Talent Show?

In case you don't recognize her, the second picture is Carryl dressed up as Vestal Goodman. She went on stage and sang God Bless America and the audience actually stood up to join her!!! She was a big hit and a good sport as well. She asked me not to post her picture to facebook and I didn't! Mom, Steve, Ethan and I were in the audience. The Talent Show, A Night With the Stars, was put on as a benefit for Bobbie Dhone, one of our town's much loved ladies. She has had some bad health issues recently and we are trying to raise money for an addition onto her house so that her daughter can live there and help take care of her. The night was a huge success and a good amount of money was raised.

Apparently, there is a lot of hidden talent in this town, who knew??

Extreme Make-over - Front Porch Edition

BEFORE:




DURING:

Mom's front porch is really coming along. We painted the pew red and added some pretty pillows. Since this picture, there is a new iron planter on the far wall and a green chair with a plant, plus a few more potted flowers. You can't even see where I spilled a gallon of red paint on the porch can you? I really didn't even have to confess as I did a great job of painting it up and putting it back in the bucket. I had to pick it up with the paint brush because I spilled the entire bucket just as I was starting the work and I hate to have waste. So, instead of washing it away and buying more, I scooped it up with the paint brush and then washed off the stain. Just so happens that just when it spilled the water man walked up and saw it. I made him promise not to tell on me! However, I don't suggest this technique. It took more than an hour to get it all up and washed away. I was afraid mom would come home and panic when she saw the huge mess I made. I am sure she wouldn't be too surprised and that often happens to me when I am working. I admit I can be very messy, but I am horrible with paint. Always spill, and usually on me!

I will post the finished look in a few days. Mom has been in the yard and garden practically every day. She has lots of vegetables coming up as well as roses, lilies and other flowers. It is so pretty around her house. I think she likes gardening more than she likes cooking, which doesn't go so well with the rest of the family. We are getting hungry waiting for her to get back into the kitchen with some of her garden produce!

Beach Babe!

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Mom and I took a quick road trip to see the little girls and decided to take a short detour on the way back. This is High Island beach and it was beautiful! The weather was great and hardly anyone was there so it was very peaceful. We didn't stay very long, mostly just wanted to check out the conditions and see if we would want to go back and spend the day. Yep, we want to go back and spend the day. Actually, I want to live there but there are no houses there right now. The beach is very clean and I even found a sand dollar that was still completely whole. There were lots of great shells too. It takes about 2 hours to get there from our house but it is worth the drive. Much easier than when we lived in NW Houston and had to travel through downtown to get to Galveston. There was hardly any traffic and it was a beautiful drive. So, we are definitely packing our lunch for a day trip very soon.

Peach Orchard and Yard Stuff

Here is the start of Nanny's peach orchard. We planted 6 trees 1.5 - 2 years old. We also found that several peach seeds Nanny planted last year have sprouted, so we are taking care of them in the green house nursery. They will be our first peach tree babies to nurture. We were told that we won't have actual peaches until the trees are 3 - 5 years old, but we can hope. If anyone wants to be in on the peach harvest in 3 - 5 years, I suggest you take a few minutes to re-read The Little Red Hen, children's book. I have a copy on my shelf if you would like to check it out!

Once we had the peaches taken care of for the day, Nanny found more outside work to do. I raked and she burned more leaves. Steve tells us that when we use the mower the leaves will miraculously disappear into mulch, but there are so many that we didn't quite trust that will happen, so we decided to get rid of the larger piles. Nanny insists on using diesel fuel to help the wet ones burn. Before anyone out there fusses at her for using combustible materials, remember that I was there too and watching. She knows what she is doing, believe me. She might not can move around as well as in her younger days, but she still has a lot of knowledge that I am trying my best to soak up.

And of course a couple of projects that I am taking on to help spruce up the place. The pew is from the old building of First Baptist Church and has been sitting on the front porch for more than 10 years. It is in very bad shape, so I reinforced the seat with some wood glue, boards and screws and next week it will get a new coat of paint. We will then get some pretty flowers for the planter and maybe to hang on the front porch. It will certainly help to brighten up the place.

And this is just a close up shot of some of the obstacles that get in the way. Jack has adopted the planter for his new bed, so we may have to get some plants with stickers to encourage him to find a new location!

Zavalla Eagles Homecoming Accessories

Mom and I got together last Friday to whip up some earrings for us to wear to the Zavalla Eagles Homecoming game. We don't have much practice so we ended up working a couple of hours trying to design and make earrings that would match our school colors. We got a little carried away and ended up making a few extra sets to give out to our many friends at the game. It was a fun way to get into the school spirit! We ran out of some of the supplies, so I had to finish them after the game. Mom must have enjoyed the craft because she ended up making herself several different pair with different colors for wearing elsewhere. I have to be careful around her, once she gets started, she leaves me behind in the dust! However, I got her this time, I made her help me clean up the mess and it was a big one. Later that night at the game.... we had the most "styling" earrings there! I think we would have won the spirit stick if there was one! Hey mom, do you know how to make pom poms? I think we should make us some of those for next season!

Carlene's - The Family Cafe

Carlene's Famous Menu




New Aprons for Homecoming Week

Carlene's Cafe is the Poland Family's second go-to place for good home cooking. (The first being mom's of course). And last week was the Zavalla Eagles' Homecoming, so I made new aprons for our friends there. They are always so nice to us when we come in there after church on Sunday and my family wants to order off the menu instead of eating off the buffet, like regular people. They don't complain or even make faces, at least where we can see them. I had to get over my hard feelings that my husband and child like Carlene's cooking better than mine, but that took about 1/2 of a minute! Hey, I like it better too!! Plus, they know my favorite drink and have it ready for me almost as soon as I sit down, at my regular table that I sit at every week.

I always just eat the buffet because I know the cook has been in there slaving all morning. To order off the menu is almost like cooking a big huge meal for your family and someone asking if they can just have scrambled eggs or a peanut butter sandwich, know what I mean. And, expect you to fix it!!!

And never, never, never, do they listen to your order and ask you, "Is that on your diet"? Yep, that's right, I might even have to go there this afternoon for a snack before church. You know how it's fun to go where everyone knows your name and they're always glad you came.... hey, that sounds familiar...

Cheers for now,

Lisa

Christmas 2009

This is a quick picture of about how it always looks whenever we have Christmas and all the gifts get opened. Paper, presents, toys, cats?, flying everywhere! That means we are having a good time! By the way, the pink scarf that has been lost, looks to be in that bag there. Maybe someone will find it soon!

Another pic of family togetherness. Or, is that really just Morgan trying to get a chance to play with the little girl toys?? It is hard growing up, especially when you start outgrowing toys and things at Christmas. Who is that sitting across the room with the red shirt? I think the little girls called him Santa more than once!

And here is Wes and Jeff. Michael did get a chance to call and talk to his dad and brother while we were all gathered. We had sent him several Christmas boxes but he had not yet recieved by Christmas day. We were sad that he has to be so far away from home and family. We are looking forward to having him back home with us soon!

Another shot of our favotite Christmas activity. All the snack food. This is the only day that we load up the table with chips, dips and sweets and have at it without the normal guilt. Have another cookie, it's Christmas!! Erin is holding up a quilt handmade by Nanny with PawPaw's old flannel shirts. I think it was her favorite gift this year.

This was suppose to be a picture of Erin showing her handmade quilt from PawPaws old flannel shirts, but Colton darted across just in time to make it a picture of him. It turned out to be a good one too!

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our blog readers. Remember in all the hustle and bustle you see here, we remember that Jesus birth is the real reason we can celebrate Christmas. We hope you find Him in your home often this year!

Early Christmas Party

Aunt Iris, Mom and Bennie met up with each other in Gilmer at the home where their Aunt Nadine lives. A few of the other cousins were there too and they all had lunch together. We are still so thankful to have Aunt Nadine with us. She ate her lunch and then grabbed a nap while we were doing the photo shoot. Mom took her Cowboy Stew, and Bennie made a coconut pie. We did have a little bit of soup leftover, but the pie was finished off! We need to make another trip soon to give Aunt Nadine some company. Aunt Iris goes quite often to stay with her so, maybe we can all go again soon.

Thanksgiving With the Polands

We were blessed with a wonderful Thanksgiving and lots of good food again this year. Mom did most of the cooking, with Carryl and me helping. I took lots of pictures for Michael since he couldn't be with us this year while serving in Afganistan. The food pictures came out too blurry to post but I did include some of us enjoying the meal. We have much for which to be thankful and we are. This is mine and Steve's first Thanksgiving to actually be living back in Zavalla and it was great to be able to share the meal, go home and rest and them come right back to eat again, and again. Steve seems to look for any opportunity to go over to mom's house these days. I think right now he is actually gone over to build her fire, but really I think he goes to raid the fridge and pantry! He really enjoys the perks of living near our moms!