A-team Van & Game Day in the Grove

Isn't it fun getting a night-out!!! Beware of the danger to over-indulge, I'm familiar with this scenario. So exciting to be with friends and adults, to NOT be barking orders, to be relaxed and remember the woman we were before kiddies.

I love that feeling when you're anticipating a night-out...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_2rrxONlLo

Getting dressed, looking forward to being with hubby and friends. I vividly remember getting ready with college friends --the Vixens- for a night-out. Much has changed in my life but the woman inside is still the same. She needs to be fed with friendships and fun. She needs to stop and remember what really makes her laugh--what makes her heart go pitter-pat....and what sets her on fire.

Went out with hubby & friends last night.......and took a new car service in town (highly recommend!) Have a choice of presidential limo, pimp mobile and the A-team van.
This was a no-brainer, we chose the van...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIfuaUTH9Y4

"I'm not sure I ever saw an entire episode of the A-team." I innocently declared to hubby and our friends. "I remember my father loving the show but...."
"What?" My husband interrupted, his face contorted like he was in pain....... "Are you shit!ing me??" I wasn't offended. He and I talk like we're friends......well, we are friends. "While all y'alls favorites were Love Boat and Dallas and whatever else...." Big swig of beer--for effect-- he continues, "Mine was the A-team." Others said A-team was their favorite. One girlfriend concurred with John, and said she and her brother would tune in. Then we talked about Simon & Simon. And somebody said Gerald McRaney could be a real a$$--they'd met him on the coast, and then we referenced Delta Burke, who starred in Designing Women with Franklin, Kentucky's, own Annie Potts!!!

We remembered another show we loved......I've never heard of a person that didn't love this show. And when I watched this video--well, my heart went pitter-pat....!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRX4mlFi06A




GAME DAY at our house. This means hubby has a one-track mind. Run an errand for me? Depends. If the errand, or success of the errand, is tangentially related to the football game then no prob. Otherwise, hubby--will NOT be going out of his way.....whatever else there is, can wait!! One-track. Focus. I said focus. Sharp--sharper.....zone in--zone in hussies......Are you ready?? Are you ready for football season?

Hubby's one-track mind....all things fall to Mama.....blah blah blah..... And like hunting, golf, or fishing your man, like my man, is bound to submerge himself over the next 4 months. You and your family's emotional well-being are in the hands of 100 20 year-old males. This seems reasonable.

So we have the testosterone-driven football obsessions but leave it to the women of Mississippi to make tail-gating something special. An event. The biggest and best dispaly of Southern hospitality you will find. In fact, Mississippians will agree there have been too many years recently where football was the sideshow--tailgating in The Grove took precedence over the football. Picture this. An ocean of red, white & blue tents. Tents with Ole Miss banners. Tents with the "name" of your tailgating group. The Grove has gone from being a wooded green-spot in the middle of the University of Mississippi campus to a full-blown part of the vernacular-Who do you Grove with? Where do y'all Grove.

When you visit you'll admire the beautifully decorated tables. Topped first with a white tablecloth , or the more informal burlap we use in our tent--which falls to the ground (please hide your cooler underneath, it just ain't fittin to have all that showin')-- and then the red, white & blue toppers. Get out your Hotty Toddy styrofoam cups for the drinks and your blue and red napkins. Don't forget your mum--no table is complete without a centerpiece--paaaa-leez.

It doesn't stop there. I could handle that. Oh no, there's more. Homemade goodies. Yep. Finger foods. Tenderloin and biscuits (you're allowed to use Sister Schubert's). Dips. Crescent rolls stuffed with all manner of goodness, and of course homemade desserts. This is more than one bitch can take. AND, don't forget Mississippi is a land of beauty queens........that's another post.

Enjoy a few photos from our day......and a recipe for lemon squares (from friend Liza M).
Hotty Toddy!!!

Lemon Bars Deluxe:
crust:
2 c flour
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 c butter, softened
filling:
4 eggs, beaten
2 c sugar
1/2 c lemon juice(can substitute w/lime, I did!)
1/4 c flour
1/2 t banking powder
crust:
stir flour and powdered sugar together. cut in butter. press dough into greased 9x13.
Bake 350 for 25-30 min.
filling:
combine eggs, sugar, and lemon juice. stir flour and baking powder into egg mixture. pour over baked crust. bake 350 for 25-30 minutes. cool. sprinkle with powdered sugar. cut into bars.

Are you kidding??

We have this absolutely fabulous concept...yet, my sister is sitting on her tail at her husband's law office pretending to be doing some legal work...while little sis here is waiting on her logo, info and revisions...come on now...work with me! LOL! But, in all honesty, she probably is doing some legal work right now...just not for John...my guess is she is preparing some sort of lawsuit to throw at the first person who attempts to steal the "MommyDiva" idea...now, that sounds more like my sister!!

Meanwhile...she has not found the logo she & a friend created about 2 years ago...nor has she sent me her list of her revisions for the blog. HOWEVER, she has figured out how to do a bit of editing of her own...and, I can promise you one thing...if she keeps messing with the stuff I have done, ALL ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS WILL BE REVOKED!!! And, I'm not kidding...I have that power! :0)

Love ya sis...love the blogging...love that I have access from the office (which was a surprise)...lunch is over, back to the J-O-B that is helping pay the bills. Until later...cheers my friends!

"How-dat-do-dat?"

There is a familiar story in my family about a statement I made as a toddler. Sadly, it resonates with me today. At 2, (I'm guessing 2 1/2) I witnessed a technological event unbelievable to me. Maybe it was the changing of channels on the the big Zenith, or maybe it was the ring of a rotary telephone. Mom and Dad might remember. Whatever I observed was amazing to me, and I blurted out "How-dat-do-dat?"
I find myself these days in a perpetual state of "how-dat-do-dat?"

Yesterday evening I had another moment. My little sister Sam got our new blog on the airways! The name was a no-brainer, we wanted to use MommyDiva. We included Interchange in the title to denote a place of exchange--a place where mothers can give and take. I was slightly in awe that the blog was up and on the screen. Our platform in cyberspace had been assembled in less than 10 minutes--the content would be the challenge but I kept staring at the screen......right there before me--MommyDiva Interchange. Huh I thought. Pretty cool.

We stayed on the telephone discussing content, words, phrasing and I kept 'refreshing' to view the updates as Sam revised the blog. I was focused on the introductory sentences and some favorite memories when my eyes wandered down to the left of the page--holy shi! we have a follower. OMG. I can't believe it--someone found us? How? Thousands and thousands of people. My thoughts and mind raced. Unbelievable, I thought. There we are, participants in the wide open blogsphere. Huh. As a participant I was trying to work it out--the computer programs we studied in Ms. Birdwhsitle's class have come alooong way! How do they? Where does the information...How'd...."How-dat-do-dat?"
I dunno, but we hope you'll come along and share the ride!!!



I've been writing and talking and rehearsing in my mind many, many important meaningful subjects and topics for many, many months. Writing on motherhood, marriage, career, loss of career, re-entering career, friendships, family relationships and Faith. Occasionally, as I write furiously trying to record my thoughts my husband will catch me, "Are you doing that 'beautiful mind' shit again?" Yep. Guilty. I don't write on the walls of our home--yet-- but he glances at piles of paper where I've scribbled the meaningful scenes of my life, and I know I'm failing myself, and maybe him, with my inaction. The issue for me, and I think for him, isn't is there merit in what I'm writing. Rather, if what I've written just stays in a pile--and if I continue to write 'beautiful mind' style--what a HUGE waste of time.

So my little sister has given me an outlet. Yesterday she set up this blog and she and I composed our first post. That was fun! This exercise--solo--is harder.

It's so much easier. The 'beautiful mind' way. I'm thinking, right now, I can't do this post. The finished product--this first post--isn't going to be what I envisioned. I want a Southern Living post--pretty, neat and tidy. And this feels like Do-It-Yourself-Home-Depot second-rate-post. I can't possibly convey all I want in one post!!