Can we say colonoscopy!

Tomorrow The Hubby has his first colonoscopy. He has left the office to go home and start drinking the "stuff" that make him not want to leave a particular room! I say, "See ya later." I am left to man...woman the office today. Tomorrow morning we have to BE at the hospital at 6am. That's really no sweat since we get up at 5 every morning. I just need about 30 more minutes to eat my oatmeal and shower. I'm feeling a little guilty because I will be eating in front of him but it can't be helped, I have to have sustance. My colonoscopy will probably be this fall so it will be his turn to be the DD (designated driver).

I finished Harry Potter last night. Stayed up till midnight then up at 5 am for Jazzercise. A little sleepy here! I liked the ending but it was a little slow going in the book. I thought Rowling wrapped it up nicely for the kiddos reading it. It was also, I think, the first time I saw a "bad" word in her books. It was bastard. Curious. Well, anyway now I'm on to The Queen of the South. I've had to put Paula Deen's book on hold while I finished Harry and the bookclub choice. A reading we will go, A reading we will go, Hi Ho the Darrio A Reading we will go! I'm a little sleep deprived......

The Weekend

Finally got a whole weekend at the cabin and I feel refreshed although I don't know if you can feel refreshed when you just hosted a dinner gathering for 16. It was great fun. The Hubby smoked a DAMN good brisket and everyone brought a side dish or dessert or appetizer. I made a couple of great recipes. In the Cooking Light magazine (not sure which month) is a very simple recipe for Fresh Corn Salad. FABULOUS! Run out today and get the copy for that recipe alone. It was fast, simple and delicious. I also found a recipe on the web for a sopapilla cheesecake (the one with 2 pkg of crescent rolls and 3 pkgs of cream cheese). It was very good but you want to eat it warm as it kind of stringy. We had good food and great conversation, at the the guys had some great conversation. They were enamored by a guest of one of our guests. They were pilots together and the guests-guest used to be a Romanian MIG fighter pilot. The men (little boys) were intriqued by his stories. The man was very nice but the instant he sat one foot in our door the stories started and 3 of the men didn't even make into the kitchen to eat they were so wrapped up in the center of attention that was the guests-guest. I was a little perturbed because I could hardly get the eating started with the rest of the guests, but all in all the evening was huge success at the party didn't break up till around 11 and usually the lake parties break up about 9.

On the note of the lake. The water is down on the wigwam but still totally covering the meadows and the swimming area and the dam is still totally under. The vegetation that was under is rotting and absolutely stinks.

Toddles all as I surf the web.

I'm so tired.

I have been so tired this week. So tired that my eyes have been absolutely burning during the day. I get out of bed Monday thru Friday at 5 am without fail and then have the weekends to at least sleep in a couple of hours. Well, with us at the business seminar last weekend we had to get up at 5 am there as well, so my rest-catch-up weekend just didn't happen. So I'm very happy that tomorrow is Friday and I'm heading for the cabin and some rest and relaxation and lots of reading. There will also be a little party time on Saturday night as we're hosting a smoked brisket dinner on Saturday for 16 with the neighbors.

Some very exciting news: The #2 daughter that is in California is really living her dream this weekend. She is officially working for Tears For Fears (temporarily)for their concert in Saratoga, California. This band has been her very favorite for many years and to finally get a chance to work with them is AWESOME! Kudos to #2.

My new Grandbaby

His name is either Louie or Buddy....7-26-07 I was wrong his official name today is Mondo Luis Shepley (the last name a combo of B&B's last names-my daughter and boyfriend)

Nothing to Say

Well, I really don't have anything to blog about tonight as nothing really has happened today AT ALL! It was another boring day at the lonely office. Normally I would be able to break up the day and watch TV through my computer as The Hubby has installed cable and a TV program in my computer but the stupid program crashed and I'm again left alone. The Hubby just doesn't understand about the TV. He thinks that I will just sit and get nothing done but it is the opposite. It is white noise and I mainly listen to it since I only have human voices on the phone IF someone calls.

To St. Louis and Back

Thursday afternoon The Hubby and I took off for St. Louis, Missouri for a business seminar. We left on Thursday because we had to be at the first meeting at 7:30 am Friday morning. We signed up for this seminar because we are toying with the idea of taking our business to a different kind of service business, actually back to how we started it. I was a little apprehensive about all of this and so went into the first meeting a little edgy but with an open mind. We listened for two whole days as a real gung-ho guy talked and talked and talked. Truth be told if he would have been holding a Bible in his hand I would have sworn I was at a revival meeting. But it was definitely not that kind of subject (thank goodness).

For awhile now I have been blogging about my boredom with work and The Hubby has been telling me how bored he is with it too. He is also finding it hard to get up the enthusiasm to continue everyday. He is burned out and so am I. We know we have to continue because it is our bread and butter and it has done quite well for us but to maintain the level we are at is a bitch and to add exhausting too. There are many times we have to work the weekends and evenings to get billing done and that leaves us just dead. We are tired and this new idea of flat rate pricing for us is intriguing. If it is set up right you can leave your people to run the business and you can take time off. Right now we are at taking separate vacations because we can't be gone too long together without the whole thing cratering. We just can't continue for another 10 or 15 years like this. It has been 28 years already and we are just about done.

So the 6 hour drive back home yesterday was almost constant talking about changing our future and the more I think about it I'm in for it. I'm ready. I'm ready to take the next step in our lives.

Can we quit rehashing the subject PLEASE!

Can we quit rehashing the subject PLEASE! The subject, well there are several subjects and they all include money and kids. Tonight The Hubby and I were discussing an old friend that he saw today and I asked how the old friends kids were. Well, the "college" word came up and then The Hubby went off on when #2 daughter comes back home she will go to the junior college and then cheap college for her bachelors, etc. I went off again on him. AGAIN...I told him that first of all #2 daughter is not coming home from California, she loves it there. Second she will not go to college, she hated it when she tried and I barely got her through high school because she hated it so bad. He just can't seem to get that "college" thing out of his mind. We've done quite well for ourselves even though we didn't have college (I got my bachelors AFTER we had kids) but he thinks she won't amount to anything without college. Then he leap-frogged to #1 daughter's college days. He said that #1 should have gone to a cheap college because it cost so much for her to go to the Ivy League school(his words) that she graduated from. He went off on how much we had to pay and I had to correct him. I told him that all but the last semester came out of her college fund that I began for her as a baby. He said I never told him that which is a big fat lie. He then started in about how I never show him the finances and blah, blah, blah. OH MY GOD! He is about it again. Granted I take care of all the finances and always have because he didn't have time to mess with them. I also do all the money stuff for our business. He doesn't have room to gripe because with my handling the finances I have been able to keep us totally out of debt with two houses paid for and a business paid for and our only debt is a car payment so RASPBERRIES!!!!!!!! to him.

I'm Done!

I'm done. Done with what you say. Well, I am officially not a Mary Kay consultant anymore. Don't get me wrong, I will continue to use the products because I truly love it. I just don't want to work at it anymore. So, I now have so much room in my room that I'm LOVING it. I spent all day Sunday cleaning out my stock and creating new space for more "stuff" in my room. It's so very nice to actually see floor.

Now maybe I can start my book I'm always talking about writing although I have a really good idea but just need to find the right starting place. Wish me luck!

Sunday Morning

I am home this morning, not sitting in the wonderful screened porch at the lake which is my favorite thing to do on weekend mornings. So I decide to get up and enjoy my in-town back porch. I gather up my coffee, my journal, my book of the moment and the Sunday paper and head to the porch. I fill my bird feeders so I have something to watch and then unfurl the paper. The sky is blue and the temperture is very pleasant for July. All of a sudden the light dims and the sky starts to rumble and the wind begins to blow sending my paper out of my hands and the bird feeders swaying. Oh No! Not more rain. My goodness I have had enough of the wet stuff for a bit. I really would not mind if I was at the lake in my screened porch but I don't have that luxury here in town, yet. So I gather up my Sunday newspaper, my journal, my coffee, my book and head indoors to my favorite chair to again start the morning.

I'm torn as to what to do today. The Hubby is going into the office to work and if he even half-way thinks that I'm going to accompany him he's got another thing coming. I'm tossing the idea of going to the new Harry Potter movie but I also need to work on my little room and clear out some stuff that I have yet to tackle. Maybe I'll work in the room and then we'll go to the movie tonight, together. That might work. I've got to pack up my Mary Kay stuff because I've decided to quit selling it and it is taking up a lot of room in here. I'm hoping my director will by my stock so I can get it gone. Don't get me wrong, I will still use the stuff, just not be a consultant. Didn't work it well anyway, my heart wasn't in it. In fact my director was supposed to meet me for lunch last Thursday at Olive Garden but didn't show. I waited for 30 minutes but no one so I had lunch all by myself. I found out that her daughter wrecked her car, the rental car that she had a week 'cause she wrecked her other car the week before. YIKES! At least she could have called me since the wreck was the night before and it was a fender bender only...you think! Can you tell I'm a little pissed. I hate to be stood up and it seems to happen to me a lot, even when I was dating - high school, since I married a year out.

Yum, I love coffee! I'm actually going to enjoy having the house to myself without the hubby hanging around. Just his presense seems to get in my way in my mind. I can't seem to get motivated when he is lurking around. I know that sounds crazy but he is a perfectionist and anything I do he critiques, maybe not with words but with actions and especially his eyes. Trust me it is there. You would think after 31 years I would be used to it but sometimes I just can't handle it. He really doesn't realize he does it but he does. Funny thing...Friday night we were at the cabin and the neighbors hollored to come over for dinner and bring whatever we brought to eat, joining forces to speak. I love that about the lake and I LOVE my friends and neighbors there. Anyway, The Hubby rolled his eyes and said he felt guilty that we were always going somewhere else to eat and not reciprocating the offers at our place. I reminded him of a few weeks ago when we hosted 12 people there for dinner and the numerous occasions of us hosting dinners and then I told him we were taking a WHOLE roasted chicken over there for dinner. I called him his mother's name because that would be EXACTLY the response his mother would have. Funny guy. Sometimes he is too nice and tries to be too proper. My God it is the lake and in the country. It's not the WhiteHouse. What a man. Anyway, we had great food and a fabulous time laughing, eating and drinking a lot of wine. Cheers!

Woody Gutherie Festival

The #1 daughter begged and pleaded for The Hubby and I to come to the Woody Guthrie Festival this weekend; 1. To meet her boyfriend's father since the boyfriend is from Woody Guthrie's hometown, and 2. To see her jewelry she makes (see Sheezkrafty)that she sells there. So we left the comfort of the weekend cabin and found our way to Okemah to attend the Woody Guthrie Festival. It was really fun even though we didn't stay for too much of the music. We got to see the Red Dirt Rangers which are very good and enjoyed a few glasses of wine at The Grape Ranch. Leaving the festival we found our way through the towns of Wetumpka and Weleetka on our way home. I have lived my whole life in Oklahoma and had never been to Okemah, Wetumpka or Weleetka so I have to mark the occasion.

Bored Again!

Well, here I sit. It is Friday afternoon about 1:40 pm and I am sitting in our office, ALONE! It has been that way all week long. It wouldn't be so bad but the TV program/hookup The Hubby put in my computer has a bug or something and so I'm alone, really alone this week. I'm going crazy sitting here with absolutely NOTHING to do (did I mention no windows to speak of). I read a book this week but finished it yesterday and forgot to bring a new one with me today. I thought we would be leaving early to go to the cabin but OH NO that is not happening. I know, I know, he's busy bringing in the bread, the moolah, the money, but why do I have to sit here all day long and wait for him to come back in sometime to get an invoice, just one invoice ready for me to type, probably about 3:30 or 4 when I want to go home. He cannot understand why I really don't want to be here anymore or at least not all the time. The #1 daughter has asked if she can come to work for us if she quits her other job (another story about hating where she is right now)and I'm absolutely all for it. (It would be temporary.) First of all, she needs to be able to help either The Hubby out if I'm "gone" or the other way around, or even both of us, so it would be a great learning experience for her. Second, I could use some time off while she gets the place organized. I'm just so depressed and bored out of my mind sitting here that I can not do anything. I have no desire, energy, or just plain interest in it at all right now. The Hubby just doesn't understand my feelings about it all. He wouldn't understand since he goes out all day long running around, checking on the jobsites, giving quotes, visiting with people. I know he sometimes hates it but I envy him and always have, and in return he envies me. I just need a break, and I know the spa trip was supposed to give me that but that was a tease, just a tease. I'M BORED, I'M DEPRESSED, I'M BORED, BORED, BORED...

100 Years

Just some interesting triva about Oklahoma!


Oklahoma Centennial

Oklahoma is celebrating its 100th anniversary of
statehood this year. Because most people think of the
stage play "Oklahoma!" when they hear the state's name
mentioned, citizens are attempting to update the
state's image by sharing interesting state facts with
others as we celebrate our Centennial.

Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and Aunt
Eller from "Oklahoma!" but of the parking meter
(invented in OKC) and the shopping cart (invented in
Ardmore).

The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma, by
a Beggs musician named Bob Dunn. The first "Yield"
sign was installed in Tulsa.

**Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Oklahoma
as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the nation. The state, according to EPA, boasts 11 distinct eco-regions.

The state has more man-made lakes than any other
state, which give us more than a million surface-acres
of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any
other state in the union. Owen Garriott is an Enid
boy, of course, while Tom Stafford is from
Weatherford, Shannon Lucid from Oklahoma City, William
Pogue from Okemah and the late Gordon Cooper from
Shawnee.

Oklahoma is home to the Amateur Softball Association
and Hall of Fame, a world class zoo in OKC and more F4
and F5 tornadoes than any other state.

Oklahoma is the third-largest gas-producing state in
the nation and ranks fourth in the production of
wheat, cattle and calves, fifth in the production of
pecans, sixth in peanuts and eighth in peaches.

The state's colors are neither OU's crimson and cream
nor the orange and black of OSU but green and white.

Oklahomans practice 73 major religions. The largest is
the Southern Baptist Convention, with nearly 1,600
church and more than 960,000 members.

Oklahoma gave birth to Dick Tracy (cartoonist Chester
Gould is a native of Pawnee) and Donald Duck (Clarence
"Ducky" Nash, the original voice of Walt Disney's
Donald, grew up in Watonga).

Oklahomans have survived the Dust Bowl, any number of
killer tornadoes, the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City's
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and various oil
booms and busts. Oklahoma is populated by people who
are caring, giving, hard-working, patriotic and
fiercely independent. Oklahoma is a good place to
live, work and play.

The challenge in this, our centennial year, is to make
the rest of America aware of what Oklahoma has to
offer, besides "beautiful mornings," "fringe-laden
surreys" and "a girl who cain't say no."

The official statehood celebration will be in
November. In the meantime, individual cities are
restaging various events associated with statehood and
the settling of Indian Territory which eventually
became our state. It's a great time to be an Oklahoman
and I wanted to share this with you!

Pass this on to friends who might not know anything
about our state. Especially, since the quarter design
won't show anything informative about OKLAHOMA other
than we have scissor-tailed flycatchers and
sunflowers.

The Pensacola Dam, built in 1940 is still the World's Longest Multiple Arch Dam. At 6,565 feet in length, the dam is located on the south shores of Grand Lake O' the Cherokees between Langley and Disney.

Originally, the state of Oklahoma was set aside for the exclusive use of the Indians and was called Indian Territory . However, in 1889, the land was opened to settlers in what became known as the " Oklahoma Land Rush." On the first opening day on April 22, 1889, 50,000 people swarmed into the area. Those who tried to beat the noon starting gun were called Sooners. Hence the state's nickname

The official State Meal of Oklahoma is chicken fried steak, fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, black eyed peas and pecan pie.

FAMOUS PEOPLE OF OKLAHOMA
(this is not a complete list but just naming a few)
*Garth Brooks was born in Tulsa and grew up in Yukon, Oklahoma .
*Gene Autry,Sapulpa, Actor, musician
*Johnny Bench,Baseball great
*William "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd,Tulsa, Actor
*Paul and Thomas Braniff, Okla. City, Aviation pioneers
*Anita Bryant, Tulsa, Entertainer
*Lon Chaney
*Roy Clark, Tulsa, Musician, Actor
*Bart Conner, Olympic gold medal winner, gymnastics
*Leroy Gordon Cooper, Of Shawnee, was among the original seven US astronauts. He orbited the earth 22 times in 1963

*Joan Crawford, Lawton, Actress
*Admiral William Crowe, Former Head of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff.
*Dizzy Dean, Baseball great
*John Denver, Born, Clinton, Musician
*Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd Akins, Sallisaw, Outlaw
*Owen K. Gariott, Of Enid, US astronaut
*James Garner, Actor
*Geronimo, Fort Sill, Apache Warrior
*Vince Gill, Country singer
*Woody Guthrie, Considered by most to be the father of American Folk music, was born Woodrow Wilson Guthrie in Okemah, OK, July 14, 1912

*Mary Hart, Okla. City, TV anchorwoman
*Paul Harvey, Tulsa, Broadcast journalist
*Ron Howard, Duncan, Actor/Director
*Toby Keith, Moore, Musician
*Jean Kirkpatrick, Ambassador to the United Nations
*Gordon William "Pawnee Bill" Lillie, Pawnee, Wild West Show
*Dr. Shannon Lucid, Of Oklahoma City, a US astronaut. She was on board the space shuttle Atlantis during its flight in October of 1989

*Reba McEntire, Country and western music entertainer, actor
*Phillip C McGraw "Dr. Phil", Oklahoma City, TV Host
*Mickey Mantle, Baseball great.
*Pepper Martin, Baseball great
*Shannon Miller, Edmond, Gymnast
*Kenny Monday, Great wrestler and athlete
*Bobby Murcer, Oklahoma City, Baseball great.
*Carry Nation, Of Guthrie, led the fight for prohibition
*Bill Pickett, Ponca City, Invented bulldogging
*Brad Pitt, Shawnee, Actor
*William R. Pogue,of Okemah, among the original seven US astronauts. He returned to earth on February 8, 1974 after 84 days in space.

*Wiley Post, A Native Oklahoman and a pioneer in the field of aviation. He was the first to discover the jet stream and the first ever to design and wear a space suit

*Lynn Riggs, Author, writer "Green Grow The Lilacs" from which script Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the Broadway musical hit "Oklahoma!"

*Will Rogers, Humorist, entertainer, ambassador-at-large
*John Smith, Great wrestler and athlete
*Thomas P Stafford, Of Weatherford, US astronaut who commanded the joint United States-Soviet

*Belle Starr, Outlaw 1846-1889, was called the "Queen of the Outlaws" , "a female Jesse James"

*Willie Stargell, Baseball great

*Bill Tilghman, Bat Masterson called him "The greatest of us all." Bill Tilghman was a fearless gunfighter who rode with a badge throughout Indian Territory in the 1890's as one of the "Three Guardsmen." He was responsible of arresting dozens of hardened outlaws and criminals during his life and participated in many gunfights. After retiring from law enforcement, he was coaxed into wearing his badge one more time in 1924 at the age of 70 in a wild and woolly oil boom town of Cromwell, Oklahoma where a young drunk shot and killed him without provocation

*Bob Tway, Of Edmond, he won the PGA Championship in 1986

*Jim Thorpe, One of Oklahoma's greatest athletes. At the 1912 Olympics, the King of Sweden declared that Thorpe was "the greatest athlete in the world."

*Wayman Tisdale, Great basketball player and athlete
*Carrie Underwood, Of Checotah. American Idol winner 2005.

*Paul and Lloyd Waner, Outfielders from Harrah, OK. The only brothers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame

*JC Watts, Sooner quarterback, U.S. congressman
*Bud Wilkerson, Norman, Football

The Hubby sitting on the old caretakers fireplace July 4

The old caretakers fireplace underwater July 7



Canoe racks under water



The meadow underwater

...and the water should crest, according to the Corp of Engineers THIS Thursday... OH MY

Flooding pictures

Well, Blogger is giving me fits with uploading pictures so I only have one here today. It is the wigwam at the lake underwater. Hopefully I will have more if this site cooperates.

Finally

I finally found a picture for my profile that I kind of like. The other one I was stuffing my face with sushi for my 51st birthday at In The Raw. Yummy, but it was a terrible picture. Anyway, this weekend we stayed in town, or least part of the weekend to attend the 1st birthday of a little girl named Abigail. She is the granddaughter of one of my/our best friends, Gail, that passed away one year ago March. It should be a quick little party and then we will be off to the lake to see how the water rises. We got a call Friday that there was over 2' of water in the wigwam (community house) and can't wait to check it out and hopefully have pictures. All this water though has another BIG downside, snakes. Yup, the copperheads and water moccasions are on the move to dryer ground and that means with us humans that are quite vunerable. Last Saturday night in the meadow there was a family shooting off fireworks and their college age daughter was bit by a copperhead. YIKES!!!! I DO NOT LIKE THAT! My greatgrandmother was bit twice on the ankle when she stepped out her back door when I was a child. Very scary stuff. Can't wait till fall and winter when they go back in their little holes and leave us humans ALONE!

My World is Complete

Today at lunch The Hubby asked if I minded running an errand with him. "Sure" I tell him. We make our way through lunch hour traffic and pull up in front of, wait for it.....Hubcap Kingdom. My world is now complete. I've seen it all. Wow, a whole store of hubcaps. Funny don't you think.

Last night was the beginning of the new Big Brother 8 and this season should be full of fireworks. It actually made me feel a little uncomfortable sitting and watching ex's, old hated friends and the father daughter thing start to unfold. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some physical altercations that happen, mark my word on that, at least between the ex's.

Going up!

The water is still rising at the lake place and by last night there was about 2' of water in the wigwam. Will have more pictures this weekend.

Your Taste in Music:

80's Pop: Highest Influence 90's Pop: High Influence 90's Rock: High Influence Alternative Rock: High Influence 80's Rock: Medium Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

Fireworks

Last night I was coerced into going to the Riverparks to watch the fireworks. This is not something I like to do and I have successfully avoided being among the crowds for a number of years, up until now. My excuse before was because our little dog was scared and I didn't want to leave her home alone while the boom-boom-boom's went off, but since our little one passed away last year I have no excuses left. Our oldest daughter works in a building close by the river and they always have a huge party and BBQ cookout and she has begged for me to join them. The Hubby has been every year. It wasn't that bad and the fireworks show was great fun and since it was our Centennial it was extra special.

Water, Water Everywhere

Here are the latest pictures of our lake getaway. The water is a rising very fast and should be in the wigwam tonight...one picture is the wigwam and the water approaching and the other is of the dam that is completely underwater.