Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat...

Wow, hello May. Where did the month of April go? Shall we take a look back over the past few weeks. I went to a surprise birthday party Friday. I suppose it was was surprise for all since I really didn't know anyone. I did before the night was over. All the little old ladies made sure to introduce themselves to me and welcome me to Clay County. Turned out to be a fun night. I was pumped up for a hike in Cheaha. Mother nature however, had other plans. On to plan B...a trip to the McWane Science Center in Birmingham with a friend. What a fun place!! The kid in me definitely came out and I had a blast. I laid on a bed of nails and briefly considered a career as a magician. I forgot that and quickly turned to car and body mechanics as I assembled my very on car to race around the magnetic track. The five year old next to me looked very satisfied and delighted that his car was faster than mine. Next it was on to test my reflexes and response time as I competed with a robot. I wasn't so good at the expert level and the little girl that was watching was very quick to inform me, "You are losing. The robot is beating you." Ouch, a shot to my ego from a 7 year old. A quick break for an IMAX movie and then it was on to shopping. I was salivating thinking about lettuce wraps at PF Chang's but immediately lost my appetite after we were told about the 90 minute wait. At the recommendation of my friend Wendy, we drove along Cahaba Heights Road and looked for a unique "mom and pop" restaurant. We chose this little hole in the wall place. Mediterranean cuisine...yummy. I love that our food came out in our own glass casserole dish. I thoroughly enjoyed my food and was not the least little bit deterred by the tornado siren roaring in the background. Who knew that I was living in tornado ally? Watch the radar from now on. Any storm coming from Mississippi rolls right through here and it happens in the afternoon and at night.



The weekend before was fun filled and very much needed. My friend Seana and I decided at the last minute to go to the beach, trying to prove that we are still spontaneous as we age. My mission was to toss a mullet at the annual Mullet Toss. Unfortunately the line was really long and I preferred to relax on the beach. I can't begin to explain how awesome the weather the was. Lying on my lounge chair under an umbrella with the rolling waves before me was heaven. Until the off duty cop from Ohio showed up with his friends. Every other word was an explicative and he stood in a stance ready to pounce. He was not impressive and more like a character in Revenge of the Nerds with his swim shorts pulled up to his chest. Oh the people watching. It was wonderful. I took a book but just could not get involved because I was too busy looking around. Let's see what else. Oh yeah, we got stuck in the sand. Apparently Seana's jeep is not 4-wheel drive and the close parking space was not the rock star parking I thought it was. Lucky for us, there was an abundance of people willing to help us. I easily flagged down a big truck with two eager guys willing to help in exchange for our parking place. A quick connection of a chain, a little tug and we were on our way. Now I am forgetting something...oh yeah, did I mention all the freaks we encountered. Gone are the days of sending subtle cues "I am not interested." Guys seem to ignore those now. Just short of turning our backs completely away from this one particular guy, Seana and I finally had to walk away. I did love his pick-up line though-"It was something in your eyes that drew me to you." Looks like I will be wearing my poker glasses from now on. We ended our beach weekend by visiting some old friends in Mobile and eating lunch with some new friends at one of our favorite restaurants in downtown Mobile.



Two months left here in Clay County. Where to next? Only time will tell. Hopefully I will be working my way back closer south just in time for hurricane season.

Annie Get Your Gun and Glittered Eggs

Wow it has been a long time since I blogged. Please don't mistake my absence from writing as an indication that I have not been doing anything. It has more to do with a pact that I made with myself. I recently completed a book titled "One Month to Live" (a recommended read) which is all about looking at your life from the perspective that you are dying. What would you change? What would you do differently? The question then is why not do all of those things now? Why wait? Anyway, during one of the chapters it has you evaluate your time and determine if it is productive and purposeful. No big surprise, playing on my computer, surfing the world wide web, getting sucked into facebook, ect consumed a lot of my time. I decided then to limit my activity on the computer.

So now that I am not spending as much time playing on the computer, what have I been up to? I bought a pistol and have been practicing shooting it. After my first class, I hit three out of four targets dead on. I have almost talked myself into going back to school to get my doctorate degree and I am currently studying for the GRE. I have been playing my guitar more and finally finishing the stack of books I been meaning to read.

I have recently decided to extend my contract here in Lineville, Alabama. I know you are asking, "what would possess you to extend in a podunk town like Lineville?" Well, I like the job and the people, so I figured I could handle another three months. I am also excited to be in this area for the spring and summer...hiking, fishing, etc. Besides, I feel like a local now. I don't hear "you are not from here are you?" as often, and when I hear gossip in the office now, I actually know who they are talking about. My favorite quote here is, "I don't like to gossip, but did you hear about..." Yep, I have learned the lingo. They don't have breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have breakfast, dinner and supper. They often get "tarred" meaning they are exhausted and they cook over "fars". Forget grammer and rules of English. They really don't exist. I cringe every time I hear a double negative, slang words, or improper use of past tense or plurals. I have learned that sweet milk is the same as buttermilk and goes great on cornbread all mashed up. I also have it on good authority that biscuits are great when dropped into coffee. I am no longer shocked to see an 85 year old lady dipping snuff, and I have just about gotten used to hearing the female anatomy referred to as "pocket book or purse." I just hope that I can tolerate Virginia for three more months.





This past weekend I was able to go home and visit with my family for Easter. As usual I anticipated and welcomed the chaos that accompanies having a house full of kids under the age of six. Being the great aunt that I am, I took the kids to the playground. My instructions were "wear them out so they will take a nap." They had fun pretending Mason was a dragon and they were running from him all over the castle. After a long afternoon on the playground, we returned home to make a big chocolate chip cookie for my brother's birthday. They lost interest with baking when mom decided to let them dye eggs and add glitter to them. Not to worry, their attention returned to the cookie when it was time to lick the bowl. We had a successful Easter egg hunt. I think we only lost one egg. Mom threw a new twist on hunting eggs and put money in some of them. So instead of assessing how much candy and how many eggs they each had at the end of the hunt, they were counting their money. Why didn't mom do this when we were kids? I then endured being tackled by my nephews and loved every minute of it.
Saturday we went downtown for the race and enjoyed some music from a local band. Laurel entertained us all by dancing all around the stage, by herself of course. Yes, I adore my niece and nephews and love spending time with them. They never fail to put you in your place and they frequently say things that make you laugh hysterically. My time off for Easter was too short. Back to work.





I am looking forward to warm weather and being able to get outside and enjoy it. Hope to be able to visit with some of you soon.

Mantras, Musings and Grits

I spent this past weekend in Birmingham, Alabama. While the main reason for going was to attend a conference, it provided me the opportunity to stay and visit with my friend Wendy and her family. I enjoyed the conference and the courses that I attended. My favorite course was about counseling patients and families. I loved that the speaker frequently threw out mantras and I jotted them down quickly. If you should feel like I am analyzing you now when we speak...I am. I also got to see former colleagues, friends from grad school, and vendors that I have met in past. One particular vendor was a husband/wife team that branched out and started their own company. I met them about five years ago and frequently run into them from time to time. Anyway, we exchanged information. They both told me "We would love to have you as a part of our team." That networking thing really does work. Who knows, may be an opportunity.

I also got to go to Wendy's baby shower. She is expecting a baby girl soon. I am so excited to be close enough now attend special occasions like this. It was fun girls night full of oohs and aahs over the cute baby stuff.

The weather this weekend was so awesome I just couldn't stand to be inside. I decided that on my way home from Birmingham that I would take the road less traveled and set out on a adventure. I knew there was a covered bridge near Childersburg and I made it my mission to find it. I love how there are visible signs on the major highway directing you to the bridge but once you are on the back roads you are on your own. I was determined to find this bridge. After taking county road after county road knowing that I was in the vicinity, I "happened upon it." Much to my surprise, there was a grist mill near the bridge. Besides a few bikers taking a rest break, I was the only other visitor. Some would be alarmed by this, but I have learned that the fewer the people, the more questions I get to ask and the more attention I get. A little lady greeted me in the parking lot and the history lesson began. The Kymulga Covered Bridge and Kymulga Mill are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. They are the only pair of such structures in Alabama still standing together in their original location. Lynn would explain to me that at one time nearly every Alabama community had a gristmill. Farmers would arrive in wagons with their corn to be ground into meal. In most mills the grindstone was turned by power from a large wheel moved by the weight of the water. Mills were used less after the Civil War when farmers began to grow more cotton. The Kymulga Mill still operates so that visitors can see the old way of grinding and can purchase fresh, stone-ground meal. It still has some of the original equipment dating back to the late 1800's and early 1900's. It is a three-and-one-half story frame building that once housed five sets of stones powered by four turbines. The middle bean that runs along the ceiling was from a whole tree. Alabama stone was comprised of high levels of lime which left he stones weak and proned to break. Therefore, the large stones were shipped in from all over the world. One of the stones there was from France. I also learned that the left over grain that didn't get sifted into the grits or meal was used to make moonshine. It kept the locals warm and fuzzy on Sundays. Now the left over is used to feed animals.



They typically don't grind on Sunday, but I got lucky and was able to get some freshly stone-ground grits. I can't wait to cook them. I am thinking "shrimp and grits." So my aimless searching for a covered bridge ended up being a fun, history filled day beside the Talladega Creek.




There is a possibility that I just may get my dream job. I will know more this week about a potential opportunity in Alaska. Yeah!!! Alaska. I feel confident that I will be able to quit traveling if I could end on Alaska.

To be continued...

News Travels Fast

How great was it that it snowed today? I will get to that in a moment. First things first. It is all coming back to me now...small town living, knowing everyone, everyone knowing you, no secrets!! This past weekend I went on a date (not with bubblegum boy-refer to previous blog entry). I suppose the one perk of everyone knowing your business is the fact that I knew he was going to ask me out before he asked me out. In fact, I knew exactly what we were going to do on that date before he ever asked me out. Yes, the joy of living in a small town. I can't wait until Monday to find out what I did this weekend and see if the stories match what really happened. Anyway, I had a good time on the date Friday night and we decided to do it again Saturday night. I felt like I was back in highschool. He picked me up from the B&B and came in the B&B and met Virginia along with about five of her family members in town for a birthday party. Actually, he didn't meet all of them. The ones that were not from out of town, he knew them and hugs were exchanged. I don't know why but I felt compelled, but I informed Virginia of my plans and my expected arrival time home. After an enjoyable night out for dinner and a play at the local theater where we watched an interactive Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, we returned to the B&B. We were sitting in the truck talking and we could see someone looking out the window. It was Virginia. Not long after that the front porch light was turned on and off and few times. We both laughed and it was at that point I decided "I better go in before momma Virginia comes out to get me." She and her family (who were staying at the B&B this weekend) were still awake. Actually they were quite giddy from the wine they had been drinking, which is quite comical since they are all in their late 70's. After telling them about the play, I went to bed. Which leads me back to my initial comment. How great was it that it snowed today?


Yep, woke up Sunday morning with a fresh blanket of snow. It was so pretty coming down. I had to work but I couldn't wait until I got to come home and play!! The patients loved it. Some were concerned about the birds, some said they better stay in today, it looked cold outside. Others, were frequently surprised when they looked out their window and realized it was snowing, forgetting that they had just done the same thing about five minutes ago. I quickly made it through my workload and headed home to build my snowman. What fun. I hope it snows again soon. It was gone way too quickly.