Good Times with Friends...

SUCH a fun weekend. Sigh. Two weekends in a row with old friends. I might be getting spoiled. Whatever shall I do THIS weekend? THAT's easy. Going to G'mas for Thanksgiving and hanging out with the family. It's going to be great. My job? Pumpkin pie. I'm working on the most perfect pie crust ever (of course, in my head, it's ev-uh). Secret? Butter-flavored Crisco. Yes, I know. It's not real, but it makes the pie crust so flaky and buttery (it's ALMOST real) tasty.

So we did a lot of stuff this weekend. Quinn and Chris fixed the sink in the kitchen (which held towels and bowls underneath to hold drips AND it smelled funny. Bonus). Yay! And they also fixed a broken flusher (you know, the thing that flushes the toilet) and fixed some outlets. Crissy and I decorated the house for Christmas on Sunday and had a couple of drop-in visitors (thanks Carrie and Diane)and we had a bee-yew-ti-ful turkey for lunch after church. I made Paula Deen's Cornbread Dressing, which was phenomenal. Really.

Saturday, whilest the men were repairing and such, Crissy and took the children to the Manship House, which is in downtown Jackson. I loved it. It was left to the city of Jackson in 1975 and then was restored to its original 1838 appearance. No photos were allowed to be taken inside the building, but I did get some outside.


This is the side porch. The children loved climbing all over the steps (we really did make the tour guide a little crazy). Felix and Brody were trying to peek through the windows.
All the children hanging over the rail at the house.
I loved the handiwork of the house, all originally done by Mr. Manship himself (he was the mayor of Jackson during the Civil War). You can't really see the doorknobs, but they were gorgeous, even all through the house. The key to the front door.
The Manship family was given the original bell from the Jackson City Fire Department (which Mr. Manship is credited to start) and it was displayed in the yard.
The children were all permitted to ring the bell (thank you, kind tour guide) and then would lay their hands on the bell to feel the vibrations.

I loved walking through it, but it made me appreciate what I have now. Namely, toilets and running water. Oh, and electricity. I do want to go back for their Christmas stuff:

Christmas at the Manship House
Manship House Museum
Jackson, MS
(601) 961-4724
Daily tours feature Victorian-style decorations Tuesdays through Fridays, 9 am - 4 pm, and Saturdays, 10 am - 4 pm. Reservations required for groups of ten or more. For information call 601-961-4724. This event occurs from 12/5-12/23/08.

It's all authentic Christmas decorations for the original time period of the house. AND, can you say FREE? We're going back.

We had a great weekend with our friends. The children had such a wonderful time (they are really much like siblings and my two oldest boys worship Ty, the oldest boy of the Sharps who can do NO WRONG). I'm thankful for good friends, both old and new. Which makes me think of this old diddy:

Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver, and the other gold.