I'm not superstitous, not by a long shot, but there's something 'funny' with my family and family reunions.

Remember a week or so ago when I told you that my Uncle Richard had sent for his grown children to come to Mississippi because he was very ill and wanted to speak with them while he was still able? Well, he's old, in his 80's, and has been in poor health for a few years, a result they say of hard living and harder drinking (white lightning). So the idea of his passing away, while sad for those who love him, isn't that far out of the realm of normal.

But come to find out, and I must have been on the need-to-know list because I just recently found out, there's plans to have a family reunion this 4th of July in Mississippi.

The first family reunion was in the summer of 2000 in Michigan City, Indiana. That January my grandmother died, and less than 90 days later my grandfather died. The reunion, although sparsely attended because everyone had had to travel twice that year for funerals, went on as scheduled.

The next family reunion was scheduled for last summer, 2004, in Detroit. That spring Uncle Mack was murderd in Michigan City. Then Uncle Gunk died a few weeks later, also in Michigan City. The reunion was cancelled because
everyone had had to travel twice for funerals and no one had the heart to get together for a party.

So now there's a reunion planned for Mississippi. And Uncle Richard is dying. The way things have been going, God forbid, there should be two funerals before the reunion, both in Mississippi.

I'm still on record that I don't want to go down south for Unce Richard's funeral whenever he passes away. And I don't want to go to a reunion in July in Missisippi. What are these people thinking? Mississippi in July!!!

Some of my cousins and aunts have been talking about getting their money up to charter a bus to go down south for the 4th of July. So far it's just talk, no one has done any checking as to prices or availability or anything else.
They haven't even looked into hotel reservations, and they'll need them because too many people are expected to converge on that little town all at once to be able to stay with relatives.

My cousin Gloria Jean is the reunion organizer up north, and one of the other cousins is handling things in Mississippi. I don't think they told anyone about it until maybe three weeks ago as it seems to have caught many of the family off guard. Not to knock anyone, but when you're having a to-do a thousand miles away it's kind of nice to give, oh, say, maybe at least six monthes to a year notice so people can start saving up if they want to go. I don't doubt that a lot, if not all of my kin folk will attend the reunion in Mississippi, but they'll do so at the expense of not making their rent or car payment and then have to scramble for the rest of the year playing catch up.
So if you're planning a reunion or ? and have folks coming from across the country, give them as much notice as possible, okay? It's only considerate.


hugs--
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

It's that time of the year again when my secret shame--I love to shop at garage sales!--is able to be enjoyed. To tell you the truth, I've been jonesing for a good garage sale for monthes and monthes. All winter, that barren time of year when there are no garage sales, at least not in the cold of Michigan, I've tried to satisfy my bargain cravings by shopping at the Pier One outlet store. There's one in Redford, Michigan, in the shopping center at Telegraph and West Chicago. The store carries all of the left overs from the various Pier One stores around the country. If you hit the store at just the right time, there are deals, serious deals, to be had on some pretty cool stuff. All winter I purchased things for the summer, for my backyard, and it's almost time to start setting those things out.

Now normally I garage sale on Friday mornings. If it's a Friday morning in the warm weather monthes and you call me, odds are good you'll get that message about me being out running errands. And I will be out, but I'll be hitting the garage sales until about noon.

Because the weather has been so unpredictable lately---last week Wednesday it was 83, then it dropped to the 30's and snowed this past weekend--I decided to take advantage of today's sunny and 48 degrees and stop at a few, just a few, garage sales when I was out picking up the mail this morning.

Guess what I bought? A HUGE Tupperware container for $1.00! It stands about 2 feet tall and greatly resembles the containers I buy brand new at GFS for roughly $6.00. Such a deal!

Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow and I can go out again. Such a small thing that's so much fun.


hugs---
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

Talking about the buffet yesterday got me to thinking about other all-you-can- eat-places and how they're not all created equal.

For example, there's a Sveden House in Livonia, MI that's not too far from where I live. Talk about a lousy place to eat. The place is tired and dirty looking, the bathrooms are a disgrace even when you're the first one that day to use them, and the food, well, the food is pathetic.

There's a Chinese buffet, also in Livonia, I can't think of the name of it but it's on Middlebelt at Five Mile in the Outback shopping center, and it's wonderful. The place is so clean it sparkles, and the food is excellent.

I'm not exactly a casino person, I work too hard for the money I make to squander it at a casino, but I've been to several of them. The one in Windsor, Ontario, Canada is big and bright and pretty. Their buffet is big too. The food looks lovely but it's not all that tasty. It's not bad, I'm not saying that, it's just not as tasty as it could be.

Now in Detroit at the Motor City Casino, their buffet is a good thing. So many choices and all of them tasty.
The one time I ate there my friends all but had to roll me out the door when it was time to go home (smile).

I know lots of peope aren't all that keen on buffets. I have friends who won't eat anyplace that they have to get up and get their own food. Me, I like buffets because of the choices. I like not having to pick one entree, but being able to sample a little bit of a number of different ones. Same way with desserts.


hugs--
Tawny
248-615-1300

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Today, April 26th, is my birthday.

Exactly one year ago, on this day, I unveiled the new website and this blog. Just seems like yesterday....

Saturday evening my friends had a big birthday cake for me. One of those cake and ice cream combinations from Baskin Robbons. Chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate cake. Yum!

Today I played hookey from work. I decided that a day as momentous as my birthday deserved to be celebrated in some other way than yakking on the telephone. Not that taling with you wonderful folks isn't fun, it is, I love it but it's my birthday.....!

I like shopping, no secret, so that's what I did. I took my time, something I don't have enough of most days, just like you, and wanderred in and out of stores. I bought some beautiful multi-colored patchwork velvet, five yards of it to be exact. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it. I just knew I had to buy it, it was so pretty.

I also wanderred around several secondhand stores. The things you can find! Among other stuff, I purchased a pair of bright pink high heels! Talk about snazzy!

I had lunch at one of those all-you-can-eat places. I'm a sucker for that kind of a restaurant. Okay, I know it's not fine dining, but it was pretty darn good and I was able to have some of this and a little of that and some of that over there, too! And I had little bits of about a dozen different desserts. Life is good!

This was at Golden Corral. www.goldencorral.com It's a new (to me) restaurant. They do breakfast, lunch and dinner, buffet all of it.
The food is good, it's reasonably priced and the place was clean.

I had a nice day. Birhdays are a good thing.


hugs--
Tawny

Here's my disclaimer: I am not a movie reviewer, nor do I play one on tv!

However, have you seen the movie 'The Fighting Temptations'? It stars Cuba Gooding and Beyonce Knowles, and has a gazillion musical costars. I didn't catch it at the show when it was new, but I rented it when it first hit Blockbuster, and I've seen it several times since on cable. What a good movie! And the music is spectacular!

Another good movie is 'Fried Green Tomatoes'. Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy, to name but a few, star in it.

Fannie Flagg wrote the book that the movie was adapted from. Flagg also wrote several other good books, all with a small town theme to them, that are very enjoyable reading.

Speaking of reading, do you use your local library very much? I am very fortunate to live in a city that takes its libraries seriously. We have two libraries available to us, both well stocked with books, dvds, cds and a great many computers that are free of charge to use.

Lots of people say that whatwith the internet now we don't need libraries, they're old fashioned. What a bunch of hoooey! Libraries are wonderful places. If you haven't been to yours lately maybe it's time you stopped in. You just might enjoy yourself.



hugs--
Tawny