Staycation-Vacation!

Sigh! I would so, so love to be a stay at home mom, but I did not make the right decisions to make that happen, so I must work and be away from my family 5 days a week. With travel time, that takes a 10 hour bite out of every day! It is my own fault, so don't feel sorry for me, but I don't mind if you listen to me whine a little now and then!

So this week I took two days of vacation! Yay! Today we went to the lake for a quick day trip with Jacob and Abbey. Our family has always loved to visit Grand Lake, so we wanted to share the experience with Abbey. We had a great time swimming at Little Blue State Park. But first we took her to all of our usual stops on the way. The Blue Whale, The Totem Pole & Fiddle Gift Shop, and Jacob's favorite, Twin Arrows Trading Post, for buffalo jerky.

We finally arrived at noon. We swam and sunned ourselves for a few hours, then I grilled yummy hamburgers. We went back to swim for a while so we could cool off. Then we took a drive to show her more sights below the dam and we showed her the view across the dam from Langley to Disney throught the telescope. Kim's Grandparents owend a house in Disney when he was a little boy and we showed her where he grew up. Last, on our way out of town, we backtracked to Pistol Pete's for a chocolate dipped cone. Wow! We had to eat those so fast before they melted, I did not have time for a picture!

We had a nice, nice day! I love not working! Of course if I did not work, we still couldn't have adventures like that every week, but maybe a bit more often?

Button Bonanza Baby!

I recently became a button lover. I always thought they were interesting, but never had much use for them, so I did not keep more than a few necessary buttons on hand. Since I started making my little coin purses I have used buttons to embellish them. So I started keeping an eye out for interesting buttons. I managed to scavange a few from my Grandma's house. That was fun because I remember playing in those buttons when I was a little girl.

A week or two ago, my friend Amy decided to purge her button collection. I received a huge zip lock bag full of her buttons. Wow! So I have been sorting them, slowly. Today I was cleaning and organizing and I arranged my happy, happy button collection on the table next to my chair. I still have a tall jar that has not been sorted, but the rest I am sorting by color. I have blue, green and purple together, red, pink and orange together, and yellow in a jar of it's own so far. I also have all the white in one, the black in one and the metal buttons in a seperate jar.

I think Kim and Jacob think I have lost my marbles (buttons??). I know it probably sounds mind numbing to you, but I like looking at the buttons and they look so nice grouped by color! I also was the reciepient of some awesome button jars! Amy brought me 4 antique jars Tuesday evening. So I think it is quite easy on the eye. It makes me happy. :o)

Thanks Amy!!!

Write this down....

Today is a momentous occasion! Write it down in your record books! The day that my baby got his own wheels! Yay, Jacob! He is so proud. He can't stay in the house. Wait till you see the pictures. It is not pretty. But it is BIG. Very BIG!! He paid for it with his own money. He sold his 4 wheeler, mowed yards, peppered pigs, and traded his beloved shot gun for this, ummm.... beauty? Yes, it is a thing of beauty. Remember your first car? Tell me about it in the comments section.


Mine was a 1979 Silver Ford Pinto with a red interior, and a very odd smell. It had a sunroof... that leaked like a sieve. I thought it was going to explode a lot of the time. My friends and I had some fun trips in that clunker. We made a secret trip to Rogers, Arkansas to visit the Vaughn boys, countless trips between Tulsa and Oklahoma City and much, much more. I finally sold it for a whole dollar! The guy I sold it to, never had the title switched out of my name and a few years down the road I recieved notice that my vehicle was used in committing a crime!! Wouldn't it be cool if cars could talk? We could hear some interesting stories from that old truck out there.


Abbey and her mom Gigi came by after church so the awesome girlfriend could see the new/old awesomeness of Jacob's new/old truck. Gigi and I took advantage of the visit for a photo shoot.

Abbey is so little (in stature only...big heart, big smile, big brains!!) that none of us thought she would be able to get into the truck. Especially since she was in a dress! But she just had to hear, "You can't get up there" and before we turned around, there she was, up there! Love that girl!

Aren't they cute? I guess it is a good thing that Abbey likes vintage stuff, because this truck is definately vintage! It needs a lot of love. Congrats Jacob! I am proud of you for saving your money to pay for this! I hope you get to use it for many years!

Hot...

The dog days of summer arrived today. Yuck! Not my favorite time of year. I feel like the heat just sucks the life out of me. This is my first blog in almost a week and I really had to talk myself into it. Sorry to all 1 of you that read it. Just not feeing blogerific these days. I am sure my optimistic self will return.

Till then, stay cool.

Anniversary...

Today is our 19th wedding anniversary! It is nice to be married that long. You are comfortable with each other, you always know what to expect (almost always...) and you know there is always someone looking out for you. Nice.

After work I stopped at the drug store to get some Hydrogen Peroxide for Kim's bum foot. Yes, very romantic. I thought briefly about getting Kim a card, but I did not want him to feel bad if I got him a card and he did not get me one, so I decided not to. I was pretty sure he did not get me one because I knew he did not have any cash today. I knew we would not be exchanging gifts this year, or going out to dinner.

When I got home, he had a nice card for me. I felt really cruddy for not spending a dollar on a simple card. Here is what his card for me said on the outside:

Sometimes

when we're

lying in bed,

I look over at

you and think,

"I am so lucky."

On the inside:

Then you start snoring in

that snorty way, and I think,

"Well, that's annoying,

but I'm still lucky."

Happy Anniversary

Sweet, huh? I cracked up. Kim is very bothered by my snoring. Which I find odd because it does not bother me at all!

Then he wrote a nice poem, like he always does. Bet you did not know Kim wrote poetry!

I sat and thought on how I ought

to show you how I feel.

But moneys' tight so I just write

to prove my love is real.

I think of what my life was like

before we came to be,

Just me alone, no thoughts of home,

no future did I see.

But with you now, I see just how

true love can save a life.

My greatest gift from God above

was making you my wife.

Pretty good for an ole' redneck cowboy, huh? Thanks honey! I love you too!

Friends!

Yesterday my friend, Necia, came into town. She lives in Texas and drove up to see her family in Broken Arrow. She and her two awesome sons, Alex and Kyle came to have lunch with me. Fun!! They have an action packed weekend planned. They went to see the musical Oklahoma! last night. Today they are considering a float trip down the Illinois river! Sounds great. Necia used to live here and we worked together, not just one time, but 3 different times for State Farm.

I took a few quick pictures so I could share them with you. Alex her oldest is 15, and Kyle is ... 11 or 12... I think! The kid in the yellow shirt Alex being goofy. Yes, that is a 15 year old boy acting goofy. Surprise, surprise!

This picture is of Kyle... well, you guessed it, acting goofy. Those are chicklets gum poking out of his lips to look like teeth. What can I say? Goofy!

It was great to see Necia and the boys again. Friends are so wonderful. They make you feel like YOU again. :o) Even though we talk nearly every day, either by email or texting. There is nothing like seeing your friends in person. Even if just for lunch!

Thanks Nec! I miss you, but I don't miss Texas!

I'm still here....

I just can't think of anything good or interesting to post about. So rather than bore you with ramblings, I will keep it to myself.

Have a good weekend.