The auction for the Christmas decorations has closed, and the winner is Donna, with a bid of $15! Thank you, Donna! I really appreciate it. All the proceeds from this auction will be donated to The Oral Cancer Foundation in January! The item up for bids this week is a set a hand made back pack, made by me. Please go take a look and make a bid–it is for a very worthy cause.
Where Does The Time Go?
Like I don’t know…We had just returned from our whirlwind trip to Georgia, then it was Thanksgiving Day. Our friends, Belinda and Rob, who are camphosts on the other side of the lake from us, came over to share Thanksgiving dinner with us. I cooked a small ham, potato salad, some rutabagas, and a home made gluten free pumpkin pie. Then for the next three days, FabGrandpa and I worked at the entrance gate to the campground.
On Monday of last week, we drove up to Tuscaloosa to try and return the crappy cellphone that I got in Georgia at Best Buy. But, in order to return my phone, I had to have the old one with me so they could reactivate it and reverse my “New Every Two” from Verizon. Sigh. Why does everything have to be so dang complicated. So, we came back home with the same phone that couldn’t get a signal if I was standing under the tower. On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things, because we knew Charlie and Lynda were coming to visit. The trip took all day, and then it was Tuesday.
Tuesday it rained buckets–but Charlie and Lynda got here with no problems. They are traveling in a customized van, so they parked it in our yard and plugged in a drop cord for a space heater. We had SO MUCH FUN with them. We haven’t seen them in about two years, but it seemed like just yesterday. We stayed up talking til the wee hours of the morning, and got up bright and early and started all over again.
On Wednesday, we drove over to Moundville to go to the Indian Mounds there. FabGrandpa and I went there last year, but the museum was closed for renovations. It is now open, so we went in and looked around. The Black Warrior Indians made some amazing pottery.
There was a lot of information about the history of the people–I didn’t know for instance that they were some of the native Americans who were forced out of the area on the Trail Of Tears.
After the museum, we all went to Pam’s Diner in Moundville for lunch. FabGrandpa and I had never been to that particular restaurant last year, but we were quite impressed with it. It is one of those southern places that serves a plate of a “meat and two” or a “meat and three”. They had things like fried okra, turnip greens, red beans and rice, purple hull peas, and scalloped potatoes on the menu. We will definitely go back.
Charlie and Lynda stayed one more night, but all too soon they had to be on their way. I just feel so special that they came all the way here to see us, going out of their way to get here. Tuscaloosa is not just “in the neighborhood” between upstate New York and Missouri. I hope it is not another two years before we see them again.
10 For 10 Auction: Handmade by FabGrandma Backpack
That’s FabGrandpa at the Arcade Diner in Memphis last month. He is my husband, my friend, my heart. I am so happy he is still here with us, celebrating his 10 years of survival of oral cancer. This auction is to benefit The Oral Cancer Foundation, an organization that is is a national public service, non-profit entity designed to reduce suffering and save lives through prevention, education, research, advocacy, and patient support activities. I feel very strongly that there needs to be more education about oral cancer—the more people know about it, the more aware they are of it, the more people will get screened for it so that the cancers will be found early and ensure a better chance of survival of it.
So, to raise money for them, I am auctioning this week a backpack that I made:
This cute backpack is just the right size for a little girl, but a big girl would love it too! It has a large zippered pocket on the outside, that is big enough to hold your netbook or a Kindle.
The inside has a couple of pockets to hold your pens, pencils, cellphone or whatever else you might need to find quickly:
The straps are adjustable so a tiny little girl can wear this as a backpack for school or spending the night with Grandma, or a big girl can use it as a shoulder bag.:
And look at that cutie cute embroidered patch on the back: an vintage travel trailer! I just love that! The backpack is made with a very stiff interfacing so it is quite sturdy, and is padded with batting in between the fabric layers for a quilted effect. There is also a fabric loop on the back so you can hang it up on a hook.
When I ever get time to sew again (which I hope will be very soon) I have lots of fabric and zippers and patches to make some more of these. The retail price of this in my Etsy store will be $35, but I am starting the bidding on it in this auction at $5.00 . To bid, leave a comment with a dollar amount of your bid. You can bid in one penny increments, so if someone else has already bid $5.00, you can bid $5.01. Comments without dollar amounts are NOT considered to be bids.
This item weighs 12 oz. and will be shipped in a 19″X15.5″ padded envelope from zip code 36744 in Alabama. The winner pays shipping charges, which should be around $2.50.
This auction will close on Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time. The highest bidder will win. If you have any questions about this item, email me at fabgrandma @ gmail.com
If you’d like to spread the word about this auction to benefit The Oral Cancer Foundation, and to help educate people about oral cancer, please tweet about it, post about it on Facebook, or write about it on your blog. I’d really appreciate it! and you could be saving someone’s life!
A Visit From Friends Makes Me Soooo Happy!
A week or so ago I got an email from my friend Lynda. We met Lynda and her husband, Charlie, when we worked at Bethpage Camp Resort back in 2006, in Virginia. They were the kind of people that we just liked immediately–they have so many of the same interests as us, and we got along so well. Although it has been four years since we left there, we have all kept in touch. In the summer of 2007, FabGrandpa and I worked at Granite Hill Campground in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Lynda and Charlie worked at Roundtop Campground in the same area. We spent a lot of our days off traveling around, seeing the scenery, going to the farm markets together, and just plain enjoying our friendship. In the winter of 2008, we all worked together in Phoenix, Arizona, selling Christmas trees. Lynda and Charlie managed the lot and we worked for them. After that Christmas, we all went out to the desert and stayed next door to each other in a campground. So, when Lynda told me they were coming to visit, I was sooooo happy.
They got here this afternoon–and it’s like we just saw them last week. We have made some plans of things to do for the next few days. It is always sooo good to have a visit from a good friend.
Personal Pantry Report
Because we were gone for 5 days, I didn’t make much progress this week on clearing out the pantry. When we got home on Wednesday, I made some scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast for dinner, so even though we ate at home, I didn’t use anything out of the pantry.
On Thanksgiving, I cooked a small ham, some rutabagas, some potato salad, and a home made pumpkin pie. The only things I used out of the pantry was a small can of evaporated milk, and the frozen pumpkin out of the freezer. A small bit of progress, but progress just the same. We ate leftovers on Friday, to which I added a can of baked beans. 1 can used up! Then yesterday, I made meatloaf and green beans. The only thing used up was a package of ground beef from the freezer.
Today, we are having leftover meatloaf with rice and gravy. I’ll use a can of chicken broth to make the gravy. I am also making a dessert using a gluten free lime dip mix from Mixes From The Heartland, two 8 oz packages of cream cheese, a small box of lime jello, a can of crushed pineapple, and a box of gluten free graham crackers. It will be a divinely lime confection, and will use up 6 things! I’ll let you know how it turns out, and will post a recipe if it is any good.
I am down to almost no veggies in the house: I have one package of frozen creamed corn, two carrots, half a bunch of celery and a package of frozen pumpkin in the freezer. We will definitely need to go grocery shopping this week, but I WILL shop the pantry first and only get what I need! Really, I will.
10 for 10 RVQ auction winner!
The auction on the RVQ has closed, and the winner is Stephen with a bid of $100! Thank you so much for your generous bid on the RVQ–all the proceeds from the auction will be donated to The Oral Cancer Foundation in January! The item up for bids this week is a set of three Christmas decorations. Please go take a look and make a bid–it if for a very worthy cause.
10 For 10 Auction: Three Christmas Decorations
This is a set of three Christmas decorations. We have so many Christmas things in a “treasure box” under the bed! We have nowhere to display them, so these are up for bids. There is an International Santa representing Austria, because my maternal grandmother was from Austria.
A set of nesting Snowmen in the matryoshka style, because my maternal grandfather was from Russia.
And a gingerbread man and hearts garland, just because at some point I liked it.
I am starting the bidding for this set of Christmas Decorations at $5.00.
This item weighs 1 lb 7 oz, and is packed in a box measuring 10″X4″X6″. Shipping from zip code 36744 to California is estimated at $8.09 for parcel post.
To bid on this item, leave a comment with the dollar amount of your bid. The winner of the auction will be the person who has the highest bid when the auction ends. This auction ends on Saturday, December 4, 2010 at 11:59 Central Standard Time. If you have any questions about this item, you can email me at fabgrandma @ gmail.com.
If you’d like to spread the word about this auction and help me raise money for The Oral Cancer Foundation, please tweet about, post about it on Facebook, or write about it on your blog. I’d really appreciate it!
Another Road Trip
It seems like we just got here to Alabama, but it was time to jump in the truck and leave again. This time, we went to Georgia to visit some of our family. We drove about 100 miles through the Alabama countryside before we got to I-20:
We saw this chemical lime plant in Calera, Alabama–everything in the area was covered with a thick layer of white dust. I wouldn’t want to live nearby to that:
We made it up to I-20 for the next 100 miles. The fall colors were still hanging on to the trees up there:
We crossed the Georgia state line:
Then into the Eastern Time Zone:
and finally to our hometown:
I grew up in Douglasville–my family moved there when I was 13. I lived there until we sold our house in August of 2000. The town is nothing like it was back when I was a kid–there are so many people, so many cars, new businesses and a mall. You can’t get out of people’s way in the stores or on the road. If we didn’t have friends and family there we wouldn’t go there at all.
The first night in town, we met up with my daughter Emily, son-in-law Thomas, and grandson, Spencer at Longhorn Steakhouse. Mmmm, we used to go there about once a month. After dinner we went to the mall to walk around and look at stuff. I bought a couple of sweatshirts that I wound up taking back the next day. Emily got some bar stools for her new house that she also wound up taking back.
On Sunday, we went over to Emily’s new house:
They bought this house a few months ago–it has three bedrooms, 2 baths, a huge kitchen and dining room, front porch across the entire front of it, on six acres, with a barn, for $110,000. They got a great deal on it. Spencer loves the big yard and tire swing.
From Emily’s house, we met our daughter, Becky, at her beauty shop and got our hair cut. Then, FabGrandpa and Becky went to a movie, and Emily and I went to my mother’s house. Then, we all met up at Red Lobster for dinner–there was me and FabGrandpa, Emily, Thomas, Spencer, Becky, and our nephew Daniel and his family–Alicia, Brodie, and baby Katherin. We were so glad to see Daniel–we haven’t seen him since before Brodie was born and he is 3 now. Spencer and Brodie got along so well, and the baby was passed around and loved on by all of us!
Seems like all we did was eat eat eat, but that is not really true. We drove, ate, visited, slept, and did it all over again for four days. On Monday, we drove up to Cleveland, Georgia to visit FabGrandpa’s Mom and Dad. They live a hundred miles from Douglasville. We had a very nice visit with them–didn’t get any photos there though. We spent the night at the Days Inn in town, then went back for a second short visit before heading back to Douglasville for one last night there.
And it always surprises me that even though I lived there for so many years, went to high school there, and was the service unit director for the Girl Scouts there, I NEVER run into anyone I know anymore. Except–FabGrandpa and I went to dinner on the last night there at our favorite barbecue restaurant. It was very crowded, so we squeezed into a booth. When I sat down, the man sitting at the next table reached over and put his hand on my thigh. I was mortified and couldn’t speak for a moment!! It turned out that he was one of our friends we used to hang out with when we lived in Douglasville, and haven’t seen in 10 years.
Wednesday morning, we finally loaded up all our stuff and headed west, back to Payne Lake in Alabama. It was a whirlwind trip, four days and nights of rush rush rush–I am glad it is over and we are back home to sleep in our own beds. And the only traffic we see is this, right outside our door: