Weekends, Weary, Wedding Dresses, Whew!

We're in the final week of our A to Z Blog Challenge and as always I'll be limping across the finish line. Since it's Monday there will be a weekend recap (with Holly and Sarah) along with my letter post on the blog today. 

There's a lot going on here this week and I'm trying to be a 'one-day-at-a timer' but it's hard not to look at the very long list in front of me. That list includes some things that will be emotionally draining and physically demanding but we can do hard things, right? 

Right! 

The weekend. 

Friday I had lunch with three friends from my old Bible Study group. We hadn't seen one another in several months and it was wonderful to catch up. Lunch was served on one friend's beautiful back porch and everyone contributed something to keep it simple. These ladies have been, and continue to be, such a blessing to me. 

I played Mah Jong at a neighbor's house later in the afternoon. 

Before I left my house that morning I made a big pot of sauce, and when I finally arrived home around dinnertime I congratulated myself for thinking ahead. Hubs had out of town real estate clients in all weekend so he was gone from dawn to dusk too. 

Saturday we sipped our coffee with the sunrise, then hubs was out the door early for another day with his house hunters. I had some errands to run in town so made the loop and was home about one. I spent the afternoon getting things ready for my mom's move. I am not going down that road on the blog today, but I'm sure will eventually gather my thoughts and put them in writing. 

We had plans Saturday night to celebrate a friend's birthday in our neighborhood clubhouse. The menu was tacos and margaritas and a delicious homemade cake baked by another neighbor. A fun night spent  chatting and catching up with friends. 

Sunday morning we went to church, then hubs and I stopped at Waffle House for a late breakfast. We needed energy for the afternoon's activity aka porch cleaning. Honestly we have had so much going on this past month we have not gotten to this dreaded but very necessary task. 

The pollen sits about an inch deep so all the porches and decking and outdoor furniture need to be hosed down and cleaned. We roll up our outdoor rugs during pollen season so they needed to be put back outside. Hubs operated the power washer and I had the tedious job of wiping down all the deck railings and spindles. We have over 200 spindles, not that anyone is counting, but yeah. It's a lot. 

And you have to keep changing the soapy water out because it turns black very quickly. 

But! we're getting there! The upper deck and the screened porch are mostly done and he made a good start on the lower level patio and dining space. Still more to do, plus there's also the boat to clean, (well for hubs to clean) but we're making forward progress and we can once again enjoy our favorite thing about this house, which is the outside space. Cheers to summer porch sittin'! 

I still need new pillows for the deck sofa and a few more flower pots but that will happen soon. Not this week though because this week is already a doozy. 

Now for today's letter which continues my theme of The Things We Keep: Ordinary Objects From A-Z. 

Day 23-W is for Wedding Dresses

Do you still have your wedding dress? When we returned from our honeymoon I took my dress to the local dry cleaners and they boxed it up in that fancy way dry cleaners do to keep it from yellowing through the years. 

You hope. I mean I wasn't even certain it was my dress in that box but we trusted the cleaners. I don't know if in 1984 I dreamed of having a daughter who might wear it someday, but I wasn't ready to part with it either. Into the box it went. 

From there it moved with us umpteen times, always in the unopened box. There it remained for 30 years, until in 2014 daughter1 was engaged to be married and thought she might like to try it on. I have a picture of her in it somewhere but I can't put my hands on it right now. Anyway...

She actually loved the idea of having the dress reworked and made to look a little less 80's bride, but logistics were not in our favor. I was in one state, she was in another, and the wedding was in a third so it all felt like an additional stress we didn't need. 

She found a dress that looked like it had been made just for her and she spun and twirled and smiled from the moment she put it on until she and her brand new husband left the reception. 

My dress went back into the box, and then a few years went by and now daughter2 is getting married and she took a turn trying it on too. 

Not 80's at all-ha! However Daughter2 had already fallen in love with a dress we'd seen in a fashion show so that was that.

But! I heard about a company that made dressing gowns/robes from wedding dresses and I decided to surprise daughter2  with a gift for Christmas before her January wedding. I had my wedding dress made into a getting ready robe for her and it turned out beautifully. 

She was, quite literally, overcome with emotion when she saw it. 

I wrote about it here (Let's Review) so I won't recap again, but suffice it to say I might never give another gift that lands as perfectly as this one did. 

And now here we are with one daughter married ten years and one married five, yet somehow we have their wedding dresses in our storage area. These boxes are not small either. 

Question-why did I tote my wedding gown from pillar to post but my girls dresses have stayed with me? I'm thinking I should hand them over and they can decide what they'd like to do with their gowns. 

They both have tiny daughters so maybe someday I'll get to see granddaughters walking down the aisle looking every bit as beautiful as their mommas. 

That makes them worth keeping. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 651

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (April 29) to share your answers. See you there! 

1. Are you feeling more reset, restart, or full speed ahead as we move into May? Tell us why. 

2. Painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, cinema, theatre, music...what's your favorite form of art? Elaborate.  

3. What time is dinner at your house? How do you feel about leftovers? 

4.What's the last thing you fell down a rabbit hole investigating? 

5. And now for a question from the book Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me...

At what are you 'self-taught?' 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Please Leave A Message

Five letters to go. We can do this. I'm staying true to my theme in the A-Z Blog Challenge which is The Things We Keep: An A-Z of Ordinary Objects. 

Day 22- V is for Voicemail

Recently I was connecting two friends who were going to co-host an event and one friend said she'd tried texting and emailing the other but hadn't heard back so I suggested she call her. On the phone. Ewww. 

Is that your reaction too? The friend laughed and said isn't it funny that actually calling someone to talk on the phone is more or less our last thought and not our first. 

In 2026 we are all about texts and emails and all the other tech options we now have, and are less about actually phoning someone we don't know well or when some sort of 'business' is involved, be it pleasant or unpleasant. Sure I talk to my daughters on the phone and also friends who don't live nearby, but for the casual interaction let's text. 

How does it make you feel to open your phone and see that little red number indicating someone has, gasp!! left you a voicemail? 

For the most part if I phone someone and they don't answer I do not leave a voice message. I send a text or decide to try again later. 

That being said, I do have a few voice messages on my phone that I can't make myself delete. Mostly from my mom who uses her phone very infrequently these days, but occasionally will accidentally call me and if I don't answer she leaves a voicemail. 

These voicemails are nothing special, just hello I miss you and love you and call me if you want to kind of things. 

Except they're special to me. 

Because my mama turns 96 years old on her birthday this year and I know that time is fleeting and also precious. So I save them. 

It feels nice to have her voice on my phone. I plan to keep it. 

The Bright Side

Many years in the A-Z Blog Challenge I've used Saturdays to make a list of 20 small blessings I'm grateful for that begin with the letter of the day. It felt good to hit pause long enough to consider the little (and sometimes not so little) things I appreciate, and I'm going to try that exercise again today. 

Yes I know it's Friday but I have a post for Saturday written in my head. 

My theme this month has been The Things We Keep and an attitude of gratitude is something I want to live with always. In no particular order here goes-

Day 21- U is for Unending Gratitude

unconditional love

an umbrella in the car on a rainy day

unique landscapes 

coffee sipped on an uninterrupted quiet morning

unselfish behavior

the comfort of God's unchanging Word

a flight upgrade

upbeat friends

the USA

unbroken promises

unexpected opportunities

user friendly instructions

understanding

unwinding on the porch 

a knot untied

understated fashion 

unabashed joy 

unhurried time

God's grace in times of uncertainty

unobstructed views

A Little Bit Of Always

Less than a quarter of the alphabet remains in our month long A-Z Blog Challenge, so whoohoo! Staying true to my theme of The Things We Keep: Ordinary Objects from A-Z with today's letter. Here we go-

Day 20-T is for Tradition

Remember the early days of blogging and how everyone posted Thursday Thirteen lists full of all kinds of things? Well I'm bringing it back today and we're talking tradition. 

I think by definition traditions are things we keep. Or things we want to keep. Raise your hand if your kids are grown and flown or growing and flowing and you're struggling to hold on to some of your favorite traditions. Or maybe struggling to let them go rings more true? 

My girls are grown with families of their own now, and are intentional about creating special markers and memories with their children. But take heart mommas because I see them also trying to keep hold of some of the traditions they grew up enjoying and expecting, and there's something so comforting in that. 

As I was trying to come up with a list of thirteen traditions our family holds on to I realized most are associated with holidays, Christmas especially, and isn't that part of why we look forward to the season? Traditions call us home. 

I've included a few random traditions we hold dear in our house, but of course every family has their own.  For the sake of brevity (ha!) here are thirteen of ours-

1. When you're asked what time it is the correct answer is 'IT'S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE-GO BIG ORANGE!!  Yes. It must be shouted. 

2. Your picture is taken on the front porch on the first day of school every year. 

3. We will be watching Home Alone on Thanksgiving night. 

4. New jammies will be opened on Christmas Eve.

5. A photograph in said jammies will be snapped on the stairs Christmas morning before anyone is allowed to see if Santa came. 

You will never be too old. 

6. There will be dozens of cookies baked from recipes handed down from my momma and grandma every December. 

7. You'll find a tangerine or clementine in the bottom of your Christmas stocking. 

8. Holiday breakfasts mean a breakfast casserole will be served. 

9.  There will be an ugly egg every Easter, usually crafted by the hubs. It's made by dunking an egg into every dye available, some cups more than once, until the egg is so ugly it's almost pretty. Almost.

10. You'll have new clothes for Easter, but hubs will forever and ever wear the same spring tie he has worn every Easter Sunday for going on 40 years now. He's had this tie so long we cannot remember if he purchased it in Knoxville or Richmond. He dared ask if he should wear something different this year. What??? Absolutely not! 

11. When the song Summertime's Callin' Me is played you have to move your arm like a wave in time with the music. If you're in a car you need to put your arm out the window in order to do the wave correctly 'I wanna sit there in the sand, and watch those golden tans go walkin byyyyyyyyy..' 

12. On the first day of a brand new year a lucky dinner will be served that will include pork, cornbread, greens, and black eyed peas. 

13. There's gonna be a six foot banner on the front door on your birthday.  

I asked my girls to weigh in and one thing daughter2 mentioned was we always watched the fireworks from the Naval Academy sea wall and brought Boston Market chicken with us as a picnic dinner. 

You might have to let some of your traditions go, but know your kids remember them too.

A Sweetheart Of A Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge and another letter in the April A-Z Blog Challenge. You'll find my entry for letter S in today's random thought-question #6. 

If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Comments make planet earth feel a whole lot friendlier. 

1. April 22nd is Earth Day...what's the most 'out of this world' place on earth you've ever visited? Tell us something about it. 

I could take this in a couple of directions, but the first place that popped into my head was Dartmoor. 

It felt like we were the only people on earth. 

This was our holiday rental, and when we were given driving directions they were very light on specifics. We were concerned we might not find it- 

Not to worry...we found it ha!

2. A favorite quote, verse, or song lyric with the word earth in it? 

One of my favorite verses-

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains-

 where does my help come from? 

My help comes from the LORD, 

the Maker of heaven and earth." 

Psalm 121:1-2 

I love the older King and Country song that references this Psalm too-

-

3. What's the most trivial thing about which you have a strong opinion? 

This is hard because it seems there are many inconsequential things about which I hold strong opinions. My list would include how the dishwasher is loaded, half-and-half in my coffee, people poking along in the passing lane, and of course grammar, or rather it's improper use. 

Is a strong opinion about something trivial the same thing as a pet peeve? It feels like it. 

Is grammar trivial? I vote no. 

4. What's your most commonly used kitchen utensil or tool? What's the last thing you made using that tool? 

The most common would probably be a spatula which I use pretty much every day. I use my garlic press a lot, most recently for a marinade I made yesterday. 

5. Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me a great book of 3000 questions, and I'm going to try to use one in our Hodgepodge every week. Here is today's - What is your greatest extravagance? 

We added a waterfall to our backyard and that still feels somewhat extravagant. I'm having my hair done on Hodgepodge Day and while I consider it a necessity the cost makes it feel a lot like an extravagance. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm using the random space for today's entry in the April A-Z Challenge. My theme this year is The Things We Keep: An A-Z of Ordinary Objects. 

Day 19-S is for Sweetheart 

While my hubs is far from ordinary, and also not an object, he is the object of my affection so how's that for clever? 

I was actually annoyed with him when I wrote these answers on Tuesday, but I got over it because that's what you do when you're married. You squabble sometimes. You might also sulk (briefly) or seek a little space, but at some point you soften your heart and sort it out. 

You embrace the new mercies we are given every single morning.

I know not every story unfolds the same way, but in our case we’ve continued to choose each other for more than  40 years. Through storms and smooth sailing, in sickness and in strength, in sweetness and strain, we're in it together. Side by side. Steady in all the ways that matter. 

My sweetheart and me.

Home On The 'Range'

I am definitely winging the April A-Z challenge aka writing the posts the day before, but I'm still here so that's something. It's been kind of fun to think about the things I keep and try to match them with each day's letter.  Here's today's-

Day 18-R is for Recipes

How did you learn to cook? Well, first I suppose I should ask do you cook? I'm always surprised when I meet someone who says they don't cook. How do they eat? Lots of take out apparently, but that would be really tough where I live. 

I learned to cook by watching and helping my mama cook. And she learned to cook by watching and helping her mama, and my girls learned to cook by watching and helping me. I'm enjoying doing some simple cooking now with my grands and I hope they learn to cook by helping too. 

Circle of life. 

Growing up we rarely ate out. We were a family of six and dining out was a real treat. My mom cooked dinner pretty much every night and she was an excellent cook. I don't know if she started out that way, but her mom (my grandma) was also an excellent cook so I imagine she came into her marriage with some kitchen skills. 

One of my first 'cooking' assignments at home was making salad dressing. Good Seasons Italian which didn't involve any actual cooking, but you did need to read the directions, measure, and mix, all of which are a part of cooking. We had salad every night because my mom was ahead of her time in terms of healthy meals. She made almost everything from scratch too. 

When I was a young wife finding my way in my own kitchen I quite often called my mom mid-recipe to ask a question or  confirm some note written on the instructions. My own girls do the same and I love it.

Circle of life. 

I have always loved cookbooks and still enjoy browsing them for inspiration. I know when it comes to cooking we're all about the internet now, and of course I use that too. But there's something about holding a recipe card in my hand and thinking about the person who shared it with me, remembering when I've eaten the dish and the event or occasion it's associated with, that makes the cards feels extra special. 

I have a nice collection of cookbooks but my most consulted is the binder filled with hand written cards, recipes primarily from my mom's kitchen, but also from my sisters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.  I refer to this collection so often that the binding is coming loose and I need to move the pages to a new book. 

I wish I had more recipes written in my mom's hand, but most of the time I would copy the recipe while she was cooking, or she'd tell it to me and I'd transcribe. 

A few years ago for Christmas I put all of our family holiday recipes in binders for my daughters. I wrote those recipes out by hand and it was a true labor of love. 

I won't part with my favorites. They're keepers. And now I feel the urge to make my mama's blueberry pie. 

Linking today with Joanne for Talking About It Tuesdays