Lisa's Log

Essary Family Vacation 2008-- The Prequal

2008-07-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

Hey, if Star Wars can do it, so can I! I just wanted to tell you (and to remind myself) of the day before our big trip of a lifetime. It is a miracle we got on the road at all.
The first thing that was irritating was the mower was broken. It didn't happen the day before we left, but I thought I'd just throw that in, because it annoyed us that we couldn't mow before we left.......oh, okay, it annoyed ME that DON couldn't mow before we left. LOL!
So, Don finally gets around to greasing the wheels on the trailer the night before, and discovers his grease gun is broken, or it breaks while he is doing it. At least I think that is what happened. I was so annoyed at him because he waited until the last minute to do it......All the while I am washing clothes at the last minute.....virtually doing the very thing that I was annoyed with him about. LOL So Don goes to Atwood's to get another grease gun and of course gets there right after they closed......AND the water pump went out on the van. He called me and let's just say I was less than friendly......Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my dryer quit. The drum wouldn't turn. So, I had to take everything in the dryer out and go to Mom's and use her dryer. I was there until 12:30 or 1:00 a.m.
I just thought it was a mildly amusing story.....Well, I think that NOW!!!! LOL
The most amazing part of this story is what my family did for us while we were gone. Joey came over and mowed our yard and took our dryer apart to try to fix it. Mom and Dad came over and cleaned and vacuumed our house and washed our clothes after we got home.

One funny thing is, Andy is such a home body. He asked when we were still about three days out from home if we were going home that day. He asked if we could please hurry home. We dropped the trailer at Mom and Dad's since it had rained so much and washed our driveway out. Andy decided to stay there that night. He was laying in bed there and said, "Ahhhh, Home Sweet Home!" We thought it was funny because he still wasn't home!
This trip was definitely a trip of a lifetime for me. There was so much to see and do in D.C. that we barely scratched the surface. So many things there really make you proud to be an American. I am proud that Emily appreciates her country and the sacrifice of the founding fathers and our soldiers past and present. I hope that it is something our children remember the rest of their lives. Life is all about building memories.

HodgePodge of pics

2008-07-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

These are mostly from our last couple of days on our trip home.

This is Emily and Andy in front of Graceland. It was really surprising to me to see how run down the neighborhood around it was (think red light district). And also, the graffitti all over the rock wall in front. We were there too late for the official tour (much to my family's delight), but I think that would have been pretty cool. Across the street from Graceland is a complex where the Lisa Marie, one of Elvis' two planes are. You can tour it, too.

Included in the complex is a museum of Elvis' cars.
I think we did really well the whole time and only ate out 1 meal a day, and that wouldn't be anything expensive...just fast food. Sometimes we didn't even eat out a single time in a day. So, we rewarded ourselves the last night with a nice meal at Appleby's in Memphis, TN. Don is lookin' all gangsta in this pic. LOL

Friday

2008-06-30T04:55:00.001-07:00

If you blow this one up and look in the middle of the pic, you will see Don "Phooning" Google it. He is a weirdo, LOL. He does have fun, though. :)

This is us on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Pier.

I HATE this pic of me and my spare tire, but oh, well. LOL. This is at the Chesapeake Bay campground, getting ready to leave to make the long trip home.

Chesapeake Bay

This is a flag at the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Bridge Gift Shop and Restaurant. It has all of the victims of 9/11 on it.

Thursday

2008-06-30T03:53:00.001-07:00

There isn't much order to these pics. After we left Aquia Pines in Virginia, we went to Virgina Beach, then Chesapeake Bay.
This is the tunnel between Virgina Beach and Chesapeake Bay.
This is the end of the day. We were all so tired at the end of each day.

This is Virginia Beach.
Here's another one for you, Greg!
Chesapeake Bay. This was so funny. On the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, there were sea gulls on every light post. At first, they looked like little statues!
One of the many container ships crossing the causeway.

Andy catching a wave, and in the distance, Emily and Don.

Don and Emily look like they are dancing, LOL.

This is when we were getting ready to leave Aquia Pines to go to Virginia Beach.

Wednesday

2008-06-29T10:27:00.001-07:00

These pics are in reverse order. This is our last picture at D.C.
Andy got so hot and tired sitting on the top part of the bus. We went later and got in the bottom arr condtioned part of it.

This is the bus. My advice if you are planning a trip to Washington, D.C., is to purhcase a bus ticket for this the first day. It is a really great way to see parts of the city that you wouldn't see otherwise, and they tell you a lot of neat stuff. The tickets seem pricey, but they are good for two days, and you can get on and off anywhere you want to. Unfortunately, we didn't figure this out until the last day. Okay, when I think of the Smithsonian, I think of things like Archie Bunker's chair and things that have become famous in my lifetime. That would be the American History Museum. Well, guess what? It was closed for renovation. BUT, it said in the brochure that there was a small American History exhibit in the Air and Space Museum with things like Abraham Lincoln's top hat. And yes, it was CLOSED, too. I had to snap a pic of that, because we walked a long way to see this closed sign. GRRR!
This is the Smithsonian Museum of Native American History. I was pretty dissapointed because the None of the Five Civilized Tribes were represented with one small exception. There was one very small area about the Cherokees.

This is a beautiful beaded flag in the Native American Museum.

This is Andy in front of the Boy Scout Memorial. This is the strangest memorial that we saw in all of D.C. The man and woman are naked except for drapes on strategic locations. One of them was holding something that we couldn't figure out. The boy scout in the sculpture was dressed normally, like a scout. Odd. Andy loved chasing all the birds.
I didn't mean to upload this pic. The White House is behind the stoplight.

The National Church. It is beautiful.

This is a picture inside the White House Visitor Center. President George W. Bush being sworn in.

This is the National Christmas Tree. Makes me wonder.....The National Christmas tree isn't going to live forever....do they have one planted somewhere else to take it's place when this one passes?

Emily and I thought this was funny. This is inside the White House Visitor Center. Notice they use incandescent bulbs.

Is it just me, or does Abraham Lincoln look a lot like Kramer from Seinfeld? Or does Kramer look like Honest Abe?

This is where Abraham Lincoln died, at the house across from the Ford Theater.

This is the Ford Theater....that was....you guessed it!! CLOSED for renovation.

Emily, Andy and me in front of the Ford Theater.
Don, Emily and Andy.

Greg, this is for you! This is the Washington Memorial Masonic Temple, South of Arlington, near D.C.

Music

2008-06-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

When you visit my sight, turn up the music! :)

Tuesday

2008-06-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

This, of course is the Washington Monument.
We couldn't get tickets to go inside , and up the endless stairs (Thank goodness!) but we all touched the Monument.

This is the Korean War Memorial. Very moving. The faces are so life like. The guys look tired. The War Memorials really touched me in a way I wasn't expecting. We owe so much to our veterans. There were so many quotes there: "Freedom is not Free," and something about how they fought and died for people they never even meet. If it doesn't bring tears to your eyes and a chill down your back, you need to check your pulse. It makes you so proud to be an American. And very thankful for all that we have. I was also moved by the amount of people there.Emily was complaining that there were people in her picture and I said I am thankful that that many people still care. Thank you, veterans.
This is at the World WarII Memorial. They have computers where you can look up loved ones who served. I forgot that I had put Granddaddy on that registry. It is the biggest of all of the War Memorials there that we saw. It was huge. There were so many awesome things about it, I couldn't possibly blog it all. One thing that especially stood out to me was a bronze sculptered timeline....the first one was a family gathered around the radio, getting the news of the war. Followed by a group of young men getting their physicals and taking the oath. I took this picture because it shows more of the Memorial, I wanted to get a picture of the older gentleman. He reminded me of my granddad, and I would bet that he is a WWII veteran, a member of "The Greatest Generation."

This is Emily at the Lincoln Memorial. I have seen it in books and pictures, but there are no words to express what it is like to actually be there. And The Gettysburg Address is on one wall, and his Second Oath of Office is on another wall. It is amazing that a man from such humble beginnings was such a good orator.

This is Andy and Don. Sometime a couple of years ago, Andy saw something, we aren't sure where, about Abraham Lincoln.From then on, he said that President Lincon was his favorite president. So, I HAD to get a pic of him with his favorite president! This would be the PERFECT Christmas card picture if Andy could have kept his eyes open!

Monday

2008-06-24T16:50:00.001-07:00

This is us when we got on the Metro, to go to D.C. It is a great mass transit system, very clean. And we never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a train. From where we were, it took us about an hour to get to the Capitol.
This is us waiting in line for a tour of the Capitol. Our tour guide, Kyle (one of Mary Fallin's interns) showed us a much shorter line to wait in. It was the line outside. The line inside was LONG. He said that he had NEVER seen it that long. He called a buddy of his and asked how long the line was outside, and had him run over and save us a place in line while we walked over there.
This is Emily fulfilling a long held dream. She got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill Of Rights. The light in the room was very dim, we were cautioned if we took any flash photography, it would be the last picture we took, (Hmmm, not sure if they meant there, or ever, LOL). We were irritated at the number of people that ignored that rule. The flash damages very old paper and ink. There is no way, even if you took a picture of the Declaration Of Independence that it would show up in a picture anyway. It is very faded. This just about describes the end of every day of our visit to D.C. There was so much walking, so much to see, we were exhausted at the end of the day.

Saturday and Early Sunday

2008-06-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

We stayed Saturday night at a State Campground in Virginia called Hungry Mother. Andy made a friend, named Chris.

This is Chris' mom, dad and brother.....Really nice people.
I think that is one of the hardest things about camping is meeting such nice people that you know you will never see again.

Sunday morning, we set sail again getting ever nearer to our goal of the Declaration of Independence.

More Pics from Thursday and Friday

2008-06-23T19:29:00.001-07:00

This is Andy having some fun.
This is the bridge over the Mississippi from West Memphis to Memphis.
My two men sitting by the water's edge.

Don teaching Andy how to skip stones across the water.

Thursday and Friday

2008-06-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday we FINALLY got out of the house, and since we were so late getting out, we didn't bother taking a picture....it wouldn't have been a pretty one anyway. No, really we forgot. And there would have been a mutiny if we would have turned around to go back home for a picture

So, I saw this church, thought it was pretty. I think it is West Memphis, AR. But I am not sure.

Don's Mom and Dad joined us the first night. We had a lot of fun traveling with them and having them stay with us.

Our campground was right on the Mississippi River. The Campground was beautiful.

On Friday Morning we went to Essary Springs Tennessee. Literally a hole in the ground...LOL

Here is our Church, LOL!

And here is our other church..:)

Here is our cemetary...

Here is our Bypass:

Here we are looking at what we thought were the Springs:

Here is the ACTUAL Spring....

Here we are for one last meal together before Grammy and Paw Paw leave.

Goodbye, Grammy and Paw Paw!!!

Lookin' Good, Seeing Well!

2008-06-16T19:21:00.001-07:00

I had my 6 month check with Dr. Bradford at the Dean McGee Eye Institute today. After the receptionist pointed out that I was two minutes late (they have completely changed where you park and the part of the building you used to enter is gone!), we proceeded to sit and wait a couple of hours just like we always do. My appointment was at 3:35 and we got back to the car at 6:15. But, the good news is that everything seems stable for now, no major changes, which is great news. I just have to be careful and look at the Amsler Grid at least once a week to make sure everything is still the same. Nothing can bring back what is lost, but if I see any changes, they make such good drugs these days, they can halt the progress very quickly. So, YAY! PTL!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

2008-06-15T07:06:00.001-07:00

Since this is Father's Day, I'd like to say a few things about my Daddy. We seem to "Roast" him all year long, teasing him relentlessly about everything. But, see, that is my Dad. He likes to tease, and joke around. He takes it very well. I always knew I was loved by him when he would tease me. I remember him calling me "Motor Mouth," and I thought that was the funniest thing I had ever heard. Growing up, I had a healthy fear of my father that kids today seem to be lacking. Let me define healthy fear. A healthy fear is where you are afraid to do something wrong, because you are afraid of the consequences. If we all lived by that, the jails would be empty, wouldn't they? On the other hand, I remember when Dad would play games with us, I wouldn't ever want that time to end, it was so much fun. We would laugh until our stomachs hurt. And let's not forget all the "classics" he taught me to appreciate: I remember watching The Ghost and Mr. Chicken at Twin Lakes. And everytime a Charlie Browm special would come on, we would turn out all the lights and watch it.
I remember one Fourth of July, Mom was in the hospital, and Daddy was trying to keep things as normal as possible at home. We popped fireworks.....of course it wasn't the same without Mom, but he tried.
He was a good provider. There were some lean times, I am sure, but ya know, I really don't remember that. I remember moving into my own room at the house they live in now. They let me pick out my own carpet, and I picked purple!
I always seem to tease Dad about some of the things he used to say and do that I thought were silly. He hated us running around in our stocking feet. He woud say, "Take off your socks or put on some shoes!" Now, of course, I know that socks last much longer when you just wear them with your shoes.
We tease him so much about stuff, I just want him to know a couple of things:
1.There is a funny thing about us parents. We are human. We all make mistakes, we all have regrets. Your mistakes are no worse than my mistakes, just different. As long as there is love, any mistake can be forgiven. At least I, as a parent, hope so.

2.If your children grow up with more good memories than bad, you have succeeded. We do what we think is right at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20, but we don't have the benefit of that ahead of time, or it wouldn't be called hindsight, Ha!

So, Daddy, I just want you to know, I DO have tons of good memories, and I knew I was loved. I want you to know you are loved.

I Love You, Daddy!

Virtual Tour (With help of her wonderful daughter Emily)

2008-06-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome! This will be our "Home away from home" for 11 days.

This is where we eat and play games and occasionaly watch a movie together.

This is where we sit and talk, or read.

This is where we prepare the food.

This is where we keep the food cold!

This is mine and Don's room.

This is the kid's room, with their entertainment center and closet. They each sleep on the top bunk.

This is Emily's bed.

This is Andy's bed.

And I think you know what this is!

More Preparations

2008-06-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

One week from tomorrow we will be leaving! I have done so much, but I have so much more to do. I have made and frozen 2 pounds of taco meat and about 4 or 5 pounds of spagetti sauce to be used with spagetti or ravioli. I have 2 batches of chocolate chip cookie dough all spooned out and frozen, ready to be baked next week. I would have done peanut butter cookies, too, but I ran out of brown sugar. I am tweaking the menu. I have started putting the non perishable food in the trailer. I've had the oil changed in the truck. And, I am getting nervous. So, the day must be getting nearer!

The Countdown Begins

2008-06-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

So, it is time once again for the Essary Family Vacation. We are leaving for Washington D.C. on June 19th. T - 16 days. I am trying to have faith that this will turn out better than the New Mexico trip. I am going to try to take pics and keep the blog updated as I go....(Holly is my hero, lol) I won't do as good of a job as Holly, but, hey, we have to have goals, right? :)

The Anti-New Mexico Camping Trip

2007-10-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT time camping! The ONLY thing that went wrong was we forgot Andy's bike.....and this was the best campground ever for him to ride his bike in. But, other than that it was wonderful. The weather was perfect. There weren't very many people in our campground and it was the prettiest campsite! The lake surrounded us on three sides.

We hiked up to a bluff that overlooked the Arkansas River. We kept hearing something REALLY loud and couldn't figure it out until we looked down in the trees you could barely see a train!

On Sunday, we got to go on a beautiful boat. It was awesome. That was a great way to cap off the weekend. It was a wonderful cabin cruiser with two bedrooms and a full kitchen. David and Pebble were great hosts. They took us out on the lake for a long time and took us by our campsite. ....so we got a view of our campsite from the lake. Not only did we get a cool boat ride, but we got to spend time with two awesome people.

We went out to eat lunch at Big Daddys on the Dam Highway. LOL. Really. And then our trip was over. It was a great time and now we have a lot of really good memories.

Transmission, anyone?

2007-09-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

So, now I guess it is the van's turn. Don was on his way to Walmart when the tranmission went out. He was able to baby it to 4WAY Transmission, and I picked him up there. We just had the transmission replaced on that about 40,000 miles ago.
Anyway, Don told me that maybe it wouldn't need to be completely replaced. I laughed, and said, "You're kidding, right?"

More Pics

2007-09-25T08:26:00.001-07:00

More Pics of Adam's party:
1. Adam, Ashley & Nate
2.Group picture
3. Birthday boy Adam
4. Another pic of the Birthday Boy
5. The cute, cute cake. It was Yummy, too!

Adam's Birthday

2007-09-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Adam, our great-nephew's birthday party. He is two years old! It was at Andrew's Park in Norman. They have a really neat splash park and the kids had a blast!
1. Andy
2. Adam and Emily
3. Don and Van(brother-in-law)
4.Emily and Andy
5. Adam and Grandma Gwen

I Love A Parade!

2007-09-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the Centennial Parade in Shawnee. Andy's Cub Scout Pack had a float in it and Andy got to ride on it. They were a very handsome group! Andy is in the green shirt....he just got his uniform yesterday.

My Lil' Cub Scout

2007-09-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

So, you think you have seen cute? Well, I have news for you. You haven't seen cute until you have seen Andy in his Cub Scout uniform. Don snapped a pic this morning, and while it IS cute, it doesn't capture all of his cuteness, (said by his completely objective mother, LOL).

Emily and Jack

2007-09-19T05:46:00.001-07:00

SO, Emily has got Jack under control. We are using something called a Martingale that clips onto the bridle and goes down between his front legs so he can't pull his head up. It makes him much more manageable.
Not much else for today. Andy is home from school, sick. He has a tummy ache.

My Weekend Reflections

2007-09-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

I must say....this weekend has been a time of reflection for me. I think regret is one of, if not THE most bitter pill life has for us to swallow. I spent some time at my sister-in-law's house Saturday, at her garage sale. It just so happened that a little photo album with pictures in it had accidently found it's way into the sale. Carol picked it up and I looked through it. It was as if someone had punched me in the gut. There in that album, were her beautiful pictures of her tw adorable little girls. I looked through it and was filled with regret that that season is over. Those girls are pretty much grown now, the youngest is Senior in high school. The oldest has a baby of her own. There were other things this weekend....like we drove through Bristow today, and my mom used to travel to Bristow every weekend for a craft mall thing that they had in an old school building there. I never, ever even went there to see her there. I know that hurt her feelings. She never said anything, but I just know it did. That was a very important thing to her.

So, today we went to Keystone Lake to check it out to see if it is a place we want to camp during Fall Break. Keystone Lake happens to be close to Sand Springs. I happen to know someone in Sand Springs: An old band director of mine. He was a major influence in my life in high school. I have wanted to contact him for years, but I have not been able to work up the nerve to do it. And today I almost talked myself out of it. I kept thinking things like, what if he has Alzheimer's and doesn't remember me?? Like Don said, "If he has Alzheimer's he won't remember that you called!" LOL. Anyway, I worked up the nerve, called him and talked to his wife. She always has been a very sweet lady. Unfortunatley, he is in Germany. He is doing some contract work of some sort. He is retired from teaching and from the Army. He used to fly helicopters. I asked her if it would be okay to call him after he got back and she said, "Absolutely!" So I will be calling and hopefully seeing him in October.

I can't do anything about the past, things I have or haven't done. I just want to do my best to prevent future regrets. That is all I can do. Once a minute has passed, we can't get it back. I am going to do my best at making each minute count.

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WHOA!!!!

2007-09-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I go out this evening and mount my trusty steed....He had been a little off all evening so I was a little nervous about getting on him, nevertheless.....He wasn't listening very well, so I had Don take the lead rope and lead him around while I was on him. Then, I took the reigns and he was doing okay. Then, I guess he just got tired of me and went under a tree with low branches.....then TOOK OFF RUNNING!!! I haven't screamed like that since the last time I was on a roller coaster! I was struggling between bounces to get the reigns where I wanted them to stop him....I saw the fence coming at us awfully fast and hoped against hope that he stopped at the fence......and thankfully, he did. That got the heart a-pumping! And the blood pressure up. I am so mad at that stupid horse. Time to call Patrick and see what I am doing wrong, or what is wrong with that big, dumb, glue pot.....and I say that with all the love in the world!LOL!
Time to go act my age for a while.

Jack's Back and Happy Birthday Brittany!

2007-09-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

First of all, I am feeling SO MUCH better. YAY!

Patrick brought Jack the horse back yesterday. He is broke! He is a lot calmer. We are happy to have him home.

We had a birhtday party for Brittany, one of Emily's friends today. I hope she had a good time. It was supposed to be a surprise party, but you know how that goes. Anyway I am going to try to post a few pictures....I made the cake. They played Dance Revolution and watched a movie on a projector, on a screen fashioned out of o sheet over our mantle. That was pretty cool.

Arrrgghh

2007-09-07T06:18:00.001-07:00

I hate being sick! I am very glad I am not sicker, but it is getting in my way. Sherri is so generous.....she shared her illness with me. ;)

Yesterday I took my peanut butter cookies to the county fair. I won a blue ribbon! YAY ME!

We sold our popup yesterday. The people came earlier than planned, so Don couldn't be there to fold it down and close the deal. I had to go over to Mom and Dad's to do it. I took Emily with me. She is awesome. She knows everything about that little trailer. She folded it down, so I didn't have to do anything. She was a HUGE help, especially in light of how I felt. I have to admit, I cried as they pulled the trailer away. We had a lot of fun in that little trailer. I had to remind myself that the memories are in our hearts, not in the trailer. And, lest I get too sentimental about it, all I have to do is remember how nice and cool and big our new trailer is. It also reminded me that God provides. The money from that will more than pay Mom and Dad back for our transmission and groceries. Things like that happen to keep me humble, I think. It worked.

That is about all for me today.

Halito! The Choctaw Labor Day Festival

2007-09-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

We attended our 3rd annual Choctaw Labor Day Festival.....well, it was Don, Andy and my 3rd. The rest of the family's 4th. It is a huge Pow Wow in Tushka Homa. If you don't know where that is, it is south of McAlester. The Choctaw Capital and Museum is about the only thing there, except for Labor Day. Over the course of the weekend, thousands and thousands of people descend on this little place. They have free concerts galore. This year it was : Crystal Gayle, Charlie Daniels Band, Sara Evans, BJ Thomas, Tracey Lawrence, Trace Adkins, and Michael W. Smith. They have Arts and Crafts, and every kind of carnival food you can imagine. They have free carnival rides. It is an awesome mixture of tradtion, history and modern entertainment. Indian Dancers and a Princess pageant. Demonstrations in the Choctaw Village: Flint Napping, blow darts, making banaha bread, and tradtional story teller, Tim Tingle. They are also very concerned with health. There is a Healthy Living Expo. You can get your cholesterol checked for free and get all kinds of goodies. It is concluded on Monday morning with a State of the Nation address by Chief Gregory Pyle. This was the best year ever. My only complaint (besides the heat, lol) is that there is so much going on that it is impossible to see and do everything. A lot of stuff is going on at the same time. The only solution to that is to make it longer!

On Sunday they have a gospel sing and my friend from Junior High and High School always sings. That is one of the best things to come out of us going to this. It has put me back in touch with her after years of not seeing her. And she just had another baby a couple of months ago. He is such a sweet baby! His big sister is a sweetie, too. Must be in the genes!

Anyway, it is always a little sad to me on Monday to see the campground emptying out. I am looking forward to next year already!

Getting Ready For Another Trip....ARE WE CRAZY??

2007-08-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Yep. We are getting ready to go to the Choctaw Labor Day Festival. I won't lie....I am a bit nervous about going. I am hoping that all goes well with our pickup and Sherri and Joey's. I got my truck back out of the shop yesterday. They fixed everyhting that was wrong, and no charge! Well, they shouldn't have charged me because they messed it up to start with. But, still, they just did it. YAY!

So, I have so much to do....groom and bathe the dogs, make the beds in the trailer, and get the trailer plugged in and turn on the fridge. And I am taking Em to the dr, today to hopefully get her on a daily inhaler that will prevent future attacks like she had Friday.

Guess that means I should go and get started!

God has been good to me. Sometimes I need to be reminded of that. I have the best family and the best friends in the world. I am a truly blessed woman!

This Is The Day

2007-08-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

This is the day that The Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

He has given me breath for another day. I get to watch my kids grow another day. I get to feel the love of my family for another day. I get to fix meals for my family for another day. Thank You, Lord.

That is definitely a lot to be happy about and to be thankful for.

Is This Really Happening?

2007-08-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

I went to get my truck yesterday. The service guy drove it from around back to the front. He for some reason tried to roll down the window. He said something about it not working, and asked if they didn't fix it. I told him, "It WASN'T broken." He got it to work. Well, of course I drove it away and before I left Shawnee, I notcied two things: 1. The power windows worked sporadically and 2.The air conditioning was not blowing out of the vents, but out of the defroster vents. So I took it back. I am supposed to bring it BACK in on Monday. None of this was happening before they worked on it. Supposedly there will be no charge. I will believe that when I am walking out of the dealership without paying....with my truck fixed. I WILL be walking out of there without paying. The question is,will it be fixed. If it is going to happen, it WILL happen to me. I didn't used to be this negative and cynical.

Emily had an asthma attack on the bus. The bus driver refused to listen to the kids that were telling her that Emily was having an attack. When it was Em's turn to get off the bus, the oh-s-intelligent bus driver, who happens to be a middle school math teacher, also, just told Emily to breathe slower. Emily struggled to get off the bus, and apparently walked about 100 ft and passed out. Andy came running down to the house, and busted in the door, saying, "Oh dear! Oh dear! This isn't good!" My mom, dad and brother and I all just laughed, until he said, "Emily cant' breathe! She fell down!" We all went running up there to help her. My 7 year old son reacted better than the stupid bus driver.

I have teenagers coming over this afternoon...... I am actually looking forward to it. A distraction that I need. I just have no idea what to feed them.....hopefully they will eat before they come. Can't afford to go to the store.

Boy, am I just a barrell of laughs, or what?? LOL

Will it Never End???

2007-08-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

I am trying to keep a decent attitude. I have given up on positive attitude. And forget a good attitude. I will just be happy at this point if my head doesn't explode.

It would appear we have purchased a money pit in that pick up I was so proud of a couple of months ago. SO, we have already sunk over $3500 in transmission repairs in it in the last couple of weeks.....Okay, so TECHNICALLY MOM has sunk that much money in. And the stupid thing was having trouble shifting. Forget getting it into reverse if you are on a hill. And I would be driving down the road and it would slip into 2nd. I never knew until I got going if I had it in Drive or 2nd. So I took it to the local Ford dealership because it has a 75,000 mile warrenty on the new transmission. Funny thing about warranties, though. They never cover what breaks. It was the shifter cable, another $275. I firmly believe the butt heads in New Mexico screwed it up, because they had to mess with it 4 times....taking out the old transmission the first time and putting it back in, then taking that one out and putting the new transmission in. But, what do ya do? My dear father in law said that he has always said Ford stands for Fix Or Repair Daily. Hmmmmm, there just may be something to that.

So, I am not in the best of moods. But, I WILL keep a happy face on!!!! I will "Act my way to a feeling rather than feel my way to an action." I didn't break down beside the road AND I have parents who are always SO willing to help me. I have my health and my husband's and children's health.

Way back when I could afford to go to thrift stores (LOL) I bought a book entitled, "14,000 Things To Be Happy About." It is a thick little book and fun to open up at random. This morning I opened it and read this:
"An hour of loney communion with your coffee cup before communion with your fellow human beings."
Yes, I AM happy about that. ;)

On a completely different note, I fixed an awesome dish for dinner last night, if I do say so myself. It was a chicken and noodles dish. I had Don grill a few extra chicken breasts the night before and he grilled some onions, too, and I used those in this dish. I shredded the chicken and chopped the onion, about 2 cups, and boiled egg noodles. I got 6 TBLS of margararine and put that in a asuce pan along with some msuhrooms. Heated that up and added 6TBLS of flour and 1Cup of milk and stirred and heated until smooth. Added 1 2/3 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup of parmasean cheese and 1 cup of frozen peas and carrots. Added the noodles to this in a casserole dish and sprinkled parmesean cheese on top and baked for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. YUMMM! It was good. Served it up a canned crescent rolls.

I am going to go face my day now.

Back in the Routine

2007-08-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we are getting back into the school routine. Andy is still loving Mrs. Cabaniss. And Emily is adjusting to High School. So far things are going pretty well.

So, now that there is some time and distance between me and New Mexico, I have to admit, there were some fun times. Like Don commented, we watched awesome meteor showers. And the stars were beautiful. The Milky Way was so vivid. And the weather was outstanding. It would warm up to 82 degrees, then start cooling off very quickly. It was always cool enough for a campfire at night. We played Mexican Train, and taught Andy how to play Crazy Eights. Hopefully, we built some memories that our children won't soon forget.

Now we get to start packing for our annual pilgrimmage to Tushka Homma in South East Oklahoma for the Choctaw Labor Day Festival. This is always fun, and everyone in our family goes. There are always great concerts there. Charlie Daniels Band is going to be there this year, and Michael W. Smith. The worst thing about it is the heat. Wouldn't it be great if it cooled off? It usually always rains on us at some point. That is usually a good thing. And this is the one place that we go where there is no cell service and I don't care.....because everyone that I would call is right there with me! Well, with the exception of Don's mom and dad.

That's about it for me for now!

Nightmare in New Mexico....Our Lovely Vacation

2007-08-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, get a cup of coffee and get comfortable. This is going to take a while.

So, In May, we bought a used pickup, with towing a travel trailer in mind. A Ford F250 Diesel. Then about three weeks ago, we bought a 31 foot travel trailer. We decided to hit the road the week before school started. Not one of our better ideas, but it sounded good at the time.

Thursday morning we headed out to make the 9 1/2 hour drive to Coyote Creek New Mexico, about 60 miles North of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The drive was uneventful, and pretty fun (Obviously I wasn't driving.LOL). When we got there I got out to help guide Don into the parking spot for the trailer and Don got out, too, and we both just kinda gasped at the huge pool of transmission fluid on the ground. And there was a trail as far as we could see coming into the campground. There we were. A campground in the middle of nowhere, no cell service and darkness settling in. But, we were VERY grateful we made it to the campground and had the trailer hooked up with most of the comforts of home. But there was this huge black cloud hanging over our heads. I felt ill. The next morning, Don found a pay phone by the bath house and had talked to the camp host. Don called a tow truck. We have some tow insurance, so Don called the insurance company. Well, the tow truck couldn't find us. They called the insurance company(I think) But anyway someone called our house and asked Greg (who just HAPPENED to be staying at our house) if he needed a tow truck. Well of course he didn't! And they asked himif he was in New Mexico.....So he called Mom and she called my cell...but guess what?????No service. Finally after several hours the tow truck found us. I am still a little confused: We found the campground with no problem and we aren't from there...HMmmm. So they came and got the truck and Don went with them back to Las Vegas to a Ford dealership. He was gone all day, but he had left a way for me to call Mom from the pay phone and we kept in touch with Mom and each other. Don got done at about 5:30. The said it was a gasket and some other stuff...$500. Okay. We were okay, with a lot of help from Mom.

We decided to stay with the original game plan and Saturday morning we packed up to head further North to what we had heard was a very pretty part of New Mexico Sugurite Campground and Raton. For about the first 40 miles it was all very narrow and hairpin turns and uphill. We didn't notice anything wrong with the truck. But then when the road leveled out, Don said the truck wasn't shifting out of second, and we couldn't go over 30 mph. When we got to the next town we decided to stop and eat and maybe let the truck cool down and see what happened. Still, it wasn't shifting. So we made the decision to turn around and go back to Las Vegas. That took us about three hours. We went straight to the dealership, and figured it was probably closed, but thought we would try anyway. It was closed, but the service manager was still there. Don talked to him and he told us that we could stay at a local RV park and they would pay for it.

It was an RVpark/ storage company. It was um, lovely. Not a tree in the place and most of the Rvs looked like they had been there a while. Saturday night we decided we wanted cookies. I had make some cookie dough up and even shaped it into litte balls, so all we would have to do would be to take them out of the freezer and put them in the oven. Of course the cookie pan I brought was too big for the oven. No problem, I thought. I will just empty all the cookie dough out of the pan they were in.....It was one of those Glad pans that are oven-proof and disposable. We put them in the oven and a little while later Don checked them and the pan was melted!! Well, Don salvaged a few cookies out of that and gave them to Andy. But we weren't going to give up that easily. Don suggested we put them on a paper plate and move the rack up. I just looked at him.....I said, "REALLY??? On this trip you feel lucky enough to do that??" He just looked at me and agreed. I said, "Why don't you just put some in the microwave." He did. He put them in there for 99 seconds. Emily said, "That's not long enough!" I just was kinda oblivious.....until the smoke just started pouring out of the microwave. I just started laughing, you know, the laugh of a person who is loosing their mind??? My daughter was running out of the trailer having an asthma attack, and I can't help her because I am doubled over with tears streaming down my face. She got her purse out of the truck and dumped it's contents on the ground looking for her inhaler. Good thing she found it, because I was blinded with tears at this point.....we'll say it's from the smoke, but I know it was from the insane laughing fit. Oh, and by the way, apparently our smoke detector doesn't work.

We stayed there Sunday and I told Don that since he was going to be gone again all day Monday that We really needed to move somewhere that would be better for the kids. SOmeplace that I didn't feel like we would have to be locked up in the trailer all day. Since we had no internet...Don's power cord to his computer failed (surprise) so we couldn't get on the internet, Mom got on her internet and found the nearest KOA. It was only about 10 miles away. We babied the truck along and thankfully made it there. It was beautiful and the people were awesome, both the campers and the staff. Since our vacation had been "extended" we needed to do laundy, and they had laundry facilities at the campground. I washed everything thoroughly, including my cell phone. To quote Andy, "This trip just gets better and better." Only he meant it and I don't.
On Monday morning, the trailer seemed kind of hot after Don left. I noticed that the air conditioner sounded funny. It wasn't blowing. Great. I turned it off and I said something about it to the owners of the KOA as I was in the store getting change for the washers. She was very kind and asked me if ai needed any fans. At that moment the only thing I could think of that I would need a fan for was to keep the flames going as I sat MYSELF on fire! LOL It turned out that it was only frozen up. About the ONLY thing on this trip that didn't cost us money.
Andy was a trouper though the whole thing. Emily, well, she was anxious about school starting and making it to Open House so she would know what class to go to on her first day of high school. Mom and Greg ended up coming up Monday night and spending the night and taking Emily Andy and I home on Tuesday. Thanks to Mom's Bat-out-of-hell driving we even made it to Open House Tuesday night.

"So, what was wrong with the truck?" you ask? Well, it needed a new transmission, of course, you Silly Billy!! Would you think it would just be a loose bolt, or something? Of course not. Don finally got home Thursday morning at 4:30. He slept for a couple of hours and went to work.
And if you are wondering why we look so happy in the picture, it is because Emily, Andy and I are getting ready to leave. LOL.

Wonder where our next trip will be?

I hate Wal Mart!/ upcoming Trip

2007-08-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

So, I needed tires and an oil change on the truck for our trip to New Mexico tomorrow. I get up bright and early....okay bright and not THAT early, to go get stuff done, because Emily had an orthodontist appointment at 2:00. Surely I can get that done if I leave the house by 8:15. I manage to avoid Walmart in the beginning. I went to Fred's to get the tires. YAY Fred's! I didn't have to wait all that long. I was out of there by 10:15 or so. I then went to one of those quick oil change places....one on 45th and Harrison. I asked how much to change the oil, and when they said $70, I about had a heart attack! I know, it is a diesel...blah, blah, blah. I, against my better judgement, went to WalMart. I take it in there and they tell me it will be 45 minutes. I answer them with, " Do you think they will be done in 2 hours?" Seriously, when they said 45 minutes, I asked them that. They said , "Sure." AAARRGGGHHH! Why do I ever believe them? They are HORRIBLE in automotive. So, An hour and a half later, I here them call my name.....I go back there and they want me to sign a waiver.....they said there was NO oil in it. Hmmmmm, I wonder if they checked the oil BEFORE they drained it? I have no choice but to sign it, but I was just praying they didn't jack up my car and I was signing a waiver saying they didn't do it. I don't believe for a minute there was no oil. I then ran into a friend who told me they did the same thing to her. They are so dishonest. I will NEVER take my vehicle there again. Anyway, Mom came to my rescue and took Em to the orthodontist....I didn't even get out of there until 2:30 and I got there at 10:45

Okay......so we are gettting ready for our trip. I love our new trailer! Mom took me to some thrift stores and I got a comforter for our bed. I am washing it right now. I need to slice some veggies and put a few things in the fridge out there and I am done except for packing our clothes!! YAY! I think this will be awesome. I have the menus planned out and have prepared stuff. I made up some cookie dough and already portioned it out in balls and froze it. Now, if we want cookies, all we have to do is take out how ever many we want and bake them. It will be much cooler there, so firing up the oven won't be a problem. We even get to take ice cream!
Guess I'd better go finish packing up.

Just a quick update

2007-08-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

Andy is kinda getting back to his old self. No fever this week and he has gone two days without a nap. We are supposed to be getting a referral to an Otarlaryngologist (say that three times fast!), the same one who put the tubes in his ears. He is going to check out his adenoids to make sure they aren't swollen....which they probably won't be by the time we get there. But something keeps causing the fever and sleepiness....anyway, his bloodtests came back normal.

Emily has a thing next Wednesday with some other of Dr. Clark's students, at his house. He told her she didn't have to do it, that she could just listen, but that it would be good for her to do it. She said she would do it. She is so brave! I can already hear the difference in her voice. And it was really weird yesterday. She was in the middle of her voice lesson and the way she moved her head when she was singing....SHE LOOKED JUST LIKE SHERRI!!!!! It was so strange.

Guess I'd better go. I am supposed to be helping with a garage sale. BLAH. It is hot.

Poor lil guy

2007-07-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

Andy is sick again. High fever. Listless.....I hate seeing him so sick. It is quite hard on a mother's heart. He is so sweet. He doesn't complain. At least he is awake at the moment. I had to wake him to get him to drink something, and he has been sweating so much, I gave him a spongebath and he acted like that felt wonderful. I made an appointment with his doctor for Thursday. Hopefully we will figure out what is causing this fever to keep coming back.

Emily went to Dr. Clark yesterday for her second voice lesson. I got to go in with her. He told her she had a very mature voice for a girl her age and that she had a very good foundation in music and good posture. She does have a good voice...of course I am Mom and it means nothing when I say it. LOL.

A visit with Amelia

2007-07-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I was on my way to Mom's when I saw Amelia, watering her flowers. I decided to stop by and visit. I got the garden tour, which was beautiful and inspiring. I was reminded of something very important during tht visit....Stop and smell the roses, sometimes, literally! It was such a refreshing visit. She gave me a beautiful plant, that I had already forgotten the name of before I got to Mom's, but I remember it now: Swedish Ivy! Mom and Sherri were quite jealous, so I told them about Amelia's, and to get their own! LOL. She gave me some starts of something else, but I can't remember what they are, except they are so pretty. It was a great visit. Remind me to do that more often.

The older I get, the more I appreciate flowers and plants. Maybe it is an appreciation of life, or maybe it is just the awesomeness of the ability to plant something with your own two hands and watch it grow. We give them water and an appropriate home, be it sun or shade, and they give us beauty in return.

Today

2007-07-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine what I'll post about, so I guess I'll just start typing.

Emily is going to vocal camp at OBU this afternoon. She has been looking forward to it. She will be there until Saturday, and then they perform a concert. She fell off her horse last week and twisted her ankle and hurt her hip, but that seems to be better now. At least she is walking without crutches. It is amazing how fast young people heal.....Wait, did I just say that? Ugh.

Andy got bored with us, so he asked to go see Uncle Greg. He has stayed with Uncle Greg a lot this summer.....so, in order to give Greg a break, we told Andy he had to wait for an invitation.....so he wanted to call Greg and get an invitation. LOL....He finally asked if he could go to Popeye and Granny's and I told him he needed an invitation there, and he looked at me like I had three heads! He knows he doesn't need an 'inbitation' to go there! So he went there last night. He has been living the gypsy life this summer, migrating from our house, to Granny's, to Aunt Sherri's to Uncle Greg's. When we bore him he moves on. Evidently, we bore him a lot.
That's pretty much my life right now, and I love it!

----"Fall seven times, stand up eight.----Japanese Proverb

Emily and Aunt Sherri's Day of Beauty

2007-07-09T08:04:00.001-07:00

Before

AFTER

So, Emily has wanted black and blue hair for, like ever!LOL. Who better to take her to get that done than her Aunt Sherri. I wasn't crazy about the idea, but it is just hair, right? It will grow out, right? Well, much to my surprise I actually like it. She is a lot like Sherri, in that they could both stick their heads under lawn mowers and still come out beautiful. They get up in the morning looking better than I do after I labor over my hair. I have to wash, blow dry and curl my hair every morning just to keep from looking like I belong in the bowels of some jail cell. LOL.....Yesssss, but I bake a MEAN lasagna. ;)

Happy Groundhog Day

2007-02-02T04:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Groundhog Day everyone! I don't kow if he'll see his shadow or not, but BRRR! I went to let Zelda, the dog, out this morning and the screen was frozen shut.
Andy's class is celebrating the letter of the week today; The letter P. He gets to wear his pajamas and they are having pancakes for breakfst and popcorn and a movie (Pinnochio, of course) this afternoon. He is excited about wearing his pajamas.
Emily has been working on her vocal music for contest, Feb. 20. I get to go to that! YAY. She said I could even be in the room when she performs. I don't know how many things that she is doing....I know she is doing a duet with Tyler. I can't wait to hear that. Ya know, it takes a real MAN to sing in middle school. :)
So glad today is Friday.
Have a warm, safe weekend.
Happy Birthday Granddaddy.

Lisa

Here goes...

2007-02-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, guess I'll see how this works.
For the first time in my life, I am at a loss for words....so I'll post more later.