Being a Steel Magnolia is Serious Business.



The Inside-N-Out in McRae, GA.

Small business is our family business.  From accounting to decorating to cooking for the masses, my family has always owned and operated small businesses in small south Georgia towns. 

This is my Momma's shop in McRae, GA.  I wish I had the before pictures to show you how ten years ago she transformed a tiny old house just across the street from the courthouse into this charming and inviting store . 

Besides being the best gift store and bridal and baby registry for local folks, the Inside-N-Out has many customers that stop by on their way to the beautiful Golden Isles of Georgia. And as the name implies, there are great gifts and accessories for your home and garden - inside and out.

New offering! Phickles made in Athens, GA.





Love having Georgia products like Phickles!

The Inside-N-Out loves to showcase and offer Georgia products like Phickles, delicious pickled okra, green tomatoes, carrots and green beans made in Athens, Georgia and recently featured in Garden and Gun Magazine and Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

And if all this shopping makes you hungry, you are in luck because my sister has a wonderful country buffet restaurant just around the corner.

The Depot was founded on the concept of good southern food EVERYDAY!  There is an Erma Bombeck quote that sums up The Depot experience, "I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage."  And the family tradition continues Sunday through Friday at The Depot in McRae with fried chicken, rice and gravy, cornbread dressing, fruit cobbler, biscuits, cornbread and seasonal vegetables like fried green tomatoes, green beans, squash, butterbeans, peas, corn, okra and whatever else is in the garden. YUM! 

And did I mention that every Thursday is BBQ day at The Depot?  Yep, she smokes chickens, ribs and Boston butts all night every Wednesday.  

I am so proud of my Momma and my sister because they embody everything good about the American South.  They are my favorite Steel Magnolias.

Always Laugh When You Can.

My Momma is amazing.  She has always been her own woman, a tower of strength physically and emotionally and a soft spoken warrior when the requisite situation arose. Petite, blue eyed, blond and beautiful, many a man has been surprised at her knowledge of carpentry, plumbing, finance and politics.  She is savvy and understated - a deadly combination if your are negotiating with her.

My sister and I inherited her work ethic and ingenuity, if not her quite demeanor, and the older we get, the more we appreciate her genetic gifts and her maternal skills. 

For almost seven decades, Momma enjoyed excellent health, but in the last couple of years she become all too familiar with physicians, hospitals, physical therapy, pharmacies and the wonderful world of Medicare.  Thankfully, as I remind her often, her illnesses, while quite serious have all been of a manageable and/or curable nature.  It reminds me of that old southern saying, "If your problems can be solved with money, you don't have any problems,"  but I digress, AGAIN.

Anyway, Momma's new health status created some changes for all of us but some of those changes have been for the better.  My sister and I talk to each other more often and the bond between us is stronger than ever.  While others may come and go, sisters are the only girlfriends that you will have from cradle to grave. And I see Momma and my sister more often now (they live in the same town), even if it is to go to doctor appointments. 

In fact, the last trip to a doctor is why I am writing this post now.  Momma's appointment this time was in Macon, halfway between my house and where they live, so we took the opportunity to spend that day together.  It was also the day before my sister's birthday so she got to make all the decisions about where we would shop, visit and most importantly EAT.   

We talked and teased each other as we always do, but all day we laughed more, and harder, and louder than I ever remember. You know that kind of  nearly hysterical laughter when you can't catch your breath and you think you might wet your pants?  It was like that.  I loved every minute and although I was bone tired and ready to get to my bed, when it came time to go our separate ways, my heart nearly broke.  I didn't want it to be over. 

Then this morning I stumbled upon this quote from Lord Byron and it seemed to sum up that lovely day so well that I just had to share.

Always laugh when you can.  It is cheap medicine. - Lord Byron

My, how you talk...

I met a wonderful gentleman recently. We had exchanged some electronic communication but we had never met personally. As I shook his hand and said "Hello" he gave me the nicest compliment by saying to me, "I have just discovered the greatest drawback to Twitter. There is no way to capture that charming accent."

Now I realize that there is no way to capture my accent on this blog either. My hands will surely not hold out for me to type the way I talk. For you see all my words are looooong and sloooooow. Even the short ones.

My southern drawl is so strong that when I made my way from south Georgia to the big city as a college student, the folks from Atlanta thought I was "puttin' on." In fact, at my first collegiate football party, one student asked me to sit by his parents at lunch so they could "hear me talk".  I was amazed - they were born and raised in Atlanta for goodness sake, not New York City.

I soon learned that it was not just my accent that my new city dwelling friends found entertaining but the southern sayings that were then and are still part of my everyday speech. With just a few words, wonderful pictures come to mind and make your point.  A few of my favorites are:

Go whole hog.

Hollar like a stuck pig.

Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then.

Useless as teats on a boar hog.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

(Have you noticed that I am a BIG fan of pigs? I love to cook and eat them!)

In high cotton.

The sun don't shine on the same dog's tail all the time. (My Daddy used to say this ALL THE TIME.)

Either fish or cut bait.

What are your favorite southern sayings and what memories do they bring to mind?