Episode Transcript
I'm going to call it. Mandy called well. 80 Griffiths. Lord help. Please. I know right. It's about all we got left. Is Marcia? Uh, my former secretary used to say. Let me send Jesus. Give me up. Get me up. Jesus be a fence. Oh, so. I'm glad you're here. We missed you last week. You were right where you needed to be. And so we love you because you do things like that for people. But we are glad to be back because I missed you. Well, thanks. My hand was to. Yeah. Backed out and other things to to miss in by. Yep. That's. Yeah, we'll remember our faithful listeners will remember we talked about Miss stability. Who passed away. Was. Now eight weeks ago. Um, he was my multi lawyer mentor. His daughter Leah. Dog must be doing something. He's sneezing. I think we have seasonal allergies in our house. Oh boy. Those are going to be fun. I think we're going to have to go to the hospital. We're going to have to go to the hospital. Leah. His daughters Leah and Laura were always held up to us as you know, if you get in a situation, you don't know what you should do. You do it. Leah or Laura would do. And they babysit us. Leah taught us to swim. Hold on yards. And they've just continued to be a part of our lives forever. Yeah. Um, Leah went to Vanderbilt and then she went to Georgia law school. She was a big school student. She was a good kid. I was a good student. And then when they were both in turn on Capitol Hill. Um, but then they started dating experiences and they were in law school. And once they got engaged. After they had met, you know, after they. Well, this is after they had gotten engaged that he had obviously met her parents before then. But I think they were at a wedding. And Burmihand, which is where we lived at the time. So I met Mike when I was like an elementary school. There we go. And then the summer after I graduated from college, he was just starting his own law firm in Ninen. He worked at a big firm. Started a firm in Ninen, then he went to a big firm down town at Lina and he was coming back, but it was in his own service. And he hadn't found the perfect secretary yet. And so everybody knew I was going to DC, but not until the fall. I went going in the summer, I was going to the fall. And so they said, well, why don't you come live with us and answer Mike's phones and help him in the office for the summer? It's great. Well, they live in a house in Ninen that was built in 1850. Love it. And so it's like, you know, the box, it's the four squares on top of each other is the original house and say that there are two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. And they had three boys who were, Thomas was like two, Stuart was like five, Brady was like seven. And they all slept in one room, and then I slept in the room across the hall and we all shared a bathroom. And I answered the phone for Mike that summer. So, he might pretty well, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then when I graduated from law school, I didn't know what I was going to do because I had clerked at Austin and bird the summer before and that was to pill. So my plane was just to get back to DC. And again, I was standing for the bar and Leah called and she said, don't you want to try practicing law for a year before you get to DC? And I was like, well, let's talk about it with y'all maybe because I kind of knew what I was getting into. Yeah. And so we each made, I'm driving to Ninen and met with Mike and we each made a one year commitment to just try it. And if it blew up, it blew up, but you tried it for a year. And so I was there for eight years. And then left. And there was a period of about nine months where I was dealing with my mom being sick and moving or whatever, but I didn't do any work for Mike. But after about nine months, he called me because a case we had had the appeals brief whereabouts we do. And so I'm helping with that. And so really and truly other than that nine months period, since 2003, Mike and I have worked together. Yeah. In various capacities. So anyway, Saturday a week ago, I was getting ready to go to a book club, birthday party for me. And I got in a shower. And while I was in the shower, Ted, Mike's law partner had called me and Ted and I talk a lot, but it's usually in the mornings on a weekday. Yeah. So there's a little one you call me on a Saturday afternoon, but not that unusual. And I didn't listen to his message. I just read the transcript. And how did I listen to it? I probably would have named, picked up on his tone, but I just read the transcript and it just said call me. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta get these bangs dry first, you know, because if I don't dry these bangs, there's no going back. So she went on the bangs and he called back and I didn't hear it. Obviously, so I was dry in my hair, but when I looked at my phone, he had texted me and left me a voice message to call him immediately. Oh. And so the first time he had called, Leah had just called him and said that Mike had collapsed in the yard and that they were headed to Nene and Peemont and to please meet her there. And the second call, which was like, not even 45 minutes later, he had already passed away. Hmm. So he was, he, Leah now says he was, she knew he was dead as soon as she saw him. He just, in the corner shows his heart just stopped. What? Even hard, he stopped. Now, I don't know that that's medically possible, but, you know, so he, you know, Mike was 67. All three boys are, you know, living in Atlanta, gangfully employed, two of them are married. You know, they were just sort of in this prime town of their life where they were going and doing and having fun. And so it was just a total shock and just terribly sad. And they obviously needed some help at the office. So I headed to Nene and on Sunday and stayed all week. And just, you know, if you've ever been through grief like that, you know, your brain didn't fully function. Right. Yeah. So all of us are all functioning on like half a brain. And so we're like, maybe together, all of us together can figure it out. Like the year it thing. But yeah, so we can do all the, you know, cases that we could find and that we knew about and just tried to contact clients and lawyers and judges and yeah, all the things. Mike was the, one of the county conservators for County to County. So he had many, many, many guardians. Yes. And so he was the conservator for and so Chad's going to do that. He's going to take that over for the short time for us to figure all that out. So you know, it was just a lot of, a lot of moving parts last week. And I felt, felt at times either like I was at Rush. Oh God. Late atle, do you are during rush? Yes. Or when you're helping take care of a newborn. It was like, oh yeah. I was like, what a group of, yeah. What, what sleeping like I was sleeping. It's exhaustion. It's the off. You know, and I told a laugh. I said, Ted, I'm sorry. I don't have enough lawyer clothes to make it five days. And he goes, you know, I don't care. I said, well, I know you don't care. But Mike would be really pissed that I'm showing him to the office in jeans. Yeah. So, but we made it work. We made it work. So in there, you know, just the beginning of the long haul like to get it all taken care of. But I'm glad I could do it. But I could, there was no way I could record a podcast last week. Oh no, no, no. And, you know, I didn't really know. I knew peripherally what was happening. I was in the middle of all my interviews. And I was in my own bubble. And my brain was fried as well. And it just didn't even hit me till Wednesday. And I was like, wait a minute. I don't even know like when I didn't know when the funeral was. I knew nothing, which was hot. You didn't know me anything. But I was like, why are we even going to try? Oh my God. It's just our people. I mean, Leah is one of our people. And she will understand. And, you know, I mean, they will understand because it's her and we love you. And we want you to be where you were needed. And grace amounts. But I mean, you didn't need it. We loved you. And all the messages I got were great. We're like worried about you. And I was like, you know, she's doing her thing and being the person that we know and love and the help that we know she is to everybody. So I was like, you got to be like, as you can see, I also got my hair done. I was about to say, you're a redhead. You're like Lucille Ball redhead. So I was supposed to get my hair done here on Thursday. Yeah. And I'm leaving to fly to New York tomorrow. So I knew it like I had to get it done. And so I called Dana and my old hairdresser, Dana and Atex that are actually, and I said, I think it was Monday morning. Atex that are, and I said, hey, my son is dead. I'm going to be here all week. Is there any way you can work me in? I was supposed to get my hair done at home on Thursday. And she was like, I'll see you at 530 this afternoon. Love it. They've got to love it. So I'll be by in there. And it's been a minute. I mean, Dana has still done my hair since I left. Sure. But it's probably been, I don't know, probably before COVID, even since she's done my hair. And I guess my roots have just gotten grayer. She said, she said, because I was on the phone. I was talking to, I was mad when I was on the phone, when she was painting the color on my roots. But this is after she colored it again, Katie. The first time? Yeah. Is like my head got set on fire. It was a lot. And it's not, you know, down here, it's okay. It's just, I love the red head. But you know, I've been red. This is just, it's very red. I might have said, I think they're to birch and Casey. And they might have responded with a couple of reed with that entire. Yes. Oh, oh, yeah. We have to think in Lusio Ball because we are crazy women, but like fancy, yeah, in your red dress. I might have been singing something. There we go. Listen, leave it in theatures. I love it. I love it. Well, you know, I say it all the time. We've said it on here. You take care of everybody. And we love you for it. And that's one of the best parts of you. And we're so glad that you were there for Lea. And for all, apparently the entire law practice. And many, many wards of the Cowita County. Like I don't have the demons for the hell. They all, and it's so funny to, you know, I don't let a gate anymore, other than with Mike. Yeah. For the most part. But I do have one client in the name who I'm basically as corporate council. Yeah. And he just keeps getting sued. I'm like, could you please stop getting sued? I don't like to do this. Yeah. And so I had finally just unloaded my last litigation thing on Friday. I had finally gotten him a local council on that. And I was done. And it's just such a relief. And then lo and behold. No, no, no. I probably got 10 new litigation cases at least that I will be working with. Just got flipped big girl paintings and do it. Do it, do it, do it. I love it. Well, get her done. But so you had some good news last week. Uh, it didn't even, when I texted you, even Monday, it didn't even dawn on me that you were doing in the middle of doing what you were doing. I don't think I knew about it really yet. I didn't know. And you know, I went on social media much because of all the stuff and. I don't even think that's anything on social media. Uh, eventually I kind of figured at it, figured it out. I literally had, I think I shared his obituary. Yeah. And I was like, wait, oh my god. Yeah. Um, but Monday, um, as y'all heard a couple weeks ago, I had my interviews with the South Georgia Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. And it was like, we joked, but it really was like the Spanish Inquisition, like, it was like defending a dissertation in three rooms. And so I went from room to room. And I saw me like, are you in the dark and they shine light? So it was basic. That's the way my spirit felt. Um, and you just went from room to room and answer questions about your theology and about your call and about the sermon that you submitted. And, um, I ended up passing. So I am now a provisional elder with the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. Yeah. So it feels really good. And then the next day, my regalia came in for graduation. And I was very overwhelmed by the alcohol. That's so exciting. Oh no. So all the things are happening. So I will graduate from Candler May 10th. And then I will be, um, the service of worship where I will be officially, you know, the lay hands on me and say all the Holy things, um, is June 2nd. So there we go. That's the biggest thing that happened. Oh, I think. Oh, no. You get a pay rise? No. I've already gotten a pay raise moving down here. So it's more like I can keep my job and I have the potential to move up now because of this. So now that I want to move anywhere, I haven't even finished on pack and hair. So, um, anyway, it's been, it's been very, everybody's been so kind about it and sweet and, um, but it really was, it was like walking a gauntlet over and over again. So it was, it was a wild day. Um, that excited. Yeah. So that's really, really good. So that was great. Um, uh, continuing our small town life series about living here in by an adorjo, you know, we, as I said before, we had a tree fall on the tabernacle and say there are lots of workmen out here. And I was walking past the tree service man's truck. And I don't know, maybe I might try to scratch out the name and number of the tree service, but on his truck below the name of the tree service and his phone number, it says call crack for all your tree needs. You're supposed to call crack. And I went, of course you are. Of course the guy's name is crack. What's it short for? Do we know crack? I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to, I don't know. Macracking. Macracking. There we go. We'll say it's Macracking. We'll say it's Macracking. I don't know if head, you know, crack head. I don't know. I don't know. But it just says on the truck, it says call crack and I was like, done. Okay, they did. So crack's been here all week, cutting up these big trees and it's looking a lot better. Have you told me crack? I have not met crack. I was I feel like I feel like listen, birches, super power in life. Is she would be out there chatting with crack? She had his whole life story. Yeah, I feel like you need to take a page out of purchase, but because I feel like it's really there. Unfortunately, the day that they were cutting up the tree, I was not here. So I was teaching a class on pastoral care and funeral. Hi, right? So I was not here the day that he was actually working here, but he's had his work truck like backed up under the trailer because this, they're going to mill the trees down and make tables and alter and all the things. So they're going to reuse the wood, which will be really neat. But yeah, so call crack was out here for a while. It might even be gone today. The truck, the tree's still out there on the trailer, but call crack. My best and single girl in the small town story is I got home one Sunday after church and I was doing something and I looked out my kitchen window and noticed that my tire was flat. And I was like, I can change my own tire Sunday afternoon. I can get out there and do that. And I couldn't get the blasted lug net. Yeah. You've ever tried to change a tire like that's the hold up is having the strength to get the lug nuts off. So I gave up and called triple A and they sent out two guys. One of them was in full KMA. Coveralls love it. And the other one just had regular coveralls and they were probably 60. Yeah, this has been 20 years ago. Yeah. And one of them just chatted me up and he says, you ever go to the VFW? I said, no, I've never been to the VFW. Well, they have karaoke on Thursday nights. And Alan Jackson is my cousin. I'm really saying you want to go in and get the VFW on Thursday, we're seeing some karaoke. And I had to decline Mr. Yeah. Game of flash coveralls kind of invitation. Yeah. But I was I was real sad that I couldn't go sing some karaoke. Because listen, me and fancy. Mm hmm. You could sing some dance. Don't let me down. Don't let you down. Yes. That that that about tracks. So I have to get my old changed and the guy's name is Gina. And Gina, all the ladies in town recommended him. And Gina was very happy to hear from me today when I called about getting my old changed tomorrow. So he can't wait to meet me. All right. Yeah. I said on the color of his coveralls. Sugar, I'll take care of you. Gotcha. Thanks Gina. Really noted. Yep. Yep. Yep. So the only other thing happened in here in the woods. Besides still studying and reading about Jesus and writing lots of sermons. Because this week starts Ashwin stay and lent. Is that the cats are getting braver, which is great. Good. And honey is still chasing them, which is not great for her. We need to learn some boundaries. But they'll come right up to the back door or to the front door and talk to us even a little girl. So you know, we're getting there. We're getting there. We're going to be friends. I just feel like. I'm feeling. Yeah. I'm feeling. And they're taking care of the mice. I have not seen five old scurry through the living room at night again. So. Good. I know I'm so excited for them. Good for them. Good for them. Yep. The only other thing that I'm doing these days and this. I mean, look, I cheered in high school. So I watched a lot of live basketball in high school at a sorority sister in college that played basketball for Sanford. I watched a lot of live basketball. I don't love televised basketball. So this sentence is revolutionary for me. I'm watching basketball. Auburn is ranked number one in the country. They just clinched it. Oh. I'm not going to be. Number one standing last night or Tuesday night. No, Saturday. I'm sorry, Saturday. We've got a game tomorrow Tuesday and one more on Saturday. And the SEC is really good this year in basketball. So every game is great. Even if people aren't ranked. I've watched some Vandy basketball. Even. Make her down. Make her down. I've got a friend that's a Florida fan. And same Florida fan that I do some of my. I don't bet for money. So if anybody's listening with the South Georgia conference of the United Methodist Church, I'm not a gambler. But we do those point spreadsheets. And I was like, I kind of missed it for football. He's like, let's do one for basketball. So we're trying one for the SEC tournament. And so I made it. I got to, you know, flex my Excel muscle. And I made a spreadsheet. And we're so we're going to follow. We're going to start with the SEC tournament and see if we like that. Set up. So it's fun though. And it's fun when you win. We don't win in football these days. So might as well win a basketball. Yeah, my nephew has definitely become a big football. I mean, basketball. Yeah. Oh, it's crazy. Crazy. You know, they travel well to you. So I think it was. I was in Athens where you could hear on the TV. You could hear people cheering more for Auburn than you could for Georgia. That's fine. Yeah. So that's fun. Apparently the tickets are stupid expensive. Yeah. So the tournaments in Nashville, the SEC tournament is in that. We should go to any. Oh, yeah. Auburn home game. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like $1. Crazy. Crazy, crazy. So anyway, we've had fun watching that. So that's been fun. And it kind of scratches my little sports itch. I mean, baseball started, but not really, you know, we're not in the full swing of it yet. I watched a little golf yesterday because Russell Henley was tied for third. Um, little making boy Russell Rusty, um, and one of the tournaments, but he got the yips on the back nine. And so he did not end up tied for third. But that's okay. He did great. I was real proud of him. So, um, anyway, it's been, you know, there's a little bit of sports out there. So all good things, all good things. Do you have any, have you been able to pay attention to baseball at all? Not a whole lot. I did, um, I did listen to the Vandy boys game. I was about to say, I think they're ranked when I love. Yeah, they, they were ranked, like maybe 14 when they, uh, preseason. And they played pretty well. They did lose, uh, two games this weekend. They were out in California at a tournament. Um, and they beat UCLA Friday night, but they lost to USC and Yukon. And they were out on Saturday and Sunday, but they kind of fun little team. Um, I did see today, you know, last year on opening day, our catcher, Sean Murphy. Uh, strength is oblique. And then I saw today that he is going to be out for four to six weeks, because he has a cracked rib. Oh, out. And I like for somebody to get some sage. And take it to the brave facility, because let me tell you what we cannot do again is what we did last year. And this is how it started. And yes, and we, yep, you know, so Auburn baseball is ranked 22nd. I'm still looking for y'all's game this weekend to see. Oh, 18th. 18th. And I saw it the funniest. Yesterday, one of who played Holy books was supposed to have their oven cakes done today. A fan Sunday night. That's enough to get out there. Can not go through yet, that's my friend that's really been there sitting right now. It was, really impressive. Texas State last week midweek. Did you see that picture? Yes, I know this because I saw on Instagram this picture. They were like, I can't remember what they're like. It's gonna be a new series of pictures who don't give a shit or something. Yeah. They already had done one on the Georgia closer. It was like sticking his tongue out of people growing a hundred miles an hour. Yeah, yeah. It was like the guy doing the commentary was like, I mean, this guy will be an accountant one day. Yep. And saying he struck out a guy who made it to the big leagues. The guy in the batter's box may be the first pick in the draft. Yep. And this kid just struck him out and y'all he was about to lose his mind. He was out at his mind excited. He reminded me of an excited puppy because he kept wiggling his ass. Yeah, he would just shimmy his butt. He would shimmy his little butt like a dog wagging his tail like this when they wagged his butt. Funny. It's real. It's absolutely real. Oh, funny. He was freaking out with his mullet. Yeah, it's god. But you know, it'd be like Mercer beating. Yeah. Like Mercer's got a good baseball scene. It'd be like, I don't know, Georgia State. Yeah. Beat and Georgia or something. Yeah. It was a big deal for them. It was a big deal. Yeah, it was fun to watch the highlights. I did hear the commentator of the Bendy game yesterday saying that Oklahoma who will all recall is now in the SEC. Yep. Oklahoma baseball is currently undefeated. Awesome. Which nobody predicts is welcome to the SEC. So why don't we let these really good teams in? They I think maybe they did make it to the World Series the year Ole Miss one. Yeah. Not would have been like three or maybe four years ago. Three or four years ago. Yeah. So they were they are then but they hadn't you know, they're never there. Softball is out of this world good. Yeah, but baseball. I'm like a powerhouse, but actually, but in the video. Welcome to the SEC. Here we go. Crazy. A lot. Crazy. Yep. Oh, well, that's all I've got as far as sports goes. I did not watch the Oscars. I was at a birthday dinner. So I did not do that. But I did see the opening number from Wicked and it was fabulous because the Aerevo is amazing. Yeah. She is. Yeah. Some pipes on her for sure. She does. She sure does. I don't really. But let's say the other I did have a couple of highlights last week. Yeah. So Ted is a big bourbon drinker. Well, that I bought him right Thompson's book, Pappy Land. Yep. Several years ago. When that came out because me Ted, he just he's like a little little kid with a baseball card about his bourbon. It's a circle. So he has three balls of Pappy. He has a 12 year, a 15 year, and a 20 year. Wow. I'll write it. 12 and no 15 and 20, I think 12. So he decided that he would bring some Pappy in because the funeral was at like one o'clock when say afternoon. Yeah. When some people were at the house, well, then there was a reception after at the church and then there were some people at the house. Yeah. So he said, I got all that. Why don't we meet back at the office and have some Pappy? Because I had never tasted Pappy before. Oh, okay. So Ted and his wife Jill and I met back at the office and had, I think we tasted. I can't remember if we tasted all three. That night, if we just tasted two, I want to say we tasted all three. Look at that. Then we went to dinner. But the 15 is my favorite. So then last word to the next day, Leah and the boys came in and they had gone into Mike's office and shut the door and we're doing some stuff in there. And their middle son Stewart's in attorney. Stewart comes out and he comes to set his tent off. So you guys, can we please talk about the law? They're in there talking about money and finance and I don't understand all that. Can we just talk about the law so I can feel good about myself? And Ted, like Demani said, my name is a drink. Someone will be drinking. So I know I do, but I think Stewart could use one too. So he had not taken the Pappy. He has a little travel bag. Of course he does. Of course he does. He had not taken his little travel bag out of the car. So he went out to the car and got to Pappy and then we went and got, we decided to be nice and share it with everybody. So everybody had a little Pappy toast to Mike that I remember in the office. That's so nice. Yeah, I love that. And then Friday, James and Kelly, Kelly are only guests on this podcast. Took me to a new restaurant in Cirenby. It's called Austin's. Okay. And they had been a couple weeks ago and had a caviar service. Oh. And James was so fat. James well then, but very deep things more than he loves eating good food and drinking good cocktails. Like he just loves it. And so we went and had the caviar service and several cocktails and a couple of glasses of wine and I was like, oh, no. Yeah. That's one of them. But it was really good and the thing was really delicious. So I love that. Cirenby is very fun. Awesome. And we're like, where else can you go that you take back roads? Yeah. You know, to get that. Right. Yeah. I don't have any more. Yeah. We can have caviar. That triggered. So Monday night, I was with some people and did not really get to celebrate my passing of the interviews. So when I got back, the Queens, the Rumi, a South Georgia celebration. Oh, good. And we had champagne and porcrons. That's awesome. That's awesome. And they said, okay, do you're not going to believe this, but we're going to order some caviar and a porcron with crimfresh and caviar is the best thing ever. And I was like, done. I believe it. I believe it. Although I have that, that I think just a potato chip with some crimfresh. Yeah. I'm really like you can really leave off the caviar at this point. That crimfresh on a potato chip. I know, right. So that's my next goal with the Queen. And we wore tearers and everything. It was great. It was real sweet. So I did get to celebrate. And I forgot. I won't pull up a picture because I can see the napkin. I forgot what the napkin said, but it was very appropriate. But anyway, it was fun. And they were so sweet to do that. And I can still celebrate it. That's a big deal. Yeah, it was a big deal. I'm glad to have it behind me. It says it's never too late to be what you want to be unless you want to be younger than your screwed. So I'll make sure I put some of these pictures in the chat with Mandy so she can post them. But we had the best time. It was just great. So here we go. Good. Well, I had some funeral sandwiches. Oh, I bet they were delicious. Listen, and here's something like the Sunners in their 1850 house. Which has obviously been added on too. Well, yeah, it's not just the four boxes on top of each other. They posted many a party in their house over the years. And I always end up in the kitchen. Same. With my friend Kathy Nixon. And before he passed away, her husband Don Nixon. And so when we walked in the house, I walked in with Ted and his wife, Jill, after a funeral on Wednesday. And so come on, Kathy Nixon's going to be in the kitchen. Yeah, and not where the good thing is. Yes. So sure enough, there was Kathy with the funeral sandwiches in the kitchen. And she taught me that if you only eat half of one, it doesn't really count. And then especially if you share it with a friend, if you share it with a friend, you're basically losing weight as you eat them. The same thing is if you break a cookie open, the calories fall out. And if you stand up, my friend came in a little McLean. Yes. If you stand up, they don't count either. Yeah, if you shake your food, if you shake it, I didn't know that one. Car calories don't count either on a road trip. Yeah. So there's ways to get around that. But I used to do the same thing with birth, a birth that made all of our food for every party. And she kept me a plate in the back because she knew I would never get to eat at those things. And I'm in kitchen, party food and party time. I spent every minute I had with her in the kitchen. It was much better in there. As Kathy said, you know, and Don was still, because there's like a wind day into the new din that was built 25 years ago, but I still haven't been there. Yeah, it's like a wind day into the new din. There's a door into the hallway and then there's a door into the breakfast room. So with the three of us, as long as we were in position correctly, we knew everything that was going on in the party. Yeah. But we didn't have to talk to everybody and we just sit back there and eat. So it's my favorite thing. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. But anyway, speaking of food, talk to us about yours. So I can't hang in this week for a recipe that we used to eat. It's, I turned it into something different. So I put both versions in the, in the notes. It was, it's just ham and chicken. It's a chicken breast and you wrap some sliced ham around it and then you make a sauce. And they're called party chicken in multi-Georgia. There we go. Party chicken. I didn't know her name. I will make you. We used dried beef and. Yes. Chip beef. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And then there's cream mushroom soup, sour cream, garlic, salt and pepper in the sauce that you put on top of it. You know, it goes real well with party chicken. What? Brown rice. I made that. That's what's in my refrigerator right now leftover. That's really why I made this chicken because I was hankering brown rice. So that's in my refrigerator and we'll be had for dinner. Um, I thought that I had stocked my pantry well enough. I had not. I had no cream mushroom soup. So I thought, well, what do I have? And I had a little bit of sour cream. I have Greek yogurt that I keep in there. Just plain Greek yogurt. Dejon mustard. And then I used the onion salt. And if you like like French onion dip, it's just the sour cream with a packet of French onion or ranch seasoning or I use the French onion dip. The onion salt from Trader Joe's tastes very good. And it's a good version of that. And so I dumped some of that in with all that mixture. And poured that over the chicken and made party chicken with what I had in the refrigerator. And it was delicious. So I've got more of that sauce that I'm going to do again tonight with some left-ever brown rice. And I'm going to be happy as a little clam. When I got to the house on Sunday, I was also in the kitchen again with Kathy and leises for Laura and angered Richardson who was the Joel Richardson was the preacher at Central Baptist for 100 years in England. He's wife. And somehow now that we get to start talking about brown rice. And Kathy, of course, knew about it because Kathy, Kathy is a great, great cook. And of course, Laura is from Maltry, also a great cook. So of course, Laura and Kathy, I knew about it. But angered for Mississippi. And she was like, oh, and there was another one there. Kathy Moore who grew up in Mississippi that lives in Virginia now. Anyway, angered's like, we just didn't make this a Mississippi. I didn't know about it. And said, we were like, girl, and so I'm like literally texting her the recipe while we're sitting there. Because then like three days ago, it was so easy. And then lo and behold, if the next day, Southern living didn't have Abby Odom, Maltry Native. Yep. She's here in the recipe for brown rice. Did I tell you that a guy who's a couple of years younger than me who's recently divorced posted on Facebook and said, somebody helped me. How do I cook brown rice so that it's not crunchy? Well, that's the best part. No, it was like raw. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. Gotcha. But all the answers to it were about rice consomme. Because he's for mulch. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I finally pived up and said, Brad, I don't know if you're talking about the grain brown rice or the dish. If you are, you have to cook it a little longer than regular rice. I don't know which you got your answer if you're talking about rice consomme. Stick a butter rice. We just have in the kitchen in Lia, we've so we're calling it magic rice. Like, I love that. I'm about that. You've got every answer possibly. Yeah. If you're talking about the grain brown rice, you just have to cook it a lot longer than white rice. Yeah. Who knows? Tell me you're from poultry without telling me. Tell me you're from poultry. Well, it's delicious and I'm so excited to have it for dinner again tonight. Thrilled. And I also sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top of that chicken, by the way. That was that was. And I think I told you all that Melanie is another one of our site's time and listeners. She's purchased next to her neighbor. She was like, I have never heard of brown rice and now she shared it with all her friends. There we go. Brown rice revolution. I'm glad. I'm glad to be a brown rice prophet because if we're being honest, that's one of the five things I would eat as a child. So I love. I love it. I love it. Yep. I think we should put that on a a t-shirt brown rice prophet. You think just me. I love it. I love it. I love it. So anyway, that just enjoy that's it's a great little dish with brown rice. The original is good. My version was good. I mean, it's not hard. You know, whatever's in your refrigerator, make it. I do like what's hard to do. It's good. It's very good. It's very, very good. And there's something about sour cream and cream and mushroom soup with some garlic salt. You can put that on anything and it'd be good. So I really. I hate that I didn't have it, but I can make that another week. So I wonder if you're saying tighter jays sells. I think it's called like a mommy powder. Yes, they do. I wonder if that would be like the if you're trying to do a cream of mushrooms. Yes, it's a thing if mushrooms are have a lot of a mommy. And I thought maybe I had that, but it was the onion one. It was not the mushroom in mommy one. So I just went with what I had. Yeah. No, no, I need to stock with cream and mushroom soup and a painting. Don't wait till they go and buy a guy that probably. I know, right? Oh no. Well, the pig I bet actually has that. I'm sure they do. Yeah. So I think I'll be good getting that big. Well, Mandy tells I'm shocked to the maze and glad. I was ready with the ready with a couple things I could have interjected for favorites, but because you've been so busy, but I'm glad you found some favorites besides Papi because none of us can find her for that. So. Yeah, senior. Papi. Did you know what I'm happy about? But tell us about your favorites, please, ma'am. I've been here looking to see if I can make any other ones. No, those are great. So I listened to you know, we let we're big fans of the big big cast. Yes. And Melanie Shankle, who is big mama, has a good look out. And I listened to it because I always kind of been intrigued about her relationship with her mother. Yes, she doesn't really talk about. And so this dives into that. Oh. So it talks about her relationship with her mom, but it also talks about just sort of her daughters struggle and high school with main girls. Yep. And then if you have older kids, I would really recommend this book. If you have a tech relationship with your mom, I would really recommend this book. I will say it did make me, and this conversation you and I could probably have offline at some point. But it did make me. There are times when people's faith. There are times when I feel like people have used their faith as a crutch. Yes. And they just give it over to Jesus. Instead of dealing with it. Yep. And that's their times where I agree there are times where you have to sort of do that. Yeah, but they're often times where that's just an easy way out. And you're not doing the hard work. Nope. That you need to do. So anyway, I did have a little bit of that with this. Okay. I mean, she did do hard work too. But there's a lot of stuff where she's like, I just had to turn it over to Jesus. Or you know, she gets, if you would just believe in Jesus, if he will show you, you know, you got a little bit like that. Yeah. But I, but the overwhelming message was enough that I could kind of get over my nature. Yeah. Actually, that, which is not good. Yeah. But anyway, so that's highly recommend it. If you, especially if you're trying to pay rent, some older kids got, because it, you know, I think it has some good, good lessons about that in there. And then the other thing I got, because it's literally sitting here, right beside me, I got this around Christmas is some Trader Joe's body better. Yeah. And Will had gotten my mom's son last year at some point. And hers was like, coconut. Maybe this is fragrant, springy. Oh, yeah, that's good. Because you know me. But it's just, I love the texture of it. It's not greasy, but it's real and melient and thick. And I like it. Good. It's body better. I love that. Well, thank you, Mandy. That's what I can do. We all know. Look. Grace bounce. Grace it amounts. Awesome. Well, um, so what's your week like? Are you going to New York? Is it for something fun? It is. Good. So Suzy, my best for instance, the fifth grade. Yep. Now lives 10 miles from me ironically. Yep. Our birthday is two days after mine. Oh, good. Each turned 50 on February 19th. So we could talk about going to Paris because it's neither one of us have been to Paris. But she got a big leak in her house and she's still like trying to figure out exactly how much money that's going to cost. Right. Right. She said I can't do Paris, but I have always wanted to go to the opera. And I was like, I'm in. Lava. So we are going to see Lava and Wednesday evening. Yeah. Mandy, that's going to be so great. I can't wait to hear all about it. Yep. So we fly in tomorrow having dinner with my dear friends Leslie and Maddie who live in New York. Love it. And then we'll go to the opera Wednesday night and then we'll catch a show Thursday night just by tickets for day up. Yeah. Hopefully she's going to shoot to see Gypsy with Aldrin McDonald. And now I'm really, really jealous. We go and sit in and then we'll fly out Friday afternoon. So awesome. I cannot wait for all those updates. And not wait. So you see has not been back to New York since we went when we were seniors in high school. I haven't been in a long time. It's probably the 2010s maybe, maybe. I haven't been since before kind of it, but I was really spoiled because Leslie, I could just go, you know, sleep in the bed with Leslie. We're getting a friend said I guess. You knew Leslie growing up Leslie David. Yeah. I guess in some. Yeah. Anyway, I could just sleep in the bed with Leslie because we're getting a friend said, I could do that. So I used to go all the time. Yeah. But I have not been since before COVID. So I'm really excited to. Yeah. I love New York. It's fun. Me too. Awesome. What about you? What's going on in your world? Well, Ash Wednesday is Wednesday and it starts late. So we're getting into the full swing of high holy days. So which is always the busy season for us preachers. So check on your people. I am preaching at we're doing a combined service with the church up the road. So I'm preaching in their hosting. And um, yeah, so there's that. But other than that, I'm just still. I don't graduate till May 10th even though I want to be done. Yeah. Senior writer is. This is hard. No. No, it's thick. It is thick around here. So I'm ready for that to happen. But I'm just reading about Jesus as usual. Okay. Yep. Well, um, it's miss honey feeling all right. She's sneezing. I think we have allergies, but she's already on, um, antibiotics for the heartworm stuff. So, you know, it can't whatever, you know, I don't know. We go back on the 11th. And if it gets any worse than it is right now, I might call her and just see what she thinks, but we're already going back. And the pollen is already out. I mean, there's yellow everywhere around here. So, um, I don't know. She did. I used to use this linen spray on my sheet, but she sleeps in the bed with me and I would spray it. And then she'd get in the bed and sneeze all night. And so I think she does have some allergies. It's probably a problem. So, um, she's been a little, uh, sneezy, but she's great. She brought me a toy to play with the other day for the first time. And I wept. Oh, she's just, she's getting it. And to her rhythm, she's learning that, you know, we have our little routine and she really likes that, um, security. She just, somebody was just not nice to her. And she's decompressing from all that. So, um, but we walked two or three times a day. That's great. Is that it? Yeah. You have to say, um, three months. It's really helpful to take some, um, to fully, fully relax into them. So, yeah, I can see that. I can see where that would be the case. We're about a, well, not even a month in. But she's slowly, I can't usually see it like three weeks. I can see him start to like, okay, but then it's really another. Yeah. Yeah. Just see me text. God loving. Um, you know how when somebody dies and then you have to walk around a small town and everybody gives you a look. Yes. Yes. Luckily, he was like, I hate that look. And now he just takes a, I mean, a wreath of Franklin. I see it a little prefer. Even that six people have told me today they are praying for me. I believe in God. I appreciate prayer. But now the song is second in my hand. Right. Come here, honey. You want to go in camera? She's like, nope, I sure don't. Got pay exer for that. Yep. All right. Well, you girls. You're smiling at me, though. Bleschi. I can't hear. Um, but yeah, so looking forward to your update next week. You've got a big update for us next week. I'm so excited. I really hope you get to see Aldra. I will die a thousand deaths if you get to see Aldra. I love that for you. Because I'm hoping she wins the Tony. Yeah. I think she already had plenty, but I wanted to win this one. Yeah. Leslie saw it and was like, this may be the best thing I've ever seen. Ever. Oh my god. Yeah. Yay. I'm quoting Dam Yankees in my, my sermon this week. And I'm debating whether I say Damard Darn. In the pulpit, I always said that's one place I would never catch. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Don't ask me. I'm not. I'm not a good advice. Give her own blessing. Well, I normally have not. Oh Lord, well, I'll let you know how that goes. Have a good week, friends.
