Trip to Los Angeles

Me and one of my best friends, Felipe, who drove me and Bing around the whole time pretty much. He was born and raised in L.A. so it was nice having a local showing us the inside spots.

My hand size compared to our Governor's, Arnold.

Camera crews were taking pictures of this model dude in the pool and it was only 60 degrees. I couldn't get him in the shot because we weren't suppose to take pictures. I sneaked this one!

Hollywood sign.

Me and Bing's first time going to L.A. together and it was so much fun!

Shopping on Melrose and taking cheesy tourist photos!

I had a great time visiting L.A. last weekend. I'm looking forward to planning a trip in June when it's warm enough to lay by the pool and the beach.

Love,
SanFran S

Baby B's Latest News

Since Cici and I decided on giraffe's for Baby B's new theme, I have been working to change his room around, so when we move, his room decorations will already be ready. I am attaching photos of his new room decor. I think he's going to like it since he LOVES his giraffe lovey.

Baby B has also become quite the little reader is the last few weeks. He would rather look at the pictures in his books than play with his toys. He'll sit for 30 minutes to an hour at a time flipping through all of his board books while gabbering as if reading. It is adorable! His newest routine has been pulling books out of his book basket into his crib after I put him down and reading until about 10:00pm. I thought this was a good little routine for him until I heard him gabbering on the monitor at 4:30am Sunday night. He read his books until 6:00 in the morning. I'm so happy he is going to be a reader like Daddy L, Cici and Aunt J, but I do hope we can work out a better reading schedule:)

Baby B is taking a lot of steps now... He took about 8 this morning before falling to his knees. I'm hoping to get a video soon, but until then I've attached a photo.

Love to my Pamela's Girls!

~Mommy M

Miss Pearl's Rocker

This Christmas, we brought Miss Pearl's rocker out from retirement so that Baby could sit in it while reading or watching his favorite cartoon - MICKEY! I wanted to share its history with Pamela's girls.

While growing up, I had 2 Godmothers. Both were Christian, Godly single ladies who never had children of their own but were very special to my parents, and thus to me. On my daddy's side, there was Cousin Elsie(MacDaniel) who was Grandmommy Edith's first cousin and lifelong best friend. She lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey and would try to come for a visit at least once every year or two.

The other was Miss Pearl (Gideon) who lived next door to Pamela when she was growing up in Anderson, and was very much loved and adored by both Pamela and Mommas. Born August 5, 1885, she died at age 89 on December 18, 1974. I don't know when she gave me this little rocking chair, but it was so prized and cherished, that I don't remember ever actually sitting in it, for fear of breaking it(I was on the "chubby" side).

Pamela and Mommas loved to take us to Anderson to visit with Miss Pearl and all the family members there, and we have these pictures of a visit they made to us in Columbia in May 1960.

Miss Pearl is the lady with the dark hair on the left, Miss Clara Gates ( who Miss Pearl paid to stay with her and help with housework), a sister of Poppas(Ida or Nellie?), and Mommas with two of her famous poses - hand behind the head and wrist held out. Of course, we recognize Auntie J in one of the pictures as well.

This little chair is truly a family heirloom, but I want it to be used and enjoyed by our little Baby B.

Wishing all of Pamela's girls a wonderful weekend!!

Love from CiCi

Friends At Last

It has taken a year, but Baby B and Barkley are friends at last (at least as long as food is involved).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBuLXS3_NQE

Happy Friday Pamela's Girls!
Love,
~Mommy M

MOMMAS’ CORNBREAD RECIPE

Last Thursday, January 28th, Nashville was virtually quivering in the media rush of an oncoming “winter storm” predicting anywhere from 4-10” of snow followed by ice in the middle Tennessee area. The weathercasters showed the ominous road closings of Oklahoma, issued grave reports of trees laden with ice to follow a massive snowfall and followed up with a happy Kroger’s ad featuring a sale on milk and bread. Well, OK, I made the Kroger’s thing up, but you would have thought that they had with the stampede that thundered through the isles immediately after work on Thursday afternoon… or so I was told….

I wasn’t at the store at that point, but was comfortably seated at my hairdressers having my scalp massaged and hair trimmed… among other vital hair maintenance … but Southern women aren’t really supposed to talk about having their hair highlighted, are they?

Anyway, by the time I showed up at the grocery store (since I am admittedly the WORST at wanting to run there at the first hint of snow with panicked thoughts about whether we have the essentials… like brownie mix…) lots of items were out of stock and some shelves picked clean. When I had asked Uncle R. what “snow foods” he might want me to cook - should we be snowbound - he mentioned homemade soup… maybe his mom’s delicious hamburger soup. In the store I was amazed to see that there were only a few packs of ground beef remaining in the enormous Kroger meat section…. So I grabbed one.

Now it’s time for a sad confession. After I lugged all that food home, I realized that we were almost out of milk and butter, so I went out again! It’s nuts, but there is something so delicious about the thought of cooking up goodies with snow blustering around outside that made extra effort worthwhile.

Friday morning there wasn’t much happening weather-wise while I was dressing for work and so I headed out. Halfway to the office I received a call from office mate Tam-lou saying the office was closed – thanks to our kind and bounteous head of office. I was seriously relieved. The thought of picking my tentative way home along miles of snow clad Nashville highways with the most feared of all nature’s dangerous & unpredictable beasts (Nashville drivers) was not a happy one.

As soon as I got home, Uncle R. expressed the hope that there might be soup for lunch, so I got busy. I made Mommas’ homemade vegetable soup and after that made Mama S.’s wonderful hamburger soup. These two soups were pretty much our diet for the weekend, and although Uncle R. wears out on soup pretty soon, I could eat it day after day. Saturday I decided to try Mommas’ cornbread recipe and thought I would list it here for the lovely Pamela’s Girls.

I still smile when I remember squeezing recipes out of Mommas. While she was cooking she never thought about whether it was a half of a teaspoon of salt or one fourth cup of cooking oil… she had baked cornbread for so many years that she just tossed it all in, knowing that it would turn out in its own Southern culinary perfection. I remember that extruding her habitual cooking talents into explanations of cups and spoons made her lean her elbows on the kitchen counter, grip her forehead and sigh deeply with the physical effort.

Mommas’ Corn Bread

1 egg
1 level cup milk
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1 tspn sugar
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 cups cornmeal (use coffee cup)
1/2 cup flour ( use coffee cup)

Mix egg and milk
Add other ingredients
Mix well until ingredients well blended
Put in greased cake pan in 350 oven and cook until golden brown (30 - 40min?)

With love and hugs,

Auntie J.

Big News!!!

We have made a housing decision... We are going to rent a house in Oakdale on the street directly behind Cici and SS. You can see Cici and SS's backyard from the backyard of this house. We will rent this house for a year until we can hopefully sell our house in Forest Acres and find the perfect house for us in Darlington. The bad news is that we'll have to move all over again in a year but the good news is that we will be living in a wonderful neighborhood in the meantime. It's weird because of lot of people who grew up in Oakdale when I did, have now moved back into the neighborhood with their families and now I've joined the list:)

More big news... Boyd is standing and walking (holding on) more and more these days. I really think he'll be a walker soon. He loves the cd that Aunt J gave him for Christmas. I've attached a video of him dancing and singing to the music. I wish it wasn't sideways...oops! He's still growing and changing every day and always giving me new reasons to smile:)

Have a good week Pamela's Girls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N65lWSs2g7w

Love,

~Mommy M

hello! from San Francisco

I finally made it over to the Haight today and finally bought the "hola! bonjour!" shirt I saw years ago and just loved! This sign was outside the store and thought I'd use it to say hi to the Pamela's Girls! After shopping I ate at my favorite Vietnamese noodle shop.
But the initial reason I went to the famous Haight neighborhood was to get my nephew a tshirt. Awhile back I saw this fabulous tshirt designed by a local artist that lived down the street. Baby B was a little too small for it before, but now that he's a big 1 year old he can wear it! The image is shown below of what the tshirt looks like. It should fit him through the spring and summer!

Love from the West to the East,
SanFran S