the rest of the story/trip

After we finished eating at Goldie’s, we hit the road again and made it into hub’s hometown by dinnertime. We checked into our hotel and went over to see his folks for a while. We made plans for the following morning to have brunch and headed on back to the hotel.

The next morning, I decided we’d go to Kmart… I know that sounds silly… but we don’t have one.. and it was just for kicks. I got Boo a cute top on clearance and we left. We also took a bit of a site seeing detour and drove through the national cemetery that’s in hub’s hometown.

After our five minute drive through of the cemetery, we headed over to hub’s folks house, since it was still way too early for brunch. Boo told me she had a headache, so I passed her a Walmart brand Tylenol and didn’t think that much more of it. Shortly after, something made me turn around and she was NOT lookin’ good. And then it hit me, she was so out of it because she was about to throw up. RED ALERT. We were just coming to a corner, and I started unlocking doors and trying to get out of the van almost before it stopped. Of course I was very coherent during this time…pullover, pullover, pullover…openthedoor, openthedoor, openthedoor. And then getout, getout, getout. I have this ‘thing’ about not wanting throw up in my van. But I was able to get her out in time to um..ya know.

I got her back in the van, we both freshened up a tad, and we headed back to the hotel while calling to cancel brunch. Hubs went to Target for gatorade, hand sanitizing soap, chicken noodle soup.. ya know.. the sick staples. And I put Boo back to bed and we both waited. On ya know.

And ya know what…nothing happened. And she and I wached a movie on the Disney channel and then we all went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. And she was fine. Go figure. (we think she had a reaction to the H1N1 vaccine that she got less than 48 hours prior, but really have no way of knowing for sure.) But needless to say, we were thrilled that she felt fine.

Come to find out, the grands know who lives in the house we um ‘visited’. Awkwaaaard. Sorry ‘bout that.

The next morning we decided to run by Target and get a gingerbread house for Boo and her cousin to put together…with the help of hubs. Cousin had never done one and they had a good time.

It is being propped up on the left side there… it was sliding apart. Probably should have waited for the cement icing to dry before decorating, but we the kids were in a hurry. We added the sign at the end. It’s not going to win any ribbons, but the kids had fun and that’s what counts. We left it there and she can pop off the candy and eat it til Christmas.

The next morning, it was time to come back home. We were all tired, but ready to get back. We made it back in time to get the mail and this one…

…and then we were all home sweet home. : )

Goldie’s

So I left you hanging yesterday with us eating lunch at an icon.  Well, there is a restaurant that holds a special place on the hub’s side of the family. 

It’s called Goldie’s.  There are several locations in Tulsa, but this is the favorite one of the family.  Hub’s parents ate there in their early marriage days until they moved away.  And we used to eat there when we would visit family in Tulsa.  Now that those family members are no longer with us, trips to Goldie’s are few and far between. But we made it into town at the right time to have us a great diner burger….

…. and eat pickles from the pickle bar! 

Our waitress was an older lady that called everybody honey or shoog and seemed to know every face that came in the door.  There are counter service stools that run the length of the place, and then a row of booths that run the length of the windows on the other side. And then a bigger ‘dining room’ at the end.  And nothing has changed in all the years we’ve eaten there.  The walls have ‘vintage’ gold colored ceramic tiles on them and everything is very just a little worn.

It was like being in our own episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives!

Hubs has great memories of making pickle sandwiches out of crackers and silly things like that with his siblings when they were young and he passed that knowledge on to Miss Boo while we were there.  Fun.

We actually got a Goldie’s in one of the suburbs near us, a few months before we lost Bub. We used to eat there with him, and of course, he loved it just like we do.  The day of Bub’s memorial, we were asked where we would like to eat for dinner that night, and hubs and I both called out Goldie’s. 

We had eaten there so often we became known as regulars.  They had gotten to know our little man and missed him with us when we ate there in the months to come.  Unfortunately the place folded, which is not uncommon for things in the well-to-do area they tried to make a go of it in.  We drive past where Goldie’s used to be sometimes.  It’s a very elegant fine dining establishment now.  But we’ve never been in.  It just wouldn’t be the same.

over the river and through the woods…

…. to Grandmother’s house we go!

We decided last Friday morning (a week ago) before Boo went to school that we would go to Missouri to visit hub’s folks THE NEXT DAY. Yes, we are gluttons for punishment to pack and try to pull off something like that in one day.

But I got everything ready and we were able to swing it.

We drive through Oklahoma on the way….making the over the river and through the woods part a little incorrect. It’s more like cows and casinos… with a little lake thrown in every now and then, but I guess that doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?! My apologies if you live in the wonderful state of Oklahoma, as I’m sure there are some lovely things there, but for those of us just traveling through, it’s just a whole lotta nothing. And did I mention it’s pretty flat as well? And kinda desolate? Makes for a thrilling all day drive. Just sayin’.

I could do a whole post on getting ready to hit the road Saturday morning. We had to take the cat to the vet to board. And she was beginning to catch wind of this fact while we were moving suitcases into the living room Saturday morning. Usually I snatch her up and put her in the bathroom while we get ready so we don’t have to get her out from under the bed. But I messed up and she didn’t make it into the bathroom. But she did make it under the deepest recesses of the bed. Did I mention it’s king sized? We pretty much had to take the bed apart in order to get her out. But we finally succeeded and we were able to get on the road…. thirty minutes late!

I started to take a picture of her under the bed, but figured I’d better leave well enough alone and move on with poking and prodding to get her out of there. Hubs mentioned that this would make excellent blog fodder, and it looks like he’s correct, since I’ve just decided this is enough for one post! LOL

Next post… lunch at a family icon in Tulsa!

another nerd ad

This commercial makes me giggle every. single. time. I see it.  Hope you enjoy!

Have a great weekend, y’all!

same time last year

I was getting myself some tea this morning and decided to drink it out of a special mug.  This one. 

Yes, there’s Mickey.  You can barely see him.. he’s so tiny.  But he’s not the only one on the mug.  Here, let me zoom in a little bit…

There’s Walt too.  Standing there on the left with his hands in his pockets looking down at Mickey on Main Street.  Isn’t that just the cutest thing ever?!  Drinking out of this mug got me to thinking.

Last year on this day, I was feverishly washing and packing.  We were heading to Disney in a couple of days, bright and early.  OK, it wasn’t that bright. It was actually still dark out when we left, but you know what I mean. 

We were excited! 

This year.  Not so much.  We aren’t doing a single thing.  We’re all very tired and stressed out from work and school and we’re staying home.  It’s a little sad.  Last year, we had all these plans… where we would stay… what we would eat… which park on what day. So many things to see, do and experience. 

And then this year. Not so much. 

It will be the normal, quiet holiday it always is for us.  But my thoughts may be far away this coming week. 

*You can check out all my diary entries from our trip under the ‘travel’ label on my blog.

Random Dozen #12

 

1. If you could master one sport, what would it be?  I have no idea.  Maybe something like swimming.  I’m not really into water stuff. 

2. When you make a major purchase, do you go with your gut instinct, or do you do research to make an informed decision?  Research.  Lots of it!

3. There is an old kids' game that says you can find out what your movie star name would be by using your middle name as your first name and the name of the street you grew up on as your last. What is your movie star name? I”m not tellin’.  : )

4. Would you rather give up your favorite music or your favorite food?  Seeing as how I eat three or more times a day and mostly just listen to music in the van, I guess I’ll say music. But then again… God has used music so much to bring me to Himself, so I guess I’ll say music.  Oh wait… that’s both.  Hmmm…!

5. There are two types of banana preferences. One is pristine yellow, almost to the point of being green; the other is spotty and more ripe. Which is your preference?  I like to eat the pretty yellow one, but sometimes it gives me a tummy ache.  So I watch it for the first signs of going south and grab it and eat it before it goes all ugly.  But have no fear… if it goes ugly on me, I’ll just make banana bread!

6. Your favorite tree is?  I don’t really know a lot about trees. But I’ll say magnolia, because they’re pretty.  And they look so beautiful with those huge white blooms.

7. On a scale of 1-10, how tech savvy are you? Ha!  How about a two.  I can surf the web, do email, blog, twit tweet etc. But if I have ANY problems, I have to call in the hubs to bail me out. And he’s got to teach me EVERY new thing that rolls around.  And I’m a slow learner. He really loves hearing me say “tell me again how to….”  Lovely.

8. Has H1N1 touched your family?  Not yet. I’m hoping to be able to take the girl and I to a county clinic (only places available to the public in my county right now) this Friday to get the vaccine though. 

9. Are you an analytical person, or do you just accept things the way they are without questioning or scrutinizing? I dunno… I guess I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about things.. sometimes over analyzing.

10. Is your personality more like that of a dog, cat, or Koala?  I have no idea. Probably a dog.

11. Do you keep in touch with friends you made years ago?  It depends.  As a young adult, perhaps. But high school etc.. forget it.

12. You are checking out at a grocery store. In the express lane, there are more people than the regular lanes, but of course, their load is less than those in the regular lanes. Which lane do you choose (assuming you qualify for the express lane) and why?  I give it the once over, because one full cart that’s full but unloading and getting checked quickly can be done faster than several people with a few things.  It just takes longer to pay and bag and greet and all that junk over and over. I just have to see how it all looks.  I prefer self checkout and those are usually not as crowded.  When I used to shop Kroger, I tried to always do self checkout. Even when I had $125 worth of stuff. I was a pro and could balance my entire ticket on the little platform thingy. But Walmart’s self checkout thing is so small, there is only room for the two bag holder things.  BUT they are much faster at checking me out at Walmart than they were at Kroger.

I could write a whole post on some of the dumb experiences I’ve had at Kroger. One day… I was starting to put my groceries on the belt and the checker was just standing there. I asked her if she was going to start checking my groceries.  She told me no, because she had to wait until all my groceries were on the belt, because she was timed by how long it took her to check my stuff.  I just stared back at her like, you’ve got to be kidding me,   I guess Kroger doesn’t ‘time’ the part where she stands there doing nothing BEFORE she starts checking them, then?!  *stick a fork in me, I’m done*  Yeah…not long after that, I moved my business over to Walmart.  I can get in and out faster and the isles aren’t crowded with displays.

To see other riveting bits of info like all the wonderfulness you’ve read here today, head on over to Linda’s place at 2nc Cup.

cold kitty

So we’ve had a little cold snap. 

It just makes me want to stay in…

and curl up under a blanket.

I guess I’m not the only one.  : )

banana bread!

So the other day after I figured out how not so smart I am, I started looking around the house.

I had all of this stuff….

Some of these….

(And some flour, sugar,salt and eggs.) So I decided to make some of this…

And when it was still a little warm cooled, I cut it up and ate some and put it in a freezer bag for later.

As always, it was delicious! : )

I had been hunting high and low for a ‘good’ recipe…one that wasn’t just loaded with shortening etc. And then I found a great recipe on Food Network’s website. It’s a snap to put together and it halves easily… ‘cause ya know… sometimes you’ve only got two bananas layin’ around instead of four or five. This recipe has never let me down!

I'm linking this post to Saturday Stirrings at FiddleDeeDee.

not so smart

So sometimes I think I’m just pretty stupid not so smart.  I did the Random Dozen thingy yesterday, and the last question was:

12. True story: Once, in a job interview, I was asked this question and told there would be no clarifying; I simply had to answer the question: “When you’re fishing, do you feel for the fish?” So what about you? Do you feel for the fish??

You know how sometimes you can read a sentence and because of structure or some unknown factor, you just can’t seem to read it correctly or inflect it correctly in your own head so that the sentence makes sense.  So… I kept staring at that question and for the life of me, couldn’t figure out what she was talking about.  feeling for the fish???  I kept thinking feeling around in the water.  What would be up with that?  So I pretty much just skipped that one.  I even talked in comments on somebody else’s blog about how my daughter’s class went on a field trip and they went fishing and the leader guy told them it was CPR fishing.  Catch. Picture and Release.  And how I felt SORRY for the fish because I didn’t want them to die while the kids rinky dinked around with them.  So I guess I did answer the question, just not here. And no, I still didn’t get the question, even while I was answering it somewhere else. Later, it hit me and I just kept saying DUH. 

So there ya go. My pretty stupid not so smart inner workings.

Random Dozen #11

1. What was the last song you listened to? I thought I was going to say that I didn’t know, but then I heard We Will Rock You coming out of my daughter’s iPod this morning. I have no idea why. lol

2. Have you ever had “buyer’s remorse” over anything? Yes, I did once on a car, but ended up loving it. Bought it just before hubs and I started dating. It was a red Honda Civic back when that model wasn’t the size of a tuna can. We drove the wheels off that car. And again on a house we signed the deal on probably a year after our son died. We couldn’t do it and pulled out of the deal. I am so thankful we did. I think about that all the time. It just wasn’t for us…and we just weren’t ready to let go of the house we ALL lived in.

3. What is something in your life that you are thankful for now that you didn’t think you would be at the time of the event? (Something that seemed ill-timed, inconvenient or hurtful which turned out to be a good thing) There was tremendous growth during the time our son was ill. Not necessarily thankful for the situation, but thankful for all I learned through it.

4. Do you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade every year? If so, do you have a favorite float or balloon? Nope. Don’t watch.

5. Share a quote, scripture, poem or lyric which has been an inspiration to you lately. When I was doing the Beth Moore study for a little while, she made a comment during one of the videos she said “may there never be a rock that has to cry out in my place”. I think we should all feel that way.

6. This is meant to be a fun question, and this is a G-rated blog, but please share a “guilty pleasure,” something that you enjoy that’s probably not the most edifying, time-worthy or healthy thing you could be indulging in. Did I mention this blog is rated G? Hmmm too much tv, overeating. How’s that?!

7. What Thanksgiving food are you looking forward to? Dressing! My mom taught me how to make it, thankfully. And it’s so good. And interestingly, it’s Paula Deen’s basic dressing recipe, almost to the T. I kinda got a kick out of that when I noticed it for the first time. I use biscuits instead of bread and I use the cornbread recipe on Aunt Jemima cornbread packages… because that’s what my mama told me to do. I do skip out on adding shortening to the skillet though. I just spray it with non stick spray. Oh yes, I also skip the celery. : p

8. What is your favorite book to read to children, or what was your favorite childhood book? Gosh, I have no idea. The kids had a children’s Bible and we read that to both of our kids. Especially loved reading it to our son, because he was so animated during the stories and would act everything out. Very funny and very cute. A bit poignant to think of that now, as I can also recall when he was too sick to do it anymore.

9. Do you collect anything? (Feel free to post a photo.) When I was little, I collected mouse things…stuffed animals, figurines, just about anything with a mouse on it. I have a ton of mouse Christmas ornaments. And lots of other things. I even had some bigger things. Eventually I decided a grown up should not have that sort of thing all over the place and I got rid of most of it. I only have a couple of them out now and they’re small and I’m pretty much the only one that notices them.

This is on my window ledge at the sink. The one on the left is a candle topper.

Had relatives that went through the ceramics phase in the 70’s and I received this as a gift. It’s above my kitchen cabinets…and yes I stood on a stool to take this picture.

No… this is not a dead mouse. Although it sorta looks like one. I am not exactly sure what it’s made out of, but it has certainly not aged well, let’s put it that way. It has fur on the outside, that I’m thinking might have been real fur of some sort. But this was my favorite toy when I was a kid. I had a cousin with one of these and also a little friend had one, and we would play “mousie” I got together with either of them. She had a little bed and little toys and it was like we were playing doll house, but with our mousies. I know.. strange. But hello.. I’ve still got her. She lives in a little cedar chest on my dresser.

10. Gift bags or wrapping paper? Both. If it’s not a square and I can’t figure out how to wrap it, it goes in a bag. And also, if I want to hide it’s shape, which is frequent with a kid in the house, then sometimes I’ll go for the gift bag… or a bigger box.

11. Share an after-school memory from when you were younger. What was your routine like on an average day? Snack, homework and play. I remember I never got to watch Truth or Consequences with Bob Barker at 4pm. My dad was coming home from work, so I always had to turn it off.

12. True story: Once, in a job interview, I was asked this question and told there would be no clarifying; I simply had to answer the question: “When you’re fishing, do you feel for the fish?” So what about you? Do you feel for the fish?? As always, there is always a curve ball question that I have no idea what it means, and this is the one for this week. I have no idea!

To see how everyone else answered these burning questions, head over to 2nd Cup and check it out.

not much to tell

Hi. I feel like I don’t have much to share. Life is just plugging along. And I’m not getting out much these days. It hit me last night that I haven’t put up a post in a week… probably close to some sort of record or something. Not that it matters to a hill of beans. But whatever.

I woke up yesterday morning at 4am and immediately started thinking about and praying for Stellan. I have been worried sick about him. And I waited… along with a zillion other people, for the news that came at the end of the day yesterday. His ablation went perfectly! I was so relieved.

I’m glad they got their miracle. (he is still a bit in the woods with another issue, but his heart is doing wonderfully)

That was my bright spot yesterday. So much so that I was bubbling over to talk about it when hubs got home. And even though he’s a compassionate person, he’s not drawn as deeply into ‘my internet stories’. But he humored me anyway.

And today…laundry. And more laundry. And a little Sam’s Club thrown in, just for funzies. How about you?

who are you going to be?

What’s the question kids get asked this time of year? That’s right, who are you going to be? I can’t remember very many things I ‘was’ growing up for Halloween. I know I was never all that thrilled with the costumes, no matter what they were.

Because they were just costumes. Not the real thing.

And no matter what I wore, it didn’t change who I was.

But the question still begs to be asked, even as an adult. Who are you going to be? Who am I going to be? Am I going to be the busy mom that doesn’t stop long enough to spend time with God? Or am I going to strive to be the person God wants me to be?

Not that I can make myself into anything or recreate myself, for it’s God who is at work in me, for His good pleasure. But still, I can be a negative spirit by not submitting to the urgings of God to stop and listen to what He wants me to do and how He wants to go about recreating me.

And the two most important ways that comes about is by prayer and reading His word. So see, I have to actively say, yes I am going submit to these activities, and in so doing, submit to the One who wants to live in me and recreate me into His image.

So back to the question…who am I going to be?

This is who I want to be.

This is the picture I have hanging above my fireplace. The first time I saw her, I wanted to be her. And I knew God wanted me to be her.

I love her so much. Sometimes I just sit and stare at her. She’s beautiful to me. Not just the picture itself, which is just a signed print, but her. She’s praying and she has her Bible open… because reading His word and prayer go hand in hand. I can’t really experience one without the other. They form a union that binds me to Himself.

And bring me to be who He is recreating me to be.

Her.