Burger Disaster Averted!

Our little family is soon to grow.  This pic was on Monday as we celebrated B's 33rd birthday and A's being in town for hopefully the birth of Rio.  B's favorite place to eat is India Palace and by the evening's end I was STUFFED!  So yummy.  

Last night we all gathered here at the house for the mother-in-law's 85th birthday dinner.  Unfortunately, I did not get the camera out to take some snapshots but found this recent one from one of B's baby showers in August.  My MIL is a fabulous lady and I was very pleased to be able to celebrate her birthday here.  

We wanted to also show off the new outdoor kitchen/patio and we love having rain but NOT YESTERDAY!  About 30 before the group was to arrive the deluge came.  The Hubby and I quickly moved one of the tables and chair sets under the cover.  What a muddy mess it was for the little ones.  

I also had a food malfunction.  On Friday I went to the store to get all the fixin's for burgers, including potato salad stuff and baked beans.  I decided to get patties that were already made up.  When I poked a knife through the cellophane to get the patties on the tray for seasoning my nostrils were assaulted by the familiar stench of bad meat.  WHAT!!!!!!!  I was just cursing and screaming at The Hubby for HELP!  He said he would take it back to the store and get it traded for GOOD hamburger meat.  I was on a tear to find the damn receipt in my purse.  I dumped the thing on the bed and had A helping me look when I remembered my jeans pocket.  I ran to the closet and dug in my dirty jeans and YEAH, receipt.  Unfortunately, it was a monsoon out there and The Hubby had to go in that but being the great guy he is, he was the hero of the day.  Of course, you know that mean I had to patty out 20 burgers in record time.  The store also gave him another 3 pounds of meat for free, so my freezer will be full.  Everyone arrived and the burgers were great, rain and all.  We hovered under the large patio area and had a great time celebrating 85 years of life of a fabulous lady.  

Happy Birthday MiMi!

Saturday Stuff

Hello all!  Yes it is very early Saturday morning and I'm up as usual.  We are still in the holding pattern for sweet Rio but she will be here at least by Thursday, Oct 4.  The OB told B that is when he will induce if she doesn't come in the world by then.  B has made her peace with the process but I think she is really, really ready to be done with the pregnant process.  

Today we are celebrating the 85th birthday of my mother-in-law.  Tomorrow is actually her day but we are celebrating today so all of the family can attend.  We're using the new patio/kitchen, grilling burgers!  Thursday was also the sister-in-law's birthday and Monday was B's so September is just full of birthdays.  

The picture above is from Friday on my way to the office of the Tulsa skyline looking west.  The cloud through the middle of the buildings was pretty cool.  We've had rain, precious rain and the temperatures are cooling down, ready for full-fledged-fall.  

Alarm Clock Woes

Good early morning.  This is the second time in as many days that The Hubby and I have NOT heard the alarm.  I don't know if it's the changing weather, our exhaustion, The Hubby actually working in the field or just excitement of the upcoming birth of grandbaby.  We have just been sleeping in and I told him that I believe our bodies are trying to tell us something.  TAKE A BREAK!  I'm sorry that I've missed workout but it is what it is.

Baby is still keeping herself hidden away in B's tummy so we wait but she's probably just not cooked enough.  The excitement is almost overwhelming.  She will be here when she is ready!

Monday I missed yet again the portrait drawing class.  It was the third class but I had only been to the first one.  Monday mornings and B not working, that means I have to be at the office so it was interfering with that and I was NOT going to give up the art class with Ross on Tuesday's.  So something had to give and since I was not happy with the class anyway, well it had to go.  Class Tuesday was awesome.  I was out of projects but told Ross I wanted to try something new, pastels.  Actually, I still have the pastel set that my parents gave me at age 14 so I dug them out and told him that is what I wanted to do.  What FUN!!!!!

It's not finished, that will have to be tackled in next Monday's class, but what fun I had.   

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday my dear.  

Well, she still has her birthday all for herself as we are still waiting for the little missy.  

Multiplying Bunnies

Yesterday I decided that since my easel was totally empty of anything to paint that I would try and set up some still life's to paint.  What happened was me digging through my china hutch and getting rid of some stuff and finding memories long forgotten.

As I was pulling all kinds of junk out I found a raggedy, torn gift bag with these wrapped in old newspaper.  I remember them fondly.  Actually half are mine of the blue birds and the other half, including the red bird, were my Granny's.  I believe they were made by someone in Arkansas and were very popular at the time.  I loved them and now I have a whole aviary of little blue birds, and Mr. Red Bird!

Bunnies, I found bunnies but as usual they began to multiply...the large one in the above picture was my mother's.  I think it was given to her with flowers or a plant when I was born.   

See, multiplying...I found another one several years ago at the flea market and couldn't resist... 

the metal one was Granny's.

More treasures.  Cups and saucers that were Grandma's, Granny's, Greatgranny's and Momma's.  Now they are all mine.  The little tiny girl by the wishing well was Momma's when she was little girl.  I love it.

The top of my parents wedding cake...hey, who's intruding on the picture...

BAMBI!   

My favorite movie character...we had the record album story of the movie and I could recite every line from the movie plus sing the songs.  Momma would put it on the record player at nap time everyday and we would listen to it.  I still have the horribly chipped record and album cover.

Awww, three little elves waiting till it is time to come out and play at Christmas.  These too were Granny's.  

All these things makes me remember being at Greatgranny's and seeing all of her lovelies on her little shelves in the freezer room.  We loved to go in there, stand on the bed and touch her things.  People were all the time bringing her knic-knacks.  She is the one who taught me about knic-knacks and I have many.  Often she would send us home with some of her precious things.  I can't wait to do the same with little Rio and make memories with her.

Oh, and last but not least were these beauties.  Someone gave them to me a few years ago and I totally forgot about them.  Now I remember why I started really digging in that hutch, candle stick holders for these.  Man I can get sidetracked but made for an awesome blog post, don't you agree!  Memories!

Pat Conroy

Yes, I know I have been MIA but we are still in limbo (baby) and having a hard time with words lately.  On a good note, I was invited yesterday to go to the Tulsa Town Hall to listen to author Pat Conroy speak.  WONDERFUL!  I have never read his books, and I know that is odd because I read a lot, but it's true.  A couple of his books:  The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini. Hey, I know those movies, right.  In fact The Great Santini is one of The Hubby's favorites, and mine.  Pat said he just finished writing The Death of Santini a few days before so I will be on the lookout for that.  I didn't know they were autobiographical books about his life.  Wow, I have already ordered and downloaded a few of them to read.

The auditorium was packed yesterday at the PAC.  I never saw so many grey heads bobbing around but I also saw several empty seats and I say this with a reason.  My friend C, who tends to be late and I knew was coming to the program was left outside without a seat and two $75 tickets in her hand.  I called her to see what she thought of the speaker last night and she told me she didn't get in.  "They" told her there were no seats left.  I said to her that was a flat out lie, that we had seats around us.  She said there were several people left out in the lobby to watch a TV screen with tickets in their hand.  She was livid and I don't blame her but I think what may have happened is that, when he started, the policy is no one gets in in the middle to interrupt.  They offered to give her the money back but she told them she didn't want her money back she WANTED TO HEAR PAT CONROY SPEAK!  I don't know if she got the money back but she didn't get in.  Sad.

I am sorry for her but I had a wonderful time and I also got to spend time with a lady I am trying to begin a friendship with.  Bev is the friend and high school classmate that The Hubby hooked up with his best friend and they've now been married about 3 years.  The Hubby's bestie lost his wife Gail my bestie 6 years ago and I've written about it many times.  Yesterday was great.  We had great talks, listened to the speaker and a fabulous lunch at Stonehorse where I bought her lunch in appreciation of the invite to the morning.  She is now in my book club too, so the path to a long friendship has started.

Construction --- DONE!

Good morning Wednesday.  Brrr, it is chilly out this morning as I venture out for the paper.  Woke up with a rip-roaring sinus headache this AM so I'm staying close to home and some strong black coffee.  Usually when I get out of bed and move around it goes away but this one is being a bit stubborn and taking it's time to move on.  Plus my knee is giving me fits and I'm not sure why so workout is on hold for the rest of the week.  I think I need a break and my mind is a bit anxious playing the baby-waiting-game.  

This morning is the first day in MONTHS that I am not going to wake with the expectation of having construction workers in my backyard.  We are DONE!!!!!  The Hubby has to finish the electrical and we are waiting for the outside drapes but basically finished.  The fence guys have nailed up the last board and we have a gate, all ready for sweet Clayton to have the run of his yard again.  No more worry that he will escape again and we're ready for the grand-dog to come stay while Rio makes her appearance.  The money flow has stopped too and that is a very good thing.  I won't have pictures until we have it totally done, with drapes and all.  

Trucking Along

Life is just trucking along here.  We are waiting patiently, or impatiently for the little lady to make her appearance.  It is so exciting and every time my phone rings or pings I run to see if it's "THE CALL!"  

Last weekend we stayed in town and enjoyed a most wonderful time on the new patio.  It's not quite finished but close enough.  The furniture has arrived with us having to exchange the bar stools.  We bought them somewhere along the measurement line our expectation of height was WRONG.  The countertop was set and I climbed on the new one and my nose was on the counter.  So we exchanged them for these and now The Hubby thinks they are too tall.  I told him to make up his mind.  I prefer to not be wiping my nose on the counter please.

I snapped this picture but failed to get the new fountain just around the column. 

Poor little Clayton.  He is not happy here because of the flies that were buzzing around.  He preferred to watch from the foot stool just inside the door while we enjoyed the weekend.   

Oh look, more furniture.  This little cafe table is perfect for the corner.  We have a bigger table too but needed extra seating.  The chairs I got on a huge sale from Pier One.  I love them. 

Awww, life is so good.  

This past weekend we finally had to go to the cabin and make sure everything was okay.  We've missed so many weekends this summer but everything will level out.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and immediately jumped back into the car to go for Mexican with several of the cabinites.  It was yummy and when back to the cabin it started raining.  We opened the windows and slept with cool temperatures and soft rain falling all night long. 

I got up early, about six to feed Clayton and stayed awake a bit then the hypnotic sound of the rain pulled me back to bed and I slept till eleven.  So wonderful and restful, the whole weekend.  Sunday morning The Hubby didn't get up till ten.  He SOOOOO needed the sleep.  We had Hari and Jimbo over for dinner Saturday night.  I make chicken and noodles, a good stick to your ribs dinner.  

The flowers are some of the last for the season, wildflowers.  

Goodbye Oklahoma Summer, I'll miss you! 

A Quick Note

I am still here.  The writing juices have not been flowing so I'm chosen to just stay quiet for a bit.  I would imagine things will be spilling here in few days.  We are anxiously awaiting the birth of baby Rio and that has my mind occupied.  The backyard is still rocking and rolling and hopefully I will have finished pictures soon.  Right now the fence is gone, totally gone and of course it is raining so the guys have not been back.  Poor Clayton is not allowed to go out there without a leash because he is an escape artist for sure.  I've had to run after him twice this week alone.  We have got to get that done because the granddog will be here to stay while B and baby are in the hospital.  Things will work out.  Now we are planning a cookout for the mother-in-law for her 85th birthday.  She has had a rough few months with a nephew being very nasty to her about here "older" sister, and she can't let it go.  I can't stand it when people hurt her, she is one wonderful lady.  Okay, that is all I'm spouting about today.  Just keeping in touch with everyone...toodles!

Remember, Don't Forget

Remember and don't forget 9/11.  Where were you on that fateful day.  I was driving to the office and just before I got there I turned my CD off and turned on the news for some strange reason.  I was stunned by the news that something was happening in NYC.  I pulled into the shop parking lot and rushed in to the back office to turn on the television.  There it was playing out on the set, complete devastation on the twin towers. I was watching with my mouth hanging open,my hand clamped over it,  not knowing what to say.  Soon The Hubby joined me as did several of our employees as we stood around the television watching.  What do you say.  It was the most awful thing I have ever witnessed, even though I was not there I/we witnessed it because of modern day televising.  First one tower fell then the second, right before our eyes.  All I can say is Remember, Don't Forget, I never will.

Beyond Words

Sunday morning The Hubby and I were watching the show Sunday Morning and a clip came on from Steve Hartman, On The Road.  It was called Beyond Words and absolutely brought tears to my eyes and heart.  Amazing story.  You must, must watch this story!

Book Club...

Recently I started a book club.  We've had exactly one meeting and this week will be number two.  Our first book was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  It has been on best seller lists everywhere and it was one of a few books that we had NOT read.  This group of ladies seem to be very well read so finding one we had NOT read was a challenge.  It is a good thing.  This very first meeting, since we did not have a specific book to read, I decided to discuss Fifty Shades of Grey.  You need not have read that book to have an opinion, and opinions we had.  It was a great discussion group and got the ladies interacting when most of them did not know each other.  I have grouped a few ladies that are my friends but are not acquainted with each other, until now.  It's exciting and I'm hopeful we will continue for a very long time.

Back to Fifty...I have read the first two books in the series and have stumbled through the first third of the third book.  I have stopped, finally.  I am DONE!  They are not worth my time to read them, even for a discussion group.  I know, I know I am beating a dead horse here and this is my final say!

What-da Ya Call It?

I'm in a bit of a quandary and probably making a mountain out of a molehill.  It's also a bit early to be worrying about it but I do.  What-da ya call it?  That is my question and I am in need of an answer, maybe.  The time is drawing very near for little granddaughter to make her sweet appearance into this world and I thought I knew what I wanted to be called, but last night I started questioning that in my head.  I know FOR SURE that I don't want to be called MiMi!  That belongs to my mother-in-law.  I do not want to be called grandma as that has an old image in my head that I do not like!  I'll tell you the history of grandparent naming in my family.  There is actually a kind of theme to it.  On my mother's side of the family the trend is:  Granny and Greatgranny and so on.  On my father's side, it goes Grandma and Grandmother, etc.  I really thought I would follow the Granny trend, and besides that side of the family has the best memories for me.  Grandmother or Grandma is stuffy and old and I don't want to be called Gran as that is my sister-in-law's name and GiGi seem's to be everyone's name and I don't like it.  Oh, I'm in a pickle with this.  Do you just let the little babe decide or do you start the process by instilling the name over and over and over again?  What is the process?  Can anyone give me some help PLEASE!  I mean I could push the Granny thing but I might end up as Gran or Nee or G or I DON'T KNOW!!!!!  Suggestions!

Downtown Abbey

Downtown Abbey Season 3 Trailer...

I CAN'T WAIT!

Organization Or Not

Last night I dozed off to sleep watching the news about 10:15.  About 12:53 p.m. the phone started ringing...no it was not B calling to say it's time.  I jumped up, grabbed the phone as The Hubby sat up.  Our phone is tied to the front doorbell and the ring was the front door.  The Hubby rushed to the door as I realized in my haze that apparently the power glitched and set off the phone and we both recognized the sound of his computer restarting.  He stumbled back to bed and I asked him if Clayton was in his doggie bed.  He mumbled, "I don't know," and plopped back in bed.  It wasn't long before I could hear the familiar sound of his dog tags shaking and his tippy-tap of nails on the floor as he made his way to our bed.  I scooped him up and put him under the blankets, his favorite place to sleep and then it was time for me to settle back down.  As usual, my problem is that when I am forced awake like that I have a hard time going back to sleep.  It was after 2:30 before I finally drifted back down.  My mind would not shut down.  For some reason I was thinking about organization.  Hmmm, not sure why I went there but you know my bachelors is Organizational Leadership.  Many, many years ago I was obsessed with trying to get myself organized.  I bought books and books on it.  I had tons of file folders, colored index cards, pens, anything to try and get myself organized.  Contrary to popular belief I was known by many to be an extremely organized person, at one time.  I organized our office and kept it running.  I organized my kiddos and their schedules with the household.  I went to school while working, and really was a SAHM in the sense that my kids went to work with me and in the beginning the office was in the house.  I sat on boards from church to Camp Fire.    I also organized our high school reunions for many years too.  I was an organizational type person, WAS.  I don't know what happened but I seem to have fallen behind in that area, probably because I don't have to do most of that stuff anymore and I don't want too.  I have come to a period in my life where I don't see the need to be that rigid.  Now if I had little ones again, then yes organization is a must.  I like some things kind of mess and I know my ROOM (studio, computer, collection room) is a mess but it is my tiny room and I like it.  I clean it sometimes, when I feel I can't stand it anymore.  My pantry is a mess but I will organize it again, sometime.  I just don't have the need or want to right now.  I have to do it before it gets away from me and I will.  Oh my mind...shut down please.

Sorry that is just what was on my mind last night and I had to get it out.

Polishing The Pearl

This and That

This morning I was finally back to workout with my friend Wade....EEK...I can hardly lift my arms, not from pain but they just don't want to work.  We did TONS of push-ups on the bar and I can't imagine the pain they are going to be in tomorrow.  I thought I had better write while I can this morning because by this afternoon the ole' arms are going to be useless noodles, wait, they already are!  It's all good!  

Yesterday my wonderful guy spent the afternoon working in the office, trying to get invoicing ready for me to type today.  When he came home he brought a bundle of flowers for me, just because.  I love it when he is spontaneous like that.  I love that man of mine!

I finally went to see Daddy.  I've felt like a bad daughter because it had been about 3 weeks since I had been at his house.  My time has just not let me get away with all the construction and meetings and such but yesterday was the day.  The first thing he said was, "I was beginning to think I didn't have any kids."  Great, my head hung low.  

After having a headache on Thursday, a migraine on Sunday and then last night going to bed with a sinus headache and waking up with it, I'm about done.  It has been a long time since I had a headache.  Not fun for sure.  Finally better this morning after Zyrtec and Advil!

Art class starts up again today!  Next Monday the portrait drawing class starts.  YEAH!

Labor Day...

I have taken a break from my year long quest to post everyday.  The past couple of days the mind was a blank so I just went with it.  In fact, I may not post everyday for the rest of the year.  I have given eight solid months of blogging and I'm giving in to the break.

The Hubby and I rushed out of town Friday afternoon for the cabin.

Along the way we encountered some lovely rain clouds. 

It had been awhile since we have had rain of any kind and I was totally amazed by the beauty. 

I told The Hubby that there was a time when one tiny dark cloud would send me into shakes and shivers.  I had so many fears when young.  Living in tornado alley will do that to a person!  Now I love it and embrace the beauty of nature. 

The cabin area was very quiet and relaxing.  Not much water over the waterfall so more rain is needed. 

At least there was enough rain the past week that my hibiscus were in full bloom and the vines of passion flower and clematis were going crazy. 

Waiting for the cool down and a great fire in the fire pit.