Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is THIS week - I am not ready and also can't believe it's the end of November.  I know that when you are young you just do not understand when adults tell you time moves faster the older you get - but it is true.  So very true.

The picture on the top left is some of my family (before I was born).  My grandmother, Mae, is sitting, my uncle J.T & my uncle Slim (holding my cousin, Gale).  Standing is my cousin, Jimmy, next to his mother, Donna Mae and Jerry.  Then my aunt Tootie, holding who I think must be my cousin Linda and my cousin Janet is standing in front of the table.

When I was growing up living with my grandmother, everyone always came to our house for the holidays.  ALL the holidays.  My cousins and I were close and enjoyed being together.  My grandmother did all the cooking and I always remember Tootie washing the dishes afterward.  We usually had the same foods every year and ALWAYS dressing - not stuffing - cause we live in the South.  There was potato salad, pea salad, sweet potatoes and green beans.  Those are the dishes I remember, though I think there were more.  There was also dessert, which was usually pie.  A lot of pies, actually - pumpkin, pecan, chocolate and coconut, as well as a fruit salad concoction that had pistachio pudding in it that made it green.


The picture on the top right is Scott's family a few years ago.  His family is more spread out and it was not unusual for them to NOT all be together for holidays.  When we got married & I asked who we were going to spend our first Thanksgiving with, Scott replied that we were going to order the traditional "Thanksgiving pizza".  I really thought he was joking. 

So to me any holiday, but especially Thanksgiving means "family".  I try to keep the traditions the same because it reminds me of those who are not with us any longer.  It is harder and harder to get everyone together, though, and that makes me sad.  I guess that is one of the reasons I scrapbook - because I get to remember how nice it was for us to all be together and how much I love my family, both my original family & Scott's family, too.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and remembers to cherish each moment.  And also remember to take pictures!!!!  One day you will be Thankful for those.

Machelle

Feels like Fall

Well, it finally feels a little bit like fall around here.  We have had the windows open, went to Fall Fest yesterday & made pumpkin bread today.  I love fall - everything about it; crisp cool mornings, having the windows open & hearing the wind chimes blowing, the festivals, decorations & this time of year makes me think of family.

Growing up, we had so many traditions during the holidays (Thanksgiving & Christmas) - most involved family & food.  I'm sure this is true for most people, but it is something I guess I took for granted most of my life.  It seems when we were kids the adults took family time more seriously, all holidays were spent with all extended family together at some point, kids running around and getting to see aunts, uncles, cousins in addition to immediate family members.  It saddens me because the family that is left doesn't seem interested in getting together with everyone; only their immediate family & only if it doesn't inconvenience them in some way.

My grandmother always cooked & always insisted anyone who came to our house never left hungry.  There were always certain foods associated with each holiday, too.  So this time of year also makes me miss her & feel nostalgic for the past.

Please cherish your family & make memories with them while you can.  Enjoy the people and moments that holidays bring.  One of the reasons why I scrapbook is to remember all of those times.

Until next time,
Machelle

Remembering Loved Ones

Grandmothers are truly a gift from God; some more so than others.  This is mine - MawMaw (Mae).  It is not an exaggeration when I say I don't know where I would be without her.  She raised me basically from the time I was born.  My parents "had" to get married because my mother got pregnant so it is no surprise that they also got divorced when I was only a few months old.  They lived with my grandmother (my father's mother) and when they separated, I stayed with my dad and MawMaw.  She took care of me while he worked and after he & my step-mom married I stayed with her.  I grew up knowing both of my parents, but I also knew I was better off living with and being raised by my grandmother. 

She had five children, one who died at age 4 from pneumonia, 12 grandchildren & 10 great-grandchildren at the time she passed away.  It is difficult for me to believe that it has been 13 years without her.  There have been many times over the years that something will come up & I will think - I need to call MawMaw & tell her that.  It is only for a second and then I remember that I can't.  Today, October 6, is her birthday and I felt I should try to get some of my thoughts written down somewhere. 

There are so many things I could write about MawMaw, but what sticks out in my mind are two lessons I feel are important for anyone, anytime.  The first is that no matter what you look like on the outside you have to "act pretty" to be pretty.  I remember so many times as a child if I went somewhere being told to "be nice & act pretty".  It's your attitude, manners & kindness that make you pretty.  The second isn't really something she said, just her day to day living.  No matter what is going on in your life, you just get up every day and do what needs to be done.  She was a very strong woman who worked hard and took care of her family.  We always had Sunday dinners, Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house.  MawMaw would do the majority, if not all, of the cooking and everyone was expected to be there. 

Growing up I didn't realize how much work this all was, but now as an adult I don't know how she did everything.  She was an excellent cook - just old-fashioned home cooked meals and anytime someone came to the house she tried to feed them. 

I know I am rambling, but PLEASE, if you have a parent or grandparent that you love, call them & tell them!  The worst part of growing up & getting older is losing those you love.  When you are a kid it never crosses your mind that they won't always be there & then one day you wake up & YOU are the adult, the older generation, so hold them close while you can.

Until next time,
Machelle

Puppy Madness

My good intentions of keeping track of stories and scrapbooking on this blog have been waylaid recently by our newest addition of a puppy to our household.  It seems as if Scott and I lost our minds when we decided two dogs & two cats would not be a problem.  So, we both agreed to this:

Cute right?  He was born on June 20, 2015.  We brought him home at the end of July, he was 5 weeks old and weighed 6 lbs.  He is a full-blood Siberian Husky & we named him Bandit.  Turns out Taz would have been a better choice.  He is 15 weeks old now & weighs about 25 lbs.

 We have not had a moment to ourselves since we brought him home.  Turns out, you MUST keep an eye on the puppy at ALL times.  Sleeping is a thing of the past and forget actually sitting down.  We bought a regular baby gate at first (cause he's little, right?).  That lasted about two weeks.  Luckily that time Scott was at home when Bandit came around the corner into the kitchen - after Scott had locked him in the bathroom two minutes earlier.

We then bought a regular pet gate, which is taller, has a walk-through gate and latches.  That worked well for quite a while.  (He's only in there while we are not home - at work or at WalMart buying more pet treats.)  But we were gone for several hours last Saturday so I could get my hair done & do some clothes shopping.  When we came home, Bandit was in the kitchen again - he had gotten out of the latched gate, gone to the bathroom in the office, shredded a CD & its paper sleeve and who knows what else.  Oh, the joys of having pets!  Currently he is teething & chasing the cats.  We keep telling him it's a good thing he's cute!  I hope we can keep our sanity until he learns some manners.

For the most part, he is doing well.  Going potty outside, sit and down are okay.  Trying to teach him come & leave it are not going so well.  I know that this is just a phase & one of these days when he weighs 50 or 60 lbs. and is all grown up we will not even remember the craziness of having a puppy. 

Hoping things will settle down a little & I can get back to scrapbooking and enjoying some quite time soon.  Until then, Happy Fall Ya'll!

Machelle

 

More Pets

This is Daisy, currently the only dog in the family.  She is very sweet and (mostly) obedient.  Like the other fuzzy kids she is spoiled rotten.  Daisy is about 8 years old and a chow mix, we got her from the shelter when we still had another dog (Bear). 

The animals ignore each other for the most part.  If one of the cats is getting any attention, Daisy can't stand it until you stop petting them and start petting her.  She wants all the love (and treats!).  I wish I could say she is our princess but she is not very graceful.  When she lays down she just plops wherever.  Sometimes it is where you are and sometimes, like right now, it is on the tile floor because it is so hot.

Well, there are all the current members of the family.  I still have some ideas for other family stories but they will take a while to type up.  One of the reasons I wanted to blog was to get better at telling stories so my scrapbook journaling would improve and also help me keep track of what I want to write about.  If you do stop by & read this, please leave a comment.  It's always nice to talk about family, friends, scrapbooking and other hobbies.

Thanks for stopping by,
Machelle

The Two of Us

Since I have been documenting about our pets here on this blog, I thought I should probably write about the actual humans in the household.  I have a tendency to scrapbook about our families and activities but find it hard to journal about me or my story.  The picture above was taken at the Alamo Cafe in San Antonio on our 16th wedding anniversary.  It is one of our favorite places to eat when we are there. 

Scott is originally from San Antonio & his mother and one of his brothers still live there.  His dad was in the Air Force as a pistolsmith, and, unlike most military families who move a lot, Lackland was the only place he was stationed due to his job.  He passed away from leukemia when Scott was about 12 years old.  After his mother remarried, they moved to Virginia for Scott's Jr. High & High School years but kept their house in San Antonio & the day after he graduated he moved back home.  He later moved to Hurst, which is where he was living when we met.

I was born in Fort Worth and raised by my paternal grandmother.  We moved to Meridian when I was 9 years old.  I got married a year after graduating high school, was married for 10 years and then divorced.  I continued to live in Meridian during that time and worked at a local office here in town.  My supervisor at that time was a lady whose husband worked with Scott & they set us up on a blind date.  It was pretty much love at first sight and we have been together ever since.

The old saying "Opposites attract" is true in our case.  We both agree on ending up at a certain point but will go in opposite directions to get there.  Sometimes it is amusing and sometimes it is extremely frustrating for us both.  But somehow we manage to make it work & life is never boring!  Well, I guess that is all for now & I will try another story soon.

Thanks for stopping by,
Machelle

Introductions (continued) - Prince George

George is our newest fluffy addition.  He was also a stray.  We brought him home from the BBQ place we go to one town over.  It is owned by a family and the daughters work the front most of the time now.  They mentioned that they had several cats outside they were trying to get rid of.  We had seen this one several times, he was very friendly and would come to you to be petted and seemed to want attention.

So one evening they finally talked us into taking him.  We brought him home and put him in the guest bathroom until we could take him to the vet to get shots and be checked out.  We also didn't know how Bo would react to another cat in HIS house.

We found out that he was about 7 or 8 months old; got his shots and gave him a bath.  Then we picked out a name - Luke.  (We had already had a Roscoe P. Coaltrain and currently had Bo & Daisy, so this seemed like a good idea.)  We tried and tried to call him Luke, but it just didn't fit.   I ended up calling him George quite a bit and that seemed right; I used to quote the Bugs Bunny cartoon with the abominable snowman "I will love him and squeeze him & call him George."  So sometime you just gotta go with it!

He is a very friendly cat, but scared of a lot of things.  He hides under the bed when he is afraid or if there are too many people in the house.  He doesn't really like Daisy (the dog) and hisses at her if she gets too close to him.  He is also my snuggle cat and likes to sleep with me, whether I am in bed or just taking a nap on the couch.

All in all, everyone seems to get along and coexist peacefully.  Scott and I spend a LOT of time sweeping and vacuuming all the furniture, though!

I will introduce Daisy next time and would really like to share some scrapbooking pages or cards, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Time Flies

Well, I'm not sure what happened to most of the month of March.  There were several times I thought about the blog and something I wanted to share but never had enough time to sit and type it all out.  I know we all have the same pesky problems with housework, laundry, cooking and work that seem to get in the way of the really important things like scrapbooking, blogs and youtube videos.


I hope I'm not the only one who just never seems to have enough time to get all the have to's; need to's and want to's done, but still wonders where the time goes to at the end of the day.  I am hoping to be back soon to post a few more pictures and stories to keep track of things that I still want to record and/or scrapbook.


Hope everyone is getting some warmer weather, it is supposed to be close to 80 degrees here this weekend with plenty of sunshine.  I am looking forward to opening the windows and enjoying the front porch!


Machelle

Introductions - Bo (King of the Castle)

This is Bo and he is almost 5 now.  We brought him home as a kitten from Scott's mom's house.  She had a stray cat that had kittens and was trying to get rid of them.  I absolutely love cats but Scott was not convinced at first.  It didn't take long, though, before Bo was king of the castle.


For those of you who have or have had cats, you know that you are only there to feed them and pet them at their whim.  I have only had 4 cats so far in my life, but they all have had such different personalities.  Bo is most definitely NOT a lap cat; no way, no how.  He will sit beside you on the end table or the floor if you are on the couch but not on your lap.  He decides when it is appropriate to pet him and for how long (usually not long).  If you pet him and it is not time, you will most likely get bitten; usually not too hard but enough that you have been warned.


He is a fairly large cat and too smart for his own good.  I have some pictures that I want to scrapbook of him watching the TV while a football game was on - I think he was watching them throw the ball.  And then the ones where he climbed a ladder.  My husband was painting and had the ladder out, he turned around and Bo was at the top!  We have to watch him now, because every time Scott goes in the attic, Bo tries to climb up the stairs.  At least they are a constant source of entertainment.  What silly things do your pets do?


I will be back to introduce the rest of the "family" soon.  I am off to make a birthday card and play with some scrappy stuff.

Not everything is bigger . . .

Hey!  This is my first post and I have NO idea what I am doing.  Ha!  Just wanted to get started and let you know a little about me.  My name is Machelle; my husband, Scott, and I live in a very small town in Texas (hence the title).  The population is about 1400 people, we have one grocery store, three convenience stores, a few restaurants and two dollar stores.  The closest WalMart is 40 miles and the nearest mall is 50. 


While I know this sounds horrible to most people (some of them in our immediate family), it is fine with me.  I don't have to worry about traffic, crowded aisles or long waits in line.  Most of the time, going to the grocery store is a social event because you will see several people you know and it would be rude not to stop and talk or at least say Hi.  There is also the advantage of the waitress knowing you at the local Mexican food place, so she always brings your unsweet tea with lemon along with your chips and hot sauce before you even place your order.


Like any other place you choose to live, small town life has both its pros and cons, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  The peace and quiet and knowing your neighbors just can't be beat as far as I'm concerned.


Well, I think that's it for now.  I will be back to fill in some more later.  I'll introduce you to our furry kids and maybe we can talk about some scrapbooking stuff, too.  Please introduce yourself if you happen to stumble across my new blog, I would love to meet new people and make some new friends!