Random Seepage

There is a lot of seepage seeping from my brain...so here goes.

1)  Bob and I went to Fort Worth on the OU/Texas football weekend.  It was interesting.  Those folks in Texas have it all wrong.  They kept calling it Texas\/OU football.  I kept trying to explain to them that they were wrong.  We went for Bob to take a class.  We attended a trade show on Saturday morning and went to dinner at Simply Fondue for dinner.  Sunday morning, Bob got up early and went to class.  I got to lay around the hotel and watch TV and snooze until 4.  It was great.  I must say that I have had my fill of HGTV for a while. 

2)   Our Montana kids are coming home for Halloween so we are in full Halloween decorating mode.  Halloweentown is coming along.  I will post pictures when it is completed. 

3)  The weather is cool and I am wanting homemade soup.  The only problem with this is that I am going to have to be the one to cook the soup.  I am going to the store tomorrow to get homemade soup stuff.  Hope I don't set the kitchen on fire.

4)  Remember my wreck about a month ago?  I have had the estimate and  was anticipating getting my car fixed before Halloween.  Guess what?  It will be mid November before my little red car will be in the car hospital.  It will be in the hospital for 4-5 days.  I will have a rental so I am going to drive hard, with the music going full blast.

5)  I have an addition.  SuDoKo.  I can't stop playing online.  I have begun playing it early in the morning too.  USA Today has a quarter page of puzzles and I play most of them in the morning.  What I don't play in the morning, I play in the evening.

Enough of random seepage for tonight. Bye.

Christmas in...September?

I was driving down Western today...minding my own business, running errands.  Haven't been down Western in quite a while and was interested to see all of the changes.

Classen Curve looks really interesting.  I think I need to spend some time there looking at all of the new shops.

Whole Foods is coming to Western.

Wait, what do I see?  On the corner of Western and 63rd...what do I see?  The Chesapeake Energy compound.  Oh My Gosh!!!  They are stringing Christmas lights on all of the trees.

I can't wait to see the finished products.  Merry Christmas one and all!!

Time to get to the mall and get your shopping done.  After all, there are only 90 shopping days left!!!

Toys R Us adventure

Brodie is about to turn 4.  So to commemorate this earth shattering event, Gramma and Grandad ventured to the Toys R Us store.

Now being a mom and dad, we had been to Toys R Us lots of times when our girls were little.  Not much to it.  There were dolls, crayons, art sets...you know typical toys.

Whew...What has happened to Toys R Us?!?!?

First thing when you walk in is Halloween candy, followed closely by Halloween costumes, decorations and party ware. 

Then you walk around the corner and there are baby clothes, beds, diapers.  I thought we had made a wrong turn and were in Babies R Us.

Finally...Toys.  OMG!!!  What happened to crayons...you know a box of 8 type thing?  They have mega boxes of 200 different colors of crayons.  Washable crayons.  Non-melt crayons.  Pastel only crayons. Vibrant crayons.  It was enough to make you crazy.

We trudged on and located the Hot Wheel section.  (Brodie wants Hot Wheel cars and tracks).  Both Bob and I were comfortable with this notion.  After all, Bob was a little boy once who liked to play with cars (OK, he still likes to play with cars.)  And I had 2 nephews that I used to play with and they had Hot Wheels all over the place. Boy, were we in for a shock!!

What in the earth has happened to Hot Wheels? They have all sorts of sets now.  Turbo charged flyer's.  Crash em sets.  Bob and I stared in disbelief.  After 45 minutes, we found something that we hope is appropriate, added 15 cars (really...insect cars?), and left the store.

BTW, When did Toys R Us stop putting price tags on stuff?  You have to lug your item to a scanner, scan the box and then lug it back.  Give me a price tag!!!!

Wow, when did we get old??


Here is a link that shows some of the Hot Wheel stuff available. 


http://www.hotwheels.com/videos/trick-tracks-contest-video-12

Whatever happened to cars that you just pushed along with your hand?  Do they even make those anymore?

I think I will do my Christmas shopping online.  It is better for my age group.  Never can tell when a Hot Wheel ,that is turbo charged, may come careening around a corner and take out a gramma standing there bumfuzzled.

The Great State Fair of Oklahoma, 2010 Edition

I love the Fair.  Always have and probably always will.  My dad was a policeman, and when I was a kid, one of his extra duty jobs was the fair.  Mom would take us to the fair and we would have dinner with daddy.  Sometimes, if we were lucky, we ate with the carnies on a picnic table outside their trailers.  I was too stupid, young to pay attention to the stories that were told.  I truly regret that.  I just remember having a great time.  After dinner, daddy would take us up and down the midway, playing game.  It didn't matter what I played, I won.  Each and every time!!  I would bring home load and loads of stuffed animals, trinkets and suckers.  I was one lucky kid.  Bob and I were dating (so you know I was at least 16) and we went to the fair together.  I told him how lucky I was and that I wanted to play the games.  He told me that no one ever won and I told him I always did.  We spent a LOT of money playing and I never won a single thing.  I couldn't understand it.  Bob finally asked me if my daddy was in his uniform when I was playing.  Well, duh, he was working...wait a minute...you mean..that I..that he?  No way.  I was heartbroken and in total disbelief.  As soon as I arrived home, I asked daddy about my winning ways and I thought he was going to have a stroke, he was laughing so hard.  He couldn't believe how naive stupid I was.  I don't care, I would never, ever trade those memories for anything in the world.

Today was the day we got to go to the fair.  We go thru building, eat some food, enjoy wine-a-rita and play games.  Here is a brief discourse of our day.

We arrived at 10 a.m. and started going through the buildings.  We arrived at the Oklahoma Wine area and discovered a new wine-a-rita.  Bob, D.J. and I each had one (or two, maybe).  Then we wandered off.

There have been all sorts of newspaper articles about the midway food competition. The grand prize winner was CocoFlow's Chocolate Bread Pudding. Here is a photo of D.J. and I sampling it.  It is a completely deserved winning entry.  It was awesome.

We kept going through building, finding all sorts of treasures and meeting all sort of friends.  We looked at everything and then hit the midway.  OH MY GOSH!! They have, not one, but three stand the bottle games.  That is Bob's all time favorite and he is totally awesome at it. 

Here he is, almost winning and drawing a crowd.

Here he is with his win number 1.  Just before he stood the bottle up, the game operator said to me, "he is too good at this, do you guys have an at home version of this game?"

We headed down the midway and discovered a 2nd stand the bottle game. As Bob was attempting to stand the bottle, it slide, turned around and almost came off the platform.  Bob very carefully manipulated the bottle around and got it back in position.  I turned to the game operator and saw him mouth "f***".   Bingo, Bob won a blue gorilla.

Continuing down the midway, a 3rd stand the bottle game appeared.  One try and we were the proud owners of a huge white wolf.  We headed off down the midway.  Here is a shot of D.J. carrying Papa Smurf and the wolf while I trailed with the Blue gorilla.

We found a goblet game and D.J. and proceeded to have a wonderful time.  We both won little things and then we headed back to the wine-a-rita booth.  It was terribly hot at the fair and we needed to cool off.

Sometimes, the best way to cool off is not to drink it, but to hold it to your head.

It was time to load our prizes and treasures and head home. 

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair, Don't miss it, don't even be late!!

San Francisco, Last day, July 14, 2010

We only had a half day left and filled it up to the very end.

We got up early and checked our bags at the hotel.  Grabbed a Cable Car and went to the Cable Car Museum



This place had everything you wanted to know about Cable Cars, but didn't know to ask.


These pulleys are truly what pulls the Cable Cars all over San Francisco.  I could not believe it.  Here we had been riding up and down hills, all over the place and were being pulled along by a series of cables and pulleys.

This is an actual Cable Car from way back when.  The design has not changed all that much. They are a little bit bigger and have the outside riding now, where you can hang on and ride.  Linda was brave and did that, but I was too chicken.  They cars come so very close, that the drivers tell you be sure to have bags and packages facing the inside of the car, so not to catch the bag or person on the passing cable car.  It would be very easy to run into a passenger on a trolley going the other way.

After our tour, we hopped back on a Cable Car and went back to the hotel.  Got our Bags, and took a taxi to the Airport.

A totally new experience for me was traveling in First Class on the way home.  They fed us a full meal, with dessert and gave us a blanket.  Much better than at the back of the plane.

So, another Linda and Cindy adventure came to close.  We had a wonderful time and are already planning our next trip. 

Thanks Linda for putting up with my antics.

San Francisco, July 13, 2010

Last full day of fun.  We awoke early and took a cab to the wharf.  Today was the Alcatraz Tour.  We ate breakfast on the wharf and then got in line for our tour of The Rock.  Everyone loads up on a ferry for the ride across the ocean.  This seagull followed us nearly the entire way to Alcatraz. 

Everyone told us that it was incredibly cold on the island, so we were bundled up.  Typical for us, it was an unseasonably warm day.  Good thing we were dressed in layers and were able to get a bit cooler. (took me a while to figure out how to word that so you guys wouldn't get the wrong ideas.)

Alcatraz and it's history is incredible.  They National Park Service has a wonderful recorded history that is timed perfectly for guests to listen to through headphones.   It is not nearly as large as I expected it to be, and the cells are smaller than I had imagined.  Solitary confinement cells are closet size, with no windows, behind heavy doors, behind cages. Just going to the door area was creepy.  Alcatraz, in its hey day, was the prison for the prisoners that could not adjust to regular prison.  An Alternative Prison, so to speak.  They only had a small number of solitary confinement cells because the population knew how rugged that area was and tried to toe the line.

On the ferry ride back, this guy sat next to me.  He had a back pack and after we left the dock, he pulled out his friends and proceeded to pose them for different photos. I finally asked him if he wanted me to take a picture of him and his friends.  He said no, but could he take a picture of Linda and I with his friends. We of course resisted and said no, jumped at the chance.  This young man, Chris, was traveling from Australia and taking his friends, Kevin Penguina and Steve Penguina to tour the USA.  Kevin and Steve have their very own Face Book pages and are quite the travelers. 

Linda and I promptly took pictures of him, of us and of Kevin and Steve.  We also exchanged Face Book information and when we got back to the room that night, we friended all of them.  Chris, Kevin and Steve left San Francisco the next day and went to New Orleans.  Their adventures continued across America for a couple more weeks before they all went home down under.  You meet the nicest people on tours!

We then proceeded to Ghirardelli Square where we bought chocolate, broke my glasses and ate lunch.

This is probably the best drink I have ever, ever had in my life.   Ghirardelli Chocolate Martini.  It was like drinking icy cold chocolate milk.  You could not taste any alcohol at all.  I only had one at lunch.

After I broke my glasses, we went in search of a place to buy an eyeglass kit.  We passed a street vendor selling jewelery and I stopped and asked to buy a finding to fix my glasses.  This guy was wonderful and fixed my glasses at no charge. I had already picked out a beautiful necklace and ear ring set and Linda was talking to the lady about a necklace for her.  The guy gave me back my glasses, I popped them on my face and shouted..."It's a miracle, I can see!"  Linda burst out laughing.  It seems Linda was discussing the healing quality of the various stones  when I shouted and the lady said "No, no, my dad just fixed her glasses".

We went back to our hotel and got ready for our evening.  We had tickets to Peter Pan in 360.  This production is presented in a circus type tent with all sorts of computer generated graphics. I have never seen anything like it and would highly recommend it, if you are ever close to where it is showing.  Here is a you tube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ESSxeJEHAE

As soon as the show was over, we grabbed a cab and took off for the wharf for desert and another..

Well, OK,  maybe more than one.  We closed the restaurant.  What is that saying about God taking care of old women and drunks? 

We made it back to our hotel and wound up in the bar for a couple of hours...drinking and laughing and talking.  I tried  my best to get Linda to get a luggage cart to load me up on and roll me to the room, but she wouldn't cooperate.

What a way to end our visit to San Francisco.  Wait, we have half a day left!!!

San Francisco-Day 3-July 12, 2010

This was a jam packed day...and the only day that I had to take pain meds for my back.  We hopped the trolley (by now, we were such pros, it was scary) and road down to the wharf.  We had set up 2 Gray Line tours and had to check in at the departure place early.  The first tour was a bus tour of Golden Gate Park, Muir Woods and Sausalito.  This tour lasted half of the day (all morning).

Golden Gate Park is basically a look out area on the ocean shore with a great photo area of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. 

The area is breathtaking.  The sound of the waves, the view,  the cold air.  We were only allotted a certain amount of time, but I assure you, it was not enough.

We loaded up on the bus and began the trek to Muir Woods.  We were in a tour bus, going on hair pin turns...up a mountain, with really narrow shoulders.  It was not the most pleasant drive ever.  I am too much of a control freak and was not sure of the drivers skill.  We arrived at Muir Woods and were given a lecture by the driver that if we were not back at the bus by a certain time, he would just drive off and leave us.  He had a schedule to keep.  He scared the heck out of me and I was constantly watching my watch.  I could not figure out who would come rescue us if we got left.

Muir Wood is an enchanted place.  Words can not describe the feeling I got when we went into the woods.  There were no traffic sounds, the only sounds were of the other tourists talking.  Even those noises were hushed.  The most peaceful place that I have ever been in my entire life.  If I could go back, and get brave enough to drive to Muir Woods, I would spend the entire day there.  Everywhere you look there is something different to see.  The trees are huge, the foliage is so green. It is cool, shaded and almost made me feel like I was in an enchanted forest.  I would not have been surprised if a fairy princess or leprechaun came popping out from under some moss.

We made it back to the bus in time and headed back down the mountain.  It was just as scary, if not scarier as the pain pill buzz had worn off,  as going up.  We drove to Sausalito.  Now, I was hugely disappointed in this place.  I was expecting a quaint little artist village where there were going to be gypsy artists selling their wares.

This car was pretty much representative of Sausalito.  Shiny, new, sleek, mass produced foreign stuff.  We did have a great lunch.  Grilled Cheese and Onion sandwich.  Why had I never thought of grilling onions in a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?

We reloaded the bus and headed back to San Francisco.  We had some time to kill and then reloaded a bus to take us to the The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.  (Let's all stop to sing...Do you know the way to San Jose?  Very good class).  Now remember, that Linda and I had been wearing sweat shirts and jeans.  It was cold in San Francisco.  Well, in San Jose, it was hot.  The Winchester House does not have air conditioning and it was hotter than a fire cracker.  How hot was it?, you might ask.  Hot enough that at the end of the tour, we went to the ice cream shop, bought drum sticks and held them on our foreheads and neck to cool off.  The Winchester House is unbelievable.  Here is the link to take you to their site :  www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/   It is a sad commentary on a life gone so out of control.  It was fascinating to see the stairways that went nowhere and the doors that opened onto brick walls, but when you think of the woman behind all of it, it was sad. 

We loaded back on the bus and went back to San Francisco.  There is a guy who makes a bunch of money on the wharf by sitting on a bucket, hiding behind branches and then jumping out and scaring people to death.

He sits in different spots and people actually pay him to scare them.  One of the tour guides told us this guy makes 10-12 thousand dollars a year doing this.  We stood and watched him for the longest time.

We ate our dinner and then headed back to the hotel, content in knowing that we had seen it all, done it all and were exhausted (until tomorrow that is)

San Francisco-Day 2- July 11, 2010

Sunday was a really full day.  We grabbed the Trolley Car and began our adventure.  Linda had booked a walking tour of eating/food places in San Francisco. 

We began at this really cool little park.  There were all sorts of people doing morning exercises, yoga and just hanging out.  There was a photography artist selling his photos...which were unbelievable.   

One of our stops was at a Chocolate Truffle shop.  Can I just say, that I thought I had gone to heaven right there.  This little picture does not do this place justice.  After the tour, we hunted all over so I could buy a box of one of each kind he had.  I almost made it home with the entire box.  A band of thieves broke into our room and stole one or two.  (that is my story and I am sticking to it)

Next was this wonderful church.  We hung around outside to wait for the services to end and got to walk around inside for a bit.  This alter was so beautiful.  I felt funny taking pictures of it, but wanted to capture it in time.  Believe me the photo does not do it justice.

How many of you are old enough to  remember "The Streets of San Francisco"?.  Here is the street that the opening scene was made at.  I kept looking for Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. 

Next was a Bread baking shop.  They took us back to the oven area.  They still use brick ovens.  It was interesting to see how they scooped the bread out with the big paddles.  Then I looked on the floor (cement) and saw a pigeon walking around eating the meal that the baker threw on the floor for him.  Let me tell you how tasty bread was from that point on at any restaurant in SF.

Next we went to the Barbary Coast.

Read the sign...enough said.

There is a restaurant that is fairly famous in San Francisco. The Garlic Rose Restaurant. Their Motto is that they season their GARLIC with Food. We had to try it. Vampires kept their distance from us for the rest of the trip. We started off with Roasted Clove of Garlic and just kept marching thru the Garlic dishes. We even topped off our meal with Garlic Ice Cream. Yes, you read that right...Garlic Ice Cream. Actually, it was good.

China Town was really cool. We went into a Chinese Tea store and got to sample all sorts of teas and learn about the proper way to make, store and drink.  Linda was brave and bought some.  I had visions of being arrested for carrying some sort of drug (pot) in our suitcase.

We took a Gray Line tour of the city.  You really meet some kooks   nice people on these trips.  Below is a perfect example of that.  It was sooooo cold that this group went to a shirt shop and bought Sesame Street Sweat shirts that  they felt were representative of their personalities. 

Let's just say, they were the life of the upper deck of the tour bus.

San Francisco is famous for their "Painted Ladies".  Now if you were like me, you had heard that term and had all sorts of notions of what a "painted lady" is.  Sorry, they are not ladies of the night.

Painted ladies are homes that were built out of kits.  All of them began looking just alike.  Then the owners would shop via their catalogs or door-to-door salesman and buy the lattice work, window sashes or whatever to reflect their personality.  These home run upwards of 1 Million Dollars each.  They come in every color under the sun and some are painted like rainbows.  All of the are 2-3 stories high and have no yard to speak of.  Yet, the tour guide said, they do not stay on the market long, if they go up for sale at all.  Lots of them are passed from generation to generation. 

San Francisco Day 1--July 10, 2010

Linda and I are traveling buddies, having gone to Paris, France last year.  This year, we chose San Francisco.  I had never been to California and it was one more state I could cross off my bucket list. We had a blast.  Thanks Linda for putting up with me and all of my craziness.

 I am going to break this down to a day by day blog, as we crammed so much into one day, it would be impossible to tell you all about it in one post.  I had to have a back procedure on July7th and was a bit worried that I might have problems while on our trip.  One time, I had to take a pain pill, but I think I did all right otherwise.  You would have to check with Linda to be sure though.

We left OKC at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday July 10th and arrived in Dallas at 11:45 a.m., leaving Dallas at 12:25 p.m. and arriving in San Francisco at 2:05 p.m.  Upon arriving, we took a taxi to the hotel, checked in and promptly left to explore.

We ate lunch at John's Grill.  for you book fans, this is the home of the Maltese Falcon.  The place is steeped in history and tradition.  It was just around the corner from our hotel and worth the trip to experience this.

Next, we decided to try our luck at the Trolley Cars. Linda is a whiz at  reading maps and I am soooo very directionally challenged, that I just blindly follow her.  She got a map, decided which lines to ride and where to get off.  The ending/beginning of the line we rode most of the time, was just around the corner from our hotel.  This was the first glimpse we got.  They really truly do rotate the cars by physical force.  (Be sure to notice the way the guys are dressed).  While waiting in line, there are street performers to keep you entertained.  Really good street performers.

We traveled down to the wharf. The closer we got to the ocean, the colder it got.  OK, I know what everyone said, and we did take jackets, but it was COLD.  Our very first purchases were....gloves. See how those guys are dressed in the cable car pic?  We should have caught on, but being dummies being so caught up in the experience of San Francisco, it never occurred to us that our hands might be cold.  (Before the end of the trip, we both had bought San Francisco sweat shirts and were dressed in so many layers, it wasn't even funny).

Anyway, at the wharf, there is a bread shop that bakes bread in all sorts of shapes.  Here are pictures of the Bear Bread, the Turtle Bread and the Alligator Bread.  No, I didn't bring any home.  I couldn't figure out how to pack it or I would have.

We found a restaurant on the wharf and decided to eat dinner before heading back to the hotel.  We got a wonderful booth facing the ocean and Alcatraz (see below).  Our booth even came with binoculars so we could zoom in on everything.  It was so foggy and gray, perfect for our first view of "The Rock".  This restaurant had forks, knives and spoons shaped like  fish tails.  The food was good, but the atmosphere was awesome. 

We were starting to get weary and decided to walk back to the Cable Car pick up area and go back to the room to crash.  We arrived back at our room and after a couple of hours of deciding what to do the next day, we crashed.

There were so many sights and sounds to take in.  The hotel did not really have air conditioning, but had windows that opened about 1 inch or so.  We slept listening to the sounds of the city.  Not long after we went to bed, I was hunting for the blanket as it got cool in our room.

Summer Highlights-Part 2

I am still working on catching all of you guys up on my summer.

In January, I realized that I was getting pretty stressed about work.  I stuck it out and kept thinking it would be getting better. It did, but it didn't...know what I mean??

In May, I began looking at the whole picture.  Life is too short to be doing something that I doesn't fit well anymore.  Thank God, we were/are in the position for me to step back and re-evaluate. 

After agonizing over it the entire summer, I made the decision to  quit "retire".  I shared this information with a few close friends and one of them asked me to hold on...she might have a position for me. 

I held, she did, and the rest is history.

I am so happy and content with my work life that it is scary.  There are lots of new skills for me to learn, new friends to make and new mountain's to climb.( Insert your favorite Sound of Music tune here). 

I have great  friends  who are getting tired of listening to me, have been so very supportive during the transition period.  Thanks to all of you.

Summer highlight recap part 1

Here is what hours of water running into your house looks like

In May, a valve stuck on our front loading washing machine. Water ran out of the machine and flooded our home. We left home at about 7:30 a.m. I received a phone call from Bob at about 2:30 saying that our daughter had come over to our home to fax something. When she pulled up in the drive, she called Bob and told him that there was water coming out from the garage door and running down the drive. She opened the garage door and there was water in the garage. She and Bob thought that one of the salt water fish tank water holding tanks that are in the garage had sprung a leak. No biggie. Daughter opened the door leading from the garage into the laundry room and a waterfall came pouring down the step...all over her shoes. She stepped into the laundry room and stepped into a mini lake. The carpet in the hallway right outside the laundry room was completely soaked. Water gushed over our feet. All told, our laundry room, hallway, office, guest bedroom number one, guest bedroom number 2, guest bathroom and the guest dressing area were flooded. We were so incredibly lucky in that there is a tiny dip in the long hallway leading to our living room which created a natural dam effect. None of the water got into the living room or dining room. The water extraction company spent 4 hours here sucking all the water possible out of the carpet and unloading furniture and boxes into the dry part of the house. They left and left us with big fans blowing air under the carpet in an effort to save the carpet. Most homes use the fans a day or two, we wound up with them for over a week. The musty, moldy smell in our home was horrible. The whole process to resore our home took 6 weeks. We still have some stuff in the garage and Bob is still having to park in the drive, but the new carpet, flooring and paint is wonderful. Now I am trying to figure out how to get new carpet n the rest of our house.

Try having 3 of these huge fans running 24 hours a day.  It was LOUD!

Look at the footprints in the soggy carpet

Resturant Review of Stella's

Linda and I went to a new resturant (at least for us) tonight. Stella's located in Midtown. When I was a kid, this location was a drug store/medical supply place. I vividly remember going to it with my Gramma. What a difference a couple of years make.

We started out with glasses of wine. I am a white wine girl and had a glass of "White Knight". It was OK, but not a sweet as I normally like. Linda had a glass of red cabernet. Appitizer was Artisan Cheese with honey drizzled golden rasins and nuts, cheese (duh) and toast crisps. It was awesome and paired with a salad, could be a whole meal. For my entree I chose the Pork Roast while Linda had the Rib eye. We each sampled each others and I must say her steak was great. I did out order her with my Pork Loin though. It was wonderful.

While we are both on diets, we took a long time (OK, 3 seconds may not be long in your book, but hey) to decide on desert. I chose 3 types of gelato with home made biscotti while Linda chose the special. The special was a white ice cream on top of chocolate/coffee syrup thingy. It was really chocolate as I instantly sneezed. Well worth the sneeze though.

Would I tell you to go? Heck yes, can I go with you??

On a scale of 1-10, this place deserves a 9. Go check it out and tell them Cindy and Linda said hi. (That will mean nothing to them, but it will make me laugh when you tell me their reaction.)

Summer highlights

I know I have been missing in action, and I truly don't have a good reason...just busy this summer.

I am going to outline the highlights of my summer and then the next several posts will be detailing each thing a bit more.

1--In May, we had a valve stick open on our front loading washing machine and pour water into our home for hours. 6 rooms in our home were water logged. It was July before we got the new carpet and everthing put back in place.

2--In May, I realized I was unhappy with my job. I decided to take the summer to decide what to do. In late July, a new job dropped in my lap and in early August I made the decision to transistion to a new job.

3--In July, my bestest friend and I took a trip. We went to San Francisco. It was a wonderful trip and I loved every single minute of it. I am thankful that the guards at "the rock" allowed me to leave.

4--In August, we welcomed a new grandaughter into our family.

5--Today, I was reading another blog that I follow faithfully. Her entire post was about what she has learned about blogging and the number 1 thing was that you need to blog on a regular basis. I have been terribly inept at that, so I vow to begin anew. I hope you guys don't loose your minds reading my seepage.

Cindy

Well woman?

Today was my annual physical. All of you ladies can relate, right?
You know, the one where you go to the doctor, get weighed, poked and prodded, all in the quest to be a "well woman".

The whole thing is bogus, if you ask me.

Let me relate my experience in my attempt to proudly wear the well woman banner.

First, they ask you to arrive a few minutes early to fill out paperwork. My appointment was for 8:30 and I arrived a little after 8 to ensure that I could get in and out quickly. OK, bring out that piece of paper so I can stand here and fill it out. With a perfectly straight face, the receptionist handed me a ream of papers to fill out, both front and back. There was no way I could stand that long to fill out all of those papers. I am not kidding you, I could have injured my back carrying that stack to my chair. They wanted to know everything about me, my mom and my dad. Do I drink? No, are you offering me one? Have I ever smoked? No, but I might be tempted right about now. Do you wear a seat belt? UhOh, this chair must be getting ready for escape. Have I ever thought of poking my eyeballs out with chopsticks? YES, right about now!!

Promptly at 8:40, I was called back to the inner sanctum of the doctor office.
"Please have a seat, we will need to go over your paperwork." Hold on here, why in the heck did you have me sit in the waiting room for 30 minutes getting writers cramp for you to go over the paperwork with me? The nurse asked me questions about some of my answers and then took a yellow highlighter and highlighted some of my responses. Man, I felt like I was back in high school, getting graded on a big exam.

Finally, got past that hurdle. Next up...weight, temp, height and blood pressure. Any illusion of me walking out of this place a well woman, went down in flames. I have lost half an inch (if you see that puppy running around, grab it for me) and my blood pressure was up. Gee, do you think there might have been some correlation between the reams of paper I just filled out and my blood pressure? Let's be reasonable here.

"Let's go get your urine sample'" NOPE, WE are not going to do that. I do know how to do that alone thank you. Mission accomplished.

Finally made it to the examining room. I was given haute couture to wear. Paper, pastel pink vest thing and a matching piece of pink paper that she called a blanket. I am becoming seriously concerned about the educational level of the staff at my doctors office, if she thinks a sheet of paper is a blanket. Nurse leaves and I slip into something less comfortable. My doctor knocks and comes in. She proceeds to go over the highlighted responses and then goes over the each piece of paper that I have filled out. Are they thinking the answers will change if they keep going over them??

Moving on to the actual examination: breathing ok, heart is beating ok, can hear semi ok, can see doctor hitting knee with little hammer ok, knee jerked ok. WooHoo, almost home.

Men might want to skip this paragraph... Time to assume the position. You ladies know what I am talking about right. One leg pointing east and one leg pointing west.
OK, almost ready. Oh No, a cramp in my thigh. Help, Oh My God, help get me up. Unstrap me. Holy crap. My doctor did her best to help me and even flexed my foot. "OK, let's try again". Does this mean she is gonna let me go home and she will assume the position for me? No such luck, she takes my foot and puts it in the stirrup. OW, Ow, not again. Help me, I am dying here! At this point, I am jumping around the floor with my pastel pink blanket wrapped around me. Can you imagine what my doctor is thinking about now? Third time has to be the charm. Let's go for the gold. Finally success. Let me get dressed and out of this place.

Men can begin reading again...

What do you mean, EKG? They allow half of me to get dressed and I proceed down the hall in my paper, pastel pink vest with the matching blanket wrapped around me as a stole. Let me tell you, Naomi Campbell would have been jealous of my outfit today.

EKG finished...I do have a heart. I told all of you I did.

Back to the examination room, get dressed and get to sit while they make sure all of the tests are OK. 10 minutes later, the nurse came in and said I could go home.

I survived! I am now a shorter, older, crampy legged woman. Funny, they didn't make that appointment for me when I called for my well woman appointment. How long did all of this fun take, you might ask? I walked out of the doctors office at 10:20...almost 2 and a half hours later.

Stay tuned...tomorrow is the back ablation and next week is the mammogram. Hate to think what malady will befall me during those appointments.

Happy Birthday USA

Remember me?

Some people call me Old Glory, others call me the Star Spangled Banner; but whatever they call me, I am your Flag, the Flag of the United States of America.

Something has been bothering me, so I thought I might talk it over with you because it is about you and me. I remember some time ago people lined up on both sides of the street to watch the parade and naturally I was leading the parade, proudly waving in the breeze.

When your daddy saw me coming, he immediately removed his hat and placed it against his shoulder so that his hand was directly over his heart. REMEMBER? I remember you, standing there straight as a soldier. You didn't have a hat, but you were giving the right salute. Remember little sister? Not to be outdone, she was saluting the same way with her hand over her heart. REMEMBER? What happened?

I'm still the same old flag.

Oh, I have a few more stars since you were small; a lot more blood has been shed since those parades of long ago. I don't feel as proud as I used to. When I come down your street you stand with your hands in your pocket. I may get a glance and then you look away. The children are running around and shouting. They don't seem to know who I am...I saw one man take his hat off, then look around. He didn't see anyone else with his off, so he quickly put his back on.

Well, it won't be long until I'll be coming down your street again. So, when you see me, stand straight; place your right hand over your heart. And I'll salute you by waving back. And I'll know that YOU REMEMBER ME!
Author Unknown

Happy Birthday USA. I love you!!

Gas station funny

As most of you know, I have a PT Cruiser. I went from a high-top van (great for family, but horrible on gas) to my little PT. We bought this knowing that our days of hauling kids around to dance lessons or camp were behind us. I have never, ever looked backward and wished I had the old van back.

When I go to the gas station, a $20.00 bill will generally be enough gas to take me around for about a week. If I have to go downtown or somewhere off my beaten path, then I have to ante up a bit more.

I was really low on gas and was going to dinner and then downtown to see a show, so I knew I was going to have to stop to get gas. Bob was home when I was leaving and asked why I was leaving so early. When I told him I had to stop for gas, he very generously gave me $40.00 and told me to fill up. My momma didn't raise no fool, I took his cash, knowing full well that my little car would only hold $30.00 worth of gas, and kissed him on his pointed little head.

I pulled into the station and went inside to pay. I paid for $30.00 and then I then came out and began pumping my gas.

All was well until the pump kicked off at $28.00. I didn't want to go back inside and argue with them to get my 2 bucks back and I am too cheap to let them keep my 2 bucks, so I put my knee on the back bumper of my car and began rocking my car. Now, this is a trick that I have known about forever. It simply allows any bubbles to pop from the gas and/or allows the gas to fill every nook and cranny of the gas tank. Bottom line is that you can get more gas into your tank. As I was rocking and squeezing off pennies of gas, I noticed a car had pulled up behind me. This rocking process takes a minute or two, so the car behind me got tired of waiting and pulled into the bay next to me. The car was a fairly new PT cruiser. The driver got out and looked at me for a moment. I thought, "Holy crap, she is gonna go off on me for taking so long!!" She walked up to me and said "Excuse me, I just got my PT Cruiser today and was watching you fill your car with gas. Why are you jumping up and down on the bumper?" My first thought was, "Wait a darned minute, I was not jumping up and down on the bumper like some monkey, are you really that old of a lady that you don't know the difference between jumping and rocking?" Then I noticed that she was about my age, so I amended my thought to "This sweet young thing has led a sheltered life and does not know the difference between jumping and gently rocking." Anyway, I launch into my answer..."Well, you see, my sweet husband gave me money for gas and I want to get every penny of gas I can from his money." She looked at me like I was crazy so I felt the need to expound on the answer..." You know when it is your money, when the pump stops, no big deal, but when your hubby gives you money for gas, you want to get the most bang for his buck, get it?" She had a strange look on her face but said "OH,I thought it was something that the dealer had forgotten to tell me about the mechanics of the car. Thank You".

I felt so good knowing that I had helped out a fellow woman...that is until I was driving down the road, replaying the whole conversation, and realized that the entire time she was responding to me, she was slowly backing up to the safety of her car. You sure meet some strange people these days...I meant her....NOT me!


By the way, I was able to squeeze off almost all of the $30.00 pre-pay. I donated less than 10 cents and because Bob gave me $40.00 for gas, I made 10 bucks off the whole deal. I would say that it was a pretty profitable day.

Just some seepage

I normally don't just blog without some sort of event to talk about..but there is always a first time.

Here are some things that have been rambling around in my head that I feel the need to share.

A. June 3rd, we had a valve stick on our washer and flooded our home. Now mind you, not all of the house was flooded (thank goodness), but half of our house was. The office, guest room, hall, laundry room, guest bath, the other guest room and part of the main hall was under water.
We had a water extraction/carpet cleaning company come out and spend over 3 hours sucking out the water, cutting out the wet padding and setting up fans under the carpet to dry them out. It is now June 17th and we are no closer to getting our home back in order than we were on the 3rd. While insurance is great, sometimes they are awfully slow.

B. Bob broke a tooth yesterday and has a temp crown. He has to go back in one month to get it fixed permanently.

C. Since I work at a school, summer is the time for me to relax, take care of things that are too hard to do during the school year. However, so far this summer, I have accomplished absolutely nothing.

So.....Here is a list of things that I want to do this summer.

1--Get our home back in order.

2--Get the garage back to being a garage.

3--Finish at least half of my sewing projects.

4--Get Bob to finish all of the sewing projects I have planned for him.

5--Lose 100 pounds (ok, maybe that is a stretch, but at least lose some weight)

6--Get all of those "have to" doctor appointments out of the way

7--Learn how to make single serving Wine-a-Ritas.

8--Go on a trip with Bob.

9--Get my flag pole rehung

10--Relax and get ready for the 10-11 school year.

If any of you feel the urge to help me complete some of the above items, let me know. :-) But I will keep all of you up to date on the progress that I make.

Cindy

Oklahoma Wine Fest

On Saturday, June 12th, 2010, we loaded up in our car and headed off to two of Oklahoma's Wine Fests. The first was held in Stroud, Oklahoma.

We lucked out on the weather as it was overcast and windy. When the wind stopped blowing it, was hotter than a firecracker, but in the wind it was fairly comfortable. Stroud had the majority of their main street blocked off with vendors running smack dab down the middle of the street. Each of us had to pay $10.00 to participate in the tastings. You got a wine glass also. There were about 6 wine booths and several arts and craft booths. Sparks winery is one of our very favorites and we were thrilled to find them there. We sampled their new peach wine and bought all of the famous blackberry wine that he had. They were also sampling their new margarita wine-a-rita's made with wine. Oh My Goodness, they were awesome! Have you ever heard of chocolate wine? It is pretty good too. I will most certainly attend this wine fest next year. It was their first year running it and it was so well done, that next year will be great. Don't get me wrong, it was well worth the trip this time.

We ate lunch there and Bob and I had Cajun fried fish. DJ and Jeff had Pizza. We left Stroud and ventured to Chandler, where we heard they were having trading days. When we arrived in Chandler, we discovered they were having a carnival and since we had no small children with us (and we were on the wine hunt), we proceeded to Drumright for their wine fest.

Drumright was a huge disappointment in that they only have 5 wine booths and about the same number of craft places. The cost of this festival was $12.00, again a wine glass was included. As the fest was set up in a park, there was no electricity available, thus there were no wine-a-rita machines running. We didn't stay there long, but decided to go to Tidal School winery in search of a chocolate wine that was brandy based. We were told it was great.




This is a picture of Tidal School Winery in Drumright. It is an old school that has been converted into a winery/special event center. While it is certainly worth the trip to go one time, it is not the most friendly place in the world. They charge $5.00 for a taste of their wine. By the way, the Chocolate wine was nasty and I was trying to find water to wash my mouth out. They have vineyards behind the winery that are really pretty.

We ate at a place directly across the street from the winery...Josephs. It is very similar to Jamils or Eddies in OKC. Let me tell you something, this was the highlight of the entire day. The service, food and atmosphere was unreal. Bob and Jeff had the Big Filet's, DJ had the grilled shrimp and I had the beef kabob. All of us had salads, tabbouleh, hummus, bologna and bar-b-que ribs. The steaks were cooked to perfection, nice and tender. The tabbouleh was fresh and firm. The hummus was great. The waitstaff was attentive and joined in our joking and having a good time. The guys had a fresh pot of iced tea and never ran short of drinks. We got to laughing so hard, at one point, that I had tears running down my face. This place was worth the drive and we will be making a return trip.

It was a great day with great friends. Can't wait until our next adventure.

Rain, A tribute to the Beatles Review

Tuesday night, a friend and I attended opening night of Rain, A Tribute to the Beatles. I knew very little about this show, but as it was part of Celebrity Attractions Broadway season, I anticipated that it was going to be a campy and cheesy. Probably just a group of guys attempting to sing Beatle songs.

Boy, was I every wrong.

Before the show even started, we were sitting in our seats playing Beatle trivia on 2 huge screen TVs on either side of the stage.

Then the Civic Center went dark, and the screens became black and white TV's with a Ed Sullivan impersonator introducing the Beatles to his stage. The curtain opened and there were 4 guys dressed as the Beatles singing. I need to tell you that while they are dressed to look like the Beatles and they sound like the Beatles, don't kid yourself...Paul is not standing on that stage. (sigh) The big screens constantly showed images of news reels of the crowds waiting for the Beatles to come off airplanes or at Shea Stadium. However, no pictures of the real Beatles were ever shown. All to the posters, photos etc were of the Rain performers. Rain had the audience standing and singing during the first half of the show more than once.

While the crowd never got to the level of a true Beatle concert, the atmosphere changed after intermission. The audience participation was greater and we stood most of the 2nd half. We sang out loud, clapped and swayed to the music.

This was a great show/concert and one that I would see again in a heartbeat. I forgot how much I enjoyed the Beatles when I was growing up and have found myself searching for Beatle songs to listen to since the show.

If you get a chance, run...don't walk...to get tickets to see Rain.

I pray for you

I was listening to CMT last week and they played a video/song that I have fallen in love with. I feel compelled to share this with you. It was written by Jaron Lowenstein and Joel Brentlinger. It is sung by Jaron Lowenstein. Read thru the whole thing and I will give you my take on it at the end of the blog.


I haven't been to church since I don't remember when
Things were going great til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do
He said you can't go hatin' others who have done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry but we must not condemn
I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill
I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill
and knocks you in the head like I'd like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you're flyin high when your engine fails
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are, honey, I pray for you.
I'm really glad I found my way to church
Cause I'm already feeling better and I thank God for the words
Yeah, I'm gonna take the high road and do what the preacher told me to
You keep messsin up, and I'll deep prayin' for you
I'm prayin' your tire goes out at 110
I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend
and wake up with his and her tatoos
I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill
I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill
and knocks you in the head likd I'd like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you're flyin' high when your engine fails
I pray all your dreams near come true
Just know wherever you are, near or far
In your house or in your car
Wherever you are, honey, I pray for you
I pray for you

OK, I nearly fell off the sofa laughing so hard at the video. I used the DVR to go back and forth to watch and listen several times. Then I got to thinking...each and every one of us have thought, basically, these very same thoughts. But, almost instantly, we have felt bad and just gone on. Wouldn't it be more healthy for us, if we just learned this little song and sang it in our heads? I don't know a bout you, but I am going to memorize this little ditty.

Stepping back into Time

This past week, I was given the opportunity to step back in time...40 years to be exact.

I graduated from John Marshall High School in 1970. Yep, 40 years ago. Both of my daughters graduated from John Marshall as well, the youngest in 1996. I have spent a lot of time in that building.


Here is a photo of the crest that is in the foyer floor that was presented by the Class of 70.




The building is getting ready to be put up for sale and I was among a group invited to tour the old building with the purpose of trying to determine if there was anything that might prove useful in the new building. I must admit, I thought it was a big waste of time, but I did want to see the school one last time. I was unprepared for the range of emotions that I experienced. From nostalgia to disbelief to downright anger.

The group consisted of school district employees, a former principal, a former parent, and little old me; the only person with true ties to the school...a Proud John Marshall Alumni. This afforded me the opportunity to share memories and insights with the rest of the group.

Nostalgia from 40 years ago.
Walking into the building as a new student was a terrifying experience. I still remember it vividly. Would I get lost? Would I fit in? Would I make friends? Memories came flooding back. The Latin teacher who each year made her students dress up in bed sheets for a day and speak Latin over the intercom. The Home Ec. teacher who told my mom I would never be able to not burn a meal, (boy, was she right). Homecoming floats and parades. The Spanish teacher who took great pleasure in having kids describe the color of your clothes to the whole class. The cosmetology students who always seemed to have strange hair colors. Being a pep club member and having to go to football games in the snow. I will never forget when the students staged a walk our and dorky me called my mom for permission to walk out. Not granted, so I was stuck in school with all of the other losers. For the life of me, I can not remember why we walked out though. Prom. Graduation at the State Fair Grounds with a class of 1000, but only receiving tickets for mom and dad. Graduation was so crowded and so long.

Nostalgia as a parent.
Having my babies go to High School was pretty traumatic. Would they get lost? Would they fit in? Would they make friends? Yearbook editors. Deadlines. Science Fair projects. Homecoming floats and parades. Cheerleader. State Championship games. Going to Football games in the snow. Prom. The crazy art teacher who delighted in telling kids that they did not know their colors. The science teacher who was intent on blowing up her part of the building. The civil rights leader who taught my daughter more in a semester than most teachers taught her in a year. The German teacher who demanded German, and only German, be spoken in her classroom.

Disbelief.
I knew the building was old and had been vacant for 3 years, but I could not believe what I saw. It looked like renters had jumped rent and just left stuff everywhere. Anything you can name had been left in the building. I am talking about items that, while old, are in usable shape. I had assumed that the last school in residence had taken all of the stuff with them. I can't come up with a reasonable excuse as to why so much was left. There is broken glass in the hallways, puddles of water and black creepy stuff in places.

Anger.
Schools are in such desperate need of supplies and money is so short, that it infuriates me to think about he amount of usable stuff that has been sitting in an empty building for over 3 years. Someone should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen.

Salvage trip.
New John Marshall staff was asked to come back to the old school and prowl through the items to see what could be used a the new school. Five hearty souls showed up. I was excited, as we have always been short of things such as tables. Here is a listing of some of the very usable items we found: boxes upon boxes of brand new blank envelopes, boxes of copy paper, brand new headphones that were still in the plastic wrap, unopened boxes of Voyager materials, a cabinet full of NCR forms that are still used by the district, shelves of multi-cultural workbooks, band instruments, pianos, music stands, filing cabinets, rolling carts, science equipment (including beakers, dropper bottles, scales and weights), tables, chairs, desks, trays that go on teachers desks, book shelves, sheet music, band uniforms, athletic clothing, crutches and clinic cots. There were shelves of textbooks that are no longer under adoption. The school vault and one closet were full of old financial and attendance records. There is a filing cabinet full of old personnel files (including SSN's, letters of reprimand and plan for improvement letters).

Here is a room of band instruments and a piano.

View from the main office towards the library.

I certainly hope that the items that we don't take to the new school will be offered to the other school in the district.

Two very interesting things happened on our salvage trip.

1--While we had permission to be in the building, we assumed that the district would clear it with the security people. WRONG!!! While we were prowling through the science lab upstairs, who should appear at the door? Two armed security guards. The silent alarm had been triggered and they were at the school to ascertain who the culprits were. Needless to say, I panicked. I could just hear my dad. My principal handled it like a pro and we did not wind up in jail.

2--I was pushing carts of stuff to the front door and was hot. I stepped out to cool off and decided to step back and look up and down the front of the school. The pavement is cracked and uneven in places. Next thing I know, I am on all fours on the concrete. My first thought was "Please don't let anyone see me." I picked myself up and continued working. When I arrived home and undressed to get into the shower, I looked at my knees. Both are bruised, skinned and swollen. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day on the sofa with ice bags.

All in all, it was a pretty interesting experience.

Okie Spirit

If you look up the word "Okie" in the dictionary, you will find the following definition: "a native or inhabitant of Oklahoma". There is also a reference to the Great Depression, but nowhere can I find that the word "okie" is synonymous with daredevil, thrill seeker, or simply stupid.

However, I have it on the very best authority, (mine), that Okies are indeed, daredevils and thrill seekers. OK, maybe we are a little bit nuts as well.

Consider the following as proof of my brilliant conclusion. Monday, May 10th, 2010, there was an outbreak of tornado's in the area. Sirens were going off. Normal people were going to their shelters or at least to a closet. I am sitting on the sofa watching the news coverage of the storm and Bob is at Garden Ridge shopping. While shopping, he hears a huge clap of thunder, but continues to shop. As he was checking out, the sirens go off, but he calmly finishes his shopping and then loads his car and proceeds I-40. He called me and as we were talking, he began telling me about all of the folks parked on the side of the road looking back east of where he was coming from. (Yes, he made it home ok.) When the radio said there was a funnel at Memorial and Penn, I ran outside and looked. Never once thought of going to the closet.

Even when Okies have a tornado staring them in the face, true Okies just stare back. I loved the interview with the lady at the Loves Travel Store that was destroyed. When asked why she didn't take cover earlier, she simply said she was from Oklahoma and this was not her first time at the rodeo. Although, she did concede that it was her closet encounter with a tornado. So, where do you think she rode out the tornado? In her car, until some guy came and forced both her husband and herself to go inside. She did allow that it was a bit scary, but as soon as she finished her coke, she was going to load up and head on down the road.

Yep, gotta love us Okies and our spirit.

Seriously, the Okie spirit is alive and well today. Generous Okies are taking the time to help fellow Okies deal withe the horrible destruction that has occurred in our state. Please keep those folks who lost loved ones, or lost everything they owned, in your thoughts and prayers.

Republic Gastropub Resturant Review

Those of you who know me, know that I celebrate my birthday for an extended period of time. So, it should come as no surprise that, even though my birthday was a couple of weeks ago, my friend Linda and I celebrated my birthday last night.

In our usual adventurous spirit, we chose a brand new restaurant to have dinner at. Republic Gastropub. I was under the impression that it was a fancy type restaurant. WRONG. This is a casual, laid back pub with giant TV screens all over the place. I bet on game days this place is full to the brim with sports fans.

OK... now on to the good stuff. Our choices for our meal. Linda began with a dirty martini and I had a rum with Mexican coke. I am unsure what the Mexican coke was, but the drink was a bit strong for me.

Our appetizer was the Homemade Pub Pretzel served with Serrano-honey mustard and beer-cheese fondue. The mustard was hot, hot, hot, but the fondue was really good. The pretzel was warm and very soft. Really good.

For our main course, we both had the Beef Tenderloin. It comes topped with Chef's butter, which was roasted pepper butter this night. The meat was cooked to perfection, tender and really good. The roasted pepper butter was different, and I did eat a little of it, but the steak was so good that you didn't need the butter. Linda got skillet potatoes while I got the sea salt shoestrings.

Of course, no meal is complete without dessert. Linda got the special of the night which was Strawberry shortcake while I got the Meme's Doughnuts. The doughnuts were actually doughnut holes served with chocolate and butterscotch sauce. I was on a sugar high for a long time.

Our evening was just beginning. We left the restaurant and went to the Civic Center to see the Celebrity Attraction production of Cirque Dreams Illumination. I have seen several different versions of Cirque and am not really a fan. With that being said, I was completely surprised at how different this show was. It was not abstract and was thoroughly enjoyable. I felt like I was in a circus, watching first class acts. There was one act, in particular, that was totally unexpected and I could have watched him all night. His name is Jean Chiasson and he is a strap flier. A strap is attached to a hoist and he wraps himself up in the strap and does amazing acrobatics. The interesting aspect of this is that he comes out of a tub of water and keeps getting dunked and then drips water all over the stage. I don't know why that was so entertaining, but I was really sad when his act was over.

Another wonderful time with my friend, Linda, came to a close. Thanks Linda for being part of my birthday. I love the dog. He is sitting on my fireplace hearth watching me as I write.

Sewing Retreat in Rogers

When you look up the word "retreat" in the dictionary, you will find the following: Period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, instruction under a director resulting in relaxation and renewed energy.

I have never been on a "retreat", but Bob and I recently attended one and let me tell you we came home exhausted from the schedule of the retreat. It was awesome and I would go again in a heartbeat, but when I see the word retreat, I will know better.



Sewing With Nancy. You know, that show on PBS that you see when flipping thru the TV channels to watch something "good"? Bob and I recently attended a Sewing Retreat in Rogers, Arkansas. Nancy was the special guest. OK, I know it is a bit weird to even think of Bob and I sewing, but we are having so much fun with it.

Let me give you a bit of history regarding our foray into sewing.

We have a wonderful friend, DJ, who makes the most incredibly beautiful embroidered clothes in the world. I was always begging, pleading and generally making a pest of myself to get her to sew me something, anything. Bob was watching her sew one day and saw the machine and became interested. He asked me if I would like to learn and we were on the way. We bought a 6 head Baby Lock machine about 1 year ago. Bob has taken the lead, learning and making all sorts of things. I have been his assistant, but have recently begun sewing on my own. Yes, we have sewn stuff together, upside down and are the proud owners of a green reindeer, but we have enjoyed each and every moment. When Brodie was here in November, the machine was running full steam, making animal shirts for him.

Now on to Rogers. Bob asked me if I would like to go to Branson for a sewing retreat. I love Branson and jumped at the chance. Bob signed us up and then came home and told me he had misread the location and we were going to Rogers. Oh well, it is a trip, so what the heck?!

We left on Wednesday and drove to Rogers. Ate dinner at a Steak Resturant and checked into Embassy Suites, where the retreat was being held. That is the last time we ate a meal outside of the hotel until we checked out on Sunday.

I was signed up for one track while Bob was signed up for the full schedule. He had a class at 8 a.m. on Thursday morning, so we got up early for Breakfast, registration and his class. His first class was making a pin cushion and ran until lunch time. By lunch time, we had figured out that my track was nothing at all and we signed me up for the whole thing as well.

After lunch we went to a software class. I was promptly lost, but Bob and the man putting the class on talked the same language and Bob learned a lot.

Thursday evening we had a lecture series with Nancy, the star of Sewing with Nancy. She is so funny. She had a suitcase full of items to show various techniques. She was asked if she made all of her own clothes and her reply was "No, even Julie Child gets to eat out". We were so tired, we went back to our room, had room service and crashed.

Friday morning, we were up at 6:30 for breakfast. Another session with Nancy followed by lunch and then a class on Embellishing. I know what you are thinking when you read the work embellish...Wrong! You can take a piece of white material, "punch" colored pieces of material or pieces of thread into it and basically make your own material and then create a purse, shirt, whatever.

This purse began as a white piece of material. All of the leaves, flowers, designs were done on the embellishment machine. I enjoyed it so much. I can hardly wait to make something! Bob and I both made small accessory bags. We only had time to complete one, but the other is on the dining room table to finish.

We finished up Friday with a quick dinner in the hotel and then went back for a lecture session with a women who had all sorts of wonderful designs and ideas.

Saturday, we got up at 6:30, had breakfast and then went to our last class. This one was making a child's Apron.

Here is the story board showing the steps to make the apron. While the material is not what I would have chosen, it was so much fun. I hope Brodie will like his apron!
This is what a typical classroom setting looked like. Rows of tables with sewing machines set up. Each sewing machine had a person at it. The retreat was a complete sell out.

We hung out at the hotel Saturday night. Sunday morning, we left Rogers and spent the day in Branson before heading home.

This whole trip was a blast! I learned a heck of a lot, enjoyed time with my wonderful husband and did relax (just not rest).

Hey Bob, where are we going next???