Rick Hits the Big 4-0!

Rick turned 40 a few weeks ago. To celebrate, I planned (with Kelland's help) a Halo 3 Surprise Party for Rick and 9 of his friends. After dinner with a group of friends at a local eatery, I drove Rick to the clubhouse of our subdivision where Kelland and Steve had already set up 3 separate screens with 3 controllers at each one to play Halo 3 til their heart's content (which usually translates to somewhere between midnight and 4 a.m.). Rick even had a Halo 3 birthday cake! The guys try to get together for large group tournaments about once a month or so. Must be some sort of "mid-life crisis" thing . . . (although Rick vehemently denies being anywhere NEAR midlife)!

Clark Wins Employee of the Year!

My brother, Joel Clark Putman, won the Employee of the Year Award at his company in Louisiana. He's always been a hard worker, and I'm glad he was recognized for his accomplishments. Way to go Big Brother!

Mom's Famous Dressing

My Mom's dressing is always the best ever, and I've never even attempted to learn how to make it. But this year, I decided to help Mom out and to write down the recipe for future use, too. There's a funny family story about Rick calling Mom one day from Kentucky the night before some potluck event we were going to attend. We had decided that Mom's dressing would be the perfect thing to take. When Mom answered the phone, Rick said, "Can I get your recipe for dressing? I want to make some for a potluck." Mom said, "Sure. About 3 months ahead of time, start saving leftover cornbread and put in the freezer." Rick just sighed and said "Nevermind." We bought a premade batch at Kroger instead.

Well, this year for Christmas, I watched and learned. Mom pulled out the leftover cornbread and crumbled it up while I stirred together all the other secret ingredients. Mmmm, mmm, good!