Random Events

I am supposed to be packing for our trip to Myrtle Beach. We are leaving early in the morning, so now is my last chance to get everything ready to go. But as you can see from the picture below, I have been playing with my dining room table instead. If you know me at all, you know that I am crazy about table settings and napkins and napkin rings, etc. I love changing my table for the seasons. I found this pretty fall pumpkin spice potpourri at Walmart last night and just had to get my Thanksgiving stuff out and set the table. It smells soooo good. As you can see, my guests are four little turkeys dressed as Pilgrams.

Here is the other thing I bought last night. The sewing machine on the right belonged to my Grandmother and is probably 40 years old. I have been using it for the past 10 years and it works most of the time. But lately it has been making very strange noises and the tension adjustment doesn't work. So, I broke down and bought the machine on the left. It was one of the cheaper ones they had at Walmart, but I only really use it to make repairs or sew simple projects that are mostly straight stitches. I haven't even plugged it in yet and I'm not sure I will have time to before we leave for the beach. Maybe I should stop playing tea party with the turkeys and try sewing up the hole in the back of my capri pants. I pulled the tag off because it was itchy and now I have a hole that forces me to wear long shirts with these pants.

I hope to post some pictures from the beach this week of Bailey and Maverick playing in the sand and surf. But, of course, I need to pack first.

We finally got to see the boys!!!

We delivered our load in El Paso and Jen picked us up from a parking lot where we left our truck. Both the boys were a little shy at first, but warmed up to us within minutes. Maverick has grown so much and his hair is blonder than ever. Bailey impressed us with his growing vocabulary and showed off how smart he is by naming the alphabet letters for us. Maverick made Pop's day when he crawled over to him and climbed up on his lap, then played with his hat and glasses. We took them to Toys R Us and got them a wagon (more for Mommy, I think). At least now she can pull them all over the neighborhood without having to carry one or both of them home. And, of course, we had our Rudy's BBQ. It all ended too soon, but we will see them again in Myrtle Beach in just a week, so we can start looking forward to that. Bailey's answer to everything is "no" but when we got back to our truck, Jen asked if he wanted to get in Pop's big truck and to our surprise, he answered "yes". So we let him climb up in the cab for a few minutes. He loves Mack on the Cars movie, so I guess he enjoyed getting inside a real truck. But our truck was saying, "Mack?" "I'm an International, for durn sake!" Pop is still talking about how Bailey blew us kisses and said "Bye, Pop!" over and over as they left the parking lot. I'm just glad they only wanted a wagon. Pop would have bought one of everything in the store if they had asked for it. Hope they don't start talking before they get to Myrtle Beach!!! I just know Jen is saying, "Bailey, say Titan, Nissan Titan." LOL We enjoyed seeing Jake, too. Kirby hadn't seen him since Maverick was born. Hope we get to see him again during the holidays this year, along with all our other relatives in Texas.

Salsa

You would think as much as Kirby and I love Mexican food that I would have made salsa before, but I never have. I have made a lot of Mexican food over the years, including some delicious guacamole, but for some reason, I always just buy Pace Picante sauce to use with chips. But, today, with three rapidly declining tomatoes in my refrigerator I decided to get out the Cuisinart and see what I could do. I started by cutting up the two red and one green tomatoes and pulverizing them. Kirby and I both prefer our salsa without chunks. Then I added half of an onion that I found in the crisper in a zip lock bag. I had several hot pepper choices, some fresh from somebody's garden and some from a jar. After blending and adding peppers until I thought it tasted about right, I realized that the green tomato had given the whole mixture a strange grayish look. So, I added some red food coloring. Yuck!! Now it was a wierd pinkish color. Then I decided to add some chili powder to see if I could darken it up. Viola!! It looks even redder in the picture then it does in real life.

The sad part of the story is that I chose today of all days to start my "serious" low carb diet. I don't have a tortilla chip, cracker, frito, piece of bread, nothing to try out my salsa on!! Guess I'll go next door and see if I can bum a chip from my sisters.

You won't believe this!!

Since we didn't get to see the babies during our three trips through El Paso, we were resigned to seeing them at the beach in two weeks. Then on the way home from Beaumont we got a message from our dispatcher asking if we could go back out on the road on Monday and deliver a load on Wednesday in EL PASO!!! We called him immediately and told him we would be happy to go to El Paso, again. It is unusual for us to go that far west more than two or three times a year. But three times in a month?? This time we plan to turn off all communication with dispatch. We will not leave El Paso without kissing our grandbabies (and getting some Rudy's BBQ).

Best Laid Plans . . . . . .

We have passed through El Paso twice in the last few days, but, alas, could not stop. We made our trip to Rancho Cucamonga, then heading east, we passed through El Paso at 2 am on our way to pick up a load in Freeport, TX, which strangely enough, was scheduled to deliver on Monday in Commerce, CA. We didn't think Jen & Jake would appreciate the 2 am visit. So, here we go again, heading west, passing through El Paso on Sunday afternoon, but having no time to spare because we were supposed to be in Commerce on Monday morning. We arrive at our destination in Commerce (a sub of LA) and lo and behold, the customer cannot take the load because their tank is full. "You come back tomorrow," they say with a Spanish accent. So here we sit in a Ramada Inn in Commerce, CA, still loaded and waiting to deliver tomorrow. We will have to pass through El Paso again heading east sometime Wednesday, so we shall see how things work out for our visit with the boys. Meantime, we play the waiting around game, which mostly involves watching TV and eating snacks from the machines in the lobby.

California or Bust!!

I'm actually excited to be going back to work for a change. We've been off several days because of Kirby's bike rally and his brother coming to town. Usually, it's hard for me to have to leave again knowing I won't be home for a week or so, but this time, we are going to Rancho Cucamonga. We love taking a load to California, but even better, we almost always come back to Texas by way of El Paso. That means we can stop to visit the GRAND-BOYS!! And Jen & Jake. I hope everything works out, but I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. Just my luck they will send us north from the LA area to Oregon to get a load or something crazy like that. But 9 times out of 10 we come back to Houston on I-10 and pass within a mile or so of Jen's house. This will be our first trip out there since she moved in April. We were out there in February of this year and usually make it out there a couple of times a year, so it's about time. I guess I'd better go pack up the car and fill the cat food & water dispensers. California here we come.

The Boys are Back in Town

Kirby and his camping buddies came home this afternoon and we have spent the last few hours cleaning up the camper and washing all the laundry. They had a good time and enjoyed the menu and food I prepared for them before they left. I tried to come up with food that would be easy to fix in one pan, then I pre-cooked and/or chopped or sliced everything that I could. Kirby likes his things to be organized, so he appreciates having everything needed to prepare a meal listed for him. They especially enjoyed the sloppy joes and frito pies (some people call them walking tacos). The only thing they said they didn't have enough of was my cole slaw.

My brother-in-law has to go back to Texas tomorrow afternoon. I think he has really enjoyed spending time with his brother and with my nephew. I asked him today which one of them was the craziest and he said it was a toss up. Anybody who spends time with the two of them would agree.

Lamps & Lamp Shades

Anybody need new lamps? I really didn't either, but couldn't pass up such great bargins. I went to Lowes for some other things, and they had Waverly lamps and shades on clearance. I got a $40 lamp for $8 and a $25 shade for $5. The small green lamp matches my guest bedroom. I got that lamp and shade for about $9. I'm actually going back today because they had two really pretty green candle stick lamps that I passed up and now I'm thinking I could find a place for them. Jen & Allison, do you need some lamps for Christmas?? They also had some floor lamps that I didn't really look at, but now I'm thinking I might have missed a good deal on those, too. Oh, how I love to shop, even at a hardware store!!!

These two lamps at the bottom are lamps I already had, but I bought the cute shades for $3 each and painted the lamps to match.