill cloth..She also made the first sheets for our old iron double bed out of that mill cloth.  I can remember hanging up Dan's diapers in the hot summer mornings and by the time I got the last one out, the first one would be dry. In the winter time, you really didn’t need clothes pins, because those cloth diapers usually froze right to the line when the weather was freezing cold. If the wind was blowing, it would sting when they slapped you in the face! But you know what? I can still remember the sweet smell of those baby diapers when I took them off that clothes line and folded  them for my babies, because I would stick my nose to them and breathe deeply…

Oh, they always smelled so good and  fresh.

You know, it seems to me that it’s not what you have, but rather what you make of what you have, that helps you to be happy and content.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.