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The Old Grey Mare..........

Category: Family and Everyday Life | Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:06 pm

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ain't what she used to be. I think that at work all the time, because my job is very physically demanding, lifting 25 to 60+ lb. boxes most of the day. Not much fun for 8 hours. But I have always been able to get things done around the house. Not anymore!!!! It takes me forever to get the simplest things done. I use to clean my whole living room, including the walls and shampooing the carpet in 4 or 5 hours, now I can't get it done in 2 days. I just don't have the get up and go that I had 5 years ago, and I am only 53. Can't wait till I'm 63, should really be fun then. I wonder why they call old age the Golden Years? You are too tired and hurt to bad to enjoy them. Or maybe I don't get as much done around the house because I am always stopping to check in on a few of my favorite forums ( don't wanna blame it all on the Stew.) LOL Oh well, back to cleaning so I can get this tree decorated.

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Christmas Past Memories

Category: Childhood Memories | Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 12:43 am

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I can remember the excitement of those childhood Christmases. Dad getting the two older boys together to go cut the tree. We always had a cedar tree. It would always be too big and Dad would have to top it out. While they were gone we would get the decorations down. Some were handpainted ornaments from Germany that Dad had sent back home during WWII, some were homemade, and of course there were a lot of the shiny glass balls, and plastic glow in the dark icicles and snowflakes. We would have the lights all sorted out, not the tiny little lights they have now, but the big fat ones. After the tree was finally up Dad would string the lights, then it was our turn. He would hold us up to put ornaments on the top of the tree when we were little. I wonder if he missed doing that when we got to big for it. The tree would be so beautiful when it was finally finished. I would sit for hours staring at it and I still like to do that. Then is would be time to start dreaming about what we would get that year. No making lists, no demanding what we wanted, it was a surprise every year. And we only got one thing apiece. I guess my all time favorite present was the treasure chest. I got the one for girls and my little brother got the one for boys. It had colors and coloring books, paper dolls, games, books to read and small toys to play with. It was really cool because it was like getting a ton of presents at once. We didn't know it until years later, but we bought our own Christmas presents. We picked pecans in the cow pastures on halves with the owner. The man, Mr. Bobby Wince, who bought them would come around and weigh them and give Dad half the money and bring the other half to the owner of the pastures. When I was older and didn't believe in Santa anymore I asked Mom how could they afford to get Christmas for six kids every year, and that was when she told me it was the pecan money that bought them. I wish things could be so simple today.

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The Person I Admire the Most

Category: People Who Have Blessed My Life | Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:33 am

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I guess I could have put this under family, it would fit there too. But this person has been a blessing to me all of my life. She is my Mom, and at 84 years old she continues to be an immense blessing to me. Let me tell you why I admire her so much.

My mother was born with a degenerative bone disease. It is a form of dwarfism. She is probably only about 4ft. 6 inches, maybe. This never stopped her. She had seven children, raised 6, lost one. My youngest brother was born with one kidney, which was malfunctioning. She stayed at the hospital 2 years with him and after 22 surgeries he finally came home. It is only by the efforts of one doctor, Dr. Rowena Spencer, that he survived. And the loving care of a mother who would not leave him in the hands of the nurses, a mother who had to make a choice of leaving her other 5 children at home to stay with her sick baby. My mother, even when she was younger, could not easily get up and down steps. My Dad built a rail for her to hold on to so she would be able to motivate them. I can remember her washing clothes by hand, hauling water in to heat for our bathes, wringing chickens necks and plucking them and cleaning them, hoeing a huge garden, directing us to pick the vegetables so she could clean them and can them, staying up till 2 in the morning cleaning crawfish for the freezer, plus doing the housework and cooking. She never stopped, she would have had every excuse not to work the way she did, but she never used it. She never complained, she just did what she had to do for her family, never thinking of herself. When she finally went to the doctor for her bones he was amazed. He told her everytime she had a baby, the birthing process displaced her hips a little more. He was surprised that she could walk at all. She has had both hips replaced 2 times. The last surgery did not go well. The doctor bothced it, he did not rebuild her pelvic bone and the hip joint had nothing solid to hold to and it crumbled, a week later he redid the surgery, this time rebuilding the pelvic bone. A week later he was back in pulling everything out and fusing the hip with no artifical joint in it because of massive infection. She almost died, and that is the closest I have ever seen her to giving up. She was in a rehab hospital for 3 months learning how to walk again. None of it ever stopped her. At 82 she was still cooking and washing her dishes. She now can not do those things anymore. I feel honored to be able to do for her now, after she has given me so much, after she devoted her life to raising her family. Many people would have given up long ago.

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How I Got Pregnant for Sarah

Category: Family and Everyday Life | Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:59 pm

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We were going to church one night, it was raining, and I fell down the steps. I hurt my ankle pretty bad, but was hardheaded and would not go to the doctor. The pain started to move up my leg into the knee and then the hip. Richard said, "Enough is enough, you are going to the doctor." Well I ended up at the emergency room. During the whole process they did a routine urinalysis. When the doctor finally got around to me he said, "Mrs. Bowlin, we cannot xray you." "Why.", I ask. Doctor, "Because you are pregnant." Me, "But doctor, I didn't know you could get pregnant falling down the steps." He laughs and says, "Mam, I don't think that is how it happened." It took us 11 years to get pregnant for Regina, so imagine our surprise when 7 years laterat the age of 37, I am pregnant again.

Last edited: Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:00 pm

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"CooCoo"

Category: Childhood Memories | Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 2:17 pm

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My Grandmother on my Father's side was pure Cajun French. She was from back Vacherie and so was my Grandfather. Darrow, where we lived, was about 30 miles from Vacherie. One of her sisters had a son named "CooCoo", that's all we ever knew him as. If my life depended on it I could not tell you his real name, or why he was called "CooCoo". Well "CooCoo" would come to visit Grandma several times a year, he was obviously sane enough to get a drivers liscense. After we got telephone service in Darrow, Grandma was always forewarned of "CooCoo's" visits. What they did before the telephone I do not know. We were always told of these coming visits and were given a very stern warning, dished out in a very heavy French accent, "Now Sharon, whaever ya do, don' git in the ca(car) wit CooCoo. He's gon axe ya too go git icecream at "Nonc" (uncle) Robert's store, {pronounced row bears}, but don' git in da ca wit CooCoo." I was not particularly afraid of CooCoo, until one day when I was at Grandmas when he showed up. The call must have come late because he was pulling in the driveway before I had a chance to get home. She made me stay right in her sight, but I finally had to leave for home, which was nextdoor, but with a little distance between us. Sure enough, I was halfway home, on the other side of the ditch, when a car came up behind me and stopped. I turned around and there was "CooCoo" and the exact words out of his mouth were, "Sharon, git in the ca, and we will go git icecream at Nonc Robert's." All I can remember was running as fast as I can and "CooCoo" laughing his head off. I always made sure I was not at Grandma's when "CooCoo" came to visit again.

Last edited: Mon Nov 27, 2006 2:18 pm

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The Bravest Person I Ever Met

Category: People Who Have Blessed My Life | Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:43 am

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Britney was just a small slip of a girl when I first met her. I had already heard of her health problems and I knew that her chances for survival were slim. But I also knew that miracles did still happen. I work with her grandmother, who is probably the strongest person I have ever met. Britney had a brain tumor, which was hereditary and it developed at the age it was predicted to. She was nine years old when she was first diagnosed. I only met her several times, but she was the type of person who's inner strength showed through at first glance. Even if I had not known of her illness I would have still seen it. I think through the two year ordeal she was more worried about her family than herself. I have a small picture of her hanging on my inspiration wreath on the wall behind my desk. She has no hair because of the chemo, and a pink headband on. It is a beautiful picture. Britney's grandfather passed away from a heartattack, her grandmother woke up one moring and he was gone. No warning, no signs that anything was wrong. Britney said it was because he didn't want her to be alone in heaven and he went first to wait for her. In less than three months Britney went to be with her grandfather. Her grandma said she never complained. She fought the good fight and she went home in the end, at 11 years of age. Whenever I get down about anything I think of Britney and of her bravery. I know then that there is nothing that I cannot overcome through the inner strength that can only be gotten from Jesus.

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1st Freeze Tonight

Category: Flowers and Vegetables | Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:07 am

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Tonight we get our first freeze, a bit early at that. Goodbye butterfly ginger, I cut the last of it to bring to Mom along with some roses. Goodbye impatiens and moonflower vine, no more until next year. Bye, bye thunbergia vine, it did far better than I thought it would and hopefully I will get some more started for next year. No more zinnias, lantana, cannas, or morning glories. I do feel blessed to get to enjoy these plants and many others for such a long time, but I am always sad to see them go with the first freeze. But I will still have the roses, they usually have a flower or two at all times. And I already see signs of spring, new irises coming up all over, and daffodils popping up their slim green blades. So while others rest for our short winter, these are gearing up to bloom, and the seed and plant catalogs will be coming in the mail. I can wile away those winter blues with dreams of next years beauties.

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The Long Pond

Category: Childhood Memories | Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:26 am

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I grew up on the Mississippi River in a very small rural town named Darrow, Louisiana. We lived on two and a half acres and Dad had a real mini farm going on. We had chickens, rabbits, hogs, and he raised beagle dogs to train and sell. Our favorite thing to do was to go on picnics at the Long Pond. The pond was located about 5 miles from our house and was behind the levee. Sometimes Dad would cook a jambalaya over an open fire and sometimes Mom would get up at four in the morning and fry chicken and all the fixings to go with it. We always had friends along and always fished. We would run to the top of the levee and roll down to the bottom, making sure there were no cowpies or other dangers in the path. Down a small road that led to the river was a sandbar. When we were older we were allowed to go there and swim. I can remember the river shrimp pinching our toes, more of a tickle than a pinch. I can still smell the smells and feel the river breeze on my face. I can remember the scary thrill of going down the levee at an angle in the car, always afraid we would tip over. But what I can't do is ever go back to the Long Pond, nor could I take my kids there when they were growing up so they could experience the things that I did. The Long Pond no longer exist as I knew it. Someone, in the name of progress, saw fit to dredge it out to the river and make a dry dock for tug boat repair. We were the last generation of children to enjoy all of lifes simple wonders at the Long Pond.

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How We Met

Category: Family and Everyday Life | Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:10 am

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I am putting this in Everyday Life, although it is something that has happened only once in a lifetime for me. And I thought I would tell the story before Richard does because he tells it entirely different.
It was September 1972 and I was in my third semester at college. I was getting up at 4:30 in the morning to catch a bus and not getting home until 7:00 at night. I was exhausted so I talked Mom into letting me move to Hammond. That move changed my life. The first time I saw Richard was at my roommates boyfriends house. We went over there and he was sitting on the front porch. He said no one was home, not the real talkative type, but I knew as soon as I saw him that we would be together the rest of our lives. The next time I saw him was sitting in the yard at his house, I was riding a bicycle and he sicced his dog on me to try and get me to stop. I kept on going. The third time I saw him was at the local bar when he poured me a glass of beer from his pitcher. I, of course, asked my roommate who he was and she just said a friend of Skips, her bf. Well one day I was hanging around my apartment and who should show up, my roomie, with Richard in tow. Her exact words, "This is my roommate Sharon, Sharon this is Richard, bye I gotta go to work." I was dumbfounded, but we got to talking and we went out, and I guess something clicked because we have been together ever since.
Now for his side of the story, "She pitched a tent in my front yard and my Mom said I'd better go out with her so she would leave." Likely story huh.



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Ooey Gooey Cake

Category: Cooking | Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:03 am

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This is a great cake and so easy, and of course it is calorie free.

1 box butter cake mix
1 egg
1 stick melted margarine

Mix together throughly and pat firmly into bottom of 9x13 inch pan.

1 8oz. block cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 lb of powdered sugar
2 tsps vanilla

Mix together until well blended pour over crust and bake in a 350 degrees preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until firm in center. Cool completely and cut with a wet knife.

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