Black Friday..........It's Almost Over

Only 3 1/2 hours until Black Friday is GONE!  I can't say I am sorry.  Get gone Black Friday!  Get going.  I am tired of all the hoopla.  This year it seems that we have been inundated with Black Friday ads.  The TV commercials started three weeks ago, the news started talking about it a week ago, and the Internet and blogs have been touting the bargains for two weeks, and for the last two weeks my email inbox ran about 20 a day.........bargains, bargains, bargains..............everywhere bargains.  And then there were the pre-black before Black Friday sales.....you know the ones.......the Friday before Black Friday sales, the Sunday before Black Friday sales, and the Wednesday before Black Friday sales, but the coup-de-gras sales of all sales was the Thanksgiving Day sales.   Today I even heard a newsman call yesterdays sales Black Thursday.  Sad I tell ya.  Thanksgiving gets no respect!

I guess I am old school, but I wish they would not open on Thanksgiving.  Goodness knows the clerks are going to be going full steam the day after Thanksgiving until January 1st so why not give these folks just one day off. 

Anyway...........now there are stockings to be hung and a tree to trim.  Enough of my griping. 

Try explaining Black Friday to a 6 year old.  One last note:  What would our economy do without Thanksgiving?  What day would be our "Black Friday"?  Black Friday........it's almost over.

Love you all.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in case you didn't know.  It is a little late for you to be thawing that turkey, but hey, bet there are some thawed ones at the grocery store for all you procrastinators.  Head on down.  I'll stay right here and watch the WKRP Thanksgiving episode, "Turkeys Away".  The best!!!!!  Yep, I have my pumpkin pie baked and cooling, my dumpling mixture is waiting for the milk in the morning, and my 5-Cup Salad is finished.  Tomorrow all I have to do is cook the dumpling and candy the sweet potatoes.  Then it's over the river and through the woods, to Auntie's house we go.

That's about it here at the homestead.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

I do love you!

Go the Cellar and Get a Jar of Pickles

"Go to the cellar and get a jar of pickles."  Remember that kids? 

Tonight as I was getting the pickles out of the cold jar, I suddenly had "Go to the cellar and get a jar of pickles" pop into my head.  Saturday night in the 50s and 60s at our house ALWAYS meant hamburgers with our weekly bottle of pop.  What a treat!  It also meant somebody had to go to the cellar and get a jar of pickles.  Oh we loved those pickles, but going down in that dark, damp cellar was not so much fun.  Somebody would finally give in, flashlight in hand, and head to the cellar, or maybe mom would threaten one of us with our lives if we didn't go get them. 

I look back without fond memories of that old cellar, but with delight at mom's very salty, very tangy pickles.  None better.........  But I have to say that really, Brenda, yours are better. 

So............we had our hamburgers tonight with store-bought pickles.  They were good, but they were NOT Mom's pickles.

"Go to the cellar and get a jar of pickles."

I love you.

Just a Little Rant

The cold front has arrived.  Nearly 70 this morning and now it is 39 degrees at 4:15 p.m. 
Just a little rant.............

Tuesday I had the most delightful time with my daughter; always will be my little girl.  While we were out I overheard a mother call her little one a name.  I won't divulge that name, but it wasn't a good name.  No wonder our pre-k teachers are hearing these things from the preschoolers.  They get it from home.  Watch what you say, parents.

That same day there was a group of young having lunch outside.  It was windy, overcast, and about 55 degrees, too cold to dine outdoors, but, hey, they are young.  Then I saw it, the little baby, probably about 3 months old, without shoes or socks, short sleeve t-shirt and NO blanket at all.  Mom had on a jacket............UGH........  Then my daughter pointed out another baby, a new born, which I had not noticed.  Again, parents, PLEASE HAVE SOME COMMON SENSE.  If you need a jacket, then your baby needs to be covered, too.  Take care of your babies.

I am thankful that my grandchildren are well cared for. 

That's all I have for today.  Just a little rant.   

I love you.


 

Time for Noodles

Good morning everybody.....all three of you.  Well, it is coming and coming fast whether you like it or not and will come in this order they say.  WINTER, and THANKSGIVING.  Oh they tell us that it is going to be COLD day this coming Friday, day after tomorrow, even though it will be 65 today and 70 tomorrow.  So, I guess we ought to get prepared, but really??, what is there to do to prepare for a 34 degree day?  Not much so I will skip right on over to Thanksgiving.  Hmmm, maybe I should go grocery shopping on Friday.............maybe there won't be that many folks out.

I have no idea what to fix for Thanksgiving this year.  We will probably have our usual fare, turkey and dressing and gravy, mashed potatoes for Steven (none of those garlicky fancy ones either - plain ole potatoes with butter, a dash of milk, and salt - don't even bother with pepper), candied sweet potatoes (Mrs. Tucker's claim to fame with my kids), green beans (again plain is better for my family), and last but not least, my dumplings.  Now we can fill in the holes on the table with all the other kinds of vegetables and sides, some being new recipes, to be announced at a later date.  Doesn't everybody have 17 side dishes???????

I don't think I have ever gone through Thanksgiving week without thinking of Grandma Dawkins.  Can you tell how special this woman was/is to me?  A few days before Thanksgiving, you would find tea towels placed just so with rows of noodles drying on her bed or over the back of a dining chair. 

I have so many food memories centering around Grandma; everything from fried perch only 4 inches long (which were caught just a few minutes ago) to her cookies which were always in that apple cookie jar, Sunday night popcorn to sugared bread.  But maybe one of my favorites was her noodles.  They represented more than a food, they meant that there was a special day coming soon.  Soon her tiny house would be filled wall to wall with my aunts and uncles and cousins.  Memories.

So soon my house will be filled with aunts and uncles and cousins...........  Memories.  Let me be the first to wish you and your family, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, even aunts and uncles and cousins included, a Happy Thankgiving, with or without snow!

Time for noodles.

I love you.  A Thompson Thanksgiving coming soon. 

B's Soccer Goal

My oldest grandson just started playing soccer this year, Spring 2013.  He has developed a passion for the game far beyond his years.  He follows all the professional teams and players; Lionel Messi is his favorite.  If he isn't moving a ball with his feet, he is on the Internet watching soccer games and learning tricks.  Anything soccer; clothes, balls, shoes, socks, video games - oh Christmas is going to be easy this year.

He only made one soccer goal last Spring and that was at the ending play of the last game of the season.  His dream came true.  One goal.  Oh what a difference a few months has made.  Then came the Fall 1913 - He is now a star on his team and has made several goals each game except for one where he was goalie the entire time (by the way, no scores were made on him).  He has kicked a goal from mid-field, a goal using his left foot instead of his right, a goal where it was just him and the goalie (there is a name for that, but Nana doesn't remember), all the regular goals, and then the goal that is on the video taken Saturday.  This was taken by his dad at the last game of the season and the people talking on the video are none of his relatives.  We did our yelling after the kick. 

As soon as B's game was over, we headed over to L's; the 6 year old players.  Oh what fun it is to watch these little guys.  He is coming into his own, too, but doesn't have the same passion as his older brother at this time, but it is still early--give him 3 more years.  He seemed to be really upping his game in that last game.  He even made a goal  and when he did, his brother turned to us and said "What a way to end the season!"  He was so proud of his little brother as we all were.  A little celebration time there in Moore, Oklahoma, last Saturday.

I know this is a little bragging post, but hey, life is short and I want the world to know how proud of these little guys I am and not just because they are becoming good soccer players.  I have never met two young kids who are as caring and sweet as they are.....I truly do not.  OK, I might be laying it on a little thick, but hey, it's my blog.  Besides it is true.

Enjoy B's soccer goal.  Blaine has watched it over and over, at least 200 times he tells me.

I love you.
 

Hankies

Good morning everybody.  Just finished my last drop of coffee and my last tiny bite of toast so my day can now begin.  I have been a little under the weather for the last ten days, but seem to be on the mend.  Now I do not have an excuse for not getting up and getting busy.  No lazing around for this old gal today.  I have things to do; like cleaning out my purse.  My cross-body bag is now one big round tote.  Just when I thought I needed 43 Kleenexes in my purse, I do not know.  I just kept refreshing my supply with new ones without taking out the others.  As sick as I have been, I sure did not want to run out of Kleenexes.  Ladies, if you have ever needed a Kleenex and found yourself without one, then you know what I am talking about.

This brings up a question.  Remember when men used to always have a fresh clean handkerchief in their back pocket?  Do you see anybody under the age of 60 with a handkerchief in pockets these days?  Has that gone out of fashion?  Who is going to take care of the ladies in their life?  In all the old back and white movies, the gentleman always had a handkerchief for his love's teary eyes.  That is one good thing about my hubby, he always has one.  If I need a Kleenex and don't have one, he just reaches into his back pocket.  I try to give it back, but he declines and tells me to keep it.  Wonder why? 

I used to iron them for him, but not in a while.  Now days, the fabric they use for "hankies" (that's what we used to call them) don't have to be ironed.  Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I do anyway.  I used to iron t-shirts, too, but maybe that is another story.  Speaking of stories, tomorrow I am going to have a clip of my grandson's soccer goal........grandma's prerogative. 

In the meantime, I will be cleaning my purse and ironing, minus "hankies".  Looking out my front window with sun shining in, looks like I will be washing windows, too.  No excuses today!

My mom had a lot of ironing back in the day with four little girls and one little boy; lots of shirts and dresses that always needed starching and ironing.  One of my chores to help her out was ironing the flat pieces like "hankies".  That is what we called them back then.  White ones for men (sometimes with an initial) and flowery ones for the ladies.  I took great pride into ironing them flat, folding them in half, ironing that half, then folding them again and ironing again.  So things were PRESSED.  They were so beautiful all folded and creased and pressed.  I can remember getting great pleasure out of seeing my hankies all stacked and neat.  Oh...........buying daddy a box of three white ones with his initials on them was a Christmas tradition for me when I was a kid.  Oh the memories................

Just a little story about hankies.

I love you!  
 

Have You Tried 1970?

Well, I have successfully wiled away a perfectly good Friday morning once again.  Here it is 12:30 in the afternoon, and I have not yet accomplished a thing..........other than baby sat four kids at 8:00 this morning.

Yesterday, my daughter and I were on a quest to find drawer lining paper.  We went to at least 8 stores and all we got from the clerks was a shake to the head.  "No, we sure don't" they replied when questioned.  As I related my disappointment to the hubby this morning, he said "Have you tried 1970?"  We both giggled............maybe scented drawer liners are a thing of the past. 

Have you tried 1970?

I love you.

Do you think I can salvage this day?  I doubt it.  Once I get into the second half of the day, it is hard to justify mulching leaves.....especially with this sinus condition/head cold or whatever...........maybe I'll take a nap and dream of 1970 when things were simpler and I could actually buy drawer liner and the clerk didn't look at me like she didn't know what I was talking about. 

I Just Needed to Get Out of Dodge

One of my favorite things about being retired is that we can be very spontaneous and that is exactly what we did this last Wednesday.  After a fitful night (by that I mean tossing and turning and generally not feeling all that great), I woke Wednesday with a strong desire to get out of Dodge if you know what I mean.  Jumped in the shower, OKAY I will admit, for me it was the tub, and in a couple of hours we were off to Branson, MO.  You can do that when you retire. 

Here are a few random things about our trip which are nothing significant, but to me, they are memories made.

1.  Now there are a gazillion roads that lead to Branson and most of them are twisty-curvy and very scenic.  There is one that I encourage you to travel if you find yourselves on Highway 62 going East towards Eureka Springs.  Before you get to Eureka, turn north on Highway 187; keep your eyes open for the signs.  Last Wednesday the leaves were at their peak and the day was beautiful, even though it looked like rain drops would hit the windshield any minute.  The leaves on the highway swirled into magnificent colorful little tornadoes as we zoomed down the road at 30 miles per hour.  There is an old farm house on the left side of the road and their old barn across the highway.......still in use.  I can picture the farmer crossing the highway to do something in the barn, every once in a while having to wait for a car to pass.  Picturesque.  The site alone is so nostalgic for me.......memories again!  A little further down the highway the signs will tell you the speed limit is 10 mph and you need to heed them for just around the curve and down the hill is a beautiful little lake which actually is a fork of Beaver Lake.  If you don't slow down you will be in the lake and if you don't slow down you will miss one of the prettiest sites ever.  Beaver, AR  You will probably will want to stop and take pictures of the old abandoned two or three story general store or was it a hotel.............looks like someone would fix it up for a bread and breakfast.  Cha-ching $$$$$$ !!!!!!  Now to get back on the road to Branson...........but first you will have to cross a long one-lane bridge and then another shorter one.........I encourage you to take this road!!

2.  Even though you might be feeling your finest after a long day at Silver Dollar City, I encourage you NOT to try to run up the stairs of the hotel.  You might just get your foot caught under the open rung of the stairs and fall forward and hurt your shin............badly...........as in take your breath away..........as in bruise.  By the way, your shin will not pivot.  Nearly a week later and it is still black and blue.  Again, just because you feel like you can, don't run up the stairs if you are retirement age...not smart.

3.  Remember the Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi"? 

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

That is exactly what the hubby said as we started down the last mountain to the town of Branson below.  The town has exploded.  We go back every couple of years, and every year we say the same thing.  Shops, restaurants, and hotels packed in like sardines.  Roads and highways going off in every direction trying to ease Highway 76........you remember that one!?!  As crowded as it is, one just feels safe and at home in Branson.

4.  Did you know you can get an all you can eat seafood buffet for only $35 in Branson?  We pulled into a place for seafood.  I ran inside to check the place out and to inquire about the price.  I nearly dropped my teeth at $35.  Not that $35 is outrageous, but since neither one of us was all that hungry and I felt like I couldn't justify $35 on a meal, we went elsewhere. 

5.  Dick's Old Time 5 & 10 is a fun place to visit.  A throwback in time to the old 5 and 10 cent stores.  I must warn you that the aisles are narrow and that is because the place is packed with everything you would ever want.  I will also tell you that the place is packed with wall-to-wall people all with hand carried shopping baskets.  A fun place.  www.dicksoldtime5and10.com

6.  Breakfast at hotels are not special, but they do provide you with substance before heading out for the day.  Since our breakfast at home usually consists of coffee and oatmeal, hotel breakfasts are perfect for us, but nothing to write home about............looks like I just wrote home about it.

7.  The week was topped off with a lovely meal with my brother and his wife while the hubby was busy elsewhere.  What a treat to just set and visit.  I miss them and wish they lived closer.

8.  There is no place like home.  As much as I love to travel, when we top the hill of our street and can see the house, it is pure joy and relief.  Once again, we had traveling Graces and the house is still standing.

We had such a good time and I definitely needed a "clearing of the mind" as it were.  And I got that except I came back with a bad cold or sinus infection.  Still........it was worth it.  It was worth it to stay and see the light parade at Silver Dollar City........to make room beside me for a 10 year old little girl and to see her eyes light up especially when the princess approached her.  Don't you wish you could always see life as a 10 year old when everything in life is magical?

I just needed to get out of Dodge.

I love you.

Thanks Veterans

 

 Edgar Earl Dawkins, Jr.

 

 

I want to take the opportunity to thank our veterans for serving their country.

So many family members and friends have served our country--special thanks to you!!!

A few years back I posted the following about my dad and I thought today would be a

perfect time to repost.

 

Thanks Daddy.  I love you.

 

 

Posted originally May 30, 2011 

These are the same pictures I put on Facebook today, but I wanted to write a little about my dad tonight. He was one of the blessed ones to come back from World War II when so many of the young men of that time didn't. Daddy was a man of few words regarding that war. I am not sure he wanted to remember too much and he definitely did not want to get emotional, about anything, really. Memory: When I was about 10 years old, I found a bundle of letters he had written my grandmother. I guess she had saved them and gave them to him. I remember finding them in the wooden box which held all my parent's valuable papers. I was hidden in the closet reading these letters when Daddy found me crying my eyes out. Even though the letters were full of holes from censorship, there was enough information for me to know that war is awful. Daddy was in Siapan and later Okinawa. In these letters he was describing the horrors of what he was witnessing and he was writing my grandma that the letter he was writing might be his last, etc. When Daddy found me crying, he destroyed them; he burned them. I sure wish he hadn't done that.


Daddy died in 1999, but about 10 years prior to his death, one of the ladies in his church urged him to write about his experiences through his life and during WWII. I want to share a bit of his book with you. I am copying them as he wrote them, not necessarily grammatically correct. I have deliberately skipped some things as they are a little more graphic than I wanted to post.

As a kind of preface daddy wrote "I will hit my service time in a general way. Spent some good times and some bad. Will try not to bore you." If he only knew how little he bored me......


"We left out went to Siapan and went ashore. The island had been invaded by marines and army infantry 7 days earlier. We went in without opposition. set up our area - placing our guards around our sleeping areas. I was put out to guard with my buddy where we sat back to back. This night was the first time I was to see enemy fire. "

"This was also the night I first smelled dead being hauled by the truck load back from the front. Very unpleasant. We were moved further inland where we started doing various jobs - all connected to a B-29 runway being built. Out outfit set up a rock crusher. We went to work on a big hill-which when we got it cleaned off was corral rock. I had been trained to handle dynamite by old Penn. miner who was a little reluctant because he thought that after the war I might go back take his job away from him (NO WAY did I want that). I was a demolition specialist finally got in charge of one of the crews. We worked 24 hours a day."

"The runway was finished in due time. In fact it was a high priority job. We got to see the first B-29 come in and land escorted by navy fighters. It wagged its wings as it approached. It was a huge plane. The larges in the world for combat."

"One day we loaded on the flat bottomed L.S.T.s and headed for unknown places. After a few days we were told we were going to Okinawa. There was a large group of L.S.T.s in the convoy. On arriving at Okinawa we were treated to air raids. The Jap planes would fly over to drop depth charges, bombs, etc - then if they were hit they would pick a ship and dive for it - hoping to take someone along. Often were successful. Meantime our gunners would try to blow the planes up before they came down on someone. One plane dived for us but missed. Went between us and D company, made a big splash, sank out of sight."

"Our turn came to land and we rammed the L.S.T. up on the beach. Opened the bow doors started to unload. A navy plane came up the beach (I didn't know what kind of plane it was but right in front of our ship it turned up a wing. There was our U.S. star. Made me sick, but it went over behind a sand dune bounced a time or so, disappeared. We had our own job to do. (Heard later pilot got out ok.)"

"After a hectic day after "smoke on the water and the land" we were put ashore and went on in to establish our camp and as usual we put out guards and prepared for the duties the next day. We were assigned to keeping the roads open as it had begun to rain. We would work all night keeping water drained off roadway."

"Got to watched several dog fights of Jap planes - usually P38s which was a fast twin tail plane - P-47 a very fast plane. Also on the island was the famous "black widow" a night fighter was heavier and larger plane."

"Our first typhoon experience was one I will never forget. We had been hearing of one that was headed our way from the South Pacific, so we were kinda prepared. How those winds did howl. All native villages had high hedges around and inside the villages and could withstand the winds where even our Quonset huts which were made from steal were twisted up. The hospital huts were made especially strong. One night I spent in the hillside caves were the natives buried their dead but I went right on in. The bones were lying out on blankets or in urns as might be appropriate. But howling winds were outside.

"One night it was announced that war was over. The night sky lit up with tracer bullets (usually every third bullet was a tracer). Guns were going off in every direction. I went to my fox hole. It had a top on it - stayed until things calmed down."

"But after storms was trucked to my new outfit where I was to work and wait my ship to go home. I would look out over the bay and wonder why they couldn't find a small place for me. Well they finally found me a ship - while going up the hill to climb the rope ladder to board the ship I looked back on the cemetery where the thousands of white crosses were. A lot of dead boys were put to cross and a few women."

"I caught a taxi cab for my home out here on Moccasin Trail. Cost me 5 dollars. I was let out in our gate and my mother came running out to meet me. It was the first time I ever noticed how grey her hair was. But I was home (underlined - rt) - yes home (both words underlined - rt) where a new life was to begin for me - guess I will call it "after the war".

My note: I wish each of you could read this book because it contains so much more than I wrote. I didn't touch on all his accomplishments one being made expert with the Browning Automatic Rifle, his guard duty, and many of his other duties. I wish I had talked with him more about those years. His cousin, Carl, went in with him and didn't make it home.

Thank you Daddy.

November 11, 2013



Precious Pizza Memories

I am setting in my sunroom this morning watching and listening to the rain.  The pitter-patter of the raindrops is very soothing.  Sometimes we all need a little soothing.

Yesterday, a new pizza placed opened near us and they even deliver to our place!!  Been waiting on that for years and years.  So...........last evening I tried to call for DELIVERY.  Busy signal!!!!!!!!  Now what made me think that if we go there we can get a pizza faster, I will never know.  But off we went....coupon in hand.  Hmmm the parking lot looks crowded, but there are several parking places.  So........we park.......we head for the door.....along with 6 other people who had the same idea we did.  Opened the door and every booth and table were filled; several tables filled with folks obviously not together waiting on pizzas.  Back to the car.  We will do that another time.

Since our taste buds were already set for pizza, we decided to go to an old, old standby, P Inn.  We hadn't been there in years, but why not give it a try one more time.  How bad can it be, right?  Well, it was pretty bad.  The pizza wasn't the worse we have ever had, but not great...........not great at all.  It was dark and dingy and obviously needs several thousands of dollars in repairs besides the need for remodel.  It was sad............... 

We had enjoyed so many pleasant evenings at this place with our children.....so many memories.  The memory of a certain waitress that worked there for 20 or more years.  The memory (pre-children) of seeing a family with crying, disruptive children and us telling each other that our kids would never be that way.  We had so much to learn!  The memory of my 18 month old son saying "oink oink" when I returned to the table after a second helping of pizza.  The memory of game tables that required a quarter for about 20 seconds of play time. 

We tiptoed right through some of those memories last night and enjoyed each tale.  The food.....not so much.  Sadly, last night's visit will probably be our last.  The place is just not the same.  It is sad for us, but much sadder, perhaps, for the owner.......sad that his business seems to be failing fast.  So..........even though it was not the same, our evening was not a loss..... precious pizza memories!!!!!

I love you.

Happy November

Good morning everybody.  Well, we are definitely into November....here the 4th day.  The leaves are coming down like rain and soon Thanksgiving will be upon us.  Have you looked at Pinterest today?  I guess a lot of people are beginning to search for that all important, perfect recipe to take to Grandma's house.  You know the one..........the one where you hope to hear "Who brought this?"  "Gosh, I love this."  "Yummy."  "I want to have this recipe." Admit it, you like to take something that will be a hit. 

I can almost tell you without a doubt what my family will be bringing for certain things are "got to haves".  Brenda's Green Bean Bundles are always a hit and always on the table.  Kay's Sauerkraut and Weenies are expected.  Teresa's Cherry Cheesecake Bites will be tasty and well as lovely.  Rhonda is our appetizer girl so it is always a surprise to see what she will bring, but it will definitely be delicious and southern.  My most requested dish is my Dumplings.  I have more than one nephew-in-law that requests this.  So you can see that we have five dishes on the table.  Multiply that by five and you will get the picture....a picture of a Thanksgiving table laden with food.  Enough to make mom proud.

I don't know what my "I want to have this recipe" recipe will be this year, but I bet I can kill a few hours looking.

Happy November!

I love you.