My six words for today are: Did you watch the Royal Wedding?
It’s been said that over two billion people, world-wide, tuned in to view the royal nuptials yesterday. Were you one of them?
No way was I going to get up at 4:00 a.m. for anything, but my curiosity finally got the best of me! I recorded the wedding on my DVR, then watched it later in the day on Friday. I was able to fast forward through some of the boring parts–like watching the guests arrive, as well as some of the wedding music.
In the end, I was glad that I took the time to watch the nuptials. It was well worth my time to get such a bird’s-eye view of Westminster Abbey. What a beautiful cathedral! I don’t remember being as impressed with it in the past. Perhaps the cameras were able to record more details this time, or maybe because I’m older, I noticed more details.
The other reason I enjoyed watching the wedding was because of THOSE HATS!!! Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen such a bizarre array of hats in my entire life! I sat and wondered over and over…what in the world is she thinking to wear that hat!
My all-time favorite (NOT!) hat was worn by Prince Andrew’s daughter, Beatrice. My husband remarked thatif she were to wear that hat around here, she would be mistaken for a deer, and would be shot! I think he’s right, it does sort of resemble a pair of antlers!
On a more serious note, I enjoyed watching the royal wedding. The bride was radiant, the groom was handsome, and the wedding was simply beautiful. I hope their marriage is successfull, as well. Now that it’s over, maybe I can hear about something else on television, for a change!
Today’s Royal Wedding of William and Kate has prompted Linda to ask us to write about our wedding memories from “the good ole’ days”. This may be a tough challenge–I don’t have a lot of other wedding experience!
First of all, my family didn’t attend many weddings while I was growing up. I’m not sure why, but I think it was because weddings weren’t as big of a deal back then. Oh, some people had large weddings, but I think many more had small ceremonies, or simply got married at the courthouse.
The earliest union that I remember, but wasn’t able to attend, was the wedding of my brother to his high school sweetheart. He lived out-of-state at the time, and if my memory serves me correctly, I don’t believe our family even had a car at the time. I was only nine years old when he got married, so I never knew any of the wedding details. I just remember that he got married, and none of his family was present, which to me is very sad, but this story has a happy ending–My brother and his wife just celebrated their forty-seventh anniversary last October.
The first wedding that I remember attending was that of my first cousin. It was a large, formal, church wedding. I attended the wedding with my husband-to-be, while we were dating. I attended because the groom was my cousin, while my hubby-to-be attended because the bride was his neighbor! It was a beautiful wedding, and I was in awe. I was devastated a few years later when the couple got divorced.
I’ve only been in one wedding, other than my own. I was a bridesmaid for one of my girl cousins when I was a teenager. This particular cousin and I were very close during our teen years, and our husbands-to-be were friends, too. I was honored, but scared to death about being in her wedding.
I can still remember the dress that I wore in the wedding. It was a long, mint green dress, made from “dotted swiss” fabric. It had long ribbons stitched down the front of it. The headpiece was a little white crown with a mini veil.
My most vivid memory of that wedding day was having to stand in the “receiving line”, and thinking that it would never end! ( I made a vow to myself that day that I would NOT be having a receiving line when I got married, and I didn’t!) I’m pleased to announce that this couple will be celebrating their forty-first wedding anniversary in June!
The next wedding that hubby-to-be and I attended was the wedding of a couple, who were both friends of ours. Their wedding was a very small wedding ceremony, I think they each had one attendant. It wasn’t anything fancy, in fact, it was very simple. There wasn’t a lot of music, flowers, or food, but something about the ceremony impressed me so much that day! I found myself thinking, this is the kind ofwedding that I want!The day was more about the couple being joined in marriage–not so much about attendants, flowers, or food.
I stayed true to my beliefs, and that was the kind of wedding that my husband and I had, just two years later. A maid of honor, a best man, two baskets of flowers, no singing, a wedding cake, some punch, and NO receiving line! My parents spent a grand total of three hundred dollars on the wedding, and we were all happy!
Sometimes I watch a show called “Rich Bride, Poor Bride”, and I am appalled! There seems to be no limit to the amount of money some people are willing to spend on a wedding! I can’t help but wonder how many of those marriages actually survive past the honeymoon. If today’s couples would put half as much effort into maintaining the marriage, as they do in planning those elaborate weddings, today’s divorce rate wouldn’t be so high!
As I watch my youngest son and his bride-to-be, planning and preparing for their wedding, I hope and pray that the two of them will keep firmly in mind what the wedding day is really all about. It’s not so much about the wedding, but more about their marriage, and the beginning of their life-long journey together, as husband and wife. I wish them much happiness and success on their journey!
As you can imagine, Brad and Jennifer’s wedding plans are shifting into another gear these days. As a part of those plans, Jennifer and I spent some time this week going through old photographs of her and Brad as they were growing up.
While going through their old photographs, we discovered a few things. Like the fact that both of them had baby photographs made in front of the same background! I failed to notice that similarity, but Jennifer didn’t. She noticed the stuffed dog in the background immediately!
As Jennifer and I browsed through more of those old photos, we found more similarities–like these “chair photos”.
A bit uncanny, don’t you think? In fact, I was pretty much able to match every one of Jennifer’s childhood photographs with a similar one of Brad’s.
Just look at these photos of two sweet little children at church. One, at a church costume party, dressed like Samson, while the other stands in the front of the church dressed like an angel!
I also discovered that even as adults, the similarities continued…Both had college graduation photographs taken with their moms–and both moms were standing on the same side!
In case you’re wondering why we were gathering all of these old photos, Jennifer needed them for a slide presentation for the wedding. If Jennifer’s uncle pairs the photos just right, I think it should make an interesting presentation.
It was fun walking down memory lane with Jennifer, but I couldn’t help but feel a little sad as I was looking through Jennifer’s photos. I found myself wishing that Jennifer’s mom, Denise, and I could have sat together, compared our children’s baby pictures, and talked “mother talk”! I think we both would’ve enjoyed that very much. Her presence is missed by all of us.
*Denise passed away last year, at the age of just 49. She would’ve turned 50 this month.
Let’s join Joyce for another edition of Wednesday Hodgepodge. Here are today’s questions:
1. What is something that bothers you if it is not done perfectly? Um…just about everything, unfortunately. (It’s a curse I was born with. ) If I have to choose one thing, I’ll say a bad hair cut bothers me most.
2. What is one of your best childhood memories? Me sitting in the floor, playing with my Barbie, my Skipper, and my cardboard Barbie Dream House. I spent many happy hours doing that! (Yes, Barbie’s first house was actually made out of cardboard in those days, and so was her furniture!)
3. Do you plan to watch the Royal Wedding and when was the last time you wore a hat? I’m still undecided about whether I’m going to watch the Royal Wedding. I can live without watching it, but curiosity may get the best of me! As for a hat…I can’t remember the last time I wore one.
4. Where do you fall in the birth order in your family? Do you think this has influenced your personality? I’m the youngest of two. Being the baby of the family probably had some influence on me, but I’m not sure how. Spoiled, perhaps? I know I was always lonely while growing up, because my brother left home when I was only eight, and he lived in another state.
5. Where do you think you spend most of your money? At the moment, the bank gets the largest portion of it, for a loan payment. After that, it’s a tie between the power company and the grocery store–those two are in a competition with each other to see who can raise their prices faster! (sigh)
6. When you need to confront someone would you rather communicate in person, on the phone, by email or by letter? Why? It depends…on who I’m confronting and why. If it’s family, probably face-to-face. Anyone else, probably by phone or email, although I have been know to do it face-to-face. (I had to come back and change my answer to this question, because I read the question wrong the first time around– I thought confront said comfort! Huge difference there! Ha!)
7. Dodge ball, freeze tag, kickball or jump rope? You have to pick one. Jump rope! I always hated all of those other things…(sigh)
Random thought: Speaking of the Royal Wedding…Ours won’t be “royal”, but we will be having a wedding in less than twomonths! The countdown has begun…fifty-eight more days until two become one.
It seems that my husband and I have become grandparents again! We became “instant” grandparents a couple of weeks ago when Jennifer’s dog, “Newbie” moved in at our son, Brad’s house.
Newbie became the victim of changing times. Jennifer is gone from home most of the time, between working twelve hour shifts, doing wedding stuff, and spending time with Brad. Jennifer’s dad is gone a lot as well. Newbie was basically spending a great deal of time alone, and Jennifer’s dad got tired of being her caretaker. In other words, poor Newbie got “the boot”.
On the same day that Newbie moved in at Brad’s, she came to visit her new “grandparents” for the first time. Ed and I are used to “furry grandchildren”. For the longest time, we thought “furry” was the only kind of “grands” that we were going to have. Our daughter blessed us with a variety of “granddogs” and “grandcats”, but the actual first grandchild eluded us for over five years.
Our yard is a bit like a “mini zoo”, so one more furry creature is barely noticeable to us. We are used to our daughter bringing her animals to visit, before she moved next door to us. What we aren’t used to was– how our old hound dog, Ethan, reacted to Newbie!
Ethan, our hound, is a very fat, somewhat lazy dog. Years ago, he wandered up to the highway in his younger days, and got bumped in the rear end by a car. As a result, he has a bit of arthritis in one hip. He spends most of his days looking for soft, cool, spots to sleep most of the day away.
Ethan didn’t know quite what to think when Newbie the dog showed up! He began to act like he was a young pup again, trying to establish his territory, and impress his new lady friend all at the same time. He was hilarious, and he put on quite a show! For a time, Ethan forgot he was old, and a bit crippled!
By the second visit, the two dogs had become pretty good friends. Every two or three days, Brad and Jennifer have been bringing Newbie by for a visit. Newbie gets to run around the yard and play, without being on a leash, while Brad and Jennifer get to spend time with us. Newbie has become so playful with Ethan that sometimes he hides from her–just to get a break! I think Ethan’s body reminded him that he’s old! Newbie’s like the little annoying kid at school, she’s always there!
One morning last week, I received a phone call from a neighbor about eight o’clock in the morning, telling me that “Newbie” had dug out of her kennel! This wouldn’t have been such a big deal, if Brad didn’t live beside a four-lane highway! I quickly hopped into my car, and went to see about the dog, since nobody was home at Brad’s house.
Judging from the size of her hole, Newbie was trying to dig to China! She didn’t succeed, but she managed to squeeze her body under the fence in order to gain her freedom. After several minutes, I finally managed to coax the wet, muddy, hyper, Newbie into the front seat of my car! Thank goodness for a beach towel on the seat! Newbie spent the entire day at my house, until Brad could get home from work and fix her pen, late that evening. I got to babysit our new granddog!
Newbie escaped several more times since that day, resulting in the addition of a wooden floor to her kennel! Brad has yet to take time to actually build the floor, instead he’s improvised by just laying the plywood directly on the ground and putting the kennel on top of it…Something tells me, Brad’s about to learn a difficult lesson about how easily plywood warps whenever it’s not nailed to a frame! Experience is the best teacher, don’t you think?
Brad is already complaining about his “step daughter dog”! The constant filling in of holes…feeding, playing with, and exercising the dog whenever Jennifer isn’t around…He says the dog doesn’t listen to him… Ha Ha! Boy, has he got a lot to learn!
My daughter once said, “Dogs are great practice for becoming a parent!” You know, she’s right, and they’re pretty good practice for becoming grandparents, too!
Have a great Tuesday, and while you’re at it, why not take a ride on the Tuesday Train?
It was a busy, fun-filled weekend… The house is strangely quiet, after all of yesterday’s activities. If the noise level was a sign that everyone had fun, then we had fun! It’s time to pack away the plastic eggs for another year, then spend the rest of the week eating Easter left-overs! Easter, 2011 is now just a memory…
Our Easter weekend began on Saturday morning–in the kitchen, of course! I began by baking a pound cake, followed later by two pies. I rarely make pies, but for some reason this year, I was in a pie baking mood! I couldn’t help but think about my mama as I prepared the coconut and lemon meringue pies–because pies were her specialty! My pies turned out pretty good–the cake, not so great. I used a new bundt pan, so I’ll blame it on the pan!
When all was said and done, and everybody brought their food on Easter Sunday, we ended up with four pies, one cake, and a basket of Easter cookies. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one in a pie baking mood! I did get a complaint from our oldest son, though, because there wasn’t a pecan pie!
The Easter fun continued on Saturday afternoon, when “the girls”, gathered around the kitchen table to color Easter eggs. The grandchildren, Madison and Caden, joined us for a very short time, but soon decided they would rather run off and play! Eventually, the grandchildren went outside with the men folks, while we finished the eggs–but not before making a mess…
The grandchildren returned just in time to put a few stickers on the finished eggs–and to admire the decorated eggs! Dying eggs is so messy, but so much fun, too. I just wish I was more creative! There’s a talent to creating beautiful Easter eggs…I did’t get that talent! Thank goodness for stickers and egg wraps to hide mistakes.
Following the clean-up of our egg coloring project, the family gathered for a delicious supper of barbecue sandwiches, baked beans, and potato salad–with Easter cookies for dessert!
Our daughter, developed a new hobby this Easter season–making and decorating Easter cookies! We enjoyed the results of her hobby very much, and hope that she will continue with it for future family get-togethers! Including the cookies for Madison’s school party, she probably baked and decorated close to one hundred cookies!
Easter Sunday morning began early for some of our family. Our youngest son, Brad, went to church around 5:30 am to help set up for the sunrise service. Brad’s been attending Jennifer’s church for about a year now, and I was so happy to see him taking part in the service, even though Jennifer had to work! The rest of our family went to regular Easter services, while Ed and I stayed behind to cook Easter dinner and hide one hundred and seventy-two plastic eggs!
Finally, the Easter meal was cooked, all eggs were hidden, and everyone arrived to eat around 12:30. It only took three attempts to get a decent ” Annual Easter Family Photo”, then after that, we ate. We were all starving! After we finished eating, the grandchildren opened their Easter gifts, and then it was time to hunt eggs!
You may remember from a previous post, that our grown children enjoy hunting for eggs, as much as the grandchildren do. We stuff plastic eggs with candy and money, then give everybody a small bag to hunt eggs in. I don’t know if it’s because of the candy or the money, but the adults search for eggs long after the children stop…Notice in the photo below, the children aren’t hunting anymore, but the adults are!
It took FOREVER to find the last prize egg! My husband hid two prize eggs, a gold one and a silver one, with candy and a five dollar bill inside of each egg. Daughter-in-law, Christina, found the first prize egg, almost immediately. That girl is one serious “egg hunter”! She always finds the most eggs–forty this year! Our son-in-law, Clint, finally found the other prize egg–hidden inside of my kitchen mop– hanging near the outside of the backdoor! Sometimes persistence pays off! By the way–there are still two eggs, with one dollar bills inside of them, hidden somewhere in our yard! My husband is a GOOD egg hider!
Lots of food, family, and fun… It just doesn’t get any better than that! We were thankful that Ed’s mom was feeling well enough to join us for Easter, too. She even managed to find an Easter egg before having to sit down! Speaking of sitting down… today I think I’m going to just rest.
Have a great Monday, everyone!
P. S. The “highlight” of my Easter weekend activities included making this hilarious video of some of our family members. In case you missed it on Saturday, here it is again!
Easter is a time to reflect and remember… that through His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus paid the price for me, a sinner, that I might have eternal life in heaven. Attending an Easter sunrise service is a moving experience. Watching the early morning darkness fade away, as the sun begins to rise in the East…Gathering with other believers to sing, pray, and rejoice… because He lives! Christ Jesus lives today! This is what Easter is really about!
But Easter is also a time to remember all of the happy times spent in the past with grandparents, parents, and children…We soon realize how quickly children grow up, and how quickly parents grow old, and pass away. Where does the time go?
Easter is also a time to spend with our loved ones, making lots of wonderful new Easter memories–like visiting the nearest mall, and having a photograph made on the lap of The Easter Bunny!
And if you’re not brave enough to sit with The Easter Bunny, you can always pose with his decorative scenery…
Easter is a time to gather at church…for the annual Easter Egg Hunt–a timeless tradition! A chance to eat grilled hotdogs, and lots of Easter goodies…with your family!
A chance to watch the grandchildren hunting for eggs on the same church grounds that their parents did while growing up!
Easter means gathering the family together to color Easter eggs. God has blessed our family with a new generation, called “grandchildren”, to help color those eggs!
Coloring Easter eggs with children, also means getting as much egg dye on our hands as we do on the eggs…but it’s so much fun!
Easter can mean having someone searching for the perfect Easter outfit for you…and having your mom put it on you on Easter morning–whether you want to wear it or not!
It also means having to pose for Easter pictures…when you’re really not in the mood, because you’d really rather tear into your Easter basket…
Easter sometimes means getting to decorate an egg tree with the neighbors–who also happen to be family! Family makes the best kind of neighbors. They’re always there when you need them…
Easter means stuffing and hiding lots of eggs for…the young, and the young-at-heart! How many eggs are too many?
Easter means getting to eat all of those Easter eggs, as well as other Easter goodies! Deviled eggs, anyone???
And last of all, Easter means that it’s time for the annual “Easter Family Photo”, and the challenge of trying to get everybody to look nice at the same time…A difficult task, at best!
See what I mean? I told you so… Have a blessed and happy Easter, everyone 🙂
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the days when I was a newlywed, trying to learn how to cook! I suppose the reason for these thoughts stems from recent conversations I’ve had with our soon-to-be DIL, Jennifer. We’ve been discussing a few “domestic things” in recent weeks, and Jennifer has even scoured a few of my cookbooks looking for simple recipes. I hear that she’s been sharpening her culinary skills!
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel much need to “sharpen my culinary skills” prior to marriage! I took a quick “crash course” in cooking from my daddy, as I observed him in the kitchen a few times. I watched and then wrote down everything he did, in a spiral notebook, which I still have today! Armed with that little bit of knowledge, I sailed off into marital bliss…without so much as a cookbook!
Fortunately, my husband is very gracious and never complained as I found my way around the kitchen! I knew how to make spaghetti, cakes, and brownies when we got married. That was pretty much it! From my crash course with daddy, I learned how to cook peas, stewed tomatoes, and creamed corn– the fresh kind, not the kind in cans! Oh, and I could make cornbread!
Two things that intimidated me the most, were cooking rice, and making gravy! I don’t know why I ever thought either of these things was so difficult, but for some reason, I was convinced that I couldn’t cook them. For several years, I bought Minute Rice, which was okay, but not as good as regular rice. Finally, after years of marriage, I learned how to cook the rice dry, in a pot, on top of the stove! Such a simple thing, yet it eluded me for years!
I don’t actually remember when I learned how to make decent gravy. I made a lot of bad gravy before I learned how to make good gravy. I’d add too much water, not enough flour, or too much flour, and not enough water. Actually, to this day, my husband makes better gravy than I do! He got his talent honest, because his daddy was a fantastic cook.
I always found it quite interesting that my daddy, and my father-in-law, did most of the cooking in their households in their later years! Both of their wives worked later hours than they did, so both men already had supper cooking when their wives got home from work. My husband knows how to cook a few things, but I’ve always done the majority of the cooking in our household, while my husband is my assistant. I wonder if he’d like to take over my kitchen one of these days, after retirement…
I still remember baking my first hen– what a disaster that turned out to be! Nobody told me that I needed to boil the old hen before I baked her, and when we tried to eat the baked hen, the meat was so tough that the fork actually bounced off! My first couple of attempts at stuffing, or “dressing” as we say here in the south, were just as disastrous.
Another dish that I was late in learning how to prepare is “chicken and dumplings”. I’ve always liked chicken and dumplings, but I used to consider it “old people food”, because our parents were always cooking it! Occasionally, I’d try making a pot of dumplings, but they never tasted like mama’s….and rolling those dumplings??? Forget that! Someone finally told me about frozen dumplings. These days, I can make chicken and dumplings that even mama would be proud of–and I don’t even have to roll those dumplings!
I’ve decided I’d like to try and provide Jennifer with a little help in the kitchen, by making her a cookbook. I’m sharing favorite recipes from my collection of cookbooks, plus a few favorite family recipes of my own. Perhaps with the help of a cookbook, Jennifer will never have to experience the trial and error method like I did! I’d have given a million dollars if someone had done that for me.
Reflections...by Kathy 