Deja Vu.....all over again!

Yesterday, I experienced deja vu, again. I know that deja vu is a feeling that you have been there or done this before. I will explain. :)

In 1997, we moved our oldest daughter, Leah, into the dorm at Lipscomb. Not only was she moving all of her stuff, she was on the third floor of the dorm, with no elevators. Up and down the steps we went for the majority of the day.

When we got her stuff all upstairs, then came the task of organizing and putting it all away. Her new roommate, Iris, arrived with all her stuff and boy, did we have a pile of "valuables".

We quickly found that we were short several extension cords, coax cables for the television, a little tool kit and a bulletin board not only for the wall, but the door as well. The board on the door was there to get messages from friends who came to see you and you were gone.

Finally, we had accomplished everything that parents can do and it was time to go home. It was very hard leaving Leah, by herself, in that tiny, cold dorm room. I confess, there were tears on the way home.

In 1999, we did the same thing with Rebekah, except she and Leah were sharing a room and we moved them both in. Their bedspreads had to match and they needed curtains. We still needed more extension cords and coax cables. I am not sure where the ones we had bought earlier had gone. When we left the two of them there, in the tiny, cold, cold dorm room, there were tears yet again.

Yesterday, I had deja vu again. Julie Anne, the freshmen that I am a mentor to, moved into her dorm room at Lipscomb. We showed up just after the moving boxes, bags, tv, etc. had just made it up the stairs. We didn't get to help. :)

Sitting on her bed and watching her parents try to help her put her new room together was quite interesting. There were no arguments, nothing. Julie Anne handled the whole thing with grace. I was proud of her. I am sure that after we left, everything got moved into a totally different spot. Girls have to nest, you know.

Here's the good part: when we drove off the campus, there were no tears. Not one. We stopped at Sonic to celebrate and thank God that we didn't have anyone living on campus in those tiny, cold, cold dorm rooms.

Then, it hit us. In 14 years, Allie and Maggie will start college. I know that sounds a long way off, but in reality, their moms are still kids, not 30 and 28 years old. I really hope that by the time they get to college that I am still able to climb the stairs with an armload of stuff that belongs to them. I know there will be tears.

Julie and Julia

Last night twenty five of the ladies from Stones River Church and their friends went to see the new movie "Julie & Julia" with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. We met in the lobby for a little chatting and catching up and then hit the refreshment counter for the $1.00 popcorn and coke. Have you priced the popcorn lately at the movies? The large box was $7.75! For popcorn! Orville Redenbacher is spinning in his grave. A family of four would pay about $75.00 to get into the movie and buy refreshments, can you believe it? No wonder we don't go to the movies very often. We planted a 150' row on popcorn in our garden this year. If we sold it at the same rate as the movie theater does, we could probably have a great retirement fund.

I helped myself to two boxes of $1.00 popcorn because they were about as big as a pint bag. There wasn't much popcorn in the bags for the popcorn lover.

I really enjoyed the movie. I love cookbooks and watching cooking shows. I have never cooked anything out of Julia Child's book because I don't own one. I am more of a Martha Stewart, Paula Deen fan. I learned to make a pie crust from Martha. If you follow her instructions, which include real butter, very cold, it will turn out just right. I have trouble with the rolling it out part. I am never satisfied with my results as far as looks go. It tastes fine, but it looks raggy at best.

I love Paula Deen's recipes. They are usually practical and I have most of the ingredients on hand already. She, too, uses lots of butter. Julia Child did too. Makes you wonder. Did Martha Stewart and Paula Deen get their love of butter and cooking from Julia Child? Who knows.

I recommend seeing the movie. I like the big screen but watching it at home when it gets to video would be fine, too. My popcorn, that was supposed to be buttered, was not up to par. I couldn't even taste the butter. Maybe the refreshment counter should follow Julia's lead on the butter. I bet they would sell a whole lot more popcorn.

Buckets and Bushels of Cucumbers

This has been the week of the cucumber! Monday morning we picked cucumbers and came home with two, two gallons buckets. My first thought was "Wow, that is a lot of cucumbers. I bet we won't get any more this week." Boy, was I wrong! Our friends, Lydia and Steve, picked cucumbers on Wednesday and they got several in their buckets.






I took our cucumbers and made 14 pints of bread and butter pickles. I hope that they taste good. I can't open them for six weeks according to the recipe.


Friday afternoon, Jerry and I decided that we would just go check on the garden to see what, if anything, was ready to pick. Just out of curiosity, we checked the cucumber vines. There were several, so I went and got a bucket, and Jerry grabbed another bucket, and on and on ....... We picked two bushels of cucumbers. Can you believe that? I bet, in all this week, the garden yielded at least three bushels of fresh cucumbers.

What to do with all those cucumbers? Share, of course! We took a bushel to the Auburntown Church and a bushel to Stones River Church along with lots of grocery bags. I hope everyone who left with a bag full of cucumbers will enjoy them or even make their own pickles!