Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Stevie's crockpot chicken...yum, yum.....


Well, it was Sunday morning....2 cups of coffee......2 cookbooks.....a chicken...and a crock pot..... I was looking at these new cook books that I had gotten. I want to start trying to put something on it the mornings before I leave for work in the slow cooker. I decided to do a practice run this past Sunday. After looking at several recipes.....I closed the books and let the imagination take over.


Being fueled on coffee, I tried to recall different recipes that I had just read. I put about half a cup of water in the pot, rubbed some oil on the chicken and open the spices. I added some season salt, garlic powder, pepper, some celery season(I don't like celery), some mustard seed?? Don't know what it did if anything, but thought it would might work. Sliced an apple and cut up an onion and some garlic cloves and stuffed them inside the chicken. Put the lid on the pot, cooked for about 4 hours...without lifting the lid...it was hard not to life the lid. I told myself....if you are looking....it ain't cooking....




I then added some tators and plated the top of the chicken with parsley for presentation and let it cook for another hour.



It was actually good. The chicken was moist and tasty along with the tators. I like experimenting with different recipes. With the cold weather quickly approaching, it will be nice to come home from work, the house smelling wonderfully, dinner ready.......


Friday, October 30, 2009

My first truck.....






Yesterday, Lee was working late and asked me if I could take Garrett to soccer practice. At practice, I noticed a man pull up in this 1985 Nissan truck, I think it was Midnight blue mist. Back in the day, I bought this truck brand new from K.H. Nissan Motors in 1984, my first year in college. I am not exactly sure of the exact amount I paid for it, however, my monthly payment was $157.18. The only extra I had on it was an air conditioner. I put a Pioneer AM/FM cassette tape player, 2 pairs of Pioneer speakers along with a 100 watt amp....yeah, I thought I was bad.
Well, 25 years later, 430,000 miles later....I see it again. It brought back a bunch of good memories. I was so excited to see it.
I would be interested in what was the first car/truck you bought and anything else you tell me about.....

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Finding beauty wherever you are........






We all need to stop and enjoy what is around us and look for the good in everything.
This a some pictures that I have taken at different times. I had forgotten about the pictures of the flowers. I do remember standing in an ant bed, while I was holding the flower so my friend could take a picture of it....man, did they sting me a bunch of times. PaPa John took care of them ants, though. I thought of my good friend in Texas, Deanna, just now.




This is a bird nest that is in the backyard. We have several bird houses that we will put out next spring. We have the feeders out with birdseed in them and a couple of humming bird feeders out too. We have squirrels that visit us.......they love eating the hickory nuts and acorns. It is enjoyable just watching them.
I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather we are having.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Hailey's first performance.....


Hailey is in the school choir. We have sang ever since she was a baby. We would ride around and Tyler, Hailey and I would sing. They got a vast varity of different songs....you can tell this by my playlist.



Ms Lee, Garrett and I went to watch and hear her sing. She is growing up so fast. She is taking guitar lessons, also.


These two have so much fun together.
A special hello to Woody and Tammy. Thank you for checking on me. There has been so much going on lately that I haven't taken the time to blog any. LL told me that y'all asked about me and it did make me feel good. It has really been hard lately...........but the sun is shining and everything is going to be ok.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Tyler's first bowl.....maybe the last one?

Tyler wanted to make a bowl for his Kakia(grandmother) for Christmas. He looked for the just the right piece of wood to turn. After searching and looking at...I think...every piece in the shop he found this one.


He was like....ok, what do I do? After showing him how to find the center of the wood...attaching the wood to the lay and finding which tool to start with, he got started. He was unsure at first.....so I told him, "Man, it easy, just carve away at the wood, cutting out any piece that doesn't like a bowl", you can imagine the look I got. Notice the grooves in the side of the bowl. You use just the sharpest tip of the carver to cut the groove, then you get a piece of wire and place in the groove, while the wood is turning and you burn the wood with wood.






He made this for Christmas '06. After he finished turning the bowl, he said....daddy, this is my first and last bowl.
It made her Christmas that year. She displays it proudly, even though it might match her decor....she is very proud of it and him...just like I am.
A special thank you goes out to Mr. Larry, the man that is responsible to my wood turning, and please keep him in your prayers.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

This one is for Woody.....

This blog is for my blogging buddy....Woody. He doesn't like caviar......uh, I can't blame him. Lee Laurie was thrifting the other day and ran across this cook book......The Little BEAN Book by Margie F. Tyler from Mississippi. She signed the book to "Dot" on November 25th, 1989. I love to cook and we love to eat.....



I was thumbing through and a recipe caught my eye....Mississippi Caviar and I thought of you, Woody. I felt like maybe you and your sweetheart Tammy would maybe like to try it. The recipe seems easy enough.

I think when we try to make it, I will do a few things different....maybe add a can of Rotel(drained), maybe some shredded cheese, maybe whole kernel corn(drained).......I like taking most recipes and putting my own signature on it. I will let you know how it turns out.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Grand Daddy Long-legs....

The other day, we were painting the cottage and I had to knock about 6 clusters of Grand Daddy Long-leg spiders. Lee Laurie didn't get a chance to see them before I disrupted them. I was rolling the large areas and she was painting the trim work around the windows......we work real good together....seriously, we do.

There was an area on the front porch that I needed to paint and I saw some more clusters. I climbed up on the ladder and pinched the bunch of spiders. I warned her what I had in my hand before I showed her. She doesn't like spiders, either. When she saw me holding them....well, she really didn't say anything. I went inside and got the camera and then I climbed back up the ladder and pinched the other bunch. I am not sure to just how many I am holding, but it is a bunch. We do not know why they huddle up like that. There was a cluster of them on the side of the pool also.

Per Google, Wikipedia, states that there is an misconception about these spiders. There is an urban legend stating that grand daddy long-legs spiders have the most potent venom of any spider, but there mouths are too small or weak to puncture human skin. I have been told all my life that this is true. Have you heard of these spiders and their venomous threat?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Visiter from the outside.....

The other afternoon, it was cool outside so we decided to "air out" the house. We opened windows and doors. Lee Laurie was cooking some sweet treats.....one reason I have put on a few unwanted pounds....and we had opened the french doors that leads out to the patio.


She was at the kitchen table when I heard a squill and "Stevie!" At that moment I knew something had came in from outside. I am thinking a wasp or bee. She hates anything that flies....even airplanes. Well, it was this pretty moth. All that Lee had seen at first was a shadow sweep aross her face and she knew it was something big. When we saw the moth I ran for the camera. Doesn't it look so pretty? After the photo shoot of the moth, I went and got a small insect net that Lee Laurie had gotten for the children. I used it to catch the moth and set it free outside. It wasn't hurt at all. Notice the beaded board that we put up. We just put in up over the paneling and we painted it. I do not enjoy painting beaded board. We would roll it and use a paint brush for the grooves. It looks great and we love it.....now.
Now on to the next project......

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Kids and sand piles..........

Somehow, we adults forget what was really fun back in the day. We over look the simple things in life....I was once told about the KISS method. Lee Laurie said that I knew all about that...ha. No, I mean the K.I.S.S. method. It stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid" or you can just drop the last S or make it stand for whatever you want....Stevie, Suzy, Sam.....I know, I know, you get the picture. Well, the children and Lee Laurie had been after me to set the pool up....every day.... I had a friend deliver some sand(I wanted to do it right this year) to level the ground and make the bottom a little better than last years bottom.

Hailey and Garrett were so excited about the sand they forgot for a moment about the pool. Getting back to my original thought.....we can buy the WII-hoos, Nintendo DS-hoos, Dell laptop-hoos, tv/dvd player-hoos and tons of toy-hoos......but give a kid a dirt pile, a sand pile and they will play and play and play.....woo-hoo!!
Well, the pool is set up and they have been playing/swimming in it and playing in the sand that is around the outside of the pool. We did...well to us a smart thing....we do not turn the heater on to the hot tub thus keeping the water cool for us and we let them play in the pool.


Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Baby bash with Deanna from Timeless Things...

On February 26, 1966....I was the pride and joy of Ronnie and Carolyn's eyes, because they had me....a 8 pound 4 oz bouncing baby boy.....blonde hair and blue eyes......I was the first and only boy and the baby....my sisters to this day, say that I got away with everything. I like to think that I just learned from their mess ups....ha



This is a picture of all three of us, my sisters...Terry, Wanda and thats me all decked out in the suit. This I think was Easter and in Mississippi. We moved from Baton Rouge, LA. We have gotten close over the years and I know that they will always be there for me....as well as, I will always be there for them.



This was back in the good ole days. This picture was taken when I was 11 months old. I use to think it wasn't cool to wear shorts and a long sleeve shirt.....however, after looking at this picture, I must have started the trend way back in the day and just didn't know...lol


I want to thank Deanna for having a baby party bash and allowing me to visit and join in on the fun. I wish you a Happy Birthday.....both days....July 1st and 2nd.....I was wondering, does that mean you get two of everything....birthday whoopings, birthday cake, double the presents.........I hope you have a wonderful birthday!!




Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Never know where you might see us........

We were going to a rental storage unit to look for some things Lee needed to decorate her booth at the vendor's market. They were having a contest on cutest booth and the competitiveness came out in Lee. We got some stuff out of storage and a few things to put in trash. Well, you can see what happened next. Lee saw the clothes hamper and curiousity got the better of her. She was at that moment "a dumpster diving diva"......just as beautiful as always though.(She normally, doesn't dumpster dive...really)


I saw the optune time to work on my photography skills. I grabbed the camera and she dared me to take a picture....actually threatened bodily harm if I did. I told her we could always delete...hee hee heeee. How do you like the shirt she was wearing?

She was finding some cool stuff....right? She was on her tip toes, neck stretched out trying to see over the sides.....beautiful!! I think we....I mean....she put more stuff in the truck than we put in the trash bin. Deanna, I wish you could have seen the smile on her face, everytime I snapped a picture her smile just got bigger and bigger. And I think you would be next to her hunting. And another thing.....we were on one of the busiest little roads in the county.....in my truck.....hard to miss my truck because I have a personalized tag with my last name on it....duh.....mental note, borrow neighbors truck next time we go to storage.... Anyway, as people were driving by, I just had to start waving and smiling...."Hey, this is Stevie and Lee.....they probably thought...hey that is my banker, man, things must be bad"....I could hear cell phones going off...."I saw Stevie and Lee getting stuff out the dumpster".... Didn't bother my Lee though....she filled her arm a couple of times. I was begging her to come on....baby, let's go....people are seeing us....they are going to be calling....please, just let's go.
She would say, "just one more minute, babe"....now for those of you that don't know....one more minute in Lee's time is a minimum of a half hour. I ain't playing...for real....and if she is on the computer blogging....it is about one and a half hours. She got her loot and was headed back to the truck when she a magazine caught her eye.....that she thought I would like to.....uh...read.

I told her I didn't need it, because she was prettier than any picture in that magazine. All in all, we survived.....got some cool stuff.....we both were laughing about it then and even later that night we were laughing....and wondering who all saw us....oh well, we had fun and I will never....and I do mean never, will forget the day we went dumpster diving. I can see the smile on Lee's face and hear the happiness and laughter in her voice. The old saying still stands true today.....one man's trash is another man's treasure!!

It is little moments like this, that we will always remember and talk about in years to come. We are blessed to have shared many fun moments together and looking forward to having many many more together.


Monday, June 1, 2009

What is that noise....

Sometimes you just don't know what you might catch.....



We had a mouse that was helping itself to whatever it wanted in the pantry. He was living large. Lee wasn't too crazy about having another pet....since we live too far from the dude that is on tv that is the exterminator....so I figured I can catch him. I went to the local hardware store, I bought poison, the old mouse traps you put bait and this little cute glue strips. Well, I was thinking...what would make them walk on this glue strip...so I baited it with 2 small pieces of dog food. We decided against the poison, since we have the pets outside. I was successful in catching the little critters with the old timey mouse trap. I forgot about taking up the glue traps. We had left a couple of doors open over the weekend since we were in and out working and we had such pretty weather.
I walked into the kitchen and I heard some thrashing going on around this plastic grocery bag. After checking it out, I found this little bird stuck to the trap....poor thing. I called Lee and we put on gloves...notice how pretty her rosey flower gloves match my shirt....Lee's first thought was were is my camera...blog picture!! It took us a while to clean all the sticky glue on the little fellow, he wanted to peck us not realizing that we were friendly.
After getting him cleaned up we set him free. I do not figure he will come inside looking for food again. He lost some of his tail feathers so it will be easy for us to spot him. Ha. It did have a happy ending and gave us a memory to talk about years from now.

Honey, do you remember that time we caught that bird.........

Friday, May 15, 2009

Lee Laurie.........you are a Super Star!

This was taken at Chucky Cheese the other night for Garrett's birthday. He had a blast....said this was his best birthday ever!!

This post is for Lee Laurie.......she is a wonderful mother, caring and loving friend, thoughtful....I can't describe in words just how wonderful she is......

She received a big atta girl the other day at work. She exceeded her goal on pre-sales....she reached 240% of her goal. So on top of being a mom, a grandmother, a loving friend....my best friend, a person that would go above and beyond to help you, even if it meant putting things she needed or wanted to do second....she excels at work....she has a huge customer base and she is the only one they want to wait on them.

To me....she is a "SUPER STAR!"

I love you, Lee.




Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Hailey and Garrett at the park....

These are some older pictures of the kids. Lee Laurie and I had taken them to Hattiesburg to have some fun. This is a little park just off of Hardy St in Hattiesburg. There is a zoo next to it. We didn't make it to the zoo, however, we are planning another trip with them.

We had stopped by a produce stand and had bought some stuff....boiled peanuts and some fruit. Since it was windy and chilly that day, we sat in the truck and ate boiled peanuts while the two little ones played.


Of course, the cool weather didn't bother them at all. They are two clowns. If you look close, you will see that they have their fingers stuck in the dinosaurs nose.....yuck!! You can tell by the smile on their faces it didn't bother them at all...ha.




They get along so good together. After letting them play for awhile and burning off some that childhood energy, we decided to let them drive the Volkswagen......





and what a fine job they did....well, not really, this is at a store in downtown Hattiesburg and they use this ole Beetle Bug to draw attention. It is really a cool way to tell someone which store is yours....you know the one with the white VW Beetle that ran half way into the building....yep...well that is my store. Also, downtown just a few blocks away is the Historic District and they have several old beautiful houses. We have taken several pictures of them. Lee has posted a few of our pictures on her site, asouthernrose.blogspot.com
Afterwards, we took them to Chucky Cheese where they played even harder. They had a blast!!
We must make time to spend with our children.....they are not little for long....they grow up and start wanting to find out who they are, where they want to live, what they want to do.....they need reminding that we are and will always be here for them. After several years, I know I am where I belong......one of the many songs that Lee Laurie and I like is by Rascal Flats....God Blessed the broken road. It has a special meaning to us. Hope you enjoy!



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The newest great nephew.....

The proud momma!!! Daddy was gone getting breakfast.


This is my niece, Kaila, with her brand new son Brody. He came to us on Easter Sunday. He was 8.5 pounds and 21 inches long. He will be spoiled rotten. He is my sister, Wanda's first grand baby! Kaila looks a lot like her momma.
My other sister, Terry, lives in Louisiana has 3 grand young 'ins. Julianna and Zachary by one daughter and Benjamin by her other daughter. I will have to get some pics of them and get them on here. Don't want to leave anyone out. She has been trying to get them to call me, GUS, short for Great Uncle Stevie......


Monday, April 20, 2009

Morning of Lee Laurie's test.......


As many of you already know, Lee Laurie had a heart cathe done last week. We are very happy and blessed that she has a strong heart. The Doc said if it was an 8 cylinder motor...she would be firing on all 8. This means that we go back to her regular doctor and try to tweak her meds....which the side effects are drowsiness and lowering of blood pressure....both of which might explain the fatigue??

Anyway, this is the morning of the test and I was able to take the day off to take her to the hospital and be with her the rest of the day. We are also blessed that I work with good Christian people who honestly believe that God is first, your family is second and your job is third.
I was also able to see by great nephew, Brody, that morning at the hospital. He was an Easter baby, 8.5 pounds, 21 inches long. Pictures will come.

I want to thank everyone that has came by or call to check on Lee Laurie, thank you all for all the prayers, a special....very special heart felt thanks to Ms Judy, Lee's mom. While Ms Judy was inside with Lee......(blogging......she wants her own blog now). She also did so much cleaning inside and fixed an awesome dinner......and I was able to cut grass and tidy up outside.......

I heard of people going to the extremes.......but this beats it all!! Go have a heart cathe, to get your yard cut, house cleaned, dinner fixed.....my dearest Lee Laurie, just asked us next time;-)!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Jason at Papa John and Kahki's house.........

We went to visit my parents, PaPa John and Kahki. The little man in Papa's lap is Jason. He is Lee Laurie's grandson. He will be a whole one year old the end of May. He is such a sweet baby boy.

Yeah, Jason doesn't have a chance in not being spoiled.



Here he is with Kahki.....she spoils all the grand kids.....




It was a little chilly that night so we built....well, they had me make a fire in the "fire pit". It was so nice just sitting outside feeling the warmth of the fire and the coolness of the night air. We love to sit outside on their patio. It is cozy......has that warm and fuzzy feeling. It is private, quiet, listen to the wind chimes.....we have spent a many a hour out there.





Here he is with Ya Ya, she is so proud of him. We love to spend time with him and just spoil him pass rotten. He is scootin every where, pulling up on things trying to walk. He is such a good baby! And Jason, next time Pappy will not take all the pictures and get one of us, buddy!


Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Tyler Man!! This is my Tyler. He loved to help daddy. It didn't matter what, where,when...etc. He wanted to be with his, Daddy. He was about two-ish in this picture.....working in the garden with me.
I was trying to be Mr. Fix It....and while I was all caught up in......now how did this thing go....I was attacked by my helper. He was such a cute little boy!!
Here he is with his hoe to help me.



Then one morning I woke up.............and my Tyler Man is acting and looking more like a grown man. He turned 16 this past January and will get his driving license this month...scarey. I remember letting him sit in my lap and steer and later when he was about 8 letting him drive my truck when we were at the camp. He would let the seat up as close as it would getl....sit on the edge and stretch his neck to see over the steering wheel. He did good. That was even pulling a boat and trailer.




We do what I call "peddling jobs" from time to time. We skirt mobile homes on the weekends or in the afternoon once I get off work. Tyler is a very hard worker and catches on to most things quickly. He is thinking about firing me and starting his own little business skirting mobile homes this summer.




It would be good for him to start this. He would learn about cost of material, labor, tools, fuel expense......and overall....what we call at the bank..."the bottom line". He already has 4 yards he is cutting and trying to decide what he wants to do this summer when school is out. He also helps a lady on her farm when she needs him. He is not scared to work.



Taking a coke break.



He can do anything he puts his mind to. He helps one his friends work in his dad's auto mechanic shop from time to time.




This is the finished job. The skirting makes it look all better.
These days, Tyler and I don't spend as much time together as we would like. He is of course wanting to spend more and more time with his friends and most importantly his girlfriend, Crystal. She is a cutie. I work out of town and it seems like I always have something going on. We do get to hunt some and we will fish more this summer. We are suppose to go target shooting this weekend. We work hard and we play hard. I am very proud of him and love him so much.
Tyler, if you ever look at my blog, know that I love you very much, know that I am very proud of you, know that I will always be here for you, know that I don't know everything(HA), know that I try to lead and show you by example what a good man is suppose to be and do.