LOL #8

According to a publication called 40 Years of the US Interstate Highway System: An Analysis the Best Investment a Nation Ever Made by Cox and Love, Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid-Highway Act of 1956 on June 29, 1956.  This act authorized the interstate highway system which included 41,000 miles of high quality highways that would connect the nation.  Congress later increased the length of miles to 42,500. 

Interstate 40 is the third longest east-west interstate highway in the United States.  This highway spans a little more than 2, 555 miles and crosses the US from Barstow, California to Wilmington, North Carolina. It is on I-40 that I drive approximately 15,000 - 20,000 miles per year.  Wow!  I could drive cross country about ten times per year!  Have I said before that I spend a huge amount of time in my car?  

This week's LOL photo comes from a scene I saw on I-40 this week.  My family was driving back from a long weekend trip and suddenly this truck with it's makeshift cattle pen passed us by - the cow just stared at us.  Of the many objects I have seen hauled in the bed of a pick up truck, a cow is not one of them!  It was also quickly obvious that the weight and movement of the transient bovine was a little much for the power of the chevy pick up!  It was quite the comical scene.

This prompted the sharing of other I-40 related vehicles that I have photographed over the past month.  All photos were taken with my trusty pocket cam and mostly while either I or the other vehicles were on the move so please excuse the less than stellar quality and just enjoy a good chuckle!

The previously mentioned publication also stated that the interstate highway system "has permitted the cherished freedom of personal mobility to flourish."  Based on these photographs, I think I would have to agree.

Seriously, is Cheetos paying this dude to drive around with their name across the side of his jacked up Chevy Impala?

My daughter's words when I whipped out the pocket cam for this shot, "Oh Mother, please!"

I must say, this one gets an A+ for Most Original Use of Duct Tape!

"in-Law"

In preparing to write this post, I began looking at various definitions of the word "family."  Here are some that I came across in my exploration courtesy of Webster, Oxford English, and Dictionary.com:

• a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children
• any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, cousins
• a group of persons of common ancestry
• the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children
• a group of people related to one another by blood or marriage
• a person or people related to one another and so to be treated by special loyalty or intimacy
• all the members of a household under one roof
• a group of people united in criminal activity!

Looking at the photo above and reflecting on these definitions I must say that, yes, we are:

• parents and children
• some are related by blood
• some do have common ancestry
• all units have two parents raising their children
• we are either related by blood or marriage
• we do have a special loyalty to one another
• for four days we did all live under one roof!
• criminal activity?  Define criminal...

I took the photo above this past weekend of my family; one might say the in-law side of my family because when I describe most of these people to others, the term "in-law" is attached, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, father-in-law...  I guess when I think of those words, "in-law," it is the legal binding with my hubby that made these wonderful folks my family so literally, they are my family "in-law."  Now, my intention isn't to glamorize our family; after all, we do all have our idiosyncrasies.  Beyond those, however, I must say that not only do we fit those dictionary definitions listed above, we are more.  We are:

• parents and children who laugh together
• some are related by blood and those who aren't are treated as though we are
• some do have common ancestry and others joined in to mix things up a bit
• we are parents completely and totally committed to raising our children together
• we are related by blood or marriage and by great food
• we do have a special loyalty to one another and truly enjoy being around each other
• we survive living under one roof on occasion despite our individual nuances and make the effort to do so time and again!

Now that's a definition for family!

I had so many photog ops over the weekend and acquired enough blog fodder to feed my posts for the next month or so!  I hope you enjoy just a few that I have chosen to share in this post.

My three kiddos at the third highest point east of the Mississippi River - 6643 feet!

This shot is a photo of my two homes.  Dead center is the stateline between NC and TN.

Screenshot from Google Earth of the ridiculously curvy road to get to that crazy elevation - one that my stomach did not appreciate!

Enjoying one of life's simplicities on the walk back down the moutainside.



This family shot includes my two cousin {in-laws} that were the catalyst to the whole family gathering!



{the in-laws}
This collage of photos was taken by my sweet neice and fellow photog enthusiast.
We celebrated my in-law's 50th anniversary while there.  Wow!  What an amazing accomplishment!

LOL #7

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am all about traditions.  Most of them I intentionly create as a shameless ploy to make such an impact on my children that they will be persuaded to return home to me once I am old just because they miss the traditions so much!  We shall see if it works.

This week's LOL photo, though, comes from one of our traditions that was born out of frugality and ingenuity; and it just happened to be a hit with my three kiddos and many others. It's called Poolmix!

Those that have kiddos and spend any amount of time at the swimming pool during the summer know that swimming = hungry children!  So, several years ago we were preparing to go to the pool and I began packing and looking for the necessary rations required for premium backstrokes.  What did I find?  Absolutely nothing except a hodge podge of food stuff.  So, I did what any resourceful mother does, I started pulling pantry goods, put it all together in a bowl, mixed it up, bagged it, carried it along to the pool, gave it a cool name, and sold the concept to my hungry children!  It was an instant success not only with my three but also with all the hungry munchkins walking by our table during pool break time!

A tradition was born.  Each summer since, my kids seem to mark the official beginning of swim season with the arrival of none other than "Poolmix."  This week the pool season became official - Poolmix arrived, smiles were abundant, and hoops and hollers were a plenty. 

Here are the contents of our Poolmix if you want to give it a try - or just find what's in your pantry and add as much as you want!

Pretzel sticks

Mini Marshmellows

Chocolate Chips

Cheerios

Raisins

Skittles

Not only is it yummy to eat but it's also fun to watch the kids take the various contents of the mix and create tiny barbells, wheels and axles, hammers, ...  Nothing but smiles at the Poolmix table!

14, 2, 2, 5, 53

Fourteen years, two months, two days, five hours, and fifty-three minutes ago my wonderful hubby became a daddy.  While he may not be able to spew out that statistic exactly the way I can, I must say that he is a most fabulous father and role model for our three kiddos!  I am so incredibly blessed to be teaming along side of him in this journey of parenthood.  I really could type to infinity about his numerous attributes but today, I want to share just a few that are so prominent from day to day -

• He supports our children by showing up to countless practices, games, awards ceremonies, concerts, music lessons, recitals...
• He looks each of them in the eye at bedtime, makes sure they are looking back, and tells them he loves them...
• He talks to our children about their lives...
• He's a realistic and honest encourager...
• Our children know from experience that he will do what he says he will do, and therefore, they can trust him undeniably...
• He puts his family's interests above his own...
• He is an incredibly hard worker, but is never a workaholic...
• He puts up with me on a daily basis and tells me everyday that he loves me...
• He makes us laugh..

In 1972, Father's Day became recognized as an official national holiday - 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother's Day official.  When I read that information, I was quite surprised by how young this holiday actually is!  I see everyday in my workplace how crucial father's are to the success of their children; unfortunately, I see it because so many are missing a dad in their lives.

Today, I reflect on how I have had the opportunity to be surrounded by so many great fathers... and I say thank you to Chris, Johnny, Gary, JC, and Charlie!

LOL #6

Okay, so some said that last week's LOL post brought tears to their eyes.  Even though they were sweet tears of remembrance, I am hoping to not make that happen with this week's photo!

Many that knew me when I was growing up have always said that my older daughter is a "little Tracey."  While I may agree that we have some similarities in the looks department, her personality is nothing like mine was when I was her age!  She loves an audience and loves to make people laugh - not me, my shy self was very content to sit in the shadows and was quite uncomfortable around people I didn't know.  From her repertoire of accents to her made up songs to her clumsy cavorting, our first born makes our family LOL!

One of the perks to being a teacher is that I get to spend time in the summer with my own kiddos.  On one of our trips to the pool this week, I decided to take along my DSLR and work on shutter speed.  What better subject than splashing water to see how changes in shutter speed can look through the lens.  Typically, I'm more about aperture, but not on this day.

The kids were sliding and I was snapping.  Even though I was giggling as I snapped, the LOL didn't come until my oldest and I viewed the shots together when I loaded them on the laptop.  The shot above couldn't have been better - expression, animation, splash - she pegged it!  Oh, this girlie makes me LOL...

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary may not be her name but contrary is often her game!  My hubby and I have often thought of our little nutter butter as our extreme child - extremely good and loving or extremely stubborn and challenging.  I must give her credit though, she has gotten much better with age.  Years birth through five, though, were crazy - which earned her the nickname of Crazy J during that time. She was our only climber, our only nonstop screamer in the car seat, our only non-sleeper, our only hair cutter, our only one to cause us to call poison control... I could gone on.  Finally, I quit getting so upset and just started taking photos of her slathered in lotion, mascara, flour, or Desitin so I could one day share her exciting shenanigans with her own sweet darlings.

Back in February, I heard a little voice from the back seat of the car say, "Mommy, can we plant a garden this year?"  Ok, so what kind of self-respecting mother could say "NO!"  Needless to say, here we are in June and our little patch of garden is planted.  

We have decided to take photos along the way, well, because it's fun and because she is my one that shares my love of photography.  When it's all said and done, we will make a book from the photos and the details she writes. I must say, we are enjoying ourselves and our first attempt at a vegetable garden - even though we know nothing about growing a garden.

So, how does our garden grow?  With cucumbers and strawberries because everyone in our family likes them; jalapenos, cilantro and Roma tomatoes because I make salsa that the kids really like; corn because what garden or summer would be complete without corn on the cob; yellow pear tomatoes, well, just because I wanted to; and miniature gourds and pumpkins because we love them in the fall!

The one last item we are growing - absolutely fabulous memories!



Planting corn

  


Making room for the pumpkins!





LOL #5

This week's LOL photo is of an object that put a wide smile across my face - the kind of smile that slowly spreads and pushes the cheeks high toward the eyes.  The kind of smile that comes from a soft, sweet memory.  The kind of smile that is triggered by a song, a person, or an object.  The kind of smile that accompanies a fond time way in the backdoor of the mind.

Today, I left my son's fifth grade awards ceremony and was quite reminiscent, I must say, of the times, gone by so quickly.  I left there and stopped at Home Depot to look for pumpkin seeds to add to the garden that my little one and I are growing this year.  I, of course, couldn't resist walking through all the plants and flowers on my way back from the seeds.  I stopped in my tracks at the sight of the bright red geraniums.  It was then that I smiled, bigger and bigger.

Suddenly, I remembered that my grandmother always planted red geraniums in front of the Vance Drive house.  Oh, those flowers took me back through memories - my grandfather working in his roses, the big maple tree I used to climb, the giant hill behind the house that was perfect in the snow, the rock wall that lined the driveway and mimicked a balance beam, the weeping cherry tree that pulled double duty as my playhouse...  The smiles kept coming with each sweet memory.

The geraniums in the shot above now have a new home - the front of my house.     

Scattered, Smothered, Covered

Honestly, I don't think a born and bred Southerner can fully claim her southern heritage if she has never eaten at this southern icon - AKA Waffle House. 

This little restaraunt under the yellow sign with black letters began in 1955 in my family's home state, Georgia.  Today, they can be found in 25 states all the way from Alaska to Florida.  The Waffle House mission is to deliver a unique experience to its customers through delivering great food, friendly, attentive service, excellent price and a welcoming presence.  And I must say, they do. 

I absolutely love how the server gives me a friendly greeting while setting each place at the table with a napkin and silverware! I don't even do that at home on a regular basis!  Once my order is taken, the server calls it out to the cook who is working in plain view - no kitchen secrets here.  I can see exactly what's going on with my food.  The service is fast; the food is good. I guess that's why since 1955 Waffle House has served:

• 877,388,027 Waffles
• 1,289,801,887 Cups of Coffee
• 1,800,286,157 Hashbrown Orders
• 661,031,274 Sausage Patties
• 1,684,212,442 Bacon Strips
• 29,898,595 Slices of Ham
• 2,501,866,574 Eggs
• 32,215,481 Slices of Pie
• 134,842,441 T-Bone Steaks
• 201,228,697 Hamburger Quarters
• 729,065,401 Glasses of Coca-Cola®
• 1,359,881,590 Orders of Grits
• 164,980,986 Orders of Cheese N'Eggs
• 264,925,814 Omelets

Find these and other interesting WH trivia on their fun facts page.

I snapped the shot above a few weeks ago when we were away for the weekend at my daughter's soccer tournament and we wanted a good, quick breakfast.  I really wanted to snap a shot of our waitress as well but couldn't get up the nerve to ask her.  She was most definitely the iconic WH waitress and was excellent at her job!  My order typically consists of a waffle and an order of hashbrowns, scattered, smothered, and covered.  However, for the more adventurous food connoisseur the possibilities are very near endless - scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, diced, peppered, capped, topped, and country!