Tonight they announced the winner of America's Favorite Mom.
Patti-Patton Bader, the founder of Soldier's Angels was the winner. And I couldn't be happier. I was sitting here smiling until they showed her son on the large screen. He's deployed and his reaction, his pride brought tears to my eyes. Click HERE to see his nomination.
Congratulations Patti. You are one hell of a woman!
I'm in some trouble now....let me tell you.
I have this house I live in. And with this house comes a yard. The yard is made up mostly of grass.
Last year I hired a couple of girls to mow. It was the perfect arrangement. Actually their parents did most of it, but if they don't mind, I don't mind.
Well, last week I started to get worried as I hadn't heard anything and this place needs mowing. I'm sorta stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'm hesitant to buy a mower cause you know as soon as I do, I won't need it anymore and will have spent all that money for nothing.
But the grass just keeps growing. Friday afternoon I got a message from the church telling me those people aren't going to be mowing this year. So...I asked a couple of people and can't find anyone that wants to mow!
What's up with that? $30 for an hour and a half. Not bad money, if I must say so.....
I've now got 3 messages from the church in 24 hours to get this lawn mowed. I want to. I really do. But...first I just found out Friday I had to find someone else. Second.....I've been out of town for the past 36 hours. Third......it's been raining the whole time I'm gone. If I remember correctly it's kinda hard to mow in the rain....
Anyway - I was given a lead about someone who could help me. Except no one has a number for them.
I gotta get this taken care of by Tuesday, at the lastest. It does look rugged. I admit that...but holy cow! I can only do what I can do....
I just can't believe in small town middle America you can't find someone that wants to pick up a few easy bucks mowin' a yard...for cryin' out loud.
Happy Mother's Day!
We had our celebration late yesterday afternoon. Mama Vi was appropriately spoiled.
Dee and I were here, along with all three of the grandchildren. It was.....nice. Not great, but nice. And Mama was happy, so that's all that really matters.
I'm getting ready to head back to Paradise. A good daughter would have brought her Sunday Go To Meetin' clothes and gone to church with her Mama.
I....am not a good daughter.
I want to get home. I'm flat out exhausted. And there's a bunch of stuff to get done before I hit the job search circut again tomorrow. Mama understands. She's sittin' in the kitchen in her royal blue dress, with her royal blue shoes. Her heart necklace and earrings sparkling and her straw hat with the royal blue flowers sitting ready to go next to her royal blue purse.
Mama likes to match.
I feel kinda bad, it being the day to honor mothers and all, but this is best. She'll come home and rest up for the week ahead.
She has a flat of flowers from Ashley that she needs to plant, bags and bags of mulch from Dee that need to go out. I bought her a daily devotional book, she loves to start her day with an inspirational passage. Yeah, I'd say she's had a pretty good Mother's Day.
I wish all you Mama's out there the pleasure of being spoiled and the warmth that comes with knowing you are loved.
Happy Mother's Day.....
I had almost forgotten about this story......
Entertaining is something I learned from Mama Vi. She has always loved cooking a big meal and surrounding herself with friends and family.
I come by it honest, I guess.
In our house, everyone helps with a big shindig. No matter what, once you are "of an age" there is something you can do. Every thing was a lesson with Mama, and mine started around the age of 4.
We were having family for dinner. My job? Help set the table. Mama brought out the plates, silverware and glasses. I was to arrange things at the place settings.
We used paper napkins most of the time, but had "fancy" for those special occasions.
This was one of them, so Mama told me to get the Fancy Napkins out.
I did.
The table looked beautiful. As the women started to carry out the serving dishes filled to the brim with yummy food a shocked silence filled the dining room.
TAMMI!! What did you DO?!?!
I set the table. It's what you told me to do.
Just where did you get those napkins?
The closet.
That would be when Mama had to have "the talk" with me. That would be when I learned that kotex napkins are NOT meant for the dining table.
Hell....I just thought they'd work better than those flimsey cloth ones.
But at least it made a pretty table. And I didn't have to set the table again for a while.......
So how did you get your name? Are you named after someone in the family? A celebrity? Some hero?
ME? I used to tell everyone that I was named after a yellow English tea rose. I have no idea where I came up with that. None. I just thought it sounded better than saying I was named after a character in one of my mother's favorite movies.
Yes.....if you know anything about the old musicals you know exactly what I'm talking about. Tammy and the Bachelor, with Debbie Reynolds.
And that song has haunted me my whole life. It's amazing to me how many people know...and actually sing to me.....that song. Seriously. I would NEVER do that, and I'm pretty damned fearless. But I've had crusty old iron workers smile sheepishly at me and hum that song. Dates would ask me if I knew it then sing the chorus.
Did I know it? Are you kidding! It was the first song Mama made me learn on the piano. It was my first secular solo. Like I said, the song has haunted me my whole life.
But you wanna know a secret? I really do think it's one of the most beautiful love songs out there. And I've never heard anyone perform it better than Ms. Reynolds. Folks shouldn't even try.
Just got a local inquiry about a job.
With a large national company, in the Chicagoland area. It's as a national accounts manager and they wanted to get some additional information about the accounts I've handled in my past. My resume spotlights some of them, but not near all.
It would be a pretty damned good job.
The Cali job better get off their asses. They may just lose me.......
So far I'm listed on 9 job boards, several generic and a few very specific to Consumer Products. I've found some great opportunities and a few that are just flat out interesting.
I'm averaging about 5 calls a day with opportunities to interview, but right now I'm sticking with Consumer Products. As I've said a few times now, it's the area I specialize in and, well, it's the one the fits best for me.
Overall, considering I've really only had 3 days of strong searching I think it's going pretty well. The problem is time. As you've seen with the wait on the California jobs, big companies don't usually move all that fast. It's a long process, so I'm just feeding the pipeline. It's really the only way to do this.
Today I've got a list of recruiters that I'm calling. They don't have anything listed right now, but I want to let them know I'm on the market and looking. It's always good to keep the network open.
My job search data base is quickly getting back in shape and that's all good. Next week I'll start the follow up process. That's when the days start to fill up. Mornings for searches and afternoons for follow ups.
I just can't wait until I have to make time for the interviews. THAT'S when the fun begins.
I lost an entire afternoon. Not really a good thing.
See, I went to Fritz's for lunch and decided to get the bartender to work with me on that Italian Margarita recipe. The one I posted just didn't look right to me.
I had my Sloppy Joe and ordered a drink. We walked though it together, and while it was good, it wasn't RIGHT.
So we tried again. 2 shots Tequila Gold, 1/2 shot Amaretto, 1 shot sweet/sour, 1/2 shot Triple Sec, 1/2 shot oj.
Perfection. Even without rimming the glass with sugar.
Problem is, I had a few. A lot of fews.
I took the trash out this morning to discover my car isn't in the garage. That would be when I remembered that someone drove me home.
Folks. I do NOT sit in bars all afternoon getting drunk. Especially alone. It's just not what I do.
But on the upside, I did get a really good night's sleep. And I needed that pretty bad.
Oh, and we have that drink recipe down pat. So there's that too.
Today will be "make-up". I need to make up for all the time I lost yesterday afternoon. This weekend is Mother's Day and I'm heading to Mama Vi's tomorrow afternoon. So I have some serious work to do. No more time for bein' bad........
I am such a chicken shit. I swear to pete.....
With everything going on, I had to postpone my last hair appointment. Normally I'm in there every 6 weeks like clock work. I'm of an age, and my hair is just dark enough that the gray has become more prominent.
Yeah, not really a look I'm going for. Now, I've had noticeable gray since I was 19, but now? Now it's just flat out pissin' me off.
And since I had colored my hair myself for so many years, the over the counter stuff just doesn't cut it any more. Plus....I'll be honest. I make a HUGE mess tryin' to do that.
Well, my hairdresser is on vacation. Me? I've now got the time to get this stuff covered up, spruced up and lookin' good again.
But I'll be damned if anyone else is touchin' this hair of mine. With all the interviews (hopefully) coming up, I really need that additional boost that decent hair gives me. I need an advantage.
So, after callin' my cosmetic guru up at home (yes, I am shameless) she told me where to go and what to buy to get myself through until she gets back next week.
I headed to the beauty supply store armed with her exact words. I found the store manager and asked for assistance in finding exactly what she told me to get.
Except what she told me to get would have resulted in making me an ashy dishwater blond. Blond. Me.
My natural color is flat black. Flat black. Dark. Really dark.
I lighten it up a bit and allow the red highlights to come through.
There is nothing ashy or dishwatery about that.
So.....I stepped outside of my comfort zone and selected a color *I* think will work. I'm planning on doin' the deed tomorrow afternoon.
I grilled the manager at the supply store to make sure I understood EXACTLY how long this will last. If I screw up, what are my options? If it looks really bad, how long do I need to push out the interviews?
I'm goin' in.......I'd promise a picture, but if it turns out it's a non-issue. So this is what I'm gonna do....If it turns out as badly as I know it could, I'll take a picture. It'll help y'all understand why I'd be going underground for a while.
This could be really good, or really funny. Usually, I'm all about the funny. This time? Yeah, not so much.
I am seriously jonesing for some vegetables. It's becoming an obsession.
I had a salad with my take out dinner last night, but iceberg lettuce is THE biggest waste of growing energy. No nutritional value what so ever.
I had gotten in the habit of having a bag of those steamed brussel sprouts every night. I'd rather have that than popcorn.
A big ole bowl of steamed broccoli, ohhhh that just sounds so good. Peas. Sweet or snow, either one sounds better than a cheesecake right now.
I don't want roasted or cheese covered. Just freshly steamed veggies. Just a hint of sea salt to bring out the flavor. Or maybe a wok full of veggies and chicken, just a hint of soy and sesame seeds.
I'm by no means a vegetarian. I'll be the first person to raise her hand for a good steak dinner. But growing up, there were many times we lived off of the veggies in Mama's garden. Plates of fresh beefsteak tomatoes, bowls of steamed carrots and cabbage. Salads of cucumbers and vinegar.
I'm soooo goin' to the grocery store today. Seriously. And Mother's Day dinner? My ham, green beans and new potatoes. Tow birds with one stone......takes out my cravings AND it's good for us to boot.
But I'm wonderin' how that ice cream cake fits in to the total picture.......
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