The Help

By far, I think my favorite book is The Help. I couldn't put it down. My book group read it and they all loved it too. I went to see the movie yesterday and it made me laugh and cry. If academy awards don't get handed out to at least some of the people who worked on that movie, it will be a sin.
After I read the book, I called my Mom. When I was growing up in Gulfport, Mississippi in the early 60's, we had a maid named Geraldine. Now I don't remember much about Geraldine, but I remember I liked her. I asked my Mom to tell me more about her. My Mom said Geraldine worked for her Mom, my Grandmother also. She would work some days for my Grandmother and some for my mom. At the time, my Mom had three children. I was the baby. My Mom said she didn't remember much about her except that Geraldine's husband worked as a janitor at the high school for my Grandfather. My Grandfather was James Landrum. He was principal of Gulfport High School and also the football coach. Apparently Geraldine's husband would some times drink too much and end up in jail. When he wouldn't show up for work, my Grandfather would go down to the jail, bail him out, and bring him to the high school so he would do his job as janitor.
My Mom also told me when she was pregnant with my brother, her fourth child, Geraldine found out about it and said to my Mom, "Ms. True, I'm gonna have to quit. I don't do four babies!"
After a while we moved to Nashville, Tennessee and got a maid named Rose. I remember her more. She was tall and strong. She kept us in line. My two older sisters and I often picked on our younger brother since he was the only boy (bless me brother for I have sinned!). But Rose protected my brother. She would get onto us for ganging up on him.
One day we were playing in the back yard. This huge green garden snake came up on the back porch. Rose came running out when she heard our screams. She didn't hesitate at all to grab a log from the wood pile and beat that snake to smithereens! My siblings and I stood in aw with our mouths wide open having witnessed the killing. We knew then and there that Rose was there to look out for us and protect us.
I wish I could remember more about Geraldine and Rose. God bless them for putting up with all of us. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, be a ghost, and watch people live their lives just to get a glimpse of what their lives really were like. But that is what movies are for. To get a glimpse of what it might have been like in the past.
I teach my children that people are the same, no matter what color their skin is. The only thing that matters is how they treat others. And to follow the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or as Paul McCartney wrote, "the love you take is equal to the love you make".

Big Dog Field of Dreams

I was in the back yard recently with Big Dog. We have a back yard and a vby (very back yard). They are seperated by a fence and the vby grass has not been cut in about a year. So the grass is up to my knee. I watched Big Dog walk into the vby and it reminded me of the movie Field of Dreams when the baseball players walked into the corn field and disappeared. So I made a movie about it. It's short, but worth the view.

Since I'm having trouble with blogger uploading it you'll have to go to my youtube page:
youtube.com/user/truemook, then click on Field1.

The Adventures of Big Dog & Little Dog

Click on image to enlarge.

Hello Muddah, hello Faddah

It's a right of passage... sending your kids off to camp. I never attended camp when I was growing up, but I was a camp counselor for two summers. It was a lot of fun and it's a great summer job for teenagers too. When I sent my daughter to camp, she didn't have any worries because her best friend went with her. She had a blast. This summer I sent my twin 8 year old boys to their first overnight camp. Joe didn't have any hesitation to go to an overnight camp. Jake, on the other hand, started to worry when he found out he was going to be in a different cabin than Joe. I told him that two other boys that we know were going to be in his cabin, but that didn't seem to make things better. The camp directors told me they usually split up siblings unless the parents request them to be together. I said that was fine. I like for my boys to be separated since they spend so much time together anyway. I told Jake everything would be fine, that he would still see Joe during the day, then I kissed him goodbye and drove back home wondering if I had done the right thing.

You see, I am a recovering Catholic. And I still have major Catholic guilt. You can take the girl out of the Catholic church, but you can't take the Catholic church out of the girl! So the guilt set in. And I worried. And I worried some more. I sent both Jake & Joe email letters each day with a happy, positive attitude. Then the guilt started to fade away. When I went to go pick them up, they were fine. I told Jake it was time to leave and he said hold on, then he went and hugged his counselors goodbye. They both said they had a good time and that they wanted to do it again next summer. When I was cleaning out their suitcases I found a letter Jake had written to us. Now spelling is not Jake's strong suit, so here is his letter in "Jake speak".

"Mom. dad todey was fun I didint waent to go at frst but i sems fun and I maed noowe fends waer whint swiming and tuke a swimng test to swim in the depend and I pasd the test so can you send me a ledr I LYve yYu."

Have scissors ... will destroy

Oh the things little boys will do while you're folding laundry! My very creative son, Jake, decided to get the scissors and cut a little cave out of the bush near our back deck. Thank goodness its a type of bush that grows like a weed. So I believe it will recover soon. Now, as far as Jake is concerned, he will be perpetually creating stuff out of just about anything.

Another example is one morning I woke up and he had used up the entire roll of aluminum foil to build a rocket. My first thought was to reprimand him for using up all the foil, but then when I saw how excited he was with his creation and he even explained to me how he had fit his Snoopy inside the capsule, I was so impressed with his creativity. I praised him for his talents and bought a new roll of aluminum foil.

So the rain will come, hopefully. And the bush will grow back, hopefully. And Jake will grow up to be an engineer, or something ... just as long as he's happy ... and not destroying plant life.

Snow!

"Snow, snow, just look at the snow. Come out, come out, come out in the snow."

Big dog barked at it. Little dog ran, ran, and then ran some more in it. The kids stayed out until dark in it. I actually joined in a snow ball fight. It's really cool to see snow when it only comes once every six years or so.

Successful Dinner

I can't believe it, but I actually found an easy chicken dinner that all my kids like. It's been sitting in my recipe box for about 20 years and I thought I'd give it a try.

3-4 skinless chicken breast (cut up)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
shredded cheddar cheese

Mix first 3 ingredients in casserole dish. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

My kids like the rice seperate and I like it together. Give it a try. It's so easy and fast.