Whew!

The last of the kids left about noon today, and thanks to Linda, my house is about back to normal. Though it's nice to have a little peace and quiet, I'm going to miss the hustle and bustle of Christmas and the days surrounding it.

I'm going to miss turning on every lamp, every lighted house and every Christmas tree each morning with Walker. And I'm going to miss tripping over Tupperware and toys and finding monkey when I try to heat something in the microwave.

I'm going to miss having sippy cups in the refrigerator and fingerprints on the windows. I'm going to miss cooking eggies and bacon for breakfast and making "sun" butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.

I'm going to miss having girls in the house. Girls will go shopping with you to places like Victoria's Secret, and they even enjoy having lunch with your friends.

Girls will offer to cook dinner and encourage their spouses to help, and they'll even clean up afterward. Girls will make sure you have stuff in your stocking and will buy you a card for your anniversary.

Girls will strip the sheets off the bed when it's time to leave and gather up the dirty towels and wash cloths and take them to the laundry room.

I'm also going to miss playing Joker until after midnight and spending hours searching for pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.

But mostly I'm going to miss having family around.

Count One for the Pink Team

After three sons and a grandson, our family will be getting a girl baby.

On Christmas morning Brent and Katie opened a small box containing three small pictures and a note on the back of one that read, "Looks like a girl." She will be named Lauren Elizabeth after LBeau. We can't wait until May!

Getting Aggressive

The squirrel reappeared at 3:15 this morning. He clawed for four hours in the wall between the room where LBeau and I were sleeping and the office, where Hunter was on the inflatable mattress. I ended up finishing the night on the sofa in the den. About 6 a.m. Hunter went to the sofa in the living room. Larry toughed it out. The squirrel left the attic about 7:30.

We are going to make an aggressive attack today. He is using Petunia to jump from the deck to the brick. Then up to the light fixture and onto the roof. We will put a glue trap in Petunia and one on the deck handrail and another in the attic.

Two years ago on Christmas we trapped our first attic squirrel. I'm hoping for similar success this year.

Building a Village

I didn't start out to collect those miniature lighted houses. I know plenty of people who have elaborate collections. My friends Dave and Luna not only collect the Dickens Village houses, but they also do an extensive display of the Spooky Town Halloween pieces. My mother even has quite a few of the Dickens Village pieces.

My collection happened quite by accident. One Christmas season a few years back I was in Michael's looking for who knows what and wandered over to the aisle where they displayed the Lemax lighted houses. It was there that my first piece spoke my name--literally--the Beaumont Inn. And it was on sale, so I bought the only one they had, the display.

A few days later the fiber optic lights quit working, and even changing the fuse couldn't get them going again. So I sadly returned it to Michael's for a refund. By that time, however, I had decided that owning the Beaumont Inn was a must. EBay to the rescue!

The following Christmas I was in Michael's again and spotted another piece to add to my collection. Although there is no Newport Elementary School in Newport, Arkansas (LBeau went to Walnut Street Elementary), I still felt that it was a must have. Now that I had two pieces I added a couple of trees to the display.

Two years ago, Lemax brought out Walker's Department Store. Of course I had to have it. After all, odd numbers look better in a display.

Sometime in October, I noticed that Michael's had all of their Christmas stuff out. Of course they did; it wasn't even Halloween yet. I decided it wouldn't hurt to take a peek at the Lemax display and there was Claire's Card Shop. Since Claire was going to be my daughter-in-law in a few weeks and I had a 40% off coupon, it quickly went into my shopping cart.

But now I had a problem. Four pieces did not make an odd number for my display. Once again, eBay to the rescue. I searched all possible names that meant something to me and Camden General Store popped up.

These five pieces just about fill up the small buffet where I have my village set up, so if I add any more pieces I'll have to come up with another place to display the. But I already have some ideas for Lemax. Hunter's Lodge, Katie's Kandy Shoppe and L'Beau' Lighthouse would make nice pieces, don't you think?

8 Things

Mandy tagged me in this blog game, so here goes.

8 TV Shows I Watch
1. Arkansas Razorback football games
2. Arkansas Razorback basketball games
3. Dallas Cowboy football games
4. American Idol
5. The news (some nights)
6. Travel programs about places I've visited or will be visiting
7. Other college football games
8. Other college basketball games

That's it. It was hard for me to come up with eight. Makes me wonder why I pay for so many channels on DirecTV, but with only a basic package I wouldn't get every ESPN and all of those Fox Sports channels. And then we have to have The Golf Channel for LBeau.

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Taziki's
2. Standard Bistro
3. Prairie Fire Grill
4. Panera Bread Company (love their bagels and soup and salad combos)
5. Macaroni Grill (especially the belinis)
6. P.F. Chang's
7. Loca Luna (if I lived in Little Rock, I would have brunch there all the time)
8. California Pizza Kitchen

8 Things That Happened to Me Today
1. Drove 20 miles each way to meet an inspector on a remodel project, but the home owner wasn't there to let us in. I had scheduled the appointment with her yesterday, but I guess she forgot or something. So now I'll have to reschedule and drive the 40-mile round trip again.
2. My friend Glenda drove us to the Galleria to return jackets that we had bought from Land's End. We both hated them after they arrived. Hint: You can return Land's End stuff to Sears.
3. Mailed a package to Susie with a surprise for Sarah, who commented favorably on my Date Cakes. Margie will not be getting a surprise.
4. Got an email from Jeff Long, the new Arkansas athletic director.
5. Talked to Ben.
6. Talked to Claire, who is on the way to Birmingham for an interview at UAB.
7. Got a bunch of Christmas cards. We are not getting very many cards from businesses this year, but friends and family are still sending them. Thanks everyone!
8. Returned some books to Janice, including The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. She emailed me yesterday that she had ordered it from Barnes & Noble. We try not to buy the same books so that we can trade. I quickly emailed her back that she already owned a copy of that book which she had loaned me before Thanksgiving.

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Christmas with Walker and all of the rest of the family.
2. Dinner tonight with the Bible Babes. They are my original Bible study group that Sandra dubbed the Bible Babes.
3. Taking Walker to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa.
4. Claire's pre-Christmas visit for two nights.
5. Glenda's annual Christmas Eve party.
6. A trip to France in March.
7. The birth of our second grandchild in May. We'll find out what it is on Christmas Day when Brent and Katie open an envelope.
8. A new year.

The Bible Babes at the beach in Destin.

8 Things I Wish For
1. Safe trips for everyone coming for Christmas.
2. Some new remodeling projects.
3. A healthy grandchild
4. To live closer to my children.
5. Sunshine. I think I know what it must be like to live in Seattle. We've had clouds, rain and fog for a week.
6. A good snow. We haven't had a really good snow since the Blizzard of '93.
7. A friends trip. I didn't get to go on the last two because of conflicts, so we need to plan another one.
8. A National Championship for the Razorbacks.

Now I tag Nick, JB and Katie.

Date Cake

I just put my first batch of date cakes into the oven. Mother always made date cakes at Christmas time. She gave one to each of her close friends (the Bridge Club), one to the preacher, one to the dentist, one to Dr. Jameson and later Dr. Dedman, and one to anyone else she thought was important enough.

For a long time she baked them in a tube pan. One recipe would make one cake. She later discovered that each recipe would make two small loaves, and that cut her date cake baking in half.

Before she had a blender, she cut up the dates with scissors that were dipped into water so that the dates wouldn't stick to the blades. I think she used the same pair of scissors she used for sewing. In fact, it's the only pair of scissors that I remember in our house. Later on, the blender made date cake baking a much faster process.

Sometimes my job was to break up the pecans. Pecans always were broken by hand and never chopped in the blender.

I have carried on the date cake tradition, and each year I give one to some of my friends. For years, however, I have been making my date cakes in the food processor.

The recipe calls for 8 ounces of chopped dates. You can't use the ones that come already chopped because they are too dry. Mother always bought Dromedary dates, which came in 8 ounce packages. I haven't been able to find Dromedary dates in Birmingham. Sunsweet dates are packaged in 10 ounce containers. Sometimes I just throw in the whole 10 ounces, and sometimes I try to guess at 8 ounces. If I am going to be baking a whole bunch of date cakes, I can get five recipes out of four packages of dates.

I chop the dates in the food processor and then transfer them to another container to soak in the boiling water. Mother, of course, boiled the water on the stove. I nuke it in the microwave.

While the dates are soaking, I blend the margarine, egg and sugar in the food processor until the margarine is smooth. I have been tempted from time to time to use an entire stick of margarine instead of 7 tablespoons, but I never have. Sometimes I use the leftover margarine to grease the pans, and sometimes I just add it to the butter dish in the refrigerator.

After the margarine mixture is smooth, I add the flour and date mixture. Finally I add the flavoring (Mother always used rum flavoring) and a handful or two of pecans. No need to chop the pecans ahead of time since the food processor will do that for you.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it. You can use Mother's method or mine or make up one of your own. It's good served warm with whipped cream or spread with cream cheese. I also like to eat it for breakfast. Spread a little butter or margarine on it and toast it lightly. Yummmmm.

Date Cake

1 (8-oz.) pkg. whole dates, chopped

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. boiling water

1 c. sugar

1 egg

7 T. margarine

1 1/2 c. flour

3/4 c. chopped pecans

1 tsp. rum flavoring

Mix dates, soda and water and set aside. Cream sugar, egg and margarine. Add to this the date mixture alternately with flour. Stir in pecans and flavoring. Pour mixture into two 7 1/2 x 4-inch loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Note: If you want to use a tube pan, you will need to extend the baking time to 1 hour.

Down Memory Lane

Looking for books to give Walker for Christmas, I spent an hour browsing in Barnes and Noble this afternoon. What a fun time thumbing through all of those books my boys used to love.

Two of their favorites were The Bear Scouts and Go, Dog. Go! Walker already has those. We gave them to him the Christmas before he was born. I can practically recite them from memory.

"Goodbye, Bear Scouts. Good luck. Have fun. Isn't Dad going with you, son?"

"Not this time. We don't need Pa. We've got the Bear Scout Guidebook, Ma. It tells us all we need to know about camping out and where to go."

Mema Martha hated that book. She thought it poked too much fun at the father figure. My boys loved it.

When Walker gets here for Christmas, we're going to enjoy reading The Sweet Smell of Christmas. I had to buy a new copy. My boys and I scratched and sniffed the apple pie, candy cane and gingerbread boy so much that we wore that book out.

By the time Ben came along, he probably wondered what it was that he was supposed to be smelling. Guess he'll have to take a turn reading with Walker.

Hung by the Chimney With Care

For our first Christmas I decided to make stockings for me and LBeau instead of purchasing them. After a trip to the fabric store, I came home with red and white gingham in two different sizes of checks and some Christmas trim.

I used the larger check for the main body of the stockings and attached the smaller check at the top. Using green yarn, batting and lining, I quilted the stockings and cross stitched our names with matching green floss. We've been hanging these same stockings since 1971, so they're almost antiques by now.

When Hunter was born, I was really into my cross stitching phase and found a cute pattern that was cross stitched onto red and white gingham. It seemed to fit the "red and white check" theme that I had going, so I made his stocking and did the same for Brent after he was born six years later.

By the time Ben came along, the store was out of the red and white cross stitch fabric. However, I had a small remnant left over from the other stockings, so I used white for the body of his stocking and the gingham for the cuff.

Katie was the next addition to our family, followed by Walker and now Claire. I searched the internet for gingham cross stitch fabric, but no luck. I still managed to carry out the gingham theme with stockings from Pottery Barn.

A friend told me the other day that she didn't think I had room to hang any more stockings, but I'm confident I can always manage to squeeze in more.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree came out of the basement today. It's plugged in, and all lights are functioning properly. Two years ago, I finally bought a pre-lit tree, but in spite of the ease of putting it up and taking it down, I miss our Christmas trees of past years.

When I was growing up, we got our tree out of the woods. One Sunday afternoon in early December all of us, siblings, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, would load up into the backs of pick up trucks and head for the woods, looking for the best cedar trees. The biggest tree would end up in Grancy's and Poosie's living room, and we would spend the rest of Sunday afternoon hanging icicles and glass ornaments on it.

One Christmas when I was in school at the University of Arkansas, I was admiring the tree in the Kappa house living room and looking forward to our tree at home. To my horror when I got to Camden, I found a flocked tree from a nursery standing in the living room. It seems that my Aunt Sissy had won it in a drawing.

After I cried and pitched a fit, Daddy went to the woods and cut down a cedar tree. He totally undecorated the flocked tree and put all the colored lights, icicles and ornaments on the cedar tree. The flocked tree was moved to the den and decorated in red. It was too expensive to be thrown out.

Sometime in the late '70's LBeau and I bought our first artificial tree. It was one of those "bottle brush" type trees that had color coded branches that had to be hung from a center pole. One year, a few days after we put up the tree, we started smelling a dead animal odor in the den. Convinced that a mouse had gotten into the center pole of the tree while it was stored in the garage, we took all of the ornaments off the tree but found nothing inside. Finally, we called an exterminator who dragged a dead possum out from under the house.

We bought our second artificial tree in Texarkana. It was a nice tree that lasted for more than 20 years, but I had to put the lights on it each year. LBeau and the boys were not much help in tree decorating.

I hated putting the lights on that tree, but I would painstakingly start by folding down the bottom branches and winding the lights in and out as I worked my way up. For a few years, just before we retired that tree, my friend Glenda and I did a trade off. I decorated her stairs and mantel, and she put the lights on my tree. It was a good trade.

Our last live tree came from a Christmas tree farm near Harpersville, Alabama. LBeau, Brent, Ben and I, along with Susie Hay and Maggie went to the tree farm to cut down trees for each family. LBeau tried to convince Susie that the tree she had picked out was much too large, but she insisted that it was just right. Sure enough Wayne had to tie the tree to the banister to keep it from falling over.

So now that the tree is up, I need to get out the ornaments and finish decorating. I just need to decide whether to put the glass ornaments up high and out of Walker's reach or leave them off all together.

Away in a Manger

One of my favorite things to display each Christmas is this wooden Nativity set that I painted almost 30 years ago. I was taking a Folk Art class at Barbara's Tole Shoppe in Little Rock, and one of our projects was this 13-piece set.

I painted several of these sets over the years. After Larry gave me a band saw for my birthday one year, I started cutting my own pieces. Later a friend in Texarkana introduced me to Mr. Burress, who cut wood for me, and after Laura and I opened Rose Hill Emporium, I taught classes on this Nativity project.

My boys always enjoyed rearranging the pieces on the display board. I love looking back at this picture of the boys setting out Santa's milk and cookies next to the Nativity. Notice that Santa rated a Razorback cup for his milk.

The Only Good Squirrel...

...is a dead squirrel!!

We have squirrels in the attic again. This battle with those fluffy-tailed rodents has been going on for about two years now. Each winter we, with the help of Critter Control, manage to get rid of them and close up the hole where we think they are getting in. The next winter when the weather turns cold, they're back.

Not the same ones, because whenever we've managed to catch one, we make sure he won't come back. I have no qualms about dead squirrels. Relocating them to a new zip code isn't good enough.

This time he's getting into the wall cavity between one of our second floor bedrooms and our office. If we don't get rid of him before Christmas, whoever sleeps in that room won't have a very pleasant night.

Guess I'll be calling Critter Control tomorrow.

Cinnamon Toast

For as long as I can remember Mema has kept an old margerine tub full of cinnamon and sugar on her kitchen counter. She uses it to make cinnamon toast for her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Everyone agrees that Mema makes the best cinnamon toast ever. The rest of us try, but we can't seem to get the right combination of cinnamon and sugar. She uses white bread, either Sunbeam or Wonder Bread, smears it with margerine, sprinkles the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the whole thing and toasts it.

Once it's done, she cuts it into "triangle squares" and serves it to a hungry child or sometimes adult, now that the grandchildren are grown. Since her toaster will only do two slices at at time, she can spend quite a while making cinnamon toast. I think little Ben holds the record at eight or nine pieces in one sitting.

This Thanksgiving A.G. enjoyed her first bite of cinnamon because J.B. couldn't stand the thought of her going a whole year without any.

A. G. gets her first taste of Mema's cinnamon toast.

Molly enjoys cinnamon toast with the rest of her breakfast.

Black Friday

Black Friday in Camden, Arkansas, population less than 14,000, doesn't have quite the frenzie normally associated with the biggest shopping day of the year. Although Jayme briefly contemplated being at Wal-Mart for a 5 a.m. opening, she decided there wasn't really anything she needed that badly, and truthfully we weren't too sure the Camden Wal-Mart would be opening early anyway.

So we girls opted instead for Four Seasons' 9 a.m. opening. In fact, a trip to Four Seasons to check out Frank's mantel is a Walker family tradition for the day after Thanksgiving, and we usually end up with some new greenery and an ornament or two. This year's mantel features the Three Wise Men along with some cool artificial pine cones. We could smell the smoke from the wood-burning fireplace before we even went inside.

As for our purchases, Jayme bought two vintage looking postcard ornaments, Kate found two cute snowmen, and J.B. and I settled on the Santa covered with a glass dome. As usual, Susie spotted the best looking greenery.

To top it off, we got back to Mema's in plenty of time to watch the Hogs upset LSU 31-30. In fact Kate and Wes made it to Little Rock and were in their seats at War Memorial Stadium for the kick off. A great way to end the Thanksgiving weekend.

Some Things Never Change

As predicted, we are toasty. Mema has the thermostat set on 75, day and night. Considering that we keep our heat at home on 68 during the day and 65 after bedtime, LBeau and I are roasting. Mema is wearing long underwear!

To make matters worse, LBeau forgot to bring his shorts. Like a real trooper, he is not complaining.

In other predictable matters, Aunt Mary asked me to help decorate the tables for tonight. The plan was for her to pick me up at 10:30 this morning. It's now 12:15, and I haven't seen her yet. I just hope we get back in time for me to watch the Cowboy game.

Giving Thanks

It's Thanksgiving week, and once again LBeau and I will be travelling to Camden, Arkansas, to celebrate with my family. Most of the men will stay at deer camp so they can get in some hunting while they are there. The women and children will stay nice and toasty at Mother's, and LBeau will take shorts to wear around the house.

Brent shot this 8-point buck Thanksgiving 2003.

Thursday night a large gathering of Mother's extended family will be at the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church for our Thanksgiving meal. When I was growing up, we always had our Thanksgiving dinner at Grancy and Poosie's house, but as the family got bigger, we had to relocate.

Aunt Mary will probably call me Thanksgiving morning and ask for my help in decorating that afternoon. So we'll put out the well-worn candles, turkeys, pumpkins and Pilgrims and set the tables with silverware and napkins.

My cousin Robert will smoke the turkeys, and Mother will make the cornbread dressing. Aunt Mary always bakes homemade rolls and fixes asparagus with cheese sauce. Thanksgiving used to be the only time I ever got asparagus because nobody else in my family liked it very much. Everyone else will bring one or two dishes, and there's always plenty of food for seconds.

I'm not sure who will bless the food this year. Hunter, our resident preacher, will not be there this year (nor will my other children), and Uncle Bill has moved to Tulsa to be closer to his son Ricky and his family.

On Friday the girls will shop. We'll visit Four Seasons to see how Frank has decorated his mantel, and Susie and I will probably purchase some new greenery. Catherine's and Bruce's will be on our shopping schedule as well, but we'll be sure to make it back to Mema's in time for the kick off of the Arkansas-LSU game. Who knows, maybe we can pull off an upset again this year.

At some point Susie and I will probably go to the pasture to cut possum haw to use for Christmas decorating. We'll put it into large black plastic trash bags and hope we can get back to Conway and Birmingham without losing too many berries. I also hope there is at least one cold clear night so I can check out the stars from the pasture.

Of course, Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks and eating good food, but for me it's mainly about family.

High Profile

Ben's and Claire's wedding write up made the High Profile section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Little Rock edition today. Not only did it include photos of the bride and groom, but also pictures of LBeau and me, Brent and Katie and Mema Martha as well as Claire's parents and lots of her family and Ben's friends Mike and Sarah Beth from Birmingham.

My first hint that the wedding might be featured was when the wedding coordinator approached us as we arrived for the reception and told us that the Democrat-Gazette photographer wanted to take our picture. I remembered to set down my purse and shawl and to remind LBeau to take off his overcoat, but I forgot one thing.

An hour or so later when I realized my reading glasses were sitting on top of my head, someone said, "Maybe they'll look like a tiara."

So what do you think? Tiara or reading glasses? At least I remembered to put them in LBeau's coat pocket before I walked down the aisle.

Milestones

As of my birthday on Friday, November 14, I reached the magic age where I am eligible for Social Security. Although I have not gotten to "full retirement" age, I decided it was best to start getting my money while I still could.

So last Wednesday I sat down at the computer to complete the online application. I just love doing stuff online. I gave them about 10 pages of information and hit the "submit" button. Then I put the required documents, a copy of last year's W-2 form and my birth certificate, into an envelope and took it to the post office.

This morning at 7:50 I got a call from a nice lady at the Social Security office here in Birmingham who told me that she had gotten my online application and that they had already received my documents. (She certainly was working early on a Saturday morning.)

"I'm just thrilled," she gushed.

"Well, I'm thrilled, too," I thought. "I'm going to get some money from the government."

It seems that she was thrilled that my application was in order, that I had submitted all of the required documents and that I had given them phone numbers where they could actually reach me.

"You won't believe how many people give us a phone number and then just leave the country," she explained.

So I guess that makes me retired, although it doesn't mean my daily routine will change. I'll continue to build and remodel houses; I'll just be getting a monthly check from Uncle Sam.

Changes

LBeau doesn't do well with change, so I was surprised yesterday as he was leaving for work to see him wearing the leather jacket that he bought probably two years ago. In fact, I can recall seeing him wear that jacket on only one other occasion.

He has been known to order pants from L.L. Bean, Jos. A. Bank or Brooks Brothers and let them sit in the closet in the box for over a year before getting them hemmed. Keep in mind that the style is no different from the pants he has been wearing for the last 20 years or so. It's just that they're new, and that represents change.

The boys and I have also observed him wearing stuff around the house with the tag still on it. I guess he's just waiting for the right moment to go public.

So now that the leather jacket is in the rotation, maybe this summer he'll break in his new sandals from Johnston and Murphy. By then they'll be a year old.

Wedding Wrap Up

The pace picked up in The Slow Lane last weekend with Ben's and Claire's wedding in Little Rock. LBeau and I arrived on Wednesday night to begin making preparations for the rehearsal dinner, the main contribution of the groom's family.

The Friday night event at Cotham's came off mostly without a hitch. However, I made one minor boo-boo when I closed the laptop, causing LBeau's PowerPoint presentation to go black. Oops! All 135 of us got our fix of fried food with catfish, chicken fingers, French fries, hush puppies and some kind of fried corn balls that were absolutely yummy.

A reception at the Clinton Library followed the Saturday evening wedding. The band from Memphis was amazing as was the view of the city from the ballroom. Katie sang with the band, performing James Taylor's "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved by You." But I must say it was the first wedding reception I've attended where I had to go through a security check to get in.

It was wonderful having so many friends from Birmingham drive all the way to Little Rock to be there, and we loved seeing Becky and Cliff, our former neighbors from Texarkana.

Congratulations Ben and Claire and have a wonderful life.

Grocery Store Update

Margie made a trip to the grocery store Sunday morning. Turkeys were on sale, so she bought the Thanksgiving turkey that I didn't get.

She also purchased four or five more cans of LeSueur peas and two more boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats. I thought the two cans of peas and two boxes of cereal that I bought would last a while, but I guess I was wrong.

The big news is that she got the answer to the question "What are Velveeta Strips?" Technically, there's no such thing as Velveeta Strips, but Velveeta now comes shredded. Scott will be pleased.

Grocery Store Challenge

The next time you're up for a challenge, try grocery shopping from a list someone else created to do his or her own grocery shopping. I had the opportunity to do that this morning when my sister Margie had to make a speedy trip to the hospital for the birth of her granddaughter two months early.

Last night Margie, with Katie's help, had made a grocery list, so I offered to take the list and do the shopping for her. Before I left her house, I decided to go over the list with Katie. That exercise raised more questions than answers.

What is "my cereal"? Does she want sliced cheddar cheese or a block of cheddar? What kind of bread does she buy? And what are Velveeta strips?

Fortunately, her housekeeper Susie was there to tell me that she had never seen a block of any kind of cheese in Margie's refrigerator and that "my cereal" meant some flavor of Honey Bunches of Oats. A quick look through her pantry revealed two unopened boxes of cinnamon flavored Honey Bunches of Oats, so I decided on the honey roasted flavor.

Looking in the bread drawer, I found an almost empty sack of Nature's Own Honey Wheat bread, so that answered that question. And a search of the garage refrigerator told me that she had two unopened containers of orange juice, so I crossed "OJ" off the list.

I already knew that "DDP" meant Diet Dr. Pepper, so armed with my list and a few answers, I headed out for Kroger. I quickly filled a basket with most of the items on the list, although I never did find anything called "Velveeta Strips." I decided on Velveeta slices instead and proceeded to check out.

I later learned that I did pretty well, actually. However, I was curious about the Velveeta Strips. Margie explained that when her son Scott complained that she had only shredded Cheddar cheese for the chili, she told him that Velveeta doesn't come pre-shredded. He quickly said, "That's what Velveeta Strips are for."

Well he can just tear those Velveeta slices into little bitty pieces next time.

Also, it's a good thing for my wallet that I interpreted "turkey" to mean sliced deli turkey, otherwise I might have actually bought the Thanksgiving turkey she really wanted.

Remembering Our Veterans

On this Veterans Day I am reminded of my father, Captain Thomas Benton Walker, Sr., who served with the Timberwolves during World War II in Germany, France and Belgium.

After reading Scott Turow's Ordinary Heroes I became intrigued by The War and started going through a scrapbook that my Aunt Sissy, Daddy's sister, compiled with letters, photos and other things Daddy sent home from Europe. Unfortunately, I didn't even know about the scrapbook's existence until after Daddy died.

I'm sorry I never took the time to talk to him more about his experiences, but I'm not sure he would have shared much anyway.

Happy Veterans Day to all who have served in the armed forces, and especially those who served in war time.

In the Home Stretch

We are now officially in "Wedding Week," as we move closer to Ben's and Claire's big day in Little Rock this Saturday.

Sunday afternoon, LBeau and I did a run through, setting up the 6'x6' screen and projector in the den and playing the rehearsal dinner video from start to finish. I must say that I am pleased with the results. I created the slides using StoryBook Plus and then used Microsoft Movie Maker to pull the slides and music into a video presentation.

It's also comforting to know that we have our own equipment and don't have to rely on renting something that we then have to figure out how to use. I have to admit that I teased LBeau when he decided we needed to order our own screen and projector. Frankly, it seemed like an extravagant expense at the time, but I think we'll find lots of uses for it.

In the meantime, LBeau is working on his speech, complete with a PowerPoint presentation. This required the purchase of another gadget, a remote controller for the PowerPoint that comes with a built in laser pointer.

This afternoon I created an Excel spreadsheet with the seating chart for the 140 guests for the Rehearsal Dinner, many of whom RSVPed via email to invitations that I printed and addressed in Microsoft Word.

It makes me tired just wondering how weddings came together before all of this wonderful technology.

That's Our Coach

On this football Saturday, I am reminded of another football weekend fifteen years ago. In 1993 Danny Ford came to Alabama for the first time as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Ford had played at Alabama under legendary Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, and the local news media focused on that angle as well as the Razorbacks' first trip to Tuscaloosa as a member of the Southeastern Conference. During Friday night's sports segment, one Birmingham television station interviewed a number of Arkansas fans who had already arrived in Tuscaloosa.

After watching the broadcast, my friend Peggy turned to her husband Phil and said, "I don't know why they always pick the hickiest Arkansas fans to interview."

To which Phil replied, "That's not a fan; that's our coach."

Alabama Girls

Yesterday's agenda included a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Although most of the tour group were ACI Convention attendees, a couple of locals were in the mix.

At one point a somewhat scruffy looking gentleman approached Marcia and me and started talking about "The Hill," the Italian section of St. Louis. He had all kinds of advice from how to get there to where to eat. Later in the hospitality room where we were enjoying a pomegranate-raspberry beer, he started talking to us again. (Side note: I am not a beer drinker, but the pomegranate-raspberry beer was pretty refreshing.)

After boarding the bus to return to our hotel, I looked up to see him coming down the aisle. I didn't think he looked like an engineer, but I decided he was part of our group after all.

"Where are those Alabama girls?" he asked.

Marcia and I meekly raised our hands. So here he comes with his gift shop bag and begins showering us with gifts--an umbrella, a coozie and a keychain flashlight. Turns out he was a brewery employee who decided to take the tour on his day off.

Guess there's something about us girls raised in the South. Must be the luscious lips or maybe it's just the accent.

Stuck in the Slow Lane

I'm married to an engineer, so that's why I sometimes get stuck in the slow lane. This week is a classic example. We are at the American Concrete Institute Fall Convention in St. Louis. Imagine spending four or five quality days with a bunch of mostly men who find pleasure in attending sessions with such titles as "Evaluation of Existing Structures by Means of In-Situ-Load Testing and Structural Monitoring." That's where LBeau is as I type.

Yesterday we took a tour of the Holcim Cement Plant that's under construction in Ste. Genevieve County south of St. Louis. It's important to keep in mind that cement and concrete are not the same thing. Cement is made from limestone and is an ingredient of concrete.

Last night I passed on the opening session, but we did go to the Reception, which featured a cash bar (they ran out of red wine) and light refreshments. In going to these conventions for the past several years, I have learned that "light refreshments" typically means chips and salsa, veggies and ranch dip, and cheese of various kinds with crackers.

Tomorrow night is the big social event, aptly named the Concrete Mixer. The food shoud be better.

Meanwhile, the highlight of my evening was when Ross from Naples, Florida, told me I had luscious lips. Thankfully he didn't try to kiss me.

Four from My Forties

Margie has challenged me to post and write about four pictures from my forties. She probably thinks I don't remember my forties, but I'm up to the task.

When I turned 40 we were living with our three boys in Texarkana in the Pleasant Grove area at 18 Clay Avenue. Not too long after moving to Texarkana from Little Rock we adopted a cat. Blackie had lived across the street, but her owners built a new house and moved about a mile away.

Blackie was an outdoor kitty, and she missed Clay Avenue. So she kept running away from home and hanging out at our house. I would dutifully call her owners and tell them that Blackie had come back again. They would come pick her up, and the whole cycle would start over. They finally asked if we wanted to keep her. We did. Knowing that she would face a long trek from Birmingham to Texarkana, we left her with our neighbors Maurice and Irma Short when we moved here in 1989. She lived out the rest of her days with the Shorts.

Does anyone remember Hands Across America? The event happened on Sunday, May 25, 1986. Technically I was only 39 at the time, but I thought I would include this picture anyway. The line wound through Texarkana, and the boys and I joined it at Summerhill Plaza Shopping Center.

A couple of years after moving to Texarkana, Laura Butterfield and I opened Rose Hill Emporium. Laura's husband Andy offered us the empty space in the front of his small motor repair business, and we taught painting on wood and fabric and sold gift items. I don't think we ever made any money, but we had a good time.

By the way, this picture is proof that big hair was alive and well in Texas.

In 1989 we moved to Birmingham, Alabama. Larry and I decided that we would buy a lot and subcontract our own house, so in 1991 I became a builder. Since Larry was working all day, I had the task of overseeing the project. I ordered all of the materials, hired all of the subcontractors and made sure everyone showed up on time. Well, more or less on time. Seventeen years later I'm still building and remodeling, and a couple of those subcontractors are still with me.

Each summer the boys and I headed to Camp David for a week on Pickwick Lake. Camp David is my sister-in-law Billie Anne's lake house. My sister-in-law Mary Katherine brought her three children, Mema Martha was there, and sometimes Anne and David, BA's kids, would spend a few days with us. Fishing, boating, tubing and playing tennis took up most of our days, and BA always organized an outing to Shiloh National Military Park. At night we played games, and the cousins performed impromptu shows.

So there's my four from my forties (I know it's really five, but I'm not counting the one when I was only 39). It's fun to remember the Good Ole Days, so if any of the rest of you are up to the challenge, just pick a decade and post some pictures.