Day By Day- The Reason Behind the Title

When Carey set up this blog for me, she asked me what I wanted to call it. Day By Day just popped into my head. Later on, I couldn't get the music out of my head, but the title was all I remembered. I grew up in the '70's, and was active in Choir at church and Chorus at school. In 1971, a popular musical named Godspell produced a Billboard hit titled "Day By Day".

Godspell is an archaic spelling of the word "gospel". The musical Godspell  was by John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz. The song "Day By Day" is Schwartz's adaptation of a prayer of Richard of Chichester (1197-1253). Richard de Wych, or St. Richard (canonized in 1262), was the Bishop of Chichester.

                                                         Day By Day

                                                         Day by day
                                                         Day by day
                                                      Oh Dear Lord
                                                   Three things I pray
                                             To see thee more clearly
                                               Love thee more dearly
                                             Follow thee more nearly
                                                         Day by day

Such a simple, yet profound prayer. As Albert Einstein said, "When the solution is simple, God is answering."The theologian and hymn-writer,William P. Merrill, wrote, "There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is." I guess "Day By Day" is a good song to have stuck in my head.

Perfectly Imperfect

I didn't get everything done for Christmas that I had hoped to achieve. The Florentine Lace Cookies didn't get made. Neither did the two loaves of Sourdough. But our Standing Rib Roast, I cooked perfectly. And my family thoroughly enjoyed my Beef Ribs on Christmas. Our son didn't go to brunch and the White Elephant gift exchange at my family's house, but he came downstairs to eat and visit with Andy's mother. It seems there was a Star Trek marathon on TV. Our other son made it home safely to Rock Hill Christmas night. He had driven up that morning. He missed brunch, but made it just in time for the gift exchange.

But I got to hold my first grandchild for the entire gift exchange. I got to see my mother and sister fighting over a cast iron candle holder with dragonflies that I had found at a thrift store for $5. I got to see my brother-in-law for the first time in many years. And it snowed! I stepped outside and measure it from the hood of my car- 6 inches in Apex. I later stepped out back with Andrew and Carey and Trixie for just a few minutes. I took a couple pictures, then went back inside. My bones just can't handle cold weather, I don't have boots, and I really don't trust myself walking on snow and ice. Besides, it will get my house shoes wet.

We have somewhat created a monster in our daughter. She is a wonderful young lady with many talents and good characteristics. But she is also like most teenagers these days when it comes to instant gratification. She wanted a netbook for Christmas. She got $100 from us. Since Saturday, she has managed to convince my husband to match her money (that she got for Christmas) so she can buy the netbook. She will have to wait until this weekend, after she gets back from her trip to Clover. She is cooking dinner for me tonight. That is actually something she is supposed to do once weekly as part of her chores, in order to get her allowance. It doesn't happen very often, but she is a good cooking student. She cut an onion tonight (TEARS).

I think we had a perfectly imperfect Christmas. Nobody had a fist-fight. No one got terribly drunk (tipsy, yes). Everyone made it home safely to sleep in their own bed. And I have a professional massage in my own home to look forward to this coming weekend. I am content. 

Josh Groban-Believe

iframe class youtube-player type text/html width 480 height 295 src http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ur9dHCZKQQU?fs 1 frameborder 0 > /iframe>

Christmas and Food and RA

I will be the first to admit my kitchen smells damn good around the holidays. After the presents are selected and wrapped, I turn to the kitchen to cook for family and friends. Our elderly neighbor will receive Sourdough bread and sugar free preserves, since she is diabetic, along with doggie treats for Honey. Another neighbor will get Coconut Macaroons and Florentine Lace Cookies and English Toffee, because she's a retired antiques dealer from Louisville. Our Kenyan vegan neighbors will get Sourdough, along with the Postal Carrier.

Christmas Eve we will be wolfing down a Standing Rib Roast, roasted asparagus, and a rice pilaf. I'm taking Country Ham Butter Biscuits and Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms to my parents for brunch. Then for Christmas dinner, I'm going Southern. My famous Beef Ribs, my mother-in-law's Potato Casserole, Southern-style green beans with salt pork, creamed Silver Queen corn, a Strawberry-Pretzel salad, and Hot Fudge Pudding Cake for dessert. Boxing Day, we have company coming, and I will have Sausage Balls, and a cheese log to munch on.

I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis for eleven years now. I am finally learning how to pace myself during the holidays. The coldest December in North Carolina history hasn't helped me one bit this month. Days like today, I can barely walk and it's hard to lift a pot. I spent most of the day moaning and groaning on the couch, but I took a double dose of my medicine and was able to finish dinner ( B-B-Q'd pork Boston Butt and homemade Mac and Cheese-- Carey's favorite). I finished 4 loaves of Sourdough yesterday, and there will be an extra 2 loaves sometime this week. I will make one batch of cookies each day this week. And there's always dinner and dishes. The one thing that truly amazes me is I don't gain weight over the holidays...

Young People These Days

I'm not sure I want a bunch of neanderthal sprouts going into the military. They can't spell or form an entire sentence. They put women down- women should be in the kitchen making them a "sammich". These are teens that think just because they are in ROTC, they are one bombing away from deployment. They just want to blow up things. It's a video game to them.

This train of thought started with a friend of my daughter's saying gays can't serve in the military. I explained the current legislation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I hate to burst their bubble, but gays have been in the military throughout history. Does Alexander The Great ring a bell, or were these guys sleeping through their World History classes? If it weren't for the likes of Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli, Michelangelo,  and Napoleon I, we wouldn't be here today in the same enlightened form. I truly doubt our country, with its 400 year history, has gone devoid of gays in its military. I think in the heat of battle, no soldier is going to be saying, "I'm not going to fight with you because you are gay, or black, or Catholic." They will be asking, "Got me covered?"

Pitfalls of Parenting a Teenager

"If you have never been hated by your child you have never been a parent." Bette Davis

I'm definitely a parent. As she walked out the door to go to school this morning, she said, "Screw you. No wonder Dad doesn't like you." She didn't get to sleep until about 2:30 a.m. and wanted me to sign her out of school after her first period English test. Sorry, but she's not sick. "I've been feeling sick for two weeks." It didn't seem to stop her from marching in two parades, spending the night with friends, or going to a party or shopping. It seems the only time I'm a bad parent is when she doesn't get her way. She might be able to sleep better if she stayed off the phone and computer at night. But I think kids these days would consider that child abuse.

"Teenagers are people who act like babies if they're not treated like adults." MAD Magazine

I have turned off my phone so I don't have to deal with her texting me. She isn't supposed to be using her phone at school in the first place. I have emailed my husband, so he can deal with her if she starts texting him, or if there is a true emergency. If she gets her phone taken away again, so be it.

"Conspicuously absent from the Ten Commandments is obligation of parent to child. We must suppose that God felt it unnecessary to command by law what He had ensured by love." Robert Brault

So true. There is no law that says a teenager must have a cell phone or internet access. There is no law that says parents must buy a car for their child when they turn 16. For that matter, paying for their college education is not a requisite for their growing up. What a child really needs is to be told no occasionally, and to know that even though she pitches a fit and threatens to skip school or run away from home or says she hates you, that you still love her unconditionally.

My Wish List

My husband just came home with his own Christmas present. Never a word of what he'd like for US to get him. He just says he doesn't want presents. This seems to be a habit of his. I, on the other hand, have been asking for the same thing for the last 3 Mother's Days, the last 3 birthdays, the last 3 anniversaries and now, the last 3 Christmases.

A few years ago, my son, Andrew, stuffed $80 into my hand and said, "Don't tell Dad I gave you this." I used it towards a Pawley's Island hammock on our Spring Break. Back then, we had many large oak trees in our yard, and finding a place for the hammock to go wasn't a problem. But here in Apex, we have one tree- a Bradford Pear. The hammock has been taking up room with the lawn mower for two and a half years. I would love to get it out of the storage room, and into the back yard (in the spring, of course). Prices for a hammock stand are at their cheapest right now (HINT, HINT). I have posted my wish list on the refrigerator with the hammock stand highlighted. If I don't get what I want, I will do just like my husband, and buy my OWN present. 

Dreams

"Dreams are like the paints of a great artist. Your dreams are your paints, the world is your canvas. Believing is the brush that converts your dreams into a masterpiece of reality." Author Unknown

"Dreams are  illustrations...from the book your soul is writing about you." Marsha Norman

"One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams." E.V. Lucas

"Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions." Edgar Cayce

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." Epicurus

"Who looks outside, dreams; Who looks inside, awakes." Carl Jung

Tacky Christmas Sweaters

Christmas Shopping

I haven't been in a mall in over five years. Don't get me wrong- I love shopping. I can only stand in one place for a few minutes, and walking to the mailbox or from my car to the handicapped scooter at the grocery store is about as far as I can go. While I'm on the subject, why do they put the handicapped parking spaces farther away from the doors than regular spaces? Even the expectant and new mothers get closer than the disabled. Shouldn't the mommies-to-be and new mommies be walking?

I have most of my Christmas shopping done already without going to a mall. I've hardly gone to a store at all. And I have spent very little money. I've learned to be quite creative when it comes to gift giving. At my parents' house, our extended family has grown over the years, and we can barely fit in the living room to open gifts. So we play White Elephant with a $10 limit. Now, these days you can't get a lot for ten dollars, but I have managed to find things that I'm pretty sure folks will be fighting over. This should be interesting.

It will soon be time to start baking. I'll make the usual Sourdough bread, of course, but this is the season for sweets! Florentine Cookies, Orange Balls, Toffee Bars, Coconut Macaroons, Hot Blueberry Bread, Oatmeal Bread, Applesauce Cake. Maybe I'll add some new items to the list. We won't be eating all this fattening stuff. Most will go to neighbors, the postal carrier, relatives that we don't exchange gifts with. Our family gets the gift of smelling all of the baked goods while they are in the oven.

Will Rogers once said, "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." I'm stretching this a little to include the giving of gifts. But most folks I know would rather have a macaroni necklace made by a child they love, than an impersonal tie or another nick-knack to dust.

Outside, it might get up to freezing today. I'm staying inside where it's nice and cozy. Good luck with YOUR Christmas shopping! 

It Smells Like Christmas!

It is snowing outside with sparkly white lights. Inside, it smells glorious! My husband and daughter came home with a lovely Douglas Fir. I don't know why we had an artificial tree for so many years. I don't need to bake cookies- the evergreen aroma is enough to put me in a good mood. I am almost finished putting the lights on the tree. The ornaments will take the rest of the weekend to put up. Carey will finish it off by putting the angel on top. Aunt Lucy, Andy's great aunt, tatted it for our first married Christmas. It has a cute little tin foil halo. Aunt Lucy has been gone since 1988, but Andy and I remember her fondly when Carey puts the angel on top of the tree.

Carey is performing at the Apex Christmas Parade. I think the Holly Springs Band is #51. I hope they don't freeze! My old bones just can't handle parades anymore, especially in freezing weather. Sitting for hours, then walking to the car just isn't beneficial to me these days. I'll stay inside and decorate and heat up a pot of chili for when Carey comes home. And I'll make her hot chocolate.

Tomorrow night I get to babysit my grandson while my daughter and her husband go to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. This is a win-win situation! They get a night on the town, and I get some time with my one month old grand baby. Oh, how I love this season!

Black Saturday

I have recovered from Thanksgiving. I spent Black Friday on the couch, napping all day. Now I am ready to start on Christmas decorating- once someone else goes up in the attic, and brings everything downstairs to me. I think I'm going to go through the stuff and donate items we haven't used in years. We won't have as much to put back in the attic after the Holidays. We used to decorate as a family activity, listening to Elvis singing Blue Christmas. As the kids got older and started moving out of the house, it fell to me to get the job done. I like to decorate every room, including the bathrooms. I enjoy pulling newspaper-wrapped items out of the crates, and rediscovering ornaments we have collected over the last thirty years. With all the memories rushing back, it takes me a long time to decorate a tree. Since we no longer have a tape player for the Elvis cassette, I think I will find some streaming Christmas music and get busy with my annual tradition.

Thanksgiving Day

"He who thanks but with the lips
 Thank but in part;
 The full, the true Thanksgiving
 Comes from the heart."
 J.A. Shedd

I am truly thankful for my family and all its extensions. I love visiting with those I haven't seen in awhile, and I love sitting down to a fruitful table with those members that I see every day. Everything I cook is from the heart, and I feel joy when I see the people I love enjoying what I have made for them to eat.

Today's Menu

 Turkey, Dressing and Giblet Gravy
 Dried Cranberry Relish
 Sweet Potato Souffle
 Green Bean Casserole
 Creamed Corn
 Watergate Salad
 Sourdough Bread

Carey took this picture. I thought it was good Thanksgiving colors.

 Pecan Pie