Thoughtful Thursday

I hope you all have had a week full of blessings!

Planning a Wedding Can Be Stressful....But Oh So Much Fun!

After 5 1/2 months I have finally found my way back to my blog...life can be stressful when you're helping your daughter plan a wedding. I say stressful...but it's fun too! I have been married 31 years and needless to say, weddings have taken on quite a different spin from "back in the day"! Remember when a reception was in the church fellowship hall and you had cake, nuts, handmade cream cheese mints, cheese straws(every southern bride has to have them!) and punch? Then we beefed it up by adding meatballs, fruit, and canapes to the menu... and now....OMG...it's unbelievable what is served at weddings today. We've planned a truly southern fare complete with shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, tomato pie tartlets, sweet tea in mason jars, and much, much more! It's all about the detail or theme...in my day as long as your bridesmaids' bouquets coordinated with their dress you were doing good! My house has turned into wedding central with each room holding boxes of treasures for this wonderful occasion. I've ordered from Ebay, Etsy, Oriental Trading, and floral supply houses, not to mention the engraving company for invitations (Reaves Engraving in Laurinburg, NC...they are wonderful!!! I ordered my invitations from them 31 years ago!) and soon I will be placing the last and final order for personalized koozies...according to my daughter

a must for every wedding. I have spent my days at school and my evenings are totally devoted to cutting, sewing, stamping, printing, googling, hot gluing, silhouette cutting, folding, molding, pinteresting, and painting! And finally, when I lay my head on my pillow at night I pray, "Dear Lord, please help me wake up feeling like I've slept 10 hours when it's only been 5." God blessed me with my one and only daughter 28 years ago and she is all the world to me. The joys of being a mother to this precious gift far out-weigh the hours of work that I've put into making this day the most special day of her life. And if it's not perfect, it's certainly not because I haven't tried my very best to make it that way. I have been blessed, and now she is being blessed by marrying a wonderful young man...and I gain a son! God is good...what more can we ask?

Pumpkin Topiaries Just In Time For Thanksgiving!

I  l.o.v.e  topiaries!  All kinds of topiaries!  So, I have a habit of making them for all occasions and Thanksgiving is no different.  I love the little Jack Be Nimble Pumpkins you find in your local grocery store and every year I have to fight the urge to buy tons of them for decorating.  The problem is....what do you do with them after Thanksgiving?  This year I refrained and only bought a few and since the Thanksgiving season is coming to an end in just a few days, I needed to do something with my pumpkins instead of having them piled in a bowl on my table.  I decided on topiaries!  They are very easy to make and after the holidays I don't feel quite so guilty throwing them away since I had already poked holes in them.  Here are a few easy steps:

Supplies you will need:

You will need a miniature pumpkin, 1/4 inch wooden dowel, and a container. You will also need a little oasis or styrofoam for the pot, some Spanish moss as a filler and a piece of ribbon or raffia for the bow.  You can use any kind of container...I chose a little terracotta flower pot that I am going to paint using a crackle finish.  I love the effect of crackle and it's so easy to do.  You will need 2 colors of acrylic paint, crackle medium (you can get this at AC Moore or Michael's) and a paint brush.

First paint your bottom coat of paint.  This will be the color that shows through on the crackle.  Let it dry.

Next, paint a layer of your crackle medium (it's sticky) and let it dry.

Next, paint a layer of your second color using short strokes.  Paint only one coat and don't go back over where you've already painted.  As you start painting you will notice it crackling.  Isn't it cool!!  I love this stuff.  When your pot has completely dried spray it lightly with a clear acrylic sealer.  Now sharpen one end of your dowel rod and insert it up into the little pumpkin.  Fill your container with oasis and then stick the dowel into the pot, use some Spanish moss as a filler and finish off with a pretty bow!

I hope ya'll are all enjoying the preparations for turkey day on Thursday. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year and I can't wait for my Georgia family to arrive and the festivities to begin!  And, believe it or not, I've been listening to Christmas music for a few weeks now and have already changed out all the CD's in my car to my favorite Christmas tunes.  I've been enjoying everything from Mannheim's Steamroller, to Martina MacBride and James Taylor and some nice Christmas piano tunes!  I love this season and hope you all are enjoying it too!  Until later . . .

Thoughtful Thursday - A Day Late!

Thank you to all the veterans who made the choice to take a chance in order to change our lives.

We are forever grateful for your willingness to serve our country. 

Thoughtful Thursday

I have always been fond of collecting and sharing quotes, inspirational thoughts, poems, scriptures, and words of wisdom.  Over the years I have saved scraps of paper where I've written these meaningful expressions, stashed them in envelopes, tacked them to bulletin boards, and sometimes tucked them between the pages of my Bible.  Several years ago I decided I needed a little more organized method for my madness so I purchased a nice little leather journal.  It was very inexpensive but the words within its pages are priceless.  There are some days that I just need a lift so I pull out my journal and just read through some thoughts, and then there are days when a burdened friend needs a little encouragement and I've turned to my trusty "Reflections" journal to find the perfect quote.  Whatever the need may be I have found my collection to be the medicine for many wounds.  I have to share a quick story with you about how this all started, many years ago when I was in fifth grade.

I grew up in Atlanta and as most people know, Atlanta is the home of the Coca Cola Bottling Company.  Every year the Cola Cola Company would give all students a Coca Cola tablet and pencil, and every year I just couldn't wait to get mine because I always used it to "play school".  It was the perfect thing to use for my grade book!  Fifth grade was no different and the morning I walked into my classroom and saw that stack of tablets on Miss Davidson's desk was like winning the lottery.  My mind was churning as I thought about how I was going to create my new grade book!  It's hard to believe that a fifth grader loved to play school but, that was back in the good old days when children really knew how to be creative with their playtime.  Anyway, as I remember it, after we had our morning devotional (yes we had those back in the day too!), the pledge to the flag and sang "My County 'Tis of Thee" I saw Miss Davidson quietly pick up the stack of tablets.  A big smile came over my face.  She passed a tablet  to each student and then turned on her perfect 3 inch pumps (yes teachers actually use to wear heels...all . day . long!) and said, "Boys and girls, this year we will be using our Coca Cola tablets to collect "Thoughts for the Day".  Wait a minute, did I hear her correctly?  Certainly she wasn't telling me how I was suppose to use MY tablet?  Oh but she was!!  She gave us all an ink pen and said it was also time for fifth graders to learn to write properly, with perfect penmanship, in ink!  My day was ruined!  I wanted to cry.  But I didn't....I took my tablet an began to write.  Every morning there would be a thought for the day on the board that we would have to write and occasionally, even memorize.  All that being said you know what?  I still have my Coca Cola tablet and it is one of most prized possessions.  I keep it here in my room at school and I can't tell you how many times I've pulled it out just to read some words of wisdom, copy a verse, or more times than not....just to travel back to  my fifth grade classroom and reminisce about the teacher who inspired me more than any other teacher I have ever had.  The teacher who taught me more than readin', ritin' and rithmethic!  She taught me about citizenship, about giving to others, about being a good person.  Now that my friends, is a good teacher.

Now, to my Thoughtful Thursday . . . I share with you the quote above. I've had this one for some time and read it often.  Just like I thought I had plans for my Coca Cola tablet . . . there were other more important plans for it, and I do believe God had a hand in it, and I believe His plan was the best plan.  I enjoyed our visit today.  Ya'll come back soon!     

My Coca Cola table - 1965

My journal now.

                                                                             

Halloween Moon Pies . . .A Southern Treat!

Well, ya'll all know there is nothing like a moon pie and an RC Cola to take care of a little hunger pain and here is a cute way to decorate a plain old moon pie and make it something special for Halloween!  Unwrap your moon pies and insert a 9" wooden dowel into the side, up through the marshmallow middle.  I pushed my dowel through, almost to the top.  Now you are ready to decorate them.  I laid them all out on a sheet of wax paper and used melted chocolate as my glue. I used the back of a spoon as my spatula and applied the melted chocolate all around the outter edge, then sprinkled orange Halloween sprinkles while the chocolate was sticky.  It only takes a few minutes for it to harden.  After the melted chocolate was hard I turned the moon pies over and shook off the excess sprinkles.  I attached candy corn with more melted chocolate, let that harden, packaged them in cellophane bags from AC Moore and tied them with curling ribbon in Halloween colors!  These are the cutest little treats!  I can't wait to give these to the children that will be coming to have some Halloween fun with me at school on Friday!  They will be so surprised!  Just let your imagination run with the decorating!  I love the banana moon pies too and I think they would be so cute decorated with a monogram!  Now you know everyone needs a monogrammed moon pie!  Hope ya'll have as much fun making these fun treats as I did!  Trick or Treat!!!

                                                                                                              ~Becky

Fall memories are all in the smell and taste!

When I was a little girl one of my fondest memories was coming in from school on a cool fall or cold winter day and having the smell of my mama's gingerbread or fresh apple cake baking in the oven drift by my nose.  It's funny how now, years later, just the smell of cinnamon, ginger or cooked apples takes me back to a precious time in my life and conjures up all sorts of wonderful memories.  My mama was the Martha Stewart of the 60's and 70's and even today her organization skills will put Martha's to shame!  She always knew just what we needed when we walked in the door from school.  So, when the cool temperatures of autumn knock on my door I can't help but get out the cook book and look for recipes that not only tantalize the taste buds but...take me back to my childhood with their fragrance.  This weekend's cool temperatures brought that urge to me so I decided to bake up a batch of Molasses Cookies.  These cookies have a bit of a nostalgic tradition tied to them as well.  This recipe was shared with me by my sweet friend Sara who tells the story of her grandmother baking them every year in the fall.  The story goes that her grandmother was a docent at the Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Indiana.  Each year during their Fall Festival Sara's grandmother would bake these cookies and serve them with tea on the back porch of the Coffin House for the visitors who came for a tour.  Of course, it would become a tradition for her grandmother to bake them every year and now Sara tells me that every fall she bakes these cookies because... they just taste like fall!  I can certainly vouch for that too because the first time she shared them with me I had to have the recipe.  Saturday I baked a batch and as soon as everyone in my family took a bite they all said, "This tastes like fall!"  So today I'd like to share the recipe with you in hopes that the smell and taste of these cookies will take you back to a sweet childhood memory of fall.

Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup shortening, melted

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup sorghum molasses

1 egg

2 teaspoons soda

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt shortening in saucepan over low heat.  Remove and cool.  Add sugar, molasses and egg.  Beat well.  Sift dry ingredients.  Add to first mixture.  Mix well and chill.  Form into 1" balls.  Roll in granulated sugar and place on greased cookie sheet.  Gently press the top of each ball to slightly flatten.  Bake at 375 degrees for 6-7 minutes.  You will think they are not fully cooked but they are ready!  The cookies will have soft centers.  If you would like a crispier cookie, let them bake about 9 minutes.  ~Enjoy!