Saturday in the Park (or Front Yard)

My sweet friend, Galit Breen, began posting about a thing called Friday Night Meatballs, which mainly served to make me want to be her next door neighbor that much more.

But her Friday Night Meatballs really reawakened me to a much simpler time.

When I was younger, it was nothing at all for my own momma to feed the neighborhood ... or for the neighborhood to feed us. I remember specifically one evening she stepped out onto the front lawn and called out that she'd made spaghetti. That night, we had about a gazillion people over for dinner. On another occasion, a neighbor hollered out they were grilling hamburgers (my favorite meal ever!) and, once again, the entire neighborhood gathered to chomp on some grilled goodness.

That was also a time when long distance cost money. If you wanted to send someone a picture, you'd have to take it, send the film off to be developed, mail it and then wait for that person to mail you back a thank you. Or not. Waiting for mail was so danged hard!

Source

Because of technology--which I'm still considering a blessing--we can now send that picture in a millisecond to its intended destination without much effort or expense. However, we spend so much time behind our screens that we don't get much of a chance to fellowship, face-to-face.

Truthfully? Behind-the-screens is where I'm best. I'm an introvert at heart and, while I can address a group of five hundred people keeping their attention for three hours (and have done so before), I'm not good at face-to-face interaction in a smallish group. And meeting someone one-on-one? Unless I know you very, very well? That's my least comfortable position to be in.

But, I find myself craving real-time, real-life fellowship.

Because Brian thrives on social interaction and enjoys face-to-face with total strangers and best of friends alike, he was all about having people over.

"Who do we invite?" I asked.

"Everyone," he said.

"What do we serve?" I asked.

"Let's start with spaghetti and meatballs," he said.

So we did.

Saturday night, we had about thirty-five people over for a front-yard feast.

Thirty-five people? you say. I made over ninety meatballs. True story.

Yep. Some of our favorite people were in our front yard. We had some kids on one end playing football. Some kids on the other playing basketball. Some kids were on the hammock. People were exchanging recipes and marveling at the awesome cheesecake that one can buy frozen at Aldi. Really.
We sat in lawn chairs. We stood together. We played. We laughed. We talked. It was nothing short of a great night.

How do I know it was a great night? I enjoyed it. Everyone mentioned how much they enjoyed it. And, aside from checking a text (but not answering it), I didn't hide behind a screen. Not even to take a picture.

Will we do it again? Absolutely.  But this time, we won't be serving pasta, which requires a crazy cooking method in order to feed a lot of people at the same time.

In fact, Sausage Saturday has a great ring to it.

Who are your neighbors? Who are your real-life friends? When was the last time you hung out with them in your front yard? I encourage you to meet face-to-face ... and put your screens away.

The Tall Man and Neighbors

I have a friend who has taught her little girl that "the tall man" never stands alone. Just the other day, this little girl, stood all of her fingers straight up from her hand and said, "Heaver?" (which is toddler-speak for Heather), "The tall man never stands alone."

This monkey let his tall man stand alone.  SOURCE

I didn't ask my friend why she had to teach this lesson to her pre-schooler, I just chuckled and assured the tiny tike that the tall man, indeed, never stands alone. And for a four-year-old? This is a valuable lesson.

This week, though, my tall man--actually, my tall men--stood alone. A lot. Behind the closed doors of my mother's house. I not only let my tall men stand alone, I let them do a little dance as well, and I accompanied their dance with some fancy lyrics that would have Tipper Gore slapping an explicit sticker across my mouth.

The thing is that I rarely--RARELY--actually flip someone off. Rarely.  It basically has no meaning. It doesn't make anyone or anything better. If anything, the bird only serves to exasperate any situation in which it is flipped. But, I was frustrated and there wasn't much I could do but let my tall man stand alone. So, I did.

Earlier in the week, a neighbor of my mother's left a note for me and my sister. I'm not going to give you details, but the note was nice enough. A few days later--Thursday morning at 3:16, to be exact, she left another note. But, if you ask the neighbor, she'll tell you she only left one. The handwriting was the same; when you teach composition for twenty years, you are a handwriting expert. The neighbor, when I confronted her got the content of both notes confused, but she only admitted to one.

In the second note, she became harassing and abusive, and she admitted to trespassing on my mom's property at 3:16 a.m.! My sister found the second note, got mad, let her tall man stand by himself pointed in the general direction of my mom's house, and then she called me. I decided to call the police.

Even with my frozen shoulder, I'm confident I could take the neighbor. Plus, my mom has a few really sweet, very supportive neighbors who'd chip in and help me if needed. They'd even let their tall men stand alone on our behalf.  I wasn't scared of her, but I wanted it on record that she'd trespassed and that she'd threatened us. After school, I went to my mom's.

I called the cops and said I wanted to speak to an officer. Then I waited. I got mad at the neighbor and my tall man stood alone. I got mad that the police were taking so long, so I let my tall man stand alone some more. Then, I thought I locked my keys in the car. My tall man stood alone more.

Finally, I decided to confront the neighbor. I was firm but respectful. I was honest and called her bluff. She was not comfortable with my presence at her front door. My tall man did not stand alone but mercy! He wanted to! Then, as I was basically telling her she had broken the law in so many ways, the police came to my mom's house.

But, it wasn't just any police man. It was a former student.

When I became a teacher, I adopted the philosophy of investment. If I wanted a return from my students, I'd have to invest in them. I go to sporting events, concerts, birthday parties. I know about their families, their friends, their hobbies, their passions. And, in return, they perform for me in the classroom. What I didn't understand when I became a teacher, was that the return of my investment didn't end  when they walked out of my classroom on the last day of school.

So, when Brandon stood in my mom's driveway and gave me a big hug, I was not only grateful that I'd invested in him as a sixth and a ninth grader, but that my neighbor was seeing just how well loved I was by an officer of the law.

I explained the situation to Brandon; he explained the law to me. We chatted about his new baby and his family and he promised to drive by mom's house and keep an eye on it.

My tall man? He won't be standing alone any time soon--I've got right on my side ... and I invested wisely as a young teacher.

My Favorite Things: My Neighbors

Earlier this month, I filmed a segment for Great Day Green Country (if the link goes online, I'll post it here). The segment was about holiday gifts for your neighbors. These are all items that your kids can make or that you can easily whip up and share with those you have to look at your metal flamingo in the front yard. (Brian says sorry; I think it's cute!)

First up, Spicy Nuts. These are so incredibly yummy and easy! We get our fresh pecans each year at  Schaper Pecan Farms in Ramona, OK. 

2 cups of cleaned pecans

2 T butter

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 T seasoning salt

2 t garlic powder

pinch(es) of salt

Melt the butter and Worcestershire sauce in a microwavable bowl. Stir in the seasoning salt and garlic powder. Add the pecans and stir until they are well coated. Microwave for one minute, then stir. Microwave for another minute, then stir. Microwave for a third minute, then stir and pour onto a paper towel-lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and let dry for about an hour. If you don't want to microwave, you can bake at 400 for about thirty minutes, stirring every ten minutes.

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Marshmallow Straws. These are so good and easy. The girls eat them for breakfast. No, I'm not kidding. Melt chocolate bark (or almond bark). Stick a straw in one end of the marshmallow (I used the ginormous marshmallows) and then dip the marshmallow into the bark. You can add sprinkles for fun. Then they can stir them into hot chocolate or coffee for a great treat. Or, you can eat them for breakfast. 

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Rice Krispie Tree: Did you know that once you mix the marshmellows into the Rice Krispies, it becomes like play dough? Just butter up your hands. (Really. Add a lot of butter.) And shape and mold the delicious Krispie treats into whatever shape you want. The Daughters made a Christmas tree and decorated it with M & Ms.

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Santa Soup: Layer one third cup of rice, one third cup of red lentils, and one third cup split peas. Add a Knorr Stock packet, one third cup dehydrated onion, 1 T black pepper, 1 T garlic salt. They add six jars of water to the mixture and let it simmer all night (or day). They can also add eight oz of ham or chicken if they wish.

We did get a pic of the Santa Soup, so here's a pic of the Stock Packet.
They are not paying me to say this, but I wish they would. I love these little things!

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Easy Breezy Candy Bar Treat: If you don't have time to do any of this, I feel your pain. But, that doesnt' mean you should neglect your neighbors, especially, if you live close to me. So, grab a few giant Hershey bars and add this cute little poem that I got from my scrapbooking buddy, Suzanne, several years ago--but it's been around the block a time or two.

Dashing from the mall

With groceries left to buy

Kids, school, work and stuff

Life's so busy, why?

Bells on our phones ring

Voicemail will take the call

We have no time for family or friends

It drives us up the wall

So, how are you?

How's your life?

We really want to know.

Hope your ready for Christmas

Now many it will snow.

A day or two ago, 

we thought we'd make a treat

For all our special friends

A Holiday treat to eat.

Our intentions were top notch

But our schedules wouldn't budge, 

So, we hope that you enjoy this year's

Davis* Family Fudge.

*insert your own name, duh.

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And finally, a gratuitous picture of my own personal camera man who took the pics while I filmed. Isn't she adorbs?

The Cat Came Back

"Momma!" Daughter 2 yelled at me as I pushed a mower through the jungle that had become our front yard, "We found Leonard!"

Four days earlier, during a rain storm that had helped our lawn achieve jungle status, Bo The Dumb Dog had opened our back door and let himself in. He dug through our trash, probably ordered some porn on pay-per-view, and then let himself back out when the rain stopped. In the meantime, the door to the back yard was open and the cats, Leonard and Sheldon, let their curiosity take them where Daughter 2 was afraid to let them go: outside.