The Night Before Christmas

It's the night before Christmas, and all through the house

All creatures are stirring, but thank goodness no mouse

The stockings are laying on the mantel with care

The tree is all lit with a beautiful glare

The Toddler is bathed and put into his bed

While visions of sugar cookies dance in his head

His Mommy in her PJs and Daddy in his cap

Are recovering from football and an afternoon nap

When out in the yard there arouse such a clatter

We jumped from our seats to see what was the matter

Away to the door we flew like a plane

Stepping on a race car and a little toy train

The moon in the sky was giving a glow

Highlighting the men in the yard far below

When what to my wondering eyes should appear

But Papa and his sons each holding a beer

All ready to assemble the large present tonight

For the Toddler, from Santa, it must look just right

More rapid than eagles his instructions he yelled

And the boys all pitched in, but their beers they still held

Screwdrivers are needed, both Phillips and flat

A hammer, some pliers, and no more than that

Tab A in Slot B it is all coming together

Someone get out your iPad and check on the weather

As dry leaves that before wild Texas storms fly

The weather is holding, not a cloud in the sky

So back to their work in the glow of the moon

An evening that feels like Indiana in June

And then in a twinkling I heard in the yard

The reading of instruction from one little card

The boys were all working to finish in time

Building a fun play yard for baby to climb

The shape like a school bus with a slide in the back

Wheels that can be turned all in yellow and black

The horn gives a beep and the engine a roar

He can pull out the stop sign or open the door

They spoke not a word but went straight to their work 

Screwed in the last screw and then turned with a jerk

Then laying the hammer beside of the hose

They finished the present and to their feet they all rose

They came in the house and the team wet their whistle

Then cleaned up their mess with the handy new Bissell

But I heard them exclaim as they turned out the lights

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Holiday Traditions

Every family has their Holiday traditions and just because we are in an apartment this Christmas I am determined to keep the few traditions I can this year.

The tradition of the kids waiting at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning is long past. Although it was a tradition passed down from my childhood I am not sure that it will make  it to the next generation. After all it does require stairs and a two story home, of which my children have none.

We started a new tradition two years ago where we do a gift exchange with our immediate family. This gift exchange has a theme each year. The first year the theme was "As Seen on TV" so we had to buy our person a gift that was labeled "As seen on TV". That year was great for my husband and I because we actually had an "As seen on TV" store in the shopping mall in Virginia. The second year was a funny T-shirt gift, and this year is fun slippers. I cannot wait to see how creative everyone is this year.

Another tradition we have is the making of sugar cutout cookies. I make the cookies, and the whole family ices and decorates them. We have been decorating cookies at Christmas for almost 30 years. It is one of my favorite traditions because, as with any tradition, I get to spend time with everyone. I look forward to sharing this tradition with my Grandchildren.

The next tradition I do for me. I have watched the movie "Scrooge" on Christmas Eve and "It's A Wonderful Life" on Christmas Day for as long as I can remember. I know it has to have been at least 30 years, because we use to have an old VHS tape of "Scrooge" and it was recorded in California. We lived in California in the early 80's. It is fun for me to watch the movies with my grown kids, because they know all the words and songs, and they make me laugh when they recite all the familiar phrases with their own accent and spin.

I am sure there will be a time when my kids will tire (some may have already) of making cookies and watching these old movies, but I hope that as they get older and start their own traditions they realize how important these silly little traditions are to me. They are a reminder of  Christmases past. A time when they were little and loved to ice snowman cookies purple by mixing all the colors of icing together. They would make blue Christmas trees and dump a handful of sprinkles on it making it by far the ugliest and most delicious Christmas tree cookie ever, lol. These cookies were never shared outside the family, but were eaten by their creators and makers of memories.

After all isn't that what traditions are all about, the process of making family memories?

 I wish you all Happy Holidays and in the words of Tiny Tim, "God Bless us Everyone"!

Pokey Donkey

I hate auto correct! I just got a new iPhone and after a few weeks I could not take it any longer, so I had to turn off auto correct.

It is one thing for your phone to not recognize a word, and make suggestions of words you may want to use instead, but auto correct changes it for you. So, I was texting and typed in lol and my Droid decided I meant AOL, so it just changed it. Maybe it didn't think the text I received was funny enough for me to laugh out loud. I am very careful about reading my text before sending them, and when I would put the lol at the end of the text it would change after I pushed send.

Using my new iPhone,  I was sending a text to my husband. I typed "No problem love ya", and auto correct changed it to "No problem love us". I do" love us", but that was not what I wanted to say. So, each time auto correct changes my ending I have to send a second text correcting auto correct. Am I the only one that sees how crazy and time consuming this is?

I cannot tell you how many times I had to correct auto correct. Bikes! Oops, Yikes!

You really have to be careful to look texts over when you have auto correct, before you hit send. My son has had the name Veronica changed to Erotica. Imagine how that text may have been received. My family always sends their corrected text with the words "stupid auto correct". It is a good thing we have unlimited texts, because auto correct is making us double our efforts.

My favorite auto correct is the one from my son that changed okey dokey to pokey donkey. So,  we will use pokey donkey instead of okey dokey from now on, AOL.

Love us! 

Footwear at the Races

My husband and I went to Austin Halloween weekend to the US Formula 1 race. Now, if you were to ask me if this was a race I would have picked to go see, the answer would be no. My husband became a huge race fan while living in Indiana for over 26 years, and having season tickets to the Indy 500 every year, the whole family has jumped on the bandwagon. Our 3 kids have been going to Indy Car races since they were very young, and my boys still meet my husband in Indianapolis every May for the 500. My husband is also up every Sunday morning listening to the current Formula 1 race.
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These were our seats at the race. I used my panorama mode on my phone. 

The track for this race is called "Circuit of the Americas". This is a beautiful facility out in the middle of nowhere. The area is dry and very dusty, as most of Texas is, and the track is also very hilly. To walk from our seats to the main grand stand is like a mountain climb. There is a trail or walkway that goes all around the track, and it is a great workout getting from one place to another. There were some workers cheering everyone on and telling them to pump their arms to get up some of the hills. They were so funny and I would have laughed with them if I could have caught my breath.
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This was the smallest hill you had to climb at this track

As with many sporting events there are women and men who just do not get the appropriate clothing and shoes to wear. We were at a Dallas Stars hockey game last month and there were some women there with skin tight, sleeveless, very short dresses with stiletto heels. Now if you have ever been to a hockey game you know it is very cold, and most people wear jerseys or heavy sportswear. Who are these people trying to impress? Just plain silliness.

Now, I am concerned about this woman's choice of footwear, if you can`t see she is wearing sandals, but she is also using a diaper bag as a purse. I watched her walk into the track, and she did not have a baby with her. Maybe she is on to something here, you can sit on the changing pad, and have plenty of storage inside. Or, maybe the baby is inside the bag. That maybe the only thing they let you bring into the track in your purse.

So, back to the races. We were sitting in the grass on Sunday, next to the walkway staying cool, before we had to go sit in the stands to bake. While I was sitting there, I was people watching, and just kept watching the shoes people were wearing. Now many of these people were walking on gravel and dirt walkways that were long and hilly. What shoes would you be wearing?

These were my sensible shoes.

This woman is wearing a boot with a heel that is too high to be walking around this track and if you look at her left foot it is even twisted a bit as she is standing. She should have used her companion as an example for the appropriate footwear to wear to a race.
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Flip Flops are for the beach, not the races. I cannot tell you how many flip flop people have to stop to get the rocks out of their "shoes". Ouch!

Slides are great shoes, but not at the races. Between the heel and the missing back they are a recipe for walking nightmare. Twisted ankle and rocks in your shoes. Yikes!

More boots that have way too high of a heel to be walking around this track. The guy looks like he is wearing Sperrys, at over $80 a pair. Comfortable choice but you hope no one spills something on them.

This boot is hard to see, I was trying to be discreet with my picture taking, but if you look behind the gym shoes you will see the pointy black and white toed red boot. The boots are awesome, and were probably very expensive, but they do not belong in the rocks, dirt and hills.

Last is my favorite cowboy boot. Now we are in Texas, and these are fun boots and probably expensive, and don`t even get me started on wearing white pants. Maybe wear these boots to a restaurant, bar, or a mall,  Why ruin them, or the white pants at a race track?

Enough about shoes, gotta run!

Red Coats, and Timber Wolves, and Bears, Oh My!

Abraham Bope was my 4 times Paternal Great Grandfather born in Rockingham County, VA in 1763.  According to the Daughters of the American Revolution  (DAR) records and the Revolutionary war plaque on his grave, Abraham was a Patriot in the Revolutionary War and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, VA in 1781. The war continued in other theaters, but this victory at Yorktown basically ended the battles in the Colonies. Abraham was only 18 years old. 

Surrender of Lord Cornwallis
by John Trumbull
Depicting the British surrendering to French (left) and American (right) troops, 1820                                                                                                               

Abraham moved from Virginia to Ohio with his family.  Abraham was about 40 at the time of the move. The Bopes settled in the north-eastern part of Pleasant Township, Fairfield County, Ohio. The area was still mostly wilderness, and the essentials such as food and warmth were scarce. 

 There is a family story that  happened shortly after the Bopes settled in the township. One night Abraham  was returning  from a neighbor's when he was chased by wolves. He fired his rifle, but failed to frighten them away.  Unable to scare them by firing his rifle he decided to climb a  small tree. He reloaded his rifle, and fired again but the unwelcome guests would not leave. Abraham started yelling for help and was eventually heard by nearby neighbors who came to his call. Getting as close as they could to communicate with Abraham, and finding that the wolves were not relenting or leaving their potential prey, the neighbors suggested that he stay in the branches all night and hope that when daylight came the wolves would leave.

 When daylight appeared, the wolves fled, and he was able to leave his unpleasant night lodging. Abraham was a great hunter and many wild animals of the forest succumbed to his trusty rifle, but not these wolves on this night.

Timber Wolves were in Ohio in the 1800s. I would have stayed in that tree too. Scary! 

Another story told in the history books of Fairfield County, Ohio was about a bear discovered near the Bope`s house. Abraham took his favorite old Virginia dog and his gun, and went after the bear. His first shot wounded the bear and made him savage. The dog went after the bear, and was picked up by the Bruin. The bear was about to press the last breath of life out of the dog, when Abraham went to his dog's rescue. The bear instantly dropped the dog and started chasing after Abraham. The Bruin fastened his teeth in the garments of the frightened man. At this moment Mrs. Sybilla Bope, Abraham`s wife, arrived, and after assessing the situation, advanced on the beast in a threatening manner. The bear seeing this, released his hold on Abraham`s garments, and made for Sybilla. 

There was a hickory-tree close by that had been broken by a storm, the upper end of the trunk still resting on the stump twenty feet from the ground, and the top lying on ground, thus forming an inclined plane of about forty-five degrees. Abraham called to his wife to run for her life; but she being still young and full of vigor, began the ascent up the fallen tree. The dog by this time recovered his breath, and came again to defend his master. In the meantime, Abraham had re-loaded, and shot the bear broadside, without however, bringing it down.
 
The bear placed his back against a tree and stood upright, so he could use his powerful paws. While standing there turning his head in all directions to be able to see if anyone was approaching, he caught sight of Sybilla perched on the stump twenty feet above him. In an instant he made for the stump, and began the climb after Sybilla.  Abraham, realizing that from the positions of all the participants, wife, dog, and bear and  he in this drama was the absolute master of the situation. He shot a ball into the Bruin. The bear fell dead at his feet. Seven balls were said to have been lodged in his body before he finally died.

The picture on the left is a brown bear (Grizzly) and the picture on the right is a black bear. The story identifies the bear as a Bruin or brown bear, but I cannot find any proof that there were brown bears that far east in the early 1800s. Black bears are not always black in color and they are in Ohio currently, so it is possible that the bear in the story was a black bear. Brown or black, bears are scary and I wouldn`t want to see one outside of a Zoo. 

The Bope`s bravery gene did not get passed down to this Girl!

Texas State Fair: Deep Fried

The main reason to go to any state fair, is to eat, eat, eat!!! When I was a teenager I worked at the Ohio State Fair, and worked in the Lemon Shake Up stand. It was hot, long hours, little pay, many bee stings, and I had a great time. The food we went to the fair to eat back then were simple items like, steak on a stick, a turkey leg, french fries and vinegar, funnel cakes, elephant ears and my personal favorite was a Bob Evans sausage patty sandwich. Bob Evans started in Ohio and the fair was the only place he sold the sausage sandwich. I loved those sandwiches.

The only equipment we needed at the stand besides a
 knife and a lemon squeezer, was a fly swatter for the bees.

Boy how fair food has changed.  Even the turkey leg is being replaced by the smoked hog leg.

 The number one  selling food item at the Texas fair is the Fletcher's corny dog. We had to get our corny dog at 10am before the lines were 20 or more people deep. I have to admit that it was the best corn dog I have ever had, even if it was for breakfast.

Today everything is deep fried. Now, I am no different from the next girl, and love me some fried food, but deep fried butter is way off the charts. The one deep fried item that I wish I had eaten was the deep fried pumpkin pie. Just thinking about it right now makes my mouth water. Maybe next year.

Here are some of the dishes we did not try, and all are deep fried: bubblegum, beer, coke (soda), Jelly Belly jelly beans, Cadbury cream eggs, pizza, kool-aid, salsa, pop tarts, smores, and jambalaya. Not one of these sounds, or looks appealing.

Now for my winner of the best fried food at the Texas State Fair: The deep fried peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwich with optional bacon. My daughter told me about this sandwich and I just had to try it. I am so glad I did!! They make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, dip it in batter, deep fry it, cut it in fourths, squeeze jelly on top, sprinkle on a little powdered sugar, and if you want they will also sprinkle crumbled bacon on top. This was by far one of the best fair foods I have ever had, and I have had a lot of fair food.

Sorry Bob Evans.

Record Album Headboard

My older Son`s bedroom, when he lived at home, was decorated with a music theme. We hung the Beatles pictures that are now in my youngest Son`s apartment, and used album frames to hang some old Rock Albums that had great covers (like the Rolling Stone`s "Sticky Fingers" with a real zipper).

Our album is in much better shape than this one.

I hung some old 45s with the yellow record player adapters in them, and used some of the adapters to cover the lamp shade by his bed. How many of you remember these adapters? My husband bought a t-shirt at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame that had a painted adapter on the front of it. He wore it one day while we were traveling and went into a store where older people would come up to him and recognize the picture, and then they would turn to their kids and say, "Do you know what that is?" They did not.

These adapters would go into the hole in the middle of the 45 records to play on a turntable.

I baked some albums over bowls to form "album bowls" and he used them for remotes, keys or his wallet. You can make them in many shapes depending on what bowl or glass you use to melt it over. This is a fun craft for all those Olivia Newton John albums you have laying around. Oh, Is that just me? You can find instructions on how to make the bowls on the internet.

You can make these in minutes  and in all shapes and sizes.

Now for the headboard. I went to an old record store and bought ten of our favorite old albums. Most were just a few bucks or less a piece.  Then off to Lowes. I bought some 2 to 3 inch flat head black screws, anchors, and spacers for the screws.  The spacers are plastic tubes and I bought two different sizes. Four  spacers were about one inch long, and six were about one half of an inch long. You can buy what ever size you like depending on how far you want the albums from the wall.

I laid the albums on the floor to figure out how I wanted them arranged on the wall.  My husband and I held the lowest row on the wall, and using a pencil, marked the center holes of the albums on the wall. We marked them a foot or so above the bed, so the pillow, or our Son`s head, would not hit them while sleeping. Then we measured the distance between the marks, and made sure they were straight on the wall using a level. I drilled holes for the the anchors, hammered the anchors into the holes, put a flat head screw through the hole in one of the albums, then a short spacer on the screw, and screwed  the album into the anchor.  I then repeated this process for all the albums on the bottom row.

This headboard was over a twin bed. Add more albums to the ends for a larger bed.

For the next row we held the two albums up so they were staggered and overlapping the bottom row. Marked the center hole, measured and leveled the marks to make sure they were centered, drilled holes for the anchors, hammered in the anchors, put the screw in the album, use a longer spacer, and screw it into the wall.

Alternate rows with two and then three albums, and long and short spacers. You can make the headboard wider or taller by just adding albums.

Inexpensive and they really "turn" into a conversation piece.

Not a great picture, but you can see  how it looks with the bed made and pillows in place.

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Cups

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I tweaked it a bit, and it turned out great. For those of you that count calories or WW points, the amounts are listed at the bottom of the receipt.
I used Panko Italian seasoned bread crumbs, and did not use the herbs in the recipe except for the salt and pepper. The first time, I only used 1lb of chicken, so I had to cut the ingredients down to 2/3 of the recipe. This made about 8 meatloaf cups. MATH IS HARD!

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ lbs raw ground chicken breast (if you have trouble finding ground chicken that is breast meat only, do what I do and throw the same weight of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the food processor and run until ground) 
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg whites
• 6 T dried breadcrumbs ( I used Panko Italian Seasoned crumbs and did not use the basil, thyme, and oregano)
• ¾ t dried basil
• ¾ t dried thyme
• ¾ t oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, minced ( I did not use garlic, curses that acid reflux)
• ½ a small onion, chopped small or grated (I used about 1/8 cup or less)
• ¾ t salt
• 1/3 t black pepper
• ¾ cup Parmesan cheese ( My daughter replaced Parmesan with extra bread crumbs because her husband is lactose intolerant, so she made Italian Chicken Meatloaf Cups)
• ¾ cup pasta sauce (new favorite sauce is RAO`S  Homemade Marinara Sauce)
• ¾ cup 2% reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese (optional for my Son- Inlaw) 
• Optional: dried parsley, oregano or basil for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, egg whites, breadcrumbs, basil, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and lightly mix together. Do not over handle.
3. Form the meat mixture evenly into the 12 cups of your prepared muffin tin. Spread the pasta sauce evenly over the tops of each cups. Bake for 20 minutes and remove from the oven.

   

   Ready for the oven. The PAM looks like rain on a newly waxed car, lol!         

   4.  Top each cup with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese and then return to the oven for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted. Garnish if desired.

   

   Just out of the oven! YUMMY! I served it with Veggie pasta.                              

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PLUS:4 per muffin, 7 for 2 muffins (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
147 calories, 6 g carbs, 5 g fat, 18 g protein, 0 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)

adapted from Emily Bites who adapted it from What’s Cookin’ Chicago? 

These taste great warmed up the next day. There is something about pasta always tasting better the second day, too. I remember my brother Ronnie and I having cold spaghetti sandwiches. Two slices of buttered bread with cold spaghetti in the middle. Boy are those days over, way too many calories for old people, lol. 

This is just out of the frig and ready for the microwave. Yummy Lunch!           

Happy Birthday Pop!

Columbus Day is here

I`m reading all the signs

There are sales in all the stores

Low prices and long lines

But, for my loving family

The date means so much more

Than 50 percent off 

At your favorite retail store

Our father was born October 12th

The official "Columbus Day"

And if he were still with us

He would be 92 today

His wife, his seven children

And all his grandchildren too

Carry his sweet memory

In everything they do

Remembering our Dad

On this day that he was born

With joy for his long life

But, yet we all still mourn 

His voice when he was singing 

The guitar strums when he played

His voice when he said he Loved You

These sounds will never fade

We Love you and we miss you Dad

And that will never stop

From all your loving family

Happy Birthday Dear Sweet Pop!

The Family Gun Makers

My 4 times Great Grandfather Peter Humbarger Sr. was a first generation American, born in Berks Co., PA in 1766. He moved his family in 1802 to Perry Co., Ohio and was a farmer and gunsmith by trade.  He opened a gunsmith business in Ohio and taught 3 of his sons Adam, Henry and Peter Jr. (my 3 times Great Grandfather) this trade.

This was a rifle that was up for auction with my 4 times Great Grandfather signature.               

These sons became famous gunsmiths in Ohio and when Henry ended up in Indiana in 1851 he carried the family business into the Hoosier state. They have also been credited as one of the first gun makers to invent the double action trigger. I have no idea what that is exactly, but it was a pretty important invention in the gun industry.

This is a rifle make by my 3 times Great Grandfather. Peter Humbarger  (Humberger) Jr.            

There was an article in the Thornville News on October 1, 1903 about these gun making brothers. Peter Jr., my 3 times Great Grandfather, was the oldest and the tamer of the three gun making sons. Adam was a skilled workman and was not only a gun maker but held 3 patents on his invention of a corn harvester. Henry, while living in Ohio was a gunsmith, cabinet maker and even built a pipe organ for a Lutheran church in Somerset, until he lost his wife, and then went to California for the Gold Rush before settling in Indiana.

This is my Great Great Great Grandfather, love the beard Gramps.

The Historic story was that the three brothers in the Spring of 1832 met at the Peter Humbarger Farm in Hopewell, Ohio to hold a consultation about making a double action trigger. Adam and Peter appointed Henry for the task, as he in their estimation, was the finest workman of the three. Henry completed the double action trigger (pepperbox revolvers) and tried it out at a barn raising. He was hoisted up with a revolver in each hand. He fired them off alternately. The story goes that an agent from the Colt company of New York, came to Ohio, bought some of the Humbarger pepperbox revolvers, and then went to the Somerset workshop. At the workshop he watched Henry work on the double action revolver, and took what he learned back to Colt. Soon after that Colt Co. filed for a patent. A lawsuit followed a few years later, Samuel Colt vs the Massachusetts Arms Company, concerning the repeating revolver. The Humbarger`s guns were used as exhibits in the trial. Adam Humbarger was summoned to give a deposition in Ohio for this trial being held in Boston. The really sad part about his deposition, was that Adam stated that he did not file for a patent for their double action trigger at the time because of the cost. He did send a few of the Humbarger`s revolvers to a friend in DC to see if there was any interest in the revolvers. Adam said he did not know what the man did with the revolvers after he had received them.

In the 2012 book "The Devil`s Right Hand" by M. William Phelps, the awarding winning and national best selling author, Mr Phelps tells the story of the Colt Dynasty. In his book he covers the lives of John C. Colt and his brother Samuel Colt. John was accused of murder and Samuel of stealing the plans for the repeating revolver. In Mr. Phelp`s book the Humbarger Sons are mentioned in regards to the revolver scandal.

I have the book on my Kindle and I am excited to read not only about the cursed Colt family, but how my family played a part in the history of the repeating revolver.

 I do have to admit that the "Colt 45" sounds sexier than the "Humbarger 45".

Updated Table and Chairs

A few posts ago I told you about my youngest Son`s refurbished apartment furniture. Over 20 years ago, it may have been before our youngest was even born, we bought this old farm style kitchen table and chairs. They were an oak color wood, had a table with pedestal legs, four spindle back chairs and a bench. Over the years it went from our family table to the basement table, and now it is our Youngest`s apartment table.

The chairs were in pretty bad shape and they were not very sturdy. The backs were coming apart and the spindles were coming out of the seat of the chair. My husband re-glued the spindles and screwed the end pieces from underneath to make the chairs sturdy again. Ready for paint!

Here are the chairs sitting on plastic in our basement stinking up the entire house ,lol.

I took the chairs out in the back yard, sat them on plastic and spray painted two of them black and the other two red. It took about three coats of paint and one coat of poly, but they turned out great.

I wanted to keep with the theme of the apartment, black, red and Beatles for my Sons dinning room. First, I removed the pedestal leg and replaced it with regular rectangular legs.  I bought them at Home Depot and they came with the brackets to screw the legs into the table. I spray painted the legs red and then sprayed a layer of polyurethane on them. Legs are done!

The table legs were the easiest part of the table transformation.

The table top was a little more difficult. I had to sand it first because it had a coat of polyurethane on it. I used an electric hand sander and was able to get the poly off, and the surface pretty smooth. The problem came with the painting. I put the table top on saw horses and used black spray paint, but just could not get it even enough. There were streak marks in a few places. I tried everything I could think of to get the streaks out. I put more coats on, I ran a smooth roller over it, I even tried a coat of enamel paint. Then I thought OK, what if I write on the table with a paint pen and that would take the attention off the streaks. So, I bought a white paint pen and started writing the names of Beatles songs all over the table top. I wrote them in different sizes and scripts, and had them going in all different directions. When they were dry I put a coat of poly on top. You would never know there were ever any streaks.

I am not even sure my Son knows some of the songs written on his table.

I turned an old dull wood table and chairs into a fun Beatles tribute. The table and chairs go perfectly with the living room decor. I think my son really loves how they all turned out. Not sure they will last another 20 years, but they will get him through grad school.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There`s Signs

We went on vacation last week and that is always the time we notice all the funny signs along the road. I also get fun pictures from our kids while they are out and about the world. So, I though I would share some of them with you.

Unfortunately the one I loved the most, I did not get a picture of. We were on highway 98 through the Panhandle of Florida and saw a billboard that had a bald Realtor`s picture on it. This pictures was close to the top of the board and right on top of the board was a huge bird`s nest.The nest sat right on top of the man's head and it looked like he was wearing a wig. I would have loved to have taken a picture, but that would have required my husband to stop and turn around. Since we were on a record pace to get to our vacation, that was not going to happen, lol.

Here are the warning labels on cigarettes. Which warning do you think is more effective?

We stopped to get gas here and Got it done!

These office supplies were in an office in Korea. Read all the labels.

King of the Brews?

Really? Does that 1/2 mph make a difference?

A Cafe for drinking Chefs?

R2 Decaf? Where is Tea 3PO?

How rich do you have to be to have a gold ATM?

Maybe because of poor grammar?

I am hoping something got lost in the translation.

Is this Shaq`s shoehorn?

I know everything is big in Texas, but so are the discounts on jeans (texans) in Spain.

Yes, this was outside the Vets office.

I guess in Egypt the P is silent in Psalt

I think it would be cheaper to just buy the dumplings.

One of these thing is not like the others!

Texas stop sign! This explains a lot.

I get these all the time from my kids, and I am sure I will have another blog full in the near future.