A Birthday Surprise

This past weekend we made our fourth trip to Florida in seven months to celebrate David's mom's 50th birthday. It was a surprise party for her, and she was definitely surprised. Her actual birthday is in September, so having her party in late July was a great way to surprise her. Everyone in the family was able to make it, and we had a great time hanging out. The next time we'll probably all be together is for David's sister Allison's wedding next March.



The whole gang!



David and his mom.



Grandma and her six kids!

We also had the chance to spend time with David's dad and my family. Thanks for the delicious friend chicken, potato salad and macaroni and cheese Mom!

Christian the Lion

Thanks to my good friend Mandy for sharing this clip. If you're a cat lover or just appreciate animals and their amazing and loving connections to humans, you'll enjoy this video. It reminds me of my "little lions," Dolly and Sammie and how much they "love" us. In fact, did you hear that Dolly just became a hurricane? I hope she just brings needed rain and no harsh storms to Texas and Mexico.

Diva Dolly

Since we don't have human children yet, we like to occasionally dress up our cats. They aren't always fond of it, but they always get extra treats afterward. Recently, I let Dolly play Diva for a little while with this fashionable scarf.



On another note, Sammie has become extremely attached to me. I know I'm home more during the summer, but if I leave the room that she and I are both in, she follows me around until I'm sitting down again. If I go to the bathroom and close the door, when I open it, she is there. Even when I use our Wii video console, which involves standing up, she stands next to me. If she is sleeping, she doesn't notice if I'm not in the same room, but if she wakes up, she starts to wonder where I am. I have a kitty stalker! :) At least she doesn't jump up on the kitchen counters like she did when we first got her.

Cleaning out the Fridge

Sometimes I go on a cleaning frenzy, and that happened during the past week. I start organizing drawers and wiping unseen corners. I tend to get obsessive about it, but I can't stand living in a dirty house.

I cleaned the refrigerator and freezer from top to bottom. They weren't that dirty, but a few of the items in them should have seen the trash a lot sooner. One such item that we threw away several months ago was a piece of groom's cake from our wedding more than four years ago. For some reason, it made the move with us from Florida to Tennessee, but it should have been thrown out a long time ago. David and I both were brave enough to taste it, but it was severely freezer burned. I know four years is a long time to keep cake, but we didn't set the record by any means. I remember reading a story last year about a couple who had kept their wedding cake in the freezer for more than 30 years! Yummy!

A Bear in the Mountains

This past Fourth of July weekend we traveled about an hour and half up the road to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains. Some might have said we were crazy to venture into this crowded area on a holiday weekend, but Gatlinburg has the distinction of having the first Independence Day parade in the nation since it starts at 12 a.m. on July 4. It was a late night but a great parade with close to 100,000 people in attendance.

While we were there, we ate at a few of our favorite places. The Best Italian Cafe and Pizzeria is a new find within the past few years, but a great bargain. The meals are fresh, delicious and plenty, and you'll probably ask for a take-home box. One of my family's all-time favorites is the Pancake Pantry, which has been around since 1960 and serves breakfast all day, but we prefer their gourmet sandwiches at lunch. They also have a restaurant in Nashville, but I was told by the manager one time that they ship their pancake batter to that location since they don't want to give up the secret recipe. The Peddler is also a great place for fine dining, and we dined there on July 4 for dinner before the fireworks.

On a rainy Saturday morning, we drove up into the mountains to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smokies and Tennessee. It was rainy and cloudy, and the higher you climb, the lower the temperature drops. It was a chilly 54 degrees on top, and we even got to see a black bear...well kind of. It was a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's 69th birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! He was born at home at his parent's farmhouse in 1939, and his mother didn't have any pain killers I'm sure. Moving to Knoxville has meant we no longer get to celebrate family birthdays, which I miss a lot. We'll be with you in spirit tonight dad as you celebrate at Outback. Enjoy! Happy Birthday! We love you!

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of the first summer session at UT, so it's my last day teaching Journalism and Electronic Media 200, the introduction to mass media writing course. We've met every day of the week (Monday-Friday) since June 2, but I don't mind.

I really enjoy teaching during the summer. Overall, the students perform better. I don't know if it's because we meet daily, and they are only taking my class and maybe one other, or what it is, but I really get to know them.

Sometimes I feel like an elementary school teacher who has to say good-bye on the last day. I'll actually miss seeing some of them and having vibrant class discussions. I might have some of these students again if they take the radio and television reporting class this fall that I'm teaching. Let's hope!

Happy Fourth of July!

Remembering Papa

I was sitting outside tonight as a thunderstorm starting rolling through, and it reminded me of how my Papa used to sit outside on his back porch and watch the rain fall. He loved to watch the thunder and lightning. I should have written this post yesterday, the 10th anniversary of his death, but I couldn't do it for some reason.

It's hard to believe Papa has been gone for 10 years. He didn't live to see my or my brother's college graduations or weddings. In my opinion, he died too young. I would give anything to have my grandparents in my life right now. Thankfully, David's grandma on his mom's side is still in great health, but she is the only grandparent we still have with us along with Jean-Paul's parents in Luxembourg who are well into their 90s.

Papa is the one who taught me my multiplication tables, even though he didn't make it past the 8th grade. He served in the military and was told he had to teach trigonometry, so he learned how to do trigonometry. He made the best homemade biscuits in the world along with fried catfish and hamburgers. He invested in the stock market and would be amazed to know the Dow is now more than 10,000. A lifelong Democrat, I'm sure he'd have an opinion about a possible Obama/Hilllary ticket. I can remember him showing me a postcard he received in the mail from Michael Dukakis when he was running for president in the 1980s.

I miss him and my grandma (known as Ghee. When my parents told me, "This is grandma and grandpa," I replied, "No, this is Ghee and Papa.") dearly, but I like to think of them up there in heaven, having breakfast, lunch or an early supper with my dad's parents and my Grandpa Mabra, who I never had the honor of meeting. I hope they are proud of us because I'm certainly proud to be their granddaughter.

Also, I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to Miss Edna Harrell, who is 95 today! She's a member of the family and was one of Ghee's good friends. During our phone conversation today, I asked her the secret to living to be 95 years, and her response was, "a lot of hard work and a strong belief in Jesus." Happy Birthday Miss Edna!

You Can't Say That on Television!

Comedian George Carlin died Sunday of heart failure at age 71. He is most famously known for a monologue in 1972 about the seven dirty words that can't be said on television. The next year, he did a similar routine, but that version was broadcast uncensored on a New York radio station, which eventually lead to a U.S. Supreme Court case that defined acceptable free speech limits on U.S. broadcast television and radio.

Ironically, I had just talked to my class about him and the seven dirty words last week when we talked about what you can and can't say on television and how to handle interview subjects who like to drop a four-letter word in every sentence. There are more than 400,000 words in the English language, but these seven still remain off limits on broadcast television and radio. Cable is a different ball game, but that could be changing.

Regardless of how you feel about these "dirty words," Carlin was an entertaining comedian who joked about many topics other than these words, including children of yuppies, all the "stuff" we collect and don't really need, the uselessness of bottled water and writing his own obituary. If you're interested in watching his original monologue where he says the seven dirty words and variations of them, it's below. Warning: This video might not be suitable for children or those highly offended by profanity to hear.

Helicopter Parents

I don't know where this week has gone. Teaching every day means grading every day, and I also gave my students a midterm exam since we're halfway through our five-week summer session. Needless to say, I'll be grading all weekend, but I love teaching.

This week has also been trying since I had a student show up the first week of class and then miss all last week only to show up again this week with a series of excuses. I'll spare you the details, but it's amazing how so many college students today depend on their parents. We like to call them helicopter parents since they hover over their children, who are legal adults, and want to make their lives are as perfect as possible.

I have wonderful and supportive parents, but my parents never would have called a college professor to complain about a grade I earned. For those of us teaching now, we're facing a privileged generation that has been taught they are all winners and they are all special. In the eyes of parents, their children are special, but that doesn't mean they are the best at everything they do.

College is a time for young women and men, who are now adults, to find out about the world and how to live in it on their own for the most part. The family support network should still exist, but it can't help them from falling and failing each and every time they make a mistake. As one of my colleagues recently said, "The world isn't interested in your excuses, only your results."

Life Moves On...

I know it's been a week since I posted something, but teaching every day and keeping up with grading is quite time consuming. I can't believe how fast the summer session is flying by.

I did make some time this week to go to see Sex and the City with some friends. I thought it was well-written with many funny, sad, happy and emotional moments. Because of how many summer movies appear, I was surprised that it was only it's second full week in the theaters, but it was only showing on one screen several times a day.

Finally, on Friday night, we went to the Downtown Grill and Brewery in Knoxville to celebrate a colleague's birthday and bid a fond farewell to another colleague, Jim Miller, who successfully defended his dissertation earlier this week. He and his family are moving back to Arkansas where he teaches at Harding University. Jim is a great person and teacher, and his departure made me realize how fast graduate school progresses. Later this summer, several other colleagues will be moving, and next year this time as I'm hopefully finishing the program, I'll be saying good-bye to friends I didn't know several years ago. I know we'll stay in touch and see each other at conferences, but it is still hard to say good-bye.

It's HOT!!!

So it's been rather warm, OK, hot, up here in East Tennessee during the past week. In fact, it's a lot hotter this June than last year, and it's painfully reminding us of Florida's hot and humid weather. We hope it cools off soon. It was in the lower 90s today with a heat index in the shade of 100 degrees, and in the sun it felt like 105-110 degrees. Not fun!

The lack of rain in many southern states has made it difficult for farmers, including my dad. There isn't any grass for cattle and other livestock to eat, and hay bales and other food items have skyrocketed in cost due to supply and demand, higher gas prices, other reasons, etc. One of the local radio staions in Knoxville, WIVK, is holding a benefit concert for farmers in East Tennesse in late July. They're hoping to raise $100,000 to buy hay for area farmers. Let's hope they raise that and a lot more!

On a lighter note about the heat, I'll always remember a saying posted on a familiar business where I grew up in Gainesville, FL. During the summer it read, "Spring has sprung, Fall has fell, Summer weather is hotter than Hell!." I used to love repeating it as we drove by in the car since I wasn't supposed to say the word "hell." Do you remember that Mom and Dad?

The Living Room Candidate

The historic 2008 presidential election is less than five months away, and we all know what that means...endless commercials for and against John McCain and Barack Obama. For a look back at entertaining, funny, inspirational and very different commericals from election year's past, The Living Room Candidate is a great Web site. The commercials date back to 1952 when Dwight Eisenhower ran against Adlai Stevenson and won.

Young Hillary Clinton

As most of the world knows, Hillary Clinton has finally decided to quit the good fight and endorse Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama Saturday. Last week, David found this entertaining video about a "Young Hillary Clinton." How many of you think Obama will choose Hillary as his vice presidential running mate?

Sammie isn't Siamese afterall

Many of you probably know we have two cats, a grey Mackerel Tabby named Dolly and Sammie, who until yesterday we thought was a true Siamese. David was perusing through a book store and found a cat book that described another related breed called Tonkinese. According to the Cat Fanciers' Association, the Tonkinese breed is a cross between the Siamese and Burmese cat breeds. Based on the entry, it appears Sammie is indeed a Tonkinese based on her facial features, size and personality. These cats are commonly referred to as tonks.

According to the Web site: "Tonk is two types of cat in one body. One mode is active, but not hyper, with a muscular body. They play fetch, climb cat trees and fly through the house at warp speed. The second mode is cuddly and loving. They are not an aloof, independent cat; they are best for someone who wants a lap cat. They are dog-like in that they require and demand attention."

This describes Sammie to a tee. She loves running around the house at times and has even jumped on top of the refrigerator since we don't have trees growing in our house. She also loves attention, and if there is a spare lap in the house, she demands to sit on it. We've often said she acts like a dog. She was named Sammie since the woman we know who found her thought she was a Siamese. I think it's too late though to rename her Tammie.

A Fresh Start

I've had a blog since November 2006 when I created one as part of teaching an introduction to news writing class at the University of Tennessee, however I haven't been a regular blogger. I intend to change that since I'm a writer by profession, and it's a great way to let family and friends know what I'm up to on a regular basis. One way to be a better writer is to write and write and write.

Speaking of writing, I'm teaching a five-week summer class about writing for the mass media. We meet five days a week for an hour and a half. It's intense, but I really get to know my students. I started teaching Monday, after returning from Florida for the second time in two weeks. The first Florida trip was for my brother's wedding. I can't believe he is married. The second was to celebrate my parent's 40th wedding anniversary celebration. Both were wonderful occasions despite the long trips down there and back. We wouldn't have missed them for anything.