It all started with a tiny boll weevil

With a slow drawl, the Lion Keeper at the University of North Alabama said, “You can’t claim to be a true Alabamian until you’ve been to the National Peanut Festival in Dothan,” so Hoss King, who was a senior oboe major, grabbed his roommate, Billy Mac, and took off to celebrate the famous legume. After…

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The bigger the bow, the more mama loves you

If our hair is our crowning glory, then a big fluffy hair bow is the jewel in the crown of all little girls in the South. Boiled down to the bare bones truth, a hair bow represents how much love a mama has for her precious darlin’ lamb. Matching every outfit, with special editions for…

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When my little boy learned to sew

  It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to be able to thread my sewing machine. Seeing as I only use it a few times a year, it’s a miracle I remember how to snake the thread along the correct path, around the hook, behind the thing-a-ma-jig and finally through the needle.   I…

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A little bit of trouble in a Baptist church

The day I made my way from the front of the church to the back, by way of crawling on the floor beneath the pews, was the day that ended with a spark of revival and righteous reprimand.   Before you get excited and think this incident occurred this past year, get your head on…

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The best halftime show ever

*I’ve always wanted to tell this story, but found it difficult due to the word restriction of the newspaper. There’s so much more to tell, and some of you from my high school who were there, feel free to fill in the rest! And now that I see my friend Jana in this photo, I…

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The nursery isn’t my gift

Once they grow up, we long to hold a little baby again, or do we? I just wanted to hold a baby. I wanted to snuggle my face into its chubby neck and smell baby powder and lotion. My two boys are giant teenagers and in no way resemble anything I could hold or rock…

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Show a little kindness

For the past few weeks, a story has been making the national rounds about Florida State University’s Wide-Receiver, Travis Rudolph, who visited a local middle school and in an act of kindness, sat with a student named Bo, who was all alone at the lunch table. There weren’t just a few empty seats around him,…

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Don’t rush the Spiced Pumpkin Latte!

A first-world issue has been bothering me, and it began when I saw a display for Spiced Pumpkin Lattes — in the middle of August. Retailers have sensed our weakness for all things autumnal and know everyone in America is addicted to, and will purchase, anything that smells or tastes like Farmer Brown’s harvest.  …

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A Norman Rockwell kind of morning

The year my son started Kindergarten, I would set the alarm for 5:45am and get completely dressed with full make-up and hair done with big hot rollers. I would dress in the outfit I’d carefully chosen the night before, then wake the precious lamb and prepare whole-wheat, made-from-scratch pancakes, shaped like teddy bears, with a…

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Hats off at the table

This story can be found in the book, The Majorettes are Back in Town Bless her heart, my long time friend, Fancy Faye is out there in the dating world again. The stunning beauty is smart and successful, but totally out of luck when it comes to love. She’s rather picky, which can be a…

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