When we last left our travelers they were fighting their way through a monsoon off the coast of I am a nervous Nelly by nature and I do not do well in stressful situations. At this point I am ready to faint I am so nervous about the low visibility. My DH on the other hand never seems to act rattled and drove on like there was no rain. The rain eventually subsided and we start looking for the road to the restaurant.
A Public Service Announcement: If you are at any time going to Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House for dinner or for the show be forewarned that internet directions are not always right! Both times we have come I have printed directions from the hotel to the restaurant as a safety precaution. (I’m Nervous Nelly remember?!) Anyways, both times the directions have told us to turn left off of the main highway and the restaurant will be immediately on the left.
Wrong! It is a right turn off the interstate. The last show we almost didn’t make it in time because of the wrong directions. Once we arrived at the set I met another lady who had run into the same problem.
Once we arrived to the holding area for the audience my MIL started to get really excited and could not stop asking me questions. I answered as many as I could and a lady behind us heard me. She came over and introduced herself and said that she was going to become my new best friend because I seem to know what was going on. Sonny says I have this way of attracting crazy people to myself. :-0 Just kidding! She was very nice and not crazy at all, but now I had two nervous, excited woman bombarding me with questions.
Pretty soon one of the assistant producers came out and ran through a list of rules and “no-no’s” that we were to follow during the taping. I believe that my MIL spaced out during this part and followed none of the rules.
After everyone was allowed to go to the potty in groups, one of the producers came out and surveyed the audience to see how she wanted to seat us. I was hoping beyond hope that the producer would like our look and seat us close to the front like the last time. She pointed to Sonny and I and asked us to come with her. I got excited there for a moment because she led us into the studio and starts looking at the café seats that are right behind Paula as she cooks. As she is walking toward the café she inquires if there are just two of us. When Sonny corrected the count and said four she stopped mid stride and looked at us again. “Oh,” she says as she stops
and turns directions. My heart did a flop. No soup for me! I tried not to be disappointed as she led us to the last table at the back of the room right next to a curtain. But this spot would be instrumental later on.
During the show three special guests came on and helped Paula make apple pie, oven fried sweet potatoes, and other things that I can’t remember. I won’t give away who the three guests for the show were, but the theme for this show was “TV Dinners”. Two of the stars I was familiar with, but I don’t watch American Idol so I had no clue on the third.
With our table being so far away from the main cooking area we were not able to converse with Paula like we did last time. I was a bit bummed about that but my MIL kept assuring me that they were having a great time. Between takes we could hear Paula laughing and talking to Gordon Elliot behind the curtain. My MIL said that it was annoying to be so close to Paula and not be able to talk to her. Before I knew it she was getting up from the table and parted the curtains. I was completely mortified! 
I told Sonny it was his mother, so he had to go and retrieve her.
A second later we recognize my MIL’s and Paula’s laughter from behind the curtain. They are talking and laughing like old friends reunited. They chatted about Katrina, grandchildren, and even swapped emails to share recipes. Well shut my mouth! Paula Deen is truly a southern lady and a gem. She was so personable with my MIL and never seemed upset or impatient. I can’t say the same for some of the assistant producers. One of them rushed up as soon as she saw my MIL and was trying her best to make her go back to her seat, but she and Paula kept right on talking until it was time to tape the next segment.
Needless to say that was the highlight of her trip and I have cemented myself as her favorite DIL.
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