For Those Who Loved Us...

Silver

Today my lil' sis and I spent sometime together before she took off to work this evening.  Yes, she works at a local restaurant and good for her.  Tips are great and she wants to work her way through college.  I say it is a good thing.  She'll learn what work feels like and what it's about.
Anyways,  so we are out and about, Orange Julius has us hooked and so does the book store in the next town.  They have a fantasy section my sister adores and a southern cooking section I love.  Today, one book in that section happened to not be a cookbook.  Curiosity getting the better of me I read the title,  'Southern Bell Primer, or Why Paris Hilton Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma'.  Wow. I snigger and call  my sister over.  I know shame on me for poking fun but I was thinking of all the antics Paris Hilton has done in the past and how just one little teensy event would've banned her from Southern Society for all time.
I'm off the topic at hand again.  I read the book and look at all of the "rules" to be a Southern Belle and realized that all that I was missing apparently was money and lots of it.  I knew and practiced most of this book without realizing it.  Now here is the question, does this make me shallow.  Hmm...no I don't think so.  I was raised that a girl should be modest, lady-like, polite and always use her manners.
I had realized a little slip up that I had forgotten to teach Kelly when she was a teen-ager.  Something my mother had taught me and wanted us to have.  Silver.  At least enough for an 8-person set.  So there we were, and my darling sister found her pattern!  Eloquence.  I am so proud.  I chose the Rose Point for myself.  Now obviously one should never buy silver for them self however, I did receive china and being that I am not from tons of money as stated before) I truly feel we can overlook this one bit...I'm gonna get me some silver.  And Kelly will receive hers as a wedding gift along with a choice of wedding dresses.  Mine or Mamas.
Now for those of you who are probably wondering if she is engaged.  No she is not.  But one always should be prepared for the future!
Once again I sit here and question my shallowness, and then remind myself that half of me is from the Deep-South and that is where I have chosen to live.  The half that is not Southern, they are well-bred.  And the whole point of today's blog is, goodness online window shopping is fun!

Family and the Fun They Bring

This upcoming month is going to be a very busy month for me. Many events and activities are happening but the most current starts the first weekend in June. Next weekend I have an annual family reunion to go to. This isn't the normal kind that one thinks about though. In fact, this is the first type that I have ever heard of (although I'm sure we aren't the only ones). The family reunion that I am going to happens to have been occurring for the past hundred years.

When a person attends they sit at a particular place in the room under the name of an ancestor that they descended from. For further example I give you a very brief history. I descend from Ruby McIntyre (Sheppard) who will sit under the proud heritage of Emery Sheppard. Along with Emery's three other siblings that also have their own tables, they all descend from William who of course descended so forth and so on all the way back to the beginning of creation or in my families case 1688. In case you are very confused as I was when I first arrived last year behind my Grandmother- 4 tables named from siblings who lived about hundred years ago. A lot of family is there and we are all interconnected through these siblings.

I get to hear a lot of stories and see a lot of pictures and spend time with my family from Texas.  This is something that is enjoyed immensely and we have been looking forward to this for awhile.  No electronics, no laptops, buzzing cell phones, or blaring TVs,  just backwoods Mississippi.  D'Lo.  One of my favorite places in the world.

From Maryland with love...5.02.2010

This is from my first blog site which isn't letting me post on it or do anything with it really.  So I started a new one.  Here are some pics from our trip in May to Grandma's house.

*******

The girls waiting patiently while being stranded at the rental station.

We thought he was out mowing the yard...

we didn't know he was giving out rides!

Grandma and Miss G, coloring paperdolls.

Never underestimate how easy it is to entertain a child with simple toys.

Miss G waiting on her plane. She loved flying.

5.01.2010

Last Wednesday we -my daughter, sister and I - took a trip to Grandma's house. This seems rather ordinary except the fact that we had my husband drive us 4 hours to New Orleans, fly 3 hours, drive 2 hours, just to get to Grandma's house. Literally, the saying "over the river and through the woods" could not possibly have described our experience.

The drive to New Orleans wasn’t bad at all. Lots of fun with the Alphabet Sign game being played, music blaring, jokes and conversation being held all the while we went over the river (you know the big one called the Mississippi) and through the woods (everywhere else). I took forever and so did my husband just to say goodbye. Was it like those tear-jerker movies? Not a bit. But we were sappy about it. When I think about it, I had never really been away on a long trip (this being 5 days) without him so this was new.

Miss G. had her first real plane ride and all she could say was "Wow Mom" in that breath being taken away from her voice. Her eyes were all huge and shining. I was so happy for her and of course the whole "my baby is growing up" kind of proud. Flying "over the river and through the woods" we then landed in Baltimore Md.

You see, I had everything planned out. At the airport in New Orleans by 2:00, arriving at 7:30 in Maryland, pick up the rental car, and zip over to Grandma's by 9pm. Everything was perfect...yeah.

What actually happened was just that until Baltimore. Then when I went to the Rental Station where all of the rental car companies hung out, I pulled out my i.d. and said "I'm here to pick up my rental". The guy behind the both smiled and said "do you have another card?" This is the point where my jaw dropped and all that came out was that I had already paid for it. But no, I had paid for it on a pre-paid card. Don't get me wrong people. I do understand and vaguely remember from my before I became a stay at home mom days that you have to have a card in case of damage for anything. I just didn't have that card on me, just the pre-paid card. I explained to him that I had paid for the car, the insurance from his company, more insurance as back up and the car already paid for was now costing me $400. "Sorry" was all he said. So by this time, it's 8:30pm. Yes I know, time flies when you have no idea what to do but panic.

So, on the phone I go, first my credit card company. Then the company I rented the car through and then the insurance. No worries the money will be refunded within 3 days and sorry that the terms and conditions by which I agreed to did not mention my circumstance anywhere in it. Yay! I got my money back but how to get to Grandma's right?

Well here comes the final "over the river and through the woods" part. I call my husband. He panics but I reassure I've got it covered. I call aunt #1 who lives 40 minutes away. No one answers. I call my dad who lives 6 hours away. He reassured me. My husband calls. I reassure him by saying what my father said. He is calm now. I call Grandpa. He thinks that the situation is funny. I am stranded with my little sister and 6 year old daughter. Funny but don't worry he'll come and get me.

In the end what happened was that after all these calls were begin made and cell phone minutes were thankfully not being accounted for because it really was that late, Aunt #1 picks us up only to drop us off near Aunt #2's son, only to take us "over the river (who knows the name of that one) and through the woods (the woods of Maryland)" to Grandmother's house we go.

Thank heavens for family. They thought it was funny. Me? I was just glad we had a wonderful week with my grandparents. They are always such a blessing upon my life. By the way, just in case you are wondering, we got back home just fine.