Childers Corner

Elvis and the Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:00:00 +0000

I can remember the first time I ever saw Elvis on T.V.. I think I was maybe around 5 or 6. I didn't know the movie at the time but I now know it was "My Blue Hawaii". He was driving a convertible and singing with his black hair blowing in the wind and I fell in love. He was definitely my type. My love up until then had been Speed Racer. Oh, how I had adored him. Before that I was in love with Mighty Mouse. See the correlation? Funny, Jeff doesn't look like any of them...

http://dreamersevents.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/thinking-about-a-new-hairstyle/

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/speed-racer/images/485532/title/speed-racer

http://www.disneydreaming.com/2010/01/03/mighty-mouse-the-new-adventures-on-dvd/

Elvis quickly became my only love. Until I started first grade then he had to share me with two little boys named John and Roger who I took turns marrying every week.

I learned and sang his songs and I watched his movies. And I sobbed like a baby the day he died.

A couple of weeks ago, I was holding and feeding Gracie, when American Idol came on. It was Elvis night. As soon as Elvis appeared on the screen, Gracie pulled herself up to a sitting position and started saying, "ooh ooh ooh", like a little monkey until he was no longer on screen. She did the same when she saw Adam Lambert. I think she thought he was Elvis. I managed to get Jeff in the room to witness the second part of her hero worship. Then she sat in my lap and "talked" to Jeff for about an hour until she wore herself completely out and fell asleep. I wonder what she was telling him?

Obviously she inherited her Grandmother's taste.

Big Spring TEA Party

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:19:00 +0000

My family attended the TEA party at the Heart of the City Park in Big Spring, Texas on Saturday. It was put together by Bo Fryar and lasted for about 2 hours with several speakers who rallied the crowd. There were about 120 people attending. It was a beautiful sunny but cool day.
There were places to sit and people came prepared with chairs of their own.
We stood in line for quite a while to sign petitions to send to all of the Democrats from Texas who voted for Obamacare.
Jeff, glaring at me as usual.
Ryan. You'd think the two of them never smile. They do, just not when I want them to.
We sat behind the podium where we could sit on a concrete bench in the shade. We were able to hear very well.
I wondered where the police were. The TEA party had been originally planned for the previous Saturday at 10 AM. We arrived only to find that it had been postponed because of the threat of rain. We laughed at the time because there were two police cars parked on two of the corners of the park. We wondered if they were there to watch us or protect us. We also made sure to drive by slowly in case they wanted our license plate number. This beautiful spring day, there were no policemen in sight.

NOT WITH US

We had an unobstructed view of the lone counter-protester for the hour or so that she was there. She had more than one sign and made sure to sit behind the speakers so that she would be in any photos taken of them. I noticed several people approaching her. I don't know what was said but the exchanges were civil.
I laughed when I saw the man half obstructed by the tree and said, "Look! They have a teleprompter!" as several of the speakers had emphasized the words "We the People". I know, I'm weird.

Blackmail Me Will You...

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:00:00 +0000

When I keep Gracie, it's mostly at night since both parents work nights. She sleeps in her bassinet/playpen/changing table and I sleep on the couch. They usually pick her up about 8am and by then I'm ready to go jump in my own bed to sleep for a few more hours. That couch is getting pretty darn old.

One morning recently, Jeff left for work and I was able to get Gracie changed and fed and back to sleep. It was only 6:30 so I devised a plan to leave my bedroom door open and crawl into my
oh so comfortable bed and sleep until either Gracie woke me or her parents woke me.

I heard the front door open at 8 and could hear them talking but sadly, I refused to leave my comfortable bed. I dreamily listened to them talking and getting Gracie ready to go home.

I refuse to tell you the time I finally awoke. There was a clip pad lying beside me on the bed.

It read:

Dear Mother,
Amber and I have taken Gracie home where she belongs. If you ever
want to see her again you will leave 5 Dollars in unmarked One dollar
bills in my hand when we come over next or we will let Dad take her
to Midland with him and you will only see her when I am paid in full.
Signed your loveing son, Fuhrer William Joshua Childers, Racist Bastard
Extrodonaire.

along with something about please excuse the spelling errors because he was tired. What about the racist, bastard, fuhrer stuff? People will think I taught my son to be a skinhead!

Cheap aren't they? $5 for a ransom?

So I wrote back in cursive, backwards for good measure. (I'll put a copy when he gives it back)

Dear Racist Bastard,
It seems that I am now being forced to use certain evidence that I have
retained in my possession should the need ever arise.
The photographic evidence will show:
1. You are a nudist.

Picture not shown due to the graphic nudity involved. (It's a picture of a
a baby for goodness sakes).

2. You are deathly afraid of women.
That's his cousin, Britttni and she was only trying to kiss him. The scene escalated until he began to cry and tried to crawl out the door for help.

3. You have practiced Nazism from a young age.

4 You enjoy eating non-food items.

5. You have a temper and enjoy screaming at and debasing (biting) employees.

With this evidence, your dreams of becoming Supreme World Dictator will be dashed.
I have sent copies to every major news outlet in case you continue to press forward
with your dastardly plan.
The Queen IVIIXVIIXXIC

Harley Man

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 06:00:00 +0000

What is it about men and motorcycles. Shh, I'm sure I just committed blasphemy by calling a Harley a motorcycle.

My wonderful husband just bought one. A Harley that is. He is now a Harley man. Why? So he "can LIVE". Yeah, picture him standing on top of a mountain with this fists in the air screaming "I want to live!" and you see him as I saw him.

Oh men. I'll never understand them.

Living isn't his only excuse, er, reason. He also claims that he will save tons of money on gas and I will now have the pickup at home for my own use (Yay me!).

So as soon as our number one son finds out about it, he runs out and buys his own motorcycle. No blasphemy here, it's a Honda.

I know have visions of the two of them riding down the highway to the tune of "Born to Be Wild", with the wind blowing through their hair (they ARE wearing helmets) and wind through their mouths so that they look like one of those men in the wind chamber thing-a-ma-jigs. Like Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones in Space Cowboys. I expect to see bugs in their teeth quite often. If they didn't have those little shield things on the front of their helmets.

His only complaint so far is the wind blowing into his helmet and into his ears making it impossible for him to hear anything but wind. I find that rather funny. I guess because he never hears anything I say even without the wind blowing in his ears. Maybe it will blow some of the hair out of his ears that he constantly forgets to tweeze. I won't tell you more, it would be TMI.

Now we just need my cousin Charlie to come visit with his motorcycle and for my brother to beg for one of his own and we will have the movie "Wild Hogs"come to life.

The women (and the only male with a brain in his head) in the family have boycotted all riding, unless they buy sidecars. You might be able to coax me in that.

Certain members of my family asked me why I did not tell Jeff no. HaHaHa Ha. I did say no. Does saying no have any effect on a man when he has his eyes on a new toy?

Meanwhile, Jeff is now riding his new toy to work and back, Big Spring to Midland and back every day. It takes him an hour to take off all of his equipment and park his Hawg. I spelled it as Hog but Jeff explained the correct spelling to me.

But He's really living!

Good thing his life insurance is paid up.

Yeah as soon as I finish writing this, Jeff walks in with ripped clothing, scrapes on his helmet and abrasions on one hand, arm, and knee. It seems he ran into a rainstorm, hit a slick spot, and had a slight spill.

All of my fun in writing the story dissipated.

Why can't we put leashes on men?

How do you Count the Character of a Man?

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 03:36:00 +0000

I'm proud to say that my Uncle, Don Baker, won the Republican nomination for Precinct 2, Commissioners Court tonight. I'm very excited for him and can't wait to see what he does with such a great opportunity. The work isn't over for him yet but I'm confident he will win the seat.

Uncle Donnie has been a long time, upstanding, Christian, responsible citizen of Big Spring all of his life. He's Republican, Conservative, and believes in fiscal responsibility.

There is a lot of things that I can't tell you about my Uncle but there are some things about his personal responsibility that I can.

In 1980, when my parents separated, he was the one to come to Nashville and drove my Mom, 3 (fighting probably) kids, and two very old chihuahua, along with a very small u-haul full of what little of our belongings we were able to salvage for the 944 miles (according to Google Maps) from Nashville to Big Spring. 15 hours and 28 minutes. Poor Uncle Donnie.

He helped Mom to find our first rental house to live in. He helped me to get my first bank account, my first car, my first car loan, and my first car insurance.

When Mom got stuck in the bathroom because the door swelled shut, it was Uncle Donnie that we called. And it was Uncle Donnie who came and let her climb out the window onto his back. Maybe it wasn't funny to the two adults involved but it was pretty darn funny to us kids.

When two teenage girls, I'm NOT saying who, had a flat tire outside of the police station in a snow storm while coming home from a movie late one night. It was Uncle Donnie who came and changed the tire for me. I mean her. Whoever she was. Even after she called him from inside the police station starting the conversation with the heart stopper, "Uncle Donnie, I'm at the police station...".

He picked me up on a very icy day and drove me to work because I was afraid to drive. I must not have been the only one because I'm the only one who showed up that day besides the Director of Nurses.

Over the years, Uncle Donnie has done innumerable things for my family, even while he had his own family to care for. He didn't have to do anything to help us at all, it was to his and his own family's detriment at times. But he made us his responsibility and did the best he could.

So I can't tell you about his business side, or his politician side, or his financial side. I can tell you about his character. He's a man, husband, father, son, brother, Grandfather, Uncle and he's a man who knows right from wrong. He is a man who will work hard, do what he knows is right, and do a good job. You can't fake character like that. That's the Don Baker I know.

5 Generations

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:16:00 +0000

Great Great Grandmother Lela Geer holding Gracie MaRae, Great Grandmother Louise Whitaker, Grandmother Stacey Childers, and Father Joshua Childers.

We took Gracie MaRae to see her Great Great Grandmother today for the first time and took some photographs to capture the 5 generations, each a first born.

Great Great Grandmother Lela Geer with Gracie MaRae

Daddy Joshua, Mommy Amber, and Gracie MaRae, 9 days old.

Later, we took Gracie to see her Great Grandmother, Ernestine Childers for the first time.

Great Grandmother Ernestine Childers and Gracie MaRae

It was such a blessing to see Gracie surrounded by so much love. She is so lucky to have so many grandparents, greats, and a great great!

Babies, Babies Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:10:00 +0000

I guess our family has just been blessed a lot lately! We had another addition to our family on February 2 with the birth of my great Niece, Violanda "Vye" Michelle Mendoza. She is the daughter of my sisters oldest daughter, Atchley.

I don't know what time she was born or her weight but she was 19 inches long.

Update (February 11, 2010): Vye was born at 4:49 pm and was 5 pounds, 14 ounces.

I had another niece born in October, Sarah. So we have little girls running out of our ears lately.

Gracie MaRae

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:02:00 +0000

I was honored to spend the day at the birth of our first grandchild today. Gracie MaRae was born at 4:20 pm at 6 lb. 13 oz, and 19 inches.

It was a long day but it seemed to me to be going very quickly. To my husband and other son waiting in the waiting room, quick was not the word.

I am in awe of my daughter-in-law, Amber who showed herself to be a some kind of warrior woman with her out of our solar system pain tolerance.

At being told she was dilated to 6 and they were ready to give her an epidural, she turned it down. She never had an epidural or pain medication of any kind. She never planned quite so natural a birth but she sailed through until almost the end at which point she won't ever say it was a bed of roses. But she made it through with flying colors and a beautiful little baby girl.

I can tell you, she will be spoiled.

I'm Past My Intellectual Prime

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:53:00 +0000

According to Ryan that is.

You see, a month or so ago, I bought a yogurt maker and started making homemade yogurt. The first couple of times it turned out great, exactly like the Fage Total Greek Yogurt that I love. Then one batch would be good and the next was awful. I finally decided that it had to be my thermometer. But I kept trying. I bought some more yogurt starter and tried again. It worked the first time then it was iffy every time after that.

Today, while buying groceries, I bought a digital thermometer. I was really excited to get home and try to make a fresh batch of yogurt.

After dinner, and after Jeff had gone to bed, I cleaned up the kitchen and got out the milk and my new thermometer. I opened the package and pushed the power button. I couldn't read the numbers. Hmmm. I kept pushing buttons and no matter what I did, I couldn't read the numbers. I could see them on there but they were all jumbled up. I put the milk in the microwave and left the room for the 10 minutes it takes to heat the yogurt to 185 degrees.

I came back and saw I had no light. Darn it, I forgot I can't run the microwave and the dishwasher at the same time. Ryan very kindly went and flipped the breaker switch for me. I turned off the dishwasher and took the milk from the microwave. I put the thermometer in the milk and turned it on. What was going on! I could see that it was on and numbers were changing but I couldn't read it! Ryan walked by about that time and I called him. I asked if he could read it. He said it looked like 365 degrees. I told him I knew that but the numbers were blurring and changing and it couldn't possibly be 365 degrees. It had to be close to 185. He took the thermometer from me, looked closely and said, "oh, that makes sense." And pulled off the sticker that covered the readout. The sticker that had 365 degrees printed on it. I know I turned red. I felt the flush the moment I realized what I had done and I felt so stupid.

Ryan started to snicker. He said, "I guess your past your intellectual prime." Then I started to laugh. He put his arms around me and we both spent a few minutes laughing.

You know he will never let me forget it. It will be one more dumb thing that they will remember me for. For eternity.

Texas Concealed Handgun Class

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:57:00 +0000

What a day Jeff and I had Saturday! We spent 10 hours in a concealed handgun class to get our permits, something that we've wanted to do for a very long time.

We had a wonderful time and learned so much. Our instructor was very patient and spent a lot of time explaining things. We learned how to protect ourselves in our homes, in our cars, and in public. It was a very long class but very instructive. We learned a lot about Texas law, where we can carry, where we can't, when it is proper to use deadly force, and when it isn't. We learned about handling our handguns.

In the afternoon, we went to the shooting range and each shot 50 rounds at 3 different distances. I was a little worried about this part as Mom and I had gone to practice several years ago because we wanted to get our concealed handgun permits and I had a lot of problems hitting the target. All we got out of it was sunburns, the belief that I couldn't hit the side of a barn, and Mom damaged her hearing in one ear somehow. With earplugs in. Also, I have the new gun and haven't been able to practice with it yet. I shouldn't have worried so much though because I learned to make some adjustments and was able to pass the test. I was so so proud of myself at the end.

Now we just need to complete the paperwork and send it off and wait.

If you get the chance to take a class, take it! It was wonderful! You will gain so much.

Shrimp Pastica

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:01:00 +0000

This recipe came about because one night several years ago I took the easy way out. I had bought a 28 ounce package of Stouffer Skillet Sensation Grilled Chicken and Shrimp. As fate would have it, Josh’s friend, Brandon was spending the night that night and after I had cooked the meal I realized that it would in no way feed 5 hungry people especially when two of them were hungry teenage boys. So I improvised. I added another 14 ounces of pasta, a pound of frozen cooked shrimp, and a can of diced tomatoes.

The meal was unexpectedly a big hit and the two teenage boys named it Shrimp Pastica.

Ever since then, my family begs for this meal at least once a month. I think they would eat it twice a week if I would let them.

I can’t find the Stouffer meal anymore at my local grocery stores and the recipe has been tweaked here and there since then but here is the latest recipe. It tastes just as good, hopefully even better. Ryan says it tastes much better than the original except for the tomatoes. But I have to tell you Ryan hates tomatoes.

I have also since the creation of this dish started using a recipe from the girls over at Every Day Food Storage in their recipe section. If you haven’t visited them you need to, they have some great recipes. The recipe I’m using is called Magic Mix and is used for white sauces, gravies, cream soups, mac and cheese, and on and on. It’s also featured in the book “I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage” by Crystal Godfrey.

Magic Mix

2 1/3 c. Dry Powdered Milk

1 c. all purpose flour, or ½ c. cornstarch

1 c. (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

Combine dry milk, flour or cornstarch, and butter into a large bowl. Mix with electric hand mixer until it looks like cornmeal. Keep mix tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to eight months. Yield 5 cups.

Shrimp Pastica

1 ½ c. magic mix

1 can of chicken broth

½ c. Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp. salt

1 lb. frozen, cooked, shrimp (de-veined and tails off)

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

16 oz. box rotini (I used garden rotini today)

1 Tbs. Olive oil

1 tsp cayenne pepper

26 oz. Frozen broccoli florets

In a saucepan, combine magic mix, broth, cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and salt. Cook over med. Heat stirring frequently until thickened. You might want to taste test a little salt at time until you get it the way YOU like it.

In a large pot, add olive oil and cayenne, stir fry shrimp for about 5 minutes. Add broccoli, stir, and cover. Heat on med. Until hot.

Cook Rotini as directed on box, drain.

Add the rotini and sauce to the pot with the shrimp and broccoli, stir until sauce covers everything well.

Serve. Enjoy!

Be a Lady

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Remember when it was important to be a lady? I remember my Mother telling me to be a lady. Being a lady was something to strive for. Being a lady did not mean being an older woman as so many seem to take it to mean today. It meant wearing modest clothing so that parts of your body were not hanging out everywhere. It meant being discreet. It meant thinking carefully before you spoke. It meant being kind to others. It meant being hospitable when you had company.

I wish that young women of today still believed that it was important to be a lady. It seems that being “yourself” is more important. The trashy language hurts my ears. I guess the more filthy your language and behavior and the more body parts hanging out, the more "yourself" you are being. Jeff always tells me how naive I am. I'm fine with that.

I recently tried to buy some jeans but was unable to due to the fact that every pair I tried on was cut so low that there was no possible way I would ever wear them. Don’t they make any that come to your waist anymore? Yes, I like mom jeans.

I was thinking of this today as I remembered a day that Mom took me and Lori to a used bookstore. We traded in our books, made choices of new ones and went to the counter.

We were a dollar over so Mom asked if it would be OK to return a book instead of writing a check for a measly dollar. The woman at the counter grew very angry and yelled at my Mom. She told her to take her books and leave and never come back. We were all pretty upset as we walked to the car and I asked Mom why the woman had behaved as she did and how dare her talk to my Mom that way. Mom simply said, ” Maybe she’s had a very bad day. Maybe she found out today that she has cancer?” Mom changed in my eyes that day. She taught me to have compassion for someone even when we don’t understand the circumstances. She was a lady and I wanted to be more like her.

Help Eric Dodge win a Record deal

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Post his widget to all of your social websites!

I Was Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Listen because you'll never hear me say it again lol.

I was wrong. The Big Spring Herald DID cover the Tea Party. They wrote a very nice little article on the front page.

I'm happy that they supported us. You can read the story at the Big Spring Herald.

Independence Day Tea Party

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:09:00 +0000

My family attended the Tea Party today in Big Spring, Texas at the courthouse.

I was disappointed that not quite as many showed up this time. There were about 200 at the last Tea Party of which our wonderful local newspaper disparaged by showing a very misleading photograph and saying that about 70 attended.

This time there was about 125 and from what I understand, the Big Spring Herald refused to even cover it.

I guess the local citizens who attended weren't worth their time. Well, of course not, we ARE astroturf, right-wing extremists, and low level terrorists.

I was trying to get a picture of the white flag in the center. It says "Come and take it." With a cannon in the center of it. Our speaker explained that it was the flag flown at Goliad.
This sign said, "United and ignited.com"

"The sleeping giant has awoken. We will take back our freedom"
This young lady was passing around a petition to send to the Glenn Beck program. You can read and sign the petition at Glenn Becks' website . This is an open letter to our nation's Leadership citing 12 principles.
"If you don't listen, what do you think we'll do next"

We had a good time and met some more people who feel the same as we do, that our great country is being systematically destroyed. We have to get out there and do something if we want to save what we have. We cannot sit at home and just go on with our lives. Our ancestors would not have put up with the things that Obama is doing and neither can we. Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and the rest of the clowns in Washington will not hear you if you do not speak up. Write them, call them, email them, attend the tea parties. Do anything. Just don't sit there and let them keep taking our freedom away!

So I Drive People Insane and Make Them Go Blind?

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:14:00 +0000

Josh and Amber came over today to BBQ for us for Father's Day.

We were all sitting around laughing and talking at the Dinner table. I got onto Josh for flirting with girls (other than his wife) and he expressed confusion. I told him he was just like his Dad to which Jeff expressed confusion.

I don't know whether they are deliberately obtuse or if they really don't realize that what they are doing is flirting. I tried to educate them and let them know that even if they don't know, the girls certainly do. I asked Jeff, "Why do you think you get great rooms when you travel? Or rooms with refrigerators? Or refrigerators already stocked with your favorite water?" He does it even when I'm with him. He thinks he's just being friendly.

Then I found out about the cake one girl left in his room. Homemade.

He said he bought roses one day in the parking lot and gave one to each of the girls at the front desk at one hotel. (He travels A LOT)

And one left a cake in his room. Yeah. Flirting.

But he was too dumb to know that I was flirting with him when we met too.

Then I brought up a long held sore point for me. He used to have a secretary. He used to call her "Sunshine". I found it out when he took me to his office once to pick up papers he had forgotten. He had written a note on his chalkboard to "Sunshine." I've met her, she really is very nice.

He calls ME "Dumpling". I've told him 50 million times not to call me that because dumplings are fat and round and every time he calls me that, I resemble one a little more.

Ryan piped up, "But Mom, face it. You aren't a "Sunshine." You're more like a "Moonshine."

Thanks a lot. So I drive people crazy and make them go blind.

Jeff already told me last week that I was vain. And I asked Ryan for help one night to make a cartoon of myself. He asked why I was doing it and I said I thought it would just be fun and I might put it on my facebook page. He looked at my photograph and said, "I can see why." I asked was wrong with my photo. He laughed and said, "Nothing, I was just picking on your obvious insecurities."

My family is mean.

It's all good. We've all decided that Jeff's name for when he becomes a Grandfather is going to be "Grumpa".

Comparing One Book Shelf to Barnes and Nobles

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:55:00 +0000

That is like comparing the HEB in Big Spring to the HEB in Midland.

I've heard the legends. I finally had to see for myself. I had to be in Midland today anyway. So Ryan and I pulled up in front of the Store spoken about with such breathless awe. It was big. So big that I forgot my camera in the car. Or maybe I just forgot it because I'm getting old and I sometimes forget what I went in the other room for.

We grabbed a basket and oohed and aahed over the fact that it was made for giants. We found out that the real reason it's so big is because they have so much in the store that you won't be able to help yourself and you'll keep piling more and more in the basket.

Ryan had to drag me from the makeup aisle. Those who know me know that I love makeup. Ryan tries to help me. I could spend all day in the makeup aisles. That's almost as good as going to a book store or a coffee shop.

The stories were right! The HEB in Midland was gigantic and had everything! Everything but the low carb macaroni that I was looking for. And the muffin top pan that I haven't been able to find in Big Spring. They did have the yogurt that I've been longing to try and that's what we had for lunch in the car after loading all of our groceries. It was delicious. All in all, we had a good time.

I'm planning to stick to the low carb diet as I'm greatly enjoying it AND I've lost 12 pounds AND my cholesterol levels went from 215 to 169 in 6 weeks.

Laziness Abounds

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:25:00 +0000

Jeff is home on vacation all of this week and I guess Smokey is starting the week off right. This is what she was doing while I was laboring to figure the checkbook and pay the bills.

She doesn't have a care in the world except for the fight each day to see who gets to sit in my lap first to be petted. She doesn't like it when Garfield gets there first. The look she gives him is the exact one that is meant by the saying, "If looks could kill...".

Wouldn't it be nice to relax like this?

We don't plan on going anywhere for the week. I have planned a vacation for late September for Six Flags hoping that it will be cool enough for Jeff to handle. I never have liked heat much and Josh and Amber both get heat sick really easy. But now Jeff has joined the club. Because of his MS, heat can really take a toll on him. One summer, he had to wear a cooling vest every day. I think all Jeff plans to do this week is play Final Fantasy XI. Which mean, I probably won't get much done because I'll most likely be playing with him.

Cenus Data

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:29:00 +0000

I know, I know, I've been loafing too much and not writing enough. Jeff has been home for the last four days and went back to work today. Before that he was gone and Ryan and I partied like it was 1999. Jeff called one night and we were watching movies. He said, "You always wait until I'm gone and then do fun things with him, he'll never want me to come home!" Sorry, Sweetheart.

I heard on Fox news today that the Census workers are asking some really weird questions, like What time do you leave for work every day. I can't imagine why they would ask stupid things like that.

I've said before that I love working on my genealogy. One of my favorite things is looking at the old census data. That is, if I can read it. Sometimes it's just impossible to read because a pencil was used and it's faded or because of the handwriting of the census worker.

I love searching and finding a census and seeing the names of people that were my ancestors. Some of the information you can find is their names, ages, birth places, birth places of their parents, and years they were born.

Sometimes I'll find a family one census year, then 10 years later at the taking of the next census I can't find them anywhere, then find them again 10 years after that. I've often wondered if sometimes people didn't want to be found. I can see all of my family getting together and saying something like, "The gosh darn governments stickin it's nose in our business again. Don't tell em anything!" then hiding when the census takers came.

Here's some information I copied from the 1900 Hamilton County Texas Census for one of my ancestors:
1900 Hamilton County Texas Census Precinct 6, Sheet 12a
189, 192, Leonard, George W, Head, W, M, July 1863, 36, W'd, TX, TN, TX, Farmer
Mary E, Daughter, W, F, Aug 1883, 16, S, TX, TX, AR
Emily E, Daughter, W, F, Feb 1885, 15, S, TX, TX, AR
George A, Son, W, M, Jan 1888, 12, S, TX, TX, AR, Farm Laborer
Annie, Daughter, W, F, Feb 1889, 11, S, TX, TX, AR
Bertha, Daughter, W, F, Sep 1890, 9, S, TX, TX, AR
Robert, Son, W, M, Nov 1893, 6, S, TX, TX, AR
Trout, Paralee, mother in law, W, F, Nov? 1844, 54, W'd, Ar, AR, AR

George Washington Leonard was married to Bell Zora Trout. As you can see by the W'd, by 1900 poor George was widowed. He and his children and Mother-in-law were found living in the same household, sheet 12A of Precinct 6. He was the head of the family, white, a male, born July 1863, 36 years old, widowed, born in Texas, his father was born in Tennessee and his mother was born in Texas. He was a farmer and his son, George was a farm laborer.

In 1880, George was in Hamilton in the household of his parents, John and Nancy.
In 1890, He was in his own household.
In 1900, he was widowed and living with his children and Mother-in-law.
In 1910, he was remarried and living with his second wife and son Albert.

His first wife died in 1893, his second in 1911. His Mother-in-law lived until 1935 and George himself lived until 1945.

Isn't it amazing how you can kind of trace a family in the past like that? It's much easier when they stayed pretty much in one place. Jeff's family had to be very unhelpful and move around a lot and happen to not be anywhere when it was a census year. Oh well, I'm as stubborn as they were.

Happy Mother's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:00:00 +0000

I hope all of you Mother's are having a wonderful day today!

I got a beautiful bouquet of roses from Jeff and Ryan Friday and today Josh and Amber came to cook hamburgers on the grill. I had a very nice Mother's Day. Poor Jeff had to work all day and missed all of it. My brother offered to buy lunch but I didn't get that message until late because Ryan and I stayed up half the night watching movies and we slept the day away.
I had a great day and I hope you all did too!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:24:00 +0000

How does your garden grow?
I love my garden. I've never enjoyed it much before, mainly because weeds abound. Square Foot Gardening is the way to go. I tried my best to use companion planting. One year Jeff and I planted jalapenos next to our tomatoes. Don't do that, we had hot tomatoes.
Jeff hasn't had a chance to make the covers for two of the boxes but temporarily wrapped chicken wire around them because something was already digging in one of them.

Squash, Bell Peppers, Cucumbers and Zucchini. You can't see the poor pepper plants because the sun has completely scorched off the leaves. I just have little twigs sticking up.
Corn, Beets, Cabbage, Lettuce with some parsley and dill

Beans, Carrots (very tiny), radishes, spinach with some chives
Tomatoes, Basil, Onions, Swiss Chard, and peas
I sure wish we'd been able to start earlier but we just couldn't swing it.

This song was on my mind today!

I Come to the Garden Alone

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear,
Falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.
And He walks with me,
and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

Singing Chickens, Mother's Day and Lasagna

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:36:00 +0000

A video, in honor of my favorite Chickens, from Eggs in my Pocket. Girls, I'm still waiting for your autographs!

Are you all ready for Mother's Day? I always let everything sneak up on me. I've been too busy with my garden and my diet. I made some low-carb lasagna last night that was out of this world. Jeff liked it but not enough to go without lasagna noodles forever. Ryan wouldn't eat it. But if you know Ryan, he's a very weird eater. Sometimes he eats like a horse and sometimes nothing at all. He will only eat fast food french fries within the first 5 minutes of getting them, when they are very hot, then he won't touch them. Sometimes, he'll take a bite of something and tell me it's the best thing I've ever cooked and then not eat another bite of it. Weird Kid. I got this recipe from Low Carb Friends.com. If you want some GOOD low carb recipes, Wow, do they have a lot to choose from!

Geechigirl's Zucchini Lasagna

2 large zucchini
1 small 15oz. can of tomato sauce
1 TBS basil
1 TBS oregano
1 TBS garlic powder
dash of red pepper
dash of salt & pepper
2 tsp. Mrs. Dash garlic & Herb
1 lb. lean ground chuck or Italian sausage
½ small onion diced
½ green pepper diced
½ cup mushrooms sliced
3 cloves of garlic diced
8oz. sour cream
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
How To Prepare: 1) Slice zucchini thinly lengthwise and blanch in water for approximately 2-3 minutes to draw out water from zucchini. Remove from water and set aside.
2) In a small bowl, combine tomato sauce and next 6 ingredients & set aside.
3) Cook the ground beef and drain liquid from pan.
4) Add onion, green pepper, mushrooms, and fresh garlic and cook for approximately 5 minutes, being sure to stir often.
5) Add tomato sauce mixture to the meat mixture and remove from heat.
6) In a casserole dish (9 x 13), place the zucchini in the bottom of the dish, followed by the meat sauce, 4oz. sour cream, and 4oz. cheese. Repeat this step once again.
7) Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until cheese is melted and brown.
Number of Servings: 8-10
Carbs per Serving: 48 in entire dish, 6 per serving

I just used sugar free spagetti sauce and left out the spices. It was so delicious. I'll definitely make it again, I'll just have to make one pan with noodles and one with the zucchini noodles.

My New Favorite Comedian

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Sat, 02 May 2009 05:50:00 +0000

I saw a video of Steven Crowder on another website and couldn't stop laughing. So now I have a new favorite comedian. He reminds me so much of much oldest son, Josh. I don't know if Josh knows it but he's been entertaining me for almost 21 years with his funny impressions of other people. He really has a talent and he's very emphatic, the way Steven Crowder is, when he speaks. Except he doesn't have a curl on top that bounces with every word.

Here are two of Steven Crowder's videos that I've enjoyed so far.
On torture:

And on Perez Hilton:

A Fun Day At The Park

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:50:00 +0000

My family had a wonderful, cool afternoon at the park yesterday. It was overcast. Perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. There were about 15 of us and I think we all had a great time.

Some of the youngsters played ball. Tara up at bat. I think she takes after me and Lori. You see, we have a family tradition to uphold. Mom signed the two of us up for softball once. Once. I was placed in the outfield. It was hot. I got lonely. My mind wandered. I sat down and played in the dirt and picked flowers. A ball didn't come my way often but when it did, I wasn't ready. Lori pretty much did the same thing. We just weren't ball players. Then when Josh was 4, we signed him up for t-ball. His cousin, Josh, the same age, just happened to be on the same team. They spent their time on the ball field taking turns riding each other and eating grass. They were horses, you see. Or Josh would pick wildflowers for his coach. So at least Tara was trying to hit the ball. I love the look of concentration on her face.

Sheridan up to bat. And chasing the ball. She has a great arm for a 2 year old.

Ryan hit the ball once and it bounced off of Jody's head. Good thing he has such a hard skull.

Jody and Jim cooked hot dogs on the grill and we all had a nice little picnic.

Lori's dachshund, Jack, found a hot dog bun and walked around with it in his mouth all afternoon waiting for someone to put the wiener in it for him.

I did spend the whole time at the park with a stain on my shoulder where a bird decided to poop on me the minute I sat down.

We finally had to leave when it started to rain.

Gardening Time

noreply@blogger.com (Childers Corner) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:40:00 +0000

My wonderful husband has worn himself out for two weekends to build these great gardening boxes. Don't they look good?

He even made these great covers for them to try to keep the army of neighborhood cats out of them. He only got two them made but he worked his butt of doing as much as he did.
Don't you just love our grass? Well, number one, this is West Texas. Number two, the local water department made me really, really angry last summer and I refuse to give them a penny more than I absolutely have to. Hence, dead grass. I don't mind, Mowing just about kills Jeff anymore, and Ryan is so skinny that the lawn mower would push him. I just don't like to mow. The water department sent us a bill for enough water to fill a swimming pool. We don't have a swimming pool. I took the bill to the office and explained nicely that it was impossible for us to have used that much water to which I was questioned thoroughly about our water usage. Did I fill the pool, did I plant flowers, do I water the grass, do my kids play in the sprinkler. No, No, No, No. They checked the meter and insisted it was right. I think they overcharged everyone in the area because there was a fire in our neighborhood. I even sent the water department a letter of complaint along with photocopies of the last 18 months worth of bills, none of which anywhere approached the amount of that one bill. They ignored me. I had to pay it anyway.

We don't have a back fence so this is our view. HA. A wonderland of cactus and rattlesnakes.

Ryan, after helping unload tons of potting soil and helping us put it in the new garden boxes.
Darn it, now I may have to water the back yard. I'm having dreams of green grass, flowers, a deck with a cover for shade, a couple of trees, a pool. Yeah, right, when I win the lottery. (I don't play the lottery.)