The 19th Day of December: From the Desk of Dad

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**Warning, this post will be about my dad. So, don’t cry Mom or Big Sister! I don’t want this blog to be filled with questions of porque? with back car windows filled with pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe. So, I promise there won’t be many more sappy posts. Ok, I can’t promise there won’t be anymore sappy posts, but I can promise there won’t be any sad posts. End Warning**

Since today is December 19th, my dad’s birthday, and  I’m munching on  a delicious piece of  (unfortunately store bought) red velvet cake, I just couldn’t help but think of Dad. And decided that today would be the best day to introduce a reoccurring series on the blog. I have entitled it From the Desk of Dad, but don’t hold me to that. I have a very short attention span, so the title of this series will more than likely change.

Remember my 31 Days of Treasures series?  If you are too lazy to click the link, it was a 31 day series that ended up being a 16 day series where I jibber jabbered on about all the vintage stuff I’ve been hoarding collecting  the past few years, and it also included a few treasures of the heart. I meant to share this one during that series, but then life happened.

This is one of my most precious and favorite treasures, my fathers Bible.

The Lord called my dad home on November 30th, 2003, it was a Sunday evening, I don’t really remember the exact time he passed from this side of heaven to the other. The watch I had worn since high school had stopped, but frankly I really didn’t care what time it was, or that my favorite Tweetie Bird watch was broken.  I just knew that my father was finally in the presence of our Savior. I will never forget the sharp pain I felt that night, or the persistent ache that came afterward. That pain, was not mine alone, the rest of my family also missed him, and we still do. But as believers in Christ we can rejoice in the fact that we will see my dad again, and be able to rejoice in the presence of the Lord, just like Dad did, that fateful night in November.

  Since his passing, over the years, I’ve begun to really appreciate my father and what he did in this life. The impacts he had on those around him, the leadership he demonstrated in our family, the witness he was to this world of Christ’s love for humankind. You see,  Dad was a preacher, he was a follower of Christ first and foremost, but he felt called to full time ministry as a pastor and missionary. And so, he followed the call, he pastored churches in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, but the Lord had a place for him as a missionary to the Navajo people in New Mexico. It is New Mexico where Dad spent most of his ministry, and where my mother is still serving.

On my 30th birthday this past April, my mom blessed me with the gift of my dad’s last preaching Bible. He had gone through a few Bible’s during his time as a preacher and missionary, my sister and brother were given those Bible’s that had particular meaning to them. (We like having study Bibles, church Bibles, and if your a preacher then a preaching Bible. But don’t misunderstand, all Bibles are sacred, because they are the Word of the Lord.) The Bible that I wanted, the one that I held dear, was his last preaching Bible. The one he’d used during my childhood and adolescence.

Amongst the pages of this Bible are several of Dad’s sermon outlines, some are handwritten, some were typed on an old typewriter, others were scrawled on scrapes of paper here and there as the Lord spoke to my dad.   The Bible is a cherished possession, not only because it’s the Word of my Savior, but also because it holds much of who my dad was on this earth. These sermon outlines, do not paint the entire picture of who Dad was, but they do remind me of what Dad represented, and what I hope to represent to this world.

*Don’t cry Mom!*

I’ll be sharing bits and pieces of these sermons, the scriptures, and some anecdotes from these cherished outlines. I won’t put myself on a time line for this, as I apparently have blog ADD. But occasionally you will find, a post here and there about a favorite sermon, or one that has recently spoken to me.  I hope that you will join me on this journey through the Good Word, and I hope that the Lord will speak to you as He has for me, through these sermons preached and unpreached.

Ribbon Tree

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Recovery from this horrible cold is taking much longer than I had hoped, it’s definitely interferring with my holiday decorating. But I do have one major component up that brings  Christmas to the Yellow Casa, like my tree:

Ignore the messy table and the clutter surrounding tree, when I snapped the photo I didn’t really care too much about “staging” anything.

This years tree is slightly different from last years:

This year I went a little crazy with the ribbon, but I really like the fullness it added to my fake tree. Yup, I’m a fake tree loyalist, I like the non sticky-ness it provides, although I do miss that nice fresh smell you get from a real tree. All of my childhood Christmases included a traditional real tree cut down from the nearby mountains by my dad or later on by a family friend. I was in middle school when my mom decided a faux tree would be more economical and would save more tree lives. So, I followed in her footsteps and have had a fake tree every year since being out on my own. I was tempted a couple of weeks ago to buy a small real tree, but the thought of throwing it away at the end of the season was just too sad. Maybe next year I will get a live tree that can be planted in the yard after Christmas.

And here’s my wreath for the front, it’s still hung on the inside of the door due to my cold and the cold outside. I am hoping either the weather will warm up or I will get well soon.

Notice the sparkly green bow on the wreath? Yeah, it came in a two pack, so I put the other one on top of the tree with the star. I’m really lovin’ the green and the sparkle.

My ornaments are very low key, all are sentimental pieces.

Well, I must go for now, another major Christmas tradition is going on in my house, A Charlie Brown Christmas Special is on tv. I can’t miss it!

How are you fairing in the Holiday rush? Or are you trying to keep it low key and just enjoy this season of joy?

 

 

Finally Thanksgiving

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I’d thought it was about time to share my Thanksgiving with you before we got further along into Christmas. And before we get too wrapped up into, shopping, wrapping, sending, wishing, trimming, decorating, missing holiday linky parties that seem to come all too soon for my taste, and in general trying to simplify the holiday season without actually simplifying it all. *WHEW* Exhausted much?

Anywho, for Thanksgiving the Bubs and I visited my sweet mom. We ate until our jeans screamed out in agony, then we unbuckled our belts and ate some pie. Skinny jeans were totally out of the question with this feast laid out.

Fruit salad, yummy yams (that are so sweet they could rot your teeth), turkey, fresh roll, and over course the corn bread dressing. Turkey is not the main man here, it’s definitely the dressing. Thanksgiving at our house is just not complete without Grandma’s cornbread dressing. And it’s oh so easy to make. If you ever get a hankerin’ for some warm comfort food, here’s the recipe.

Corn Bread Dressing

1/2 cup onion chopped finely

1/2 cup celery diced fine

2/3 cup butter

2 quarts cornbread crumbs (be sure the cornbread is well browned)

6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chicken or Turkey stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onion and celery in butter. In a large mixing bowl  crumble the cornbread and add the chopped hard-boiled eggs to the cornbread. After eggs and cornbread are mixed, add the sauted onion and celery to cornbread mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and moisten with chicken stock or turkey stock. Turn into a shallow well buttered casserole dish and bake until golden brown on top.

But before feasting on our traditional dressing and pie, I felt compelled to make a pretty table. Why should we eat a delicious dinner at an un-dressed table?

Simple, easy, and not so naked anymore.

It was so easy to dress the table too, my mom has all the fixins’ for a beautiful table. So, everything I used was just around the house. She’s got the prettiest serving dishes too.

And just like me, she likes her home to be festive for the holiday.

I can’t wait to see what she does for Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and aren’t forgetting the Reason for the Season.

Dad

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Today marks the eighth anniversary that my earthly father went home to our Heavenly Father.  My dad was a great father, a loving husband to my mother, and most importantly a faithful servant of the Lord.

Thanks for being my Dad!

 

Thanksgiving

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“They will celebrate Your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of Your righteousness.” Psalm 145:7

Thank you Lord for bringing me so much to be grateful for. And thank you for giving us this holiday to reflect on all those great and marvelous blessings.

Oh, family and our similarities…thank you.

My Bubba, with his Superman curl and silver hair, which are each named April…thank you.

My dogs who patiently wait for their walks while I try to find matching socks…thank you.

For my home, be it messy and dusty it shelters me from the cold and the rain…thank you.

Have a happy and grateful  Thanksgiving!

Blissful Brownies

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So this past weekend, Bubba showed his love towards me in the most affectionate and romantic way. A way in which I couldn’t refuse, I was putty in his hands, he was the little red headed girl to my Charlie Brown, the Wesley to my Princess Bride, the Prince Eric to my Ariel (but minus the crabs, their pinchers scare me.) I think you get the picture, the Bubs had done something so extraordinary I just couldn’t resist.

He made me these…

My heart goes pitter-patter just looking at the picture of this long consumed brownie. The batch went so fast I had to snatch this photo of the last corner piece quickly, and then secretly snarf it down before Bubs found out.

The recipe came from our favorite vintage cookbook:

The dust jacket is worn, but the wealth of yummy goodness is still new to us. If you don’t know about the genius that was Helen Corbitt, then follow this wikipedia link. But if you are too lazy to click on the link here’s the run down, Ms. Corbitt was a Yankee who moved to Texas and fell in love with the Lone Star State. The LA Times has stated that Helen Corbitt is “the Julia Child-esque cooking celebrity with a Texas twang”. Which pretty much sums up her writing style and her cooking style. If you find a copy of her cookbook, I’d suggest snapping it up before anyone else does.  I  can guarantee it will be a good read, even if you don’t cook.

If I’ve gotten you so excited you can’t wait to get a hold of this wonderful book filled with many edible delights, here’s the recipe for these foot thumping, ecstasy inducing brownies:

Fudge Brownie Fingers

2 eggs
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. melted butter
2 squares bitter chocolate, melted
3/4 c. AP flour, sifted
1/2 t. salt
1 c. finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans usual; black walnuts divine)
1 t. vanilla

Beat eggs slightly; add sugar and stir. Add melted butter and chocolate. Mix flour, salt and nutmeats and add to egg mixture. Add vanilla and stir until well blended, but do not beat.

Pour into a well-buttered 9″ pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool and cut into 2″ fingers and roll in powdered sugar. Or grab a fork, dig in, and don’t share!! IT’S ALL MINE!!!

Leaves Keep Fallin’

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Before fall turns into winter, how about a photo recap of my recent visit to the Rio Grande River?  Out here in the desert we don’t have many trees so we have to go to the nearest water source to see the fall changes. Most of these are Cottonwoods, that are sneezily delicious in the Spring, but bring lots of pretty golds in the fall. Almost makes that Spring runny nose worth it…

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Slim and Trim

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Actually, nothing is slim and trim around these parts, except maybe my wallet and the done category of my to-do list. But thankfully,  this past weekend I was able to mark off something from my to-do list, FINALLY! It’s something that’s been festering since I bought the house back in August of 2008 (has it really been that long now?!).

Can you guess what it was?

Probably not, there are a lot of items that still need to be checked off the ol’ to-do list out here. Here’s a hint…

Need some more help? Well, here’s what things have been looking like out here that past 3 years…

And here’s the same view on Sunday…

Yep, I FINALLY painted the trim and porch. I still can’t believe I put it off for so long. It took my entire Saturday, but it was well worth the pride I feel when walking under my porch to enter our humble abode.

Here’s some before and after shots to give you a  better idea of why this little paint job made such a big difference…

The after from the same angle…

She could probably use some caulking to fill in some of the cracks, and a second coat in some spots. But she still looks much better than she did before. It’s amazing what a little lipstick can do for a girl.

The paint is, Wild Sage from Behr (I think), I used a Paint and Primer in one, with a semi-gloss finish. Quite an impressive product, I loved the consistency of the paint, not too runny that it practically drips from your brush or roller before hitting the desired surface but not too thick that it dries out in the tray. (That doesn’t mean that I didn’t end up wearing it.)

I started the process by chipping away the larger and looser chunks of paint. Not too much scrapping though, the wood on my trim is so old it started coming off with the old paint. So, I had to resort to a little bit of sanding to gently remove the debris and chipping paint. Someday we will install new wood trim, but for now the paint makes for a happy but temporary fix.

Ahhh….much better. Now, I can ignore all the other things I need to do to the exterior while I bask in the glow of a newly painted trim.

*Note: I have not been comped by Home Depot or Behr for mentioned their products here on the blog. End Note*

The Secret Garden…Day 3 of Charleston

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Day 3 of our Charleston trip started out with our sights set on seeing a real plantation. Until we realized how pricey seeing these things were! One plantation charged a base price of $25 for one adult just to see the grounds, that didn’t include seeing the actual house! So, we went a little further down the road, to Middleton Place. They still charged to see the house and still charged $25 buck-a-roos to see the grounds. But seeing as how we weren’t too keen on driving around all day, and the admission did include a tour of the gardens and stable yards we bit the bullet and shelled over the $50. (The Bubs and I are a little cheapskate-y at times.)

The grounds were beautiful, I wouldn’t say they were worth the $25 each, but they were still enjoyed by all…

There were birds…

And pretty statues…

This one reminded me of the cherubs from Night at the Museum 2, I kept expecting them to break into boy band song. (mmmBop anyone?)

Aside from all the statues and monuments, they had a giant Great Oak…

The trunk was nearly as big as my livingroom, ok, maybe it wasn’t that big, but it was still pretty dang large. Here’s Bubba standing next to it for scale…

The branches were so heavy, they had to be supported to keep from falling over…

Since we didn’t pay the extra $12 a piece to see inside the house, I at least had to take a picture of the outside.

Of course, this isn’t the original plantation house that was first developed in the late 17th century. This house was occupied by Middleton decedents during the 1920’s, if I had taken the tour I could probably tell you more interesting tidbits. But if you are interested, please visit the Middleton Place website here.

Here is what remains of the original mansion…

Between being set on fire during the Civil War and an earthquake there really isn’t much of original house.

But boy did it have a nice view of the river…

There were a few out buildings we could enter, this one is where they processed rice. (The cash crop at Middleton Place was once rice, before it became tourism.)

I loved the old windows…

The grounds were so beautiful they deserve to be mentioned again…

I couldn’t believe the amount of butterflies that fluttered around the joint…

After marveling at the butterfly population we mosied on over to visit the farm animals…

Where we found this friendly goat who insisted that the grass really was greener on the other side.

And this happy duck who cheerfully quacked his way around the yard…

Check out this birdie apartment complex…

There was also an old house that used to house slaves and later former slaves.The last occupant lived there from her birth in 1891 until her death in 1986. The house is called Eliza’s House in her honor. In the house is an exhibit that includes nearly 2600 names of slaves that served at Middleton place in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was quite a compelling exhibit, and this seems to be the only photo I took.

After wandering around the plantation grounds a bit more, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed back downtown to ohh and ahh over some of the architecture of these old and historic buildings.

(Never mind the garbage can, it was a crowed busy street, I did the best I could.)

There were so many churches…

With old cemeteries…

(Maybe we should have named Annie-dog Mary-Annie Dog)

And this secret garden, I loved the stone work used for the driveway.

And finally, this shot of the restaurant where we had the yummy french toast.

After visiting busy downtown, we made one final visit to the beach at sunset. Said goodbye to the sandy shore and roaring ocean, watched a couple become engaged, and marveled at the starry night, as we searched for our car once again.

Our trip to Charleston was so much fun, I’d do it again in heartbeat. But next time I would stay a little closer to town. We ended up staying in North Charleston, which we thought was just the northern part of Old Charleston but turned out to be an entirely different town nearly 20 miles away from where we wanted to be. So, each day required a rather lengthy car ride just to get to the tourist spots. I would also, plan ahead. When we arrived in Charleston we thought we knew what we wanted to see, but once there we couldn’t find any of the attractions. Just poor planning on our part I suppose.

But all in all, a great trip. It was nice to come home though, isn’t that the best part of leaving, the coming back?

Put a ring on it…Day 2 of Charelston

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In this post I showed you what the Bubs and I did on day 1 of our get-a-way to Charleston.  Today, let’s re-visit what happened on day 2…

We got a late start on day 2, so we only had the afternoon to tourist around Charleston. We started out at the Citadel, a military college right smack in the middle of town.

Apparently it was a big weekend for the cadets, as the ring ceremony was to be held the following day. There were parents and family of cadets milling about everywhere. Especially around this…

Yes, it’s a giant class ring. I’m not sure who donated it, but I do know that it was made out of the same materials as the actual rings that the cadets receive. The giant ring has a place of honor right at the entrance of the Citadel. See those empty spaces where a year would go? Those will be changed out whenever they have a graduation or a special former cadet pays a visit to his or her alma mater.

Around the parade grounds were displayed several flying objects that I found pretty cool…

Here’s Bubba to give you a better idea of how big these things were…

They also had a tank, for some reason it reminded me of my mom’s car…

Except her car isn’t painted green with white stars…

Aside from cool things that go boom, they also had a really pretty chapel. I couldn’t get enough of the stained glass.

Then we visited the museum on campus, after reading all the placards and looking at all the pictures, I took a photo of this fireplace. But isn’t the stone work pretty?

After grabbing  a couple of sandwiches and some sweet tea at the snack bar, we went to the beach again.

Here’s proof that not only my feet were there…

I still can’t believe I talked him into taking his shoes off in public! He refused to take them off at the car, but insisted on taking shoes and socks off once in the sand, hence the plastic bag.

We happened to be there at the perfect glowy-est time of day…

Being the house crazed gal I am I couldn’t resist capturing a few of the coastal houses as Bubba and I searched for the car. We later learned that each public beach access is numbered. So you must take note of which access you entered.

Check out the screened in porch on this sucker. I’ve never seen a bi-level porch before.

Upon finding the car, we got wonderfully lost again and came upon a sweet country road next to a marsh. There were lots of dog walkers, and everyone said hello. And may have looked at me funny for taking a picture of their road. But look, they have trees!

And a pretty marsh…

After finding our way back to town, we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant downtown called Toast. It was by far the best meal we’d had since arriving in Charleston. If  I hadn’t been so hungry I would have stopped my noshing to take a picture of my steak sandwich and Bubba’s French Toast. But dinner was too good be bothered with putting my fork down to shoot a few foodie shots.

With our tummies full and our minds set on exploration, we walked around downtown. But again, I didn’t take one single shot of our night time exploring. It was nice to just sit back and enjoy the moment.  And enjoy I did, I didn’t realize how different the South would be compared to the SouthWEST. For instance we came across, a man playing the trumpet in front of a grand looking office building, it was quite romantic. We also came across some pretty awesome houses, I can’t believe they’ve been standing for so long. But you’ll see those later when I cover what we saw on day 3 of our trip to Charleston. Relax, we were only there for 3 full days, so the next installment of April’s virtual vacation slide show will be the last.

Hope you enjoy!!!