Shellie Rushing Tomlinson
There y'all are. I've been scared you weren't going to show up to the
porch, what with the weather droppin'. I've got hot chocolate on the
cyber table over there, and a few afghans scattered around for the
cold-bloodied folk. Make yourself at home. ~smile~
You know, computers are smart, but us professional writers can't always
rely on 'em. *grin* I'll give you an example. Last week when I was
typing the chuckle, I spelled out the word snuck. I'd no sooner hit the
"k" when my word processor underlined it and said it wasn't a word. The
computer wanted me to use sneaked. Well, I swanee, snuck is too a word,
and it's one of the most expressive ones we've got. I'm here to tell
you, if you're smack in the middle of a good southern funny, you can't
go off and use the word "sneaked". It just won't do the trick. My computer
also has a fit if you talk about "raising" kids. Yeah, everyone remembers
the rule from high school English: people raise crops and they rear kids.
I'm guessing that one had to be written by a Yankee. Sounds good in
theory, but try to tell someone they're "paying for their rearing". Like
Papa would say--that dog won't hunt.
Don't forget to check the news button today! There's an update waiting for you.
Now, kick your shoes off, put your feet up and enjoy this southern celebration
I've got planned for 'ya. Until next week....
Hugs,
Shellie
P.S. Remember to do your civic duty and vote today. It's a big one!
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~~Chuckles~~
"Feud in the Church"
I recently heard a sad story about a feud between the pastor and
music director of a local country church. It seems the first hint
of trouble came when the pastor preached on dedicating yourselves
to service and the choir director chose to sing "I Shall Not Be
Moved".
Trying to believe it was a coincidence, the pastor put the incident
behind him. The next Sunday he preached on giving. Afterwards, the
choir squirmed as the director led them in the hymn "Jesus Paid
It All".
By this time, the pastor was losing his temper. Sunday morning
attendance swelled as the tension between the two built. A large
crowd showed up the next week to hear his sermon on the sin of
gossiping. Would you believe the choir director selected "I Love
To Tell Story"? There was no turning back. The following Sunday
the pastor told the congregation that unless something changed
he was considering resignation. The entire church gasped when the
music director led them in "Why Not Tonight". Truthfully, no one
was surprised when the pastor resigned a week later, explaining
that Jesus had led him there and Jesus was leading him away.
Still, it would've been better all around if the choir director
had resisted the temptation to close with, "What A Friend We Have
In Jesus".
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~~A Taste of the South~~
Are you in a rut with supper? I've been there. Let me give you a
little inspiration. We're going to make "Chicken Crescent Rollups"
today and you won't have to be in the kitchen all evening to pull
it off.
"Chicken Crescent Rollups"
3 chicken breasts
1 oz. cream cheese
2 teaspoons butter
¼ cup celery
¼ cup onion
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 jar chopped mushrooms
Crescent rolls or can biscuits
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ cup sweet milk
Let's get cooking! Begin by boiling your chicken and pulling it
into bite size pieces. You'll want your celery and onion sautéing in
a dab of butter in a different saucepan. Once your chicken is ready,
mix it with the cream cheese and season it with lemon pepper. Add
this meat to your sautéing vegetables along with one jar of chopped
mushrooms. Just a couple more steps and you're done. Your family is
gonna love you tonight. Place a generous helping of this meat mixture
in the middle of a crescent roll or biscuit and place in a buttered
baking dish. Heat your canned soup and milk and pour this white sauce
over the rolls. Bake in a 350-degree oven until the rolls are golden
brown. Now, that's good cooking!
~Shellie
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It's Porch Day! Are you wearing your ALL THINGS SOUTHERN T-SHIRT? I am!
http://www.allthingssouthern.com
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~~Spotlight on the South~~
SPOTLIGHT ON COON DOG CEMETERY
There's a very special cemetery five miles off Highway 247 in Northwest
Alabama. It's beautiful, well kept and isolated. They like to say you
have to be hunting for this place to find it. You'd expect that, for
this isn't your ordinary graveyard. It's Coon Dog Cemetery, the final
resting place for dogs who spent their lives tracking raccoons all over
the Deep South.
It all started in September of 1937 when Troop, Key Underwood's best
coon dog, died and Mr. Underwood gave him a proper burial on this quiet
piece of land. One by one, other beloved hunting dogs were laid to rest
beside Troop as word of this hallowed ground spread. By the way, there's
a standard for admission to the Coon Dog Cemetery--if your dog couldn't
tree a coon, he need not apply. I'll leave you with an anecdote from the
online newspaper, The Montgomery Advertiser. In it Mr. Underwood is
telling the story of a woman from California who wrote him wanting to
know why only coon dogs were buried in his cemetery.
"Ma'am," Mr. Underwood responded, "you must not know much about coon
hunters and their dogs, if you think we'd contaminate this burial place
with poodles!"
~Shellie
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~~It's Been Said...~~
James Earl Carter, Jr. was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia to
a family that was devoted to the Baptist faith, peanut farming and
politics. He would become the thirty-ninth President of the United
States, coming to power in an era of rising energy costs and mounting
inflation. These factors, along with Iran's refusal to release American
hostages contributed to his defeat for reelection. Although Jimmy Carter
was known as a somber man without a great sense of comic timing, today's
quote allows us to see another side of the former president. It earned
him a lot of laughs. The year was 1980 and President Carter was giving
his farewell speech to the news media. He began his remarks with this
tongue-in-cheek offering...
"I want to thank all of you who made my job so easy and enjoyable and
comfortable," President Carter began. He then turned to his wife and
said, "Thank you, Rosalynn."
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~~Southern Comfort~~
"Taking Names"
I don't know if they still do this today. When I was in elementary
school and the teacher had to leave the room, she always appointed
someone to take the names of anyone who talked while she was out.
I was never chosen; I can't imagine why. I can still see the
appointee standing at the board, chalk in hand and arm poised with
a double dog dare attitude on their face. It was a "make my day"
type of thing that Clint Eastwood would've been proud of. Of course,
the boys in the class had to cough or clear their throat, just to
prove that they could cross the noise barrier without repercussion.
I want to read you a scripture in Malachi that made me think about
the whole "taking names" thing. It's found in Chapter Three, verse
sixteen. "Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another;
and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was
written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared
the Lord and thought on His name."
How cool is that? When you and I talk about the Lord, He's listening
and taking names. And the best part? He writes in ink. Now, that's a
list I want to be on. How about you?
~Shellie
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~~Southern Exchange~~
Your letters:
Dear Shellie,
I just wanted to send you a note about a childhood memory, something
I haven't thought about in a long time.
When I was a young girl I dogged my daddy's footsteps and was always
wanting to help him do whatever it was he was doing at the time.
Well, one time I helped him work on a car he had strung up between
two big ole' pine trees. My job was to hand him the tools whenever
he asked for one, sort of like a surgeon's assistant. It made me feel
big and important to be my daddy's helper. Anyway, when we were done,
he promised to pay me with a "Yankee Dime". Having never heard of a
Yankee Dime before, I asked him what it was. He knew how to build the
suspense. He said, "Well, you'll just haft ta wait til we get cleaned
up and then you'll find out."
After hurrying through my bath and waiting on daddy to finish his, (we
only had one bathroom for our family of ten), I sprang up to meet him
as he came out the bathroom door. To my surprise he scooped me up and
gave me a big smooch on the cheek! "There," he said, "now I'm all paid
up!" Seeing the puzzlement on my face he then laughed and hugged me
tight and gave me another kiss and told me a Yankee Dime was a kiss
and I just received a bonus! Instead of feeling disappointed in not
having received a "real" dime, I was tickled pink! My daddy always
knew just how to make his little daughter feel special and much loved.
Sorry my "short" note got so long winded. It's just that once I got
started writing the story of the Yankee Dime, in my mind I relived
that special moment, seeing and feeling again my daddy's love for me.
Wanda Rogers
Conyers, Georiga
(Dear Wanda, I had forgotten about "yankee dimes". Thanks for sharing
your memory and jogging mine. I bet someone on the porch knows how
the expression got started. How about it out there? ~ Hugs, Shellie)
______________
Hi Shellie,
Thank you for the free book and setting me up for your weekly
publication. I enjoy what I've seen very much. I obtained your web
address from Dixie Rising.com. Although born a Yankee my ancestors
were from Missouri and fought on the Confederate side of things.
I have a story for you. I had a bumper sticker on my car which said,
"Yankee by birth, Rebel by choice." It also had a small Confederate
Battle Flag. Oneday a couple of weeks ago, the lady upstairs informed
me that someone came by in a station wagon, stopped and sprayed
something on my rear bumper and departed only to return a short time
later and remove the bumper sticker and leave again. Next time my
sticker will say "Lee surrendered, I did not."
Bill Vernon
Edmonds, Washington
(Dear Bill, I'm sorry about your car trouble! If you find the culprit,
invite him to the porch. Maybe we can show him some manners. *grin*
Thanks for droppin' by. ~Hugs, Shellie)
_____________
Dear Shellie,
I found you on the Cool site of the Day and being a True "GRITS"--Girl
Raised In The South, just had to get your newsletter...
M.
Pawleys Island, South Carolina (although originally a Tar Heel)
(Dear M., Nice to have you! Any true GRIT is a friend of mine. Feel free
to tell your GRIT friends about us. ~Hugs, Shellie)
______________
Dear Shellie,
Due to our upcoming move, my internet umbilical will be cut tomorrow
morning, but I couldn't go off into "No Mail" land without telling you
how much I enjoyed listening to "The Cross" on the internet, and being
able to put a voice to the "Smiling Shellie" picture from your website,
and the ATS Newsletters I've been getting for so long.
You do a mean radio, lady.
Chris
Bovill, ID
(Dear Chris, Why, thank you! Right at first, it was always a shock to
me to hear how country I sound, but I'm getting over it. I guess that
goes to show you that folks can get used to most anything, huh? ~Hugs,
Shellie)
______________
Shellie,
I saw the article in the Monroe paper on 10/20/02. I enjoyed reading
the story. I also enjoyed how it brought back many memories of the place
I am proud to call my home. Keep up the good work.
The subject of this correspondence is about respect for the South.
Recently, a comment was made on the TV show "Survivor" (which I had not
watched prior to this episode and now refuse to watch again) concerning
how men from the South treat women. The comment was made by a women who
obviously resides in the north. I don't remember her name but I do
remember that she was the swimming instructor for the Navy. Her comment
was directed toward Clay Jordan. He is from Monroe. She stated that he
did not treat women with respect, but that was the way it is in the South.
I took issue with the sexist comment. I didn't know how to let my
views be known until I read the newspaper article about your web site.
I thought it would be good food for thought on the porch.
Gary Stanley
Monroe, Louisiana
(Dear Gary, I didn't see the episode, but I think that woman bumped
her head if she thinks women are treated with more respect in the
north than they are the south! We'll see what the porch thinks! ~Hugs,
Shellie)
___________
Hi Shellie,
I sent your website to all my friends. I want to pass something on that
I found today. Here it is: "Live in such a way that those who know you
but don't know God will come to know God because they know you."
By the way, I know your sister, Cyndie. She is a trip!
Linda Tatum
Newellton, Louisiana
(Hi Linda, That's a great message, and one we should all try to live by!
Thanks for sharing it with the porch. Oh, and I just took a trip with
"Cyndie the Trip" to Dallas to see our other sister. I'm sure the city
is still trying to recover. ~Hugs, Shellie)
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~~A Southern Definition~~
The men on the porch will just have to bear with me. I'm thinking about
pantyhose today. I'm so glad they've fallen out of favor in recent years,
but when my sisters and I were growing up in the pews of Melbourne Baptist
Church in Transylvania, Louisiana, going barelegged was not an option.
The better part of each Sunday morning was spent trying to find a pair
of hose with no runs. None of us were above pilfering a pair from the
dresser drawer of the distracted, and we were quick to claim ownership
of the less damaged goods. I haven't thought about some of the tricks we
used to extend the life of those dreadful things in years. Who remembers
merging a good right leg from one pair of hose with a good left leg of
another? I do. If the shades were close, we went with it. When all else
failed, we went to church and feigned surprise when some helpful person
pointed out the tiny run that began at our toe and grew until it disappeared
under the tail of our dress. It was customary to act mortified as if you'd
never purposefully wear torn hosiery. Yeah, pantyhose have always been more
trouble than they were worth, and mastering their delicate substance
challenged our tomboy souls--which brings me to today's southern definition...
"If you were born with that remarkable ability to wear a pair of pantyhose
more than once without tearing them...you could have been a girly-girl."
--Shellie Rushing Tomlinson
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ATS NEWS AND NOTES:
Okay porchers, I've got to let y'all in on what is happening around
here. I'm sure you know, even if you haven't been able to hear the show,
that I've been taking these features and doing a radio show on two local
stations. Well, the feedback has been great and I'm in the process of
trying to get the thing syndicated, (fancy talk for going on a lot more
stations). That's a lot easier to say than it is to do, trust me. ~smile~
There's a lot to do! By the way, the show will be reformatted also. Instead
of running twice a day/four days a week, it will run once a day/five days
a week.
The way it looks right now, I'll finish out the month of November on the
air and take December and January to market the show to other stations and
come back on the air Feb. 3rd. Yes, I know this is right in the middle
of the holidays. It's gonna be a wild ride for a little while. I might
have to shorten the emag to just the weekly chat and the "Southern Exchange"
for a couple of weeks there if things get too hairy while I'm on the road.
(Or, I could run some "best of the first year of ATS" issues. Let me know
what you think.) I promise to keep everyone posted and not to disappear
completely from the porch during that time, but I will definitely need
your patience. If everyone gets huffy and starts jumping off the porch,
it'll kind of defeat the whole idea. *grin*
There's a couple ideas below for anyone who wants to get involved. (If that's
not you--feel free to check out now, I'll see you next week. Have a good
one!)
1. If you want to have the ATS Radio Show on your local Country, Christian,
or Talk Radio station, I can mail you a Demo CD that you can take to your
station. Or, you can email me the name of the station and the General
Manager and I'll add them to my list of people to contact.
2. If you're a potential sponsor, or know someone who is--holler at me.
The ad rates are extrememly reasonable. If you work for a regional or
national company that would be a good fit with ATS, holler louder!
example: Krispy Kreme, Community Coffee...*grin*
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All Things Southern Sponsors:
If you enjoy All Things Southern on the radio--or by internet, please
let my sponsors know. ~Thanks,Shellie
Panola Pepper Corporation, where great hot sauce is just the
beginning. If you're not cooking with Panola, your stomach might be
full, but is your mouth satisfied? You can find Panola on the web at
http://www.panolapepper.com or give them a call at 318-559-1774.
Their plant is also available for tours at 1414 Holland Delta Road
in Lake Providence, Louisiana.
**************
Let New Attitudes Hair Design and Boutique blend all your fall
shopping needs into one beautiful style that flatters your
distinctive personality. Stop by 710 Florida Street, Delhi Louisiana,
and tell Sheila that Shellie sent you. ~smile~ 318-878-3397
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