Gnomes, Guitar Hero, Old Friends and CHOCOLATE PIE!!!

Well, as you may know if you have been reading my blog for a bit, my family is a little, um, eccentric. We love games, practical jokes and laughing. Not a bad thing. And as several non-related observers of our antics this weekend pointed out, their families are boring and they had much rather be a part of our craziness than dull, uninteresting, non-brain-stimulating family affairs.
We, too have a thing with gnomes, like Hewy.
Our 4th gnome hunt of the family has been in progress over the last few weeks.
I have been the virtual winner the first and second round (beating out my cousin who is in charge of the Internet and my uncle who is a secret agent)
......and my brother and I cheated my aunt,
who had been the 1st round winner- out of winning the 2nd round in a very ingenious plot if I do say so myself.
I figured out the location of the 2nd clue and was the virtual winner. I called my brother, who was off work that day and who had not even looked at the clue. He retrieved the clue from the ziplock bag in the church bell and put in a nice little note for her!!!! She was stuck at school and could not leave and I KNEW she would make a beeline for the location as soon as she could.
Aunt JoE is the THE MOST competitive person I know. Hands Down.
She called my brother, the preacher, ugly names and hung up on him. Not once, but twice.
And then left me an ugly voicemail.
All family fun!!!-And it only got worse when we were all there in person for the final showdown.
We all met at my lying, cheating pastor brother's house Saturday and Emm brought the clue.
BEFORE she even got there, all sorts of mayhem ensued, from hiding car keys to letting air from tires to blocking in vehicles to parking cars down the road and partnering up with cell phones.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CHEATERS.

My cousin Bettye was visiting form New Orleans to witness it all. Not that it came as any surprise to her. I think she got that OCD gene as well. Her towels are always folded perfectly when we visit her. And now my husband makes me do ours like that.
Emm almost disqualified all who were acting inappropriately and almost made us all go afoot because of some people's over enthusiasm. I think certain family members actually upset her and made her nervous!
She handed us the clue and made us all turn it over.
And we all set out to find the family gnome.
Here was the clue: (it will mean nothing to non-family, but thought it was rather interesting. There are several possibilities here and there, but only one correct solution that made sense)
My sister and I teamed up and figured it out!!

New year's baby's wife's daughter's daughter's daughter's brother's father's wife's sister's daughter's grandmother's daughter-in-law's daughter's sister's brother's father's grandfather's son-in-law's daughter's husband's brother-in-law's son's mother's son's brother's brother's brother's grandfather's daughter's husband's mother-in-law's son's sister's brother's mother's mother's brother


And it lead to my Uncle's house.....
Where we all ended up eventually digging all through his stuff- and he was not even home.
I am glad he did not arrive as we were all in the yard- oh probably 20 or so of us.
He would have though some horrible tragedy had ensued or else we had his birthday surprise party on the wrong day. A friend called my sister as they drove by and said we looked like a bunch of idiots.


My cheating, lying, tire vandalizing brother ended up finding it and it was really great excitement.
Except for Aunt JoE, who only thinks it is fun when she wins.
The finder has to make the next game! And I can't wait to see my brother and sister-in-law's clues. Since they have 3 children under the age of 7, it will probably be at our Christmas gathering.
And the winner of the 1st gnome hunt, sponsored by my sore loser but great cook and favorite aunt, promised a chocolate pie for the winner.
My little girl asked if she got a pie for helping look because even the kiddies were all into it.
So rock-throwing Auntie Sore Loser, whom I loved dearly-made 2 chocolate pies- my great grandmother's recipe.
And my mother was there as well, so I finally got them to nail down the recipe.

I had made them before with my mother but she just adds stuff until it looks and tastes right.

Here it is!!!!

Mrs. Big Ruby's Southern Chocolate Pie

1 cup of sugar

3T cocoa

3T Flour

3 egg yolks

1/2 stick of butter

1 3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, cocoa, flour. Gradually and milk, beaten egg yolks and butter.

Cook on medium heat until thick.

Pour into prebaked pie crust.

Bring to my house.

I am sorry there are no pictures from the actual mayhem formerly called the family gnome hunt, but I was too preoccupied with winning and protecting myself to get the camera out of the car. But here is baby girl, enjoying her prize.

WHO CARES ABOUT THE GNOME, we got to take the chocolate pie home with us!!!! Well, I would like to have added him to my gnome garden, but then again I would have o hide him next anyway.

After the gnome extravaganza, we all relaxed, cooked out played guitar hero and visited with old friends. I got to see two of by BFFs from childhood and our boys have been friends since birth. They are all the same age, 2 of them only 10 days apart! Bettye taught Baby girl songs that she taught me when I was little. Gosh, she is old.
A nice Saturday indeed......
Would have been nicer if I had won.























P.S. Enjoy this recipe, because there will probably nere' be another on my blog unless it is another one provided by someone else- as I have also stated before, my husband did not marry me for my cooking.
It has not improved one bit in 19 years.


Thanks, Emm, for all the great clues and fun.
Thanks Aunt JoE for all the LAUGHS!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Bro for being a cheater- oh wait, never mind, I helped him cheat.
Thanks FAMILY for not being boring, EVER.
(as all the outlaws roll their eyes....)