What time is it?

After a nice dinner with The Hubby last night of In The Raw sushi and 2 cosmos I was ready for bed last night. I actually made it to the last 5 minutes of The Fashion Show, just in time to see who was leaving then it was off to sand land for me. The next thing I knew the television was off but the one in the living room was still blaring and the lights were on. I thought The Hubby was nice getting this morning and didn't wake me. I laid in bed looking at the glow in the hallway and made myself wake up to get on with the day. I got up, walked to the bathroom by the clock and then ... WAIT... what time is it...2:22 a.m. What the HELL! I went on to the bathroom then trodded into the living room to find The Hubby snoring away on the couch with the television, on an infomercial. I turned the TV down, cranked the lights to very low and went back to bed. The bad thing was that I had worked to wake myself up so it was over an hour before I could drop off again. Man, when the TV/alarm went off I was not ready. Yet, here I am up and running. B is out of town this weekend, left yesterday. She and her friend are set up at the Woody Guthrie Festival to sell their wares of Sheezkrafty. This is a special time for her as four years ago she met B2 or as she calls the man, The Mister. I have worked a bunch this week but that is okay as it is the first of the month and there is a lot to do.

I took the entire day off Wednesday to work on my next painting. I had to decide what I wanted to do. I drew for nearly 3 hours and think I've got it, I hope. What do you think.

Potatoes

My finished painting...#2

Potatoes

July 5...the day after

We have survived yet another 4th of July, but it was not without injury. The weekend was spent at the cabin with B&B2 bringing a couple of friends to join the fun. B's friend VS came in from Washington DC while R was in from here. Love both of them. I had my world kind of widened when R arrived because he shared some of his new piercings he recently received. Let's just say it is a good thing I think of the guy as my son because one was down south! I'm glad I'm a very open-minded person and not easily shocked.

After last years horrible trip to the ER I told everyone that I would help with security and somehow it turned into me sitting at the entrance gate for hours making sure everyone that came in was supposed to be there. Well, I just said I would help not man the gate, I was a wuss and backed out but The Hubby felt he needed to do something since he wasn't doing the fireworks anymore so he did it. He was Safety Man!We had an awesome day yesterday with fun in the sun, after a downpour for several hours. I spent most of my day reading a book on my Kindle while the crew spent time at the creek. I fixed a fantastic dinner of grilled chicken, a couple of salads and fresh fruit. It soon began time for one of the highly anticipated events of the day (for B), Best Costumed Dog. B&B2 of course brought the granddog, Mondo, and dolled him up as a lady. The little fellow won, blue ribbon and all.

They had a girly hat, a mumu and sunglasses that he kept on the whole time he sat there.

The evening was moving on and the four friends decided to take a ride on one of the golf carts. Yes, they were also full of a lot of liquid stuff so it didn't help what was about to happen. R was driving when B2 told him to turn left urgently. Well, four on the golf cart turning that rapidly is not a good combination and over they went onto the asphalt and gravel. B2 and VS were on the side that hit the road, and the golf cart actually was on B2's foot. He was in so much shock and pain that he just took off walking while B and R helped VS off the ground. She sustained a road burn on her shoulder and elbow while B2's elbow and his foot were cut, smashed and road burned. I don't know how he walked off except he was in shock. Luckily the paramedics are always on hand so both got immediate help and aid. B2's foot was still in bad shape this morning but the paramedics did not seem to think it was broken and today he had it x-rayed with the same result. The chaos after the accident was horrible as R was just distraught that he hurt his friends that he feels as close to as siblings. It didn't help that alcohol was playing a huge part in the tears and self-blame. If I did not hide his keys he was going to drive home and that was not going to happen. It was just horrible with drama. We finally got him settled down but I don't think he got the point about drinking until this morning because he drank more and was worse. He felt bad because the golf cart was damaged and he knew The Hubby would be pissed, he was. A statue light also got knocked over and then this morning a piece of summer sausage was found on the floor when The Hubby took a spill on it. R was eating it when we went to bed. It was a tragic night but after a short talk with him this morning he may get it, I hope. I plan on giving him a call as a friend and pseudo-mom and try to talk to him about his behavior and his drinking and choices. I think he's a little lost right. I don't want him to use this as a pitiful me ploy, I'm a f...up...I want him to learn from this and be responsible. Just scary stuff you know.

This morning everyone was a little on edge, tired, sore and angry. I fixed a great breakfast of Creekbank (eggs, potatoes, bell peppers, onions), bacon, sausage, biscuits, juice....we were stuffed. It was definitely a rather quiet breakfast with soft chatter. The Hubby is angry but surprisingly not as much as I thought he would be. I think he sees a very troubled young man.

The golf carts battery was upended so battery acid spilled and burned a hole somewhere and damaged the starter but they were things that can be fixed which The Hubby has half done already. Things will be okay.

I really hate this holiday. Fireworks, masses of people and drink are just not ever a good combination.

The Weekend is HERE!

The Hubby and I decided to close the office today, Friday and so headed to the cabin last night. We arrived and were quickly invited to a sunset Booze Cruise on Sin & Bare's pontoon boat. 19 people aboard and we were off. The day had finally cooled off so we didn't bake on the boat. There was lots of food, music, country music (yuck) and DRINK. Lots of DRINK. We left about 8 and when we finally rolled into the ramp it hit midnight. It was quite an experience being in the middle of the river with a lot of drinking and needing to pee. Bare would stop the boat and the guys would hang it off the front of the boat while we ladies would climb down a ladder on the back of the boat, drop our drawers, squat with our shining buttocks close to the lapping water and AWWWwwwww. Thank God for squats with my personal trainer. It was an experience. This may offend the country music lovers but I HATE COUNTRY MUSIC and four hours of it, well, I'm done. I'm just not a fan. To me it is like fingernails on a chalkboard. That is why we have so many different kinds of music for the listening pleasure of different ears. Don't get me wrong I do like some country music but not much.

Oh well, I'm back to the weekend fun, or not fun. It is not even noon on Friday and the fireworks have been popping all morning. I'm so done with that. Next year I'm staying in town, inside, away from it all. After last year I'm so done with it all. The next door cabin neighbors are up. They live in Houston so usually don't make it up but a couple of times a year. This year they have 3 dogs in tow so early this morning all I heard was them yelling at one of the dogs, ROXIE, ROXIE, ROXIE! The neighbors on the other side also have multiple dogs and they all are running free, contrary to the by-laws of the place. Next I hear ROXIE, ROXIE, ROXIE, NOOOOooo, the dogs barking then fighting. Now some of them are on leads and some are captured inside cabins. Good Grief! A lot of the people here have dogs and some let them run free. It is not good, especially when so many more people are going to be here for the weekend. I can't wait for the weekend to be over and back to the peace and quiet.

Ohhhh...I took the most AWESOME picture last night of the pink light in the trees and the reflections on the water...but, alas it was not with my camera which was in my bag at the cabin but with Bare's. Hopefully, I will be able to download it today. I want to paint it.

Bang, Bang, Bang on the Door Baby...

Bang, bang, bang. That is what I've listened to for 3 days now. We are doing our part in keeping the economy going here. Since we moved into this house and had it remodeled one of the projects took a turn for the worse. The outside eave/upper sides of the house were scraped and patched and painted and we hoped that the red cedar wood would hold out but we were wrong. The paint bubbled, puckered, chipped and peeled and looked horrible. We got a bid and this week they began the process of pulling the boards off and putting up hardy-board. The next step will be to repaint it all again. I guess we are slowing leading up the huge add-on/remodel of the master bath. The quotes on what we wanted to do came in and I suggested we have a new house built for the same amount of money. OH MY GOD! I couldn't believe it but it was extensive. We would have to move plumbing, gas lines and the sewer lines. So we told the architect to take out a few of the amenities that The Hubby wanted, scale back and get new bids. Hopefully it will be a little more reasonable. It's not that we would overbuild for the neighborhood, I don't think that really is an issue but it is a bunch of money. I told The Hubby that I don't plan on moving and would just leave it up to the girls to sell the house when we die. I'm ready to get it going and we would again be helping the economy in employing some workforce. I want to get what we want, finally.

A New Home For Freeman

Please if you are in the area of Tulsa and you read this and know ANYONE who needs a puppy or want to add to your family...His temporary name is Freeman

Totally Forgot

You write it down. You remind yourself several times during the month. You look at the calendar over and over and still you forget. I totally forgot that yesterday was the anniversary of my first blog post 3 years ago. I can't believe it. So I'm doing a double today. Also, I'm so excited I just had to share...

My easel arrived today. I finally got my room all cleaned up and ready to set up an easel and it is now here. I was so very excited that one of my childhood dreams was to have an area to paint and now I do. Ta-Da...!!!

I immediately opened the box and assembled the thing and got all my stuff together. I started the Peaches picture last fall and have not done a thing to it since. So this afternoon I got everything just so, and painted for over an hour on the thing. I'm absolutely over the moon with joy. You just can't imagine how happy I am, really happy. Amazing. So happy anniversary to me.

Have more work to do on it. A mouth and nose might be nice.

Monday, Monday

Yes it is Monday and sort of the eve of the biggest holiday of the summer but as some of you well know a year ago was a nightmare for me, and The Hubby. I am not looking forward to another round of burning my money in the sky for a momentary, "Oh it's pretty." I have always hated fireworks, the cost and the noise and now the danger. I like having people at the cabin but not too many as I like my solitude there but this weekend the whole place is a huge MASS of people, EVERYWHERE! People, kids, dogs, cars, pop-pop, bang-bang and lots of drinking. Not my idea of fun, really! I would just as soon stay at home in Tulsa but I told the board that I would "help" with security. What was I thinking. I may have to spend most of the day at the entrance and let or not-let people in for the festivities. We found out that the invitation to some of the towns-people has been put out. I think that is not good. Our little weekend community has become a HUGE event and I thought we wanted to keep the place a little secret, this is not doing it. It also invites a lot of ne'er-do-well's to possibly have some not good intentions to our open cabins and availability. It's just my opinion and I'm entitled to one. The bottom line is that I hate this time of year. Love what it stands for but hate the masses of people and noise and the potential of injury!

Okay, I'm off the soapbox.

104 Degrees

I was a good friend yesterday and so were a few others. Last night we came back early from the cabin to attend my BFF's daughter's wedding. It was outside, in Oklahoma, on the 5th straight day of over 100 degree temperature. Actually, it hit 104 yesterday. The wedding was to start at 6 pm but was delayed while the rest of the guest were bussed there. Yes I said bussed. We were to park about three minute away and take an old school bus to the ceremony. We boarded the hot bus and made it there where other guests were huddled under one of the two trees in the shade. There were chairs but the chairs were fully in the sun and no one was going to sit till we needed to.

Finally, about 6:30 the limo drove down the drive and the beautiful bride arrived. The groom was in tears. Awwww, so sweet. I thought the father of the bride looked so very tired with rings around his eyes but soon realised that he had been crying. AWWWWW! The ceremony began and was officiated by the grooms grandfather. The whole thing had a Hawaiian theme as that is where the groom is from. Quick vows and we were off to the reception under a shady yet still hot tent. Dancing, fans, porta-potty's and really good food. The food was catered by Wing Run: pulled pork sandwiches, chicken ka-bobs, fruit, veggies and the groom's G-ma's special fried rice (with Spam-VERY yummy). The grooms cake was the shape of a roasted University of Arkansas pig! Some of the glitches was the constant power outages. Thankfully The Hubby is an electrical contractor and made a quick fix that kept the lights, fans and music on. Too bad, no A/C in the porta-potty, or hot water. Something had to give.

What can I say

Wow, what a sad day. First we lose Farrah and now MJ. The world is a much quieter place. That's all I'm going to say on the subject.


I've worked all day long on the scrapbook of our trip and I'm only halfway through. It's tough to try and cull out a few pictures out of over 500 for to make an impact. I spent from 10 am to 4 pm today cutting and pasting and I've only gotten to Dublin. I still have the 3 days spent there and then the 6 days from the ship. I HOPE, hope I finish it tomorrow. I'm on a mission to finish.


Yesterday I finally got to visit my Daddy since we've been back. I was sure that I was not contagious anymore so felt safe to see him. He's doing pretty well after the hip replacement and seems to be getting around fairly well. Bro said he's sleeping a little too much during the day and having a hard time sleeping at night. He's doing well with his physical therapist and but had a little glitch in his showering schedule. Something broke off in the shower but we were able to get our remodeler out there and fix it pretty quick. Daddy showed me the bill from the hospital for his surgery...WOW...over $62,000. Thank goodness he has insurance!


Tuesday I went back to my painting class and added some more touches to the potato picture. Hopefully I'll be through with it in the next couple of weeks. What do you think so far.

Words

Seems like the past few posts have been nothing but pictures and this is not a picture blog although I do love pictures. We have been back home for five days now and it just doesn't seem possible. We had the weekend to recover and sleep but it is extra hard to overcome jet lag when you're sick too. It is the funniest thing that while we were gone for two weeks and over 5 hours difference in time, that I still woke up at 4:30 or 5 every morning no matter what country or ship I was on or in. It seems that my body sleeps the adequate amount of time and I wake up. Very strange, but I still slept a lot on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon, after I woke up from my extended nap, I was laying around in my lounge clothes, hair in a rats nest, sleep in my eyes when then the doorbell rang. I answered and there were our friends KF and BB. A little background here...KF is The Hubby's oldest childhood friend. They have known each other since they were 5 years old. KF was married to Gail, our friend and yet another of The Hubby's oldest friends and my best friend. Gail passed away 3 years ago at the tender age of 49 very suddenly. About a year and a half ago The Hubby decided that it was time that KF started dating again so he setup KF with one of their high school classmates, BB. They are still dating and very happy and Saturday they showed us just how happy they are. I knew it was coming but not sure I'm ready for it. They are engaged. They are great together and very happy. Last fall we took a week trip to NYC with them and had a great time. They travel very well together and in fact leave on Friday for an Alaskan Cruise. I think that is wonderful for both of them. BB never had children but KF and Gail had a son and daughter and the daughter has two little girls so they have fun with the grandchildren too. I'm really glad for KF to find happiness again. I am truly happy for him. I will always miss Gail but hurray for the future of KF and BB.

Happy Birthday

This is a Happy Birthday to my dear baby girl. A is 24 today...I can't believe that. Here's to my beautiful girl. All grown up now. I'm very proud of her. She is following her dream and is happy. That's what you want for you children. I'm so proud of both of my girls. They are leaving a wonderful and memorable mark on this world.