Emergency Brake........

Since my tire blow-out fiasco, Brady has hated getting in my SUV. He is afraid we are going to go "BOOM" again. I've tried to reassure him that mommy's tire is not got to blow-out again and that we now have brand new tire on it. But, my car had been making strange noises since the blow-out, especially when I was changing gears. I thought the transmission was going out or something so when Brian took it up to the car place to get the new tire I told him to get it checked out..............they found nothing wrong. After a few days of it doing this, I was talking to my husband about it and he said "it's almost like the emergency brake is on".................and a light-bulb went off in my head!!!! Oh yea, that nice man who changed my tire put the brake on so the truck wouldn't roll back on the fella underneath it!!! I ran out to check it and sure enough, the brake was down...............................so I drove all the way home from Collins.................and then all over town for 4 days without realizing my emergency brake was on!!!! Man, I knew it was having a funny smell, like burnt rubber..................oops!!!!!

Treasures

I know this is my 3rd post on my new little flower bed...........but I am so proud of it! It makes me smile every time I look out the window and see it. Yesterday afternoon I decided to fancy it up a bit. We had some bricks from my kids old school so I used them as a border. This little bed has turned out to be so much more than just a garden to me. It is more a sort of memorial. I guess I am getting sentimental in my old age. The fact that the plants came from something my grandmother actually grew and nurtured means the world to me. It's no secret that material things don't mean a thing to me............I'm the Dollar General Queen and I love hand me downs . Don't get me wrong, I like having nice things, it's just that I could take it or leave it. Especially after experiencing Katrina, and seeing my family and all my friends lose every single thing they owned. You realize the important things are the sentimental treasures in life............that is what means the most. My husband did clean-up work in the months after Katrina because his mortgage company office was wiped away. When he was assigned St Paul's Catholic School.......which was the school he attended and our 2 oldest sons, it was very hard on him. That school held many fond memories for him and tons of others. When he brought home some of the bricks that made up the school I knew I had to find something special to do with them. So all this time they have been laying around waiting to be put to use. It came to me the other day when I was watering my new plants.......Voila! This would be a PERFECT spot for them.............so here they are.................displayed for us to see every day!!!!

I hope you all have a very Happy Father's Day and a Great Weekend!!

Thanks for reading!!

C

My Grandmother's Flower Bloomed!!

This morning I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. I was thinking about my friend Angie who just passed away. I mourn so much for her................ and for her beautiful daughter, who looks just like her and for her young son that reminds me so much of my Brady. It is just heart-breaking thinking of them having their mother taken away...............Life can be so unfair sometimes. So this morning when I woke with Angie heavy on my heart, my husband goes out to water the flowers and sees the most beautiful sight!!!!! My dear sweet Grandmother's flower that my Aunt Janet gave me had bloomed the prettiest yellow flower................after seeing that I knew that Angie was going to be alright in Heaven and sweet Zola Mae is taking good care of her!:-)

Whenever I see that beautiful yellow flower bloom, I will think of my dear friend Angie.............and remember her always...............

Plants, Baseball & Pies......OH MY!!

I went home to Forest last week.........for one of my high school best friend's funeral. It was the 4th friend that I have buried since 2006. It was such a bittersweet visit..............being home for such a terribly painful thing but also getting to see friends that I haven't seen in over 20 years. It is so strange how you grow up with your schoolmates, spending every day together for so many years and then loose touch with them.......but when you see them again.......even if it has been 20 years, you pick right up like a day hasn't passed. Kinda like being in a time warp. I am so thankful for all the wonderful friends that I had growing up. They all had such an impact on my life and have helped mold me into the woman I am today. It was so nice reminiscing about "the good ole days" with them..............even though some memories could have stayed in the memory book!!haha I really feel bad for the kids of toady's age...........any dumb teenage mistakes or foolish things they do will be forever immortalized via digital camera, video cam, internet or cell phone, poor things!

While I was home I visited with my wonderful aunts........Aunt Sheila and Aunt Janet. My Aunt Janet gave me some plants and flowers that came from my grandmother, Zola Mae's yard. When I got home, my husband planted them for me, right in the corner in of my back yard so that I can look outside the window everyday and think of my sweet grandmother. I strive to be even half as good of a woman as she was..............I don't think there will ever be another one like her.

I just pray that I don't kill them!!!

I came home from our trip to Forest last Thursday so that I could make it to Bren's all-star baseball game. We left around 5-5:30......thinking I could just go straight to his game since it wasn't until 8 that night. I had Katie and Brady with me..........we were jam-packed to the gill with clothes, plants, old pictures and memorabilia from high school. When we got to Collins, as we were trekking along with the radio jamming.............I hear a big BOOM!!!!!! Really, it sounded like a bomb went off.........my car started pulling very hard to the left..........MY TIRE HAD BLOWN OUT!!! I don't know how I remained calm and didn't flip the SUV..............it had to have been Divine Intervention. I'm not the best driver, and I'm certainly not the calmest person around.....but all I kept saying to the kids was "be calm.......yall be calm......be calm!!" (they weren't saying a word, by the way) I think I was talking to myself more than them! We made it safely to a parking lot on the side of the highway.............where I got out to adjust the damage........knowing good and well I had know idea how to change a flat tire! I didn't even know where the spare was!(FYI-it was underneath the car! who'd thunk it??) I called my hubby who was all the way on the coast who tried to call a friend in Hattiesburg (who was outta town!!).............I'm freaking out and hot hot hot!!!! I called my high school friend Mechelle Dunn who lives in Hattiesburg and had been home for the funeral too. She said she would call around and call me back, but in the mean time 2 nice men stopped and asked me if I needed some help.........oh thank God for the kindness of strangers! They went to work right away changing the tire for me.......they even located the spare up under the vehicle!! While they were changing it another guy (a friend theirs) stopped by who was a volunteer firefighter. Mechalle had called her friend's parents who lived in Semenary, so they came up to check on us since I was a lone woman with 2 kids stranded on the side of the road with 3 anonymous men. They stayed with me the entire time the guys were changing the tire. And coincidentally, they all knew each other!! Small world............and believe me when I say Collins and Semenary Mississippi is the best place in the whole wide world to break down!!!! They are the kindest, most helpful people and I am forever grateful!!!!! The fellas that changed the tire wouldn't even except any money......not even a coca cola........and the poor guys were filthy with dirt and sweat when they finished changing it!! This was definitely an experience that I will try to "pay it forward"!!! Oh how I love the South and this great state of Mississippi that I live in!!:-)

Needless to say, I didn't make it to my Bren's game.............but I did go to his 3 games over the weekend........he played so awesome and he even hit a triple!! Lucky for me, I had my camera and got to get pics of his big play!!!

Brian watched the cooking channel again and he can recreate anything he sees on that show!! He made this ice-cream bar and it was divine!! I'll try to post the recipe for it as soon as I can.........and yes that is strawberry drizzled on the chocolate!!!! SOOOOO YUMMMYY!!!!

Hope you all have a great and safe week!!! Always remember the kindness of strangers and try to "pass it on" when you can!! I know I will!!!!

C

THIS IS CRAZY!!!!

As many of you know, I have been keeping a close eye on the privacy changes FACEBOOK has been incurring. I read up on all the techno blogs, research articles, and try to find all the information out there in order to pass the word and try to keep all of our personal stuff private. Facebook's new Instant Personalization is confusing at best........I'm not sure if this was purposeful or if the peeps at facebook are just stupid, but they have made it as complicated as possible for you to make sure all your info stays private. Previously I have posted how to set your settings in order to do this, how to opt out of the Instant Personalization, among other settings.......but just discovered today that even doing this doesn't protect you from sharing your information with the partners of facebook. In order to do that, you must BLOCK each and every partner's application. As of today, they have 3 partners. Whenever they partner up with anyone new, you must BLOCK them too. If you don't believe me, pay attention to the friend's list on each of the partners site, any of your friends that haven't BLOCKED the app will show up. Hopefully the peeps at facebook will be making changes for better privacy, the head guy announced they were working on it.......but until then you might want to go in and block the apps, just to be safe. It's crazy when you think you have all your info set to PRIVATE and discover that it wasn't as PRIVATE as you thought it was. Basically whatever your "likes" are, they are viewable for the whole world to see.......even if it was something that you would rather not share with everyone. I read a good analogy on one of the privacy sites........"it's like your best friend promising not to tell your secretes and then blabbing them to the whole class!!".......................................................We are very vulnerable in this day and age, but I think we are here to stay, people don't want to give up their facebook, their iphones, their laptops.........so the next best thing is to stay as up to date and knowledgeable as possible. I will certainly try my best to keep you all "IN THE KNOW"..........You might want to "follow" me and the network blog on my FB home page too to make sure you don't miss anything;-). http://networkedblogs.com/3xmiY

Thanks yall, stay safe on the net!!!
PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY!!!!
1st.......Make sure you have opted out of the Instant Personalization privacy setting. Make sure ALLOW is UNCHECKED....................
2nd.........Go to the page for Microsoft Docs, click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up.
3rd..........Go to the page for Pandora, click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up.
4th...........Go to the page for Yelp , click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up.
That's all the partners so far, but I will be sure to post updates of new partners as they join.

How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization Electronic Frontier Foundation

Oh, and FYI, there is a new book coming out called The Facebook Effect, I know I am a nerd to be excited about this, but my geekiness is yall's gain because you know I will blog about all the good parts;-)

http://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Effect-Inside-Company-Connecting/dp/1439102112

Brian's Key Lime Pie

Brian finally made his Key Lime Pie last night! We have been so busy with school winding down that he really hadn't had time to do it before. I had to use the kitchen the last two nights to bake cookies and brownies for the kids bake sale and Art Show. It was well worth the wait!!! Honestly I don't think you can compare these two........they are totally different in taste and either you love Key Lime or you don't..........I love them both so I really enjoyed eating both of them.......of course I am partial to mine since I made it;-) His presentation was really good.......he even did a design on top............So I guess it is up to yall in cyberspace to let me know which one looks the best!!!

Both were yummy!!
I'll get his recipe tonight and post it on here!!

The "Pie Cook-Off"

It was a nasty weather weekend.......rainy, storming with thunder and lightning. Of course on days like that all you want to do is lay around and eat. Brian and I decided to have a "Pie Cook-Off". He was going to make Key Lime Pie and I was making Chocolate Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Bars Pie. He ended up not making his.........we got so full on mine........but he is making it this week so the contest is still on!! I'm posting the recipe below, but I did do a few alterations for my recipe. Since we were having a "Pie" contest, I decided to turn the "bar" recipe into a pie recipe. The base of the pie was supposed to be peanut butter cookies pressed into a square, so I just molded it into a pie crust cookie in my pie pan..............and followed the rest of the directions as is. Oh my, was it delicious. I'm going to have to diet all week to loose the pounds from this weekend!;-) Honestly, I don't think Brian will be able to beat me on presentation, but I promise I will be fair and take just as good of pics with his......honest!!

It was a big hit with the kids......Brady even said "Mama, you make good stuff!" best complement ever~

Cookie Base and Topping
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 egg

Filling

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup crunchy or creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie base and topping ingredients until soft dough forms. Shape 6 (1-inch) balls of dough. On ungreased cookie sheet, place balls 2 inches apart; flatten in crisscross pattern with fork.

2. Press remaining dough in pan. Bake cookies and base 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Reserve cookies for topping.

3. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and stirred smooth. Spread evenly over bars. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar and whipping cream with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Spread over chocolate layer.

5. Crush reserved cookies; sprinkle over cream cheese layer. Press in lightly. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

ENJOY!!!!