Smudgy - one of a kind... maybe 7!

Smudgy - One of a kind... maybe 7!

Smudgy was one of those "hand-me-down" pets. He was too much for my grandparents and aunt, so my parents took him in. In the late 1950's it was still okay in our town in Texas to have a dog loose... no chain and rarely a collar needed. Smudgy was probably half German Shephard and half Border Collie with whatever else mixed in there that made him so wonderfuly special to us.

It was proabably about 1958 when I entered him in the local

pet show at the high school. It took my mother and sister and me to contain him as he had rarely ever been around so many other dogs and seldom with a collar and, heavens,

never a chain. He was entered in the mixed-breed division, however, from the pictures I wonder if he didn't get mixed up in the wrong division. When the judges came by I remember telling a friend who was standing nearby... loud enough for the judges to hear, "Smudgy has seven breeds of dog in him."  I was terribly proud of that! Oh, how little I knew. Needless to say, Smudge and I got an "Honorable Mention". Oh well...

That is me, the blonde, squinty kid. In one of the pictures is my mother with my younger sister and brother... and our parakeet, "Tweety", who always cheeped himself into a near stroke if he ever saw Smudgy trying to sneak inside our home.

Fun memories!!

Today I am linking to two wonderful sites:

Little Red House for

Mosaic Monday

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

and

Brynwood Needleworks for

Memory Lane Mondays

http://brynwoodneedleworks.blogspot.com/

By the way, this is the first installment for "Memory Lane Mondays" from Brynwood Needleworks. For those of us who especially enjoy reminiscing or reading about someone's favorite memories from years gone by you will love this. It will take place the last Monday of each month. So come by for a visit!! It's going to be fun.

Happy 7th Birthday, Carmen!

Happy Birthday, Carmen!

You brought a light into our lives that was

so new to us. Grandchildren have a way of

doing that. You are our first grandchild though

and so you have a very special place in our hearts.

You love your jeans and your "Pop's" and Dad's

school... Texas A&M.

One of the first things those special men in your life

taught you was to make the "Gig'em" sign.

You learned to sing the school song right along with

"Mary Had a Little Lamb"!

And you love dressing up and modeling whenever

you get the chance.

A very respectful and loving child, honor student, fluent in

English and Spanish and the best older sister,

we are so proud of you.

Have a wonderful and blessed day, Carmen!

Pops and Abuela love you.

Fresh for the table and all in RED!

My husband brought home fresh cherries from

Sam's late last week. He was disappointed in their

flavor... so they sat. I "pitted" them and cooked them

in some sugar water, later added some cornstarch to thicken

them.

Then, there were the fresh beets that were sold at our

church Farmer's Market which we hold on Sundays.

I had always avoided cooking fresh beets because of all that

red. On a whim I decided to give it a try. Besides, with my

new black sink, who would see the red??

Here are the beets after I cooked them for an hour

in simmering water. I cooled them just a bit and the skin came off easily. I diced them up and let them cool a little more I mixed up some thicken cornstarch, sugar and a bit of the red water the beets had been cooked in. I added this mixture to the beets and also added a tablespoon of butter.

Here is the finished product with the cherries.

It's my old Topsy Turvy Cobbler recipe from

Betty Crocker Cookbook for Boys and Girls.

I have used this recipe several times on this blog...

hope no one is getting tired of it!

I'm thrilled to have done some cooking so that I can

link to two blogs I really enjoy...

All the Small Stuff

http://allthesmallstuff-cole.blogspot.com/

AND

It's a Very Cherry World

http://suelovescherries.blogspot.com/

Polish Sausage Making... A Family Tradition

Polish Sausage Making...

a Family Tradition

This past December my husband and I were invited to 

join the Skloss family as they revived their family

tradition of making Polish sausage.

The Skloss family had migrated from Poland to Texas

many, many years ago and they, along with other

Polish families, established the town of

Cestohowa, Texas.

They eventually continued on to McCook, Texas where

they bought farmland and grew grain, corn and other

dryland crops.

The language of the community was Silesian.

Sausage making was a family tradition enjoyed by

all of the Polish families. The sausage is made of 2/3 pork and 1/3 beef with salt, pepper and some garlic. The mesquite smoking of the sausage gives it the unique flavor.

Family was scattered in the past few years but recently

the young people decided they wanted to revive the

tradition. It was a full day of work, however, not only was

some of the wonderful sausage enjoyed for supper, but

the satisfaction of bringing the old tradition back

was best of all!!

I am linking to

Little Red House for

Mosaic Monday

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Come join us for some wonderful

collages of pictures!

I left the Skloss homestead in McCook that evening wishing I had just a drop of Polish blood in me! The family traditions and the love they all share for each other is beautiful and so special.

Three White Favorite Things!

This is just simply for your pleasure.

Last night's sunset at

Las Islas Ranch - deep South Texas

photo by my husband

Three White Favorite Things

These are three cherished mementos I have that were passed down to me from my mother.

Maria DeChellis DePasquale was my great-grandmother.

Framed by my mother is one of my g-grandmother's stockings along with a binding she used for my grandmother, Jean, when she was a newborn baby.

=

Binding was used on babies a long time ago (and are making a comeback!) to support the baby and give them

and added sense of security. They also believed their

babies would have straighter backs.

This is a picture of my grandmother, Jean,

my aunt, Deddie and my mother, Rosemary,

on the right.

The brooch belonged to Jean.

I am linking to

Three or More Tuesday

at Gypsy Corner
http://www.thegypsyscorner.com/

and

White Wednesday at

Faded Charm

Three or More Tuesday

http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/

I'm also enjoying

A Few of My Favorite Things

at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie

http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/

Happy 33rd Birthday, Daren!!

Love, Mom and Dad

(We spelled your name with one "r" because

you are a blend of Dad and me...

"D" for David and "aren" for Karen.)

A Piece of Inheritance

My husband and I inherited this "table" from my husband's aunt who lived in California.
I cannot find any identifying marks on it to help me describe it. Perhaps you can help me. The top of the table is made of marble. The wood is inlaid... however, not being familiar with the many different types of wood, I cannot tell you this.
I absolutely love this piece of furnitures. It bows out if front and the cabinet door does as well, making me want to call it a "commode". What would you say?

I am splurging and joining in several blog parties! What a treat for me!!

My Romantic Home for

Show and Tell Friday

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie for

A Few of My Favorite Things

http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/

and for Monday...

Little Red House for

Mosaic Monday

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Visit these wonderful blogs for some delightful posts!

2011 - It's about US!

2011

My New Year's Resolution

This is the year of US!

Okay… by “us” I am referring to my husband and me.

We have had three years of losing close family members (my parents and his brother) and

dear, dear friends.

I threw myself into trying to assist family and friends go through

extremely difficult times.

My husband has been so supportive all along.

He has comforted me when I needed it.

It is time for me to get on with our life together.

So.. my New Year’s resolution is…

Husband and me first!

It will include our health

It will include our marriage

It will include what some people refer to “getting our affairs in order”.

Then it will include our

our sons, their wives and our grandchildren

When plans and decisions and opportunities

arise… we will ask ourselves…

is this good for us?

Will this benefit our health and our marriage?

Will this have a good impact on our family?

Shouldn’t we have been doing this all along?

Well, maybe we have…

The difference this year is that I will fully focus

on my dear husband.

God has blessed me greatly.

It is time to show it.

I thought about my posting during the night and got up early to remove it... thinking

it was way too revealing. Well, with all of your sweet comments and encouraging remarks I will keep it here. All the more reason to keep my 2011 resolutions!!  Karen

Visit Little Red House

for

Mosaic Monday!!

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

It's so much fun.....

Abuela aka "Grandmother"

The Visit...

Two grandchildren accompanied by their father, our oldest son, arrived by plane from Mexico the evening of December 30th. Even though it was 10:30 PM the children were excited about seeing "Abuela" ("Grandmother" in Spanish) and "Pop's" Christmas tree and decorations. AND probably more excited to see what Santa had left under the tree.

   Carmen noticed almost immediately upon seeing my nativity scene that Baby Jesus was not in the manger. I showed her where I had placed him, just waiting for her arrival. Carefully Carmen put the Baby Jesus where he belonged. Christmas for us had begun!

  Presents and surprises were handed out and there was so much excitement. Bedtime was late but who was worried about that??

  New Year's Eve we gathered our belongings and drove to the deer lease, mearly a one hour and twenty minute drive away. Friends were gathering for the annual year end festivities, eager to welcome in 2011. Barbecuing and cooking was well underway. My husband and son took the children to the deer blind to see the deer and photograph them. They loved it!

  The party was great and the children enjoyed it as much as the big kids... us!

  Sleeping in late while the dads hunted I prepared a big breakfast with friends.

  After three nights we made our way back to our home. We had a "play-date" with Nancy's (Nancy's Notes) daughter and grandchildren. What fun!

  Carmen and I enjoyed a little retail therapy and I treated Carmen to a mini-manicure. Pink polish of course!

  Shopping was the major sport almost until they left. Living in Mexico there are just things that you think you have to have from the U.S.  The mall, Sephora, Best-Buy, Dillard's, Macy's, lunch at Pappadeaux's and then pizza while seeing old friends was how the day was spent. Evening entertainment along with packing was watching "The Wizard of Oz". Fun! No fear of the monkeys!! What's "wrong " with kids today. No Fear!! Isn't that what the t-shirt says? Guess it's right. (Is that good?)

They have left...

A very early morning trip to the airport to get them on a flight to Guadalajara, a few tears,  breakfast at iHop to delay walking back into a very quiet and empty home. It was a whirlwind visit full of activity, fun, no rest, constant washing, fun, cooking, fun, eating out, fun... well, you get the picture. Grandchildren are so precious. It was great to have them here in our home along with their dad, our oldest son. We are feeling the let-down but starting to plan for a trip down to see them.

Time to start 2011 with new plans and goals. I'll leave that for Monday!

I'm linking to

Show and Tell Friday

at My Romantic Home

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

My posting is not about a home or decor or the latest craft,

but these grandchildren are the most wonderful

creation in my world.

An interesting transition... my grandchildren speak Spanish as their first language, however, Carmen speaks English as well. David has not started speaking English yet, but does understand it. Carmen was doing a lot of translating in her mind.. and before the visit was over I was no longer "Abuela" but "Grandmother". She says it so sweetly I keep hearing her little voice over and over.

Just made a fun discovery.... Carmen and I are almost the same age and in first grade when this picture of her was taken and the one of me on my first day of school!

Abuela aka "Grandmother"