Happy Weekend

Just dropping in to say -

Have a safe weekend

AND

If you are goingt to brave Christmas shopping,

here's hoping you find some sweet deals.

 

That is all.

 

It's A Blustery Day Outside

I just got home from shopping.

Can I just tell you....

It's storming like a mother outside.

It about blew me over.

I don't want to complain too much

because I love rain -

just not when I'm trying to get some

important shopping done!

 

It was either chance the elements and go shopping now,

or wait and deal with weekend Christmas shoppers.

 

Rain and wind win any day!

Forgot

Just watching Great Expectations,
and forgot how much I love the soundtrack.

Sunshower by Chris Cornell

You Might Be a Redneck If...

You use a tree and a hammer to fix your daughter's car.
 

Using the tree as part of a pulley system.

They are bending the bumper back in.

See the hammer at the front of the car.

They used it as a wedge, not a hammer.

Passenger side airbag.

They got that fixed fine.

Driver's side airbag.

Ya, they are going to duct tape it down.

I'm living in hillbilly heaven.

Bubba supervising the activities.

So...

Redneck or what?

A Walk Around the House

On my few days off, I decided to 

walk around our property and take some pictures.

There isn't a lot in bloom, 

but I captured some pretty cool pics

 (especially considering it's fall).

Pretty leaves

Some wild plant with dew on it.

Can you see it?

You have to look pretty close.

A path below our house looking up.

Sunflare captured while walking on our road.

Wild berries from a random tree.

Tulip tree.

Hydrangea dying out.

I still love those colors - 

I don't care if it is dying.

Blurry picture of a white flower.

A few of our little roses are still blooming.

Super vibrant aren't they?

So do you walk around YOUR house taking random photos?

Enjoying Life

The fam and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

There was plenty of food, and the wine ran freely!

Here are a couple of the highlights.

The dinner table, minus the food (and people).

My dad asking, 

"Why does your camera flash 5 times before taking a picture?"

Todd enjoying the football game.

My mom and I mugging it.

What you can't see is that we both have wine glasses in our hands,

and it took probably 10 previous pictures

 to get one where we looked decent.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the kids

 because I was helping with the meal,

so Alexxa was the designated picture taker.

Austin, he just slept like 4 hours straight!

I also didn't get any pictures of the food because I was too busy eating.

Hey, it's Thanksgiving, what do you want?

So, did you have a nice Thanksgiving with too much food and wine?

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Hope you enjoy your time with friends and family.

 

 

Giving Thanks

It's a wonderful time of the year.

A time when you can contemplate what is important to you.

Here are a couple of things that I am thankful for this year.

1.  My wonderful husband. 

     He is the rock of our family. 

When we are all falling apart and need guidance,

 he is the one that we all turn to. 

He is also a kind and loving person.

2.  Awesome kids. 

     They are hard working, intelligent and all around great! 

Plus, they love their mama.

3.  The rest of my family (in-laws included). 

      I have the best family - ever!

  They are very supportive of everything

 and they are also great at spoiling me!

 

4.  The puppies.

     They make me smile on a daily basis.  

What would we do without all this entertainment?

5.   A job.

      During these difficult economic times,

I am happy to say that I still have a job and am also

able to enjoy some of the little things in life-

like going out to dinner with my hubby and kids.

There is just so much to give thanks for this year.  I am truly blessed.

So what are you thankful for?

On a Happier Note

Still haven't heard on Alexxa's car,

but I will update you guys when I find out.

Enough of the stressful stuff...

On to the important stuff -

like birthday parties!

We celebrate Dennis' birthday this last Sunday,

and we did mine as well.

I know, my actual birthday was a couple months ago,

but we had a hard time all getting together.

It was so yummy!

Anne made roast and chicken with green beans, potatoes,

and rolls.

I had to control myself and only had one helping!

(Yay me)

I didn't get a picture, of course, because I was too busy eating.

BAD BLOGGER!

When dinner was done, we moved on to dessert and gifts.

As always, both Dennis and I were spoiled.

Our families are always so thoughtful,

we are all very fortunate.

Me serving up my strawberry birthday pie.

And, why yes my thumb is red -

what about it?

Anne (on the left) is the one who slaved away making the delicious meal.

A shot of part of the gang.

A shot of most of the rest of the gang.

Dennis, the real birthday boy.

Isn't the alligator he got for his birthday adorable.

You put them in your pond, and they float around and scare everyone.

After the celebration, some people went 

outside to check out Dennis' pond.

The kids and I took this opportunity to make fools of ourselves.

Me and my boy.

Check out the facial hair he's got going on.

He grows it for Mo-vember, and then he cuts it off in December.

The girl and I being crazy.

What's new?

We tend to really crack ourselves up.

It was a fun evening and it was great to get everyone together

even if it was only for a few hours.

So, are your relatives as awesome as mine?

Do you do dumb photos with your kids?

Not More Car Problems!

I got a call from the girl today.
You know, the one where you know something is wrong.
She ended up hitting a buck while driving in the fast lane.
It jumped the median and landed right in front of her car.

She couldn't turn left because she would have hit the median.
She couldn't turn right because there were cars in the next lane.
She couldn't slam on her brakes because there were cars behind her.
Her only option was to hit the deer going 65 mph.
Boy did it do some damage.

Todd and I went with her to drop the car off at the collision repair shop,
and we are awaiting damage estimates.
My guess is....
not good.
As far as damage, I'm guessing it surpasses the cost of the car =
Totalled.
We'll see though.

Cross your fingers that it just looks worse than it really is.

Happy Weekend

 

Nuff said!

 

Have a great one.

Sun Diego - Continued Again

Todd and I had another fabulous dinner at the The Fish Market.

I did manage to remember to get a couple pictures this time.

We started off dinner with a smoked salmon/tuna appetizer.

They also had fresh bread to start off dinner.

 

When the main courses came out, we just about passed out.

We couldn't believe the size of the meals.

Todd ordered the seafood cioppino -

it came in a humungous bowl.

 

See!

A picture of the bowl next to Todd for referrence.

Look at his face!

Priceless.

 

I freaked when I saw what was included in Todd's

cioppino...a little tiny squid/octopus?

Not sure what exactly it is,

but it was pretty creepy looking.

On the bright side, Todd said it was delicious.

 

I ordered the breaded tilapia.

I didn't take a picture for reference, but I can tell you

those two pieces were humungous.

 

The dinner was so yummy, and we were so full afterwards

that we decided to take a little walk.

There were some neat sculptures,

so we decided to see what they were all about.

Ends up that the sculptures were dedicated to Bob Hope.

They were big bronze sculptures

and they were playing audio from one of his times

entertaining the troops.

Bob Hope entertaining the troops.

A close up of Bob.

This was such a great memorial.

I'm really glad we happened to stumble across it.

 

Before the night ended, we had to take self portraits.

 

So....with the back debacle,

I didn't really get a chance to take any more pictures.

(Basically they would have been of the ceiling in our room!)

 

Although I didn't get to enjoy our entire time,

Todd and I made the most of the days

where I could move around.

 

I can't wait to go back San Diego in the near future

so we can finish our

To do list....

Sun Diego Continued

While in San Diego, Todd and I wanted

to do at least one touristy thing.

The problem was that we had been to San Diego several

times before, so we were kind of at a loss as to what to do.

 

I had taken the time before we left to do a little research,

and found that the USS Midway had received great reviews.

I knew this was at least one thing now on our "To do" list.

It took a little convincing, I think Todd was thinking more

along animals or beaches, but he was a good sport and played along.

Ends up, this was a great choice because Todd LOVED it!

Being an engineer, he could really appreciate all of the work

that it took to make that baby work!

 

The carrier is MASSIVE!

Todd and I didn't even get to finish the self guided tour

because we ran out of time.

If you do decide to take a tour,

 allow yourself at least 3 - 4 hours.

 

I took a few pictures with our little point-and-shoot,

so they didn't turn out that great.

Also, I didn't include all of the pictures because

you would be here for days looking at them.

I only included some of my favorites.

 

They had a store, couldn't be all that bad - right?

These are the enlisted men sleeping quarters.

Can you tell by the look on Todd's face that he was glad

he was not sleeping in one of these!

The beds also served as their storage.

Pretty good use of space.

I have to say, it wasn't only the lack of sleeping space

that would have bugged me, but what you can't tell from this

picture is that they are actually in a main walkway.

That meant that the only thing between you and people

walking around were those blue curtains.

You read that right -

they were called "coffin lockers" and were 6 cubic feet.

A little betterr picture.

 

I believe these were the officers quarters.

I can't remember exactly, but they were much better than

the other enlisted men bunks.

These were actually not in a main hallway,

and if memory serves, there might have been a door.

 

Oh! Excuse me sir, I didn't know you were taking a shower.

This was actually a dummy they set up in the

shower area near the aforementioned officer area.

 

 

Being that we were on a Navy vessel, you knew

that there were going to be some kind of knots somewhere.

Take a look at this beauty that someone made.

Gorgeous!

 

Pretty beautiful and interesting at the same time.

 

I think this was the ready room, but again, I could be mistaken.

I just really liked this room because it reminded me of

something on Top Gun.

I know, I'm a dork.

Here is Todd standing by a cool refurbished plane.

Todd and I took a self portrait from the top deck.

Look how high up we are.

I'm telling you, the thing is massive.

This is like a capsule that stored life rafts and supplies.

I was floored by how little they supplied.

Keep in mind that this is a 25 man life raft.

I sure hope most people were rescued after one day

because it doesn't look like those supplies would go very far.

I got my picture taken next to this awesome yellow plane.

The colors reminded me of Bumble Bee on Transformers.

Pretty cool plane - ay!

I never miss an opportunity to take a picture with a good

looking military guy, even if they are cardboard.

 

There was definitely a ton that I didn't include in this post.

They have lots of interactive things to do:

flight simulator rides

music videos

short films

 climb-aboard aircraft and cockpits

 interactive exhibits

 "Ejection Seat" Theater

 

There is much more-

I just can't name it all.

If you are interested in visiting the museum,

definitely go to their website

http://www.midway.org

 

I would highly recommend it for people of all ages,

but especially if you have school aged children.