Smooth as a baby's . . .

When I was a little girl (around first grade), we had a sweet Cocker Spaniel. She was so black that in the sunlight you could see a hint of blue. She had big, loving brown eyes and was the absolute best pet ever. In fact, she looked very much like the dog in the picture on the right.

She had one very unique feature -- she had NO tail -- not even a stub! Her backside was as smooth as a baby's behind -- with hair, -- lots of hair. When she was happy or got excited, she wiggled her backside. Poor thing, she didn't have a tail or even a stub to wag, all she could do was wiggle. So we named her Wiggles. (I sure hope that didn't annihilate her self-esteem. If so, she never let on.)

One day, when she was curled up napping, I sat down beside her and gave her a big hug . . . only to realize that I was at the wrong end! Oooops! No tail to identify which end was which!

Wiggles lived for several years. It was a sad day when she went to meet her Maker. My Dad buried her in a special place on our farm. We still remember sweet Wiggles. Somehow , through all these years, she has continued to stand out as an especially beloved pet.

A boy + dog just seems natural. My son loves dogs and has had a number of them through the years. Pets are a lot of work for Mama's but they sure bring warmth to a home. Not only warmth, but countless hours of joy. (They never tell your secrets!) They are always so excited to see you and love unconditionally. Actually, they are great examples for us. We should show excitement around our family and friends when we are in their presence, and we should love them unconditionally. We could learn some things from our pets - don'tcha think?

Did you or do you have a special pet(s) that are a part of your family? Maybe there was a special pet in your childhood. I would love to hear your story!

Love,

Saturday Cartoons

Isn't interesting how our senses stir up memories? I grew up on a peanut farm in Caddo County, Oklahoma. I remember beautiful, cool summer mornings with birds chirping outside my bedroom window. Fast forward ?? years, and I still love hearing the birds sing in the morning. Most any day I can step out on our patio and hear their arias and sometimes just simple morning chatter.

Last week I heard a woodpecker trying it's best to bore a hole in the metal gutters on the parsonage. Loony bird! His beak must have been "Z" shaped by the time he gave up. I could just imagine how his poor little head must have been buzzing! I wonder if he saw stars!

Anyway, the woodpecker brought back memories of another woodpecker from my childhood -- the famous "Woody Woodpecker"! Remember him?

He was such a feisty little character!

When Mr. Lantz was looking for the right voice for the Woody Woodpecker cartoon show, his wife auditioned without revealing who she was. When her husband heard her interpretation of what a woodpecker might sound like, he loved it and hired the voice -- not know it was his wife! Isn't that a hoot?!!

Saturday morning cartoons -- being a carefree kid -- lovin' life! Remember?

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Love,

Not a good idea

It never pays to get in a hurry, does it? And . . most certainly, it's never a good idea to try to do something when one really DOESN'T have the time to do the job -- correctly -- or -- even at all.

Here's what happened last night:

All week I had been trying to polish my fingernails. So last night I had two or three extra minutes (that alone should have sent off some alarms) before leaving for church, so I thought I would get the job done. (The stirring wheel is a great place to let nail polish dry.) Anyway, . . . . . . the polish bottle slipped out of my hand and polish went all over the bathroom floor, the wall, the leg of my jeans, my shoe and on the bathmat! My NEW bathmat!

I quickly grabbed the polish remover and began cleaning the floor and wall. Next was my shoe then my jeans (which still bore hint of polish). Now, I'm standing there looking at white polish on my blue bathmat. (White because I was going to do a a quick french tip.) I didn't have time to clean the bathmat so I grabbed the mat and put it in the sink to soaked in water, which turned out to be overnight.

This morning I put the mat in the washing machine to spin out the excess water so I could see what was left to clean. Some of the polish actually did come out but I still had more to clean. You can still see some of the polish in the picture. It looked much worse last night.

I'm to say proud that I did get all of the polish out of the rug, off the floor, off the baseboard , off my shoe, and out of my jeans! No evidence of the incident visible. Whew!!

I am very tempted to call myself stupid - - however, I've started the Bible study, "Me, Myself, & Lies" by Jennifer Rothchild. (It's about self talk.) So I guess I'd better restrain myself and not give in to the temptation!

Note to self: Sweet thing, don't do that again!

Love,

1st Birtday Party

Sunday was the day of the big birthday party! Yes, it was on Father's Day, but it worked well for us and the guests. Here are some pictures from his special day:

"Hi! I'm the guest of honor.
I am 1 year old."

"This was my Daddy's hat! How do I look!"

"This is how the big boys wear it, Mom."

"Uh . . hey buddy, I think you've got yours on backwards!"

"Oh Dawlin! That looks simply smashing on you!"

The candles are lit.

Take a B-I-G breath! Now . . . BLOW!

"
What?!!! Another smash cake?!!"

"You've got to admit -- I've conquered this thing!"

The loot!

"Oh, boy! Presents!"

"Now, is there a crib in the house? I'm ready for a nap!"

This little darling is walking and tries so hard to hold a conversation with whomever will listen ;) He has an outgoing personality and loves people -- especially little people! We are so blessed to have him in our life.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to share in Grammy's brag-post . . . . . .again! :)

Love,

The tenth picture . . .

I was tagged by Cathy at Tales of the TCKK Family I am supposed to post the 10th picture in the 1st folder in my picture files. There wasn't 10 pictures so I posted the 9th.

This is a picture of my mother (2nd from the left) and her friends on a toboggan. This was before she married my father. She lived in Southern California and they went to mountains to "play".

I couldn't resist adding a couple more of her on that day. In the next picture, her friend is trying to put a snowball down her back



In this next picture, mom is on the right. She was so fun. We had so many laughs and fun times together. I miss her and dad. (I don't have any pictures of dad on my computer.)

I'm in the process (it's turning into a loooooog one) of working on some genealogy scrapbooks. I want to record what I remember and what I've learned through research to put in these scrapbooks so that my grandchildren will know about their ancestors. If I don't, I fear that many facts and stories will be lost forever. It may seem a little strange to say this, but preserving their memories in these books feels like a way of loving them. And . . . I do love them!

Love,

Revealed by popular demand!

Due to an overwhelming number of requests, ( all 4 or 5 of you) *insert applause* (lol) here are the results of the birthday cakes. Yes, I said cakes.

This is Little Slugger's cake.

There wasn't a pan available for the glove. So I bought a 16" round pan,
Googled a suitable picture, zoomed it to size, transferred it to waxed paper,
cut the cake in the shape of the glove, crumb coated the cake

and then transferred the details to the cake.
After that it was time to outline all the details then fill in with "stars".

I purchased the largest cake board I could find but as you can see,
it barely fit in the board.

I carved a little ball and placed it in the glove.
The cake was milk chocolate with chocolate buttercream frosting (so yuumy).
Here's a side view.

This ball cake was the original plan, but when the pan arrived
it was obvious that it would not yield enough servings for the number of guests
invited (mostly adults -- how many little friends can the average
one-year-old have anyway!) :)
The ball cake was coconut.
(If you like Mounds candy bars, this cake with the chocolate buttercream
could seriously send you over the edge!)


And . . . of course we needed another smash cake.


My DIL did a superb job of putting the party together.
Since the part began at 1:00 p.m, she served a pizza lunch
with salads and fruit tray (all homemade).

Here's Little Slugger's table.
My DIL make white chocolate baseball suckers for the kids.
They are on the right end of the table.


I have some cute pics from the party that I'll post tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have an awesome Monday!

Love,

Need some boredom? Read this.

You are about to embark upon the most boring post out in bloggyland! Ready? Here goes.

Among other happenings this past week, we have been in Vacation Bible School at church. I really have an easy job; I'm the computer operator/projectionist. The theme this year is "Studio Go". It is all centered around a game show. If you go to the link you can hear some of the music. In fact, we just love their music every year!

This afternoon I will be going to Michael's or Hobby Lobby to see if I can find a cake pan that will be the right size for B's baseball glove cake. My DIL bought a baseball cake pan but it 's not big enough to several the number of guests for the party. So, I will be making a baseball glove to sit the ball on. (Ooops, I ended the sentence with a preposition -- sorry.) In proportion, I'm hoping for it to look something like this. (They used a molded pan for this cake, but mine will be larger and there is not a pan that size I will have to cut the cake in the shape of the glove. Wish me luck!)



See, I told you it would be boring but thanks for reading anyway! :) Now you may get back to your exciting life!

Love,

Worship

Worship is such a vital part of my life. I am so thank for music and recognize it as a gift from God!

I recently purchased Kari Jobe's newest cd (pictured on the right). For those who have not heard of her yet, she is one of the worship leaders at the Gateway church near Dallas, TX. There are several songs that have become some new favorites. She has a very quiet restful style. If you go to her website, you'll be able to listen to clips of the songs on her albums.

One song that I really like is "Revelation Song". I have included a video of her singing it on Gateway's worship DVD entitled "Wake Up". If you like worship DVDs, I can highly recommend this one. I have the cd for my car but the DVD is much better.

I encourage you to take a few moments to join her in worship as you watch this video.

Have a blessed Thursday and may you feel the God of wonder walking close by your side today!

Love,

It's a smash!!!

Yesterday was our little grandson's 1st birthday! His big party will be Sunday afternoon but I just couldn't let his BIG DAY go by without a cake. So I made him a smash cake.

I got home from work at 4:30 pm and had to be at Vacation Bible School at 7:00 pm so the race with the clock was on. I quickly made the cake batter and popped it in the oven. While it was baking I made the buttercream frosting, colored part of it red and then waited for the cake to cool in the fridge.

I spent approximately 15 - 20 minutes TOTAL decorating the little thing. The "stars" are uneven in size, but it didn't really matter for this one. The cakes for the party will need to be better. I finshined, put the dishes in the sink, and ran out the door with 2 minutes to spare!

After VBS we met back at our house for cake and ice cream. Here are a few pictures of B with his cake. He wasn't sure if it was okay to touch it or not (normally it would be a "no no").

Anyway, here are several pics from last night.

The finished cake.
"Little Slugger" is the party theme. Thus, a baseball.

Cake with a candle.

Let's begin.
Oooo!

Ooops, I have something on my finger!

Let me try that again.

Hmmm.
(Notice his other arm hanging down off the highchair.)

Nobody has stopped me yet!

Fancy hand work.
The secret is in the twist of the wrist.

Hey, there's something inside!

Gett'n a good grip.

Big sister can't resist either.

Smoooooth!

Yummm! I think I like it!

The end result!
A job well done!

He was sitting in his Daddy's old highchair and had one of his bibs on, too.
We also added a fancy plastic "trash bag smock" to protect his clothes.
He's a fun boy and we enjoy him so much.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Love,