Holidays and Babies

How neat is this? My niece, her husband, and their daughter. Did you guess the Red Queen, Mad Hatter, and Alice?

I finally got my "Made by Sherry ,...." labels so finished this. Sigh. Brook told me 'no pastels'. She did not say 'no pinks' until I saw her last month at the baby shower for her brother John's baby. Too late...this fabric was already purchased.

I also finished the crocheted blanket for John and Erin's baby. The baby was originally due the end of November, but the date has been changed to about the 23rd. I bet I know when he will be born...when he gets good and ready!

Flowers and Chili Cook-off

No...They really have nothing in common...it's just that they were on my camera. My Confederate Rose finally bloomed. I am really rather shocked. It was such a hot dry summer and I did not keep it watered. It really needs moved, but the rootball is huuuggggee! Many more to follow! Look at the buds on my Christmas cactus! I always pat myself on the back over this one. It generally blooms between Thanksgiving and Christmas...it may be early this year.

Earlene and Nancy invited me to help them in a chili cook-off. Earlene picked me up at dark-thirty this morning. Before we got to Rocky Branch, you could see the fog hovering over the highway...in that ONE spot. Earlene knows that I put photos like this on my blog, so she pulled over before I even started pulling my camera out of my purse. I doubt that the fog covered even 1/4 mile. Spoooooky!

Betcha can't guess what our chili cook-off theme was?! LOLEarlene was having a see-no-evil problem. Twice. Aaaah! Here's a good one. Sigh...it was contagious. Then my camera battery died. It hasn't been that long since I charged it...and very few photos taken. The camera is about two years old and I have taken lots of photos...perhaps the battery is dying. I'll have to price them. If it's too high...I'll just buy another camera. I am absolutely amazed at the price of GOOD digital cameras! The first one that Sam bought was right at $700. It takes AA batteries. But my little $100 camera takes photos just about as good.

Beautiful Sunrises and other Surprises

When the time changes, I'm going to miss the early morning sky. But I'm not setting my clock an hour earlier just to catch it! This photo was taken just 15 minutes later of the southern sky as the rising sun cast its glow on the clouds. I've been crocheting a baby blanket. It is an off-white color. I'm not sure who it will go to. In addition to Sam's two about to have babies, I have a nephew whose girlfriend is going to have a little girl between the grands. I may not get around to making a quilt for that baby...so this may go to her.

Warning!!!

The following photo is not pretty.

I am growing...

...MAN BROWS! Just take a gander at that honker. I could hardly believe my eyes! I've been plucking chin whiskers for a couple/three/four...OKAY!!! Almost seven years now. What's next? I shudder to even think about it.

The Next Generation

Check this out. I am glad to have been a substitute teacher for the group of kids who did this:

http://www.kltv.com/global/Category.asp?c=194395&clipId=5230014&topVideoCatNo=66626&autoStart=true

I tried to embed the video but it did not work. You'll have to copy and paste the link in your browser.

About Texas

(I borrowed Aussie Cherry's photo of the ornament I sent her.)

A Belgium guest in my home once said, "Texans are too proud."

What in the h e double l is he talking about? Well. DUH!

There's something you've just got to understand...

There is not one blasted thing wrong with being proud to be a Texan. Only thing better is an American Texan. Only thing better than that is a Christian American Texan. PERIOD. EXCLAMATION POINT!

Others say it like this...
Edward Smith: "Texans ignore 'better;' long ago forgot the word 'good.' Everything in Texas is 'best.' "

Tommy Tune: "I think Texans have more fun that the rest of the world."

Sam Houston: "Texas will again lift its head and stand among the nations. It ought to do so, for no country upon the globe can compare with it in natural advantages."

John Steinbeck: "Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word. And there is an opening covey of generalities. A Texan outside of Texas is a foreigner."

Davey Crockett: "I must say as to what I have seen of Texas, it is the garden spot of the world, the best land and the best prospects for health I ever saw, and I do believe it is a fortune to any man to come here."

Author Mary Lasswell: "I am forced to conclude that God made Texas on his day off, for pure entertainment, just to prove that all that diversity could be crammed into one section of earth by a really top hand."

If you are not proud of who you are and where you are from...then thou needest to get thee to Texas as fast as thou can! ;o)

No Title

Can't think of anything to title this with...

Jonathan has informed me that he has not received the scrubs I mailed him. BUT he did receive some mail initially received here. I put it in another envelope and mailed it to him Wednesday or Thursday...he got it. But not the scrubs from 8 days ago. Perhaps today. I have a serious thought that my niece in Crowley somehow commandeered them. She's a relatively new phlebotomist...can't spell that so let's call her a "medical vampire"... and in need of scrubs. When I accused her, she readily admitted it and asked me if I would alter them because they are too wide across the shoulders.

I'm still driving the bubba truck. Made the mistake of calling it that in Sam's presence, and he was offended. OKAY! It's not a jacked-up truck with oversize wheels and tires that requires a step ladder or a good shove on the butt to get into it. It IS a Ford F-250...3/4 ton...diesel...extended cab...short bed. You HAVE to use the pipe step to enter...no just jumping in. And on the way out. LOL You should hear my short-stuff friend Nancy. "Oops. I forget how high that is." ...on her way out.

I've got to decide whether to buy a brand new 2010 and make payments for the rest of my life or get something a couple of years older with more miles...and come pretty close to paying the same thing. It's almost a no brainer if I stick with the Yukon/Tahoe WANT. I think I could go cheaper...but not have what I want. I figure that one of these days I will be there...and have no choice but the best I can afford...which may well be the cheapest out there. Shudder...can you see me owning a Ford Focus because that's all I can afford? sniff I think I need to go have a good cry... Waaaaa! Why oh why did I park under that tree?

I'm finally back in the gym. The job just got too busy for a while there. Besides, I was getting plenty of exercise and lost a couple of pounds from working all day long, then drinking a tall cold glass of ice tea and eating an apple for supper several nights in a row. Just too tired to care. I know that I've lost a total of 14 pounds and maybe 15! :o)

This morning on the way to the gym I nearly turned around to retrieve my camera. But I didn't. So close your eyes and imagine this:
Clouds filled the eastern sky. The sun rays shown above the clouds and through the holes in the clouds looking like the crown on a king. Very much what I can imagine the way Christ will return some morning. Awesome!

Snicker

This is FUNNY stuff! A business owner was in a bit ago. There's been some sidewalk controversy, and she said that her opinion was being misrepresented (and she is correct...I know that her differences were with the initial plans...not the initial idea). She stated that some people think she's a witch.

I popped right out with, "Well. Live up to it!"

She laughed...or should I say...She cackled?! And jumped. And...at our age...almost pee'd on herself.

Then... She told off on herself. Last Saturday, she did her banking that morning at the drive-through. When she left her business, she put her money in white envelopes into her purse. At the window, she pulled them out and put them in the drawer. One of the ladies smiled and said, "You may want this one back." When she got it back...she looked. It was full of pantie liners!

Young ladies and most men...you just wouldn't understand. The rest of you ladies...when you pick yourself up off the floor...be sure to dust yourself off. ;o)

Fall Drive

White River at Calico Rock.Me thinks these are...
Wild turkeys!
Steam rising from the White River and birds a-flying...

What does the double yellow line mean? For this person...not much. Whoever was driving would take more than their fair share out of the oncoming lane. This time...not too bad...but I was amazed and how much they drifted over the line in the curves. Shame-shame!

Gluten Free

High school classmate, Judy, has Celiac's disease. She has to eat gluten free. I popped into her office the other day...cable company...for some reason or the other...probably having to do with the scarecrow contest we urged the businesses to compete in.

Knowing that I bake, she told me that she needed me to come up with an edible gluten free bread.

Last night I searched the web for gluten free bread recipes. BINGO! I found a bread machine recipe. OH MY GOODNESS! Forget just substituting one different flour for wheat flour! This recipe called for:
brown rice flour
white rice flour
potato flour
tapioca flour
and
soy flour

AND...there had to be something in it to make it have the texture of the bread we all know and love...wheat bread.

xanthan gum

?????!!!!!!!!!

I needed to make a run to Mt. Pleasant...which has two or three health food stores. I entered Fran's with my recipe. She directed me to the cooler and showed me what she had, then pointed to a package of bread MIX! WOW. Now THIS is the way to go. Especially when you are experimenting. Now lemme tell ya. The single loaf package was $5.99. We gluten gluttons should be glad we aren't paying that much for a loaf of bread!

The mix has several flours. And some other stuff. I added milk, melted butter, 1 egg and several egg whites, and a bit of apple cider vinegar. The dough was a bit wet and I thought it needed more flour. I actually had my hand on my flour canister when I thought about what I was doing. The dough just had to stay wet.

After it baked, I dumped it out of the pan. MAN was it ever one heavy loaf of bread! I dug the paddle out of the bottom and cut off a slice. Slathered with butter (the bread, not me), I thought...all this needs is a bit of salt. Not bad at all.

I kept an eye on my watch waiting for the loaf to cool. I poked it in a bag while it was still warm and jumped in the pickup. Her office was closed due to illness for the rest of the week. The illness is her husband...in the hospital. So...I called another classmate. Melanie had just gotten off the phone with Judy! I told her to call J back and tell her to meet me at M's house.

She pinched off some bread. Tasted it. And smiled. When I left, she had the loaf of bread cradled in her arm as she got in her pickup dreaming of cinnamon toast in the morning. ;o)

The Drive to Work

I don't live that far from the office...about 2 1/2 miles. Yesterday morning as I drove down the driveway I saw the front rolling in.We got 3/4" of rain. We need more. This IS Texas after all!

Yesterday I noticed this bush turning colors. I took the photo this morning. The dry summer really distressed it. Our Tupelo gum is turning its usual purplish red. Dogwoods are turning red. Hackberries are yellow. Elms are starting to turn too.
I drove through this in the creek bottom. Do do doo do. Do do doo do. Remember the movie, The Fog?