TENNESSEE Y'ALL

We are now arrived for the second, third, forty-fifth??? leg of Boyer Vay-Cay 2008.

I have seen lovely woodsy mountains and the Best Water Tower Ever. (no that isn't a typo)

Shortly after we crossed the Tennesse (or maybe it was Kentuckey, long car rides affect my memory) at any rate we saw this huuuuge water tower that was apparently in at town called Florence. Painted in very large bold letters on the water tower was: FLORENCE Y'ALL!!

Unfortunately I could not grab my camera fast enough to get a picture.

So naturally after that we had to address everything with y'all tacked on. I think we threw in a few Flo kiss my grits jokes in for good measure too.

This is how BH and I entertain ourselves on a long car ride.

Trip stats so far:

Driving time: 20 hours
Fast food meals consumed: Blearrrghhhh!
States driven through: 7
States with references to Lincoln on their welcome sign: 3
Nights children have gone to bed ridiculously late: how many have we been gone?
Children who are overtired and grumpy today: 2
Arguments between children in the back seat: 0!!! (there are things to be said about portable DVD players and travelling with grandma and grandpa)
Time spent shopping: 1 hour, but watch out tomorrow...Tanger Outlet here I come! I am looking for some bargains and then I am headed out to one of...
Number of pools at resort: 4!!!

Ciao babies!

On the road with the Babble Crew

The very first leg of Babble Vay-Cay 2008 is complete!

It was the shortest of all the legs, but who am I to discriminate?

We got on the road EARLIER THAN PLANNED.

Let me say that one more time.

WE GOT ON THE ROAD EARLIER THAN PLANNED!!!!!!

Lemme tell you that N-E-V-E-R happens.

Our first stop Collinsville, Illinois.

Why there? Because it is just past St. Louis and we won't have to deal with that traffic when we hit the road for the second leg which would be the rest of the way to Ohio.

We got here with just enough time to have a shower, story and get the kids into bed on time...ish.

We are spending the night in the always "posh" Super-8 Motel. Clean, cheap, and free wi-fi.

I just wish our bed was larger.

By about two sizes.

We have a king size bed at home and tonight will be spending the night in a full size bed.

Hope BH doesn't get too upset if I accidentally send him flying in the middle of the night.

I tend to be a little wild in my sleep.

I am not sure what kind of beds await us for the rest of the trip.

Hopefully larger.

I think I am road weary and need to go to sleep. Long car ride ahead.

I'll try and find something to take picture of for the next post.

I MUST CHILL

It is no wonder that we so seldom take vacations. If we took more of them I would likely have an ulcer roughly the size of Tennessee.

Preparing/Packing for a long vacation seems to make me terribly anxious. Because in my crazy little head I seem to have the idea that if anything is forgotten once we are AWAY FROM HOME it is lost to me forever. No place else has grocery/drug/department stores where I can purchase any item that is left behind.

See....I can go to the crazy place oh so very very easily.

What is really dumb is that truly the only thing we could possibly leave behind that we can not find a replacement for if we needed it is my glasses. And really the worst that would happen if I left my glasses at home....well it might mean that I leave my contacts in longer if I want to read before bed. OOOHHHhhh the horror!

Still I get all kinds of crazy uptight as we prepare to leave our home for 10 days. Leaving work is a bit anxiety provoking too....I want to make sure that I leave as clean a slate as possible because just like I hate coming home to a dirty house after vacation the LAST thing I want is to come back to work and face a pile of unfinished tasks. Catching up on all that has gone on with my clients during my absence is enough thankyouverymuch.

Oh to add salt to the gaping wound of anxiety I carry around these last two days before we leave....today the dishwasher started making a terrible sound when we turned it on. SPECTACULAR! Because there is nothing more I want to do than spend a few hundred bucks on dishwasher repair right as I am about to leave on a VERRRRYYY long car ride with gas prices hovering around 4.00 a gallon.

Also I do not want to wash/dry/put away two loads of dishes. That is why they are neatly stacked on the counter until all is fixed (Oh lord please please let it be fixed. I will make all kinds of ridiculous promises to see that this dishwasher is fixed before we leave) tomorrow.

Have I mentioned that I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY hate washing dishes?

Please prepare for a slight digression here......

As soon as I was tall enough to reach the sink while standing on a stool (not as young as you might think because I was a skinny shrimpy thing as a child) it was my chore to wash dishes every evening. We had no dishwasher (other than me) and there were five of us in the family, so there were a pretty fair number of dishes to be washed every evening. Every evening without fail I would make many attempts to get out of the dreaded chore. EVERY EVENING I put my parents through this. I am nothing if not persistant.

At one point not too long in to my dish washing career I developed an allergy to the dish soap. Oh I wish we had owned a video camera so that I could post right here for you the dance of joy I did upon discovery of this allergy. It was inspired I tell you. The finest Prima Ballerina could not have equalled the glory of this dance of pure unadulterated joy.

However my joy bubble was burst by my ever resourceful mother who promptly went out and bought me my very own pair of yellow Playtex rubber gloves to wear while doing dishes. No amount of complaining about the gloves being too big could make her see my way. (Even as an adult the small size rubber gloves are a tad too large. I have teeny tiny baby sized hands.)

I did not come to know the bliss that is having a dishwasher until well into adulthood. Once I had a hit of the DW I was gone, and have vowed in my dress made of living room drapes, "AS GOD IS MY WITNESS I SHALL NEVER BE WITHOUT A DISHWASHER AGAIN!!!!!"

And that my friends is why those dishes sit on my counter until repairs are made.

Amen.

We just need to let Harmonix know where to send the check

Last week on two different evenings we had friends over for dinner.

Both evenings we spent time after dinner introducing our friends to the kick-assedness that is Rockband on our Playstation.

Within a week both had gone out and purchased their own game.

Never let it be said that we don't influence others to spend money like we do.

Rock on my friends.

Rock. On.

Nope....no titles in me today

I don't have a well organized post in my head so let's have an installment of things Missy has been thinking about....

• If it is said that increasing domestic oil drilling will not have an immediate impact on gas prices (No Shit???) but all these damn politicians keep making a huge deal about it...then why are we not making a bigger deal about finding energy alternatives, increasing public transportation and things like that. None of those things will have an immediate impact on gas prices either, but they sure seem important to me. Perhaps I am just comparing apples and oranges here...but it is what I have been thinking about so it needs to be here.
• What can I do to truly make myself go to bed at a decent hour and wake up when I am supposed to on a regular basis. Is this a futile dream?
• Is my current fascination with Facebook an easy way to feel like I am "socializing" so that I can avoid the effort involved with true socializing?
• I could really go for some ice cream.
• I need to spend less time on the computer and more time on those nagging little tasks that I keep meaning to take care of...mending clothes, organizing photos from my Disney World vacation 4 years ago, take up crocheting again...oh how the list goes on.
• I need my tomatoes to get ripe right now.
• When did it become so difficult to choose presents for my parents?
• I allowed #2 to cut her hair short, and to try and grow out her bangs. She looks a lot like a very young Meg Ryan now. I wish that we had not taken her hair quite so short, and I hope those bangs grow out fast or she tires of having them in her face quickly....
• Sometimes you have to make a very concerted effort to draw out your child who likes to hole up in her room and read for hours.

I think that is enough for now.

Now YOU tell me what YOU have been thinking about.

I made peach cobbler!

Should be going to bed, but our quilt is still damp in the dryer so I may as well blog if I am going to be up for awhile.

I know that you want to know the story of our dirty quilt so let me tell it to you.

We kept noticing these odd...spots I guess you would call them all over our quilt. It is black so the spots had to be funky if they were visible. We were quite perplexed about what was causing these odd stains.

That is until we watched tiny kitty sneeze and blow snot on said quilt. Mystery solved and eeeww!

Can a cat have seasonal allergies? Because this cat sneezes all the damn time and we clean up a lot of cat snot. Perhaps it is time to take her to the vet again. This cat is gonna have to find work soon if this shit keeps up.

On to more pleasant topics.

I made a peach cobbler tonight! It was very good for a first cobbler I thought. I have been eyeing the baskets of fresh peaches at the Farmers Market for a few weeks now and decided last Saturday to buy some. I have had a craving for peach pie like my grandma makes, but pie is a lot of effort when you insist on making the crust from scratch, so I opted for the slightly less labor intensive cobbler. I think peeling and slicing four cups of peaches counts as laboring, hence the use of slightly here. Totally worth the effort I must say.

Made it through

Whew.

Made it.

No dramatic events.

Perhaps next year my outlook for the 4th will be better now that I have had a positive experience.

So tonight we are off to KC to go to the Drive-in movie!!

I am pretty darn excited as are the children. When I was a kid we went to the drive-in faithfully every Saturday. It was like our church.

Maybe that is why we never were regular churchgoers.

Up too late the night before.

I think maybe it was worth it.

(Did anyone else see that lightning??)

May you too have a drama-free Forfin July

Things are laid back here at Chez Us on this very fine Forfin July Day. We have slept in, exercised, baked cookies, and generally had a nice time.

Now I hope this trend continues until the day is done.

I was NOT looking forward to the holiday this year. In fact I ignored it until forced to deal with it by needing to accept an invitation for some holiday activities.

I was dreading it because the past two have in a word...sucked.

Two years ago the day was spent attending BH's grandmother's funeral.

Last year...we arrived at my brother's house for some fireworks fun only to find that my parents had just left the gathering to take my dad to the hospital because they believed (and were right) that he was having a heart attack.

So yeah....not so much fun happening.

This year will be different I tell you!

I demand it!!

Nothing but fun and happiness.

I will stand for nothing less.