Last weekend, our family joined friends for a fishing excursion on their pontoon. Our first boating and fishing trip of the year lasted all afternoon and evening; we even brought along a small griddle to cook hot dogs for dinner right on the boat! Our family loves a little competition, so we created contests for the first fish caught, the biggest fish caught, and the most fish caught. My husband, Dale, was the winner with 9 fish. I managed to catch three, despite casting my line into the trees, not once but twice! The most
Read more →Archive for the Just Another Mary Monday Category
Granny Smith apples. They’re my favorites. Pair them with some peanut butter and you’ve got one of the best snacks ever. I love fresh fruit and vegetables, but this time of year, the sight of all of those towers of apples, oranges, strawberries and blueberries greeting me at the grocery store is enough to send me home with some bottled “fruit” for dinner. Why would anyone get stressed out at the sight of shiny, red apples? Well, if you work in transportation you know that produce season makes our jobs a lot more difficult.
Read more →My very first car was a 1966 Nightmist Blue Mustang Coupe. One of my Dad’s co-workers sold it to me for $1500. I flipped a lot of burgers at my part-time, after-school job to pay for that car, but it was well worth it. Daddy and I drove three hours to Carolina Mustang on Chatham Street in Chapel Hill, NC, where we purchased everything we would need to restore my new baby–fenders, a gas tank, quarter panels, floor pans, seat covers–the works. I can still seeing us installing those seat covers using our straight
Read more →Last week, I told you about our annual Family Spring Cleaning weekend, but I didn’t tell the whole story. Remember that song “What a Difference a Day Makes…Twenty-Four Little Hours?” Last weekend, it took just eight hours to create a massive transformation around the house. We started at 9am and by 6pm, we had washed the entire house from top to bottom, cleaned out the garage, installed a light over our pool table, changed six exterior flood lights (using an 11′-foot pole extender and a borrowed 30′-foot extension ladder), installed a new bathroom light
Read more →Thursday marked the first day of Spring, and as someone who likes to have a clean house, that meant this weekend was devoted to spring cleaning. Spring cleaning at our house is a family affair; everyone has to participate. And this year, some of our major initiatives included washing every surface inside the house, cleaning out the garage, changing all of the flood lights, repainting the porch ceiling, and fixing the porch lights too! When it comes to being a “clean freak”, it’s nice to know that I’m in good company. Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett
Read more →What do I love best about the arrival of Spring? The warmer weather? The blooming flowers? Truth be told, it’s March Madness that puts that extra little spring in my step. There’s nothing like watching all of the college basketball teams play against one another to determine who is #1. Naturally, this Carolina girl will be rooting for her beloved North Carolina Tar Heels. I’m such a fan, I even have the Tar Heel tattoo (on my foot) to prove it. When you’re born and raised in North Carolina, you’re literally taught to be
Read more →Our team has been working on a new marketing campaign that’s big on personality. I can’t wait until the grand reveal. Until then, I’m not at liberty to disclose details, but I will give you a hint: In last week’s marketing meeting the word “butt” came up at least 50 times. As someone with an ample amount of junk in my trunk, I consider myself a bit of an authority on the subject. Sometimes I joke that I maintain a healthy-sized backside so more people can kiss it. Call it what you will —
Read more →Imagine this: It’s pool league night. My turn at the table. All of the balls are racked in their classic triangle pattern. I tap the cue in the direction of my first solid ball and send it straight into the pocket. I continue to pocket each ball, on my way to a break and run. Any league player who pockets at least one ball on the break, and then proceeds to pocket all of the remaining balls without the opponent getting a turn at the table receives a special “Break and Run” badge. “I
Read more →I hate the happy sticks. “What are happy sticks?”, you ask. They are the system my youngest son’s teacher has to control her students’ behavior. Each student receives three happy sticks at the beginning of the day. A student who behaves all day keeps all three sticks and earns a “green” score at the end of the day. Each time a student misbehaves, a stick is taken away. Two sticks at the end of the day means “yellow”, one stick means “red.” And no sticks? Well, that means a visit to the Principal’s office.
Read more →Why do hamburgers fly South for the Winter? So they won’t freeze their buns off!!! Years ago, that joke used to be funny; now it’s simply untrue. When I moved to Alabama six years ago, all of the locals told me: “It never snows here.” Apparently, Mother Nature was waiting for my arrival. It has snowed at least twice a year since I moved to Alabama–from a light dusting to the Polar Vortex Snow-pocalypse. Whenever a storm is on its way, panic sets in at the local grocery stores. As one person quipped on
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