GAC Flood Relief Telethon Already $1.5 Million

My nephew Cameron:

"Ummm... When it rains, are the clouds going to the bathroom?"

We celebrated a belated Mother's day with most of family today at my parents house in Columbia. It's like recharging your battery to spend time with family. I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm completely drained! But it feels so great to have spent a much-needed family day in Columbia. I've missed the last few Mother's Day's the last couple of years, and this year I got to actually spend Mother's Day with my mother-in-law one weekend and my own Mamma the next. AWESOME.

Tonight was the GAC Telethon to raise money for Nashville flood relief. I didn't get to watch due to our Mother's Day festivities (which just ended). BUT I've already read an incredible article that makes me so proud!!! The count is already at $1.5 Million and they'll have the final tallies by tomorrow morning.

The article comes from Forbes Online:
Stars Help Raise Over $1.5 Million For Tenn Flood Relief

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Mamma-ism Clarification

After a quick visit to make sure Britt was doing well and looking fabulous in his hospital gown... we went to the Diner with Tamara, ran a few errands and headed out of the city. Sadly :(

I am pleased to say that we found Matt right where we left him at the Sheetz in Scranton, PA today. :) He had a great visit with his family, and even though he probably wouldn't have protested... he didn't have to spend the ENTIRE time at Sheetz.

This chickidee got to eat at Cracker Barrel tonight!! It's only the second time so far this year. Something just plain ole wrong with that! :) But we're working on remedying that.

In case you didn't see the comment chain on yesterday's blog... I'll clarify the Mamma-ism I posted last night. (She has mentioned that she heard it HER whole life from her Mamma and Grandmamma) It didn't occur to me that you may not know what it means!!! I've heard it so much in my life...

"It won't be noticed on a galloping horse"; It means - whatever it is that you're talking about is so small that you would never notice it on a galloping horse. Comes in handy in the teenage years - blemish on the skin... small hole in your pants... the stud that fell out of my ring on stage the other day... a scratch on my fiddle...

It kinda takes "Don't sweat the small stuff" to a newer level.

We've got 3 more shows and then we get to take a little break. Not gonna lie. I am SOOOOO excited about seeing Cinnamon. I haven't seen her since Easter Sunday. It's time.


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Heavenly Dolly Belle

Tonight Mamma and Daddy were out of town, so James and I were supposed to take care of their dogs when we got to the house in Columbia. I let out Annabelle and Burnadette.... but I couldn't find Dolly Belle anywhere.

I called Mamma to see where Dolly Belle was... and Mamma's response was "aww... well, she's out chasing bunnies and butterflies forever" She passed away a few days ago, but they didn't want to make me sad while I was out on the road, so they hadn't told me yet. She's been unable to do much for a while. The Vet assured us that she didn't seem to be in pain, she was just so old she couldn't hold herself up to eat anymore or go outside on her own. I knew it was coming... but that never makes it easy. I've had Dolly Belle since I was about 12 years old. She was a really great pup and I loved her so much.

This picture is so great - she was the only dog I ever trained to do "Road Kill". Instead of "play dead" I tell her Road Kill, and she'd lay flat on her back and be still until I gave her the signal to get up. She was so awesome :)


So even though it makes me sad, I am so glad she is in doggy heaven right now. She was way too frail to live a full life on earth anymore. Daddy buried her up by Kitty Belle in the yard. Perfect.

Peace. Love. And Heavenly Pups.
~natalie

Cinnamon Likes Getting Her Teeth Flossed

I would have NEVER thought to floss my dog's teeth...
But I guess that's what "Mamma's who are hygienists" are for. Right?




Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Don't Eat Santa's Beard at the Nut Buffet

Mamma kept talking about a song that was stuck in her head and just HAD to listen to it. She kept saying "You know... the one where the little boy ATE Santa's beard."

"Ummm?? Did you say the little boy EATS Santa's beard? "

"Yes!!! That's what he says in the song!"

SO yeah... I couldn't WAIT to hear this song. It sounded awesome.
The best part was that she said it pretty nonchalantly... kind of like "You know, the one where he saw Mommy kissing Santa Clause"

She played it for me... It's a Beach Boys song called "Santa's Beard" And it really does sound like they say the little boy "ate his beard right on off of his chin" but it's "he yanked the beard right on off of his chin"

With roll dough up to my elbows, and flour on my face, we both stood in the kitchen and laughed and laughed.

My brother was ignoring us because he kept eating nuts in a basket that he said the squirrels would have spit out... but for some crazy reason he kept eating them. Mamma finally took them away from him and brought out every single stash of nuts she had in this house. He sat there and ate at his "nut buffet" all night.

I love Christmas :)

This was the best version of the song I could find on Youtube because it shows the lyrics... I have NO IDEA why it's pictures of the Jonas Brothers. But hey, 'why not' is the REAL question! :) Verse 2 at around 52 seconds is where you can find the lyrics in question :)



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Our Brains Are Trying To Make Our Hearts Healthy

The first thing that happened:

Daddy left out the butter for the stuffing... BUT He realized with PLENTY of time to get it in there before it cooked. And it is pretty fantastic :) (I snuck a bite)

And THEN:
I left out the butter in my chocolate chip walnut pie... And when I realized it, I opened the oven to find that the pie had been spilling out over the sides of the crust for the 15 minutes it had been cooking. I had been bopping around saying "This pie is gonna be AWESOME" and was all pumped... and then I was ROYALLY deflated... for a number of reasons. Mamma and I turned the oven off, waited for it to cool, we scrubbed the pie goo that had baked itself to the bottom of the oven and the grates... Mamma kept saying "this is how you learn!"... and I tried with a last ditch effort to salvage what I had by stirring butter into the already partially cooked pie.

Well, we got the oven cleaned, and I somehow... some WAY... SAVED THE PIE! It's AMAZING. A-MAZ-ING. So, hmmm... There's a good lesson in there somewhere. I really thought I had completely screwed it up... and thought I was gonna have to make ANOTHER run to the grocery to start over. But NOPE! I didn't give up, and it worked out for the best in the end. :)

I didn't forget the butter in my next pie.

We celebrated today at Miguel and Jenn's (before my kitchen debacles began) and now we are preparing for the Ft. Stovall Thanksgiving feast that will be celebrated in the morrow. :)

Hope everyone had a GREAT Thanksgiving. And even if you don't have more Thanksgivings to go to... I hope you enjoy those turkey sandwiches!!! Aren't those the best??

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Daddy Escaped

I didn't have the pics to show you yesterday from Mamma's story. But I got ahold of em today for ya!! I still can't believe Daddy jumped out the window of the hospital and escaped to the airport to get home to Mamma... wow.

She took a pic like this every Sunday of Joe and would send them to Daddy so he could see how much he'd grown. And she'd post how long he'd been in Vietnam and how long until he was coming home on the calendar in the background. Daddy said to me the other day "You have no idea how cool that was o get a picture every week of him" :)




Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Mamma Rocks

We just made it home!!! What a beautiful weekend in PCB. But more on that later. :)

I'm not sure how many of you see the comments on my blog, but one of my favorite parts of writing this daily blog has become checking it the next day to see what Farm Boy and others have said :)

Farm Boy probably has one of the most creative and fascinating brains I have encountered. I don't know how he comes up with this stuff, but it always makes me smile! Yesterday, he commented on another comment ... and I wanted to elaborate.

He talked about my mamma being a writer, and he doesn't even know how MUCH of a writer she is!

Facts about Mamma:

She's a beautiful singer.

She plays piano and violin, as well :)

I learned to sing harmonies by singing along with her to oldies (especially Beach Boys songs) in the car.

She wrote for a television show called "I-40 Paradise" - it was a really cute show that I believe aired on TNN and in very TNN fashion - there was always a performance included on the show.

She's had short stories published in magazines.

She wrote jokes for Hee-Haw. Now, if you ask her about this, she will completely down-play it and say that she's not sure if any of her jokes ever aired. But I don't care. The fact that she submitted jokes to Hee-Haw is just about the coolest thing ever.

She love love LOVES word games and puzzles. She's always been way into puzzle sweepstakes and won a number of times. Her favorites are the ones where each letter in the alphabet is assigned a point, and then you are given what looks like a blank crossword puzzle. You fill in the puzzle, and the person who gets the most points wins. Sounds a LOT easier than it is. There are no clues.... so basically... any word (in whatever specified dictionary) works... so there are millions of combinations that you could use. :)

Oh and yeah, she's a retired dental hygienist. So all of that other stuff she did in her spare time while also raising 4 children.

Mamma inspired so much creativity in me and was the most encouraging and supportive person of anything I ever wanted to do.

Mamma Rocks.

This is one of my favorite pics of my sister, Stephanie, Mamma, and me:


Peace. Love. Fiddle.