A Mother's Legacy

FOUR PAWS KINGDOM
Rutherfordton, NC 28139
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RV LIFE: 
My parents left this morning, after staying in a cabin here at Four Paws Kingdom, in NC.  Did they have a good time? Not sure. Did Scott & I have a good time? Not sure. Of course, we were all very glad to see each other again.

I think the highlight of the week for Mom was when she went on the "poop run" with Scott. They took the camp golf cart and had to drive throughout the park and empty the trash cans that have bags of poop in them. Remember, this is a campground for adults and their dogs, therefore, lots of poop in the cans.  Luckily, most folks are very respectful and rarely do we find poop that hasn't been picked up.
The highlight for me was our nightly game of dominoes. Unfortunately, the last night, Dad was not feeling well. He was staying in the cabin, close to the bathroom. Scott, Mom and I played without Dad that night. I must admit, it was a lot more uneventful without him.  Dad is a good sport and he makes fun of himself and doesn't mind when we make fun of him also.  Makes for a lot of laughs. Oh, and by the way...I was the overall Domino Champion of the week. Thank you, thank you very much.

The cabins do not come equipped with a kitchen, only a charcoal grill, 2 electric burners outside & a microwave & toaster inside. I agreed to provide dinner for them for the week. After all, they are on vacation. They shouldn't have to cook.
That was really nice of me to offer 7 dinners when Scott is the cook. Thank you Scott!  We ate out twice and Four Paws had a catered BBQ night. So that left only 4 meals.
Spaghetti, chicken & dumplings, smoked chicken, & gumbo. Great job Scott! (And thanks again to Mickey, who gave us the recipe for Gumbo).

Just before my parents arrival, I had lost an important set of keys. Scott & I search the RV, the truck, the dirty laundry, I even dumpster dove. My fellow workampers, and seasonal campers spread out and searched the whole 1 acre dog park. No luck. Not only will locks now need to be replaced, I feel completely stupid!!!!! I HATE when I do stupid, inefficient things! It caused me to be embarrassed & depressed.
We are getting ready to head to the catered BBQ here at Four Paws, so Scott puts on his "good" shorts as to his droopy, stained work shorts. "Debbie, guess what I found?". I dare not get my hopes up. Scott is probably just teasing me. Scott holds up that beautiful mass of clinking metal...the keys!!! I wasn't stupid nor inefficient. I just have a bad memory, which I completely admit to. I have notes everywhere. At the last dinner, Scott wore his "good" shorts and I wore pants with no pockets. Being the great workamper I am, I always like to have my keys with me. You never know if I may have to help out and need to get into a place where a key is needed. So I gave Scott the keys to hold in his pocket. Tsk, tsk to Scott for not emptying his pockets before putting his shorts away in the drawer. Of course it's not my fault!
What a perfect day that was. My keys were not only found, which proved I am not stupid and I am efficient, because I didn't lose the keys. But, I also found some cool looking reading glasses at Dollar Tree!

It doesn't take much to make me happy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RESTAURANT REVIEW:
DRAGON PALACE in Spindale, NC:
Our rating 3.5 out of 5
Very good service, nice variety of foods, including shrimp bar. Price is very reasonable. I believe the buffet dinner was $7.95. In NJ, that dinner would be $11.95, although the buffet is larger.
I enjoyed all the food I ate, especially the lo mein. The only negative was that the ice cream was in tubs, hard as a rock and very difficult to scoop out. But that is probably the reason the restaurant does that... so we don't overload on ice cream.

GOOD COOKING in Rutherfordton, NC:
Our rating 1.5 out of 5
Scott & my parents may rate it higher, but my meal was very sad.
This is a home cooking type restaurant. Each night is a choice of only 3 main courses. Then you select 2 sides and a choice of cornbread muffin or fried cornbread.
FRIED CORNBREAD: These were like mini cornbread pancakes. Interesting and good once you put butter, I mean margarine (that's what they served) on it.
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES: What do you expect? We're in "The South"! These were actually great! Thin slices of green tomatoes, covered in a very flavorful batter and then fried.
CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS: Ugh! I actually liked it, but that's because I am a carbohydrate lover. I love bread, cakes, cookies, pasta, etc. This meal was basically globs of dough with some thickened chicken broth and MAYBE 3 bits of chicken. No vegetables, no real seasoning. I liked it because I like globs of dough. But for most people, this would be pretty disgusting.
POT ROAST: Pot roast I have had is served with the carrots, chunks of potato, and gravy that has all been cooked together. This was just the roast and the two sides that we chose. Scott said the roast was good, but lacking the traditional flavors.
MASHED POTATOES: Very good and real!
COUNTRY FRIED PORK CHOP: My Mom said it was very good. It was heavily breaded and fried. If the breading was anything like what was on the Fried Green Tomatoes, then maybe the chop was good.
I would NOT go back again, although Scott still wants to try the meatloaf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK REVIEW:

Fax Me a Bagel by Sharon Kahn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'd rate this 3.5. It's not good enough for a 4, but is slightly above average.
Interesting murder mystery. I'm sure if I were Jewish, I'd appreciate all the Jewish-ism's and relate better. But that did not detract from the book.
I would read another of her books, but would not seek it out.


View all my reviews
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MY MOTHER'S LEGACY

I gave my Mom (& my Dad) a journal type book for them to fill out a couple of years ago. They are called A MOTHER'S LEGACY and A FATHER'S LEGACY.
It took Mom a couple of years, but she filled it out and left if for me in the cabin they were staying in (that was my workamp job to clean). What a sweet, sweet surprise!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH MOM FOR TAKING THE TIME TO REALLY FILL IN THE ANSWERS WITH HONESTY AND THOUGHTFULNESS. It means a lot to me. I am thrilled to read about my Mom as a person with a life prior to being my Mom. I've already learned things I find so interesting, but never thought to ask her about.
I don't think Dad will bother filling his journal out. That's just the way he is.  He is more a "fact man" and not a person to elaborate.

A Mother's Legacy by Thomas Nelson Publishers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a FANTASTIC gift to give to your Mom, for you.
This is a book of questions for your Mom to answer and elaborate. What a great way to learn more about your Mom that you may not have known.
I gave this to my Mom a couple of years ago. She finally filled it in.  I believe this was also good therapy for her also, as she remembered her childhood (good & bad), etc.
This book poses questions
...about her childhood, such as, What was your favorite pastime? What did your bedroom look like? What scent or sound immediately takes you back to childhood.
...about her teenage years, such as tell me about your first kiss. What did you do that your parents wouldn't approve of?
...and so on to her adult years and her career or no career, her marriage, about her thoughts, goals met or unmet, etc.
I am still absorbing all that my mother has written and see my Mom now as person who existed before she was "Mom".
*There is a coordinating book for Dad too.


View all my reviews