Let's Catch Up

This is how we look now.  I've been neglecting this blog for far too long, so, I will attempt a little catching up.

The photo of the sisters and mom, was taken Thanksgiving 2014.  We are sad that it is missing our brother who passed away two years ago.  Can't believe it has been two years already. 

His two sons are grown ups now and  live in Houston and Santa Fe Texas.  Michael, the oldest, is out of the army now, attending A& M Galveston and working. He is married to Rachel who is a Baylor graduate and about to graduate yet again with her Master's degree in Nutrition.  When we met for the first time, she brought us a delicious Red Velvet Cake! After one bite, I approved  and she has been in the Poland family ever since.  This last September 2014 marked their one year anniversary.

The other son, Jeff, is a full time student at University of Houston. He also works so we don't get a chance to visit with him so much.  Let me just say, he is c -u -u - t -e so I don't look for him to be single much longer, but we are not rushing him!

I will slowly get you all caught up on the family and then maybe be able to stay current with our exciting happenings.  Word on the street is that Carryl, aka, Sissy, is retiring soon.  It will surely be fun to see all the stuff she gets in to!!

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!

Close



Closer

Closest

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!

Mom's Back Porch

Everyone likes going to Nanny's. It is such a relaxing place to just hang out as you can see. Although this weekend we were working back there, not relaxing. We had a huge garage sale in Nanny's carport and actually had customers dropping by all day long. It was fun to visit with all the neighbors through out the day. The bonus was when we could actually get them to buy something. One really smart customer brought his FFA sales brochure and Nanny and I ended up buying a ham and fruit from the Zavalla FFA club. I think he made more money than we did that day. We did have plenty of stuff left over but we are NOT having another sale in the near future. We are hauling all the leftovers to the thrift shop so you will have to go there to get any more of our junk. Don't worry, we are professionals at accumulating so we will probably need to have another one with all new junk eventually. I like to think of myself as an "Acquisition Specialist". I seem to remember trying to sell many things that I had "acquired" in the past just knowing that I would use or be able to fix-up and resale. At the end of the day, even though we didn't make tons of money, the lessons learned were priceless. 1) Stop buying stuff and bringing it home 2) When no one else wants your old stuff, you end up not wanting it either!

Antiques in Warrington

LOADS OF ANTIQUES

FRIENDS, NOT ANTIQUES


AND FAMILY

Last weekend we loaded up Theta's truck and drove across Texas to Warrington, Tx for the semi-annual antiques market. We had a great time visiting and shopping. Jana had just finished a long shift at the hospital and was able to meet us for breakfast in Huntsville. The weather was perfect and we walked and shopped all day. I think I spent less than $10 on stuff (not counting food) and the others kept to a safe limit as well. There was a lot of rusty old barn stuff and I have plenty of that already so I wasn't even tempted. I did get a few good ideas, I just have to be able to remember them now. My favorite thing was the embellished clothing in the Junk Chic store. They had lots of t-shirts and jeans with the saying, "Don't Worry, Be Hippy"! I think I have that covered!! Oh yea, and there was that barbed wire, license plate covered, red neck guitar that I liked. I wonder who should get that for Christmas??

Something Stinks!

Imagine my dismay when mom called to say she was on her way over to show me her newly bloomed cactus flower. I thought it would be pretty; not! And it stinks really bad. Smells like something dead. Sure enough, we "googled it" (looked up cactus flower that stinks) and this is how it is suppose to look and smell. She tried to give it to me but I made her take it back home! I think she should stick to her roses. They are prettier and smell way better that this!

OOOOOHHH, Look What She Did!

If you remember the post a few weeks ago, I showed you Nanny working on her "chain" stitch. Very quickly she mastered that and moved on to this baby blanket. Isn't it lovely? It is for Kelton, her newest great grandson. He lives where it gets quite cold so this should come in handy soon. She mailed it off to him last week, so he can begin using before he gets too big. I hope he realizes what a special little boy he is. So far he has the first and only blanket crocheted by Nanny. I hope there are many more to follow. Better get your orders in!

We Forgot the Yellow Ribbon!

Michael got to come home for short visit from Afghanistan and we were so happy to see him. He is doing well and looks great. We went to mom's for chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. We had such a good time talking and just looking at him. He has gotten a lot more "buff" too. Great for those aunt and nanny hugs! We wish him safety and good health as he finishes his tour there and we told him to come home soon! Don't' forget to write him a quick note any time you get a chance.

The Original Nanny's Place

This spring we took a road trip to visit our grandmother's sister-in-law. This is Wesley and Carryl and in the background the home where our Nanny lived when I knew her. It was amazing how little has changed since I have been there which is at least 35+ years. The house looks the same and the area around the creek is still undeveloped. I think on that day we had a century of decades represented. Aunts, Uncles, cousins from all ages were there for Aunt Nadine's birthday. Even Aunt Nadine's place looked the same. She still has cats and that is what I remember the most. Well, cats and chicken houses. The chicken houses were gone and that was sad, but the early spring weather and the break in the rain allowed for a sunny afternoon and we walked and reminisced about the past. Funny how we all had different memories of the same thing. Good to know nothing has changed in that regard!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Nanny, with her granddaughter Brianna, and great-granddaugher (I do mean great) Bailey. I stopped in unannounced and found Brianna and her girls enjoying a glass of tea with Nanny on the back porch. Ok, it just doesn't get any better than that for me. I so love living here close to Nanny, and when the grandkids come to visit and bring their precious children, well there is nothing more special as far as I'm concerned. I had a few little kids with me for a visit so we borrowed Bailey for a while and went to "town" to get snowcones. She made quick friends with my little friends and we had a blast. It was sort of hard to order snowcones for 4 little kids plus me, as I recall, we had 2 grape, 2 rootbeer and 1 vanilla. When I asked them what they wanted they looked at me and said, "What is there?". I looked up at that list of 1,000 flavors and said what any experienced aunt would say, cherry, strawberry and grape. Pick one. One of my friends can read very well so he tried to start down the list, but as soon as he requested root beer I said great, and made him go sit down. The snow cone shack has picnic tables and shade, plus a big fan, so we sat right there and ate them. They wanted to take them with us in the car, but fun aunt or not, that's where I draw the line! NO snowcones in my car!! Except mine, which I knocked over as soon as I got in, and it was the grape one......

Funny Kid Story

So last weekend, my young nephew was watching me sew on the sewing machine. After he observed for a few minutes he told me that Nanny sews too, except she uses her hand, not a machine. Now, we all know that Nanny is a great seamstress, however, I know that she hasn't sewn anything in quite a while, so I quizzed him a little bit. "What do you mean, she sews with her hand, did you see her sewing?" "Yes", he replied, "She was making a croissant". I thought for a minute and asked him, "Was it blue?", and he said yes. (Ok, I can't do the quotes things anymore and finish story today). Then I told him, that is not croissant, that is crochet and she is making a blue baby blanket for new baby Kelton. Oh, he said and walked away. So, you say croissant, I say crochet, no big deal, just don't try to serve me crochet with my meal!

Carryl and Tommy on Vacation

How cool is this? Carryl and Tommy are only on day two of vacation and I am already posting a picture of the condo where they are staying. That's because I went there already in early May. It was absolutely gorgeous. I hope they have good weather and get lots of time on the beach. The sand there is like powdered sugar, very white and soft. They are in Gulf Shores, AL staying at one of my "Spa Girl" friend's condo. I don't think she will have much computer access while there so probably no danger of finding out that I have posted about her vacation before she even gets home. Consider it like getting a postcard from her. Right, like that's going to happen!!

You Can Teach a Nanny New Tricks!

Ok, most people know that you shouldn't complain to me about not having something to do! I always have lots of suggestions. So, when Nanny was complaining about her gardening almost being over, I sat her down and handed her a crochet needle and a ball of yarn. She is currently working on what my crochet group has dubbed the "king kong chain". I told her that she has to chain for 2 weeks and then I will teach her a new stitch. Carryl wants her to move on after just one day of chaining, but I said, "No!" "She has to be able to chain in the dark without her contacts, and in her sleep if necessary". When she reaches that point, or until her chain reaches my house (3 miles) she just can keep chaining. Basically, I am trying to convince her that all crochet is, is chaining. Before you know it she should be cranking out the grandma dollies. (She probably should spend some time teaching me to spell). I have lots of yarn that I will donate and have already decided that most of her Christmas gifts can be scarfs and hats. So, if you are in the family, you might want to pray for really cold weather and possibly even snow, because if she crochets you a hat, you WILL be wearing it!!!