Long & Winding Rhodes

Fall is in the Air (and on the ground)

2010-10-26T15:31:00.005-04:00

I just read my daughter's post on facebook about putting her blogs in book form. So, I decided to come over here and read some of my old posts. Some are pretty interesting to me because I had forgotten about things I wrote. Others not so much. I noticed that the last few were all about playing games on the computer which kept me from having time to blog.

I'm not promising anything, but I'm going to try to get back into blogging more regularly if only for myself to be able to go back and see what I have been doing. But I still plan to farm and play hidden object games. We'll see how it works out.

Today is all about leaves falling. We have a lot of wind today and leaves are falling everywhere and swirling around on the ground. The temperature is a balmy 80 deg. That's pretty warm for us in late Oct. Just walking outside made me think about being a little girl and raking up leaves to jump in. I guess WV is a pretty good place to live as far as seasons go. We definitely have all four. Hot summers, warm springs, cool falls, and cold winters. We have an abundance of rain and wild flowers, oodles of trees for leaves to fall from, and plenty of snow to play in. Pretty close to a perfect climate if you are a kid with time to play and not an adult who has to go to work.

Blame in on Raspberries!!

2009-08-18T19:45:00.003-04:00

Some people have asked me why I don't blog anymore. Two reasons - both internet related. One is my unlimited game pass at Shockwave. For a set price you can play full versions of all kinds of games on Shockwave. So, I spend endless hours searching for everything from hammers to boiled eggs in hidden object games. Some of them have very entertaining little puzzles you have to solve to get to the next level. I love the challenge and it is usually very relaxing, until you can't solve the puzzle, then it is very frustrating. Most of the time, you can find someone on the internet who has played the game and can give you some help.

The second reason is that shortly after coming home from El Paso after my new grand-daughter was born, my sister and daughter got me hooked on Facebook. I love it. I have made contact with lots of family and friends and get to keep up with what they are doing on an almost daily basis. But the real time killer is Farm Town. When you are on Facebook people send you invitations to play this farming game with them and once you start, it is hard to stop. I don't know why we do it, because if you describe it to anyone they would think you were out of your mind. But we sit here for hours clicking on tiny little squares that represent our plowed and planted fields. You plow and plant and harvest crops, as well as lots of fruit trees. And if that wasn't silly enough, we also go to other farms and click on their fields to harvest and plow. Even now I am shaking my head at how ridiculous it sounds, but I can't wait to finish this blog and see if my cabbage is ready to harvest! I think I started it because I liked placing the buildings and fences and flowers, etc. to decorate my farm. But now I am determined to reach the ultimate level 34 and buy the big mansion that sells for $1,000,000 coins in the Farm Town store. Level 34 is the accumulation of 150,000 points for plowing and planting. That means thousands of mouse clicks, day after day, just to be able to buy blueberry seeds or a windmill. And of course, ultimately, the mansion.

So if you don't see me back her for a while, come on over to facebook and check out my farm.

What a trip!!

2009-06-24T01:20:00.003-04:00

We had a pretty interesting 10 days while we were out on the road this time. To begin with, Kirby got a sore throat a couple of days after we left and it got worse and worse, especially at night when he would try to sleep. Of course, I got it too. We tried mouth wash and throat sprays and tylenol and hot soup, etc. etc. During the day it would get better, but at night it always got bad again.

After a few days, we brought a load close to WV and figured we would be able to come home and get rested up and see the doctor. Instead, they gave us a load going to Idaho! We didn't want to turn down such a good load, so we headed west and hoped for the best. After a few more days of sore throat, we finally stopped in Wyoming and went to the emergency room of a small hospital there.

They tested us for Strep and it was negative. The doctor said it was just a virus and would have to run it's course, anywhere from 5 to 14 days!! We had already had it for at least 7 days. He wouldn't give us antibiotics, but gave us steroids for the swollen neck glands. The steroids really did help, but even today, my throat is still a little sore.

Kirby decided he would come back home and try out for the Yankees after getting the steroid shot and taking the pills, but my sister told him not to waste his time because he would never be able to make the Hall of Fame when they did the random blood tests. She's probably right.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took in Freeport the other day. Our terminal is about a mile or so from Quintana Beach and the sunset was really pretty that evening. The other picture is the first thing we saw when we drove down onto the sand. Apparently, this guy sells Mexican fruit on the beach. I've never seen that at Myrtle Beach!!

Jafar? Are you in there??

2009-06-09T13:35:00.005-04:00

This is my new grandbaby, Jenna Beth, wearing the same dress her mother wore home from the hospital 33 years ago.

I know it's been a while and I'm not sure anybody is even reading this, but as an excuse for part of my downtime, I spent three weeks with my daughter in El Paso to welcome my new grand-daughter. She was born May 12 weighing 9 lbs. 9 ozs. Babies run big in my family, so she was pretty typical for us, but she looked like she was 3 months old already.

Only my grandson, Bailey, will get the title of this post. Jafar is the bad guy from the Aladdin movie. This was a running joke while I was in El Paso. The parrot, Iago, knocks on Jafar's head at one point and says "Jafar, are you in there?" Bailey and I would do this to each other everytime something happened and we wanted to get the other one's attention. I enjoyed watching several movies with Bailey. Speed Racer and Rattatoui were my favorites.

The Rattatoui movie inspired me to let Bailey (age 4) and Maverick (age 2) help me cook one day. They were so funny standing on step stools, mixing eggs with milk and salt and pepper and Maverick's secret ingredient for perfect scrambled eggs, parmesan cheese. Bailey left after the mixing part was done, but Maverick saw it through all the way to frying his eggs and buttering the bread. He loves helping with anything from mopping the floor to changing a diaper. Bailey, on the other hand, hates being asked to do anything that interfers with his agenda.

Here are Bailey and Maverick with their versions of a milk mustache.

Who Says??

2009-04-07T14:48:00.002-04:00

I've been contemplating who decides what is a waste of time and what is a constructive use of time. Mainly because I've been wasting a lot of time lately! But who says it's wasted?? It all started when my daughter blogged about Spring time. That got me to thinking about spring cleaning, which unleashed a torrent of activity in my bathroom. I cleaned and dusted everything in there from top to bottom and cleaned out shelves and drawers and mopped the floor. Then I decided the next day I would start on my bedroom, but Rusty found a new hidden object game on the computer and we played that all day. Then I helped him finish Mortimer Beckett and then he got me started on Detective Stories Hollywood and one thing lead to another and my room never got cleaned. I felt bad about it for a little while, then I realized that the time I spent with Rusty and the time I spent relaxing, while stimulating my mind, in front of the computer isn't wasted time. Maybe my bedroom isn't super clean and my furniture didn't get treated with liquid gold, but I washed the sheets and comforter. OK, I still have some Christmas stuff on my dresser that I need to put away. But so what if it's still there next Christmas and I don't have to "waste time" getting it out of the closet??

Paula Deen or Mortimer Beckett??

2009-03-22T19:06:00.002-04:00

This week I've had a hard time deciding who I want to be. If you recognize those two names in the title, you have some idea of what I'm talking about. Paula Deen is, of course, a cook. Tuesday we decided to create our own Japanese Steak House at home. We made a huge pot of fried rice, stir fried veggies, shrimp, chicken & steak. Then I made the creamy sauce they serve in the restaurants. We also had some spicy mango sauce and some onion blossom horseradish dip. It was all delicious. We invited my sisters over to eat with us, and even took some "take out" to my Mom.

Wednesday, my husband promised to make my nephew a pan of bread pudding. My grand-niece came down and decided she would make the bread pudding with Kirby's instructions. So, while they were working on that, I fixed the rest of the steak from the night before, along with some oven roasted garlic potatoes. When my nephew came for the bread pudding, we ended up feeding steak and potatoes to him, his wife, my grand-niece and nephew, and one of their friends. Everyone loved all the food, but grand-niece Jessica said she would rather have my sloppy joes than steak.

You probably know what happens next. Thursday we made sloppy joes for everyone, along with a special request for my cole slaw (from my nephew). Dessert was peanut butter cookies with M&Ms (one of my favorites).

So what about Mortimer Beckett, you ask? He is a character in a computer game. I have become obsessed with hidden object computer games lately. Between all the shopping for food and cooking, I sit at the computer and download free trial versions of games. Some, like Mortimer Beckett, I enjoyed enough to actually pay for the full version. Others, I play for 30 minutes and decide they are not that much fun. Right now I am going through Escape the Museum. It's pretty good, but the objects are very well hidden (to the point of being impossible to see). Yesterday I played Unicorn Castle all day. The day before that it was Hide & Secret Treasure of the Ages. I have my sisters playing these now, too. They finished Mystery PI - the Lottery Ticket and now they are playing Mystery Quest Secret Island.

I have probably played upwards of 20 of these type games and so far, Mortimer Beckett is still my favorite. There are two of them in case you are interested. Secrets of Spooky Manor and Time Paradox. Both are entertaining and sometimes challenging. Be prepared to waste a considerable amount of time if you start playing. They are addictive. But it's a relaxing, good for your mind kind of addiction.

Pay it Forward

2009-03-17T23:01:00.002-04:00

This was a game that a neighbor and friend of mine (a young woman who is in Germany with her Army husband) put on her blog. I thought it seemed like fun, especially since I was one of her first three to respond. Read the rules and post a comment so I can send you something from Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. I may even go more than three people if I don't get too many. Then post the rules on your blog and pay it forward!!

Here are the rules:

1.Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward by creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember - It’s the spirit and the thought that count! (I think 365 days is too long myself, but that's what was in the rules. Believe me, you won't have to wait that long to get your gift from me!!)

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the top three commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

That's it. Pretty simple. Hope some of you decide to play along.

Sick!!

2009-03-06T14:07:00.002-05:00

Isn't it funny how thinking of one thing gets you to thinking of another thing and pretty soon you are thinking of things that had nothing to do with your original thought? I have been sick with a head cold for the last couple of days and for some reason, all my wadded up tissue this morning made me think of an old Brittish comedy we used to watch in the 80's called the Young Ones. If you ever watched it, you know it was outrageously crazy and disgusting. Perfect for a teenage boy (my son) and his friends. The Sick episode was one of the funniest, along with Have We got a Video and University Challenge.

Anyway, then I was reminded of a time when my Mother was sick and she was in her bedroom and heard us coming toward the room and she started yelling "unclean" like the lepers did in the Bible. She didn't want us to get her germs, but I always thought that was so funny.

But unclean made me think of the laundry I had in the washer. So as I was putting that in the dryer, I had to clean the lint filter. Which made me think about the air conditioner filter.

So I checked that, and of course, it needed to be changed. When I tried to throw it away, the trash can was full, so I had to take the trash out.

When I got outside, I noticed my car was facing the wrong way because my last trip had been to my mother's house. Which reminded me that I needed to go back to her house and fix her kitchen light for her.

I got in the car and there was the mail in the sunvisor that I had forgotten to take inside the day before. And in the mail was a coupon that I had sent for. $1 off cat litter.

Which reminded me to check the cat litter, which needed to be changed. Which reminded me that I can't smell anything because of this head cold. Which got me right back where I started. I need to get rid of all these wadded up tissues and take something for this cold.

Finally a Trip to El Paso!!!

2009-02-27T18:20:00.004-05:00

It seems like forever since we got a chance to go through El Paso and stop to visit with the kids and grandkids. We had to stay out almost three weeks, but it was worth it to take the California load that got us through west Texas. I tried so hard to get some good pictures of the boys, but they never hold still. Here are a few of the better ones. I don't think I ever got Bailey to look at the camera.

coupon clipping craziness

2009-02-07T15:19:00.002-05:00

While we were home for a few days I meant to put some pictures of our snow storm on my blog but every time I sat down at the computer I was distracted by coupon websites. I didn't know there were so many places you could find money saving coupons. I must have printed 20 or 30 coupons to use at the grocery store. Then of course I went to the store and didn't take the coupons with me because I didn't want to waste them at Savalot when I can double them at Krogers. Now I need to work on my grocery list that I can print out every week so I get the best deals and use the right coupons. No wonder people pay for someone to watch the sales and tell you which coupons to use. Saving $.50 is a lot of work. Every time I print a coupon they also include an ad or a recipe. When I have to replace the ink cartridge in my printer I hope I can find a coupon. Of course, I won't be able to print it if I'm out of ink. Guess I'd better plan ahead for that. This is getting so complicated. Where did I put that coupon for Excedrin?

Snow Storm Blues

2009-01-28T15:48:00.003-05:00

We are trapped in Cincinnati today. We have a load going to Akron but the weather stopped us in Cincy last night. We have been sitting in our truck for over twelve hours. Worst thing is our Sirius radio bit the dust. But Kirby found a station here playing old radio shows. We listened to William Powell in "One Way Passage." I love him with Myrna Loy on the old Thin Man movies. This story is about a woman dying of heart trouble who meets a man on his way to be executed for murder. They meet on a ship sailing from Shanghi to San Francisco. Of course they don't tell each other the truth but fall in love and plan to meet in Mexico on New Year's eve. Reminds you of Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember." Cary Grant certainly had a happier ending but this is a great classic anyway.

Luckily we keep snacks with us so we dined on crackers, cheese spread, beans & franks, and celery with peanut butter. Thank goodness for the IPhone. We can entertain ourselves playing Whack a Mole. Or get online. I need to go now and make a phone call. Today is my son's birthday.

Historic Event

2009-01-20T19:18:00.005-05:00

I bet you thought I was talking about Obama! No, this is even better. Last night I talked to both my grandsons on the phone and it was the first time Maverick said "Grammy" to me. He talked and talked and told me about his screwdriver and said "I love you" just as plain as could be. Then he said hi to Pop and I thought Kirby would never stop talking about it. I can't wait to see them in person. Hope I don' t have to wait til May. Also, this is my first blog post from my Iphone. I didn't think I could do it but today I figured out how. I had to switch to HTML. Oh, yes, we do have the first black president. But have you heard my grandsons talk on the phone??

We are on our way to Denver where it is supposed to be 65 degrees. Thank you global warming! At home in WV we are having a new ice age. So I'm not complaining about being on the road this week. But I'd gladly brave the cold and snow if I had to in order to go to El Paso! Maybe next week.

Our Sweet Kitty, Muffin

2009-01-15T01:02:00.003-05:00

Almost 12 years ago, one of our neighbors asked us if we wanted a kitten. We went to look at them and ended up bringing home a tiny little fur ball we named Muffin. She was such a good cat. She did like to go in and out a lot. As you can see in the picture, she's waiting at the door for someone to let her out for five minutes so she can scratch at the door to be let back in for five minutes. Very often in the summer she would stay out all night and we would wake up to find what Kirby called "a rump roast" on the door mat. She tended to eat the top half of a mouse and leave the bottom half for us. Sometimes she brought us a chipmunk or a mole.

She was one of the most affectionate cats we ever had. She loved to be held and petted and she could purr like a motorboat. She liked to sleep near my head, on my pillow. We have a dog who begs whenever we eat. Muffin thought she should get in on that action, too. She loved it when I sat in the living room with a plate, because she knew she could get on the couch behind me and reach over my shoulder for a bite, while the dog sat at my feet whining. Needless to say, I didn't eat in the living room unless I was prepared to share.

A month or so ago, we took Muffin to the vet and he gave her thyroid pills. I blogged about that at the time. Unfortunately, the thyroid pills helped a little, but didn't solve her problem. Our sweet kitty, Muffin, passed away early Sunday morning. Rest assured, there will be no mice in Heaven when you get there.

Busy New Year

2009-01-10T17:38:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's already 10 days into the new year. We've been pretty busy since we left on New Year's Eve. We drove to Cincinnati and picked up a load going to Louisiana. From there we got a load going to Wisconsin. After we delivered that, we went to Chicago to pick up a load going to New Jersey. We had some time to waste waiting for the New Jersey load, so we did two of my favorite things. Number one, we ate at a Chinese buffet. We found a really good place in Joliet that had great food. Across the street was a KMart, so number two - we shopped. I didn't buy a thing after Christmas this year. I didn't really need anything, and when we finally went to WalMart two days after Christmas, the selection was pretty slim. Not so at the KMart in Joliet. We spent almost two hours in the Christmas stuff looking at trees and candles and table settings and ornaments and more. We ended up buying not one, but two Christmas trees!! They are standing in the bunk of my truck right now, so we have to sleep with our feet touching them.
KMart had pre-lit trees with both regular lights and fiber optic lights for $12.50. They are four foot trees and we got a green and a white. You can use both lights at once, or either set you prefer. I can't wait to get home and plug them in. We also got three sets of lights for our front porch. One spells out Merry Christmas and the other two have ribbons and bows to put on either side of the Merry Christmas one. Is it too early to decorate for next year?? I'm really excited to see how these are going to look.

Believe it or not (and I'm sure if you know me you will believe it) we bought some placemats and napkins and napkin rings. I know!! But at 75% off you just can't pass up pretty Martha Stewart placemats. Besides, Kirby was helping me pick them out and he loved these. I'll have to take pictures when I get home. We're going to decorate the table with them for a while even if they are gold and white and Christmasy looking.

I knew after we left I would kick myself for not buying more candles. We picked out some to use at home because we burn candles a lot. But they had some beautiful decorative candles with brass snowflakes on them that I could have used for myself, or even as gifts. I don't know why I didn't get them. At that point our buggy was running over and we still had another aisle to look through, so I guess I got distracted by the wrapping paper and boxes.

I may have to make a trip to our local KMart and see if they have anything left!!

Happy New Year, Almost!!!

2008-12-31T00:07:00.003-05:00

It's just after midnight, so it is officially New Year's Eve here in WV. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog this year. I know it isn't the most productive thing you could be doing with your time, and everyone is so busy these days, so again, I thank you for spending a few minutes with me now and then.

As you probably know, I'll be having a new grandbaby this year. My daughter, Jen, is having a girl to go with her two little boys. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with all of them this summer. My son-in-law will be serving overseas in the Army in 2009, so she will not only be taking care of her sons, but having a new baby while he's gone. Pray for them whenever you think of them - they'll really need it!! My husband thinks they will have their own TV show pretty soon - "Jen & Jake plus eight" I'm sure at times the two boys seem like eight already.

My other four grandkids are growing up too fast. Last time we saw them, only Brandon was still shorter than me!! I'm sure he'll probably outgrow me this year.

I have so much to be thankful for. I couldn't begin to list the prayers that God has answered this past year, or the blessings he has provided. I hope all of you have been as happy and as blessed in 2008, and I pray all of you will have a wonderful 2009.

Happy New Year, from the Rhodes family!!

Christmas Eve Lunch

2008-12-24T18:59:00.007-05:00

Normally we have our Christmas Eve dinner with my sisters and Mom about 5 or 6 pm, and then we all exchange gifts. But, since Christmas Eve fell on Wednesday, the church was having a candle light service tonight, so we decided to have our Christmas Eve dinner/gift exchange early. I had considered the idea of Italian food, but we finally went with our usual Mexican feast. We all love Mexican food, and besides, I had these nifty new cast iron fajita skillets to try out. They were a gift from my in-laws. So, here's our delicious beef fajitas fried with some onion and poblano peppers.

And we had my favorite, chicken enchilladas. Along with some shrimp poppers. These are large shrimp stuffed with cheese and jalapeno pepper, then wrapped in bacon. They were absolutely the best part of the meal.

The gravy boat makes a perfect dish for serving your queso dip. Add some chips, condiments for the fajitas, and warm tortillas, and you've got a wonderful Christmas Eve Mexican feast. If you think it sounds like a lot of work, think again. The fajita meat is ready to go in the freezer section of the grocery store. Just add some onion and peppers, heat it all up, and you're done. Even the enchilladas are easy. I start with large taquitos from the grocery freezer, pour enchillada sauce over them and top with cheese. Put them in the oven for an hour and it looks and tastes like you've worked all day. The shrimp poppers were a lot of work, but soooo worth it.

The real job is cleaning up the mess. I make it harder on myself, because I insist on washing my Christmas dishes myself. I'm so afraid someone will break one, so I always wash them and put them back in their boxes personally. So, here's a couple of pictures of the kitchen just after we finished eating. All the Christmas dishes go back in their boxes and back into that bottom cabinet. My cat had been playing with that bubble wrap that's on the floor.

The stove is covered with pots and pans used to make rice and beans and heat other things. Tomorrow morning, all those blue pans will be replaced with my brand new Cook's Essentials eggplant colored pots and pans. I love my Cook's Essentials from QVC. These blue ones are still in great condition after years of daily use, but my Mom got me the new ones for Christmas. I guess I'll have to post a picture of them, if I ever get this mess cleaned up!!

Another idea for wrapping up your gifts!!

2008-12-22T14:42:00.003-05:00

Ever have the perfect size box for a gift, but didn't want the recipient to think they were getting a toaster (or whatever was originally in the box)? The other day I realized most boxes are only glued together on one corner. I have taken three different boxes apart this year and simply turned them inside out and put them back together. Now the box is plain white or brown on the outside and has all the features of the toaster on the inside. When they tear off the paper, they see a plain box. If the inside lists all the features of last year's toaster oven, they won't notice because they will be enjoying the gift you put in the box for them.

Investing in one of those packing tape dispensers is well worth the money, too. I've had mine for years and you can ask either of my kids or grandkids - when Grammy tapes it up, it takes an act of Congress to get it open.

2008-12-22T01:47:00.002-05:00

These are my Poinsettia & Ribbons Christmas dishes. I started collecting this pattern about 8 years ago when I bought a set half price at K-Mart after Christmas. That year I got a service for 4 of the dishes, as well as a set of salt & pepper shakers and a gravy boat. Naturally, K-Mart never had them again, but I learned that many people had matching pieces on EBay. This is my first year with the stemmed goblets, and I live in fear of breaking one. I have seen them on EBay several times and wanted them, but wasn't willing to pay the asking price of $8 each (plus shipping). A couple of months ago, someone had 12 of them for about $3 each (including shipping) and I couldn't resist. I have many other matching pieces that are not on the table, including flatware, but I decided this year to use the gold flatware my mother-in-law gave me.

There's a funny story about the bowls in the picture. I was at a local store here called Ames and saw a woman trying to return two sets of bowls. When they told her the bowls didn't come from Ames and she would have to return them to wherever they came from, I approached her and offered to buy them from her. I think at first she thought I was a little strange, but when I explained that I had several sets of dishes that matched her bowls, she was happy to sell them. They had been a gift to her and she had nothing else to go with them.

I bid on napkin rings several times and stopped when the price got too high. Then one day, I misspelled "poinsetta" and found a whole new bunch of auctions where hardly anyone was bidding. Since then, I have typed in both versions whenever I search.

Christmas Decorations

2008-12-21T18:07:00.005-05:00

I've been completely blown away by some of the decorations on the Tour of Homes that one of my daughter, Jen's, friends has on her blog. I don't know how to do the fancy links to other blogs, but this should get you to hers - http://boomama.net/2008/12/15/christmas-tour-of-homes-2008/ There are over 900 homes on the list, so enjoy yourself if you go there and look at some of them. Meantime, I decided to put a picture of my pitiful little tree on here. In the past, we have put up our 6 ft. white tree with all blue lights and blue/silver decorations, or with all red lights and red/gold decorations. This year, we put up a little 4 ft green tree with very few lights or decorations. We just weren't in the mood to decorate for some reason. I did insist on having an angel, but ours were all too big for this tree, so I got this little one at WalMart on sale the other day (then almost cut her off in the picture).

I got really ambitious the other day and took pictures of all my napkins, placemats, and table cloths. I'm sure right now you are thinking I have too much time on my hands. Actually, I was looking for my blue napkins, and didn't realize how many sets I had, so I decided to organize a little better. I made a folder on my computer and put pictures of all the ones I have so next time I decide to decorate the table, I'll have a good idea of what I have hidden under that china cabinet. Anyway, here are the blue napkins with some placemats that I forgot I had!! I used those blue candles and snowflake candle holders last year with some different placemats. That little plate of cookies in the center is actually a plate of tarts for a tart burner. They smell so good, but look so pretty I couldn't bring myself to melt them.

Tonight, this blue stuff is going back in the china cabinet to make way for my Christmas dishes. I'm going to put the leaf in the table and get it ready for Christmas Eve dinner. In the past we have done Mexican food for our Christmas Eve meal. One year we had chicken fried steak (special request from Todd). This year I'm planning an Italian feast. I'll post pictures of the Christmas dishes tomorrow.

Are you Ready to Wrap??

2008-12-14T19:12:00.005-05:00

These are my special Christmas gift wrapping scissors. They always make me smile. I was thinking this morning about some of the things I have learned over the years about gift wrapping and started making this list.

1. Obviously, you want to buy all your supplies at after Christmas sales. I store bags and boxes flat in a plastic storage container and wrapping paper in a tall kitchen trash can in the back of my closet. Tissue paper is kept in a gift bag stored in the container. Tape, scissors, name tags, and pens are all in a shoe box in the storage container.

2. My Mom taught me years ago that the ironing board makes a great place to wrap gifts. It's a good flat surface and the height is easy on your back.

3. I've tried several methods for saving pretty gift boxes. First of all, I never tape them shut. That just ruins a perfectly good box. I tried putting the tags on the bottom one year to save the pretty tops, but it was hard to sort gifts when you had to turn them all over to see who they went to. When I got them out the next year, I had the same problem of old tags that couldn't be pulled off without tearing the box (even if it was on the bottom it looked tacky). Then I had a great idea. The first year I use a box, I use the smallest gift tag I can. Every year, I reuse the box by putting a larger tag over the smaller one. After the third tag, it's usually time to trash the box anyway, but tags do come in all shapes and sizes.

4. I love gift bags. For one thing, I sometimes have to peek to remember what gift is in which package, and bags stuffed with tissue make this sooooo easy. But, I had the same problem as with tags on boxes. When you try to remove one, it often ruins the bag. The first time I use a bag, I use the tag that's attached to the handle. If its a folded tag, you can write on one half the first year, then cut that off and write on the other half the second year. On some bags I used the smaller to larger tags method for a while. Finally, I realized I could put the name tag on the tissue sticking out of the bag and the bag itself remains like new.

5. Be creative with your tags. Years ago my family started giving gifts to each other with tags that said it was from a movie star or someone famous. Kurt Russell gets me something every year. I know that's why Goldie won't marry him. He always leaves it with my sister. Just once I wish he would deliver it in person!!

6. As pretty as bows are, I've stopped using them. I like to stack boxes and you just can't do it with bows on them because it messes up the bow. But for packages that I'm taking to someone else, I sometimes attach a bow just before I deliver it. The bow is fresh, and my packages can still be stacked in my bedroom until I need them.

7. I've already talked about my spreadsheet gift list in an earlier post this year, but I'm mentioning it here to add one thing I didn't mention before. I write ideas for gifts on my spreadsheet. This really helps when I see something on TV but I can't actually go shopping right then. If I don't write it down, I forget about it. Some are eventually bought and some are not. When something is bought, I use a highlighter so I can tell with a glance who I still need to shop for.

Can you tell I spent years working in a law office??? I think I enjoy organizing my gift stuff almost as much as I enjoy buying and wrapping the gifts. Anybody have some tips they want to share? I always appreciate a great new idea.

2008-12-14T15:21:00.004-05:00

This is our new cat, Oreo. She's a long haired kitten about 4 months old. She's mostly white, but has a few black spots and a black tail. Her most unusual feature is the little black "beard" she has. It's just a small round black spot right on her chin. Her name comes from the fact that she's black on both ends and white in the middle. As you can tell, she barely gets enough to eat!!

This is Oreo helping me wrap packages. She prepares the tissue paper for me to use in gift bags. Actually, by the time she finishes, her tissue paper is more useful for confetti.

This morning I woke up to find this in my bathroom. Apparently, toilet paper resembles tissue paper to her, so she prepared a big pile for me to use in wrapping packages. Thank you, Oreo. Actually, every cat I've ever had used a litter box, but Oreo is the first to use toilet paper. I'm glad it wasn't a full roll.

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

2008-12-13T00:15:00.007-05:00

I love that song from Sound of Music. The past 10 days have been so filled with things I love. To begin with, I had a birthday, and since our AT&T cell phone contract ended the same week, I was able to get a new iPhone!! This thing is so amazing. Todd has had one for a long time and I have wanted one, but I wasn't willing to pay the price for one until I was eligible to upgrade. Because we are on the road all the time, we are especially impressed with the GPS feature that shows us as a little blue ball going down the highway. Today I was able to track our progress as we made our way to a customer in Ohio and it was so amazing.

Another of my favorite things is visiting with my son and his family. We got to spend the night with them, which is very rare because (even though we go to Texas about twice a week) we seldom go through that part of Texas. And, even better, we got there the night his twins had their Christmas choir concert. They did some really cute songs and we enjoyed it so much. We got to deliver their Christmas presents (saving a ton of money compared to mailing them). And we also delivered their Christmas yard art that we made for them. All the reindeer riding in the sleigh looked so adorable in their front yard.

Of course, no week is perfect without some shopping. We spent some time at a mall one day while we were waiting for a load, and we found lots of last minute gifts. I always find the perfect gift after I have already bought something for someone. So, they either get two gifts, or I keep the first one for myself. I guess that's sort of the opposite of re-gifting. If you only get one package this year, you'll just have to wonder what that other one would have been!!!

Then, on our way to Ohio, we ran into a blizzard. There was about 6 inches of snow and the roads were terrible. Believe it or not, it happened in Louisiana!! We were so surprised to see all that snow that far south. But we eventually got into Mississippi and it was just rain after that. Check out these pictures that I took with my iPhone while we were sitting in traffic waiting for a truck to be pulled out of the median. That's Interstate 55 but you can't see the road at all in the second picture.

SNOW!!

2008-12-02T00:38:00.006-05:00

It started snowing about 30 minutes ago and the ground and road in front of the house are already covered. I tried to take a picture and I was fascinated by the way the flash reflected off the snow flakes. In this picture it looks like stars in outer space.

I love the snow as long as I don't have to go anywhere. I'm glad it wasn't snowing earlier today when we had to take the cat to the vet. My oldest cat (about 12 years old) has been losing weight lately even though she eats all the time. I finally decided to take her to the vet. The office visit was $35. They charged $20 to draw blood. Then they charged $75 to run blood tests. The only thing they found was high levels of liver enzymes, which indicated a thyroid problem. The thyroid test was another $40. Now my cat has to take a thyroid pill every morning. Believe it or not, 30 days of thyroid pills was only $7. If I could get them at WalMart they would probably only be $4.

I just hope she doesn't have any side effects from the pills. I can't believe we're putting a cat on daily medication.

While we were at the vet, two different people came in to pick up their dogs after boarding them for a week. I guess they were out of town for Thanksgiving or something. Anyway, both of them paid nearly $400 for their dog to stay at the vet for a week. My only thought was that I've rented a condo in Myrtle Beach for less than $400 a week, and I know those dogs didn't have an ocean view.

Frosty the Snowman

2008-11-28T11:45:00.003-05:00

I forgot I was supposed to put the finished Frosty on here. Isn't he cute??

Black Friday

2008-11-28T11:13:00.005-05:00

Since many of you know how much I love to shop, you probably realize the day after Thanksgiving is right up there on my list of favorite days. After combing through pages and pages of sales (thanks for saving them for me, Mom) there were only two things that I wanted, an XBox game and a quilt.

I should have gone sooner, but 5:30 am seemed pretty early to me. I arrived at the local WalMart and I was shocked by the number of cars in the parking lot. I've done Black Friday before, and it was always crowded, but this morning was beyond anything I had ever seen. I found a place to park, and luckily, someone was leaving a buggy just as I got out of my car, so I took it in the store with me. I didn't get 10 feet inside the store when I abandoned my buggy. There was such a wall of people I couldn't get the buggy through them. I was only looking for an XBox game that was advertised at half price, so I pushed my way to electronics and got in line. After an hour in line, I got to the register and learned that they were sold out of Madden '09. I bought a car racing game just so I didn't leave empty handed and headed to Goody's.

Goody's had advertised an assortment of quilts for $17.88. The one I wanted was the one they had pictured in their ad (a winter scene with snowmen). Again, I was amazed by the number of people who were attempting to walk around in Goody's. I saw the quilts on a roll around shelf in the middle of the aisle and worked my way around to them. Alas, no snowmen. I looked through what they had just to make sure there wasn't something else I wanted. Then I overheard someone say that there was another shelf of quilts near the dressing rooms. After pushing and shoving my way in that direction, I was rewarded with this.

It was not the same one they had in their ad, but it is winter and it does have snowmen. Even better, they had a King size quilt with Regular size shams. I have a queen size bed, but the full/queen quilts never quite fit. But when I get the King quilt, they usually have King shams. I don't like those King size shams.

So, I'm pretty happy with my early morning of shopping. I came home, took a short nap, had some breakfast, and I'm off again. Maybe I'll go to Magic Mart this afternoon. I'm not sure I can stand to go back to WalMart today.

Christmas Yard Art Anyone?

2008-11-26T10:28:00.006-05:00

A couple of years ago we made these singing mice for Jen and Jake, when Bailey was a baby.

We never did make one for Maverick, and as most of you know, they will need a fifth one next Christmas. So we decided while we were home for Thanksgiving we would buy some plywood and get Maverick's mouse done.

Here's how my dining room table looked last night. Do those look like mice to you?? No!! These deer are a completely different project that we started after we got home.

Then Kirby wanted to make another new pattern and cut it out. So here's Frosty ready to be painted. And you can probably see Santa standing beside him.

Late last night while I was finishing up some of the red on Santa's suit I reminded him that we still didn't have a mouse for Maverick. Check back tomorrow and I'll post pictures of the finished Frosty and (I HOPE) a singing Maverick mouse!!

Doing my Patriotic Duty

2008-11-23T08:43:00.002-05:00

In the last couple of weeks, I have been overwhelmed by doing my duty to my country. Of course, veteran's day was this month. I have not served in the military, but many members of my family have and still do. I made my annual donation to the Viet Nam Vets organization that I support. They send me address labels that, thanks to online banking, I never use, and I send them a small token of my appreciation for their service.

Of course, we also had an election in November. No matter which candidate you were supporting, or which one you voted for, we can all be proud of the fact that elections in America go pretty smoothly. Can you imagine living in a country where the government is taken over periodically by a military coup? And then everybody who supported the other guy is rounded up and re-educated?? We are far from perfect, but I thank God that I live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

As if that wasn't enough patriotism, I got a jury notice in the mail. I had to appear on Nov. 10 for jury instructions and to get my juror number. I'm number 78 of about 120 people who (in the words of the last paragraph) were rounded up for re-education on their duty to serve the community. All I've had to do so far is call every friday evening to see if my number has been chosen to actually serve at a trial. Thankfully, my number has not come up!! Nor has anyone else's for that matter. There have been no jury trials in Logan County this month, and I don't have to call again until Dec. 5.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I got a notice in the mail from the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Since I have a Class A CDL license with a HazMat endorsement, I am now required to have a background check done before I can renew said license. This involves filling out an application online, paying $89, and going to their office in Charleston to be fingerprinted!! The fingerprint part was kind of interesting. The whole thing is done by computer, not the old ink and paper. You put each finger on this glass plate and it scans the print onto the computer screen. You still have to roll the finger just like the ink and paper days, but at least it's not messy. I say that like I've been fingerprinted so many times!! The only time I remember being fingerprinted was when Todd did a science fair project on fingerprints. Anyway, you will be happy to know that the TSA has determined that I currently pose no security threat under Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

45 days til Christmas!!!

2008-11-10T19:35:00.002-05:00

I love Christmas. I guess most people do, but I love knowing that it wouldn't matter if we spent $5,000 or $5 on gifts, my family would be happy. I've heard so many people talk about how hectic it is and how hard it is to shop for some people, but I just love every minute of it. My kids have gotten everything from bottles of shampoo (in bad years) to TVs (in good years), and they still love me just the same. I'm sure I've given gifts that were not appreciated, and I've received gifts that I didn't care for, but I still love the idea of giving gifts. I love the music and the smells and the colors and the decorated trees. People complain that stores put their Christmas stuff out too early, but I would look at it all year long!! They say Christmas has become too commercial, but I love the fact that, even though some don't mean to, people everywhere are celebrating the birth of my Saviour.

With that in mind, today I decided that I need to get serious about getting ready for Christmas. Usually I do a lot of my shopping during our Oct. trip to the beach. I did some this year, but not nearly as much as I usually do. Part of the problem was that we took my Mother's car on our trip this year. Her Buick is very nice and comfortable, but she just doesn't have the space that I have in my Dodge Caravan. Everything I looked at I found myself wondering where we would put it on the way home. But, to be honest, I just wasn't in the Christmas shopping mood for some reason.

This afternoon, I printed out my shopping list spreadsheet. What?? Doesn't everyone have a spreadsheet to keep track of who is buying what for whom?? See, I told you I was serious about getting ready for Christmas. I may be letting a big secret out of the bag here, but I'm pretty sure everyone in my family knows that I buy all the gifts. So Grandma, whatever you got from the grandkids, they probably wouldn't recognize it if you showed it to them. And Kids, surely you knew that I was buying and wrapping what you gave each other. Rusty gives nice gifts to everyone in the family every year, and everything Rusty gets from all the other members of the family is usually bought and wrapped at the same time.

So, as you can see, if you want to make sure that everyone gets a gift from everyone else, a spreadsheet is the way to go. On the side I list everyone who needs to get a gift and at the top I list everyone who needs to give a gift. Then I fill in the columns as I shop.

Tonight I got into my closet to start wrapping some of the gifts that I have bought, and found some things that I had forgotten about. That was a pleasant surprise. I checked off a couple of people on the spreadsheet, and the cat and I fought over some wrapping paper. I won, but the gift has teeth marks on it.

I know you're probably thinking - "It isn't even Thanksgiving, yet!" But when you have 22 people down and 5 across on the spreadsheet, there's no time like the present!! Was that a pun??

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T21:04:00.006-04:00

We got home in time for Halloween, and we were pretty happy about that. We always like seeing all the kids and their costumes. We usually have about 100 kids when the weather is nice. Tonight it was about 50 degrees. A little cool, but clear and dry, so we saw lots of little trick or treaters. I think I counted about 60 or 70 kids. We saw the Hulk, Spiderman, several witches, an angel, a caveman, Cleopatra, a ninja, a pirate, and Elmo, to name a few.

Kirby decorated the front porch with some of our yard art. We made these a few years ago. He cut the patterns out of plywood and then we spent lots of time painting them and getting them to look just right.

The Boos Brothers are my favorite. When I first saw the pattern I loved it. They are really easy to make, too, because they are pretty much just black and white.

Kirby's other passion for Halloween is painting our son, Rusty!! He has been made up many times over the years, and even though he is now too old for trick or treating, he got painted up again this year. On the way to show off his make-up to Grandma, who lives a couple of blocks away, he somehow managed to fill half a pillow case with candy!! I don't know who was more excited, him or his Dad. I guess boys never really grow up.

You should have seen us trying to get that black make-up off his eyebrows!! And the glue from the horns was pretty fun too. I had to use Goo Gone on him. The funniest part was that after we got the make-up off, I found out his Dad had used a ball point pen to draw the pattern on him. Make-up remover didn't help, so we tried soap and water, but it wasn't very effective, either. Maybe those pen marks will wear off in a day or two!!

Too busy to blog!!

2008-10-20T04:26:00.003-04:00

I just realized it has been three weeks since I put anything on here. Right after my last blog we went out on the road for two weeks and I didn't get a chance to get online. Then when we got home, I immediately left for a vacation at the beach. My sister Claudia, my mother, and I rented a condo at North Myrtle Beach and spent a wonderful week shopping, eating, visiting with my sister Veda and her family, and relaxing. The week is always too short, and now we are home again and I'm going back to work.

My mother was determined to get oysters while we were there, so we ate at Prestons, which is a great buffet with all kinds of good home cooking as well as seafood. The shrimp and oysters were good, and so was the roast beef. Another evening we drove down to the Sea Captain's House, which I'm pretty sure used to be somebody's house. It's right on the beach and while we were waiting for our table, we sat in their backyard and watched the waves and the sea gulls. It was a beautiful evening for sitting outside, followed by some of the best flounder and scallops ever.

Even though we tried to find shoes at every store we went in, we had very little success. They either didn't have what we wanted, or didn't have it in our size. We did, however, all find new purses. Claudia and I bought ours one day while Mom was in the room reading a new Betty Neels novel. Then the next day, Mom found the exact same purse that I bought in a different color and bought one for herself.

The Betty Neels book and the search for Barnes & Noble is the most interesting story of our trip. Four new Betty Neels books are released every 4 or 5 months and we found out on one of our trips to the beach that we could get them at Barnes & Noble. So we stopped to pick up the latest ones and learned from a sign in the window that the B&N had moved to Market Common. I'd never heard of Market Common and didn't know where it was, so we went back to the condo and did some research. I called B&N and got directions to their store. We followed the directions, which took us on some strange backroads at the Myrtle Beach airport, but eventually brought us to the back side of some buildings, and a back entrance to the B&N. After looking around and finally purchasing our books, we decided to exit the front door and see what Market Common was all about.

Claudia and I both described the experience as feeling like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when she wakes up in the land of Oz. It was like the world was suddenly in color!! We were fascinated by the beautiful, perfectly landscaped, little village we walked out into. I don't know when they built all this, but they have been busy, and are still building. Check it out here:

http://www.myrtlebeach.cc/MarketCommon.html

Guess that's all for this time.

Do You Remember 8-Track Tapes??

2008-09-26T16:45:00.005-04:00

Today I was in my Dad's shop and I decided to listen to some music while I was out there. Daddy started out recording on reel to reel tapes, then he went to 8-Tracks, and finally to cassette tapes. He mostly recorded church services or gospel groups who sang at our church. Here's a picture of his old 8-Track recorder/player, along with stacks of tapes. Some of these he recorded, and some he bought.

You probably can't tell from the picture, but I'm listening to Chester & Lester. If you didn't grow up in my house with my dad, you might not know that's Chet Atkins and Les Paul. Ironically, Kirby and I drove from Columbus, Georgia north on I-185 this week, and that highway is called the "Chet Atkins Parkway."

Behind all the 8-Track tapes are stacks of reel to reel tapes (some brand new and never recorded on). I picked one up just to keep it from falling when I moved some of the tapes in front of it and it was marked "Nixon Resigns." I guess I should go through all those tapes and see what other historic moments Daddy might have captured.

Speaking of historic, here's Todd in 1973 enjoying Grandpa's reel to reel tape player. Wonder if he's listening to Chester & Lester??

Hurricane Ike, Yikes!!

2008-09-22T22:37:00.004-04:00

Kirby and I have driven through Houston twice since the hurricane hit and we were amazed and happy that the damage in the areas we travel pretty often wasn't as bad as we expected. Today we had a chance to spend the day with his Mom and step-Dad in League City. Here's a picture she took of Kirby helping clear a limb from their huge tree in the front yard. Believe me, getting him up there was a lot easier than getting him down!!

Before we came to town, they had already spent three long days cleaning up limbs from the yard and setting them on the curb for the trash people to pick up. Their neighborhood is looking pretty good except for all the fences that are down. We helped them go through all the privacy fence panels out back and salvage any boards they could reuse when they replace the fence. Other than the fence and the tree out front, they didn't have any significant damage. All day we talked about how blessed they were compared to the people of Galveston. That area was really devastated.

We spent the afternoon driving around looking at some of the damage in other neighborhoods and saw mostly the same thing - downed trees and privacy fences. Then we drove over to Kemah. It's a tourist area on the water with lots and lots of boats, restaurants, outdoor bands that play in a boardwalk area, and carnival type rides. What a mess!!! Boats blown around like toys, and mud and trash everywhere. One of the long time restaurants, T-Bone Tom's, had a sign that said "Open Someday." Another place had a sign that said "What Surge?" in reference to the 20 foot wall of water that caused so much flooding. Most businesses had their furniture sitting in the parking lot while they tried to clean up the water damage inside, and they were doing this without electricity.

As we drove home, Kirby's Mom said again how blessed they were to not have anywhere near the damage other people had. So, if you read this, pray for the residents of the Texas gulf. They still have a long way to go before they get back to normal.

I sure miss the babies!!!

2008-09-04T02:14:00.007-04:00

I'm back home from El Paso, and I sure miss those boys. They were so much fun while I was there. They both think Grammy is fun because she doesn't have anything to do except play with them all day and read to them all night. And Grammy watches Noggin all day, too, without complaining. Grammy never turns on a boring ball game or news show (at least not while they are in the room). Grammy hardly ever says no. And when you get really fussy, Grammy takes you to McDonalds to play instead of making you take a nap.

I am so proud of Bailey because he has done really great with his potty training. I know after the way he acted the first day, Jen and Jake were amazed at how much he improved over the next few days. His biggest problem seems to be not knowing that all potties are the same. He uses the one at home just fine, but when we took him to the potty at a restaurant or the mall, he threw a fit and refused to even try sitting on them. He did do one funny thing last night. He wanted to go outside to play in the backyard, but we told him he needed to go potty first. Of course, he said he didn't need to go potty. So, I told him I'd take the little potty chair outside so he could use it when he needed it. That was OK with him. He went outside and after less than 5 minutes, he was pulling his pants down. But instead of sitting on the potty chair, he just peed in the grass. Jen and I were just glad they have a nice 5 foot stone privacy fence!!

Maverick is the cutest little thing you ever saw, but he is an eating and drinking machine!! He will eat 24/7 if you let him. And when you give him a sippy cup of juice, he drains it everytime. He doesn't understand the concept of "sippy". He sucks it down as fast as he can and then asks for more, along with "fish" (the cheesy cracker shaped ones) and "bar" (the granola kind, which he doesn't really want, but that's the only word he knows that gets the pantry opened so he can point to something else).

Here are some pictures I took while I was there. This is Bailey and Maverick after they'd just had a bath, turning out the lights trying to scare Jen and me. I was taking these pictures because Pop sent them some new pajamas, but as you will see, we never got them to stand still long enough to get a good picture.

You'll be gone how long???

2008-08-29T20:13:00.002-04:00

As many of you know, I am staying with Bailey & Maverick for the weekend while Jen & Jake take a trip to Phoenix. Here is what my daughter thinks is a fun weekend for Grammy. First, Maverick is cutting teeth and subsequently has diarrhea. Then she suggests "we" begin potty training Bailey while I'm here! The first day "we" potty trained, she went to work. The second day "we" potty trained, she went to Phoenix. Are you seeing some kind of pattern here??

Yesterday, Bailey was very resistant to wearing the underwear. But after we finally ignored all his attempts to get us to put a diaper on him, he finally gave up and let us put the underwear on him. Maverick thought wearing the underwear was lots of fun. He wet two pair in a span of 10 minutes and his potty training days were over. Bailey was able to go for about an hour before he had an accident, and after rushing him to the potty chair several times, he finally got the idea. I felt like Anne Sullivan with Helen Keller. Remember that great scene in the movie where Helen finally understands what's going on? I danced and sang and Bailey laughed and we clapped and hugged and made a big deal out of his success. He did it two more times before the day was over.

I'm sleeping in the bed with Bailey, so naturally, my daughter asked him if he wanted to sleep in his underwear or a diaper. The same kid who threw a fit for a diaper that morning chose to sleep with Grammy in underwear. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Thankfully the bed has a plastic sheet under the regular sheet. Grammy, however, has no plastic night gowns with her. Bailey actually made it through most of the night before I felt something very warm and damp under me. I just went back to sleep until he woke up. I'm sure it's not the first wet bed I've slept in.

This morning, it was like a different kid got out of that bed. He refused to sit on the potty chair no matter what I tried. He wet several pair of underwear and actually seemed to be doing it on purpose. After several hours of playing outside, then giving them a bath (they are like giving an octopus a bath - when you grab something out of one hand, they are pouring a cup of water on you with the other hand), then playing in Bailey's room (where you are forced to watch Monsters, Inc. over and over and over and over again), I had to get out of here. I said, "Bailey, let's go to McDonalds." Of course, he was all for it and started putting his shoes on. So I said, "We can't go until you use the potty." Keep in mind, he has been violently resisting the potty for several hours. He pulled his pants down, sat on the potty and peed, pulled them up, and said "I'm ready!" Does anybody think he has been toying with me all day??

Tonight we had the dreaded bowel movement in the underwear. The look on his face was priceless. I put him on the potty chair, even though it was too late. I rinsed those out and added them to the other five pair in the laundry. Good thing we bought another package of underwear.

So, if you need someone to keep your teething, sick, children who need to be potty trained, for a weekend, while you go to a fabulous resort to relax and enjoy yourself, just give me a call. I'm sure I can make some kind of arrangements to be busy that weekend.

Anyone who knows me, knows this post is an attempt to be funny. I have enjoyed every single minute with these two boys, even the screeming fits and the dirty diapers, because I know I get to go home next week, but Jen has to stay here and carry on.

ONE MORE DAY!!!

2008-08-25T05:03:00.006-04:00

Just one more day and I'll be flying to El Paso to spend a week with my two favorite little boys. I can hardly wait!! I've already bought them some new pajamas and some other new outfits. Now I just have to pack a few toys. Then I have to figure out how to get my stuff in the suitcase that is full of their stuff. I love them dearly, but I'm not paying to take an extra bag on the plane!!

Here are the pictures I was trying to download the other day. Bailey playing his computer game and Maverick showing off his hair.

And speaking of that blond hair, my mother found this picture of my father when he was 2 years old and I was so excited to see his pale blond hair. You can't tell it in the picture, but he had blue eyes, too, just like little Maverick. This picture was taken about 1922. Maybe someday Maverick's great-grandson will look back at the pictures we took and he'll say he get's his blond hair and blue eyes and good looks from his great-grandpa, Maverick. How time flies!!

Little Einsteins

2008-08-18T08:52:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to upload some pictures this morning, but my connection is not very good, so things are not working out for the pictures. We stopped in El Paso Saturday and spent most of the day with Jen & Jake and the boys. I have some pictures of Bailey playing a computer game and some of Maverick showing us where his hair and ears and nose are. I'm sure everyone thinks their grandchildren are smart and beautiful, but mine really are exceptional. I almost hate blogging about them because I know it must give other parents and grandparents a complex or something when they see Bailey and Maverick, but I just can't help myself.

Watching three year old Bailey point, click and drag things with a mouse on a computer is so funny because I think about my sister telling me about a woman she trained with who picked up the mouse and pointed it at the computer screen. Kids today have no idea how much things have changed in the past 50 years. Or even the past 10 years for that matter. But when it came time for bed, Bailey wanted me to get in his bed with him and read (from a plain old book) "Horton Hatches an Egg." I guess some things never change (thank goodness).

Maverick has started learning his nose and ears and hair. He has no idea at this age how beautiful his blond hair and blue eyes are. He just likes to see us clap and laugh when he points to the right parts. I think he's going to be some kind of mechanical engineer when he grows up. He carried a vacuum cleaner extension tube around all day, and when we stripped their muddy clothes off at the back door and sent them up the stairs to take a bath, he carried the tube with him. When he got in the bath tub with it, he immediately put it under the water faucet, allowing the water to run through the tube onto the floor of the bathroom. You may not agree, but I think it takes some kind of genius to figure that out when you are only 19 months old.

Bling at Beijing!!

2008-08-09T20:35:00.002-04:00

Did anyone watch that opening ceremony?? It was awesome!! I didn't expect to see it but we just happened to get home last night and since I'm a night owl, I started watching it about 2 am or so (in high def) and at 6 am I was still glued to the TV. I was fascinated by several sets of over two thousand people being able to move in such perfect unison. The drummers, the dancers, the tai chi exercises, those boxes moving up and down, the green people all lit up, the fire works, those paddles with the boats painted on them, the huge electronic scroll, and on and on. Then when all the countries started marching into the stadium, I loved all the different outfits and colors. I thought China's red and yellow outfits were the best. I was disappointed with the US's blue blazers. Too boring. I loved Australia's outfits that faded from top to bottom, white to dark blue. Some wore the traditional dress from their countries and others wore sedate gray suits. I heard the names of at least 10 or 15 countries I'd never heard of. I was so proud when the US team was applauded. I really don't follow sports, and probably won't watch much of what is televised from China, but I was totally caught up in the ceremonies last night.
GO USA!!!

Don't Throw that Away!!

2008-08-04T13:16:00.008-04:00

This post will undoubtedly please my daughter, who has trouble throwing things away. My sister found this in a drawer she was cleaning out and we have been reading over it like it was the rosetta stone or something. You may not be able to tell, but it is a tourist map of St. Augustine, Florida. It has a list of all the sights you might want to visit and shows where they are located. The larger red print says "You May Have this Map with our Compliments."

But the part we are so fascinated with is on the back. My mother wrote down the dates and travel times from our home in WV to a number of cities along the way, and finally to St. Augustine.

We left home at 4:15 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 1956. I was 2 1/2 years old. My three sisters would have been about 8, 10 and 13 years old. According to Mom's records, my dad drove non-stop for 17 hours and 5 minutes. She should work for an airline with arrival times that exact.

My favorite part was the record of gas they bought. They filled up 5 times for a total of $16.23. I'll just bet they were complaining about the high price of gas during the summer vacation months, too.

Did I mention that I'm a truck driver??

2008-07-19T21:43:00.004-04:00

I know this is a long post, so if you don't have time to read it all, at least read the blue part.

Last summer we had our family reunion in Myrtle Beach and as part of the "entertainment" several of us talked about our jobs and how we ended up in that field. Kirby and I were talking about the speech I made the other day and I realized several people who read my blog didn't get to hear me talk about truck driving, so here's the speech my family heard last year.

When Kirby and I moved to WV, the job he had lined up didn't work out, so when he had an opportunity to attend a truck driving school I encouraged him to do it. He was convinced that he would never be able to learn all the information required to pass the written tests, but I promised I would help him study. He passed everything and after the 4 week course, he got a job driving for a tanker company out of Charleston. It wasn't long before he started seeing a lot of husband and wife teams on the road and he got the idea that I should get my license. After several months of discussing the pros and cons, I enrolled in the same school that he had attended.

The first week of the 4 week course consists of classroom work, reading handbooks, and taking written tests. I ended up taking a written test for general knowledge, air brakes, combination vehicles, tankers, and hazardous materials, as well as memorizing the 50 or so items that you have to check on a pre-trip inspection. I was not the least bit worried abou all this because I have been a straight A student all my life, and besides, I had just learned all of this information when I helped Kirby study for the same tests the year before.

Week 2 of the course is the beginning of actually driving the truck. Now I'm getting worried. I knew how to drive a standard transmission car, but the truck has 10 gears and you have to double clutch to change gears. In other words, you have to push in the clutch, pull the shifter to take the truck out of gear, release the clutch, then push in the clutch again, put the truck in the next gear, then release the clutch again. I spent a few sleepless nights wondering if I had made a big mistake signing up for truck driving.

During the time that I was in driving school, I was also doing a Bible study in the book of Psalms. I know you don't know where this is going, but hang in there, it is relevant. On the Monday morning of my first day behind the wheel of a big truck, when I was worried sick about double clutching (see above paragraph if you skipped to the blue part), the Bible study verses were in Psalm 121. The first verse of Psalms 121 says:
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help."
The second verse says:
"My help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."
So far, I'm just reading along, and it's pretty typical praise language for the book of Psalms. Then I read verse three. I don't even know how this verse got in there. It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of this Psalm, but isn't it just like a loving God to throw in a message written thousands of years ago that became so timely on that Monday morning? Verse three says:
"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber."
If that isn't a promise about double clutching, then you don't know how to read the Bible.

Needless to say, I learned to drive the truck, and we've been driving together for 10 years. It isn't all fun, but some of it is. We've been to all 48 contiguous states, and more WalMarts than I can count. We've been to Disneyland and many other landmarks over the years. We get to visit family members who live thousands of miles away on a fairly regular basis. And we've eaten at more dives than Guy Fieri.

Most people consider the CB radio as a "must have" for truck drivers. We got our first radio shortly after we started driving, and when you talk to other drivers, they always ask who you are. Every driver has a "handle" or name they use on the CB. We were talking to some people at a truck stop and they asked Kirby what his CB handle was. He had told me several times that he was calling himself the dragonfly because our truck drags up hill and flies down hill. After he told them his handle I could tell the guy was turning to me to ask me what my handle was. I almost never talk on the CB, but I didn't want to ruin their image of truck drivers and CB talk, so I said the first thing that came to mind when he asked me my handle, without missing a beat, I said, "They call me the flyswatter."

So, the next time you're doing double nickel on the five & dime out in shakey town and you're dodging gators with a smokey on your back door, praying that chicken coop is locked up, and you get your doors blown off by a blue and white pipeline on wheels, put your ears on and say hey to the dragonfly, but he's gonna have to catch you on the flip side cause he's got the hammer down, he's got mama riding shotgun, and he's gone.

And just in case you are tempted to get yourself a CB, the term "good buddy" is no longer used by truckers because for some reason it now refers to a gay man.

My Favorite Little Boys!!

2008-07-14T21:08:00.004-04:00

Here they are - my two little grandboys! We were eating lunch with them in El Paso on Thursday and I couldn't resist taking a few photos. Aren't they the most beautiful little things you ever saw?

This is Maverick giving me a silly grin. Pop had so much fun helping him climb up the jungle gym and come down the slide, while carrying a beach ball. Maverick was determined to have the ball go with him when he slid down. And with Pop's help, he was able to do it. He is so sweet to hug and kiss on. Even if he's trying to get away while you do it.

This is Bailey being his silly self. He loves getting behind Grammy and putting his head under my shirt. I walk around saying "Where's Bailey?" to which he laughs and laughs. On this trip, he took my sandals off my feet and put them on. I chased him around trying to get them back, which he loved. Then he hid them under the chair in the living room. He had Jen and me both looking for them under the covers on the bed and in the closet, all the while knowing they were in the living room. He only has two speeds - a mile a minute or sound asleep!

It sure was nice to get to see them for a little while. Jen and Jake, too. Hope another west coast load comes up soon so we can pass through El Paso again.

To Texas and Back

2008-07-01T01:56:00.002-04:00

I've been to Austin visiting with my son all week and we had a great time. All four of my step-grandkids were there for the whole week. We made chicken fried rice and chicken fried steak (not on the same day). We also made some fabulous beef & chicken quesadillas, which I'd never made before, but will definitely do again. And I showed my grandson Brandon how to explode a marshmallow in the microwave (on a smore). He was quite impressed.

We went to the Alamo Draft House to watch "Get Smart" and eat their amazing food, which they serve while you are watching the movie!! They removed every other row of seats from the theater and put a long wooden bar in their place so you can eat while you enjoy the show. Then they come and take your order and deliver your food just like a real restaurant. And speaking of shows, if you haven't seen "Get Smart" it's really good. I was such a fan of the old TV show and I was very glad that they retained so much of the original craziness and slap stick, but also added new updated special effects.

We celebrated the 14th birthday of the twins, Joy & Josi, with a slumber party. If your 14 year old twins want to invite more 14 year old friends over to spend the night, just say "NO!" Trust me on this. Actually, they weren't so bad once we got past the drama of who was dating whom. Plus, I wasn't the one who had to stay up until 5 a.m. to chaperone.

So, we stayed up too late and slept too late and played Apples to Apples and I finished reading three Lawrence Block novels from Half Price Books. We watched every episode of "Sports Night" (all two seasons worth) and decried the fact that such a wonderfully written and acted program was cancelled. We watched "Elizabeth" and "the Other Boleyn Sister" with Kayla and had no end of discussions about life in 16th Century England and the general mistreatment of women. We watched about a thousand episodes of "Sponge Bob." How many times a day does this show come on???

On Saturday, Todd and I made a trip to Waco and hooked up with some friends that I worked with over 20 years ago. Freddie and Pat were two of my employees when I managed a movie theater in Waco in the early 80's. They were part-time movie projectionists, part-time popcorn and/or ticket salesmen, and part-time baby sitters for Todd & Jen. What a fun time we had reminiscing.

Then I had to come back home, which means I had to fly from Austin to Houston, which is never a good thing. We were delayed for an hour and a half in Austin because the weather in Houston was so bad nobody could fly in or out. Thankfully, that meant that my connecting flight from Houston to Charleston, WV, was also delayed, so it was still there when I got there. I still had to walk 25 miles to the gate, and ride a bus part of the way, but at least I didn't miss the plane, which they said would leave at 10:15 p.m. from gate 60, but which actually left at 8:45 p.m. from gate 64. Never turn your back on those TV monitors because they change by the minute.

Alas, here I am back at home and back at my computer. Maybe my next trip will be to El Paso to see the little grandboys!! I miss all of you in Austin and Waco, and all of you in El Paso. Here are some hugs and kisses from Grammy - xoxoxoxo

Family Reunion

2008-06-21T22:27:00.003-04:00

We had our 10th annual "C.D. & Bertha Curry Mullins" family reunion tonight. We usually have a big dinner and play games on Friday night, then have lots of activities and food and entertainment on Saturday night. Several family members dress up like famous people and lipsync to their songs. We've had Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, the Judds, the Dixie Chicks, Patsy Cline, the Blues Brothers, the Soggy Bottom Boys, and many others over the years. We always have a good time and great food. This year, because of two recent deaths in the family, we scaled things back and simply had a pot luck dinner at the church fellowship hall. Of course, simple just isn't in the Mullins family vocabulary. We had baked ham, chicken & dumplings, lemon chicken, mac & cheese, green beans, corn casserole, layer salad, pasta salad, potato salad, mashed potatoes, corn bread, rolls, apple pie, coconut cream cake, brownies, bread pudding, and chocolate cupcakes. Am I making you hungry yet? We played a white elephant gift game and, believe it or not, I won a cookbook! I missed having my daughter and her family there, and my son and his family. But bright and early tomorrow morning I'll be on a plane heading to Austin to visit my son and his bunch. I wish I could spend part of the week in El Paso, but I don't think my daughter will be home anyway since this is her week to go to camp.

Here's a picture of my mother and my aunt, Nona, showing off some giant cupcakes that one of my cousins baked. Unfortunately, both of them had pieces cut out and while Mom's is just leaning, Nona's fell over just as I took the picture.

Genealogy Madness!!

2008-06-18T22:36:00.002-04:00

This week I have been taking advantage of a 14 day free trial on Ancestry.com. This stuff is so addictive! I started out just looking for some information about my husband's grandparents. We took pictures of their graves a few years ago and that got us interested in some other Rhodes graves in the same cemetery. Little did I know that would lead to an obsession with reading census records for hours at a time going all the way back to the 1800's.

There is a website which lists all the gravestones in their little cemetery in Brushy Creek, Texas, with all the information on the stones. That helped in looking through census records to find the names of other family members and how they were related. Then I started working on his grandmother. The women are much harder to trace because usually only birth records list their maiden names. Then I started looking for my ex-husband's family since they are the ancestors of my children and grandchildren. His mother's maiden name was Smith!!! Try searching for that on a census record. I knew she had a brother, but that wasn't much help either, since his name was Bill Smith.

The funny thing is, after you go back and read about people, you get more and more excited every time you find them again on the next census. I've read WWI and WWII draft registration cards and made notes about who had blue eyes and how tall they were and how much they weighed, as if there's going to be a test.

Today I got the biggest thrill since I started this. I was looking for my grandmother, Mary, in the 1900 census. I knew she was born on Feb. 14, 1900, so I wasn't sure she would be on there. Sure enough, when I found her family in the Wayne Co., WV census, there she was listed as being 3 months old. But the thrill came when I moved to the top of the page to make a note of the date of the census. There on the very first line of that page was a six year old boy named Willie Elkins. That may not mean anything to you, but I knew as soon as I saw it that I had found my grandfather!! They must have grown up a few houses from each other because the census takers went from house to house taking down the information about who lived in each household.

It makes me cry now thinking of the two of them as kids growing up. I'm sure they never dreamed back then that someday their granddaughter would read about them on a census report and be so excited she would both laugh and cry over it.

I've got to go, now. I only have a few days left to find out everything I can about Willie and Mary Ann, or else I'll have to break down and pay the annual fee!!

Ten Things aka Ten Fathers

2008-06-15T14:48:00.002-04:00

My daughter does Ten Things Tuesday and lists (oddly enough) ten things she is thankful for on her blog every Tuesday. I have been thinking about a Father's day blog and kept thinking of different fathers that I am thankful for, so I decided a Ten Things type blog was in order.

1. My Heavenly Father. God has richly blessed me and my family. He is my strength, my friend, my comforter, my shoulder to cry on, my redeemer, my protector, my peace . . . well you get the idea. He is my everything and words are not enough to thank Him for who and what he is to me.

2. My Husband, Kirby. He is not my father, nor is he the father of my two children, but he is the man who would move mountains and swim oceans for me and my kids. He constantly urges me to spend time (and money) on my children and grandchildren. Some blended families have jealousy problems, but he usually treats my kids better than he treats his own! And don't even get him started talking about those beautiful, genius grandbabies, Bailey & Maverick!! I'm so glad you came into my life, Babe.

3. & 4. My Dad, Sponcil and my step-dad, Bennie. I did a post on April 17 if you want to read about these two great men. I'll just repeat here that I was very blessed to have them in my life. I'll see you both again someday in that land where we'll never grow old and there will be no sickness or death.

5. My father-in-law, Ed. Kirby and I are so excited every time we get to spend time with his mom and her husband in Texas. We always have so much fun together and Ed always gives us a hug when we leave even though everyone says he isn't one to show his feelings or be very affectionate. We can discuss everything from the Bible to the next door neighbors and anything in between, and Ed always has something funny to say. Thanks for always making time for us, Ed. Happy Father's Day.

6. My son, Todd. My son is a step-dad to four kids, and he is amazing to me. If you spend time with them, you can see the love and respect and trust they have in him. I truly believe that he found his calling in life because these four wonderful kids just needed a foundation to grow on, and he's definitely built for that job!! I love you, son!! Happy Father's day. Can't wait to see you all when I come to Texas.

7. My son in law, Jake. What can I say? He is the father of the two most adorable, most handsome, most brilliant, most incredible little boys you ever saw. I know every grandmother thinks her grandchildren are the best, but I'm not kidding. These boys are not like any other grandchildren!! They really are better looking and smarter. And I've been around a lot of babies in my life. Seriously. Thanks, Jake. Happy Father's day.

8. My ex-husband, Jerry. I know. Weird that I would mention him. I admit he has his short comings (but then who doesn't). I only bring him up because he is the father of my two kids. So I'm giving credit where credit is due. He's still part of their lives and I apreciate what he has done for them over the years.

9. George Washington. Hey, he's the father of our country, isn't he? I've been reading a little about our history lately, and if you haven't read about our founding fathers, you are missing an exciting and fascinating look at some brave and brilliant men. I know, it's not politically correct any more to give any credit to a bunch of "rich, white men" but what they did is nothing short of miraculous. I'm thankful to live in a country where I'm free to think and say what I want, and openly worship God. At least for now. We need to pray for this country and it's leaders or we could lose everything the founding fathers built.

10. Which brings me to our Military dads (like Jake). Thank you for the sacrifices you make for our freedom. Happy Father's day to all you dads who are serving in the military. May God bless you and protect you wherever you are today.

Blogging Blues!!

2008-06-11T22:35:00.002-04:00

I've had a really hard time blogging lately. I just can't get in the mood. It seems like so many things are going on, but I just don't feel like writing about it. I guess it's sort of writer's block or something. I've been reading a series of books by Lawrence Block about a thief/crime solver named Bernie Rhodenbarr. I've read several and have a couple more that I bought at the flea market in Myrtle Beach. Between reading, I've been doing some research on Kirby's family tree. His brother being here helping with Rusty has us talking about their Rhodes family grandparents and other people they remember. Then I found a web site where someone had gone to the cemetery in Palestine, TX and made a list of every headstone. That got us looking into who some of the other Rhodes headstones belonged to. I can see why people get so caught up in tracing their ancestry. I'm fascinated by some of the things I have found and these people aren't even my ancestors. The really funny thing is to look at census records. They have so many mistakes in them, but I guess that is to be expected when you are writing down names and ages of people who don't read or write themselves. One of their relatives is listed as Paul in 1910, Paris in 1920, and Pariah in 1930. But he has the same wife and children each time, so it must be the same person. In between reading old census reports, I've finished the wallpaper in my kitchen and pulled off enough of the paper in the hallway to make a big mess. The bad thing is, I haven't picked out any paper for the hallway, so the mess I have will be there until I decide what I'm putting up in its place. Meanwhile, I printed some pictures for scrapbooking (like I really have time to work on that).

Old Project (still not finished)

2008-05-31T16:15:00.003-04:00

Here are pictures of the plate racks I have been working on hanging up in my kitchen for about 3 months. Jen and I bought some plates at Pier 1, but I wasn't really happy with the way they fit in the racks. They were a little too big. But I'm using the 4 solid color ones along with 4 decorated ones I found at Marshalls. What I want now is something to put in the middle of these plates. As I said, the square plates are too large to sit next to each other, but the small ones are too small to look good in the rack. Oh the crazy things that I get into when I try to decorate.

10 days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home

2008-05-28T09:40:00.004-04:00

tonight. I think in the song it might have been 6 days. I can't believe it's been 10 days since I was here. I guess I should say the fish from my last post were delicious. We bought some fish fry coating that was Louisiana brand and it was so good. I don't know what kind of spices they used in it but I'll certainly buy it again. They've been fishing once since then and didn't get anything.

Today I am all about getting a new cell phone. Our old phone fell or was dropped and the top broke off so we get a signal sometimes and other times we can't get one. We have to wiggle the broken piece and then hold the phone with both hands to keep the top from moving while we are trying to talk. It reminds me of the old days when we had an antenna on the TV and we would try so hard to get a good picture. One of my friends in high school told me she used to sit behind the TV and watch it with a mirror her dad put on a chair in front of it so that she could keep her hand on the antenna and wiggle one of the old tubes. I'm sure most of you don't have any idea what a "tube" looked like. It was a glass dome about the size of a drinking glass with metal plugs coming out the bottom. Several different kinds were plugged into the back of the TV to make it work. I remember my father spending hours replacing tubes when I was growing up. The invention of the transistor is still changing our lives today, but look at how big the first one was!!! Imagine a computer with a few dozen of these inside it. Can anyone say HUGE!!! Forget a laptop. It would have squashed you like a bug.

So, I will appreciate my new cell phone all the more for thinking about how big things used to be!!

Something smells fishy!!

2008-05-18T21:04:00.003-04:00

Guess where Kirby, Rusty, and Charles spent the afternoon!! I hope I have some tartar sauce in the fridge!!

Views from the Condo

2008-05-16T09:38:00.004-04:00

Our creek at Whitman just doesn't compare to this view of the ocean. Too bad we have to go home tomorrow.

Bike Week with no Bikes!!! Yikes!!!

2008-05-14T00:06:00.004-04:00

We have been planning our trip to Myrtle Beach for Bike Week for months, but at the last minute, our plans had to be changed. Kirby's biker buddy had a doctor's appointment and some medical tests that he could not miss and they scheduled them for this week. So, Kirby decided to stay at home with his buddy and his brother and his son. They were supposed to go camping and fishing, however, the weather hasn't been very co-operative. WV has had a lot of rain this week. Since we already had the condo rented, my sister, Claudia, and I came to the beach without any bikers or bikes!! It seems strange to be here for bike week and not have a trailer or bikes to worry about. Of course, it's been one long shopping trip for us, broken up by a few hours of working jigsaw puzzles or reading mystery novels. Veda came down today and went to Hamricks with us. We all took a bunch of clothes to the dressing room and actually ended up buying a couple of things. It was fun to model for each other and help each other decide on which outfits looked good. Everything that didn't fit was pronounced "too big."

Every condo we've ever rented has been nice. This one is no exception. Here's a picture from the living room that shows the table, bar and kitchen. Tomorrow I'll take some pictures of the beach from our balcony. We're on the 9th floor, so the view is great.

The two bathrooms both have unusual wallpaper. Claudia's is pink and blue fish as you can see in this picture. Whoever did this paper did a good job of covering the medicine cabinet and matching the fish pattern.

My bathroom is even crazier with seashells of all kinds. It almost makes me dizzy to go in there.

Can you see the medicine cabinet?? It took me two days to notice it.

OH, CANADA!!

2008-05-08T02:32:00.003-04:00

Kirby and I used to go to Calgary pretty regularly when we worked for a different company, but for the last 4 1/2 years, we haven't been to Canada at all. This week, we got a load going to Creighton, Saskatchewan. We picked up the load in Baton Rouge, LA. We had no idea where Creighton was located until we got our handy road atlas out, and then we got quite a shock. Creighton is about 600 miles north of the US border. We immediately went to weather.com to see if we were going to have a problem with winter driving conditions (otherwise known as snow). The forecast said Monday's temperature would go from 2 up to 8 degrees. Thank goodness that was celcius. Several celcius to fahrenheit converters are available on the internet, so we ran the numbers and felt much more comfortable with a temperature range of 35 up to 46 degrees. The weather forecast actually called for snow on Monday morning, turning to rain, but thankfully, it was only cloudy while we were there.

Off we went, crossing the border from North Dakota into Manitoba with no problems. Our paperwork had a bar code on it and the Canadian border person scanned it and asked us a few questions, then sent us on our way. We had a little snow as we drove through Winnipeg, but nothing sticking to the ground, so we were just enjoying the scenery and heading north (or nord as the Canadian signs say).

It took a while before we realized that the scenery for the past hundred miles or so hadn't changed from a two lane road with no shoulder, lined on both sides with pine trees. Apparently, Canadians have very large bladders because they don't seem to realize that people appreciate a rest area every once in a while. We went through two or three small villages during the next 500 miles, but none had room for a truck to pull over to get food or fuel. Lucky for us, we always carry some sandwich fixings and lots of bottles of water. Unfortunately, we don't carry extra fuel for the truck.

The good news is, the farther north you go, the more frozen lakes you get to see. That sort of breaks up the monotony of a two lane road with no shoulder, lined on both sides with pine trees. Until about the 25th frozen lake, then that becomes the new monotony.

By the time we arrived in Creighton, we were down to about 1/4 tank of fuel. We can usually go about 150 miles on that much fuel, but we were 600 miles from the border!! It was a bit of a dilemma. At one point we thought about simply settling down in Creighton, because not only can you not get fuel in Canada, you can't get a cell phone signal to call for help either!!!

Then things really got bad. We saw a service station that had diesel fuel, so we pulled in. But we learned that you had to be a member of the co-op to fuel there. No one in Canada was being co-operative. On top of learning that we could not get fuel, we were also told that the sand plant to which we were supposed to deliver our load was actually not in Creighton, but another 80 kilometers north (that's 50 more miles!!!). Now we're thinking "this is not funny anymore."

We travel the extra 50 miles. Our turn off was clearly marked. We made the turn. Now we are on a dirt road. I am not kidding. It was 10 more miles on a dirt road. We arrived about midnight, so we got into our cozy sleeper to spend the night and wait to deliver our load. However, being low on fuel, we didn't want to leave the truck running for 8 hours. Remember that weather forecast?? It gets cold in that bunk when the outside temperature is 2 (even if you keep telling yourself it really is 35). I think that's the first time I ever saw Kirby sleep with a jacket on. Finally, the sun comes up and we check in and we deliver our load. We're almost as good as the post office - "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

We have just enough fuel to get back to Creighton, but now we have new information about a place where we can actually get fuel with American money. Armed with a credit card and directions to Petro-Canada, we squeeze into the station with our big truck. But wait, how many liters of fuel does it take to go 600 miles at 7.5 miles to the gallon??? We're back in algebra class only it's metric!! We must have made a pretty good guess at the fuel, because our low fuel warning light came on as we crossed back into the US.

It was quite an interesting trip. I'm sure we would do it again, now that we know what to expect. I did take some pictures with a disposable camera, but I haven't had them developed yet. If they turn out OK, I'll post one. More than one isn't necessary, because they are all alike. It's a two lane road with no shoulder, lined on both sides with pine trees, and occasionally you get to see another frozen lake.

Which Camera?

2008-04-27T15:06:00.007-04:00

My daughter and her family made it to SC for their visit and I got to spend some time with them on Friday night and Saturday. As a result, I finally traded cameras with my daughter and I have enjoyed seeing all the pictures I took in El Paso, then left behind when I picked up the wrong camera (hers). I'll post some of the pictures here, but first, Jen and I spent a couple of hours Saturday looking at cameras in WalMart and Best Buy. I wanted a smaller camera with a better zoom. But it looks like in order to get a better zoom, I'll have to get a camera as big or bigger than the one I have. Jen wants better pictures in low light situations. We think that has something to do with the ISO number, but we're not really sure. Anyway, there were so many options that we felt more confused after looking around. The only thing we were sure of is that the prices at the two stores were the same. Guess I need to spend some time researching online before I spend my money. I'm actually pretty happy with the camera I have, or maybe I just dread learning all the features of a new camera. It seems like every camera I looked at had twice as many buttons and dials as the camera I've got. Whatever we do, I'm sure nothing I have now will be useful anymore, including the software I use to download my pictures to the computer. Unless I get another Kodak camera maybe? Anyway, here are some of the El Paso pictures.

Here's Maverick enjoying the new swings his Daddy and his Pop hung on the back patio.

I think Bailey is checking to make sure the swings are hung on good strong hooks so they won't fall down while he's enjoying them.

This is the look of terror on their faces when Pop is "coming to get them". I think they are trying to get Mommy to hide them, but she's not helping much.

Random Facts

2008-04-21T15:08:00.003-04:00

Some of the blogs I read have been posting seven random facts about themselves, so I thought I'd give it a try.

1. I'm loud. It's a blessing and a curse. I think when I was young we didn't have microphones at church, so we all had to learn to talk loud enough for the back row to hear us. Not a problem for me. I talk loud and I sing loud.

2. I love to shop. I don't mean that I enjoy an occasional shopping trip. I mean that I can go into any store (Hardware, Pet Supplies, it doesn't matter) and I can walk around and look at everything in the store with no intention of buying anything, and I often walk out without buying anything. I just love to window shop inside the store!!

3. I drive a big truck. An 18 wheeler. With a big stainless steel tanker behind it. I haul chemicals all over the country. And I shop in every town where we stop long enough to shop.

4. I have a dead toe. Well, not dead, more like in a vegetative state. I stepped on a piece of glass in the shower (back when shampoo bottles were glass) when I was in Jr. High and cut the muscle or something. It looks pretty normal, but I can't move it. It's the middle toe on my left foot.

5. I drive a Dodge Caravan. That doesn't seem unusual, but this is my 4th one. So when I say I drive a Dodge Caravan, I really mean it. When I trade cars, I buy another Dodge Caravan. I already want the new one with the table in the back, but I'm still paying for the one with the electric doors all around, so the table one will have to wait.

6. I read romance novels. I love historical romances. The ones where the British Lord falls in love with the serving maid, but they can never be together because she's from the lower class. Or the ones where the woman is ruined by scandalous gossip and some Duke has to marry her in order to protect her virtue. Of course, if you have enough money (and they always do) you can fix all the problems and live happily ever after.

7. I don't like cell phones. It's hard to talk on a cell phone. I can't hold them with my shoulder like a good old fashioned rotary phone. I can't keep those hands free things in my ears. And I can't keep a signal for more than 5 minutes. I think there is something about my hairspray that interfers with the signal. Can you hear me now? The answer is usually "no." But call me anyway. I'll just call you back over and over until we finish our conversation, or until we give up and use email instead.

MY TWO DADS

2008-04-17T16:00:00.002-04:00

I told my sister I was going to call this post, "My two dads" and she was sure people would get the wrong idea. So, just to set the record straight, this is not a post about alternative lifestyles!!

My father, Sponcil Elkins, died in 1996 and I still miss him every single day. He left a workshop full of odds and ends, some of them things I don't even recognize. I sometimes go out there and just look through little boxes of wrist watch parts or dig through drill bits. He could (and did) fix anything that broke. Mom once said that if it could be fixed, he could fix it, and if it couldn't be fixed, it would take him a little longer. One of my favorite stories, and one that says so much about my dad's character, was when the church tried to borrow money from the bank. Daddy was a church trustee, and the banker told him that the loan committee was going to turn the church down until they saw his name on the papers. They knew that if he signed for the church, they didn't have to worry about the loan being repaid. I was very blessed to have this man of God for my father and as a grandfather to my kids. Best of all, he treated my mother like a queen.

Although she never thought it would happen, in 2001, my mother married another wonderful man. Bennie Sellards had been a neighbor and friend for many years, and his kids grew up with me and my sisters, so we almost felt like family already. We have spent the last 6 years going to church, going on vacations, and generally laughing ourselves silly with Bennie. He had the best sense of humor and loved to laugh at himself. He was such a loving step-father, always willing to do things for us, and always including us in whatever he and my mother were busy with. He fought in the Pacific during WWII and of course, had funny stories to tell about himself and his life jacket. He didn't trust the little air bottle, so he blew it up himself, then pulled the air bottle cord, which caused the life jacket to explode, all during one of the worst sea battles of WWII. And on top of all that, I'm happy to say, he treated my mother like a queen.

Bennie passed away this week after a short illness. We will all miss him so much. I hope everyone reading this post is fortunate enough to have a great dad, but I have been blessed with two.

Big Changes for the Rhodes House

2008-04-10T21:38:00.003-04:00

I wish this post was all about my new re-designed kitchen. I'm still working on that. We plan to move some cabinets around and build a bar that acts as a semi-island in my U shaped kitchen. But, alas, my plans are on hold for a few weeks while we take care of some other issues.

The big change (i.e. the kitchen killing issue) is that my step-son, who was born with spinabifida and is in a wheelchair, has come back home. He has been living in a group home/assisted living center for two years, but he's having some medical problems that are too much for the group home situation to handle. So we have put him back in his old room at our house, and my husband's brother will be staying here with him for a few months until we get him back on his feet. That was my first thought when I was typing then I realized how funny it was to get someone back on his feet who is in a wheelchair. He's a good kid (if 23 is still a kid). He once told us he wanted to be the first "sit down comedian." At the hospital one of the nurses asked him if he was a midget. His legs are short compared to the rest of his body, but that's just because of his spinal problems. Anyway, he answered her by saying, "Yes, I am, but I'm not registered."

He is always coming up with the craziest things like that off the top of his head. We were watching boats from out balcony at the beach once with binoculars (that's almost a tongue twister) and we were trying to read the name on the side of one of the boats. Rusty took the binoculars and said "It says Seafood Rescue." We laughed about that and asked "what do you rescue seafood from?" His answer, "tartar sauce."

Tomorrow I'm going to hang my new plate racks and plates in my some day to be re-designed kitchen. I'll be sure to post some pictures.

Wonderful Visit with the 'Boys!

2008-04-07T03:46:00.006-04:00

Here's Maverick wearing Pop's hat. More about that later.

Pop and I arrived in El Paso Saturday morning about 10 am and Jake and Bailey came to pick us up at the K-Mart parking lot. We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A so Bailey could run and play on the playground while we enjoyed our meal. Maverick helped Pop finish off a strawberry shake so the only sound we heard from him through the whole meal was "mmmmmm". Then we made a trip to Toys R Us for Bailey's belated birthday gifts. We had already decided to get swings to attach to their back pergola (open beamed patio cover). We looked at other toys, but when I saw the little scooters I thought that was the toy for Bailey because for some reason he has an aversion to pedals. Sure enough, the swings and the scooter were big hits when we got them home.

While the boys were napping, Jen and I got to spend some quality time together shopping! Thanks Daddy and Pop for babysitting. Jen found a dress and I got a purse. We also found some decorative plates for my kitchen, so it was a good trip.

Of course, we finished the day with Rudy's BBQ. Jen and I brought it home so we didn't have to try to enjoy our meal and chase two boys through a restaurant at the same time. I still like the cream style corn and the new potatoes, along with some turkey and/or sausage. Jen introduced us to the peach cobbler and all I can say is we didn't get a big enough order of it!!!

After a couple more hours of playing with Grammy and Pop, and watching UNC play basketball, and working some puzzles, and fighting over the scooter, it was time for bed. I took Maverick upstairs first and got to snuggle him a little before putting him in his crib. He didn't fuss at all. Then it was time to read a story to Bailey. We both got in the Thomas the Train bed and I soon realized it was hard to read Horton Hatches an Egg without my reading glasses, but if I missed any words, he didn't complain. Just before the egg finally hatched, he was sound asleep, but I read the last few pages to him anyway. I wasn't ready for the day to end, but I tucked up his covers and gave him lots of kisses and told him to dream about me and Pop.

We will get to see them again in a few weeks when they come to SC to visit, but I am so glad we got to spend a special day with them. Eventually, I'll have pictures from our day, but I left my camera behind and accidently picked up Jen's camera by mistake (we have the same camera except for the duct tape on mine - it got dropped one time too many). Anyway, the only pictures on Jen's camera were of Bailey stealing Pop's hat. He loved being chased by Pop, and he and Maverick took turns wearing the hat. It was so cute. So, here's Bailey stealing the hat and then wearing the prize.

Lynwood, CA, I love you!!!

2008-04-01T21:41:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, but I have a good excuse. Kirby and I have both had the flu. I guess it was some kind of flu? It starts with a tickle in your throat that soon becomes a case of heavy coughing and sore chest and ribs, plus a headache and some chills and fever thrown in for fun. It takes about 5 days to get better, and for those 5 days you just want to lay on the couch and moan. Anyway, it was the first time in years that we actually had to call our job and say we couldn't work. We stayed home for about 10 days, and I couldn't even enjoy getting on the computer because it hurt my eyes so much and made my headache worse.

Anyway, we are all better now and we are back on the road. We told our dispatcher a few weeks ago that we needed to go to California real bad because our grandson was having a birthday in El Paso and we just had to get to see him so we could take him to Toys R Us. Well, yesterday, even though we have been sick, and we have been out on the road for 8 days and usually only stay out 10 days at a time, he called us and said, "Do you want to go home or go to California?" Without hesitation, we said we would take the Lynwood, California load.

I called my daughter, Jen, and told her to let Bailey start thinking about what he wanted for his birthday (he turned 3 on March 22) because Pop is coming and he's bringing a credit card!! I think Bailey is going to get some kind of swing for his back porch, but we'll have to wait and see what he picks.

Ready or not, grandboys, here we come!!!! See you Saturday!!! Get those little necks ready for lots of sugar kisses!!

Candle Craziness

2008-03-18T18:19:00.002-04:00

I found these candles on a clearance shelf at WalMart in Myrtle Beach and thought they were so pretty, and such a bargain at $4 each, that I couldn't pass them up. The candle holders are another clearance find at $5 each. But I didn't really have anyplace to use them in my house. I thought of putting them away for a future gift or something, then I ran across these little square plates at Ross ($2 each). It was funny when I saw the first one because I was thinking that I could get 4 of them and use them on my table with the black & white candles, but I wasn't sure I would find 4 of them since the first one I found was sitting with some bath towels, not in an aisle with dishes. I searched high and low (one of my favorite things about shopping) and found 4 plates, but no two are alike!! I think I like it even better that they don't match each other. Anyway, the weather is so pretty today that I'm getting ready to change to a spring time look on the table, and I thought I'd take a picture of my black & white candles before I put them away.

Random Thoughts

2008-03-15T21:10:00.002-04:00

Today was my mother's 83rd birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!! We all went out to eat at a local drive-in (Janet's) because she wanted chicken livers. The food was great and they always bring you more than you can eat. On the way home, we were talking about being thankful for all the blessings God has given us, so I thought I'd name a few. This is by no means a complete list, but I don't have enough space on the internet to name everything God has blessed me with.

First, my family (both immediate and extended). Kirby, my kids and grandkids, my sisters, my mom & step-dad, my in-laws, all my nieces and nephews and cousins, I am so glad all of them are part of my life.

My uncle has been in the hospital this week, so I am reminded everyday of how healthy my family has been. One of Todd's friends (Heath Gains) died from lukemia when they were both five years old. I spent many days at the hospital with Heath holding his feet in my hands so his legs wouldn't touch the bed because he had sores that hurt. For years, when I bought Todd his size 11 shoes I would think of those little feet and thank God for my beautiful, healthy children.

Speaking of my son, he just changed jobs and everything happened in such a way that he was blessed financially by the company that laid him off and the company that hired him. I pray all the time that God will bless my children spiritually, physically, financially, and emotionally. He just continues to amaze me with answers to this prayer.

As we drove along, we were talking about being thankful for having a decent car to drive (even though my sister and step-dad were complaining that the head rests were poking them in the back - this is the problem with seats that fold into the floor of the Dodge Caravan unless you raise the head rests before you sit down). I thought of the many times in my life when I wasn't sure my car would make it across town (in fact, there were times it didn't), but right now, we have two nice cars still under warranty.

I have a nice new roof over my head and too much food to eat. We have heat all winter and air conditioning all summer, cable TV, internet, and telephone. Yet, we still complain that there is nothing on TV or nothing to do.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Today is a good day to be thankful, so give praise to God who is worthy to receive all glory, honor and power. AMEN!!

Little Stowaway

2008-03-02T14:11:00.004-05:00

When we left our terminal last week, Kirby opened the truck door and saw a little mouse run to the sleeper area of the truck. For a day or two, we thought he had gotten out of the truck, but then we started to notice tiny little bites taken out of our loaf of bread. I put the bread in the cooler, so he developed a taste for peanuts. I hid those, and he decided he liked Ritz crackers. We started calling him Rattatoui, even though we never actually saw him. Only the evidence he was still in the truck. Eventually, he got into the 100 calorie packs of Lorna Dunes and Kirby said "He's crossed the line now!! Nobody eats my shortbread cookies!!" We wanted to wait until we got back home and set a trap for him, but after a few days of trying to leave little bits of food out for him, we realized he liked the fresh food better that he could open for himself. So then I had to re-pack everything to make it smaller and stuff it into our cooler. In the middle of the night, we heard all kinds of scratching and crunching. The next morning, we realized he had found a bag of cough drops!!!

Luckily, we had a chance to stop at a Wal-Mart for a few supplies, and we picked up a humane mouse trap. I refused to get poison or a killer trap. After all, he was like a pet now that we had been traveling with him for over a week. That little mouse went from Charleston, WV to Houston, TX to Cincinnati, OH, to Chicago, IL, to Detroit, MI, back to Houston, to Parker, PA, then finally to Freeport, TX.

So, here is what we bought for him. We baited it with a little cheese and peanut butter, then we got in bed and waited. About 30 minutes later, we heard him frantically scratching to get out of the box.

We put the trap on the ground outside the truck and turned it over, which lets the door fall open and the mouse get out. He put his head out and sniffed at first, then he ran off into the grass. I kept saying that I thought he would like the weather better in Texas, but couldn't help but sing a few lines of "Somewhere Out There" as we drove off. "Even though I know how very far apart we are, it helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star. . . . ." I hope his little mouse mother reads my blog so she will know where he is and that he is safe and happy.

Texas is just too big!!!!!

2008-02-25T17:03:00.003-05:00

I know they always talk about how everything is bigger in Texas, but today I'm sitting here thinking that I'm in Texas, and Todd is in Texas, and Jen is in Texas, and my grandboys are in Texas, but we couldn't get anywhere near each other even if we all left right now until sometime tomorrow!!! That's just too many miles for one state to have. We come to Houston twice a week most weeks, but hardly ever get anywhere near Austin or El Paso. But we do get to see my in-laws who live here in the Houston area. Today we all went to Red Lobster for lunch and had a great time, as usual. Right now, our two little boys (Kirby and his step-dad) are putting a lego race car together. We tried to get them to make a trip to Garden Ridge with us, but they both threatened to jump out of the car into traffic if we made them go there. So we took them to ToysRUs and now they are as happy as can be.

We are picking up a load tomorrow morning that goes to Ohio, so we'll get to relax for a few hours. Then it's - On the Road Again, as Willie would say.

You can never have too many shoes!!!

2008-02-12T11:30:00.001-05:00

I went shopping yesterday (is anyone surprised?). I had a goal in mind and not much hope of success. A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of Easy Spirit slip on tennis shoes and I still love those shoes more than any other tennis shoes I have every owned. Unfortunately, since I shop at discount stores that carry overstock and discontinued items, Easy Spirit doesn't make that particular style anymore. I have looked in every outlet mall, discount store, EBay, internet store, etc. and haven't found that shoe (at least not at a price I was willing to pay). Last summer, while I was in Myrtle Beach with my mother, I found that shoe at Stein Mart, and I bought a pair for HER. I decided at the time it would be a waste of money to buy the same shoe I already had, so I got myself a diferent shoe. Bad idea!! I have regretted that decision every day since and couldn't wait to get back to the Stein Mart at Myrtle Beach in the hopes that they might still have my shoe. Telling myself the chance of them having that shoe after all this time was slim, I walked into Stein Mart yesterday and THERE IT WAS!!!! The Easy Spirit all leather Feelin' Good tennis shoe in my size. The only difference was that my old shoe was white and this one is tan. But I like that even better!!!

Easy Spirit makes several shoes similar to this style, but don't be fooled. They are not as comfortable as this shoe and they don't clean up as easily as leather. For some reason the strap in the back of the new style is shorter and just doesn't fit the same across the ankle. Trust me, I've tried all of them!!!

Then, a little while later, I walked into K-Mart and found the perfect sandal. I should have gone to Vegas I am on such a lucky streak!! This shoe is soft and comfy and only $15 (buy one - get one half off) so I got this color (which perfectly matches the outfit I bought for $15 at K-Mart) and I got a tan pair. Today, I'm shopping for a purse to match my two new pairs of tan shoes. I'd say wish me luck, but I can't afford to get lucky too many more times!! You should see how lucky I got at Hamricks.

This is the Life!!!

2008-02-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

Here's some pictures of our condo in Myrtle Beach. Too bad it's only for the week. I'd love to live here full time.

This is the view from our balcony.

Winter Break

2008-02-07T17:41:00.001-05:00

I can't believe that in two days my husband and I will be going on a vacation to Myrtle Beach all by ourselves. I'm not sure what we are going to do, since we have never been there by ourselves. Every time we go, my sister, my mom, my nephew, my daughter and grandsons, or somebody goes with us. Then we sort of plan our activities based on what everyone wants to do. We usually go in May for bike week, but this year we decided to take a little winter break and spend Valentine's day at the beach together. Sounds romantic, but we didn't even realize it was Valentine's day until after we booked the condo!! I'm not sure why we were talking about going, but we got on the internet and found a deal we couldn't refuse. One of the condo rental companies was having a $100 off sale, which made a 1 bedroom condo $150 for seven nights. If you have never rented a condo at North Myrtle Beach, I highly recommend it. You are close enough to Myrtle Beach for all the entertainment, but far enough from all the noise and traffic of downtown. Besides, North Myrtle Beach has plenty of shopping and entertainment of it's own. We love getting a condo, as opposed to a motel, because it feels like you live at the beach for a week, not like you are visiting. You have a living room and kitchen, private balcony overlooking the beach, and bedrooms with their own bathrooms (this is especially important when 3 or 4 people go together). We have used a company called Condo-World several times, but this time we are using CondoLux. I guess my next post will be from the beach. I'll be sure to post pictures of the condo.

Every Girl's Crazy 'Bout a Sharp Dressed Man!!!

2008-02-06T18:07:00.000-05:00

If there is anything my husband likes to do, it's buy something. So, naturally, the chance to buy two of something is just too good to pass up. This summer when we had Bailey and Maverick at the beach with us, Jen was dressing them alike every day and we thought it was adorable. Now, when we get anywhere near an Old Navy, we just can't resist finding them a new outfit. This week, we ended up spending one of our 12 hour layovers in Commerce, GA, near the outlet mall. (How did that happen, I wonder??) Needless to say, my Old Navy credit card is smoking hot. But look at what cute outfits we got!!

I can't wait until April when the boys will be in SC so we can try all these on them. My favorite is the yelllow shirt with the "gnarly" surfer dude flowered shorts. Grammy and Pop love you guys and can't wait to see you!!! (You too Jen and Jake)

Attention K-Mart Shoppers

2008-01-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

I found these fabulous candles at K-Mart on clearance. They were Martha Stewart, and they have little diamonds and snwoflakes carved into them. I'd love to have more of them and thought some of you who live near K-Mart might like an excuse to go shopping. I'd be more than happy to pay shipping if anyone comes across some of these.

I'm supposed to be doing other things right now, so I'd better get off here and back to laundry. How can just two people have so many dirty clothes and towels?? I guess the same way we seem to have so much garbage. I bring five WalMart bags home and carry out five big trash bags!! Everything must be vacuum packed and when I open it, the packages expand. Just like mail. I bring home a stack about two inches high and then I throw away a stack that's six inches high. How does that not defy some law of mass?? I guess it's like potato chips, packed by weight, not volume!! Yeah, it's not my weight that makes these pants tight, it's my volume. I just know somebody is saying, why don't you turn down the volume. Very funny!!

Too late for my grandkids, it snows!!!

2008-01-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

We were hoping for snow Christmas when all the grandkids were here, but it was actually very warm the week of Christmas. But this morning, my front porch thermometer was below 20 degrees!!!

And this is my car!!

Fortunately, we have great road workers who had the road all clear and dry and ready for us to go to WalMart for whatever items you can't live without in a snow storm.

So I'm wearing these, which are my bargain snow boots that I got for $3 a few years ago long after winter was over. Tnat's Muffin checking them out from under the table. She had been outside, but didn't stay long when she realized she didn't have any cool snow boots to wear.

Mustang Sally??

2008-01-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

This is Kirby's 1994 Mustang convertible that he has been begging for since one of his friends decided to sell it. I have been saying "NO" for a few months, but this weekend he dropped the price and we decided it was too good to pass up. Inside and outside the car looks like it just rolled off the show room floor. That black and red interior is amazing. So, I'm sure I will soon be singing the immortal words of Wilson Pickett, "Mustang Sally, I think you better slow your Mustang down!!"

The Party's Over

2007-12-31T11:13:00.000-05:00

I've spent two days just sitting around being a little sad. My son and all the kids left on Saturday. It took us about 2 hours to take down the Christmas tree and other decorations and to vacuum up all the glitter and stuff from the floor. After that my house was just too quiet and too clean. Today I'm going to get into the closet and re-pack and re-stack all the Christmas stuff where it will stay until next year (or the year after if we decide putting up a tree is too much trouble).

When we started this process, we were so excited about getting out all the decorations and making the house look festive. When everything was done, my nativity set was placed under the tree in honor of the birth of our Lord. Then a few days later, when I had some packages to put under there, the nativity was moved to a spot beside the entertainment center. Later, as the packages grew, it was placed on an end table. Then, when the kids needed that table for their morning juice while watching cartoons, it went to the dining room table. But of course, the table was needed for playing games, so the nativity ended up on my desk. That didn't last long, because the desk was being used by everyone to check their email and my space pages. Finally, baby Jesus ended up in the kitchen, beside the microwave. My sister looked at it sitting there and commented that there was still no room in the inn.

So, today, as this year comes to a close, and as you ponder my little nativity sitting between the kitchen sink and a bottle of Twistup, resolve to make room in your heart for the baby in the manger, who grew up to be our Saviour and Lord, and who deserves a place of honor in our lives and our hearts and our homes.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T12:33:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone is having a Christmas as wonderful as we are. I have four of my grandkids from Texas here and we've had so much fun. Yesterday they played Apples to Apples all day and if you've never played it, you should try it. We laughed all day over some of the answers.

We watched Pirates of the Caribbean, which normally would be about 2 1/2 hours, but took us about 4 hours to watch with all the rewinding to see the funny scenes and any close-up view of Johnny Depp. Which explains the picture of my three grand-daughters swooning over a picture of him on a throw. I don't know why they think he's so Hot. Anyone with any taste would know Orlando Bloom is the one who's Hot!!

This morning we opened gifts, then gathered up paper and boxes and styrofoam and twist ties and thousands of pieces of packing peanuts, and dug through trash for directions, and cut two software CD's in half before realizing they were inside the package, and generally had a wild and crazy time. We still have a mess, but at least we can walk through the living room.

Here are all four of the kids with their stockings. From left to right are Josi & Joy, the twin girls who are obviously not identical. Then Brandon with his fake "bling." On the right is Kayla, our oldest granddaughter. And in the background, with us in spirit, are pictures of Bailey and Maverick.

We're going to Grandma's (my mother) for spaghetti at 2pm so I'll try to add more pictures later. Merry Christmas.

Shop til you Drop!!!

2007-12-22T12:08:00.001-05:00

I don't think anyone in the world loves to shop as much as I do. I can go all day and look at thousands of things and not spend a penny. I just love the thrill of the hunt for some bargain that's too good to pass up. I love the last minute rush before Christmas to get one more thing for someone's stocking or to just be part of the hustle and bustle. When Jen was young, we always went someplace on Christmas Eve and we would be there until they kicked everyone out and locked the doors. We shocked Jake one year by making a 30 minute trip over a crazy mountain road just to go to Big Lots!! He was sure after that roller coaster ride there was going to be some kind of store that was worth going to.

If you ask my husband if he likes to shop, he would absolutely answer "NO". But don't believe it. He really doesn't like to shop with me because, as I said, I can look and look and not buy anything. He only likes to go if he has a goal in mind to buy. Fortunately for me, in the process of reaching his goal, we look at lots of other things. He OOOs and AAAHs the Christmas decorations and gets excited by every new nutcracker he sees. Anything Rudolph or Wizard of Oz gets him to act like a kid in a candy shop.

Which brings me to our trip to K-Mart. We were walking through Craftsman tools (thank goodness for K-Mart & Sears because he never turns down a chance to look at Craftsman tools) when we heard an annoucement that they had Martha Stewart towels at the front of the store for $2 each. If you have never seen a grown man running through K-Mart to beat a bunch of old ladies to a towel clearance sale, let me tell you, it was a beautiful thing. By the time I got to the front of the store with the buggy, he had snagged six beautiful matching towels by reaching over the heads of the shorter women. Maybe if more husbands could see it as a competition to get a good deal before anyone else, men would like shopping. Stores need to start some sort of tag team shopping or something. Mud wrestling for microwaves. Darts for dishes. Tug-a-War for tools. If Target would just let them shoot at the big bullseye!! Maybe someday.

Old Blue Eyes!!

2007-12-21T06:01:00.001-05:00

I had to put a picture of Maverick on here since I put that video of Bailey. Maverick is such a beautiful little boy. We really enjoyed seeing him this week and getting to snuggle on him for a little bit.

Bailey Shows Off

2007-12-21T05:29:00.000-05:00

Here's Bailey showing off for Grammy & Pop. I wanted GG & Paw to see this. He's so funny and so smart and he's beginning to pronounce words so well you can actually understand him. Enjoy!!!

Bread Pudding

2007-12-20T13:19:00.000-05:00

I could write a book about the bread pudding recipe I got from my mother in law, Carolyn, a few years ago. I have never liked bread pudding, so when she offered me some that she had made when we were at her house visiting, I turned it down. Kirby, however, had some and talked me into tasting it. Have you ever wondered what food in Heaven tastes like??? This is as close as you can get on earth. We got her recipe and later that year when Jen and Jake came to visit us for Christmas, we made some. They both loved it, of course, and a few weeks later I got an email from Jen asking for the recipe so she could surprise Jake with a pan. It wasn't long after that she made some for her church, and she and the bread pudding became an instant success. We had already had the same reaction at our church, with so many requests for the recipe that I lost track of how many times I printed it out.

Last year, at our family reunion, one of my many cousins made cookbooks for everyone with lots of family favorite recipes and I gave her the bread pudding recipe.

Now, for the point of this whole story. Today I got a call from another cousin in Alabama who lives in an assisted living home. She has not been to the family reunion for several years because of her poor health, but she got a copy of the cookbook from her sister. One of the cooks at the home has been trying out some of the recipes and she made the bread pudding. My cousin told me that everyone at the home went crazy for it and when the cook said they needed to save some for later, they all insisted that they wanted a second helping NOW. She thought it was so funny she had to call and let me know that the recipe was a big success there, too.

So, a big thank you to my mother-in-law for a recipe that has become a legend in several states. And just in case you haven't had the pleasure of tasting it, here's the recipe.

6 Eggs
2 Sticks Butter
3 Cups Sugar
1 Can Evaporated Milk (12 oz.)
4 oz. Hot Tap Water
1 tsp. Vanilla
8 Slices of Bread
Cinnamon

Break up bread slices in a 9x12 cake pan and set aside. Melt butter and add eggs, sugar, milk, hot water, and vanilla and mix well. Pour mixture over the bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Bake at 350 deg. for about 45 minutes.

Presidential Candidate Calculator

2007-12-11T01:10:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to an interesting little survey you can take and it will tell you which candidates agree with your positions on a number of issues. It only takes a minute or two to answer the questions. I thought it was pretty neat.

http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html

High Tech Rednecks!!

2007-12-09T20:32:00.000-05:00

I thought I had heard it all, but today my husband and nephew topped every crazy thing they have ever done. They actually bought a motion activiated camera to hang from a tree to take pictures of deer. They put deer feed out all the time and the deer (or something) are eating it. But they are never there to see who or what time the feasting is taking place. So, today they bought this camera to spy on the deer, take pictures of them, and time and date stamp the pictures. I have a feeling they are going to have hundreds of pictures of some curious little squirrel trying to look into the lens. If they could only get one of those predator drones, they could hunt and never leave the couch!!

In other news, the weather today was beautiful (until it started to rain late this evening). It was in the 60's all day. I noticed that lots of people put up Christmas lights today and now the trip from my house to WalMart is lit up, pardon the pun, like a Christmas tree. We added some falling star lights that we found in the closet to our front porch. I think I bought these on clearance a few years ago, but I'm not sure we ever used them. Sometimes you can click on pictures and enlarge them. If you can click on this one, you can see the dog's eyes glowing down on the left hand side of the porch. She doesn't know what to make of the tree in the living room and all these packages. Mostly she just makes lots of excited barking noise. That big white circle that looks like a full moon on the roof must be a drop of rain on the lens. Looks pretty neat, though.

BABY, IT'S COLD INSIDE

2007-12-09T03:24:00.000-05:00

No, that isn't a typo. We came home today and found our heater not working. It was about 45 degrees outside, and about 40 degrees inside our house. I actually left the front door open for a while to try to warm up the house!! We had to call someone and thankfully, they were here within a couple of hours. We have a little electric space heater and that helped a lot while we were waiting. Anyway, it was just a bad breaker and nothing wrong with the heater itself. Still cost $85, but compared to replacing a fan motor or something on the unit itself, that was way cheap.

The Grand Boys!!!

2007-12-09T03:12:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to post for two weeks because of work, but thank goodness for work because we got to see the grandbabies this week in El Paso. Not too many Grandparents just happen to be in your neighborhood when you live 2000 miles away. But everytime we go to California, we come back on I-10 and pass within a mile or two of their house. This trip we found a perfect place to park when we get a chance to visit. There is a K-Mart with a huge parking lot perfect for our big truck. Bailey is getting so tall and he is talking better and better so we were able to understand a lot of what he was telling us. He is especially good at saying "Stop Pop!" He loved saying it so Pop did everything he could think of to make Bailey have to tell him to stop. We are still amazed everytime by Maverick's oh so blond hair and blue eyes. I could go on and on about them, but I'll just say that they are the most beautiful and most intelligent little boys I have every seen!! And really, I'm not just saying that because I'm their Grammy.

Making a list . . . . and checking it over and over

2007-11-25T16:04:00.001-05:00

I love making lists. I even sometimes need a list of my lists so I can keep up with them. Christmas shopping is so much fun for me and I end up with lists of things I want to buy, lists of things I have bought, lists of things that have been wrapped (because sometimes you can't remember what's in that package), lists of what packages are in which closets, shopping bags, etc. It may seem funny, but my mother has actually lost presents before and found them in the closet months later. So, I try to keep up with everything. Besides the 14 members of my little family, I also buy for my sisters next door, my parents, my husband's parents, siblings and nephew, and a few friends and neighbors. It can get confusing, especially when you start shopping months ahead of time and have to put the gifts someplace until Christmas. Today I have been rewritting lists and trying to decide who I'm finished with and who needs a little something extra.

We have also been decorating a little, but I still need to get out the tree and other things that are in the extra bedroom closet. Last year we didn't bother with the tree because I was going to SC to spend Christmas with Jen and her family. This year, Todd is coming here with his whole bunch, so we are pulling out all the decorations. Here are a couple of pictures of some yard art we made a few years ago. I love making this stuff. You cut the shapes from plywood and then transfer the pattern with carbon paper and paint it. We made a lot of these and sold some at a flea market. If I was retired, I would set up a booth and sell this all the time just for the fun of making it. Unfortunately, these three are all we have left right now. I guess I need to check my list of yard art patterns and see what we can do about making some more!!

Wild Turkey!!

2007-11-23T07:22:00.001-05:00

Sorry to anyone reading this for taking so long to post something new. Because of the holiday, we were gone a little longer than usual and I just didn't get a chance to get online. Anyway, that is a picture of the turkey we had yesterday and of course, there is a story to tell.

My nephew and husband were "deer" hunting and came home with this turkey. Apparently, he flew over them and landed in a tree right in front of them, so my nephew shot him. Here is another picture of him before he looked so golden brown and delicious.

I thought he was a little dry, but I guess in the wild they don't fatten themselves up just before Thanksgiving so they will be nice and juicy. Getting him into the oven was funny because his legs were long and skinny and stuck out of my roasting pan. I was told by the mighty hunters that he was shot in the shoulder near the neck, but while preparing him for the oven, I found a suspicious hole in the lower back. I'm no medical examiner, but I'd testify in court that he was probably fleeing the scene at the time of his demise.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!

2007-11-06T20:38:00.001-05:00

This is the table in my craft room/extra bedroom. I've been working on matching stockings for all 14 members of my family. Me & my husband, 4 kids, 2 in laws, and 6 grandkids. Today I took my husband shopping at Michaels to help me find snowflakes and iron on letters for these. He did a good job, so I rewarded him with this.

Talk about being "in the doghouse." This thing is supposed to fold/roll up and go back into its backpack bag. We looked like a slapstick comedy routine trying to learn how to do this. I read the instructions to him and he tried, then he read them and I tried. We laughed so much we decided the deer will be selling tickets to see him trying to get this thing back in the bag. Look out WV wildlife - the Doghouse is coming!!! Be afraid! Be very afraid!!

Jen, Don't Read This - It's About Wallpaper

2007-11-05T20:57:00.001-05:00

I know my daughter is shaking her head right now and laughing. I am the wallpaper queen. I love wallpaper and I am constantly changing something. Lately I have decided that I can't stand the wallpaper in my kitchen another minute. It was supposed to look like stone blocks with ivy growing, but now it just feels like I'm in a dungeon. Also notice the cat (Duchess) who belongs to Jen but lives with me because she moved and couldn't take her. That blanket on the floor is the dog's bed which she drags all over the house. And if you are reading my whiteboard, I'm out of Greek seasoning, meat tenderizer, zip lock sandwich bags, and I need to make a backup copy of my Mother's book from her computer. I love that whiteboard. I write notes on it all day whenever something comes to my mind.

Anyway, back to wallpaper. I decided to go to Lowes and see what I could find. Here is what I'm thinking of doing. I'm going to cover the wood panel at the bottom with this plaid paper and then do the top with the yellow.

My husband thinks the plaid looks like Christmas, but ever since he chose the pink paper for the bedroom that left it looking like a cheap motel, I don't pay much attention to his opinion. I am also going to do the hallway with the same paper since it extends from the kitchen. Then I'm going to put the plaid at the bottom of the bathroom wall in place of the green stripe that is on it now (see earlier post regarding toilet seat). This paper looks soooo good with the new shower curtain. I can't wait to get started.

We Pulled Off a Big Surprise

2007-10-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago we started planning a special ceremony at the church to honor my mother, Bernice. She has been a member of the same church since 1946 and has played the piano for every choir and all manner of solo, duet, trio, etc. for over 50 years. This morning, all our plans came together and it was great. After bringing her up out of the audience and giving her a crown and some roses, we treated her to her very own version of "This is your Life." We started coming out from behind closed doors to surprise her. We read poetic tributes and shed some tears. We presented her with a scrapbook full of notes from family and friends and a certificate that said "you put the grand in grandma." Then, finally, her sister (who lives about 400 miles away) came out and it was priceless. I can't believe we have been putting this together all this time and she had no clue.

Anyway, my point is that she never wanted or expected such recognition. That's what makes her so special. She doesn't even realize how special she is!! I told everyone at church that if the writer in Proverbs who wrote about the excellent wife had been my mother's son, he would have written something like this:

Who can find an excellent mother, for her value is greater than rare jewels
Her children trust in her, and they will have no lack of love and attention
She makes them feel safe and protected all the days of her life
She seeks out fabric and makes them clothing with her own hands - yea, they have A-line skirts in every color
Her kitchen is like a fine restaurant, her menu covering everything from pinto beans to lasagna - her dumplings and prune cakes are known throughout the land
She rises while it is still night to make cocoa for her daughters' friends, and no pajama party is complete without her popcorn
She stands in the cold to watch for the school bus while all the children of the neighborhood wait inside her warm house
She makes cookies and cupcakes for every school party, and serves as room mother without complaint
Her arms are strong from stirring the p-nut butter candy which spells the end of many attempted diets
She is a shrewd shopper, drawn like a magnet to clearance sales
She is generous and giving and opens her hands to the needy
She is not afraid of the snow, for her children always have warm coats and hats and gloves and sleds
Her bed is always warm and welcome to any child having a bad dream
Her family is well known in the community as she walks them to church
She teaches Sunday School and leads the Young People in music and Bible study
She clothes herself with dignity
She doesn't fear the future, for her freezer is filled to overflowing with leftovers
She speaks with wisdom and teaches kindness to her children and grand-children
She does endless loads of laundry and her kitchen floor is mopped and waxed
Her four daughters rise up and call her blessed and try to make her proud
Many mothers have done excellently, but you surpass them all
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain
but a mother who fears the Lord is to be praised

Problem Solved???

2007-10-25T13:33:00.000-04:00

Does anybody even remember my first post where I was lamenting the fact that I could not find a toilet seat to match my bathroom shower curtain? Does anybody really care? Well, I finally solved the problem by changing both shower curtain and toilet seat. I should have done that a long time ago, but the green shower curtain was so nice. Anyway, as you can see, I changed everything to maroon and I really love this shower curtain with it's little stripes that pick up all the colors in the laundry border. But believe it or not, I can't find a rug that matches it just right!!!

OH NOOOOO!!!

2007-10-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

My laptop has a problem, so I have been without access for several days. The battery is dead and will not charge, but even with the power cord plugged in, the computer will not come on. So I may have a problem with the cord or worse, the laptop itself. So I'm taking it to the laptop doctor this afternoon.

In other news, Kirby and I are home for a couple of days to attend the funeral of our 101 year old next door neighbor. Her birthday was last week, but she has been in very poor health for a couple of months following a stroke. Before that, she was getting around better than most 60 year olds. She was amazing because she still got up everyday and came out to sit on the front porch. She loved having us come over to talk with her and she was always good for a few funny comments. Her family will miss her and so will we. She was a great Christian woman and we were blessed to know her. Happy Homecoming with the Lord, Mrs. Howe.

On the Beach

2007-10-08T08:34:00.001-04:00

I love this picture of Maverick on the beach. Looks like he is the only person for miles (except for that grandma with the camera). He didn't really know how to react to all that sand, so he tasted it then spit it out. As you can see from the other picture, Bailey knows exactly what to do with all that water - Run for it!!!

Myrtle Beach Aquarium

2007-10-01T22:57:00.000-04:00

We took Bailey and Maverick to the aquarium today in Myrtle Beach and they had a great time. Bailey's favorite part of the trip was putting his hands in the water to pet the horseshoe crabs and stingrays, as you can see by this picture.

Later, he came across some yellow fish that he was fascinated by. I'm not sure why, after looking at so many different fish, he was so interested in these little yellow ones, but they were very pretty and bright. You can also see how wet his shirt is from petting the crabs!!

Maverick doesn't know what all the fuss is about with "finding Nemo" because he went into the gift shop and found him with no problem at all. He was just sitting there in plain sight.

Random Events

2007-09-28T15:50:00.000-04:00

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!!!

2007-09-24T05:39:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-15T16:32:00.000-04:00

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!!

2007-09-15T04:09:00.000-04:00

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 . . . . . .

2007-09-10T20:23:00.000-04:00

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!!

2007-09-04T17:15:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-02T17:16:00.001-04:00

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

2007-09-01T10:01:00.000-04:00

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.

Road Trip!!!!

2007-08-29T08:38:00.001-04:00

This is Kirby and his brother, Charles, anxious to get on the road for their big Labor Day adventure trip to Ohio. We have spent the last two days getting all their food ready and packing the camper with everything they need to survive 4 days in the wild. I just hope the wild can survive them!! My "wild hog" husband spent last night color coordinating his doorags and biker shirts (which I then had to iron!!). Can anyone say SPOILED ROTTEN??

That's the Hillybilly Hilton behind them with its new orange and black paint job. It originally only had one pale green stripe across the window area, but they decided it needed to be dressed up a little. They even carried the orange and black theme onto the hub caps!! Do men ever grow up??

The camper now has air conditioning, a refrigerator, a generator, and a microwave. If they ever redo the plumbing, we will have a shower. It has a toilet, but I'm not sure where it flushes to and I didn't want to ask. Some things are better left alone.

How fast is that again???

2007-08-28T10:54:00.000-04:00

I am the proud owner of a new modem and I can't tell you how much difference it has made on my computer. I got this computer Christmas and really couldn't tell much difference between it and my old one, so I just assumed that you could only go as fast as your internet connection and getting a bigger, better computer didn't really matter. Then we got a notice from Suddenlink that they were going to double our internet speed for the same price. I couldn't wait to see how much better it would be, and I was shocked and dismayed to find that, if anything, my computer was slower than ever. The last straw was when I realized that I could get videos and things much faster with a weak wireless signal on my laptop than I could on my super duper home computer with Suddenlink's new faster speed. So I called Suddenlink. And if you have ever called the cable company, you know what that was like. Endless waiting, punching in my phone number several times, explaining my problem to three different people before I got the right one, scheduling a tech to come out two weeks later, etc. But while I was on the phone with them, they had me go to www.speedtest.net and check my download speed. My computer registered 146. The guy on the phone said there was a problem and that it was Suddenlink's problem, not my computer. So, today, the tech shows up and the first thing he tries is checking the signal coming into the house (which was fine), so he switches modems. My download speed on the aforementioned website is now 6386. Was my computer slow or what???? So, now I can actually watch a video without waiting for it to stop and start over and over and over. Wonder how long that modem has been bad and I just didn't know it?

Be it Ever so Humble . . .

2007-08-27T18:49:00.001-04:00

I've had some requests for pictures of the finished roof, so here it is. I let Kirby choose the color and now he wishes he had picked a darker roof. I like the roof color, but I want to paint all the dark brown on the house a different color. I was thinking about blue, but now I've changed my mind. I guess I need to go to Lowes and get some paint samples.

We had a long two weeks of working so that we could take this week off and I am really looking forward to being home. Of course, Kirby and company will be gone to their bike rally so I'll be on my own (boohoo). I'll be doing scrapbooking, eating chicken and more chicken (Kirby likes beef), watching old movies and probably shopping a little. OK, shopping a lot.

I realized these last two weeks that Kirby and I have a favorite Mexican restaurant in every city between here and Los Angeles. Every time we get a load assignment, we look at each other and say "Lupes" or "Mazlatan" or "Panchos" or "La Carreta" depending on which direction they send us. We used to have a favorite Chinese place in Kingman, AZ that we went to so often they brought our drinks and Kirby's red peppers as soon as we sat down. We didn't even have to tell them what we wanted. They had the best crab rangoon!! We just don't go through Kingman much anymore. I guess the point of all this is that we love to eat and figure if we have to travel all the time, we might as well enjoy the local food. I guess I should write articles for travel magazines or something since I'm out there anyway.

In case you wondered, the dog is taking antibiotics again, but longer this time, in hopes of getting rid of the lump under her eye. She looks really good right now, but still has a week of meds to finish up. Hopefully, the lump won't come back again.

Tomorrow I'm going to help load the camper for the big trip, so I'll take some pictures. I want them to paint a logo on the side of this thing that says "Hillbilly Hilton" but so far they aren't going for it.

Sitting & Waiting

2007-08-19T13:22:00.000-04:00

Today we are in Kingsport, TN waiting for a load that goes to Seabrook, TX. That's in the Houston area and of course, we will be getting there just in time for the hurricane. We hope to be in and out of there before the hurricane comes, but if the traffic is anything like it was last time they had an evacuation, we will still be on the interstate when the hurricane is over. My in-laws spent 24 hours in the car last time and went about 60 miles. That hurricane turned toward Beaumont and missed Houston completely, but you never know whether to stay or get out of town. Anyway, we just had lunch and our load should be ready in a couple of hours.

Yesterday, we were in West Chester, PA, and it was about 65 degrees. So nice compared to the over 100 degree days we have been having for the last few weeks. I guess if you could live up north in the summer and then move south for the winters that would be the ideal life.

In my last post I was telling everyone about my husband's new camper. He thinks I will enjoy camping now that we have all the comforts of home (including a new generator so we can make our own electricity). I politely informed him that as far as I am concerned, we camp out in this truck 10 or 12 days at a time, so I don't consider camping out in another truck on my days off a real break from my job!! Unless he plans to set up that camper in the parking lot of a Garden Ridge, I don't see myself spending much time in there. I also informed him that the only fishing I intend to do is with a fork at Red Lobster. I catch them already breaded and fried.

It's about time

2007-08-12T23:56:00.000-04:00

Here is a video I got from my mother-in-law. I think you will really enjoy. This kid is so adorable. http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9e7c4b40cf5a13cea6ca

Now, for what I've been doing. I just realized that it has been a long time since I updated my blog. The house is finished and the roof and siding look really good. We only need to do some touch up paint on the window frames.

We have been really busy the last few days. Kirby and my nephew Tom bought a 23 foot camper from a man who had been using it at a hunting lease. It's in pretty good shape for a 1976 model. We have spent the last two days working on it, rewiring and painting it inside and out. There are still several projects we will need to do (like replacing the old seat cushions and mattresses and putting in an air conditioner), but they should be able to enjoy it when they go to their bike rally in Ohio Labor Day weekend. I've been making curtains for the 8 windows and will probably make covers for the cushions eventually.

Kirby's brother is coming up here from Waco, Texas, to visit the end of this month, and he's going to the bike rally with them. That means I'll have a whole week all to myself and I plan to do some cleaning around the house, but mostly I'll be shopping and reading.

We had our annual homecoming at church today. The visiting preacher was 86 years old and he did a fantastic job. He really made me laugh when he talked about his obituary. He said someday when you see in the newspaper that he has died, don't you believe it because he has eternal life through Christ. He has his cemetary plot already paid for and the marker has his name on it, but at the bottom he has "I'm not here, but thank you for stopping by." My sister's group, the Miracles, sang and they were great. Then we had a wonderful pot luck dinner after the service, too. It doesn't get any better than that.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Godley, Texas. It's a little south of Fort Worth. I have about a million things to do before we leave, including taking my dog to the vet. She has a knot on her face under her eye. She took antibiotics for it a few weeks ago and it got better, but it is coming back again, so I hope they can figure out what is causing it.