I Saw It on Facebook

Ain't that the truth!  Music can transport me to a whole 'nother time and place.  Can lift my mood or drag it down.  The only other thing that even comes close to evoking memories the way music can, is the sense of smell.  But the memories that spring from smells are more general feelings.  Music on the other hand can transport me back to a specific time and place with the original cast of characters right there, frozen in time and unchanged.  

That is why I have chosen to do this year's Blogging from A to Z Challenge on the theme "Musical Memories".  Each year, I have tried to center my entries around my own life, my own recollections.  I have participated three years in a row.  In 2012, my theme was "People and Places From My Life."  In 2013, I geared each post as if it were written directly to one or both of my children in hopes of preserving special memories, advice, etc. for them in the years to come. When April of 2014 rolled around I decided to do my posts around "Getting to Know Barbara".  Although this is a personal blog, I knew there was a lot about me, my beliefs, my thoughts that weren't elsewhere.  

I am super-uber excited about this year's theme and posts!  I want to see what song or singer you also like.  To know if you have any similar memories that revolve around the titles or the groups.  

I think it will be fascinating and fun!  April can hardly get here fast enough.  Please connect to me so you can be a part of the journey!  In my sidebar you can follow Caneyhead on Facebook, Twitter or Google Friend Connect.  Or sign up for email post alerts.  Just pick a way, sign up and get ready to revel in and share those memories come April. 

XOXO

X's and O's. Or hugs and kisses. In general, I love hugs and kisses! I grew up in an affectionate family. But I have my boundaries.

Kisses (X) are reserved for family. Kisses are on the cheek, unless it's Pete.

On a small child, back of the neck kisses are wonderful!

Hugs (O) I'll share with almost anyone. I usually hug all of Bubba and Bugs friends. At church, I like to hug many of the people I talk to there or greet. (Our church is big on hugs!) To me, it helps us all feel like family...which we are in the Lord.

Where do you draw your boundaries on hugs (O) and kisses (X)? 

30 Days in 2 Ways

Hello!  Just enough time for a quick post this morning before I head over to the 4-D Ranch for the Wild Horse Ministries Demonstration.  Gospel music, good food, fellowship and this year Paul Daily will be working with our own three year old stud horse, Stanley.  Stanley is a sweetie, but he needs to learn his manners.

I'm on day thirteen of the 30 Day Husband Challenge.  It hasn't been as hard as I had imagined, but there have been moments when I've had no choice but to remain silent, because there was no positive comment I could make.  Some days the suggestions in the devotionals just don't seem to fit what is going on in our lives that day, so I have to adjust them or skip them.  Hope to go back and apply them when and where I can.  Whether it was a result of the challenge or him starting to feel a little better since his doctor visit or both, Pete had supper ready for us when I got home Thursday evening.  He hasn't cooked in some time, so it was a real treat!  Deer roast, potatoes, carrots, rice and simmer fried okra.  Yummy!

You may have noticed in my sidebar the A-Z Blogging Challenge for April 2013 logo.  I enjoyed the challenge so much last year that I want to participate once more.  For those that don't know, each day in April has a letter of the alphabet assigned to it and you write something that revolves around that letter.
Last year I chose for my loosely based theme, people and places from my life.  Made for some good entries.

This year I feel a little more reflective.  Maybe because I'm a mawmaw now.  So I've decided that my theme for this year will be things I wish to say to my children.  Memories I want to share and record for them.  Advice I want to pass to them.  Or simply to reveal to them an aspect of their mother they may not have known before.  Bubba is soon to be 24 and Bug will be 14 this summer.

In preparation for the A-Z Challenge, I cleaned up my blog roll.  I had so many blogs on there that never post any more, have gone private or that have simply disappeared.  I'm looking forward to finding a few new ones that truly interest me to follow and connect with.

Until next time, God bless and keep you.

Barbara

The Numbers Are In! And other assorted stuff.

Yes indeed.  This post is going to revolve around numbers.  It's sort of a catch up with you on a personal level post.  So grab your coffee and join me.

If you frequent L & F, you may have noticed the poll on my sidebar last year "Have you ever been to Caneyhead?"  Well, here's the results: 

Dawl Babe, I grew up there! - This response is written in a local redneck expression, usually used when someone is adamant about something.  No one chose this response.  I feel fairly sure that some that have grown up here have been to my blog....but in true redneck fashion they chose to keep their business to themselves.

Nope.  No way. Nada.  -  Not surprisingly, 57% swore they have never been in this neck of the woods before.  It's not a tourist destination...and we like it that way.

Yes, I have and I'm not ashamed to admit it. - Came in with a resounding 36% of the vote.  My question is, who are these people?!  LOL

Please tell me you are joking! - One person chose this response.  If I had to bet on it, I'd say that person was probably a bloggin' bud of mine with a spoilt rotten kitten.
Well, that kitten is bound to be a cat by now.  If it was you, email me and tell me so.

Now, for more numbers.  Baby Ruth is 10 months old today!
Lovely as all get out!  Taking steps on her own.  The delight of our lives.  If you want to see my baby, like my L & F page on Facebook.  That's where you can find her.

Ninety to one hundred.  That's the grades my bodacious Bug makes in school.  Advanced classes in everything offered that way, too.  Rednecks aren't stupid.  Hicks are dumb.  But rednecks know more in their little finger than most folks know in their whole head.

04-01-2013 -  That's when the new A-Z Blogging Challenge kicks off.  And I do plan to participate again this year. 

Twenty-nine years.   That's how long Pete and I will have been married this coming March.  It's been a ride!  May the Lord give us twenty-nine more. 

Last, but not least, the number 30.  As in the 30 Day Husband Challenge.  I'll be starting it tomorrow.  And it will probably be the biggest challenge I have ever faced.  So lend me your prayers. 

I figure with Valentine's around the corner, and our anniversary fast approaching, it's an ideal time to give it a go. 

Here's what it intells:

To refresh your memory, here's the 30-Day Encouragement Challenge for the next 30

days:

 You can't say anything negative about your husband . . . to your husband . . . or to anyone else, about your husband.

 Say something that you admire or appreciate about your husband . . . to your
husband . . . and to someone else, about your husband!

Each day has a little devotional and suggestion as to how to put this to practice.  Not that I've ever been one to blatantly run my Pete down in front of others, I do grouse to my co-horts and children from time to time about him. And God is making so many inroads into Pete's behavior and attitudes, it's a really lovely thing.  So, I figure I'll help Pete and the Lord along by taking this challenge.  Yet, I know that any time you get the Lord involved on working on someone else, He tends to do the most work in you.

I'll give you updates on how this works out.

God bless and keep you until the next time!

Barbara

Y is for Yams

Y is for Yams sweet potatoes that is.  At least here in SE Texas.  Basically everyone calls the same thing either or.  Like prawns and shrimp.  But realistically, they are actually slightly different.  I'm talking about those long, fat-in-the-middle, reddish-orange potatoes that sometimes look like they have paw paw whiskers growing out the sides of them. 

And tonight I give you Jesse Ruth's Sweet Potato Pie recipe.So hold on to your britches 'cause you'll have to let them out after you have all of this you want.

Three cups of cooked, mashed sweet potatoes.
Two cups of sugar.
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 1/2 teaspoon Allspice
1 Cup buttermilk (the real deal, not reduced fat)
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon baking powder

Bake in two 9" unbaked pie crusts.  Probably at 350 degrees until lightly browned and firm in the middle.  

U is for Aunt Unice

Aunt Eunice was on Mama's side of the family.  I remember her laughing and telling us about a nurse taking her vitals and telling her, "Lady, you're already dead."  I suppose that's where I got my own very low vitals characteristics.

In college, when our biology professor was going over blood pressure, he asked the class to stand.  He then began to give out average blood pressure readings and asked us to sit down when he called out our normal reading.  I was one of the last three to sit.  And this was not a normal size class.  This was a class that met in an auditorium on campus.

Then when I was back home and working out at a gym several times a week, their nurse called me in to check vitals.  My resting heart rate was 60 bpm.  She said, "Oh, how many miles do you run each week?", thinking surely this was because I was doing cardio workouts or running.  I told her, "I don't run unless something is chasing me."

And body temperature.  When I was fine and feeling well, my body temperature was always hovering around 97 degrees instead of 98.6.  At 98.6 I feel feverish and bad.

I ran my extremely low blood pressure through two pregnancies.  The morning I went in to have Bug, c-section, they took my blood pressure before I went to surgery and  even at nine months pregnant it was only 110/70.  While that was up from my normal, it was still well below text book normal.  Then after the c-section they kept getting readings like 148/85 and such.  It never went down!  I don't know what happened to me.  But I have no doubt something that happened during that delivery changed me forever.

Barbara