Paris

Just a quick note to let all know we are having a grand time here in France. We have been to many places but the most impressive one was the Mount St. Michel which I actually climbed. There were over 500 steps and my calves are so very tight. It was grand and quite beautiful. I will have pictures for all later. Yesterday we had a city tour of Paris and I/we went up into the Eiffel Tower and I made it to the 2nd floor. (For those who do not know, I am terrified of heights.) The food has been okay but the sights are wonderful. I'm not too impressed with all the many, many people and cars and the awful smoking. WE are spoiled in the US where smoking is becoming not as popular. I miss my cabin and the peace and quiet but it is a chance of a lifetime. Tonight we are going to the Moulin Rouge. Signing off for now. (cough, cough)

I almost forgot. While on the very, very long plane ride over Mother Nature decided that it was yet time again to make an appearance. For my entire life she has never, never been regular and since 2 months ago was the first time in 11 months she made herself known, I had no idea. I was trying to sleep and felt a little weird and VERY uncomfortable in my little seat so I decided to walk to the restroom. I got inside and dropped my drawers and well, let's say YUCK. Have you ever had to wash your jeans and underwear in the airplane bathroom and then pad yourself with airplane paper towels and then set for another 4 hours to your destination. Well, I have! Since we arrived at 8:30 AM we had a whole day of sightseeing till the hotel room where my extra pair of jeans were going to be. Thank goodness I had a very long sweater on so no problem except cold. That was my first mishap. A couple of days later while on a day trip back from Mount St. Michel we had to make a comfort stop at a highway stop that was so crowded the women's line was out the opposite door and around the building. I quickly got to the next in line stall and opened the door to find one of the famous squatty potties that the others have been talking about. I thought well this is my only chance and took it. Let's just say trying to keep your jeans pants legs up and you underwear and seat out of the way while trying to squat in a tiny area where you also have a large backside sometimes just doesn't work. I thought I was alright till I pulled up my jeans and found out that the band of my jeans just didn't get out of the way. I had to pad again but with mounds of toilet paper and make my way to the tour bus. There were others waiting and we took a poll on who of us got the lucky draw of the squatty potty. Two of us. I acted out my dilemma of the deed and everyone was in stitches. The Hubby was appalled but I am who I am and it was funny. So of course I washed another pair of jeans, luckily the other ones were clean. Oh the perils of travel!
Toodles....

Plumpy Nut

If you don't watch 60 minutes then follow this link about Plumpy'Nut.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3388404n

Plumpy'Nut is a mixture made from powdered milk, peanuts and vitamins that is helping to save malnourished children. It was quite amazing and the interesting thing for those who are allergic is that they don't see allergies to peanuts like in more progressive nations, like we have here. That was very interesting.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/08/news/niger.php

Come Saturday Morning

It's a beautiful Saturday morning. We normally go to the cabin on the weekends but as I have written it is countdown time to our trip so in town we stay. I slept in till 8:30 am this morning which is just unheard of as the usual time is 4:45 am. Right now I'm sitting in my chair, in my room and the sun is streaming in above the shutters filtering through the huge birch that sits in our front yard. I am sitting stark naked, cause I can, enjoying the freedom of having an empty nest. Yee Haw! The Hubby is in the shower getting ready to hit the flea market and gun show then on to the office to make work for me. When I finally get up from this comfy chair I will get ready and go to Broken Arrow to see my Daddy and Sis and have lunch. I don't know if Bro will be there or not. He's probably on the golf course on the beautiful Saturday.

Tomorrow will be the push to pack and then reality will set in. I woke up about 3:30 am this morning and I fought my mind from not going to the thought processes of packing, traveling, airports, etc. I tried to keep in the dream as I trudged to the bathroom and back again. The Hubby was still asleep on the couch and the TV was a little loud so that interfered in my attempt to drop off. He likes to stay up late on the weekends and fall asleep on the broke-in leather couch, and not hear me snore. It was a bit before I drifted back to sleep but I did it and it felt good to sleep in.

News

I received in the mail today my results from my blood work from my yearly physical and can I just say YEE HAW! When I went in my blood pressure, the doctor said, was perfect. Now the blood work is fabulous. I may not being losing weight but I'm in good shape inside.

We leave on Monday. Yes, we fly to Paris on Monday afternoon and my stomach is a little wonky today. I'm excited but anxious because I have not packed a single thing yet. I'm just amassing piles of stuff on the guest bed and will attempt to pack a lot of it tomorrow and Sunday and fill in if I need more. So much to do to be gone for 11 days. Being self-employed it is very hard for The Hubby and I to take off for that long a time and especially together. I did payroll a week in advance and all the tax stuff and The Hubby lined out the guys and our head guy to hold down the fort. Unfortunately, I/we will have to go into the office on Sunday to do some invoicing. I will try to post some from overseas but not sure. Toodles all and will definitely post after with pictures.

A Scary Night

Last night was the corporate night of Oktoberfest in Tulsa and of course it is Oklahoma so storms were-a-brewing. The Hubby, #1 and The Guy planned on their annual trek there. I sat watching TV and packing and doing laundry for my trip and the weather guy came on showing the storms. I called #1 girl and then left a message on The Hubby's phone to warn them they need to come home. I continued on with my tasks and then the wind kicked up and the rain. The weather guy again came on and they said tents had blown down and there were injuries. UH OH!!!! I hit the phone again and tried to contact them. The phones either rang and rang or they went to voice mail. Then my phone would ring and I could hear The Hubby yelling but he couldn't hear me and then nothing. I was in a little panic mode except I heard his voice. Soon my phone buzzed that I had a voice message. It was from The Hubby and he yelled that they got out and were alright. WHEW! I was relieved. Soon #1 called me and she was on the verge of total breakdown. She is terrified of tornados and storms and stuff and so she was caught in the middle of it all. The Guy was hit in the head by a pole or something but it was a glancing blow and not bad. He may be a little bruised.

What a Weekend

This weekend I hosted 10 (counting myself) wonderful ladies at a little retreat-getaway at our cabin. Wow! Some are elementary teachers, lawyers, and accountants. All of the ladies really needed this time away from their respective worlds and our place was the perfect place for that.

Friday afternoon I arrived around 3pm and began unloading and preparing the place for their arrival. I had picked up Olive Garden lasagna and salad so we didn't have to cook which is so very easy. I made a pinion wood fire in the chiminea and set up the hammock and waited for them to arrive. All but one had never been to our place and so they were in for a surprise as to how wonderful their experience would be. It is very relaxing and great for recharging batteries. They began to arrive around 5 pm and the fun began. It was laughter and jokes and snacks and more laughter. We soon piled 10 of us into two golf carts to take a tour and hopefully catch sight of some deer. We were lucky to find only one this time. Back at the cabin we chowed down on lasagna and wine and margaritas and homemade cheesecake. Then we started a big fire for the somores (boy was I full.) I didn't make it too long in the evening as we had all been up since about 5 am. I headed for bed but continued to hear laughter till about midnight. That is what this place is for.

Saturday started out a little cool as fall is trying to start up but was perfect for walking and taking more golf cart rides. We had breakfast of bacon and homemade coffeecake then began to explore. We all ended up by the waterfall watching the turtles bobbing up and down and an occasional snake swim by (yuck). Of the ten of us, six had to go back to town but the remaining four spent the evening getting really deep in conversation about everything that women talk about.

Sunday I was up at 7am and made pumpkin spice coffee and tried to write some in my journal before the other three made it up. I knew we were going back about 10 so time was running short. I won't be back to our cabin till about three weeks since we are leaving for our trip in a week. YIKES! Better get packing.

Thought Jumping

I just re-read my previous post and when I started the post I was going for writing about the Europe trip. My thoughts just seem to jump all over the place lately, even more so than usual. I just can't seem to follow through on a thought process and I used to be so very organized in my head. I used to keep lists and was very, very organized but I just can't seem to get it together. I think it has to do with the hormones and the change and whatever. Well, whatever just sucks because I feel like I can't hold onto a thought long enough to process it. I either want to sit and blank my mind out or just let the thoughts just go crashing through my mind. Man, I can't even seem to get the thoughts out here because my hands can't even communicate with my brain. I'm a very fast typist but I can't even coordinate that. I feel like I'm in a fog sometimes and even the other day I was pulling into a parking spot (thank GOD there wasn't a car in front of me) and instead of hitting the brake I hit the gas and jumped forward into the other spot. I don't even know what I was thinking at the time but this has got to stop. It's getting annoying all the jumbles in my head. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

The Countdown

I just looked closely at my calendar and realized that the countdown is on. We (The Hubby and I) are leaving in a week for our Europe trip. I'm not really nervous because I haven't really had time to get nervous, but I will be by next week. I have never been in a foreign country, unless you count the Bahamas, and the farthest I've been is Hawaii. The Hubby has traveled to Africa and Prague. We are going to Paris, Normandy and then the last 3 days to London. I am really excited about this excursion. My lists are mounting and I plan on semi-packing next week. #1, who has traveled to England, Germany, France, Prague, and India has given me some tips on her travel experiences. She gets a journal and starts pages on what to pack, dates, addresses for postcards, exchange rates for money, and she even gets travel guides and cuts and pastes maps in the journal. Then when she travels she will fill in the rest of the book with her journaling. Sounded like a great idea and so I followed her lead. Finding a new journal was no problem because I have a stack of them I haven't even cracked open. I have a small obsessive compulsion to buy new ones all the time. Not only do I blog here online but I do journal handwritten at least every weekend. I don't seem to find the time during the week but every Saturday morning at the cabin I fill several pages of my weekday happenings.

I am a writer although it is not really good writing, I love to write. I try to write fiction but sometimes I just can't get what is in my brain to the clean white paper. It is a struggle. I have written a teenage mystery, of course unpublished, and it is bad, really bad, but I have a beginning and an end to it so I call that an accomplishment. I've written several short stories and started others but I just can't sit long enough to finish. I'm always interrupted by people and my inability to sit for long periods. I love to write letters too. I opt to hand write very long letters so know if you are my friend and move away expect letters. It may be only a couple a year but they can be 10-15 pages long. Long hand written letters are really a thing of the past and I think it should not be lost. I remember in high school in the 12th grade sitting in a classroom with a substitute teacher that I thought was 150 years old, and probably was. He as a distinguished looking older man with snow white hair sitting at the teachers desk while we did busy work. When he entered the room he was carrying a leather folder and while we did our work he opened the folder, pulled a fountain pen out of his shirt pocket, and then on unlined paper began to write a letter. His penmanship on that paper was absolutely beautiful and flowing. I was sitting at the front and I couldn't take my eyes off of his hand as the pen swirled across the paper. Absolutely amazing. See, a lost art.

The Engaged Couple

If I had done that...

Uh Oh! The Hubby has a major problem with little poles that are stuck in the ground. He came into the office after lunch and looked like a little boy that had broken his favorite toy. I don't know if anyone remembers, but he bought a brand new Avalanche in I think March. Well, he was in a parking lot backing into a space and WHAM!!!! He crunched the passenger side door and running board into that itty-bitty white pole that was in the ground. He said it sounded like someone running over crunching garbage cans. You think. He immediately went to get an estimate at the body shop we seem to have a standing account at, and decided to get the windshield estimate too that was damaged on the drive to Dallas. The window is about $300 but the other part of the estimate is not in yet. Now, if I had done that, he would have yelled and screeched and had a hissy fit, but I have NEVER, in any shape, form or fashion. I have only been in one little fender bender and I was rear-ended, not my fault and not much damage. So I hope I'm not jinxing myself by writing this down but if ever it happens I hope that he is not mean because I don't rag on him for all his little mishaps.

My Weekend (read till the end it's good)

Friday after work I waited for The Hubby to finally come home so we could go to the cabin. I sat twiddling my thumbs as I can hardly wait to go and enjoy the peace and quiet AND the friends I/we have made there. He rolled in the garage and immediately went to his computer to check his emails and his Ebay finds. Still I sat and waited and dozed off. I would have taken off without him but I wanted to wait. Finally, he strode into the living room and announced he was ready. YES! I jumped and grabbed the ice chest and my bag and piled into the truck (yes I would have loved to drive the Miata with the top down but...).

I was so relieved as the gates came into view and we passed into our little slice of heaven in Northeastern Oklahoma. We pulled into the gravel driveway of Flash Pointe and I hurried into the cabin lugging my stuff. I was anxious to see my friend next door. Our cabin is very close to the neighbor, and in fact, our back door has a stone walkway that leads right to their front door. My friend H asked me to bring a half gallon of milk so I grabbed it out of the ice chest and yelled at The Hubby that I was going next door. He mumbled something about cutting the grass before it rained. Out the door I went and as I rounded the walkway to her patio there she sat with two other neighbors laughing. H immediately jumped up and poured me a glass of wine. A little later three more ladies joined the hen party and more wine was poured and the conversation went from chin hair to sex. WooHoo! What an evening.

The next morning I awoke around 7 am before the sun was up. That is the most perfect time of day at Flash Pointe for me. I quietly put my clothes on and crept out of the bedroom grabbing my book, journal and pen. I made the coffee and then went out to the wonderful screened porch and my favorite chair. It was so quiet as I sat there and watched the sun come up. In the fall the most common sound you hear are the crows cawing. It reminded me of my GreatGranny's in Jay when I was a little girl. The sun began to come up and I could see to write in my journal. Coffee was ready and I was set for the day, or so I thought. Later in the morning I heard a kind of hysterical ladies laugh that was the call of the piliated woodpecker, like Woody Woodpecker, there were two of them talking in the trees. So very cool.

I could have sat there all day in my chair reading, writing and watching the birds but I knew I had to clean the cabin for the guests I was having next weekend. So my day of bliss was cut short with the vacuum cleaner, dusting, and scrubbing toilets...YUCK! This is where I regret having such a large 2nd home, but only briefly. We had to get back to town so it wasn't a true weekend at the lake as we had to get back for a surprise 50th birthday party for a friend. I FORGOT the Okie Blog thing that I had planned on going to. I'm sad I missed it but I just couldn't cram that in.

Sunday...This day has been WONDERFUL!!! The Hubby has decided that we need a new mattress. Yes he is getting insistent about the subject. He says that I wiggle the bed too much and it makes him nauseous. Uh Ok. So we went mattress shopping and found one we really like but the stupid thing was nearly $8000, yes I said $8000. We found the knock off brand for a third of the cost. Now that is more like it. I told him that if we get a new mattress I want a head board. We have been married for nearly 32 years and have never had head board and I want a head board. He has decided that since he knows a custom furniture maker we will have one made to match our antique bedroom armoire and dresser. Sounds good to me.

I hope you are still reading because this is the really GOOD NEWS. I went wedding dress shopping with #1 daughter and we PURCHASED one. Yes we did and they have set the date of February 23! Yee Haw there is going to be a wedding. I can't believe it. She was so beautiful in the dress. Yesterday The Hubby asked me about how much the wedding might cost and I couldn't answer but sort of guessed. He shocked me by suggesting a rather large sum to use as a budget and asked if that would work. Well yeah it will work. I immediately called #2 and told the news and she about dropped her jaw. This is going to be a great wedding if we can find a place for it. http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridal_gowns_detail.jsp?stid=2836&prodgroup=123

A Conversation

Today as I was getting the gray eradicated at the hair dresser we got into an interesting conversation. Ruth is the exact opposite of me size wise. I'm short and heavy and she is tall and very slender. We began talking about our similarities. Ruth has battled eating disorders all her life (she's about 42 years old) and for most of my adult life I have battled the bulge, yet we have the same thought processes about it all. Ruth has a man in her life who openly has problems with her being skinny and subconciously watches her eating habits and I have the same deliemma with The Hubby who has the same issues, only fat wise. She said that if she chose not to eat her rice at dinner then her guy would become concerned that she was backsliding whereas if I ate the rice and maybe a little more The Hubby would be concerned that I would gain another pound. The problem with all of it is that it is not about the food at all and our problem is with the unintentional attention the men give to us. They really don't mean it but it is there. My guy at one time even accused me of lying to him when we got married. The lie being that I got fat because when I met him I was a size 1, very tiny. It was an irrational idea on his part but he just didn't know how to cope with my increasing waistline (mainly from pregnancy). He's thin, his mother is and his brothers are failry nice sized so he had no reference to deal with. This conversation came on the heals of The Hubby being out of town for a couple of days and my desire to EAT. I can't explain it except that it would be eating without the cloud over my shoulder, eyeing every bite I put into my mouth. It is a strange idea and I've been struggling this week with it.

October 1

Monday morning, October 1, 2007. What a beautiful morning it is. I drove to the office in my little red convertible and thoroughly enjoyed the warming air.

Yesterday The Hubby left for a little camping trip with his bud's for that little male bonding experience. I fully encourage him to take these trips as he has been so stressed with work. First thing I did when I knew he was going to be gone for a couple of days was plan to see a movie. First I had to make the stop to see my Daddy as today he was taking his trip to Laughlin with his sisters to see their half-sister. He told me he had not flown since 1962 and it was a propeller plane. Wow. He was nervous but should be half-way there by now. Good for him.

After the visit with him I met my friend C at the $1.50 movie to see Pirates of the Caribbean-The End of the World. Uh, ick. Hated the end of the movie but as always LOVE Orlando Bloom. Then we decided to have a cup of coffee and that was a very bad move for me as it was 5:30. Should have had decaf. Since The Hubby was gone I was a little anxious being alone in the house and the not being able to get into a deep sleep didn't help at all. I dozed off to sleep about 10:15 but awakened about 1:30 and then was tossing and turning till about 3:30. I knew the alarm was going to go off at 4:45 so that made me more anxious and I heard every little creak in the house. I got up with the alarm and went to Jazzercise but I know fully well that I will be hitting the sheets early tonight. YAWN!