Thanksgiving 2008

We enjoyed a very quiet Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle and my cousin and her husband and little boy, along with my mom and dad spent the day together. For the second year in a row, we ate at the country club. This could be a habit I could get use to. I love not cleaning up. Anyway, it was a nice day, and now the run is on for Christmas. Hope you all are making plans for a wonderful Christmas. I got a call from William today, and if the excitement in his voice over getting their tree up is any indication of what it is going to be like at Chase and Laura's house, it is going to be crazy.


(Front) My Aunt Georgia with Buttons, my cousin Jennifer and her son Colby, my mom
(Back) My Uncle J. C., me, Lance, my dad. Obviously my cousin's husband is taking the picture.
In the next picture, he is in and I am out.

No, I Am Not Thankful for the THE BUG

Okay, I was overjoyed when Laura asked if we could take care of the kids this past week-end since they had an event to attend Friday night and ballgames to attend on Saturday in Starkville. Lance and I met Laura in Stewart on Friday, picked up the "grands," and headed back to Inverness for fun times. After naps on Friday, we shared supper with Cindy and Grace and Bill and Gale. Grace and the boys enjoyed playing together and getting play dough all over the den.

Hey, Mama. Kakki said I could bring this play dough home!

Can I? Can I?

William's biscuits that he and Poppa made made using train-shaped cutters

Saturday was a busy day with Mamoo and Poppa Taylor's coming over to spend some time with the boys and my getting ready for our Thanksgiving lunch at the church on Sunday, plus our church hosting the Community Thanksgiving service that evening with a reception after. The kids are familiar with our church, so they played in the nursery and ran back and forth between it and the fellowship hall, endearing themselves to those helping get stuff ready.

Did you know you can stuff a whole cup cake in your mouth?

Told ya it would fit!

Sunday morning we headed to SS and Church, where William made a turkey out of rice crispy treats and fruit loops (Thanks, Mrs. Amy). We had a great lunch and then went home for naps. The big boy and the little boys were exempt from the evening service, after which I returned and gave baths and got the little people, as Laura calls them, to bed. I fell promptly to sleep on the couch and later stumbled to bed.

Monday morning started early at 6:45 a.m.; that's early for me, anyway. I didn't feel very peppy, but that is usually the way I am in the morning. I have to work on getting up, but when there are two little ones, I have to hit the floor running whether I want to or not. As the morning wore on, I could not shake the queasy feeling, and then it hit, THE BUG!!!!! You know the kind--you don't know if you are to sit on the commode or to hang you head over it. It was down hill from there, and Lance was now in charge. I literally died in the bed and did not know day from night. The only thing I did know was the path to the bathroom.

Later in the afternoon, Lance began to get sick, but being the martyr I am not, he did his best to take care of the boys on his own. Our only saving grace was that Laura called to say she and Chase thought they would come on to Inverness on Monday and head to Madison on Tuesday, instead of making a long trip of it on Tuesday. I know that Lance must have thought, "THANK YOU, LORD!" The reason I know this is that we have been studying in SS how important it is to be thankful in our daily lives "always and in everything" and because he was soooooo sick.

The kids got here and I did not lay eyes on them until Tuesday morning just before they got ready to head to Madison. They packed up and headed out to smiles and waves all around. As the taillights headed away from Inverness, Lance fell in the bed not to get up until 3:00 in the afternoon.

By mid morning I was among the land of the living and ready to get my house back in order. You know how I am about order in my life. Anyway, all is good now, and there is peace and quiet in my house except for the wonderful music playing on my new Ipod dock that Laura brought to me as a belated b'day present. Right now "How Beautiful the Body of Christ" is playing, and I am looking forward to the visit of family tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

There are so many things I am thankful for this year, and as think on them, I hope you will think on yours too and be sure to thank God for all those blessings. But I find it hard to say, "Thank you for the bug." Lord, you will have to help me with this one. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

P. S. I also found out that Lance and I were not the only ones to get THE BUG. Several members of our church have been fighting it or should I say giving in to it. I don't think there is any way to conquer it.

A Few Pictures

Well, the Halloween season is over and the rush to Thanksgiving and Christmas is on. Not a whole lot is new with the Baria house. Here a few pics from the last two weeks.

Riding to the punkin' patch. Wes is on the look-out for his pumpkin.

Wes trick-or-treated in Inverness this year. I guess it could be called that. We went to 2 houses.

Could there be a more precious cowgirl ( Katie Arrington) and cowboy?!

"I've heard bumble bees have cooties. Wouldn't want to get too close."

Grace and Wes showing off their costumes before shedding them for some play time.

Some Quiet Time

This past week-end is the third week-end in a row that I have been away from Inverness. Lance and I went to visit our friends Shirley and Jay at their cabin on Greer's Ferry Lake close to Heber Springs in Arkansas. The weather was beautiful, and the leaves are just starting to turn different colors. Lance and I arrived on Thursday, and Shirley and Jay did not get there until late Friday afternoon. It was so nice to enjoy the peace and quiet. Even Lance and his antsy self enjoyed the down time. I worked 5 crossword puzzles in two days. On Saturday we ventured into Heber Springs and ate lunch at the Red Apple Inn. After lunch we stopped and looked at the Greer's Ferry Lake and Dam.

The lock side of the dam

Shirley and Jay

Lance and me

Just Call Me Monk

My daughter tagged me to be it. There have been times when I though I was "IT": when I wore my first pair of high heels; when I got my first pay check; when I drove the car by myself for the first time; when I went to college. College was pretty much an eye-opener! I realized quickly I was not the center of the universe, especially when my advisor didn't care that I did not want an 8:00 a.m. class. Anyway, my daughter tagged me to be it to tell 6 weird things about myself. As I read over her list, she didn't tell me much I didn't already know about her. Like her, I have to have my check book balanced to the penny. I love internet banking; I can check my account everyday, two or three times if I want. So here goes:

1. I have to have order in my life. There is a place for everything and everything in its place. The cans in my pantry are lined up and grouped according to category. Contrary to popular belief, they are not in alphabetical order. There is a proper way to fold clothes and put them away. I have to read the newspaper in a particular order, and no one can have the other parts of it while I am reading it. It's all mine until I am through reading.

2. I love office supplies, especially colored sticky notes of all sizes. My next favorite supply is colored sharpies.

3. I pluck my eyebrows every day. I can't stand the black dot from an emerging eyebrow.

4. I can't to go on an over-night trip and leave my house in disarray. Everything has to be clean and in order. I have this fear that something is going to happen while we are away, and people will have to go into my house without me there. Go figure. Sort of like the hole in the underwear thing.

5. When I was teaching, the last thing I did before I left my classroom for the day was to straighten the desks. The front right leg of each desk had to be on a certain tile.

6. My day is not complete if I have not seen some part of an episode of Law and Order.

Yes, I know I am OCD. However, I read somewhere that if the condition does not interrupt your functioning in your everyday life, it is not considered to be bad. Even Adrain Monk can function as a detective, and a darn good one, may I add.

I tag Rachael.

Kakki Time

We visited Tupelo this past week-end. It was Chase's birthday on Saturday, and he got great presents: a shirt, a ladder, a concrete bulldog, a homemade cake by William and a win by MSU. William went with Laura and Chase to the game, and Lance and I kept Wes.

Sharing birthday cake with daddy

Playing on the patio

Who needs Kakki when I have Poppa!!

Lalis Week-end or "I'm not sure we can take on the world anymore."

The satisfaction of a good meal and wonderful friends

Well, I was in heaven or close to it is past week-end. We had a Lalis get together in New Orleans, of which I have decided there is no other place like it in the world. The weather was beautiful, the food was wonderful and the fellowship was the greatest. We arrived Friday afternoon to hugs all around after which we got comfortable and talked until late in the night. We dined on Barb's wonderful vegetable lasagna a la Jimmy Gordon and solved every problem that the world faces.

The next morning we awoke to beautiful weather and prepared for the day. After our morning coffee and chatter, we headed to visit Ellen's daughter's (Elizabeth) new home in the French Quarter. The house is just like one would imagine for a French Quarter home--pale yellow, burgundy shutters, and a balcony overhanging the street. At one point we heard a vegetable vendor in his truck chanting over a loud speaker, "I have tomatoes, I have mangoes, I have carrots." As I said, only in New Orleans.

We gathered Elizabeth and her roommate Jasmin and headed for a much anticipated jazz brunch at Commander's Palace. The Lalis have shared many meals together, but this one had to be one of the best. There was a brief celebration of my birthday, and after a great meal we headed back to Barb's to change and drive to the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain. We laid on quilts and sunned, talked, worked a group crossword puzzle, and dozed. We then headed back to Barb's and fixed a light supper of caprese salad. We again talked into the evening, minus Ellen who spent the night with her daughter.

Sunday morning came too soon, and we prepared to head back to our homes. One thing that was made abundantly clear this week-end was that we are a bit vulnerable at this point in our lives. When we were all working together in the Language and Literature department at Mississippi Delta, we could pretty much take on the world and accomplish what we set out to do. We could probably do it now, but much more energy would have to be expended. We discussed our families, our grandchildren, MDCC, the world in general, religion, politics, and our aches and pains. We drew energy from each other to hold us over until our next gathering in February, and I am not so sure we really want to take on this world at this point anyway. Here's to the Lalis!