Drivin' 55

Not how I thought I would be spending my weekend.... Visiting my husband in the hospital... His cellulitis went out of control and required IV antibiotics. Between mega pain meds and now class three antibiotics, he's beginning to get a little better. However, surgery may be required to removed as much of the infection as possible. Good times.

Happy Birthday, dear daughter! Your Father and I love you very much. Your family is amazing. You are amazing! Love, Mom and Dad

One more successful Thanksgiving under my belt but just between you and I, I am so ready to pass the apron along to the next generation. Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy to claim Christmas Day forever, but Thanksgiving, well, let the next just say that I think I'm done with cooking turkeys. Every year for the past 37 years, my husband never thinks the turkey is done cooking. Doesn't matter if the internal temperature of the bird says 180 degrees or 1800 degrees, if he sees one minuscule dot of red, he wants it back in the oven. I prepared 13 pounds of mashed potatoes, 5 pounds of sweet potatoes souffle, 3 pounds of green bean casserole, an entire casserole dish of dressing plus a 25 pound bird for 9 people! "There's not enough food", he claims. In years past, I cooked for 25 and prepared the same amount of food. Man, I know you love Thanksgiving, but you cannot eat like you used to do! With that said, I am nursing a runny nose, very dry throat (whi...

Fun times.  Family.  Football.  Georgia lost, but that was expected.  Darn, I really was wishing for a miracle.  It was an official party because of the signage made by yours truly on my Cricut Expression. The official posters of the two collegiate teams.   Our host, Ron, shows off his brand new projection TV! Son in law and Father in law discuss pregame strategies and enjoy a beverage. You can’t have a party without food and we had plenty!  Here’s the beginning of it with the Halloween goodies. More delicious treats…        One cannot have a party without cocktail weenies… This is Kaye’s famous cherry crock pot cakes! These are my famous chafing dish meatballs.  Ok…a Gator came to the party… and laughed at us all day! The necessary Georgia and Florida cupcakes…    Home made salsa…yum! Spidery cheese balls Wormy candied apples… More treats for the kids….I m...

As of late, I’ve been a little lax in the photography department.  I promised myself that I will break out the camera and snap away tomorrow because I recognized that time passes too fast.  For without photos to freeze that moment in time, that memory may be gone forever.  How often do we look at a photo from 10, 20 or even 30 years ago and say to yourself, “I remember that day as if it was yesterday.” On this perfect day, my BIL stopped at this lovely park his parents took him to when he was just  a boy.  How special I thought that he wanted to share it with his family.  For this day will forever be frozen in my memory, thanks to my need to travel with camera in hand.   As evidence in this photo, I love people shots.  Over the years, I’ve taken my share of landscapes as evident in my Disney photos from years past.  If I have 1,000 shots of the EPCOT geodesic dome is probably a conservative number.  Recently, thanks to Jack, I...

Parenthood One photo says volumes.

One week and four days plus Lots of spearmint gummy drops plus Some sleepless nights plus Loads of fidgetiness equals 22 less cigarette packs sold in Georgia. That’s right! My hubby quit smoking. This time for good. Well, this picture was taken when he was still smoking…sorry, dear!  

A few days ago, my husband and I went out to dinner and a movie to celebrate his birthday.  Alone time!  Wow!  Not something we get very often these days as taking care of his mother with Alzheimer’s is a 24/7 responsibility.  So thanks to my daughter and SIL, we had 4 – 5 hours to do with what we wanted.  Our choice for the movie was Night at the Museum part 2.  Predictable?  Yes, but loads of fun to watch.  If you liked the first one, you will love this one as well.  Our choice for dinner that night was Ted's Montana Grill   which is always a favorite with us.  Since I am a creature of habit, I ordered what I always order, the New Mexico, bison, of course.  Usually, I order it bun less with a side of cottage cheese.  Don’t be grossed out but I really like this combination.  For whatever reason, I did not say sans the bun and ordered fries.  Now I should have known it was going to be down hill from this poin...

Fathers... Kind Loving Caring Protective Tough Driven Sweet Adorable Authoritative Funny that's what dads are... in creating this post, I realized I have zero photos of Dad and his daughter.

Today, it is going to be hot. Now mind you, I love the heat. Especially when I can stay inside! Only kidding! Today, it's River Fest in our complex. Pool Food Kayak Races Water Volley ball Fun Friends Coolness Refreshing I am there!

I have a blogging void at the moment. This photo happens to be what we were doing one year ago today. I'll take it! It was humid and my hair was flat...just sayin'

I made this Family album for one of my friends. She has three grown children, one grand daughter, one husband, four cats and lives on the Chattahoochee River. I wanted to share my creation with you. View Full Album   Please feel free to comment!

  Work like you don't need the money. Dance like no one is watching. And love like you've never been hurt. -Mark Twain   My lovely sister and my wonderful brother in law! Befitting of one of my favorite authors quotes.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Doesn’t she look beautiful?  I love you, Mom. To all of your Mother’s, whether here or there, Happy Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day to YOU!

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood… A beautiful day for a  neighbor… Would you be mine? Could you be mine?... (why in the world am I channeling Fred Roberts?)  Go, Georgia Bulldogs! I just loved this sign.  The Blacksmith Shop is not a blacksmith, but rather a gift shop.   Isn’t this picturesque?   It was a beautiful day for a camera shoot… A beautiful day for photos… Take me along… Take me along… Won’t you take the camera along?

Yes, it is true!  Tyler Florence from Food Network made me blueberry pancakes, maple sugar pepper bacon and caramelized bananas.  How did this happen, you say?  In short, my children gave me tickets to The Metropolitan Cooking Show in Atlanta as a birthday present.  Being a diehard Tyler Florence fanatic, I opted for the special show to gaze upon my favorite celebrity chef.  Not being a shy gal, I ran up to the mike to ask my very probing question.  “What is the secret of making risotto?” Here I am on the big screen asking my question to Tyler Florence. My question monopolized a good portion of the Q & A time.  Sorry, Tyler.  But I just had to know! As Tyler began to plate up his creation, he called to me over the loud speaker! Yes, me.  He called ME!  Running up to the stage, he handed me this wonderful plate and wished me a very happy birthday.  Sorry for the blurry photo, but we were shooting without the flash....

One more post about Easter and then Easter will be put to bed until next year.  Easter was always a fun time of year growing up.  I would wait by the phone the week of spring break for the call.  The Call.  Grama would call her second youngest child to request my help.  My help!  My Grama had 17 grandchildren but I knew in my heart that I was her favorite, honestly, Gram could ask anyone but she asked ME. When the call finally came in, I was ready to leap into action.  When?  When does she need me?  Saturday?  OK, I’m there.  I am there! Entering my grandmother’s kitchen was like nothing else in my life.  The kitchen was so friendly.  I remember the red and white chairs and the Formica table with its metal legs.  Very vintage 1950’s.  (Just in case you are trying to do the math, my story takes place somewhere in the mid 1960’s)  White metal, spankingly clean cabinets.  A vintage gas range that had...

Having missed the fields of sunflowers last summer by my mere procrastination, I took the time to stop, smell and photograph this beautiful tulip bed at my daughter’s. Nothing says spring like a bold bed of tulips with contrasting purple violets. After these photo opt, it was on to our card class.   Here we are in our classroom ready to bring it on!  (my hair has not been this dark since 1968! Ewww…) And just for the sake of blogging this experience, a photo of our project.     Here was the lovely ladies that sat with us to create wonderful cards.  Lara on the left and Lynn on the right. Asking their permission to publish their photo, we got to talk about blogs and such. Lynn works at a bakery supply store.  She commented how suddenly they were getting all kinds of special orders for very specific items from women everywhere. These orders were prompted by a specific blog these ladies where reading…you guessed it and so did I…. Bak...