This little sign is so true. My darling grandchildren are wonderful! They are sweet, intelligent and charming. They obviously take after me!

This phone is more like a multi-function device instead of a phone. You can make calls with it, but it also sends text messages, lets you get on the internet, provides GPS mapping, plays music and movies, and take pictures and videos. Its like a tiny computer, Walkman and Kodak all mixed together in a tiny box with a screen.

i don’t think I can justify spending $600 on a cell phone with all those extra gadgets. It would take me a very long to just learn how to use them all. I’m glad Haley is young and able to learn all of this as she goes. Catching up is getting harder to do as each day goes by, and I don’t think I can keep up with these young people with their fancy technology any more.

That is why I find it so odd that many parents around here are freaking out about teaching the children about evolution or creationism. They even considered legislation about it and passed a law that appears to bring the whole state back to the ignorance and mentality of the Scopes Monkey trial, over 80 years ago. What on earth are these people thinking? We don’t need to go back to the mentality of people from 1925. Have we not learned anything in over 80 years?

As it turns out, the original developer of this neighborhood must have really liked magnolia trees, because I can see a magnolia tree was deliberately planted in the front yard of every third house all the way down my block, on both sides of the street. That is actually a large number of magnolia trees and that many would not just be a coincidence.

The trees are actually evergreens, which means they keep their leaves throughout the year and do not drop their leaves like all the deciduous trees here. But they are mostly known for their beautiful, large white blossoms, which last a long time and are very popular for southern brides bouquets and decorations in the home.

But like every absolute, we humans like to challenge them on occasion. I imagine that is a big problem for the wives of celebrities, wanting to so something with their spouse or family and being restricted by a schedule. It is always tempting to try to get an exception for one “good reason” or another. But a professional cannot afford the luxury of canceling a commitment or they risk getting a bad reputation for not showing up – and that can be a career killer.

One of the advantages of being an adult over the holidays is that you can kick up the level of decorations and special touches just a notch. We don’t have any brown speckled eggs from the kids dipping their Easter eggs into every single color of dye instead of choosing just one color. We can make pretty things and, if they last, they can be handed down later as heirlooms.

New garden tools are not all that expensive, and if you are going to be using them daily – or at least a few times each week – they are a good investment.

Now that it is back to the two of us, I can go to the grocery store and buy 4-5 sacks of food, but they are the smaller plastic bags, not the big brown ones. And I spend over one hundred dollars.

However, last weekend we went grocery shopping together and I spent $140 dollars. I don’t recall buying anything unusual or extravagant, but it was forty dollars more than what I am used to spending for a week’s worth of groceries. I have a bad feeling that inflation is creeping up on us all.

I do not bake cheesecakes. It is just not something I have undertaken but this picture has me craving a slice of cheesecake exactly like this one!

My mother bakes cheesecakes for my brother on special occasions, like his birthday. I wish she would bake me a cheesecake. I love them, too!