Monday Through Friday (This Week... 'cause I've been swamped)

Monday's Musings on All Things Southern: 


Last Friday, I was kidnapped. Huggy Hubby said, "You need a break and I want you to come with me." So, okay. It wasn't technically a kidnapping. I was the willing victim.

So, where did he take me? First, we stopped at McDonald's for a McMuffin. One each. I swore I didn't want one, but then I smelled all that high-fat cooking and said, "Oh, whatever..."

Then we went to a farmer's market. Bought some fresh veggies, baked goods. Saw a dog with one blue eye and one brown. It wasn't high tea at the Ritz, but it was fun.

But THEN, we went to a pawn shop. I'm talkin' this thing was FILLED to CAPACITY with two things that bring harmony to our home: 1) jewelry (especially estate jewelry) and 2) guns.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Eva Marie found a broach she liked. Or a ring. Or a necklace.

No. I found a gun I want. Ruger Mark III, bull barrel, .22/.44. Price was decent but here was the best part. On the sites were these little white dots that made it easier for me to line my vision to the target. See, I am right-handed but left-eyed. In other words, I cannot close my left eye and keep my right eye open but also I can't shoot with my left hand. So ... these little white dots ... well ...

I want this gun, people. Mother's Day is just around the corner. Y'all can call me "Big Mama."

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Tuesday's Southern-style Tune: Montgomery Gentry's "Gone"  I love this song! Just click on the song title for a good-un!

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Wednesday's Southern-style Recipe: Sweet Pickles (what says the South better'n Sweet Pickles??)


Ingredients
7 lbs. cucumbers
2 cups lime
1 cup alum

1 can pickling spice
5 lbs. sugar
1/2 gallon colored, distilled vinegar

Directions


Mix lime with 1 gallon of water and soak cucumbers for 12 hours. Wash cucumbers good. Then, mix alum and 1 gallon of water and soak for another 12 hours. Wash good again. Mix sugar and vinegar in a big pot and add cucumbers and pickling spice (tied in a cloth). Bring to boil and boil for 15 minutes.

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Thursday's Talk About a Book


I finished 98% of my work on the novelization for Unconditional, the movie. An amazing movie and I can only hope what I've done will complement it to the fullest. This book challenged me in more ways than one, the most obvious (for those who know me and my writing habits), I was forced to go waaaaaaaaaaaay deep into my personal pain, which I don't like to do. I don't mind feeling things, but have always feared that if I opened a door too wide, I'd fall into the abyss and never find my way out. Remarkably, I'm still here. And there's more ...

Friday's Southern-Style Faith
(Our Story Continues)


... this will be brief. Mainly because I'm running out of time before I leave for the Florida Christian Writers Conference. If you've been reading this blog, you know that our "daughter" (we had permanent guardianship of her) started showing signs of mental health issues during her 12th year. We'd been told to expect it, that it could happen, but we'd hoped so against it. We'd prayed against it. We'd done everything we thought was right. But ...

Jordynn, age 10

When we were forced to put her in the hospital for a second time (she was cutting), the state of FL got involved (more on that later) and--instead of helping us help her--they took away our rights, threw her into foster care, placed her in the ghetto, and said, "this will take time." Every concern I've had for her has come to pass. Then, this month, she didn't bother to come "home" after school and was listed as "missing" from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday afternoon when she was sent back to the foster home.

We had hoped that this act would cause the state of FL to take notice, but it didn't. Seems foster kids running away is normal, not news. And, when this news came to me (bio family stays in touch with us), that our hopes of getting her medical help were once again pooh-poohed away, I was writing these words for one of the final chapters of Unconditional:

. “I’m so sorry. I’ve wasted precious time. Your precious time, another one of your gifts to me. Thrown away. Tossed aside like the trash littering the Commons. But, I know now. I understand. I get what you’ve always had for me. A purpose and a plan. And I also know now that sometimes those plans mean losing the ones we love the most, and giving them back to you.”

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Well now ... doesn't God have just the most remarkable sense of timing?

[Comments? Register for my next "off my bookshelf" book by telling me what you think about any or all of this!]