I love the silhouette of tree branches against the sky.

Busy weekend

We had a nice visit with Janice and Kenny. Saturday, Janice and I went to an estate sale, the Junior League's Attic Affair (garage sale), Literacy Council's book sale, Original Fried Pies, (where the owner told us that his were not as good as Mom's but they would remind us of her, and he was right.) Their coconut and apricot fried pies were yummy! And we stopped to see the old house Jim is working on that will open as a doctor's office soon. Nice job Jim!
Then we ate at Samurai and Kara and Joey went with us. This morning we ate brunch with Janice and Kenny before they headed home.
Saturday was cold and super windy, but today it is calm, the sun is shining, and it is supposed to reach 70 degrees. A beautiful spring day!

Art Show

Tonight we went to Midwestern State University Fain Fine Arts Center's show. My siblings, Joe and Maurine are pictured showing off their talent from the pottery classes they took there. Maurine was even interviewed for MSU's TV station news. We thought the top picture with Joe and Joyce in the background was interesting as it looks at first like Joyce has a crazy hair style, but if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you can see that it is either Ryan or Jared's profile. (I think Jared? but it is hard to tell)

Then we went to Salt and Pepper for dinner. It was so nice, great food, live music, and great company. Janice and Kenny are here from San Antonio and we all had a nice visit.

Today, it was sunny and warm with a high in of 85, but tomorrow brings a rain/snow mix with up to 30 mile an hour winds. Tonight, south of here in Montague County, they are having thunderstorms and tornado warnings! The cold and warm weather are duking it out!

Gracie, College Graduate

We had a nice family gathering today to celebrate all of Graciella's hard work. She graduated from Wayland Baptist College today. Kudos Gracie!

We had a nice visit. There were five us of kids there (just minus Tim) with Gracie's family too.

Iris bloom

Last year when we had Mom and Dad's house on the market, we all dug up some iris bulbs to plant in our yards. I planted a few on Mom and Dad's grave too, but they are still just leaves about 5 inches tall. This is my first one to bloom this year, but it looks like I will have several. Thankfully, there are a few left at the house so Kara can enjoy them too. Daddy was always so proud of his irises.

Q & A

Went to see Slum Dog Millionaire with Garry, Gracie, and Mickey. It was very good. Garry and I have read the book, but it has been such a long time since I read it. The movie had some changes too. The original book was called Q & A by Vikas Swarup. I love reading about different cultures.

Gotta try this

Kara introduced me to this and it is so good. Orville Redenbacher's Natural Buttery Salt & Cracked Pepper microwave popcorn. It's naturally delicious!

Saturday afternoon ramblings

Spending my Saturday afternoon listening to Nina Simone's jazzy blues and reading a good book, The Help by Kathryn Sockett. This novel captured me at the first paragraph and it is written in the dialect of Southern Black women in the 60's who were domestic help.

My Nina Simone CD set is complements of Ryan. He got it for me for Christmas one year after I heard on CBS's Sunday Morning that she was one of the all time great Jazz singers. I expected one CD to see if I really liked her singing and Ryan got me the boxed set!

We have beautiful weather here today. I have the house opened up and the birds are singing and celebrating Springs arrival, but Monday is supposed to be stormy! We sure need rain though.

Aaaarrrgggghhhh!

Working on taxes is no fun!

New Orleans

Steven, Erin, Kara and Joey in New Orleans last weekend.

Scarred for Life

Garry's memory for Tim's birthday, printed with Garry's permission:

About a week ago I dreamed I was running through Wal-mart with out any pants (it seemed a lot colder in the frozen food section than normal). It is good to wake up from a dream like this and realize that even though I did not have any pants on I was in bed asleep. They say that dreams of this nature are not uncommon but, I seem to end up a lot of places without my pants, I have been pantless in church, at work, the mall just to name a few. You might say I have a phobia that activates itself in my sleep. Maybe this is called nopantphobia. They also say that most phobias in people were developed at an early age. Possibily the year was around 1963. Fourteen year old Tim (the instigator) and thirteen year old Joel thought it would be funny to hang little Garry's pants on the school flag pole. Little Garry thought it was pretty funny that someones pants were on the flag pole until his big brothers told him they were his. Now he is scarred for life. Terrorism expert Tim got an early start. Graci put me up to this story . Happy Birthday Tim! Little Garry's sisters used to dress him up like a girl when he was little but that is another story for someone elses birthday.

Neat gadget

IKEA has the handiest of kitchen scrubbers! They easily suction to your sink so they dry out and they are dishwasher safe too. And the bargain lover in me likes the price! 99 cents!

O

Is it just me? or is Oprah's body language telling? Is she praying that the president that she helped elect do well? or thankful that her prayers were answered? Her eyes look worried to me. And what is Michelle doing with her hands?

Not a very flattering picture of either one of them to be a cover photo on the O Magazine and it is the first time that Oprah has ever shared the cover.

The Curious Case of Timothy Allen

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"Who's that old man in the top photo?"

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Happy Sixtieth Birthday to my oldest brother, Tim!

Here's wishing Tim the happiest of birthdays, March 11th. And with five grand babies and one more on the way, how could it not be a wild ride!

Refund?

We got a refund in the mail from our auto insurance, a safe driver reward. The very next day, we got our bill for the next six months and it went up two times the amount of our reward? We plan on pricing policies and may be changing companies. We are not so sure we're in "good hands"!

Batter Up!

Nik likes the cake batter!

Make your appointment now!

Yuk!

You may want to think twice before eating your favorite strawberry yogurt from now on. According to the FDA, the red food coloring -- called cochineal extract -- found in popsicles, candy, strawberry yogurt, fruit drinks and even artificial crabmeat is made from the dried, ground bodies of an insect called Dactylopius coccus costa. Native to Peru, the beetles feed on red cactus berries. The berries' color accumulates in the female and its un-hatched larvae before the insects are then collected, dried and ground into pigment. It takes approximately 70,000 insects to produce one pound of carmine. Carmine was not required to be specifically listed in a food product's ingredients and usually fell under the category "artifical color." But in response to reports of severe allergic reactions due to carmine, the FDA ruled in January 2009 all foods containing carmine have it listed on the label. (From AOL article)