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.