A New Bread Recipe I have a ton of bread recipes.  I have artisan bread that is chewy.  I have Nana’s Parker House roll recipe.  I can’t count the number of cornbread, hush puppy and biscuit recipes I have. But one thing I have never had (before now) is a recipe for bread that compares to the soft sandwich bread we buy in stores.  Here is my  “soft bread” experiment. First, let me say that necessity really is the mother of invention.  Jerry was making hamburgers.  We had no buns.  We have the babies and chewy bread wouldn’t do.  Voila…the necessity of a soft bread recipe finally weighed heavily enough…

Blessed In the middle of all of this, all I can think about (well, all I think about because there are moments where I do feel a bit overwhelmed) is how blessed we are.  I need to focus on that more and more.  I get to spend my days with the cuteness you see above.  I am blessed. A First Baptist First We started today with our first ever live broadcast from First Baptist Church Mertens.  Do y’all remember “Broadcasting from beautiful downtown Burbank…”?  I think that was the Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral.  Downtown Mertens isn’t Burbank, but the word of God was preached and people on…

There Is Nothing Wrong at Our House There is nothing wrong at our house except… The furniture has turned into a playground and the house is a racetrack. Izzy took off all of her clothes during nap time and realized she can use her toes to climb out of her playpen.  I caught her seconds away from diving headfirst onto the concrete floor.  Not exactly something I want to explain to her parents.  Not to mention having to go to an emergency room these days. JW is at the age where everything (most of the time) is his.  If he looked at it a few minutes ago, it is his. …

Irony Okay.  I was trying to fall asleep last night, but my mind was revisiting all of March 20th’s events.  How would I make sense of them?  Irony seemed to fit the bill best. Since school is closed for most, here is a vocabulary lesson.  The first definition of irony is “the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.”  That isn’t my style… The second definition is “a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.”  Hmmmmm  Okay, I thought, this is getting really close to…

It Is All About Learning I keep seeing lots of posts from my teacher friends about what they are doing to keep teaching during this.  Many are plowing new ground in the virtual world, others are old pros.  Some parents are also beginning to reach out.  They are asking for ideas and support. Here at White Rock, we learned a lot today.  Here are a few of our discoveries. Thunder Follows Lightning On top of our self-imposed semi-isolation, it was storming this morning.  I am wondering if the rain is serving to make staying at home seem more natural or more painful.  It changes moment to moment.  This morning it…

The Adventure Begins On March 17, instead of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, Jerry headed north to get our grandson.  I headed south to get our granddaughter.  I don’t know what it is about times of uncertainty, but when things like this happen, I want my babies with me.  John and Beth are working from home.   Jillian and Mike are basically doing the same.  One daycare had closed, giving no warning to parents…the other was days away from making a similar decision.  Jerry is teaching online for the foreseeable future and so it made sense for us to have the babies. We told the parents we wanted them for two weeks…

Tamales I have no idea where the tradition came from or when it really started.  We have tamales for dinner on Christmas Eve and we have for as long as I can remember.  I don’t remember Nana or Mother ever making their tamales, however.  They were purchased and steamed just before serving.  Along with the tamales, there was queso, chili, chips, and so on. Jerry and I first made tamales back in 1993 while we were living in Athens, Georgia.  We were a long way from home and we had a hankering for them.  The Navy provided us with many opportunities to miss something from home and to have to…

Background I am pretty certain that the major general mentioned in the letter is Lucius M. Walker.  I am basing this mostly on the fact that John Wood mentions both Marmaduke and Walker in the letter and he wrote the letter either  on his way to the Arkansas/Missouri area or from the area where these two men (Marmaduke and Walker) were also known to be. John S. Marmaduke  and Walker get into an altercation…really a difference of opinion over a battle strategy and they end up dueling.  Walker is wounded and dies.   The Letter April the 12, 1863 White Rock Hill Co Texas   Dear Mother, I have taken…