Per Your Request

These recipes have been requested, so here they are:

Georgia Cracker Salad

1 Sleeve Saltine Crackers, crushed
1 Large Tomato, finely chopped
3 Green Onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 c. Mayonnaise
Lawry's Season Salt, to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve immediately. Easy and very yummy!






Chocolate Eclair Cake

1 Box Graham Crackers
2 Small Boxed French Vanilla Instant Pudding
3 c. Milk
8 oz. Cool Whip
1 Tub Milk Chocolate Frosting

Mix together pudding and milk until thick, then fold in the Cool Whip. Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with graham crackers. Top with a thick layer of pudding mixture. Continue to alternate layers, ending with graham crackers.

Remove lid from frosting and microwave at 30% power for 15 - 20 seconds. Remove and stir. Continue microwaving, if needed, until frosting is just thin enough to pour. Don't totally melt, you still want it a little thick. Pour frosting over top of the cake and spread to make it smooth. Put the cake in the refrigerator and leave overnight.

It's A Small World Afterall

And yesterday I found out just how small.

You see, Bub, Kaylea and I were invited to Meatfest '08 over at Overtly Trite's casa. ---If you will recall, I met Overtly Trite for the first time (so I thought) at our Bloggher Girl's lunch a few weeks back, which included ThiThi (missybw from The House of Flying Monkeys), Anna (from Life with the Retro Moderns) and Paula (from Overtly Trite).

After we arrived yesterday, we did the standard introductions and then I retreated to the kitchen to talk with Paula and sis. After a while another guest, Vic, arrived and he looked very familiar to me. Imagine my surprise when I recognized him as a long lost friend and co-worker from my United States Cellular "USC" days in the early 90's. Vic and I began to talk about the good 'ole days while Paula and sis were standing there amazed at the cowinkydinkyness of the whole situation. Vic was filling me in on the status of the people we used to work with, then I told him that the only person from USC that I had kept contact with was "Doug". At that point Paula about lost it. You see, Paula use to be Doug's roommate. After a lot of reminiscing we figured out that Paula and I had met back in the early 90's at a Halloween party at Doug's house. And, as a matter of fact, Paula's husband "D" had worked at USC with me and she had met D through Doug and Vic. Suddenly all the pieces to the puzzle fell into place. So here is a little chart showing how we all know each other:

So, yesterday I felt like two worlds were colliding. My past and my present slammed into each other and left my head spinning - in a cool way. The only thing that could have made the whole situation any better would have been for Doug to have walked through the door. Unfortunately, I found out that he has moved to Arizona, which would explain why my Christmas card was returned. Now, I just have to get his e-mail address from Paula and re-connect with him, also.

Weekend Update

1. The jury is still out on my new haircut. I will have to see how it looks after I style it. It might have to be cut again, just not sure, yet.
2. Cooking, cooking, cooking. I am getting ready for Meatfest 2008. My culinary contributions will be Hurry Curry Celery Sticks, Cracker Salad, Corn Pudding and Chocolate Eclair Cake. When I can't make up my mind, I just bring it all.
3. The shopping and gathering has began. I am starting to get the stuff together for the big beach trip. It is official, this time next week, we will be on HHI.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend.

I Want My Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!

O.K. so here I go.
I can do this!
I shouldn't be so nervous.
Everyone does it.
Why am I so freaked out?
There's nothing to it.
It'll be o.k.
NO, I can't do it.
I'll just wait.
I know, I have to do it now!
But, what if it is terrible?
I'll be fine.
Oh, I'm so scared.
I don't want to look silly.


Yes, I am totally freaked out. Why, you ask? Well, because I am going to get my hair cut tomorrow. You're probably wondering why I would get so up tight about a haircut. Well, it's like this. My mom, my grandmother and my step-mom were all hairdressers and they were the only people that cut my hair up until I was in my mid-20s. Had it not been for logistical problems, I would have never changed our little arrangement.

All I can say is that in the past, for the most part, my experiences with non-relative hairstylists have gone really BAD. I will give credit where credit is due, though. When I lived in Nashville, I had a great stylist, but again, the whole logistics thing prevents me from continuing the love/love relationship we had.

Since moving back to East TN, I haven't been able to find a stylist that can work with my "challenging" head of hair. You see, I was cursed with the hair genes (or lack there of) of both my parents. Dad's been sporting a comb-over since he was in high school and Mom has the transparent variety of hair. We kindly refer to it as "frog fur". Our hair is VERY thin and VERY fine. If I don't go to someone that is acustomed to working with my type of hair, things go very wrong.

For the last 5 years, I have been trying to time my haircuts around my trips to Mom's in Georgia, or her trips to Tennessee. Or, I have used Mom's stylist in Macon; she is good and knows how to work with my hair-type, since she does my Mom's hair, also. Unfortunately, this time my (our) timing is a little off. Mom isn't coming up this way until the first week of June. AND, as you all know, I will be at the beach then. So, I am being forced to go to a complete stranger and entrust my unfortunate head of hair to him. The stylist does good work (on other people) so I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will do the same for me.

If everyone could just pause for a minute and say a little prayer for my new do and send me lots of good karma, I would be most appreciative.

P.S. If I am wearing a hat in, or missingfrom, all of the pictures that are taken at the beach, you will know that things didn't go well.

Ah, Where Did Dolly Go?

Well, I figured all of you were getting a little tired of listening to her every time you hit my Blog. (I could just see all 5 of you hitting the mute button on your computer at the same time.) So, I decided to give you a little variety. I linked up my entire play list to keep things interesting. If you don't like the particular song that is playing, instead of hitting mute just scroll through the list until you find a song you do like. Hopefully, I will have at least one song you like. If not then just go back to muting my Blog. Poor thing, it just wants a voice, too, ya know. It told me so.

I Have Found My New Career Choice

When I grow up I want to work for the county. Yes, I said the country. You see, I think it fits my job criteria to a tee:

1. Good Pay


2. Not too strenuous


3. Promotes social interaction


4. Encourages physical activity

I came to this conclusion after watching the paving crew that was working(?) in our neighborhood on Friday. Take a look for yourself:

As you can see from the gentlemen on the left, they are mastering the art of social interaction. Heck, I bet they were Employees of the Year because not only can they talk, but they can walk at the same time. Now that is muli-tasking at its finest.

Then, we have the two hunky fellas on the right. They are getting their physical activity while they are working (o.k. so maybe the word "working" is a little bit of a stretch. How about I say, while they are getting paid to work). You know they must have burned at least 50 calories walking behind that paver at less than 1 miler per hour.

Finally, we have the gentleman in the back of the paver. (Notice I am protecting his identity so his wife won't find out how hard his job REALLY is.) After observing him, I think I would be able to handle the stress level of the job.

I hope you all will be supportive of me as I transition into my new career. I just hope I am qualified for the job. hmmmmmmm??????????

Mother's Day: Part Deux

Here are a few pictures from Mother's Day. Enjoy!

Moi - I guess I was really enjoying that card!

Kaylea had to help me read that one!

Pappy must have been bored; I think he fell asleep. That's o.k., we'll remember this come Father's Day!

I don't even want to know what Grammy did to wake him up. It doesn't look too good.

I think she liked it. Thank goodness for Phaltzgraff. Too bad we all bought her new dishes before I started this TOHE stuff.

Thi-Thi opening her Mother's Day presents from Lulu and Mabel. They are such sweet dogs, but I'm quite sure Lulu was the designated driver when they went to the Mall. We all know she is the responsible one of the two.

I'm not sure what was so funny, but this is a frequent expression when we all are together. Belly laughs for everyone!