Make Mom Laugh

     Looks like Sarah has decided that the best way to get things done is to make a list of all she needs to do and then set about doing it.  I have no idea who she gets this from. I found yesterday's list when I was cleaning the kitchen this morning.  It may be the best "to do" list I've ever read, especially numbers 7 and 8.    My to do list for today includes wrapping more presents, figuring out how to cook a turkey (again), cleaning the living room and helping the kids make a gingerbread house.  After reading Sarah's list I'm going to add "Be Merry" to my own list because sometimes the "merry" in Christmas isn't a given and you have to remind yourself to do it. 

Dear Santa

Two letters to Santa that I've 

mailed to the North Pole this year.

Dear Saint Nicholaus or Santa Clause,             Are you having a good year so far?  You  know it’s coming to your favorite time of the year.  In several days it will be time to saddle up the raindeers and don’t forget to put Rudolph in front.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Glory to God. From, Owen Vallejo

    His wish list included legos and action figures

and nintendo games and books.

    

Dear Santa,             Thank you for Christmas.  And can you say hi to the raindeers for me? Love, Sarah Grace 1. Barbie Dreamhouse 2. AGD bike 3. AGD table and chairs 4. AGD cat 5. AGD sleigh and antlears

On Sarah's list, the abbreviation "AGD"

should be read as "American Girl Doll."

Love the spelling of "raindeer" on both of their lists

and Sarah's spelling of "antlears."

Kids are fun.

December 14th, 1996

We were married

at Holy Ghost Catholic Church

in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The wedding mass began at 7pm rather than

6:30 (like I had originally planned) because my

mother said it was bad luck to get

married on the downward stroke of the clock.*

 

The Pre-Wedding Huddle

with my beautiful bridesmaid friends.

Joel spent his time before the wedding

hanging out with his best friend, Albert,

and reading comic books.

     When Joel proposed to me at the Ruby Tuesday's salad bar he had very few requirements as far as the wedding itself was concerned.  His one request was that we not get married in a hot month.  Because the wedding was going to be in Knoxville that eliminated the months of May through August and of course UT's football season took the remaining fall months out of contention.  So, December 14th it was.  Looking back on it now I think we had a nice wedding. Our reception was at the Knoxville Museum of Art and there was cake and hors d'ouvres and dancing.  It wasn't elaborate but it was pretty much exactly what we wanted.      

* I didn't want to get married at 7 o'clock because "7" is an odd number and I'm not a fan of odd numbers. After some reflection however,  I decided that the 7pm wedding start time cancelled out the fact that our rehearsal dinner was on Friday the 13th  (because those two odd numbers make an even number).  To sum up, Joel wanted a nice cool wedding day and I wanted one that was divisible by 2.

How I Met Your Father

Spring Semester 1993

Des Moines, Iowa

Mock Trial Competition

      Joel and I met in a Constitutional Law class in college. Somebody asked me to go to a midterm study group and Joel was there. He had taken no notes in class that semester, preferring to draw pictures in his sketchbook instead. I had taken excellent notes. At the end of the night he asked if we could go to Kinko's so he could make copies of my notes.  So we did and he did and then he had the nerve to make a better grade on the midterm than me.  Not long after the midterm we ended up on the same Mock Trial team - he joined because he wanted to go to law school and he thought it would look good on his resume while I joined because being on the team exempted me from writing two term papers. A little less than a year after we met and a few days before Joel started law school we went on our first official date.  After an initial awkward moment where he thought I said that dating would not be a good idea we were officially a couple and we both knew that night that we were going to be together for the long haul. So far so good.

A Tale of Two Pageants

The First Grade Nativity Pageant

c. 2007







Owen Vallejo
Black Sheep

      When Owen was in the first grade he was cast as a sheep in the class Nativity Pageant.  While I was hoping for something a little grander like wiseman or shepherd, I made peace with my son being a sheep.  Due to a shortage of costumes that year I volunteered to make Owen's sheep suit and given creative control over the process I decided to make him a black sheep. I didn't want him blending in with the rest of the herd. Owen really got into his role as the black sheep and he decided all on his own that black sheep only have three legs so they fall down a lot when they walk even if you ask them not to. He took one of his very first trips to the principal's office during play practice that December because he was so committed to his three legged black sheep character.  He did make a cute sheep though.



Sarah Vallejo
Sheepette

     Sarah is a first grader this year and she's been talking about the Nativity Pageant on and off since school started in August.  I knew her chances of being chosen as Mary weren't great - she lacks the serene countenance needed to portray the Mother of Our Savior. She's also not blond.  I was fairly secure in the knowledge that my daughter would be an angel in the pageant though (because the girls are always the angels).  I was looking forward to dressing an angel. Imagine my suprise then when I heard that Sarah has not been cast as an angel in the pageant.  She's going to be a sheep.  A sheep!!  While on some level I applaud this avente-gard approach to casting, there's a part of me that feels a little robbed.  As the mother of a daughter I wasn't mentally prepared to be dressing livestock again.  Sarah has made peace with her sheepness and even suggested that she could be a black sheep like her brother.  Owen has said she can be a black sheep if she wants but deep down I think he wants to hang on to his black sheep status.  Also, two black sheep in the family seems redundent.  Sarah and I are working out the costume logistics - how much fluff is too much fluff? can sheep be sparkly? or pink? It's going to be interesting to see how her costume turns out. In some way it also seems fitting that she's a sheep like her brother. 

I Hope It Doesn't Taste Like Feet

Today I am thankful for this box of recipes

that belonged to my mother-in-law, Luz.

By following her directions I turned

this . . .

into this Sweet Potato Casserole . . .

and this Pineapple Casserole (one of Joel's favorites).

        

It wouldn't be a Vallejo Turkey Day without these two dishes. 

There will also be turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and green beans

 and rolls and pie and cheesecake and Ocean Spray Cranberry Jelly.

I made some fancy shmancy orange cranberry sauce a few years ago

but it turns out Joel is a traditionalist and likes his cranberry jelly

straight from the can.  He says the rings around the outside help you cut 

the cranberry slices evenly.  It's hard to argue with that kind of Thanksgiving logic.

Cranberry Sauce!

____________________________________

If you're interested (or confused) - the title of this post is a reference to one

of the best episodes of "Friends" ever made.  

Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign

A few weeks ago I traveled to Washington, DC to attend a rally. The trip began as a lark - a comment on Facebook sparked the idea and then before I could really consider all the downsides (flying, public transportation, wading into a crowd of 10 million people) I found myself sitting on an airplane headed for Dulles.  We spent Friday touring Washington but the real purpose of our trip was to attend to The Rally to Restore Sanity on Saturday afternoon.  The photo on the left was our view of the stage during the rally.  Although we were clearly not in the front row, we were in a great spot - almost dead center with the stage and right between two jumbotron screens. All in all it was not a bad place to be.  The rally was fun and the people around us were friendly and agreeable.  There was lots of good-natured frustration and laughter on the OVERCROWDEDMETROCARS and in the lines for the port-o-potties. I guess if you're going to have 10 million people* come together in our nation's capital for a "rally for sanity" it helps that everyone remembers to bring their sense of humor.  Other than seeing Jon Stewart live and in person again ('cause I am a groupie) and meeting up with friends from far away places, the best part about the day was reading all the signs that people had made.  I took some photos of my favorites and thought I would share. 

This was not my favorite sign, but it was the most easily recognizable sign that we were close to.  When I saw crowd shots of the millions of people who attended the rally I was able point out where we were standing.  Unfortunately, we were with near stupid.  It's one of those situations where you can pick your friends and you can pick your sign, but you can't pick your friend's sign.  So yeah, at the Rally to Restore Sanity my friends and I were five rows back and a little to the right of stupid.

This was my favorite sign.  It's a little hard to read here but it says "I'm annoyed, but it's not that bad."  It's a sign that sums up my general attitude about all things political.  I am a middle of the road, live and let live, what's mine is mine but I can share if I need to 'cause I like driving on roads and visiting state parks, but don't tell me what to do, although feel free to ask me my opinion, Democan/Republocrat.  I enjoy participating in thoughtful debate and discussion and I love my country.  God Bless America!



"Squirrel!"

Love this one for obvious reasons.

Random and funny and a pretty good one word summation 

of the political process.

"Laugh Like A Mad Scientist"

And we did!

This was part of a MythBusters Experiment.

I must give photo credit here to my friend, Wilbur.**

I saw this guy but didn't get a picture of him so when I saw

Wilbur's photos I was thrilled that he had taken one. 

I did have stuff to do, but being at this rally seemed important - so I went.

     "THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAW". This sign wasn't at the rally.  It's outside the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and I took this photo after Dawn and I visited there on Friday afternoon.  I have thought about what I saw inside that museum - about what ignorance and fear and hatred can do to people and I have some things I am mulling over in my head that I'm not really able to articulate very well - yet.  I guess to sum up here I can say that there were lots of folks at the rally wearing shirts or carrying signs that said "I am not afraid of Muslims, Tea Partiers, Socialists, Immigrants, Gun Owners, or Gays . . . but I am afraid of Spiders."  If I were going to make my own "I am not afraid" shirt/sign I would add that "I am afraid of Spiders and Ignorance." 

So, I flew to Washington, rallied on the mall, met up with friends (see photo at left of Barbara, Dawn, Amy, Laura, me and Heather) and made it home in time for Halloween.  It was a fun and successful weekend and I did arrive back in Nashville feeling more sane.  Unfortunately, Monday rolled around and my newfound commitment to responding to life in a sane and rational manner was tested. Thank goodness I was wearing my "Sanity" button that day or things might have gotten out of hand.

*I have no idea how many people were actually there - more than the 100,000 that had planned for but probably less than 10 million. 

** Me and Wilbur



Smitten

The White House

   October 29th, 2010    

     I was lucky enough to spend a beautiful October weekend in Washington, DC.  Although my friend, Dawn, and I only had one day to see the sites, we made the most of our time there. I want to go back with Joel and the kids again  - and soon. I am completely smitten with our nation's capital.

   We began our day at Arlington National Cemetary.  The rows of headstones stretching out in every direction made me think of the poem, In Flanders Fields. That's the Washington Monument off in the distance.

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow

Between the crosses row on row

That mark our place beneath the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

We visited the Tomb of the Unknowns on Friday morning and while we were standing waiting for the changing of the guard ceremony we heard a 21 gun salute in the distance and saw a funeral with a caisson drive past on the road below.  It was quite a moment.  As I stood there watching the changing of the guard ceremony, my overiding thought was how proud this soldier's mother must be. 



   On our way to the Holocaust Memorial Museum I turned around to take another look at the Washington Monument and snapped this photo.  We couldn't have asked for a more picture perfect day. 



Feeding the Fish

   

Feeding the fish

with Owen and Sarah.

June 4, 2006

We are grateful for the time we had with her.

We miss her every day.

Lucky Us

 

October 2000

     Ten years ago this month my friend Angie and I were traveling from Nashville to Memphis on a business trip when we were run off the interstate by a semi. Angie's car rolled several times before landing right side up in the median.  The guy driving the truck didn't stop.  Several other people stopped though and one gentleman in particular stood by the side of the car and helped me remain calm until the paramedics arrived.  Angie had gotten out of the car and I can remember looking over and seeing her sitting on the grass and listening as she called 911.  In a story that has become funnier with time, she told the 911 operator that we had been in an accident and that they needed to send someone because her friend who was with her (me) was 14 MONTHS pregnant.  I leaned over as far as I could and said to her "Hey - I'm not an elephant . I'm only 14 weeks pregnant."  Good times. The two of us got to ride together in an ambulance to a "hospital" in Lexington, TN where the staff seemed more concerned with ordering pizza than assessing our situation.  Amazingly - miraculously even - we weren't injured much.  We were bruised and sore with a few minor cuts and scrapes (and I lost a patch of hair off the top of my head where it hit the ceiling of the car) but compared to what could have happened we were fine (even Owen, who was only 14 weeks at the time*).  I can remember calling Joel to tell him about the accident and hearing the panic in his voice and I can remember seeing the relief on his face when he finally got to the hospital to take us home.

 



April 2010

Fast forward to April 2010. My parents were driving from Knoxville to Nashville on Good Friday when they were run over by a semi truck. Their car ended up in the truck's wheel well. Both of them survived the crash with only minimal injuries.  Their car was a total loss but my parents were fine-ish.  Things could have been much much worse.  Looking at the photos of the car it is a miracle that neither one of them was killed. According to the State Trooper who investigated the accident, the truck driver was 100% at fault.  Yeah, I hate big trucks. Hate them. 







October 2010

     This bring us to last Monday. The kids and I were in Orange Beach, AL when Joel called to tell me that he'd been in an accident and he was pretty sure the car was totaled.  I kept asking him if he was alright and he kept telling me he was but I didn't believe him.  He finally asked if I wanted to talk to the State Trooper who was with him and I said no.  He is mostly alright but after seeing the photos of the car I find it amazing that he walked away with no significant injuries.  It was not a minor accident.  So, it's been an emotional week here at Casa de Vallejo, one filled with Sliding Doors moments and bad dreams and gratitude.  It's been exhausting but I am well aware that things could have turned out so much worse.  Once again, all we have lost is a car. Lucky us. Lucky lucky lucky us.



*Owen's nickname for the duration of my pregnancy was Crash and I think it's more than just a little bit ironic that he is one of the most cautious children I have ever known. 

Just What the Man Wanted

My grandfather, LJ Hurst,

and his 1967 Red GMC 351-V6 Pick-Up Truck.

Purchased for $3095.00 on December 13th, 1966

  This truck had a cushion in the middle that folded down (I'm assuming for an armrest but it made a nifty seat) and that's where I sat when Gran and I went places together.  I'm not even sure this truck had seatbelts although it probably had lap belts that we just never used. It was a different world way back when in the 1970s.  We also used to ride in the back of this truck which was all kinds of fun. Can you imagine letting kids ride down the highway in the back of a pick-up truck - someone would call 911 if they saw that today.

Girly Girls Day

Charleston, South Carolina
2008

     This is the photo that my sister-in-law, Stacey, took moments after Sarah had her ears pierced. I was hiding behind a large rack of earrings because oh good grief  they were putting HOLES in my baby's ears! It was July 4th, 2008 and we were in Charleston celebrating with the [then] South Carolina Vallejos. We took Sarah to get her ears pierced at Claire's and then we went to a sweet little store called Girly Girls where Luz bought Sarah several dresses and pairs of shoes and a purse. Then we went back to Aunt Stacey's and had chocolate chip cookie cake. It was a perfect girls day - at least that's what I wanted Sarah to remember. Luz passed away on October 25th, 2008. Only time will tell what Sarah will remember about her Lola, but when she asks about her I can tell her about their day in Charleston and I can show her the pictures of Lola smiling and so happy to be spending the day with her grandaughter. I wish that Sarah and Luz could have had many girly girls days, but I am forever grateful that they shared this one.

As The World Turns No More



"As The World Turns" ended its long television run on Friday, September 17th.  Once upon a time I knew every plot twist and turn of that show, following Lily and Holden and Dusty through their various stages of falling in and out of love in Oakdale. I became a fan of ATWT because my mom watched it and she watched it because CBS was the only station that came in clearly when she was home with me when I was a baby.  We lived in the "the basement", a basement that was supposed to be the foundation for the house my parents would someday build on top - but only the basement was ever finished and when I was 18 months old we moved to the yellow house on Hallsdale Road where I grew up.  We could watch all three network stations in our Hallsdale house, but the CBS soaps -"The Young and the Restless,"  "As The World Turns" and "Guiding Light" - continued to be part of the background of many summer days and snow days. My grandmother wasn't much for soap operas but she told me many times as I sat in her den watching "Guiding Light" that her mother had listened to that show on the radio and she would comment that the same characters were still on the show.  I hadn't watched "As The World Turns" or "Guiding Light" in a very long time and when I was home with my own babies reruns of "The Golden Girls" and "Law and Order" were the background noise of our days. Still, I'm sad to hear that it's been cancelled - I liked knowing that the world was still turning out there somewhere, even if I wasn't watching it.     

Love Endures

Norma and John Maguire

on the occassion of their wedding

Cathedral of Christ the King

Atlanta, Georgia

September 4th, 1965

       When my mom and dad decided to get married, there were a few things that my mother had to agree to. Because my father was Catholic (and she wasn't at the time) she had to agree to be married in the Catholic Church during a Catholic Mass and she had to agree to raise any children that the two of them might have as Catholic. All of that was fine with her, but there was one part of the wedding ceremony that my mother would not agree to, she would not agree to say the word "obey" in her wedding vows - well, unless my father said it too. I'm pretty sure that they both said they would "love, honor and cherish" each other and that they would stay together for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health - but "obey" wasn't going to be part of the bargain. My mother wasn't about to start out a lifetime committment with the word "obey" as part of the deal.

   My parents didn't have a big wedding, I think there were less than 25 people in attendance and when the ceremony was over the two of them stopped at a hamburger stand to kill some time so that my mom's sisters could get back to the apartment to set up the reception.   They took a honeymoon trip to New York where they met Muhammid Ali walking down the street and even had their picture made with him only to have their car broken into and their camera stolen a few days later.
  
     My parents have had their share of ups and downs in their 45 years of marriage. There were several points along the way where one or both of them could have thrown in the towel and walked away - but they didn't. The two of them continued to stubbornly hang in there. One of my favorite passages from the Bible is the verse from Corinthians that says that love is patient and kind and that love bears all things, and believes all things, and hopes all things, and that love endures all things. Forty-five years of marriage really puts all of that to the test, but this weekend I am celebrating the fact that despite the obstacles they faced along the way, my parents have remained committed to each for the long haul.  Love truly endures all things.

Kmart Smart

    

Clockwise from the top,
Aunt Marie with her nieces
 Norma Jean, Brenda and Cathy.

     Kmart has a back-to-school commercial out right now that features a group of middle school kids running around and dancing to "We've Got the Beat."  It's been a long time since Kmart was on my shopping radar but someone in their marketing department knows what they're doing because every time my daughter sees this commercial she asks if we can go to Kmart - because it's so cool.  I'm fairly certain that Sarah has never been inside a Kmart, mainly because I have no idea where a Kmart is here in Nashville, but after seeing this commercial over and over again she really wants to go.  I've told her that when I was her age we shopped at Kmart all the time because Target hadn't been invented yet. "Lucky!" she yelled at me. Now she thinks I'm depriving her of some great shopping experience because she's never been to Kmart.  Things only got worse for me after I told her about my Aunt Marie.
 
     Aunt Marie was my grandmother's older sister (you're welcome, Grandma)  and she was a woman who lived life on her own terms. She had a long memory for grievances, cooked badly but proudly and had her husband sneak ham sandwiches into the Cardiac Care Unit at the hospital because her restricted diet was too bland. Aunt Marie also loved the Kmart Blue Light Specials - a lot. When I explained to Sarah just what a Kmart Blue Light Special involved (an announcement over the store intercom, a flashing blue light, a mad rush to get whatever was on sale whether you needed it or not) she became even more convinced that she had to get to a Kmart. And silly me, I realized too late that I'd introduced my daughter to the idea of competative shopping - something that even at the tender age of six really appeals to her.  So, on our next road trip while I'm in the front seat scouting the horizen for IKEA signs, I'm guessing Sarah will be in the back seat keeping her eyes peeled for a Kmart, and when we find one I can tell her about her Aunt Marie all over again.

Facebook Family

Asbury and Della Beeler

The note on the back reads

"Aunt Esther's brother".

     Late one evening last winter I was cruising through Facebook when I came across a friend's photo album entitled "Adventures in Genealogy."  Since I had recently started my own adventure in genealogy I took a few minutes to look through her album. What I found was unexpected. She had photos of several Union County cemeteries - cemeteries where I knew I was related to lots of people who are buried there, and apparently, so was she. There was one photo of a gravestone belonging to "Asbury Beeler" and in the comment section she noted that his wife, Della, was buried somewhere in Knoxville.  Asbury and Della Beeler - I knew who they were too (sort of) because I had a photograph of them in my family history file. Could my Facebook friend and I be related? 

Outhouse at Beeler Cemetery
Union County, Tennessee
2008

     As it turns out, Leslie* and I are related, but not through the Asbury and Della Beeler in the photo above.  As hard as it was for me to believe, there was another couple - another Asbury and Della Beeler, who are Leslie's great-something grandparents.  The Asbury and Della Beeler in the photo here are my great-something uncle and aunt.  It seems that Asbury and Della were popular names in the 19th century and it also seems that every Beeler in Union County has a common ancestor in either John Valentine Beeler (1737-1823) or his father, Ulrich Beeler (1705-1788, I think, don't quote me on these dates). 

     Because there are a few branches of my family tree that don't fork quite as much as maybe you'd like them to, I am triple related to Ulrich Beeler and John Valentine Beeler - but the non-forking branches of the family tree really are a topic for another day, several days maybe (no sibling marriages, just some kissin' cousins). Also, the fact that my much cherished Scotch-Irish Appalachian roots are actually kind of Germanic (Beeler was Bulher -oy vey) seems to indicate that I am not as "highland lassy" as I have always believed myself to be.  You really have to be open to new ideas about yourself when you start exploring your family tree - like the fact that you may be your own 4th cousin once removed who now has an explanation for your odd love of saurkraut.

*Leslie and I both attended St. Joseph School and Knoxville Catholic High School.  Her sister Betsy and I were in the same class.

Cicadas

Late Summer, 2008

View up the hill
from the Old Highway

Every evening for the past week or so I have been listening to the sound of the cicadas in my backyard here in Nashville and it's made me homesick.  I miss my grandmother and I miss her house and for the first time in a very long time I miss my grandfather.  Gran passed away on July 8, 1982 which means that he's been gone most of my life, but at the end of this summer I am missing him like he died yesterday. What I want more than anything right now is to drive out to the country and sit on the front porch and visit with my Grandma and listen to the cicadas off in the distance.

The Beaches of Anadarko

     At least once a year, Joel and the kids and I pack up the car and drive south for eight hours to spend a week or so on the Gulf Coast. Sometimes we go with friends or family and sometimes we go with just us, but we always go.  On our most recent drive down to the beach I saw a herd of buffalo grazing on a farm and I pointed it out to the kids because, you know, it was a herd of buffalo.  I started to tell them about how when I was little my parents and I would go to Oklahoma every summer and how we visited a town called Anadarko where they had lots of buffalo-es (what the heck is the plural of buffalo?).  Sarah, never one to be impressed by much of anything, said "Anadarko!?  That sounds weird.  Why would you go there?  Was there a beach there?"  Um, no - there were no beaches in Anadarko. There were buffalo-es and cowboys and if I'm remembering correctly, a whole lot of heat.  Oklahoma is hot in August. Also, it's very flat - but it's flat all the time, not just in August. 

Welcome to Arkansas.
Only 300 miles to Oklahoma.

    We spent a week in Norman, Oklahoma almost every summer because that's where my dad's brother and his family lived.  We would take two days to drive from Knoxville across Arkansas and into Oklahoma because my dad is one of those "all about the journey" kind of travellers. We stopped here and there and everywhere in between because, why not, right? Um yeah - and don't get me started on the Burl Ives 8 Tracks my dad played in the car. Childhood - it leaves its scars.

     What I didn't know until very recently was that my mother's side of the family has some connections in Anadarko, Oklahoma as well.  My gg-uncle, J.L. Williams*, moved there with his wife, Nellie Ann Wolfe, sometime between 1903 and 1910.  The photo below shows J.L. and Nellie with four of their children. I can't imagine how long it took them to get from East Tennessee to Oklahoma in the early 1900s, longer than two days I guess.  I wonder if they ever got homesick for the hills and ridges they left behind in Tennessee.

The J.L. Williams Family
1959

* J.L. (Jake Lillard) Williams was born in 1887.  He was the older brother of my great-grandmother, Mary Williams Hurst.  They also had a younger sister, Catherine, and a younger brother, John.     

Cheaper than Therapy

Vanessa, Julie, Kelli and Lahoma

Centre College

Longer ago than I would like to believe

     It's a "Girls' Weekend" weekend - and just in time too.  Earlier this week I didn't think I was going to be able to make the trip to Lexington, but my sweet husband sensed that I was about to wade into the deep end of the crazy pool and kindly suggested that I pack my bag and get in the car tomorrow morning and drive north so that he could enjoy a day or two of peace and quiet I could get away from life for awhile and have a relaxing afternoon and evening with my girls.  Friends are definitely the chocolate chips in the great cookie of life.