BaileyJane-Grandma "J"-CherryPie.........

Today’s Beverage-Pumpkin Latte (from Kneaders)

Today’s Goodie-Grandma “J”’s homemade whole wheat toast with butter and plum jam

Today’s Cozy Moment- Early morning at Grandma “J”’s house in Alpine, wrapped up in the patchwork afghan. Rooster-bacon-coffee-Grandpa “J”-Juicy fruit gum-cream of wheat. Fill in the blank.

Bailey Jane…

Oh how I loved this little girl….

How I wish I could have gotten to know her better.

She sparkled and smiled and stretched and smelled good and loved me.

She still dances in my heart and I think about her everyday.

I don’t really have many pictures of her but I know she was real and she taught me more about myself than anyone or anything else ever has.

She taught me how to live in the moment and about how fragile life is and that people are more important than anything.

This is the toughest week of every year for me.

21 years ago, this week, this precious child passed away. Every July and every September I wear a gold necklace almost the whole month with 3 things on it.

-a tiny dancer with 3 sapphire stones (my birthstone)

-a single ruby (her birthstone which my husband told me was a piece of his heart)

-a gold heart with “Bailey Jane” on one side and “Lil Angel” on the other (my sisters gave it to me on the day we buried her).

It’s my private tribute to her to let her know I’ll never forget her. That’s all I can say…………Tough week.

Grandma “J”………….

Fall always reminds me of Grandma “J”.

The only reason that I can think of is that Verd’s opens and all their wonderful produce is available.

She used to take us there when we were little and buy peaches and corn on the cob.

Tomatoes and apples.

I can’t walk into the cooler without tearing up because it reminds me of her.

I still remember walking in there and the rush of cold air as she went in there to buy her cottage cheese and milk in a bottle.

Or heavy cream.
It always meant good stuff.

She always let us get some penny candy and they had these little tiny paper sacks and we would fill them up with tootsie rolls and sixlets. Or Boston Baked beans and Lemon Heads.

They still have the candy and the little sacks but everything now cost 15 cents or a quarter.

The ladies that work there are still some of the same ones that have been there since I was a child.

Very strange and lovely.

They always remember me and it make me feel somehow connected to her.
She was a great lady.

I will never forget her………

Cherry Pie…..

She could smile and pout.

She could shake hands and sleep on the snow.

She liked to walk in one direction and would go home when she got tired.

She had a simple life.

Her ghost still lives in our backyard.

We loved her.

I will never forget her…..

Tonight I will go home and OD on super cold Diet Pepsi and get through this week.

Sigh…..

There is no such thing as a Vampire........

Today’s Beverage: Chai Tea Latte (It’s raining, it fits)

Today’s Goodie: Cranberry Walnut Biscotti (homemade at Kneaders)

Today’s Cozy Moment: Wrapped up in the book reading blanket, on the porch, on a cool, overcast, semi rainy, Sunday afternoon, reading the last 100 pages of “The Host” and crying my eyes out

“The Host”

Okay, “The Host” is finished and one thing I have to say is “be prepared”.

Make sure you have a box of Kleenex ready and a whole Sunday afternoon to read the last 100 pages and recover from the crying headache because people, this one will tear you up.

It is 100% different than what I thought it would be like and I was not prepared so now, on Monday morning, I am suffering. Big time. I have a crying headache the size of Texas and I just might possibly have a broken heart.

Or maybe not.

But, I’m just saying.

Be prepared.

(You know, this is a book about body snatchers, do they really have the right to twist and tug at our hearts this way?) That is so not fair.

I do have to say though, that I loved it. I did not want to love these Vampire/Body Snatcher type books or movies;

I do not want to have a whole other unknown world that I have missed for the first 40 something years of my life and now feel like I need to explore.

I do not have time for all this.

I have now planned in my head an entire weekend devoted to “True Blood” (menu and guest list and all) and decided that I need to buy the box set of the “Sookie Stackhouse” series and we are in a recession and I am not sure that this is such a good idea.

I am re-reading all the “Twilight” books and the Nora Roberts “Circle Trilogy” just to be thrifty (I already own these books he he). So, I am trying, but honestly, I might need therapy.

I went to the midnight showing of the “Twilight” movie for crying out loud (this was AT MIDNIGHT!!!).

What have I been missing? I have been trying desperately to get people to venture down this road with me because, well, I’m scared to go it alone.

There is a new series that started called “The Vampire Diaries” and I am toying with the idea of DVRing this but it is on at the same time as “Bones” and “NCIS” and I am wondering if it is really going to be worth it.

I have been devoted to these other shows for a while now.

And really, there is no such thing, right? Of vampires, I mean. I know that there are “pretend” vampires and “wanna be” vampires, but real ones? I don’t think so.

I mean there would probably be proof by now. And I have heard nothing. Unless they keep it on the “down low” and it is kept from the general public…………

Nahhhhh.

Unless our bodies have been snatched by “souls” and we only know what “they” want us to know……….

Nahhhhh.

Couldn’t happen. I mean I’m at work and it is raining and I have a very tiny window in my office it is a little spooky right now but I think I am still “me”.

And I don’t know.

I give up.

I do not want to like these books!!!

Oh, and “Eastwick” starts this week. Really? Witches? This is sick!!

I am soooo watching it!

Please tell me what you thought of “The Host”.

Did you cry?

Did you get a crying headache?

Read it and tell me if I am alone in all this or not.

I feel kinda stupid.

Because I feel a little alone.

Eat an Apple……………

Things to do on the first day of September

√ Smile (I love this time of year)

√ Take pictures with new camera that I got for my birthday early because boy child spilled the beans

√ Watch “You’ve Got Mail”

√ Plan a Football Party (LSU @ Washington Saturday September 5th) (Go LSU!!!!)

√ Make Carmel Popcorn (see recipe below)

√ Eat an Apple (fresh from Verd’s Fruit Stand

√ Buy skinny jeans (with $10 off coupon from Chico’s for birthday) (or dream about it) (if my 74 year old mother can wear them so can I) (and she looked great!)

√ Watch my son play flag football (get eaten by many mosquitoes. Boo)

√ Ride the “Simple City”

√ Have Cinnamon Toast

√ Snuggle with “Emptythetrash”

√ Say prayers

Wow! Good Day!


Book of the Month-“The Host”

(giving everyone another month to read this one. Soooo good!) Please tell me what you think.

Movie of the Month-“You’ve Got Mail”

Recipe of the Month-

Pumpkin Carmel Popcorn (everyone should make this popcorn this weekend and watch “You’ve Got Mail” while eating it. Fun, right?)


Pumpkin Caramel Popcorn-

1 cup light Karo Syrup
1 stick butter (no margarine allowed)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
3 to 4 bags microwave popcorn or equivalent

Cook to softball stage and pour over popcorn
Eat while watching “You’ve Got Mail”

This site is under construction. Staci will work on it again, only the URL has changed from thebakedbeanerycafe.blogspot.com to bakedbeanerycafe.blogspot.com